Archive for August, 2012
Wednesday, August 29th, 2012
It seems strange that the Olympics finished just over two weeks ago. As engrossed as I was at the time, and as enthralled as the whole nation seemed to be, it feels Olympic fever faded almost as quickly as it grew in the first place. Probably had something to do with the closing ceremony more resembling an X-Factor tour show than a statement of national pride. At least they didn’t reel Paul McCartney out again though, that really would have doused the flames of celebration.
Anyway, leaving my musical opinions to one side, the Paralympics start tonight and I’m hoping we all get behind Team GB as much as we did with the main Games. I’ve said on here before that I’m looking forward to watching some of it and, having had a closer look at some of the sports, here are a few I’ll definitely be watching:
- Football. I like football anyway, obviously, but visually-impaired football, where all players wear blindfolds to make it even, is just amazing. The ball has a bell in it so they can locate and control it. It’s quite something to watch.
- Sitting volleyball. I’ve seen a few clips of this already and it looks really exciting – more so than regular volleyball I think.
- Goalball. An amazing sport for blind athletes that consists of a relatively small court with a goal on each side extending for the entire width. Each team has three players on court at a time and the aim is simple – get the ball (which has a bell in it, like the football) into the opponents goal. It’s a lot harder and more enthralling than it sounds.
- Wheelchair fencing. One of the sports I’ve decided to try and get into during London 2012 is fencing. I watched a bit of the able-bodied version and found it interesting but slightly baffling – I couldn’t work out what they were doing, basically. So I’ll give wheelchair fencing a go and see if it appeals to me a bit more.
Tags: Football, London 2012, London Olympics, London Paralympic Games, Paul McCartney, Team GB, The Olympic Games
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Tuesday, August 28th, 2012
A mixed weekend for the life of a Man United fan. On the plus side we got a decent 3-2 home win over Fulham and we also got to see Robin Van Persie scoring his debut goal for us in his first game at Old Trafford. On the other hand, Rooney’s injury means he could be out for a month, meaning he misses out England games as well as some Premier League appearances for us.
I went to the Fulham game with a couple of mates and it was good to be back in the familiar football atmosphere again. The Olympics were a nice distraction over the summer, as was the Tour de France, but you really can’t beat some decent English football. We’re away to Southampton this Sunday – that’s a bit of a drive so we’ll be watching it round mine with a few beers and hoping to see Man United give the newly-promoted Saints a good thrashing.
Before that I’ve got a fair bit of work on this week. Someone is coming into the studio for two days to do some voicing for an animation film, which should be interesting. They’ll be watching it on a TV while fitting the lines to the characters. I’ve done plenty of voice-over sessions before but never with the animation running at the same time so it should be fun. I’ll also be helping a mate try and find a place to get a Lexus service Manchester way. He bought a used RX 450h last week and wants to get it checked out, to make sure there’s nothing wrong with it.
Tags: cars, Football, Man United, Premier League, Recording studio, Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney
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Thursday, August 23rd, 2012
I’ve already talked about the start of the season without really mentioning the big story for Man United – the signing of Robin van Persie from Arsenal. This was seen by some as an aggressive move by Sir Alex Ferguson, signing an out-and-out striker, clearly with the intention of helping us score more goals this season and making a firm challenge for the title again. That should be no surprise to anyone, if I’m being honest – we always make a challenge for the title.
For others, particularly Arsenal supporters, it was seen as a controversial move. English football culture is such that many clubs have big rivalries between themselves, with some more passionate than others. Southampton and Portsmouth or West Ham and Millwall, for example, have infamously heated relations. Man United and Liverpool is one of the big rivalries up here but there also isn’t much love lost between Man United and Chelsea, or – in this case – the other big London club, Arsenal. Some Arsenal fans see it as an insult for Robin van Persie to move to one of their big rivals. He has said publicly that there will be ‘no hard feelings’ with Arsenal, but the reception he gets when we play at the Emirates Stadium will make him see things a little differently.
For me, it shows the pathetic side of football that I don’t take much interest in. It is, at the end of the day, his job to play football. As with any job, if you’re not happy where you are and someone offers you more money to move, you’d take it. People get too obsessed about football being a ‘religion’ or a ‘way of life’. It’s not – it’s 22 men kicking a ball around a pitch and some people would do well to remind themselves of that sometimes.
Tags: Arsenal, Football, Man United, Manchester football, Premier League, Robin van Persie
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Tuesday, August 21st, 2012
Not exactly the start to the new Premier League season I was hoping for. Man City had quite an exciting opening match against Southampton and managed to come out on top, winning 3-2 after being 2-1 down with only twenty minutes to go. It’s early days yet but we only have to look at the climax of last season to know that every point counts and, after the first round of matches, City are clearly realising that more than United.
We obviously had a few problems in defence, with Ferdinand out injured, but I really thought we were going to start the season with a bit more of a spark, especially after losing it so dramatically to City last year. Even Robin van Persie coming on in the second half didn’t seem to inspire us and we lost it 1-0 in the end. Disappointing but we’ve obviously got time to improve – I just hope this isn’t an indication of how the whole season is going to go.
We’re at home to Fulham this Saturday and I’m going along with a couple of mates, to mark the first game of the season at Old Trafford. Hopefully we’ll see a better result and get the season going properly. Otherwise I’m working a lot this week, with a band in the studio for four days, and I’ve been watching a bit of the tour of Spain – a big cycling race like the Tour de France called the Vuelta. Chris Froome is leading Team Sky, hoping to improve on his second place from last year. If he does it would be amazing, especially after his Tour de France performance this year and his medal at the Olympics.
Tags: Chris Froome, Football, Man City, Man United, Music recording, Premier League, Robin van Persie
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Thursday, August 16th, 2012
The advertising for the Paralympic Games has been clever and cheeky – ‘Thanks for the warm up’ the posters state plainly, appearing right in the middle of the hype from the main Olympics. The Paralympics have always been a little over-shadowed by the main event and I have to admit, I’ve never watched that much of them. This year lots of people are pledging to follow them as avidly as they did Bradley Wiggins, Jessica Ennis et al, but I get the feeling a lot of that is social politeness and once the Olympic fever has died down and the Paralympics start up, there won’t be as many people following it as said they would.
I’m going to make an effort to watch some. Maybe not all of it and probably not as intensely as I watched the main Olympics, but I will definitely take a look at most of the sports and try to understand them a bit better. I’ve had a quick read of some of the rules and regulations and the nature of the Paralympics does make it a little more complicated to follow. Each sport, for example, has set classification rules for athletes, to make it as fair as possible. That basically means that sports are categorised as being for people with certain impairments. Track cycling, for example, was originally included as a sport for blind athletes, riding on tandems, but now includes categories for a number of impairments. The GB Paralympic cycling team, incidentally, are expected to do as well as their able-bodied counterparts, so I’ll definitely be watching out for some medals from them.
Tags: Bradley Wiggins, Jessica Ennis, London 2012, London Olympics, Paralympics, The Olympic Games, Track cycling
Posted in My Life, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 14th, 2012
The Olympic closing ceremony wasn’t as poignant as I thought it was going to be in the end. After all of the drama and courage shown by the Team GB athletes we were all on a wave of Olympic energy and expecting a really emotional event. Then they brought out Take That, Russell Brand, Fat Boy Slim and One Direction and it felt a bit like a concert for Radio One listeners rather than a celebration of national pride.
That was a good thing in a way though because it reminded us of where the true spirit of London 2012 came from – the athletes and their performances, and now that’s finished it’s time to move on. A few people have been talking about post-Olympic blues but there’s plenty to be going on with in the world of sport. The Paralympic Games run from 29 August to 9 September and how could I not mention the start of the 2012-2013 Premier League season?
Man United have their first game next Monday, 20 August, away to Everton. I’ll be having a few of the lads round to watch it on my big screen, hoping we get off to a decent start for this season. Our first home game is the following Saturday, against Fulham, and one of my mates has managed to get me a ticket in his company’s corporate box, so I’m looking forward to that too.
City start their season before us, on Sunday, so I’ll be keeping an eye on how they get on. We’re going to be fired up this year and I predict there won’t be any end of season drama like last time. I might even put a bet on Manchester United winning the Premier League before the season even starts, that’s how confident I am.
Tags: Football predictions, London 2012, London Paralympic Games, Man City, Man United, Premier League, The Olympic Games
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Thursday, August 9th, 2012
Well, I thought I’d discover a new sport this week and, being me, become completely obsessed with it. Yesterday I found the opposite – I made the mistake of watching some taekwondo. Now I know many of these martial arts require strength, flexibility, courage and good technique but the bout I saw looked like two people basically trying to kick each other at the same time, which ended up being like a fight you might get on a school field, except without a teacher around to split it up when it got boring. I’m sorry – I’m sure taekwondo can be hugely entertaining but… well, not for me.
That is, I am happy to say, the only negative thing I’ve got to say about these Olympics. I was listening to the radio in the studio while someone was doing some voice-over work on Tuesday (don’t worry – I was paying attention to my work when I needed to) and just listening to Sir Chris Hoy win his record sixth Olympic gold medal had me out of my seat with excitement. I had to watch the footage on the television later of course but it goes to show the drama and passion that’s been a real feature of London 2012 if some commentary can get me all excited and patriotic.
I’m looking forward to the closing ceremony on Sunday in a funny kind of way. I’ve heard people say they don’t want it to end but I’m a great believer in going out on a high. It’s been an amazing two weeks and we’ve shown the world that we are a unique, creative and talented nation, so let’s enjoy the last few days and wrap it up so we can all look back and know that London 2012 was the greatest.
Tags: Gold medals, London 2012, London Olympics, Olympic closing ceremony, Sir Chris Hoy, Team GB, The Olympic Games
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Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
I’ve had a week away from the blog because, like most of you I expect, I’ve been so engrossed in the Olympics. There were a few negative comments in the media before the start of London 2012 but as soon as it started that all went and we all seem to have been completely captivated by the whole thing – I certainly know I have. The opening ceremony was amazing and really conveyed what it is to be British and proud, and since then (ignoring Cav’s failure to win a gold medal in the road race of course) Team GB have just gone from strength to strength.
As I predicted, I watched some of my favourite sports, like the cycling, tennis and football, but I’ve found myself caught up in a number of others as well – I’m surprised I’ve had time to do any work over the last week. My favourite ‘other’ sports so far have been the women’s boxing, sailing, archery, judo and fencing. Although, I have to confess that I have no idea what’s going on in the fencing. They have a little battle them someone gets a point but I’ve no idea why most of the time – the commentators even have names for some of the moves but it just looks like luck rather than judgement to me.
Anyway, we’ve only got a few days of London 2012 left now and I intend to make the most of them, and hope Team GB go on to take more gold medals and secure third place in the medal table. I’ve only got three days work in the studio this week and I promised a mate we’d go and look at places to buy used cars near where he lives but other than that it’s Olympics all the way for me. I wonder what new sport I’ll discover this week?
Tags: Buying a used car, London 2012, London Olympics, Medal table, Olympics opening ceremony, Team GB, The Olympic Games
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