"It's Just A Game"

Well... when you lose, it is.

In the next chapter of what I like to call “Pub Epiphanies”, I was again sitting with Chris from Hello? Is This Thing On at a bar, discussing the behavior of certain strains of sport’s supporters.

Of course, Chris being from the Motherland (AKA England), we have both had different experiences of crowd types.

He’s seen the all-singing, all-dancing Barmy Army, and I’ve seen the padlock throwing, obnoxious and viciously abusive Convict crowd.

But disparities notwithstanding, we did manage to eke out the idea that people seem to obtain pride vicariously through the success of their favorite sports team, and that a team’s loss can be reason to question an individual’s prowess.

It seems that most of the sporting teams from this country do nothing but falter at the finish line, but that really doesn’t make me feel inadequate at all.

It’s not like a girl is going to turn her nose up at me because I’m from a country that has the second best cricket team in the world. I’ve got a cute Australian accent…

But a lot of bitterness can be tasted when the successful team likes to deride their vanquished foe. I mean, it’s hard enough to watch opposition supporters dance gaily in the street, blowing trumpets and gagging on ticker tape, without having one’s personal prowess called into question.

“Australia… rhymes wif failure really, dunnit?” one British reveller spouted out with his plumb accent after the English Ashes victory recently.

Personally, I’ve always been of the impression that it is far better to bask in the glory of victory, rather than revel in the sorrow and disappointment of others.

Mind you, after all the ribbing we’ve given the British over the past few years, what we’re getting now is probably our come-uppance.

To say now that “It’s just a game” seems to suggest the grapes are sour.

So at the end of the day, no matter what sport you’re following, the better team played the better sport, and if the better team won and the better supporters feel good about themselves, then good for them.

As for me… I’m having a beer. So there.