The Grand Final

Thanks for waiting, here's the post:

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the Grand Final is the premier sporting event in the world, bar none. Yes, this is a biased statement, and yes, I'm probably only saying this because I was born in Melbourne and footy was the first sport etched into my soul, but I'm entitled to my opinion, right? Hopefully I'll have some of you feeling the same way after reading this post.

First off, I'll try to set the atmosphere for all of you that haven't experienced a Grand Final (I was a the stadium as a nine year old in 1997 to see my St. Kilda Saints play the Adelaide Crows - we're not gonna go into the result of that one). The game has always and will always be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is more commonly called the MCG, and is without a doubt the greatest sports venue in the world (again my bias is in play here, but in all seriousness there probably isn't a single better venue in the world). The MCG sits 100,000 people, more than twice the number of the biggest baseball stadiums in the US, and sits on the southern edge on downtown Melbourne near the botanical gardens, right across the street from the Rod Laver Arena, where the Australian Open tennis is played.

I'm going to go ahead and make another statement: Melbourne is probably the sports capital of the world. And yes, I can back this up. First off Melbourne has the Grand Final, the premier sporting event in the world (my argument on this point will be finished below). Then there's the fact that one of the four major tennis events in the world is held there every single year, and no-one can deny that tennis is among the most global of professional sports. Melbourne has Olympic lineage, one of only 22 cities to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games (I think my math is right). It has also hosted the Commonwealth Games, a miniature version of the Olympics limited to just the former and current nations of the British Commonwealth (which is a very large percentage of the globe). Melbourne will also be the host of the 2022 soccer World Cup final, which some people argue is the single greatest sports match in the world (besides the Grand Final of course. And the fact that Melbourne will host the World Cup final is actually pretty hypothetical at this point - the 2022 World Cup venue has yet to be chosen - but I have faith). Melbourne also hosts world class cricket, rugby and soccer matches, is close enough to the ocean to incorporate most water sports, and is inhabited by perhaps the most sports loving population of anywhere on the globe (just go with me on this one, it's true).

Alright, so back to the Grand Final. Our first fact (that's right, fact) is that it takes place in the sports capital of the world. The next clue to its greatness is in its name - the GRAND Final. It's better than a Good Final, or even a Great Final, it is in every sense of the word a Grand one - greatness and dignity wrapped all into one label. Unlike for Major League Baseball, footy doesn't label its championship under a misnomer like the World Series, and unlike American Football half the audience doesn't just watch the game for the commercials and the chance to see Janet Jackson's clothes malfunction. In European soccer a final match isn't even played, with the winner just being the team with the most points in the standings at the end of the season (granted the Champions League is an exception to this, but they play so much other soccer in Europe that even the Champions League can get lost in the fray). Other sporting championships are diluted by having multiple games or multiple legs to find a champion. The Grand Final is only one day a year, a day dedicated solely to the greatest sport in the world...

... Here I go again making claims that may sound biased, but hear me out on this one too. Footy pretty much is composed of everything that is great about sports, from its game-play to the culture surrounding it. It is a game of non-stop action where you kick a ball, catch it, bounce it and punch it (I guess you can even head it if you really wanted to). You get the satisfaction of taking a mark (catching it) over opponents, kicking the ball through the posts for a goal, running up and down the field, and tackling your opponents (and for those of you not into contact sports, footy is very regulated with its contact with the aim of protecting the players from getting hurt - see, it's a game that makes a lot of sense!) In terms of footy culture, it well and truly belongs in the Australian paradigm as much as Gaelic football belongs to Ireland (see my previous blog post), but can be played by anyone in the world once they become exposed to it. The professional players don't get lucrative contracts like in most American pro sports, and players more often than not stay with the same team their entire careers, so fans can get as attached to their favorite players as they want. Also, there are no teams that compare to the Yankees or Red Sox (or increasingly the Phillies) such as are found in Major League Baseball - teams that monopolize championships - although some teams have better luck than others.

So the Grand Final has the right venue, it has the right name and it has the right sport. The last part of the equation is that it has the right fans and fan experience. Fans come decked out in their team colors (in my case red, white and black) from top to bottom - scarves and beanies are a must, t-shirts, jackets and jerseys are bonuses, and face-paint is definitely encouraged. Teams all have team songs (here's the Saints' team song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uUPY5EZwMU), and they enter the ground to the song and break through a giant decorated banner for every match; the teams' entrances make even rock stars jealous. Then there are Four N' Twenty meat pies. It's a toss up for me between them and the "Ichiroll" sushi rolls they serve at Seattle Mariners games as to which is the perfect stadium food. OK, it's no toss up, the Four N' Twenties win (for vegetarians, you can tucker in to Aussie chips and chocolate, or just eat after the game in Melbourne's rich culinary scene). Being at a Grand Final is about as good as it gets in terms of being inside a stadium - the only fans that I've seen that are more enthusiastic are Japanese baseball fans at every single game they go to, even if their team in in last place. Sorry footy fans, they just can't be beat.

So now I have you wondering how you could have possibly ever doubted that the Grand Final is the premier sporting event in the world, right? If you're still not convinced, tune in to this year's Grand Final - 2:30 pm Saturday, September 25th Melbourne time, 11:30 pm Friday, September 24th US Central Time Zone (adjust depending on your own time zone). That's right, it's less that 48 hours away!
And what does this post have to do with my stated mission for starting this blog, to find the greater meaning of sports? No-one's time on this Earth will ever truly be fulfilled if they haven't witnessed the Grand Final, it is one of the great luxuries that being human affords us to have (though I still haven't figured out for sure whether we are human or if we're dancer - watch this video if you don't get the reference http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIZdjT1472Y&ob=av2n).

Here's one last offering to get you prepped for this year's Grand Final - the picture is captain Nick Riewoldt taking a mark:

The St. Kilda Saints are prepped to beat the Collingwood Magpies and win only their second ever title - the first was against the Magpies in 1966, and yes, history does repeat itself! The Saints are one of the teams that falls under the category 'unlucky' I mentioned above - the team's 137 years old and they've been to only 7 Grand Finals, and won just the one. Make that two after Saturday's win!