Sport and Video Games - A Mans Heaven?

Our entire weekend was spent watching sport and playing video games, does it get any better? Saturday morning was horrible weather, grey and raining, and it didn't look like stopping. This obviously wasn't going to change our plans (we're British for goodness sake!!) but it did 'dampen' our spirits (see what i did there?!) slightly. By early afternoon it was still raining so we donned our warm clothes, took out the umbrella, readied ourselves with our 'emergency travelling ponchos' and off we went. It was definitely, without a doubt, the coldest weather we've been in since we left the UK in January. It was that cold that we could see our breath! We were very worried on our way to the MCG that we would be sitting in the rain but it seems we were very lucky as we were one of the few rows that was covered. All the people who were meant to be sitting in the rain ended up standing at the back undercover! The constant rain made the match interesting and quite amusing with both sides dropping the ball, falling over and sliding around the pitch. I started the match as a complete neutral, not supporting either Richmond Tigers or Geelong Cats, applauding all plays and generally enjoying the Aussie Rules. But by the second quarter I had chosen my allegiance. Not by who was playing better, not by which colour I liked best but because I had a really, really annoying Geelong Cats fan next to me!! She was the screechiest woman I've ever heard, screaming (literally, screaming) at everything and I decided; 'I don't want to be associated with her!'. From then on we supported the Richmond Tigers who, after a good start, got smashed by Geelong! I'm glad we went to a match again, it was a completely different experience to when we watched in Sydney, especially the weather! The MCG was great too, it looked really empty with fans scattered about everywhere but it turned out there were 35,000 people there! It is just odd as the stadium can hold over 100,000 so it is very difficult to make it look busy!

In the evening we headed off at about 10pm to the Turf Bar to get ourselves settled in and ready to watch the FA Cup Final, Pompey vs Cardiff. The closer it got to kick off the more nervous I got, sinking my drinks quicker and quicker to try and calm my nerves! By midnight (kick off time here) the pub was surprisingly full but most in there were supporting Cardiff. The game itself wasn't great, the goal was a bit crappy and we missed some good chances but I think that sums up our FA Cup run this year so it was only fitting that's how we won it! I was obviously very happy, slightly tipsy and definitely ready for bed by the time we got back at 2.30am!

After a lazy start on Sunday we eventually got ourselves up and out and went and explored a couple of Melbournes laneways in search of a café for brunch. This wasn't a hard challenge, there are loads of cafés, the challenge was finding one that wasn't heaving! We eventually found a nice little one still serving breakfast, just what we needed. The main attraction of the day was an exhibition at the ACMI, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, in Federation Square called 'Game On'. This was an exhibition charting the development and progression of video games and consoles through the years from 1951 when it first began up to the present day. This is in Lonely Planets Top 10 things to do in Melbourne and for good reason, it was really good fun and cheap too! Megan enjoyed it too and was in no way dragged along! They had over 125 playable games including classics like Pong, Pacman and Space Invaders and Megan shamed me by beating me on every single game we played (except Ms. Pacman!!)! We spent a good few hours here playing on every console imaginable. All of them were working, even the original space invaders machines that are older than both of us, the only console that wasn't working was the PS3, the newest and apparently best of the lot!!