A recent discussion of the difference between heroes and idols has started me thinking. I reckon, speaking as someone who has read greek mythology and the like, shakespeare's finest and a whole lot of kids stuff in the middle - I reckon a hero is someone who is deserving. A damsel in distress needs a hero; an idol, however, is just this newer version of a hero. In the Greek stories, all the heroes have similar qualities, because back then, if you weren't muscley, you weren't any good as a worker. If you weren't clever, or independent, or motivated, you'd never have anything to drive you. But now, an idol is just a figure which aspiring little shit-bags want to grow up like. Wayne Rooney is an idol: he's adulterous, he's conceited, he is raping our nation of money he doesn't deserve and he's not exactly 'one in a million': considering our population of almost 7,000,000,000: how many people play football professionally? How many teams are there in England alone - oh wait, there's like 6 leagues, there's so many. Then the Scottish leagues. And that's only England. When you really think about the maths, football isn't very impressive. Tennis, golf, snooker... maybe even darts! When there's so few people who maintain a high standard THEMSELVES, they can be classed as 'one in a million', or whatever. Of course, some team sports are impressive: ice hockey, MY GOD. Ever tried to play hockey on grass? Not easy. Now imagine you're sliding everywhere. Jesus! And rubgy - I'm sorry, but the 'off-side' rule is nothing compared to the whole 'you can only throw behind you' stuff - which leads onto Polo, the most technical game in the world. And that also takes a lot of skill in training ponies too. I'm not big on sports, as I never excelled at school, and I've always been bitter about it. But I appreciate what is and isn't hard, athletically, and football is probably one of the easiest sports, particularly in England, to get into. But that doesn't stop the thousands of people, who despite being educated, and clever, and independently thinking beings, they still are sucked into the highly consumer-driven world of Football, and everything false it represents.
Just to be fair, I'll point the finger at Norwich. If you took Aviva off their shirts, shot Delia Smith in the head and only let people from Norwich play (and manage), they would not be so high in the league. So whats more important, the pride of the canaries, and winning, or actually having some true sporting meaning behind it. Blackball - random film the clown used to watch a lot - kind of expresses the hypocrisy of sports, and the media behind sports.
The biggest gear-grinder for me, though, was last night. The boys, discussing Arsenal vs Barcelona - someone actually said the phrase "Barcelona were playing like a real Spanish team". What, in the name of everything, the FUCK, does that mean??? Boys, I'm sorry, I know you love it - but you all know as little as each other about these things. You cannot pretend to know the tactics of each country's way of playing. Its not impressive, for one, and more so, you sound like a douche.
Ah, wait off my chest. Now, if only this weren't falling on bored ears...