Deja Vu all over again
12)Deja Vu at the Crucible.A perennial question in the Quiz with a perennial answer as another FORMER champion won the World Snooker title. There were eight former champions in the line up so quizzers who chose FIRST TIMER had twenty four chances. In this world championship, there were nine countries represented including first timers from Belgium and Iran.
Only one of the awesome eight lost in the first round. Two more followed in the round of 16,so five of the eight quarter finalists had won before.Why this success? It’s the longest format, and just as in T20 compared to Test cricket, the longer format eliminates much of the luck.
All four semi-finalists were former champions; the winner Ronnie O’Sullivan, the oldest ever, equalled Hendry’s record of seven wins.Clearly the greatest of all time when he’s in the mood, there’s no reason why he should get into double figures but, oh dear, I find him such an unlovable character with lengthy a charge sheet of disrespect to the sport and insults to his fellow competitors. This week’s cloud on his triumph was a fracas with the umpire.Come on the kids in 2023.
15)Deja vu at Wembley where Chelsea and Liverpool played 120 minutes football and scored ZERO goals just as the same teams had done in the League Cup Final back in February.Just as in February, Liverpool won the penalty shoot out,this time much shorter with more missed penalties. This astonished virtually every quizzer who had sat down to watch,at minimum,a three goal thriller but it did not astonish the Psychic Sextet of BARBARA FIRMAN,FRED HUISH,JULIA KNIGHT,FREYA MORGAN,LOUISE RAINS and BEN ROGERS who told their loverd ones to call them in from the sun lounger when the shootout began.Chelsea were losing their third Cup final in a row,Liverpool winning their eighth which is far less than you’d guess in a pub quiz.And for Klopp fans like me,the quadruple dream lives on for another few days.But romance in Cup Finals is harder and harder to come by as the huge clubs with huge squads can put out weaker teams in the earlier rounds and still make the later stages. No wonder the papers made more space for the fairy tales of Sam Ryder and Ukrainian victory in Eurovision.
13)Deja Vu for Blackburn fan Nigel Anderton after brief hopes of ending 30 years of disappointment.A Season of ‘What Might Have Been…..’
In January, following an impressive run of 13 games in which they won 9 and only lost 2 matches, Blackburn Rovers found that they had climbed to the giddy heights of 2nd in the Championship. From pre season suggestions of relegation the talk became that of a possible return to the Premiership and its untold television funded riches. Surely a place in the Play Offs was the least that could be expected? Ah but true football fans know that pain and suffering are never far away. Over the rest of the season the Rovers only managed 4 more wins and garnered a measly 16 points to finish EIGHTH in the Championship. Penalties were missed, injuries suffered and confidence drained away. At the start of season 2021-22 a Rovers fan would have thought finishing 8th was pretty good, progress being made. By the end of the season we have been bitterly reminded of that wise observation: ‘It is the hope that hurts’
14)So Man City won the League title by ONE point on the last day of the season,when the top two both won home games against mid table teams already on the beach.Those bland words conceal amazing stories.Both City and Liverpool had to come from behind after nervy starts.Although the timing of the goals meant at no stage were Liverpool ahead in the virtual title race,the afternoon still made for an extraordinary conclusion to a season where City had passed the halfway mark with a 14 point lead.Quizzers,almost without exception were unable to predict City faltering,Liverpool almost perfection.The sole exception,Sophie Brewer,with all the wisdom of youth,predicted that the title would still be open in the 90th minute.Remind me sometime of a long considered rule change,bonus points for quizzers who are alone in getting a prediction right.
16)Deja vu as free scoring Liverpool failed to score in a Cup Finalfor the third time in 2022 so Real Madrid’s one goal was enough to win the Champions League for SPAIN.Hard to remember that Real had been beaten by a team from Moldava on the way.Liverpool were the third English club Real had beaten on the way(The fourth ,Man United ,were beaten by Zaragoza Under 15’s third team or could have been so woeful were they in 2022)Chelsea in the quarters,Man City in the semis had both been tumultuous affairs,lots of drama and late goals.This was a much more tepid affair,perhaps overshadowed by mayhem in the streets as riot police resorted to tear gas.I woke up,thankful nobody had been injured badly.Liverpool may point to an outstanding performance by the Real goalie as evidence of bad luck.
17)Yawn,yawn said us F1 phobes as we thought at Christmas of the season ahead.Monaco will be won by either Hamilton or Verstappen who had hogged the 2021 limelight.The apparent fiasco of the 2022 Mercedes design has left Sir Lewis loitering midfield,floundering with tyre changes on a wet day and beaten yet again by his teammate,George Russell.The shortened race was won by a Red Bull,Verstappen’s car but he too was outdriven by his teammate and winner SERGIO PEREZ,winning only his third Grand Prix.Sergio WHO thought most of us but not those two dazzling young F1 analysts, NOAH BREWER and IMOGEN HARVEY.
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