You were only good for a brief moment in my childhood when I was too young to appreciate you but old enough to be forever smitten. You have made it very hard since then to deal with being a 'gayFL' 'aerial ping pong' fan in Brisvegas. You have been riding on your old glories whilst building a massive dad bod like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite.
It was embarrassing seeing multiple teams build dynasties like they were nothing and you only had Bradd Dalziell types to watch. I thought I had had a reasonable introduction to adulthood and its disappointments with being a new grad during the GFC but then you showed me things can always get worse with the Go Home 5. I remember being the only person visible in the upper deck behind the goals when Chad ******* Wingard and Josh 'the GOAT' Butcher smashed 9 up here in the Gabba when they kicked 170 odd in 2016. After the game I went home and watched myself on the channel 7 replay grimacing down as the only fan visible in section 435 or whatever. Run and gun Leppa, the defensive mastermind, followed that up with Tex kicking 7 in a 20 goal loss the following week.
Fagan the new messiah came and Schache the old messiah left. It was more of the same. After a decade of bottom 4s it was just fun going to the game and seeing players just try for once. Admittedly I was mostly numb by that point. Seeing Rayner distraught after that missed kick and loss to the Kangaroos made me finally feel that these blokes finally cared as much as I do. My heart started to open up again.
2019 was a bolt from the blue. That season was truly magical. I even bought a September membership! Seeing those boys become men. Seeing them bleed for the club and not look for another way out. Seeing Zorko in tears on the ground after that GWS loss. As the big big sound stopped and the remaining 5000 fans around the whole ground erupted in a heart felt Lions chant was absolutely spinetingling. We see you Lions. We feel you Lions. All we can say is thank you.
2020 was all about expectations. A new young team. Some hardened veterans from around the league to guide them. Zorko, Rich long term servents in their prime. A shaky covid Richmond. A Gabba grandfinal. A covid Queensland season. Approaching the 20 year mark for 2001. The script was already written. It seemed you had not spent enough time actually learning your lines. You came out sluggish and a were squashed by quarter time. I didnt blame you for breaking my heart. That was on me from expecting too much for such a young side.
Our friend Mulligan makes an appearance in 2021. We were never going to be able to cover the loss of all our key talls in the finals. 2022 though is on you. You made me doubt with your MCG performances and how you let Max Gawn embarass you just a week before the finals. You made me believe again when you put a full stop to the Richmond dynasty. You opened my heart up again when you beat your Demons both literally and figuratively. I was ready to dream. I paid for the ballot. I paid for my flights and hotel. I took time off. Everything was ready. Except you werent. As sportsbet says 'you win some, you lose more'. I have seen plenty of false dawns since my childhood to now. Its difficult to sometimes tell the difference between a dawn and a twilight.
Now its 2023. I bought my September membership as a donation to the club. I realised the HA season itself may be the only 'good old days' we have to remember if this group fail like the previous groups of Lions. I enjoyed the Gabbatoir. With each win I felt a sense of dread. I had booked a trip to see my parents for the first time since covid and the cheapest tickets are in end of September. Surely not. Not this year. Daniher was broken last year. Rich was too old. Same with Zorko. Neale cant do it alone. Adams is too big a loss to cover. Ashcroft and Fletcher cant be that good. You were just going to break my heart again.
Now my dream has become a nightmare. You finally did it! You made it! This 19 year journey has finally come to a conclusion. Except this time I cant be there with you. My heart is in pieces. I should be excited about my flight this Wednesday but instead I am up at midnight writing forum posts and feeling guilt that I am missing this match.
This is the last time you break my heart Lions. You have broken it too many times these last 2 decades. I will be arriving at my parents house at 10pm Friday night. We will watch the game at midnight in Long Island. Some of our neighbours wont like the late night noise but NYC never sleeps so they will just have to deal with it. You better bring your best game. You better have your body and mind right. You better beat those goddang Victorians. You better break those 90k hearts at the G. You better not break my heart again.
Please win.
It was embarrassing seeing multiple teams build dynasties like they were nothing and you only had Bradd Dalziell types to watch. I thought I had had a reasonable introduction to adulthood and its disappointments with being a new grad during the GFC but then you showed me things can always get worse with the Go Home 5. I remember being the only person visible in the upper deck behind the goals when Chad ******* Wingard and Josh 'the GOAT' Butcher smashed 9 up here in the Gabba when they kicked 170 odd in 2016. After the game I went home and watched myself on the channel 7 replay grimacing down as the only fan visible in section 435 or whatever. Run and gun Leppa, the defensive mastermind, followed that up with Tex kicking 7 in a 20 goal loss the following week.
Fagan the new messiah came and Schache the old messiah left. It was more of the same. After a decade of bottom 4s it was just fun going to the game and seeing players just try for once. Admittedly I was mostly numb by that point. Seeing Rayner distraught after that missed kick and loss to the Kangaroos made me finally feel that these blokes finally cared as much as I do. My heart started to open up again.
2019 was a bolt from the blue. That season was truly magical. I even bought a September membership! Seeing those boys become men. Seeing them bleed for the club and not look for another way out. Seeing Zorko in tears on the ground after that GWS loss. As the big big sound stopped and the remaining 5000 fans around the whole ground erupted in a heart felt Lions chant was absolutely spinetingling. We see you Lions. We feel you Lions. All we can say is thank you.
2020 was all about expectations. A new young team. Some hardened veterans from around the league to guide them. Zorko, Rich long term servents in their prime. A shaky covid Richmond. A Gabba grandfinal. A covid Queensland season. Approaching the 20 year mark for 2001. The script was already written. It seemed you had not spent enough time actually learning your lines. You came out sluggish and a were squashed by quarter time. I didnt blame you for breaking my heart. That was on me from expecting too much for such a young side.
Our friend Mulligan makes an appearance in 2021. We were never going to be able to cover the loss of all our key talls in the finals. 2022 though is on you. You made me doubt with your MCG performances and how you let Max Gawn embarass you just a week before the finals. You made me believe again when you put a full stop to the Richmond dynasty. You opened my heart up again when you beat your Demons both literally and figuratively. I was ready to dream. I paid for the ballot. I paid for my flights and hotel. I took time off. Everything was ready. Except you werent. As sportsbet says 'you win some, you lose more'. I have seen plenty of false dawns since my childhood to now. Its difficult to sometimes tell the difference between a dawn and a twilight.
Now its 2023. I bought my September membership as a donation to the club. I realised the HA season itself may be the only 'good old days' we have to remember if this group fail like the previous groups of Lions. I enjoyed the Gabbatoir. With each win I felt a sense of dread. I had booked a trip to see my parents for the first time since covid and the cheapest tickets are in end of September. Surely not. Not this year. Daniher was broken last year. Rich was too old. Same with Zorko. Neale cant do it alone. Adams is too big a loss to cover. Ashcroft and Fletcher cant be that good. You were just going to break my heart again.
Now my dream has become a nightmare. You finally did it! You made it! This 19 year journey has finally come to a conclusion. Except this time I cant be there with you. My heart is in pieces. I should be excited about my flight this Wednesday but instead I am up at midnight writing forum posts and feeling guilt that I am missing this match.
This is the last time you break my heart Lions. You have broken it too many times these last 2 decades. I will be arriving at my parents house at 10pm Friday night. We will watch the game at midnight in Long Island. Some of our neighbours wont like the late night noise but NYC never sleeps so they will just have to deal with it. You better bring your best game. You better have your body and mind right. You better beat those goddang Victorians. You better break those 90k hearts at the G. You better not break my heart again.
Please win.
