Further musings on figure skating

I'm going to bore you further with my latest obsession i'm afraid. I watched the conclusion of the men's singles competition this morning and what a competition it was. Two words: Brian Joubert. (He's on the left.)The man is quite simply a revelation. He was in seventh place after the short program. Then he skated an absolutley flawless free program and pulled all the way up to a silver medal. Outstanding does not cover it. It was absolutely stunning and showed him for the consummate professional he is. Lovely Brian we salute you. Then there was Florent Amodio (in the middle). The gold medalist. Twenty years old and absolutely adorable and a hell of a performer to boot. His celebrations were one of the most endearing things I've ever seen, with him jumping up and down unable to contain himself and yelling "VIVE LA FRANCE" into the microphone of a stunned looking St Stephane. Not to mention slash-tastic, as he totally hurled himself into Brian's arms when they got the results through and jumped off his podium to hug him again when he came out (pardon the pun) to accept his medal. It was an extremely close, exciting contest with plenty of other performances to admire particularly the sheer amount of effort and energy that Kevin van der Perren put in being a particular highlight. If there was a prize for heart, that man would be streets ahead of everyone. I'm halfway through watching the gala and i'm already unreasonably excited which bodes well.

Figuratively Speaking

Well HQ has been on lockdown for the past three days. I came down with a horrible cold so since Tuesday I've been nestinng on my sofa with my Arsenal blanket and endless cups of tea. An unexpected side effect of being confined to my living room has been that I've watched an unbelievable amount of Eurosport. And on Eurosport this week has been the ISU european championships. So I got the chance to indulge a rare pleasure and watch lots and lots of figure skating. Regular readers will know how I feel about figure skating. But I'l elaborate. I love figure skating on a similar level to how I love Eurovision. I love how OTT and camp it is. I love the artistry involved. I loved the extremely varied spectrum of brilliant ridiculous costumes involved. I love pairs skating for the drama and the incredibly daring throws and jumps involved. I love ice dance beccause its kitsch and fabulous. And I love men's singles because well its men's singles. This week I have particularly enjoyed a Spanish couple dancing to Algo Pequenito (the spanish eurovision song) John and Sinead Kerr from Britain dancing quickstep, lovely Brian Joubert's sparkly waistcoat, Adrian Schultheiss' particularly slinky choreography, Alexander Smirnov's towering performance in his pairs routine, Natalie and Fabian from France's classy classy program and many other things. During rink resurfacing they've shown highlights from last year's event in Talinn the undoubted highlight of which was a showing of Stephane Lambiel's silver medal winning skate which was an exercise in pure poetry. And to top that he appeared at the end of the pairs competition interviewing the winners for Swiss TV. If I could have squealed, I wowuld have. But my bad throat wouldn't allow it. I've taped ice dance free dance this evening. I'm going to watch or tape men's free program tomorrow then its the gala on sunday. Keep your eyes peeled for more rambling and gushing. Also coming up football chat.

More Sporting Thoughts

I'm thinking of making this one a regular feature.
I've been shamefully behind on my football watching of late and I've finally caught up. I watched Match of the Day this morning and the first half of the Leeds match which I missed. Good stuff all round. I was particularly impresed with Arsenal's play at the weekend which had all the hallmarks of the beautiful football us gooners are often spoiled with. Also it made me realise something I'd left off the list of things I love about Robin van Persie. The way that man moves is pure poetry in motion. The shaping of his body when he takes a free kick or a curling shot is remarkable. Its amazing how elegant he is, every single part of him seems to align and each time you could take a perfect snapshot of it. I loved the Leeds match for another reason. It was exciting end to end stuff and extremely competitive which although occasionally stressful is still a great thrill. And even though the last Arsenal goal was greeted with unbridled joy at HQ I did still feel bad for poor Kasper Schmeichel. He's absolutley adorable and seeing him sitting huddled in the net looking for all the world like a little boy lost did tug at my heartstrings.
On the tennis front we've lost some of our harem in Oz. Marcos Baghdatis is out, as is Baby G. So we're left with three Spaniards flying the flag. We're going to cheer on Tommy Robredo for all we're worth against Roger 'Beige' Federer. However we're going to lose one of our boys as our catalan lion David Ferrer takes on the one and only Rafa in one of the other quarter fianls. Honestly I can hardly bear to watch. Divided loyalties does not even cover it.
And finally as massive congrats to the lady lineswoman who officaited Liverpool's game on Sunday and by all accounts did a bang up job. We wholeheartedly support the cause for more ladies in the game. We're first in line. And good luck to the Arsenal tonight. I know we can do it.

Three and easy

Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
At the Emirates we've been holding out for a hero and he's been here all along. Robin van Persie I salute you. Our favourite Dutchman in the entire world pulled it out of the bag this weekend and is now a fully fledged hat-trick hero. Not even skying a penalty can spoil the joy. I'm chuffed to see RvP flying high because God knows I've worried about his varying injuries often enough. If anyone deserves a performance like that its Robin (and Tomas Rosicky but more on that later.) Robin is another one of the boys we hold in special regard down at HQ. One reason is his hilariously endearing dutch accent but another major reason is that last year I read an article saying that he turned down a few big european clubs to stay with us because "Arsenal is in his heart." What an absolute gentleman. It almost made me weep with joy to see commitment like that in our modern cynical times.
Which leads me to sometime club captain Tomas Rosicky. Poor little Dumpling has been ill with a virus of late so he's been hibernating somewhere. But news reaches me that he has recovere. So I'm starting my one woman campaign to bring him back into the squad ASAP. We miss him. Lots. Play him Arsene.

FA Cup and Aussie updates

Fourth round people. What a match the other night, the magic of the cup indeed. The boys were absolutely fantastic, they knocked it out of the park and really made me proud. Samir Nasri was superlative, that goal was an absolute peach. And Bacary Sagna. Now I've elucidated on my love for Bac before and once again he's come through with a cracker of a goal and that beautiful smile of his. I've often complained about the FA cup fixture list but five trophyless years have made me warm to it a little. Funny that.
Now to Australia. Our slam chasing matador is through to the third round. Unfortunately Flic has fallen at the second hurdle which robs us of the posibility of a bromantic showdown with Rafa. David Ferrer has prowled his way through (rawrrrrrr.) And Marcos Baghdatis and Baby g are progressing. Wahey.
Now a treat to conclude the post. Carrying on the Emmanuel Eboue theme from the other daay, here's another one of his great moments. 3-2-1 Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhtttttttttssssssss

Some Sporting thoughts

Two in two I'm on a roll.
We have my return to uni to thank for the sudden proliferation in blog posts. I have an hour free before classes and nothing to fill it so its a perfect time to look after my baby.
Just a few random thoughts today. I managed to catch the Australian open this afternoon which was fun. As I'm sure you all know by now I'm a big tennis fan so obviously I try to catch as much of the grand slams as i can. I think I'm a bit remiss on my tennis posts on this blog especially given how often I look at results so I'm going to make a conscious effort to give more love to the tennis playing members of our little harem. I was lucky with the match I caught as well as one of my favourite players was playing. It was Lleyton Hewitt vs David Nalbandian and when I saw the draw I thought this had the potential to be a cracker and oh boy did those boys deliver. I love Lleyton. He's one of the most dedicated sportsmen in the entire world and to describe him as passionate would be an understatement. What I like about Lleyton is his fighting spirit and how you can never ever count him out now matter how impossible the situation is. He's a little firecracker which always goes down well at HQ and today was no exception. Our particular favourite from today was his declaration of "it was WIDE" with a glare that could cut through about a foot of steel. Unfortunately our little Aussie rocket was beaten in a four hour epic by David Nalbandian. Nine Seven in the fifth. man that is a way to go down. Hats off to you. I do have a lot of time for nalbandian though he's a classy player and its nice to see him back in the top thirty after a lengthy injury absence. A HUGE congratulatory shout out to Feliciano Lopez or Flic as he's known around these parts for making the second round. His presence in any tournament just brightens our day. We're also keeping an eye on Baby G Monfils, Gonzo and David Ferrer. And of course the one and only Rafa.
Some Calcio thoughts for you all. I'm thinking of making my Serie A musings a regular occurence given my obsession with it. I managed to watch Juventus v Napoli last week and a Roma match whose opponents escape me. Anyway. I love the drama of Italian football, all the yelling and gesticulating. I love how they challenge every call. In that spirit I've decided to bring more Serie A flavour to my life. I'm hoping to shrug more and gesticulate to make my point clearer, in crucial moments I'm going to ask myself "What would Pippo do?"
And a treat to finish off. I recalled a special special moment from the end of the Arsenal/Man City game the other week. At the end of the match Emmanuel Eboue strolled his way onto the pitch. He was dressed as what I can only describe as "a space pimp." Your eyes do not deceive you that picture is real. On anyone else this would look absolutley ludicrous but personally I think our Emmanuel is totally working that. Outlandish suits him. That or the fluoro has warped my eyes.

A hammering

Sorry couldn't resist that one.
Anyway here's an overdue return to the season diary. The last couple of weeks have been a little tough. A mini slump if you will. Unsatisfactory cup performances have been rife. The Leeds game was frigging ridiculous. The usual domination and freak against play goal. But at least we only drew so its all still to play for there. But then there was the abomination at Portman Road. What a terrible performance that was. Now I'm the most patient gooner in the world but even I could ee that it was lacklustre and no where near the standard that we could and should have been at. Nightmare. I know Cesc got called churlish an a bad loser and whatever afterwards. And normally I'm not the first person to agree with Senor Fabregas. But whats wrong with being a bad loser? Seriosuly its a genuine question. In sport I would much prefer that my team ( or person i'm supporting) take losing extremely badly than with grace. Why? It shows they care. They should rail against losing, they should complain, they should get really really petty. Or they should in the right situation totally lose it. It shows humanity and honesty. And more importantly passion. Show me a bad loser and I'll show you a man who wants to win.  Plus I'm a terrible loser myself so I enjoy that trait in a sportsman.
Anyway there was no need for me to be childish this weekend as we did actually win. Not just a run of the mill win. A three nil win. A stylish win. Robin van Perise was in quality form. The boy Chesney (as we have taken to calling dear Wojciech Szczesny) was once again cracking, how nice it is to have our two poles in goal in wonderful form. It was a great game and the football was fluid and beautiful, I hope we can learn how to play like that every game because it was a total treat. Come on you gunners.