The Night Time Race

      After a fascinating Grand Prix at Monza with the top 5 of the drivers championship finishing in the reverse of that order, Aloson 1st, Button 2nd, Vetterl 4th, Webber 6th and Hamilton DNF.  The top 5 are now separated by 24 points which means that anyone of them could be top after this weekends race.  This weekend the formula one convoy has made its way to Singapore for the third time and the dynamic of this day/night race is very different to all others.  Lets see how the Red Bull's, McLaren's and Ferrari's do in the often variable weather conditions. Lewis Hamilton got on pole and won last year he'll be hoping for a repeat of that.

Arsenal - A Different Football System

      Arsenal are one the top sides in the history of the Premiership and they still are a contender.  The problem is Arsenal are a side which has now gone for 5 years without a trophy and have been renowned for not spending much money in the transfer market.  Their manager Arsene Wenger has always bought young players coached them into superstars but when the egos get big Wenger tells them to move on, Pires, Henry, Viera, Toure and Adebayor all left when they still had good years in them.  But today Arsenal Football Club has announced record pre-tax profits of £56m.  The men in the boardrooms at Arsenal are doing things very differently to most of the other top clubs.  But the question is by keeping the club on a sound financial grounding stopping Arsenal from challenging for major trophies?

Russell v Lawro : Week 3

Well the challenge continues with a better performance, would of been even better if Sunderland and Tottenham didn't score in injury time, from me last week predicting 4 results right and 1 correct score compared to Lawro's 4 results right and 2 correct scores.  Not beaten him yet but lets see if this weekends action from the Premiership can set a new trend of me beating Lawro. Here are last weeks results.

Onwards and Downwards?

      The farce is over.  Now time to move on to one the greatest sporting rivalries, forget Liverpool versus Manchester United and England versus Germany in Football, forget any other sporting rivals.  England are getting ready to travel to Australia to compete for 'The Ashes',  Played since 1882 the series is named after a satirical obituary published in 1882 after a match at The Oval, in which Australia beat England on an English ground for the first time. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.  The trophy urn is reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, possibly a bail, ball or stump.  Today England annouced their squad and the lucky players who have won much-coveted places in the Ashes squad to tour Australia this winter.

The Carling Cup - Part 2

      I have already wrote on this blog about how teams will fail in this competition and how daft it is here.  But last nights performances from Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City has made me want to talk about it again but hopefully in a different way as not to repeat myself.  Liverpool fielded a side which contained no of the starting eleven that played against Manchester United, City also fielded no players from the starting eleven that beat Wigan 2-0 at the weekend and Chelsea played two, Ferrira and Ramires, but they also played Terry for the first half.
     What I want to talk about is how Newcastle and West Brom beat the second teams from Chelsea and Man City.

The Diving Pool

       Last night Tottenham showed a spirited performance against Arsenal only to be defeated by a couple of easy penalties, one of which Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp accused Samir Nasri of diving.  But Redknapp fumed: "I thought the first penalty was harsh. He fell over. Really, I think he dived for it."  Nasri is a very good player and on this occasion he could stayed on his feet and made an attempt on goal but he chose to go over easily.  Now if it was my team and we where drawing or losing I would shouting at them to get into the penalty box and fall over, but the only reason I would do so is soft penalties are being given more often now.  Is British football getting soft?

The Final ODI

      Today is the date of the final ODI match between England and Pakistan and after this match what will be known as an infamous tour will come to and end.  Pakistan arrived in England on the 5 July and in just 80 days this tour has possible damaged the sport of cricket irreversibly.  With the allegations, of the Pakistani players, of Spot fixing, deliberately bowling no-balls to set up betting coups, in the fourth Test match and the irregular scoring patterns in the thrid ODI.  It would be hard to say that Pakistani cricket, as we know it, will survive and they may have shot themselves in the a foot after Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Butt said he had heard from bookmakers that England had been paid to lose Friday's third one-day game at The Oval. 

For me I am amazed at the England players continues to play the series and here is why.

NFL Week Two Review

       After a awesome Week One of NFL, we were once again treated to another awesome weekend of football but it was one that ended in tragedy.  The Sunday evening match between the Colts and the Giants gave us a Manning brother showdown didn't disappoint with big brother Payton showing Eli how it is done.  A brilliant comeback by the Texans against the Redskins, recovering from a 10 point deficit in the fourth quarter going on to win in overtime.  The Jets showed what they were made of, offensively and defensively, against the Patriots only allow them to score in second quarter whilst scoring 28 points in return.  Monday Night Football picked another gem of a game with the New Orleans Saints score a 37-yard field goal that barely fluttered through as time expired.  But Week Two was ended in tragedy as Denver Broncos wide receiver Kenny McKinley has been found dead in his home in an apparent suicide according to the police in the US state of Colorado.

The Commonwealth Games Problem

      Last night England and Scotland's Commonwealth Games teams stated that they are concerned the poor quality of the athletes village in Delhi may put the whole event in doubt.  Scottish officials found their original accommodation to be "unsafe and unfit for human habitation" and England are "optimistic" they will compete, but say urgent work is needed before the Games begin on 3 October.   But this is not first time that the go ahead of the Delhi Commonwealth Games have been questioned.  There have been multiple reports on the sub-standard infrastructure, athletes village and and questions about the security and safety of the participants and their teams has also been thrown into the mixer.  Even the organisers have said "have got two days to do what's probably going to take about two weeks".   My questions are should of this edition of the Commonwealth Games been moved from Delhi?  If so when should it have be switched and where would it go?

The O'Sullivan Enigma

Last night Ronnie O'Sullivan fired a remarkable 10th 147 break at the World Open in Glasgow after halting play when on nine points to check the prize for a maximum.  He was told there was no separate purse but cleared up to beat Mark King 3-0.  The 34-year-old appeared content to end on the pink in the final frame and had to be persuaded to pot the black Before you read what I am going to say I would like you to watch this interview done by the BBC.  From this there are two questions to be asked.  Has Ronnie O'Sullivan finally lost all interest in the sport of Snooker?  And does he have the right to ask for a performance related bonus that used to be standard?

Blackpool - The Side Out of It's Place

       Last Wednesday I talked to you about the defensive approach which weaker sides can take when they play tough opponents.  Well today I want to talk to you about a side that have decided to play attacking football no matter who they face.  Of course I mean Blackpool, they are a side that openly admit that they shouldn't be in this league.  As most people know by now Blackpool were relegation candidates in the Championship last year but a good run of form got them into the play-offs and everyone knows the side on form usually wins the play-offs.  Blackpool didn't disappoint the won in Wembley to earn their place in the Premiership.  Manager Ian Holloway is the first to admit that they don't have a side ready for the Premiership but after their 4-0 loss to Chelsea insists he will stick to his team's attacking approach in future after a more defensive system backfired at Chelsea.

The Sunday Sport Round-Up

Another fantastic weekend of sport for our viewing.   A very entertaining derby will let Ferguson forget about Liverpool and look towards Man City and Chelsea, more controversy in cricket as coach and captain speak out, a Brit wins a sprinting jersey in the Vuelta, the Great North provides plenty of shocks and performances and snooker unleashes one of it new speed formats. But on a slightly more disappointing note another shooting in Delhi puts more doubts and questions about the Commonwealth Game.

Always the Bridesmaid Never the Bride

      That proverb is used to describe someone who is good but not the best, but who is sporting greatest runner-up? 

      When asked this question it really does test the sporting knowledge of a person.  By looking at a persons answer you can also see what they claim as greatness.

      When I said the greatest runner-up I do not mean the best performance in a single sporting event that ended up coming second.  What I am looking for is the over all time what person or team over time has finished 2nd so many times it doesn't even matter if they won on the odd occasion?