The Summer of My Discontent

Can it be any bleaker at the moment? It’s a sunny warm day and the birds are chirping and the the cricketers are shining their balls until they get those nasty red stains down their pants. It seems like the lawn and gardens have suddenly taken steroids and need constant attention and also the ankle biters don’t have school anymore so the noise level around the place is unbearable.

Yes we are within the bleakest depths of the off season. The time when football withdrawal is starting to get unbearable and the next game is still months away. If only we could hibernate like bears and wake up just before the NAB Cup starts, ready to rumble.

The trusty DVD’s are getting a play now to try and ease the withdrawal symptoms. AFL websites are trawled daily but let’s face it there is no real news now. Just puff pieces about who is training the house down and stories proclaiming the “March Champions” as old Captain Blood would say.

BigFooty.com even slows down as people (who reportedly have lives) tend to their overgrown gardens, ankle biters, and Christmas celebrations. The posting has slowed down considerably as no new topics of interest have presented themselves. Rehashing of old topics becomes common fodder until we get some newsworthy off season incident to get excited about.

Sometimes I wonder if this footy limbo is a kind of purgatory. Waiting, ever waiting, just like that Brecht play. But thankfully for us our ‘Godot’ will eventually show up. In the meantime I just have to learn some patience. Maybe a hobby? ohhh crap the lawn needs mowing and I just did it an hour ago! Is that a hobby?

Christmas Parties seem to fill some void but then we all stand around drinking beer and talking about footy. Which seems to just make that sense of loss and desperation more intense. So we drink more beer until a fight breaks out over which Gary Ablett is better. Then the better halves look at us sternly and tell us how we have ruined another Christmas just because we can’t leave our obsessions alone.

Then over the new year a trip away with the ankle biters to some beach for some family time usually results in a kick of the footy on said beach which once again awakens that yearning to see the big blokes fly. You meet some other lost souls over a BBQ and in turn we all turn to footy chat. You may even nicely discuss other teams and players and what you think their prospects are. Even though you hate said team with a passion, such hostility is set aside in the name of civilisation, just for the summer.

So however you are coping without the footy in your life at present. I hope this Christmas and New year is bearable and you find some enjoyment in other pursuits. Oh crap I have to mow the lawn again…bloody summer!

Tags: CatmanForever