It may have cost the series but it makes next year something worth fighting for
He might have been forced to spend a morning with the wretched Blues supporters, but at least Phil Brown has something to look forward to next Origin series.
I was watching State of Origin last week and something was wrong. New South Wales was winning. It took them a while but they got there.
I happened to be in Sydney for the match visiting our son. We were all over at my cousin’s house at Mosman for dinner and they’re soccer fans so they didn’t have the telly on. We got back to our hotel room in time to see the disaster unfold.
Next day the news was unbearable. Because we were in enemy territory and watching how they reported it was bizarre. It was like being on another planet.
Of course, I can imagine the reportage at home and if we had won the coverage would probably have been a bit thin in Sydney. But to actually be there and watch it unfold, it was a Bizarro World experience.
If you know your Seinfeld, you’ll know that Bizarro World comes from the Superman comics. It’s a planet where Superman et al exist in odd versions of themselves. In Seinfeld there’s a Bizarro World version of Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine.
They are like them but not them. That’s how it felt watching the Origin coverage. It was Origin but not really Origin, not as we know it … because of course we look at it through the Maroon prism.
My wife was pretty upset we lost and at one stage she even accused me of barracking for the Blues. Just because I was born in New South Wales. Yes, it’s true, I admit it. Not my fault though you understand.
Anyway, I have lived in Queensland since I was 13 and I now bleed Maroon at Origin time. And that made it so hard to be in Sydney watching the coverage, the Bizarro World coverage. You should have heard some of the rubbish they went on with.
This went on for a day or two and we had the Blues on the telly being greeted at the airport and I thought – what’s wrong with this picture?
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Well, I think you know the answer to that.
Being in Blues territory after a State of Origin win is not an experience, I would wish on anyone. If only I’d had my Origin beanie with me, I would have worn it loud and proud through the Pitt Street Mall.
The upside is that the result sets us up for an incredible Origin series next year with Queensland pride on the line. And we know that when the going gets tough, the tough get going and that’s us.
I can’t imagine the pain experienced by those of you who were at The Cauldron to witness last week’s injustice. Perhaps on the Bizarro World planet we actually won? That’s a thought that comforts me. Queenslander!
