As I write this, I'm watching the third game of the Philippine women's football team in the World Cup in Auckland.

Now, I know little about football. I mean, I know the point is to kick the ball to the goal, and I'm pretty sure that's enough to allow me to follow what's happening, but that's it. I know little else about the gameplay. I certainly won't be an asshole about knowing (or not) the offside rule. I know nothing about the dynamic at every level of the sport, about who's good at what and the internal politics and all that. Still, knowing that the point is to kick the ball into the goal should be enough, right?

Of course I'm writing, so you know the answer is going to be "no".

I admit I'm not really a sports guy. I'm not athletic. I wanted to play as a kid, but the fact that I have had glasses since second grade meant I was always picked last. I did watch sports. Basketball, obviously. The family rooted for Ginebra; I remember watching Bal David's miraculous shot from half-court live on TV, and enthusing about it to my classmates the next day.

But then, I did have other interests, and those took over. It was my father and my brother who continued to watch basketball, and know those dynamics like the back of their hands. They would have enthusiastic conversations about whatever was happening in the NBA or the PBA - at least, back when most of us were still able to watch it, unlike now when rights holders insist on putting it behind what's pretty much a paywall - and I wouldn't be able to pick up much about it.

There would be times when I feel like watching what's on television, though, and I distinctly remember this one instance when an NBA playoff game was on and I asked my brother what was going on.

"Hindi mo naman maiintindihan," he said dismissively, and he continued to watch.

That pretty much sums up my experience with attempts to watch sports. That general experience of being put out of the loop meant I never really felt enthusiastic about, say, the UAAP games when I was a student in La Salle. And yes, it's true that I have watched a bunch of basketball games live - and I've written about it a few times here - and while I (obviously) understood what was going on, and I enjoyed the experience, I still felt like I was there because I'm a guy and I should be interested. I still felt like an outsider. I would never fully understand anyway, so why be there?

I've been thinking about that in recent weeks, since I've been kind of following the Ashes. Yep, Test cricket. It's a sport that doesn't really have much of a following here. And no, I'm not watching it to stake a claim to knowing the sport as intimately as my peers know about basketball or football or F1 racing or anything else, really. I just was curious about how this game that takes five days to play and has all these rules works, so I read something online about it, and I watched highlight clips, and, yeah, I think I get it.

So, over the past few weeks, the first thing I watch every morning are these highlight clips. I only know some of the names, and none of the legends behind them, but at least I understand what's happening. The Aussies are keeping the trophy because the fourth Test was rained out, and the best the Brits can hope for is a draw, depending on what happens later today. (You see, since these games run for six hours and happen in the middle of the night, there really is no way I can watch them. Apart from the fact that there literally is no way I can watch them live.) But at least I know what a chase means, and I can now tell if something might be leg before wicket. And that's enough for me... at least until some asshole comes and tells me I don't really understand what's going on, and I won't ever understand it anyway.

As for this football game... it's a bad one for the Philippines. There's no way we can make up five goals - including a conceded penalty and an own goal - in under twenty minutes. And we had a red card, too! Not their night. This is when I'd say that it doesn't matter if we exit in the group stages, that the fact that the Filipinas made it to the FIFA Women's World Cup is enough. (The fact that we upset the hosts in the last game is a bonus.) But then I think back to the one time I watched an F1 race back-to-front, and a friend telling me, jokingly, that I shouldn't watch another race because their favorite lost that race and I jinxed the whole thing.

I mean, today I had the time to watch the Filipinas in Auckland, and they're down 5-0 as I finish this entry? I am the fucking jinx, and I should never watch any sport ever again. Except the cricket. I mean, they're just highlights, anyway. I can't affect any of that.