Monday Moan 54

Andy Murray – who would have believed it?

The Moan cannot start anywhere this week other than by congratulating Andy Murray on winning Wimbledon.  Having come so close last year and then blubbing his disappointment in front of the watching world, he returned this time and played a brilliant final against the awesome Novak Djokovic to win the title.  He kept the public on the edge of their seats leading up to the final by flirting with defeat against both Fernando Verdasco and Jerzy Janowicz, but in the final he avoided the early stutters of the two previous rounds and produced compelling and overpowering tennis.

There is something fascinating in watching his development from a gangling, surly, unlovable character, seemingly destined to be another in a long line of British tennis hopefuls who ultimately failed to reach the top of the pile, into the world-class player he is today, who will undoubtedly be adored by the public for years to come.

 

And then what about our traditional ‘love’ of the gallant loser?  Surely this came about only through necessity over the years, in the absence of having many winners to love?  Maybe this character has been consigned to history over the past year, with the cycling feats in the Tour de France, the countless Olympic triumphs, golfing victories galore and even a Lions rugby victory to savour?

 

Anyway, this year's Sports Personality of the Year contest is over before it even got started.

 

 

I saw it with my own eyes?

We appear to have been so seduced by our camera-phones that we now see everything through the windows that they provide rather than directly through our own eyes. We all want our own pictures of things, no matter how inadequate those pictures might be, rather than to drink in the scene or event with our own eyes and then rely on the professional photographers to capture the high quality pictures.

Evolution will see to it that our arms will gradually become longer and stronger, as the need to hold a camera phone above our heads for long periods of time becomes one of the key elements in the survival of the fittest.

 

 

 

 

Wonder if they queued for their tickets?

One of the traditions at Wimbledon is the dedication (madness?) of those who queue overnight and for hours beforehand in order to claim their place in the ground on the big days in the tournament – particularly the finals and those days when a British hopeful is due on the show courts.

 

It's not just in tennis, of course, but a new tradition seems to have emerged in the way that ‘celebrities’ are given free tickets for sporting finals, no matter their level of interest in the sport in question.  So yesterday, we had the ‘pleasure’ of seeing in prime seats such people as Victoria Beckham, Wayne and Coleen Rooney, and actors Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper.

 

And, of course, the politicians.  David Cameron and, for balance, Ed Miliband, both took time off from their day jobs to be seen enjoying the sporting action.  At least it told us that Ed was still with us.  And no event featuring a Scotsman would be complete without Alex Salmond sliding his ample, smiling face into shot at every opportunity.  True to form, Alex displayed his customary dignity and desire to avoid the limelight, this time by unveiling a Scottish flag behind David Cameron’s back – just supporting Andy, of course.

 

Sad, but predictable.

 

 

Must try harder

We have all heard a lot about how big businesses are squeezing the life out of small businesses and that we should be supporting those small companies where we can in order to ensure that they survive, that we maintain consumer choice and that we do not end up with faceless and uncaring companies as our only option.

 

I’m in favour of this as a principle. But this doesn’t mean that small companies can just assume that consumers will be there when they need them – they have to work at it too.  On a number of occasions recently I have approached small companies with enquiries about their products, wanting to see what they could offer in comparison with the well-known and large companies.  Disappointingly, most of these small concerns have not even bothered to reply.  Some have but have not been able to offer what I wanted – having a small and inflexible portfolio of products. 

 

One company seemed better than the rest and very keen to tell me how they looked upon customer service as their key selling point.  Brilliant, I thought.  I arranged to visit their showroom to look at their products and have a face to face discussion with the person who had been responding to my online enquiries.  Unfortunately, when I turned up at the appointed time the showroom door was locked.  The person inside tried his best to pretend that he hadn’t seen me, but persistent banging on the door eventually got him to open up.  I announced myself and asked to see the person who was expecting me.  “Hang on a minute”, he said and then called out through to the adjoining office that I had arrived.  It was quite obvious that the person who should have been expecting me was taken by surprise – probably hadn’t written down that I was coming and had just forgotten our exchange and arrangement.  No apology when he was persuaded to come to speak with me.  Their products were not very good either – well short of what I have been led to believe in our exchange.

 

I don’t want to use the High Street name that is the obvious alternative, but it is proving so hard to find someone else that I fear being driven in their direction.  We keep hearing that it’s a competitive market and the odds are unfairly stacked in favour of the big companies. But that’s not the whole story, is it?  Small companies need to try at least as hard as the big ones, not less hard because it’s too much bother.

Monday Moan 15

Special End of Festivities Edition

 

 

Mad Max and Mogadon

What a brilliant party the Olympics and Paralympics has been!  Loved the sport, loved the overall atmosphere, loved weather (!), loved the inspirational performances of all the athletes, loved the superb organisation, loved the way that London in particular, and the rest of the UK (as far as I could see) have embraced it all and shown the world a side of the UK not often seen.

Of course, there has been an unwritten rule that nobody is supposed to make any comments on the things that haven’t gone well, but readers of the Moan will know that this has not stopped me from pointing out a few things that have annoyed me over the last few weeks.

So, in the spirit of calling it as I see it, I am sorry but I have to say it was just such a shame that the closing ceremony yesterday should have no connection that I could discern with the most amazing Paralympic Games apart from spaces for a few disabled performers amongst the thousands who took part.  I kept thinking ‘Why?’   We have been through all the emotions from amazement to awe at the immense achievements of people with so many different disabilities. And then we have to finish with a Mad Max pastiche, with pointless posturing from actors and some of the most mind-numbingly boring music in the world from Coldplay, the music industry's answer to insomnia.

 

What did it all cost?  What was it all about?  Why was so much of the music pre-recorded and not live?  Why Coldplay?  Why couldn’t we have something shorter and more relevant to the Games?

 

 

Where was the tension?

I have had the opportunity to attend many major sporting events in the past. Each has had its own atmosphere and has been focused on a particular sport.  Some have been more enjoyable than others.  So many things can contribute to that overall feeling – the standard of the sport, the weather, the people you are with, the atmosphere at the event. 

On any measure the Olympics and Paralympics have been different.

Most of my sporting experiences have been spent at team events, usually where I was supporting one side over the other.  Most of that has involved football, although other sports have had their moments too.

So, attending the Paralympics was a real culture shock.  Where was the constant underlying threat of physical violence between supporters, the bad language, having to fight your way into the venues past the ticket touts, hot dog stalls, and street vendors flogging t-shirts and the like, the booing of national anthems, vicious abuse of supporters of the other side, the sullen silences and refusal to acknowledge skills shown by the other side?

Instead we have had good-natured and friendly crowds, keen to applaud all the athletes and recognise both effort and achievement. People were able to walk to the stadium without fear, they did not have to worry about their safety or that of their families, they did not need to beware of pickpockets, they could watch the sports without being assaulted by bad language and snarling groups of men.  Of course, there has been patriotism by the bucket-load, with the crowds in a frenzy of support for British competitors, but this has all been within the overall context of support for all the competitors of whatever nationality.  The cheers for the international ‘stars’ were as loud as those for the British favourites.

No doubt normal service will be resumed now that the Games are over.  That’s a shame, but I realise that it is also reality.

 

 

Boris is still a clown – surely?

I am completely baffled as to how on earth Boris the Clown has been transformed in the eyes of part of the media and, it seems, the public, into Boris the National Treasure. 

 

Boris is still the same man who can be relied upon to say something inappropriate, who looks and sounds like the village-idiot far too often to be taken seriously – isn’t he?

Perhaps he’ll make an appearance at the forthcoming Conservative Party Conference and be greeted as some kind of Messiah-like figure?  He certainly seems to have been the recipient of the kind headlines and acclaim that David Cameron must have hoped might come his way. 

But how long will it take before reality asserts itself, and Boris is once again seen as a figure of fun rather than a potential future Prime Minister?  By Christmas, I’d say.

 

 

Channel 4 - consistent to the end

 

Channel  4 have had mixed reviews for their coverage.  Deserved plaudits for providing more coverage than others managed for previous Games and for trying very hard to explain the complicated arrangements for deciding which of the many categories each athlete should be in.

Unfortunately, they continued to display all the irritating things that had plagued their coverage from the start.  I could pick on almost any day from the Games to illustrate my point, but rather than repeat things I have said before let’s just look at their efforts on the day that Oscar Pistorius and the rest of the South African team won gold in the 4 x 100 metres relay.  Channel  4 showed the previous race just before 10pm.  At the end of that race we could see the relay athletes warming up in the background whilst the interviews were taking place.  Unfortunately, they  then cut away to something else and returned to show the relay half an hour later.  They showed the race as if it was live and cut back to the studio, completely missing the fact that the 2^nd and 3^rd placed teams had been disqualified.  Earlier in the day interviews with athletes after the 100 metres heats all included questions about Oscar Pistorius’s outburst earlier in the week, despite his subsequent apology – they just wouldn’t let it go. 
 

Shoddy work.

Finally, we won’t cheer everything regardless

George Osborne, Theresa May, Jeremy Hunt and Sepp Blatter were all recipients of a barrage of booing when they presented medals at the Games.  Boris Johnson, Gordon Brown and Tessa Jowell were cheered.    So the crowds were not so swept up in the general euphoria surrounding the games that they would cheer anyone and anything.  At least David Cameron had the good fortune to be presenting Ellie Simmonds with a medal, so his own boos were drowned-out by her cheers.