The Love of My Life
Posted: Tue May 11, 2010 4:44 pmI just uncovered this.
Wrote it on May 22 seven years ago.
I still have fantastic memories of this particular night.
The love of my life
Football is often regarded as a passion killer by the partners of sports obsessed members of the male species.
It can sometimes even cause a messy end to an otherwise loving relationship.
While it hasn’t ever come to close to that drastic step in our household, a recent trip to Footy Park for the Adelaide and Collingwood match provided Mel and I with plenty to, well, not talk about afterwards.
The match, which I’m sure you all know resulted in Collingwood winning a thriller, provided me with my proudest moment as a Magpie supporter.
Walking out of Footy Park after the match with just about the biggest grin I’ve ever had on my smacker, having survived my trip into the ‘lion’s den’, gave me a huge victory induced high. But reality hit home very quickly afterwards.
All I wanted to do was share my joy at such a fantastic moment and talk to someone about our escape to victory.
But, no, there was no avenue to do that with my Crows supporting fiancée.
I was met with a frosty wall of silence every time I talked about Tarrant’s kick under pressure, which sailed through the goals and over our heads. It’s a wall the women in our life have perfected – I’m sure you’ve all experienced it.
The ride back to our hotel wasn’t really much fun either. Football talk on the radio was vetoed and my scarf, which usually hangs out of the window in the football tradition after a win, remained coiled up on the back seat like a black and white snake.
The scarf wasn’t going to bite – but the love of my life might well have.
I learnt early on in our relationship that it wasn’t a good idea to cheer too loudly when my team plays the Crows.
In 1993, when we had been together for around six months, Collingwood travelled to Adelaide for a crucial game.
A win in the last match of the minor round would secure the Magpies a position in the finals. A loss would doom the Colliwobbles to an inactive September.
I became very, very ****y after Collingwood started off in blistering fashion and headed to a six goal lead. Jumping on the couch I happily spruiked to Mel and her fellow Crows supporting friends that Collingwood were on their way to another premiership flag.
To my total dismay, the Pies self exploded after half time and the Crows plucked at the visitors’ carcass as they headed to a win and their first taste of finals action.
I deservedly copped a complete bagging and the biggest villain was the love of my life, who took great delight in reminding me of my comments.
My confidence in Collingwood was forever shattered and even to this day I’m never certain of a win until the final siren sounds.
It was with these thoughts in mind that I knocked back a ‘friendly wager’ on the outcome of the most recent game. It was a match we were attending, almost masochistically, as a 10th anniversary present to ourselves.
After the first quarter, my reasoning for not taking the bet seemed ominously accurate. My loving partner and the 40,000 or so Crows supporters in the stands reminded me of this as the margin exploded to six goals at quarter time.
When our forwards came to the northern end an Adelaide supporter joked “I suppose we won’t see much action up this end for a quarter”.
But then the fight back started. Our midfielders Shane O’Bree, Nathan Buckley and Paul Licuria started to dominate and the margin was whittled away ever so slightly.
At the end of the quarter Mel again offered me a bet. I stayed true to my resolution, much as a peace loving Gandhi would have when faced with impending violence.
Throughout the following two quarters the Magpies battled the odds until finally gaining the lead with a Scott Burns goal early in the fourth term.
An Anthony Rocca soccer goal put us further in front, but then the Crows took flight – finding reserves of energy to regain the lead and move out to a five goal margin. Miraculously the Magpies clawed back until when with about 25 seconds in the match remaining they forced a boundary throw in on the eastern wing.
At this point, I looked at Mel, put my around her and wished her good luck. Not expecting the result to favour myself, I was hoping she wouldn’t be too cruel when the Crows held on for a one point victory.
But then a miracle was produced by our courageous captain Nathan Buckley. Poor Adelaide defence allowed the great man room and his kick under pressure found Tarrant 30 metres out on a slight angle.
The crowd collapsed into virtual silence as the slim forward lined up for the all important shot. Then the hooting started as Crows supporters made their last desperate attempts to put off the man known as Chris ‘Talent’ by his fans.
He goaled, I went mad, cheering, screaming, giving high fives to the nearby Collingwood cheer squad and enjoying the most chaotic few minutes of my life.
Then reality came down like a kind of iron curtain as I realised the love of my life would not be in the least bit happy with the result.
How to handle that? Simple, just shut the hell up and talk about it illicitly with your mates later.
It proved a wise decision. Our January wedding date still stands.
Wrote it on May 22 seven years ago.
I still have fantastic memories of this particular night.
The love of my life
Football is often regarded as a passion killer by the partners of sports obsessed members of the male species.
It can sometimes even cause a messy end to an otherwise loving relationship.
While it hasn’t ever come to close to that drastic step in our household, a recent trip to Footy Park for the Adelaide and Collingwood match provided Mel and I with plenty to, well, not talk about afterwards.
The match, which I’m sure you all know resulted in Collingwood winning a thriller, provided me with my proudest moment as a Magpie supporter.
Walking out of Footy Park after the match with just about the biggest grin I’ve ever had on my smacker, having survived my trip into the ‘lion’s den’, gave me a huge victory induced high. But reality hit home very quickly afterwards.
All I wanted to do was share my joy at such a fantastic moment and talk to someone about our escape to victory.
But, no, there was no avenue to do that with my Crows supporting fiancée.
I was met with a frosty wall of silence every time I talked about Tarrant’s kick under pressure, which sailed through the goals and over our heads. It’s a wall the women in our life have perfected – I’m sure you’ve all experienced it.
The ride back to our hotel wasn’t really much fun either. Football talk on the radio was vetoed and my scarf, which usually hangs out of the window in the football tradition after a win, remained coiled up on the back seat like a black and white snake.
The scarf wasn’t going to bite – but the love of my life might well have.
I learnt early on in our relationship that it wasn’t a good idea to cheer too loudly when my team plays the Crows.
In 1993, when we had been together for around six months, Collingwood travelled to Adelaide for a crucial game.
A win in the last match of the minor round would secure the Magpies a position in the finals. A loss would doom the Colliwobbles to an inactive September.
I became very, very ****y after Collingwood started off in blistering fashion and headed to a six goal lead. Jumping on the couch I happily spruiked to Mel and her fellow Crows supporting friends that Collingwood were on their way to another premiership flag.
To my total dismay, the Pies self exploded after half time and the Crows plucked at the visitors’ carcass as they headed to a win and their first taste of finals action.
I deservedly copped a complete bagging and the biggest villain was the love of my life, who took great delight in reminding me of my comments.
My confidence in Collingwood was forever shattered and even to this day I’m never certain of a win until the final siren sounds.
It was with these thoughts in mind that I knocked back a ‘friendly wager’ on the outcome of the most recent game. It was a match we were attending, almost masochistically, as a 10th anniversary present to ourselves.
After the first quarter, my reasoning for not taking the bet seemed ominously accurate. My loving partner and the 40,000 or so Crows supporters in the stands reminded me of this as the margin exploded to six goals at quarter time.
When our forwards came to the northern end an Adelaide supporter joked “I suppose we won’t see much action up this end for a quarter”.
But then the fight back started. Our midfielders Shane O’Bree, Nathan Buckley and Paul Licuria started to dominate and the margin was whittled away ever so slightly.
At the end of the quarter Mel again offered me a bet. I stayed true to my resolution, much as a peace loving Gandhi would have when faced with impending violence.
Throughout the following two quarters the Magpies battled the odds until finally gaining the lead with a Scott Burns goal early in the fourth term.
An Anthony Rocca soccer goal put us further in front, but then the Crows took flight – finding reserves of energy to regain the lead and move out to a five goal margin. Miraculously the Magpies clawed back until when with about 25 seconds in the match remaining they forced a boundary throw in on the eastern wing.
At this point, I looked at Mel, put my around her and wished her good luck. Not expecting the result to favour myself, I was hoping she wouldn’t be too cruel when the Crows held on for a one point victory.
But then a miracle was produced by our courageous captain Nathan Buckley. Poor Adelaide defence allowed the great man room and his kick under pressure found Tarrant 30 metres out on a slight angle.
The crowd collapsed into virtual silence as the slim forward lined up for the all important shot. Then the hooting started as Crows supporters made their last desperate attempts to put off the man known as Chris ‘Talent’ by his fans.
He goaled, I went mad, cheering, screaming, giving high fives to the nearby Collingwood cheer squad and enjoying the most chaotic few minutes of my life.
Then reality came down like a kind of iron curtain as I realised the love of my life would not be in the least bit happy with the result.
How to handle that? Simple, just shut the hell up and talk about it illicitly with your mates later.
It proved a wise decision. Our January wedding date still stands.
) but on the other hand, I still have the issue of spending too much time away from her at the footy !!
