Day -423 WorldCup2018
Brighton and Hove Albion will be in the Premier League next season, officially clinching promotion today. They were last in the old First Division in 1983 when I remember them in a very exciting FA Cup final against Manchester United. It ended 2-2 and I thought Brighton were pretty good. Only after a few days of hearing the words "relegated", "relegation" and "second division" did I understand what had happened to them. I was young and still had my head filled with visions of Aston Villa winning the European Cup and Brazil at 1982 World Cup. Teams being so bad as to be relegated was a new thing for me. And if they were that bad how come they were in a final? Man. United won the replay 4-0 and by then I was an expert: "No surprise. Brighton were relegated," I knowingly proclaimed to anybody talking about it.
This is great news for Brighton. There's a nice feel about them being in the Premier League. I tried to suppress my cynicism but I wondered how long it would be before the good work Chris Hughton did over the last two years will be forgotten when they are struggling next season. I hope he survives longer than he did with Newcastle. After convincingly leading them back into the Premier League in 2009, he was sacked the following season with the team in 12th place in the Premier League.
And as we warm up for the end of season fun in May, two more teams wrapped up promotion today. Portsmouth and Plymouth are moving up to League One. It was a good day for the south coast of England.
And now for my embarrassing story of the day. You may not take me seriously as a sports fan after this. But it was hockey, not football, I shout in my defence. We were joining in the excitement around Toronto by watching the Toronto Maple Leafs on TV playing game 3 of their playoff series against Washington. The Leafs came back from 3-1 down to send the third game in a row into overtime. Oh, how exciting. But still so frantic. And sudden death. It's too hard to take sometimes. So what to do in that 20 minute break? Have a drink, pace the house to release tension, watch the experts talk about who has the best chance to win? Good ideas. Or catch up on the day's episode of Coronation Street on the PVR. We have to fit it in somewhere every night, ok. So why not use this time? If we fast forward through the ads it's on for 23 minutes. I could take the risk that nothing will happen. Yes, yes. I hear you. How could I? Well, something did indeed happen. As soon as the first note of the closing music of Coronation Street started I switched it back. And the hockey wasn't on. Not live anyway. It was highlights of something that had just happened. And from the voices excitedly describing what happened, and the fact that what they were leading up to was happening in front of the Washington net, we quickly surmised that the Leafs had scored. And there it was. The second game in a row one by a Leafs sudden death goal. And the second one in a row that we had missed because we stopped watching. Two days ago it had nothing to do with British soap operas detailing in a very realistic manner the weddings, affairs and murders that all happen on one street in a suburb of Manchester. But what it did say to me and my sports superstition is that if the next game goes to overtime I need to find something else to do.
Brighton and Hove Albion will be in the Premier League next season, officially clinching promotion today. They were last in the old First Division in 1983 when I remember them in a very exciting FA Cup final against Manchester United. It ended 2-2 and I thought Brighton were pretty good. Only after a few days of hearing the words "relegated", "relegation" and "second division" did I understand what had happened to them. I was young and still had my head filled with visions of Aston Villa winning the European Cup and Brazil at 1982 World Cup. Teams being so bad as to be relegated was a new thing for me. And if they were that bad how come they were in a final? Man. United won the replay 4-0 and by then I was an expert: "No surprise. Brighton were relegated," I knowingly proclaimed to anybody talking about it.
This is great news for Brighton. There's a nice feel about them being in the Premier League. I tried to suppress my cynicism but I wondered how long it would be before the good work Chris Hughton did over the last two years will be forgotten when they are struggling next season. I hope he survives longer than he did with Newcastle. After convincingly leading them back into the Premier League in 2009, he was sacked the following season with the team in 12th place in the Premier League.
And as we warm up for the end of season fun in May, two more teams wrapped up promotion today. Portsmouth and Plymouth are moving up to League One. It was a good day for the south coast of England.
And now for my embarrassing story of the day. You may not take me seriously as a sports fan after this. But it was hockey, not football, I shout in my defence. We were joining in the excitement around Toronto by watching the Toronto Maple Leafs on TV playing game 3 of their playoff series against Washington. The Leafs came back from 3-1 down to send the third game in a row into overtime. Oh, how exciting. But still so frantic. And sudden death. It's too hard to take sometimes. So what to do in that 20 minute break? Have a drink, pace the house to release tension, watch the experts talk about who has the best chance to win? Good ideas. Or catch up on the day's episode of Coronation Street on the PVR. We have to fit it in somewhere every night, ok. So why not use this time? If we fast forward through the ads it's on for 23 minutes. I could take the risk that nothing will happen. Yes, yes. I hear you. How could I? Well, something did indeed happen. As soon as the first note of the closing music of Coronation Street started I switched it back. And the hockey wasn't on. Not live anyway. It was highlights of something that had just happened. And from the voices excitedly describing what happened, and the fact that what they were leading up to was happening in front of the Washington net, we quickly surmised that the Leafs had scored. And there it was. The second game in a row one by a Leafs sudden death goal. And the second one in a row that we had missed because we stopped watching. Two days ago it had nothing to do with British soap operas detailing in a very realistic manner the weddings, affairs and murders that all happen on one street in a suburb of Manchester. But what it did say to me and my sports superstition is that if the next game goes to overtime I need to find something else to do.
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