I have many many CD's. I have the age old problem of storage and the new problem of miniaturisation. The mp3 has presented itself as a theoretical solution to this problem. But it's not for me. You see I like the whole package. I like the Friday afternoon trip to the record store on the way home. The Friday 'new release' day ritual (we get CD's in Ireland on the Friday before they are released anywhere else in the world, the UK only get them the following Monday whilst USA gets em on a Tuesday. I don't know why this is, but I'm not complaining!). Sitting at a desk and downloading the record from Itunes doesn't have that same "CD in the bag with till receipt" feeling.

So I won't be buying my music digitally

Ergo, my storage problem. I have converted the garage on my house into a second living room. It houses the music and the good stereo. The music is divided into CD's and records, but the shelves are full. The flatpacked racks are bursting at the seams so I'm going to have to cull the display stands.

So who doesn't make the cut?

I started by attempting to cull the records that I haven't listened to in a while. But that just went tits up. I found myself rediscovering records I hadn't played in ages and spent the evening listening to them. It had the reverse of the desired effect, making the cull more difficult.

I ended up with four Cd's and one record that were moved to a drawer. They were, Neil Young "Trans", Gillian Welch "Time - The Revelator", Oasis - "Standing on the shoulders of Giants" and Son Volt "Trace". I never cared for any of these records and bought them only on reputation.

The only vinyl to make the bottom drawer was "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", the album hasn't even got the right tracks on it, there's no 'Masters of War' or 'Talkin World War 3 Blues' instead there's some anti John Birch song on it....

To bet or not to bet..

Over the weekend as my better half lay half asleep on our living room couch as I watched the washington Redskins take on The Seattle Seahawks in the NFl divisional playoffs I began to realise that I may be the cause of ending the underdogs run to the Superbowl.

You see I had backed them at 40/1 to win the Superbowl. The kiss of death.

The girl torn between sleep and sarcasm on the couch, was muttering comments at my frustrated gesturing in our living room. Comments like, "I would have called the manager and told him not to send the team out if you had've told me you were betting on them" and "Do us a favour Derek, go down to the bookie and ask him will he take a bet on my pay rise being less than 20 per cent this year will ya". I begin to take stock of my awful betting history.

Now I know everyone says this. But me. I have a list below of the most unlikely overturning of sure things in recent history.

1. Barcelona to beat Chelsea in The Champions League last year.
The Spanish were 2-1 up from the first leg and the best team in Europe. Ronaldinho was on FIRE. They came to Stamford Bridge full of life and full of confidence. Chelsea didn't look like they could take the step up.
Final Result Chelsea win 5-4 on aggregate.

2. AC Milan to beat Liverpool in The Champions League Final.
The Italians were 3-0 up at half time and with the meanest defence in the world. Celebratory beers and premature counting of winnings was short lived as Liverpool clawed back to 3-3 and won the game on penalties.

3. OJ Simpson to be found guilty.
OJ owes me his freedom as I, like every sane person in the free world believed he was as guilty as sin. However, by betting on this outcome I ensured his acquittal.

4. Al Gore to win the US Presidential election in 2000
You can say what you want about Florida and Jed Bush and missing votes. I did it, and I apologise to the entire USA for my meddling in their political affairs. Michael Moore owes me his career because I backed Gore to beat Bush.

I also backed Mike Tyson to beat Buster Douglas, France to beat Senegal in the opening game of the 2002 world cup, Liverpool to beat Wimbledon in the 1988 FA Cup, and France to beat Greece in the 2004 European Championships.

I now, never, bet on Manchester United games, and continually back England to win, as I did against Northern Ireland recently, now that was ten euro well spent....

World Class?

Vidic and Evre are their names and both of them, we are lead to believe, by the propaganda machine at Old Trafford, are world-class defenders. Without spending too much time pre-analysing United's two new transfer window signings, I must constantly ask myself why neither is a midfielder seeing as though the Keane shaped hole in the centre is still the biggest flaw in the setup en ce moment.

But let us ponder the term world-class. What standard must one reach to be considered "world-class" at one's chosen discipline? And, what's the class immediately below "world-class"? Is it "continent-class"? Or "northern/southern hemisphere class"?

I'm not comfortable with the term world class. I never have been. It sneaked into the parlance of sports commentators unnoticed. Nobody questioned it's boundaries of qualification. Take the arena of music. Are The Rolling Stones world class? Not for me. Is Brittney Spears world class? apparently so, but not for me. Back to soccer, is Thierry Henry world class? Undoubtedly. Is Ronaldinho? Most definitely. Is Joes Cole? According to the popular conception, yes. According to me, no way in hell. What about Louis Saha at Man Utd? According to his paycheck, the media etc, yes. Again, according to me NO.

I want a clearer definition. I want the United press room to stop using the term world class when describing signings. It's too subjective. Tell us their records, what they've done, how committed they are, what type of attitude they have. Stop copping out and saying "He's world class". Ronaldinho is world class. Granted. But the last two years has seen too many world class strike outs. remember the world class players of 2003-05. Djemba Djemba, Kleberson, Bellion, and Howard. World Class my arse!

1962 - The Year of Nothing Much

Watched a documentary about Ireland in 1962 last night. Cleverly intercut with what was going on in the USA at the same time. One scene showed James Meredith walking past racist protestors to become the first black student at the University of Mississippi. Then cut to a dance hall in rural Ireland. Pasty white faces in badly cut suits on one side of the sawdust floored dance hall. Equally pasty and freckled faces in homemade dresses on the other side. The band was a mass of freckles and wispy hair atop the pastiest faces you've ever seen. Everyone looked bored. Everyone looked dead behind the eyes. There was simply nothing going on.

America was undergoing a revolution. Kennedy was telling southerners to grow up and forget their predjudices, back home, predjudice just seemed like too much hard work. The IRA was on the verge of disbanding because nobody cared. They released a statement saying there would be no more border raids. They showed vox pop interviews about entry to the EU, emigration, and the last issue of the 'Evening Mail'. Nobody gave a shit about anything. The enthusiasm for TelStar on the other side of the Atlantic was phenomenal. They had ideas about everything from integration to space travel to rock and roll.

The Irish just shrugged when asked about anything...

And that's the difference. That's why so many went to America in the sixties. Plain and simply, nobody got excited about anything in Ireland. There was an overwhelming sense of boredom. There was fuck all to do. people just got pissed off with Lyons Tea, Mashed Potatoes and pork chops, so they saved up their few shillings and bailed.

The last word went to a twenty something year old who looked about forty. The interviewer asked him what he would do tomorrow evening now that the 'Evening Mail' newspaper was no more. "I'll probably buy the Herald" was his deadpan reply. Priceless.

2006 so...

Happy new year from a dark, dusty, miserable, overcast and deserted Dublin City. The whole town is so quiet that a small hiccup can be heard for miles. Thank God tomorrow is a public holiday, so if it was a weekend tonight would be the equivalent of a Saturday Night!

This must be what heaven is like on a Saturday Night....

Happy New Year to any of you passers by and may your hangover be gone by now!