Sheffield United 1 v Swansea City 2
The Championship
Saturday 4 August 2018
SUFC 2018/19 Game 11
Twitter @ball_sup
www.twitter.com/ball_sup
Untappd ball_sup
In order to write this Blog, I've had to lookup the definition of Blog. In one sense, I've been doing it right all along;
“a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style”
But, no point in dodging it, we all know the woman on the street definition of my Blog is;
“look at Me, Me, Me, with my Ego an’ all that….”
I first Blogged on 30 July 2014. Effectively four years ago. This is my 679th Blog since then. And, it's time for some tweaks. When I started, I'd no idea what I was doing, nor where it would lead. Since then…..
I've contributed to a Vox Pop about David Brooks in The Star.
I've contributed to a new written on Actual Paper Blades Fanzine (Dem Blades Annual).
I run a Parody Football Firm on the Internet. Yes. Really. How the fuck did that happen?
I have very occasionally been asked my opinion of a player by a Football Agent.
Travis Binnion will sometimes say Hello to me.
I’ve become less of a cricket fan & more of a football fan. I’ve surprised myself that I do sometimes actually know what is going on out there on the pitch.
Peak “last four years” was on 31 July - when I came in the Top 4 in a category at the BrewDog European Beer Geek Awards.
Look, (in the main) I really enjoy writing this Blog. You soon realise you’re writing for an audience of ONE. You write what you want & you enjoy writing it, and reading it. You’re Blogger Of The Year, every year, to yourself. Recently though, some Blogs have been a chore. You can’t be arsed to write it, but you’re under pressure to write it. What? Under pressure from who, exactly? Well, because when you do it my way, it’s more of a diary than a Blog. I go to a lot of live football & cricket. Roughly one game every two days on average. 175 a year. My rule is (was) that I always Blog one game, before I go to the next game. I don’t stack Blogs up in a holding pattern over Heathrow.
However, delving into the internet, Twitter, online forums, other social media - the thing that hits you is the IMMEDIACY of it all. I think this … My view is this … Why doesn’t he do this … And move on. I’m writing this Blog, ostensibly about the Swansea game, a full week after the Swansea game, who gives a fuck about the Swansea game now? You’re history. I can’t keep up with that. For my Blog to have any traction, I need to be Blogging not Boozing. Final whistle. Write. Post. Wash your hands after. That’s not for me.
And, we’re flooded aren’t we. Analysis. Statistics. Jargon. I ain’t scared of all that Pal. I’ve got two Degrees in Statistics. If I get another one, I get to keep the trophy. But, it’s not my thing. Others are better at it. I’ll leave it to them. And, how many times can you write….
“United created a good few chances. But struggled up top to get owt going. O’Connell bombed down the overlap, but not as much as he used to. Coutts was the best one out there. The IPA had a rich intense bitterness, but needed more Hop Oommpphh”
That’s the chore - right there. What’s my angle today? How shall I tell the same story, but different? A lot of my posts are basically just diary entries. I went to a game. I had an ale. Love me, please. So, the first Ball Sup Tweak is - it’s a Diary, don’t be afraid of making it just a Diary Entry. I think you’ll find it was George Jones who wrote it - but my generation remember it as Elvis Costello singing it ….
I guess the reason we're not talkin',
There's so little left to say we haven't said
While a million thoughts go racin' through my mind
I find I haven't said a word
Funny I don't even care
As you turn to walk away
As the door behind you closes
The only thing I have to say
It's been a good year for the Roses
And then, which are the best Blogs. As judged by the only one who can Judge me, me.
Youth games, Under 18, Under 23, Futures. I have the advantage. I have the Unique Selling Point. I’m there. Not many others are. I love them. Close to the action. Binnion Bites. Carrier Bag Firm at their most obsessive. “Will he make the First Team, Phil?” “Fucked if I know, but he’s hit a screamer into the top corner”. Go. Make notes. Write them up. Quickly. Post ‘em. Get them on Twitter. Get them on S24SU dot Com.
Far Corner Beer & Brewery Hunting. Did you read about that time I went Beer Hunting in Transnistria? The self-proclaimed Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, Приднестровская Молдавская Республика (Russian), Republica Moldovenească Nistreană (Romanian), Република Молдовеняскэ Нистрянэ (Moldovan), Придністровська Молдавська Республіка (Ukrainian). Also called Transdniester, Trans-Dniestr, Transdniestria, or Pridnestrovie, the unrecognised state which controls part of the area between the Dniester River and Ukraine. And also the city of Bender on the West Bank of the Dniester. (The Blog wrote itself that day - On A Bender in Bender - Gold - right there). Jamal Blackman was an unused Sub in that game.
Key strategic thinkpieces which revolutionise our view of English sport & its problems. Been a bit thin on the ground those of late (ie ever). How to get more Spinners into the County Championship. Pathways from Youth Football. Those sort of things.
Carrier Bag Firm nonsense. The day the teamsheets were nicked at Leeds United's Academy. “You should have printed more” “We can’t give ‘em back, because we’ve already passed them out” “And anyway, it weren’t us that nicked them” - a career as a Barrister does NOT beckon.
RANTS. Fucking Mental Rants. For no apparent reason. Rants For Rants Sake. Fuck AFC Wimbledon and all their fans. Mincing out of Bars - giving more time to RANT about it. Love it. More Rants Now……
It’s simple really - while ever I’m wasting time wracking my brain on a home game where I’ve drunk the same beer (again) in the same bar (again) & United have put in the same broadly competent performance (again) - I’m not Blogging about the next Academy Wonderkid, searching for beers in places I didn’t even know existed, documenting David Attenborough style the trickery of the CBF or FUCKING RANTING.
That’s tweaks. That’s not an overhaul. Keep the best bits. The bits that are just diary entries - make them just diary entries. We. Go. Again.
693/1448
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