Greys Off Key

My other half has impeccable taste.  She goes out with me.

She does, however, watch Greys Anatomy, something I don’t.  That said, it does be on over on the other side of the bed from time to time, including tonight.

This is a show which has had it’s moments, good ones I mean, but this week’s one was not.

I won’t say much, as I’m aware that the show is on RTE during the coming week, except to say that the episode Song Beneath The Song reminded me of two moments from TV’s past.

Inspiration Is All Around

In life, and in sport, perspective is everything.

The majority of posts on this site, sporadic as they are, are of the here and now; of the game/match/fight/story of that day. Current affairs are, after all, the most pressing kind.

However, that does not mean that we should not know from where we come. I enjoy watching sports and fights from before I was born as much as I do those happening live on television. Some query this; my better half lists ESPN Classic and the BBC Red Button’s fantastic Classic Formula 1 feature among her pet hates. I also love watching sports documentaries, often about people and events I know little of, and I do this for one reason above all others.

Inspiration.

Perspective and knowledge are key, but without inspiration sport wouldn’t exist. Sports stars need a hook to draw them into a sport. Bernard Dunne speaks about the importance of Barry McGuigan, Lewis Hamilton idolizes Ayrton Senna and goodness only knows how many 10 year olds have kicked a ball against a wall imagining they are Pele, or Maradona, or Keane, or Rooney or whoever. As much as sport is about community, and our very existence, it is also something that inspires us, fans and competitors alike, and spurs it on.

I watch those historic events to be inspired, to see great fighters and athletes at their best, creating history. I also watch live events to see history as it is created, so in years to come I can say I was there when Dunne knocked out Cordoba, or when Schumacher clinched a World Title, or at the very least I can say I was sat in front of the television rejoicing with millions others when Bolt ran 9.58 in Berlin, or McAteer scored against the Dutch or any one of thousands of other events. I was alone, or in a small group, but I was one of many rejoicing. Together, alone. We were inspired by the things in front of our noses, something that I get to experience every day.

I am inspired by the woman I love, my Hellie. She took up blogging at my behest, twitter too. She know kicks my ass at both. Tomorrow, we heard to Belfast for the Irish Blog Awards 2011 in which her blog, http://www.anseo-a-mhuinteoir.com is nominated in the Best Education/Science Blog Category. Her’s is the only Primary School blog in the final five. She is also very active on twitter, @anseoamuinteoir, and best of all, she does this not for herself but for others. Blogging and interacting allows her to be a better teacher, something she loves, something she was born to do.

It is her passion, and it is her hope to inspire children for years to come. This passion can be see on her site, and in how she has made friends and relationships and earned the respect of others online. She inspires me as well. I intend to work hard over the next twelce months so that when we return to next year’s awards, we do so as a pair of nominees.

Thanks babe x

My Choice this year

Ok so last year at the start of the premiership I spent ages trying to pick a team to follow. Gav and I argued over which team would suit me best and why. I spend hours on google learning about them all. And far too long on Wiki trying to grasp something that would find me the perfect team for the year. If you don't remember the post then shame on you for not reading it well enough. And shame on me for not making it good enough to remember. So if either of those two statements are true I'll leave a link here so you can go back in time and find my post and hear all about my issues with each premier team.
Now that you're all up to date I can safely say that I chose the right team last year. I had Chelsea as my team for the season and I was clearly right as they were the out right winners, which needless to say pissed Gav off totally as he is a staunch Man Utd fan. So for that reason alone I am ruling Man Utd out as my team for this year... There's no fun in us both supporting the same team. Although we did watch the Man Utd v Rangers match together last night and for a change I was half paying attention to it and almost enjoyed it. Especially when there were so many close calls. But there I am again going off point.
The point is I need a new team this year to keep me "with it" in regards to the premier league. So after a week or two of watching and listening to the essentials of the season I've chosen a team.

I've always been about the under dogs really! So with such an impressive start to the season I've bitten the bullet, gone for gold and chosen the new comers.
They were founded in 1887 in the seaside resort of Blackpool. This year sees their first ever trip to the top tier of the Premier League and their 100th season in league football. The nicknames make me smile, the colours make me ill but still I'm backing them to do well this year and be my side for 2010/2011. May 09 saw the currant manager Ian Halloway take over on a one year contract so we hope he does well and stays around! They play their home games in Bloomfield since 1901 which was done up for this years Premier league fixtures, woohoo! And there's even an Irish man playing Forward for the team, Billy Clark. Something I like very much in my choice team! As a supporter I'll be known as Tangerine Army or Seaside Barmy Army! 


So thats me. I have a team so support again this year and as much as I hate tangerine as a shade of orange (and orange in general) I shall fly the colours proudly and cheer on the greatest under dogs and the unexpected promoted team of Blackpool FC. Lets just hope I'm right again this year...

Another Fight I wanna see!

David Haye
Born 13 October 1980 in Bermondsey, South London
WBA Heavyweight World Champion
Former Cruiserweight World Champion


 Height 191cm or 6ft 3
 Reach 198 cm


 Total Fights 25
 Wins 24
 Wins by KO 22
 Losses 1

Audley Harrison


Born 26 October 1971
Sydney Olympics 2000-First ever British gold medal in Superheavyweight boxing
Turned professional 2001


Height 1.96m or 6ft 5
Reach 86inchs 


Total Fights 31
Wins 27
Wins by KO 20
Losses 4

And the point to this post today?? 

News out today is that David Haye will defend his WBA World Heavyweight title in a fight against fellow Briton and Olympic Gold Medalist Audley Harrison.  (which explains the fact-file type section above!) I loved the press conference from the BBC today so I'll put the link HERE. It's well worth a look but I'll leave some of the quotes that made my day right here for you to nose through at your own time!

"I don't believe Audley deserves a chance but enough people want to see him finally destroyed, that is why this fight is happening," Said Haye

"The fight will be a public execution"

"His resume is not as good as that of the last five people I have fought." Thems fighting words there Haye....

"I'm the most devastating fighter on the planet. This is the time your career gets well and truly finished." You'd never think that these two used to be friends and trained together would you? That is until a falling out some time last year...

Although Harrison had a few choice words to say as well!

He is a guy I groomed,"  

"I have tasted his punches and power and he never hurt me in a training session.

"This is my destiny - on 13 November Audley Harrison will be champion of the world and of that there is no doubt.

"If David Haye thinks I've taken this fight strictly for a payday, he is in for a rude awakening."

As I say this is a fight I badly want to see... Bring on November 13th for what should be a great fight from a World Champ and the wannabe Harrison who recently won Prizefighter...Not that he's had a fantastic career but David Haye is decent fighter and I suspect this to be a cracking fight (as Gavin would say)

I've marked it into my diary already...

Mack the Knife

In just over a month Gav and I are off on our hols. Weird hols I know but we're off to Bermingham to see Macklin fight for a European title fight.  I decided before going I should learn some more about Macklin and be more clued in. So where better go to go then the Almost Daily Sports Blog to share my new words of wisdom!

Born in Bermingham Macklin is considered to be an Irish pro boxer. We'll claim anyone with a loose Irish connection! But here I can't blame us for claiming him as our own. He's one hell of a boxer. The Tipperary Tornado is the former Irish, British and European middleweight champion. Hence why we love him so! September 2001 saw Macklin turn pro and leave his amateur days well behind him. Round One saw Mack the Knife Macklin beat the previously unbeaten Ram Singh from Wisbech in Glasgow. 
2006, the Jamie Moore fight was considered to be THE FIGHT OF THE YEAR! Everyone was talking about it. And then Macklin was beaten. Summer 06 saw Macklin hand the over the Irish Middleweight title to the Dub-Jim Rock. John Duddys matchmaker Jim Borzell said to Macklin "the European title then maybe you'll have something John wants." Macklin replied that he may have something that Duddy doesn't want right now. 
Macklin beat Rafa Sosa Pintos in late 09 on points bringing him even closer to a shot at a world title fight. He's since given up his European title fight to try for the world title. Since so far it hasn't worked out the way he wants he's going back to fight to regain his European title. This is what we're off to see in mis September. WOOHOO!
I've spent a while looking at some of his fights and this one is the one I've decided is one I really enjoyed!!  (I must say sorry for only having a link and not the actual video here-I've no idea how to do that trick that Gav does so a link will have to do for now!!)




Macklin is a fighter I am really looking forward to seeing. I really can't wait!! 

Fantasy Premier League Results wk1

A wee reminder!
It's premier league season again and I've had a quick look at the table as it stands in the fantasy league.
Congrats to Paul McDonagh who started off in flying colours with 73 points, followed closely by moi with 68. Our own Gavin is currently sitting in 5th place. If you wanna join in the madness again this year the link to the website is here and the code you need to join is: 725971-165763 and off you go!
We'd love to see you and hear all your opinions...HINT HINT
We're also looking for the goal of the month each month, Gavin has already chosen his. Which one is yours so far? Who scored it, have you a youtube clip? We'd love to see if anyone out there agrees with our own Mr Grace! It would be a first if anyone did :)

That Time again!

Well our Mr Grace is up the walls at work and I'm up the walls with study for pesky exams that start next week. But I very nicely took time outta my busy study night to do this VERY quick post.
Last year we had a wonderful Alost Daily Sports blog Fantasy Premier League and I wanna do it again this year!!
SO........
I went and set one up again! I'm sure Gav is delighted to hear it! It's very easy to join in and you have weeks to join us! All you need is to click here to be directed to the home page. Register your details.....it's very easy and then to join us in our own personal league you need to go to league on the tab to the left as you look at it and type in this code: 725971-165763 It's just that simple! Pick your team and off you go! The rules are there ready for you to read and at the end of it the season I hope to say 


HAHAHAHA I won :) Best of luck!
Looking forward to kicking some ass again this year!

€400,000 Picture?

So says the age old adage a picture says a thousand words. The logo committee for the London 2012 Oylmpics are trying to tell us now that this picture tells us 400,000 words. I tend to disagree.
Look at it!! It's essentially a collection of shapes with badly drawn angles in a bad mix of two tone colours. What were they thinking? Now I'm no graphic designer nor am I a world famous artist BUT I know that a junior infant could have drawn this one! It's quite frankly rather rank. It's horrid and thankfully I'm not the only one to think so. The bad taste logo came under fire today from so many sources it's hard to know where to start. But I will say one thing....it's not by any means worth the €400,000 spent on it. In all fairness the senior infants I worked with last week could have designed a better logo than this one and I'd have gladly given it to the Logo Committee for a pair of tickets (admittedly to see one hell of a lot of events) for the art work. It would have been more cost effective and certainly would'a been a lot prettier and not quite as insulting to so many people.

Andy Lee and Mamadou Limerick

Andy Lee has defeated former European champion Mamadou Thiam in the Yanjing Fight Night at the University Sports Arena in Limerick. YA YA YA YA we know that RTE but what you may not know is that myself and Gavin were there Saturday night in Limerick and can give you a better idea of the whole night!! First of all I can't say I was all that impressed with UL or the arena. It could be me being a girl and fussy but I couldn't help thinking that if you are gonna go to the trouble of arranging a massive fight like this one perhaps proper toilets would be a start?? A handful of port-a-pots will not do the trick when there are that many people at the arena! For that matter, 3 trailers serving drinks isn't enough either.....People don't wanna queue for 30 mins to get a drink in between fights! But onto the actual fight. Mamadou arrived out in a flurry of blue and red lights, the crowd clapped along nicely. As for Andy Lee, he arrived out in a wave of green and orange lights, wearing his usual trademark crimson and canary yellow robes and trunks. We went wild! The French national anthem was played, there were a few rumbles but over all there were no issues. Gav and I let a small sigh of relief, we were half afraid that there would be issues after the Henry mess back in Nov....thankfully there wasn't. Our own national anthem was sung by a guy from NewcastleWast and Marty Morrassy put on his crowd warming up hat and we were OFF! I'm still not sure how he does it but Marty gets the crows going, surprising since he rambles on a bit.....Sorry Marty! 

Round one saw Lee show the strength of the Irish. He had total control of the ring and the Frenchman knew it. Mamadou slipped, once, twice and a third time before round one was over. Andy Lee's supporters were loving it! Round 2 began and again Lee was holding more than his own. After two unbelievably one-sided rounds Lee was clearly "kicking ass" and the Senegalese-born Thiam threw the towel into the ring and claimed a back injury. The fight doc was called in to check out Mamadou as Andy Lee's hand was raised in Victory. RTE's writer Tadhg Peavoy says that Mamadou was clutching his back from round one when he went down....I didn't see it but who am I to question that? Have a look here and see for yourself....As Lee was declared winner the crowds left disgusted that they didn't get the fight that was expected and deserved. There were mutters in the throngs leaving about Mamadou and Henry being of similiar breed, taking away something the whole of Limerick and Ireland was looking forward to, a good fight with a fighter we can look up to. Something we need now that Bernard Dunne has retired but that's a whole different blog! 


The interview with Andy Lee was something worth a second look..... 


A delighted looking Lee commented: 'I was happy to get the stoppage. I would have liked to see a few more rounds. He was looking dangerous, but I think I was a bit too fast - that was the difference.


We were delighted to hear Andy Lee go on to say......
'I want the European title. I want to fight for it here in Limerick. Brian Peters - organise it.

'I'm in that [European] class. I just need to get the fights.'

We know Andy and we can't wait!! Even as we walked out of the Arena and out of UL Gavin and I couldn't help but ponder over Lee's next move....Could it be Macklin? Doubtful I know but I do like Maklin....Sorry Gav :) We did agree on Darren Barker as a possibility and hopefully we'll be right cause we all want to see Andy Lee do well and give us a FANTASTIC night out!! 

On a wee aside note, the pics I've uploaded here today are all ones I took at the fight on Saturday night and are all my own work on a small old camera if you like them I'd love to hear it and enjoy the compliments!!

Fantasy Results

So now that the Premier League is well and truly over there's a lot to think about. We know Chelsea won beating Man Utd..... by a single point. Gavin is isn't hugely happy with that especially since I said at the start of this season that Chelsea would win!! Oops sorry Gav! Anyway being the newcomer to this sporting world and in particular to the Premier League I can say I learnt a lot. I can recognize the names now of all these players who prior to this were a mystery to me. I know how exciting a match can really be and how thrilling it is to see your team win. I don't know what the offside rule is so if someone would be willing to explain that better than Gavin did I'd be delighted to hear it!

Anyway the real point of my blog today is the Fantasy league us Almost Daily Sports Bloggers are and were hugely involved in. Since the Premier league is over  it also means that our own fantasy league is over too boo
so the results are in and we have a winner. I'll admit I didn't expect it to be me and needless to say it's not hehehe. Our winner is a very deserving Gareth Penrose with second place going to Stephan Kidney and third place is Shane Kelly. Congrats guys I'm well impressed! As our the blog team the big question is how did we do?? Well some of us are very happy.....I for one  am delighted that I came 6th, impressive for the clueless Hellie that started out last August! Following me was our Gavin Grace in 8th, with Alan Morrissey in 9th, and Ciaran 10th. We're a clever bunch aren't we??

Congrats again to the boys who came in the top 3 Gareth with his amazingly high score of 2209 was just 11 points ahead of Stephan! It was all so close! I mean my score of 2044 is only 165 off the winner hahaha

Deeply sorry

We're very lazy here lately. Or rather busy! Gavin is up the walls with work stuff and I'm on teaching practice (the joys of student life!) but I'm taking ten minutes out of my busy day to remind you about the 6 Nations this week! It's not like you'd forget about it but while I'm here I want to tease Mr Grace!! Our fantasy league is also onto the final week and there's just 4 points separating the top of the table! Who's on the top of the table? Well Mr Grace is in second place and my marvelous self is ahead by 4! So all thats left to do now is kick ass and win so I can win the league (first time ever) and show Gavin Grace I do know my 6 Nations.

Wish me Luck!!

Fantasy 6 Nations

It's that time of year again! But then again you know that cause you read my post from earlier on today. Of course you did.....right? Anyway here at the Almost Daily Sports Blog we are a big fan of sports (obviously!) and we love our fantasy teams. But you know that from Gavin's Fantasy Premier League. But now it's my turn to set up a league and what better sport to have a fantasy league in than my beloved rugby?? Go the link below register a team. Go on you know you wanna.....

http://www.lorealmenfantasyrugby.ie/

Now that you have the rules read and you know the L'Oreal prizes it's time to join OUR league. You need a pin number for this which I've very kindly added in here for you.

PIN: 6320

Now come join me, Gavin and the rest of the Almost Daily Sports Blog team (when they get sorted for the league) to win a great Sports Blog prize and watch Ireland with us. You know you want to........

The more the merrier y'all!

Sorensen's Success

When? January 2010

Where? Melbourne

Who? Louk Sorensen

Can you guess what I'm excited about?

Round one of the Austrailian Grand Slam and Irishman Louk Sorensen won when he defeated Yen-Hsun Lu. Sorensen beat a player almost 200 places ahead of him in the ranking. All of us here at The Almost Daily Sports Blog are more than a tad excited.....Ireland had not produced a player that had won a match at a grand slam since the Californian-born Matt Doyle won through to the round of 32 at the 1985 Australian Open. We're positively bouncing we're so happy! Louk is only 25 (I'm feeling a tad bit insignifigant now but sure ah well...) and when his match was postponed on Monday due to the heavy and rotten rain he wasn't phased. Tuesday saw Louk on the least impressive court at the games, court 14, where the trams are louder than the crowds cheers. Oh dear.... Never mind Louk it's a court we'll all remember now thanks to your greatness. Sorensen broke thorugh in the first set with a firing forehand shot. After an hour and a half Lu levlled the game with a set a piece. But Sorensen wasn't to be beaten as he flew through the next two sets to claim a win that the Almost Daily Sports Blog team will be talking (and writing) about for years to come. Hell with it the whole of Ireland will be talking about this!

'It's the biggest achievement of my career so far,' said Sorensen, who grew up in Germany but whose parents live in Dublin.

Next on the cards is American tall man John Isner, he's 6ft 9ins, which frankly scares this 5ft sports girl. Not that I can be blamed, John Isner is a giant to me and even Louk Sorensen finds him a tad frightening.

"Isner is a big server. I have never played anyone that tall. He is huge."

Coachless Sorensen intends on watching YouTube clips of Isner to work out his serving styles and how best to play to his many strengths against the American Giant.

All of us here want to wish Louk the very best of Luck and we look forward to being able to continue to Blog about him ove the coming days!!

The Return of the Schumacher

We are very excited here in the Almost Daily Sports Blog. We have a resident F1 expert in our midst-Gavin. But unfortunately for us he's been tied up at work the last few weeks and the blogging and sports have been left to poor ole clueless me. It's a clever way to teach me about sport though so I'm not too worried. Either way when it comes to F1 we really need Gav....I'll try my best if you try not to hate me when I kill this story.

As you may have heard in passing a certain F1 superstar and seven times F1 champ Mr Michael Schumacher has signed a deal to drive for Mercedes in 2010. Woohoo! It's a year long contract and lets face it we all LOVE it! We missed Schumacher the last few seasons since his retirment in 2006 but now He's BACK! Micheal hasn't been doing nothing since his retirment though, he's a busy little Bee don't you know. Schumacher became a consultant for Ferrai to keep him busy and was even rumoured, for a while, to be going back to Ferrai as a driver this season for the injured Massa. Plans change however and Schumacher is going to Mercedes, who recently bought out Brawn. He'll be driving alongside Nico Rosberg.

Now we hear that Schumacher is testing a very fancy looking GP2 car while in Spain in preperation for his F1 comeback. Nice one Michael! He's running up the miles alright. Since calling off his temporary comeback with Ferrari because of a neck injury, Schumacher has been restricted to karting to sharpen his racing instincts. But he's looking real goooood out there on the tracks and his sights are set, as ever, at the very top. Roll around feb 1 and Micheal will get his chance to get his backside into a F1 car again during the testing in Valencia. There are still question marks over both Schumachers head and his team-mate Rosberg as to weather they'll drive in the 4 pre season tests that loom ever closer and closer. Although this GP2 testing is a great start to blowing away the cobwebs of retirment that the 41 year old driver may have picked up over the last few seasons.

"It is an honour and a privilege for us to have Michael Schumacher help us develop our car," said GP2 organiser Bruno Michel.

And as for Michael himself? Well he seems to be more than happy with the work done in Mercedes engine factory in Brixworth!

"I have to say I am very impressed about the high level you see there,"
"The people seem to be highly motivated as well and I find that encouraging as it perfectly fits my personal mood." Schumacher is quoted as saying on his official website.

Manny's new Man

Mayweather may need to find a new contender as Manny Pacquiao has a new man in mind for his MArch fight. Joshua Clottey from Ghana is all set to take on Pacquiao, although a venue is yet to be organised.





"He's a real strong, aggressive and hard punching African and he poses a real test for Manny," says Pacquiao's promotor Bob Arum.

"I wanted Manny in an action fight, and that’s what we got with Clottey," said Roach (Pacquiao's trainer)




Arum insisted that Clottey, who beat Zab Judah for the IBF welterweight title in August 2008, will be a tough opponent for Philippines star Pacquiao.

Clottey is a seasoned pro with a professional record of 35-3, but that tells only part of the story. He's fought the likes of Zab Judah, Miguel Cotto, Diego Corrales, Carlos Baldomir, and Antonio Margarito. And he dominated in those fights, as far as I know he even beat Cotto. Wow. This guy is no small fish in the pond. He ducks nobody and has taken on and beaten some of the best fighters in the world. Clottey is a big, physical fighter who can swat and can take a punch and by all acocunts he's gonna wanna fight for his life. At 32 he has some years left and is looking for some serious pay days ahead.

If Mayweather wants to show Pacquiao he needs to stop throwing random names out there and literally man up to fight. He needs a name to beat Pacquaio v Clottey, now where would he find someone like that? Arum says there's still a chance that Pacquaio could fight Mayweather-
"There's always later in the year and next year, it's up to Mayweather," said the Top Rank impresario. But if he starts this nonsense again with testing or anything then let him take a walk."
Arum insists that urine and blood testing is a job for the commisioners who regulate the sport and by no means is it Mayweathers job to do. Mayweathers job is to fight and fight well not regulate drug control.

Can Manny Man up?

Mayweather is reportedly furious that Pacquiao is blaming his side and team for the so called fight of the decade falling apart. Mayweather wanted urine drug tests to be done on a regular basis leading up to the fight. Pacquiao had other ideas. He wanted none of it. Mayweather oringally wanted these tests to take place up to and including the day of the fight. Pacquiao didn't want them at all. So Mayweather in a very fair move offered a comprimise of a 14 day cut off point leading up to the fight. Still Manny couldn't man up to it and insited on a 30 day cut off.

"I am ready to fight and sign the contract. Manny needs to stop making his excuses, step up and fight."

"First and foremost, not only do I want to fight Manny Pacquiao, I want to whip him.

A mediator was called in to try and find a solution. Judge Daniel Weinstein was brought in again, having had victory as mediator bewteen the two previously there were high hopes. But Even Weinstein couldn't help this time. A statement from Weinstein confirmed "in the end, the parties could not agree on a testing protocol acceptable to all."

Top Rank promoters can't see this fight happening in March, dispite many commentators being convinced that somehow a New Years miracle will happen. But Weinstein and Arum are seeing eye to eye on this one and have deemed the fight in March to be highly unlikely. But Top Rank have gone a step even further and drastically added this to the fore:

"There is no chance ever of salvaging it for March. There's no chance for it ever to happen."

It's not looking good for fans who are ultimately losing out on what would and should have been one of those unforgettable fights and nights.

Dispute cancelled the Fight

Pacquiao and Mayweather would have been the fight to beat all fights this coming March. I, myself, had already marked it on the calendar and was counting the days down to the 21st day of the third month. A little premature I realise but I was a tad excited you see. The 31 year old Pacquiao became a five weight world champ last nov when in the WBO welterweight win over Miguel Cotto. While the unbeaten Mayweather came out of his 21 month long retirment last sep to beat Mexican born Juan Manuel Marquez.




Why was it cancelled? Pacquiao pulled out after Mayweather demanded random drug testing. Is it just me or does this seem like a very sensible demand in this day and age? Both fighters were more than happy to take unlimited urine tests but Manny Pacquiao refused point blank to submit blood tests unless they are on specific dates. Sounds a tad dodgy if you ask me. Perhaps Mayweather is right to demand such a thing? Especially as Pacquiao responded to claims that he used and uses substances to enhance his performance within the ring by taking a lawsuite against Mayweather....the actions of an innocent man? I'm no expert but to me this looks a lil bit fishy.





This was to be the fight to end all fights, they are considered to be the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. And this fight would have had £25 million purse ffor each of the two fighters. Big loses there boys. As for me? This is a fight I would have paid to see, even being a sporting and boxing novice I knew this fight was gonnna be (as we say here in Cork) only massive. I guess we'll never know now.

The Blind Side

Happy New Year to all!!

This morning I did something I genuinely thought I would never do, I watched an American Football based film adn really enjoyed it. So I thought I'd share it! In case the title of this post hasn't given it away the film was The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw. The film is basic really, its the story of Michael Oher, played very well by Quinton Aaron. If like me you live in a American Football free bubble (with Gavin in my life I realise that will never ever happen) and have no idea who this Michael Oher guy is let me explain....

Michael Oher is a 23 year old American Football Offensive Tackle for the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL. He was drafted in for the Ravens in the first round in 2009 from University Of Mississippi college team Ole Miss Rebels. His childhood was anything but perfect, he was one of 12 siblings who didn't get a fantastic education having been to 11 schools in less than 9 years. He was enrolled in a Christian school and soon after Leigh Ann and Sean Tuohy took in him.

I won't go into too much more detail, although if you're in any way into NFL you know the whole story and will enjoy the film for its portrayal of the characters and the sweet realistic way in which the tale is told. I have to admit that I was more than a tad worried about watching it but it was something that Gav wanted to see and so I settled in to watch it and maybe even learn a thing or two. I did. It's a great movie and well worth a night in with a bucket of popcorn and a drink. Just make sure you watch it with a NFL fan who can fill you in on all the film extras, Like I did!! I'll leave you with a wee clip from the film (if I can work out how that is!!)

Enjoy!!

Munster v Connacht-St Stephans Day

Gav and I were ment to go together to Limerick to see it but the ice has been awful so we opted for the safer idea of going to the pub to see it. That didn't quite go to plan either-too icey to leave here so I got it online instead. I have to say Munster was beyond brilliant. 35-3 is a great way to finish up. I dont think Gav thought so though. Ronan O Gara was back on form, each kick was spot on and brilliant. He went off and was replaced by Deasy with Warwick taking over kicking duty with a certain amount of flair. Munster leapt onto the scoreboard in the tenth minute and by half time Munster were 20 up to Connachts 3 points from Ian Keatly at the last minute of the first half. We saw Dowling, Varley, Warwick and De Villiers score fantastic tries while Connacht struggled to even stay on the pitch. O Gara did very well as stant in skipper and we in Munster were glad and proud to see him return to his glory. Gavin, I dare say, wasn't too happy with the result but we played exceptionally well and deserved this after a somewhat rough start to the season. This is a more than welcome change and a nice postive note for our Christmas wishes.

Merry Christmas Munster x

A case of Sour Grapes

It's almost two weeks since the Ireland and France match. The night itself can only be described as the stuff nightmares are made of. Ireland sat glued to the television sets in all four corners of the country. I myself sat in the living room, attached to my laptop and blogging away goodo here. I'll admit I was confused at times, and I still need someone to explain the offside rule. But over all I really enjoyed watching the match even if I didn't enjoy the end result.

Not long after the match ended I went to bed to do some lesson planning. Not exactly the highlight but it had to be done. I wasn't there long when I noticed a very popular trend in the online worlds of facebook and twitter. Groups were being set up Henry bashing. Now I agree he was wrong and he knows better then to do the hand ball thing but at the end of the day he did it and got away with it. Given half the chance we would have done the same. I was sent links to various anti Henry sites and pages begging me to join them on twitter or the facebook craze lashing out at Thierry Henry or calling him a cheat (which he is) it goes on and on and on and on.....

It's two weeks later and people are still joining this pointless groups and going on and on and on about the Match. I do understand that it's a big deal. Because of Henry Ireland will not be going to the world cup next year and YES we are all heartbroken but this Hatred of Henry has GONE BEOND A JOKE!!

The rest of the world now sees the Irish as a bunch of sour grapes. And we do not need to be seen like that.

Outside of our little bubble of a island we are seen very differently to how we view ourselves. To look in the mirror we see ourselves as really welcoming and friendly, a lovely nice green country.
Let me assure you the only green thing about Ireland now is the green envy we embody these days. Hating Henry does very little to help our self image.

And as for the replay we spend so long talking about does anyone really believe we deseve it? In all fairness if we had played in anyway well in all the other matches we wouldn't be in this mess. In the group matches yes we did ok but as I stated in a post just hours before the first Ireland and France match, We could have done so much better against Italy. We threw it away. And in the first France match we didn't play half as well as we could have done. And we banked our whole world cup experience on one match in Paris. Yes we played well in that match but it takes more then one match to be good enough to get to the world cup.

So I have a question....

Did we throw away our World Cup chances because we were afraid of actually having to go to Africa and play on the biggest stadium in front of a massive world wide audience? What do you think?