Dickson slams the bar
And other highlights. Jamie had mentioned that Dickson Etuhu hit the bar, and I was hoping I’d get to see it. Is there anything more thrilling in football than hitting the bar? Other than actually scoring, that is? Thwack. I had hoped Dickson’s shot would wallop off the bar and out again, not just flick the bar and keep on over. And to my delight it did. He caught it full on. THWACK! Soooo close. Inches.
Which reminds me of a W.P. Kinsella short story. Kinsella writes some half-interesting stuff, and about fifteen years ago it appealed to me greatly. Less so now. In this particular story, called “Distance”, a travelling conman named Roger Cash takes on a championship baseball team with the help of the local high school side (two of whom he befriends at the start of the story). Cash’s speciality is knowing the distance between US Cities, something he uses to win money in bars.
The baseball game is organised for big money, and sure enough, the local high school team and Roger Cash wins. How? Because Roger has fixed it so that home plate and the pitching mound are six inches further apart than they ought to be, thus throwing off the radar of the opponents’ star pitcher. Such a small variation in distance, nobody ever notices, but it allows the bad high school team to beat the local hotshots, and Roger Cash disappears with all the, er, cash.
If Dickson Etuhu had hit that shot six inches lower he’d now be some kind of cult superstar. Instead he’s still the bloke filling in for Jimmy Bullard. On such tiny margins are fortunes decided, games won and lost. Although we won anyway, Jimmy Bullard might not be here to fill in for soon, and Dickson may yet become a cult superstar.
Is that your attempt to recreate Ormondroyd’s match reports!
ha, no, I grew up filling up notebooks with these. Has anyone read the new Roy of the Rovers book? Someone’s written a complete history, which looks pretty amazing.
Well inspired by that I created my own little football world and drew the goals in notebooks. The drawing you see there could have been done at any point between 1984 and the present; the style has neither evolved nor regressed (although now I have a fancy notebook!)
(there, see new post below this one!)
Rich, I think your drawing actually gives a better impression of what happened than the ITV highlight.
Oh how I wish that shot had gone in.
Awesome drawing! Reminds me of when I was back in school taking my photography classes. My teacher told me I was the best photography student he had ever had and encouraged me to take one of his drawing classes, which I did. Half-way though that class he told me, Quarstad, you’ve got to be the worst drawer I’ve ever had in one of my classes and encourage me to stick to photography. Needless to say, I did.
Did anyone see the FA cup goal this weekend, (can’t remember who) where the ball thumped off the post and caromed right to another of the attackers head, who was on his knees 10 yards in front of the goal. He just lunged from hands and knees at the ball and drove a header into the net. Crazy stuff! I’d never seen that before, but you watch anything long enough and …
why does that remind you of when you were told you were the worst drawer ever?!?!? Oi!
BQ. I don’t know if you were watching, but we almost saw the most amazing own goal in my memory yesterday. The culmination of a day to forget for Matt Derbyshire was his attempt at a bicycle kick in the Blyth penalty area. As with everything else he did on the day, he sliced the ball terribly. It took off like a misfiring cruise missile directly to the forehead of a Blyth defender from whence it flew into the net.
Luckily, Derbyshire’s ineptness guaranteed that he was in an offside position when the ball was played to him and the goal was disallowed. The look on the Blyth defender’s face was devastating.
Excellent, I can almost hear the THUD.
SHOOOOOOOOOOT!
“why does that remind you of when you were told you were the worst drawer ever?!?!? Oi!”
Sorry! It’s just that you have sort of drawn stickmen, and everything I drew looked like stickmen. Portraits – stickmen, landscapes – stickmen, still life – stickmen.