Festival of the Boot
Sep. 28th, 2002 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hnpccA cold, wet and windy day.
We were going to go to the Show. But it was a bit too cold, wet and windy. Personally I blame Eddie McGuire, forcing us to stay home and perch in front of the TV. He's got connections everywhere, that man.
So we watched the Final. With Roy and HG commentating. And with meat pies, sausage rolls and hot dogs to munch.
Best comments:
(towards the end of the fourth quarter)
"Eddie's changed seats! No wonder they've lost! It's the first rule of barracking, if you're winning you don't change seats!"
(As two players did the push and shove prior to going for the mark)
"And isn't it nice to see two players waltzing together..."
(After about 3 shots in a row of fans with facial hair)
"And it's 'come in free if you've got a mo' day here at the MCG today..."
(yeah I know. Guess you had to be there.)
I wasn't barracking for either team if I'm being honest, although I did sort of barrack for Brisbane. OK, it was the Eddie factor. And the rabid supporters factor. And the Brisbane were by far the most outstanding team in the comp this year and deserved to win factor. And I barrack for Essendon and just couldn't quite bring myself to overcome historic animosities. Despite my sister going out with a guy whose blood runs black and white.
(my other sister is going out with a Hawthorn supporter. Was she alive during the 80s?!?!? Now that's historic animosity! ;-))
I still find it incredibly disappointing that they stopped giving out runners up medals some years ago. Not only because it sets a really really bad example (you expect the under 10's to go up and shake hands and congratulate people at the end, so why not AFL players) but because there's no acknowledgment that there are two teams playing and that both did bloody well to get there.
And Nathan Buckley's complete lack of pleasure in winning the Norm Smith medal (best on ground) was just terrible. At least thank the other team, make an acknowledgment of the fans, thank your own team for crying out loud! Don't just walk off the podium taking the medal off as you go. Yeah, you lost a tight final. That doesn't mean it wasn't honourable, and that you didn't try and that it wasn't a great honour to be named as the best player on the ground. It was really bad sportsmanship.
I've had footy players (at district level) telling me that you can't expect people to be gracious in defeat, that there's too much emotion tied up in it. Pigs arse guys. Look at some of the old footage. There was equally as much emotion then (perhaps more even, as the teams were even more strongly linked to communities and players generally came from within those communities) and they still managed to accept defeat, shake hands and even crack a smile. Well, sometimes. Othertimes it was more of a grimace.
It's the whole "winning is everything" philosophy, and it annoys me. We can't all win - how do you win without someone else losing? At the end of the day (footy cliche alert!) it's going to come down to you win some, you lose some (footy cliche #2 alert).
ANZ bank ran a campaign recently with photos of people who came runners up in things (the most memorable being the guy who came runner up to Arnold Schwartnegger in the Mr Universe competition - he's still huge ) and with the slogan "No one remembers who came second."
Two words guys: Stirling Moss.
It's not whether you came in first or second that matters in the long term, it's how you reacted in the face of victory or defeat. Graciousness beats pettymindness in the long term always. John Landy and Ron Clarke.
And hey, there's always next time.
Carna Bombers 2003! ;-)
</lj-cut
We were going to go to the Show. But it was a bit too cold, wet and windy. Personally I blame Eddie McGuire, forcing us to stay home and perch in front of the TV. He's got connections everywhere, that man.
So we watched the Final. With Roy and HG commentating. And with meat pies, sausage rolls and hot dogs to munch.
Best comments:
(towards the end of the fourth quarter)
"Eddie's changed seats! No wonder they've lost! It's the first rule of barracking, if you're winning you don't change seats!"
(As two players did the push and shove prior to going for the mark)
"And isn't it nice to see two players waltzing together..."
(After about 3 shots in a row of fans with facial hair)
"And it's 'come in free if you've got a mo' day here at the MCG today..."
(yeah I know. Guess you had to be there.)
I wasn't barracking for either team if I'm being honest, although I did sort of barrack for Brisbane. OK, it was the Eddie factor. And the rabid supporters factor. And the Brisbane were by far the most outstanding team in the comp this year and deserved to win factor. And I barrack for Essendon and just couldn't quite bring myself to overcome historic animosities. Despite my sister going out with a guy whose blood runs black and white.
(my other sister is going out with a Hawthorn supporter. Was she alive during the 80s?!?!? Now that's historic animosity! ;-))
I still find it incredibly disappointing that they stopped giving out runners up medals some years ago. Not only because it sets a really really bad example (you expect the under 10's to go up and shake hands and congratulate people at the end, so why not AFL players) but because there's no acknowledgment that there are two teams playing and that both did bloody well to get there.
And Nathan Buckley's complete lack of pleasure in winning the Norm Smith medal (best on ground) was just terrible. At least thank the other team, make an acknowledgment of the fans, thank your own team for crying out loud! Don't just walk off the podium taking the medal off as you go. Yeah, you lost a tight final. That doesn't mean it wasn't honourable, and that you didn't try and that it wasn't a great honour to be named as the best player on the ground. It was really bad sportsmanship.
I've had footy players (at district level) telling me that you can't expect people to be gracious in defeat, that there's too much emotion tied up in it. Pigs arse guys. Look at some of the old footage. There was equally as much emotion then (perhaps more even, as the teams were even more strongly linked to communities and players generally came from within those communities) and they still managed to accept defeat, shake hands and even crack a smile. Well, sometimes. Othertimes it was more of a grimace.
It's the whole "winning is everything" philosophy, and it annoys me. We can't all win - how do you win without someone else losing? At the end of the day (footy cliche alert!) it's going to come down to you win some, you lose some (footy cliche #2 alert).
ANZ bank ran a campaign recently with photos of people who came runners up in things (the most memorable being the guy who came runner up to Arnold Schwartnegger in the Mr Universe competition - he's still huge ) and with the slogan "No one remembers who came second."
Two words guys: Stirling Moss.
It's not whether you came in first or second that matters in the long term, it's how you reacted in the face of victory or defeat. Graciousness beats pettymindness in the long term always. John Landy and Ron Clarke.
And hey, there's always next time.
Carna Bombers 2003! ;-)
</lj-cut
