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Passages from the last section: Nick looks back over his life and soccer as a whole "One thing I know for sure about being a fan is this: it is not a vicarious pleasure, despite all appearances to the contrary, and those who say that they would rather do than watch are missing the point. Football is a context where watching becomes doing- not in the aerobic sense , because watching a game, smoking your head off while doing so, drinking after it has finished and eating chips on the way home is unlikely to do you a whole lot of Jane Fonda good, in the way that chuffing up and down a pitch is supposed to." (178) Nick has learned every aspect of the game and is defining what a true fan is from an ordinary one. "I know that I have apologised a great deal during the course of these pages. Football has meant much to me and come to represent too many things , and I feel I have been to watch far too many games, and spent too much money, and fretted about Arsenal when I should have been fretting about something else, and asked for too much indulgence from friends and family. " (190) Nick's love for soccer develops from a small interest to an obsession he can not let go of. Soccer was like a missing piece to his puzzle. "Absurdly, I haven't yet got around to saying that football is a wonderful sport, but course it is. Goals have a rarity value that points and sets do not, and so there will always be that thrill, the thrill of seeing someone do something that can only be done three or four times in a whole game if you are lucky, not at all if you are not." (191) Here, Nick is analyzing that basketball,football and other sports can not come close to how soccer is played. Soccer points system is what makes the game so exciting and fun to watch and play. The technique and ability that players have to get goals to Nick is astounding. " A more interesting question is this: what does it do to the fans? How is your psyche affected, when you commit yourself for a lifetime to the team that everybody loves to hate? Are football fans like the dogs that come to resemble their masters? (233) Nick was given tickets to an Arsenal game and did not know much about the team and towards the end of the book he knows almost the whole history and stats behind them. "I started playing football seriously -- that is to say, I started to care about what I was doing, rather than simply going through the motions to appease a schoolteacher-- at the same time as I started watching.So I have been playing for two-thirds of my life, and I would like to play throughout as many of the three or four decades remaining to me as possible." (235) Nick comes to a realization that soccer has changed his life for the better. Without soccer Nick would not be in the position he's in today. he found himself through the sport he loves and will continue to love.

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In Nick Hornby's book Fever Pitch , Hornby describes the stabbing of a young Arsenal fan at a rivalry game against Everton. He also describes two other incidents where there was a lack of fencing and security which cause chaos towards the end of the games. Though this link, and story describes violence used for a different cause, the soccer world was stunned by the number of people killed in Egypt after a soccer game. As the President of FIFA puts it rioting at a soccer game takes away the "beautiful" side of the game. Unlike Europe and Latin America, soccer in Egypt has always been tied to politics. The riot that occurred outside the soccer stadium was not intervened by any police officials or military. However, outside the soccer stadium large crowds of men waved flags supporting their teams and huddled toward Interior Ministry headquarters. Tear gas was fired because they thought they were trying to break into the building, when all the people were doing was setting up a protest. The violence that led to 74 people killed, had nothing to do with the soccer stadium itself, social and cultural differences were behind the deaths. Attending soccer games in a Egypt was a way to let go of frustration of the horrible leaders. Hardcore soccer fans known as ultras had an important role in the uprising that toppled over leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Soccer is a worldwide sport that is enjoyed by many but when violence occurs and people are killed the joys of the sport are no longer there

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http://www.pixton.com/create/comic/f1po612r

Blog 4 Eli

This is a Paul Davis highlight real.  Paul Davis was a striker for Arsenal who Nick references as scoring a incredible diving header to win the game against Charlton on 21.3.89.  The first goal on this highlight video is the diving header.  This game was significant for Nick because he remembers turning down an invitation to his friends birthday party. Nick thinks, "I had been exposed as the worthless, shallow worm I was, and I went to the game. I was glad I went, too. Paul Davis scored one of the best goals I have seen at Highbury..."(206).
 
 In this game as described by Hornby, "the greatest moment ever" happened.  Hornby tries to describe how he felt and ends up concluding that even an orgasm wasn't as good as watching the goal at the end of the game. This is a video, which includes interviews and footage from the game.




This is the Littlewoods Cup semifinal rematch versus the spurs that snapped Nick out of depression.  Nick  says, "That night, I stopped being an Arsenal lunatic and relearnt how to be a fan, still cranky, and still dangerously obsessive, but still a fan nonetheless"(174).




This was a devastating loss in the Littlewoods cup final versus Luton. Arsenal lost 3-2 and missed multiple chances including a pk by Winterburn. This is a loss which Hornby still feels bad about.




This is a memorable end to a game against norwich in which the final score was 4-3, there were poor refereeing decisions, two penalty kicks, and a fight--all things Nick Hornby thoroughly enjoys.  

Blog 3 Eli

This is a dialogue between Nick and one of his students, who he figures out is an arsenal fan.  This is a hilarious passage because the bad kid--the one who sits in the back of class, has a mod haircut, and likes Arsenal--upon being questioned about Arsenal by a teacher responds doubtfully that the teacher knows or has any passion for the gunners (arsenals nickname). Little does the kid know his teach, Nick Hornby, is one of the most obsessed and passionate Arsenal fans in the world.  It is hilarious to hear Nicks response to the questioning of his fandom.

Blog 2 Eli

I created one drawing of the Arsenal stadium, Highbury.  In the drawing you are looking up a ile along a row of stairs. To the right of the drawing is the Arsenal scarf that got stolen from Nick at one of the games. I used the effects and colors on scribbler to show the different ways that Nick feels while he is at the stadium.  The first drawing shows a calm Nick.  The stadium is a pleasant Arsenal red and the lines are less bold.

This drawing reflects the tone that Nick more often feels while he is at Highbury.  The dark black lines make the setting a bit more serious.  He talks about how before every game he is serious and solemn, and to him being a fan is not all fun and games, but indeed suffering and worry.  The highlights of pink and yellow over the dark black is how he feels when Arsenal wins the cup final at Wembley.

This drawing with would be how he feels after there is violence at the stadium. This drawing has a more serious tone to it.  Also the red symbolizes blood and violence.