I feel as though doing this blog is great, but it's been a while since I've talked about football in any sort of detail, I can hear the sighs already but stick with me on this one.
There's way more to the world than football, even though by some people's reactions at times it seems as though that's not the case.
So that got me thinking about sport in general, what matters the most? And why do we enjoy it?
Some people would straight away say it's about winning or losing, but I've always seen that as a bonus, mainly because when I played the game, and probably in most people's cases, you lose a few times and realise the world doesn't actually end.
It keeps spinning, and the reality is you have to go out and do it all over again next time out, and nothing can alter that.
If you win then the same logic applies, next time is a completely different situation, and the truth is if you can't handle losing, then sport clearly isn't for you.
Of course it still matters, but only a little, we all enjoy winning, but all usually hate losing, so it's not the answer to either of my questions that I asked at the start of the blog.
In any walk of life you have to take the rough with the smooth, but as we know, there's only two certainties through life itself, death and taxes.
Not even Shishkin in the Queen Mother Champion Chase is a certainty, so is the unpredictability that sport carries with it the reason why we do it?
You don't truthfully know what could happen from one minute to the next, just ask Pepe Reina when a beach ball was responsible for scoring past him back in 2009, Darren Bent also played a part of course but my point here is no one could predict that would happen, not even the guy who threw it onto the pitch.
I do apologise Liverpool fans, I'll even it up now by bringing up a Manchester United one, no one saw them throwing away their two goal lead against Aston Villa the other week,
It clearly doesn't really matter the most in sport, but the fact that something can be so unpredictable and doesn't even come close to the script it makes it far more enjoyable, but from my point of view, it still doesn't really matter the most.
The way to answer this question is to look at a sport that really has everyone involved putting it on the line, and that sport is one I cover a lot on my blogs, horse racing.
Horse racing for me has always been about the thrill of watching these fantastic animals give their all, but the most important thing in this sport is the welfare of the horses.
The care and attention they receive nowadays from their trainers and jockeys is second to none, despite both jockey and horse putting themselves at risk to all sorts of issues that could occur, whether it be on the jump or on the flat.
It's that bond though in racing that is the answer I'm looking for to my question, the most important thing about sport is not about whether it's win or lose, winning is just a bonus, coming back safe and sound and ready to go again, that's what matters the most.
You only have to look at everyone's reaction from that yard when their horse wins a race or even when tragedy strikes you can tell through their emotions just how much that horse matters to them and everyone involved.
This can be taken into account for all sports though, whether your playing rugby, football, it's about being able to go out and do it again, and that's also what makes it enjoyable.
The fact we know that next week we get to go out and do the thing we love all over again and not bother about the result, even though in some cases it does matter, there's still a much bigger picture than that.
A slightly different and shorter blog piece for sure, but one I think goes away from all my usual horse racing and sport previews and reviews, and looks at a far more important aspect to the sporting world.
Feel free to comment yourselves on what makes you enjoy sport and matters the most to you, but I'm off now to do some more research ahead of my next blog piece, which I'm sure to see you all in...
Commentaires