Dates of Destiny

Busy couple of days ahead on the sporting front that can be described "Dates of Destiny".

Tomorrow I'll be playing in the local table tennis championships and aiming to win the Open singles for the 11th time (first time in 1984). Didn't play in them last year so be nice to get the title back. Sure I'm not getting any younger but its only a small league and not the highest level I play so have got every chance of victory.
To be honest the local league is possibly as weak as its been certainly I can't remember it been weaker but maybe some young pretender can give me a run for my money, who knows.
Also it would be good to take the veterans and the doubles aswell.

Monday we've got our last Pool match and have a real shot of winning the league, we are top by a narrow margin but 3 other teams are still in with a shout. We have a hard match compared with our rivals and I feel we need a 8-2 win to be sure but 7-3 would probably do.
Going to be a nervy night for all the teams, could be a matter of which team deals with the pressure best.
Its great it been so competitive and going to the wire, could finish anywhere from 1st to 4th.

Weigh in Wednesday - Another week another pound

Got to say I'm quite pleased that I've lost another pound this week, ok not a lot but I actually didn't expect a positive result. Sure my eating as been ok but I ad two pool matches at the Pub Sunday and Monday, had a few beers more than a normal week but looks like I got away with it.
Maybe I've now got my eating about right, one pound a week is what I'm after, just got to maintain it.

Here is the facts :-

Start Weight (9th Nov) - 238lb
Weight last week - 232lb
Weight Today - 231lb
Gain/Loss this week - -1lb
Gain/Loss from start - -7lb
Todays Target - 234lb
+/- Target - -3lb

Also can't let todays date go by without mentioning John Lennon, its 30 years ago to the date he was assasinated by Mark Chapman outside his New York department and his talents were lost forever.
So this is for John -



And of course we can't forget this weeks sporting moments, Fifa and their incredable voting system which will see the World Cups go to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. Both decisions are a joke and it certainly looks like a few blank envelopes have found their way into the pockets of the delegates. Everyone knows Russia is corrupt and run by the Mafia and as for Qatar I can't see how a country with a population of less than one million can run it and thats not even considering their June tempretures reach 50c which is far too hot for footie.
Ok I'm biased but Englands bid for 2018 was far superior to Russia and in my opinion I would have said Austrailia had the best bid for 2022.

Whilst talking of the Aussies and the fac a few of my friends on here are from that side of the world it would be totally unfair not to mention the cricket. Yes its the Ashes series, two tests gone and its one nil to our boys, in fact reckon we are giving Rick Ponting and his merry men a bit of a lesson so far.
So Ricky this is for you :-

Its the Germans again

Surprisingly I've not posted about the World Cup yet and we are aready through the group stage. England have got through but made hard work of it, two poor performances resulting in draws with USA & Algeria were followed by a win over Slovenia. The last match was much better but there is still room for improvement for the knockout stage.

We've drawn the old enemy Germany (please not penalties again) and it'll take place on Sunday at 3pm. Of course thats the day I'm going on holiday, off by train to London staying over and flying from Heathrow on Monday. Well my train gets into London Kings Cross 5 minutes by kick off so it'll be straight in the nearest Pub to watch, reckon the luggage is gonna be a pain.

A bit of a sporting theme today as Wimbledon as started and I'm disgusted that there isn't one Englishman in the first round (usually can't say that while the 2nd round). To have no player from the host country just shows the state of English tennis, its a joke we are run by useless coaches that charge too much that talented kids can't afford to play. So what happens i the snobby clubs is they end up coaching little old ladies, and talentless rich kids with no hunger to succeed because they'll pay the money.

While talking tennis reckon they'll be a rule change on the way following whats happend in the John Inser versus Nicholas Mensah match. They have thown the schedule into chaos playing the longest match in history, now been on court over 10 hours and not yet finished. Today will be their third day after they came off for bad light last night with the score locked at 2 sets apiece and level on games in the decider 59 games each. Yes you read it right 59-59 and Inser has served around 100 aces beating the old record of 51, his French opponent has served over 70. Will they ever finish, lol.
I've a feeling there will be tie breaks in the 5th set next year.

Ok I like to Win

Its the time of year I attend the various Presentation evenings of the local Table Tennis Leagues that I play in. Once again I've a few trophys to pick up, the above one's are from the Selby league I also got a few at the York league event.

It led me to think about my personality type and I've come to the conclusion its not just the table tennis but whatever I do I like to win. Reckon if I played a 5 year old at tiddly winks I'd want to win. I've always had a competitive nature and am at my best when someone tells me I can't do something, I love the adrenalin I get from a challenge.

Anyway I'm looking forward to the North/East Yorkshire Championships next weekend, its for players from a number of local leagues (York, Hull, Scarborough, Selby, Rydale, Bridlington, Northallerton & Scarborough). There is a over 50's event and its the first time I've entered something in that age group so I'm really up from the challenge, there are a few good players to beat though.