The title of this blogpost should have been "Sport" but at the last moment I decided to rename it "Rabbits" - even though it has absolutely nothing to do with rabbits. You see, I was pretty sure that if the post's title remained "Sport" then a lot of regular visitors would simply give it a wide berth. There are, after all, a lot of people out there in the backwaters of the blogosphere who do not care a fig for sport.
However, I have always enjoyed sport - well most sports. I love football, rugby union, rugby league, cricket, tennis, golf, athletics, bowling, snooker, darts and rowing. I am not interested in any equestrian sports or indeed any other so-called sports that involve animals.
With me not feeling too well over the weekend, I watched quite a lot of sport courtesy of the magic of television.
On Saturday, I watched three big rugby union internationals from a tournament called "The Six Nations". First, Ireland scraped home against Italy in Rome. In the evening, France overcame Scotland pretty convincingly but in the late afternoon England hammered Wales in Cardiff - winning by 68 points to 14. The England performance was masterful. Men against boys.
Sunday meant football. Proper football. Not the stop-start, highly-padded, ultra-tactical "American" variation nor the thuggish testosterone battles known as "Australian Rules". No - I am talking about association football.
At lunchtime, the two big Sheffield teams competed in The English Championship with Sheffield United beating Sheffield Wednesday by one goal to nil. Then a bit later, down in London, in The English Premier League, Arsenal beat Chelsea by the same score.
In the early evening, it was the final of The English League Cup. After seventy years without a domestic trophy, Newcastle United overcame Liverpool by two goals to one. It was no doubt thrilling for every Newcastle fan in the world and for neutrals like me - a great match to watch. Newcastle deserved their victory after all those "nearly" years and I am happy for The Magpies.
Sport means so much to so many people. For many, the teams they support are connected with their very identities. Choosing a team can be like choosing your tribe and of course getting lost in sport can allow you to look away from everyday cares and woes - if just for a little while.
And that is the end of my rabbiting about sport for today.
Local hero Dan Burn lifts the cup for Newcastle United
Sorry, but watching sport bores me. Doing it is another thing altogether. I must be the only person on this planet who hates Wimbledon fortnight with a passion and can only watch a rare game of football.
ReplyDeleteSuccess! My cunning plan worked. The cute rabbits drew you into a blogpost about sport!
DeleteNot a fan of the "beautiful game" - to misquote Oscar Wilde - the unspeakable chasing the uneatable. However, brilliant result for NUFC, after the myriad disappointments of the Keegan years, the Ashley reign etc....
ReplyDeleteI enjoy watching hockey ("ice hockey" to you non-Canucks), Canadian Football (our version of your scorned American Football) and occasionally, Rugby Sevens. The only sport I play, and this may be stretching a point, is shooting pool. I also watch all the Olympic sports when they are broadcast. I know from my own blog that my posts about sports always garner the fewest views and comments.
ReplyDeleteHint for next time you pull a bait and switch - don't admit it until the end because that's the only way to get us non-sport people to read all the way through :D
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to publish this comment. I'm concerned about your recent "side effects" with the doxazosin. I reread the post and you did say you were going to see the doctor. I asked if you had had a colonoscopy lately and you replied that you'd screening, I assume a FIT test which checks for blook cells in the stool. If that is the case, you need to be aware that FIT tests only have an accuracy of 75%. That means that 25% of the time, the test is inaccurate. We had a patient who'd had a FIT test which was negative, and then two months later was diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer. I hope you saw the doctor and I hope if you need a colonoscopy you will get one. I enjoy reading your blog and don't want anything to happen to you. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI like to watch some sports, but not often and not for long, but if I'm feeling under the weather I need old movies or what I call crap reality TV. It usually helps ...
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I don't like sports and don't watch any, but I do know that the Aussie Rules of today is nothing like the Aussie Rules of the past, the game has changed so much and I don't see how teams can learn to play when there is constant change with players being "bought" or "swapped" to other teams as often as they are now. There is no team loyalty anymore. If you are interested enough, maybe you can find a you tube video of recent Aussie Rules AND one of the old style game from the 60s or 70s and see the difference for yourself.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. I would not have read the post, but I am glad I did because I can express my outrage on behalf of my fellow citizens at your poor choice of words to describe our national game. I've just checked Wikipedia; "A fast moving, skilful and entertaining game played by men and women alike, with both having extreme fitness and athletic characteristics". So stick that in your peace pipe and smoke it.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Addy, sport bores me too - any sport and hate Wimbledon! The cafés here tend to show skiing on their huge TV's at the moment, and I can just about tolerate that, if I have my back to the screen!
ReplyDeleteYP, I didn't read further than the first paragraph, but I'm sure some of your followers will be absolutely fascinated!
"Howay the lads". Fabulous win for the Toon Army. A one city team full of working class support.
ReplyDeleteYour forgot the wins in Golf and Tennis.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to Radio 4. There was a great discussion about different kinds of evidence. Then on Radio 3 there was an interesting programme about Vivaldi, and how he had been almost forgotten until Mariner's 1969 recording of the Four Seasons. No sport here, especially not rugby or tennis or cycling.
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of watching sports on tv, though I do like a soccer (football) match every now and then. I don't even watch the Super Bowl, the "great American sporting event" of the season.
ReplyDelete