And I thought I took the Bulls' loss hard.
Next time you take your favorite team's loss to heart and someone close to you is complaining about how big of a baby you're being over a game played by "guys whose only connection to you is your choice of wardrobe (Thanks for your support, Mom)," show them this story and they will see that you're really not that bad in comparison to some of our international sports brethren.
Seuleiman Alphonso Omondi, a 29 year old man from Kenya, hung himself after his favorite soccer club, Arsenal, of the Champions League, lost 1-4 to the rival Manchester United.
Omondi also almost got into a fight with a guy in the bar where he watched the game after the guy said that Arsenal was going to be able to comeback from a two goal deficit early in the game. While fighting the rivals' fans is pretty normal in America, hanging one's self when the team loses is taking the dedication a little bit too far. If that became common practice over here, the Raiders and Bengals would have shut down already because all of their fans were dead.
Surprisingly, it's not uncommon to see this sort of thing in Africa, according to the Reuters report I got this from. After my own intrepid research, I found one account that tells the story of a Cameroonian teen named Abdoulaye, who attempted suicide when his unfortunately named "Indominable Lions" lost to Egypt. He announced to his friends that he was going to "die with the Lions," and none of them made any move to stop him. A cop stopped him when he was about to fling himself from a bridge.
Maybe it's because I know what the word "indominable" means, or maybe it's because I just watched a team called the "Lions" go winless, but when your teams name combines both of those words, chances are you should prepare yourself for some heartbreak. Just a word of advice.
And attempted suicides aside, we've all heard the tales of soccer riots, players being executed for not winning, and all sorts of insanity surrounding international fans. So what have I learned from all of this?
We don't really love our teams here. No matter how much we profess to love our teams, none of us are willing to jump off of anything or pull any triggers based on a loss. We just take the ribbing from our friends, watch the draft, and get ready for next season. Maybe call for an executive to get fired. That's really about it. Next to the hysteria surrounding these guys, we don't even LIKE our teams by comparison.
It's not even always a case of insane nationalism, because Omandi's Arsenal team is based in Liverpool. That's in England; a clean 2,000 miles and 20 countries away.
I'll support my Beloved Bulls no matter how bad they get, but when they lost to the Celtics last weekend, the worst that I felt was a short depression that I was able to sleep off. Didn't even need to drink. If I had grown up in Nairobi, chances are I would have burned my building down over the whole thing. When the Atlanta Falcons lost to the Arizona Cardinals in the playoffs, I didn't throw anything at the TV or kick any dogs in anger. After the previous season, I was just glad they had a winning record. It's all a matter of perspective, and when it comes to international fans, that perspective is seen through a lens covered in blood and bone fragments.
I hope that the Bulls don't take my unwillingness to self-destruct as a sign that I'm not supporting them. How about if I buy another jersey? That's about the best I can do.
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