Relationships: Boys Boys (Mash Writes...)

Dear Diary,

It’s the night of the big game and me and my boys are in front of the TV waiting patiently for the kick-off. We are evenly divided, four of us supporting Arsenal and the other four supporting Man United. The tension in the room is so apparent as the match commences. With sporadic shouts of “what dey wrong this player” and the usual “Oh!” So many minutes have passed but no goal and frustrations are beginning to show. I’m not talking about frustrations on the pitch mind you, but in our mini stadium. “I don’t even know why we bought this player, he’s useless”, Ekow declares. Five minutes later, the useless player scores the opener for Man United. Kojo’s reaction? No comment. My team is down by a goal and Murtala takes the opportunity to taunt me. “So Mash, who be your chick?” I mean, can you believe him? Well I’m not the least amused by that question, not when my team is down. I’m about to give him a piece of my mind but just then Arsenal equalize. My fellow gunnas go beserk and why not, after what the red devils had put us through?

Just then Murtala reiterates, “Mash, who be you chick?” I throw a pillow at him out of anger and warn him to quit asking me that. The match is 89 minutes old and finally Arsenal score the winner. Jubilation erupts in our mini stadium and we do some taunting of our own. Knowing very well how football is, I urge my fellow gunnas not to get complacent. Sure enough Man United come close a few seconds to the end of the match but the ball flies just wide. The final whistle goes and its all celebration in my camp. The other camp begin their post mortem. Kojo goes, “you see, that last cross was good. But just that the defender’s height makes him rather tall that’s why our player headed wide”. Other crazy suggestions come up. I turn my attention to Murtala and ask, “so Murtala, who be your chick?” He replies, “comot for there.” Ain’t Karma great?

Observation: Arsenal won of course. But seriously though, sessions like that are fun despite all the tension which persists throughout the game. A further demonstration of football’s power to unite. I look forward to more of such sessions.

*comot for there-go away *gunnas-fellows/friends