Unexpected Golds

Doesn't the olympics spit out some strange results every so often. You have an expectation that a particular person / team or country will win based on previous knowledge or experience.

Take the football for example - you know that Brazil or Argentina will win. They are both class squads that perform well in the world cup too. It was no suprise that Argentina did indeed collect the gold medal.

But, what came as a hilarious result was the baseball. There is only one country (they'd have you believe) that plays baseball at a high level. They even have the nerve to call the cup competition they play the WORLD series. So - gold medal guaranteed then yes?

No!  They only managed to get the bronze. To make it worse for them Cuba beat them to the silver, and South Korea took the gold. You know Korea - that baseball loving country who sit and munch hot dogs at the stadium and have their own WORLD series.

Whatever next will these olympics throw at us. Britain doing better than the Australians? Now that would be amusing.

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Ah football, how I missed you!

It's August 11th and thank goodness that today sees the start of the new football season. Since the end of last years campaign, I've had that horrible  nothing-to-do-with-my-Saturday-afternoon syndrome.

Now though, I'm sat in the garden, laptop connected wirelessly to the BBC sport interactive live stream, and mobile phone tuned in to the local radio station for live commentary.

Can anything be better than a sunny afternoon and football?

Just an idea

I was watching a news item about cricket - in particular the investigation into the murder of the Pakistan coach - and the possibility that his death might have had something to do with illegal gambling in Pakistan.
The interesting part of the report was how the future generation of national cricketers are being trained. Not only are they learning to play the game well, but they are also being taught "ethics" to avoid the potential of falling foul of the criminal underworld who are out to corrupt them.

What a great idea - children being taught the correct ethics to make good future adults.

How the self righteous have fallen

There is at last some good news for the other football team in my town.
You see, as a Notts County fan, I can't help but enjoy seeing a certain other club suffer.
They might be languishing in the 3rd division (as it used to known), they might be able to only claw an embarrasing draw at home against a non-league side in the FACup, but....

Banning orders 2004 - 2005

Portsmouth - 133
Leeds United - 128

Manchester United 101

Millwall - 101

Nottingham Forest - 77
Middlesbrough - 73
Sheffield Wednesday - 61

They're in the Top 5 when it comes to hooligans who have been arrested. Congratulations.
See, you are good at something - violence, whinging and abusive chanting.
Bet you're really proud.

You have to laugh

"Two-time European Champions Nottingham Forest were relegated to League One as they limped to defeat at QPR.

Never before has a club who have reigned in Europe slipped into the third tier of their domestic league."

So said the first lines of a report on the BBC sport website. I struggled to read it, through my tears of laughter. So much for the "mighty" Forest, where are those cries of "We are a premiership team" now that they always call out when things are going against them.

Accept it Forest fans - those who aren't fickle enough to walk away - you are where you are because that is as good (or should I say as poor) as you are.

Right, now I'm off for a few pints and to celebrate this great piece of news.

Biased?

It's FACup weekend, and my lowly league two side were playing at home to premiership Middlesborough. I know, I  know, I should have assumed that we would never make it through, but it's the FACup and you never know what will happen. Especially after 90 seconds of the match, and we're leading 1-0. For the rest of the first half things looked quite good. But then came half time, teamtalks and a new premiership formation.
Pretty soon it was 1-1. Then it was 1-2. Full time. Dream over for another year.

It's not so much the fact that we are lost to a premiership club. I expected it really, It's more the fact that across the river our nearest team hasn't been able to win a match for months, they've slumped to the foot of their division, there fans have gone quiet (what a relief that has been!) and the flags, pendants and scarves removed from their cars. That was until they won yesterday. Now the local press, local website, local radio are suddenly full of nothing but praise for them. Fickle. 'You only crow when you're winning'. How apt.

"We've turned the corner" one fan was quoted as saying. I hope not. A relegation battle, financial hardship and then maybe the realisation that they are not premiership material - as they keep falsely claiming - will finally dawn on them.

However, while the local press keep focusing on them only, ignoring the other teams in the region, they'll only go on thinking that they are better than they are.

Biased against them? I might be. But at least I accept that my team are where we are because that is how good we are. Why can't they accept the same?

Technology and sport

Euro2004 has kicked off in Portugal, and websites are the pushing the new technology that is available for its viewers.

Over on the Euro2004.com site they have made their site accessible to those with literacy difficulties. The browsealoud function has been added to the site, so that after a short free download a user can roll a mouse over text and hear it spoken to them.
It's just a shame that are charging for their audio and video content.

BBCi is offering additional services to digital TV viewers. Yes, satellite viewers have seen this before, but for those of us on cable its a welcome change - pressing the red button on the remote gives you the choice of listening to either the TV match commentary, analysis, radio5live commentary, or simply just the noise from the stadium. In addition there is a live 'highlights' package that replays the best parts of the match as it is taking place, a news feed, forum and 'live stats' throughout the game.
And it isn't just football - Wimbledon will be 'red button friendly' too.

On their website (renamed bbc.co.uk recently to avoid confusion with the digital TV services) they have the virtual replay machine. This neat bit of software lets you view certain moments from all of the Euro2004 matches played, and you can view from various camera angles, follow a particular player, slow down and freeze the action. So, if you thought that the ref was wrong to have given a penalty, check it out here and see!

Well done the bbc for trying out new ideas using the technology you have. Now, if I only had the option to delete over rated, celebrity seeking footballers from my screen it would be perfect!

We're Saved !

Well at 10.30 today (Wednesday 3rd December 2003) the news that Notts had been bought came through. Its a mighty relief to hear those words after 18 months of uncertainty.

Notts County, which has been in administration for nearly 18 months, has agreed a sale of the club. The decision has been ratified by the Football League

Isn't technology wonderful, within a few minutes of this being announced I had heard it on the radio - being played through the PC, and then read it on a well known news website.

In the old, pre-internet days, I would have been waiting most of the day until I could get home to be able to buy a newspaper, or wait for the local news to come on for its once a day bulletin.

Bless you Internet. What would I do without you.

Hopefully now, there is no need to put in any more football entries, so its back to the job now :-)

The Beautiful Game - an update

It's getting very close to the last chance deadline, and still there is no sign of a solution to rescue the club.

I wrote that comment about a month ago just after the last round of the FACup. I was convinced that within 30 days there would be no more Notts County. Today I am feeling more confident. A lot of work has been taking place in the background by the club and all parties involved, and today - December 1st - I read the following message on the bbc nottingham website;

The takeover of Notts County hasn't been completed It's all because of a last minute snag.............Whatever it means is that the deal is delayed, not placed in jeopardy.

Now that part alone caused me to go into a mild panic, but at the end of the piece;

The consortium has banked the three point two million pounds needed and the purchase of the Meadow Lane stand from former chairman Derek Pavis has gone through at around half a million pounds.

So, the money is all in place and the deal should be completed today (December 1st)

Dare I start to get optimistic about this ? but knowing all the previous problems and hitches should I think I should wait until I can see with my own eyes.

The Beautiful Game

Nothing to do with teaching, just a post after FACup action and a pleasing win for my team, Notts County.
Will we win in the next round and make it through to the big names ?
Mind you, more importantly than that - will we still be around to play any third round, or other, matches ?

It's getting very close to the last chance deadline, and still there is no sign of a solution to rescue the club.

Maybe I ought to set up a paypal account and ask people to donate money into it to save the club. What chances do I have to raise £3m before December 9th...................

Oh well, never mind.

Back to the educational stuff next post no doubt.