Mancunians from around the world

Warning: this post contains talk of matters pertaining to football.

*both all my readers exit the window*

Being a Manchester United fan can get annoying at times. Although they win a lot, you often find yourself noticing that when they lose, even people who don't support the opposition are happy about it. It's similar to supporting Miami Heat, or The New York Yankees. In more local terms, it would be like someone watching Origin for the first time in the last 4 years and declaring themselves a die hard Maroons fan. Because you support such a big club, you get labeled as a "glory hunter" who cares nothing for the beauty of the sport and only for teams that always win.

This isn't true; not in my case anyway. First of all, anyone who knows me knows that I stick by my teams whether they dominate or they are being useless. I'm not abandoning The Blues for example, although I do wish teams could withdraw from a season and wait until the next one. I support Sydney Roosters too, and I had a bit of a whirlwind with them recently; wooden spoon one year, runners-up the next, back to bottom half finish the year after that, and this season has yet to really gain any momentum at all. The point is though, I'm not ditching them, and I never will.

In fact, when I first started supporting Manchester United, they were in the middle of a trophy drought, having not won the Premiership for 3 seasons. It was during a time when people were questioning the continuing management of Sir Alex, and all the talk was that this was the end of the footballing empire known as Manchester United. And, if you must know, the only reason I started supporting them in the first place was because a friend of mine showed me a video of a goal Ryan Giggs scored over 10 years ago, and my first thought was "Well, I don't know who this guy is or who he plays for, but I like him." Actually no, I lie, my first thought was that he looked a lot like Leon McDonald, but that was a close second.

Now, I've never been to Manchester, but I can tell you that I'm more than just a plastic fan. I'm not just a guy who looked up the Rooney bicycle kick just because it was on the news; I was up watching it live when it happened in the early hours of the morning, as I always am when United games are on. I'm not someone who ditched them after they sold their best player ever Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, because I knew that no one man is bigger than the club, and I stuck around through fruitless times before United won back the League without him.

So why am I saying all this? Simple: Manchester City won the Premier League in the season just finished, and they did the double over United in the process (every team faces each other twice, and City beat United both home and away). One of those two games was the one now dubbed by many 'The Demolition Derby', where City spanked United 6-1 on their own ground. City have more money, an all-round better squad, and all the momentum. All the talk now is about the new kings of Manchester. City are now officially the favourites in the Manchester head-to-heads, and no one can really argue with that. In the process, people expect all the glory hunting plastic fans of United to fall away, and magically become City supporters because they are the new big boys in town.

Haven't we been here before though? When the "Arsenal Invincibles" conquered England, that was supposed to be end of United. And when Jose Mourinho's powerful Chelsea dominated the Premier League, everyone agreed that Sir Alex's time as a winning manager had come to an end. But time and time again, we see Manchester United bounce back, and so they shall again*. And more to the point, time and time again, the real United fans (whether they are Mancunian or from anywhere else) will be there through the good times and the bad.

Maybe it's true that for every proper fan there are 9 plastic ones, but if I'm not one of said fakers, I'm fine with that. Bring on the new season.
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* In any case, my opinion is that the new threat posed by City is not as great as past obstacles. They won the Premier League on goal difference, with the best team they've had in years, against quite possibly the worst Manchester United team in years (Rooney is world class, most of the rest are either too old or too young). Now that Financial Fair Play will be put into effect, City have to cut their spending. On top of that, most of United's players are young and growing; this is a squad built for the future. City may soon have their hands cuffed when trying to buy superstars, but nothing will never stop United's ability to breed them.

Fiasco, Lupe

I miss the days when Lupe Fiasco just rapped about random stuff that no other rappers were talking about. His subject matter was never too mind-blowing or anything, but his geekiness always found a way of showing up from time to time. Skateboarding, robots, cheeseburgers, comic books, and dead hustlers coming back to life are just some of the subjects of my favourite songs from him, classics in my mind. Now all he can talk about are his anti-establishment views; the government sucks this, freedom of speech that.

Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree with him or anything, and he's always sung about this so it's not anything new as far as subject matter goes. Now though, it seems like every track he puts out contains that message. Here's hoping the new album isn't all like 'Around My Way'. I actually like it; I've been playing it a lot the past few days, and he's lyrically sounding very sharp again, but I'm not sure I can sit through a whole double album of him telling us to free our minds and crap. Especially because 4 albums into his career, he still hasn't learned how to write a decent hook.

Songs I'm liking a lot right now

Hah. Already resorting to the old "list" posts aye. Nice start to the new blog life. Well hey don't knock it, you might actually find something here that you'd like. And to show that I'm not being lazy, I'll wrote little blurby thingimajiggies to go with the songs.

Old or new, here are some songs I'm really feeling right now.

song title - artist
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My faves right now:

The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts - Sufjan Stevens

2005 was a good year for music (Kanye West, Maximo Park, and Gorillaz all dropped masterpieces, while Oasis, Foo Fighters and Coldplay turned in assignments good enough for pass grades), but I definitely missed out on this little golden nugget during then. Having only discovered the music of Sufjan a year ago, I've gone back and dug up a few goodies of his, and his album 'Illinois' is full of them. This isn't technically my favourite off the album, but then again, I don't know which is. This just happens to be the one I'm listening to the most recently. Read into the Superman/Christ imagery what you will, but there's no denying that the music itself catches the ear, and even though the song is over 6 minutes (an absolute marathon by mainstream standards), it does feel too short.

Princess Of China (feat. Rihanna) - Coldplay

It's tempting to brand myself a REAL Coldplay fan, call Chris Martin a sell-out for including Rihanna in the album, accuse them of bowing to the mainstream audience who are baying for catchy tunes, and top it off by saying I once followed them when they were "good". The problem is though, that this song is just too damn good. The melody of the chorus (which is heard just once) is perfect for Rihanna's voice, which in turn is perfect along Chris Martin's voice. The other members of the band hold up their end and them some, brilliantly building up a menacing backdrop of synth, dark bass and thumping kickdrums, all culminating in the two vocalists final lament. Which reminds you that it's actually a sad song.

Beth/Rest - Bon Iver

The closing track of one of my favourite albums of all time, this is simultaneously my favourite track on the album and the most different. It starts big, which is unlike an album closer; these things are meant to build to a crescendo right. But when listening to this album as a whole, you understand that this song is the album's crescendo. It starts loud, but not abrasive. It isn't the Muse definition of big however. It doesn't bombard, but it doesn't let up either. There's a soothing way to how it begins without asking for permission, but almost instantly makes way for the true star of the song, and indeed the album: Justin Vernon's beautifully autotuned vocals. Yes, beautiful autotune. Kanye West may have made it acceptable to lament in this form, but Vernon has made it into an art. I've never heard a song sound so uplifting and so sad, all at once.

Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

Not quite sure why I like this song so much actually. It's cookie-cutter pop, with verses and a bridge that go absolutely nowhere, lyrics that are so simple they make Ke$ha look like a prodigy, and vocals that are indistinguishable from the thousands of other artists of the current Top 40 mold, all who will be forgotten before Carly realizes that she should have saved every penny she made off this song. Even the end is below par, stopping abruptly after the last chorus, seeming unsure of how to finish off, before simply dying. But I'm listening to it now, as I'm typing this. And I'm smiling. Because my jam is on. And I love it. Sigh, I give up. This is 'Nothing In This World' by Paris Hilton all over again.

Them Kids - Sam Roberts

Songs about nostalgia are a funny thing; most of the time, they are written for a market that didn't even live during the times the singer is referring to. In the case of this song, it doesn't pine after a certain era of music in terms of genre, but rather attitude. "I just don't understand why the kids don't know how to dance to rock and roll" is the hook, over and over. It's not exactly that kids don't dance; I've seen kids dance, although said kids were either annoying attenttion-whores or extremely wasted. It's more that no one dances to a rock song just because they are happy. Forget moshing, forget horny grinding, Sam laments the loss of just dancing because you're happy and the song you like just came on, a-la the 50s. The song rides a single guitar line and doesn't let up, merging old school rock sensibilities with some 21st century production. It's curious that he talks about "the golden years" being under attack; mate, that attack ended a long time ago and the golden years lost. It was a first round knockout. No matter, in our own little way, we can throw songs on and reminisce about days that existed decades before we did, and just dance to rock and roll. Or at least nod along and think about dancing to it. Sorry Sam.

Tale of two captains

After the final whistle of the 2012 Champions League Final, among all the Chelsea celebrations and Bayern Munich sorrow, two very striking images stood out to me. They showed everything that was wrong with football, as well as the beautiful side to it. No, it has nothing to do with how anyone played, because I don't buy into the school of thought that Chelsea won when they shouldn't have. They didn't break the rules, and in the end, within the limits of the rules of football, they won the football match. It wasn't pretty, and Bayern Munich really let themselves down with shoddy finishing, but Chelsea still won, and they still earned it.

No, the good and evil of football was shown in how the captains reacted, in two photos that I will remember for a long time:

You can't see it in this photo, but he even put on his shinpads

John Terry, the captain of Chelsea, had been suspended for the final, after a stupid foul he committed in the semis. According to UEFA's own rules, if a captain doesn't play the final due to suspension, then he isn't eligible to lift the trophy. It's part of their philosophy to promote good sportsmanship, and the reward of winning and winning fair. However, after denying Manchester United's suspended captain Roy Keane the chance to lift the trophy in 1999, they saw fit to change the rules in this case, allowing the man who almost cost the team the chance to even be in the final to celebrate as if he'd won it himself. Although he deserved his medal for his performances throughout the tournament, I find it ridiculous that he would be allowed to be the one to lift the trophy first, after Lampard captained the side heroically on the day, as well as for most of the semifinal after Terry's early dismissal.

There is something unsettling about a man grinning like he had worked hard on the day to earn it, when really he had made it harder for his team than it needed to be. Keane famously said in 1999 that he was ashamed to wear the medal that he wasn't there to earn on the final hurdle. Terry felt no such shame, making sure he was surrounded by photographers while still holding it up. However, there was still class to be found.

Lahm stands tall after his teammates lose control

It must hurt to lose a final. It must especially hurt because they were the strong favourites. It must surely be worse to lose it by conceding a last minute goal, before losing a shootout. It must be even worse because it all happened at their home stadium, the beautiful Allianz Arena. And yet, in all that despair, Phillip Lahm never lets his head drop, never lets his himself lose control, and never stops being the captain. He led the way during the match, and in despair he doesn't stop. A true leader on and off the pitch, Phillip Lahm represents all the sportsmanship and strong nature that UEFA claim to be keen to promote. In this one photo, he shows his class, class that came after a performance worthy of more than a runners up medal. He dispatched his penalty coolly, and must have thought that his teammates would follow suit.

As it turned out, even though he defended stoutly, his strikers and midfielders ahead of him didn't put away enough of the countless chances they had to win the match before extra time and penalties. But after all that, after heartbreak in the German Bundesliga, German Cup, and now Champions League, he shows true character, telling himself not to lose it, even when all his men around him break down into tears. He reminds me of Richie McCaw circa 2007. And that's always a good comparison.

Posting right now

Hey readers. Lawl, "readers". I can count them on one hand, even if I'd had a few fingers servered off. The world has gone on just fine without me blogging, but I have missed it.

So: hello.

Not sure how long this phase of wanting to blog again will last though. It will probably rely on how many interesting thoughts I think I have. Which doesn't bode too well, because usually the things that occupy my mind aren't overly newsworthy, things like "Ehh... time to go to work", or "I need new pants", and "Why don't they ever show other rooms in the Tardis?". So we'll see. I have high hopes though, because I have given up on Twitter (before I had a real go at it, I admit), and I should have more computer time available for it now that the European football season is over and I'm not wasting ridiculous amounts of time reading articles on whether or not Messi actually is better than Ronaldo.

(He is.)