Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

I used to visit West Africa a great deal, & three things stick in the mind.

1) The dreadful poverty.

2) How "ugly" SOME parts of Africa are, dry & brown, not green & lush as you might imagine, & as in, say, Kenya, in the east.

3) The sheer enthusiasm for football. The kids have a ball, & some 2nd hand replica shirts, & play from morning until night, non-stop.

Today, the Premiership & Championship is stuffed with African players, including amongst the Big Four Teams, many of them from the poorer countries like Senegal & Congo. Newcastle now have a brace of Senegalese forwards, with a market value of £30 million maybe. These lads must earn fortunes, whatever planet must they think they have landed on, & what sort of contrast does, say, Blackburn or Newcastle present to a lad from Congo or Senegal?

I can but imagine how avidly they are followed from home, the hero-worship they must get. What a journey it must have been for them!

The amount of money sloshing around in football is a bit obscene in some ways, but there are some real fairytales, too.

[JaffaCake]

I used to visit West Africa a great deal, & three things stick in the mind.

1) The dreadful poverty.

2) How "ugly" SOME parts of Africa are, dry & brown, not green & lush as you might imagine, & as in, say, Kenya, in the east.

3) The sheer enthusiasm for football. The kids have a ball, & some 2nd hand replica shirts, & play from morning until night, non-stop.

Today, the Premiership & Championship is stuffed with African players, including amongst the Big Four Teams, many of them from the poorer countries like Senegal & Congo. Newcastle now have a brace of Senegalese forwards, with a market value of £30 million maybe. These lads must earn fortunes, whatever planet must they think they have landed on, & what sort of contrast does, say, Blackburn or Newcastle present to a lad from Congo or Senegal?

I can but imagine how avidly they are followed from home, the hero-worship they must get. What a journey it must have been for them!

The amount of money sloshing around in football is a bit obscene in some ways, but there are some real fairytales, too.

They'll feel right at home in Newcastle.
Must be some good teams in Africa if a team with these two up front lost every game of the ANC, and Cameroon, Nigeria and Egypt never even made it

[DMorgan]

Confirmed greatest party of all time the day an African nation wins the world cup. Hopefully sooner rather than later!

[tonytats]

I decide to wimp-fold, but my mouth springs to life & says "15,000". Bugger.


Lol so I'm not the only one? Whose mouth doesn't do as it's told

I love this comment

[tikay]

I used to visit West Africa a great deal, & three things stick in the mind.

1) The dreadful poverty.

2) How "ugly" SOME parts of Africa are, dry & brown, not green & lush as you might imagine, & as in, say, Kenya, in the east.

3) The sheer enthusiasm for football. The kids have a ball, & some 2nd hand replica shirts, & play from morning until night, non-stop.

Today, the Premiership & Championship is stuffed with African players, including amongst the Big Four Teams, many of them from the poorer countries like Senegal & Congo. Newcastle now have a brace of Senegalese forwards, with a market value of £30 million maybe. These lads must earn fortunes, whatever planet must they think they have landed on, & what sort of contrast does, say, Blackburn or Newcastle present to a lad from Congo or Senegal?

I can but imagine how avidly they are followed from home, the hero-worship they must get. What a journey it must have been for them!

The amount of money sloshing around in football is a bit obscene in some ways, but there are some real fairytales, too.

They'll feel right at home in Newcastle.
Must be some good teams in Africa if a team with these two up front lost every game of the ANC, and Cameroon, Nigeria and Egypt never even made it

Maybe some great players, & some not-so good Managers. I am just guessing, I don''t know, but I'm not immediately familiar with the names of too many African Managers in British Football, though there seems an abundance of Scots.

The subject - the development of African players at the highest level in European football has fascinated me for some time. Does anyone know how many African lads are on the books of  English Premiership Clubs? (Can anyone reply bedore Tighty reels off their names, alphabetically sorted by Club, eye colour, d-o-b etc?). I think it's just the greatest thing.

To the best of my limited football knowledge, there must be 10 or 12 Senegalese lads in the Premiership & Championship, including at least two at Newcastle, &, at one time, three or more at Stoke.

I used to visit Gambia a great deal, a tiny country wihch is landlocked entirely by Senegal, except for it's Atlantic coast, & which surrounds, on both sides, the River Gambia. Both countries have exquisite birdlife, & between them, I do believe, they are home to more species of birds than almost any other nations on earth. Commerce ithere s run almost exclusively by the Lebanese.

The Gambia & Senegal were also at war from time to time, & I was in The Gambia one year when they were at war, which was rather exciting, with troops & roadblocks everywhere, & on another occasion, when the coup d'etat went off. The ousted President, Dawda Jawara, fled to, & lived in, Kent, England, for many years I believe, though he has now returned to The Gambia.

Jeez, I'm rambling here.

From Newcastle United, to West Africa, war, military coups, & a bird photo, all in one Post, whilst next door there have been 27 pages of discussion camera apertures, lens settings, & invisible photographs.

Here is a hamerkop, the national bird of The Gambia.

[tikay]

Confirmed greatest party of all time the day an African nation wins the world cup. Hopefully sooner rather than later!

Well I'm not sure about the party, I'll swerve that if I may, but yes, it will happen sooner than most think, maybe even in my lifetime. How great would that be, from being owned (the slavery ties...) to them owning us?

Good to see you at DTD on Saturday. Just how good is that place? I may return this weekend, for the - please don't laugh - 6 max.

Whilst on this week's DTD 6 Max, name the connection between 6 max poker & this photograph. Even Tighty won't get this, but Ralphy boy might.

[tikay]

I decide to wimp-fold, but my mouth springs to life & says "15,000". Bugger.

Lol so I'm not the only one? Whose mouth doesn't do as it's told

I love this comment

Thank you, & no, you are not alone, I'm sure a lot of us do it. Don't be sad though, in your case, it's just your mouth that is uncontrollable. At my age, other areas of the body develop what poker players might call leaks.

I was not aware you were a reader of this Diary of culture? Welcome aboard.

[tonytats]

Ty I read most of the diaries on here more of a lurker than a poster

[tikay]

No TV work this week, but plernty of work next door, as we celebrate our 5th Birthday, with all sorts of "5" based freebies & giveaways. Can barely believe I have been there 5 years & 5 months now, sheesh, time flies.

Need to do some blonde housekeeping this week, some stuff will need my time & attention, but all good. I think.

Am free this coming weekend, & every night this week, then tied up the next 2 weekends, so off to play some poker this week. The choice seems to be the DTD 6 Max, the Fox Club Monthly affair, or even a little jaunt to play some of the sideys in the WPT Fessie in Venice. At present, will almost certainly plump for the DTD 6-max, despite the fact that Fox Club is just a short train ride from home. There is a nice Tourney at Palm Beach tonight, but those boys would be too hot for me.

I'd rather enjoy some Omaha or DC if I could find a cash game somewhere local, or even some Omaha at The Vic, but the last 3 times I have gone to The Vic to play Omaha I've been unable to get a seat, it's very much a venue where your face needs to fit, or you are a regular, if you want a game.

If Jim McS is reading, what nights does the G-Luton DC game run these days?

Next job, try & catch up on my PM backlog. Sorry guys, I'm running as fast as I can.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Oh, & good luck to LilDave, & any other blondes, in the Venice WPT this week.

[RED-DOG]

No TV work this week, but plernty of work next door, as we celebrate our 5th Birthday, with all sorts of "5" based freebies & giveaways. Can barely believe I have been there 5 years & 5 months now, sheesh, time flies.

Need to do some blonde housekeeping this week, some stuff will need my time & attention, but all good. I think.

Am free this coming weekend, & every night this week, then tied up the next 2 weekends, so off to play some poker this week. The choice seems to be the DTD 6 Max, the Fox Club Monthly affair, or even a little jaunt to play some of the sideys in the WPT Fessie in Venice. At present, will almost certainly plump for the DTD 6-max, despite the fact that Fox Club is just a short train ride from home. There is a nice Tourney at Palm Beach tonight, but those boys would be too hot for me.

I'd rather enjoy some Omaha or DC if I could find a cash game somewhere local, or even some Omaha at The Vic, but the last 3 times I have gone to The Vic to play Omaha I've been unable to get a seat, it's very much a venue where your face needs to fit, or you are a regular, if you want a game.

If Jim McS is reading, what nights does the G-Luton DC game run these days?

Next job, try & catch up on my PM backlog. Sorry guys, I'm running as fast as I can.

Click to see full-size image.

Sadly, I can no longer view these images.

If you think you can help, please post here.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=30601.msg1503826#msg1503826

[tikay]

What? He's spamming his Diary on here now! Jeez, spammers, don't you just love them?

[Karabiner]

If you want to play Omaha at The Vic Tony you probably need to get there early afternoon and get your name on the original list for the game and then play some holdem while you wait for the Omaha game to start up.

If you waltz in there around 8pm the game will no doubt be running but there will be ten people on the waiting list and the turnover is slow meaning that your seat might not come up before midnight.

You might also need to find out what time the Omaha game usually starts as the games generally begin at roughly the same times every day with some variation at weekends, and it might be possible to phone through in advance to get your name on the list.

I've no clue about the picture other than it might be 1960's, possibly in Soho...

[smashedagain]

So why no second Omaha table?

[tikay]

If you want to play Omaha at The Vic Tony you probably need to get there early afternoon and get your name on the original list for the game and then play some holdem while you wait for the Omaha game to start up.

If you waltz in there around 8pm the game will no doubt be running but there will be ten people on the waiting list and the turnover is slow meaning that your seat might not come up before midnight.

You might also need to find out what time the Omaha game usually starts as the games generally begin at roughly the same times every day with some variation at weekends, and it might be possible to phone through in advance to get your name on the list.

I've no clue about the picture other than it might be 1960's, possibly in Soho...

Much appreciated Ralph. I have no problem getting up to The Vic a few afternoon a week. I'm not so keen on hanging around in Cardrooms, or playing Hold Em cash to kill time, but I may try your suggestion.

I know they regularly have a big Omaha game going, with Bambos, Mr Channing & Co in it, I fear that'd be a step too far for me, but I'd be comfy at £1 £1, £2 £2, or £5 £5. Until I went skinto, that is.

The photo? Nah, it was a 60's TV Show, sort of detective jobbie.