25th September 2006
Hi all,
There are few things worse for me than carrying the writing of a thought over into a Monday. Not that there are big queues of people on the home page pressing F5 repeatedly like football fans on transfer deadline day, but I just like to keep everything tidy and up to date.
To begin with I did have idea for a thought, under the premise that something I thought was a saying was actually a saying. Well I searched for various terms regarding beating champions by knock-outs on Google and nothing turned up, so that was that idea out of the window. You can't really write about a saying which doesn't exist.
My next thought was to come up with a stupid theory and put some reasoning behind it. As much as I hemmed and hawwed over a "Women on Everest" theory I decided I certainly couldn't do it justice this quickly, unlike Neil Taylor's inspired "Categories of Love" theory. Neil would probably suggest that my lack of creativity on this point is because I don't drink, and in this instance frankly, he might have a point.
Did the weekend bring any extra humour? Not really. A few misheard and misunderstood comments at home, hardly setting the house alight with laughter. A trip to the supermarket that ran to some shrapnel short of three figures.
Has having Monday as an extra day to write something provided me with any extra material? Not really, although it did give me a chance to take a flick through Ashley Cole's autobiography "My Defence" in my lunch hour, which gave me two things to comment upon. First of all there's no index at the back, which isn't very helpful if like me you don't care about Arsenal or Chelsea and just want to read about his brief loan spell at Palace back in 1999. Second of all, he refers to his wife ("wor" Cheryl Tweedy) as his "best friend". Seriously, don't people learn? Ashley, read last week's thought and edit the introduction to your book for the next print run.
Still on the subject of Ashley Cole I thought it was a pretty smart comment of Adrian Chiles on Match of the Day 2 on Sunday night regarding Michael Brown's potentially leg-breaking tackle on him. "I know Ashley Cole's a bit hard to love right now, but Michael Brown, is there any need for this?" Perhaps Michael Brown likes autobiographies to have indexes so he can skip to the parts he wants to read as well. Hardly a reason to want to break someone's leg though.
One thing I've not mentioned from the weekend was the Irish star who brought a smile to myself and my friends. Yes, it's Roy Walker! The man who's appearance singing "Love Changes Everything" on Five last Friday night sent a flurry of Catchphrase-related text messages flying between phones, between both my friends and I, and also between the other 24 people who were watching him. "It's good, but it's not right." "Say what you see." "Rrrrright!" Fun for all the family, and apparently we get to see him do it all again in the final of whatever the show is called (honestly, I wasn't paying attention).
(Sorry, you were expecting me to mention Darren Clarke? Who's he? Seriously, I think we'll hear plenty about the amazing Mr Clarke when various awards of the year are handed out in December.)
Thankfully this week it has provided me with an opportunity. An opportunity to gloat over the misery of Millwall football club. After five successive defeats smarmy manager Nigel Spackman has left (apparently by mutual consent), leaving the club in the lower reaches of League One and with the prospect of having to battle to avoid a second successive relegation. Couldn't happen to a nicer club. I've never forgotten the tales of Palace fans who have had unfortunate meetings with Millwall fans, and nor have I forgotten them throwing live fireworks at Palace players. I don't hide the pleasure I take in their misery.
So why don't I want to gloat more than I have? The trouble with football is that there are cycles in place, and what happens to one club will probably sooner or later happen to your own. Back in 1997 I was flicking through a Palace fanzine, wincing at some of the comments which were laughing at Brighton's financial problems. I just had a bad feeling about it. Two years later we were the club in the financial mire.
So with that in mind I'll continue to enjoy Millwall's difficulties... quietly.
Have a good week!
Tony
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