Heeey! It's not all that bad, is it?

Well that's good. Thank goodness new boy Ivan (Arsenal's new CEO) spoke up. Whew!

I mean, he's right, isn't he? We did make it into two semi-finals, didn't we? I mean, in a way, we all should be glad that we're all so pissed off, right? Right? Right. Happy to be in this situation, I am. Right, right, right! Right as rain, in fact. If people weren't upset, well then I reckon it just means that they'd just be happy as a clam to have simply reached those semi-finals, yeah? But not our supporters! Nope. Noooooo, sir! Not our players, either! They all expect to win things, they do! I'm glad they're upset ... Right? The silver lining and all that, right? I mean, if we weren't ticked off well then there's nothing left to pursue, is there?

That's all fine and it's perfectly simple, isn't it? Fact is, I go through life with a much deeper and more altruistic approach. (Yes, I realize that's the second time I've used that word today, but it's true and appropriate.)

Again, I'll reference the gorgeous Spain/Russia match (note the slash there rather than the "vs.", those were two willing participants engaged in a symbiotic relationship in that match, it wasn't so much one team against another as it was two incredible musicians riffing together to create a masterpiece) from the summer of '09 (the summer of Doin' It For Eduardo, lest you forget). I would have been just fine with a nil-nil draw there. It's about the approach for me. Do you approach the game with grace, humility, RESPECT? Do you put your foot forward to make it better, to make it adventurous ... to recast the mold? To do it better than it's been done before?

See, that's what I'm searching for. And it's why, in part, I've got such bile stewing through every inch of my visceral self right now. There are too many who set forth without keeping those things in mind. Or there are too many who can find those higher values but either choose not to express them or are simply incapable of pulling together the higher plane of thought necessary to recognize the responsibility that comes with their lot.

Sure I'm disappointed that Arsenal haven't won anything. Of course it's bittersweet that we reached two major semi-finals yet capitualted so easily when we got there. Yes, of course it sucks but that's not all there is to it. Losing isn't everything, to turn a phrase.

What does it mean? It means, Adebayor, I don't want you to just win me a trophy. It means, Ivan, I don't see the value in the disappointment expressed for losing at so high a level. It means, Alisher Usmanov, I don't jump for joy at the prospect of a cash infusion when I know - or can suspect - from whence it came. Savvy?

Why?

Because I want, I expect, to see a greater expression. I want to see a greater achievement. I want to see a greater commitment, higher values ... a more pure evolution. Because I hope.

And when I don't see it, when my normally bouyant hope is tethered by the forces of evil (those are obvious if you read Match Pricks regularly), I feel cast off and lost. I lack the clarity needed to express myself and the clarity or leadership to see the game for its true beauty. It lies on life support until those markers I look for can be hit again.

And then you're just left with the thin hope that there's "someone tending the light at the end of the tunnel" (Thompson).