Fleeting though life is, the majority of it is still mundane.
We spend our time seeking the unusual through which our memories are made, and in that is football a fine allegory: all the goalless draws trudged through are ultimately worth it for the games which will be talked about forever.
One such, for Dons fans, occurred at Dens on this very weekend 23 years ago. Hicham Zerouali, shining as brightly and crackling with the same electricity as the Aberdeen shirt he briefly graced, frolicked in the autumn puddles as his hat-trick wrested back control of a game Dundee had threatened to turn with their own inspired moment.
The foil to the brilliant Zerouali that day, with a characteristically impudent chipped finish, was Fabian Caballero.
Two men, cut from similar cloth, who were tailor made for football as an enhancer of people’s lives, whose own have ended far too early. Though never destined to accumulate medals, they gathered much love from the supporters they so entertained.
And so it is appropriate to acknowledge, on a human level, the extraordinary efforts of Dundee’s contemporary players here.
On an afternoon which began with the commemoration of a club idol prematurely struck down during a kickabout, one cannot even imagine the turmoil in their dressing room when one of their number collapsed there at half-time; to have stormed back out of it and essentially dominated the second half in pursuit of a leveller was an estimable effort.
Though it may have been unrewarded in the unforgiving metric of cold league points, it was not unappreciated by those who valued the spectacle provided. If sport is of intrinsic value to the experience of mankind, they have contributed to it.
All good wishes to Mo Sylla, and to those in Dundee affected by his illness.
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