An End To Sensationalism?

It may or may not have come across, but my blog can often be seen to
over-dramatise and to indulge my tendency to self-pity. This is of course the
result of me attempting to put a humorous tint on some of the disasters I
stumble between as I go about my daily existence. Well, this is the sign that
the tide, or more specifically my tide, is turning, as I am now focussing on
the future, and a potential career path.

Writing is something I see as a form of expression and as entertainment,
So I don't intend to lose my unique writing style, but In my new blog, (details
to follow), I will be practicing my Journalistic skills in a more formal way. I
will of course continue to discuss all of the important topics in life, such as
the world conspiracy against me, but I will do so with the intention of selling
myself as a writer, as well as entertaining myself and whatever level of
readership I have achieved.

Golf’s Stupidity, Transfer Deadline madness and the fact that anything and everything annoys me.

I’ve taken up golf fairly recently, and I enjoy playing it and trying to get better at it, I even enjoy watching it, and I particularly enjoy the fact size and strength are not the most important factors for success. However, there is one thing dragging this particular sport down, and that’s the fact it hides nonsensical rules within it. During The Open Championship last month there were two incidents worth recalling that I think can describe the stupidity of these rules to anyone, regardless of whether they know about or care about Golf as a sport.

Rule 1: If you position your club behind the ball as you prepare to take a shot, and the wind then blows the ball any amount of distance in any direction, you are deemed to have made it move and get a penalty, you must then also replace the ball and play it from the position it first moved on, but with 1 point less, or in more correct terminology having dropped or given away a stroke. This effectively states then that you are to lose a point for the actions of the weather, and any advantage you may have gained because of it will then be immediately taken away as you replace the ball.

The 2^nd rule I’m going to question is a bit more of a grey area, so I apologise if this becomes a ramble. After you take a shot, the most basic interpretation of the rules is that you then must play the ball from where you hit it. There are some occasions where the ball falls into an unplayable position and you are allowed a free drop without a penalty and other situations where it is deemed to have been your fault and you drop a shot/ take a penalty when you replace the ball. My issue is with a tee-shot that went a long way left into the deep rough that cleared a rope that held back spectators and put the player in a tricky position at a tight angle and a long way from the hole. The rules however allowed him to take a free drop and continue from within the roped area, and back very close to the fairway and with a shorter and less complex 2^nd shot. Frankly that’s just barmy.

The chaos and drama of transfer deadline day…

That one day in the window when anything can happen and any club can pull off a surprising last minute deal… Or more realistically the day that results in everyone making up friends at airports and acquaintances at training grounds along with barmy rumors in a bid to get mentioned by Sam Lyon on the BBC live text as he sits in an office, filling himself with sugar waiting for the obvious 0.1% of the days gossip to come true, and for the transfers we already knew about to be completed. I do enjoy deadline day, I’m just realistic with it. A lot of my enjoyment comes out of the strange rumors and sheer desperation of the general public, and some of it from that small part of me that does hope for a genuine surprise, The Henri Camara to West Ham of that particular window.

Today though I am left even more disappointed than I normally am after a deadline day, and I can’t work out why. Potentially though, it may have something to do with the fact at 5 to 11 last night the biggest bit of news that we were still waiting on was whether Nicklas Bendtner had found a club, and the fact this nicely sums up the quality of the day as a whole.

One a completely different note, I am left once again asking the question, why does everything annoy me? I can’t scroll through a morning of Facebook status’ on my homepage without being annoyed by everyone, definitely can’t read anything without wanting to kill the author and just about every conversation I have leaves me in an irritable mood. What is the answer to this? Do I need to be heavily medicated, or should I simply stop all contact with the human race? All I know for sure is I make Jack Dee look cheerful and the Mafia look friendly.

West Ham - A long fall from grace.

As soon as I heard the dreaded words, "Too good to go down," I knew West Ham were screwed. No team is too good to go down until they have enough points to prove it, something that this season West Ham never looked like achieving. I don't take as much pleasure in West Ham being relegated as many non-West Ham fans around me, because I have a soft spot for a team that traditionally tries to play football the right way and have always entertained me. West Ham today though, is a far cry from the free flowing team of Gianfranco Zola's first year in charge, let alone the solid mid table team led by Harry Redknapp, or the former glory days of decades past. The club is a mess from top to bottom.

The boardroom should be removed or torn out for the sake of the clubs future, because the record of the various recent owners goes from bad to worse whichever way you look at it. Terry Brown, the man who sold the club to the Icelandic's, was far from popular with the fans, and having overseen the sale of prize assets including Ferdinand, Lampard and Carrick, without significant reinvestment, questions were raised about his financial competence and the direction of the club. What followed though was something else... Icelandic chairman number one was 'Egghead Magnu-lugs' and his financially record was even funnier than his appearance. He spent far too much money that wasn't actually his on far too many average players and between him and his 'director of football' forced Alan Curbishley into resigning and the start of a dramatic downward spiral.

Magnusson decided he didn't want to continue in the role for various reasons, and sold the club onto Bjorgulfur Gudmundsson another Icelandic chap, not that the name gives that away, the owner of the Icelandic bank, Landsbanki. Well more money was wasted, the clubs fortunes were tied in with the bank and when the global financial crisis occurred, Gudmundsson and West Ham list everything financially. Last season they struggled to 35 points and 1 place above the relegation zone, but the club was finally sold on again and many of the debts cleared by new owners, the 2 David's! Never short of a word or 2, Mr. Sullivan and his partner Mr. Gold arrived talking about a big future and financial improvement, neither appear to have materialised. Last summer some money was spent, but when Frederic Piquionne was signed as a 'squad' player, I feared they weren't exactly aiming high. Players spent periods out injured, inconsistency was the order of the day for the better players Green, Upson and Cole and many others flopped including Obinna, and all of the defensive purchases. The wage bill is still not under control, with players like Kieron Dyer earning astronomical fees to be injured, not good enough, and play for another team. Question marks can also be raised over what many saw as the premature departure of Gianfranco Zola, and the hiring of Avram Grant and his truly remarkable facial expressions, but when the players aren't showing any motivation or passion, let alone talent, the manager has a battle they're unlikely to win.

At the moment I wouldn't recommend putting any money on West Ham to come straight back up, because it looks pretty bleak. Relegation is finically crushing, and yet in a couple of years they will need to employ enough staff to run a world class stadium, and they will need to buy some proven players to get them back in the Premier League, and then probably some more to try and keep them there. The harsh reality is the better players will be sold for various reasons, and I'm not sure what's left will be anywhere good enough. I hope I'm proven wrong though.