(no subject)
Look I know I need to write some theatre reviews and it's Geekmas this weekend and I may also be slightly work avoiding by writing this post BUT I'm in a bit of a YAY SPORTS place right now what with the Tour de France almost over and the Commonwealth Games just starting!
I mean in some ways you might claim this year's tour is dull because it's perfectly clear (barring disasters) who's going to win but he's certainly not a dull champion! Nibali has attacked and marked and generally stamped his authority all over the yellow jersey and whilst I dislike his team a fair bit I'm REALLY impressed.
AND in the mean time there are some fascinating battles for the Polka Dots (I hope Majka holds it, I've become weirdly attached to several of the Polish riders at this year's Tour via my love for Kwiatkowski) and for White (which is a battle between French riders mostly alongside Tejay van Garderen and whilst I want Tejay to win I'm not going to be sad if there are genuine French hopes coming through!) and of course for the rest of the podium where again there are several well placed French riders.
I'm mostly very sad that Kwiato hasn't really been able to ride as strongly as I might have hoped in the mountains but I think he may have gone out too strongly in the first week? And he's still young so you never know what might happen.
Anyway I'm hugely enjoying this year's tour one way or another despite my fantasy team sucking SO MUCH *rolls eyes at self*
On an interesting cycling note this interview with Bradley Wiggins actually seems to confirm what a few people have said about him not having enough hunger for another Tour win. He literally says if his career ended now he'd be content and his aims are for Paris-Roubaix and Olympic gold no mention of the Tour. Yes he says he was disappointed not to be chosen. On a selfish note I'm really glad to see him back on the track because I'm fascinated to see how he fits back into the Team Pursuit- a lot of records have been broken since he used to be a regular part of that team!
Which of course brings us back to the Commonwealth Games which are now well and truly under way after that... interesting opening ceremony.
I mean I liked it because it was fun and silly and clearly not taking itself seriously BUT I wish people would stop putting Susan Boyle in these high profile situations. It's not as if there aren't other fantastic Scottish singers. On a similar note why no Proclaimers? Not that the Ballet wasn't lovely because it was but surely there were better ways to use that song.
HOWEVER I loved the Tunnock's Tea Cakes and Nessie and the kilts and all the ridiculousness and whilst I know it annoyed some people I was really happy to see them use the Opening Ceremony as a platform for Unicef too.
However my top two moments have to be 1) Ian Thorpe being one of the flag bearers because LGBT visibility is vital when you have the attention of the Commonwealth because a lot of countries have terrible records and also because I'm just very very happy for him and 2) the baton getting stuck & Chris Hoy having to help open it and this picture
And now everything's starting and it's the Triathlon soon and they're about to get going in the Velodrome (how weird is it that Chris Hoy won't be riding? SO WEIRD) and they've started in the Pool and I might not be Olympic's levels of excited but I'm pretty distracted all the same :-P
I mean in some ways you might claim this year's tour is dull because it's perfectly clear (barring disasters) who's going to win but he's certainly not a dull champion! Nibali has attacked and marked and generally stamped his authority all over the yellow jersey and whilst I dislike his team a fair bit I'm REALLY impressed.
AND in the mean time there are some fascinating battles for the Polka Dots (I hope Majka holds it, I've become weirdly attached to several of the Polish riders at this year's Tour via my love for Kwiatkowski) and for White (which is a battle between French riders mostly alongside Tejay van Garderen and whilst I want Tejay to win I'm not going to be sad if there are genuine French hopes coming through!) and of course for the rest of the podium where again there are several well placed French riders.
I'm mostly very sad that Kwiato hasn't really been able to ride as strongly as I might have hoped in the mountains but I think he may have gone out too strongly in the first week? And he's still young so you never know what might happen.
Anyway I'm hugely enjoying this year's tour one way or another despite my fantasy team sucking SO MUCH *rolls eyes at self*
On an interesting cycling note this interview with Bradley Wiggins actually seems to confirm what a few people have said about him not having enough hunger for another Tour win. He literally says if his career ended now he'd be content and his aims are for Paris-Roubaix and Olympic gold no mention of the Tour. Yes he says he was disappointed not to be chosen. On a selfish note I'm really glad to see him back on the track because I'm fascinated to see how he fits back into the Team Pursuit- a lot of records have been broken since he used to be a regular part of that team!
Which of course brings us back to the Commonwealth Games which are now well and truly under way after that... interesting opening ceremony.
I mean I liked it because it was fun and silly and clearly not taking itself seriously BUT I wish people would stop putting Susan Boyle in these high profile situations. It's not as if there aren't other fantastic Scottish singers. On a similar note why no Proclaimers? Not that the Ballet wasn't lovely because it was but surely there were better ways to use that song.
HOWEVER I loved the Tunnock's Tea Cakes and Nessie and the kilts and all the ridiculousness and whilst I know it annoyed some people I was really happy to see them use the Opening Ceremony as a platform for Unicef too.
However my top two moments have to be 1) Ian Thorpe being one of the flag bearers because LGBT visibility is vital when you have the attention of the Commonwealth because a lot of countries have terrible records and also because I'm just very very happy for him and 2) the baton getting stuck & Chris Hoy having to help open it and this picture
And now everything's starting and it's the Triathlon soon and they're about to get going in the Velodrome (how weird is it that Chris Hoy won't be riding? SO WEIRD) and they've started in the Pool and I might not be Olympic's levels of excited but I'm pretty distracted all the same :-P