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Last night was why I watch football and why I follow a team despite all the pain and heartbreak that comes with it. And it’s why I follow it together with others. Here’s what I mean.
Last night in a stupid tournament in a dumb league we got to watch half our team backed by a 21 year old keeper pull some effort straight out of their asses. There is no way we were winning this tournament so why bother watching?
You watch because you don’t want to miss Thomas freaking Hasal came of age and if you didn’t see that, you’ll never be able to see it happen again. And you watch with friends (in this case over Twitter) because you need others to confirm what you’re actually seeing.
Football is a finite game played within an infitie game. Ninety minute matches string together over decades to give you an overall drama. For most of us, we support teams that are never going to win something every year. So we latch on to more meaningful things.
We watch a Phonzie breakout game that leaves you star struck years after it happens. We suffer the indignity of a Cup Final snatched away at the death or the moment at which we were on the wrong end of a giant killing. Or the look on Jay Demerits face winning our first away game
We see individuals make their mark in momentary incidents: Hassli removing his second shirt, Reo-Coker’s bone crunching tackle agains San Jose. Earnshaw’s flip. Watson’s slaps.
We see Kah and Kamara taking care of their apprentices. We watch the confounding antics of Brek Shea or the stubborn loyalty of Rusty Teibert. We suffer with the horrible injuries to Kudo or Levis and cheer their recovery and return.
We see the special moments when our own kids take to the field. Hasal last week, Colyn replacing Davies, Bair claiming his place...Clark, Norman, McKendry, Adekugbe, Bustos, Carducci.
And we bond over the absurd moments like Mad Dog and Maestro calling a Canada match over a dodgy stream from Belize, or Maloud Akloul tossing his shirt from an upper walkway into a crowd of supporters. An Andrew Jacobson volley.
You remember these granular moments, you remember who you were with. How you celebrated or died a little together. Especially on the road. When Ousted gives his boots to the two supporters that watched DC out 4 past us on the road. Singing on the A train going to the Bronx.
For most clubs, the long game is about frustration over success. Most of our teams are more than a starting left back away from a trophy. We can demand top results - and we should - but that should never colour the joy of these snatched moments.
That is what forms the culture around a club. It’s not the club’s job to do that in this weird league of MLS. A franchise is a bad model for community.
No.
It is the job of supporters to do that, to assemble a set of moments into an identity.
No.
It is the job of supporters to do that, to assemble a set of moments into an identity.
This week we got to watch Tomas Hasal add a tile to the wall of stories that supporters will tell for years. Not just about his performance and his character but also about what we were all saying while we watched it unfold.
All to say that, even though I cancelled a season’s ticket because I don’t trust A dishonest tech bro to manage my money, the transactional oart of fandom is never the thing that matters to fans. It’s the meaning, the emotion and the togetherness that matters.
So in the glow of a new day when we have to wait for whatever the next iteration of the league play is, let’s just take a moment to appreciate WHY we do this together.
It’s you guys, friends. Community and belonging. If it isn’t about then it’s just one more distraction.
It’s you guys, friends. Community and belonging. If it isn’t about then it’s just one more distraction.
It’s always great to be together, either in real life or here online, which is the next best thing, to witness these shared experiences.
Thanks to all of ya! As usual, you made that way more fun than I expected.
Thanks to all of ya! As usual, you made that way more fun than I expected.
