tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116788262011-04-21T16:33:07.972-07:00Melissa Tkautzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089686010882737639noreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11678826.post-1111710957454374292005-03-24T16:13:00.000-08:002005-03-24T16:35:57.456-08:00<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/ClaireFlynnBoyle/sherrin.jpg" alt="Kick the bloody thing" /><br /><br />I decided to do this little exercise, mostly inspired by a need to understand.<br /><br />Music is easy - why I love Patsy Gallant is easy to understand. Why this is my 18th year of personal frustration is beyond my comprehension. You see, I support the Melbourne Demons, an AFL club of terrible failures and disappointments, and there's no way it can get better. It's all Jim Stynes fault anyway. I've told him this too. I could have avoided this whole AFL thing, were it not for THAT day...<br /><br />1987, I remember it well. I had a BBC Micro at home, lent to me by the school to do work on. In a fit of rebellion, I entered my name in a high score as FUCK OFF - my mum was not happy. And there was Australian Rules Football on TV, a game I had sneered at my entire life. So I wandered into the living room to get a glass of coke, and I turned my head slightly towards the TV and something caught my eye. Old people, old people with HOPE. I didn't understand of course, that they were supporting Melbourne, this battered old underdog, who were playing the mighty all conquering Hawthorn. And that if they won, they'd be in their first Grand Final since Churchill was making speeches. And they were winning. Something about their sense of community was quite quite magical. Whenever I think of that game, I think that probably for some of them, it was their last chance to see Melbourne win. And so, I sat down on the beanbag to watch, because I wasn't just supporting a team, I was supporting THEM, supporting hope...<br /><br />And then, when we had it in the bag, we screwed it up. Hawthorn took a mark, Jim Stynes gave away a 15 minute penalty to make the shot easier, they kicked a goal, and the evil empire was in the Grand Final. And they cut to the old women in the crowd, who were crying, and I was crying too, and had to run into the room, turn on Frogger, and hope no one saw me. It was that quick, a lifetime obsession in a minute. And it's scarred me. Everything else in life has been pretty easy. But not supporting Melbourne. That's been hard...<br /><br />And in 2005, I keep battling my personal demons...that's what this is for, to help me understand...<br /><br />CFB<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11678826-111171095745437429?l=mypersonaldemons.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Melissa Tkautzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16089686010882737639noreply@blogger.com3