Dream Team’s appeal isn’t limited to any gender, nationality or age group – it transcends such distinctions and spans the length and breadth of this nation.
It’s not like being part of the “I Watch Brothers & Sisters” fan club or the “Bring Back Babylon 5” collective - where you learn secret handshakes and dress up like fish men – the Dream Team community is full of people you might actually like and can even lead to new friendships.
Take my league, for example. Although some of us are old friends and have been playing Dream Team since the mid-90s, many coaches are new to me and we only met through playing the game.
Sure, I hate half of them (Willy, Ed, you know who you are) but that’s part of the fun. Dream Team without villains is like footy without Carlton.
Talking to strangers
A shared interest in Dream Team can make average people interesting, boring people tolerable, and complete and utter strangers your bestest bestest pals.
I was in a cab last week with a quiet, surly Sri Lankan guy who looked like he was having a bad night. The cab was filled with awkward silence until he turned on the radio and visibly flinched when he heard Brett Deledio’s name.
“Dream Team fan?” I ventured and the guy virtually exploded.
“Steve Johnson!” he screamed, with no explanation, no introduction and no attempt to be civil. “Where IS this man? Is it his hamstrings? Is it his groins? Is it osteitis pubis? No one tells me anything!”
Then he slammed the steering wheel and changed the channel. It was all he said for the entire trip, but it was all he had to. The Mayors have Steve Johnson as well, and for that long, silent journey, we were comrades in arms.
The roar of the crowd, the chirp of the Dream Teamer
No place illustrates the size and fanaticism of the Dream Team community more than the footy ground itself.
I had the misfortunate to be at the MCG on Saturday night to watch my beloved Pies get flogged by Hawthorn (whilst, I might add, sitting next to my Hawks-supporting girlfriend and the son of a former Hawthorn best and fairest winner who is famed for flattening Carl Ditterich).
Although everyone was there to watch the football, they were also there to follow their Dream Teams and you could hear it all around you. At one point in the match, the umpires failed to pay a Collingwood mark directly in front of goal and the guy behind me went ballistic: “That is the worst decision I have ever seen! That is rubbish! That is garbage! What does a guy have to do – mark it, put it under his own and take it out to lunch!”
And then, in a smaller, chirpier voice: “Hey, I think Brad Sewell got a tackle!”
Yup, even Collingwood supporters can see the bright side of that.
This week’s question
This week, I want you to complete this sentence “I knew I’d met a fellow Dream Team fan when…?” and send it in to dreamteam@afl.com.au, making sure to put ‘Hindy’ in the subject line. I’ll run the best answers in next week’s column.
Thanks to all those people who answered last week’s question “What’s the strangest place or occasion you’ve found yourself thinking about Dream Team?” It’s amazing (and kind of sad) how many people think about it while they’re getting it on with their partners.
Jason Williams takes the cake, though, and checked the stats during his son’s christening. I hope the little feller turns out to be a Dream Team fan as well.
Cheers,
Hindy
CEO and coach of the Hindsight Mayors
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
