Here's the whole thing...

(and prolly the reason you can't read it is because the URL Prags posted in the message title got broken up a bit)

Just don't eat the celery
By Aki Riihilahti



PHONE RINGS. IT HAS DONE IT BEFORE. That bastard. Just when I was about to start watching football. ?Where the $*#& are you? You are supposed to play here now.? My friend is annoyed in the other end. I can already see the script. Deep down he must know it as well. I kindly ask him is there anyone else around and does it look like the game is about to start soon.
My friend is a sort of a rocket scientist, but still it wasn?t hard to realise that Queens Park Rangers stadium?s gates were shut with heavy iron chains and the stadium and streets were empty. It wasn?t because supporters would be boycotting the game after they heard I might be back from an injury. The game is just not till Monday.



Rocket scientists aren?t that clever after all. Or this one maybe just jailed with the past. He says it comes from his backbone to turn up every Saturday 3 o?clock to the stadium. He admits, though, that sometimes it?s been quite stupid since it was away game day. Apparently sometimes the clock has also failed him after a couple of pints. However, football for him has always happened when Saturday comes. These days the fixture lists are closer to rocket science. Some traditions are gone.

Now football can and is being played whenever. So don?t blame me for trying to pick up your tickets two days too early. Blame the television?s domination for the evolution of the game that made you to travel all that way with the District Line. This weekend there were already as many Premiership games on Sunday than Saturday.

The genius masterpiece was Man City versus Everton at 11.15am yesterday. It?s shocking to start a game before noon. I haven?t played a game at that time since I was a little kid. Surely I have never heard professional football played that early. That?s like celebrating Christmas in October. I?m not saying this because I?d be lazy and spoilt. I?m just worried the Premiership quality guarantee is sometimes a bit sleepy in the mornings. I understand that it is not very early to work for most people. However, this work is very different. Giving your body, heart and soul don?t come automatically with morning coffee. Many people still think we just need to show up and run after a round object for couple of hours before going home to buy fancy cars and make troubles at exclusive parties. If they ever let me in, I might have once tried all this, but I can assure you all footballers look the game very differently.

The preparation is 95 per cent of the game. Just showing up it is not a career. That is Sunday league football. Reaching your potential and showing it requires more than just remembering how to put your alarm clock and boots on. It is all how professionally you approach the game all the time. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Someone, a rocket scientist perhaps, has, for example, shown a lot of tested evidence that physiologically your body can peak earliest after six hours from waking up and digesting food takes minimum of three hours.

An 11.15am kick-off would then mean that alarm should start violating me at 5.15 in the morning, soon followed by jogging and big plate of pasta latest at 7.30 for me to be physically and mentally my optimal for the game. My body clock shows a middle finger to this idea. I could probably negotiate a deal with my eyes to open that time, but my body wouldn?t, even if I had tried to adapt it to that rhythm for days.

Already an idea of cooking pasta hours before morning greetings from Soccer AM puts my stomach upside down. I have to say a too-early kick-off gives more emphasis to adapting to circumstances than possessing the skills. You never know what feelings you are going to wake up with and you have no time to smooth yourself into it. So the quality of games and individual performances can vary drastically.

Luigi called me worried this Friday when I hadn?t showed up to local Italian restaurant for my normal chicken pesto pasta. They know my routines, but I explained Luigi the change in the fixtures. Playing Monday is not so hard, but it is weird. I?m so used to some routines.

It?s all new to me to have some time in hand before Sunday. I still didn?t want to be on my feet too much before the game, so I didn?t know what to do. I know no other Fridays than staying in watching those rubbish TV series that only Friday can offer. Nobody even calls me any more at weekends because they know I?d just be boring and say no to everything.

I took the easy option. I watched most of the games the television is filled with to remind us what we should like and why all the wives hate the satellite television now. Before I even realised, the weekend was gone. It?s quite sad really that only thing you remember from these beautiful autumn days is Tottenham?s and Man Utd?s remarkable comebacks, Kuqi?s two goals and Musampa?s wild haircut. All the plans of maximising the living went to toilet by the power of remote control. I was hypnotised by the constant offer of games and the entertainment that the English football provided. They always make it to look a better deal than actually doing something.

To show as many games as possible, television has made Premiership like a never-ending feast. Like Christmas. You have all sorts of food and it will never run out. No matter what time you are hungry you can munch it for the whole day. Some people are already talking about inflation. The supply has beaten the demand. Well, who told you to eat it all? There is no reason to eat anything with celery for example. And you know what game I mean with this. Still because we all are deep down greedy fat bastards, we keep on consuming anyway.

I don?t mind playing early or Monday or whenever if people really want to watch just football all the time. It is danger, though, that it will be too much at some point. Maybe we lose the next generation because kids can?t make the kick-off times with their dads any more. Maybe all the wives start a riot against Sky Television. Or because of everyday dose you become immune to the traditional Saturday adrenalin rush.

Then all the rocket scientists don?t even bother trying to come to the games any more since they?ve already been overdosed by the fixtures. From there you are one step away to losing the real supporters who actually live and breathe the game ? preferably on Saturdays.

Posted By: Jim Nasium on October 3rd 2005 at 14:20:59

Message Thread

Reply to Message

In order to add a post to the WotB Message Board you must be a registered WotB user.

If you are not yet registered then please visit the registration page. You should ensure that their browser is setup to accept cookies.

Log in