Wiziwig suffered a DDOS attack the other night. There’s a sentence I couldn’t have predicted I’d be writing when, as a boy, I used to wait up, yawning, for Match Of The Day to come on, wondering whether Arsenal would feature or not. In fact when I was much younger I didn’t wait up at all. If I wanted to watch the single most important programme of the week my Mum made me go to bed early and I was then woken up to watch it before going back to bed. My parents were old school and believed firmly that children needed their sleep. Even though lying in bed staring at the ceiling an hour before my bedtime, excited like it was Christmas Eve, made sleep all but impossible, I usually did drift off. Eventually.
Mum would shake me awake at the appointed hour and I would wander in to the front room, wrapped in my dressing gown, hair awry, bewildered and blinking into the light of the television, a strange youthful alien creature materialised into the adult world of drawn curtains, hushed tones and night time TV. Dad would bring me a cup of sweet milky tea and I’d settle in next to his warmth on the settee in anticipation of the famous theme tune. Football for me has always been a place of cosiness, familiarity, excitement and expectation all commingled and stirred into a nostalgic emotional gumbo.
And now Wiziwig has suffered a DDOS attack. It’s difficult sometimes for my generation to maintain a grip on the childlike wonder with which we started our love affair with the most beautiful of games. With the explosion of technology which we have seen in recent years the way in which we consume football has altered beyond measure. Whereas I used to listen to a small transistor radio on a Saturday afternoon in the hope that the second half commentary (yes only the second half) would feature the Arsenal game, or try to decipher those strange encoded half time score cards that surrounded the touchline if I was at a Bristol Rovers match, nowadays I can watch via satellite or terrestrial television, listen to commentary provided by the club itself, wait and watch the whole match on the Arsenal Player the following day or select from a multitude of internet based players and watch every match live with a choice of commentaries from all around the world. If I wanted to discuss a match I had to have a couple of mates around listening at the same time and we could debate what we were hearing. Or if I was at a match I could discuss the half times with my fellow Gas Heads. The entire crowd was made up of Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal or Leeds fans. We were all supporting the Rovers but secretly almost the entire terrace was populated with people part of whose hearts were far far away. A couple of closet QPR fans would chat with a West Ham fan over their fags and flasks about how well Everton were doing. And all we knew we gleaned from the code in the programme and the alphabetized scores where nowadays scrolling advertising rolls relentlessly around the pitch side.
I vividly recall listening to a sixth round cup tie in which Arsenal were playing. Dave Bell, Wilb and Speed Bradley were all in my room with me and the commentators competed with the crowd noise to bring news of the match via my portable transistor. In those days, as the home side attacked, the sound of the roaring crowd drowned out Bryon Butler and Peter Jones, achieving a crackling distorted crescendo and leaving the listener in an agony of ignorance until the noise subsided and the com
mentator could at last be heard telling us whether a goal had been scored or the target missed. On this occasion the game was on a knife edge, the team were attacking again and again, the scene painted for us from the genius of Butler or the poetry of Jones , I forget precisely which was on the microphone, and as the tension grew I gripped the radio in feverish excitement. The crowd roared, the commentators erudition was lost in a welter of north London voices, Dave Bell held my arm, Wilb and Speed exchanged nervous glances, nobody spoke as we all waited to see if the ball had finally gone in and when the noise subsided sufficiently for us to hear that it hadn’t I flung the radio across the room where it erupted into a sorry pile of mute plastic pieces and silence filled the room. I felt three incredulous faces turn slowly from the shattered transistor to stare at my own horrified disbelief, and we decided to go out and ride our bikes for a bit instead.
Nowadays I don’t have anyone in the room. I don’t love the commentary as I used to. I don’t have to be woken up to watch the very abbreviated highlights. The whole thing is at my hi-tech fingertips. I never miss a match, I watch particularly well executed moves repeatedly on youtube or Arsenal player and mention anyone from Arsenal’s past and I can summon up some kind of footage of them in action. Has this diluted or increased my enjoyment? Well I have to say one thing has remained constant. I’m still that feverish little boy, muscles knotted, nerves taught, ready to smash the radio when we don’t quite score. I don’t think that will ever change. Now I have a whole world of fellow travellers typing away and transmitting their thoughts directly into my room with whom I can cheer, share consolation, argue, unfollow, favourite or applaud and with the passing of this country’s finest ever commentators I can choose to listen to Dutch or French or (and this is often the case) Russian voices thrilling to the fast flowing football of my favourite side which means I don’t have to hear Butler and Jones’ sacred memories sullied by the irredeemably despicable gibbering of their modern day successors.
Unless of course Wiziwig suffers a DDOS attack. Well on Tuesday night it did. In the absence of suitable safe links I tried for a while to listen to Arsenal Player while watching ITV but the perfect sync seemed to slip and the voices anticipated the action in a way that leant them a curious prescience so I was compelled to switch to Messrs Townsend and Tyldesley, more for the stadium noise than their wisdom you understand. How I long for the days when the crowd would simply overwhelm the commentary. It wasn’t all irritating though. In fact in a strange way Arsenal’s hypnotic stroll through the motions on Tuesday night brought with it a revelation of sorts. I don’t follow fools gladly on Twitter and not at all in the comment section of blogs but a few retweeters and a couple of good folk keep me abreast of the prevailing mood. On Tuesday it seemed many must have been watching a very different game to the one I was enjoying. There were rumblings, discontent at individual players performances and that of the team overall. When you consider the laughable ease with which we controlled the game this was something of a shock to me. But then I began to pay attention to Townsend and his pal. It dawned on me that if you are being drip fed a continuous diet of half truths, fantasy and over arching negativity about the match you are watching the chances are you might just start to feel that maybe things are not after all going too well. Is this maybe why the world beyond the barricade seems so unhappy even when we are enjoying our best season for years? They are constantly being told things are not right, performances are below par, the squad is too weak, Arsenal are having a nightmare, can’t pass, need to step it up. By never listening to the British media I don’t receive these messages and so I make up my own mind based on what is actually happening.
Townsend of course blew his cover with his involuntary cry of ‘Get in’ as a Marseilles player shot low to Szczęsny’s left compounding his embarrassing error with “I was applauding the fact that I thought he’d got himself a lovely goal”. No Andy, no you weren’t. You were caught up in the moment like any fan and you showed your true colours. The feeble attempt to make a really pitiful excuse moments later, like the rambling and painfully inept way I attempted to explain away the broken radio to my Dad all those years ago, merely served to make you sound even more guilty. It was a schoolboy error, but it at least proved beyond doubt how horribly biased against us the man actually is.
So my advice to enjoy your football is find an alternative to Wiziwig in case of DDOS attacks, get to bed early if it’s a late kick off, and don’t stand too close to me if I’m holding anything small enough to throw.
Positively Arsenal 
None of the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Dave Bell emigrated to America. I think. Actually that might have been Mike Baldwin. Speed Bradley is an actor and jazz singer and lives in London. Wilb owns a bar. I’m still here in this godforsaken town.
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if you watch arsenal match on tv, just MUTE and you will enjoy the game.
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lakysite:
I seldom do use the tv but I need the crowd noise to really get into it.
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during our game against liverpool, brian robson kept moaning about our highline defending on set pieces. but we never conceded a goal in the process. if we had conceded, i know many fans will get on twitter repeating the same thing. i wonder if robson saw leverkuson yesterday, how defending too deep in set piece situation can cause you problems.
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steww
lucky you, but if you listen to shit been said by most of this guy even after the benefit of replay, you will be amazed. earlier this season, the trend was szcz is error prone, poor distribution, doesnt kick well etc, even when he it is clear he has not set a foot wrong this season. now that they have been exposed, they turn on ozil.
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Top writing Steww. Very enjoyable reading.
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Steww
Great read as usual. Thanks. Things have changed, Steww, you won’t catch me flinging my iPad across the room in a rage…..
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Georgaki – I did smash a Kindle against the side of a caravan this summer. I had just hit my head really hard though. Wasn’t really thinking straight. Got a new Kindle now.
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Well thanks for teaching me two new words this morning (and in the first sentence too). The fact that so much of the punditry is just plain wrong is part of the fun I think – and if that leads to some of the fans being wrong then they at lest have the joy of seeing their worst fears confounded on a regular basis. It all reminds me of the old Millwall chant – “nobody likes us, everybody hates us – and we don’t care.” What is surprising of course is that while you can probably understand why the Millwall fans were feared in the 70s, it is much harder to see why The Arsenal should be so despised. I shall have to have a think about that, but I think at heart it is because we have so many reasons to be cheerful.
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You really should have a weekly column in a national newspaper Steww although your audience here on PA is both far and wide and without any doubt, hugely appreciative.
I remember well the ‘white noise’ of the crowd blotting out the commentary at the height of the footballing excitement – tense moments. I can also recall climbing the biggest tree in the garden to listen to an unbelievably crackly Radio Caroline, the much loved and missed pirate music radio station. That tree was the only spot from which any signal could be retrieved and being 9 years old, tiny with a huge tree to climb, the whole tricky operation necessitated the use of an equally small radio to have any chance of success. The acquisition of a rope ladder transformed matters, albeit only for the initial stages of the climb. Incredible to think this was all achieved without any kind of risk assesments, hi-vis jackets or safety helmets although I did once graze a knee, more for show than anything else, I think.
One of the illicit thrills of listening to Caroline was the knowledge that the British government were always itching to launch their own DDOS attack, but were never really able to. What we really need today is a commentator-specific DDOS leaving coverage and crowd noise intact.
Now THAT would be progress.
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Steww
I’m saving all your recent posts (and GP’s) for next Saturday morning.
Better than soccer am.
Dammingly faint praise, I know.
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Can anybody explain why broadcasters are reluctant to offer a “red button” alternative which maintains the ambient noise but suppresses the wretched commentators Is it just cost? Viewing figures would throw an interesting light on how much the commentary is actually appreciated.
(And what a contrast with cricket, where we all sit in the crowd at Test Matches with TMS engaging us via headphones.)
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The was best commentary I have ever heard was a few months ago when, I came across an online stream of the channel Canal+. There was no commentary. Just the crowd noise and the sweet sound of the football being hit. The second best was when I came across a stream with English commentary on an European channel whose name I forget.
I agree that the pundit commentary does add a bitter taste to watching a match. It is always fear inducing and full of cliche warnings.
For the Champions League games, because of the time difference, I do what Steww did in his childhood. Sleep for a bit, wake up, watch the match, sleep again. It is the only time I do not curse the alarm clock.
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Lol gains..what cant you get buddy?they might well contribute more than cesc , and noone called him a saint ,just the better talent and footballer. Neville pisses over names like sagna in trms of contribution. Is he a better footballer than bac? Like fuck he is….
Cesc was guiding arsenal into qf and semis …aaron and jack are part of the team NOT the main leaders like cesc was at their age. Anyway youre a stubborn donkey and your negative feeling for cesc wont let you judge it properly. There is a differwnce qhen askd to play a part/role in some position, and totally differeny when yiu are the metronome/conductor/playmaker and everyone looking at you for inspiration and a whole team relyong on your tempo ,passing and technique to go forward.
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AA
Climbing trees, climbing ladders, smashing trannies and kindles, ice cream and Arsenal, what is the blog coming to?
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Steww,
You wrote this for me, didn’t you?
Thank you. I really don’t mind this brilliant article being shared with other PA-ers (and of course, I’m not self obsessed, oh no).
I have to say, unfortunately, that when I was woken from sleep, it was nowt to do with allowing me to watch football. Indeed, by the time I arrived in bed-sit land, and had to deal with the dilemma of how to watch The Big Match on a Sunday arvo, (finding someone with a TV willing to watch it), I ended up buying a portable black and white 12″ TV which I then attached to the battery of my Ford Escort van – and watched, parked, on the local common.
The memories of ‘trannys’ (for Radio Caroline use) has fondly returned. The warming of batteries in the oven, or clasping them tightly in my hand and breathing warm air on them for a little extra power. Those were the days. Not.
I wrote about my listened- to commentary woes in the last articles comments, and I felt rather pathetic whilst writing. However, this piece of yours allows me to feel so much better, not least due to the quality of your writing, as well as the content.
I still hark after the commentaries of old. England V Brazil in 1970: Don Revie summarized every 10 minutes. Commentary was only about naming players and what they were doing on the pitch, and yes, difficult to hear, but that just added to the excitement, it seemed. Now, it’s shit!
I find myself dreaming of the re-writing of my childhood – having read about your parents waking you up so you could watch MOTD. That. Is. Beautiful.
I can’t express how wonderful I feel just reading about those experiences. Thank you to your parents. Thank you for writing.
(Can I say “love”? cos that’s what I’m feeling about your writing).
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Thanks for the kind words folks.
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TV commentary. Compare and contrast – England v Brazil 1970:
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steww, I bet you were the school essay swat. Absolutely first class! 🙂
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Henry – I was pretty hopeless at school. Lazy bastard.
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Very enjoyable Stew – I confess I am still a fan of live radio commentary, even delivered by the likes of Alan ‘Greenie’ Green and the current tribe of broadcasting pipsqueaks.
There is nothing, nothing I say, more pleasant after a few hours gardening or being outdoors on a Saturday than settling down on the sofa at sundown on an Autumn afternoon, about 4pm, lights low, and listening to the game described.
Clearly the retirement of James Alexander Gordon has been a blow but I am having counselling, the absence of Stuart Hall easier to bear
I think the difference between the Bryon Butlers and the Peter Jones, genuinely great broadcasters who would have been good whatever their subject matter, and the current crew of radio footie hacks is the lack of respect for players and managers and match officials shown week in and week out by Greenie et al. The greater the venom in the commentary the more it is supposed to satisfy the listener. I mean lets face it Robbie Savage is a moron – simple as.
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“England defenders helping each other out”
“England certainly looking very confident at this stage”
Rantetta – thanks for posting that game from 1970 – this commentary is exactly as I remembered it as a seven year old, sounding like it was coming back from the moon, polite, accurate, well spoken and respectful. Hairs on the back of my neck just listening to all that again. I may just watch the whole darn thing again over the weekend.
All this talk of broken down old trannies I’m amazed we’ve not seen the likes of Mel around the place – can’t be far away!
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Brilliant Steww. I wish I’d written that.
What ‘Coll said also. I wish I’d written that as well.
I used to really enjoy listening to the radio (or wireless as my dad always used to call it) commentary, however the constant dumbing down has meant that for me, much like ITV’s coverage (hang on a minute though, that was ALWAYS shit) it’s now only ever a last resort. Shame. When Lily Savage is assaulting your ears with his squeaky voice and semi-literate nonsense you know the game is up. And mere words can’t describe the ire that Steve Claridge induces in me. Lack of respect for managers, players and officials? yes. Also the constant need for sensationalism and knee-jerk reactions. Sign of the times I s’pose. And Alan Green is one almighty arse.
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I spent much of the 80s and into the 90s finding any BBC world service match of day on Saturday afternoon; many of us had short wave radios in those days, and hopefully the Arsenal match was featured; otherwise, if you missed that, it was the Sunday paper, mad search to see what happened, and then to a local hotel on Sunday morning (while my then wife went to church), where a one-hour TV program showed clips from all the matches played. You might even catch a glimpse of Dennis.
To digress, I thought the following was of interest from Squawka:
Marseilles: Arsenal completed over 700 passes on the evening and Sagna was one of the stand-out players, completing 93 of his 102 (91%). Sagna was excellent off the ball, too, winning all three of his tackles, three out of four headed duels, making two interceptions and clearing the ball three times. That meant the full-back ended the match with an 88% duel winning percentage – the best in the side. Sagna scored highly in Squawka’s Performance Score as well. He amassed 78 points and only Wilshere, who scored both of Arsenal’s goals, scored more points (79). Sagna was as important going forward, grabbing an assist for Jack Wilshere’s first goal and playing another key pass later on in the match. Only Mesut Ozil and Wilshere created more chances than Sagna. The French defender was marauding up and down the right flank all night and was comfortable in possession as well.
In other words, he was majestic.
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Fuck me. Steww you are getting me all misty eyed and sentimental. Can you imagine us having to listen to a World Cup FA cup final via the BBC over horrible, crackly trans-Atlantic telephone lines.
Then Rantetta posts one of the 1st significant games that began the conversion of many of us in the Caribbean from our childhood obsession with cricket. You must remember it was 8 years after Jca’s independence, the rising rebellion of the 60s and 70s led by the anti-colonial and the anti-war movements; it was affirming to our self-identity to see our old colonial masters being whipped at their own sport by Pele and a team of Afro-Brazilians playing Samba football. That IMO explains why thereafter subsequent generations of Jamaicans and 3rd world countries identify with Brazilian’s as the best exponents of the beautiful game even though they have long abandoned their emphasis on playing “beautiful”.
But going back to Steww’s point. Can you imagine watching that game as a child over 40 years ago on a two-day delay on a grainy black-and-white tv and yet so much of it remains imprinted on the mind? It certainly had something to do with the clarity and professionalism of the commentary and the lack of foolish, spiteful, bias collateral punditry which we now have to put up with. The technology may have improved but the desire of the broadcasters to brainwash us into gibbering idiots who consume the junk and regurgitate it blindly is undiminished. So much has changed but not for the better.
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Hi Zim – I am sure you Zimbabweans and Africans who, like us Jamaicans, were once under Britannia’s colonial domain can identify with my musings about the impact of that 1970 Brazilian team and there triumph over the then world champions. The duel between Pele and Banks was always an inspiration to us kids in the 70s as we kicked a football or an empty juice box on our dusty, stony playgrounds.
Unfortunately in rural Jamaica, while a Medium Wave transistor was mandatory, this high tech fandangled short wave radio was for the nerdy urban types. Different world, different culture.
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I’ll tell you what, never mind the post, there have been some truly outstanding contributions in the comments today.
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Shotta – that was my first world cup too and that Brazilian team is still one of my favourite ever sides.
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Like Steww I’m transfixed by some of the posts today. I cannot read enough of Shotta and ZimPaul’s childhood experiences. Come on lads, I plucked up the courage to write a piece, you should too. Besides, some of your comments are lengthy enough, string a few together and let PG post it. It’s riveting stuff!
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Whoever invented the internet did a fine job,if for no other reason than the comments on this blog and that I get to read Stews post twice a week.
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It is truly extraordinary how the current headlines on my news aggregator are dominated by ‘Ozil’s loss of form’. Really? I cannot describe his performances as wanting. ZimPaul just reported that only Wilshere and Ozil created more chances than Sagna and I believe him, not the sensationalist hacks…..
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ah that takes me back steww, you can truly create pictures in our minds you have a gift. The glorious days of oh oh oh ……..goaaaaaaaal or desperate scrapping around twiddling the dial to see if the other team had scored shouting no no no no at the radio. Apart the little (mobile) radio my dad had a massive radiogram that was the size of the home dugout and created loads of heat from the large valves at the back that would keep you warm in the winter. Your laptop cant do that.
for future breakdowns on wiziwig, LS hunter has loads of streams as well
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Just read this http://ow.ly/rg3Ox Fucking marvelous.
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Brilliant Stew, as a boy growing up in the 70s & 80s in London I loved the radio,like you I regarded Peter Jones & Bryon Butler as the kings of football commetry, for speech it was Mike Allen,Steve Allen & Clive Bull, for music it was Peel & Lamaq and I had a slight obsession with the London pirate stations of the mid to late 80s where you got to listen to old soul,rare groove,hip hop & this new fangled thing called house music,they also told us where we could go to illegal parties and get off our nuts and fail to chat up girls! Times,trends & habits change but The Arsenal will always be there.
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I think one of the themes coming out in the comments today is how the appalling lack of respect and knowledge shown by today’s media commentators is shown up by what went before them. And they have much to answer for.
When I hear of ordinary fans talking about x, y or z player being ‘rubbish’ I just think so many observers have lost touch with reality; that critical fans seem to outnumber positive admirers is surely linked to the approach by the media that has changed so dramatically over the years.
And now they are attempting to turn fans against Ozil; can people not see how they are just going from one player to the next, doing their best to see the worst in anyone who happens to be in their sights?
It’s really rather tragic as it’s their own reputations, not the players’, that invariably goes down the pan when said player hits top form. As per Walcott, Ramsey, Wilshere, Per, Kos, Giroud just from recent months (sadly, I could go on. Happily, I won’t).
Not fit to wear the shirt?
Not fit to pass judgement, more like.
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Where did you dig that out from PG? You all know what I think of Tomáš….
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Trust George to find these little nuggets on the internet and this link to piece on our Little Mozart is no different. Never realized that Rosicky has played all the big games this season. Very telling.
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As we are having a wander through the 80s it was a depressing read this morning to see that Lewis Collins, Bodie of The Professionals TV fame, pegged out after a long illness. Just 67 years old so not so ancient.
I remember The Professionals regularly shooting scenes across North London and around Holloway and Hornsey and come across this shot of Bodie and Doyle strutting past a local watering hole on Hornsey Rise which I had the pleasure to frequent, I’d guess 1981-82.
Happy days – I even see ‘Rhodesia’ gets a mention in the grafitti !
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Very nice tribute from Arsene Wenger for Pat Rice who has just been admitted to hospital with cancer; Arsene clearly in touch with his long-time colleague and following his progress.
Good luck Pat and best wishes from everyone here.
http://player.arsenal.com/player/4396-wenger-on-pat-rice
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A good friend of mine wrote to ITV about Townsends “Get in” wishes. My friend sent me the reply and asked me to read it back to him as he was driving. As I read ITV’s reply we guffawed as the reply struck us both as comedy gold, so I hope you don’t mind me posting it here:
From: ITV ViFrom: ITV Viewer Services
Date: Thursday, 28 November 2013
Subject: Andy Townsend (sc)
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your recent email regarding our coverage of Arsenal v Marseille on Tuesday 26th November 2013.
It was an instinctive reaction made by Andy Townsend to what he thought was a goal bound shot – as Andy explained in commentary moments after making the remark. He thought it was an impressive strike and he was astonished that Wojciech Szczesny made the save. He is not a Marseille fan or is he biased against Arsenal!
ITV Sport endeavours to provide its viewers with first-class coverage when broadcasting football matches and a lot of thought is given to the studio guests along with the commentary for each game to ensure that they are well balanced. However, please be assured that we have welcomed your feedback and confirm that your thoughts have been duly noted.
May I take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to contact us here at ITV and if we can be of further assistance in the future please do not hesitate to contact us again.
Regards,
Scott
ITV Viewer Services Officer
From: Lloyd Dwyer ]
Sent: 27 November 2013 19:24
To: ITV Viewer Services
Subject: Andy Townsend
Why was Andy Townsend so keen to see Marseille score against Arsenal? You can clearly hear him say “get in” as the Marseille player shoots and the ball appears to be goal ward bound. Are ITV in the habit of employing commentators that root for teams other than British ones live on TV?
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Mods, I’ve posted a friends reply from itv. However, despite my efforts, I’ve failed to exclude my friends email adrs, and I’ve managed to post the same thing twice on the same page. Would you fix/alter the post for me, please?
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Hunter: “Lol gains..what cant you get buddy?they might well contribute more than cesc , and noone called him a saint ,just the better talent and footballer. Neville pisses over names like sagna in trms of contribution. Is he a better footballer than bac? Like fuck he is….
Cesc was guiding arsenal into qf and semis …aaron and jack are part of the team NOT the main leaders like cesc was at their age.”
But Neville went to finals and semi finals, didn’t he? Which is what you’re using in order to give credibility to your Cesc claim. Besides, one could tell Neville wasn’t that good a footballer, Ramsey and Jack are incredible.
By the way, I don’t hate Cesc. I just think Ramsey and Jack are better than he is, that’s all. Cesc may be better at picking out a pass than these two, but they are more dynamic and have more skill than he does.
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Andy Townsend sounds just like I do when Manure’s opposition have a chance on goal.
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If a an ex-player in the commentary box is at all necessary, stick to the inside stuff most viewers aren’t privy to and spare us the bleeding gossip. Stewart Robson and Andy Townsend don’t have a clue what’s going down in Arsenal’s board room any more than the viewer does, someone should remind them of this.
I concur with the person who asked for ambient noise over commentary. I’d rather have that or the lone voice of an iconic voice like Martin Tyler’s, just for the nostalgia. That goal Arshavin scored against Barfa would have been less exciting without his AAARRRSSSSSHHHHHAAAAAVVVVVIIIINNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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No gains wrong again ..it was keanne …scholes giggs ronaldo who guided them to semis and finals… spot the difference? Or not yet?…..
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Morning all. It’s Thanksgiving here in the US, which finds me at my Dad’s house in Tennessee. Going home always prompts nostalgic feelings, so I’m in the perfect frame of mind to appreciate Stew’s excellent work today. I obviously have no memories of transistor radios and struggles to watch MOTD. I was not a sports fan as a kid, and used to roll my eyes when Dad would tune the car radio to the Tennessee football (American) game on Saturday afternoons, interrupting my singing along to the latest pop song in the back seat. NFL games on TV were just the perfect backdrop to taking a nap on Sunday afternoons. I’m still not quite sure how I turned into such a rabid fan in my old age – maybe it was just that before I never found the right sport! I am truly thankful for the internet age, though. I would not be an Arsenal fan without it, no doubt. I likely wouldn’t even be able to watch the games, and if I did, I wouldn’t have you wonderful people to talk about them with. Watching sports is a community activity – what fun would it be to watch if you had no one to celebrate/commiserate with! I was trying to explain all of this to my Dad just this morning – how I’ve managed to develop such a community of friends all across the world. He said it reminded him of his shortwave radio days.
Hubby and I were watching the recording of the Marseille game on Tuesday night, and I was complaining, as usual, about the commentary. And Mike said to me, “Why do you even listen to them? I just tune them out.” And I thought, “What a good idea. Why don’t I just tune them out?” I’m not sure why I don’t, or can’t. It’s kind of like being forced to watch Fox News against my will – no matter how much I try not to let it get to me, it still does! So I’m thankful for you guys. I’m a new enough fan that sometimes I still miss things, or don’t understand exactly what I just saw. I know I can count on you to tell me honestly – without useless, uninformed, agenda driven commentary.
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Better skills? Lol… Dude how many times did you see cesc lose ball? How many times did you see cesc doing mistakes? I rmind you that cesc between 18-23 was the main playmaker of a team ending 3-4th in epl and usually top 8 in europe……alone..with eboue and others older than him choking and losing it…. one of the finest in the world at his age if not the finest and as far as im concerned the best central midfielder in the history of our arsenal thus far….
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Happy Thanksgivng from us over here to you over there!
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Gains, after reading your comment, I had to go to youtube again for that Arsenal Barcelona match. The commentary for that Arsenal Barcelona game was a very good topping. The rocking stadium, the peak of football being played… the Arshavin goal….Damn.
Was Martin Tyler the same guy who said “He maybe cast in bronze, but he is still capable of producing truly golden moments”? To come up with that sentence on the spot takes talent.
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Happy Thanksgiving Kelly, to your family – and to all our friends in America!
(PS: When Arsenal aren’t playing on a Saturday afternoon I quite often drift off between 3 and 5 pm!)
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