You'll Never Walk Alone

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To watch a good soccer game is undoubtedly on of my favorite past time activities. To watch my favorite team win a title gives a satisfaction that may not last for very long, but a memory that is inerasable from the mind. After many many years the time had come when my favorite team - Liverpool Football Club - had a shot at the biggest of European titles, Champion’s League. Unable to watch the game on site, the next best thing with some atmosphere was the local Irish pub. The British team/Irish pub combination appeared to be a good scene for the battle. The opposing team - AC Milan - had a few supporters in the pub defending the Italian colors, but the pub crowd would predominantly wear the beautiful all red Liverpool jerseys. As did I, needless to say.

Warmup with a beer or two. And, for the first time I joined in in “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, traditionally sung by the fans before a Liverpool game. No need for a cheatsheet, or subtitled karaoke lyrics. Wake up a Liverpool fan in the middle of the night and ask him to sing a song, and those are the tunes he will produce.

Game started - terribly wrong. In halftime AC Milan was up 3 - 0. Not pretty, on the verge of rape, abuse, humiliation in sport terms. A three goal advantage is a lot in soccer, especially for a solid team like this Italian side. This is where the supporter culture kicked in. The average viewer would most likely give up on his team at this point. A faithful supporter of a club at this point will instead take a positive approach, pep talk his supporter brothers and sisters, try to convince himself (and if possible teleporting these thoughts to the team in question) that it isn’t over until it’s over. “It ain’t over, a fast goal from Baros, then we’ve got game again” was just an example of a creative thought of a redshirt trying to instill some hope with fellow supporters. And, what do you know. It worked.

A fast goal in second half by Stevie Gerrard, 3 - 1. The crowd goes wild. Maybe not so much in hope of victory, more as a natural reaction when your team scores. A few minutes later, another goal by Smicer, 3 - 2. The crowd goes wilder. As a reaction of the goal, but also with the realization that now there was only a one goal difference, quite different than a three goal difference. Another few minutes later. Penalty shot. Alonso misses the shot, but buries the rebound in the net. 3 - 3. At this point the crowd exceeds every reasonable state of shouting and cheering. Still, however, a tie. The game is still open to be won or lost. Extra time. No deciding goal. Which brings us to the least fair but amazingly exciting decider in the world of sports - a penalty shootout.

The AC Milan players are at this point confused over what just happened, to the state that they lost all concentration. Liverpool converts their penalty shots, Milan does not. When goalie Dudek makes the deciding save, the decibel level in the pub reaches a level beyond what I thought possible by human voice power. I certainly contributed with my share of raw screaming. After the initial screaming and hugging complete strangers who just happen to wear the same colors, a “You’ll never walk alone” is well in place. When the Liverpool team then lifts the trophy - which is in my opinion when you have really won the title - more screaming and cheering. Followed by another “You’ll neeeeeeveeeeer waaaalk aaaloooone, you’ll neeeeeeeeeeeeeeever walk alone”. A fantastic ending of one of the most fantastic pub experiences ever. May it not last so long until the next one…

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