Posted by Morning and welcome to the second week of 2024. I’m guessing by now most resolutions are dead and buried – welcome back to the real world!
A good weekend was ruined by the football, so I need to talk about Arsenal. I’m in two minds how I go about this – I’ve done game analysis posts before, but the target audience for this current form of the blog is a little different. Perhaps I’ll leave the analysis (which you can find elsewhere on the web) and talk more about how football impacts my life and the relationships in it (which hopefully you can’t find elsewhere on the web).
For those not aware – I’m a little obsessed with my football team. Arsenal lost a cup game against Liverpool yesterday and are on a terrible run. It’s put a real stinker on the week, if not the year so far! Put it this way – on Christmas Day I was convinced Arsenal were going to win the league. By the turn of the year I was eating my words as we dropped to 4th in the league. I jinxed us. It all came down to my comments on Christmas Day.
I’m not usually a superstitious person, however, when it comes to football I am stupidly so. For example, I remember a time many years ago where I walked into the room to watch the game with a glass of wine in my hand – at that very moment Arsenal scored a first minute goal. I then spent the remainder of the game walking out the room and back in again with a glass of wine as a measure of good luck. We didn’t score any more goals, but the game finished 1-0. I had my fair share of wine.
Mrs OddFather doesn’t really get my love for Arsenal. I say Arsenal, and not football because I am a much bigger fan of Arsenal than I am of football. If Arsenal no longer exists, I would no longer watch football. The wife would love that. Apparently, I get too vocal during Arsenal games. If only I had a magic ball to show Mrs OddFather what I was like watching football 20 years ago. I’m rather chilled in comparison now.
It probably didn’t help that for Mrs OddFather’s 30th birthday many years ago, I got her tickets to watch an Arsenal game live. To be fair it was against the best team in the world at that time – Barcelona. She also did hint that she’d like to experience a live game at some point. And it wasn’t her only present – she got an Arsenal shirt to go with it… What?
My biggest issue is usually post-game, after Arsenal lose, I can be quite reactive. That’s an understatement. I get a lot of crap from rival fans – particularly Villa fans. You know who you are. And my biggest flaw is I can’t help but bite. I’ve lost many a friend in my life for these reactions.
So my aim going forward is to remain calm and not take the bait. Not give others the joy in getting a reaction from me. Not let football ruin my weekend. And not cling on to superstitions that have absolutely no impact on the game whatsoever.
Oh, and Liverpool fans – fair play on the result.
…May your day be filled with paper cuts.