THE LAST POINT: Sporting addicts in real danger of overdosing
THE LAST POINT
Never in a million years did I believe I’d ever think that I’m in danger of watching too much sport but right now, in the middle of an all encompassing World Cup through to the drama that is the All-Ireland Senior and Football Championships, it feels like every single second of every single day is consumed by finding out who did what where, who won, who lost, who broke what record and this from a self-confessed sporting addict.
In the few quiet moments that come up every now and again, I get to doing the old ‘compare and contrast’ routine with the 24-7 world of sport right now to Christmas Day when, for a brief moment of time, there is no algorithm spitting out stories, social media is muted and there is no live sport, bar the odd replay, appearing on our screens – although in the Land of Opportunity, commercial opportunity that is, even that is changing as the NBA and NFL have taken in recent years to promoting Christmas Day specials that are threatening to become as much part of the social fabric as the NFL’s Thanksgiving Games.
Rather than try to list what events are grabbing my attention, here is a different tack – last Saturday, I missed both All-Ireland Senior Quarter Finals, Clare’s dismissal of Dublin’s hurlers and all of the World Cup games, including missing out as Germany produced another typically Teutonic World Cup display in getting the better of the Ivory Coast because I was on my way back from Birmingham after a flying visit to catch the UK Athletics Championships at the stunning Alexandria Stadium.
Hundreds of Irish athletics fans will head across the channel to the England’s second city, as two Uber drivers both casually mentioned, later this Summer when the west midlands city hosts the European Athletics Track & Field Championships. And if what I witnessed at the UK event is any indicator, we’re going to be in for a real treat and hopefully, fingers crossed, maybe even an Irish medal or two.
Myself and the Dad hopped on Ryanair thanks to the sister winning a competition for tickets – turns out all those emails you sign up when purchasing tickets for events sometimes have a positive benefit so here we were heading for Birmingham and a chance to ‘recce’ the venue and boy, the day certainly didn’t disappoint as I got to witness my first sub-10 100m in the flesh along with stupendous feats of endurance and strength including new UK championship records in the Men’s Discus and Women’s Steeplechase as well as seeing a 11.01 second women’s 100m final.
Lawrence Okoye, a man with an interesting back story to say the least, heaved the 2kg discus out to an incredible 68.81m, a distance that would have won gold at the Paris Olympics. But what you don’t get to appreciate until you see it in the flesh is that the discus isn’t about raw brute strength, although Okoye’s 6ft 6 inch height and 300 lb weight might suggest otherwise, but it is an event of technical precision, surprising delicacy and stunning speed.
Yet, athletics anorak that I am and as enthralled as I was in what I was witnessing in the simply breath-taking Alexandria Stadium, there I was still checking out the updates from the Tailteann Cup, the All-Ireland series and whatever else was happening in the World Cup – they say the first step in confronting any problem is admitting your have a problem but, then again, I’m not sure it is a problem!
Alexandria Stadium is one of those facilities that leaves you awe-struck and envious – stuck in the middle of a public park with acres of parkland and playing pitches, two monstrous stands on either side rise high into the sky and banks of seats around the top bends with temporary additional seating being installed behind them to increase capacity. Equally mind-blowing was the level of technology on show – bare seconds after a race had crossed the lines and names, placings and times were appearing on the scoreboard, the big screen switching from long and triple jumps to the hurdles, high jump or pole vault and that was just the field events while even the public address was different class, no danger of having your eardrums ruptured unlike the booming announcements that threaten to deafen you in Croker!
Sunday saw me in the Cusack Stand in Croke Park, fully expecting the Dubs’ journey to come to an end for 2026. I wasn’t alone in that belief judging from the disbelieving Dubs around me, only one admitting to having an inkling that Ger Brennan's men might pull off a shock in a year when nobody seems to know what might happen next. Outnumbered by swathes of Donegal fanatics, the atmosphere was more like the days before Pat Gilory and Jim Gavin, making the unexpected victory all the more enjoyable.
For all the drama the race for Sam is providing, it has left me scratching my head – Dublin & Monaghan, relegated from Division 1 earlier this year, are in the quarter-finals while League champions Donegal and Armagh are gone. Winning the Provincial championship seems like a poisoned chalice with Roscommon, Westmeath and Armagh all exiting stage left although any conclusions are rendered almost obsolete by the fact that the four defeated Provincial finalists are all in the quarter-finals so make of that what you will!
Perhaps the only note of caution I have, and in here comes the Leitrim Ladies who take their next step in the pursuit of the Mary Quinn Cup next Sunday when they host Roscommon in Heartland Credit Union Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada, is that favourites are falling like flies right now with the exception of Kerry – and even then, the Kingdom got a bit of a doing from Donegal a few weeks ago so maybe, in this mad Summer of sport, all that we think we know is getting thrown up in the air!
Caution might be a good thing particularly when Cape Verde are flying the flag for underdogs everywhere right now and hitting a peak at just the right time might be the most valuable attribute for any sports person in this day and age. Lets hope Leitrim do just that against Roscommon and give this sporting addict more reason to wonder about his sanity over the Summer!