Wednesday, May 6, 2009

This is Just Sad

One of Bill Shankly's more colorful if not likely misquoted lines goes something like: "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."

Here's the thing about that: it's wrong. It really is just a game. In yesterday's Champions League semi-final there was a place in the final at stake. And outside of a large pile of money and and even larger trophy, not much else.

That's what makes the following story so hard to fathom:

[Suleiman Alphonso Omondi], an Arsenal fan in soccer-mad Kenya hanged himself following his team's 4-1 aggregate drubbing by arch-rivals Manchester United in the Champions League semifinal, police said on Wednesday.
According to one of his friends, they had been watching the match at a local pub, and after the final whistle Omondi left crying. Police said he had hanged himself in his Arsenal shirt.

This is just really, really sad. No other word for it.

We live and die with our teams at UF, but thankfully only do so in a figurative sense. Yesterday was rough for the Gunner-loving contingent over here (and obviously across the world) but our "death" ends at the disappointment of watching your rival have its way with you while you kind of lay there and take it.

So yeah, this is sobering. Maybe the guy had other things going on in his life. Let's hope that an Arsenal loss wasn't the sole reason for his hanging himself. Not that that would make it less sad. There's another season starting up less than four months and, unfortunately, Omondi won't be around to witness it.

7 comments:

EbullientFatalist said...

Jesus, that's disturbing. Doesn't he know hope springs every August (except in 1914, I suppose)?

Sarah said...

That is really sad. It also puts things into perspective. Meaning, I should probably stop moping around my room and maybe do something productive like study for my exams before the Barça game.

There's always next year.

/Cubs fan

The NY Kid said...

the saddest part of this whole post is in Sarah's comment


/Cubs fanyou poor thing

Sarah said...

Yeah. It's why my despair at Arsenal's bad form never lasts very long. I've seen much worse in sports.

Precious Roy said...

The Cubs make Arsenal's four year trophy drought seem quaint by comparison.

But, woot for me. Going to Wrigley next week when the (dis)Astros are in town.

jape said...

He should have joined us for the open thread - calling Ronaldo, SAF and Tommy Smyth a bunch of cunts and having the backing of most everyone else who posts is wonderfully cathartic. Thanks UPF!

Your Local Team said...

Am I the only one who can find any humor in this? I mean- it wasn't me. There's no personal loss on my end, and the ridiculousness of it is enough to produce a slight chuckle. I guess the baffling thing is, that as a gunners supporter, he did not hang himself sooner.