If i could fingerpick or write a vocal melody i’m pretty sure could just quietly replace Kurt Vile and nobody would notice. Anybody got some of that potion they use in Harry Potter handy? I can take lessons for the rest.
A (belated) New Years Resolution
Given that i’m sat around ignoring every other ‘resolution’ i made in some half-arsed intoxicated state on January 1st, 00:01am, i figured i’d put this one down in writing in the hope is spurs me on.
Given that right now my only job is the manager of Middlesbrough F.C. on Football Manager 2012 (top four finish on the cards in 2013 in case you were wondering) there’s really no excuse for my lack of upkeep on the blogging front. I’m going to set a conservative goal (hah, goal, like Football Manager, right? Geddit? *cough) of two or three small posts a day, even if i’m talking to nobody like i am right now. This writing thing can’t be too difficult right? I know i can do it, i just need to stop being such a lazy fuck.
Honestly, members of the mainstream media who are still posing this question — rhetorically or not — need to fucking stop. Because it should be clear by now that Colbert is using this very fucking joke of a system to show others how fucking stupid and shitty and ass-backwards everything is. And learned members of the media are either very well aware of this and don’t give a fuck and keep writing stories like “Oh, lookee here, Stephen is running for President, or testifying in front of Congress, or starting a SuperPAC, or this or that and the other, IS IT ALL A BIG JOKE IS IS HE ALL SERIOUS AND STUFF??? WHAT DO WE DO NOW???!!!!!!” or they really just don’t give a fuck, period.
Shut the fuck up and do a real God-damned story for shit’s sake, starting with how a Supreme fucking Court decision and mindsets like Mitt Romney’s “Corporations are people too, my friend” are allowing this all-fucked-uppedness to happen.
Fuck.
(via nedhepburn)
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There’s very few moments i’ve enjoyed more in music this year than the gospel singing in ‘Vomit’ by Girls. It’s like a slightly shitter version of Merry Clayton’s performance on ‘Gimme Shelter’. Okay, well, no, it’s not, but that was always the mind the performance put me in.
Good job Christopher Owens.
On Gary Speed.
It’s a strange feeling to be shocked to your core by something, or more correctly, somebody who you’d never really given a moments thought to. Gary Speed was an exceptional footballer, don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t somebody who ever made a lot of noise in my life. he never played the team i support, and i’d never seen him play in person, i’d never met him. He never made any impact on me.
I feel however that may be why this shocked me so much, there were the usual platitudes, statements and comments; from people who released them, while undoubtedly still saddened by the news, not because they were stricken with grief but because it was the proper PR move, the ‘done thing’ for someone in the spotlight. In amongst these were so many unbelievablely heartwrenching moments of utter devastation, Robbie Savage crying on BBC News, Shay Given wiping his tears away with a towel as he prepared to face Swansea, Bryn Law crumbling on Sky Sports News, that it made you reflect on just how respected he was as a person and the fact that he didn’t make any impact on you was such an amazing thing.
Gary Speed is still the player with the third highest number of appearances in the Premier League, i sure as hell didn’t know that before yesterday, which is testament to the fact of how long he played at a high level, how professionally he did so and just how little conflict he created during this time. Even looking at an elder statesman of football as respected as Paul Scholes, a player admired universally for his inability to rock the boat and refusal to play the media game, we remember him for a few shocking challenges, red cards and moments of lunacy. Gary Speed had none of this, he quietly and brilliantly represented his clubs at the highest level for over two decares. All of this only serves to make the fact that somebody so loved, with years of success undoubtedly ahead of him, so stomach curdlingly shocking.
A couple of posts below this one i reblogged a piece i wrote which attempted to tackle the subject of depression in football, specifically involving the death of Robert Enke. It was a pretty emotional ramble and nowhere approaching what i’d deem my best work, or even a coherent blog for that matter. The whole time i was writing it though i was never really expecting reform, and looking back the Enke tragedy was so distant, a player i’d never come across in any major terms, that it was an empty platitude written on the day. That’s of course my own fault and i daresay bloggers have done worse in the fact, so i wanted to try and deal with the issue a bit more closely today.
He was a proper man’s man, it’s staggering, one so young. The world has lost a great footballer and potentially a great football manager
Those are the words of Iain Dowie and i want to examine them just briefly before i finish this piece. Far be it from me to get annoyed at the way someone remembers a friend, yet i can’t help but feel like a classification as a ‘man’s man’ can only damage those considering seeking aid for mental health issues. You frequently hear about sportsmen being ‘warriors’, ‘leaders’,’idols’ and other such masculine terms. To expose your troubles and grief to the world is to expose your troubles and grief to opposing players, fans and the media, something almost every footballer would struggle with. A man shouldn’t feel he has to be ostracized for not living up to masculine expectations in the dressing room, on the pitch, Gary Speed helps prove that, he’s universally been spoken of as a ‘man’s man’ and a leader, a captain and a husband, yet was it because of these expectations that he failed to seek help, failed to tell any of the enormous amount of people who loved him so about his obviously crippling illness?
Of course we’ll probably never find out about any of that, and the conversation will likely be buried as things so often are in the fast moving media circus of professional football. However just for one second, while we’re remembering everything Gary Speed was on the pitch, i think it’s helpful to remember everything he probably was but didn’t feel able to express. Gary Speed was a troubled man and the culture of football needs to examine itself closely and see if it can’t help others from following his tragic path. Gary Speed should be the last one to feel this was his only option.
Gary Speed was an important person, not just an important footballer.
Robert Enke, Football, and the Acceptance Of Mental Illness.
By Neal Hepworth, writing from Middlesbrough
The death of any athlete is always guaranteed to shock a nation. After retirement it’s often easier to dismiss, as they’re not seen as the bastion of physical fitness they were on the field, you only need to look at much of the reaction to Paul Gascoigne’s recent issues to know this. So for somebody to be cut down (Marc Vivien-Foe being the one that sticks most in my memory) in their sporting prime is a wound which club and country often struggle to deal with.
Much of this is strictly physical however, as ‘mental strength’ is a much loved phrase in sporting culture, no less in football. During the World Cup we heard remarks that Asamoah Gyan (upon missing a crucial last minute penalty) didn’t have the neccessary ‘mental strength’ for the situation. We hear that Wayne Rooney is losing form because he doesn’t have the required mental strength to deal with the allegations about his private life and kick a ball about for 90 minutes. Dressing room ‘banter’ picks out any perceived weakness and amplifies it, and players tackle this head on in the name of team building.
Robert Enke took his own life a year ago today.
A piece i wrote a while ago regarding depression in football, seems particularly prudent given the horrific news about Gary Speed. I’ll have more on this later, but for now i thought i’d reblog this for a bit of reflection.
