A friend might approach you and ask - So how did TeamCuzz's latest season go?
You can become a plain, old, boring statistician and say, "We played a long 22 (& 1/3) games, finished 3rd with 46 points, scored 61 goals, conceeded 27 goals and parted ways with $2640 and 22 (& 1/3) x Saturday afternoons." Or you could tell them this...
Imagine you just knocked off work. Your workplace is in Outram and you are on your MRT ride home, feeling an unbearable hunger in your now-growling stomach. So you decide to detour and alight at Tampines, tap your EZ Link card, walk out through the left exit of the station, take a few steps forward, bump into a few people along the way and there you are staring at your unlikely saviour - Old Chang Kee. You go to the counter and ask for a stick of fishball, pay the $1.20 and walk away a happy person.
Looking at the 3 fishballs in your hand, you thought, "Finally, my hunger will be satisfied." All your other problems is put on a standstill for that slight moment as your mouth gaped open. Just as soon as you do that, a hungry-looking crow swept by and ate the topmost fishball. Wanting to change your rowdy past, you simply ignored the bird and let it fly away with one of your fishballs. Now, there's 2 left. Quickly, you start to chew on the 2nd fishball. Your hunger made you lose focus and caused you to chew uncontrollably. There is no consistency in the way you chew. As a result, chunks of fishballs fly out of your mouth like boomerangs, and what is digested in your stomach is merely enough if you had a 3-course meal before that. Now, there's 1 left. Refusing to sigh, you rely on the 3rd and final fishball to relieve you of your hunger. This time, you no longer wanna take any chances so you put the whole fishball into your mouth. The next thing you know, you choked on it and had to spit the whole thing out. So there you go, 3 fishballs gone. All in a flash. All you have with you now is a seemingly useless satay stick (which people no longer use for 'mengaji').
But, that very satay stick is the one thing that every TeamCuzz player should take home and take pride in. This season might have been marred with situations where we might have been too kind in giving away points against 'lesser' opponents that we ought to have won comfortably, choked when it came to big matches we really had to win, and even not be consistent in doing what we set out to do from the very start. But that stick stood firm. Neither did it break nor injure us or others throughout the season. It is a resemblance of TeamCuzz's strenght and unity throughout the season, and the backbone of our very existence.
We ought to thank everyone who made this season possible - from the supporters who came down earnestly to support us under the hot sun, to the people who washed our dirty jerseys every week, to wives /parents / children who allowed their husbands/sons/dads time off from home to play soccer every Saturday afternoon, to people who make great drinks to quench our thirst, to people who provide transportation (despite knowing that they are polluting our beloved mother Earth), to managers who spent time thinking of how we should play, to players who come down despite not getting enough playing time, to players who volunteered to play as goalie when we didn't have one available and finally to all players who come down every week to part ways with a pail of perspiration and a syringe of blood, if any. That is to say, if you are related to TeamCuzz in anyway, we THANK YOU.
TeamCuzz also congratulates Haikal for his achievement at being TeamCuzz's top scorer with 14 goals. Plus, he is also the sole player to be ever-present throughout the 22 (& 1/3) games this season. There is no prize awarded for these apart from the recognition he so deserves. The same goes to the TeamCuzz Post-season poll below. Do not forget to vote!!!
As for that unsatisfied hunger, we can always dig deeper into our pockets and return for another round of Old Chang Kee. We will be returning there, won't we?
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