Big Weekend

I don't know about anyone else but I'm nervous as hell about Saturday's England game. If we win then great but I can't cope with the thought that we don't. In all the years I've watched England in the World Cup they've never had a squad this strong. I doubt they will again for some time either.

What worries me more than anything else is the manner in which the game unfolds. We've been given an Argentinian to referee the game which is a bit worrying. I might be pleasantly surprised about how well he controls the game but I can't help but imagine some shockingly bad decisions going against us.

Whatsmore the number of red cards that have been produced in the tournament so far suggests that England are due one, justly or otherwise.

Portugal don't tend to play particularly sporting football either as their last game showed. Saying that, if my team were attacking when the ref stopped play and then the opposition tried to make a break with the ball when play was resumed a red mist would descend on to the pitch extremely quickly. Portugal weren't particularly sporting but the Netherlands were worse.

I was glad to hear what Pele had to say about England today and Sven a couple of days ago. Spain, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands all started the tournament stongly but have been eliminated. Even Italy and Argentina have dropped off from how they started. Brazil, England and Germany on the other hand have all gotten better as the tournament has progressed.


COME ON ENGLAND!!!

Israel in military action shock

The Israelis have announced that they will use 'extreme' action to free one soldier.

Considering previous actions of theirs have included:

• Bulldozing housing estates
• Launching airstrikes against civilians
• Shelling civilians enjoying a picnic at the beach
  
• Shooting (dead) foreign cameramen
• Running over foreign peace activists (with a bulldozer)
• Shooting (dead) children that throw rocks at heavily armoured tanks
• Turning Gaza into the worlds largest open prison*

You have to wonder exactly what 'extreme' could be.

* An open prison is probably not the most accurate description as you can get out of an open prison. Palestine doesn't even have control of its own borders.

If Messrs Bush and Blair are thinking about who to invade next with their whole 'Axis of Evil' bullshit perhaps they should consider Israel. They have chemical weapons AND nukes. Plus the west has a history of supporting them, just like with Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pass the tar bucket

For years there has been prejudice within society that homosexuals would be unfit to care for children because by being gay they must clearly be paedophiles as well.

This is the worst kind of assumption but unfortunately what happened in Wakefield with these scumbags will result in all gay carers being tarred with the same brush.

It is ludicrous to suggest that someone would want to sexually abuse young children purely because they're gay. Does this qualify for the same logic with heterosexuals? Must I secretly want to abuse young girls because I'm a straight man? Of course I don't, I can differentiate between a young girl and a grown woman just like a gay man can differentiate between a young boy and a grown man.

What has happened in Wakefield is a tragic event that will unfortunately be all the fuel that small minded people will need to hold prejudice against gay parents/carers for many years to come.

As for the two men concerned I hope they have a nice stay in jail, I here other convicts really like having sex offenders around the place!

Doesn't surprise me

I was reading this today and I wasn't entirely surprised.

It isn't entirely accurate though as the reports author states:

"Although 4x4 vehicles are safer in a crash, their owners maybe placing themselves and other road users at increased risk of injury."

Bollocks are they safer in a crash. Fifth Gear put a Landrover Discovery up against a Renault Espace in a 40mph head on collision (80mph collision) and although the Landrover itself came off looking better in the crash, its occupants did not. Luckily they were dummys, like most of the people that drive them.* How many 4x4's have a 5 star Euro-NCAP rating? It's just a popular myth created by the logic that if it's bigger than all the other vehicles then it must be safer.

It's not the only popular myth in motoring. Whenever a new bypass or lane extension is suggested you always get people saying:

"More roads means more cars"

How exactly? Does anyone actually think

'Well I'm not going to buy a car until they extend that bypass'?

Of course they don't. Cars, like televisions have become increasingly commonplace in households. In the last 30 years, cars have become more affordable in relation to everyones earnings and so more people own them as a result. Roads have increased too but at the same rate. The rate is levelling out now for car ownership so a few more new roads (or lanes) might start to see a benefit to road congestion.

* If you live or work in a rural area and the roads are dangerous in certain weather conditions, or you regularly use your vehicle for towing, then a 4x4 is a sensible choice. If you live in an urban/suburban area and use your vehicle for nothing more than taking your children to school and yourself to work then you don't need one, get a proper car instead.

So to clear that up: I don't think my mother is a dummy... especially as I got a Renault Laguna courtesy of her 4x4 purchase. Thanks mum.

Return of the Jedi

Played my first cricket game back from injury last night.

I didn't get to bat mainly due to the outstanding performance of one of our openers who made 131* and built a score of 209-1 off of just 16 overs.

The skipper came to the conclusion that with so many runs to play with, there was no harm in giving everyone bar the 'keeper a bowl. It's a shame that the England manager doesn't think the same way. I'm sure the whole country was flabbergasted that having lost one striker he chose to risk the one on the yellow card (in a no-risk game) instead of giving the kid a chance.

Anyway back to the cree-kit, I was pleased that I didn't give away any extras in my one over but I wasn't very pleased that I still managed to give away 17 runs. The nerves had hit me big time and I was so worried about my line that I completely forgot about length. I was bowling leg-spin half way up the wicket and getting bugger all turn as a result. I just wasn't thinking straight and it took a word in my ear before I bowled my last ball to get me to adjust.

We still won though with plenty of runs to spare, and I wasn't the most expensive bowler.

My new boots gave my feet plenty of room and my toe hasn't flared up at all. I'm looking forward to a bit of jogging with the wife after work next week - not in my cricket boots of course.
I actually enjoyed fielding for the first time in quite a while, I saved a few boundaries and kept the batsmen in their crease a couple of times when they saw the ball was heading towards me - well, me towards the ball to be precise. If Vinnie Jones decides he doesn't want to play 'Juggernaut' in the next X-Men film then I think I might audition.

HD Update

Having read this I'm not quite so bothered about not being able to get Sky HD through cable.

Nearly there

Well I've been on the sidelines for the last few weeks waiting for my stress fracture to heal. I'm supposed to rest up until next Monday but I got a bit impatient and put my name down to play an evening cricket game on Wednesday. England aren't playing that night so there isn't a big game that I'm missing.

It's only a 20-over match so hopefully it'll be a good way of ascertaining how bad the toe is. If it doesn't hurt the next day then I should be good to play a 45-over game on Saturday.

Then if that goes through without any problems I can start doing some light running after work next week. I've decided that walking to work isn't beneficial as it doesn't burn enough calories plus it means I can't drive home.

It's felt like an eternity of being unable to do any kind of impact sports - I could go swimming but I feel like far to much of a bloater to prance around in my swimming shorts in a public pool. Worse still I started smoking again much to my own and everyone else's disappointment. I'm hoping that when the cricket starts, the smoking will stop (out of necessity most likely - don't want to be wheezy in the outfield) maybe I had mild depression or something? Still mild depression or not, 20 mild is not the solution.

I'm going to have to get some new whites tomorrow, everytime I'm stood ready at the crease I feel like people behind me can see my err... crease.

World Cup Notes

I was going to put in a post at the weekend about how predictable the results have been in this world cup but then the Czech Republic lost to the Ivory Coast and Italy drew with 9-man USA so that ended that one.

Watching much of the second set of group fixtures I learned some interesting points:

1. Argentina have an 'off-switch' - Even when they were 2-up and cruising against the Ivory Coast they were still diving all over the place which led me to think that they were so used to cheating that they didn't know how not to. I caught the second half of the Serbia thrashing and was amazed to see that the Argies were actually playing fair. They were probably too embarrassed by the scoreline to want to dive.

2. South Korea are bigger cheats than Argentina - I didn't think anyone could hold a candle to Argentina when it came to bringing the game into disrepute but hats off to South Korea. Throughout the France game they would foul the opposition and then fall over to win a free kick. If any of them ever suffer a career-ending injury then they need not fret as they have a secure future in the war-movies-extras business.

3. Japan might not produce the best footballers but if the England vs. T&T game was anything to go by they have some fantastic referees. I don't think refs get enough credit when they do a good job so I have to say that he was fantastic, his decision making was consistant and he actually talked to the players... and they listened, brilliant... To be fair Crouch's goal shouldn't have counted but I'm certainly not complaining.

4. Brazil are overrated... actually I knew this before the tournament had even started but I figured three observations wasn't enough.

Winning Start

The pundits wanted to pull England apart after their 'disappointing' 1-0 win but personally I'm of the opinion that 3 points is all that matters.

What I do tend to look for though is the worst performing player in the side. After all a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.

Traditionally Paul Scholes wins the award but since he's improved the England side by retiring from it, I'll have to look elsewhere.

My traditional second-worst player is Michael Owen as he's had a habit of jogging around uselessly in the middle of the park but he looked pretty good today - especially considering he still needs a couple of games to get back to his sharpest.

Third worst is often Gary Neville (Except in Euro 2004 when he carried David Beckham through the whole tournament) but like Beckham he seems to be in the mindset that this is his international swansong and it showed with a great performance.

As a result of this I've had to pick Ashley Cole as the worst player of the game. In fairness to him he's also still getting back from a lengthy lay off but unlike Owen he doesn't have as great a margin for error.

He played better today than he did for Arsenal in Paris but improvement is needed from him against T&T if he plans to prevent his clubmate Ljungberg from turning him inside-out in the last group match.

My only other concern is Steven Gerrard. Having picked up a yellow card (despite failing to make any contact with the player he 'fouled') and struggling a bit with his back, he could be prone to a costly error in the next game that will see him suspended for Sven's Swedish showdown. This would mean that Carrick would play in his place which I'm not too happy about as he seems to have recently gotten into the habit of giving the ball away... lots.

And if I had to be picky:

Both centrebacks were resilient in their defensive duties but did seem to have a habit of Carrick-ing the ball when the got to the middle of the pitch.

Lampard and Joe 'Yo' Cole need to improve their supply as they didn't seem to find Crouch or Owen enough when they got to the byline.

Crouch played as well as I'd expect any stiker Villa sold at a loss to play at a world cup. He deserved a goal for his efforts but as I've already said, the supply wasn't consistant enough.

I don't think Robinson put a foot wrong all game but the best player in an England shirt (You've got to finish on a positive note) had to be the skipper.

The first half performance was the best I've seen Beckham playing in an international tournament since... ever. He was great in France 98 (until Simeone showed his Scuba diving potential) and the best of a bad bunch in Euro 2000 but what with injury and adultery, his last two tournaments have been below par.

If he can play as well as he has done for World Cup 98 & 02 Qualifiers then the rest of the world beware.

Jenson who?

I decided that this post was a bit on the large side so I've made it a bit more concise:

Did loads of driving, it rocks!