Everything will be all right tonight. Everything will be all right tonight. Or so I keep telling myself, as Ulster prepare to turn and face the strain of Leinster at the RDS. Let’s hope that Ulster can put Big Brother under pressure. It’s simple, really: all we have to do is win. But hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing: we are the dead.
While Ulster have lost Stockdale to injury, one South Effrican is back for us.
But one of Them has apparently recovered from yet another head injury.
Give me steel, give me steel, give me pulsars unreal
In other news – newsman wept (with joy) as he told me – a familiar face is returning to Cardiff.
Someone’s back in town the chips are down
I just cut and blackout
I’m under Mulvihill’s influence and my honour’s at stake
Today is David Bowie’s birthday, in case anyone was wondering.
Onna telly this week
Friday 8th January
| Glasgow v Edinburgh | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Leinster v Ulster | 19:35 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Bath v Wasps | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
| Sale v Worcester | 20:00 | BT Sport Extra |
Saturday 9th January
| Zebre v Treviso | 13:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Newcastle v Gloucester | 14:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Griquas v Cheetahs | 14:30 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Exeter v Bristol | 16:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Western Province v Sharks | 17:00 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Dragons v Ospreys | 17:15 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
| Cardiff v Scarlets | 19:35 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
| Connacht v Munster | 19:35 | TG4 / Premier Sports 2 |
Sunday 10th January
| Harlequins v London Irish | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 16th January
| Glasgow v Edinburgh | 17:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
Darling Marina has done nice job on Toby Yong and his ilk:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/15/waves-britain-lockdown-sceptics-crisis-government
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Dog has just returned from a wet walk grinning all over its silly face – having rolled on a manure heap…………hmmm!
I share her joy…
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Dog love her.
What with there only being one match this weekend, I don’t think there’s much point in putting up a new thread; I can add it to the fixture list.
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Thaum
what is so endearing is that she harbors no grudges after having been tied up and hosed and soaped down.
All is ok – where’s tea/let’s have a race/let’s play football etc
Bless her………………
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Watching Wales v SA in 1999. Never seen it before. First time we ever beat them. First game in the Millennium. Loads of people walking about sans masks and Eddie and Jonathan sitting right up close to each other. EB and JD very excited about the stadium. And even only 35% full it looks great.
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South Africa have a blerry blerry white team,. Rassie’s in there.
First (and by far the best) part of the anthem Nkosi Sikelela iAfrika is a little quiet. Boo! Second part, Die Stem, gets much louder. Boo! The English shite at the end is very quiet. Good.
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Watching the snooker, which is mostly remarkable for the train-crash commentary.
Higgins has got a new cue with a titanium tip. [Close-up of cue tip as he takes a shot.] That’s it there, that brass bit, it’s made of titanium.
He needs to grab this game by the … grab the balls by the scruff of the neck.
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TomP, a mate of mine was at that match. Spent most of his time telling me about the drinking afterwards. I remember it well. Was fuming after the match that we’d lost to Wales, of all sides. Grew up s few years later.
Coincidentally, Mrs Deebee and I have been trawling YouTube for Tom Jones singing Delilah at the Arms Park or Millennium. She loves the bugger.
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Trauma, does the game have titanium balls is the question.
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Shit. Thauma, not Trauma!
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Trauma was me last week.
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“Dog has just returned from a wet walk grinning all over its silly face – having rolled on a manure heap”
I don’t believe in a Dog, but if I did then it would probably be this one, certainly on the evidence of the last year or two.
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I’ve never seen that 1999 game either, I guess we were all a bit spoilt in 1999.
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Mark Taylor in his pomp in 1999, rehearsing moves refined against the ABs in 2003.
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Why the long face etc.
I always quite liked him.
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Edinburgh Glasgow may get its biggest viewing figures ever. The Big Question is, which side should I support ??
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Glasgow are the underdogs. And it’s a better place obviously.
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The only time I’ve been to Scotland was a for a week of the Edinburgh Festival.
Glasgow is smiles better.
FACT.
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Five centuries in a row!
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Embra has the reputation of being the smug, middle-class city, and Glasgae the rough, but I’ve had several incidents of being assaulted (verbally) in Embra, and none in Glasgow. Although I’ve been to Edinburgh a lot more.
Embra is, to my eyes, more aesthetically pleasing, but Billy Connolly is from Glasgow.
So, hard to decide.
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It’s definitely possible to get assaulted in Glasgow, but still Glasgow.
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Ronnie O’Sullivan has committed a deliberate foul (imv). But no card.
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He’ll tell you afterwards it was because he was bored. Probably true to be fair.
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Says a cricket fan.
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There have definitely been cricketers who have got out because they were bored. Ronnie O’Sullivan is clearly bored a lot of the time and does say so.
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He’s probably not bored now, ‘cos he’s losing.
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I’ve heard him say it win or lose – not sure which leaves a worse taste though there is an honesty to it.
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Higgins has been brilliant. Deserved winner, which should happen in the next few minutes.
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Ronnie’s having a good bite at his fingernails as the match-winning shot is getting lined up.
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Shot succeeds.
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The one snooker match I attended in person (I like snooker, but playing really rather than watching and I don’t get the opportunity these days) was Tony Drago against Peter Ebdon. Ebdon bored everyone there apart from himself to tears (completely legitimately), but Drago threw it away in frustration at how long it was taking. I was there to support Drago as he was a family friend of the Maltese chap I went to see it with. I had nightmares afterwards that I think were to do with the lights, but possibly also the boredom. I don’t think it’s easy for the opposition to do the same to O’Sullivan as Ebdon did to Drago as O’Sullivan’s interest level seems to be all about him not them. Think it has happened on the odd occasion though.
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‘Glasgow are the underdogs. And it’s a better place obviously.’
Pffft pfft pffffffft pfft
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Got to keep an eye on you lot. Sheesh
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I grew up watching Hurricane Higgins, who was either brilliant or dreadful, depending on the effect of the whiskey he’d had, but always entertaining. Then, as a teenager, I fell in with a bad crowd and started playing pool. I then played professionally* until the cataracts did me in.
*On the pub team that won the equivalent of the local Challenge Cup.
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Belfast buskers:
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There was a time a while back when I played an awful lot of pool and got quite good. Once you’ve cleared up a few times from the break then you know you at least could beat anyone. Sadly my abilities turned out to be entirely dependent on playing all the time. Snooker is a totally different kettle of fish as you have to be so much more technically sound. That said I found the real frustration was the times when I managed to get that side right only to find out that with the distances involved I’d lined the shot up wrong in the first place. Played once a week for a while and would generally have reasonable hope of getting a break over 20 during the course of a few frames, but never got more than 33. That sort of thing was reasonably satisfying though there was still more annoyance than enjoyment. I reckon it’s a bit like golf (so many little things to go wrong) though I haven’t tried that since I was a teenager.
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Missing the fifth black that time is still a disappointment as I could imagine the (40) coming up on the fantasy TV screen. Don’t know if they still bother with that (I watch sometimes without paying attention it would seem) with how heavily they score these days.
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Snooker is a lot harder than pool, but at least you don’t have to deal with the shame of premature eblackulation.
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Tried playing snooker once. Failed to pot a single ball. Nae skillz
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I should point out that I still enjoy sports that are more about failure than success. I have after all spent several months of my life playing Sunday cricket and its derivatives without a great deal of statistical success to show for it.
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Scaring myself now working out how much cricket I’ve played, somebody save me please.
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Mrs BB’s from Glasgow. ‘Nuff said.
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Also, Glasgow’s one of the few places where, the more people swear at you, the friendlier they are, but if they call you ‘pal’…..
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Although Mrs BB doesn’t swear (much). But then she doesn’t watch Glasgow Warriors or the Scotland rugby team.
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There were times when the piano might as well have been playing cricket, that’s for sure. And the first ten years of 20-odd games a season when I had definitely been (and/or was) drinking…
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Thaum – that group have been popping up on my YouTube recs over the last couple of nights. They play some good stuff.
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Mrs CMW ‘s not from Glasgow as any follower of North Channel bridging will know, but she did do 13 years there so has on occasion found it easier to tell (non-Glaswegian) people that she is than to explain any further. I love the place and was a fool not to move there.
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BB – they’re really good! I think Ticht would like them a lot.
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