The 'postponement season' is upon us once again and with some style too: gale force winds, torrential rain, snow and sleet all combining to put paid to any chance of Mossley's game against Bridlington Town going ahead.
Whilst the lack of football is seriously disappointing (especially with no other local games to fall back on other than the latest instalment of Droylsden's Blue Square Premier death march), I've got to admit that there's a small part of me delighted with the fact that I won't be spending half a weekend writing out a match report.
Speaking of which, a big thank you to the Reporter for their careful editing of my Woodley - Mossley match report in this weeks edition. Obviously, when I say 'careful editing' what I actually mean is 'brutal hack and slash job'.
I mean, why go to all the trouble of setting a scene when you can just lob off the opening paragraphs and start with 'Leon Henry was unceremoniously upended in the 20th minute'? And best of all, why bother letting people know that Mossley were awarded and scored a last minute penalty when a closing paragraph consisting solely of 'Danny Toronczak sent Higginbotham the wrong way' will suffice.
It may sound like sour grapes but I'm not being a precious writer. I'm fully aware that editing is a necessary part of the print media but it does usually tend to be done a with bit more care at other news outlets; in terms of subtlety it was like keyhole surgery as performed by a chainsaw wielding David Blunkett.
Still, better writers than me have had their reports noticeably 'trimmed' in a similar manner and at least I haven't had a paragraph or two added in by them slating the team, unlike the Ashton United match reporter last season (as mentioned briefly on the blog both here and here.
It still means that there's a hole to fill on the blog though so here are a couple of things that may help you pass a bit of time...
First of all, I can recommend spending an hour (or two) reading the Tameside Eye, a blog that does what the local papers should be doing if they weren't so dependent on suckling at the advertising teat of Tameside Council.
Filled to the brim with articles on the hypocrisy and shenanigans of the people that claim to represent us, it's an entertaining and highly enlightening read.
It's also given me an idea as to why not much effort goes into properly sub-editing match reports in the Reporter. Having followed the links on the site to Cllr John Taylor's web site and read what's on there, I'm convinced that an inordinate of man hours are spent at the Reporter's Acres Lane offices making his weekly missives to them legible. Both that and sorting through the half an Amazonian rain forest Irene Woodcock must send them every week.
After that tiny bit of seriousness it's time for a bit of fun and what better than Human Tetris, courtesy of the Japanese who have a knack of making game shows that look fun and interesting to watch, as opposed to the 'faux serious' drivel that gets commissioned over here in the name of entertainment.
Next week: A match report*.
* Weather permitting of course.
1 Comments:
Thank you for the link :) I have added you to my blog roll.
I can confirm that having spoken to people within the reporter that there are people editing John Taylor's letters to make them seem clear, co-ordinated and logical. We have always had an idea that it was Lesley Larkin or his wife doing the letters as he is thick as pig shit!
As for Irene Woodcock... Well! They print her letters whilst smoking crack, yet they won't print my views on congestion charging. Someone at Tameside Tories thinks Irene has something over the editor. Who knows?
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