[Football] Why am I still not excited about England?

[vagabond]

Well for what it's worth, I'm ****ing loving this tournament, and can't bloody wait until tomorrow night. England are in only the second tournament final in my life time, and as I was only 18 months old in '66 it feels like the first.

Tomorrow night I won't give a shit about the state of this country, whether people boo the Italian anthem, if we get a dodgy penalty or anything else. I will even be ecstatically happy if Grealish, who in club football I can't stand, starts, scores a hattrick and gets mom.

Bring it on. #SuperExcited

Brilliantly said. A great positive post [emoji106] It’s incredible what we’ve done in this Euros. Damn the critics scoffing that England have had a so called easy run. They don’t want us to enjoy it but we will.

We have a genuine chance of achieving sporting history for our country tomorrow. And I don’t see how any England fan can’t be excited by that.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

I thought this was the Original

View attachment 138488

Nah - prefer the Cold War Steve one. (Although wary of getting this is the Bear Pit)

 

[Justice]

If the Albion were kicking about in league 1 I don’t think this thread exists judging by some replies.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Absolutely loving it. For me there is no read across to the Albion, this is its own thing

 

[SeagullinExile]

Pretty relaxed about it all really.

What will be will be.

 

[Baldseagull]

Mate, stay off the radio and telly, switch it on 30 minutes before KO (with the sound off it's on ITV - haven't checked yet) and enjoy the interlude.

By not mixing with anything I don't like I have created my own football universe, populated by a few pals, those on NSC who are funny and humane, and the rest of it can exits in its own bubble, 'on ignore'. I laughed at Poundland Boris - what an absolute plum. I am listening to cracking music, wearing a very old 'Hart 9' Albion shirt and looking forward to tomorrow's fun and games. FCH.

Yeah, kind of been doing that, but this thread set me onto the process of trying to put my finger on why I am not desperate to be there, or even be with others to enjoy the England games this tournament, so that I might be able to remove the block. But it has been painful, like dissecting a loved pet in the hope of being able to resurrect it, all I have done is confirm the cause of death, and banished the hopes, I should have left it alone.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Yeah, kind of been doing that, but this thread set me onto the process of trying to put my finger on why I am not desperate to be there, or even be with others to enjoy the England games this tournament, so that I might be able to remove the block. But it has been painful, like dissecting a loved pet in the hope of being able to resurrect it, all I have done is confirm the cause of death, and banished the hopes, I should have left it alone.

Lol! Getting old, mate. It's a struggle getting out of bed for me most mornings, but I'm not going fret over it. Hang in there

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

The only let down has been the poxy weather.

Compare it to the 2018 World Cup when it was sunny everyday for 3/4 weeks.

 

[Swansman]

Can't be arsed reading all of the 25 pages worth of slur and counter slur but I have the sentiment in the thread title. I cannot get enthused and I don't know why. I don't hate my country. I am not a Marxist/Nazi. 1990 and 1996 are two of my favourite football years because of the national team. It is nothing to do with hooligans. I have bought some beers and will watch the game and want us to win.

But the dead rubber CIty game meant more to me and I don't know why. All I can think is I cannot warm to Southgate and I don't like our style of play. We have beaten a Germany team that scraped through the group and no-one else of note. But that wouldn't have bothered me in 1990 or 1996.

Bottom line though - I can't force enthusiasm.

Is it you? Is it England? Is it the world?

I put my money on the last one. We're living in a society where everything is about getting small sensations, small dopamine kicks. You get a little excited when you hear a sound from your phone. When you see a notifcation on NSC or some other social media. You're supposed to be outraged by this and that and you're supposed to be happy with this and that. 24/7. You only rest when you sleep... if even that. Of course it takes a toll on the brain. More people are depressed (according to themselves, at least) these days than ever before, and the main reason for it is always the inability to connect with surroundings and people. Its hard to be truly excited about something, its hard to be truly devastated as well. People dont **** or fight, they just scroll into the abyss. Nothing is worth fighting or ****ing for.

I dont think you are alone in your lack of excitement... think its pretty much a pandemic of its own.

 

[Hamilton]

I’m excited [emoji38]


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[Cheeky Monkey]

Is it you? Is it England? Is it the world?

I put my money on the last one. We're living in a society where everything is about getting small sensations, small dopamine kicks. You get a little excited when you hear a sound from your phone. When you see a notifcation on NSC or some other social media. You're supposed to be outraged by this and that and you're supposed to be happy with this and that. 24/7. You only rest when you sleep... if even that. Of course it takes a toll on the brain. More people are depressed (according to themselves, at least) these days than ever before, and the main reason for it is always the inability to connect with surroundings and people. Its hard to be truly excited about something, its hard to be truly devastated as well. People dont **** or fight, they just scroll into the abyss. Nothing is worth fighting or ****ing for.

I dont think you are alone in your lack of excitement... think its pretty much a pandemic of its own.

All linked to the decline in reading books, Mon Swanny.

97.6% of people just do not pick up a book these days. To see someone on public transport reading a physical book is as rare as seeing a shoebill in the wild in Uganda. Both are on the WWF endangered species list. Sad days indeed.

 

[Happy Exile]

Just posted this on another thread - lack of excitement including about sport. It's an interesting read and might help some on this thread https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...onavirus-pandemic-mental-health-b1835269.html

 

[Rinkmaster]

Can't get enthusiastic about cheering on players who when playing for their clubs have been branded cheats and divers and have been barracked by our own supporters. Either they are cheats or they are not.

 

[Chicken Run]

Can't get enthusiastic about cheering on players who when playing for their clubs have been branded cheats and divers and have been barracked by our own supporters. Either they are cheats or they are not.

Well it’s only become an issue for us Albion fans since we arrived at the top table(17/18), before that our lads rarely came up against England players so England were like our second team [emoji6]


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[WATFORD zero]

I've been reasonably excited, but have been holding back due to my 50 odd years of disappointment and also by the professional way England have been playing, meaning I haven't had my normal level of angst, fear, anxiety and adrenalin adding to my excitement.

But now, I'm getting there. One of the football teams I play with has three Italian players and that whatsapp group has livened up in the last 24 hrs.
I like this England 'group' of players, Rashford school dinners, donating the Euro money to the NHS, all the skillful players like Grealish, Foden etc accepting their bit parts, very balanced interviews with GS and his team, the players taking the knee and recognising those who have a significantly harder time, are all very positive from a bunch of lucky, privileged and very young men.

The football is pragmatic, but that's how you win tournaments.

I'm on board

 

[Ecosse Exile]

Apologies if this has already been said, couldn't be arsed to read the entire thread.

I think there is a lot of dampening down of peoples own expectations, been here before (always get let down etc etc) and to an extent a little bit of self preservation for the hurt you may feel if you do lose.

Should you be excited? Yes, you bloody should in my opinion, i would be if it was Scotland, **** i'm still happy that we are the only team you haven't beaten

Maybe in there though is the crux of the problem some of you are having, maybe some of you are all just a little bit spoiled, imagine if you can (it might be hard) that England never won the world cup in 1966, imagine you had never got past the group stage of any major competition, imagine that you hadn't even qualified for a major tournament in this century, but now you are here, in the final, 90 minutes from lifting the trophy if you can get past a useful, but not necessarily better Italian team. Now are you excited? Are you not? Really

Good luck to you tomorrow England, let yourselves go, go on, i dare you. Nobody will be laughing at you for getting behind your team, go for it

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

Can't argue it has worked and other people like it. Just not for me.

Personally, I get stressed enough watching this sort of thing, so the team can be as boring as they like as far as I'm concerned.

While it probably hasn't helped, my personal experience with sort of thing is that I criticise the style of play to justify not being invested after the fact, rather than being the cause.

 

[GREASED WEASEL]

55 years FFS!

Nearly as rare as Haley's Comet

Get a ****ing grip

Were here for such a short spell of time

Just enjoy it

 

[warsaw]

I haven't read the whole thread but it has made me wonder why like some others I can't really get excited by the England thing. Enjoying it yes, mildly disappointed with Southgate's pragmatic approach and hope we win tomorrow. But is it life and death? No of course it isn't. The Albion IS life and death and England sort of feel like my 2nd team. If England lose I will be disappointed, but when the Albion lose I'm utterly distraught. That's it isn't it?

 

[GREASED WEASEL]

I haven't read the whole thread but it has made me wonder why like some others I can't really get excited by the England thing. Enjoying it yes, mildly disappointed with Southgate's pragmatic approach and hope we win tomorrow. But is it life and death? No of course it isn't. The Albion IS life and death and England sort of feel like my 2nd team. If England lose I will be disappointed, but when the Albion lose I'm utterly distraught. That's it isn't it?

Distraught really?

What about the bad old days when we lost most weekends

I wasn't distraught,because I knew I'd be back the following Saturday and we might just win

If Brighton are ever in a final again,I'd be ecstatic

Just as I am for England