So, it’s been a while but not ‘cos there was nothing to blog about, more I’ve been pretty busy with conventional Eagles work and TBH life in general which has been pretty tough recently. Bit like our performances on court.

This weekend I had the chance to return to the bench and sit in what I call “the best seat in the house.” Quite how I ever got lucky enough to be afforded such an honour I’ll never quite know but one thing I will tell you is that I never take it for granted and fully appreciate having it.

But more of that in a minute. I’m afraid this blog has to start despite all ready being 119 words in, with an apology. I lost the plot a little bit on the coach home from Cheshire last night and made what I can only describe as a schoolboy error.

After enjoying the journey down through the heavy snow, pouring rain and heavy winds we got to EPSV in plenty of time to enable me to keep enjoying all the goodies my year-old laptop has to offer. Sky Go, Amazon Prime Video, Microsoft Word, Spotify and of course my BT E-mail.

All worked super smoothly and helped pass the hours away until tip-off or game time which is always slightly before tip-off. Young Lappy was stored away as I took my place as Chief Cheerleader and Referee Baiter alongside the much more illustrious and industrious David Forrester.

At this point I also have to say, despite still not yet explaining my apology, that I want to put a shout out to Ian Macleod. Many of you will have noticed and shame on you if you haven’t, that Mac has been absent from the side-lines during the course of 2018 so far.

He’s not well poor lad and I mean really not well. Just when he thought he was getting over things he was hit again and not able to join us this weekend. I’m also hoping the Minnesota Vikings result hasn’t given him another relapse!

We miss you Mac and wish you a recovery as soon as you can make it. I would have said speedy but with the length of time you’ve been out it could hardly be described as so. We need and want you back to full fitness as soon as possible please mate.

So, on with the apology which is becoming the longest one ever and actually needs to be a double one now I think about it.

The game tipped, off we went and 40 pulsating minutes later we notched up a huge bounce back win, I’ll get to Sheffield last Friday soon, excellent contributions from all with Jay top scoring but I think J J Jamal getting most peeps nod as game MVP in what was his best performance in an Eagles vest so far.

Shame for Big T picking up that game-ending injury so early but it shows the value of a deep roster and certainly gave Jamal the opportunity to showcase his talents and prove to everyone why we signed him. He did a great job on C J Gettys and still had time to knock down 4 of 4 from beyond the arc!

Big shout out to the skipper too, Darius produced another solid performance to anchor the side at both ends of the floor. But, where’s this apology I hear you say? Or not as you’ve probably fallen asleep by now.

Well, game over, W secured, commiserations to Cheshire and best wishes for this weekend’s Cup Final imparted and also a thank you to the wonderful OOTA for a great afternoon’s support ad it was off to the coach to type up the report.

Now this was when the problems kicked in. From The EPSV we always divert to the Eastern Delight Chinese Restaurant to fuel up for the journey home and in particular for the players to get nourishment back in their bodies after the game’s endeavours.

For me it gives me that window of opportunity to gather my thoughts, get them typed down on Young Lappy and formed in to a match report to send off to The Papers and Webmaster Dan to ensure that our supporters get to read about our latest performance.

If I can get that done before I get to the takeaway then its job done and relax. It usually means some frantic finger work, 100 mph thought patterns and total focus, but hey, that’s my job and I’ve reached a system and standard now that seems to work and that people seem happy with.

But, disaster! As I booted up my laptop and effortlessly moved in to Word, problems, problems, problems. No mouse on screen, keyboard not responding, I couldn’t type! A quick shuftee around the system gave me nothing. Panic set in as I frantically tried everything to get it working, nothing, nil, nowt, zilch, nada!

So, I had to revert to “old school”, rang The Sports Desk and arranged for a Copy-Taker to ring me back. The call-back came and I proceeded for the next 15 minutes to dictate “of the top of my head” my take on the match report to a very competent copy-taker who unfortunately doesn’t know basketball.

Not her fault as I had to explain certain phrases and spell other names. But we got there in the end and just after we pulled up at The Eastern Delight. Job done and palpable relief from my innards as I settle myself and then took my place at the end of the queue to order my meal, Chicken Fried Rice with a portion of Sweet Chilli sauce!

Webmaster Dan had messaged me to say he was awaiting the report. I realised he wouldn’t get it as I’d used the copy-taker thus meaning that it wasn’t e-mailed. As I was awaiting delivery of my food I phoned him and explained and he said he’d e-mail The Sports Desk and ask them to send a copy and we’d all be sorted.

So, I chilled, got my food and got back on the bus. The meal went down very well as I felt relaxed that the job had been done so I decided that I could get back to trying to figure what had gone wrong with Young Lappy. Quelle Surprise, when I booted it up it had all reverted back to normal and was functioning perfectly.

And, yes, I know the apology has still not been given!!!

Webmaster Dan had now messaged me to tell me that he secreted the report from The Sports Desk and it was now on-line. As I’d dictated I decided to read it and was appalled! It really didn’t flow the way I like it too and in truth I thought it was terrible.

I’m not sure whether MY standard is any good in the first place BUT, this was way below the standards I expect of myself. So, Drum-Roll Please, I APOLOGISE for anyone that had to read it or did read it. It simply wasn’t good enough and to know that it would be published in the following morning’s paper was not a happy thought.

But, Young Lappy was now working so I decided that I’d type anther report more akin with what I like to produce and messaged Webmaster Dan to tell him I was up and running again and that I wanted to do another report for the website.

He said he’d read through the dictated one and thought it was fine. I disagreed and told him the one I was going to do would be better and proceeded to produce one that I did feel was better and to his credit he agreed and replaced the dictated one which meant I felt better.

But, APOLOGY #2! Later on the journey when I was fighting sleep I logged back in to the site and discovered to my horror that the earlier pressure of not having my usual tools to complete my job had obviously really got to me.

Not only once, but twice in both the dictated and “new” report I had said our next game was against Leeds Force. How wrong is that? Completely unprofessional of me not to check my facts showing how pressure, albeit pressure I’d put on myself, can get to you and make you make mistakes.

So, APOLOGIES for that error which obviously appeared in print and is still on the website in my report. Schoolboy error and one I hang my head in shame for. Mind you no-one has mentioned it so that worries me slightly as it probably means no-one really reads anything I do.

There you have it then, over 1500 words just to make an apology or rather two apologies. I haven’t even mentioned the Sheffield game and our combined disappointment nor the magnetic appeal of being back on the bench.

Perhaps I need a third apology for not giving my thoughts on the Sheffield game or perhaps I need to follow up this blog with another one quickly and banish my incompetency quickly? Who knows but again, I can only apologise!!!