That is one title I sure as hell did not expect to be typing with regards to a blog that I would write/have written. But, seeing as all I have been asked about lately is “When is the next blog coming?”, I might as well keep the humanoids happy. In actual fact, a lot has happened since my last entry, which I will document now.
The Uni folk have gone, comparing the differing rates of homesickness they are experiencing with each other, whilst I’m stuck in the place that was recently termed by one Mr. Aaron Hill as “Bellend”. Still the same place, even if all you fuckers have left. Am I bitter about not going to University? Hell yes. Who wouldn’t be? You would be too, if you were the only person in your friendship circle not to be able to experience University life in all it’s “splendor”. Do I think I’ll miss out on stuff? Of course I will. I’ll grow apart from people who I considered friends. But, this will be the making of them. And in turn, this will be the making of me. If they don’t want to keep in contact with me, that’s entirely their decision and I will respect that. After all, my credo always has been and always will be – “I’ll respect your opinion, even if, frankly, it sucks”.
Not many of you will be asking…”So what about you?”. But you wouldn’t be reading this otherwise. Initially, I wrote in my last entry that I would be heading back to the ‘Teg. And that I did, spending the first day of the new term there. Well…first couple of hours there. I just didn’t like the atmosphere and came home at lunch, and discussed what the feck else I could do. Suddenly, there was this course in Cardiff I could do. Had an interview, enrolled and within two weeks was on the course. And so far, I have not regretted it. Obviously, it’s early days at the moment and a lot could have and probably will happen. Yeah, I’m taking the train back and fourth and there are going to be times where I wish I didn’t have to wake up in the mornings, but my lecture timetable has been relatively kind to me, so I’m in no mood to moan about that. It has made me realise that I could have been doing this two years ago instead of hating the two years of Sixth Form like I did. I’ve since realised that the worst decision I’ve ever made was drag myself back into Sixth Form, when really, I should have looked at other routes open to me. But, that’s life. We live and learn by our mistakes, do we not?
Besides one or two karaoke nights and a few Sunday quizzes up the Dragon, there haven’t been many other noted highlights for me since my last entry. There was the one night that Alistair, Matt and I had the most astonishing set of pool games ever at the Hunter’s Lodge. We played each other twice. We each won two games. We each lost the games that we put the money in the table for. And, not boosting my ego at all here because they said so themselves, my comebacks in the games I won were incredible. We then agreed that should we ever need a substitute player for each other, we could use one another as we all had the same “playing standard”. A cracking night we had there.
The sport section that bores so many is up now. And a lot has happened in this particular area:
— Wales are out of the RWC. The loss to Fiji was an enthralling piece of sporting theatre but yet again showed the lack of passion and desire that the Wales team have had in the last couple of years. The ball was constantly turned over, and frankly, the Welsh team is not a team, but a collection of egos. Not all of the blame for a terrible RWC should be placed at the foot of Gareth Jenkins. He has been hounded by the press (and in some cases rightfully so), for some of the coaching decisions he has made. But, the players must be held accountable for their actions as well. This is a stark contrast to four years ago, where the team came home beaten Quarter Finalists after playing two amazing games against NZ (one of the greatest rugby games I have ever seen) and England. Now, a post-mortem must begin to see where we can head into the next few Six Nations and the RWC in 2011. However, congratulations to Fiji on their victory, although they will be on the next flight back home after facing the Springboks I suspect.
— Man United are doing reasonably well. Despite a horrendous mid-week loss to Coventry (I didn’t see it, and I don’t wish to) in the League/Milk/Littlewoods/Rumbelows/Coca-Cola/Worthington/Carling Cup, at least our league form is kicking into gear. I am sad to see Jose go as a football fan, because he was such a great character and brought so much to the Premier League, but as a United fan, I’m so glad that Chelsea are up shit creek without a paddle. Against Fulham today they lacked organisation and leadership without Jose, and Avram Grant will find it hard to re-unite a dressing room that is already torn apart. Interesting to note that Roman Abramovich is turning into Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov. If you are unfamiliar with Romanov, he has been accused of interfering in team selection and creating unrest with amongst of their star players (such as Steven Pressley, Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley). I suspect it won’t be long before Abrahmovich is telling Shevchenko to start playing the long ball game as Chelsea’s new captain.
— The baseball season is drawing to a thrilling conclusion. The Cubs, Yanks and Red-Sawx are in. But, the Mets have almost blown it again, with them tied with the Phillies with one game to play on Sunday. Barry Bonds has played his last game as a Giant, and they should be thankful that he made that team as good as it was. Steroids or not, like him or not, Bonds is an enigma that speaks his mind and must keep people interested otherwise he wouldn’t create the column inches he did. His HR record will not last long. A-Rod will better it in years to come if he keeps hitting them at the rate he does, but even his future is uncertain at the moment. There’s even talk that he could join Mark Cuban as part of a Cubs ownership group. The World Series could be a cracker this year I reckon. Last year’s was kind of a damp squib if I’m honest from what I recall.
— The Packers are at 3-0. This is the biggest surprise of the lot. This was a team that last year that were so inconsistent. Yet, after a successful pre-season, we stand at 3-0 after victories over the Eagles, Giants (yes, Giants) and Chargers (who it looks like are not the team they were last year), we face the Vikes in Minnesota this weekend. Although I wasn’t a fan at the time, apparently with the Packers, Broncos and Cowboys doing so well, it’s beginning to look “like the NFC of the 90s”. Whether my Cheeseheads can hold on or not is a different question. Brett is gonna get Marino’s all-time TD pass record soon mind. And Marino was good. Very good.
— Hockey is back. I didn’t watch all of the NHL Premiere game from the O2, but I was extremely surprised to hear that the Kings beat the Ducks 4-1 in the game. A fact made more astonishing because the Kings started a 19-year-old rookie in goal by the name of Jonathan Bernier and did play a blinder from what I saw. Admittedly, the Ducks were missing some key players (Selanne and S. Niedermayer are uncertain whether to return after getting their Stanley Cup rings), but, the Kings did well to take some of the attention away from the reigning cup-holders. Bernier does look extremely impressive and may be the key to the Kings’s horrific goaltending situation of the last couple of seasons. I believe Craig Simpson brought up in the pre-match coverage that LA used FIVE goaltenders last year. That’s some rotation policy Marc Crawford had there.
As is tradition, it is now time for me to bring out my Crystal Ball and predict what I think the Stanley Cup match up will be. In 2004, I correctly predicted that Tampa Bay would reach the finals. In 06, I said the Canes would get there, and in 07, I said the Ducks would beat my Wings in the WCF to get to the finals. This year, I see it going like this. I actually see the East being a re-match of the 07 play-offs with Buffalo taking on Ottawa. However, this time I see Buffalo finally getting past the Sens in 6 games and making it to the finals. In the West, I see Detroit again making the Conference Finals, but again, I see them falling short in 5 games to San Jose. San Jose are my tip to win it all this year, beating Buffalo in 5 games.
— Formula 1 is also drawing to a close. The Fuji Speedway (or Fuji Snoreway as I call it…dire track. Thank God Suzuka is back in 09) played host to the Japanese GP this morning, and to my shock, it was a cracking race. In horrific conditions (I’m sure it was exactly like this when Niki Lauda got out of the car and handed the title to James Hunt), Lewis Hamilton kept his head when all those around him were losing theirs (ahem…Mr. Alonso) to almost seal the World Title. This is F1, and anything can happen in the next two races. Amazing drama though. Vettel crying his heart out after taking out Webber was just an awful sight. But Webber’s quote is up there with when Raikkonen told Martin Brundle he missed Pele giving Schuey award at the end of last season “Because [he] was taking a shit”. Webber said of the incident – “It’s kids isn’t it… They have not got enough experience – they do a good job and then they fuck it all up.” Classic.
Oh yeah, advance notice to all – it’s my birthday on Wednesday October 10. If anyone has any suggestions on what to do on the night and the following weekend (12-13-14 October), please let me know. I’m a bit stuck for ideas since most of the folk are not around anymore. Any opportunities for getting absolutely ruined are gladly accepted.
That seems to be about it for the time being fy friendau. There will be more entries to come in the next few weeks. Coming up in December it will be the blog’s third birthday. Man, in three years so much has changed. It’s absoludicrous. Well, seeing as it’s Sunday, I’m off to the RD for a pub quiz and other related shenanigans. As usual, any blog/picture/video/profile/bulletin comments are welcome.
Until the next time.
Listening to: “This is Where You Should Be” – Savatage, from “From the Gutter to the Stage”