Sunday, November 8, 2009

Over there they die from what we buy from drugs

I was reading through the news the other day and there was a section about soccer riots. It made me wonder, some of my friends talk day in day out about soccer and I'd remember in high school when their talks would get heated. Then whenever I said that the sport was shit, they'd make a come back saying "soccer is the world game!". I agree that it is a good sport, it brings people together... but what of all the negativity surrounding it?

- 1994: Andres Escobar; Colombian defender assassinated over own goal
- 2006 Italian game riggin scandal
- Bulgarian soccer players expelled for homosexual activity (I actually lol'd at this)
- COUNTLESS soccer riots over years

Again, with the cryptic posts. Where am I going with this?! To put it in laymen terms; when things get too big, they also get bad. If you've ever heard of "too much of a good thing is a bad thing" then you know exactly what I'm talking about. Should we concerned when something we love gets too much exposure? Of course, because there are always going to be people that abuse the shit out of it. Should we be concerned when too many people start attending the concert of your favourite rapper? Of course, because then people misconstrue their image.

Another example would be the broncos vs dragons game that I went to a couple weeks ago. A fight occurred in the crowd between a broncos and a dragons fan, in this case the dragons fan did nothing wrong but rather he was provoked. I'm a broncos fan and the brawl did entertain me but I felt like the dragons fan was hard done by. The point in this case was that the broncos fan that provoked the guy was a dickhead for doing so; why did something everyone in the stadium love so much have to attract such negativity? Why can't people enjoy something in peace without it going the wrong way?

To quote a man in his lyrics "Good morning, this aint vietnam, still, people lose hands, arms and legs for real"

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Then you only leave space to discriminate

Ever been curious as to how a player in a team sport feels when they’re sitting there on the bench whilst their team mates are out there doing whatever they can to win the game? Ever wondered what happens when a player goes onto the bench after being out there for maybe half an hour? Many would probably consider those benchwarmers to be near useless and out of the game, unable to contribute to the team effort. However, there are a number of things people don’t realise about those that are benchwarming.


Screw these analogies. People on the sideline see things with (what I hope would be) a neutral opinion and see things for what they really are. They get a chance to analyse, so to speak. Though, you begin to wonder; what can be seen from the sideline? We see that there are things wrong with how the game's played (or how people act to their peers) and maybe we're not approaching the game in the best way possible. To be corny... "Whatchu talkin bout Willus?"


* We get told what's good and what's bad, without making that decision for ourselves
* We do things for the wrong reasons. Expecting a good deed from a good deed does not make you a good person
* We don't explore and instead we stick with what we're comfortable with
* Likewise, we don't accept different opinions
* We judge by appearances
* We assume and don't look into things
* We don't take time out for those that we care about
* We are too concerned with what people think of us
* We think too short term
* We develop double standards
* We forget the simple things
* We refuse to accept reality at times and even make excuses
* We dwell on things and don't move on due to pride, insecurity or other reasons
* We are too quick to point out others' shortcomings when not working on our own
* We mistake things for one another, ie: revenge is not the same as justice, kindness isn't the same as loving

I'm also guilty of doing such things. Some of those things contradict/conflict with one another. Perfection is impossible.