A Long Time In Sport

A week, they say, is a long time in politics. Well, they may well be the case, but the same is true if you a sports fan.
Let me explain what I mean by taking you back to last Saturday. The day was full of promise as I awoke, it was of course, Grand National day, which is one of those special days in the sporting calander. The previous evening, I had read up on every horse running in the race and decided, in my wisdom, that I would quite like to put £10 each way on Comply or Die. Don't ask me why, I just had a feeling about it. Well, what with one thing and another on that busy Saturday morning, i never got round to putting the bet. Never mind, i thought, I was still off to Edgar Street that afternoon, to watch, what would surely be a win for Hereford United, over lowly Chester City.
All was going to plan nicely and the Bulls were 2-0 up at half time. 'Excellent', i thought, and all concerns about the unplaced bet vanished from my mind.
The second half started and Chester, understandably, were pressing for a goal. Unfortunately they scored it, which set the nerves off a little. 'Oh well', I thought, 'no clean sheet this week, but we should hold out for this win'. Time moved on and we were managing to keep Chester at bay. It got to that time of the afternoon and the result of the National was displayed on the scoreboard. 'NOOOOOOOO!' I cried, 'I don't believe it!' Comply or Die had only gone and won the thing! My heart sank. 'Well' I said, 'as long as we can hold out for this win, it won't be such a bad afternoon'. So I hope you can imagine my absolute heartbreak, when, in the 93rd minute, Chester were awarded a penalty, which they duely went and scored. For a short time on Saturday evening, I was utterly inconsolable. What had started as a day of such promise, had turned out to be a disaster.
Now, I know what you're thinking, that's just one day, and believe me, tha was long enough. But what I mean is, when you follow sport, it's never very long before the next match. On Monday morning, I was still livid about what had happened at the weekend. But, as I sit here on Friday, the optimism is there once again, for all to see, about tomorrow's encounter at Darlington. The bet that never was, has been forgotten and another weekend of sport awaits us. Surely it can't be as bad as the last one... can it?