As I write this my head is aching after a quality night out for Rik's birthday, I am getting text updates from my mother regarding Andy Murray's progress in the Australian Open Final (stupid internet won't let me stream from the BBC website) and I am trying to coherently express myself in this blog before I relax into speaking my own brand of vernacular slang... Innit.
I had a conversation with my dad the other day, and I think it may be worth sharing, about Wayne Rooney.
Wayne's presence in the press these days is fast becoming ubiquitous; seeing prostitutes, handing in a transfer request, trying to find the next street soccer star etc. etc.
But what the old man and I were concerned with is the way he plays football. Or to be precise, the way he used to play football.
On his day Rooney is one of the best players in the world, no one can doubt that. He can play a pass as swift as an Andy Gray sacking (Go me, topical reference!) , he can burst the net with ferocious shots and his touch, as delightfully epitomized against Birmingham last weekend, is second to none.
But he has not taken off to the worldwide superstardom as was fatefully predicted when he curled a delightful shot past David Seaman as a 16 year old to end Arsenal's 30 match unbeaten run.
Wayne Rooney used to play with a "swagga" on the pitch. He used to run at people and not be afraid to pull the trigger and used to have this fearless, raw talent that made everyone who watched him stand up for a closer look, including current club Manchester United who confidently spent 30 million squids on him! But you know all this, right?
Now, he is more mature, he works hard for the team, he is selfless in possession. Credit to him for all these attributes but I have to say, I miss the old Wayne. When was the last time you saw him do this: http://bit.ly/gEfIRK
My dad remarked that Wayne Rooney is not what he used to be after his metatarsal injury on the last game of the season before the 2006 World Cup.
The reason I am saying all this is because I am drawing a comparison with Wayne Rooney and myself.
Not on the football pitch though, my arena is the news room.
I have just started an NCTJ journalism course with Brighton Journalist Works with the hope of getting the qualification to take my first step on the ladder to becoming a sports journalist. I aim to be fearless, a little brash, and put 100% into what I am faced with. Now, two weeks in it has already got in to full swing. The people I have met are great, the course is teaching me stuff everyday and I am slowly getting used to the early mornings. So when the writing form of a metatarsal injury comes along, which no doubt it will, I aim to be the Wayne Rooney of old: hard working, driven and with a slight air of intrepidity.
Ah, crap. Murray lost.
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| Rooney: Confidence personified |
