Two Years Since Squeak Left

Today marks the second anniversary of Squeak's passing. 

Even though a lot has happened between then and now, it doesn't seem like two years.

He was such a maverick. A cool one at that. I'll always remind myself of the time when I saw his paw pop out of the cat carrier and twist the mechanism to allow him to get out. It was like something you'd see in a Looney Tunes cartoon - Squeak managing to overcome something made by the ACME Corporation.

When he passed away, I wrote about how he would sit on my back at random times and how - before lights out - he'd manoeuvre his way closer to me, ahead of Oreo, so as soon as I'd ask Siri to switch everything off, he'd be able to jump on me for a hug. I happened to take a snap of him doing that unaware it would end up being on of the final photos we took together. It's one of the memories I am glad I caught. 

If only I was able to capture that moment with the paw opening the carrier.

To honour Squeak, I'm wearing a pair of socks Vicki bought me a few Christmases ago. I'm sure I've written about them before. Each sock has a black cat with a red collar on them (very reminiscent of Squeak). Written on the beige-coloured items is 'Life Is Better With Cats'. Such true words.

Is Washington At Minnesota A Trap Game?

One of the the things I dislike, when it comes to reading about sports betting, is when certain writers consider their predictions to be unbeatable. They use the term 'lock'. It bugs me.

Even when it comes to betting on professional wrestling - on the occasions when I've had high expectations on a result coming my way, I've never uttered, or typed, L-O-C-K.

There is no such thing as a lock when it comes to wagering.

I'll die on that hill.

Another term I dislike using, but not as strongly, is 'trap game'.

With that said, there's an NFL game on today's board which could - at worst - be an exception to my rule. At best, it has potential to be a convincer.

The 3-9 Washington Commanders are -1.5 favourites for their trip to the 4-8 Minnesota Vikings. Both, as you can see by their records, are in the midst of poor seasons. The Vikings went so far as to acknowledge that fact by allowing one of their top players - wide receiver, Adam Thielen - to depart the team and head off to one which would give him a better chance of winning a Super Bowl before he retires in 2026.

Thielen was picked up by the Pittsburgh Steelers, but that's a side note. Let's get back to the Commanders and the Vikings.

Upon looking at the lines, I thought to myself 'the Commanders are too short here'. In my opinion, they should be at least three-point faves. And that's despite their record for 2025.

The more I looked into it, the more I am leaning to this potentially being the game that makes me start believing in the concept of trap games. Cheap plug time - I reread what I wrote about this game in Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual 2025.

The takeaway: history is on Minnesota's side. 

Since 1995, the Vikings are 9-5 straight up and 7-5-1 against the spread out of fourteen games. Those numbers look better on paper when it's narrowed down to only the fixtures played with the Vikings at home. For those qualifying games, the home team owns 4-1 straight up and 3-2 against the spread records. They've gone a perfect 2-0 from the two occasions they were, like today, categorised as home underdogs.

It's a case of present day telling us to go with the Commanders, but the history books pointing the opposite way.

Now that I've laid that all out, I have something important to close with.

I'm not betting on this game. It could be a trap.

KOs

I have just been looking through some of the kick-off times for next year's FIFA World Cup.

Would it be crazy of me to state that I'm looking forward to watching some of those late (or early, depending on your stance) games?

2AM, 3AM.. I'm in!

Easy for me to write that six months out. I might change my mind by then.

My favourite World Cup - for unique time differences - was 2002. The tournament, then co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, had games kick off early in the day. It was fun going to pubs with friends and colleagues before heading off to work.

I didn't drink a touch of alcohol for those pre-work games, though! Appletiser was my go-to during that World Cup. I'm always reminded of those days each time I have that drink. 

Random Access Memories: The Underdog

A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace

Tennessee Williams

My memory was easily tested a few weeks ago, when I was chatting with a friend about one of my favourite ITV programmes from my childhood.

We were all in a trivia chatroom where people get on mic and play music. The other members have to name the tune. My friend played the theme to London's Burning - the series about a fire brigade unit in England's capital city. I watched the series religiously back during its peak. 

I obviously knew the answer to the tune. I cannot recall if I came first or not. Anyway, once the theme had been played, we chatted about London's Burning and the topic of our favourite characters came up.

Without a shadow of a doubt, my most favourite person on that show was Colin Parrish (played by Stephen North).

I asked AI 'create an image of Colin from London's Burning'. It gave me one which looked terrible, so I asked 'make it more cartoony' and - to be fair - it looks somewhat better

Without looking up Wikipedia or London's Burning fansites, I choose to guess Colin was in the series for at least three seasons. Maybe a little more. The character came in as a young - and very naive - recruit. He was the butt of the crew's jokes at times, but kind of overcame it by the end of his run even if he had that innocent charm about him throughout.

I'll always recall how he was written out. It still hurts,

I remember it more vividly than maybe I should because Colin's final episode coincided with the same day I went to my first-ever WWF event. 

It was on December 5th 1993. I obviously couldn't watch London's Burning as it aired that night, so asked my parents to record it while I went to watch the likes of Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, 'Macho Man' Randy Savage, Yokozuna, The Undertaker and many more live an in-person.

As I've written countless times in the past, but especially in the post titled The Day The WWF Came To Town, I was fortunate to meet the entire crew from that show in the hours before the event. It was a special day for this wrestling fan, but all the good came crashing down when I pressed Play on the video recorder once I returned home later that night.

It was clear Colin was departing Blue Watch. He had managed to secure a job working as a fireman at an airport. There was one scene showing Colin with this look of awe on the engines as he visited where he was set to work. Stephen North, who played Colin, made it so believable with just the expressions. You could sense Colin was about to thrive reaching the next stage of his dream.

Which makes it all the more shattering when we would witness Colin having an accident on his last shout with his then current station.

If memory serves me correctly, the team had just dealt with a fire at a theatre. Colin was standing on the stage and the rail holding the curtains came down on top of him, shattering his legs. 

Colin survived, but his injury meant his career was over. There went the dream.

As I've noted, the gutting feeling for Colin's departure has remained with me right up to this very day - its thirty-second anniversary. 

The emotion shouldn't be a complaint, however. I applaud the writing, and the acting. Colin Parrish's underdog story was perfect, even if it feels the opposite. Not all dreams are fulfilled. Some never happen, some - like Colin's - are taken away just as the high station is in reach.

'Not As Described'

I'm sure the following has happened to you.

You've seem something you've liked - when shopping online - only for the product to not match your initial expectation once it has arrived at your door.

That happened to me today.

I saw the following on the NFL Shop's Cyber Monday sale earlier week:

It's a Peyton Manning long sleeve t-shirt representing the time he spent as quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts.

I will die on any hill defending the opinion that Peyton Manning is the greatest of all time. Therefore, it should come as no surprise to you that I wanted this t-shirt as soon as I saw it in the sale.

It arrived in today's post. I opened the packaging only to find there was something on the shirt that is clearly not on the image from the NFL Shop's website.

On the left-side of the shirt is a patch bearing the logo of Super Bowl XLI. The rainy Miami night when Peyton Manning led the Colts to a 29-17 victory over the Chicago Bears to close the 2006 NFL season.

Ahh.. the good old days.

The patch was not on the shirt in the image, but - by jove - for the first time I can recall, this is a positive example of receiving something that doesn't appear as it did at the point of sale.

Oh yeah - and there's another thing.

On the rare occasions when I've bought long sleeved NFL t-shirts in the past, I've found them to be somewhat thin. This Colts one I have right here is thicker than I expected. That's another bonus on top.

It should go without saying that I'm more than happy with this purchase. 

I hope to wear it on February 8th when the Colts shall once again raise the Vince Lombardi Trophy albeit in the warmer climes of California.

The operative: I hope.

The Plots Thicken

I have just finished watching today's episode of Neighbours and am shaking my head in laughter.

The soap opera ends next week. The big concluding storyline is focused on Ramsay Street's potential demise at the hands of developers, who are looking to build a freeway on the land.

It's a reasonable story to end the series because it allows all of the residents to work together. I suppose we won't know whether they're successful or not until the last-ever episode (if it were me, I'd leave it open-ended!).

Anyway, the reason why I shook my head after today's instalment is because of a couple of plot twists that occurred.

First, Shane Ramsay returned and - during a meeting with the residents - showed them his plans to move everyone to a new area. Then, right at the end of the episode, Paul Robinson showed some of his family members an idea he had: a high rise development in which everybody could move to. 

I found the plot twists funny, especially the Shane Ramsay one, because - when he returned for the final few episodes in the previous incarnation of Neighbours - I thought he would use the billions he had gained from the crypto markets by buying all the residents' homes because, in that final week, all of the houses on Ramsay Street were put up for sale for a plethora of reasons.

My guess didn't happen. Ramsay ended up purchasing Lassiter's, though. 

The latest story is in a similar ballpark to mine... but it's a bigger field than a usual baseball ground!

If my calculations are correct, there are now only four episodes of Neighbours remaining. Tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday and a double episode on Thursday.

I hope they end on a cliff-hanger to leave it open for the audience to reach their own conclusion as to whether the highway is developed or not. It would be fitting, considering it's a soap opera, but I wouldn't bet on the writers doing that out of respect to the fans.

The Penarth Fire

I was stunned to hear about the fire which swept through the clubhouse of Penarth RFC a couple of nights ago.

It's a story of significance to me because my father played for the club back in the day. We calculated that he must have been with Penarth for twenty-two years as a player. He was also on the committee for a few years after his playing days were over. 

I spent many a Saturday, during my childhood, at that place. To see images from the early hours of Monday morning hit me. 

A lot of mementos from the club's 145-year history were lost in the fire. I suppose the positive is nobody was injured. Or worse. But, to lose all those items from the club's past? Devastating.

The BBC reports that the blaze was caused by an electricity fault.