The football analogy

I'm a football fan. Everyone has a 'happy place' and outwith family, friends and work moments like today when I received the most lovely email from a student, mine is my team winning at home. Igoal last minute winning goal goes in, I celebrate it like a loon - I am so far away from work pressures and the like, punching the air and, frankly dancing and ok, losing it. You're right, I actually do that for any goal.

I love most top-class international sport. I love the drama and the theatre, the sheer entertainment and the pure joy. Of course there are disasters, of course there's the 'we were rotten' moments but it's true of course that you need those to appreciate the joy. Kipling was of course only a little right when he wrote of treating triumph and disasters as imposters and both the same. I am a grump at a loss but it quickly passes. A great win and terrific performance sets me up for a week. Ach, you know what I mean.

A superb pass or a thirty yard free kick into the top corner will have me eulogising about artistic merit. Of course, in dialect the former in real-time is 'wha a baw' and the latter is simple 'yes' with a whole bundle of s's. Black and white pictures of glory days and players in exotic lands wearing the jersey are Rembrandt-esque to me, games from years past against teams that no longer exist have Dali elements - really, we played against them?

And so to this pic. I found it today and can't credit it, but it's such a beautiful image. It's from the Scottish Cup Final this year, moments after a smoke bomb was set off. It's warriors entering battle, soldiers going over the top, foreground and background and a quite dramatic perspective. Football as art too. You know, I think I need the new season to start.