It's a tragedy...
In the immortal words of the unnaturally toothsome and squeaky Bee Gees: "Tragedy, when the feeling's gone and you can't go on, it's tragedy."
I doubt the Gibb Brothers have ever had to suffer the ignominy of sitting through any of the Wales international football team's regular adventures in heartache, but if they had happened to bag a ticket for Anfield '77, Ninian Park '85, The Arms Park '93 or Millennium Stadium 2003, they'd be forced to turn the falsettos up to 11 and bemoan the Welsh national side's endless ability to steer clear of qualifying for a major tournament.
And so to the name of this tear-stained and emotionally drained blog - a tribute to the whipping boy of Welsh football, the man who will forever be associated with the most famous penalty miss in Welsh football history. Wednesday 17th November 1993 is a date forever etched into every Welsh football fan's memory. It was the infamous night when Paul Bodin stepped up to take a crucial penalty kick against Romania in a vital World Cup qualifier. The hopes of a nation rested on his shoulders. Could he fire Wales to the World Cup in USA '94? Well no, as it happened, he couldn't. He smacked it against the crossbar. Typical.
Call it a catharsis or some deep-seated desire to mataphoriclaly plonk myself on the psychiatrist's couch, but this will be my sounding board for the frustration, despair and tragi-comic capers that punctuate the life of an average Welsh football fan.
It may be the lifelong pursuit in futility but thanks to Mark Hughes and latterly John Toshack, I've seen the world (well the seedier sides of Europe anyway) and needed counselling by the end of it. Please lads qualify for someting in my lifetime, or at least while I have my own hair. By my reckoning and after the last follicle check I've got until the 2008 European Championships...