Oh And Barcelona Won Too, Very Proud of Them
I was thinking the other day about the complexities of football rivalries. I don't pretend to be an expert, or even a well-read amateur, about the ins-and-outs of the various European leagues I follow, all of whom have rivalries going back decades based on geography or politics or some other alchemy I don't even begin to understand. So I can't speak to that. But I do know that for me, personally, the teams I dislike mostly break down into three categories.
Teams other people have told me I'm supposed to hate: this is usually in the primer, and something you pick up pretty quickly hanging around other fans of your team. Less a matter of personal hate than moral obligation to support your team against their rivals, although it can take on a life of its own - I have inexplicably strong feelings about Gareth Bale's stupid monkey face, given how little time I spend thinking about Tottenham.
Teams I hate for a specific player/specific incident: also known as the Terrell Owen Effect, for my father's virulent hatred of the 49ers based solely on something stupid TO did like 10 years ago. Often inspired by a messy transfer or an ugly match - I was indifferent-to-vaguely-positive about Man City before Nasri sold out to them and acted like a wanker about it. And 95% of the reason I hate Stoke City is because they broke Aaron Ramsey's leg.
Teams that are in direct competition with my team/are better than my team: self-explanatory, right? Also applies to teams that are richer or more popular than my teams, like Manchester United (although I would probably hate United no matter what, just because I can't stand Wayne Fucking Rooney and Alex Ferguson). Real Madrid also probably falls into this category, with a side of category 1 and a dash of 2 every time a clasico comes up and Sergio does something especially stupid.
And then there's Liverpool. It's hard to explain the massive, seething hatred I have for Liverpool and everyone remotely involved with them. It predates my actually following the EPL - when I was first getting into it two years ago and trying to pick a team, all I knew was that I wasn't going to be supporting United because they were too popular (and WAYNE FUCKING ROONEY), and I wasn't going to be supporting Liverpool because...Liverpool. And now that I've been into the league for a while I'm glad I went with my gut instincts, because I really hate everything about them, from their physical playing style to their obnoxious fans to their defensive of Luiz Suarez being a horrible racist prick. I'm sure there are many Liverpool fans who are very nice, non-obnoxious people, and Stevie Gerrard seems like a perfectly decent guy, but honestly. United, Man City, the Spurs, Real Madrid - nothing matches my loathing of Liverpool.
So, needless to say, this morning was unbelievably satisfying. It may have been an ugly, sloppy mess of a match, our defense may have been complete shit, Arteta may have gotten rather broken, but goddamnit, at least we beat fucking Liverpool. Thank all the gods for Robin Van Persie, I don't know what we'd ever do without him (AND I WILL NEVER HAVE TO KNOW OKAY). At some point I am going to stop being surprised at all the stupid feelings this sport gives me, but that will have to wait until another week.
This entry was originally posted at http://masterofmidgets.dreamwidth.org/266083.html. You can also comment there using OpenID.
Teams other people have told me I'm supposed to hate: this is usually in the primer, and something you pick up pretty quickly hanging around other fans of your team. Less a matter of personal hate than moral obligation to support your team against their rivals, although it can take on a life of its own - I have inexplicably strong feelings about Gareth Bale's stupid monkey face, given how little time I spend thinking about Tottenham.
Teams I hate for a specific player/specific incident: also known as the Terrell Owen Effect, for my father's virulent hatred of the 49ers based solely on something stupid TO did like 10 years ago. Often inspired by a messy transfer or an ugly match - I was indifferent-to-vaguely-positive about Man City before Nasri sold out to them and acted like a wanker about it. And 95% of the reason I hate Stoke City is because they broke Aaron Ramsey's leg.
Teams that are in direct competition with my team/are better than my team: self-explanatory, right? Also applies to teams that are richer or more popular than my teams, like Manchester United (although I would probably hate United no matter what, just because I can't stand Wayne Fucking Rooney and Alex Ferguson). Real Madrid also probably falls into this category, with a side of category 1 and a dash of 2 every time a clasico comes up and Sergio does something especially stupid.
And then there's Liverpool. It's hard to explain the massive, seething hatred I have for Liverpool and everyone remotely involved with them. It predates my actually following the EPL - when I was first getting into it two years ago and trying to pick a team, all I knew was that I wasn't going to be supporting United because they were too popular (and WAYNE FUCKING ROONEY), and I wasn't going to be supporting Liverpool because...Liverpool. And now that I've been into the league for a while I'm glad I went with my gut instincts, because I really hate everything about them, from their physical playing style to their obnoxious fans to their defensive of Luiz Suarez being a horrible racist prick. I'm sure there are many Liverpool fans who are very nice, non-obnoxious people, and Stevie Gerrard seems like a perfectly decent guy, but honestly. United, Man City, the Spurs, Real Madrid - nothing matches my loathing of Liverpool.
So, needless to say, this morning was unbelievably satisfying. It may have been an ugly, sloppy mess of a match, our defense may have been complete shit, Arteta may have gotten rather broken, but goddamnit, at least we beat fucking Liverpool. Thank all the gods for Robin Van Persie, I don't know what we'd ever do without him (AND I WILL NEVER HAVE TO KNOW OKAY). At some point I am going to stop being surprised at all the stupid feelings this sport gives me, but that will have to wait until another week.
This entry was originally posted at http://masterofmidgets.dreamwidth.org/266083.html. You can also comment there using OpenID.