Thank goodness they did not use that terrible, pitiful, embarrassing dirge  O' Flower of Scotland as an Anthem for the Opening Ceremony. A totally cringeworthy song if ever there was one.

 

Every time I here that song being sung it reminds me of piles of drunks spilling out of the pubs in Scotland in the 1970's, singing the song through the piles of vomit spewing from their mouths.

 

The song should be banned. Who says it is our National Anthem anyway? From memory it got sung once at a Rugby International in the 70's and was used from there on.

 

No decent Scot with good taste ever had any say in the matter.

 

I see someone on Twitter has worked out that Coatbridge alone has 15 medals.  

How many of these did they win, how many did they nick and how many will they be stripped off for testing positive for Buckfast?

 

 

I had no idea mugging, sectarianism and poor spoken English were Commonwealth Games events!

I'm not a fan of opening ceremonies for things like this anyway, but this one could have been worse. And at least the fecal brown socks and kilts and the 1970s holiday shirts didn't look quite so bad under that lighting.

Then there was the baton which had been travelling for light years round the known universe apparently since the days of Jurassic Park and when it eventually got to the end of the road they couldn't get the bloody lid off

I was also wondering what the Green Brigade were thinking about 40,000 people loyally singing God Save The Queen to the wifie herself inside Celtic Park.

And is Rod Stewart incapable of singing in anything other than an American accent? (Or is it just that Rod Stewart is incapable of singing?)

Inevitably, of course, we were never going to get away without a few episodes of the Caledonian Cringe - that limitless capacity the Scots seem to have of making merciless caricatures of themselves - the Nessie, the caber, the giant kilt and sporran and... horror of horrors... Andy Bloody Stewart!! I am told that the guy in the purple tartan suit was born in Glasgow but lives in the USA.

The welcome the Scottish team got was wonderful and it was good to see the predicted booing of the English team failed to materialise.

 

Who precisely apart from some agitating journalists predicted that the English team was going to get booed  ? That was never going to happen. One man's merciless caricaturing is another man's wry humour and the ability of an increasingly confident nation to be able to self deprecate.

Just been watching this as I recorded it last week and it seems to have gone over some people's heads.

The potential cringe was all there in the Barrowman/Dunbar opening song but the words were obviously a send- up of all the old stereotypes. Obviously trying to appeal to all tastes if not quite succeeding.

I thought the Aimee MacDonald/People of Glasgow thing was very good, and I can see the logic in bringing in a huge star as contrast to finish the song, even if I went off Rod big time when he sold out around 1976.

The 10 seconds or so of Andy Bloody Stewart segued brilliantly into 'Feel Real Close' by, well, only a global superstar, and a Scot, by the name of Calvin Bloody Harris! What percentage of the demographic would recognise Andy Bloody Stewart, let alone be offended by him

And then there was Pumeza with Hamish's ode to Internationalism which would make a fine national anthem for Scotland.

I see Dougie MacLean's doing Caledonia on Sunday night.

 

And since writing the above its now 40 medals and 16 gold for England against 22 medals and 9 gold for Scotland.

 

Table here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/commonwealth-games/2014/medals/countries

 

Punching above our weight, then, without England doing it on our behalf!

 

Another example of the Scots being able to thrive and do well as a part of the Union.  Support for the Better together campaign should ensure another fine performance in Australia in 4 years time!