Author: anthony

Wow, what a night in Dublin. Myself and the lads headed along to Apres Match in Vicar Street last night for the final between Italy and France. We arrived a bit late so we missed the opening section before the game but we had decent seats booked so the view was grand. The game itself was quite good with France getting an early penalty which was converted by Zidane with a cheeky chip that went in off the bar. Italy rallied back however and scored from a corner to even things up. The Apres lads came on at half-time and did a voiceover of the panel from RTE and BBC. 😆 Tremendous stuff and they really did it well.

The rest of the game flowed back and forth with both sides having good periods of possession. Zidane was to be sent off for a headbutt before the end and it was a sad end to a great career. So the game went to penalties and Italy won, converting the five spot kicks with confidence. After the game we headed down towards town and found the centre of Temple Bar filled with hundreds of singing and dancing Italians. Of course we joined in and spent at least an hour soaking up the atmosphere and chatting to the jubilant hordes. Paddy was especially delighted as he had Italy in the draw we did. There was no trouble at all, and it was honestly one of the best occasions I’ve been in town for. The photos I took are here. Va L’Italia!

That’s what I’m asking myself after reading that a 62-year-old British woman has become pregnant through IVF. I’m thinking it’s not right. Sure people have a right to have children and they should not be stopped based on age but modern science advances have led us to a situation where, when the kid is just 10 years old, his/her mother will be 72. I’m sorry but that’s just crazy. The BBC story quotes the mother as saying:

We would not have gone ahead if we’d felt we would not be good enough parents.

I don’t doubt peoples ability to be good parents but you have to be alive to be a good parent and the likelihood is that when the kid is 18, his/her parents will have passed on. Apparently the couple also has younger friends with children who have agreed to act as surrogate parents in the event of their death. Is that really a fair burden to put on your friends and your son/daughter. I believe the biological clock is there for a reason and that “advances” such as this will only lead to hurt in the long term for a son/daughter who will never have their parents at their marriage/child’s christening etc. True that a lot of people have to live with that through bereavement but I really can’t see the rationale behind this couples decision.

Friday night was back to football after a two week hiatus and it felt good to get back doing some exercise. I played quite well and didn’t have any pain in the muscles the next day. Which leads me to Saturday and the World Cup Quarter Finals between England/Portugal and France/Brazil. We had planned to book tickets for Apres Match at the Vicar Street (which meant we’d be watching the Brazil game there) but Paddy booked the wrong tickets so we’re going for the final this weekend.

Since we had set the Saturday aside we decided to meetup at Dar’s place to watch the games. The England and Portugal game was fairly uneventful and highlighted Sven Goran Eriksson’s tactical inability. No way should Rooney have been played on his own up front. Wasn’t impessed with Cristiano Ronaldo’s reaction to his foul on Carvalho and thought the red card was a wrong decision. However, England went out on penalties and Portugal face France next, who did really well to get past Brazil. We also played a lot of Pro Evolution Soccer on the XBox. It’s by far the best football game around and we’re quite competitive which lead to some ridiculous celebrations such as Paddy’s shown to your right. 🙂