PROUD TO BE A JAMBO

What can you say about the cup final that hasn't already been said? Probably nothing, but here's the official Big Al view anyway (I missed the deadline in NIT32). on arrival at Soapdodge City, the first thing that hit you was the weather. I'm sure I saw a couple of brass monkeys freezing on the street corner. The priority was to get inside and quickly. Two options

a) Chippy
b) Pub
Option 2 was unanimously taken. The London Road Tavern may not appear in the Good Pub Guide but it has two advantages i) it serves beer and ii) it was warm inside. It was also packed with Jambo nutters and soon the songs were flowing non stop. It's the only time I'll sing "No Soap In Glasgow" in a Glasgow pub without getting my head kicked in. Does anybody remember the big Rock Steady steward that stood up the back of the Shed? You know, he was nicknamed "Santa"? Well, he was the one starting off all the singing.

What a match it was. I can't believe we didn't win when wee Robbo slid in the equaliser my mates had to scrape me off the ceiling. When the fat Geordie twat scored those two goals my mates had to stop me topping myself. Still, there's always next year (where have I heard that one before?). Neil McCann was simply magic and Baggio kept a shot down for once. The bus back to Gorgie was like a morgue. Everybody was proud of the lads but obviously gutted that we'd played so well but we are still trophyless.

But the depression lifted as we entered the Tynie Arms. I did think of going to the Caley Hotel to welcome back the Hearts players but it was nice and warm in the pub. More to the point, it was a pound a pint so I wasn't going anywhere. Once again, when the beers start flowing so do the Hearts songs. Anybody walking past the pub must have thought we had won the cup. God only knows what it would be like if we did win!. The pub was jumpin'....or at least some of the Jambos in the pub were jumping, including myself. People were standing on chairs, tables, Hibees etc. bouncing up and down, off walls, bouncing Hibees off walls. Amazingly no damage was done, except liver damage and nobody got chucked out or barred. Mind you, I was standing next to most of the Tynie Arms football team and they're hardly going to get banned from their own pub.

The songs were brilliant. First there was "Stand up if you hate Hibees" (everybody stood up), then "Sit down if you love Jam Tarts" (everybody sat down on the floor) then "Jump up if you hate Rangers" (everybody jumped up and down). But the best song had to be when Village People's YMCA came on the jukebox. The chorus was altered to "It's fun to be in the HMFC complete with hand movements. mental, absolutely mental.

I met a couple of Linlithgow boys, one of whom was Grant who does the NIT Internet page, the other was Brian Smillie who had reckoned that Big Al was really the same person as Eric. Sorry mate, but all Big Al articles are written by Big Al.

The pub was closing so we headed uptown to drink some beer and shag some F...ing women (well that is how the song goes). A few hours, a traffic Island and a pizza kebab later we were back at Tynecastle....back in Tynecastle to be precise. Yes, midnight run number four. After leaving a can of Im Bru in the home dugout we decided to leave. But the big question is - who drank the Irn Bru the next days?

Another Big Article by Big Al

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