I was born and raised in a family of man. I still remember fondly how me and my 4 brothers showed our manliness in every inch of our behavior. There were unwritten rules embedded in our mind that we were mandated to follow, rules that we thought would turn us into a real man. As I grew older I found out these rules were mostly bollocks, often made by my own dad to impose his man power on us kids (there's no such things as becoming sexually impotent for wearing your briefs at night right?) . Nevertheless, I spent a good chunk of my childhood abiding these rules, thus making me the man I am today.
One of the main rules was as a man, I must like sports. It doesn't matter what sport it is, make it basketball, football, volleyball or whatever, as a child with a banana like organs between my crotch, I am obliged to follow sports or my dad would cut off my dangler so I can become a girl. So there was I, some 20 years back, sitting in front of the tube, forced to change from cartoons to sport programs, where I would spend the next hour or so watching something I can barely understand (By the way, watching too much cartoons will make the eyes blind, as mentioned by the rules). I hated it so much back then, pretty much unaware how much sports were going to be a big part of my life later.
Little by little, the influence of sport in my life became bigger and bigger. No longer it was just something to do during my past time. All of the sudden, sport started to represent me. It has become a big part of my life, the main topic of conversation. I started to become more passionate about the teams that I supported, and I am so proud to say that I am and always will be a devoted Arsenal fan. I still remember the year 1997/98, when Arsenal won the Premier League. Back then, 99.9% of the school population supported that damn Devils from Manchester, and I was the only person who was bold enough to come out and declare myself as an Arsenal fan. You would not believe the abuse I got whenever Arsenal got beatan that year, and especially when ManUre got that infamous 12 point lead, damn, it was like living in the West Bank of Gaza. It was torture, man. And when Arsenal clawed their way and pipped ManUre for the title? I was so elated and felt like want to tell the world how great I was for supporting the champions. The problem was, I had no one to celebrate with!! Ha Ha!!
Sports for me is a human devotion like no other(there's that one devotion to Allah, which is THE ultimate devotion of all, but that's another story) . Humans need inspiration to motivate them on achieving the hardest of feats. What better can inspire us than sports? Sports let us dream, inspire us to do something that we could never do. Sports taught me that no matter who you are and where did you come from, if you really wanted something, you give all you got to achieve it, then nothing's impossible. Micheal Jordan came from a humble background to become the best basketball player ever. Pele survived a life of gangsters and criminals to win the World Cup 3 times. Arsenal were just a mid table scrapper before becoming a title challenger every year. All of these sportsmen were just ordinary men, just like all of us before they became superstars. Their unmatched will and desire to be the best, their mentality of winning at all cost added up to their hours of hardwork are great examples for all of us to follow. Sports can give us elation, an exhilaration of joy and pride. But the most important of all, sports let us dream, let us believe that no matter who we are or where did we come from, we can achieve anything we wished for if we have the outmost desire to realize our dreams. They say 'you reap what you sow', and that's true to every syllable.
Lots of people keep questioning me, why I am so passionate and obsessed with sports, with Arsenal especially. I don't mind that, but what really bothers me is that the ones who keep asking are the ones who spent hours idolising Akademi Fantasia, and spending lots of money on magazines about cars (without the money to buy them!). Sorry, but I'd rather spend my weekend nights watching football at nearby mapley rather than watching a bunch of monkeys humiliating themselves by singing.
Cut my skin, my blood is red and white,
Dare to pull down my pants, I got a cannon between my crotch.
Arsenal for Life!!
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