Feest Isolation Days – 8 February 2021
This is a sports warning…to those of you who don’t like sports…look away now. I remember the Beeb telling us to do this before they were going to show scores of games that were going to be viewed on their station after the sports news. If we didn’t want to see the score before we saw the game we were informed to look away as they showed us the results. Although it was largely about football, if not exclusively, I always liked that warning. Very kind.
SO wonderful to have some rugby on a cold winter weekend. We normally watch the opening of the Six Nations in New Zealand and see the final games here. This year all of them will be viewed from our at home in England settee.
Saturday we watched England get slaughtered at their home ground. The score line didn’t actually reflect the intensity of the one-sided game. Scotland creamed them at Twickenham for the first time in thirty-eight years. The Scots played brilliantly. The England team forgot to show up. The English chaps were overwhelmed. Scotland had over seventy percent of possession and in about the last five minutes we finally saw England with eleven phases of play. But it was far far too late, and by then the rain thundered down along with the brilliant Scots. It was painful to watch. The Calcutta Cup is now in the hands of the Scots and the game will go down in history as one of the worst ever England has played in this new century. Afterwards, Eddie Jones, the English Coach said he didn’t prepare the team well enough. Gregor Townsend, coach for Scotland, certainly did. Let’s hope that this opener of the Six Nations is not what we will see for the rest of the season from the English chaps. Scotland 11 – England 6. Whew!
I know I’m hooked on rugby when I first turn to the sports pages of my Sunday papers to see what those who know a great deal about the sport have to say about the English game on Saturday. The consensus? Scotland were brilliant. England were not. Come on England. Hit the reset button. You’ve just had your wakeup call!
I do like my rugby! Not only do I watch England, but I’m heading back to the settee to watch the Irish/Wales game. There are no crowds in any of the stadiums, but the players are there. And what a welcome diversion they offered us from pandemic thoughts!
And over in America, the Super Bowl is being played today…(It’s Sunday as I write) I will be fast asleep when the outcome of this game is known. I’m afraid I gave up my allegiance to American football many years ago. It used to be a fixture in our household when it was on telly on a Sunday evening but that was over thirty years ago! Times changed and without access to the American game, and my growing understanding and interest in rugby, I stopped following the American game. I still appreciate how many Americans love the game though.
Even Americans who don’t watch a lot of football usually tune into the Super Bowl. It’s become a February treat for sports fans up and down the country.
All eyes will be on Tom Brady, the quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom is forty-three and looking for his seventh Super Bowl win with his team. Tom was a Boston Patriots quarterback for nearly twenty years until he fell out with his coach and joined Tampa. The Buccaneers are playing the Kansas City Chiefs. Forty three! Wow. Those poor knees of his!
Apparently, in other sports news, there is an English hero whose name everyone will soon know. Joe Root. I am Danot a fan of cricket, it’s not my sort of game. I’ve tried, really I have, but I can neither understand it, nor spend hours watching it. However, I can appreciate excellence wherever it appears, and Joe Root has scored a double century twice in three games, I believe. (over two hundred runs). Well done that man!
There is still a virus out there. Hopefully, you too, will find something to take you away from thinking about the pandemic for a bit. That’s it on sport for now. At least until next week! Enjoy whatever you get up to and stay safe.
With love,
Kathy x