August 2008 Archives

What a difference a weekend makes!

This was my first weekend off all year, and I spent it down in London with friends and family, firstly at one of my best mate's weddings, then my normal sporting routine took over with a day of golf on the Saturday and a 6-a-side cricket tournament at my old club on the Sunday.

Does it get any better? Well it did mean, unfortunately, while visiting my mother and staying in the land of no Sky sports and internet that for once I wasn't glued to the weekend's sporting activities, missing pretty much all of the football, cricket, tri nations and even the Olympic Closing ceremony.

(Although, from what I understand, the one little part that we were involved in organising - the double decker with Beckham and Led Zeppelin - was so cringe-inducing that it set the scene beautifully for our Chas & Dave and jellied eels Opening ceremony in 2012)

So instead of giving you my nonsensical impressions of the weekend of sport, I will let you know what I got up to, and how it was the perfect weekend!

Read on ...

I did something I don't often do on Saturday at 2.59pm.

I let out a bit of a girly scream on my Offside show as the footy season was about to kick off, the anticipation of the last two months of signings, all the hype in the papers and, of course, all the rhetoric spouted by people like me paid to talk about it.

It was finally here!

Now I love all sport (seriously, I'm getting scared at how addicted I'm getting to the weirdest of events in the Olympics. The other day I sat for two hours watching the team Final for Show Jumping.

Honestly, show jumping.

I hate that kind of thing normally, but the tension and the drama of the final, and the 61 year-old Canadian guy who took it to a final ride-off (what a legend - an Olympian in his 60s!) just added to the drama.

Although I would like to suggest that the cheerleaders so prevalent on the beach volleyball court are used in all events.

But my love of sport went into overload when I suddenly realised that the footy season once more was upon us.

I love the Olympics for many reasons, but it took until 10am Sunday morning for me to really get into this amazing event in Beijing.

I knew I was hooked as I bit my nails, fretting whether the GB Women's Archery team could nail a couple of tens in their last end to put the pressure on the French team for the bronze medal.

I wouldn't mind but I had already picked the facts up from the commentator, so that when my housemate joined me on the sofa I could inform him of such exciting titbits as: "Oh, watch out for her, she won bronze in Athens and has been a full-time pro ever since!"

Or: "Well, technically, if it breaks the line it's a nine not an eight ... idiot!"

Before the archery we witnessed Team GB's first gold medal, in the torrential rain that was the cycling road race.

Congratulations to Nicole Cook, who took gold when even such cycling luminaries as myself thought she'd blown it on the last corner.

Also well done to those girls who got gold and bronze in the swimming up and down in the pool event. This was a great achievement, and an amazing race.

But wait, there was more ...

Footy's back - and what a start to his Birmingham City career for Kevin Phillips, scoring the winner for the Blues in the last minute of injury time against Sheffield United!

I've always liked Phillips. He strikes you as a hard-working player who never rests on his laurels, and who also has a huge amount of talent.

When MacLeish signed him from the Baggies a few people raised their eyebrows. At the age of 35 he isn't getting any younger, and they thought he might just be looking for a cushy deal to retire on.

But no, I can see him providing a vital boost to the Blues promotion bid, and it might just be the best bit of business ever if his goals get Birmingham back in the Premiership.

The start of the season wasn't so good for Derby and Paul Jewell will be hoping for a win as soon as possible to help his team's fortunes improve. The stats show it has been something like 478.298 years since they actually won a game.

Winning is what Kevin Pietersen managed after his first game in charge of the England team, and I must admit I was very impressed in the style in which we managed to achieve this.

With Harmison looking back to his best, and the rest of the bowling unit stepping up to the plate, we didn't even have that many nervous moments in chasing down the runs to win.

Although you do get the impression that if it were not a dead rubber game, with the Saffers having already won the series, that the result might have been a bit more hotly contested.

I think KP faces some much sterner tests in the future, but it's a great way to show that being captain won't affect your natural game by hitting a ton in your first game in charge.

I got a nice surprise this week for the Mighty Harborne CC by being asked to make the move up to the first team to open the bowling.

The scene was set for a devastating up the hill opening spell in which I took all 10 wickets, scored a ton and even pulled the barmaid after the game (Hang on, wasn't it Steve behind the bar on Sunday? Oh wel,l you get the point).

Alas it was not to be as a torrential downpour robbed us of our game. Ah well, as they say in cricket, there's always next week!

Lecker Boet!

So it finally came to an end, the most successful England captain has quit from his post, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Well, apart from maybe at the Pietersen residence.

Michael Vaughan ended his tenure as skipper with the dignity and pride that has become synonymous with his reign.

The selectors went for Kevin Pietersen as the new captain of England and, I have to agree, I think they made the right choice.

So what if he wasn't born here?

He wears the Three Lions with pride, and I feel that if he is playing for England, there is no reason why he can't be captain. In fact, I would make him chief of selectors, coach and Prime Minister all at the same time.

Sure, in the past, appointing our best players like Flintoff and Botham has backfired spectacularly, with both not actually winning a game during their time in charge, but KP is different.