Gin & Juice

A friend of mine, an artist, once showed me a poem he had written about the beauty of a blank canvas, and how any brush strokes he might make, no matter how deft, could only destroy its beauty. It was a moving and surprising insight into the thought process of one of my mates who is known to wear a “Psycho: Just Add Gin” t-shirt. It has also taken on new meaning for me in the wake of Geelong’s poor start to the 2006 season; I must say it’s much easier to expend 500 words talking about the improvement of Kane Tenace in the pre-season and the apparent decline of dentistry in South Australia than it is trying to make sense of what’s happening now. Yes, ignorance is bliss. Or at least I thought it was. Let’s back up a bit.

Geelong, at 2-4 after 6 games, had the same record as Sydney did at the same point last season, their premiership season. This, I used to comfort myself. Geelong goes on to beat St.Kilda and things look back on track. Then, last Saturday night, the game which shall not be named happened. Now, I went through the typical range of emotions as a fan; anger, disgust, incredulity, rationalization, numb acceptance, disgust again and then a feeling of disassociation, not only with the current underperforming Geelong team, but with the Geelong Football Club, it’s members and fans, the AFL in general and my origins of supporting such a tease of a sporting team (ok, this last one may not be typical). I figured, maybe I should return to basketball, at least the Supercats know they’re crap. Mind you, this entire inner monologue only took about 30 seconds, sometime early in the 3rd quarter; about the same time I walked out on the game to go smoke Stuyvo Lights on the balcony. Needless to say, at times like these it’s not easy to be writing a Geelong Football blog.

And so I tried to approach this blog, the one you are reading right now, from various points and angles (well, technically I first hoped Mrs. Watson would write something and then I thought about it). I thought about the life of the fan, both distant and connected to the team; about the inevitable pressure that would be brought to Lips Thompson; about how Geelong had not rorted the salary cap, tanked games for draft picks, or had players accused of date rape. I thought about football strategy and game plans, hell, I even started drawing a diagram (seriously), but then I realised the one thing, that above all, is most important in football; clichés.

A week is long time in football. Just ask Jason Akermanis, who went from being blamed for all of Brisbane’s problems to being part of another formidable Lions team. Just ask Richmond, who went from being flogged by Sydney to beating premiership favourites Adelaide. Yes, you might say a week is a long time in football, but you might also say that a week is the same length of time in every walk of life, but that many things can happen during those seven days, some of which may even influence the outcome of a football match.

Take it one game at a time. I shouldn’t have walked out on that game and I feel bad now that I did. I should have realised it’s a long season and that someone has to lose. If anything, as a football fan, I should have stayed just to observe Collingwood; I might have been able to contribute something a little more practical to this blog in terms of why Geelong were beaten and how all is not lost for the season. I might also have been able to shed some light on why the Pies are flying. During the week Terry Wallace said Collingwood on Saturday night had played the best football he had seen in the past 5 years. I couldn’t agree or disagree. I didn’t see it. I was on the balcony.

Such humbling losses, like the one experienced on the weekend, provide us all with a timely reminder of the ups and downs of elite-level sport, of the narrow gap between the ugly and the sublime, that losing is an important part of winning and that even the sun shines on a dog’s ass some days.


So with Richmond coming to town this week, I am left with only one question; who else would you rather face when you desperately need a win? And besides, Richmond supporters are used to this type of thing, perhaps I should ask them how they deal with it, or at least remind them that, hey, a week is a long time in footy.