"another multi-sport event put t' bed"

Sport There we go again, another multi-sport event put t' bed. When the London Olympics completed I wrote this lengthy obituary, something which I don't propose to do for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. My sentiments aren't that different.  My favourite wins are still those in which the athlete was surprised by their success, which notably happened in the race events as they pushed on ahead of the Australians and Jamaicans.  My enmity towards Gary Linekar as a presentational force remains undiminished.  As exciting nights of competition drew to a close in the pool or on the track, he was always there at the end to suck the atmosphere from the screen like the televisual equivalent of the DJ playing St Elmos Fire at my 18th birthday party (which to be fair I did select) clearing the dance floor.

Once again I woke up this morning not really knowing what to do with myself, not having a whole day's worth of sport to navigate, chasing vicarious achievement for the home nations.  The BBC Sport app on my iPad whose schedule has been invaluable for the past week and a half has already updated, replacing much of the Games coverage with a live blog of the football transfer window day.  Mostly I've been watching the World War I commemoration services which have been a sobering contrast, though thanks to the iPlayer I do plan to catch up on a couple of events I missed even though I know the result, Laura Trott's gold in the cycling points notably and the rhythmic gymnastics.  That's my other main "takeaway" from these Games, a new appreciation for gymnastics.

Social media's been strange during the Games.  During the Olympics, the Olympics was the subject.  But the majority of the people I follow have generally got on with their lives, barely mentioned these Games even when the same athletes they were so very excited about last time were competing.  Even on Bolt nights.  I didn't see much outright hostility, other than during the closing ceremony which was as messy as closing ceremonies tend to be and, rightly, over the number of Commonwealth countries which have deplorable anti-LGBT laws often in places where equality has been fought for a won for other reasons.  I still tweeted away, especially during our unsuccessful netball campaign but even more than usual it was like texting into a vacuum.  The interaction which made the Olympics generally wasn't there.

So yes, another multi-sport event put to bed.  Doctor Who's back in a couple of weeks with all the chaos and mayhem inherent in that, already beginning to swirl thanks to the leaks, the cinema release of the first episode, the usual hullabaloo.  As always I make my usual promise to myself to try to follow some of these sports between Games but I don't know.  Will I choose whatever's being shown on the red button (where so many of these sports end up) rather than watch a film?  We'll see.  I would like to revisit Glasgow now in the wake of the games.  The couple of hours I spent there on a coach trip a decade ago clearly wasn't long enough.  I think I'll leave it until some of the buzz has died down though.  Except if it's anything like Manchester, that could take quite some time...