Tabloids - The Downfall of Cricket

       Today the International Cricket Council annouced the launching of an investigation into Friday's third one-day international between England and Pakistan at The Oval.  The game's world governing body says the probe is based on information passed on by The Sun newspaper.  ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat says the match, won by Pakistan by 23 runs, featured "a certain scoring pattern" that warranted further investigation.  The ECB has been told that no England player is involved in the allegations. 

      The big question for me is how on enough do these tabloids continue to get these stories.  After the stories in football, snooker and cricket recently I just can't believe people are still having this conversations with people they don't know about their sport and making arrangements wiht them.

I Could Manage Real

       Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce believes he is good enough to manage any of Europe's top clubs.  Allardyce, once a candidate for the England manager's job, arrived at Ewood Park in 2008 having survived at Newcastle for less than half a season. This statement may have been taken out of context but I think it is an interesting idea. 

 

       Most top clubs are full of talented players with large wages and even larger egos, the main thing a manager of a top European club needs to do is get them to gel on the pitch.  A manager like 'Big Sam' would probably bruise alot of egos, he wouldn't let the stars have it all their own way but could he really manage Real Madrid.  Lets have look.

 

Russell v Lawro : Week 2

Last week I challenged myself to see if i could compete with Mark Lawrenson in predicting the results of the weekend games of the Premiership.  After a poor performance in week one, with myself only getting 4 results right and no correct scores compared to Lawro's 5 results right and 2 correct scores,  I need do much better this week.

Also here are the scores from last week.

The Flat Back Eight

       On Tuesday evening the Rangers coach, Walter Smith, employed his usual tatics for an away match in the Champions League.  Whenever Rangers didn't have the ball there was at least eigth men behind the ball and at some points they had every single man behind the ball.  Rangers are not the only side to employ this as there go to tactic when they are away from home.  Walter Smith believes it has become almost impossible for teams from smaller nations to compete in the Champions League.  But this tactic also has been used by top sides as well.  It has also been used in most european leagues for a long time and it used to appear in the Premiership.  The problem is that fans of the Premiership, in all likelyhood, will see it again very soon. 

The Curse of a Season Long Injury

       As Manchester United fan last nights performance was something I could rant about for probably the rest of my life.  But I want to talk about poor Antonio Valencia, the winger was carried off after going down under an innocuous-looking tackle from Kirk Broadfoot in the 62nd minute of the Champions League match, he went into hospital and will undergo surgery on Wednesday.  "It looks like a dislocation and a fracture," said boss Sir Alex Ferguson. "We're talking the rest of the season."      I want to talk you about a number of players who have had a season long injury and have never played the same since.

The iCC Move One Step Closer to Madness

       I came home drunk in the early hours of this morning after a night out, I had quick look at the BBC Sport home page then went to sleep.  I awoke thinking that I had read something in cricket about a new ICC Test League, I then thought to myself that is daft, told myself I must of misread something due to my drunken state.  But I was correct the ICC are looking to introduce a Test League and play-off system. Results will determine an official table, with the top four teams going head-to-head to decide a Test champion.  Are the ICC trying to destroy the last pure form of cricket?

NFL Week One Review

       After the season opener between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints on Thursday.  The NFL saw 13 games on spread across Sunday, including the first overtime game of the season between the Atlanta Falcons and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Then 2 games back to back on Monday Night Football which included the New York Jets, who played in the first network broadcast of MNF 40 years ago, hosting the Baltimore Ravens.   Followed by the San Diego Chargers travelling to the Kansas City Chiefs' brand new Stadium, "The Red Sea".
       This season I will be giving reviews to the games I managed to see at the weekend as well as reporting on the talking points and key plays of the other games. Today I will also throw in my picks for the end of season awards and who I think will make the Super Bowl

Week Two US Open

       In the earlier hours of Tuesday morning Rafael Nadal joined the ranks of the all-time greats of tennis as he beat Novak Djokovic to win the US Open and complete his set of Grand Slam titles.  Rafael Nadal became the seventh man to complete the Grand Slam, 4th in the open era.  Late on Saturday Kim Clijsters beat Vera Zvonareva to defend the title she also won at Flushing Meadows in 2005 and 2009.

The Beginnigs of a European Adventure

      This week three premiership teams, Man United, Arsenal and Chelsea, will start the European journeys joining Tottenham, Man City and Liverpool who have already started theirs.  With Tottenham, Chelsea and Man City all travelling to the continent to Bremen, Zilina and Salzburg and Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool hosting Rangers, Braga and Steaua Bucharest. Here are my thoughts on this week's matches and a quick look at the outcomes of the groups.

Technology in Sport

       I was already to finish up my review of the US Open when the rain came down and force Nadal versus Djokovic till this Monday evening at 2100 BST.  So I have a gap in my schedule to write about something else, something I was waiting for the next major controversy so I could share my opinion with you.  Of course by the title of this post you know I am talking about technology in sport.  I am going to talk about technology in sport history, this current use of instant replays in sports and finally, in my opinion, what the future holds in some sports.

The Sunday Sport Round-up

       Wow!  Where do I start?  This weekend was jam packed full of sporting events full of potential excitement and boy did they deliver, the Ferguson's had a weekend they would like to forget, Monza had a fascinating qualifying and race, the Pakistan team have shown some genuine performances, the US Open has blown me and some of the players away, Sky showed the way in Stoke, the second week of Aviva Premiership was close everywhere, another English side lost on penalties and the always confusing Super League Play-offs began.  If you have no idea about what just said then

David Beckham Returns But Why?

       David Beckham made his first competitive appearance in six months as Los Angeles Galaxy beat Columbus Crew 3-1 at the Home Depot Center.  Beckham had not played since rupturing his Achilles playing on loan for AC Milan in March, which ruled him out of the World Cup, but came on as a replacement after 70 minutes of Galaxy's Major League Soccer clash.