Sunderland 'Til I Die

The nightmare of all fans of any sports team. The idea of an endless series of unfortunate events, where for every positive occurrence five negative ones must inevitably follow, occasionally keeps all fans of round ball nonsense awake at night, whether their hearts belong to Liverpool, Slavia Prague, or SK Nový Knín. Or maybe Sunderland, who experiences such a nightmare by day and gradually falls from the most optimistic expectations about the course of the season to worries or even horror. Watching the frozen smile of the coach, manager, and the last Sunderland fan is just as heartbreaking as it is infinitely suspenseful and addictive. I like the dedication where even with a score of 0-3, the radio broadcasting live coverage is not turned off, and every week people head to the stadium just to leave home with a slap in the face. And although I don't like fans who almost cry with emotion at the beginning of the match because their favorites are playing, only to condemn everyone on and off the field one half later, here there are so many unpredictable mistakes, missteps, and falls that I stopped questioning these furious individuals. After all, even I couldn't believe that there were so many seemingly won (and ultimately safely lost) matches that perhaps only half of them fit into the final montage. (11.06.2020)

With new owners comes a new perspective, where I enjoy watching the relentless effort to break everything up with good ideas and endless determination, but the series, changed almost beyond recognition, loses some of the drama in the matches. Because logically, it is not an eternal downward spiral; there are also fewer disasters for the viewers to reluctantly be grateful for, but there is still plenty of bad luck. If someone presented me with a series where the main hero always narrowly misses his goal, no matter how hard he tries to achieve it, I would consider it too contrived a bet on certainty after the fourth or fifth such case. Therefore, I hardly believe how many setbacks, shortfalls, and unpleasant last minutes there were in the subsequent year as well. A continuation at this moment doesn't make sense; the situation in the club needs to be turned around on all levels. (11.06.2020)