Sport

Still not sure how I feel about it. I enjoy taking part when it doesn't hurt to walk (it's an arthritis thing) but I'm still trying to rise above the whole notion of supporting one or another team in any kind of national/international competition. Say you follow AFL. Many people do. There are like, 16 teams and most people support one of them (that's usually how it works). But many people's decision as to who they support is largely arbitrary these days (with the exception of the non-Melbourne teams). Even if your support is more parochial, there's a good chance, with the way drafting works these days, that there will be a number of players on your 'local' team who have little or no connection with the area. They were more than likely lured by money. So given that only a small percentage of players actually play for a team based where they originate, most people's support for a team is wholly arbitrary. I remember deciding to support South Melbourne in primary school, purely out of peer pressure. There are probably many people out there who follow a team for reasons similar to this. There may be fans who wear brightly-colored scarves, adorn their cars with team-logo stickers and embarrass themselves at matches by screaming at people they don't even know who are wearing similarly arranged but different-colored shirts. And because there are 16 teams, only one of which can win a grand final, there is only a one-in-sixteen chance that any given supporter is going to end the season on a high note. People are just setting themselves up for disappointment. Then there's cricket. I used to love it when Australia would thrash the opposition. I was in England in '93 and '96, when Australia were touring there and I loved that we were beating England. I remember sitting in my Aunt's Lancashire sitting room, watching newcomer Shane Warne send down his first bowl to Mike Gatting and subsequently listening to Aunt M answer her phone and assure the neigbours no, there wasn't a crazy person in the house, just a cricket-loving Australian. But with the Australian team's constant success, came the arrogance, and with it the sledging. And that just made me cringe. There was no real competition in the matches so I got bored with the whole thing. Given my ancestry, I have the option of having a foot in both camps when it comes to the Aus V Eng games and now that England are making it interesting again, I find I'm spending more time consuming cricket than I have in a good five years. I'm getting behind the underdogs, England, just because I think it's time cricket got close again. I've found myself hoping they win, and getting very excited when they've come out on top. And then Warney goes and takes four wickets last night. It looks like Australia might retain the ashes. So I'm not watching another bowl.