USA learn to swim better than Europe

United States took a 2½-1½ lead against Europe in the Ryder Cup after the first fourballs were concluded on Saturday.  It looked like a good start for the European side with Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer winning the first point with a 3&2 win over Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson and Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy then salvaged a half against Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar having been two down.  But Jeff Overton and Bubba Watson beat Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington 3&2 and Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker won 2up against Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher.  I am going to give my player rankings for 16 players in these fourballs matches.

History of Sporting Postponement

       After all the hype and build up about this Ryder Cup we get just over two hours before the weather unleashed itself onto the Celtic Manor.  The Welsh Tourist board got very upset with Nick Faldo after he told the Americans to bring their waterproofs.  But it seems like the waterproofs they brought weren't good enough as the whole American squad went to the Celtic Manor shop to purchase new waterproof trousers.  But this whole episode gave me the idea at looking at sporting postponements throughout history.  As you probably could guessed there have been many over the years and for many separate reasons.  I am just going highlight the few that caught my attentions.

Russell v Lawro : Week 4

Well it continues with a similar performance to last week, would of been better if Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham all surprisingly lose, from me last week predicting 4 results right and 2 correct score compared to Lawro's 1 result right and no correct scores.  Lawro didn't have a very good week and with my steady improvement I took my first win the score is now 2-1 to Lawro.  Here are last weeks results.

A Great Man Honoured and A Great Man Shamed

       Firstly I would like to apologise for no post last night, technical problems on my end for most of yesterday.  But now lets get to the point.  This morning probably the greatest time trialist of all time Fabian Cancellara won his fourth time trial title at the Road World Championships.  He has now won the time trial title more than anyone else, the records will now state that he is the greatest of all time, for now.  But Fabian's moment of glory was ruined by the news that Alberto Contador, winner of the 2010 Tour de France, has said he has tested positive for a banned substance.  He said he had tested positive for clenbuterol during a rest on the Tour in July but added he was a victim of "food contamination".  He is holding a press conference later on Thursday.

Sporting Volunteers

 

     Just a quick one today.  A few weeks ago the London Olympics opened up the registration for volunteers at the games.  They are looking for some where in the region of 10,000 people over the whole games, thats before, during and after both the main Olympics and the Paralympics.  It's campaign is supposedly aiming to have the largest number of volunteers at a single event ever, surpassing previous Olymipc Games and other major events such as the Live 8 concerts.  The London Olympic Comitee have given volunteers a new name for this olympics 'Game Makers' in an attempt to get more people involved.  But when I woke up this morning I found that the Delhi Commonwealth Games have decided to rope in something different to deal with one of it's problems, monkeys.

NFL Week Three Review

       Another smashing weekend display of American football in the NFL this weekend.  This week of football saw again just one game go to overtime with a thrilling overtime quarter between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons.  A thrilling encounter between Buffalo and New England as they both score over 30 points. The two sides with the most history meet on Monday Night Football. The Chicago Bears have the Most Wins, Most Hall of Famers and the Second Most Championships played the Green Bay Packers who have the Second Most Wins, Second Most Hall of Famers and the Most Championships.  And after this round of games only the Steelers and the Chiefs in the AFC and the Bears in the NFC have 3-0 records.

European Football - Friend or Foe

       Over the next three days six from the top seven teams last will compete in European football be it either Champions League or Europa League.  I am sure most people are aware of the term 'Continental Hangover' meaning teams play worse than normal after a mid week European game.  But watching this weekends performances by this years teams in Europe I was wondering if there is some form of 'Continental Jitters' teams not performing the game before the trip into Europe.  I decided to go and have a look at the results of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Fulham before, after and between their European adventures.

Twit or Tweet

      Sport stars and managers have always been getting into trouble for what they have said to the press.  I remember clearly remember  watching Kevin Keegan losing it in an interview when asked a question about Alex Ferguson.  His outburst of "I'd love it if we beat them! Love it!" was one of many times that the heat of the moment has got the better of an individual who is generally a good professional.  Back in the day only a few people got interviewed so you only heard the odd outburst but nowadays there are more methods of communicating with the press and the public.  The one with the highest usu age at the moment is twitter and it has caused quite a few controversies.

Stuart Attwell - The Controversy King

       Eminem may claim that he is the king of controversy but in this country that crown surely belongs to the youngest Premiership referee Stuart Attwell.  Stuart Attwell has incurred the ire of many teams fans and managers who deem his decisions detrimental to their teams' cause.  Just over two years ago he gave goal to Reading against Watford, the goal is known as the 'ghost goal' when it had actually gone four yards wide of the post and out for a corner and on Saturday he was allowed a controversial Liverpool goal.  His wikipedia page has 12 separate controversies although most of them wouldn't be on a normal refs page but poor Stuart has drawn the wrath of a lot of people when he hasn't done much wrong.

Sunday Sport Round-Up

       Plenty of sport kept me excited this busy weekend with important games going on in many sports.  Only one of the top five of the Premiership going into this weekend won, three of them lost.  Light shone down on Fernando as he was imperious at the Marina Bay.  The World Open sees four previous Cucible winners in the semi finals.  The only unbeaten team in Aviva and Barclays Premiership's lose but both leagues one team is still win.  But again the weekend has a tragedy as former Great Britain rugby league player Terry Newton has been found dead.