The great Brian O’Driscoll turns 36 today, meaning the once bleached blonde centre will be starting to spot a couple of greys in the mirror before long.
As his darling wife Amy reminded him this morning on Twitter, BOD is now a retired old man, and since we’re not ones to dwell on the past, we’ve decided to take a look what the big man has been up to, and what he can look forward to, now that he’s an auld lad.
Happy birthday to my old, retired husband
#👴— Amy Huberman (@amyhuberman) January 21, 2015
Golf
Most retired men take to the golf course to kill a bit of time, but while the majority head down to their local course and hit cheap golf balls into shrubs and trees, BOD is spending his retirement trading trickshots with Rory McIlroy out in Abu Dhabi.
Being reminded he’s a LIGIND
The hard as nails BOD was almost reduced to a blubbery mess just before Christmas, when he was inducted to the RTE Sport Hall of Fame.
RTE caught him on the hop by bringing out Mammy and Daddy O’Driscoll to present him with his award, and while he must have known he’d be in line to pick it up someday, he was clearly taken aback at receiving it so soon after finishing his playing career.
While he was made Dr Brian O’Driscoll by DCU in 2013, he’s also been honoured by Queens University Belfast since his retirement, picking up an honorary degree in December.
Raising mini-BODs
Little Sadie arrived into the world on the morning of Ireland’s Six Nations meeting with England in 2013, and her younger brother Billy followed suit in November of last year, meaning BOD mightn’t get out to the golf course as much as he’d hoped, although if he wants to practice his chipping out in the garden, he’ll have a decent ballboy and ballgirl for the next few years.
And while we all knew that O’Driscoll was wise (remember his tomato and fruit salad analogy a few years back), it seems he’ll have no problem dishing out life lessons to his little pair.
Son, if I can give u one piece of advice, never look a gift horse in the mouth! pic.twitter.com/6HL4S08ktZ
— Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll) November 21, 2014
Media work
You have to keep the mind active at his age, and O’Driscoll is certainly taking steps to ensure that he’s passing on his wisdom to more than just his kids.
He’s taken on a gig on Newstalk’s Off The Ball, while he’s been a great addition to the BT Sport team for their European rugby coverage.
He hasn’t held back in the commentary box, as he showed during Munster’s defeat to Saracens on Saturday, while he’s also proved he has a decent sense of humour, reminding the world about this tid-bit of info about his former Irish teammate Anthony Foley.
He’s been an even bigger hit in the studio though, giving some fantastic masterclasses in BT’s Rugby Tonight show on Monday evenings.
Picking one example was tough, but I’ve stumped for the story behind his famous pass to himself against Ulster some years back.
Warning: Once you watch one of these videos, you’ll probably fall into a YouTube black hole, which you’ll find yourself in for quite some time.
Writing his book
O’Driscoll’s autobiography came out just in time for the Christmas rush, and it went down a treat, winning Sports Book of the Year, at the 2014 Irish Book Awards.
After initially working with Paul Kimmage, O’Driscoll eventually teamed up with the excellent Alan English, and the pair churned out one of the top sports reads of the year.
The story that seemed to get the greatest traction from the book seemed to be his arrest in New York in the summer of 2008. After spending a night in the cells he was released and was never charged, but he did admit to considering giving up the Irish captaincy over the ordeal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5krAX9rdRvo
It proved to be a popular book in one famous rugby school, although we’re not sure poor Brian will ever get over the zinger landed on him by former Irish teammate Donncha O’Callaghan.
Elements book club started again this term, unfortunately one lad didn't get the memo. @BrianODriscoll @docallaghan4 pic.twitter.com/oAjo4WUZtU
— Clongowes (@clongowes) January 11, 2015
@clongowes @BrianODriscoll How did that honours student end up in the foundation English class ?!?!
— Donncha O'Callaghan (@docallaghan4) January 11, 2015
