west ham live! 4:0

[lobelia321]

Tonight I saw a live football match, and it was phenomenal fun. This was my second-evah live football game, and I have decided that I love seeing football live! Also, it is so much fun seeing a match in a small stadium because we were right near the players!

At half-time, I ran to the tunnel and thrust my programme for autographing at two West Ham players who turned out to be Hayden Mullins and another unfathomable player whose signature looks like a whorl. Numbers and player names in programme did not match up so who knows who these people are?

However, I did see Bobby Zamora ; we were helpfully informed by a West Ham fan sitting in front of us (identifiable by the cacky violet/pastel blue shirt -- colours which, I need to add, remind me of nothing less than a very cheap 1950s motel curtain) that Zamora is very good.

West Ham were about a zillion times better than the crappy relegated home team (who did, however, have the more attractive kits in stylish yellow and black), and they were a joy to watch up close.

My football viewing habits are totally shaped by the mediation of television. When I went for the first time evah, I had to get used to the absence of replays, close-ups, player stats, background pundit murmurs and half-time banter. But the live game is somehow more physical, scrunchier, tauter. Often the view is not so good but when the ball arrives near one's own seat, it is very exciting.

Also, I saw what happens before games! Players jog about and 'warm up'. This consisted of West Ham players engaging in something akin to strip football poker. At least, they kept on taking their shorts off and baring their standard footballers' tight little white panties and shapely thighs. I was already getting my money's worth!! Whoa.

There was also a very, very cute player in midfield left but I have scoured the web and cannot find an image of him. He is very likely one of West Ham's under-18s; he had glossy sticky-uppy black hair and a young pouty face and taut hoppity movements. He was yum. I so wanted an autograph but the squad jogged past without stopping. Meh, stupid West Ham.

But! T'son got an autograph from Teddy Sheringham!!! He is a Man Loved by Men! Grown men grovelled and shouted, "Teddy! Teddy!", and a woman got a peck on the cheek and shrieked in hysterics: "I want another one, my husband didn't see!" T'son was in a kind of trance! Bless. *grins stupidly*

Now if only I can divine the name of that cute young midfielder...

I LOVED IT!!!!

Comments

[sonicbookmark.livejournal.com]

*chases tail*
WHEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not crazy, really. I just wanted to comment and I couldn't think of anything to say about your post so...
*goes back to chasing tail*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*grins like an idiot*

[wanderlost.livejournal.com]

So jealous! *pouts liek woah*

Naah, I'm glad that you had fun. Will you and t'family ;) be able to see a "professional" game this year? Which team would be considered the 'home' team? (Man U, Chelsea...etc?)

:0)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Well, t'son is obsessed with Arsenal. And they're only 50 min. away by train. But you have to put yourself on a waiting list and pay 30 pounds, and thereafter it's 35 pounds a pop for a ticket, so me plus two sons... that's a lot o' dosh. But I'd like to do it, at least once. And I want to pick a Man Utd game (for the drooling factor omg) but those are away games, *wails*. And imagine if they play the Champions League... *has heart attack* I have not decided if I'm even going to support a club (as opposed to countries), and if so, which one. I would like to go for my father's home town club, Werder Bremen, but it's too silly to support a club that's in another country.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

But you know I am sure they have football in Toronto. There is no earthly way that your local Toronto club is more crappy than my local town club so go!! It is such fun, even when the team is less than stellar.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Look! This one even has a Brazilian player!

[elaran.livejournal.com]

*is jealous*

THAT'S SO COOL!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I had such, such fun; I woke up this morning replaying it in my head. :-)

[opengoal.livejournal.com]

OMG, you're so lucky! I wish I could be so close to them, but I'm thousands of miles away on the other side of the globe...

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I bet there is somebody whom you can be close to! Look: football in Hong Kong!!! *gg* Go! Seeing these people live, even if they're rubbish people, is just such fun!

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

I have to say that, by all accounts, being a regular supporter of a Premier team costs Big Dosh. I once had a friend who was a member of the Official Fan Club of a quite minor Premier Team (alas! it is no longer so; plus it changed name and venue and owner, and its loyal fans disowned it - Yup! We're talking Wimbledon - aka Milton Keynes here. Plus she's not my friend any more ... oh well ...).

Anyroad Up - she was taking out a mortgage each year for Membership plus a season ticket; and an ancillary loan to pay for all the travel on "away-days" .. and this was almost a decade ago. Supporting Man U is apparently even worse, as "the strip" changes several times each year - and of course you wouldn't want to be seen at a match in last season's strip, now would you? not even for Cristiano

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Ah, a cautionary tale. Well, I'm certainly not getting a season ticket but I think I will put myself on the waiting list for Arsenal and go to one game next season -- just to have done and because t'son is totally invested in Thierry Henry. (Milton Keynes!!! Well, CB Utd is playing clubs like the 'Kidderminster Harriers'... I'm falling about laughing). Um, you're not from Kidderminster, are you?

And the 'new kit every season' thing is such a rip-off! I myself am not bothered; even for Cristiano, I'd go out in a kit from 1954. But t'son is a sucker for commercial rip-offs and is already whining for the next-best Arsenal kit...!

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

Erm .... actually I come from about 5 miles from Kidderminster originally, yes.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*screeches* (to a halt)


I'll have to see that match now, won't I? Where on earth is Kidderminster?? I could travel there, do RESEARCH, pick two players and write REALIST kitchen sink fic. *falls over* I'd do it, too. I have written Cambridge United fic in my head...! (Dementia has set in. I just know it.)

Okay, omg. I have just looked it up: it is near Birmingham! It is near Ludlow!! I have been to Ludlow! We stayed in a bed and breakfast in Ludlow in April 2004 (year of Euro 2004) and I invented the fic there which ended up eating my brain and becoming the HP monster opus of evol.

I may even have zoomed past Kidderminster on the A whatever!

Football. I never realised the geographic delights of it.

I am so making a Kidderminster kid icon.

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

Wow! Thanks for posting this! Theye were relegated at the same time as Cambridge. THis year Oxford went down too - so no Oxbridge favouritism THERE.

Sadly (for you) however, it's Man U that Oxford get the friendly with. And guess who's due to be back on the team after his return last week...?

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Cambridge Utd play Oxford Utd in October! I am so going! I can relive the Oxbridge rivalry -- except it only extends to rowing, research ratings and other entirely irrelevant activities. And then I will be touching the grass that touches the boots of the players who touched the grass that touched Cristiano's boot!!!

I am so miffed that Oxford plays Man U. Well, I got West Ham, pah.

I am going to slash Cristiano with Ryan O'Neil next, so there.

*is extremely miffed* And you are so mean for rubbing it in, you meanie, you! You.. you Harrier!

I am going to see a Man U game this season, if it kills me. He stayed in the UK: it is an OMEN. Why don't we go together...????? Er, maybe they'll have an away game in Kidderminster?

omg, speaking of places one comes from: I just googled the town of my birth and this is their football team:


This life of clubs is going to be the utter death of me. *stares at photo and feels a fainting fit coming on* And the thing is called VfL Osnabrück! VfL which stands for Verein für Leibesübungen, and I'm afraid I can't even begin to convey the ridiculousness of that which translates loosely as Association for Physical Exertions (founded in 1899). They're not even relegated; they're league! (of some sort) And what is it with German squads and Africans? They all have some.

It's not as if I have any affinity to the town; I haven't been there since I was five.

I have never ever been interested in clubs, not even remotely. Slash is INSANE.

[junalele.livejournal.com]

I am going to slash Cristiano with Ryan O'Neil next, so there.
*squees embarassingly loud and long and - SQUEEEEEEEEE*

Also Verein für Leibesübungen Osnabrück? *giggles* And the Africans? Well, we've got to import the temperament, don't we? There is some small football club in the Berliner Bezirk I was born in. I was searching for a club in Wedding which is the Bezirk I now live in but I haven't found one. So Hertha it will be. They have a player with the nickname Zecke who actually seems to be quite intelligent. You know, you could totally go out to a restaurant with him *before* going to bed. ;) See for yourself

here

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Hobbies: Trabrennen..??????

Oh, these German sites... I have noticed that German clubs put heaps of little trivial details in their player profiles: star sign, hobby, and other little cutenesses. And what is it with these Hertha photos? Have they all been told to stand in this exact same pose? Hand on hip, head cocked?

Zecke!! You are so getting drawn in!! You googled Wedding, you are demented! (I lived in Wedding for half a year, Badstrasse.)

Hah!! And my googling skills clearly outshine yours! Here is SV Nord Wedding!!!!!!!!!

[junalele.livejournal.com]

I bow before you, oh master of google.

Did I say I wasn't getting drawn in? Of course, I am. Oh, SV Nord Wedding... Though why is their kit in Swedish colours? Don't tell me - probably one of the founders went their on holidays once... *giggles*

I love the amount of random infos on the Hertha page. What comic hero they would want to be, what they think right before a game... And really, anyone who says 'Oh, lookie at the green grass' like that Zecke has a great sense of humour. Damn, but footballers are not supposed to be witty, are they? I mean, look at Cristiano - he's just amazingly pretty and sensual and physical... Look at that nape and....

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Hang on, hang on, let me rewind that one and try to pull you from the brink before it's too late. Cristianochen: pretty! Yes. Sensual? Yes! Physical? Oh, yes! But, Juna, witty???? You are allowing your brain to get clouded.

I await proof to the contrary. *gg*

[junalele.livejournal.com]

You'll never get it. :) Obviously I've been a bit confused in my writing lately. I picked Cristiano as an example for footballer who are decidedly *not* witty but pretty and sensual and all raw physicality. That Zecke guy though, he seems to be witty and kind of intelligent - why is he even aloud to play, I ask? ;)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

P.S. And why did I mention Kidderminster? 'twas telephathic intuition, I tell you.

[cista.livejournal.com]

I loved seeing the players in the flesh and trying to get them to sign my programs. I did miss being able to see the celebrations up close on the tv.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

What game did you see/ Games? But you only tried, you never actually got an autograph? See, you need to take an 8-year old alibi child with you. They can fit where no adult has fitted before.

Or take your top off. Should work...?

[cista.livejournal.com]

I spent a month in London as I wanted to see Arsenal play at Highbury before they turn it into apartments. Saw West Brom there. Got three of their signitures. Got the last ticket to West Ham v Liverpool. The West Ham players were the best. I even got Pards signiture. I wanted to see a game at each club but Chelsea and Spurs were sold out. Saw two games each at the more affordable Fulham and Charlton. Children do make good cover XD I had a panic when I saw Lucas Neill and there were no children asking!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Ah! Wow, so many games!! This is so great. It is such fun seeing these clubs -- who knew? Well, I guess, thousands but not I...! *throws self into arms of club watching*

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

Oh I loved reading your report! What fun!!! Getting autographs is awesome...glad you had such a great time.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

It was such, such fun. Have you been to a live match? Oh, we must go. It's such an obvious group moot activity for football fen to engage in! NSYnc concerts, eat your heart out. Oooh, we must go to see AZ Alkmaar!!!

[junalele.livejournal.com]

So you're ditching Cristianochen for the first boy just because he's younger and more son-like, or what? *grins madly because too little sleep and - yay, Magistra!*

No really, that sounds like so much fun. *thinks briefly about going to see a match of Hertha BSC...nah* Know what you mean that you have to get used to no comments and no replay. It was the same when I went to see the Figure Skaing Worlds in 2004 live. So weird. So different than seeing it on tv. Loved it! But it's so frighteningly expensive...

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

You are a Magistra, then? You are?? Hoho. I, too, have a Berlin Magistra. *ggg*

Yes, you should see a match!

Aber es gibt auch FC Union Berlin!!!!!


Und bei Hertha gibt es Gilberto ! Aus Brasilien!


Look, don't worry about if they're any good or not. It's going to be fabulous fun! And you know, we should really go together, a slashmoot in a stadium, *implodes with the joy of it all*. My next visit to Berlin shall be planned around a football event for communal droolage and FUN! Hoho.

Und der ist doch auch ganz huebsch, oder? Arne Friedrichs. *prustet los*


The thing is when the stadium is small and the squad is of modest ambition, you see them really, really close up, every pore, every drop of sweat, ever rippling thigh. It is such FUN.

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Hoho. I, too, have a Berlin Magistra. *ggg*
You have? Cool. :D Mine still hasen't sunken in yet. It's so weird. When I'll be back at university in autumn it won't be as student but as teacher... So weird...

And you know, we should really go together, a slashmoot in a stadium, *implodes with the joy of it all*. My next visit to Berlin shall be planned around a football event for communal droolage and FUN! Hoho.
Okay, that's a deal then. Holding you to that. How could I not what with the promise of communal droolage and ripling tighs... *grins broadly*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Okay, now I am sending you out on a research mission: there must be more than one club in Berlin. There must even be more than two! Because Union is, I think, a former DDR club? And surely each side of Berlin had at least 2 clubs... surely? So that gives us Hertha (what does the BSC stand for??) and Union (don't you love the slogan 'Eisern Union'?). I will ogle both the Mannschaftsphotos very carefully and divine which one we should support... Mwuahshahdhhhhhaaaaa. I can't believe I'm even contemplating this! This is fun already. Think about it: crap squads are cheap and easy to get tickets to, they play in tiny stadia where you see them close-up, they have these amazingly mad loyal fans, they may harbour the Ronaldo of the future, you NEVER KNOW!, and they, just like the really famous one, have rippling thighs and six-pack stomachs. And it is just too hilarious to go and see them.

I am telling you, very few teams can be more rubbish than Cambridge United. Oh, except Cambridge City... If even Cambridge can have two football clubs, what must Berlin not offer...??!

Um. Right. *clears throat*

Yes, Magister and all that, very serious matters. Ahem.

I have a Magistra from the FU, August 1990. Kunstgeschichte and Italienisch. Yoho.

[junalele.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I'm even contemplating this!
As I said - I'm holding you to that! No wiggling out. :)

Will research. Just took a look and tickets for Hertha (don't have a clue about the BSC) would be from 16 to about 36 Euro. So that would be managable. As for other clubs - found this listing of Berliner Fußballclubs

http://adressenverzeichnis-deutschland.de/Berlin/Freizeit_und_Sport/Fussball/

Actually there have to be clubs playing in the second or third league... Will research...

And now I should get myself something to eat. Unfortunately I took a nap and now my body is a bit confused... Is it hungry or not? What time of day is it anyway? *sigh*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Speaking of absurd clubs: I just found this (linked to a comment I wrote to grondfic).

[blankversesfic.livejournal.com]

Awesome! That sounds like so much fun! I am living vicariously through you until I have the money to start going to local games.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

But how expensive can it be..????? It cost me 19 pounds for my adult ticket. That's 36 US dollars. Choose a local unfamous club. Maybe it costs more over there...? 19 pounds is about twice the cost of a cinema ticket and this is ten times more fun than the movies. It is such, such, such fun!!

[junalele.livejournal.com]

What?!!! A cinema ticket costs about 8 pounds in the UK? That would be about 18 Euro. God, in Berlin it costs half of that on an expensive day and about 4-5 Euro on so-called Kinotag... *shakes her head in disbelief*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I believe that Britain is the most expensive country in Europe, possibly even more expensive than Finland. A cinema ticket in London costs 7 to 9 pounds; in the cinema round the corner from me 5 pounds 70 (8 euro 50).

[blankversesfic.livejournal.com]

This is true.

I just moved away from my team, and the team here in LA is, well, the worst in the league. I should have probably written "as soon as I have a job" and that would have been more accurate. *grins*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I am starting to get into 'worst in the league' teams. Heck, Cambridge United is not even in the league any longer, hah!!

God, this fandom is so full of surprises and such unbelievable fun.