Fanboy

About a week ago I watched Manchester United lose to Barcelona in the Champions League Final in Rome. I've been ashamed to call myself a Red Devil fan for the last week, but not because they went down 2-0 to (after what we saw last Wednesday night) undoubtedly the best footballing team in Europe.

Throughout the week I've had to endure my fellow fans mutter under their breaths repeatedly on how 'the better team lost' and how 'we deserved to win', and most irritatingly of all, how 'I wish Chelsea were in the final instead'

Maybe you guys were watching a replay of a match many years ago, but the way I saw it my favourite team was getting their asses handed to them for 80 minutes. (They were actually owning for the first 10, totally being objective here) What is it about fans that they're just blindingly ignorant to the reality of the match transpiring in front of them? We're so fixated on the concept of winning that we somehow forget how to react when we lose. So when we do, we just turn our heads away from the fact and go on about all the past trophies that our favourite team as won. (Something my brother has been doing for... 16 years) Also, I don't understand why being a Manchester United fan seems to come in a package of arrogance for supporting the best team in England. They may very well be, but that doesn't mean we have to mock our fellow supporters from the Big 4. Chelsea, Liverpool, and Aston Villa fans are very much entitled to being fans of their own clubs and their own players. That's like... some guy from Raffles going around and making fun of all the people that come from places like HC and AC for being stupider. They may not be wrong, but that doesn't make them any less fucked up.

Second of all, please. PLEASE. Stop referring to Manchester United as 'We'. In that 'We' won the treble in 99. 'We' have now won the English League as many times as Liverpool and 'We' have the best players in the world. For God's sake, YOU are NOT part of Manchester United. You do not play for them, you do not pay for them, and large majority of you probably have never watched them live. And never will.

Lastly, and this is the weirdest one, why do you keep wishing that it was Chelsea at that final and not Barcelona? Who the hell wants to see ANOTHER Man U v Chelsea match? A friend at my place agreed that the matchup would've been incredibly boring, but 'at least WE would've won'. So what? Since when was it about winning? ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE A FAN, NOT A PLAYER. At least if you put money on it that might've been justified, but then you're an idiot for betting on a team that you're unable to think about objectively. I personally enjoyed watching the match, and watching Barcelona play (with English commentary). I remember the first football match I saw was ages ago (yes, before the Champions League Final of '99, I was a Man U fan before they actually started winning stuff). It was one of those seasons in '97 or '98, when Arsenal was still winning, but United chased them to the very end of the season. (Okay so my memory may not be correct here, but I was 8. This is how I remember it) And I remember watching United lose to Arsenal in one of the key matches for the season, but the way they played back then sparked something in me that made me want to watch them again. To be honest I don't think the feeling comes that strongly anymore when I watch the 'best United team in History' play, but that's not going to stop me from supporting them. (Also I seem to remember watching it with 2 friends. One of whom I always got annoyed with (Arsenal fan) and the other whom I idolised, somewhat (Man U fan). So I guess it was inevitable.

But ultimately it is kinda sad that watching a sport can turn us into people who can't think rationally. No wait it's kinda sad when anything turns us into people who can't think rationally. Anyway I've actually contemplated not supporting United anymore. (Which is actually a RATHER serious decision, also because it gets me off thinking about which university to go to)

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... I wrote all this because I wanted to think about something that was completely insignificant in my life, for a change. I'm tired. Coming back to camp after a week of off reminds me of that shitty feeling of going back to school after the long June holidays. (First week of January doesn't really count as school) It's kinda sad that I don't really have many friends I can ask out on a last minute basis, but my schedule always seems free for any activities anybody else plans.

Maybe I should talk to Newcastle fans more.