If like me, you're cycnical and beaten down from years of supporting failure, you'll know a big part of the joy of sport is very negative in nature. Cheering against somebody is just as satisfying as cheering for your team, and every individual hero needs an anti-hero. As an example, I'm watching San Jose against New York right now, and cheering very much against New York rather than for San Jose.
Two articles in the Guardian over the last couple of days really speak to me in this way. Firstly, this article from Marina Hyde is simply about the people and things you hate in sports. The article itself isn't all that special, but the comments section is gold. Pure bitter hateful gold.
Next up is this article from Harry Pearson, which takes things to a more complicated area, when for whatever reason, usually a manager/coach you don't like, you start to secretly, sub-consciously, cheer against your team. I think a lot of people started to feel that way about TFC towards the end of Preki's reign, each woeful, scoreless loss inching us closer to his exit. I was more the other way round, I didn't want him fired, so I must confess to a small tinge of satisfaction when we started leaking goals all over the place under Dasovic.
So, if you're of a certain miserable, cynical mindset, both articles are well worth a read.
As for the New York-San Jose game, San Jose won 3-1, 3-2 on aggregate, and what a game it was, fantastic entertainment. The defending wasn't great from either side, so for the sake of his health, I hope Preki wasn't watching, but if you like attacking play, lots of chances and plenty of goals, and didn't actually see the game, find it on the internet and watch the whole thing. Seriously.
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