Random musings

I am in the middle of writing something about leagues and hockey, mergers and folding clubs - but events are moving so quickly its half out of date by the time I hit the keyboard. Next week, maybe.

So here are some random thoughts on, well, stuff, because I'm like a kid at Christmas at the moment, so much so that not even a cheapshot on the Phoenix Forum can dent it.

Random thought #1 - Foot shooting

A shame that the sport should once again be in turmoil after another highly successful playoff weekend (and lets not forget the BNL final which featured a surprising upset for Dundee). To be honest, the sport has so many issues, so many problems it is sometimes hard to see where it should go. The one thing that British hockey needs right now is a leader. Someone who can crack heads, kick arse and take names. There are too many factions, divisions and splits, all of them not all that insurmountable by themselves, but taken as a whole it looks from the outside at least to be chaos. The game needs leadership, focus, in the way that say Alex Ferguson runs Man Utd with an iron grip - and I'm not sure where it can come from.

But the EIHL Playoffs brought fans together once more and it shows that the sport can be a power for good - few other sporting occasions are as social as the hockey weekender. Many other sports have their "social", but only hockey in my opinion combines the friendship with the love for the sport.

Random thought #2 - "21 days"

Neil said at the finals that a positive announcement was due in three weeks or less. I have no inside info, but if it is what I think it is, then the summer will be full of fun and work and excitement and tension. The way it should be, I reckon. I know what I want and hope to see come September, but I'm far too superstitious to air it publicly.

Random thought #3 - "Ooo wop, bop a ooo wop"

Tonight I get to see one of my all time favourite bands, Terrorvision, at the Academy. I first heard the boys from Bratfud way back in (mumbles) 1991, and the album "How To Win Friends and Influence People" is an all-time classic. Plus, they are simply the best live party rock band I've ever seen -and seen on multiple occasions. The last was at Bradford Penningtons in October 2001, after the announced they were splitting up to go their separate ways. I have the t-shirt from the night (which has a sentiment that sums up the band perfectly - "Happy We Made Friends and Influenced People") which was supposed to be their goodbye. But for some reason, they've reunited for a week-long tour and although I can't make it to the second (!) last-ever gig on Saturday, I will be bouncing along and feeling a good 10 years younger.

Although waving the t-shirt at them and demanding a refund.

Or at least a few autographs.

Random thought #4 - Poetry in motion

Was listening to Today on Radio 4 this morning (oh, there goes my street cred) and they were talking about political poetry. Apparently David Blunkett writes poetry and he read some. It was terrible. It even featured the word "oft" which is only ever used in poetry. I suspect the man was a Goth growing up, and never got it out of his system.

Random thought #5 - Aphorism

"One swallow doesn't make a commitment."

Random thought #6 - Slogan

Isn't the Tories election slogan "Are You Thinking What We're Thinking?" a bit, well, sinister? It sounds threatening. I keep mentally adding "You had better be thinking what we're thinking."

Surely if you want to be friendly and show you are in tune with the electorate, it should be "Are We Thinking What You're Thinking?". Still, the nastiness is about right for a campaign based on prejudice and fear.

(And before anyone accuses me of political bias in this blog, I would like to point out that one of my idly scribbled responses to the slogan was:

"Are You Thinking What We're Thinking?"
"Blair is a lying git but you're still going to lose. How rubbish must you be?"

Random thought #7 - Stone Cold-Hearted

I mentioned hockey bringing people together and then that I couldn't make it the Terrorvisions last gig. Well, the reason is simple - this weekend my girlfriend and I are taking a little break to celebrate our anniversary. 8 years now we have been together - we met via the UKH mailing list, me in my imperious "gobby" phase - whaddya mean thats never stopped - had a bit of a pop at the Sad B's, if you remember them, she was one of the originals, before it turned into a self-appointed, self-indulgent and self-righteous bunch of muppets. Anyway, she emailed back, we got chatting and met up at a game in Nottingham.

Which Storm lost 5-0. An omen or what?

She'll not thank me for telling you lot this, but I met her in her office at the Uni a couple of weeks afterwards and among the bits of paper pinned to the wall was my match report for the sellout Steelers game. She (rather shyly) explained that she had printed it out and pinned it there because she thought I'd captured the flavour of the match and it summed up her feelings on the whole game. Thats the kind of compliment that is just unbelievable really.

Still 8 years. You get less for burglary. :-)