It makes sense for the first post to lay a few things out. Presumably one of the four people that visit this blog will want to know what exactly this idiot is playing at, so perhaps a little background would be a good start.
Well, to start with I'm a student at Roehampton University. I'm hoping to break into the competitive world of sports journalism, and this little blog here is just an outlet to fire some of my ideas for articles about. I'm writing for the monthly newspaper at the university at the moment, but I love to write. I love to write about football. I love to write about Formula One. I love to write about anything that makes me tick, and having an allowance of once article a month is like asking Alan Shearer to score one goal a season. He'd barely contain himself.
So here we are, a blog where I can fire off articles when I want.
For the most part, I'd imagine I'll be posting football articles. It's been one of my biggest passions in life as long as I can remember, and I follow the game as avidly as possible. I'm a Portsmouth supporter, so as far as the emotions of the game are concerned, I've just about been through them all. I've seen my club lift a trophy, and then had to seriously contemplate the possibility of there being no club to support. Ups and downs really are part of life at Fratton Park, so I think rather like someone who's been through a near-death experience, we all have a profound appreciation of football that perhaps fans of 'bigger' clubs don't. Not to say that we're better than them. Alright, I'm kind of saying that. Sorry. No actually, I'm not sorry. Deal with it. That's too much actually. Apologies.
I had a season ticket for all but one of the Premier League years, and before you shout 'bandwagon jumper', I still attend games now we're in the Championship, but my living arrangements make a season ticket implausible. I've seen some amazing games at Fratton Park. Who could forget that wonderful 4-1 thrashing of our rivals Southampton? Or the oh-so-close 2-2 draw with AC Milan that was nearly one of the great European upsets? Or even that manic goal-fest against Reading which ended 7-4? I saw them all, but without having those miserable days, such as our 4-1 defeat to Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, they would mean nothing. It really is the struggle that makes the glory days so much sweeter.
Outside of Pompey though, I'm just a big admirer of the game.
Formula One is my other big sport. I sort of lazily put on a few races at first, and then one of my friends who really loved it got me into it properly. 2004 was when I really started enjoying it, and I became a big fan of Jenson Button. It seemed like he was quietly dragging round this awful BAR and getting results way out of its limits. I was sure this guy was one of the best drivers on the grid, and I couldn't understand why people kept telling me he'd never win a race.
Lo and behold, he did in 2006. Then Lewis Hamilton came along and made an impact beyond anything imaginable in F1. I quickly became a big fan of him as well, and I distinctly remember going a bit mental when he won the title in 2008. Meanwhile, Jenson had faded into the background, and it was disappointing because he was still my favourite. It looked like he'd be without a drive for 2009 when Honda went out of business, but Ross Brawn saved the team and he did the unthinkable by becoming world champion. I was over the moon.
Nowadays I watch every race I can.
Finally, I do love the odd opinion piece. I became very interested in politics in the run-up to the general election, but now that it's just all about how the Tories are ruining everything, it's just a miserly, depressing sort of interest to have. Still, it's nice to write a reasoned piece on political issues, devoid of the usual mega-left versus mega-right insult-sagas that follow anything involving the economy, immigration or religion.
Besides that, I'm a philosophy student, so I do like to think about the big issues in life. Like when are they gonna get rid of that irritating little meerkat on that advert? Or if a tree falls in the woods and there's no-one around to hear it, why did Wagner not win the X Factor? Y'know. Deep stuff.
OK, that's enough of that. I'm gonna follow this up with an article I already did for the University newspaper, so it doesn't look like this blog is 100% talking about myself. Nice talking to both of you who visited. Goodbye.
No comments:
Post a Comment