The latest entry in my 2018 sport diary, as I finally back a winner at Cheltenham, international week drags on and on and on, and the England cricket team take us all back to the 80s and 90s.
Such has been my lack of success in backing horses in the past that I was surprised Sky Sports News didn't put a yellow ribbon across the bottom of our screens when I picked the winner in the first race on my trip to Cheltenham on Gold Cup day. My lucky streak stopped immediately, though, but at least my one success covered my gambling expenses on the day. After no winners at Cheltenham/Ascot last year, I was happy to break my duck.
The whole Cheltenham experience left me feeling like a grumpy old man unfortunately. There are just too many people bustling around for it to be enjoyable. Tempers flared in the Guinness Village as the queues for drinks crawled along at a snails pace, and as a man with a weak bladder, I spent approximately 3.3% of my day queueing for the toilets. I'm glad that I went for the last couple of years, but I think that will be it for me in the immediate future.
On Saturday I attended a very tense but enjoyable match between Boreham Wood and Tranmere at Ice Station Zebra, sorry Meadow Park. Arriving at the ground, we couldn't see most of the great playing surface, and it's the first time I've ever been to a match with blue line markings (my excitement at this made me wonder if I need to get a life). Tranmere brought a big support with them, and at times I thought the extra volume created would drive the visitors on to victory. But Boreham Wood edged it 2-1, and have now moved up to third in the table.
It's always interesting taking a trip to Twitter to see the opinions of football supporters. One Tranmere fan seemed to be confused as to how on earth Boreham Wood could be third in the table. I was very tempted to reply to him, explaining the whole three points for a win/one for a draw system that is used in leagues up and down the country, but I thought it might be a little patronising. It seems that little Boreham Wood doing so well is annoying people associated with bigger clubs in the National League. Long may it continue.
It was great to see Rory McIlroy back on form at the weekend, as he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a surge of birdies on the back nine. With Paul Casey also winning recently, hopefully things are shaping up nicely from a European perspective with regards to the Ryder Cup. It's not long until the Masters now, which really signals the beginning of spring, and a chance for me to perhaps dust off the clubs and embarrass myself on the course again.
I'm glad to see Tiger Woods playing tournament golf again, but everyone needs to calm down a bit. Every time he plays a great shot or sinks a birdie putt, it's announced that the Tiger is back, and that he's a good bet for the Masters. If he does win the Masters, then the noise of golf pundits spontaneously exploding will be insufferable.
Death, taxes, and Martin Allen being appointed Barnet manager. There are things that are simply guaranteed to happen in our lives.
I really love international week. Said no one. EVER. Really, what is the point?
Well the cricket was disappointing this week. Rain denying Scotland the chance to qualify for the next World Cup was annoying to say the least. It also highlights the utterly ridiculous decision of the ICC to make the 2019 event a ten team tournament. How are teams like Scotland and Ireland supposed to improve if they cannot pit themselves against the best in the business in a major tournament? The ICC are up there with the FA in the making stupid decisions stakes. FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley - when one of the teams involved is also using that ground as a home stadium - pushes the ICC close in idiotic sporting policies.
Do we need to talk about England? I was massively confused when I woke up early on Thursday morning to discover that New Zealand were 22/1. Maybe it had been raining in Auckland, I thought, because if play had started on time, then the Kiwis would have been taking part in the biggest Chris Tavare tribute act ever. But, no. England had already batted, and covered themselves in embarrassment.
58 all out, five ducks, and at one point they were on track to get the lowest ever Test score. England, my England. Cricket, horrible cricket. When you're checking the weather forecast for Auckland as the first day draws to an end, you know you're scraping the barrel of desperation. The one day team has improved dramatically since Trevor Bayliss took over as coach, but the Test team have reversed quicker than me when I spot Jamie Carragher in the car next to me. I just hope we can get to three figures in our second innings with our "entertaining brand of cricket".
Previous entries:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11
No comments:
Post a Comment