Sun 18 Feb 2007
The other day I was discussing the issue of football with my wife. I was trying to explain to her the reason why I love the game. It got me thinking about this issue, and I reached an epiphany (heh, nice one).
What would make grown men act like children when a goal is scored? Why is it that when a player scores, he goes crazy running around and the fans also go crazy!
Personally, I’m a big fan of Arsenal and I almost never miss a game. A couple of weeks back, Arsenal came back to beat Manchester United 2-1, scoring 2 goals in the last 10 minutes including a last second goal! When Henry scored that goal, I actually jumped off my seat (more than once) from joy, as did the 60,000 fans in the stadium, and the players, and all the Arsenal supporters around the world!
I was thinking about the feeling of joy and happiness you get when that happens. I tried to think of anything else in the world that would make someone feel like that, and couldn’t think of a single thing! There is nothing that can make people that happy in that short amount of time!
That sudden surge of happiness or joy is shortlived but very very powerful! If we compare that feeling to another happy feeling, lets say a wife telling her husband that she’s pregnant, the happiness we get from that is much more powerful than a goal obviously, but the husband will not raise his arms in the air and run around like crazy from joy!
Why is that? Why is it that something so insignificant in the long run such as a goal scored can make a grown man run around like crazy while something so important like having a child will not!
The happiness from the child is long lasting and makes that person happy everytime he thinks about it, while the happiness from the goal is like an overdose injection of happiness that is temporary!
That thrill that sports fans get is something that people who dont like sports will never understand! That surge of adrenalin and sudden joy is incomparable with anything else (except maybe winning the lottery), but us sports fans get that feeling over and over during the course of the season!
So basically, my conclusion to why I love watching football and why it means so much to me is that I’m addicted to those feelings you get just like a drug, you keep wanting more of it! Plus there is a whole issue of belonging to that group of fans or team that probably need a whole different discussion
Examples of goal celebrations -
15 Responses to “The joy of football”
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February 18th, 2007 at 9:11 am
good one Q.
Manutd still is better though!
February 18th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Q
تواصل مع الدكتورة فوزية
I’m not big on sports, but football is one of the few games I wouldn’t mind watching..
Something about the grass, the field, and the good-looking guys in shorts.
February 18th, 2007 at 10:45 am
“I actually jumped off my seat (more than once) from joy…I tried to think of anything else in the world that would make someone feel like that, and couldn’t think of a single thing!” ….hmmmm Tom Cruise in Oprah’s show?
February 18th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
watch out for chelsea the blue tsunami
February 18th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
well , my problem is more complicated , football for me is more important than many things in life , not only when my team play , i follow every league , standings , derbies , transfer market , rumors , bust ups , blogsposts , fansites ,, yet i hate international football
February 18th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
i did not read your whole post, umm I stopped at the word wife, but are you saying that I am strange???
February 18th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
khobiz, thx, and no
shurouq, ana wain o intay wain ;P
shosho, the difference is that when a goal is scored, its an instinctive sudden joy, Tom Cruise was acting and it was lame….very very lame.
mosan, .
juve, i have the exact same problem, i realized how bad the problem was when some 3rd division team in England was playing and the commentator mentioned the guy’s name, and I actually knew his first name
Purg, im not saying anything about u! Nothing at all! Stop harassing me!
February 18th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Q
as a kuwaiti fan i had overdose of those feelins u talked about
February 18th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
nice post,
first of all, henry’s goal against united, i jumped out of my couch, screaming, which made one of my friends rush back into the living room (he was in the kitchen) oo i just pushed him and he fell right on his ass, for no reason , other than arsenal has just scored.
The rush ppl get from a goal, is one of a kind, and like you said, even if u get the happiest of news, like ur wife is pregnant, u’ll not produce the same reaction. Is our love for football an addiction to get that rush? I dont think that its that, then we would all be barcelona/chelsea fans and be happy for the foreseeable future
loving football is shay ghair, u can sit down with almost anyone, and talk about it nonstop (not including women (not all of them), and of course americans)
and for the ppl who dont get it, just explain why most of the world gets it, and you dont
go arsenal!!
go arsenal kids! beat the Russians on sunday!!
February 18th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Yazeed, i fixed ur comment, also, gret input on the subject! Although I disagree with one part, the part where you say if we wanted the rush, we would all be Barcelona/Chelsea fans.
True fans of these teams will be happy whenever a goal is scored, but expectations are also much higher with those teams! So on the flip side, you would have alot of disappointment doses or ‘downers’, and the doses of happiness wont be as powerful sometimes (unless its a CL final or winning the league…etc.).
Lets say you’re a fan of Reading FC, over the years you would have alot of disappointments an not much happiness, but the last 2 or 3 yrs would have been ecstatic!! The joy the fans get when they see their team coming from division 2 (3 divisions below premiership) in 2002 to 6th in the premiership currently!
What im saying is, every goal scored by a Reading player probably has 3 or 4 times the emotions in it for their fans than a goal scored by a chelsea player for a chelsea fan!
I hope that makes sense?
February 18th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I think the sense of joy you get in the Stadium is contagious. It’s being amidst a group of people who are gathered in a place in complete ancitipation for those moments of joy, of getting drunk with joy. Fitting in is indeed what it is. The question of course is why does our sense of fitting in have such a ‘crazy’ display. Maybe that vast grassy area brings out the animal in us. Or maybe seeing a bunch of grown men (or on the rare occasion, women) chase after a ball makes us less hesitant to act a little crazy
Hearing you will have a baby, on the other hand, is a reminder of your coming role as a responsible parent. So uncivilized, irrational, crazy displays of emotion would make that rather problematic.
I love sports, playing though, not watching.
February 19th, 2007 at 8:58 am
it’s the competitiveness in everyone - when u’re rooting for a team it’s like being a part of that team; and throw some adrenalin into the equation, which would explain jumping off of seats and screaming and clapping like 5 year-old
i too have the ability to get into this sort of trance when watching tennis or when kuwait is playing anyone
February 19th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
it does, but i was talking in terms of success, since 3inda wayid glory hunters out there (wink wink,,,,,not u Q).
Reading fans wake up with a smile everyday, 9adegny they do. I always feel happy when newly promoted teams do good in the league, oo if they keep it up, they finish as the highest promoted team in premiership history (since 1993
which doesnt say a lot really). If they keep it up, and with the prize money in store for next season, they’ll have enough to be here for a while. I hope they dont turn into another charlton, or even worse, another LEEDS!
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Yep, that feeling is so good. Not to mention if you have someone supporting the other team sitting next to you.
March 18th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
nice topic
i was watching that game by the way (manchester vs arsemal) ,and i also jumped when the second goal came .
let me tell you that when you jump after the goal it’s because of the high adrinalin level in your body .When you watch the game and look at all the players running and all .your adrinalin level rises and makes you wanna run with them and you are anticipating the goal ,and also football is a game of glory .it represents glory and proudness of your team .This is a something that means alot to men but woman wouldnt understand .
when your wife tells you she is pregnant ,at that moment your adrinalin level is low ,so you wont be very excited but you will feel inner happiness and thats way more important than that jump during the game that you will probobly forget after a year or two .