rainbows in curved air (or curves in rainbowed air)

The Imp of the Perverse

What is it with short people? Did Randy Newman call it right? I went along to watch yet another dismal performance by the Scottish Champions elect against Motherwell, on my father-in-law’s new, count the number of blades of grass at Parkhead, giant tv screen.

The big screen certainly didn’t improve the champions football, but I could make out Neil Lennon’s captains armband. However these days it is not on his arm for long. Was it only last week when it was tossed away with venom? It seems to be a handmade identifier, perhaps he made it his detention class back at school in Ireland. It is certainly not built to last 90 minutes.

He kept it on yesterday, but the big screen captured his manager’s reaction to Motherwell’s 93^rd minute equaliser. Strachan showed all his footballing skills as he demolished the subs board. As he answered gruelling, piercing questions after the match, he slipped once more into his increasingly psychedelic phrasebook. Gosh! he is so ‘out there’. The last interview I saw, he kept chewing & filling his gob with, whatever: caramels, acid, who knows, but you couldn’t make out a word. Maybe this was the idea. Scotland has produced these urban, mystic, heroes of football management theory in abundance. They insist that their players do their talking for them on the pitch, but without question, Gordon Strachan has carved out a niche for himself as the glorious games answer to Timothy Leary.

Now I have realised what I love about the whole Scottish football scene. It is not the quality of the football. Sadly I might have to agree with those who state, that the English Premier league contains more quality. However, we have all the fantastic drama that surrounds the game. The wireless is where it’s at. Pre & post match phone ins, etc are chock full of real people with real opinion & many of these opinions are frankly, Mr Shankly, downright scary. This is an area so richly full of urban life in the Scottish homeland, if only we had such fervent views on independence.