For the thousandth time – “I know that the world cup starts today, thank you very much”. But people do not listen, I get reminders, and group invitations and event notifications, I am tagged in football fan photos and asked often “Which team are you supporting?”
Sitting down to figure out the answer, a bigger question appears ‘why do I need to support a team?’ I am unable to figure how my support will make any difference to the team, or even to the person who posed the question. Football isn’t even a game my country plays, but that’s not the point here. I am more surprised by the set of avid fans I keep running into; reason - the fandom is composed of everything but the game – ‘official’ jerseys, posters, vehicle graphics, team themed pubs they like to hang out at and what not. Smells like a capitalist conspiracy, doesn’t it? I am convinced of the fact that had baseball found a similar marketing, the same people would have been donning ‘Bulls’ jerseys and be fluent with the home run counts of all players. So, a majority of the ‘fandom’ is caused by the associated pop culture than an actual desire to enjoy the game. It lacks substance.
I do not abhor sports; on the contrary I really enjoy sitting down and watching a game. Sports are probably the best non-destructive exhibition of human ability and competitiveness, and an unsaid undercurrent of harmony when it comes to international competitions. It is recreational and it is entertaining. But to like a game because being 24 and ‘aware’ mandates you to do so is a different thing.
“Dude, just check out the crowds in the stadium- sexy”
Watching a game with a crowd is fun, but being all goggle eyed about a crowd 5000 miles away moves towards perversion in my books. And if I dare to quiz the fan in question about a rule of the game, I get crazy answers – crazy enough for the officials at FIFA to contemplate suicide. I am not questioning the knowledge of these people; I just want to figure out what is it that makes them all wet and orgasmic about their team, and as I said, it is never ever the game.
‘Why, do you like Man – U?’ I asked, and the guy said ‘Do you question you religion?’ I wanted to ask ‘did you read it up on their website?’ I contained myself and said ‘I do’. He threw me a dirty look and replied, ‘Well, I don’t’ and that was the end of the conversation. I’ve had this conversation with a lot of people, I do sometimes get facts like ‘they just made this friggin’ deal for that amazing player’ or ‘have you seen the size of the home stadium’ or ‘they’ve won the EPL and the Champs league and the donkey derby’. And I throw a mock appreciative ‘wow!’, but I never get a proper answer. All these people are buying, and various marketers are selling and I’m sure that the fans are being short-changed. But they’re happy, and so the system works just fine.
You decide on a team, Google their stats, watch a video or two, memorize the names of the players, get yourself a jersey and ensure your face book update intermittently advertises your support- there you are, a full blown fan. You can support Argentina without knowing its location on the map, but you should definitely know the pool they are in.
It makes me sad, rather than irritated. You like a sport to be liked by your peers? That is a lot of constructive energy wasted, a fake competition and pseudo awareness – you’re sold. It beats the primary concept of sports.
Coming back to the original question – who do I support? Well, I do like watching football, and definitely would watch the matches. I might even take sides in a match, but I’m not losing sleep over it, and definitely not spamming online lives of my friends. I would support football and enjoy it.
Stop making a fool of yourself and enjoy the game. For a change, look up the rules of the game; makes it more interesting to watch.
3 comments:
Of all your posts that I've read, this one is the crappiest...A very obtuse view of things...Hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
Can smell a comrade in the making.
Post a Comment