Another new season, another new computer (really need to work on my anger management), same old me, and the reality of spending the next nine months waking up on weekends two hours earlier than my workdays. Ah well, what price obsession…
I think about all the good and bad linked to the beginning of the new season, and I am never really confident in my own abilities to properly convey the depth of it all, that and the grim reality of just being too damn far from the club to be privy to all the real happenings in Glasgow’s one and only Premier League team. I still look on the close of the season past with a leering eye of contempt. The near failings of the SFA in their transparent attempts to keep NewCo afloat in the upper echelon of the Scottish game, nearly made my head explode. The ranting’s of the propaganda machine shouting from on high “You can’t live without us” and all the muppets of the media speculating on the death of der H*n equating to the death of the Scottish game. Thank Christ I’m a bampot.
What everyone told us, and what they all wanted to believe, was that the fall of Rangers would be so damaging to the sport, that it could not possibly be allowed to happen. TV money would all of a sudden disappear, and who would ever want to watch the SPL without the winningest (is that even a word?) team in the history of anything, blah blah blah. The pittance of a sum that the TV people grace us all with, was found and spent, and the league didn’t just turn to dust. The people are not walking away (well everyone not wearing the queen’s blue anyway), and the game will continue on much as it always had, minus the deceit, corruption, and treachery of the OldCo Rangers. I’ve little doubt the deceit, corruption, and treachery of the SFA will remain unblemished in the face of losing its favorite son, but with that in mind, and the very last scrap of integrity intact we begin the SPL’s 15th campaign.
I still cannot begin to figure out how and why the schedules are set up the way that they are; Champions League qualifier, Flag Day, Champions League qualifier, friendly in Philadelphia some three thousand miles away, then back to Scotland for the resuming of league play. I could not afford the $700 flight and two nights in a flea bag motel, to see my way out to Philly, and that’s even before the required $200 a day for drinks with the Tim’s that did make their way from the near and far points. I’m sure it was a great time, and that the result was as unimportant in being there, as the game was to me. Its far better to be in great company of old and brand new friends celebrating a team that we just don’t get to see enough of in person, and for many it was possibly the only chance to see them play live. I guess it’s something that the team that made the pitch was largely assembled from first team regulars, and to be honest that came as a bit of a surprise to me.
It would not have shocked me in the least to see the team sheet consisting of the Celtic U-12’s, those Twardzik kids and Bangura. Celtic already has a major issue with their treatment of North American supporters. And before you say anything, I don’t like us either. Well, Canadians are nice people. The fact remains, that the club often times appears to go out of its way to shun the fans here. It’s certainly a bitter little pill to put up with considering the lengths we nobody’s over here go to, to watch the team with all the same fervor, joy and delirium that is brought to Parkhead for each home game. It seems to be just another inconvenient nuisance in having to come here, which accounts for the lack of available merchandise and the like. So I would ask the question, why bother?
Celtic doesn’t want to travel that far for a meaningless game, and they have little interest in gaining momentum anywhere outside Scotland, so why even do it at all? If you must wedge a pointless game into the beginning of the season, may I suggest picking somewhere like the French Riviera in the future, many of the players will doubtless be there already, and who knows, there may even be an autograph opportunity with Craig Whyte. You won’t be alienating anyone, as who doesn’t want to go there, and you could probably get away with not selling any shirts as I don’t think anyone wears anything there to begin with. It’s sort of a perfect fit for the current business model outside Glesga.
I guess I would be remiss if I did not mention the weekend pasts game against Ross County even in whatever limited way I am able, so here goes. Talk about a band box stadium, that one takes the cake, I’m certain I’ve been in a car that was bigger than that place. However it was a pretty fun atmosphere and the narrow pitch coupled with twelve defenders made for some interesting play. I’ll call it interesting for now as sh*te sounds a bit harsh in this early stage of play. I will pass on commenting on how it took every nanosecond of the allotted time before Commons decided to fire in the equalizer. I have nothing to add as to the performance of Thomson, who continually changes his level of ability whenever he is near the green and white, and I will let it slide that the team looked like they were in the pub til four in the morning, and seemed unsure of just what they were being tasked with doing outside in the bright Scottish sun.
I am looking forward to waking up at dawn again this coming Saturday and can really only hope that Inverness proves to be less of an intimidating foe as was just seen. Well perhaps that was a tad harsh. The first time you play a team, it’s usually difficult. It’s not as though there’s film or anything that you can watch to get a plan of attack, and it all goes out the window anyway once the first whistle is blown…
As I said before, same old me
Hail Hail
SjH (twitter @__SjH__)
