Men and Football

This piece is for all the girls out there who’s got their men passionate about football.

Why do women think that men are so obsessed with watching sport on TV?

Men answers, “Because for a long period of our lives, when we’re not engaged in – or having much luck with the pursuit of them, it’s the only thing we’ve got to do.. or we can do.”

I am writing this because the FIFA Fever is still so, so hot that it’s making all the men in our lives stucked in front of the television screen and momentarily lives in a world where no one, but only them and their favorite teams, exists.

Football rocks the men’s world.. or I might as well say: Football rocks the world of men. Whatever!

I could always smile with the thought of how the football fever takes over every corner of the men’s lives. There’s the anticipation and the excitement and the glory! But with their team losing the game, a big-time downer for real! They could always cry and are really broken-hearted when their teams get dumped out.. ”when their million-pound players can’t seem to kick the ball on target from 10.9 metres, losing dramatically but crushingly on penalty shootouts..” – well, that’s according to Mr. G*Nice who considers football as the ‘other’ love of his life.

And in one month after every four years, we ‘ladies’ have to accept that there is something else that is as important in our men’s lives as we are. We should have realized this on a much ‘matured’ level of our minds even prior to kick-off. It is a passion that we cannot take away from them and don’t dare ask them to choose between you and football! That’s a very big ‘No!’.

“Football fills their lives with tremendous highs and crushing lows.” And yes, tears.. “football makes the tears in men flow out of joy and despair.” Every game was a roller-coaster ride, the FIFA World Cup even more. The same guy says, “It is a fireball of nervous energy, with sweaty palms, twitching away in a world of my own. I am unable to express anything in anything less than a scream, and looked animated like the Tazmanian Devil on a Red Bull.”

There’s always the fire and it’s burning hot as ever. This, we ‘ladies’ have to know and really understand.

And don’t dare tell them, “It’s just a game!”

Because it’s not just a game.

Post Script: One night, I met a guy friend after one of the few last matches in the FIFA World Cup 2010 Round of 16 and unluckily, his favorite team lost the game. Knowing that, with my intention to express my sympathy, I greeted him with, "Oh, our team lost.." with a hug to match. He replied me with, "Please don't remind me. It's painful." The expression on his face is unexplainable.

* G*Nice is a columnist in Friday magazine (Gulf News).