Nov 14 2008

links for 2008-11-14

Published by Fence under Clickies

Tags: America - Proposition 8, autumninternationals08, Brian O'Driscoll, copyright, Doug Howlett, gay rights, haka, Hannah Jones, health, Ireland V New Zealand, library stuff, marriage, Munster V New Zealand, oclc, open source, right to die, rugby

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Oct 20 2008

links for 2008-10-20

Published by Fence under Clickies

Tags: autumninternationals08, biograph, Brian O'Driscoll, Budget 2008, da budget, feminism, Halloween, hamser, health cuts, injury, Irish politics, John Williams, Leinster, LeinsterVWasps, Mary Harney, Munster, MunsterVSale, Ronan O'Gara, rugby, social welfare, Stoner, thats just taking the piss, The Road, The Road(film), wtf!

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Feb 09 2008

wtf?

Published by Fence under Sport

I’m speechless. I have no idea what to say after that match. The first half was so horrible. Unless you were French[1] of course. What is with Ireland and first halves in France? Remember 2 years ago? Although this was worst, because right up to the final whistle the hope was there.

And let me tell you hope is a killer.

French fuckers.

Still, lets look at the positives; the scrum. Yes, I said the scrum, imagine that, an Ireland scrum that was going forward. That dominated the French pack! That led to a penalty try. The forward pack had a great second half. ROG too had a great game, kept us in touch, barely, in the first half. But on the wings[2] we’re a bit “who’s supposed to be playing there”. I also think that the lineout, at first, wasn’t great, but it did improve as the match went on. BOD was his usual hard-working self, but Trimble was very quiet. I don’t think he is good enough for the likes of France. Interesting to see who O’Sullivan will select for the next match against Scotland.

Sport really is a roller-coaster isn’t it?

Final score, btw, was France 26 - Ireland 21 and I officially hate Vincent Clerc.

Linknotes:
  1. mumbled, ungracious congratulations
  2. will Bowe be called in I wonder
Tags: 6nations2008, Andrew Trimble, Brian O'Driscoll, Eddie O'Sullivan, fucking french fuckers, Ireland V France, Ronan O'Gara, rugby, Six Nations, Vincent Clerc

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Oct 02 2007

It’s the hope that kills you

Published by Fence under Sport

For those that may not know[1] ; Ireland got knocked out of the RWC at the weekend. It wasn’t unexpected. After scraping the bonus point against Namibia, not getting one against Georgia, and losing to France, it would have required a miracle to get past the pool stages. We’d have needed to win by 7 or more points, score 4 tries, and make sure that Argentina didn’t score 4 tries. And, considering the poor performances that the team had been putting in it never seemed likely.

Course you still hope.
Cause what is the point if you don’t?

But in the end Argentina won, and won well, 30 to 15. Maybe that scoreline would have been closer had we not had to chase the four tries, maybe we would have won if all we’d needed was to beat them by a single point, but that is irrelevant. We lost. We came home.

And the post-mortems will continue for many months. Why did we perform so badly? What happened to the team that could run and pass and “had a chance”? Why did we struggle to get our game going?

Some have argued that the players didn’t want to win that much, that they are all paid so much money that they didn’t have the passion of earlier and perhaps less talented teams. Pschaw I says to that. Pschaw[2] Did you see BOD when he scored that try against Argentina? I think maybe[3] he would have liked to win.

He had a good game. As did Paul O’Connell, despite some missed lineouts. And Geordan Murphy had an okay game, considering the support runners he was getting[4] and the options he was presented with[5] and the whole performance of the team was considerably better than earlier in the tournament.

But we should have started the RWC like that, and progressed. Instead we dug ourselves a huge ginormous hole by starting sluggishly.

In a way the tournament was like an extended version of our recent games. We start poorly, realise that we are in deep shit and start to play. Trouble is we just didn’t have the time or confidence to get out of that hole. And so the 2007 RWC is over for Ireland. And for many of those players this is the last RWC they’ll get to go to. Over the hill now. And what a sad way for Denis Hickie to finish his career. And possibly many others.

The debate about whether we should blame the players more or whether management should take responsibility seems to have been ignored in the rush to shout that Eddie O’Sullivan must go. I’ve always been quite supportive of Steady Eddie, but I’m back-tracking now, not that I think he should be fired in some knee-jerk reaction[6] but for the IRFU to be describing this as some sort of blip? Are they insane?

Maybe it is just that they want to get O’Sullivan back, to pick his brains, behind closed doors and try and figure out what went wrong before coming out and saying what is what, I don’t know. Maybe they’re hoping to persuade him to “agree terms” and don’t want to force their hand yet? Who can tell.

But this isn’t something that can be solved with a quick fix. I’d've had no problem[7] with us going home had we played to our potential and still been defeated. But, *shrug* we didn’t. We seemed lacking in strategy. lacking in skills. Lacking in just about anything that a rugby team needs to play. And I haven’t even mentioned the whole substitution fiasco.

Of course the RWC isn’t over yet. There are still a whole heap of teams left in the competitions. And I’ve made my decisions and I shall be supporting: France when they play[8] the All Blacks ; Argentina when they play Scotland[9] ; Fiji when they play[10] South Africa ; England[11] when they play[12] Australia.


Title was something one of the commentators said after we started so well and people began to think, hey, maybe, just maybe…
Linknotes:
  1. you heartless uncaring peoples
  2. remember, repetition provides emphasis
  3. understatement here, jic it doesn’t come across
  4. none
  5. very few
  6. Wales you know what Im talking about
  7. yeah, yeah, that is a lie. I would still be ever so slightly annoyed
  8. lose to
  9. Part of me will be cheering for Scotland, but there you go
  10. you have to support the underdog
  11. heresy, I know, but I do like to go against the popular view
  12. again I think they will lose
Tags: 2007RWC, Argentina, Brian O'Driscoll, Denis Hickie, Eddie O'Sullivan, Geordan Murphy, Ireland, knocked out, Paul O'Connell, Pool D, rugby, sporting post-mortem

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Sep 26 2007

I’m a firm believer in being as positive as possible until the moment when it’s out of your hands

Published by Fence under Sport

Okay, so I did say that it was the end of the road as far as me and optimism were concerned. But I’m so not down with the whole negativity thing that is going on in the meeja at the moment. We are all[1] disappointed. But as Emmet Byrne said on d’telly last night it is easy to be negative. Not only is it easy, it is a fairly pointless exercise.

I’m not saying that we ignore the shite play, or pretend that everything is okay with the rugby team, but we aren’t out yet, so why not hope? Why be so negative in the questions to the players? And don’t give me that “hard-hitting journalism” tosh, cause that isn’t the reason. The reason is that it is easy to hit someone when they are down and taking the easy option is, well, easy, innit?

So lets hold all post-mortems and “Alas, ochrone” wailing and keening until after the final match on Sunday. Yes, we’ll probably be going home, but this is sport, and stranger things have happened.


Title provided by BOD
Linknotes:
  1. for a certain value of all
Tags: 2007RWC, Brian O'Driscoll, Emmet Byrne, Ireland, optimism, rugby, sporting post-mortem

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Mar 22 2007

TT the ninth (yeah, it said 8th, I was wrong)

Published by Fence under Sport, Weekly memes

So it turns out that today is Thursday. Who’d have guessed that shocker following yesterday being Wednesday? Course yesterday was the start of my working week so part of me is busy thinking today is Tuesday. Gonna get a pleasant surprise when I wake up thinking “thursday, nother two days of work” only for it to turn out to be Sat. Course, this may then get extra confuddling when I arise feeling like a Sat[1] and then remember, that no, today is Monday. You should be at work.

The perils of taking days off work.

Right, back to the blunt end of this post[2] today is Thursday, which means Thursday Thirteens.:

Thirteen Sports related memories

  1. One of my earliest sporting memories, you know, apart from playing three and in in the park, or kerbs by the kerb, is radio related. Who’d have guessed in this modern age of televisual delights, HD-mebobs, youTube footage, bittorrented goodness and all the rest of the technological greatness that is modern sports-watching. But then again, I am almost ancient now, approaching my third decade. Mein gott! the wrinkles…[3] So back in the day, they had this device known as a radio. Whereby you could listen to people describing things that happened in front of them.

    I’m guessing I was quite young, because I know we were on holiday in Enniscrone, camping and that was why I wasn’t watching on the telly[4] I’m thinking 8. But that may be a purely random number pulled from the ether[5] Right, eight years old, in the car, listening avidly to… showjumping. Yes, the Dublin Horse Show’s Nations Cup competition. I don’t remember who won, but I think we may have[6] Whatever. Winners or losers, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I remember it, and lo, it was good.

  2. Another barely recalled sporting moment, which isn’t really a moment at all, more like a collection of memories, is of All-Ireland final day. Now back in the dim mists of time when I hadn’t the vaguest of interests in sport these two days[7] meant only one thing. No telly to watch. Because in those days there was no such thing a families having two tellies. Not a chance boys, nor did children enter into the equation when the parents wanted to watch something. So All-Ireland Sundays involved waiting for the sport to end. If it was a wet summer[8] then that would involve sitting around, popping heads in doors, and gradually watching bits of the game. Or if it was good weather, then that meant you could play outside til the game was over, and you could always tell, because sunny days meant glare on the screen, and All-Ireland days were the only ones important enough to allow the curtains to be pulled during the day to facilitate telly watching. So roller-skating[9] around the house, or whatever else, you could tell the moment the game was over by spotting that the curtains to the sitting room were now open.
  3. And now a real actual sporting memory: Watching Simon Geoghegan play rugby. I can’t give you a specific match or year, but sometime between 1991 and 1996 would be my best guess. This was when I started to get into rugby. As I’ve mentioned before, de mudder was always a rugby supporter, but I could never see the point of a game where you had to through the ball backwards[10] and one of the main ways of advancing was to kick the ball into touch. Seemed boring and pointless to me. But what with there only being one telly in the house you sorta had to watch those Five Nations matches, and Geoghegan always stood out. And of course once you start watching and understanding the game then it is fairly easy to appreciate the sport.
  4. The Dublin-Meath GAA encounters of the early 90’s. They seem to have spent the entire summer playing each other[11]
  5. Donegal winning the All-Ireland in 1992, beating Dublin. I’m not really sure why this sticks in the mind. I know I was supporting Dublin at the time, but it was still nice to see Donegal win. Living in Sligo you don’t really get too many sporting greats around, so seeing a neighbouring county do well is always nice.
  6. Euro ‘88, I was in 4th class. I think. And such was the soccer-mania that qualifying for the European championships brought about, we had more than a few art classes where we did nothing but colour in flags or draw the footballers. Course, there was one fella who was so enthusiastic that when Euro ‘88 was over he promptly set about preparing for Euro ‘89 before being laughed out of the classroom as everyone explained about there being four years in between championships.
  7. And I couldn’t mention the Euros without mentioning the World Championship, and Italia ‘90. The glory days of Irish football. I was on my yearly holiday in Tip when we played Italy. Fully confident that we would lose against Italy, but that didn’t dampen the excitement. And of course then I was proved correct when Scilacci[12] scored that goal. But we didn’t really care. The team had gone there and done us proud. Okay, so they didn’t technically win a single match, but that didn’t bother us.
  8. Watching Barry McGuigan, I have no idea who he was boxing, or when this was, but I do remember staying up late watching on the Granny’s small telly. I can’t even remember if this was a fight he won. Not much of a memory, but I was maybe 6 or 7, so you’ll have to make do with hazy memory.
  9. Michelle Smith winning in the Olympics. Great while it lasted, but now totally, and deservedly overshadowed by the sample-tampering/whiskey in urine incident.
  10. Cian O’Connor winning the gold medal in showjumping. Okay, another drug incident. But until the drug story came to light it was a great achievement.
  11. Michael Carruth and Wayne McCullough in the 1992 Olympics. I’m not even a boxing fan, but look, three boxers have already been mentioned here.
  12. Brian O’Driscoll scoring three tries against France. In Paris.
    Asked for a comment on the field after the final whistle, Keith Wood, the Irish captain, was too happy for words. “Woooooooooo,” he screamed into an interviewer’s microphone.

    Look at him, all young and unfamous, awww.

  13. Ireland V England in the Six Nations 2007. Croke Park, historical day and all that. The emotion of the anthems. The final score. Best rugby memory[13] in a long while.
    1. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

    2. Selena Kitt
    3. The Flatland Chronicles
    4. Pistols, Passion & Potions
    5. the screaming pages
    6. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Linknotes:
  1. not that I will feel that I am a Sat., more that there will be a Sat feeling in the air
  2. there being very little by way of a point
  3. in case you haven’t guessed by now, I appear to be rambling quite a bit today
  4. yes, we had them back then
  5. which is like memory, only slightly more reliable
  6. this memory may be from the ether, or possibly from nostalgia which says that everything in the past was good and smiley
  7. or more if there were replays
  8. rare, I know in Ireland
  9. ah, roller skates, more memories
  10. backwards!
  11. I have mentioned exaggeration for effect before, haven’t I
  12. that spelling is probably wrong
  13. I should have mentioned that match, against France I think, where Paul O Connell took off his shirt in order to receive some treatment, because that is a memory that can do with some repeating, only I amnt sure if it qualifies as a sporting memory
Tags: 1992sfc, 6nations2007, All-Ireland final, Barry McGuigan, Brian O'Driscoll, Cian O'Connor, Croke Park, Donegal, Dublin V Meath, Euro88, football, GAA, Ireland V England, Italia90, memory, Michelle Smith, Paul O'Connell, rugby, showjumping, Simon Geoghegan, Six Nations, soccer-mania, T13

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Feb 24 2007

You are my sunshine - Redux

Published by Fence under Shiny, Sport

My only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey!

What a match. What a result. Role on Scotland and Italy.

Super Saturday or what? The fun started before I went to bed on Friday[1] when B#5 texted me to say he’d gotten his hands on a ticket for the big match. Bad news was that he couldn’t get me one, his was a schoolboy one that some fella didn’t want. Don’t know why, he asked no question just grabbed it. His train got into Dublin around 3 on Sat., so I was busy texting him the insane opening scores from the Italy Scotland match. 21-0 after 7 minutes, and Scotland’s nightmare start was all down to their own sloppiness. Part of me really wanted Scotland to make a come back, I was giving out to Mr. Paterson for not taking any of the points on offer. Constantly kicking for touch and never getting near scoring a try! But a little part of me wanted Italy to win[2] Historic, seeing as they’d never won a Six Nations away match before. And if they’d lost after those early tries it would have been heartbreaking. It’ll be really interesting to see them face Wales, I’m thinking that the Wooden Spoon might be headed Wales, despite the fact that they finally managed to score some tries in this year’s competition. But I’m getting ahead of myself. After the Scotland match came the Ireland match.

And the tension was such that I had to put away the beer, couldn’t be drinking as I had to concentrate on the match. But before that came the appearances by the teams, and the crowd gave the English team a great reception. Nothing compared to the reception they gave Ireland, but still nice to see. And after all that had been written and talked about regarding GSTQ, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of trouble[3] Instead it was sung and listened to with respect, before Amhrán na bhFiann and Ireland’s Call were belted out, with so much emotion[4] that tears were shed. And then, the match itself.

The opening was a bit dodgy. England took the lead, 3-0 and a slow start from Ireland looked likely. But not this time. Not a bit of it. O’Gara evened the score up with a penalty of his own, and from there on it was all Ireland. England were totally outplayed in one of the most intense first halfs I have ever seen. O’Driscoll was back and although quiet by his usual standards was still hugely influential. Stringer was back and as game as ever. Paulie too was back, I know he hadn’t missed a game, but he hasn’t been playing as well as he can recently. But in this match he was fantastic, back to his best, and Man of the Match, although maybe O’Gara could have claimed the award as he totally dominated the match. But then again, so too could Wallace, he was immense. And with Horgan back to his preferred position, and displaying some GAA high-fielding talents to score that try.

What a day, and what a result, 43-13! Forty-three points we scored. Gwan Ireland!

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image from IrishRugby.ie

Then I had to leave the on-screen celebrations and head out and find de brudder in the seething mass of happy fans coming down Parnell St. And headed home to hope Wales would finish off a perfect day by beating France.

It was not to be however, Wales may have gotten off to a good start, but in the end France’s class showed out and they won, playing well-within themselves. Bloody French spoiling our party ;)

Linknotes:
  1. after midnight so it was Sat, but still
  2. Sorry Alan
  3. I did see footage of the so-called protest before the match. Two fellas carrying around 5 or 6 signs each
  4. We love Jerry Flannery
Tags: 6nations2007, Amhrán na bhFiann, anthem, B#5, Brian O'Driscoll, Chris Paterson, Croke Park, England, France, GSTQ fuss, Ireland, Ireland V England, Ireland's Call, Italy, Jerry Flannery, Paul O'Connell, Peter Stringer, Ronan O'Gara, rugby, Scotland, Shane Horgan, Six Nations, w00t!, Wales, Wooden Spoon

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