Hi mate. The Pepsi Max roller Coaster (now called 'The Big One' I think is well worth a try. I would also recommend Valhalla BUT you need to be prepared to get very wet!!!!!!!!!! Hope ur enjoying ur hols Posted by phil12uk
I think my Sunday morning is sorted now, cheers Phil!!!
As long time readers of this diary will know, I do a bit of footy commentary. As we have one of the most interesting Euro champs ever (The first time the old Eastern Block have hosted the comp as far as I know, England have very little expectation etc) I will be doing a daily review for the first week here (I'm moving after that and no no to internet, sadface.jpeg). It's a major interest of mine and will hopefully be interesting to you. If not, hopefully I'll have my normal waffle in here as well.
Well I was going to post this much earlier but the Friday night Open kept me a little busy.
[ ] Thin
So let's look at the Euro Champs through the eyes of a Sunday League Slogger.
First up was one of the hosts Poland taking on former champs from the land of financial hiccups, Greece. I'm going to brush over the opening ceremony. There were flags, someone doing kick ups and some kind of dancers. The real plus point was it was short. Still not the worst I've ever seen though, who can forget two grown men in bargain hunt Halloween costumes enacting George Versus the Dragon. A jubilee flotilla it was not.
The opening game is normally a boring affair, this was no where near boring. Poland came to play and should have gone in at half time many more than their one goal ahead. The Greek defence suddenly became the second most flimsy thing associated with that country. It was also in that first half that I assume the referee, Mr Carballo, decided to announce to the world that he is the new owner of Clinton cards. Yellows popping out all over the place followed by a Red that's the harshest I've seen for some time.
Sadly for Poland it was a game of two halves. The Greeks level after Szczesny decided to attempt to out do the other keeper on the pitch by flailing at a ball to allow the equaliser and then to level the men on the field plus give away a peno at the same time. Penalty saved and the game ended in a draw but never petered out. Excited all the way through and honours even. Great start to the championships.
We switch to the other game in the group. Czech Republic V Russia. I thought this would be tight, pundit fail. Russia came out like men possessed. Inspired by a video of President Putin chopping down Redwoods with his bare hands, probably, they crushed the Czechs. They did it the old Nottingham Forest glory days way. Let the other team play for 15 minutes, realise they're not all that and score some goals. Despite some wasteful finishing for the first hour Russia finished running out 4-1 winners in an exciting game.
And just as the game finished I got a call for a BBQ football night at a mate's tomorrow. Suddenly everyone is really into this event, myself included. And it's not about England, it's the fact that there are some very good match ups out there and quite a few decent teams. Spain will probably still win but by golly it'll be fun getting there.
Nice little boost before your Vegas jolly, I trust you will be giving your winnings from the 6K Rebuy to your good lady by way of compensation/retail therapy allowance for your upcoming absence.
Loving the match reports, I don't need to bother with the BBC website (at least for the 1st week) now if I miss a game. As a former goalkeeper myself, the 1st game highlighted how easily in that position you can either be the villain or in the case of the sub keeper the hero.
I will look forward to your take on Englands game v France probably more than I look forward to the game itself.
Congrats Mr D. Sir, Nice little boost before your Vegas jolly, I trust you will be giving your winnings from the 6K Rebuy to your good lady by way of compensation/retail therapy allowance for your upcoming absence. Loving the match reports, I don't need to bother with the BBC website (at least for the 1st week) now if I miss a game. As a former goalkeeper myself, the 1st game highlighted how easily in that position you can either be the villain or in the case of the sub keeper the hero. I will look forward to your take on Englands game v France probably more than I look forward to the game itself. Mike Posted by Woogie8688
Cheers Woogie
Jolly? A jolly?!?!?!? It'll be strictly business, I shall be wearing a suit on tie for the duration. Funny you should mention the missus. I've decided to gift a friend 1% of my WSOP action mainly because he's a real good dude, it's part of a total of 5% I am mentally allocating for fun swaps etc when we get there, the only pieces of my action I intend to give up as I'm not selling any. I mentioned this to her this morning. That was a mistake. She immediately asked me if I realised what 5% of six million is, not a hint of irony in her voice. I don't think she realises how unlikely it is that I will cash let alone run deep. I must look at her credit card bill to see how much of the first prize she's already spent, I might be dancing for pennies on the strip if it's bad.
Thanks for you kind words about the reports, I'm just trying to get into my sports writing again, did stuff like that on the internet an age ago and I kind of miss it. I'm the sub keeper for my Sunday League team and due to our main keeper having a two year knee injury I've spent many a wet morning in the net. I know more than most how hard that position is and I also know that it's much less about being an amazing shot stopper and much more about decision making. On that topic I loved how the BBC commentary were in innuendo overdrive, my fave being Mark Bright's audition to be the voice of Durex.
'It's your responsibility if you come.' It's a motto we should all live by.
Nice result last night for ya....I suppose....ish Can you add the scorers to your footy reports please?, as it will make it easier for me to check my fantasy teams TYVM. Posted by MAXALLY
The Russians score four and you want their names? FML
Of course Maxy, anything for you.
Day 1
Poland 1 Greece 1 R.Lewandowski D.Salpingidis
Russia 4 Czech Rep 1 A.Dzagoev(2) V.Pilar R.Shirokov R.Pavlyuchenko
And so with a song in our heart and rejuvenated love of international football in our veins we move onto Day 2 and Group B.
We start with the first match in the Ukraine and the group of death. Perennial missed potential versus the only team to win this competition after failing to qualify for the finals, two former Euro champs and teams with a great wealth of football history, albeit from two ends of football philosophy. Denmark take on the Netherlands. Or Holland. Denmark take on both The Netherlands and Holland, doesn't seem fair somehow.
The standard of excitement continued at a surprising high for this game. The Danes buoyed with confidence came into it believing they could get a draw and thinking they could get out of this nightmare group. The Dutch were tipped by all but their own fans as a decent shout for a deep run in the tournament. Holland dominated, creating chance after chance. Club talisman RVP saw many a ball fall to him which would have been dispatched with ease if he was wearing a red top Sadly he was wearing Orange, as Van Gogh called it - the colour of madness. And if you were a Dutch fan who wasn't a little dolally before, then the glut of wasted opportunities that came and went might well tip you over the edge and into Bedlam. RVP couldn't find his form. Robben looked allergic to the goal. Even when the much touted Huntelaar and Van De Vart were sent in from the bench the almost constant wave after wave of Orange attack crashed onto the rocks of a stoic Danish defense. Agger and his fellow backliners were immense without the ball. They looked like an under 7s team with it and should never try total football again, but in defending they were superb. A first half strike by one man sandwich shop advert, Krohn-Dehli, gave them something to protect. And protect it they did, like a medieval maiden choosing to wear two chastity belts to secure her virtue, you know, just in case.
So with our first shock of the tournament in an exciting game, Denmark thinking they are half way out of the group and the Dutch staring first round exit square in the face, we move to the first big match of the tournament.
Germany v Portugal. Two great teams with such attacking flair. Or so you would think on paper. In reality Germany are seasoned campaigners who know you can't win a cup in the group stages, but you can lose it. And Portugal's attacking players disguise a team mentality they have had for some time, to be tight, hard to beat and let's not get too excited going forward please. And suddenly we have our first dry affair of the competition. A game of few chances, neither keeper following the lead of their contemporaries from Day 1, no one really going for it. Germany looked comfortable yet rarely stretched Portugal, who tried to hit on the counter and put their faith in the superstars they have to pull off a magic moment rather than attack as a team. Hogwarts was absent, no magic to be found. We did have the Portuguese hit the bar, have the ball bounce on the line and prepared ourselves for the first action of a 'Behind Goal-line Person' since the idea began. No action occurred, I screamed at the TV that it was over the line. It was not. I should have gone to Specsavers. Still no reason to bark at those statues in this comp yet. Give me time.
With the game drifting to a scoreless draw, veteran German striker Klosse was about to replace the rather lackluster Gomez. Then Gomez produced one bit of quality, expertly steering a header into the corner. And that was that. A drab, dull affair won by a single goal. Germans gonna German.
On to Sunday now, and that distant elephant of England v France charges just a little closer.
Baffles me people playing Ferdinand ! Have u watched any football this season ? Personally i'd go : Hart Walker/richards terry(c) jones cole johnson/walcott wilshere parker cleverley young Bent . Then stick rooney in when back from susp. Gerrard n lamps super subs ! Posted by 1267
I called it in febuary that Rio wouldn't go . Brag.
Seems like i can pick a good injury prone player tho ... sigh
In Response to Re: Many Rivers To Cross. A Diary. : I called it in febuary that Rio wouldn't go . Brag. Seems like i can pick a good injury prone player tho ... sigh Posted by 1267
Clean forgot about that early part of the diary mate, great shout. Here's mine from then:
Hart Walker Richards Ferdinand Cole Parker Carrick Young Downing Gerrard Welbeck
Looks like I picked Downing way back then. I think I was using the 'he's left footed, we need someone left footed' rule. He might well play. I still like mine, even with Downing.
After Gary's thread, this is the one I read with my cup of coffee and first ciggy of the day! Cheers for the full reports on the footy......saves me going out for a paper. One point though....orange is not the colour of madness, it is the colour of TKP.......mmmmmm, actually Van the man could of had a valid point there!
I think 9 starters are pretty much nailed on for England.
It's now just about wheather Downing will play left wing and milner right. Or will he play Walcott and stick Milner left wing. then, who will play up front with Young. Carrol or Welbeck. I'd start Welbeck after his finish v Belgium and the fact hes got pace v 3 slow defenses in our group.
After Gary's thread, this is the one I read with my cup of coffee and first ciggy of the day! Cheers for the full reports on the footy......saves me going out for a paper. One point though....orange is not the colour of madness, it is the colour of TKP.......mmmmmm, actually Van the man could of had a valid point there! Posted by MAXALLY
Cheers mate!
Yes when I made the orange reference I did think of a certain Sky Poker team. Which reminds me, are you doing the man-kini prop bet at Blackpool. I hear Don is really up for that, as is Greg.
I think 9 starters are pretty much nailed on for England. It's now just about wheather Downing will play left wing and milner right. Or will he play Walcott and stick Milner left wing. then, who will play up front with Young. Carrol or Welbeck. I'd start Welbeck after his finish v Belgium and the fact hes got pace v 3 slow defenses in our group. Posted by 1267
Roy seems to be all over Milner, a man who seems to be marmite for the pundits. Some are saying no way he should start, others are saying he must start, doesn't seem to be much middle ground. The wings reminds me of Euro 96 where it was McManaman and Anderton if we wanted to attack and Anderton with Stone if we wanted to stay compact. Milner is the safe option if we're trying to be hard to beat, Young and Walcott if we want to attack. A big problem for me is with the exception of Young and maybe the inexperienced but exciting Ox, the wide players are not in a great vein of form. This kind of pushes me towards playing Milner on the right.
Yes I'm going for Welbeck over Carrol as well, as long as we remember we don't have a target man and start lumping it forward. Sadly we have form for doing this and the striker normally get the blame for it unfairly.
If this thread is gonna degenerate into a England Euro lovefest I MAY stop reading! ;-) Rumour has it they've booked flights home afer last group game so I might not be away long!
So I'm relocating this week. I'm going to miss the flat. We are going onto better things but I do love this place. Mainly for the below, these are the views from my balcony. Sorry for the picture quality, took these with an Ipad rather than a camera.
What you are seeing through those bad pics is most of London. From my window I can see the whole of the City of London (Shard, NatWest Tower etc), the Eye, BT Tower, Wembley Stadium when they turn the lights on, Alexandra Palace, White Hart Lane (heart) and a multitude of other landmarks. Many a time mid grind I've gone on the balcony to take a moment to chill. I just let in the view and it puts the silly things like getting two outered into great perceptive.
In Response to Re: Many Rivers To Cross. A Diary. : Cheers mate! Yes when I made the orange reference I did think of a certain Sky Poker team. Which reminds me, are you doing the man-kini prop bet at Blackpool. I hear Don is really up for that, as is Greg. Posted by TommyD
Comments
As long time readers of this diary will know, I do a bit of footy commentary. As we have one of the most interesting Euro champs ever (The first time the old Eastern Block have hosted the comp as far as I know, England have very little expectation etc) I will be doing a daily review for the first week here (I'm moving after that and no no to internet, sadface.jpeg). It's a major interest of mine and will hopefully be interesting to you. If not, hopefully I'll have my normal waffle in here as well.
[ ] Thin
So let's look at the Euro Champs through the eyes of a Sunday League Slogger.
First up was one of the hosts Poland taking on former champs from the land of financial hiccups, Greece. I'm going to brush over the opening ceremony. There were flags, someone doing kick ups and some kind of dancers. The real plus point was it was short. Still not the worst I've ever seen though, who can forget two grown men in bargain hunt Halloween costumes enacting George Versus the Dragon. A jubilee flotilla it was not.
The opening game is normally a boring affair, this was no where near boring. Poland came to play and should have gone in at half time many more than their one goal ahead. The Greek defence suddenly became the second most flimsy thing associated with that country. It was also in that first half that I assume the referee, Mr Carballo, decided to announce to the world that he is the new owner of Clinton cards. Yellows popping out all over the place followed by a Red that's the harshest I've seen for some time.
Sadly for Poland it was a game of two halves. The Greeks level after Szczesny decided to attempt to out do the other keeper on the pitch by flailing at a ball to allow the equaliser and then to level the men on the field plus give away a peno at the same time. Penalty saved and the game ended in a draw but never petered out. Excited all the way through and honours even. Great start to the championships.
We switch to the other game in the group. Czech Republic V Russia. I thought this would be tight, pundit fail. Russia came out like men possessed. Inspired by a video of President Putin chopping down Redwoods with his bare hands, probably, they crushed the Czechs. They did it the old Nottingham Forest glory days way. Let the other team play for 15 minutes, realise they're not all that and score some goals. Despite some wasteful finishing for the first hour Russia finished running out 4-1 winners in an exciting game.
And just as the game finished I got a call for a BBQ football night at a mate's tomorrow. Suddenly everyone is really into this event, myself included. And it's not about England, it's the fact that there are some very good match ups out there and quite a few decent teams. Spain will probably still win but by golly it'll be fun getting there.
Happy BBQ all
Jolly? A jolly?!?!?!? It'll be strictly business, I shall be wearing a suit on tie for the duration. Funny you should mention the missus. I've decided to gift a friend 1% of my WSOP action mainly because he's a real good dude, it's part of a total of 5% I am mentally allocating for fun swaps etc when we get there, the only pieces of my action I intend to give up as I'm not selling any. I mentioned this to her this morning. That was a mistake. She immediately asked me if I realised what 5% of six million is, not a hint of irony in her voice. I don't think she realises how unlikely it is that I will cash let alone run deep. I must look at her credit card bill to see how much of the first prize she's already spent, I might be dancing for pennies on the strip if it's bad.
Thanks for you kind words about the reports, I'm just trying to get into my sports writing again, did stuff like that on the internet an age ago and I kind of miss it. I'm the sub keeper for my Sunday League team and due to our main keeper having a two year knee injury I've spent many a wet morning in the net. I know more than most how hard that position is and I also know that it's much less about being an amazing shot stopper and much more about decision making. On that topic I loved how the BBC commentary were in innuendo overdrive, my fave being Mark Bright's audition to be the voice of Durex.
'It's your responsibility if you come.' It's a motto we should all live by.
Of course Maxy, anything for you.
Day 1
Poland 1 Greece 1
R.Lewandowski D.Salpingidis
Russia 4 Czech Rep 1
A.Dzagoev(2) V.Pilar
R.Shirokov
R.Pavlyuchenko
We start with the first match in the Ukraine and the group of death. Perennial missed potential versus the only team to win this competition after failing to qualify for the finals, two former Euro champs and teams with a great wealth of football history, albeit from two ends of football philosophy. Denmark take on the Netherlands. Or Holland. Denmark take on both The Netherlands and Holland, doesn't seem fair somehow.
The standard of excitement continued at a surprising high for this game. The Danes buoyed with confidence came into it believing they could get a draw and thinking they could get out of this nightmare group. The Dutch were tipped by all but their own fans as a decent shout for a deep run in the tournament. Holland dominated, creating chance after chance. Club talisman RVP saw many a ball fall to him which would have been dispatched with ease if he was wearing a red top Sadly he was wearing Orange, as Van Gogh called it - the colour of madness. And if you were a Dutch fan who wasn't a little dolally before, then the glut of wasted opportunities that came and went might well tip you over the edge and into Bedlam. RVP couldn't find his form. Robben looked allergic to the goal. Even when the much touted Huntelaar and Van De Vart were sent in from the bench the almost constant wave after wave of Orange attack crashed onto the rocks of a stoic Danish defense. Agger and his fellow backliners were immense without the ball. They looked like an under 7s team with it and should never try total football again, but in defending they were superb. A first half strike by one man sandwich shop advert, Krohn-Dehli, gave them something to protect. And protect it they did, like a medieval maiden choosing to wear two chastity belts to secure her virtue, you know, just in case.
So with our first shock of the tournament in an exciting game, Denmark thinking they are half way out of the group and the Dutch staring first round exit square in the face, we move to the first big match of the tournament.
Germany v Portugal. Two great teams with such attacking flair. Or so you would think on paper. In reality Germany are seasoned campaigners who know you can't win a cup in the group stages, but you can lose it. And Portugal's attacking players disguise a team mentality they have had for some time, to be tight, hard to beat and let's not get too excited going forward please. And suddenly we have our first dry affair of the competition. A game of few chances, neither keeper following the lead of their contemporaries from Day 1, no one really going for it. Germany looked comfortable yet rarely stretched Portugal, who tried to hit on the counter and put their faith in the superstars they have to pull off a magic moment rather than attack as a team. Hogwarts was absent, no magic to be found. We did have the Portuguese hit the bar, have the ball bounce on the line and prepared ourselves for the first action of a 'Behind Goal-line Person' since the idea began. No action occurred, I screamed at the TV that it was over the line. It was not. I should have gone to Specsavers. Still no reason to bark at those statues in this comp yet. Give me time.
With the game drifting to a scoreless draw, veteran German striker Klosse was about to replace the rather lackluster Gomez. Then Gomez produced one bit of quality, expertly steering a header into the corner. And that was that. A drab, dull affair won by a single goal. Germans gonna German.
On to Sunday now, and that distant elephant of England v France charges just a little closer.
Demark 1 - Holland 0
Krohn-Dehli
Germany 1 - Portugal 0
Gomez
Seems like i can pick a good injury prone player tho ... sigh
Hart
Walker
Richards
Ferdinand
Cole
Parker
Carrick
Young
Downing
Gerrard
Welbeck
Looks like I picked Downing way back then. I think I was using the 'he's left footed, we need someone left footed' rule. He might well play. I still like mine, even with Downing.
It's now just about wheather Downing will play left wing and milner right. Or will he play Walcott and stick Milner left wing.
then, who will play up front with Young. Carrol or Welbeck. I'd start Welbeck after his finish v Belgium and the fact hes got pace v 3 slow defenses in our group.
"One man sandwich shop advert" - absolutely hilarious Tommy great stuff along with the rest of it!
Yes when I made the orange reference I did think of a certain Sky Poker team. Which reminds me, are you doing the man-kini prop bet at Blackpool. I hear Don is really up for that, as is Greg.
Yes I'm going for Welbeck over Carrol as well, as long as we remember we don't have a target man and start lumping it forward. Sadly we have form for doing this and the striker normally get the blame for it unfairly.
If this thread is gonna degenerate into a England Euro lovefest I MAY stop reading! ;-) Rumour has it they've booked flights home afer last group game so I might not be away long!
So I'm relocating this week. I'm going to miss the flat. We are going onto better things but I do love this place. Mainly for the below, these are the views from my balcony. Sorry for the picture quality, took these with an Ipad rather than a camera.
What you are seeing through those bad pics is most of London. From my window I can see the whole of the City of London (Shard, NatWest Tower etc), the Eye, BT Tower, Wembley Stadium when they turn the lights on, Alexandra Palace, White Hart Lane (heart) and a multitude of other landmarks. Many a time mid grind I've gone on the balcony to take a moment to chill. I just let in the view and it puts the silly things like getting two outered into great perceptive.
I'm really going to miss it.
You'll do what Irene tells you to do.