News, Ramblings, Frustrations, Glasses and a Sorry Funeral

Long time no blog, but I've been VERY busy you see, particularly with college work. You see, not only do I have an assignment for Design and Communications every week, but I also have an 8-page report on top of that too, and given that last Thursday I had to prepare a short presentation for my group on Environmental Ethics in Practice in the same module, it kindof has taken priority over all my blog writing and time on the computer.

If that wasn't enough, I have a huge 2 and a half hour assignment for Mechanics of Solids next week and a test in Statistics for Engineers the next week too! On the plus side though I do get my official academic scroll/diploma/thingy for my scholarship on March 7th!

Recently, we started our sessions with the Architects for our studio work on Monday's, and I must say, it was the most awful psycho-blabble I've ever had to endure. I mean 3 hours of drawing with charcoal on butter paper! To make matters worse, I was drawing a shot glass! How many ways can you draw a glass? Answer: Not many. Nonetheless I had to spend all that time drawing! We were encouraged to ponder on our "discoveries" after the drawing and discuss it with our classmates. We also now have to keep a diary notebook, and draw things we see. That wouldn't be so bad if the damn thing didn't so inconveniently not fit in my pocket!!!!

Now that that rubbish is out of the way I can get onto some of the more hardcore stuff - most notably the fact that the Cork county players are still allowed to play in the National Leagues. If the GAA had any balls they'd have kicked Cork out. I mean, it's not even like they deserve to be in ANY position to argue. They didn't even give Kerry a game in last year's All-Ireland Final. The likes of Roy Keane and Stephen Ireland further enforce the argument that Cork are the England of GAA. WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE? One man seems more concerned about having a go at the FAI rather than keeping his own team in the Premiership, the other is a little shit of thinks that he can leave the Irish squad and then come back when he pleases. If Trappatoni has the balls - which most Italians do - he will leave Stephen Ireland out of the squad indefinitely.

On that note - hats off to FAI for pulling a wild card out of deck in snatching up "Il Trap". What a proud day it was to see the FAI reel in one of the masters of the game to lead our country for the next two years! Admittedly I was one of many who voiced their frustration at the time taken to find a successor to the Gaffer, but now that we can see the pedigree of the man chosen...it was worth the wait!

And lastly, before I sign off....a moment's silence.

Ladies and Gentlemen....HD-DVD's are dead. Blu-Ray is king. YAY! A turbulent week in the electronics world has seen HD-DVD crash out in incredible style. Big retailers and manufacturers announced the drop of HD-DVD's one after the other, until eventually Toshiba threw in the towel. Now with Sony's Blu-Ray the supreme winner, all those suckers who bought HD-DVD players...and even more so those who bought the add-on for the Xbox own something that literally has NO value whatsoever. Given now that the best Blu-Ray players are in excessive of €1000, a 40GB PS3 seems the way to go!

Oh yeah, and HAZE is coming out real soon!!!!

Fight the good fight...and win!

~The Damo

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