The Loneliness of the Goalkeeper



"The goalkeeper is the lone eagle, the man of mystery, the last defender. Less the keeper of a goal than the keeper of a dream." - Vladimir Nabokov
They're a breed apart, to be sure. Sympathy for Perkins and all the other oft-maligned netminders?

2 comments:

  1. Soooooo FBF.... were you ever a dodgy defender??

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  2. Never! ;-)

    Well, unless you mean dodging obscenities from an opponent's parents when I marked their precious little over-rated snot of a winger out of the game...

    In all seriousness, I was pretty lucky to play for some pretty strong club and school teams, and I don't remember being on the wrong end of too many shellackings, particularly ones where I made crucial mistakes.

    But to the point of the piece above, one of my strongest memories of club ball was a state semifinal, played in heavy wind and rain, where our keeper misjudged a hoofed clearance. Wasn't even a shot, but the damn ball flew right over his retreat and desperate dive. Right into the net. Lost 1-0.

    Crap. Now I'm pissed off about that game all over again. 20+ years later. Ugh.

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