Category: sport

The fightback starts now

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That sounds ever so dramatic, doesn’t it?

See, the problem is that I have one big leg and one small leg. Not in length – I’ve just checked and they both reach all the way down to the floor. The trouble is that the muscles in one of them have atrophied completely away to nothing.

Let’s cut to the chase.

I had a routine, minor knee op in February. I had it on a Friday morning. I was meant to be back at work on the Monday.

Things didn’t go as planned and I ended up having a second emergency operation ten days later and spending two months off work. What has followed has been a tale of pain, expensive medication, frustration and regular general grumpiness. It’s been incredibly limiting. It’s no exaggeration to say that I’m the most unfit that I have ever been and I’ve been unable to do any meaningful exercise to try to put things right.

Until now.

I was given the green light by the surgeon to get in moving a little while ago. Walking is “ok”, while running is (quite literally) a non-starter. Cycling is apparently the way to get things started again. The trouble is that cycling around our area requires going up hills and that’s (again, quite literally) a real pain. I need flatness.

Gym was the obvious answer, but really, where does one find the time? I mean, have you seen my weekends? (If not, there are examples here and here.)
And if you don’t go to the gym often enough, your special price for gym membership disappears and you have to pay full price and really, where does one find the money?

So I’ve made some lifestyle changes which are due to kick in real soon now. They will allow me more time to attend the gym and make things right. As an example, I did a whole 16.4km on the bike today. And while that might not sound like much, it’s more than twice what I did on (the flat) Sea Point Prom on the public holiday yesterday and an infinite amount more than I’ve been able to do for the past six months.

Realistically, I’m not sure that I will ever get back to where I was before. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to give it a damn good go.

The fightback begins now.

Draft night update

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Last night was a lot of fun. Bit of a depressing drive home, if I’m honest, but I guess you can’t have everything.

Reality is a bummer, hey?

I ended up with some players from top clubs like Spurs, Liverpool, Man City, and a few from the also-rans like ManU, Chelsea and Arsenal.

My cosmopolitan team features some top names from three continents, and is ready to lose play its first match this weekend.

There was actually more interest in this than I thought (basically one person sent an email), so here’s the starting squad for the Regal Beagles on Fantrax.

Shotstoppers:
Hugo Lloris
Fabri

Big D:
Serge Aurier
Leighton Baines
Stephan Lichtensteiner
Ashley Young
Danilo

Midfield Maestros:
David Brooks
Fabinho
Jorginho
Riyad Mahrez
Jack Wilshere
Pedro

Up Top:
Laurent Depoitre
Firmino
Kelechi Iheanacho

On paper, I think it looks like a pretty decent team.
Sadly though, I’ve just been informed that most of the games this season will be played on grass, not paper.

I still have high hopes ready to be dashed.

Draft night

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Being a football manager is easy money, right?

Pick your best 11 players each week, spout a cliché to the cameras in the tunnel after the match, carefully grumble about the standard of refereeing in the press conference, and then head home to your massive mansion and relax on a pile of large denomination banknotes.

I’m about to prove this theory by managing my fantasy football team – the Regal Beagles – to glory in our (now) regular draft league, starting tonight.

At least, we get to pick the players this evening. It’s a social event, with participants amassing at a secret Sea Point venue and others dialling in from the USA and Indonesia. There will be beer and pizza (in Sea Point, at least).

The actual league only begins on Friday, and I think I have a pretty formidable first XI (+ five subs) lined up. Sadly, there are 13 other players in the league, and I’m guessing that they will be after some (or more) of my team.

The way to sort this out amicably is the draft system, whereby everyone takes turns to choose a player. The draft system works by randomly assigning a draft number to each participant and then running through 1-14, and then 14-1. And repeat.
So essentially, manager 1 (who happens to be The Mexican) gets to choose the best player, but then only gets to choose the 28th best player as well. Manager 14 (The Ginger Ninja), might only get the 14th best player on offer, but then he also gets to choose the 15th best as well.

Last year, I got the first draft pick and I chose brilliantly: Mo Salah, no less. Sadly, by the time the 28th and 29th picks came around, the bottom of the fantasy barrel was already clearly on show and things went badly from there on in. I thought I was terrible at being a football manager, but some of the stats nerds on the team actually did some calculations and worked out that I was just very, very unlucky.

And lightning surely can’t strike twice, right?

This year, I got pick number 7, and I think I’ve already worked out who will be choosing whom in front of me. Obviously, I can’t reveal just who my first choices will be, for reasons of tactical security. But I think we can probably say that Mo Salah will be plying his trade somewhere away from Los Beaglez this year.

Of course, it’s not serious (but it is); it’s just for fun (but it matters); it’s all about the banter (and the points… always the points).

More news on the state of play once the teams have been picked and once the season has started.

Screenshots

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It’s amazing news and just plain old regular news here Chez 6000.

Herewith depicted in screenshot form.

Amazing news in that I woke to the latest Superbru standings and they were these:

Best in the Country. Best in the World, nogal!
[cracks open the Moët]

Of course, it’ll never last. But I have this screenshot to show that it did at least happen.

Briefly.

But then there was this plain old regular news as well:

I’d been looking forward to enjoying Sheffield United’s game against Swansea City this evening. I’ve been gifted the (rather expensive) HD streaming package for the whole season as an early birthday present.

But HD ain’t going to stream much at 0.07Mbps, now is it?

I’m actually done with Afrihost now. Their support line closed at 5pm on Friday and only opens again at 8am on Monday, as if the rest of the modern world also stops for 63 hours over the weekend.

What they’re offering has been slowly decreasing, while the prices stay right where they are. And I’m still waiting for the FTTH they promised me back in April.

Twenty Seventeen.

They used to be a beacon of customer service. Now they’re utterly terrible.

Understandably, I’m looking elsewhere.
Your suggestions are most welcome.

Finals Day

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This is another prewritten post, so I don’t know who is challenging for the 2018 World Cup. In fact, at this stage (the tournament kicks off in about 3 hours), even Google is unaware:

And you know that if Google doesn’t know, then neither does anyone else.

8 years ago, it was the final of the World Cup in South Africa. And, while it wasn’t held in Cape Town, I still think a quota photo of the stadium is somehow appropriate. After all, one of the semi-finals (I believe there’s one of them happening today?) was held here:

I actually took this in December 2009 – on the night of the draw for the World Cup in South Africa, after a busy night on Long Street.

Memories…