onionbagblog

The second game in the Essex Rebels' double header at Our House on Saturday evening saw Loughborough Riders rocking up at the Essex Sports Arena.

Also present were two ex-Rebels coaches in the building, as well as new Head Coach Josh Perkins.

It was great to see Ross Norfolk doing his snapper duties, as well as Jordan Ashley on the officials' bench, keeping order with everything taking place on centre court.

Both ex-coaches are always welcome. Ross managed to steer the club through a very difficult time during his period in charge.

Only last week Jordan Ashley was leading the men’s Div One team to a fantastic home court win against Newcastle. It would be good to see him back one day coaching the Div One men.

Loughborough Riders weren’t quite as exciting. They took to the court wearing their dull grey kit - think Man United away at Southampton vibes back in the day.

It didn’t help that one of their players insisted on wearing the most ridiculously long pair of shorts. They were basically down to his ankles. He looked a bit of a dick, to be honest.

The two teams came out. Home hero Tyrese Hudson was clearly pumped up for this.

Also impressing was Kyron Martin, who sunk a couple of massive three pointers, leading to the first time out in the game being called by the Riders.

Still filing into the arena was a steady procession of student latecomers. Never change.

A hard fought first quarter led to the Rebels taking a 29-16 lead into the second. I didn’t keep track of how many points Tyrese Hudson struck up but he was working hard under the basket with his rebounds and making them sink.

A bit of house business then took place with some messages on the big screen for the students. We were surprised to see Fresher’s Fortnight being plugged. Hang on, FORTNIGHT? When do they actually start studying?

The action returned in what was always going to be a high scoring game. Both teams were resilient out there, taking no prisoners in both offence and defence.

The Kiss Cam then appeared on the big screen. This was my cue to go for a brief toilet break.

MWAHHHH

Rebels were always ahead but they just couldn’t quite get enough space between them and their visitors. A well executed set piece three pointer right on the buzzer allowed Riders to trail by only 7 points at the halftime break.

The third period was incredibly strong for the Riders. They could see this game was far from gone. SHOUT OUT to the dude sitting in front of us who insisted on playing FIFA on his phone throughout the whole game.

Rebels took a 76-63 lead into the fourth. Riders had to be praised for pushing it but Rebels even more so for not allowing them to catch level.

Then we come to the fourth quarter. Oh boy, where to start?

Basketball is a physical game. You don’t see the petulance often on show in professional football, and there’s none of the fisticuffs associated with sports like ice hockey. But it still is pretty intense out there, with plenty of rough and tumble.

There was clearly some beef between Tyrese Hudson and one of the Riders players. I have no idea if there’s any backstory to this.

What can be politely described as a friendly tussle led to the Riders player being tripped by Tyrese, and then around ten seconds later, both were squaring up after a separate incident, eyeball to eyeball.

Oh dear.

There was something of a minor bench clearance. Three Rebs players left the bench to stand up for their teammate. I actually quite like this even if the basketball laws of the game might disagree.

What then followed was endless deliberation by the referee. This went on longer than any usual VAR crap in the Premier League. Almost ten minutes passed before the judgement came.

The outcome was two Rebs players being ejected from the game and somehow Riders having an incredible six free throws from the line.

WTF?

Five of these were sunk with ease. Fair play to the dude but he kept his cool and did the business, taking Riders level with the Rebs. We were heading into overtime with the scores at 90-all.

There was only one way this game was going to go. The Rebs were clearly rankled by the scuffles and then the bench clearance. The six free throws were just taking the piss.

Riders time managed the game extremely well, took their shots, went ahead, and then killed it off.

A final score of Loughborough Riders 101, Essex Rebels 99 seemed a little unfair.

To the Essex Sports Arena! …on Saturday afternoon.

This was the first double header of the new season for the Essex Rebels. It also coincided with the students finally being back on campus. As ever the Rebs organisation had put in a fine effort in marketing the games to both students and local families.

My first obstacle to overcome was the return of the student mediaeval jousting thingy. This is weird, but each to their own. It takes place every Saturday afternoon in one of the University car parks. We’re talking full on mediaeval garms and massive fuck off battlements with plenty of sticks flying around.

This all meant that the pre game Fan Zone outside the Essex Sports Arena was a little more sedate. I still wasn’t quite in the mood to go ahead with a full on Rebs face painting experience.

The Women’s Super League team were up first with a home court game against what is usually a very strong Leicester Riders. It was great to see Megan Haines back wearing a Rebs jersey after a few seasons away. Once a Rebs, always a Rebs, etc.

There’s been plenty of change over the summer months up at Our House. The women have a new Head Coach in young Tor Freeman. I say young coach but I’m not exactly sure of his precise age. He certainly brings a youthful feel to the organisation.

There were also new faces making their home debut on court alongside some more familiar Rebs fan favourites.

It’s always reassuring to see Captain Claire Paxton leading the line on court. She’s the Ryan Yates of the Essex Rebels. Coaches may come and go, but each and every one of them always puts their faith in picking Paxton. She’s something of a Rebels legend these days.

Rebels got off to a storming start. It looks like new coach Freeman is continuing with the same style of play, which basically involves pace and plenty of attack.

Rebs' mascot, Queen B, was out at the front entertaining the family crowd. And then out of nowhere, a cow in a full on mascot costume suddenly appeared. I have no idea what was going on there.

Rebs put in a fine first quarter performance, with all of their three pointers sinking. They took a commanding 31-10 lead into the second quarter.

Riders then managed to settle in the second. They were still finding it tough to come to terms with some of the new Rebels' tactics.

One of these was a really effective set play involving four players taking on a Gareth Southgate style train line formation, before then all peeling off and the ball being delivered to the final shooter.

Rebels were still out in front come the half time buzzer, leading 48-26. The challenge for the third and fourth was not to let such a strong lead slip.

The third period was much of the same. SHOUT OUT to Cerys Leach, who sunk a fantastic three pointer right on the buzzer to give Rebels a 68-43 win into the final quarter.

Having started the game so fast it was inevitable that the home team couldn’t keep up the pace. The final quarter was all about game management and making sure a home win was achieved.

A final scoreline of 94-62 to the Rebels seemed about fair, in what was a very decent home debut for new Head Coach Freeman.

To Broad Lane! …on Saturday afternoon to see Wivenhoe Town at home to AFC Pegasus.

Now that’s a proper NU football club type name. I’m not exactly one of those Against Modern Football types but I do fear future Premier League matches will see fixtures such as Everton versus Hashtag United and Arsenal versus AFC Pegasus.

I arrived on time for once and actually managed to see the kick off. I confess it disorientated me slightly. Wivenhoe were kicking towards the car park end in the first half. This threw me.

Sadly I was only there for the first half with basketball duties an hour or so later at the University. this meant I had to put my foot down and go for it with my hit and miss photography.

And WOH, yeah: this really was hit and miss photography. The Estuary Wilds sun was in, then out, in, then out. You could make some crude joke here but I’m not that type of fella.

This all meant I could only take snaps with my preferred higher shutter speed when the sun was aiding me with my attempts.

I carried on with my usual walk around the ground, finding different angles to take photos of the same old shit. Somehow I got caught up in a game of kids' football.

Out in the middle, the Broad Lane pitch was looking remarkably green after the recent early autumn sand bowl. It’s amazing what a week or so of rain can do to resilient grass.

I missed an early goal for Pegasus as I was lining up my camera, trying to get a perfect picture of the Lino in sync with the stand. More fool me.

It was great to once again hear the young Wivenhoe ultras making a right old bloody racket. I hope they carry this through season upon season, before they become some OAP band of ultras around the year 2076.

This was a highly competitive game. Wivenhoe started in 8th place in the Eastern Counties Division One, with Pegasus in 9th. It was a true test for Wivenhoe after their strong start to the season.

Having gone 1-0 down, they came back with a powerful equaliser and an incredibly strong header from a corner.

I put my camera down and went pretty batshit crazy. I’m starting to celebrate Wivenhoe goals now in the same way I celebrate Forest goals.

Whoops.

That was about it for me. I was surprised I managed to fit in almost 200 or so photos in my 45 minutes at Broad Lane, but basketball was beckoning.

A brief scroll a little later in the evening, whilst waiting for the second basketball match, showed that Wivenhoe managed an impressive 3-2 victory. They went 2-1 down but came back fighting.

Dragons!

250,000 on streets: Palestine march shows movement’s breadth and radicalism

via Socialist Worker

Brixton and Herne Hill in 50 Buildings

Rimbaud and Vaucher discuss Dial House with The Observer

via HNWB

I really wanted to dislike this but begrudgingly I’ve got a soft spot for digi reggae. Sure it’s past its peak here. I much prefer the Greensleeves era from the early 80s to the mid-80s. I know all about Banton and his questionable lyrics. I listened to this far too early for it not to filter through. I’m sure there are some pretty shitty homophobic rants taking place and I know that’s no excuse for justifying it. I tried to block out the lyrics and just listen to the beats, which kind of worked for me.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

To the Tattoo Studio! …early on Thursday morning. I was booked in for another session with my most amazing geometric dot tattoo specialist.

But first how about a trip to Lidl?

You need sustenance in order to get you through an all day tattoo session. I had given the Coop a try late in the day on Wednesday, hoping to pick up something cheap and cheerful in the Gypo Aisle.

No joy, and so Lidl it was.

Hey! How about a swan sandwich?

Blimey.

Waiting outside the doors of the Sunny Colch branch of Lidl shortly after 8 am was a massive fuck off white swan - and that wasn’t the craziest thing that I was to see all day.

I said my polite good mornings to Mr. Swan, picked up a cheapo cheapo cheese and onion sarnie, and then carried on cycling all the way to the other side of the half town, half city towards the tattoo studio.

What greeted me was the usual chaos and BANTZ at 9 am. This is how a tattoo studio should be. The chaos is, of course, managed and never gets out of hand, but it’s definitely a fun environment in which to be.

Thursday was the first of a run of five more sessions I’ve got booked in between now and Christmas.

Ouch, ouch, and bloody OUCH, etc.

The first hour or so was spent on a little planning. My tattoo man always likes to work with a blank slate, and so do I. I had a few rough ideas and then he got to work with his creative skills.

The soundtrack for most of the morning was country pop music. I wasn’t expecting that. It makes a welcome change from the usual 9 to 5 hip hop that has characterised previous sessions.

The playlist then altered in style and genre ever so slightly throughout the day. My ears pricked up when we came around to mid-70s Elvis. This seemed to suit the mood.

My tattoo man made some amazing progress throughout the entire day. He only stopped for the briefest of brief lunch breaks as he was keen to complete what he had started first thing. I wasn’t expecting that.

He went on well past the time that was expected. His attention to detail was incredible. Around 4 pm I was pretty much reaching my threshold for the day.

I cycled off sky high, as I always am after an all day ink session. My route took me back past Lidl.

The Swan had disappeared but I wasted no time in loading up my panniers with cheapo Lidl yoghourt and BOOZE.

A decent day.

I’ve come to the Bee Gees very late in life. What a mistake this was. I used to hate anything disco related. I think it was a fashion thing but this soundtrack is far, far more than disco. Even the disco bits are pretty special. You can’t listen to them without imagining yourself strutting down the street and looking the dog’s bollocks.

At the heart of it all is the songwriting. No matter what style they flirt with, the Bee Gees are exceptional in this regard. This is an amazing soundtrack and one I could listen to with repeat plays all weekend long.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

“I take blogging seriously, you should too. It’s very powerful, as long as we’re really working on the web. There’s a difference between having a product you can access through a browser and being on the web.”

via Dave Winer

To the Sailing Club! ..on Wednesday morning.

The aim of the WivGigs midweek social was to beat the rain. The forecast looked bloody beastly from around 11 am onwards. Thankfully the Weather Gods coincided rather kindly with the tide and time.

It was a little misty preparing both boats for launch. We had Audacity and Varuna heading out on a Wednesday morning.

That’s not bad going for a rowing club that only a few years ago struggled to get weekend crew. We’ve been fortunate in recent months in that a number of our members are a little more leisurely these days.

Some might call it the midweek retirement row. I prefer to call it for what it is: the Bum Dosser Crew.

It was wonderful to see the come and try-er from the weekend also joining us once again. She is no longer a C&T-er but a fully paid up member of WivGigs. My prediction is that she will be racing by the end of the Harkers Yard series this winter.

I’m not sure how this happened but the split of crew for the boats basically worked out as a boys' boat and a girls' boat. I was placed in the girls' boat as the odd one out, natch.

No worries. I actually wrote on a work feedback form ahead of a team re-organisation that I prefer working with girls. My rather belligerent line manager at the time then placed me in a team full of blokes.

Cheers, rather belligerent line manager.

I was designated stroke for the session. I decided to take it fairly gently, given we had a new crew member and this was, after all, a leisurely row.

The riverside banks were surprisingly busy. There were a number of walkers and runners getting their km’s in ahead of the rain that was forecast.

There also seemed to be an abundance of local school kids out and about. It must have been a local INSET day. I did enjoy seeing some of the youth spending their early morning casting their rods out and fishing, rather than staying in bed, which would have been my choice back in the day.

We headed downstream and then downstream and then downstream some more. It was that kind of row. It was most peaceful.

I offered to cox for the return leg. This gave everyone a chance to have a decent row.

To my surprise the designated cox actually asked if I would take Audacity all the way back up to the Sailing Club hard for the recovery. This is not as simple as it seems. It’s like landing an aircraft, albeit without responsibility for the livelihood of 300 or so passengers.

We managed a successful recovery. We didn’t sink. We didn’t crash into any of the other moored boats.

We were also back on dry land just ahead of the rainfall that fell for the rest of the day.

Perfect.

I turned on the radio just in time to hear Kemi Badenoch deliver her keynote speech at the Tory Party conference:

“Those who can work, SHOULD work.”

Not today, Kemi. Thank you very much.