The World Cup is here (and boo to the naysayers)...
...is what I say. I've a bee in my bonnet and this seems as good a place as any to get it out. Of my bonnet, that is. The bee, I mean. Metaphorically.
I am a football fan, and don't care who knows it. I am therefore, England's lacklustre performances aside, enjoying the feast of football that is the World Cup very, very much. But not everyone agrees. Which is fine. I have no problem grasping or accepting that some people do not feel the drama of a heated cup tie, or cannot appreciate the asthetic wonder of a brilliant passing move, a dexterous dribble or a spectacular shot. I know some people will live happy and fulfilled lives without ever knowing the wonderful feeling of being stood on the terraces with thousands of others, singing at the top of your lungs, contributing with unrestrained joy to the glorious din that accompanies seeing your opponent's net ripple.
But there is a faction amongst the non football fans who are really starting to get up my nose, namely the sort of whiny, self-satisfied individuals who screw up their noses in disdain at the very mention of football, who see football as contemptable or somehow beneath them, who see football fans as brainless imbeciles without the intellect or wit to understand how pointless the whole affair is.
The thing is that, their snobbery and air of superiority aside, these people are right. Football is, essentially, surplus to requirement. The world does not really need it. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be passionate about it.
Passion, you see, just doesn't work that way. It is, by it's very nature, an irrational thing, often misappropriated and nearly always directed at superfluous objects or concepts. Most of the things people do tend to be very passionate about (music, films, art, literature ...hell, even comedy) are unessential to the human experience. But, tellingly, they are all things that enhance it. It's these silly little indulgences that actually stir something in you, that evoke emotion, that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end... these are the things people cherish and obsess about.
I would therefore argue that football is no more or less valid or legitimate than any of the other things that people tend to be passionate about. If it's not your thing then fair enough, but don't presume to be pretentious and write it off as eye candy for the proles. If you are that deluded, then, when England win the World Cup*, I pity you, as you are not only foregoing one of those rare, wonderful opportunities to really feel alive, but you are resenting someone else that joyous experience. If that is your attitude, then the devil take you.
Peace. X
* Okay, IF we win. Fingers crossed.
I am a football fan, and don't care who knows it. I am therefore, England's lacklustre performances aside, enjoying the feast of football that is the World Cup very, very much. But not everyone agrees. Which is fine. I have no problem grasping or accepting that some people do not feel the drama of a heated cup tie, or cannot appreciate the asthetic wonder of a brilliant passing move, a dexterous dribble or a spectacular shot. I know some people will live happy and fulfilled lives without ever knowing the wonderful feeling of being stood on the terraces with thousands of others, singing at the top of your lungs, contributing with unrestrained joy to the glorious din that accompanies seeing your opponent's net ripple.
But there is a faction amongst the non football fans who are really starting to get up my nose, namely the sort of whiny, self-satisfied individuals who screw up their noses in disdain at the very mention of football, who see football as contemptable or somehow beneath them, who see football fans as brainless imbeciles without the intellect or wit to understand how pointless the whole affair is.
The thing is that, their snobbery and air of superiority aside, these people are right. Football is, essentially, surplus to requirement. The world does not really need it. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be passionate about it.
Passion, you see, just doesn't work that way. It is, by it's very nature, an irrational thing, often misappropriated and nearly always directed at superfluous objects or concepts. Most of the things people do tend to be very passionate about (music, films, art, literature ...hell, even comedy) are unessential to the human experience. But, tellingly, they are all things that enhance it. It's these silly little indulgences that actually stir something in you, that evoke emotion, that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end... these are the things people cherish and obsess about.
I would therefore argue that football is no more or less valid or legitimate than any of the other things that people tend to be passionate about. If it's not your thing then fair enough, but don't presume to be pretentious and write it off as eye candy for the proles. If you are that deluded, then, when England win the World Cup*, I pity you, as you are not only foregoing one of those rare, wonderful opportunities to really feel alive, but you are resenting someone else that joyous experience. If that is your attitude, then the devil take you.
Peace. X
* Okay, IF we win. Fingers crossed.
posted by Ben Schofield at 3:34 AM
7 comments
