Why do we do it?

[VulcanRam]

3 hours ago, archram said:

This morning,my partner,not a football fan, asked me if it was really worth it. Worth what? Leaving the house before noon, driving to the station, a 3 hr train journey, walk to the stadium,spend £30 on a sweatshirt because it was colder than I thought, watch a not very inspiring football match ( though I did feel there were some positives), back to the station, journey home, drive along dark winding roads and get home at 11.30, knowing that at 75 , I find this quite tiring and need a couple of days recovery time. My answer? Of course it is! However bad the game, it's always worth it!

But I don't know why! I know why I support Derby County, because my dad lived in Derbyshire until he was 8, so that's obvious! But why I'm prepared to spend that much time and money for 90 minutes of football, is beyond me! And , in this instance, I could have stayed at home and watched it on TVs!

I'm a reasonable sort of woman, had a fairly responsible job in which I made rational decisions although I am generally a glass half full personality, but this defeats me!

Any of you similarly afflicted have any idea why?

That's my favourite post of the year. Bravo. Amid all the crap that is increasingly posted on here, a heart-warming story to remind us of why we are all football fans. The answer: no bloody idea! 

Next time I'm due to leave the house at 1.45pm for the three mile journey to Pride Park and think I can't be bothered, I'll think of you! 

[EssendonRam]

17 hours ago, archram said:

This morning,my partner,not a football fan, asked me if it was really worth it. Worth what? Leaving the house before noon, driving to the station, a 3 hr train journey, walk to the stadium,spend £30 on a sweatshirt because it was colder than I thought, watch a not very inspiring football match ( though I did feel there were some positives), back to the station, journey home, drive along dark winding roads and get home at 11.30, knowing that at 75 , I find this quite tiring and need a couple of days recovery time. My answer? Of course it is! However bad the game, it's always worth it!

But I don't know why! I know why I support Derby County, because my dad lived in Derbyshire until he was 8, so that's obvious! But why I'm prepared to spend that much time and money for 90 minutes of football, is beyond me! And , in this instance, I could have stayed at home and watched it on TVs!

I'm a reasonable sort of woman, had a fairly responsible job in which I made rational decisions although I am generally a glass half full personality, but this defeats me!

Any of you similarly afflicted have any idea why?

 

17 hours ago, Woodypecker said:

It's a form of morbid obsession, an OCD, which gets ingrained as you get older!

No known treatment is available, barring financial restrictions or failing mobility.

I'm 10 years younger than you, and travel from Brum (have lived away from Derby since the mid-70s, when we wuz Champions!) - so whilst every game is an expedition rather than a turn-key trot across Derby, it's a bit easier for me to feed the obsession....but no more explicable, really 

As a youngster, you're excited, joining the big roaring crowds and idolising football stars that everyone talks about and elders pass on their wisdom. The teeming atmosphere of the BBG (not so much @ the iPro) then seduces you and you join the chanting baying masses, until you want to chill a bit and watch the game more than competing with the opposing fans.

Now we have the media and corporate intervention, financial dominance of the game, 2nd-tier teams like us scrabbling up the cliff (and slipping back, more often than not) to attain the heights and 'dine at the top table'.

Watching the current shower of ---t that is currently waddling haphazardly around the pitch in the name of DCFC, archram's original question still means much more than my attempted explanation 

It will all be worth it one day. I'm hoping personally that we get to the Prem and stay up as a secure member whilst I am still able to recognise myself (which gives me 5-10 years) and I remain of the belief that we WILL get there very shortly.

Cast your mind back, if you must to maintain the faith, where our club was, and in what state it was, after the Poison Dwarf fiasco. Or our stints in the bankruptcy courts and Division 3.

I grant you that the start to this season has been alarming. After three so-near-yet-so-far seasons, we're all losing patience, if not heart, and no-one could've imagined a start like this.

But (a) it is still early; (b) we are still only six points off the playoff places; and (c) the club continues to show that it will leave no stone unturned (at least until Mel's money runs out...or his head explodes...whichever comes first) until we find the 'way'. I refuse to believe that there is something peculiarly incompetent about our club that means we will try every option and still fail to find the 'way'. Except, perhaps, that we have lost our confidence so much that we panic and never give any plan the chance to succeed.

Then there's (d). The 'nuclear option' of why it has to be worth it. Of why we are all a little like addicts and simply can't give up now.

Imagine if we gave up now and, then, it all suddenly falls into place. How would it feel? Climbing off the bandwagon now so that it felt unworthy to climb back on when the planets all aligned.

How would THAT feel?

Don't forget: even Fester have won something now.

[BathRam72]

17 hours ago, KernowRam said:

I live just outside Newquay, St Eval. It's an ex RAF base.

Tall Tree's has gone, it's been closed down for a few years now I think. It had quite a bad reputation at the end I believe.

It's a pity you don't still live down here, I could do with someone to share the travelling with!

And what a Base it was too

[Yojimbo]

Starts as a hobby

Becomes a job

Ends an illness

[Dimmu]

Simple answer: stupidity.

Not only Derby's game this season, I'm also blessed with dreadful international team in Finland.

I must have done something horrible in last life.

[Sparkle]

Yep I have always gone, usually enjoy the day if not always the game which was easy to understand when we no money but currently very disappointing due to what we really should be achieving in my belief 

[Sparkle]

18 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

For me I just want to be there when Nick Blackman has a shot on target.

His first goal has to be a hideously deflected thirty five yard wild lash.

( more chance it will be a penalty) 

[Wolfie]

I would like to ask this very question to the man I sat next to on the plane from Orlando to Manchester on Saturday:

He studied in Manchester but lives in Florida now and, on average once a month, flies himself and 2 sons to Manchester (and not in the economy cabin) for one day - to see a Man Utd game. Though seeing the result on Saturday I expect he asked himself this question a good few times on the flight home on Sunday morning.

[TelTheRam]

It's a bit like doing the lottery with the same numbers every week - you can't stop just in case they come up.

Seems like more chance of winning the lottery though at the moment.

[needles]

On 11 September 2016 at 18:23, G STAR RAM said:

For me I just want to be there when Nick Blackman has a shot on target.

He's got three years left on his contract right? It's in the balance, that one.

[Chester40]

It's like doing the lottery ...You can't not do them one week cos of the horrible knowledge there is the off-chance all your numbers could come in....or Ince could beat 3-men and score a worldy to cap a 5-0 thrashing you'll never stop hearing about and know you were decorating the lounge or something!