IN T' NET

An occasional Basketball Diary ... (from Yorkshire, in case tha'd not noticed)

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30/09/05

We came close towards the end of last season, but after March, when there were less weekend results, figures eased off, as they always do, for the close-season. I then expected that we'd have to wait until well into this season before we could expect to reach five figures, especially as the season didn't start until the second weekend of September.

The first weekend of the season seemed to bear out that theory, but on the second weekend there was a surge on Sunday and Monday, with over 400 hits each day, for the first time, and then last weekend we had a 600+ day and a 500+ day. With the weekdays regularly topping 300 visitors, we cruised past the previous best month early in the week, and broke the 10,000 barrier with a couple of days to spare.

Thanks to all those of you whose visits helped us to that total. Knowing that there's that degree of interest out there gives me a boost, and helps  to keep me focussed.

The two strands of my basketball life are going reasonably well at the moment. Pawprint is staying relatively up to date, and I'm getting to see a few games at weekends, as I'm announcing at Nottingham and Durham Wildcats.

That means, of course, that I have to take my laptop with me whenever I'm away on a Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon, so I can both update Pawprint, and ensure that the EB Results' Service runs smoothly.

Nottingham doesn't present too many problems, as, even though I can't get online at the venue (which, being a University, has its own exchange, meaning that my dial-up software won't work), it's not too far to get home after the match (less than an hour), and if I'm desperate I can always visit my brother-in-law, who lives in Nottingham.

At Spennymoor, I have the advantage that the very helpful Sports' Centre staff allow me to log on both before and after the game, so I'm able to do what I have to ... at least until ten o'clock, when for some strange reason they seem to want to go home!

Again, that's not too big a problem, as I can be home within a couple of hours, to carry on where I left off (and the vast majority of results should be in by ten anyway).

The problem I do have is that we've recently bought a share in a static caravan in Leyburn, at the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, and it's on a site that has no landline telephone. So, whenever I go up there early (as I am today, to do some work on the 'van) I'm out of internet contact from when I leave home until I get to Spennymoor the next afternoon, and then again after I leave the Leisure Centre until I return home on Sunday luchtime.

Obviously the eventual solution will be to equip myself with a wireless connection, but while I'm saving up for that, I've been trying to find somewhere within half an hour or so of Leyburn (such as Northallerton, Richmond ... not the -on-Thames one! ... Ripon) where I can get online at other times.

Does anyone know of any Internet Cafes (or even pubs or hotels with a co-operative management), where I might be able to do so? If you have any ideas, drop me an e-mail at webmaster@pawprint75.co.uk

11/09/05

Over the past couple of weeks, Nicky Brown, at EB HQ, has made strenuous, and successful, efforts to persuade them to extend that coverage, with the result that this weekend's Cup matches were all displayed on page 387.

So, what happens? A large number of teams proceed to cock up the results' service!

By Friday night four of the matches had been declared forfeit, as the visiting teams had neither the foresight nor the efficiency to get their players registered in time;

Four teams (two Men's and two Women's) didn't phone in the results at all on Saturday (one of them came through at 10:45 this morning - and we're still waiting for the other three!);

Only one team (Aston Athletics) managed to phone their result through in a reasonable time (within two hours of tip off); the others ranged from 20 minutes to 3 hours 50 minutes late!

None of which looks very good to the people at Ceefax who're waiting for me to phone the results to them ... nor to those fans who still rely on the TV text service to know what's happening.

I trust that none of the teams who made this such a poor start will be amongst those who complain if Ceefax decide to stick with just EBL1 again in future!

The season's award for the biggest balls-up already has a clear front runner. It's the team which not only left it till ten to ten to phone in the result of a 4 o'clock game, but then only recorded the score and the winning team!

Fortunately there were only a few matches this week, so I was able to match the result to the correct game; it's a good job the winners weren't taking part in several competitions (as can happen, in, say, EBL1, U-18 and U-16), or I'd have been stumped!