Football Evening.

I look forward to nights like this for weeks.

It's 10.00pm on Saturday the 11th of September. I have been sitting in the lounge room with my dad for a few hours now. We had dinner together before (chicken stir fry) and we both half-heartedly watched the Everton-Manchester United game. (3-3 in case you were wondering). But now, finally, the culmination of our hours spent together thus far this evening. Chelsea, live, at West Ham.

I can't quite explain to anyone who doesn't love football, or their parents, how much these nights mean to me. Both because I love Chelsea more than I love some people that I know and because I happen to be friends with my dad. (2 minutes in and Chelsea have just scored with a header by Michael Essien!).

Dad comes alive when Chelsea play. He's loud, passionate, aggressive, but most of all, he's incredibly funny. We started off the broadcast with an aggrieved cry from Dad because Florent Malouda has been left on the bench (replaced by Kalou...surely not Carlo, what are you thinking?) and Malouda is in Dad's Fantasy Football team. I personally have no interest in Fantasy Football, but Dad likes it, so I care. Well maybe not care, but I can appreciate Dad's pain. He loves his boys. And I love them a bit more because he loves them. We share it together. Sometimes people come and watch the football with us, but it's always the best when it's just us. That's not to say that I don't enjoy the many jokes that have grown out of Saturday and Sunday nights in front of the TV with the boys. "Paul Scholes" (Chris and Sophie rhyming slang for goals), "Get out of the way Ref" (a familiar cry with Joshua Nissen now), "Better late than Neville" (I can't remember the birth of this, but the boys liked it). These moments will never leave me and I rarely enjoy life as much as when I'm watching The Chelsea Boys. Again, I can't explain this to anyone who doesn't love football, but if you do you will understand.

I get in trouble when I talk too much during the football so I can't imagine the tap-tap-tap of the keyboard is appreciated much by Dad so this is it.

HELLO, HELLO, WE ARE THE CHELSEA BOYS.