GOLD SILVER OR BRONZE

Gold, Silver or Bronze

That is the obvious question

What hue will his urine be

When they test the Russian 

THE REF BOOKED HIM

 

The ref booked him for

Taking his shirt off

As it’s against the rules

To take the refs shirt off

ON THE WICKET AT LORDS

 

On the wicket at Lords

Is there any finer sight

Than the sun shining

On a bowler in full flight

THE GAME OF GOLF IS

 

The game of Golf is

A unique sport in my view

In which your most feared

Opponent is in fact you.

BREAKING NEWS IS COMING IN

 

Breaking News is coming in

About a tragedy, I’m being told

It’s at an origami competition

More to follow as it unfolds

TIME IS UP

 

To my chest my hands I clasp

I deeply breathe, I wheeze and gasp

My temples throb, my mouth is dry

My heart beats fast, I’m going to die

My voice has gone, my throat is sore

My hands both shake, I can take no more

I lay my head, upon my knee

Now blow the whistle Referee

THE WOKING STAR STRIKER

 

The Woking star Striker

Went down in the box

It was his wife’s birthday

So it was not unorthodox

GOLFING PERFECTION

Golfers who try to make

Everything perfect before they take

The shot will not improve their lot

And rarely make a perfect shot

Uncanny Tales – (038) The St Michaels Terracers

 

Much of my childhood was spent playing football, and whenever possible the whole year round, in all weathers and for as many hours as my parents would allow.

I wasn’t fussy who I played with either or where for that matter, and we would play with any size ball and use jumpers for goal posts and we would play for hours.

Now having said that I would play anywhere and with anyone I still had a favorite venue and a favorite bunch of fellow footie fanatics.

The venue in question was the park bordering St Michaels Terrace in north London in the shadow of Alexandra palace.

The park had roads bordering on three sides and the railway line on the fourth.

The top road was St Michaels Terrace with the Starting Gate pub at the main road end a small parade of local shops and a row of terraced houses.

To the left was the main Wood Green to Muswell Hill road so the pitches stopped well short of that side and the bottom road led to Bounds Green and to the right was a wooded area which separated the park from the railway.

 

The park had at its center a manmade semicircular hill, with a small round hill at its center, adorned by a weather worn totem pole and around this center piece were our three improvised pitches which we rotated depending on the weather conditions and the pitches were arranged as follows

A, the top pitch which ran parallel to St Michaels Terrace and was as the name suggests the highest of the three and subsequently the most used.

B, the bottom pitch, which ran parallel to the first pitch and again as the name suggests was the lowest and least used although was a favorite summer pitch due to the shade from the trees on three sides.

C, the third pitch ran from top to bottom parallel to the railway and was referred to by the grownups as the safe pitch, as even the most wayward shot had little chance of reaching a road.

The most hardened footballers amongst us played all year round regardless of the weather with the exception of a two or three week period in the summer when we had to bow to pressure from the less committed participants who wanted to have a cricket season.

The hard core of the St Michaels Terracers, apart from myself were The Neal brothers Dave, Ken and Michael, Brian Gallagher who was also a distance runner, Louis Deeks, who lived on Palace Gates Road, Richard and Clifford Morgan’s, Mick, whose surname escapes me, who was a Chelsea supporter and Colin, whose surname also eludes me, was our best goalie until his untimely transfer to Diss.

On Sunday afternoons we were normally joined by some of the parents the most regular oldies being Mr. Neal and Mr. Morgan and you would have expected a rise in good behavior and a reduction of bad language but normally the reverse was true.

We also had an almost endless list of transient players who used to turn up periodically.

It broke my heart when we moved away from North London, the five years I spent with the Terracers have never been bested.

 

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – FIELD OF DREAMS (1989)

 

“Field of Dreams” is a sports drama, screenplay by Phil Alden Robinson based on the novel by W.P.Kinsella and Directed by Phil Alden Robinson

In the extraordinary story, Iowa corn farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) hears a voice in his corn field telling him, “If you build it, he will come” and he interpreted this message as an instruction to build a baseball diamond on his farm, with the support of his wife Annie (Amy Madigan) and daughter Karin (Gaby Hoffmann).

Upon completion of the diamond players appear from the corn, the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) and the other seven Chicago White Sox players who were banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series.

When the voices continue, Ray goes on the road to seek out a reclusive author Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) to help him understand the meaning of the messages and the purpose for his field.

Before they can head back to the farm they are directed to seek out Dr. Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham (Burt Lancaster) and find his ghost, and then on the way home they pick up a hitch hiker who turns out to be to young wannabee ball player, Archie Graham (Frank Whaley) and Kinsella has his ball team, but there is one more surprise for Ray when his father John (Dwier Brown) appears on the diamond.

Field Of Dreams is a Timeless Classic and a perfect example of a movie that finds meaning, not in aspects of the story, but rather in the underlying emotional core and heart that defines the story.

ADMIRED ATHLETES

 

I have great admiration 

For athletic competitors

But you’ve got to hand it

To those relay runners