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.
Sochi Fakery: Russian TV Showed All Five Rings Opening Up (Photos)
WHEN one of the Olympic rings failed to covert form a snowflake at the Sochi Winter Olympic opening ceremony jokes abounded abounded about the clenched fifth being a tribute to the uptight Vladimir Putin. But on Russian telly it never happened. All five rings opened on cue with no hint of retention.
Most of us saw this:
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Posted: 8th, February 2014 | In: Sports, TV & Radio | Comment
Did A Racist Just Light The Olympic Flame At Sochi?
MANY all eyes on the Winter Olympics in Sochi for signs of anti-gayness. But what about racism? Irina Rodnina is an MP from Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party. She used to be a champion figure skater.
No. Not her. This is Russia’s Irina Rodina at the Sydney Olympics:
We’re talking about Irina Rodnina, who with Vladislav Tretiak Irina Rodnina lit the flame:
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Otl Aicher: The Olympic Designer Who Shaped Your Journey To The Toilet
WHAT did the Olympics ever do for you? Otl Aicher was the true star of the 1972 Olympics? Who he? Was he member of Black September, the murderers who attacked the Israeli team? No. Was he seven-time gold medalist Mark Spitz’s coach, the man who swam just in front of the Californian dipper, a gold medal pinned to his trunks beneath the hand-stitched legend “C’mon Mark, Reach for the prize”? No.
Otl Aicher designed these, the Games’ pictograms, the figures that pointed the way to the Games’ events, told you where smoking was forbidden and where the toilets were located. His simplistic design would become the universal standard.
Aicher had no small task. As Michael Burke, a designer who worked on the project with Aicher, tells it:
…they wanted it to become much more open. The problem was that in the 1930s, the last time Germany had held the Games – obviously, the wanted to develop a completely new feel to it. Although it’s very typically German, in the sense that it’s very rationalised and very structured it’s got a soul to it. If you notice, there’s no red or black used.
No red or black. When the Germans had last hosted the Olympics, red and black had been very much in vogue:
This Associated Press photo shows the Swastika, during rehearsals at Berlins stadium, June 20, 1938, Berlin, Germany. The stadium will again will be filled to capacity when the Hitler Youth and the SA are celebrating summer solstice day in the Olympic Stadium, June 21, 1938, Berlin, Germany. Hundreds of SA men will form a torchlight sun wheel in Germany on June 28, 1938. (AP Photo)
Was Aicher chosen to lead the design team by accident? He had considerable talent, having co-founded the Ulm School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm) and worked for German mega-companies Braun and Lufthansa. But better than that, in 1937 Aicher had been arrested for refusing to join the Hitler Youth. He was not one of them. He was one of the winners. He had said ‘no’.
Blood stains and bullet holes mark the place where the Israeli weightlifter Moshe Romano was killed Sept.7, 1972 by Arab commandos inside the Israeli Olympic team’s quarters at the Olympic Vilalge in Munich,West Germany. Photo shows the room where eight Israeli athletes were kept hostage for 18 hours. (AP Photo/str)
And then…the massacre?
One of the brochures was the break out point where it all started to move into the rainbow colours. I can remember very vividly, after the Arab attack on the Israeli’s, where we all felt totally shattered – we’d seen all the police around – the decision was, what should we do, should we carry on at all? It was then decided that the colours would be used even more so – one discussion was that we used black, or that we stopped – then the idea was that the Rainbow Games would suggest an optimism…
The pictograms were used everywhere in Germany – at sports complexes, in schools and that was the objective. Normally all the marks are copywrited and such but these could be used by different people.
Cycling Inquisition realises how right it all feels:
Like a paperclip, we don’t think of Aicher’s pictograms as designed objects per se, but rather as the objects themselves. The chairs we own are someone’s take on a chair. That’s not the case with the average, everyday paperclip. It is what it is, a paperclip. That’s it. Objects at this level of comprehension are simply there. They feel as though they have always been there, and did so from the moment they were presented to the masses. In every country, in every city, they are simply there. In the case of Aicher’s icons they’ve become shorthand that everyone can understand, a set of simple shapes that successfully tells us where to go when we need to use a bathroom.
Burke again:
The thing Aicher was really interested in, in the whole of the Olympics, aside from the products we see here, was the souvenirs. He said we must get control of these souvenirs – so that was the big problem; how to structure them so that there wasn’t all the usual kitsch coming out. The mascot, Waldi, is very typical design approach and there’s even a cuddly toy version! But you remember those Bauhaus toys? Well that’s the link through again.
So. Typography and design matters.
Beatrice Warde addressed the British Typographers’ Guild
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You may choose your own favorite vintage for this imaginary demonstration, so that it be a deep shimmering crimson in color. You have two goblets before you. One is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns. The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transparent. Pour and drink; and according to your choice of goblet, I shall know whether or not you are a connoisseur of wine. For if you have no feelings about wine one way or the other, you will want the sensation of drinking the stuff out of a vessel that may have cost thousands of pounds; but if you are a member of that vanishing tribe, the amateurs of fine vintages, you will choose the crystal, because everything about it is calculated to reveal rather than to hide the beautiful thing which it was meant to contain.
Bear with me in this long-winded and fragrant metaphor; for you will find that almost all the virtues of the perfect wine-glass have a parallel in typography. There is the long, thin stem that obviates fingerprints on the bowl. Why? Because no cloud must come between your eyes and the fiery hearth of the liquid. Are not the margins on book pages similarly meant to obviate the necessity of fingering the type-pages? Again: The glass is colorless or at the most only faintly tinged in the bowl, because the connoisseur judges wine partly by its color and is impatient of anything that alters it. There are a thousand mannerisms in typography that are as impudent and arbitrary as putting port in tumblers of red or green glass! When a goblet has a base that looks too small for security, it does not matter how cleverly it is weighted; you feel nervous lest it should tip over. There are ways of setting lines of type which may work well enough, and yet keep the reader subconsciously worried by the fear of “doubling” lines, reading three words as one, and so forth.
Printing demands a humility of mind, for the lack of which many of the fine arts are even now floundering in self-conscious and maudlin experiments. There is nothing simple or dull in achieving the transparent page. Vulgar ostentation is twice as easy as discipline. When you realise that ugly typography never effaces itself, you will be able to capture beauty as the wise men capture happiness by aiming at something else. The “stunt typographer” learns the fickleness of rich men who hate to read. Not for them are long breaths held over serif and kern, they will not appreciate your splitting of hair-spaces. Nobody (save the other craftsmen) will appreciate half your skill. But you may spend endless years of happy experiment in devising that crystalline goblet which is worthy to hold the vintage of the human mind.
The trick is to be seamless…
Posted: 7th, February 2014 | In: Flashback, Sports | Comment
Farting Gymnastics Challenges You Not To Smile
GYMNASTICS loosens you up. Vimeo agent GHOST+COW FILMS taps my shoulder with the stinky fingers of adolescence with his tribute to blowing off.
You start waiting for the next thunder cracker. When it comes, it’s all the better:
Posted: 7th, February 2014 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Putin’s LGBT Pogrom: Hunted And The Horror of Vladimir’s Anti-Gay Crusade
THE Russian man who told me about the police who burned him with cigarettes, broke his phone and extorted money wasn’t poor. That’s why he was telling me in the hipster comfort of an East London drinking den, the temporary home of the Silicon Drinkabout tech networking event. He wasn’t poor. That’s why, he said, his family could make the leap from Moscow to the Czech Republic. That’s why he’s now a Czech citizen, able to live and work in the UK and free from the village where the police sold meth and ignored a dead man on the stairs of his apartment block.
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Posted: 6th, February 2014 | In: Reviews, Sports, TV & Radio | Comments (2)
How Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea Outsmarted The Sun’s Manchester City Fans
WHEN Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 at the Etihad, they were deserved winners. City’s 100% home record was gone. And a few experts in the media realised that football at the top level is often about tactics. It’s how the manager earns his corn. Chelsea’s manger Jose Mourinho got it right. But what about those nodding heads who earn their money giving players cores out of 10?
This is what the Sun’s crack team had to say before the game:
Such are the facts.
No Fishing In The Toilet: Chart Reveals Toilet Rules At Sochi Winter Olympics
HAVING seen the double dunnies at the Sochi Olympics, Canadian snowboarder Sebastien Toutant shares this chart of “Sochi rules in the bathrooms”. So sicking. So squatting. No urinating. No fishing. No taking drugs. No boozing.
Bombing, petting (boy-girl, only), ducking, eating, playing video games, running, washing your feet and diving are all fine.
BOGOF: Sochi Boasts At Least These Two Sets Of Twin Toilets
RUSSIA may hate the gays, but let it not be said that Putin’s people are prudes. I mean, take a look at these side-by-side toilets at the biathlon venue for the Sochi Olympics. The two toilets above were spotted at the cross-country skiing and biathlon center.
Was it a one off?
No.
The twin flushers below were found at the security screening facility outside the Main Press Center.
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Dinnerladies For David Moyes: A Look At The Manchester United Manager As Stoke City Win
DAVID Moyes Watch: The current Manchester United manager is having a torrid time. Today his Red Devils lost to mighty Stock City, managed by former Untied player Mark Hughes. The more we looked, the more we noticed that Moyes not only resembles Hugh Laurie; he looks a lot like Thelma Barlow, who played Coronation Street’s soft-centred Mavis Riley and then one of Victoria Wood’s Dinnerladies. Someone get him a tabard:
Hughes eyes Moyes’ job
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Posted: 1st, February 2014 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Arsenal Balls: Cracking Photo Of Kim Kallstrom In 1999
ARSENAL FC new boy Kim Kallstrom as seen in his 1999 Panini sticker pose:
Red Hot Chilli Peppers To Be Most Hateful Super Bowl Halftime Ever?
THE Super Bowl halftime show is a mixed bag. Highlights have included Prince, The Rolling Stones, Chubby Checker (and 88 grand pianos), Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and Beyonce.
With that, there have been lowlights too. Madonna’s turn at the show was met with stifled yawns, while The Black Eyed Peas performed their songs while everyone in the stadium ran off to the bar.
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Flamboyant Skier To Don A Skin-Tight Mariachi Suit To Race In The Sochi Olympics
image via NBC Olympics
ALPINE skier Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe, who turns 55 on February 2nd, qualified to represent Mexico in the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi but knows that it’s unlikely that he’ll win a medal. Instead, for his sixth and probably last chance to compete in the Olympic games, he is attempting to win big style points. As a way to celebrate Mexican culture, the flamboyant athlete –who is already known for his unique fashion choices— will don a skin-tight mariachi-themed suit as he flies down the hills of Rosa Khutor.
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Robbie Savage Watch: How Spurs Can Play Like Every Other Team Against Manchester City
ROBBIE Savage Watch: a look at the world’s favourite pundit. This week, Savage tells BBC viewers “How Spurs can beat Man City”.
We’d hasten to reply ‘Score more goal’, but that might be too trite for a deep thinker of the game, like Savage.
In his regular BBC Sport column, Robbie Savage looks at the tactical decisions which could decide Wednesday’s game between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.
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Can We Walk Alone With You? Everton Fan Gets Liverpool Anthem Tattoo (For Charity)
DIEHARD Everton fan Matty Bowman has raised funds for desperately ill George Johnson, 4, by having the Liverpool’s club motto, You’ll Never Walk Alone, tattooed across his back. The deal was that if enough people pledged money for George, Matty would get the ink.
George suffers from a very rare motility condition (which means that he can not eat or drink and survives by being fed through his heart) and desperately needs to travel to a specialised clinic in the US to have his illness diagnosed and treated properly – and, sadly, incredibly expensively.
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Posted: 29th, January 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment (1)
Spurs Balls: Les Ferdinand Agrees To Disagree
SPURS Balls: (Sir) Les Ferdinand is talking about his new coaching role to the Tottenham and Wood Green Journal. Says Les:
“I know there’s a lot of talk about holding midfield players, and I’m always arguing with Tim and Chris (Ramsey) about this – and they agree.”
David Coleman is away.
Chelsea Balls: What Mourinho Did And Didn’t Hear On His Birthday
CHELSEA Balls: Happy birthday Jose Mourinho, 51-years young. The journalists were there to see you work on your birthday, taking charge of Chelsea for their FA game with Stoke City.
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Transfer Balls: Spurs Get New Manager And Half-Time DJ
IN the frantic race to scream “first” with the news of a transfer, Jon Rogers reports that Spurs are in the hint for French striker Jonathan Biabiany. This exclusive includes the following:
The 25-year-old currently plays as a forward or right winger for Serie A side Parma but a move to the north London side could be on the cards, so SportsDirect News understands. Spurs boss Tim Westwood is reportedly keen on bringing some new attacking options to White Hart Lane and it seems the speedy Biabiany could add some zest to Spurs who have lacked the ability to find the net consistently in open play this season.
Any Tim in a crisis
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Manchester United Laugh-In: Chelsea Fans Discuss Players Who Don’t Exist – Go Blues
MANCHESTER United fans and TalkSPORT’s Andrew Ryan took a leaf from Jimmy Kimmel’s joke book and talked with Chelsea fans outside Stamford Bridge about a few of the club’s rumoured January transfer targets. Only, none of the players he mentions exits. He made them up. Hilarity ensures.
Old Chelsea fans who can remember Kerry Dixon’s goalscoring exploits and are now priced out of the ground by the rugby-loving Henrys and American bankers can laugh along.
Go Blues!
Posted: 24th, January 2014 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Kobe Bryant’s Bid To Become Basketball’s Bobby Charlton
FANTASTIC haircut news: the bill to cut Kobe Bryan’s hair for a Nike shoot ran to $860.
This is Kobe Bryant:
No. That’s him on the right.
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Manchester United Balls: Moyes Is ‘Bold’ To Buy Chelsea’s Best Player
IT looks a lot like Juan Mata – Chelsea’s Player of the season for the past two seasons – is on his way to Manchester United for a club-record fee. Oliver Holt is a Manchester United fan writing for the Daily Mirror. He reaches the kind of audience most fans can only dream of. He says that if Moyes flops at United “No one will remember 11 years of worthy over-achievement at Everton”. Everton fans might.
Failure for Moyes and “he knows that people will come to him, deep into his old age, and ask him about Manchester United, and he will look back in anger.”
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Posted: 23rd, January 2014 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Why No One Will Win Buffett’s Billion Dollar Basketball Bet
THE big news over the Pond today is that Warren Buffett is offering a billion dollar (yes, really, $1,000,000,000) prize about basketball. And the thing is, yes, this is a pretty big prize, but it’s pretty certain that no one’s going to win it. Indeed, it’s set up almost to make sure that no one will.
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Posted: 23rd, January 2014 | In: Money, Sports | Comment (1)
Manchester United Manager David Moyes Reveals His 10 Tips For Penalty Success
WHEN Manchester United lost a penalty shoot-out to Sunderland in last night’s League Cup semi-final, we remembered a 2010 article he wrote for the Times:
David Moyes: How to win a penalty shootout
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Posted: 23rd, January 2014 | In: Key Posts, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Mini Cab For Moyes: A Look At The Manager’s Face As Manchester United Lose To Sunderland
DAVID Moyes is under pressure. The new Manchester United manager has seen his side slip to a home defeat by Sunderland. How did he react? Like this:
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Posted: 22nd, January 2014 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment (1)
Norway’s Curling Team Are Early Leaders In Olympics Fashion Stakes With Their ‘Life-Changing’ Trousers
NORWAY’S Olympic curling team is in fine fettle for the upcoming games in Sochi.
Member of Norway’s Men’s Olympic Curling Team from left Thomas Ulsrud, Torgor Nergard, Christoffer Svae, and Havard Vad Petersson wear their new Sochi 2014 suits as they pose for a photographer in New York Tuesday Jan. 21, 2014. (AP Photo)
The Norwegians have form:
Norway’s Martin Sesaker, left, and his teammate Stine Haalien work on the stone while playing against Estonia during a mixed team curling event at the first winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)
The designer is Christoffer Svae, who tells the AP that he asked a company called Loudmouth to jazz up the team’s kit:
“It’s definitely been life-changing for us,” Svae told the AP. “Not so much in the everyday but when we travel around the world for curling, it doesn’t always matter if we do well or not, people still think that we win stuff because we are always in the media.”
“I don’t think you’ll see a lot of the other teams do the same that we did,” Svae added, “they feel it’s our thing.”
If you look closely at the new kit, you can see a boy in tricycle riding up the zigzags.
Norway’s skip Torger Nergard throws his rock as first Havard Vad Petersson, left, and second Christoffer Svae sweep during a match against Sweden, at the Curling World Championships, in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, April 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
This photo made March 21, 2010, shows Norway’s skip Linn Githmark, center, during an evening draw against Canada in Swift Current, Sask. There was a large package waiting for Norway when the team arrived in Swift Current, Sask., for the women’s world curling championship. Out of the box came even louder versions of the loud pants their male counterparts popularized at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver last month.(AP Photo/The Canadian Press/HO, Michael Burns)
Norway’s skip Torger Nergard releases a stone on his way to win a semifinal match against Scotland, at the Curling World Championships, in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, April 10, 2010. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Norway’s Christoffer Svae, left, and Torger Nergaard, sweep a stone delivered by Haavard Vad Petersson, top, in a win over China in men’s curling at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Feb. 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
