For the Love of this game

In January, I visited my college during last week. And so I also went to football ground. Inter-hostel tourney was going on and I was on the sidelines watching one of the matches. I stood thinking about the time when I was one of those in yellow. I had felt this before and again felt it. Love for this game. I was planning to write something like this and was reminded by a comment in my previous blog.

I am fan of Manchester United beyond definitive adjectives. And I feel that to develop love for any game you have to be a follower of any team. A team revered by you. I used to watch EPL matches during school time. I lacked regularity and knowledge. After I came to college I came in contact with abhinav whose fanship was infectious. I think some united-god send me to cautley to spend my years with fans like sarangi, tejo and babu. And so I was painted Red all over by the time I came out. Devil I always was.

5th Jan ’08, 4th round FA cup against Aston Villa, Giggs puts in defensive tackle in 80th minutes, makes last but one pass and rooney scores. 2-0, United through to 5th round. Well I was well involved into the match, this I realized when I saw that tackle by giggs and tears came to my eyes. I was overwhelmed by the commitment shown there. I mean its 80th min and you come back running because its a counter-attack, take the ball away and help in scoring. I realized that day I had formed an emotional attachment with the team, the game.

Now I really understand that why people are crazy about their clubs. One friend of mine once asked me to keep check on my reactions when I celebrated as united scored. I tried, but to tell the truth, its hard to keep down anything that comes direct from the heart. And so I still celebrate in the same manner in which we guys used to in cautley TV room. I remember that in penalty shoot out of Champions League final, I missed watching 3-4 penalties just coz I couldn’t see my guys missing them. The penalty that terry took, I heard it from sarangi it was like… “Shit he has dived on the other side.. oh yes he has slipped”. The time between the two sentences seemed like whole season.After United won all were hugging each other and I was on the platform where TV was kept and with my arms in 10 o’clock was screaming. What a moment that was.

Well I write all this about my craziness just “For the love of this game”.