Sport and family life going hand in hand
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Wednesday March 24 2010
YOU MAY or may not have noticed that 'Inside Right' has been missing from these pages for the past couple of weeks, on a sabbatical of sorts. However, yours truly hasn't been serving a suspension for bad taste, lapping up the sun in warmer climes or partying the day and night away in the midst of the Cheltenham madness.
No instead 'Inside Right' has being carrying out more sobering yet rewarding tasks, like changing nappies and preparing feeds at some ungodly hour of the morning.
The last time this writer saw 5 a.m. it was when negotiating the way home from some nightclub or the like but now it's a common chore to trudge up and down the stairs in the wee hours.
Plenty of advice was forthcoming from all and sundry as the birth of our first offspring drew nearer - get plenty of sleep in before the arrival being the most common, but unless you've got the hibernation skills of a grizzly bear that one's not much use to you.
Unfortunately we can't sleep for months and then go about our business like the Duracell bunny so you just have to soldier on, grin and bear it or any other worn out cliche you care to mention.
Another thing that 'Inside Right' was told on more than one occasion was that the amount of sports viewing would take a severe hit and decrease dramatically after the birth of our bundle of joy.
Well things didn't start too badly on that front as we watched the Ireland versus England Six Nations encounter in the labour ward (not during the birth in case you were wondering, even 'Inside Right' isn't that sports mad).
Before heading into the hospital a colleague suggested that if Ireland won we should name the child after our winning try scorer. We came damned close to having the only girl in the parish called Tommy.
Our darling daughter has yet to impinge on daddy's sporting viewing, in fact quite the opposite, although actually getting to a real live sporting event has proved a tad difficult.
It's a case of baby in one hand, bottle in the other (baby's bottle in case you're thinking of calling the social services) and using the toes, nose or whatever else is available to flick between channels.
It's amazing what kind of obscure sports you get to see in the depths of night.
Of course we're under no illusions here, and realise things will change dramatically when the apple of our eye starts to get a penchant for cartoons and the like, but 'Inside Right' has already started working on that one.
When the better half is out of earshot daddy starts sending the subliminal messages, whistling the theme to Match or the Day or the Sunday Game and rattling off All-Ireland winners for the last 25 years to the tune of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'.
The little sweetheart timed her arrival to perfection as it meant 'Inside Right' got to see the Cheltenham Festival in its entirety for the first time in years.
Staying in sentimental mode, although winners were hard to come by, the entire meeting was lit up by the unbridled joy of Katie Walsh, who rode two winners, and the pride in the eyes of her father Ted.
Sometimes family and sport go hand in hand.
