Sport and emotion
I wish that I could ban the word emotion
from interviews with athletes on the box.
I like to watch them play with skill and vigour,
not hear each tick-tock of their inner clocks.
I’m sick of hearing – run us through your feelings
For heaven’s sake, what ever can they say?
Yeah, I was scared, or tense, or maybe joyful.
It doesn’t shed much light on how they play.
One day perhaps we’ll plant them with electrodes
and alongside all the stats and previous form
brain parts will light up clearly as they’re playing
so all of us can share the feeling-storm .
If all we ever do, is talk emotion,
it takes away the magic and the fun.
It feels as though we’re dripping vital fluids
and slashing mental veins to see them run.
Written rapidly after getting annoyed with Sue Barker's harping on emotions in her interview with Rafael Nadal after he won Wimbledon.
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