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....
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