Welcome all to another installment of the exciting life of “LDO’s in the WA14”. Now that I’m a few weeks into the second half of my job things have begun to settle in. The schools have been great. It seems after six months I’ve finally got a handle on this whole “coach little kids” things. Better late than never I suppose.
So as usual I’ll keep you updated with what has been going with my teams. My U-16 team bounced back nicely after their loss to Brooklands with a win against Cheadle. The senior men’s home game against Stockport was cancelled due to poor pitch conditions.
With my afternoon game cancelled I headed back to my house for some much needed relaxation. I briefly debated going to the gym but I thought instead it would be better to plant myself in front of my television. That was my first mistake. My second mistake was picking up the phone when Martin Craggy called. He asked me if I could ref the Timperley B’s game at Heaton Mersey. I use the word “asked” loosely as I had about as much choice as a vegetarian has at Nandos. Nevertheless refereeing the game was a good thing for me as it got me out from in front of my television for the day. And Timperley won! So cheers to that.
Sunday, as usual, was my day of rest and appreciation for sport. First up I watched the thoroughly enjoyable City/Tottenham game. Wouldn’t you know that everyone’s favorite Italian striker would once again be the biggest story of the game, for both good and bad reason’s.
Speaking of Balotelli, I’d just like to say something. First up, if you’re a United fan than you probably dislike Balotelli and there is likely nothing I will say here that will change your mind. It’s like back in the States when Yankee fans (baseball) try telling me that even though I am a Mets fan I still HAVE to like Derek Jeter because of what he represents as a leader and a hard worker. Guess what? I can definitely still not like Derek Jeter because he’s a Yankee thank you very much.
Anyways, I just wanted to say that I think that he didn’t intentionally stomp on Parker. He lost his balance and was trying to find his footing. What we have here is a case of someone’s reputation preceding him or her. Obviously Balotelli is not known as the most stable person, so it’s easy to say he would stomp on Parker’s head. Honestly though, who would be stable if they were Balotelli. Lets look at his situation: He’s 21 years old, rich, famous and living in a foreign country that speaks a different language than him without any of his friends. Listen I’m not going to try say I feel sorry for a millionaire footballer, but I do think Balotelli is a bit misunderstood.
Later that night I got to watch some proper football as it was the semi-finals of the NFL playoffs. Wouldn’t you know it that a New York team made it to the Super Bowl?! Too bad it was the wrong one. For those of you wondering, this years Super Bowl will be the New York Giants against the New England Patriots, a rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl in which the Giants upset an 18-0 Patriot team that was on its way to being only the second ever undefeated team in the history of the NFL. So yeah, the teams are a bit familiar with everyone. If you have never seen an American football game before I encourage you to stay up at least for a little bit to watch the Super Bowl as it is literally the best sporting event in the world. Yeah I said it World Cup, big whoop want to fight about it?
Last night we headed to the Little B pub in Brooklands territory for some good ole fashioned pub trivia. We had a decent showing of 42 points out of 60, not bad considering over half our team was made up of Americans. The rest of the week was pretty standard. Next week University lacrosse kicks up again so I’ll be traveling to Bath for a cup match with them that should be fun. Other than that I hope everyone has a great week and I’ll see you back here Friday.
Cheers
DeFran
