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This Sporting Life
Posted by Pharrell Bell 2 weeks ago

Alright, P-Bell fans? Hope life is treating you all well?

You know, every week at the bottom of the blog I read the comments from you Average Joes and it really reminds me that there is a whole other world out there that I don't really know about.

I have been a top Premier League footballer all my adult life. It is all I know. Mine is a very sheltered existence; I don't know anything about what happens outside of my world.

And so it would be great for you guys to let me know a little about what it is that you do. What makes my readers tick? What are your hopes and dreams? I'm really interested to hear what beats inside the heart of the man on the street - because your lives are as alien to me as, well, an alien.

I think hearing about your boring, everyday lives will help me gain a better perspective on things, you know what I mean?

>>P-Bell, I've just lost my 12,000-a-year job as a pen-pusher in a biscuit factory because I turned up to work loaded on vodka-Red Bulls and told my boss I wanted to puke in his shoes. Now I can't afford to make rent on my squalid bed-sit so I'm going to have to go back and live with my mom and my mom's house only has one bedroom.

Reading sob-stories like that is really going to help me feel better about myself, so fire them over.

Anyway, let's jump into a chauffeur-driven BMW 4x4 and take a speed-limit-disrespecting jaunt back into my world.

The lads came into training on Thursday in stitches after watching Liverpool make another massive balls-up on the TV the night before. Rafa Benitez's side are fast becoming the joke of the season - and frankly, I'm loving it.

As a Premier League footballer, I am continually hearing that I am supposed to have respect and compassion for my fellow professionals.

Apparently, I am supposed to be sympathetic when a rival club struggles pathetically for form; console an opposition player after he has had a shocker; feel bad for managers when they get the boot.

Well, to be honest, I don't. I love it. I love watching fellow pros struggle. If I'm being honest, I don't even feel bad for them when they get injured. I know I'm supposed to feel sorry for them - but I don't.

So watching Liverpool struggle has been a massive joy to me. At the moment, their lads look to be sticking together; they look to have been getting their heads down and keeping out of the newspapers.

But I can guarantee that sooner or later, the cracks are going to begin to show and that's when it starts to get really interesting. You've got to understand that us top Premier League stars are under enormous pressure - when results don't go our way, that pressure only builds and builds and builds.

It's like a timebomb waiting to go off. I give it one more bad result, and there is going to be a bust-up at Anfield of Biblical proportions.

The most likely place is the training ground. The frustration will get too much for one poor lad and he'll go in hard through the back of someone he doesn't think has been pulling his weight (most likely one of the foreign boys) - and it will spark a right brawl.

Players rolling on the floor; lads sprinting 50 yards to join in; expletives and obscenities echoing off the trees in the frosty morning air; boots and fists and knees and elbows flying around in one big ball of furious frustration.

And Rafa Benitez will be stood on the sideline, watching it all unfold, clipboard in one hand, the other gently stroking his beard. His face will look like thunder, but he'll be grinning manically it on the inside - because nothing clears the air like a good, old fashioned brawl.

Believe me, you wouldn't believe some of the brawls I have witnessed behind closed doors at Premier League training grounds. Fights that would make the UFC look like a Girl Guides convention.

And they have always worked wonders for squad morale. It's amazing. One minute the entire squad are going at it like an old-school WWF Royal Rumble, the next they are hugging each other in the showers as they wash the blood out from under their fingernails.

Let me tell you, this is coming at Liverpool. And you'll know exactly when it has happened, because Rafa Benitez will stand in front of the television cameras a couple of days later and declare that although a couple of players have "picked up minor injuries in training, the squad have had a meeting to clear the air and are feeling confident again".

Next game, they will go out and stuff someone 4-0 and everything will be back on track. You just wait.

Thanks again for all the messages of support at the bottom of last week's blog. Someone called Esizzle left a comment asking about my forthcoming rap album. I don't have time to tell you about it this week, but I will let you know all the details in next week's instalment.

Until then, be cool,

P-Bell

Comments

Posted by PharrellPhan 2 weeks ago

Yo PBell, I wouldn't bother to bore you with my pathetic, meaningless existence; although it's great to know that a start like you actually wants to hear about us common people. I bet Beckham never wanted to hear from his fans. That's why you're number one PBell!
When am I getting a signed poster? I know it probably got stolen when the postman saw it was from you. I've written about a dozen letters asking for the poster, and I'm sure you've read them even though you're busy with your football and music careers. I'll keep waiting...

Posted by kiwihottiegurl 2 weeks ago

Hi P-Dream,

You asked about my life Pharrel? I have been waiting for that question for years. I saw you one night out in London, on my GAP year. I was like, totally drunk and stuff, but you were so hot.

Ever since the Galaxy and David Beckham came to Wellington I was hoping you would one day too! You are way hotter than David Beckham, and probably have less security.

You see, ever since that day I have been wanting to meet you. So, I cut out my boyfriends face in all our photos and put yours in. Then I went through Vogue and cut out attractive babies and pasted them in as well. I think we should have babies. We wouldn't call them Kai though. I really like Harry Potter, so we could call them Dumbledore and Hagrid. Then get them like, so many accessories.

Anyway, let me know when you are coming to New Zealand. Or at least send me some hair... or fingernail clippings.

I love you Pharrel. So, so much.

Kiwihottie

Posted by Pizza 2 weeks ago

Heres your number 1 fan! Im thinking u should do a job swap(there was a tv progam cant remeber its name) with 1 of us average joes.Im a student so we swap for like a week(i wouldnt mind if u wanna stay longer!) and it gets shown on tv. Or do a paris hilton/nicole ritchie program.To pharrel phan i asked p-bell to send me a poster aswell but insted i recieved a signed shirt he wore the day we beat liverpool 3-1 in 2006(u scored a hattrick if i remember correctly).
Thanx p-bell

Posted by ESizzle 2 weeks ago

Come on PhB- making me wait!

Posted by BharellPell 1 week, 6 days ago

I play football in a university league, and my team has just won the cup competition. That's all because I watch replays of your matches day in day out and it helps improve my game watching one of the best at work. No huge pay packets or prizes though, we play for free and all we got were crappy medals... now if only i could have like 1% of your absolutely gorgeous 26k/week paypacket...

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