Friday, August 15, 2008

Winning and Losing

“…... When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion love actually is all around.”
Cheesy ? I know , I know , but the opening to the film “Love Actually” has always stuck in my mind ,and I suspect there is something profound hidden inside its sugar coating . Have you forgotten the sudden death of the surgeon Martin Kelly ? It was News worthy because of the celebrity of his pregnant Actress wife Natasha McElhone .She said this about her loss..
“ To have loved someone so much is worth every ounce of pain I am going through now “, Then there were the parents of Indira Swann who died in a recent air crash in Ecuador they said…”We have no regrets about Indira going other than the outcome . No worthwhile endeavour is without risk.” No indeed.
I have always loathed Sebastian Coe , his pushy mother and his presumptuous manner, but with the death of his father Peter last week , I saw him anew. Peter was Lord Coe`s coach ,mentor and friend .The two worked together with meticulous regard to detail and steely determination to win
I cheered Ovett in 1980,when he took the 800m ,seconds below Seb`s time, in what was a catastrophic race for the favourite .It was assumed Ovett would win the 1500m as well. It was his strong event and Coe had never beaten him. In the taxi Peter said nothing ,only putting his arm around his defeated son, in that rare moment, not coach or colleague just a father.
As we know, Seb triumphed at the longer distance but it was the picture of the two men in a moment of shattering defeat that strikes me now .Seb has never said much more than, “I liked the guy”..
Enough of the maudlin already,…Now the dancing horses and little boats fade away , the true Olympics begin .Good luck to all those competing ,in what I hope, will be celebration of all that is finest of the human spirit,( and watch out for Martyn Rooney in the 400m ,looking very sharp indeed)

11 comments:

Mu Tai Dong said...

LOVE is ALL aroun' !!

You most profound and thoughtful blogmate and make tears come in little eyes. I watch Olympic mix sad and happy.. for homeland and then.

Raedwald said...

The late Alan Coren used to tell a wonderful Lord Coe story.

Coe was attempting without success to get past the gate guard to Centre Court, having lost or mislaid his pass. The guard kept advising him to visit the office and sort it out. Exasperated, Coe blurted

"Don't you know who I am? I'm Lord Coe"

To which the guard replied

"Well, you'll be able to run round to the office all the quicker, then."

Newmania said...

...R that is magnificent ""

Thansk Mu tai

Anonymous said...

What should do for our Olympics in 2012? Bear in mind that nulab and that vomit making social worker, Jowell, will have organised much of it prior to the Conservatives taking power and that we've £7 million to spend.

We know what nulab's planning: another Dome fiasco.

I've suggested to Jeremy Hunt on his blog that we should totally change the nature of the genre for our opening.

The rest of the world will expect to see the heritage that Britain is renowned for - and we could make very cost effective use of that and, say, our regimental heritage taught some new tricks.

What does Britain have that the rest of the world don't have - and yearn for?

Shakespeare

There have been a number of sports adaptation productions of Shakespeare such as 'O' - Othello as a basketball match.

As China has opened up the genre to computerised special effects, and a we can't afford the fireworks, how about a special effect, back to the future, sports adaptation of Shakespeare as a theme?

Elizabethan Special effects: jousting (yes the E's did still have jousting and other medival war games), equestrianism, archery, hurling. Bring in King Arthur, Merlin, Ivanhoe, Brian Boruma and so on to represent all parts of the union.

Much as I'm opposed to UK holding the Olympics, we're stuck with it. We certainly have to come up with something - and quickly.

What do you think we should do, Newmania?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps we could get the cast of Starlight Express to do a rollerblade Henry V 1 & 2 adaptation?

Newmania said...

I am thinking about it , what i do noy wantvis the vapid tasteless Millenium dirge so the opposite of that would be good.

My first thought is massed bands ,pomp and circumstance ,Shaespeare ..I would love it he is my touchstone in all things but does it translate to billions ?

Please god lets not have an out on f town shopping centre expressed through the medium of dance ...the usual offal in other words

Anonymous said...

My first thought is massed bands ,pomp and circumstance ,Shaespeare ..I would love it he is my touchstone in all things but does it translate to billions ? (Newmania)


Yes! Loads of pomp and circumstance wih the miliatary bands and our great orchestras.

Does Shakespeare translate to millions? West side story does.

Perhaps we should ask McCartney and some of our great musical composers to write a back to future, special effects Romeo and Juliet, divided by politics, united by sport - and time travelling Shakespeare, Nelson, Churchill, Merlin, King Arthur and Brian Boruma, the Guards regiments etc etc etc:)

The baddies could bear a startling resemblance to Gordo and co.

Newmania said...

They clearly need you in charge Flo

Newmania said...

Test

Newmania said...

test

Newmania said...

Finally

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