Blue Mooner
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 25 Jun 2005
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JohnMaddocksAxe said:green pennies said:But to me it seems like the difference between your Dad and your wife. I love my Dad. From the time I've been born, there he was. He loves me, I love him. He's given me everything and I've given him everything. We've supported each other over the years. My brother and sister understand and share in this love. He's an undeniable part of who I am and he's a huge influence. When he does something I think is wrong, it hurts and frustrates me to my core.. but undeniably, he is "mine", for better or worse, and I've had years and years of time to get to know him and who he is.
My wife, I've known her for less than a third of my life. We were connected on the suggestion of a third party (fuck I'll just say it because it supports the metaphor - it was an online dating site!), and while we got on straight away, it took getting to know her deeper for true love to develop. I haven't known her forever and there will always be more for me to learn about her. But I can say that now, my wife is my everything. I'd do anything to make her happy and she has become my family in a very real way. I'm with her every day and we recently had our first child.. our family and its love grows.
I don't buy this comparison. Primarily because it uses real, actual relationships as a metaphor. My whole point is that sport and football and being able to say "my team one" is not an important thing in life. Certainly not in any way comparable to real relationships with real people.
That is exactly why, for me, the only reason or justification for getting excited about/so involved with wanting a team to win and investing emotion in it is exactly because that team and it's success is somehow associated with your real relationships, your society and your environment. Otherwise, supporting a team just becomes a case of meaningless boasting to others who have similarly chosen a random team to support. It doesn't affect your society, your interactions with people who mean something to you, your home, etc, etc.
So, to compare feelings about Manchester City to relationships with people you care for really blows my mind. Everyone, and I mean everyone, if they are honest with themselves would give up ever hearing about Manchester City again if it meant saving the life of someone they care for. Such relationships are on a totally other level. But such emotive comparisons are common place stuff in justifications of why manufactured links/'love' for a far away sporting entity (or, if you want to boil it down even further, a limited company) has 'blossomed'.
I can totally understand developing feelings for a person you have never met before and that person becoming, eventually, your wife. But, come on, are we honestly comparing the process of developing a relationship with a spouse to your thought process as to why you wish to cite Manchester City/Manchester United/Liverpool/whoever's victories as something that reflects well on you?
One is a real thing, a relationship with a human being, someone you can touch, love, feel, develop all sorts of facets of understanding with. The other is a football club from miles away who you choose to say represents you purely on the basis that you randomly choose to say it represents you. If your relationship with your wife disappears, it dramatically alters your life. If Manchester City disappears it dramatically alters the landscape of Manchester but, whilst I am sure you wouldn't welcome it, they would be easily, eventually be replaced with another club that would eventually 'represent' you too.
My whole point is that choosing to get emotionally involved with a club and its results is, in reality, a nonsensical thing to do. It only really makes any kind of sense and can be slightly justified by it having a impact on a society, circles, relationships that you are involved with and connected with. Just like your meeting your wife has an impact on all those things. Choosing to say that a random football club represents you is so far away from real relationships with, as you suggest, your wife that I suspect your wife would be royally pissed off if she heard you equating the two. One (your relationship with your wife, is important. The other, choosing to say that City represent you, is most certainly not. And that is why I cannot get my head round these justifications at all.
Great post but sorry can't agree, your thesis is based on the idea that every man woman and child are motivated in the same way and that is clearly not the case.
Just because you associate your love for the club based on geographic ties does not mean everyone else cant have the same feelings for the club out of other motivations.
Its not how or why people find that connection with the club that is important it is simply that someone chose to be a blue and built that emotional connection with the club.
It could be through a particular player playing for the club, chance meeting with a fellow blue, even something as basic as the kit or what the club represents.
The fact is that people in their millions love the game of football and in most cases want to choose aclub to support, if that journey of choice leads them to the blues door then fantastic. Who are you to be judge and jury to say that those fans can't feel the same for the club simply because they dont have a connection with the locality?