Just got home.
That, was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen (this statement's probably also going to look incredibly stupid - or it might not - once the emotion wears off, as I've travelled the world and seen some remarkable sights).
After jumping up and down in the final minute and at the siren, I found myself walking around in a haze as I navigated the 96,000-strong crowd out of the ground. Just on auto-pilot, in a state of complete and utter disbelief - catatonic, almost. Everywhere the ears pricked, the Carlton song was being sung boisterously by large mobs - inside and outside the ground.
I ended up a way away from where I was supposed to be, with nothing but the Pullman Hotel in the distance to guide me out of the dark MCG parkland and into the East Melbourne streets where the car was. It's amazing what the brain does when it's hit with unfamiliar levels of dopamine in a rush. I may as well have been floating.
I kept it all together in the final quarter when the game was tight. I had been resigned to losing a close one. I'd been vocal early but then as the screws tightened I more or less sat there reflecting on the season that was. Then the final couple of minutes rolled around. Something just took me over - perhaps the auto-pilot state hit in those late stages.
Loudest Carlton crowd I have ever witnessed. It was absolute mayhem on the siren. I was level one on the wing in the AFL members. Strangers hugging and high-fiving, beer seemingly drizzling out of the sky (had I died and gone to Heaven, where the rain IS beer?!) and the song just blasting out of the mouths of many.
Once in the car en route to the Eastern Fwy, car horns were beeping one after the other in triumph, scarves draped out windows, and supporters on the streets greeting one-another like they'd known each other for years.
It's been a long time since I've seen this side of footy. Last Friday night wasn't a patch on what tonight was. And the scary thing is, there are even greater highs footy can deliver.
I think I'll go and wander in a haze some more.
Ooooh she's gunna be looking for someone to poke with a pointy stick, old fart might need to make sure he's got good clearance or a head start before he starts laughin this morn.
