The Play-Offs. Scourge of fans who suffer in them, or the best way to gain promotion depending on your point of view. I’ve suffered 2 penalty shoot-out heartaches as a Bluenose in play-off semi-finals, but also seen young Darren Carter score from 12 yards at Cardiff’s Millenium to send Blues into the Premiership at Norwich’s expense in 2002. They’re batty, unpredictable and a right old tinder-box of emotions. So going to report on play-off games as a neutral is just fabulous.
On the train down to London on my way to Upton Park for West Ham/Man City on talkSPORT later. But KISS have dominated this week rather than football for a change. After all, the boys are over here on their first FULL UK tour since 1996. I saw their last indoor show in this country, which was in March 1999 at Wembley Arena, and it was a poor show with poor performances from at least 2 original band members (who didn’t last much longer in the make-up reunited version of the band) and I pronounced to my mates as we left the Arena that we’d never see KISS tour here again.
One of the great advantages in working as a freelance sports journalist is that it affords you the opportunity to work for a number of different organisations and develop new contacts and associates that can prove vital in years to come.
When is a penalty not a penalty? Or, more accurately, when is a non-penalty a penalty? Answer – when it’s at Villa Park against the Blues. That’s all I’m saying on the matter.
So here’s how a mad weekend can sometimes fall for yours truly. Thursday afternoon, I pack my little case and set off from home to talkSPORT towers to cover Thursday evening’s show with Matt Holland (great company and very knowledgable on all sports) before heading further south and west to stay at the house of Dressed To Kill’s bass player, Gary, as we have a long trek up to Glasgow the next morning for our show at The Ferry on Anderston Quay.
Warmest sunniest day of the year so far and I’m unable to bask in any of it with a show to do of course. I get asked – or accused - so often as to whether I present all my talkSPORT shows from some underground bunker in my house and ‘pretend’ to be in London. Well I can safely say that Football First on Sunday always requires an early train trip to either Euston or Marylebone (engineering work usually dictates which one) and a tube to Waterloo so I can get a good 3 hours of prep in before we go on air at 3pm.
Had a lovely Easter break with the family down in Cornwall and promised myself not to watch any football whilst away treating the children to a Haven Holiday, so as to give them the attention they deserve. Did pretty well and missed the lot – Robben putting out Man Utd and Messi messing up Arsenal’s Champions League, as well as Torres inspiring Liverpool to beat Benfica and Fulham pulling another rabbit from a hat to make the Europa League semis with them.
Off to watch Stoke vs Hull for talkSPORT after the most relaxing Good Friday with my beautiful wife Natalie – we ate a fabulous pub lunch at the ‘posh-but-not-stuck-up’ (as she so perfectly put it) Orange Tree pub just outside Solihull, returned home to watch Tom Hanks doing a very plausible Russian accent in ‘The Terminal’ (very enjoyable) and followed that up with an evening at a comedy club where we were introduced to the delights of how to make a child’s spelling toy swear like a docker by the extremely talented Phil Butler (I shan’t explain – you’ll find it on youtube)
“So Ian Danter’s started his own website has he? Big-headed pillock – what’s he done that for? I know what he does for a living!”
