Grinds My Gears!! - Issue 8

*EDIT: Blogger had disabled me from posting for a few days for some reason, so some areas of this blog will be out of date, this was intended to be published Saturday the 25th.*

This is kindof a follow up to my previous post. As many of you will know, Dublin are playing Kerry in the All Ireland Semi-Final tomorrow (this blog being written on Saturday and currently I'm disabled from posting so by the time this is in fact posted the Dubs may have lost!!).

Anyway, I've spoken muchly about the anti-Dublin vibe from RTE sport, but it's no secret that this opinion exists outside of the RTE media.

Only yesterday, in the Friday issue of the Herald, there was an article written in response to an article published in the Leinster Express (a Laois newspaper), urging their countymen to support Kerry in the clash, and it gives seven reasons why you should not support Dublin:

Reason 1: Dublin are neither good winners or losers (see Leinster final Vs Laois). Could you imagine what they would be like if they won.

My Response: It's understandable that the honourable Laois gentlemen is a little bitter. Dublin gave the Queen's county boys a nice trashing in the Leinster final. The victory was made all the sweeter for the Blues as in a space of 5 minutes, Laois went from being a goal ahead, to more than two goals down. The gentlemen is also annoyed at the fact that Dublin are now on a run of 3 successive Leinster titles, beating Laois in 2005, knocking Laois out in the first round in 2006 with a 3-15 to 0-9 (I believe, it could have been anywhere between 3-12 and 3-18) and then beating Laois this year by almost the same margin. See any trend why this Laois reporter may write what he does....

Reason 2: Kerry fans are likely to be there on time, Dublin fans are more likely to cause a delay because Man Utd are playing Spurs on Sky Sports.

My Response: Yes in the past Dublin fans have delayed kick-off, but not this year. This remark also suggests that the 50,000-60,000 Dublin fans all support Man Utd or Spurs. It's interesting how the columnist hasn't yet suggested that his fellow countymen should support Kerry because they may perhaps be the better team....

Reason 3: If you're nice to Dublin fans, they'll probably come and visit you and drink all your cider. Because of the motorway, they're only an hour away.

My Response: Eh...yeah. I think he's really trying hard now. Is he trying to say that Dubs are the only guys that drink, or is he moaning because all motorways lead to Dublin. Honestly man. This must be a country thing because I don't see what this has to do with anything, and more to the point I don't see why any Dublin support would drive to the country to get a pint when there's pubs 360 degrees around Croker.

Reason 4: Kerry think they have a divine right to win because they're good, Dublin think they have a divine right to win because they're Dublin.

My Response: This suggests that Dublin aren't a good team. But as I've pointed out already, any team that wins 3 successive provincial titles and reaches the semi-final stage 2 years in a row IS good, whether he wants to admit it or not. As I've said, it's understandable given that Laois have failed to beat Dublin in years....

Reason 5: Not a reason, but the article pokes fun at the current crop of Dublin players comparing them to classic Kerry. Unsurprisingly the article seems to avoid mentioning Dublin All-Star players like Bernard and Alan Brogan, not to mention the cream of the Blue Squad at the moment like Ciaran Whelan or Mark Vaughan.

Reason 6: The article blasts "Paul Caffrey's 'look at me and me lovely family'" pose at the end of every game. The columnist writes that Laois were fined for bringing children onto the pitch in 2003. Yeah, mate. It's a little different when the run of the mill Joe-Mo brings little children onto the pitch at the end of the game when about 6,000 other adults are charging the pitch aswell. The Paul Caffrey thing he is refering to is when his son runs up to him at the end of the game win or lose. The verdict: pure JEALOUSY. He's basically blasting the Dublin Manager because he wants to celebrate a win with his SON. Grow up man.

Reason 7: The article makes reference to a previous Laois article regarding Dublin, quoting that they are arrogant, and it's a thrill to beat Dublin, especially in Croke Park. Excuse me but does that not sound awfully familiar to the first comment, citing Dublin were bad winners and losers. That sounds fairly like the words of a bad winner to me... (not that Laois have had that experience in some time).

It's evident how this article can infuriate a Dublin fan like myself. It comes from the same newspaper that in the previous year wrote that the Dublin team and fans were a "shower of pansies", and were the only players in the whole championship that wouldn't forget to bring "their hair gel and wax" to the dressing room. Dublin's response to those remarks was of course the delightful trashing in 2006.

In another similar article, a Leitrim columnist was blasting the fact that Dublin have been cited as having the best fans in the country, the 'Hill 16' factor if you will. This imbecile said: "If the Dublin fans are so great, how come they only have 60,000 at their matches out of a population of 1.2 million. News flash buddy, first things first. Croke Park can only hold 82,000, not 1.2 million. Secondly, Dublin only ever get a maximum of 60,000 tickets, the other 22,000 is for other fans of the team against Dublin and the other matches that take place earlier in the day!!!

Will I be disappointed if Dublin lose against Kerry?

No, they've done the capital proud. The only way I would be terribly disappointed is if they give away an 8 point advantage, not that that's ever happened before..... :P

~The Damo

UCD Gateway Unveiled!!!!

International award wining architect Christoph Ingenhoven from Dusseldorf, Germany, has been selected as architect for the massive 13 hectare Gateway project on the UCD campus at Belfield, Dublin. Ingenhoven Architects were chosen after an international competition that drew interest from 62 firms from across the globe. The winning design was viewed and approved by the university’s Governing Authority.

The firm is best known for its new headquarters for Lufthansa in Frankfurt and the new European Investment Bank headquarters which is currently under construction in Luxemburg.

“We are delighted with the outcome of the competition,” said UCD President, Dr Hugh Brady. “The creativity of the design from Christoph Ingenhoven’s team meets the vision we set out to create a precinct of modern beauty which blends with the natural landscape of the campus and surpasses environmental standards for energy usage.

The winning design has proposed a new building edge on to the N11 frontage of UCD, which in turn will enclose a revitalised green oasis at the heart of the university. These circular green spaces will be bounded by a tree-lined belt walk. The newly laid out open space will be traversed by pathways creating stronger linkages between the various campus buildings. To help form the centre circles, the architects propose reducing the size of the existing lake and softening its edges.


(Pictured viewing winning Gateway architectural model: Architect, Christoph Ingenhoven and UCD President, Dr Hugh Brady)

Access to the green space and the wider campus will be through a dramatic new Gateway building. The new building forms are softened by echoing the curved theme of the landscape design. The buildings in the Gateway are linked at the centre by a 6 storey open air glass-covered roof over a new pedestrian plaza around which many new amenities will be clustered. The design takes Belfield’s geographical position into account with the mountains and prevailing winds to the south west and the elevation over the sea to the east.

Within the Gateway will be a mix of uses including: a culture and exhibition centre, cinema, hotel, student residences, office and retail facilities, crèche and medical centre. “The campus environment will be greatly enhanced by providing a cultural/entertainment centre for students which will also attract the local community and visitors from further afield,” said Dr Brady. “The new facilities will enable the university to expand its academic and non-academic conference provision and increase the out-of-term usage of the campus.” The central plaza will offer a dynamic and vibrant space for students, staff and visitors to the campus. The plan is to include 1,000 residences in the Gateway to augment the current student on-campus accommodation.

The extent of the Gateway will cover 13 hectares of the 132 hectare Belfield campus. Fronting onto the N11 it reaches south as far as Merville House, the UCD Innovation Park and incorporates the current location of the running track – which is being relocated to the sports section of the campus and the recently restored Belfield House. To the west, it allows for existing buildings including the engineering centre and those along the pedestrian spine stretching from the Quinn Business School to the science centre. To the north it includes O’Reilly Hall and links the veterinary hospital.



Ingenhoven architects are known for their innovative high-tech approach to sustainable building design and the proposal includes many innovative ideas in this regard.

The design – which is subject to planning permission – includes a proposed light weight arch extension to the N11 flyover. The new bridge design will provide a safer pedestrian environment at the entrance to the campus where people will be given priority over vehicles. The current surface carparks beside O’Reilly Hall and the engineering complex will be replaced with multi-storey and underground parking. This reclaimed land will become part of Gateway as green space in the beltwalk parks.

Green building design is central to the work of Ingenhoven Architects. The new Gateway complex integrates low energy and building control systems to reduce total energy consumption. Intelligent facades provide for insulation, natural ventilation and maximum daylight. Efficient lighting systems, solar and geothermal-backed conditioning systems and “non stand-by” technologies will also reduce energy demand.

The design is due to go on display in the university. The project will be self-funding and the university is currently in the process of inviting expressions of interest from developers with a view to forming a partnership. Until such time as this process is completed the university is not in a position to put a value on the cost of the project. The design allows for phased development and after planning approval, is expected to take several years to complete.

-Courtesy of UCD.ie

~The Damo

Grinds My Gears!! - Issue 7

Yes I know it's been a long time, what with the AVGN posts and the Greatest of All Time and all that stuff, but now the time has come for the next round of GMG reports.

This particular one though has been boiling away for a while, slowly churning my insides, waiting to erupt in a spectacular explosion of rage, ruthless aggression, pimples, styrofoam cups and all inanimate objects I am willing to hit so long as I won't regret my actions moments later. For months I have been unable to express my rage and disgust at certain things but last Sunday the little ticker timer in my brain reached zero.

Who do I thank for finally letting me explode......

Well....more RTE SPORT to be precise, but the only RTE sport logo I could find was too small, and didn't give the dramatic impact of such a large logo that I wanted!

Anyway.... So what's my beef with RTE sport? Their coverage and broadcasting rights? No. Their dedication to every sport they can get their hands on? No. Their commentators and sports analysts? No. Wait. YES!! That's the one.

I'll start way back when this particular beefing was a mere cocktail sausage (don't fuck with me over the fact that a sausage is in fact pork and not beef alright!). Let me take you back to the summer of 2006. A fairly warm summer if I do remember, though definitely an infinite amount of times better than this summer. Yes weather, I will have a good grinding over you in time... What happened in the summer of 2006? My leaving cert? Yes. My last Gaeltacht? Yes. The happiest moment of my life? Yes. A solar eclipse? No. The Germany World Cup? YES!

Ah, the Germany World Cup. I was routing for Germany you know, even bought a jersey there when I was over for the Ireland match after the World Cup. In fact I'm wearing it right now as of 16:54 on July 17th 2007. Ah memories.

Anyways, the World Cup. Of course RTE had coverage rights to broadcast all the testosterone filled action right here to our own TV sets. But what pissed me off most? Bill O'Herlihy (sp?), John Giles, Eamon Dunphy, Liam Brady and co. What was wrong you ask? Well perhaps it was the fact that no team in the entire tournament was playing good enough. Yes that's right. At the end of every match, with the exception of the Final obviously, the lads were keen to mention how every team was playing poorly, below par football and what else. For me, this spoiled the enjoyment of the games as this would piss me off greatly.

But my disatisfaction with the lads didn't end there. Bring on the 2006/2007 Premiership title race. The contenders; Manchester United and Chelsea. What were the two key things this panel was concerned with? United's Cristiano Ronaldo and Chelsea's summer purchases bonanza. And who won the title and played the best football all year? Why Manchester United of course. Did the panel think that? Oh no. Chelsea were the best team, because they spent the most money buying players who ironically had no impact, if any, on the teams performance during the season. Cristiano Ronaldo was obvious the most overrated player of the year, and yet not only managed to win both PFA Young Player of the Year and PFA Player of the Year, but also scored more goals than the entire Manchester City team scored at home. The lads never once acknowledged any of this fact, because they are anti-United.

Don't think for one second however that it stops there. Enter the world of GAA. And this my friends is the very reason I just had to write this blog. If the soccer panel is anti-United, then the GAA panel is most certainly anti-Dublin.

Last Sunday, the Dubs cruised home with a thrilling performance beating Laois in the Leinster Final. Dublin's third succesive Leinster crown I might add. What could be criticised about the Dublin performance? Well perhaps the bried period of about 5-10 minutes in the second half where the Dublin forwards went to sleep for a bit, but what did Pat Spilane suggest? That Dublin were the one team in the country that was the main example of the aggressive nature of the game. Two words stuck into one Pat, bullshit. The particular incidents he was referring to was Mark Vaughan throwing his fists in the air in front of a Laois player after scoring Dublin's first goal and Alan Brogan waving goodbye in front of the Laois goalkeepers face and then raising his fists in the air at the crowd.

What isn't mentioned is how these two incidents were provoked. The first, right after Vaughan scores, the offending Laois back tried to reef him as he was running away to celebrate the goal. The second instance was where two Laois players squared up to Brogan, and rather do the stupid thing of throwing a punch, Brogan did the slight less stupid thing of pissing them off further. This was also to the same Laois keeper that on two occasions cheated on the kick out when the referee's back was turned by taking the kick further away not on the required spot, which allowed for short unmarked kick outs which wouldn't happen under normal circumstances. These things can't be avoided, but actions like Brogan's and Vaughan's are brought out from the intensity of the game. To suggest that Dublin are the only team responsible is ludicrous. Remind me which two teams fought it out in the tunnel before the match....that would be Cork and Clare. And on which team did one player punch another much younger player to the ground during training? That would be Meath. Which team deliberately started their warm-up in front of Hill 16 in last years All Ireland Semi Final against Dublin? That would be Mayo.

See RTE, you're just pissing people off, if it wasn't for Tommy Lyons (former Dublin manager) in the Studio last Sunday, then all the country folk would have had a great lashing at the Dubs and their intimidating.

God it was good to get that off my chest!!

~The Damo

A "New Heart" for Dublin!

After watching the 9 o clock news on RTE tonight, I saw what is quite possibly the most ambitious and most amazing plan for Dublin City.




The plans are in response to a statement made by Dublin Port that they are struggling to meet demands of the capital. The proposed solution is to move the port to Bremore near Balbriggan in North Dublin and redevelop the entire Dublin Port area as a new 'Manhattan'!!!




The plan has been proposed by the PD's since October last year and a full brochure of the plans is available here:



http://www.progressivedemocrats.ie/uploads/images/A_new_heart_for_Dublin.pdf



Whether you like the PD's or not, this is certainly a very impressive proposal and certainly one that will bring Dublin to a "metropolis standard". This is also essential for Dublin's "reputation" as a city, following the announcement by a European planning commission that Dublin was the one city in the world not to plan your city like.

~The Damo