Game, Set and Utter Boredom

So, where to start with today's rant? Bloody Wimbledon? Tom sodding Cruise and his frigging divorce? Wanker bankers? Tory Bastards? Now, I know that I only ranted about the tennis last week but, damn it, this is my blog and I'll rant again about it if I want to. Besides, I covered the bankers last week in a new story over at The Sleaze and I'm working on another swipe at the Tory bastards right now, whilst Tom Cruise can wait until another day. So, bloody Wimbledon - I'm glad that sour faced Scots git lost. I haven't forgotten him saying, with regard to football, that he'd support 'anyone but England'. Well, that works both ways - if I had any interest whatsoever in tennis, which I don't, I'd support anybody but Andy Murray. However, I'm not interested in tennis, which is why I was livid to have my Saturday evening TV viewing disrupted for a second week running by by fucking Wimbledon. To add insult to injury, this time it was because of the Women's Doubles - who gives a fuck about doubles, for God's sake? This time the disruption spread to BBC 2, resulting in Henry IV (Part One) - a prestige production commissioned as part of the 'cultural Olympiad' - was treated abominably and delayed by an hour.

But what the heck, nothing's more important than Wimbledon, is it? At least, that was the impression given by the BBC's sports presenters, who bundled their way into the schedules, pushing aside scheduled news and drama, with the attitude that viewers should be grateful for having the chance to see Wimbledon forced on them. They reminded me of those 'good at sports' bullies we all had to endure at school, who would oafishly put down anyone expressing an interest in anything non-sport related. Of course, the BBC will point to the alleged viewing figures for the Men's Singles final as proof that 'everyone' likes Wimbledon. Unfortunately, I take those figures with a very large pinch of salt. I was out on the road when the final kicked off and was hoping for a quiet journey as I'd been led to believe that everyone would be at home watching the tennis, Nothing could have been further from the truth, as I had to endure a tortuous journey, plagued by hordes of Sunday drivers and other morons on wheels. Moreover, at various points in the afternoon, my attempts to watch the BBC News channel were thwarted by the BBC's habit of continually cutting to Wimbledon and showing continuous match coverage for up to half an hour at a time, doubtless inflating the viewing figures by adding unwilling viewers such as myself. Which of course is my biggest problem with this tennis shit - it wouldn't be so bad if I was being given a choice of watching it, but in reality I was frequently I was being denied any choice.