Guest Blogger & His Animals - Jin Yan

Harro! Harro! Gooner4eva here! While SgGooner is busy stimulating the goats, er, economy of Malaysia by doubling down on a hard nineteen against the dealer's three (if you don't know what I'm talking about, I can teach you … for a fee!), I have been tasked to fill up some cyberspace and steal a few minutes of your life today! Mwahahah!

As a quick intro, I started supporting The Arsenal in 1969 when I was 10 (ok, to those of you who failed math that means I'm old, but not as old as Zac, by a few days I think, mwahahah!). Anyways, back then, other popular top teams were Leeds, Derby, and Notts Forest (look where they are now!) besides ManUre and Pool and those last 2 weren't as popular as they were to become in the 80s and 90s. (NFW were Chelsh*te popular back then, and as for the spurms, who the f**k are they??? Back then, to this day and forever more!)

Supporting the Arsenal back then was always time delayed, results and league tables were reported in the Monday or Tuesday newspapers and the matches on TV were highlights at best, and a week old. If you are lucky, some football games would be broadcast live on radio Beeb and I can tell you, following a live game on the radio is like watching a porno flick with only the audio on and no video … or so I've been reliably informed by SgGooner. Match pix came a few weeks later when you got your copy of Shoot or Goal magazine from the neighbourhood Indian shop!

So in this digital age, we have it good, the latest news and rumours are immediately available on the internet, nearly all matches are live on TV and when not shown live by your unfriendly cable provider, you can easily watch it over the internet through some kind soul streaming the match cos their cable provider carried the game. There're YouTube clips posted as soon as a player transfer is announced and sometimes even before that, and then there are fansites, blogs, supporters' clubs, Google, and Wiki. Damn, one can spend every waking moment immersed in The Arsenal!

Will the day come when we get a chip implanted in our brain and we see and feel as though we were actually watching at Ashburton Grove? Or better yet, can we get into the brain of some young Bergkamp and see what he sees and know his thoughts as he plays the game? Or Wenger's successor, as he watches the players train, we know what he thinks of their potential? Or peer into SgGooner's brain as he lusts over some young mountain goat? (omigawd, I suddenly feel nauseous, 'scuse me while I go barf).

Now, we are no longer armchair fans but activists as well, as we write blogs or rant in forums excoriating the players, manager and directors and we expect instant gratification, of winning trophies every season, signing big name players and demanding beautiful entertaining footie. The challenge for all of us is to maintain the high level of enthusiasm for the team, players, and manager when the going gets rough. Sure, we may occasionally slag off on some players and have a moan about the manager and the way the team is playing but deep down, we have to ask ourselves … are we Gooners for the long haul or was it just the successes over the past 11 years that kept us going?

I hope to be around to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ashburton and I hope to see all of you, all Goonerz4eva as well, at the same celebration! (By then, SgGooner will be an old goat himself, but still running after the young ones, I'm sure!). Did you just say “Baaaa!” when you read this Kevo?