Run For The Hills!

[hantsbear]

Every four years, England gets infected with a particularly virulent disease.  Red crosses on white backgrounds appear everywhere and the media whips the populace (or at least those who give a damn) into a rabid frenzy, using metaphors usually used during World War II.

Except me.

I loathe and despise football soccer.  It has rather a lot to do with being forced to play it at school and being generally cr@p at it, enduring the wrath of the rest of the team along with the inevitable humiliation of being the person left at the end when sides were selected.  And fought over as to who didn't get me.  Major boost to the old self esteem.

If I could, I would be on a plane right now to somewhere that didn't give a damn.  Alas, I can't.  I will just look forward to the inevitable schadenfreude when Our Beloved Boys get kicked out of the competition for being, well generally, cr@p.

It's much more fun than watching Great Britain come last in the Eurovision Song Contest again.

Comments

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

Don't feel badly.

I, too, was the kid whom the two team captains at school would fight over as to who would have to have me on their team.

Every gym teacher I ever had would look at the fighting kids, break up the fight, and scream at me that "It's all YOUR fault!" that the kids fought.

I am not responsible for the actions of others, but people do not like to take responsibilty for their actions.

I used to ask EVERY gym teacher at the start of every school year if I could just sit it out when the kids chose teams for a game of kickball/baseball/dodgeball/whatever, but I was given the old " EVERYONE must play." dogma.

The kids on my team would yell at me and punch me whenever I would miss the ball or strike out; Gym teacher would just stand there and laugh, but if I fought back, I was the bad guy, and I got punished.

This left me with a firm hatred for all sports for life.

SUPER - (((ULTRA-HUGS!!!))) to you across the Atlantic!

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

I disliked PhysEd class, but I mostly had instructors for it that weren't abjectly horrendous. (At the time, I thought it was awful - but I've learned that other people had it far worse.) The usual problem from what I've heard of other people's trials is that many schools seem to think it's appropriate to have the same people who coach the sports teams be the PhysEd instructors, or vice-versa. This does have some validity - but the problem is that PhysEd class is, ideally, a place to teach kids to take care of their bodies, learn to enjoy some form of physical activity and set them on a road to being healthy adults. Bringing sports-team competitiveness into it is a recipe for making those who start out being less physically accomplished hate the very idea of being active.

Some of the instructors were better than others; a couple I remember had interesting ways of preventing the scene you describe with two "team captains" trying to avoid having a person on their teams by randomizing the selection process in various ways.

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

"Bringing sports-team competitiveness into it is a recipe for making those who start out being less physically accomplished hate the very idea of being active."

I agree with you 100% there!

It is too bad that public shools have mostly taken a "One size fits all" approach to education.

I know that schools don't have the money they really need to make education work as well as it could, but there must be ways to change things simply and cheaply enough, just by using one's gray matter.

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Echhk. I'm right with you on all of it. Anything that involves chasing a ball up and down (and up and down) a muddy field with a bunch of idiots I reciprocally hated…I just never saw the point as a kid, which was just as well 'cos nobody wanted me on their team, either, which was just as well because a half-arsed job was the absolute best I was willing to do if I couldn't duck in and hide in the library, and usually I had no interest in even doing that well. Now I'm a grownup(?), we keep the chase-ball-up-and-down-muddy-field idiocy, but we replace the team-picking trauma with streets and transit and car parks and cities full of loud, drunken morons for an entire day (month). This is not an improvement.

[colicub.livejournal.com]

I can't really think of anything to add here. Aside from the fact I agree completely.

It's worse in Scotland though, because there's the whole schadenfreude aspect of supporting whatever team are playing against England - culturally accepted racism is still racism - and then all the adverts on TV for products that are backing England.

I have tried many times to think of something I care less about that football. And.......I can't. Football really is the thing in the world I care least about. At least rugby I hate enough to have a strong opinion on. Football just makes me go "meh?" and head off for a swim or a walk or something.

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

oh yes, me too. I can see some point to the World Cup with sides like Cameroon who I usually support cos they don't play in that boring Western fashion, but I hate all other and the nationalistic crap can go take a hike.

I actively wish for England to get knocked out so people sheepishly return to normal and the red cross flags disappear off the cars and everywhere and don't get the football played at work (yup I usually get it at work too).

Just think - we (well us in London) will get this in spades in 2 years again yet even worse. Gah.

I hated all sports esp Rugby and Hockey - tennis was 'for the girls' - how's that about gender stereotyping?!? so couldn't do that. We did play rounders and tennis ball football at lunch which was great. And no real teams it was weirdly sort of you vs everyone else which made it fair...if very hard LOL.

[hantsbear.livejournal.com]

I take great pleasure in the schadenfreude that I get when England fall out of the contest, simply at the national outburst of wailing and gnashing of teeth...

[putzmeisterbear.livejournal.com]

OK you have four years to save up and when it comes around again come visit your friends here in the US. We couldn't care less about the game. No matter how they might try to work up some enthusiasm here it never catches on. You can go anywhere and there will be little or no chance of ever hearing a word about it.

[hantsbear.livejournal.com]

The irony is, I'm saving my pennies to hopefully get over to the west coast in November. It's still pretty much touch and go, and I will most likely be begging beds off people but watch this space...

[putzmeisterbear.livejournal.com]

Sadly we don't have the room to put you up but it would be a joy to hang out with you.

[hantsbear.livejournal.com]

No worries, but as I say, watch this space ;)