"I can only think it must be love"

Johnny Cash has a song, which I assume to be a true story, called "On the night Hank Williams came to town". It's about...yep, you guessed it, the war in Iraq. No, I kid - it is a tale of the time when Hank Williams turned up to play a concert at a young Johnny's home town high school gymnasium.

In the song, the gig gets a rave review, and there is one line that sticks out in particular:

"The effect on all our lives was quite profound...

on the night Hank Williams came to town"

A few nights ago I went to a gig myself, Elbow, at the tiny Enmore Theatre in Newtown, a suburb just outside Sydney. Now, I'm not a music journalist, and this is not a music blog, but immediately after the utterly outstanding show, that Cash lyric came into my head. Every so often when I've been to gigs, I feel that 'quite profound' effect and you know it is something that is going to stay with you for long after the event.

To bring this round to it's Sub Please related point, I got to thinking about what else can do that to me. Well, it's simple. It's football.

The first glimpse of the pitch when walking into a stadium for the first time; the sea of yellow at the 2003 FA Cup final, the noise at Camp Nou when Barca scored, the adrenal euphoria that lasted for hours after Matt Le Tissier scored the last goal at the Dell...all of these are moments, memories, events of which the effect on my life was quite profound indeed.

What I got to thinking was, what else can do this in life? I'm not going to get sentimental or soppy, but we all know that love, family, relationships, kids etc are of course the main thing that it's all about; so that's excluded from this list - I mean what other distractions/hobbies/interests besides live music and live football can impact on a person in such a deep and definitive way?

Other people will of course be able to make a case for other sports which I will gladly listen to and probably agree with. Many would say that film has the capacity to do this; others might suggest religion, spirituality or other such faith constructs. I'm not about to dismiss anything; this is coming from a purely personal point of view on the back of a storming gig that goes comfortably into the All Time Top 5 alongside Oasis, Foo Fighters, Rolf Harris and the rest.

Have a think. If you want to share it, go wild - comments section below or the Sub Please Facebook page - but I'm not angling for comments, I just thought I'd share a nice little thought that has been swimming around in my head for a day or two.

Have a think, ignore your work for a bit, and just start remembering all the good times, whatever they may be...

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Believe it or not people, we've nearly made it. The football season is just around the corner, a Championship preview is coming later this week and then we'll be turning all attention to the resumption of the main event. Welcome back old friend