Brendan O'Brien: Opening disaster, brown pants and still finding joy in the Games

Yes, it’s bloated and yes it’s enervating and its confusing, but it’s absorbing with it. And enriching and unique. Even if sports isn’t normally your thing.

A light display on the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

Trish is no sports fan. We’ve been together over 23 years - our 16th wedding anniversary started and ended with her dropping me to the airport to fly to France - and her blithe indifference to most of the events her husband covers is as much a constant to our relationship as a love and affection that hasn’t dimmed.

There have been days walking out the door to major Six Nations games, crucial Republic of Ireland qualifiers and All-Ireland deciders when she has had to ask who was playing, and where. It’s a blissful ignorance that goes back long before we met in a crowded nightclub that doesn’t exist anymore.