Light Matter - Irrelevant Irreverence.

23 year old back at home in the Midlands following a degree in Communications amongst the dark and satanic mills of the north west. Wide range of interests including (a lot of) sport, politics, transport, photography, writing and music. I like to consume the world's tragically baffling media across a wide range of topics and throw my opinions at it. You know how they say mud sticks? Well sadly my mud's not very interesting, so it usually falls off...

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If only there was another way to say if only

By Dave | Published 3 March 2012

So, another win for the Albion today… An amazing win at that, a first triumph over Chelsea since 1979. This was also the first time West Brom made it three in a row in the top flight since the fledgling days of our Premier League membership in 2002.

Do you remember those days? We started with games against United, Leeds and Arsenal – the ultimate baptism of fire – then followed with three games against Fulham, West Ham and Southampton, which all ended in 1-0 wins! At that point, we were seventh, and the Hawthorns rocked. Sadly, we only won three more league games that season, all by a one goal margin, and were only saved from a basement finish by the glorious capitulation that Sunderland suffered. To put it into context, although we finished seven points clear of the Mackems in bottom spot, we finished a massive 18 points from safety, and 16 points behind West Ham, who were also relegated!

So, compared to then, these last two seasons have been absolutely wonderful. With Albion looking increasingly likely* to stay in the Premier League, since coming into the “big time” once again in August 2010, they will have survived comfortably twice, and ended so many hoodoos. I’m almost getting bored of hearing “This is West Brom’s first win over [x] in [y] years”. If you think back: beating Arsenal, Liverpool, the Villa at home AND away, Stoke at the Britannia, doing the double over the Dingles this year AND being the only team to take anything from United in the league last season. Add that to wins in previous years over City and Spurs, that leaves us with two things that have eluded us since coming back to the top flight – a win over United, and ANYthing from Chelsea.

Let’s be honest, today was a great day to play Chelsea. It all seemed to fall into place. They’d been in a torrid stretch, but had “turned the corner” by beating a bottom three side at home last weekend. Their confidence levels were at least partly back, and were facing an Albion side who, despite their win over Sunderland last week, had still only won three at home. The signs were all pointing to a Chelsea win (it’s also been noted that Albion are very good at letting struggling strikers hit goals – so there was a lot of worry that Torres would be scoring).

The reality was clearly very different. The stats suggest that Albion totally dominated the game. Opta have already published that Albion had 25 shots, which is the most since Liverpool in February 2009! On top of that, Albion had 14 corners to Chelsea’s 5, and although they still outdid us for possession by 52% to 48%, compare that to the 67%-33% split when we scared them at Stamford Bridge in August. To hear every single news outlet, every single Albion fan and even most Chelsea ones saying that the narrow victory probably flattered the away side is amazing. Everything went right for West Brom today, and we deserved the three points more than any other three points this season, even the big wins of recent weeks.

This is all wonderful, but this brings me on to the “If only” element. Although we’re now in a position to laugh about the season, until these nine points, we were in grave danger of falling into a relegation battle that is sure to twist and turn all the way to a dramatic conclusion. The truth is that, with all due respect, the five teams there now are dire and the chances of any of them reaching Albion’s total of 35 points at this moment is low. But assume that we only beat Wolves out of the last three, we’d still be marooned on 29 points now, and not at all out of the woods.

This has all come out of soul-destroying home form. The three games that really rankle with me, and with many Albion fans, are three 2-1 defeats to Norwich, Swansea and Wigan. That’s two promoted sides and one of the worst Premier League teams since the aforementioned Sunderland.

Assume, as only we can(!), that Albion had taken wins in all of those games by the same scoreline; that’d give us a comparable home record to our frankly baffling away form. Seven wins and two draws at home, six wins and three draws away. We’d have 44 points, a +2 goal difference and we’d be sixth.

That is the difference we’re talking here. Of course, we’re currently ninth, and that’s amazing, but we’re probably going to drop one place when Fulham beat the Wolves tomorrow.

I’m loathe to say “if only”, hence the title of this piece, because these last two seasons have been the absolute best time to be a fan of West Bromwich Albion, definitely in my lifetime, and for those a generation above me, who aren’t quite able to recall the beautiful days of 1978/79. Until City scored six this year, that season was the last time anyone scored five at Old Trafford, in a glorious, trailblazing 5-3 Albion win, and I’m sure you could find plenty of Albion fans from that time who remember beating Valencia 2-0 at The Hawthorns, en route to a tight 2-1 aggregate defeat in the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup against eventual runners up Red Star Belgrade. Oh yeah, that, and we finished third.

Those were definitely the last glory days at West Brom, but maybe they’re coming back – we’re still in with a chance of a European spot, and if we don’t have a disciplinary meltdown between now and the end of the year, we’ll at least be near the top of the Premier League’s fair play ranking. Whether or not England will finish in the top three in UEFA’s ranking is another matter – but that’s just speculative anyway.

I think those three results and the disappointment of early exits in both Cup competitions are the only things that I would have changed this year, but let’s be honest, when we’ve done what we have in the last two seasons, who could really complain?

It really is a great time to be a West Bromwich Albion fan.

Posted in Football, Opinions, Sport, Writing

Incredibly bizarre and random discarding of thoughts to online readers, pt. 1

By Dave | Published 23 February 2012

You’d think it’s more than long enough since I moved out that I’d be writing. This was meant to be the big inspirational break, more than anything. The independence is nice, but moving out into a bigger space allowed me to surround myself with various academic titles as well as my entire DVD collection and a music system that would encourage a bit of spark, rather than cause mild tinnitus, when played.

The opportunities are new and many. Returning home on an evening is no longer a chore, it’s something to look forward to. If anything I’m more worried that my work rate is going to suffer because where previously I’d do anything to escape the clutches of home, I now can’t wait to escape the clutches of the working day.

Anyway, so far, it’s all been a bit of a blur. I’ve finally got the flat into the place I want it. Things are organised, I’ve got a budget system in place and I’ve worked out how to use the heaters to roast me within an inch of my life without causing British Gas to spring a massive one over the amount of electricity I’m requesting.

It was always going to be a bit sink or swim, moving out, because let’s face it, I’ve never bothered to really learn how to use a washing machine in any great detail before – Mother Matter has always done that. Surprisingly, despite an early stress about the fact the drying part of the washer-dryer is a load of bollocks, it’s been fairly smooth sailing. I’ve got all of next week’s clothes hung up, and this weekend I will wash last week’s clothes (the joys of a week off!)

I guess there are two things bothering me, both money related. The first is that, essentially, I’ve not actually gone through a month’s cycle yet, so I don’t know how bills will pan out – I could end up with far more than I thought, I could also end up with nothing – which will create mild amusement before a huge panic and inevitable bridge-jumping. The second is a bit bizarre – I should have expected the unexpected in terms of bills and outgoings, but the fact is that moving out has cost me far more than I had budgeted – TV Licensing has taken £145.50 off me, and there’s a fairly hefty “starting” council tax bill to be paid too, bastards (Note to Dudley Council: I
might amend the “bastards” bit when you start collecting plastic bottles and cardboard in my recycling!)

I’m not short – I had a contingency in place, but certain things have come up that I hadn’t banked on – an £85 shopping bill on my second day, for example, to start me off, as well as buy ridiculous things I had forgotten like a clothes airer, knife block (£3.50! West Midlands Police, take note!), etc.

All of this shit has been exacerbated as I’ve stupidly stood on my glasses whilst hammered on Monday, and that means without some surgical Harry Potter sellotape, I’m going to have shell out even more money. I have £25 to last me until Monday, which is fine, but I’m due in Coventry at 7pm on Monday night, which is a fair chunk of that (although that is ENTIRELY worth it!)

Anyway, forget money, it’s also cost me a lot of free time, so I haven’t really had time to chill out, which in turn means I’ve not had time to even contemplate sitting down and writing. That’s all about to change however.

The reason for this is that I have finally got hold of my Christmas present from Mrs Matter, so, sat behind me in the luggage rack is my suitcase containing a smart record player. I cannot wait to use it, and I’m looking forward to vinyl shopping even more! The concept of being sat there on a balmy night this coming spring, with a record player belting out some vintage jazz, bottle of ale on the desk and writing on the go is absolutely stunning. Pretentious as fuck, yeah, but I couldn’t care less quite frankly.

By the way, I’m marvelling at the fact this has been posted from a moving vehicle, using my phone’s data connection. Internet, you’ve changed… Gone are the days of getting one bar on a train, and here and now I’m connected to the internet at a decent, if not spectacular, pace.

That’s all for now, anyway – as the title suggests, this has meandered and worked its way through not very much. For the last few minutes I’m going to sit and laugh at the poor girl about three rows away who has fallen asleep in the most uncomfortable, unflattering position of all time. But then, that might be something to do with the can of Carlsberg she’s cracked on with at 2:30 on a Thursday afternoon!

-D

“So god is dead, like Nietzsche said; superstition is all we have left” – MSP

Posted in General, Personal, Random, Travel, Upcoming, Work

MATCH REPORT: Five-Star Glassboys demolish Puritans

By Dave | Published 5 October 2011

Stourbridge 5-0 Banbury United
(Drake 21, 52, 59; Canavan 62; Rock 85)
HT: 1-0 / Referee: Chris Husband / Attendance: 345

Things have gone Stourbridge’s way this season. They’re storming in the cups, just two rounds away from a possible draw against league opposition. And if their league form is anything to go by, you wouldn’t bet against them. Tonight’s strong attendance of 345 was treated to a mauling of the mid-table Puritans.

It was one way traffic from the start and a number of half-chances were created by the Glassboys’ effective ball over the top, with Banbury stopper Andrew Kemp being called upon on several occasions to rush out and collect. However, the deadlock was broken in the 21st minute as Aaron Drake superbly took control of a high ball just outside the box and lofted the ball over the keeper to give Stourbridge a deserved lead. Banbury were penned inside their own half and their only real chance came near half time as a low cross was met by Aaron Woodley who steered bafflingly wide with the goal at his mercy.

Five minutes into the second half, the game was held up for ten minutes as one of the referee’s assistants was hurt. He was replaced by a referee’s assessor in the crowd. No more than two minutes later, and Stourbridge had insurance, with Drake slotting home after some sloppy defending. His hat-trick was sealed on the hour with a placed shot under the goalkeeper after another lofted ball bamboozled the Puritans defence. With Banbury falling apart, the unmarked Drew Canavan met a beautiful cross steering the ball to the far corner with power to make it four.

Stourbridge had scored three in ten minutes and were cruising. Banbury briefly came to life with a flurry of half-hearted attacks, but the Glassboys had the last say as Sam Rock’s low effort was too much for Kemp. The three points took Stourbridge above Oxford City and means their only blemish to an outsanding start was the disappointing defeat to rock-bottom Hemel Hempstead Town. Gary Hackett’s men will no doubt be looking forward to a big cup tie as well as the long-term hopes of promotion. This win did them no harm.

Posted in Football, Opinions, Sport

REVIEW: Bloc Hotel, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham

By Dave | Published 3 July 2011

I’m not chic. I get out of breath walking (let alone running), I shop in Peacocks and I wear glasses because I can’t see, not because I want to look trendy. So, you’d think that the most I could stretch to in Birmingham was, if not Travelodge, at least the Ramada or maybe even the Ibis. But no… Alternatively, I decided that this trip needed to be a little bit special. So I hunted, and boy – did I come across a gem.

Located just off St Paul’s Square between the city centre and the iconic Jewellery Quarter, Bloc is a modern hotel; new enough that one could still smell the paint on the walls. Upon checking in at around 7:30 on Friday evening, we were greeted by a very smiley lady who gave us our room card and very direct instructions… Out the lift, turn right, turn right again, walk to the end of the corridor and your room is just to the right. And so it was.

The first thing you’ll note is the corridor, moodily lit by the overhead spotlights, relying on the awesome purple neon-style lights that surround each door. We had both read up on the hotel, and knew it was going to be fairly smart – little did we know what was on the inside.

Bloc’s rooms are inspired by the Japanese Pod Hotel style that has gained massive popularity amongst the budget-hunting travellers in the Far East. I personally would have settled for a king-sized Pod Hotel, provided the person below me was aware it might get a bit rowdy at times(!) – the main reason this sort of hotel wasn’t considered worthy of construction here is that people like their home comforts – surely you’ll agree that your own bathroom is essential.

So it’s not exactly like that – but the rooms aren’t big. Upon entry, you’ll note opposite you a king size bed, wedged neatly between the three walls – most rooms also include a window on the end wall, and all rooms are fitted with a large flat-screen television, attached to the wall at the bottom of the bed. The distance between the door and the edge of the bed is no more than six feet. In most hotels, six feet in and you’d just be stumbling over the tea and coffee making facilities (marking Bloc’s only drawback – there aren’t any). There are no wardrobes, but space to store your bags in a convenient cubbyhole under the bed. There’s also a bedside table which fits perfectly between bed and wall separating you from your companion’s modesty whilst they’re in the bathroom.

Intriguingly, that wall isn’t solid all the way round – indeed, the partition is merely darkened glass – not frosted, not one way – literally just darkened glass. It starts at the end of that wall, diagonally travels to the glass door, which is perpendicular to the main room door. That door and the entry door wall are separated by a full length mirror. It means one corner of the dinky rectangular shaped room is dedicated to the bathroom.

Or rather, wet room, which truly is something to behold. Once the glass door has shut, you hear very little of the outside, and if your companion is lying on the bed, the one solid area of the partition saves you from revealing all! The shower has two options, the head detaches. Turning the tap left starts that head; alternatively, turning to the right starts a waterfall style shower to fall from the ceiling. Although the sink and toilet get a good soaking, the genius and beauty of that shower is insane. The second tap regulates the temperature consistently and accurately. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a better shower in my life, let alone in a hotel. I didn’t want to get out… Although I laid a towel down, the specialist floor tiles in the bedroom absorbed the water quite nicely, and were quickly dry. That may have had something to do with the air conditioning, which was totally user controlled from a dial at the side of the bed. This allowed cool evenings, and warm mornings following showers.

Those little touches aren’t unique – they offer a second pillow each for free, there are plenty of power points, and to make the wet room seem bigger, the whole of the wall is a mirror. The telly has full freeview – which is a rarity in the hotel world these days – and the blind goes the whole way down the window, offering full shielding from the outside light. The overhead spotlights have two settings – dim and bright – and there are two sets of light switches that control all the lights in the room. Further, there’s strange mood lighting in the form of a UV style purple light, beamed from an area just above the window. That offers a very nice effect at night, and the light can be left on without affecting sleep.

The room was yacht-cabin style – compact, but effective. Perfect for us as we spent very little time in there, although we did take a lot of time before we slept after returning from our day out, and we didn’t feel cramped at all. The bed was extremely comfortable, and I could spend all day lying on it, so comfort is not an issue. The walls around the bed were padded, to stop any flailing arms. This only added to the chic-ery… The best example of all of that for me was the cube “bloc” strategically placed on the wall that lit up as a bedside lamp – it wasn’t a straight cube, it pointed out of the wall at all angles!

All in all – a fantastic, brilliant two night experience in a hotel with a massive potential, based in one of the most fashionable up and coming regeneration areas, ten minutes’ walk away from the city – all for under 90 quid. Excellent stuff.

Service: 5 / 5 – Value: 5 / 5 – Room: 5 / 5 – Overall: 5 / 5

Short Verdict: Get yourself down there now. Very much worth it.

Website: http://www.blochotels.com/

Posted in General, Opinions, Travel

For the Record…

By Dave | Published 9 May 2011

I find myself laughing at baseball reports sometimes. Not because they’re rubbish – I find that mlb.com opinion is far better than equivalent opinions over here (and besides, The FA and Premier League websites are very sparse compared to it). More because the prevalence of stats in MLB makes everything – to someone more used to the vague records of football – so lacklustre.

Look at this one (taken from an article written by Britanny Ghiroli about the Orioles’ win on the first of this month):

“The win guaranteed the Orioles (12-13) at least a split of the four-game series and ended April with their most wins since 2007.”

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_04_30_balmlb_chamlb_1&mode=recap_away&c_id=bal

Compare that to this article in the same vein from the Liverpool Echo on Liverpool’s abysmal start to the season (for non-football fans just checking in – this run eventually cost Roy Hodgson his job at Liverpool, which, happily for me, led him to the vacant post at West Brom – and that’s worked out well for all involved!):

“LIVERPOOL’S start to the current campaign is statistically their worst since their ill-fated 1953-54 season which saw the club relegated into the Second Division.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2010/10/04/2010-11-is-liverpool-fc-s-worst-start-to-a-season-for-57-years-100252-27394629/

Look at the difference – in baseball, a first since a period as little as two or three years ago is worth mentioning. In football, you wouldn’t get any sort of serious rateable journalism out of a stat like that – in fact, Liverpool’s start to this season after two games was the worst since 2003, and still no one complained. Okay, usually you wouldn’t find much complaint if, say, Blackpool lost both games to start their season, but Liverpool are obviously a lot bigger than that. Additionally, a lot was made of West Brom’s absolute battering at Stamford Bridge as a signal of them going down. Media coverage around single games or very short periods like this usually concerns the games themselves rather than any sort of records.

Why do I think this is? Well, firstly, of course the baseball season is a lot longer than a Premier League season, and if a player plays four straight years in the Premier League, he’s still ten games short of a full MLB season. Therefore, the amount of news about each game is diluted as it gets older. Four years may not seem a lot to a Premier League fan, but that totals some 648 games for a baseball fan. So if you’re talking about single game records or even short runs, four years ago suddenly becomes more relevant as history. I like to pointlessly namedrop film characters in my writing, so what applies for me here is what Irwin says in The History Boys (oh look, it’s not only a pointless namedrop, but it’s a pretentious namedrop too):

“… because we don’t see it this means that there is no period so remote as the recent past.”

Strangely relevant here. How do you compare present sport with sport from the very recent past? How do you even define the very recent past? Where in 125 years of football does one consider that the recent past transcends into “history”? When does a result become “historic”? In baseball, it seems that journalists love history (in fact, it seems that America as a whole loves history – that’s no sleight!), players make history all the time – but when does it stop being a recent event, when does it become something that we look back on fondly? Is there even a single way of defining history? When you’re young, nothing in your lifetime is history; it’s all something you’ve experienced. West Brom (at last!) beating Aston Villa at The Hawthorns a couple of weekends ago is simply a win over our rivals for many kids – and even for me, the last time we beat Villa was a few years before I was born, but for some people 10 or 15 years older than me, it was one of the most spectacular things of this successful season.

Baseball sees this sort of history too, but on a different scale. Because so many games are played, only the very special things, like perfect games or winning the World Series, are reserved for history bearing back 40 or 50 years. It would take something very special to make the biggest headlines – hitting .400, breaking the hit streak record, the Cubs winning it all, etc. The way that statistics are central to the game of baseball exacerbates things like this – the highest scoring striker or goalkeeper with the highest number of clean sheets might not command the highest wages; in baseball, it seems that statistics make a huge difference to the amount a player is paid, as that is how you define productivity. Although baseball’s a team sport, the one-on-one nature of the plate appearance, and the lower team interaction whilst in play is in direct contradiction to football which, apart from unusual solo efforts, requires the tight intricate workings of team ability. So, the ability of a player is defined very much by his productivity, and as I stated, you define productivity in baseball by numbers. That said there are also external factors – clubhouse presence and popularity in the sport as a whole, but even the latter would be affected by a player’s performance.

In football, often it’s the whole package that defines a player’s wages – players who have succeeded in other teams aren’t guaranteed to succeed in their new one, and sometimes a player is paid less for his possible perceived ability. I bet West Brom are paying less than Lokomotiv Moscow paid Peter Odemwingie, but look at the difference in his performance (15 goals for West Brom this season, more than half he managed in over double the games in Russia).

This is my favourite example of the MLB world – following a 19-6 victory against the Orioles in 2009 (which is a fairly raucous victory!), T.R. Sullivan of mlb.com brought the Rangers right back down to earth with this shattering comparison:

“The Rangers finished with 19 runs, the most by one team in the Major Leagues this season and the most by the Rangers since a 30-3 victory over the Orioles on Aug. 22, 2007.”

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090415&content_id=4286224&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex

And yet, on the same subject, I find a very good statistic in a related article regarding the cycle that Ian Kinsler hit for in the game:

“The last player to collect six hits in a game and hit for the cycle was William Farmer Weaver for the Louisville Colonels on Aug. 12, 1890.”

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090415&content_id=4289562&vkey=news_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex

That’s more like it!

In truth, I’m not a scene of exasperation when the most obscure of stats flashes up on the screen, or even when a “first time since 2008” stat comes up. I love statistics – it’s why the game of baseball appeals to me so much. Football is so uncertain sometimes (that’s why I love it), but baseball is – in terms of numbers – a pretty sure thing every year. As sure as the sun will rise and set, there will be fantastic performances across weeks and months and not over a couple of games. There’s so much playing time between 30 clubs over 162 games each that each one WILL write history, and more people do so. Football legends are made over careers, a baseball legend could be made in a single season.

Interesting stuff really.

Posted in Baseball, Football, Opinions, Sport