squealy's profile

squealy
468
Name: Neil
Location: Nottingham, UK.
Gender: Brummie
Member since: June 03, 2002
Last visit: March 02, 2011

squealy has posted 34 links and 1,262 comments to SportsFilter and 9 links and 812 comments to the Locker Room.

Sports Bio

Through a glass darkly is my normal method for regarding England games. Yesterday was no exception despite the early start.

10.30am is an uncivilised time to begin drinking for the day. This hardly explains why I was walking to my local at 10.00am with a can of Carling in my hand. Met some female England fans on the way down with similar luggage. They said they'd cut out the middle-man and stayed up all night.

Now our local is one of those lovely multi-racial boozers where everyone gets on fine with each other though keeps more or less to their own territory. It used to be 3 rooms before they knocked it all through (some say they should have gone one step further and knocked it down, but what do they know?) People still sit in those "rooms" despite the lack of walls - black geezers playing cards and dommies, "normal" white working class people and OAPs, and the strangely bohemian collection of graduates, communists, anarchists, grebos and crusties that we seem to specialise in round here, all in separate parts of the pub.

Anyway today is completely different. Virtually 100% white, 90% male and mostly apparently half-cut as I roll in the door at 10am. The landlord informs us over the PA that "we won't be bloody serving during the game so stock up now and at half-time." The table across from me has 8 lads sat at it. Each with 3 pints. It is 10.15am. Is it just the English who behave this way? Even before kick-off I have managed to collect the final 3 tokens I need for my "free" Carlsberg England shirt. Very nice it is too, if you like that kind of thing.

Game went by in a fairly drunken blur. I meet a Blues fan who shows me his tatoo of the club crest, someone had pointed me out as another Blues fan. This is Nottingham remember. Nice man, crap tattoo. England score, pub descends into a chaos of jumping, flailing jubilant people. Sweden equalise and you could cut the silence with the proverbial knife. Lets face it, England played poorly particularly in the second half. However, they still get a round of applause at the final whistle. I am sitting applauding a tv set. Not for the first time I fear for my sanity.

Numbers drift away during the Spain/Slovenia game. Only 6 of us left for the final whistle, and I'm 6 pints to the worse. Lots of people sat outside soaking up the glorious sunshine and more lagers. I stagger home to find both our internet and digital tv connections down, so I install a game (GTA III) and spend a pleasant, if drunken 2 hours driving aimlessly around, splattering pedestrians. The lager takes it's toll and eventually I go to bed for a "nap".

Woken by the phone at 8.40, curtains wide open, light streaming through the window. Oh fuck I think, looking at the clock, I've missed the Croatia vs Mexico game. "What are we doing for the games tomorrow", my mate asks? "Tomorrow?" I say, "what's wrong with the games today?". Silence, then laughter as it dawns on him and then me that I think it's 8.40am on a Monday and it's in fact 8.40pm Sunday. Back to the pub then for the rest of the evening, after all it's a Bank Holiday. Worryingly, at least 10 people who were there for the England game are here. Even more worryingly, they seem more sober than I feel. An argument breaks out between 5 middle-aged women and the landlord. Voices are raised, fists are raised, people are barred. Ain't it great to be English?

*****************

Oh yes, I support Birmingham City.

Recent Links

The ultimate sports theme tune: In the wake of the death of the great Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti the English media discuss the impact of the decision to use Puccini's Nessun Dorma as the theme tune to the BBC's coverage of Italia '90 on both English football and the world of opera.

posted by squealy to culture at 03:35 AM on September 07, 2007 - 22 comments

Farewell to the "Beckham of the Baize" : Popular and talented young snooker star Paul Hunter, three times Masters champion, succumbs to cancer at the tender age of 27. He leaves behind a wife and young daughter. RIP.

posted by squealy to other at 04:21 AM on October 10, 2006 - 6 comments

Ferguson must rely on all his ability for Carrick to shine: Michael Carrick signs for Man U for a reported £13m rising to £18.6 maximum. And just to take the pressure off a tad he's been given Roy Keane's shirt number. The Grauniad has a take on British record transfers.

posted by squealy to soccer at 06:29 PM on July 31, 2006 - 16 comments

2006 World Worm Charming Championships.: The winner has been declared. Silver Jubilee winner Harry Potts, who goes to Willaston Primary School, made sure the trophy stayed in the school grounds as he and mum Annette charmed 167 worms. WWCC official site.

posted by squealy to other at 07:17 AM on June 27, 2006 - 13 comments

Get ready to dislike America: American soccer players should enjoy being ridiculed: soon enough they'll be boring world-beaters says SpoFi stalwart Steven Wells.

posted by squealy to soccer at 03:08 PM on June 06, 2006 - 72 comments

Recent Comments

Steven Wells: a few memories of a unique and acerbic voice

Dragged me back to Sportsfilter Swells. A real star. So long and thanks for all the memories.

posted by squealy at 10:24 AM on June 28, 2009

Comments are closed for this entry.

Ahem.

posted by squealy at 02:15 PM on December 15, 2008

Baseball versus Cricket

Shame they didn't do the experiment in reverse too.

posted by squealy at 08:53 AM on October 08, 2008

Spofi Fantasy EPL 08-09 Week 3 Update

Just played my wildcard; not that the team were doing badly just there's money to be made in the long gameweek, and I hate having the fecking wildcard and want rid of it.

posted by squealy at 05:09 PM on September 03, 2008

Spofi EPL pool preseason update

Though having said that I suppose as you're both Americans you probably signed up whilst the vast majority of the most likely entrants (Brits) were fast asleep.

posted by squealy at 07:10 PM on August 19, 2008

Spofi EPL pool preseason update

btw, how's everyone doing on their Head-to-Head Leagues? As luck would have it, billsaysthis and I are in the same one.

That's an astonishing coincidence unless you picked your teams in unison. As I understand it the Head to Head leagues are just each 20 entrants in order of registering their teams.

posted by squealy at 07:00 PM on August 19, 2008

The Yankees ban sunblock at the stadium.....to fight terrorism

The concession stands sold both bottled water and bottled beer, however the staff had to take the bottle caps off for you, presumably so you wouldn't have a heavy object to throw.... I'm assuming these are plastic bottles? Now don't quote me on this but I have been told that the reasoning behind removing the caps is that empty bottles dumped in the aisles with their caps on represent a hazard. A bottle without it's cap will crush easily under your foot but one with it's cap on won't. Could be bullshit but that's what I was told by a steward at a Premiership football game.

posted by squealy at 02:46 PM on July 24, 2008

Hockey Scores not deserving of SpoFi Front Page

Those crazy internet kids, what will they get up to next?

posted by squealy at 01:38 PM on July 23, 2008

It's Salford City Reds and Celtic Crusaders!

I saw this story on BBC Breakfast whilst half asleep this morning and I must admit it did seem a little strange that established teams like Widnes and Wakefield had been overlooked in favour of two teams I'd never even heard of. But then I suppose I don't follow rugby league that closely. However despite my relative lack of interest in the eggchasing I second the suggestion of a rugby category as it's a perfectly cromulent sport whatever the code.

posted by squealy at 03:19 AM on July 23, 2008

Terrell Owens is a sweet, sweet man.

I don't even really know who this bloke is but he's clearly not very popular on SpoFi. However, he did the right thing for which he deserves credit.

posted by squealy at 03:01 AM on July 22, 2008

EPL Fantasy 08-09 Open for business

Fine by me as I always run out of mini-leagues. You still wouldn't win though.

posted by squealy at 04:16 PM on July 14, 2008

EPL Fantasy 08-09 Open for business

So there are two Spofi leagues as it stands now: the incumbent auto-renewing one and the new one. Are we going to keep both? I'd say keep the incumbent auto-renewing one as it's less effort for the participants. Newbie players can request the code to join.

posted by squealy at 08:46 AM on July 14, 2008

EPL Fantasy 08-09 Open for business

Yeah, I'm in. Who f-n told squealy? No one told me. The admin of last year's league chose to reactivate the old league. I did this myself for another league that I admin. This automatically puts all those teams who were in the league last season into this season's league as soon as they set up their team. Those who don't want to take part in this reactivated league have to opt out themselves. Boy that was confusing.

posted by squealy at 08:43 AM on July 14, 2008

The ultimate soccer pick-up game this evening (5:30) in Manhattan.

I'm sure Barca will be chuffed that Henry's agreed to play. Not that I have the faintest idea what a pick-up game is.

posted by squealy at 06:05 PM on June 25, 2008

Remi Gaillard, soccer prankster (video)

I was particularly impressed by how he bravely turned his tail and fled every time he was confronted.

posted by squealy at 06:04 PM on June 25, 2008