For The Love of The Game

It’s no secret that there’s always a battle going on over who’s in charge of the remote control in a small family with only one telly. That is also what happened in my home for the last three years. I had that battle with my sisters during my bachelor era although only in small frequency since I studied in a boarding school. Now it’s my wife’s turn. We had a peaceful pact before but since the programme on TV keep changing all the time, the pact becoming ineffective.

I don’t really know what started my flirt affection with football because I only had it in the last ten years ever since I started to play Championship Manager in my pc during the college years. At first I barely know the system of play let alone the beauty of the game, but the devotion beginning to boost each year gone by. Now it comes to the phase when my wife can sum it up in one sentence: If Manchester United win, she’s safe. That is because every time a bad patch going on for my beloved team I would be all grumpy and rather fuming the whole lot all day. Funny that she always wants to hide in the closet whenever the game started, but I guess that’s just sarcastic exaggeration.

So when I woke up at 2 o’clock this morning and found my team playing against its most bitter enemy in the shape of those graceless Arsenal twats, drowsiness replaced by uncontrollable and unexplainable anxiety and suddenly I was fully awoken. And without a rival fighting for the remote since Ira was soundly sleeping I can enjoy the amusement to the fullest. The game itself showed every quality that is to like about football. It got controversies, male testosterone with high flying and crunching tackles, luscious class of dribbling and close control. Leadership, wit, and passion battled each other in the field for 90 minutes.

And the most pleasing thing is that Manchester United winning it with a rout of a thriller 4-2 score line. Over the years the fixture has been riled with infuriated rivalry. From last year’s Battle of Old Trafford to the Pizza Gate incident back in October, there have been punches given back and forth. But this time the hype really is rewarded with some of the best tussle ever seen in a football match.

By the point it was all over, the alarm bell to wake me up has passed 5 o’clock so it’s about time to take my shower and get ready for work. When I get to decide what to wear today I stumbled across my Red Devil replica shirt and remember thinking, 'Hm… it'd be cool wearing it just to winding up the other lot... well, why not?'. A few eyebrows were indeed raised today in the office seeing me with the red top but I just went on smiling and gave a winning smirk especially to the bunch of ‘Anything But United’ brigade blokes over here.

Hehehe, the bragging right is mine today, mate.