Sports Category
Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.
Hats off to Sir Alex Ferguson – his best Manchester United caps (photos)
SO. Sir Alex Ferguson is no longer manager of Manchester United. Chances are David Moyes soon will be. The current Everton boss has the accent and the drive. But does he have the head for it?
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Posted: 8th, May 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (2)
Ronnie O’Sullivan match interrupted by farting fan
HATS off to Ronnie O’Sullivan for winning his fifth World snooker title. On his way to victory over Barry Hawkins, O’Sullivan defeated Judd TRUMP. Listen out for the blast:
The Championship finale in photos: Hull gain, Barnsley survive, Wolves sink and Leicester’s last gasp glory
FOOTBALL. Bloody hell. Hull City have been promoted to the Barclays Premier League. It wasn’t easy. It was nerve-shredding tension. Unless you were a Cardiff city fan.
When Nicky Maynard converted a penalty for already promoted Cardiff City, they were drawing with Hull 2-2. Watford’s match became all-important. Radios were tuned in.
A win for Watford would see them occupy the second automatic promotion spot. Could they beat Leeds United? Hull City players gathered around a television to watch the Watford game. It’s kick of had been delayed because of an injury to Watford’s goalkeeper, Jonathan Bond. For sixteen minutes Hull waited and Watford toiled. Then Ross McCormack scored in the 90th minute. Leeds were 2-1 up. Watford were gutted. Watford’s manager Gianfranco Zola summed it up.
Hull went nuts.
Meanwhile, at the foot of the table, Wolverhampton Wanderers lost to Brighton & Hove Albion. That meant back-to-back relegation.
But it’s Peterborough who were crushed. They were drawing 2-2 away to Crystal Palace when disaster struck. Mile Jedinak scored in the 89th minute.
Barnsley, who only managed a 2-2 draw with Huddersfield, would be up if they hung on for the point. They did.
Nottingham Forest are also gutted at the last. They will not be in the play-off places because Leicester City scored in the 90th minute.
And for Crystal Palace fans, it might soon be goodbye from him. What price Manchester United-bound Wilfried Zaha taking Palace to the Primer League via the play-offs?
How much is promotion really worth to Hull City?
HULL City are up into the Premier League. How much is that worth, then?
£150m – The Independent
£130m – Japan Times
£120m – The Times
£100m – This Is Hull
£90m – Bloomberg
£80m – Malky Mackay (Cardiff City manager)
£60m – Vital Football
Who’s right? Adam Bull, a senior consultant in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, came up with £120m
“The three Championship clubs which are promoted this season can expect a revenue increase of more than £60m in 2013-14… Based on existing distribution methods, even if a club is relegated after one season in the Premier League, it will be entitled to parachute payments over the following four seasons of around £60m.”
Kerching! Now, is Harry Redknapp available to help spend some of that cash..?
God is a Wolves fan, Darth Vader loves Brighton and the Lord of all creation hates Peterborough
IS GOD a Wolves fan? Wolves are second bottom of the Championship. To remain in football’s second tier they need a win away at Brighton and for results elsewhere to go their way. All being well with them, Peterborough will go down and Wolves will stay up and get to play mighty Bournemouth in 2013-2014. But in case skill and luck are not enough, the The Right Reverend Clive Gregory had written a prayer for Wolves.
Sadly for Clive, the game is being played on May the Fourth, aka Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you) and Darth Vader has decreed that his beloved Brighton will murder Wolves:
Luis Suarez’s showreel – the alternative angle
SOME ONE took the time to produce this showreel of Liverpool striker Luis Suarez at work. The video does not included the bite on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic or vebals:
This is the same guy who was recently banned for 10 games for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic. If you ask me this asshole should never step foot on a soccer field again.
Posted: 3rd, May 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Tottenham’s Gareth Bale needs to ‘clean up his act’ if he want to be like Liverpool’s Luis Suarez
IS John Aldridge, formerly of Liverpool FC, biased? His latest article for the Liverpool Post tells readers:
LIVERPOOL FC’S thrashing of Newcastle United has to be the result of the season across the Premier League.
In terms of goals, the thrashing would have to be Chelsea’s 8-0 win over Aston Villa. It terms of catharsis, we’d go for Tottenham’s 2-3 win away at Manchester United,the Londoners first win at Old Trafford for 23 years.
What does Aldridge say about the decios to award the player of the year gong to Spurs’ Gareth Bale?
“It was no surprise that Suarez didn’t win the PFA award after what’s gone on but he would have been my pick ahead of Gareth Bale. Some will say I’m biased, but over the course of the season I believe Suarez has been the best player. Bale is a brilliant talent and I’d love to have him at Liverpool but he’s also one of the biggest cheats. Suarez stopped diving and now the PFA Player of the Year needs to do the same and clean up his act.”
Some might say….
Posted: 3rd, May 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (2)
Reginald D Hunter lampoons the PFA after the ‘nigger’ race row (the photos)
HOW did Reginald D Hunter react to the overblown race row about his appearance at the PFA awards? He mocked it. He called his Facebook gallery “The PFA Awards – the horrible aftermath”. Pictures of the race riot to follow:
Reginald D Hunter showing off his son at the PFA after show party.
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Posted: 1st, May 2013 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Reginald D Hunter’s ‘nigga’ show upset ‘the Manchester United of people’
THE Professional Footballers’ Association (|PFA) booked American-born Royal Academy of Dramatic Art alumnus Reginald D Hunter to entertain footballers at their AGM. His performance was peppered with the word nigger. He called Liverpool’s Luise Suarez a nigger. Although is most newspaper that is written as “n******”. That’s to avoid being offensive. The Telegraph says he made “potentially offensive jokes about Jews and women.” Isn’t everything potentially offensive? The dread buzzword is “inappropriate“. Was Hunter being inappropriate?
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Professional football team takes on 22 amateurs (Norwegian Premier League outfit Valerenga, that is)
FOOTBALL can be pretty ridiculous at times and a recent match in Norway took the biscuit, with a professional team playing against a team made up of 22 amateurs.
Norwegian Premier League outfit Valerenga (mid-table nothingness, if you’re wondering) took on a side twice their size for a television series called Golden Goal.
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Connected Jason Collins has a big future in the macho world of politics
JASON Collins is gay. He’s played in the NBA for 12 years. Says the Washington Wizards center:
“I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport.”
Good. Because you’re not. There was Andrew Goldstein, goalkeeper for Major League Lacrosse’s Long Island Lizards.
And what about the women? Because – yep – women plays sports and can be gay, too.
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Modern football cliches: ten imports we DON’T want in our game
FOOTBALL phrases: Ten imports we DON’T want in our game
Spitting, biting, diving, shirt-pulling, feigning injury, waving imaginary cards… All of them rightly condemned, and all at various times accused of being ‘foreign’ practices that are creeping into ‘our game’. Now add to the list the insidious importing of heinous phrases, some from other sports and some, heaven forfend, from another country – namely the US of A.
OFFense and DEE-fense
Just plain wrong – and to add to the ignominy, there’s the ridiculous American emphasis on the first syllable. What’s wrong with good old attack and defence?
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Nil points: Can QPR become football’s Team Caterham?
DON’T panic Super Hoops, QPR chairman Tony Fernandes, says things are on track. Fernandes, who owns the Caterham Formula One team, tweeted the faithful following Premier League relegation:
“Sorry to all QPR fans. But the plan goes on. Now more than ever. We owe it to you. Took 3 years to get Caterham right. No quitting.”
How right is that going, then?
Photo: Caterham driver Heikki Kovalainen of Finland sits on a barrier after spinning off the circuit during the qualifying session for the Indian Formula One Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012.
QPR: Happy Harry Redknapp translates Jose Bosingwa’s ‘foreign’ smirk for a biased media
WHEN we saw the pictures of QPR’s Jose Bosingwa smiling in the aftermath of QPR’s demotion to the Championship, we also noticed Harry Redknapp, his manager, smiling, too. Fair enough. It’s a game. Alsays look on the bright side, and all that. Lose with good grace. Tomorrow is another day. Chin up. And so on. But the Mail wants more. The paper leads its sports coverage with “YOU’RE A JOKE”, a story of “fury” at “laughing Boswinga“. We read on:
Queens Park Rangers are furious with Jose Bosingwa after he was caught laughing just moments after the club’s relegation was confirmed…
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Epic tweets: the Columbus Crew scoreboard is on fire
TWEET of the day is made by the Columbus Crew, who assure us that they are “aware of the issues with our scoreboard”. To those of at the game but not on twitter we commend your gaze to the scoreboard, which is on fire.
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Fabulous Frisbee 1977: A model shows us the Basic Catching Postions
SO. Summer’s coming and you’re wondering who to throw a frisbee like the dudes in Hard Ticket to Hawaii. Well, in 1978, Fabulous Frisbee told us how:
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Posted: 28th, April 2013 | In: Books, Flashback, Sports | Comment
Arsenal v Manchester United: the penalty and Robin Van Persie’s changing room gaffe
SO. ARSENAL hosted their former captain Robin Van Persie and his Manchester United, the Premier League Champions. How did it go?
The local hero heads for the home changing room:
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Posted: 28th, April 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (3)
QPR are relegated: Harry Redknapp & Bosingwa smile through the heartbreak
QPR are relegated from the Premier League. The club’s manager Harry Redknapp player Jose Bosingwa leave the pitch…smiling. Redknapp might be putting a brave face on his fallen stock. Boswinga looks far from crushed. QPR ha-ha-ha…
Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘romp’ with the runner up in a beauty contest
REAL Madrid’s winker Cristiano Ronaldo is alleged to have cheated on his girlfriend with Andressa Urach, a Brazilian model nicknamed ‘Miss BumBum’. She claims to have shagged the Portguuese winger two days before Real were thrashed 4-1 by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-final. She says:
“I have always thought Cristiano is one of the most gorgeous men in the world, so I couldn’t believe it when he got in touch with me.”
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Liverpool’s Luis Suarez and Made In Chelsea’s Spencer Matthews might deserve each other
THAT Made In Chelsea’s Spencer Mathews is bit of knob is a surprise to only those of you who think Katie Price sleeps on her front. Speaking to OK!, Matthews is talking about “dumping his girlfriend Louise Thompson” on the TV show. Before doing to, he cheated on her and behaved, by his own admittance, horribly. OK! asks him:
“Did you lose respect for her after she took you back after you cheated?”
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Accusations of cheating and violence add dash of football glamour to Irish chess
ACCUSATIONS of cheating and violence at the Cork Congress Chess Open. It must be stamped on lest all chess players follow this example.
Romanian-born Gabriel Mirza, 47, claims his 16-year-old opponent was cheating.
“It is a very serious incident. I was stopped to win the tournament. But the main problem is about cheating. I showed to the chess world the truth, and all appreciated this. I am waiting to see the reaction from the Irish Chess Union and from all… After each move he went to the toilet, at least 20 times … I found him in the toilet with an android checking the moves with a chess engine. I tried to get over the cubical wall to grab the tablet from his hands, and firstly I was thinking to jump over inside that cubical. But I wanted a witness, so I ran straight to the controller, Mr Gerry Graham and called him to follow me immediately. The organisers (Mr Michael Bradley) and other adult approached there at the Gents [and] followed me inside where I forced the cubical door and I pulled this guy out from the toilet. I just grabbed him and then I was stopped by the people behind me.”
Mr Mirza was duly expelled from the tournament.
Graham emailed Mirza:
“I would state that you certainly took an action that will bring the game of chess into disrepute. Because of the seriousness of your infraction, I chose expulsion from the event.”
The Irish Chess Union release a statement.
“It has been insinuated that one chess player was caught cheating and the reaction of the opposing player discovering this was inappropriate. In the 100 years of our existence we have never had such allegation; a record we can be very proud of. We have a code of conduct that all our players adhere to; it is there to allow our members to play chess in a sporting environment.”
Adding in a second statement:
“In an era when stories of misdemeanours in sporting events have almost become commonplace there is sadness at the thought that the gentle game of chess can indeed be tainted. It is an issue that must be dealt with through the executive of the Irish Chess Union and the rules of the organisation. Nonetheless the ancient and beautiful game of chess will transcend these difficulties.”
Mr Mirza yesterday denied he had overreacted, explaining: “I had to prove he was cheating. I was afraid he would throw the tablet into the toilet.”
Such are the facts.
Photo: When chess was dangerous: Bobby Fischer of the U.S., right, and Tigran Petrosian of the U.S.S.R., continue the sixth game of their semi-final series for the world chess title, Oct. 17, 1971, in Buenos Aires. Fischer won that game.
The PFA’s cheap moralising allows Luis Suarez’s to bite and Ched Evan to rape but racism must be eradicated
SO. Luis Suarez is banned from playing for Liverpool for ten matches. Suarez (Uruguay) may think himself unfortunate given that in 2006, Jermain Defoe (England) got a yellow card for his alleged bite on Javier Mascherano (Argentina). Those dirty foreigners want teaching, don’t they?
Some want more. They want Suarez’s name erased from the shortlist for the 2013 PFA Player of the Year award.
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Posted: 24th, April 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
In photos: Farmageddon 2013 is sport not for the sheepish
IN photos: The Farmageddon 10km run at Brooksby Melton College, Leicestershire, might be an Olympic Sport. It looks a bit like the triathlon, that event that makes other athletes looks a bit, well, lazy. If these game runners could add a few elements – one think of synchronised bog swimming and beach pogoing on a sheep (a few competitors appear to have already included the dressing up element of the Stag Night endurance) – Farmagedding may be a sport primed for Brazil 2016.
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Posted: 24th, April 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
