About what makes men cry

Since Sex and the City at the latest you’d think that women spend the whole blessed day dealing with relationships, fashion and failed haircuts (usually slightly hysterical). This stereotype is about as true as it is false. And as one of those women who are also interested in football and cars I had a look at what men write about. The Telegraph’s football blog. Ten bloggers (all male, by the way) write about football and whatever they feel is connected to it. Some bloggers focus on their favourite club, others cover the English football by international comparison. While you could get the impression that football was a matter of life and death when reading some articles, others sparkle with wit and are easily approachable – also for non football aficionados.

Now, I may have to say: I am not capable of listing any team lineup and neither do I remember the latest player transfers or the name of the referee who called Liverpool-Chelsea last Sunday. But I am able to  explain the offside rule without using a mnemonic that contains the words ‘shopping’, ‘queue’ and ‘mascara’ and I watch the Reds play (on TV) whenever I can. That alone doesn’t turn me into a fan but rather into a simply interested person. And as such I read the football blog with great pleasure. Most of the stories have a subjective and personal approach and are written in column style. When David Johnson writes about Stoke City you can imagine him hanging on the edge of his seat when watching a match. Then again, he shares his literary interests with the reader or the, I guess, to all of us familiar argument about the remote-control.
In his latest article Sam Green made the attempt to form a band, based on the criterion of “Who’s got the most rock ‘n’ roll hair in football?”. Not a serious undertaking but definitely entertaining and a good balance to match analyses or focussed stories about football as a business.

In many aspects this football blog reflects the small and big truths of life. Is it just the English footballer who reluctantly thinks of being transferred to a foreign team or do the islanders have a general issue with moving to another country? What impact has the economical crisis on the football market – or does it have one at all? Is football rightly associated with primates conduct and beer? The latter, at any rate, I can answer with no. Or ‘only conditionally’. There are at least ten guys who show a passionate but differentiated examination of this sport and, with clever reports, give also amateurs an understanding of it. So, this stereotype as well is as true as it is false. And, also men care about failed haircuts.