I'm writing this at 1AM on a Sunday night, having just watched Manchester City beat Queens Park Rangers 3-2 with 2 goals in the final 5 minutes of the match, deep into stoppage time. This win gives Manchester City the Premiership title, beating out Manchester United, who were pretty much 1.5 minutes away from winning the League.
I'll be frank right from the start. I cannot be unbiased and objective about this. I'm running on some sort of adrenaline high right now. But maybe that's the best state to be to write about the brilliance of sports. Warning again:- This is not going to be very coherent as I'm writing purely as a lover of sports.
But again, let me be clear about my thesis:- In all of entertainment, there is NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING, like sports. Great TV moments or play moments or movie moments are not fit to lace the shoes of sports. The closest thing I can think of would be live concert moments. But I seriously doubt the drama that live concert can conjure relative to sports.
This is because, at its cleanest, sports is live. You watch 10,000 hours of something - nothing happens- but in the 10,001st hour, BOOM, you get a Moment. No one, and I mean no one, ever knows if you're going to witness something well beyond the ordinary, perhaps nothing less than a bit of history. In movies and TV and stuff, there's a script. Everything is pre-planned and pre-ordained. Yes, you can be watching a great movie Moment, but if you think about it, your Moment is derived by someone who already knows the Moment is coming. You cannot say that about live sports.
And this Man City game is a Moment. It's one of those where you're always going to remember where you watch it. At 90 minutes, they're down 2-1 at home to a relegation-level team, one of the worst teams in the league. And if they lose, or even draw, they lose the league. 5 minutes of drama left. And then Dzeko scores. It's 2-2. Hope is kindled. And then, with 1.5 minutes to go, Kun Aguero latches on to a loose ball in the box, prodded on by Balotelli, to lash a goal into the back of the net. Pandemonium. Like, seriously, pandemonium. I'm not a Man City fan, but if I were, especially one from Manchester and one who happened to be in the stadium, I would lose my shit.
You've got players running wild. You've got the bench going nuts. And most importantly, you've got tens of thousands of people just going ballistic in the stands. They get to say, "I was there." Look, this is a team that has a perpetual "loser" reputation. They haven't won the League in something like 44 years. Some of the fans have waited 44 years for this Moment. Can you imagine how much it means to them?
Can you imagine something meaning that much to you?
I went batcrap crazy when Liverpool won the 2005 Champions League Final which was again, another piece of history. One of the most dramatic things I have ever seen. And I'm some kid from Malaysia watching the game in my friend's apartment and I went absolutely mental. I swear, my mind blanked out for like 3 seconds when Dudek saved the penalty that gave Liverpool the title. And that's just me. Can you imagine a fan who grew up in the 70s and 80s in Liverpool, seeing the most glorious period in Liverpool history then watching the team go through slightly-more-than-mediocrity, always wondering if he could see, just for one more time, Liverpool reaching the top again?
And yes, I agree, I contributed nothing to Liverpool's title win. But I don't know where it says that I can't enjoy something in which I have not contributed anything. For millions of people worldwide, it's one of the greatest Moments of their lives. Why? Because it's something bigger than yourself - it's a source of pride.
Now, in this City game, when the final whistle blew and the fat lady sang, these fans, who have not seen League glory for 44 years, stormed the pitch. Was it safe? Probably not. Do they (or I) care? Hell no. I think it's absolutely okay for fans to invade the pitch after their team has provided them with one of the best Moments of their lives. It's something they can always keep until they die - NO ONE can ever take that away from them. That one Moment, when sheer ecstasy was felt.
I really don't think I'm using much hyperbole when I say this - This was the greatest day in the history of the Premiership. The title was won 1.5 minutes from the final whistle. There has never been such drama in the Premiership. This is as good as it has ever got. And this is why millions of people have passions for sports which are unmatched in any other entertainment scene. Find me something where you can get a Moment that means so much to so many people. You can't. I include myself among these people. This is why we watch sports. This is why, for 10,000 boring hours, we will still continue watching. So we can get that one Moment which can make us say, "I was there for that."
And this game was exactly that. The most incredible, unbelievable drama. If it was a Hollywood movie, it'd be labelled, "Super Duper Cheesy - Please throw out." But this sort of thing CAN happen in real life, and when it does, you just have to be part of it. This is why football and sports are phenomenal. This is why I love football and sports and why I, like so many others, live for such Moments.
Life is a series of Moments. They can be yours, they can be derived from others. This Man City - QPR game, especially the last 5 minutes, especially Aguero's goal, was a Moment. I live for the next one.
I'll be frank right from the start. I cannot be unbiased and objective about this. I'm running on some sort of adrenaline high right now. But maybe that's the best state to be to write about the brilliance of sports. Warning again:- This is not going to be very coherent as I'm writing purely as a lover of sports.
But again, let me be clear about my thesis:- In all of entertainment, there is NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING, like sports. Great TV moments or play moments or movie moments are not fit to lace the shoes of sports. The closest thing I can think of would be live concert moments. But I seriously doubt the drama that live concert can conjure relative to sports.
This is because, at its cleanest, sports is live. You watch 10,000 hours of something - nothing happens- but in the 10,001st hour, BOOM, you get a Moment. No one, and I mean no one, ever knows if you're going to witness something well beyond the ordinary, perhaps nothing less than a bit of history. In movies and TV and stuff, there's a script. Everything is pre-planned and pre-ordained. Yes, you can be watching a great movie Moment, but if you think about it, your Moment is derived by someone who already knows the Moment is coming. You cannot say that about live sports.
And this Man City game is a Moment. It's one of those where you're always going to remember where you watch it. At 90 minutes, they're down 2-1 at home to a relegation-level team, one of the worst teams in the league. And if they lose, or even draw, they lose the league. 5 minutes of drama left. And then Dzeko scores. It's 2-2. Hope is kindled. And then, with 1.5 minutes to go, Kun Aguero latches on to a loose ball in the box, prodded on by Balotelli, to lash a goal into the back of the net. Pandemonium. Like, seriously, pandemonium. I'm not a Man City fan, but if I were, especially one from Manchester and one who happened to be in the stadium, I would lose my shit.
You've got players running wild. You've got the bench going nuts. And most importantly, you've got tens of thousands of people just going ballistic in the stands. They get to say, "I was there." Look, this is a team that has a perpetual "loser" reputation. They haven't won the League in something like 44 years. Some of the fans have waited 44 years for this Moment. Can you imagine how much it means to them?
Can you imagine something meaning that much to you?
I went batcrap crazy when Liverpool won the 2005 Champions League Final which was again, another piece of history. One of the most dramatic things I have ever seen. And I'm some kid from Malaysia watching the game in my friend's apartment and I went absolutely mental. I swear, my mind blanked out for like 3 seconds when Dudek saved the penalty that gave Liverpool the title. And that's just me. Can you imagine a fan who grew up in the 70s and 80s in Liverpool, seeing the most glorious period in Liverpool history then watching the team go through slightly-more-than-mediocrity, always wondering if he could see, just for one more time, Liverpool reaching the top again?
And yes, I agree, I contributed nothing to Liverpool's title win. But I don't know where it says that I can't enjoy something in which I have not contributed anything. For millions of people worldwide, it's one of the greatest Moments of their lives. Why? Because it's something bigger than yourself - it's a source of pride.
Now, in this City game, when the final whistle blew and the fat lady sang, these fans, who have not seen League glory for 44 years, stormed the pitch. Was it safe? Probably not. Do they (or I) care? Hell no. I think it's absolutely okay for fans to invade the pitch after their team has provided them with one of the best Moments of their lives. It's something they can always keep until they die - NO ONE can ever take that away from them. That one Moment, when sheer ecstasy was felt.
I really don't think I'm using much hyperbole when I say this - This was the greatest day in the history of the Premiership. The title was won 1.5 minutes from the final whistle. There has never been such drama in the Premiership. This is as good as it has ever got. And this is why millions of people have passions for sports which are unmatched in any other entertainment scene. Find me something where you can get a Moment that means so much to so many people. You can't. I include myself among these people. This is why we watch sports. This is why, for 10,000 boring hours, we will still continue watching. So we can get that one Moment which can make us say, "I was there for that."
And this game was exactly that. The most incredible, unbelievable drama. If it was a Hollywood movie, it'd be labelled, "Super Duper Cheesy - Please throw out." But this sort of thing CAN happen in real life, and when it does, you just have to be part of it. This is why football and sports are phenomenal. This is why I love football and sports and why I, like so many others, live for such Moments.
Life is a series of Moments. They can be yours, they can be derived from others. This Man City - QPR game, especially the last 5 minutes, especially Aguero's goal, was a Moment. I live for the next one.
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