Retford United 2-2 Chris Waddle X1

After about 18 months away I have decided to get back on the blogging trail once again as I charter my trip throughout the 2015-16 season. Over the past season or two I have attended fewer games than I did when I was in my blogging heyday but I have enjoyed the games I have done far more.  Much of my time is still taken up by writing for Sports International magazine and presenting and planning the Women’s World Football show podcast. Both of which I am very happy to say are flourishing as is Women’s football in general. Although I have only been involved in covering the Women’s game since 2012 its grown substantially in that time thus taking up lots of my spare time and capital.

Due to all that I doubt this blog will be as busy as it once was back between 2009 and 2013, but I think that there is scope to get regular 4 or so posts a month on here, maybe more, maybe less. To use a footballing cliché let’s just take every game as it comes eh?  There will however be no women’s football reported on here for that is the domain of my other, far more professional outlets.  

There used to be a time when there was a definite off season in relation to my footballing activity but with the women’s game running through the summer it really feels like the off season is no more. However this Saturday marked the start of my journey throughout the 15-16 season and it was a nice local one to kick off the party, Retford United v A Chris Waddle XI

It goes without saying that football and pubs are superb bed fellows and coupled with the fact that we have had (by UK standards anyway) a heat wave here in the UK this past week, it made sense to knock back a pint or two before the match then take a brisk walk up to Cannon Park for the match.

Today’s entry fee was the standard £5 with no programme produced. Over the past couple of seasons I have cut down on non Lincoln/Sheffield United programmes due to the fact that most with some notable exceptions, (Stavley for example) have gone down the pan quality wise yet up in price. For the record I have no problem when the price rises with quality of written content but when the price goes up and the quality (note quality not quantity) goes down then that’s taking the piss somewhat and while this is disappointing, sadly I can kind of understand it. Programme sales are in decline at almost all clubs so there is often little motivation for editors to put together detailed programmes when at some levels they will only be read by a handful of people.  I also know it’s not the easiest thing in the world to put a programme together. What I would advise editors is that a good programme doesn’t have to have 100 pages. The trick is to optimize the space you have. You can write an interesting article in about 400 words or so. A couple of those, league tables, stats, blurb from the manager/chairman and the jobs a good one as they say. That’s pretty much all folks want. A shiny cover and 10 pages of crap with out of date league tables and text written in size 36 characters won’t cut the mustard I am afraid.

It is always encouraging for a manager when he has a good turnout to the first training session of the season and likewise it was great to see we had a full complement of Retford Imps. Indeed Felice and Lee were already at Cannon Park when I arrived with the latter sporting a rather dodgy looking shirt. Looking around there were quite a few dodgy blue and white striped shirts. Chris Waddle was a legend for Sheffield Wednesday in the 90’s after scoring a spawny goal v the Blades at Wembley in an FA Cup semi final and he can still pull the fans in. It was great to see him more than happy to pose for pictures with the kids (and not so little kids eh Lee?)  Baz joined us shortly before kick-off and much hatching of plans for the season and piss taking ensued for the remainder of the afternoon. 

As with pre season games nobody seemed to know anything about any of the players on show for either side so it was a case of just enjoying the weather and the game. The first half finished 0-0 with both sides creating a few half chances but nothing more.

Retford United have had a pretty chaotic time of things as of late (well the past 7 years or so is more accurate) but it looks like things could be a little more stable than they have been over the past couple of seasons which is great for the town. Some fantastic news has been the addition of Mr Dave Whathall to the sports club committee. Truth of the matter is this should have happened a long time ago as Dave has a wealth of experience in the game stretching back to watching Spurs do the double in 61. He also has his pulse firmly on the groundhopping scene so it will be interesting to see him bring his knowledge and forward thinking vision to the club. He could well be the badger’s signing of the season.  I only caught a brief word with him at HT but he seemed on fine form. Keep up the great work old chap. 

The second half was much better that the first. Retford took the lead with a great first time shot that slipped under the advancing keeper. Retford had the chance to go 2 up but the chap in goal for the Waddle XI pulled off a fantastic save to his left. Moments later it was 2-0 when a long range shot was deflected past the keeper into the bottom right hand corner. The XI weren’t beaten though as they pulled one back through a penalty then drew level as I was having a piss. No idea what the goal was like but the fact that I have attended one game and missed one goal due to my bladder isn’t a great sign.

Over the years I have learnt its pretty pointless trying to learn anything from these kind of games and the earlier in pre season they come the less you can read from it. I am sure the Retford manager and players will have been grateful for the game and it was a decent enough work out for all involved. A bit like the blog post really. It’s good to be back and hopefully more will follow. It won’t be for a couple of weeks though as I fly to the USA Thursday morning so the next game on here will be the LA Galaxy v the San Jose Earthquakes.

Over and out. 

Lincoln City 0-4 North Ferriby United

It has been quite a while since i blogged about Lincoln City. There are a few reasons for this, but one of the main ones was that it got pretty deflating writing about crushing defeats and a continuing spiral of failure of which the club has been consumed in since about 2008. In fact it got to the point that it felt like I was writing the same blog every week and just changing the opponents name. Heavy defeats to sides that 5-6 years ago would have been unheard of have now become the norm over the past 4 seasons and from what i saw from my seat in the Co-op lower stand on Saturday, they will continue to be the norm for the foreseeable future.

Since the Imps have become a non league club there have been plenty of gut wrenching, embarrassing defeats and plenty of inept performances. Away games at Barrow, Tamworth, Braintree, and the jewel of the crown the two games against Carshalton in the FA Trophy in the first season at the level. Last year also had more than its fair share of shit as well, as Lincoln gave incredibly poor performances against the footballing superpowers of Alfreton and Tamworth etc. In both of the previous seasons the club has been in a dogfight in the bottom third of the table and unless things drastically change, given what i witnessed at the weekend we can expect more of the same in 2014.

I have only seen the Imps a handful of times this season. Away matches (not road trips!) to Woking, Barnet, Nuneaton and most recently the Lincolnshire derby away in Codland. Home games due to the lack of a season ticket and an £18 admission fee for league matches have been even scarcer, as i have only seen the Imps lock horns with Forest Green Rovers and Stalybridge Celtic. Up until this point i hadn't seen Lincoln lose. The performances against Forest Green and away at Grimsby were above average with the others being mealy workmanlike run-of-the-mill 5th division fare.

So what tempted me to Sincil Bank last weekend? A combination of the following: 1) it was £10 to get in, 2) As any fan will tell you there is something special about cup football, and 3) it was a great chance to meet up with a friend who i haven't seen since the summer and has never been to a men's football match in her life and thus try to grow the Imps fan base even if it was only by one. Given how bad the Imps were i think i may have a hard time convincing her to return.

Arriving in the fair City early i high tailed it straight down to the club shop to purchase the new home kit. I was going to get the away one but they had sold out of fat bastard sorry large ones, so i went for the brand new home number. It was then a quick trot up to the bus station to meet my partner in crime from last seasons FA WSL campaign. Gemma had never been to a men's professional game, and given City's performance you could argue that she still hasn't. Pre match was spend supping a few pints in various pubs along Lincoln high street and putting the world to rights. Over the years watching City the pre/post match food as often been the high point of the day and today followed that pattern as the battered sausage and chips from the chippy went down a treat.

From there it was round to what was called the Centre spot bar for a few more beers. In here you get yet another reminder of how low City have sunk in the last 5 or so years. During the 90's right though to the play-off years this place use to be packed, If you weren't in before 1.30pm you couldn't get a seat and it was 3 deep at both bars. Nowadays seats are plentiful, the bar at the far end is shut, and the remaining one is hardly busy. On the plus side the food in there looks as excellent as it always has done. On the big screen Chelsea, lead by the greatest manager in the world, were busy putting the swamp dwellers from Hull to the sword at the KC stadium. As an Imps fan worth there salt knows Lincoln handed "ull" there first ever defeat at there brand new stadium during the 2002/3 season. Stuart Bimson's penalty giving the Imps a 1-0 win. How times change. A quick flick through the match day programme was another reminder of our status as a wart on the arse of the footballing world. Its a poor effort with very little to read in it, with some Central Midlands league programmes having more reading material (although it looks quite smart); it takes longer to read the Spot the dog books.
With Chelsea having wrapped up the points. We made our way into the stadium. As this was a cup game the club had shut half the stadium off. As normal the Stacey West was shut (don't get me started on this) and the top tier of the CO-OP stand was also closed. Now this is the most popular section of the stadium, has the best catering facilities etc, so it is a little strange that this section was shut off but then again this is Lincoln City; a place where customer service is yet to be totally understood. The mass ranks of over 120 North Ferriby fans were housed in a section of the South Stand. Recently the Imps have had (by their low standards) some decent results. Getting a 1-1 draw at Grimsby then following it up with a 0-0 home draw over league leaders Luton and beating Alfreton Town 4-1 at home. These results and the cheaper admission prices seemed to have brought a few more Imps fans out the woodwork, myself included i hasten to add, and the attendance was more than i expected with the lower tier of the CO-OP being pretty full. Mr Barlow Snr and the man of a 1,000 clubs decked out in a Juve scarf were amongst the spectators.

However any thoughts of a Lincoln revival were short lived as the visitors took the lead on nine minutes. That was when the game was effectively over as a contest. Lincoln never really looked interested and good old Gary Simpson's one up front formation is hardly one that is going to get you back into the game. The visitors must had been amazed at the ease of which they were able to cut through the Imps midfield. I have seen friendly performances with more bite in them that this shower from the Imps. North Ferriby made it 2-0 on 43 minutes when a poor header back from Nat Brown failed to find Paul Farman, which allowed the Ferriby striker to nip in for a simple goal; 0-2  and both game and Wembley trip over.

During the halftime break all the talk was how amazingly bad City had been. Normally during a shitfest like this the mood is one of anger but that was different. It was more one of amazement than the Imps could be this bad. Lincoln did have a little more fire in their bellies at the start of the second half and even put 2 or 3 passes together at times but never really forced the Ferriby keeper into a serious save.  However in the 70th minute it was game over as Paul Farman in the Imps goal produced another trade mark goof as he failed to hold a tame shot, letting it spill put to an onrushing attacker. To try to cover this mistake he only succeed in dragging the Ferriby player down for a penalty which was dully converted. The Imps keeper (who i rate as the poorest keeper i have ever seen at Lincoln who has played over 20 games for the club) then repeated the trick in the final few minutes by failing to hold another shot, only this time the on rushing player smashed home the rebound before Farman could bring him down. 0-4 down to a part time side a league below us, fans waving white handkerchiefs and steaming for the exits with 20 minutes to play. Welcome to Lincoln City in 2014.

Afterwards in the pub i didn't know what to think. You just have to laugh really; inept, pitiful, sorry, clueless, gutless, all words that describe the Imps performance. I asked Gemma if she fancied the next game v Woking in a few weeks, Her response as you can imagine was less that positive.

So what's the big picture going forward in 2014? Well its hard to see Lincoln not finishing in the bottom third of the division. I have many concerns about the state of the team but most worrying was the lack of leadership coming from the bench and lack of tactical nounce being shown. I understand that playing one up front is sometimes a decent plan, away at the league leaders for example, however i think i will struggle to find another coach or manager who would use it when you are 0-2 down at home to North Ferriby United.  Or persist in player a keeper who clearly isn't up to the job when you have somebody like David Preece on the bench who from what i have seen is easily up to this level of football, and has far more mental focus. Its all very disturbing however I fully expect Simpson to stay in the job, but I do feel however he is a very lucky boy. How many managers would survive a 5-1 defeat at Halifax and a 1-4 home defeat at home to conference north opponents?

I do think Lincoln will stay up this year. Hardly an achievement really, but that's as good as it gets these days. The club is treading water and its hard to see where the club is going in the boardroom, dugout, or on the pitch. Its all a bit of a pickle as they say.

2013 and all that.

Some great memories from 2013

Hi guys, sorry i have been away for so long. I have really missed doing this blog and writing about a range of sports but i have been a tad busy with other exciting stuff that has really been a drain on my time since August when i got back from the States. My new years resolution however is to start writing on here again, covering the same old tripe that i use to and maybe some more stuff as well.

I normally hate the kind of article that i am about to write now, but after a fantastic 2013 for me in the world of sports media i really feel as if i have to, because this year has been a pretty crazy one for me and i would love to share my experiences with you all and mention some special people who I need to give a huge thank you. First up is Lindsey whose many hours of spell checking allows me to produce content in the first place, thanks for your help Linz.

As most of you know over the past two years or so i have been slowly but surely been getting more and more into women's football, and i have spend a huge amount of time writing about it and following Lincoln Ladies and creating the fans blog; which i thoroughly enjoyed.  I feel very privileged to have written it, and meet some truly great people along the way, and it was this that got me into writing and becoming a fan of the female game. I am very proud that the club posted them on their website and people really seemed to enjoy them. At the time it was the only fan club blog in the FAWSL and although now there are a few more (and much better and detailed ones it has to be said) Its always nice to be the first. It's is hard to pick out one blog that i enjoyed the most but i really did enjoy the trip this year to Bristol in the League when Bristol won 2-1. For me however, the real highlight of the year on the blog was getting former Lincoln keeper Nic Hobbs to do an interview for the site before the match with her current club Doncaster. This was the first interview with a player that i have ever done and Nic was a total star.

View from covering England v Wales at Millwall.

In April i received a message that really changed my writing focus and presented an exciting opportunity. I was offered the chance to cover and report on the England International v Canada in Rotherham for Sports International magazine from the pressbox. As you can imagine this was a pretty big deal for me and to say i was excited was an understatement. The whole day was fantastic, and as the year went on i covered the Women's FA cup final, 2 England friendlies, two women's World Cup qualifiers and the UEFA under 17 final between Germany and Spain, so in other words some pretty big games. I felt very humbled to be offered the chance to work for the magazine and it has been a very interesting journey, transferring my blogging style into one of a serious reporter. There is still a hell of alot that i can improve on but i like to think that we give a balanced and honest view on the matches. I can't really thank editor Myak Homberger for giving me the chance to work for the magazine. We have lots of exciting plans for 2014 in the magazine and i for one can't wait for the new year to come. It is a huge honour to work for a magazine like this and i am very proud to be a part of it.

Jill Scott and an overweight reporter.

The second major project that i have been involved with this year was helping to becoming the co-founder and joint host of the Women's World Football show podcast/Internet radio show. (Whichever name you prefer to use, the both mean the same thing) 

Now this kind of thing is something that i have been interested in and thinking about doing for over a year now. The reason? I have always felt that that there was a huge gap in the market for a radio show that covers women's football WORLDWIDE, with people running it located around the world so that they can give a feel of what's actually happening on the ground. I know from my experience of travelling to America that you can read about sports, culture, and politics etc in another country, but until you visit you never really understand different countries, so its far easier to let somebody who lives in that country cover their country's sports.

The chance to work on this came totally out of the blue. I like to share other people's written articles on twitter etc and it was through this process that i was approached by Patty LaBella over in California. Patty's vision for the show was very similar to what i had in mind so it was a pretty easy decision to say yes to this.
After deciding to work on this plenty of questions started to race through my head, the first thing we had to decide on was the name. In the end seeing how our main aim was to spread the game to people worldwide we decided on the Women's World Football show. For me the key word in the title is WORLD. We aim to look at the game from all angles, chat about it, and give people from all over the world the platform to share their experiences of the game. Quite a few shows just use the word world in their title as a kind of status symbol but for us it means we want to highlight different leagues and national teams and show how the game is growing. Obviously we can't do this in every show but if you look at shows in blocks then i think we stay true to our vision.

Another thing we had to decide is what the presenting style was going to be. Again we agreed that it had to be fun and relaxed and not fall into the trap so many other podcast/radio host fall into and try to be the next *insert ESPN/Sky Sports/whatever sports host you want* I believe the main reason people like reading the blogs i have been doing over the years is my fun, down to earth style. Sports should be fun, an escape away from the boredom of everyday life and that's what i try to make it.
Another thing we felt was important was to be open to people. I have over the past few years, tweeted several sports radio hosts, some answer questions and take time to chat to people, whether they agree with you or not. While others only seem to reply if your profile pic is rather attractive, if you are complimenting their work, or if you are saying something nice and easy to answer about their city or the sports teams they cover. Quite often it is the second lot of folks whose shows don't tend to stay the course, and while they last tend to "give it large" about themselves and their shows. If i ever end up like this then please, please slap me around the face with a wet fish.

Pretty early on i decided i wasn't going to listen to any other football podcasts before doing our first 20 or so shows simply because i didn't want to be influenced by whatever other people were doing and start comparing us to them. I have since listened to quite a few American podcast/intertnet radio shows alas only a couple on soccer to get a view of how we are doing time and quality wise. Having done this i think we are in a pretty good place at this stage of our development. I still don't compare us to other shows in our market or worry about what other people are doing. I would rather concentrate my time on my work for Sports International and this show. And of course the odd trip to games and the pub.


One of the advantages of working as part of a team in two different time zones (there is an 8 hour time difference between the two "studios") Is that we can reply to tweets almost 24 hours a day. The way we both look at it is if somebody can take the time to tweet us then its only right we tweet them back. It may not be instant but we really do enjoy interacting with our growing group of listeners. The fact that so many people take the time to contact us is huge boost to both if us. I have always felt that people commenting on, sharing, and favoriting articles is far more rewarding that simple viewing figures and i hold the same view when it comes to the show, although  its great to see listening figures growing show after show.

Show mascot Barry the Beaver out and about.

I know everybody says this at this time of year but we have some really exciting stuff planed for early next year. We have a a few guests already lined up and we already have a good group of team experts happy to come on and chat about their respective sides in the FAWSL/NWSL before the two leagues kick off. The fact that people have asked us to come on (and we are very happy they did) is another sign that the show is on the right track. We also have a fantastic give away lined up that we feel very humbled to be asked to do.

Speaking of thanks i need to say thanks to Patty. Quite simply she is the brains behind the show. Its Patty who first had the idea for the show and ask me to come on board. Once the show is recorded its Patty who edits it so that you guys can listen to it and takes out all the goofs. It is also Patty who designed and runs the websites. I couldn't do the show without her where as i am sure she could get another Adam to do the show with. I would like to say i am the poster boy and eye candy on the show... But i know you guys all know that's maybe not quite the case.

Before i go and leave you all to your New Years celebrations i want to thank you all very very much for your support and for reading my articles, tweets, blogs, tuning in to the show etc. If it wasn't for people like you guys i wouldn't be producing any of this. I have met some fantastic people in 2013 and i couldn't have asked for anymore. I always get very nervous about looking forward to a new year and this time i little bit more so. I mean how can i top what happened it 2013? I have no idea what will happen over the next 12 months but i will give in 100% to make it as good as 2013.

So let us raise our glasses to more articles, radio shows, and some non-league blogs rating the food on offer. I hope you all have a fantastic 2014 and that our paths cross and a beer or 20 can be had.

Cheers!!

Well Done to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"Welcome to Pittsburgh; the City of Champions (oh yeah and the Pirates)

That was a familiar saying in Pittsburgh over the last years. In the last decade the Pittsburgh Steelers have had a pretty decent time of things; winning 2 Superbowls and losing one, the Pittsburgh Penguins ice hockey have also fared well with a Stanley cup win and a couple of deep playoff runs. The Pirates however had for the past 20 years been the odd one out and were for some the butt of the sporting jokes, not only in Pittsburgh but in whole North American sports scene. I am delighted to say that the year 2013 has changed all that.

For those that don't follow or know much about baseball i will explain the history of it a little. In America having a "500" season or better seems to be a big thing.  The 500 basically means winning 50% of the games that you play or in other words winning more games that you lose. "A winning season" is how lots of American sports broadcasters phrase it. The last time the Pirates had a winning season was 1992, meaning that the club had one of the longest losing sequences of the 4 main North American sports, in history. It would be fair to say that the club had become a bit of a joke. It is hard to imagine this happening to a sports side in the UK because the system is very different to that in the US. In America there is no relegation so if you finish bottom you just get the highest pick in the draft and have another go next year. This means that clubs can stagnate if they go though a period of losing seasons and struggle to progress as fans drift away meaning less income for the side to attract the better free agents. It then becomes a very hard circle to break and in Pittsburgh's case when you have other sports teams in the City that are winning and attracting more investment, it makes it even harder.

That's not to say however that the Pirates haven't been successful in the past because they most certainly have, they competed in the first ever world championship series in 1903, and have won a very respectable 5 world series titles, placing them joint 7th on the all time number of championship wins record. Their last win came in 1979 (the year i was born) so a lot of fans have never seen them challenging for championships and unless you were following them in 1992, you will not have seen the Buccos in playoff/post season action. In baseball you play quite alot of games in a season 162 to be exact which has meant an awful lot of losing for the Pirates.
In the 6 or 7 years i have been following Pittsburgh sports i must admit i have taken a keen interest in the Pirates, not quite as much as the Steelers, but i have tried to follow their results and news about the side as closely as i could. In 2010 the side won a paltry 57 games; in came new manager Clint Hurdle and the recovery began. By mid July the side were well above the 500 mark and leading the NL Central division, I knew that whenever i got my arse over to Pittsburgh i was going to take in a game and that is exactly what i did.

Although the NFL is my favourite American sport, for me baseball really is "America's game". Tickets are reasonably priced and given the amount of games that teams play, (sometimes 5 or 6 a week) it means most people get a chance to see their team and with it being a summer sport i can think of few better ways to watch sport than an afternoon/evening at the ballpark. Its also the nearest thing Americans have to cricket so that's another reason why it's always appealed to me. And finally, having supported Lincoln City for the best part of 20 years with the majority of it being full of crushing disappointments and out and out failure, i had a natural bond and understanding with the long suffering Pirate's fans.

I spent the last couple of days of my American adventure in Pittsburgh and i have to say it is a fantastic city and one that i can't wait to return to. Its clean, stylish, and what's more its a huge drinking town. My kind of City really. We had tickets to see the Pirates take on the Colorado Rockies on the Friday evening. As i was flying back to the UK on the Saturday i didn't want to be drinking a huge amount on game day (hangovers, airports, and flying aren't great bedfellows in my experience). So to counter this on the Thursday night we ventured over to the Southside of Pittsburgh to met friends, knock back a few drinks and watch the Pirates on TV. We rocked up at Pipers Pub at just gone 7 to eat drink and make merry.

Piper's is the main "Soccer" pub in the Burgh that also does cracking British food. Now don't get me wrong i really loved all the American style food that i consumed while i was over there (and i ate alot i hasten to add) but it was nice to eat something that wasn't burger orientated. Now that i have been back in the UK for a few months i find myself missing the Stateside grub. The McDonalds over here aren't patch on the ones in America, over there you get double quarter pounders, larger portions, better big Macs, Root beer to drink etc. We are certainly the poor relatives on that score. Plus the staff in the States speak better English than 90% of the ones in the UK. Its a bit like spending two weeks having sex with Katy Perry.. then coming back to a lifetime of Jo Brand.

Anyway back to the point. The Pirates were taking on the Cardinals They had already won the three game series and were going for the sweep. However as we knocked back the pints the Cardinals piled on the runs. Oh well i told myself, the Pirates were saving themselves for the next night, nothing to worry about, another day another game and all that.

So the next day arrived as did a slight hangover. The morning was spent looking around Heinz field (the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers) followed by a tour of the City on the gateway clipper. Looking around the city you could tell that the city had caught "Buccs fever" Pretty much everywhere you looked there were people wearing Pirates shirts and hats etc. The best one i saw was a chap in a T-shirt that said "I followed the Pirates when it wasn't cool to". This seemed a feeling that a lot of long time Pirates fan had that i spoke to/overheard at the game. The Pirates have had quite a few sell outs this season as alot of fans have jumped on the bandwagon; its amazing what a few wins does isn't it? From what i can gather the same thing happened with the Penguins. When they were awful; "sucked" as they say in America, tickets were easy and quite cheap to get hold of. Now they are exactly  the opposite on both counts, thus pricing many long time hockey fans out of the market. I hope that the same thing doesn't  happen to the Pirates' fan base as the club continues to be successful, and hopefully due to the number of games there are in a MLB season, it wont.

Both the Steeler's Heinz field stadium, and the Pirates PNC park stadium, are on Pittsburgh's north shore. For those who don't know, Pittsburgh is built around three rivers and has more bridges than any other City in the world. I picked up that pearl of wisdom from our tour guide on the river tour. I wish i could remember more of what she said but i was too busy just taking in the sights. Both stadiums however looked fantastic. From looking at pictures and watching the NFL on TV, i have to say that most stadiums are unique and pretty spectacular. Its very strange to me, given that most of the MLS stadiums are very drab looking Lego brick style small stadiums built in the middle of nowhere. For those wondering, from what i saw "Soccer" is still miles behind the big four American sports. I bought a paper everyday of my stay in the US and the only mention soccer got in the press was the score form the All Stars game in USA Today. Not a match report, not a peep. Nor was it on TV, the large sports rolling news channels being far more interested in what NFL players had for breakfast in training camp than soccer. Before my trip i held the view that the MLS was to world football and the American public as a whole, what ice hockey and the EIHL is to the ice hockey world and the British sporting public. I am delighted to say that for once i was right. There a few folks watching the Inter v Chelsea game on the small screen in the pub while we watched the buccos but that was as far as it went. US fans are still very much far more interested in top level European football than the MLS and in all probability, always will be.

Anyway i digress a little, back to the baseball. We rocked up at the stadium with about an hour till the first pitch. The subway system in Pittsburgh is clean, on time, and if you are in the central zone, totally free. Everything the London underground isn't. First thing we did when we arrived was simply to walk around the ground and just soak up the atmosphere which was fantastic. Fans were drinking beer, chilling with friends, and generally having a great time, you could tell that the feel good factor was most definitely back in the City. Although thanks to my friend, host and fantastic tour guide Danielle, i already have a decent range of Pirates jerseys but there was one piece of Pirates merchandise that i just had to get my mitts on, and that was a Pirate Parrot hat. What? I hear you ask? Well let me explain, the Pirates mascot is a parrot and to honour him the club have started selling parrot hats which is basically a hat with a Parrots head on, beak and all, and in my opinion it's quite cool. Not many of the locals seemed to be wearing them so i can only conclude that they normally appeal to kids and eccentric British tourists like me. So the first thing that i did once i got inside the stadium was to rush to one of the merchandise stalls inside and part with my $28 dollars and purchase the famous hat. Now i have taken a fair bit of flack on both sides of the Atlantic for this purchase but am i bothered? Not one bit, its what one does when one is being a tourist. And there are far worse things in America to spend ones hard earned cash on.

As i went into the stadium before my friends, i was on my own in finding our seats. Now i have been in 188 football stadiums and quite a few other sports stadiums and never really had a problem trying to find out where i was suppose to be heading, and although some of them are pretty basic that even a Grimsby Town  fan could find their way around, i have successful found our seats in much bigger stadiums when Felice, for example, has been totally lost and needed his bacon saving. However PNC Park well and truly beat me.

It started well however. As this was free shirt Friday, everybody who entered the stadium received a free T-Shirt, and after collecting a shirt i got my hands on the programme. Now the programme was a mixture. On the plus side it was free which is always good. However about 3/4 of it is adverts, it did however cover three series so you can read about three sides; if you persevere through all the food adverts.

Oh and speaking of food, as this was my last full day with Uncle Sam, i had decided to do something different at the game and convinced Danielle to book us in the all you can eat section. Which basically means you can stuff your face all game for free,well its not free as the tickets are more expensive, but you get my point. I figured that at $42 and all you can eat, it was a decent deal. To put it into context at the time the Pirates had the best record in the MLB so i was paying £28 to watch at the time the best baseball side in the USA/World with a free programme,T-shirt and all the food and soda i could eat/drink thrown in. Now try getting a deal like that at whichever club is top of the Premiership at the time you read this. (Arsenal at the moment whose tickets are about £60 i believe)  Good luck with that, and it puts Lincoln City's £18 to watch 5th division crap into perspective.

So with programme, t-shirt and parrot hat in hand, i set off on a quest to find our section. After a couple of complete laps and looking at countless maps i admitted defeat and asked a steward, I was then pointed to a lift which took me up to the area where our seats were. Phew. However with hindsight the walk around the stadium was good for me as i got to see all areas of it and the views from each section. I did however miss the first couple of pitches but at i was too excited to worry about that. I did miss seeing who sung the anthem with is a huge part of an American sporting experience. When star spangled banner is sung everybody stops, stands up, removes their hats, and belts it out with pride. I for one like to see this and its a stark contrast to how we act when God save the Queen is sung, when we all stand up and look embarrassed as we attempt to mime our way through the first two verses (we would struggle through the whole thing which is why i think we only blast out the first two verses). The Americans play their anthem before almost every sports game from highschool games, through to the pro leagues, and good for them.

Now i am no baseball expert. All the stats and numbers go completely over my head. My pre game know how of the rules was very simple. Hit the ball, run and don't get caught, or run out. Oh and you get three attempts to hit the ball after that you are out. Then if a side gets three players out the other side gets a go. Each side has 9 innings and if its all level then its sudden death. That's the very basics of it but there is much more to it that that.
For example there is a first base and third base coach who's job seems to be to tell the players when to run and not to run. It may sound an easy job but i bet there must be more to it than that. It does seem strange that there is no second base coach. It must get lonely and tough for a batter on second without guidance from the coach. The Rockies drew first blood however but thankfully the Pirates were soon level, this however was short lived as the Rockies raced into a 4-1 lead as the the Pirates' rookie pitcher struggled. Not that the hitters did much better. If it could go wrong it did do. Although it has to be said that the Rockies did do a couple of nice double plays that got two hitters out on the same play.

The Pirates may have been struggling a tad on the field but help was on hand off it in the form of the all you can eat offer. Basically as you enter the section you get a wrist band which you just flash at the food vending section and help yourself to as much food as you can stuff down you. To that end i managed to wolf my way through 3 hot dogs, 2 boxes of popcorn, 2 bags of peanuts, (the large ones that you have to de-shell), a tray of nachos with cheese sauce (i wasn't too keen on the sauce but i forced it down), oh and two large root beers. I probably could have eaten more but i didn't want to miss too much of the game and risk not seeing the Pirates late comeback, if indeed there was to be one.

Sadly there was to be no way back for the Pirates this evening. They did pull one back in the 9th and threatened to get another but alas they fell to defeat. Even though they had lost, the fans still stuck behind the team. Had this been football over here then the fans would have lost patience and shouted all manor of obscenities. The worst things i heard at the game were fans crying for the manager to "Get the Bull pen rolling man" which meant get another pitcher on as the one pitching was struggling a tad, and the old favourite " Man/Dude that sucks". A day at the ball game is a real family event and everybody goes out to have a real good time. Not to get trashed and pretend to try and start a fight, that realm seems to be reserved by the MLS as they try to copy some of the English "firms" and fail miserably.

During inning's breaks the entertainment doesn't stop. Between some innings Pirate Parrot loads up his air gun and shoots out hotdogs into the crowd (not that we needed them of course). In the next innings he would shoot out T-shirts into the crowd. All jolly good stuff in my humble opinion. Wish we would do something like that. Actually given that 95% of food served up in British sports stadiums is shite, people would be ducking to avoid the half cooked rancid tripe being fired at them. During the break between the 6th and 7th innings everybody gets up and sings the old baseball favourite song "Take me out to the Ball game" I have no idea if this is a thing that all clubs do but i am guessing that it is. Of course i didn't know the words, tune or anything, so i just stood there looking a tad embarrassed.

As i we trudged back to the subway station it dawned on me that these were my last few hours in America. I had had a fantastic time and the experience of a lifetime. Before i had left for Amercia i thought that Pittsburgh was my kind of town and now i am convinced of it. Its a fantastic city, great bars, and has a history of its sports teams getting out there and winning championships; not just talking about winning them. Walking back to the hotel a guy was coming the other way. Just as we approached he stopped, leant on the wall and threw his guts up, looked as us then said as cool as you like "Sorry brother", as we walked in opposite directions he again threw up. 

And what about the Pirates? Well as soon as i was on the plane for home they rediscovered their winning form. By the end of the season they had smashed the 500 mark by recording an impressive 94 wins. It wasn't quite enough to win the division but it did send them into the post season. They were to fall eventually to St Louis in the divisional series (effectively the 1/4 finals) but they took it all the way before losing the series 3-2. They may have lost, but they gained the respect of the American sporting public and more importantly, the City of Pittsburgh.

And as for America? No words that i could write here could sum up how great a time i had over there. In the weeks after I returned home people asked me what was the best thing about the States, now it may sound cheesy, but i have to say that the main thing i will take away from my time there was the openess and friendliness of the people there. I met some truly fantastic people over there and i can't thank everybody enough. There are too many folks to mention but i need to give a very special mention to Danielle for planning everything and her wonderful parents for looking after me. Oh and Artemis the cat for tolerating my presence in his kingdom. Until next time..

LET'S GO BUCCS!!!!!!!!