I'm a sports hooligan... How about you?

Hi, my name is Warren and I'm a sports hooligan.

Not in the REAL meaning of sports hooligan. I mean I don't go to sports activities and take the mickey out of the opposition. I don't go running around looking for the opposition just to beat them up, I don't go and troll or repeatedly spike people over and over just to get a reaction. No. I'm one of those scream at the referee whilst watching the tv with a tinnie in his hand hooligan. One of those "I could do better than that" types that hasn't picked up a ball or a club or a stick or a racquet in 5 or six years one. One of those hooligan types that yells provocative sayings and wears very flamboyant anti-opposition t-shirt ones. Y'know the ones! The ones that just love sport.

And here are my favourite sports:

Football - as in soccer/european football 

Footy - as in Aussie Rules Football (AFL) and that's because I'm Australian

F1 - yes as boring as it is to some, it's still the most expensive and glamorous sport out there

Skateboarding - Tony Hawk's fault

BMX - Nicole Kidman's fault, but before that, I loved getting "air" on my bmx (which wasn't even a true BMX, it was an MX), and who DIDN'T love doing that in their back yard or on their street

NFL - yes, I like NFL - which is called gridiron regularly by Aussies

V8 Supercars - big tanked up V8 cylinder monsters flying around a track

NASCAR - yep - as boring as it is sometimes

Cricket - I'm half Aussie half Anglo Indian - go figure

Hockey - I used to play when I was in school (and a bit after school) and I was damned good at it (nearly went national!)

And there are ones that I watch when there's a good rivalry or killer game on (like a derby):

Basketball - Thanks to Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Luc Longley

Athletics - usually when the Olympics are on

Rugby Union - don't watch league, but Union - yes

Ice Hockey - for the fights

Cycling - when the Tour de France is on

Wrestling - you know the WWE (or is it the WWF?)

and there are a few weird ones...:

Basque Pelota - any sport that can kill people and still be called a sport is ok in my book (F1 for example)

Extreme Ironing - go and check this shit out...

The Wife Carrying Competition - this is another you should check out

Bossaball - only just got into this - it's going to be a cracking sport - watch out for this

Roller Derby - it's Rollerball - have you seen this movie? 

Cheerleading - ummm... yeah - for the amazing... flexibility?

Base Jumping - I keep dreaming about this one

and The Running of the Bulls

and Tomatina..

Well there you go. I probably have forgotten some of them. But this makes me an absolute sports nut in my own book. I mean, I'm even fascinated by the team colours and jerseys! I have a few Football ones, I have an AFL one, I have a few other ones (like some cricket and hockey ones) and I always wear them when I can. Ever heard of the guy that was asked to wear his best shirt to an event and he turned up with his favourite team jersey on? Yeah - well I'd do that.

I've stayed up all night just to see my favourite team in the world lose. I've been halfway across the world to see two teams that I don't support go to battle. I've bought a team t-shirt of a country's sport that I've never ever watched, and I've paid some reasonable money to go to a final of a sport that I didn't even like that much.

Y'see... growing up in Australia ('Straya for all youse Aussies out there!), it's like you're baptized in the almost tribal like aggregation. Be it the first time mum and dad or the grandparents take you to a game live. Even if you won't even remember it. I was taken to my first football game when I was 2, I think? It was an AFL game in Fremantle, Western Australia, where I'm from. I couldn't give a toss who was playing (but the ref did), but I had a ball with the local kids just running around for hours, only to fall asleep in the car on the way home (which was about 50 metres down the road if I remember)

I remember being taken to the Speedway by my dad (R.I.P. - I miss you dad) and watching the bikes and the cars go round and round and round. Just HOPING to God that there would be a crash or two... just like now. I pray that there's a whopping big crash - and not hoping that the driver are dismembered or have any harm to them - no - it's for the carnage. 

Ever been to a Demolition Derby?

NOW THAT'S A SPORT!

18 guys who are either stuntmen, training to be stuntmen or who are just plain crazy, drive around in bombs which have been juiced up (or souped up) going crazy-oh-bonkers in every which way, just to smash the absolute crap out of anyone else's car, just to be the last car driving, and hence the winner. That there is real survival of the fittest.

And I get the rage when I see something go the wrong way too. Especially against one of my favourite teams, and especially in a final or grand final. OMG! Don't get me started on this one!

Then there is the injuries and setbacks. Like when a player get's knocked out, but he's playing football or even cricket (it's happened!). And the injuries that marr a player's whole season at the wrong moment, like when he's the star player and the team are going to the finals (ala Wayne Rooney). It's the feeling you get. The feeling of "oh crap! He's down!" or "oh man! He's not going to be fit for the derby!" or even "fuckin' idiot shouldn't have gone on a safari two days before the big game - now he's out for the season...". Or the feeling you get when the OPPOSITION has that happen to them, and you almost get butterflies at the prospect of not facing that player in the next match, or for the title...

It's THAT feeling, that people get. And it's that feeling that makes me watch. I just can't help it. I suppose for the ladies, who DON'T watch sport, it's like finding that pair of shoes...

But this blog is for that. The sport of sport watching. I'll be on here whenever there's a great game or just after it, telling you what's going on, and what I am feeling. And I know there are hundreds, if not, thousand of people out there that feel the same way. And this blog is for you.

Next Post:

My favourite Teams