So, the first team exits Euro 2008 via a penalty shoot-out and, like night follows day, the first reaction of “penalty shoot-outs are a lottery” came from Croatia’s manager Slaven Bilic, following Turkey’s victory.

If lotteries were won by skill, technique and holding your nerve, I’d agree with him - but they’re not, I don’t think it’s much of a coincidence that your unlikely to hear a German describe a shoot-out in this way, do you?

As a regular user of the internet, and a Rugby League fan, I’ve heard more than my fair share of conspiracy theories in my time, whether it be about 9/11, the deaths of “celebrities” or the challenge cup draw but, on the bus home from Tesco today, I think I heard one that takes the biscuit.

As I took my seat opposite an elderly bloke he commented on the, continuingly, crap weather. I mumbled an agreement, not wanting to get into conversation but that was enough for the bloke to seize the opportunity - “it doesn’t surprise me really, what with the increases in gas and electric, they know we’ll have to keep our heating on more so they’ve cooked it up between them that it stays like this.”

So, there you have it, the cold and wet weather that seems to have lasted forever is due to the oil and gas companies conspiring with nature. Thinking about it, there probably is no other explanation.

Last night I somehow managed to trap a nerve in my right shoulder, not sure exactly how it happened, but my tendency to sleep on my right arm probably hasn’t helped. Subsequently I’m in agony every time I move my right side, even after continually popping pain-killers all day!

Surfing the net is a pain, I can’t hold a book for too long so I can’t really read and I certainly can’t do much in the way of exercise - it’s not all bad though, my left handed typing skills are coming on a treat, it’s only taken me 10 minutes and 3 drafts to complete this little entry.

Who knows where it could all lead?

That was the song wasn’t it?

While feeling a little hungover after birthday celebrations in a Warsaw park a year ago I wrote in my little notebook three goals for the year ahead, they were…

1 - Make a proper effort to learn Spanish properly

2 - Likewise, but with the guitar

3 - Get a decent job, or at least one with decent prospects.

Needless to say, I have failed miserably.

I’ll do the same again this year, but I’ll restrict it to 2 targets…

1 - As 1 above

2 - Not to be in the country on my birthday next year.

Hopefully I’ll have more success this time!

Not just me, with my blog yesterday, but Bradford (Park Avenue) chief executive Bob Blackburn, and the Telegraph and Argus for publishing the Nicky Law to Avenue story.

As I said previously, I felt Law was out of his depth when managing Bradford City, it seems contract’s are a subject he struggles with too, he won’t now be joining Avenue - he had assured them he didn’t have a contract at Alfreton Town, but it turns out he did - he wasn’t aware that a “piece of paper” he signed was actually a 3 year contract.

Oh dear!

Bradford (Park Avenue) have announced ex Bradford City manager Nicky Law is to take the reigns at the Horsfall Stadium, after they recently parted company with ex boss Benny Phillips.

Although I never rated Law in his time at VP, I wish him well at Avenue, he took over at City when we were in meltdown after the Premiership experience and, to me, he always seemed to be way out of his depth - him being a cheap appointment by Geoffrey Richmond because he had done well with financially troubled Chesterfield in the 4th division.

Avenue have lofty ambitions these days, being bankrolled by a sugar-daddy the Unibond League 1 club (average attendance about 300) recently announced plans to buid a 20,000 capacity stadium - maybe one day it will play host to a Bradford derby in the Football League - but I won’t hold my breath!

OK, the content is probably tedious, but you can’t argue with the title, or the sentiment!

http://hmrcisshite.blogspot.com

Viewers complain about too much Rugby Union on the beeb.

Quite right too, even more scandalous is the vast amounts of our money they squander on the rights for the 6 Nations with no competition, making it the most expensive program per viewer on the box.

I’m sure they’ll respond to the public’s concerns next time the renewal comes up, honest!

Anyone with the slightest interest in football (and plenty without) will have no doubt seen, heard or read about the shocking injury suffered by Arsenal’s Croation striker Eduardo yesterday.

Plenty have had their say on the incident too some, from both sides of the argument, have been ridiculous, talk of a life ban is almost as stupid as those saying things like “Taylor was only sent off because of the injury”, or “the tackle wasn’t that bad” - but it is about time that the authorities started to clamp down, before more serious injuries occur, and handing out the standard three match ban, the same as you might get for a shove on your opponent or “raising your hands”, isn’t going to deter offenders in the future.

It’s not about taking the physical side of the game away, no-one wants to see that happen less than me, but no true football fan wants to see studs-up challenges over the top of the ball, the reason they are often called “leg-breakers” is because of what we saw yesterday. I’m not for a moment suggesting Martin Taylor set out to cause an injury, but the fact that his challenge was reckless, rather than deliberate, isn’t of much consolation to the poor bloke who had the bone in his leg sticking out of his sock simply for trying to play football.

I should be pretty excited at the moment, tomorrow Bradford Bulls play St Helens at Odsal, the most successful clubs of the SL era, and two of the best teams in this years competition go head to head, but I just can’t build up any enthusiasm for the game at all, it’s doubtful that I’ll even watch on television.

It’s not just this game, SL as a whole just isn’t appealing to me at the moment, Rugby League is still my favourite sport and I can’t put my finger on the problem exactly, I guess it will pass - but you never know.

No-one can doubt that RL players in SL now are fitter and more athletic that they have ever been before, however I do wonder if this has been to the detriment of the skill level, and taken away some of the unpredictability of the game, to me the game is becoming more and more “run into tackle x 6 then kick” and there seems to be less and less imagination and freedom in the play.

Maybe that was always going to be a consequence of professionalism, maybe we have to wait until the competition is truly even before skill can again start to come to the fore on a more regular basis but, for now, I think I’ll stick to watching some lower league and amateur action, where players aren’t half as fit and athletic, but have a bit of time to try something out, you still have the spectacle of little guys running round big tired forwards, and there’s still a bit of the “biff” that sanitised Superleague has cleaned out.

I’ll give it about six weeks, then Superleague will probably have never seemed more appealing!