Friday, October 05, 2007

Not More Important...BUT...!

Old Picture from Malta. Me with Nikki a die-hard Manure fan

'...football is more important than life and death to you' and I said 'Listen, it's more important than that'."


The often misquoted 'famous' saying by Bill Shankly, the popular Liverpool FC manager who started the winning streak of the great Liverpool side of the late 70's and early 80's. (A VERY LONG TIME AGO!)

Two posts ago... I struggled to put my feelings and misgivings about the Blue's poor performances in recent matches. Every time I thought about the fact that we hadnt scored in 4 premier league games, storm clouds seemed to gather over the skies of Auckland and I had to restrain myself from choking the life out of some random idiot who desperately needed it!

And when I allowed myself to remember that the "Special One" was no longer with us... well... lets just say the bumps on my head still hurt a lot!

I was disappointed to learn that ESPN wasnt going to screen the Valencia vs Chelsea game. Instead Liverlesspool and Marseille was scheduled. Since an 8pm start in Europe means 8am in Auckland... I decided to have a lie-in and catch the final scores and read the match report on the internet when I woke up.

I was very tired from the night before but couldnt stay asleep while the game was being played. So I hopped on the internet to catch the live-feed some 20mins into the game and my day went straight into the toilet as I saw Valencia was one goal up!

Grit your teeth and smile!

After a long shower and even longer breakfast that tasted like mulch in my mouth... I checked again and found the scores level! And then some 20mins more and Didier Drogba scored what would be the winner!

My day suddenly brightened. And I realized what a truly beautiful city Auckland is. The girl in the elevator going down was the second most beautiful girl I had ever seen. The bus driver was such a jovial and smiling fellow, the receptionist on the ground floor who always seemed so dour face looked like a fresh faced cherub. And the chinese guy in the cafe was shocked when I actually laughed at the same joke he ALWAYS told me whenever he saw me.

And all because Chelsea won a game many thousand miles away from me.

Football is NOT more important than Life. But said existence certainly seems much more rosier when your team is winning innit?

My good mood lasted the whole day and I swear I heard the "Halleluyah Chorus" reveberate around the building when I got round to checking the sports pages (dont tell my boss) and found that Liverlesspool had lost at Antfield!!!

Them with their mustachioed-rotating-loving-pot-bellied Spaniard who showed his lack of class when Jose took his leave of the Premiership. They went down to a Marseille team who is currently 17th in the French League. Ah there is justice in this world. I shouldnt obsess about another team but this team of pretenders have knocked us out of the CL twice in a row at the same semi-final stage. Wouldnt it be so cool to have them knocked out of the group stages? And that seems very likely.

But back to us! Next game is against Bolton. I will be dressed in my Drogba-inscribed Jersey and cheer the boys on!!!

Oh When the Blues...

Oh When the Blues...

Oh When the Blues Go marching In...

I want to beeee in that nuuuuuummmberrrrrr.

Oh When the Blues Go marching In!

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