I'M STATING THE OBVIOUS

Overheard one side of a conversation on a the train back from Leeds last night. Normally shouty types annoy me. I hate hearing people talking loudly about themselves in public unless I am being paid to listen of course. This time though the bloke kept me amused. here's the best bit:

"No I left Leeds. I'm on my way to Manchester. No not on a plane. On a train. I know they have airports but the're not far enough apart. The planes probably go to other airports. It wouldn't be quicker. Yeah well the flying bit would but you have to check in and stuff."

the psyche of the spurs fan

Some SMS texts exchanged during Wednesday's win against Fulham:

Pre-match

".... I am not happy with our team. We are going to lose 1-0."

"tell A to wear her lucky socks"

"Already done."

"I got my scarf on"

Fulham go 1-0 up

"told you"

"shite"

From West ham fan: " when the moon something eye, something pizza pie that's Zamora!"

"we're losing it in midfield"

"Come on Harry shake it up"

"they need to close it down like Fulham are."

"don't worry, it's a game of two halves"

"I hope that Fulham tire"

"If they do we've got a chance"

"can't see us scoring"

"wasted free kick"

"can't sit back against this shower. COYS!"

During half time

"It's time to turn up and play some football Spurs!"

1-1: Bentley

"always rated him"

"awesome"

2-1: Pav

"Oh yes!"

"Get in there"

"Harry's done the business"

"super pav"

"s u u u u u p e r"

"we want 9"

"knew we'd beat this lot easy"

3-1 Gudjohnson

"lucky."

"own goal"

":0"

"it's dreamland man. city losing, Villa dropped points. rematch against Chelsea at Wembley"

"I'm getting sick and tired of Spurs letting us down. Where's the disappointment? Where's the moaning? it looked good for 45 mins but they ruined it all. If they're not careful they'll win something"

No complaints

No-one has mentioned their surprise at my lack of entries this last week or so which means my girl's contention that the 10,000 plus hits are all her being nice and supportive may well be true. Not that I actually write for an audience, though I do have this slightly morbid idea that if I drop dead then my family have some sort of personal record of me beyond the photos on their mobile phones. It does mean I could probably be a lot more risque though I guess. Even so and even when I'm busy as heck I get itchy fingers if I don't put something up here. I used to mock diary keepers, saying they were girly, unnecessarily introspective and embarrassing. At least they were private. I was wrong of course. There's a catharsis in the writing and the odd bit of one to none counselling potential if I read back over entries at random. I can see for example how my mood does lift after I'm low and how there are things well worth being grateful for. As a sort of online memory it's great. Since I have nothing to write about I thought I'd put up photos from the last two London games we went to. The first is Craven Cottage in the FA cup 6th round. The sky was a lot nicer than the ground. As I type Spurs fans are planning their trips to Wembley for the semi finals all but forgetting that the 0-0 scoreline in this game means that we actually have to win the replay first.
The second photo is from last Saturday's win against Blackburn. My ultra brief match summary:
we scored three legit goals: first well made corner from Nico, nodded on by Charlie, tapped in by Defoe. Second breakaway finished by Pav. Third, great cross from man of match Bale to Pav.
They scored from corner after Samba climbed all over Daws. they scored another that was disallowed even though it was legit. Howard Webb missed 3 pen claims- two for us, one for them. Webb was rubbish. He'll be another embarrassment to England at the World Cup. They had about 40 fans there. 10 of them sang 'your support is f***ing s**t' I think they were being ironic. We sang 'What time's your minibus?'

Just heard that John Terry managed to run over a security guard at Stamford Bridge after last night's exit at the hands of the 'special one'. He drove off claiming not to have noticed he'd broken someone's leg. He really is the ultimate tosser. Twice in the last month I have wanted Chelsea to win- once when playing our new arch rivals from the middle eastlands and last night. They blew it both times. Or mysterious forces are at play. I wanted them to win last night because my granddad is a Chelsea fan and it's his birthday. He's in his 80s so his headhunting days are over and he can't get his aggression and anger out by arranging a fight with some guys from a Spurs or Millwall firm.

Sticky toffee win

I could bang on about a game of two halves but that would be such a cliche. I could be grateful for the 3 points and an afternoon's entertainment with the guys but that would be neglecting the impact this game had on my stress levels and heart condition (I mean the condition of my heart not a heart condition). I could even report on such delights as the Spurs fans chanting "USA USA" when Landon Donovan missed an open goal from two yards. Instead though I will give player ratings for each half. I think this says it all.

By the way, the ratings are out of ten and are the numbers after the name not the squad numbers which are at the front.

First Half (Spurs 2- Everton 1)
01 Gomes 7
03 Bale 9
19 Bassong 7
20 Dawson 7
22 Corluka 8
06 Huddlestone 7
12 Palacios 7
14 Modric 9
21 Kranjcar 8
09 Pavlyuchenko 8
18 Defoe 7

Second half (Spurs 0- Everton 1)
01 Gomes 5
03 Bale 6
19 Bassong 5
20 Dawson 5
22 Corluka 5
06 Huddlestone 1 (Kaboul 52 mins) 5
12 Palacios 6
14 Modric 7
21 Kranjcar 6
09 Pavlyuchenko 6 (Crouch 82 mins) a big fat zero
18 Defoe 7 (Gudjohnsen 71 mins) 2

If you prefer high level critical anlysis from people on the front line this is what David Moyes said: "It was a game of two halves. Tottenham were better in the first and we were much better in the second. "
And this is what 'arry said: "Overall I thought we played well and we were terrific at times in the first half. "
Yeah well, they must have been watching too much of the smug non analysis on Match of the Day.

counter

I know web traffic tends to be measured in millions but I'm still oddly pleased that my counter has hit 10,000. I just noticed it was on 9,999. I used to occupy myself on long journeys by avoiding looking at the milometer and trying to guess 5, 10 or 20 miles. 99s and 999s were always special somehow. Logically they shouldn't be but then logic and numbers, although natural bedfellows, have to combat the powerful force that is some sort of combination between superstition and the attractive aesthetics of sequences and patterns. As far as probability is concerned 1,2,3,4,5,6 may as well be your lottery numbers but I bet there aren't many people that choose those. I suspect that if they actually came up there'd be an outcry and claims of a fix. I always used to use that notion to help illustrate why buying lottery tickets was a stupid waste of money. Of course a massive jackpot win by someone very close made me look pretty dumb. Likewise we go bonkers on December 31st and especially bonkers when the year counter hit 2,000. Nerds all over the AD world deseprately tried to point out that the new millenium technically didn't start until 2001 and that's when the big party should be but surely they missed the point: why celebrate at all? It's just another day surely. We like to mark time, lives, events and web pages so decimal landmarks are easy to target and then celebrate I spose. I will try to break that mould and henceforth look forward to 14,324. What a day that'll be.