Nov 17 2008

links for 2008-11-17

Published by Fence under Clickies

Tags: autumninternationals08, childrens, cute, Guillermo del Toro, Ireland V New Zealand, Liam Toland, Luke Fitzgerald, Margo Lanagan, Paul O'Connell, pop culture, rugby, Tender Morsels, Tómas O'Leary

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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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Aug 27 2007

Week 238

Published by Fence under Ramblings, Weekly memes

EDIT Forgot to mention that as part of my patent-pending taking-over-wwwland technique I have started blogging over at The Fear of God. Not a religious blog sillies, but a rugby one. You know, on account of Paul O’Connell and the documentary Reaching for Glory, set up by Gerry of UnLaoised

I know you didn’t think I’d leave you much longer without your dose of Unconscious Mutterings :)

  1. Uneven ::
  2. Wonder ::
  3. Spider ::
  4. Emma ::
  5. Swing ::
  6. Orbit ::
  7. Flirt ::
  8. Donation ::
  9. Veil ::
  10. Atmosphere ::

Tis Monday, so I’m back at work. What fun, neh? But I suppose it could be worse. I could have been working last week, so it is all good. Anyways, I hereby retract my statement accusing the highly sensitive individual of taking a break. She isn’t, it is simply a case of the voices in her head not talking to her, all clear? Good.

In other news, Carl’s RIP challenge kicks off soon. Officially on Sept 1st. I’m hoping to get involved. 4 books isn’t a huge amount, is it?

And for those of you wondering where the wedding was on, well, I bring you photos:

DSCF1363
The view from the Church
DSCF1476
The beach
DSCF1374
Inside the Church
DSCF1417
Flowers

And as I said in the comment section of my previous post there are a lot more on flickr, but you’ll have to be logged in and friended to see them.

Continue Reading »

Tags: Fear of God, flickr, Luna Nina, Paul O'Connell, rugby, wedding

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Jun 19 2007

Let those terrorists know where you are

Published by Fence under Shiny, Sport, TV

Via Damien:

Also a bit of a telly round up: Prison Break is back[1] on RTE 2. Course I’ve been watching Heroes on SciFiUk at that particular time so haven’t been watching it. But thanks to the joys of d’internet I got to watch it last night. I wasn’t overly impressed[2]

Hopefully I’ll be more entertained when Rome makes its come back on Wednesday. And Sunday[3] Which might be awkward as I’m heading up to Sligo this weekend. Don’t wanna be on the train when Lamb and Chicken are back on the screen.

Over the weekend there was a feast of GAA action but there was too much going on. I watched the Limerick v Tipp hurling match on Sat. evening. I was cheering for Limerick, on account of that is where de mudder is from, but I didn’t think they win. And they didn’t. They did however draw. Again. So it’ll be a third replay.

On the face of it Limerick have simply trailed Tipp like a particularly enthusiastic puppy: every time Tipp have tried to shoo them away, Limerick have scampered happily back to their heel. Will Tipp finally rid themselves of the troublesome mutt, or will Limerick eventually bite them on the bum?

On Sunday we had a dilemma to face. Watch the Dublin V Meath replay in the football or switch over and enjoy the Cork V Waterford hurling? A peak audience of 792,000 watched both matches, with 342,000 watching the hurling and 285,000 watching the football, according to the Irish Times[4] but I’d guess that most people did what I ended up doing. Flicking between the two and missing out on most of the action. Luckily we had The Sunday Game later on for all the bits we missed. And the Sligo match. Which we won, by two points, which means that for the first time since 2002 Sligo will be in a Connacht final.

Linknotes:
  1. and ahs been for 3 weeks or so ↩
  2. - But I also didn’t turn off ↩
  3. The BBC and their crazy scheduling. ↩
  4. subs required ↩
Tags: 2007sfc, 2007shc, Cork, Dublin, GAA, Gift Grub, Heroes, Limerick, Meath, Paul O'Connell, Prison Break, Rome, Sligo, telly, Tipperary, vidjo, Waterford

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Jun 01 2007

Happy June

Published by Fence under Ramblings, Shiny

Can you believe that June is here already?

Do you believe that over half of the searches[1] that come to this blog[2] are Irish rugby related.

Did you know that most of those were quite specific in what they were looking for, and that was Paul O’Connell and his “fear of god” speech. Oh and the Gift Grub version[3]

Ah Giftius[4] Grubbius[5] how great[6] you[7] are[8]

Today you had The Thrills, the real ones, talking to Jay. It was great.

Am I over using the word great? Will I devalue it if I continue to use it? Will this post make any sense? These are all questions.

But where are all the answers? Damn, that was another question.

Linknotes:
  1. StatCounter we love you. You are great. ↩
  2. recently. In the past few days. Not over all ↩
  3. Todayfm link ↩
  4. youtube example ↩
  5. fake Latin is always entertaining. It is totally great. ↩
  6. Hector meets Tom Cruise ↩
  7. Bertie on cricket ↩
  8. can you believe it has been around for 8 years ↩
Tags: Fear of God, Gift Grub, Paul O'Connell

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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.
      14. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

    1. Selena Kitt
    2. The Flatland Chronicles
    3. Pistols, Passion & Potions
    4. the screaming pages
    5. (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 26 2007

Oscar fever

Published by Fence under Shiny, Sport

just didn’t hit this year. I was vaguely interested, but to be honest I haven’t even looked up most of the results yet. But never fear, for Carl has an entry on the Oscars and the dresses.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Photo from IrishRugby.ie

He is our heartbeat. He just drives and drives us on

Tags: John Hayes, Oscars, Paul O'Connell

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