Bath U16/U12 v Penarth U16/U12

The regular games against the Bath juniors nearest rivals are proving vital for the development of the junior team, without this regular cross border fixture, games would be few and far between.As usual a mixed age group team was agreed with the range from 10 to 15, albeit small 'old' players. Bath had a squad of 18 and Penarth travelled with 15, and boy has the lacrosse improved, guest Referee Mark Coups, the English Lacrosse Association National Development Officer was impressed to say the least, commenting on how the teams had improved tenfold since he last saw them play a year ago. There was never going to be much between the two teams, Penarth went into the first break up 1 nil, from an opportunist goal swatted in off the ground in front of goal, both defences were proving well equipped. By Half time the visitors had stretched their lead to 3:1 despite a good individual goal from Mike Carey. In the third quarter Penarth dominated possession, creating two goals to no reply. The fourth quarter saw a vast improvement in the Bath team, with goals from George Devitt, assisted by Jake Beck and Jake Beck assisted by Mike Carey. The final score of Bath 3 Penarth 7 was a fair reflection of the game, considering the younger spread of the home side the coaches can be very pleased with the way the team played.Quote of the day:Coach Mike Brand pulled Mark Lane off for walking back to defence, when asked why he wasn't running the reply was 'I am running it just looks like a walk'

Justin in Nigeria

My friend Justin Steele is currently working in Nigeria. Here is an excerpt of an email he sent.

I arrived in Nigeria last week for my second rotation with Chevron, my first rotation had me out in San Ramon, CA working in our Compensation group. I will be in Lagos, Nigeria for six months. When I return to the states I will be stationed in Houston, TX. Carrie....for those of you I haven't spoke to in a really long time or who don't know yes we are back together.....are getting married on Labor day weekend in the grand metropolis of Beaumont, TX. We got engaged over Thanksgiving and are very much looking forward to starting our lives together. I will probably not be coming back to the states during my time here, Carrie and I will most likely meet up in Madrid to visit with my parents and Jonathan who are living there. Nigeria is a beautiful place. There is a lot of poverty and crime as you would expect in any city with 20 million people, but I find the people I work with absolutely wonderful. Nigeria has a very warm and welcoming culture and the people here are some of the most genuine that I have ever met. They remember every thing you tell them and genuinely care to know if you have even the slightest discomfort. It is refreshing to interact/work with such a cheerful group. I attended a Nigerian church with one of my colleagues last week and I was the only Caucasian in the room and it was so neat, kind, humbling, educational , and welcoming the way they treated me. There were three young kids around the age of 4 who got out of there chairs and stood in front of me staring for around 10 minutes...they were adorable.....I wanted to steal them. After the 3-hour service they handed me the microphone and asked me to stand up and introduce myself....so reluctantly I did. There are so many social/political/religious/economic dynamics to learn about I regret that I will only be here six months.......but Carrie probably doesn't. English is the pre-dominant language but I have been making efforts to learn the other languages and they all appreciate my failing efforts.

For those of you who haven't seen this...watch it now! It may very well be the greatest SNL skit of all time!

Bath 2nds 7:5 Swindon

Friendly games are extremely important for the development of Bath Juniors, practice is all well and good, but there is no substitute for game time, and to play along side adults really brings the best out of the kids, or 'young adults' as we are meant to call them. So a friendly against Swindon, the newest club in the South West is a big deal. Swindon arrived with 8 players of varying ages, and Bath University provided 6 more players, making them the toughest team the Bath development squad had come across. As usual the seniors rallied round, especially in defence to provide a solid backbone to the team, Jim Cowen playing short stick and Tricky Bowden playing his first game of the season since his knee operation last autumn. Yet again the 'young adults' were not phased out by the older faster opposition and played some really good Lacrosse. Man of the Match was Luke 'Fluffy' Wilmot in defence, who had a cracking game, not far behind was George Devitt playing in Midfield, both of them only 13. The game was even throughout, but the home team edged the third quarter to take and hold the lead, Lloyd Butler, playing in goal despite a bad back getting a shutout in the fourth quarter. The return of Tricky Bowden saw him get a hat trick, two of them from good feeds from Jake Beck and Pat Peacock. He also got an assist to Mike Carey in the third. Yet again a proud day for the coaches, these guys are going to be good, really good.

Quotes of the day:

'Do the kids have to whinge all the time'? Jim Cowen to the referee

'Ah fresh meat' Mike Brand just before facing off to a guy one quarter of his size

Feist on Jimmy Kimmel This is by far the best performance of "Mushaboom" I have heard!

News Potpourri

UPN, WB to shut down; Even worse new network formed

The way that the media in the United States constantly merges is sickening. Whether it is terrestrial radio, motion picture, television, world wide web, or even consumer outlets, eventually we will end up with one massive media conglomerate to rule all of us. I hope the gaining speed of internet access can break these trends by letting us the consumer choose what content we want, what format we would like it in, and when we went to consume it. Lastly, both of these networks show such poor quality content, I'm happy now that there is only one of them

Tour de France gets on its bike with 2007 London departure

The Frogs must be heated. Why can't the Brits just let the Franco's keep the last meaningful thing they have left. I hope people don't begin to suspect that Lance will come out of retirement because of this. Who gives a crap! Let the one testicled freak, relax and live his life with that talentless horse of a girlfriend he has. ...and lastly

Bard act to follow

Today is Burns night in Scotland and around the world. For those 3 of you left on the planet. I am a direct descendant of his. The customary celebration includes wearing kilts and eating haggis. I wore 3/4 length trousers and ate English sausage instead.

The Crown Jewel

The latest pint glass acquired from Bristol with the usual 5 finger discount. My collection is growing by leaps and bounds! Here is the website to Erdinger the beer printed on the glass.

As reported on Christmas day of last year, I was the "I'm Feeling Lucky" search result on Google when the search terms "Brand Knew" had been entered. I as found out for myself, and reminded numerous times by countless colleagues, it is no more. For some reason the tides have turned. I am no longer even on the first page and have been replaced with an Ebay listing. I am though, the first listing on the less powerful Yahoo! search page. Hell hath no fury like a search engine scorn!

Movie Review: King Kong

Upon seeing the early trailers of King Kong I knew I had to see it in the theatre rather than at home on my 15" screen. My premonition could not have been more accurate. Although I saw numerous holes in the plot, this film completely redeemed itself on special effects. Upon learning of the plotline involving dinosaurs I was taken aback by the cheesieness. Said dino's made for easily the best visual's of the movie. Some parts of the plot that were tacky and cliche were; all the main characters of course live throughout he film, transporting the beast from the island to New York City was completely skipped, and getting King Kong into a Broadway theatre was also omitted. I did love the fact that they tried to stay true to the original, even giving a mention to the original female lead Fay Wray. I am making a huge claim on this film that it still stand by. King Kong has the best special effects of any movie lit up on the silver screen.

I give King Kong 3 Union Jacks out of 5

Finley Holt Rock God

Walcountian Blues 8:10 Bath

After a hard fought win against Reading last week, Bath were faced with their second longest road trip to another of those 'must win' games. The bottom half of the Premiership is tight, with 2 points separating 5 teams. Walcountian Blues like all the teams in the South are much stronger at home, and the earlier win in Bath could not be an indication of the likely result.The game had so many good things to talk about, firstly it was in good spirit, highlighted by the continual banter between the opposing LDOs, the make up of both teams is similar, with a big mix of age and youth, and at Face Ken Murray and Amit Bizwas are very evenly matched, in fact it was the performance of 'back up' face man Phil Thomas who stole the show in that department for Bath. Bath fielded a 15 yrs old in attack (16 next week) in the form of Pat Peacock, despite his nerves at first Pat put in a great performance, making plenty of good cuts, he scored a goal and could have had a second (left handed) and any thought of just coming along to make up numbers were misinformed as he spent some 70 minutes on the field coming back into defence a couple of times as well (it also brought the average age of the bath attack down to 33).Man of the match, and Mr 'I'm playing out of my skin' is Doug Mackay, another outstanding performance saw him leap up the scorers table with a haul of 5 goals and an assist, numerous clearing runs and some brilliant defensive work, especially against the Blues main American Attack man, stripping him of the ball several times.In Goal Nige Gates, who 7 hours before had been in America (off the plane and around the M25) made two cracking one on one saves which were crucial in a very tight game.The game hinged on which team exploited the cross field slope the best, which in one on one situations favoured the attacker, both teams used it well, but Baths defence of Sam White, Paul Bown,Mike Brand and any combination of midfielders coped the better. Up front the Attack rode well, and backed up a great display by the midfield, who are exchanging with long stick Matt Grody at the right times, adding pressure to the opposition.Lastly the presence of three qualified officials makes a hell of a difference, less tension from bad calls (there are always some) and generally the game improves because of it.Quotes of the day:'Take him he's wearing purple gloves' Blues LDO to his attack on Mike Brand'I didn't see my goal, was it a good one?' Pat Peacock after scoring his first ever league goal.'If you do they'll be F****** ugly' Mark Pinnick to Nik Roberts after an offer by Roberts to have Mackays babies after the fifth goal.

On Fire

The night after Mark Messier's jersey was retired, another milestone occurred at the Garden. New coach Larry Brown registered his 1,000th win. Also, the Knicks are on fire winning their 6th straight, keeping them undefeated in 2006. The usually disgruntled Jamal Crawford has taken his new role as sixth man in stride, looking to be the front runner for the best sixth man in the league. The Knicks roll into T.O. tomorrow to play another hot team the Raptors.

Ralph Wilson and Marv Levy ponder their next head coach

Hoax Or Not?

Supposedly this is a real cat, the name being Cy short for Cyclops. The article I have linked at the bottom argues that this is a real animal with the condition named "Holoprosencephaly." I don't know whether I'm just too tired, or my hatred of all things feline, that is stopping me from debating this in my head.

AOL Article

Andy "The Viking" Fordham

Here's a quick lesson in English culture for all of you no passport having Yanks. Andy "The Viking" Fordham is a famous darts player from London. He won the 2004 World Professional Darts Championship. He is listed as weighing 30 stone (420 pounds), also it is reported that he regularly consumes 25 bottles of beer before competing in a darts match. Now would you call him an athlete or what???

Brand Knew Mixtape #4

I believe this one to be my best yet. A good mix of fresh cuts, oldies and a little rap. Download and enjoy!

BREAK UP THE KNICKS

The New York Knickerbockers are in the midst of their longest winning streak of the season...three games. Yes that is miniscule, but the way this turbulent season has been going it feels like the longest streak of all time. Unfortunately their next game is against Lebron James and the red hot Cleveland Cavaliers. This game will be a real test to see if this is a flash in the pan, or coach Larry Brown's reputation for coaching finally manifesting. The Knicks are undefeated in 2006 so I must think a few resolutions were made. I do believe this season is cursed considering I still have yet to watch one game this season.

Bath v Reading

All the sevens 7th day of the year. 7th time Bath have played Reading competitively (1st win) 7 losses for Bath in the league this season so far 7 goals scored by Reading (Bath got 8 remember) 77 league goals scored by Bath so far this season. 107 league goals against Bath this season so far. 107 Years is the combined age of Happy and Trevor Rogers (good ground ball). 797 is the goal difference for the Bath first team in all competitions since 1982. 7 inches is just a wish.

Bath start the new year with their first ever competitive win over Reading with a mirror game of the away fixture earlier in the season, not since February 2000 in a friendly have Bath managed to get ahead of the Reading outfit, the win also moves Bath above Reading in the league.Some rapid rearranging was needed by the Bath captains, moving LDO Defenceman Mike Brand into attack and calling on Happy Harrop for a camio role in goal, both had good games, Mike with an assist and a goal and Happy with some outstanding saves, he even came out of the goal to contest ground balls, one of which, with Trevor Rogers must have been one of the oldest match ups in the game (107 years combined).Bath started well, controlling the ball all over the park and bossing the defence, getting Jim Cowen on at every opportunity as long stick middie. In a tight game Bath converted better with 2 goals from returning attack man Nik Roberts and a clean sheet for the defence, by half time Bath had gained a 6:1 lead and frankly looked the better team.The second half saw a shift in tactics by Reading, man marking Roberts and pressuring the ball carrier, gradually they got back into the game with a 4 to 0 third quarter, Bath looked nervous, and silly mistakes started to creep in, letting Reading go into the last 3 minutes of the game 7 all and a man up play. Happy saved well and in the last minute, Birthday Boy Ken Murray shot from midfield to score the winner.Most of Baths goals were well crafted with the midfield finding the attack well, Dougie Mackay in particular having an outstanding game scoring twice and assisting what was probably the best goal of the game.Lets hope the momentum is kept up in the weeks to come.Noise of the day:The Radiator like hissing of Happy''s lungs.Insincere Quote of the day:''So sorry'' Ken Murray after trying to decapitate Trevor RogersMilestone of the day:Kens Birthday, 43 and still the fittest (health not looks) bloke on the pitch.

Tropical Buffalo

I found this article in the Buffalo news and couldn't help but post it here. Don't worry it's just as dreary here in "The Jolly Old" but just minus the snow.

Buffalo News Article

Welcome Back Marv

Marvelous Marv Levy was hired today as the General Manager and President of Football Operations for the Buffalo Bills. Most of you readers (beside the Briton's of course) know he was the head coach during the dominating years of the early 1990's for the Bills. Last August Marv turned 80 years old, but during today's news conference he spoke and looked like a young whipper snapper! He mentioned that he runs 3 miles 5 days a week. That is embarresing for young'ns like myself who probably couldn't run 3 miles in 5 days. I can't say I am disappointed with this decision, but I just hope Bills fans don't expect a quantum leap to the glory days. In closing Marv said, "People ask me 'Aren't you retired?' I say yes I'm retired, and now that I've got those new tires I'm ready to go!" THE BILLS MAKE ME WANNA SHOUT!

Pump Up and Air OutI bought these trainers (sneakers) the other day for 10 quid. I feel like Michael Chang already!

New Year's in Bath Nothing too special to report on. Drank too much fake champagne (Cava and Australian sparkling wine) and it felt like Hiroshima in my head the next morning.