PAISLEY, SCOTLAND - FEBRUARY 03: Hearts Head Coach Derek McInnes chats with Kris Boyd during a William Hill Premiership match between St Mirren and Heart of Midlothian at the SMiSA Stadium, on February 03, 2026, in Paisley, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
One of the greatest moments for many Celtic fans came about last night much later than the game itself.
After the celebrations, after the madness, after the glorious late winner, came the brilliance and beauty of the rage on Follow Follow and elsewhere. It was so surreal that I would have sworn it was fake if I had not known better.
I will get to that in a minute.
First, let me give you some historical context that I find amusing.
When the NASA commission to investigate the Challenger disaster was picked, it went out of its way to look like it was taking the investigation seriously. But there were serious concerns about how far it actually wanted to go.
It put a number of major figures on the panel to give it the appearance of gravitas, but certain areas of investigation, including the O-rings which were responsible for the whole thing, might have been steered away from if not for one very awkward appointment.
They put Richard Feynman on the panel.
Feynman was an acclaimed scientist and physicist, and he immediately sniffed the nonsense. He was not going to play their game. When he heard about the O-rings, he used the televised nature of the Rogers Commission hearings to conduct a little public experiment using a piece of rubber and a glass of iced water.
It was not a conclusive experiment on its own, but it showed something important. When that rubber was subjected to very cold temperatures, it lost resilience and became grossly unsuited to the job it was supposed to do on those solid rocket boosters.
It was a beautiful little moment of theatre.
I thought of that moment this morning when I saw two Celtic fans hilariously attempt to recreate last night’s handball in light of the number of amateur physicists we now seem to have in the Scottish media.
Their little recreation was brilliantly funny, showing that it does not take a Feynman-level genius to demonstrate how daft some of these arguments are.
It just takes the application of a little common sense.
I never thought in my life that I would see the incredible spectacle of Kris Boyd trying to lecture people on physics live on Sky Sports, but there he was last night, talking about how a ball that hits a hand will go straight down, whereas this ball flew up into the air. The two Celtic fans demonstrated the silliness of that comment.
Where the hell the Village Idiot get his degree?
Trump University?
Because my God, that is stupid.
The fact that the other panellists sat there and let him get away with it was incredible, although we are not exactly talking about the Brains Trust when we talk about those other panellists anyway. A more nakedly biased group you will struggle to find.
But Kris Boyd on physics?
There is not one of us who ever thought we would see that in our lives, far less that it would be taken seriously. Then those comments were repeated across much of the media by people whose own grasp of the subject is every bit as shaky as his.
I mean, I don’t mind that these people are stupid. We all know that and we do not call this guy The Village Idiot for nothing.
What I mind is that none of them seems ever to have seen Maradona’s Hand of God goal, where the ball most certainly does not drop straight to the ground, but sails over the England goalkeeper.
I mind that none of them appears ever to have watched a netball game, where the whole sport is about using your hands to propel the ball. The ball most certainly does not go straight down when it hits a hand. If the hand is moving at any speed at all and it hits the ball, the ball will do what the ball did last night.
It is amazing how many people are claiming that only a head could have made the ball do that. Why are these people not working for NASA? Why are they not working in applied sciences, since they know so much?
People who barely understand the sport they are commentating on, and who barely understand the rulebook of that sport, are now Nobel laureates in one of the most complicated disciplines there is.
I think not. In trying to justify their own bitterness, they have really reached for the stars here. It does not make them sound less bitter. It makes them sound vaguely crazy.
The whole debate around this feels crazy. It is hysterical. It is not just a reaction to a decision. It is so over the top, so overblown, that you really have to doubt the sanity of some of the people involved in it.
If Celtic win this title, it will break some people.
Irretrievably break them.
They will spend all summer long crying, moaning, complaining and insisting we stole it.
Everything about this ending is already shaping up to be memorable. It is the kind of ending that, if we get over the line, we will be talking about for the rest of our lives. Our grandkids will be awestruck when they hear the stories.
But we have reached peak surrealism here, with people like Kris Boyd giving physics lectures to justify their anger and frustration, while others nod along as if he is making a bit of sense. The meltdown over this is far beyond what is rational, reasonable or called for in such a moment. I would be a liar if I said I was not enjoying it somewhat.
But this part most of all.
The Village Idiot showing the full breadth of his IQ.
Hilarious.
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Schrödinger’s twat
The winner!
Brilliant!
(How long have ye been saving that one up for?)
I’m partly enjoying the national mourning James…
I’ll certainly enjoy it for a whole fuckin year IF IF IF we prevail on Saturday for sure…
But ma worry is if this evil agenda by The Scummy’s – For that’s what it is – Gets into the heads of Robertson, Spence, Rome, Clancy and McDermid on Saturday…
And it fuckin easily could !!!
We just need to make sure it’s an irrelevance if decisions go against us. Play the way we all know we can play and the league is ours.
“ The fact that the other panellists sat there and let him get away with it was incredible”
When have you ever heard Token Female Elidh ( married to former RFC player Marvin?) ever interrupt a Bigot Boyd rant or even correct him when he’s ran out of puff? Never! It’s despicable that that Bigot is permitted on National TV to spout his hatred and incite hatred against people and businesses and the paid presenter never corrects him or interrupts his monologue spiteful bigoted rantings!
Sort it out Sky! If you have to have a Ranting Bigot for your ratings at least employ someone who will attempt to, and should, keep them in line!
Elidh is married to Marvin Bartley who until recently was the Livingston manager and Clyde ssb pundit.
You are thinking of Marvin Andrews.
The Tarbolton Mongo ( Blazing Saddles before I get accused of being disablist ), BONGO thinks fizziks is what happens when you drop Monster Munch into Coca Cola.
These peepel are Trump MAGA level batshit stupid.
Must admit that last nights monumental meltdown from not only the Village Idiot but also John Robertson & McInnes was beautiful to watch. When the discussion alighted onto the laws of physics I laughed so hard I almost passed out. Their explanation of how it was impossible for the ball when striking a hand to do anything else but fall straight down was comedy gold, then a frightening thought occurred to me… these f****n idiots believe every word that they say, the rise of Reform in Scotland could be explained by those furious few minutes.
Never ever heard the word ‘disgusting’ describing an incident at a football match….the language of the inarticulate….?
Not much getting written about a team losing their 4th split game in a row huh
It’s the total lack of self-awareness that amazes me. Do they not realise just how much we Tims love it when they rant and rage and make absolute fools of themselves? Obviously not. Please Celtic, finish the job on Saturday – I love it when the haemorrhoids pop on Boyd’s head.
We spoke about the decision at work this morning, and from the photos a couple of us came to the conclusion the ball must have hit the player’s hand and head at the same time. His hand was stationary so it was impossible for the ball to be propelled 20 yards through the air without him heading it.
Goalkeepers can propel the ball that distance with a punch or less so with a swinging hand, but never with a stationary hand.
I’m sure the review into the incident will show that his hand was touching part of the ball when he headed it away, therefore a penalty kick within the rules.
The funny thing is some idiots couldn’t work out the baby huns still hadn’t won the league if it was a draw.Hopefully we will win by 3 or 4 to show it would have been ours anyway.
C’mon the hoops HH
Big photo on the bbc – biased broadcasting company – just now CLEARLY shows the ball hitting the Motherwell lads arm as its ot wrapped around his head..no controversy.
Clear penalty and we’ll done to the officials for spotting it
Good article James charting the recent rise of the Richard Feynman Loyal. I’m sure that the Oppenheimer Truth Defenders are polishing their flutes and drums as we speak.
If we can haul ourselves over the line on Saturday, I will be looking forward to many things. I think the celebrations will be glorious given the season we’ve endured and the self-harm the board inflicted on us.
I also look forward to the inevitable ‘tainted title’ nonsense from the Huns and those ‘neutrals’. It gives us the opportunity to ask whether they have any thoughts about what we should call the titles the dead Rangers won, whilst financially doping and cheating on a massive scale over many years.
Finally, the joy of seeing the reaction of Boyd and McInnes if we scud them – that will be the icing.
HH
Amidst all of this media ‘outrage’ regarding why VAR is allegedly ‘bad’ for Scottish football. One question seems to have been (conveniently) forgotten.
Before VAR was introduced, how many penaltys were ‘awarded’ to the tribute act, per season? And since VAR was introduced, how much has that number fallen by?
Those statistics cannot be erased from history, never mind how much the bluenose flavoured media can try.
(Could this be why “captain disappointed” is no longer welcome at the midden, as his ‘goals’ have dried up? (Asking for a friend.))
This incessant pressure by the media (not just Scottish!), is an obvious attempt to try to get Scottish clubs to scrap VAR and allow the ‘South Lanarkshire referees association’ (ahem!) to rule with, what they thought, was ‘impunity’ again
Push back!