Mar 31 2007
Shall We Play A Game?
The whole "sport hooligan" thing escapes me.
To be honest, the whole thing with obsessively rooting for professional sports, in general, escapes me.
As I've mentioned before, in my opinion, except for pure and abject boredom, there is absolutely no valid reason to root for a professional sports team.
The players on those teams don't know you, they don't like you, and most of them would just as likely have you killed to make a set of curtains out of your skin for their summer home in the Bahamas rather than spend a minute of time with you.
It is a ridiculous endeavor.
And that's what makes the whole idea of "sports hooliganism" all the more absurd (but ultimately, also all the more fascinating from an anthropological standpoint).
Not only do these mouth-breathers become so obsessed with the goings on of players on their favorite teams, they actually get so worked up that they are willing to kill, and be killed, all in the name of a sports team — typically consisting of a bunch of oversized megalomaniacal hop-heads, looking for nothing more than to make enough money to buy another luxury car to wreck, or to pay off the massive gambling debts incurred by their entourage.
However, out of Greece this week comes word of sports hooliganism I can almost understand.
Yes, they are rabid sports-fans, irrationally willing to defend the honour of their team to the death.
Yes, they got completely out of hand at a sporting event involving their favorite team.
Yes, they caused mayhem, destruction and death during an awe-inspiring brawl with their rivals.
But this time, at least it wasn't involving something as silly as soccer or American football.
This time, it was volleyball.
Womens volleyball.
Brawl Halts Team Sports In Greece
Greek authorities have canceled all team sports matches for two weeks after a mass brawl between rival women's volleyball fans left one man dead.The 25-year-old man who died had head injuries and stab wounds, doctors said. Several other people were injured in the brawl in the Peania area outside Athens.
"They were jumping on our car for five minutes, they were asking for our mobile phones and stabbed our driver," one witness said.
"We had warned that this game was dangerous," the head of Greece's volleyball federation, Thanassis Beligratis, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.
What. The. Fuck?
All kidding aside, these are the peoples who birthed a nation that has lasted for over 3,000 years and is generally considered to be the seminal culture that provided the foundation for all of Western Civilization.
And now they're stabbing people at a womens volleyball tournament. For cell-phones.
Words escape me.
(Via With Leather)
Bwahaha. I absolutely agree. It seems so absurd that it’s immensely interesting. “We had warned that this game was dangerous” just cracks me up.
I can understand the original Greek adoration of the human body and the Olympics, but routing for a team? Obsessively adoring a person to the point where you’re willing to die for it? Mind boggling.
volleyball dangerous!? and so is my 93 year old grandpa!
happy pesach sweetheart!
Wow. This is why I abstain from watching anything other than the X-Games (summer and winter). I’ve never been able to rap my head around the idea of even casually referring to player stats, who was in what line up, and whether someone should be traded. Who really fucking cares? These juicers make a million dollars riding pine and they still bitch about their contracts. I really could care less for sports in general and I’m always amazed at the looks I get from people (in particular other guys) when I say that I don’t watch sports.
I’d rather read a book.
Oh man, I’m Greek and I founded randomly your post. Let me tell you that this is the way we like our sports right here, in Europe. I’m watching NBA and it’s really a different world for me. Seeing fans of rival teams siting next to each other without a whole platoon of policemen and fences looks so strange to my fellow Europeans. Have you ever seen such movies as Football Factory? They describe the way we perceive sports. It’s time to put out everything that bothers us. Most of the hooligans don’t even know the names of the players on their teams, they just find it the best way to get together and fight. Seriously, the country that gave birth to sports is the one who has completely degenerated them.
Stathis, thanks for the insight. Although I know a bunch of Europeans and Americans living in Europe (including Hthth and Tisha - Good Yontif to you too), as a stupid American, I wasn’t aware of the factors you mentioned in your comment.
Thanks much for the insight, but in my opinion, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that hooliganism is really fucking stupid.
As you said, I believe that not only hooliganism is stupid, but even getting obsessed with a team isn’t really flattering for someone. But around here we are taught in this situation, so even really smart people can’t “quit” this habit.
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