Who is to say?

Everybody has their own whims and fancies. We all have their idiosyncrasies. Somehow deep inside, we feel that we got to where we are because of what and how we did it. We must have done something right.

That gives us the assurance that all things in life would turn out the way we want if it were done that particular way. And it would definitely turn sour if it were not done so. We all have our superstitions, and it gives us the conviction that everything will be alright if performed in such ritualistic manner. Nobody knows or can explain the sciences behind such an endeavour, but we do it anyway. What if something goes wrong? The stakes are too high to risk to engage in such a gamble.

I was in the company of some friends. We had decided to finally meet up after numerous failed attempts to get together due to pressing work engagements. What better time and place to meet than at a local sports’ restaurant with a giant screen display of the week’s big English League football game. The scene was set, and the game commenced. I noticed that my friend, M, had his back facing the TV screen. To the amusement of everyone in the group, he insisted on sitting that way!

Over the years, he had noticed that whenever his favourite team was playing, the team would win if he was not watching the game. The team fared poorly every time he viewed. The excitement of wanting to be in the thick of things when his team was playing was too overwhelming that he had to compromise - be at the game but not view it directly. Hence, he had resorted to such an arrangement. The rule has certain exceptions, of course. It is okay for him to see instant replays and pre-recorded games as these are not in real time.

His belief was further reinforced in that outing. After having his back face his screen throughout the two halves of the game, his team did indeed win the match. Deep inside, he must be glad that, in his own small way, he contributed to the success of his team, albeit his small butterfly fluttering way. This, against the variable biorhythms of the players, off/on forms of footballers, dirty tactics of the opponents, the invisible hands of the bookies, the state of non-level playing fields and many more unknown scientific and un-scientific factors. If it makes him entertained, who is to say?

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All shook up!

There is a reason why traditionally games started and ended with a handshake between two 'warring' factions who are out for each other's jugular during the games but will be having drinks again afterwards. This is known gentlemanly conduct. What happens on the pitch is left on the pitch!
Times changed. People came out of conquest of war mode and natives gained independence. Man's unquenchable inner desire to kill and dominate is steered towards games which promise equal footing of action and gore. Suddenly, games especially football (soccer) became too big for its own good.
Along came creatures likes publicity and public relations managers who promise the sky and the moon to take the game to dizzying heights who scaled out of thin air. And 'poof' came the vultures in the form telecommunications whiz to bring the players to everybody's living room. And the hyenas of briefcase lawyers who were anything but brief in their circumlocutory lecture about ensuring justice and fair play to players, clubs, everything and everyone involved in this entity, which had started as a pastime for the rich and famous, who had the luxury to flaunt the affluence to the scavengers who were out looking for crumbs in the royal courtyard!
Any news is good news for the development of the game. So when a racial outburst occurred during a multi-million bookie deciding match of the two most famous football teams of the world, it got people interested. With the average modern man's attention span on the decline, misadventures like this was played again and again to arouse interest in the game going on and on.
When a veteran suggested that they should just kiss and make up (not really, end it with a hand shake), his idea was shot down with the fastest ammunition. The powers that be decided that sports must be a beacon of hope to eradicate the fire of racism at its flint. The perpetrator was punished and when he returned to play the same opponent, he was expected to be dandy with him obliging with a handshake.
Now, for all the publicity yearning game had hoped for, the issue remains unsettled and people are still talking about it. Good for the game, any news is good news!!!

Painting the town red!

As the Tamils have a proverb for a situation like this, 'Like a bear attending Lord Shiva's prayer', I do not know what this retard of a  fan (aren't they all?) - and they call us "Live-a-fool" - was thinking he bulldozed into the sea of red worshipers of Liverpool team. The Kops fans are too level-headed to ridicule the mentally challenged.
Anyway, welcome Liverpudlians to Malaysia. The Liverpool team is made up everyone else but hardly any Liverpudlians anyway but they play in the Merseyside they become Liverpudlians, right?.
From The Star, 16th July 2011....
PETALING JAYA: A Manchester United fan pushed his luck a little too far when he showed up at the Liverpool training session at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil wearing the Red Devils kit. 

Liverpool fans saw red and he was lucky to get away with only losing his shirt. Raging hell-raisers: (From top to bottom) The young man is spotted sporting the jersey, prompting Kopites to force him to strip. He then left, before returning in a Malaysian national team jersey. A video captured at the training session on Thursday and later uploaded on YouTube showed a young man clad in his Rooney No 10 jersey, surrounded by hordes of Liverpool fans, including women, seated directly in front of him. He resisted attempts to strip him, but his jersey was eventually lifted off in front of a crowd yelling “Buka! Buka!” (“Take it off!”). He refused to put on the Liverpool jersey, even as it was forcibly put over his head, and sat stone-faced and shirtless for a moment before he was led away from the jeering fans.
However, the Reds still failed to get him to wear their kit as he was later seen in the video wearing a yellow Malaysia jersey.

Liverpool fans who were nearby as the spectacle unfolded said he was asking for trouble.
“He can come to watch, but he should have known better with the rivalry between the two clubs,” said Zuliantie Dzul, 29. “He was showing off his jersey, making sure everybody saw him,” said Tommy Lim, 27.
The video can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0dcdoU51rk.