I've just witnessed a class act in the form of Del Piero scoring two sublime goals against a hapless Real Madrid side.
I've always been a huge admirer of the genius of the Italian wizard, but i must admit, his recent resurgence in the champions league has left even me astounded.
Believe it or not, the crafty striker is already 34 years old...He's a relic in professional footballing terms!!
Nobody's told him that though, and he's playing like a teenager on steroids. Its enough to plunge a stake through my brittle heart...
If i haven't already said so (and I'm pretty sure i haven't), I'm 27 years of age as of now, and in my mind, i am way past my footballing prime. Throughout my life, I have had a love-hate relationship with the beautiful game, which has riddled me with a plague of injuries.
I remember a time when i could run circles around defenders, and had enough energy to play two games in a row. I was a speed-demon back then, but that was a long time ago, and my ligaments are not what they used to be.
Professional footballers used to be older than me...They were once grown men that i could look up to and aspire to be..Now, when i stop to think about it, I'm about as old as Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard..and look what they've achieved compared to me!!
Damn, just looking at the young punks who play for Arsenal is enough to plunge me into despair..Most of them are in their teens, and earn in a week more than I'm likely to ever earn in a year!!
The thought is pretty sickening...It sorta drives home the fact that my best years are now firmly behind me...I can no longer dream of one day scoring at the KOP end of Anfield for my beloved reds..Heck..i can't even dream of playing as a reserve for Sembawang FC!!
The sweet-scented innocence of my childhood dreams has been lost forever in the years that have swept by oh so quickly and ruthlessly.. The naive idealism of my youth has been tainted by the filth that reality has cast my way... And anything, once tainted, can never be pure again...
Or can it..? Looking at my haggard old hero Del Piero gliding past defenders like a figure skater on green ice gives me renewed strength to start dreaming new dreams all over again...
The footballing maestro had it in him to survive relegation, and to resurrect his career in the highest level of professional football with the club he loves so dearly..
Many would have given in at his age, but the courage that he has shown to dare to dream such grand dreams should be a lesson to us all.
Del Piero has taught me to never ever stop dreaming, because in this life, our dreams and our hopes are all we have to live for. I might not ever be the professional footballer i once dreamed of being when i was a kid, but if i dare to dream big enough, then who knows..
Maybe one day i might just get to score that goal at the KOP end after all...I'd probably have to buy the whole stadium first, though!
Gee...sometimes the optimism i show in these blog entries freaks me out..what happened to the perpetual cynic I'm so used to being? He's probably not as eloquent as the pipsqueak optimist in me, and chooses to hide his face when I'm at the keyboard.
Nonetheless, for all the middle-aged cronies out there, i hope this entry has been as uplifting for you as it has been for me.
I leave you with a sense of the grandness of my dreams for a better world, and the reason why i call myself Dreamer, summed up in the words so aptly quoted by Nelson Mendela....
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure"
Shine on, people, shine on.
This is Dreamer, signing out.
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