Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Hope
This is not about the President. This is not about Bill Clinton and Hope, Arkansas. This is about yesterday's Champion's League match and the hope that sports fans have to maintain just like people who aren't sports fans.
Last week, Chelsea beat Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield, crushing the hopes of faithful Reds worldwide. I watched Fernando Torres score the first goal after five minutes and thought, this is going to be GREAT! The last time I thought that, the exact same thing happened: Liverpool scored against Spurs or Everton in one of the Cup matches earlier this season and they promptly lost. I should have learnt my lesson. So sue me.
Yesterday, Liverpool came to Stamford Bridge needing to win by three goals (as goals scored away from home are weighted more in the two-legged matches playe in soccer matches). What ensued was not the prettiest game in the world; I've seen plenty of great Liverpool performances - against Newcastle Boxing Day 1996 and against Derby County last year leap to mind, not to mention the last FA Cup Final win over West Ham. Those were the ones for the ages. This was just a fun match that broke my heart.
Liverpool took a quick 2-0 lead and I thought, no, I can't think that again. Liverpool already beat Chelsea at the Bridge in the League earlier this year, breaking an 87-game unbeaten streak. This, folks, is not easy to do, yet Liverpool did it. In fact, last weekend's League matches saw Chelsea win a 4-3 squeaker while Liverpool won 4-0. Then Guus Hiddink must have sprinkled pixie-dust on the Chelsea players because just after the half, they got right back into it at 2-2, then 3-2. Liverpool equalized at 3-3 then took the lead through a brilliant Dirk Kuyt header only to see it crash back down with another Chelsea goal to end it at 4-4. A 7-5 aggregate score. And Chelsea Moves on to face Barcelona in the semifinals. (According to Sky, Man Utd will face Arsenal in the other semifinal, all four teams having been to the Champions League final in the last three years.)
I mentioned hope earlier. It so happened that today, April 15th (I know it's after midnight but forget that), was the 20th anniversary of the Hillborough disaster at which 96 Liverpool fans were killed in a stadium accident. I - and every other Liverpool fan around the world - had more than just the kernel of hope in our hearts that yesterday's match would result in victory to mark this sad occasion as a little bit positive. We hope that every time the team steps out onto the pitch or the players go out in public that they honor the history of Liverpool Football club and its nearly 120 years, happy occasions and sad alike. We hoped that more than a belief in a single match but a family would triumph, for that is what all Liverpool fans are: family. Family looks after its own. Families grieve together. Families rejoice together.
I know that I am a part of that family because every time I wear a Liverpool shirt or scarf, other members of the Family say something to me. My wife and I went to Giants Stadium for an American football game and I wore my Liverpool scarf. In the concourse, another fan shouted his joyous acknowledgment of our bond. It happens on the street. I've never seen it happen with any other sports shirt, hat, scarf, uniform or anything. It is truly a family.
And this day is always a day when the family must feel together and feel the hope that our shared joy and pain gives to us.
Last week, Chelsea beat Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield, crushing the hopes of faithful Reds worldwide. I watched Fernando Torres score the first goal after five minutes and thought, this is going to be GREAT! The last time I thought that, the exact same thing happened: Liverpool scored against Spurs or Everton in one of the Cup matches earlier this season and they promptly lost. I should have learnt my lesson. So sue me.
Yesterday, Liverpool came to Stamford Bridge needing to win by three goals (as goals scored away from home are weighted more in the two-legged matches playe in soccer matches). What ensued was not the prettiest game in the world; I've seen plenty of great Liverpool performances - against Newcastle Boxing Day 1996 and against Derby County last year leap to mind, not to mention the last FA Cup Final win over West Ham. Those were the ones for the ages. This was just a fun match that broke my heart.
Liverpool took a quick 2-0 lead and I thought, no, I can't think that again. Liverpool already beat Chelsea at the Bridge in the League earlier this year, breaking an 87-game unbeaten streak. This, folks, is not easy to do, yet Liverpool did it. In fact, last weekend's League matches saw Chelsea win a 4-3 squeaker while Liverpool won 4-0. Then Guus Hiddink must have sprinkled pixie-dust on the Chelsea players because just after the half, they got right back into it at 2-2, then 3-2. Liverpool equalized at 3-3 then took the lead through a brilliant Dirk Kuyt header only to see it crash back down with another Chelsea goal to end it at 4-4. A 7-5 aggregate score. And Chelsea Moves on to face Barcelona in the semifinals. (According to Sky, Man Utd will face Arsenal in the other semifinal, all four teams having been to the Champions League final in the last three years.)
I mentioned hope earlier. It so happened that today, April 15th (I know it's after midnight but forget that), was the 20th anniversary of the Hillborough disaster at which 96 Liverpool fans were killed in a stadium accident. I - and every other Liverpool fan around the world - had more than just the kernel of hope in our hearts that yesterday's match would result in victory to mark this sad occasion as a little bit positive. We hope that every time the team steps out onto the pitch or the players go out in public that they honor the history of Liverpool Football club and its nearly 120 years, happy occasions and sad alike. We hoped that more than a belief in a single match but a family would triumph, for that is what all Liverpool fans are: family. Family looks after its own. Families grieve together. Families rejoice together.
I know that I am a part of that family because every time I wear a Liverpool shirt or scarf, other members of the Family say something to me. My wife and I went to Giants Stadium for an American football game and I wore my Liverpool scarf. In the concourse, another fan shouted his joyous acknowledgment of our bond. It happens on the street. I've never seen it happen with any other sports shirt, hat, scarf, uniform or anything. It is truly a family.
And this day is always a day when the family must feel together and feel the hope that our shared joy and pain gives to us.
Labels: Chelsea, family, hope, Kuyt, Liverpool, Torres
