Football. Why do we bother?

...

It is worth it 100% in my opinion. Its in my blood and i could never walk away from the Wanderers.

Overall the last 10 years have been shite with all the relegations and almost going out of business but then along comes Evatt and things are starting to look a million times better. 

Its that optimism that things can change our way and we can climb up the leagues that keep us all dreaming and following the team. You do have to mix that in with all the shite we've had to put up with over the years but i wouldn't have it any other way, it's what makes football what it is, which is what the people wanting a European Super league wouldn't understand with it being a closed shop with no promotion and relegation.

I'm proud to be a Bolton fan and wear it like a badge of honour these days and you can never say it's boring being a Bolton supporter can you? 

Going through the bad times, sure makes you appreciate the good times more.

Football's a game of false dawns. As observers, we can see what they're trying to do, what they should do etc but most of the time it doesn't come off - the move breaks down, the pass is intercepted, the shot goes wide etc etc. so it's like an eternal groundhog day of seeing the green shoots of a something potentially beautiful raising our hopes that maybe this time it will work and then dashing them - only to start all over again seconds later.
By nature, football messes with your emotions - constantly.

We bother because it's addictive. We are constantly waiting for the rush of that moment when the adrenaline of stress and fear is washed away by the endorphines of relief and happiness.

It's all about the drugs.

It's just a game ffs!

If it interfering with the happiness of my family, I'd pack it in - Christ you put them first not some ridiculously paid blokes kicking a ball about.

I suspect we all got into football because it's how blokes bond, we probably started going when our dad or elder brothers took us, we continued going with our school mates and later on with our work mates.

Football is a common bond we can communicate and relate to strangers almost instantly on meeting them - you know, 'hello my name is Sluffy, I support Bolton, what team do you support' and we can chat away to them immediately from then on.

It does becomes a little part of us, I still feel a tad down when we lose and cheerfuller when we win but I don't lose site that it IS just a game and one that  society massively overvalues and which pays footballers fortunes - and for what - just kicking a ball better than the next man - why is that skill so highly valued more than say a brain surgeons, a nurse or a fireman for instance?

For some reason sport has become politicised, some country's promote themselves on the world stage through such sporting success - probably started in the modern era with Hitler's, Berlin Olympics and carried on through Russia and East Germany in the sixties and seventies, and skip to these days, where super rich people (eg Abramovitch) and country' buy teams (City, PSG) as their personal vanity projects.

Notice how elite sport has been exempted and promoted through the pandemic, when grassroots were shut down and we couldn't leave our homes?

Sport, football in particular, as become the opium of the masses.

In some senses it is used to control the populous in a similar way as the welfare state does - it keeps people 'happy' and preoccupied rather than looking to bringing the governments down.

If you think I've lost the plot a little bit then reflect on how country's such as China, Afghanistan, Iran the middle east, much of sub-Sahara Africa, etc, etc - who don't have such ingrained social norms - and need to use their military to control its dissenters and stop popular unrest against those who control them?

At the end of the day you can only control one thing and that is yourself.

If you act like a bit of a bell-end just because your team is playing badly or lost, then you really need to take a good look at yourself - especially if it is affecting the ones you love around you - and re-evaluate what your priorities should be.

Football is just an interest, a hobby, a pastime, a game, a bit of fun - and nothing more than that.

Football messes with your mind.

I've just been sitting in the garden thinking about the match tonight, part of me is thinking we could do without this midweek cup match it's the league that matters.  Losing to Wigan will help to free our season and reduce the chance of injuries in the next round. Stuffing Wigan though will give me a lovely warm glow and the possibility of further cup progress.  So if we lose I have already prepared the ground to put a positive spin on it. 
If we win though we could beat Man Utd at the Mighty Unibol and go on to demolish Liverpool  in the final at Wembley.

That's why we bother.  (we're fucking crazy)

Sluffy wrote:It's just a game ffs!

If it interfering with the happiness of my family, I'd pack it in - Christ you put them first not some ridiculously paid blokes kicking a ball about.

I suspect we all got into football because it's how blokes bond, we probably started going when our dad or elder brothers took us, we continued going with our school mates and later on with our work mates.

Football is a common bond we can communicate and relate to strangers almost instantly on meeting them - you know, 'hello my name is Sluffy, I support Bolton, what team do you support' and we can chat away to them immediately from then on.

It does becomes a little part of us, I still feel a tad down when we lose and cheerfuller when we win but I don't lose site that it IS just a game and one that  society massively overvalues and which pays footballers fortunes - and for what - just kicking a ball better than the next man - why is that skill so highly valued more than say a brain surgeons, a nurse or a fireman for instance?

For some reason sport has become politicised, some country's promote themselves on the world stage through such sporting success - probably started in the modern era with Hitler's, Berlin Olympics and carried on through Russia and East Germany in the sixties and seventies, and skip to these days, where super rich people (eg Abramovitch) and country' buy teams (City, PSG) as their personal vanity projects.

Notice how elite sport has been exempted and promoted through the pandemic, when grassroots were shut down and we couldn't leave our homes?

Sport, football in particular, as become the opium of the masses.

In some senses it is used to control the populous in a similar way as the welfare state does - it keeps people 'happy' and preoccupied rather than looking to bringing the governments down.

If you think I've lost the plot a little bit then reflect on how country's such as China, Afghanistan, Iran the middle east, much of sub-Sahara Africa, etc, etc - who don't have such ingrained social norms - and need to use their military to control its dissenters and stop popular unrest against those who control them?

At the end of the day you can only control one thing and that is yourself.

If you act like a bit of a bell-end just because your team is playing badly or lost, then you really need to take a good look at yourself - especially if it is affecting the ones you love around you - and re-evaluate what your priorities should be.

Football is just an interest, a hobby, a pastime, a game, a bit of fun - and nothing more than that.

Football is far more than just an interest, a hobby, a pastime, a game, a bit of fun and nothing more than that.

You have kicked the emotion, the  very essence of the game, out of the window.

Sluffy wrote:It's just a game ffs!

If it interfering with the happiness of my family, I'd pack it in - Christ you put them first not some ridiculously paid blokes kicking a ball about.

I suspect we all got into football because it's how blokes bond, we probably started going when our dad or elder brothers took us, we continued going with our school mates and later on with our work mates.

Football is a common bond we can communicate and relate to strangers almost instantly on meeting them - you know, 'hello my name is Sluffy, I support Bolton, what team do you support' and we can chat away to them immediately from then on.

It does becomes a little part of us, I still feel a tad down when we lose and cheerfuller when we win but I don't lose site that it IS just a game and one that  society massively overvalues and which pays footballers fortunes - and for what - just kicking a ball better than the next man - why is that skill so highly valued more than say a brain surgeons, a nurse or a fireman for instance?

For some reason sport has become politicised, some country's promote themselves on the world stage through such sporting success - probably started in the modern era with Hitler's, Berlin Olympics and carried on through Russia and East Germany in the sixties and seventies, and skip to these days, where super rich people (eg Abramovitch) and country' buy teams (City, PSG) as their personal vanity projects.

Notice how elite sport has been exempted and promoted through the pandemic, when grassroots were shut down and we couldn't leave our homes?

Sport, football in particular, as become the opium of the masses.

In some senses it is used to control the populous in a similar way as the welfare state does - it keeps people 'happy' and preoccupied rather than looking to bringing the governments down.

If you think I've lost the plot a little bit then reflect on how country's such as China, Afghanistan, Iran the middle east, much of sub-Sahara Africa, etc, etc - who don't have such ingrained social norms - and need to use their military to control its dissenters and stop popular unrest against those who control them?

At the end of the day you can only control one thing and that is yourself.

If you act like a bit of a bell-end just because your team is playing badly or lost, then you really need to take a good look at yourself - especially if it is affecting the ones you love around you - and re-evaluate what your priorities should be.

Football is just an interest, a hobby, a pastime, a game, a bit of fun - and nothing more than that.

You called for members to contribute more. You called for the fun to be brought back and for the forum to be a friendly and peaceful place to visit.

I'm sure everyone else reading my topic understood that it was written with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. I was exaggerating... attempting to add a little color to make it worth reading and spark some comments when you lot woke up. I apologize if it didn't raise any smiles which was my sole intention.

For what it's worth, my family and I have a perfectly happy life thank you. My wife and kids know how passionate I am about Bolton and delight in poking fun at me when we lose - just all part of the fun.

Before you reply with the usual monotonous diatribe I'll cut to the quick and give you what you're actually looking for...

YOU are a humourless twat, Sluffy!

I'm sure your family love you and you them but exaggeration or not there's something in what you've said that has a certain amount of truth in it, or you wouldn't have bothered making the post say all what you did.

I might well be a humourless twat but I don't put my self-indulgences before my loved ones - never had, never will.

Football IS a game - it is no more than that.

If you, Cajun or anyone else want to attribute anything more to it than that, well that's up to you but it doesn't change the fact it IS just a game when all said and done.

It's simply a competition that has a start and an end and once it has ended everything is scrubbed and started from scratch the next season - nothing more.

It is part of the entertainment industry just in the same way as going to the circus, or theatre, or cinema, or gig/music festival, etc, etc.

Maybe you, Cajun and others get emotionally involved in those things as well?

If you don't - when others clearly do, then are you humourless twat's like me then - because I don't see football being anything more than the game it is?

Deary me Sluffy.

I suppose an orchestra is just a lot of wood and metal, with a few strings thrown in.

Beethoven's ninth symphony is just some squiggly lines on some paper.

"Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that." - Bill Shankly

Come on Sluffy, on this one you do sound like a miserable old chuff. No other interest in my life has given me more pain and pleasure than football. Not just Wanderers, though mainly the Whites but also England over the years. Which of us who were there could ever forget the joy and excitement of winning the World Cup in 66 or the annoyance and disappointment at the “hand of God”? Football is like no other form of entertainment and no matter how much it’s been ruined by money these days, I get as much if not more of a thrill out of watching my 12 year old granddaughter giving it her all for Milmoor Juniors as I do anybody else. You can’t really believe what you just posted but if you do I can only feel sorry on what you’re missing out on.

Whitesince63 wrote:Come on Sluffy, on this one you do sound like a miserable old chuff. No other interest in my life has given me more pain and pleasure than football. Not just Wanderers, though mainly the Whites but also England over the years. Which of us who were there could ever forget the joy and excitement of winning the World Cup in 66 or the annoyance and disappointment at the “hand of God”? Football is like no other form of entertainment and no matter how much it’s been ruined by money these days, I get as much if not more of a thrill out of watching my 12 year old granddaughter giving it her all for Milmoor Juniors as I do anybody else. You can’t really believe what you just posted but if you do I can only feel sorry on what you’re missing out on.

Sluffy wrote:Football is just an interest, a hobby, a pastime, a game, a bit of fun - and nothing more than that.

Sluffy wrote:It is part of the entertainment industry just in the same way as going to the circus, or theatre, or cinema, or gig/music festival, etc, etc.

But you've just agreed with me mate!!!

Football is JUST an interest, an entertainment - it is simply a game that is played - no more than that.

Nobody can say otherwise.

Yes you can add on what more it means TO YOU but that's what YOU are adding on to it - NOT what it actually is.

I have an interest in cycling, another in going to the theatre and one or two other things besides.

I get a lot of enjoyment from them but I know they are only paid performers doing their jobs.  I know they are some of the best out there in the things that they do, I appreciate the skills they display but I don't fool myself that I'm only watching and enjoying an ethereal thing, something of the moment - a performance, a race, an entertainment - because that is what it simply is.

They are NOT a religious thing, like football seems to many, I don't go into a strop or abuse people on twitter because the cyclist I wanted to win didn't or the show I went to see wasn't that good.

Clearly more than a few have lost touch with reality, it seems to them to play a genuine part in their life's, almost as though their football club is one of their own treasured family members.

You might want to view it that way, some may even need to view it that way as it somehow has formed part of their identity but it is just a game.

I'm sure people laugh at obsessives such as trainspotters or slipper collectors, or some such but what's the difference between those and people who devote a chunk of their life to obsessing over football - or a particular club?

There's nothing wrong with having an 'interest' or being 'entertained', but there is when it begins to take on more importance to you than it just being a game, a hobby that you follow if you will.

Anyway you live your life's as you please and I'll live mine knowing that football is just a game but one that clearly many have long lost sight of that being the case.

boltonbonce wrote:Deary me Sluffy.

I suppose an orchestra is just a lot of wood and metal, with a few strings thrown in.

Beethoven's ninth symphony is just some squiggly lines on some paper.

Music doesn't play a big part in my life and classical music even less.

Fwiw I used to have a rather dear lady friend I was once very fond of who did like such stuff and I spent a considerable time down at the Barbican and South Bank taking her to all the shows she wanted to see and hear - so I have tried to get into it - I'd wager probably more than most off here but it simply doesn't do it for me.

Couldn't get into opera or ballet either, both of which I've watched a number of times.

But then again what would you expect from humourless twat like me?

Got a pretty wide taste in music. Used to have a season ticket for The Halle, when they were still at the Free Trade Hall, but don't get to many concerts since they moved to the Bridgewater Hall.
What kind of music floats your boat, Sluffy?
I can picture you swinging along to Sinatra. Am I wrong?

boltonbonce wrote:Got a pretty wide taste in music. Used to have a season ticket for The Halle, when they were still at the Free Trade Hall, but don't get to many concerts since they moved to the Bridgewater Hall.
What kind of music floats your boat, Sluffy?
I can picture you swinging along to Sinatra. Am I wrong?

I'm sure I've told all this before but here it is again.

When I was a child the radio was always on in my house but the music never did much for me, I always preferred to listen to the shows, rather than the music.

I really only got interested in it when I first got interested in girls!

At the time the choice of music was either heavy metal or soul music - and the girls I liked all preferred stuff like Tamala Motown and most of my mates preferred the likes of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

So if I had to choose one or the other - and the girls I wanted to meet liked stuff like Tamla Motown - it wasn't much of a difficult choice for me to pick the one I should go for.

By the time I was ready to settle down some years later the music scene had moved on to acid house and raves and the start of rap and I simply got past bothering with music again.

As for old blue eyes this about sums it up for me in one of his most famous songs - For what is a man, what has he got?  If not himself, then he has naught, To say the things he truly feels, And not the words of one who kneels, The record shows, I took the blows, And did it my way.

Life is just a game to my way of thinking, Bonce, if you or anyone else want to fill yours with music, politics, football, drink/drugs, whatever, then go ahead but non of it means much in the scheme of things really does it?

I simply prefer to play the game my way that's all - what's it matter to anyone else if I like music or not, or if I see football to be no more than a game (which of course that's all it really is - just a game!)?

If that makes me some sort of a humourless twat in some folks eyes, then so what?

I certainly won't lose any sleep over it.