Susan Hated Literature

Yesterday at work Bhí cúpla caílíní ag suigh in front of the desk. Psychology students. And as they were studying they were chatting^[1] and got on to discussing suicide.^[2] Now I’ve always felt that suicide is something of a selfish act, because lets face it, it is the people left behind who have to deal with the aftermath. But at the same time, if someone is contemplating suicide then obviously they have problems.

But one of the girls was dead certain that it was only ever selfish people who committed suicide.

Some of the others made half-hearted attempts to persuade her that usually those with suicidal tendencies weren’t ag iarracht daoine eile a gortaithe but she was having none of it.

And her a psychology student! Lack of understanding of what.

Since the O’Gara-incident^[3] I’ve been reading a few comments from those on both sides of the argument. And it never ceases to amaze me how vitriolic people can be in defence of something they know nothing about.

First of all nobody, apart from those actually involved know what happened. You can watch all the you tube vidjos you want, they don’t show what happened. And they don’t show the mental processes of what went on. They do however show Donncha O’Callaghan being punched in response to him holding on to a jersey, is this acceptable behaviour I wonder?

But for all the people screaming that Eddie O’Sullivan should resign and utter a grovelling apology to all Scotland? Well, ye can dream on. Not going to happen. Do I think O’Sullivan should’ve said what he said? No, not so soon afterwards, not until he knew as much as possible. However, presuming that what he said was true then he would have been remiss if he had said nothing. As for the Scottish players? Well, they are all innocent until proven otherwise, and nothing has been proven. So therefore, they are innocent.

And comments about smoke and fire are never welcome.

If it ROG really was choked deliberately, and if the players think that that happened, I think we’ll all find out about it the next time Ireland play Scotland.

Then again, life is so much more entertaining when you leap to conclusions without thinking. Let’s all shout Dúnmharú! nó iarraidh dhúnmharaithe without thinking. Accusations are what make the world go round after all, don’t you agree.

fx: gollum-type-voice “dúnmhartóir! fuathaím thú”

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Well now, what to say about Saturday’s rugby? Do I use the old “a win is a win” cliché? Or the fact that Ireland won despite not really playing well is a sign of a good team? Or do I moan that they didn’t prepare and never looked like the team that played against England?

Or do I skip all that and ask did a Scottish player try, allegedly, to kill Ronan? Or what was Eddie hoping to achieve by bringing that up in a press conference? Or should I simply despair of RTE’s commentators who didn’t see the incident at all. Supposed to be watching the match they made no mention of ROG going limp on the pitch, or of John Hayes putting him in the recovery position, or of that seeming to be the reason the ref blew up when he did? Maybe they have the excuse that they were watching the play continue, but that doesn’t really work because Ronan was at the bottom of the pile of bodies, and I could clearly see that something was very wrong. As could everyone else around me. And we were watching in a pub, with not a fantastic view.

Or maybe we’ll just ask, how upset would you be if you were Welsh? Or should you have known that it’d take longer than ten seconds to make it to the line-out and so you should have gone for the draw?

Talking points that I’m sure will fill column inches.

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It’s Friday.

Pic nicked from here

I think a long lie-in will be had tomorrow. Although not too long, obviously, as the match starts at half one, so I’ll have to be up for that. Scotland- you going down! fingers crossed, touch wood, etc etc.

Denis Hickie has been having back spasms^[1] and so Geordan Murphy has been called in. I likes Geordan, and was disappointed for him when he was dropped out of the squad last time. Still, it is a great position for the team as a whole when players as good as Geordan can be left out.

There has been some talk of rotating the squad a little, giving some players more game time and resting a few of the others. Obviously with the same squad, pretty much, as last time Eddie O’Sullivan doesn’t agree. And I’ve got to go along with him. We need to win the Triple Crown. The Grand Slam is gone, and the title itself depends on England beating France^[2] which I really can’t see happening, but you’d never know. So anything we win’ll be vital. And lets not forget that it wasn’t too many years ago that we couldn’t beat Scotland for love nor money. So a victory is not to be sneezed at.

Inné, chuaigh mé ag imirt péile, well, soccer I suppose. Nó, sheas mé on the pitch, and kicked a ball once or twice. Bhí mé ag smaoineamh, agus ceapaim that I haven’t played soccer in something like 15 years. In ainm Dé! How old am I?

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So, sport is fun isn’t it? It is the taking part that matters, right?

Or maybe not.
The game on Sunday between Ireland and Australia was a disgrace. Fights dominated the first quarter, even before the game started there were brawls on the field.
I couldn’t tell who started what, but it doesn’t really matter does it? The fact is that the officials were never in charge, and never really tried to take control, happy to issue yellow cards when what was called for were reds.

I’ve never been anti the International Rules series, but I’m starting to agree with Mickey Harte that it is a sham and a waste of money, time and resources. There are plenty of international GAA teams out there. Why doesn’t the GAA fund an international match between Ireland and the US if they are looking for an international aspect to the game?

The fact of the matter is that the tackle is something that the Irish players have never gotten used to, taking or giving, instead relying on speed to get them out of trouble. But when you have full-time professionals going up against amateurs there can really only be one winner.

The Aussies did outplay the Irish in terms of skill as well, but no one will remember that, all we’ll remember is the tackles and the fights.

As for the Shinty match, well, we lost that too. But at least there weren’t any fights there, and congrats to Scotland for the win. Sunday was not a good day for Irish sports, cause Munster also lost in the Magners League..

Still, the women won their International series. Although at one stage in the second test they had too many players on the pitch, which meant they were stripped of all 42 points they’d scored until then. They still won, Ireland 3.5.6 (39) - Australia 0.4.6 (18)

I haven’t forgotten about our Unconscious Mutterings either:

1. Theft ::
2. Storage ::
3. Pick ::
4. Los Angeles ::
5. The one ::
6. Accent ::
7. Rivalry ::
8. Process ::
9. Streets ::
10. Museum ::

Continue Reading »

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Bloody hell, those were two great matches. You’d have to feel a little sorry for Wales as they were the better team against Italy and deserved to win. But I wanted Italy to get their first away win. Didn’t happen, but the draw is better for them than for Wales.

But of course the Irish match was the one that I was most interested in. And we did deserve to win, and by a greater score than the final score if 15-9, but Scotland have a fantastic defence. And the rain and wind didn’t really help to create an error-free game. I think I’d have picked Stringer as man of the match, but Paul O’Connell was great.

And that was the final Six Nations match to be played in the current Lansdowne Rd. Next year we’ll be heading to Croke Park while the old stadium get redeveloped.

And, speaking of rugby, last October Victor Connell (Gavin’s cousin was seriously injured in a rugby match and will need assistance for the rest of his life, so if you think you can donate do visit the 4Victor website.

And I keep forgetting to post this image, which was the cartoon from BiffSniff last week. I think it is great:

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Both O’Driscoll and D’Arcy are out of tomorrow’s game against Scotland.

“The Leinster centres both picked up hamstring injuries in
Ireland’s 28-17 win in Italy last weekend and captain
O’Driscoll was ruled out on Thursday night while D’Arcy
failed a fitness test on Friday morning”

Still, Maggs and Horgan’ll be grand. We’ll still beat Scotland… I hope.

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