Category: Sport (Page 17 of 24)

The <a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/international/4425357.stm#squad”>Lions squad was announced today</a>, something I have been looking forward to for months. And good old Sir Clive has dug out a few old favourites, dusting down for one last spin. There is a realistic possibility of Back, Hill and Dalaglio lining up for the tests, which might raise a few eyebrows.<br />
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In fact, the country representations make you wonder if the 6 Nations counts for anything at all. The breakdown: <br />
England (4th in 6N) – 20 players<br />
Ireland (3rd in 6N) – 11<br />
Wales (GRANDSLAM winners) – 10<br />
Scotland (5th) – 3<br />
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Now, what does this tell us? Either – a) Sir Clive is massively <a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/international/4433147.stm”>biased towards England</a>, or b) England really do have better players, but as a team they are not gelling, or c) The numbers are skewed because of England injuries and comebacks. Or all of the above.<br />
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And so far, no Jonny. Apparently if he proves fitness, he could still go, which would be good to see, although I still think Stephen Jones will be #10.

Football players and fans really seem unable to learn anything. First there’s that lovely fellow, Lee Bowyer. Footage of his bust-up with Keiron Dyer is well documented. And you can see it <a href=”http://hem.bredband.net/jenslindmark/bowyer_vs_dyer.mpg”>here</a><br />
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Here are a few gems from the Bowyer fact file:<br />
– He once spent an entire match calling Nolberto Solano a “Paki” (Solano is from Peru, so we can assume Bowyer’s CV doesn’t include geography GCSE) <br />
– His part in the alleged assault on Sarfraz Najeib led to a suspension from England selection and a fine from his club. Charges were droppped against Bowyer, but his unrepentant stance on the incident lost him many friends.<br />
– He deliberately stamped on a player’s head with his boot in a UEFA Cup match, <a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/uefa_cup/2638707.stm”>prompting another ban</a><br />
– He was fined by magistrates after admitting to throwing chairs across a McDonald’s restaurant after drinking with friends<br />
– He was banned by Charlton for eight weeks and dropped from the England Under-18 squad after testing positive for marijuana<br />
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What bothers me is not that Bowyer is rich or a wasted talent or a thug – there are loads of people around like that. It is that despite everything, he just doesn’t seem to learn. By now you would have thought he might have considered why he gets all these bans and criticism, but no – off he goes again. <br />
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Talking of not learning, it was deeply unpleasant to see Juve fans giving the finger and booing the tribute to the Heysel victims at Anfield on Tuesday. What have they learnt after 20 years? Fuck all.

One of the general gripes about the current premiership and European club system is that only a handful of clubs are able to win it, and it will always stay that way. It is almost impossible for a club without a billionaire benefactor to break the dominance of a select group, and this is true for most European leagues. <br />
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However, the nature of the Champions League has clearly ruffled a few feathers. The recent round of 16 threw up ManU vs Milan, Juve vs Real and Arsenal vs Bayern. And the big boys aren’t happy. Too many major clubs out early. Well, that’s their fault for not winning their groups, you might have thought.<br />
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So United chief executive <a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/4373075.stm”>David Gill thinks teams should be rated</a> so that more big teams get to the latter stages. Erm, doesn’t this sound like fixing the system? Why are Lyon and PSV within a shout of the semis? They won their groups, have played the games. Why should “smaller” clubs be penalised? This is a terrible idea.<br />
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Remember Leeds? They were in the Champions League semis not that long ago. Bayer Leverkeusen? Finalists in 2002. Forget that kind of club getting anywhere. These teams will seeded lower, thereby giving them the toughest draw possible. If Gill is serious, we should forget qualification, and just have a Euro league with the obvious big names, and admit that the two-tier system is not just a function of the virtious circle of best players / big stadia / trophies / more money but is enshrined in football law.

I hate to get too serious, but drugs in sport is one of those issues you can’t ignore, and can’t really joke about.<br />
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The <a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/4357763.stm”>Greek authorities have cleared Kenteris and Thanou</a> of doping offences, but their coach given a four year ban. Now, I might be naive, but aren’t there are few unanswered questions here? Such as:…<br />
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– Who the hell are they kidding? These two sprinters have dodged tests before. One test missed and I (although not most authoritires) might think it’s an honest mistake. But several skipped tests? That’s two people on the run.<br />
– Can someone explain the supposed motorbike incident? What actually took place? Why were the sprinters in hostpital for four days and then walked out with barely a scratch? <br />
– If <a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/4369497.stm”>WADA are going to appeal against the the decision</a>, doesn’t that imply that the Greek authorities are guilty of a whitewash? In which case, shouldn’t they also be investigated and possibly fined / kicked out of athletics?<br />
– Why are WADA taking the issue up and not the IAAF? Everyone knows this is a joke decision. If the IAAF have any credibility they will appeal. But they shouldn’t need WADA to show them the way. <br />
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A sport in decline due to a dilemma of it’s own making. Catch all the dirty athletes and you have almost no-one left – and the resulting audience share (nill). Let all the cheats swing by for old-time’s sake, and everyone thinks your sport is dirty – which it is.

I loved seeing Wales win the grand slam. They played rubgy as it should be played, attackng with flair and defending with guts. Fabulous stuff, and I’m no Welshman.<br />
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Now to pee in the cereal. <br />
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I still don’t think Wales have all the best players to take on the lions tour. They will have a good representation, and rightly so. But I can’t see too many certainties for the XV – Michael Owen will push for #8, and Peel and Jones are in a good shout for the half backs. Yet Clive Woodward might pull a surpsise and pick Wilkinson and Dawson. Elsewhere there is tons of competition for positions. At this rate, the centres could be O’Driscoll and D’Arcy, leaving Henson out. And there are stacks of good cases for non-Welsh players in the back 3. Robinson and Lewsey will be hard to leave out. <br />
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Back in the pack, and Ireland should provide the locks. Corry looks a good bet to start, and the front row is anyone’s guess. That could leave the grand slam champions with perhaps only 3 or 4 players in the team – a strange scenario, but that’s the lions for you.<br />
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And as for talk of Wales getting a slam next year, I just don’t see it. Why? a) Slams just don’t come around that often. b) backing it up is too improbable, given form and fitness c) France, England and Ireland will all be back stronger next year, in all liklihood.

Uncanny. Liverpool vs Juventus is a fixture with so much history and tragedy, it felt inevitable that they were the first two clubs out of the hat. Chelsea and Bayern is the other big tie. A Milan derby will be dull. Lyon or PSV? Semifinal-fodder for whoever they face next.<br />
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In full:<br />
Liverpool v Juventus <br />
AC Milan v Inter Milan <br />
Lyon v PSV <br />
Chelsea v Bayern Munich<br />
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And of course, all eyes of football fans in Spain will be on… err, no-one. The best league in Europe has not a single representative in the biggest club competition in the world. Why?<br />
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Partly due to the cyclical nature of the game. Real Madrid are in a state of flux, changing managers, losing shape in the team. Other teams have faded, such as Valencia and Deportivo. Luck has played a large part with Barca being knocked out by Chelsea.<br />
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But it was only a few years ago that there were 3 Spanish semifinalists, and no Italian clubs in the quarter finals. Was Italian football in decline? Hardly. AC Milan won it two seasons later.

My friend Leo once said, “A two-set lead? That’s nothing to a pair of chokers like Tim and Greg”. Weirdly, he was dead wrong. Henman and Rusedski had an 8 wins out of 9 Davis Cup doubles record. But it told a truth about British tennis. We never won a match at the top level, the World Group, with the two best players we have had for generations.<br />
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So It was good to see a <a href=”http://news.ft.com/cms/s/2230ccb2-8e7e-11d9-8aae-00000e2511c8.html”>proper, nerveless performance by Andrew Murray</a>, who should go on to be a big player. Alex Bodganovic? Get him out of there. He looks like a loser. Again, I refer you to Leo: “Gareth Southgate? Don’t let him take a penalty. You know he’s going to miss.”. Some players just don’t inspire any confidence. Murray has the look of a winner. Bogdanovic has the look of a kid who played tennis because the rugby team looked a bit rough.<br />
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Which leads me to, well, rugby. The English rugby team has gone downhill so fast you wonder if the brakes are working at all. They are on their 3rd choice captain, who wasn’t even in the frame a year ago. No offence to Martin Corry, who I think is a terrific player, but hang on. How the hell did we get here? The team could even lose to Scotland at this rate. ‘Building for the world cup’ is the mantra we always hear, but is anyone else thinking 2011 rather than 2007?

No, is the answer. Marat Safin is one of the more interesting players on the tour. Rumours of girls and booze and partying gives him a George Best-type aura. Thank God. Sport needs these kinds of characters, otherwise it’s all too squeaky-clean. Much as I admire Federer and previously Sampras, they aren’t that exciting off the court.<br />
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But now Marat has had a <a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4283581.stm”>big hissy fit and said that he is upset by the press</a>. Come on, Marat. Play up to it. Don’t go all Henman on us.

Jennifer Capriati is an eternal source of gossip from the tour. Shoplifter, drug-user, Dad from the Sopranos. It’s all there. And, apparently, porn-star boyfriend, according to Tennis-X. But, as the only news source to report the Jennifer was dating a blue-movie stud, they sadly were the only source I can find to de-bone (<a href=”http://www.tennis-x.com/story/2005-02-07/d.php”>their words</a>, not mine) the story. Here is their followup:<br />
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<i>Porn star Dale “DeBone” Rutter told Tennis-X that, contrary to other reports, he was never dating Jennifer Capriati: “Jennifer and I are not dating. We met one time with a group of people and that was it. I can’t believe where these stories come from. If it were just affecting me I really would not care. But this is so not fair to her. I’m sure she is not happy. Can we clear this up. I feel bad for Jennifer.”</i><br />
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He feels bad. A tart-with-a-heart. How sweet. Quick aside: with a last name like Rutter, does he really need the nickname “DeBone”? To paraphrase Seinfeld, does Bozo the Clown really need to add “the Clown” bit?<br />
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And what is this? Sol Campbell, persistently the subject of “he’s gay, isn’t he?” rumours, and one-time tennis #1 Martina Hingis <a href=”http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,6903,1404029,00.html”>are a couple</a>? <br />
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So it seems: Hingis confirmed the fact according to the <a href=”http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/02/09/sthodg09.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/02/09/ixtenn.html”>Telegraph</a>. Perhaps this is the key factor in Martina’s short-lived comeback. Who wants to trog round the lower reaches of the WTA tour, getting beaten by endless Russians when you could be hanging out in Highbury with the Arsenal crew?

What fun these two teams are. I can’t decide if they really hate each other, or if it’s the kind of fake animosity that you get in WWF. Anyway. In all the post-match analysis, one quote from Roy Keane stood out.<br />
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If you are Gary Neville, how humiliated do you feel right now? Here is a player who has won every honour at club level, won countless caps for his country, played in some of the most intimidating stadiums around the world. And Keane says this about him:<br />
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“Viera is six foot four inches and he is having a go at Gary. I just told him: ‘Come and have a go at me’, it’s as simple as that. If he wants to intimidate our players, Gary is an easy target. I am not having it.”<br />
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There you go, Gary. You may have played in Turkey where the England team received death threats, but apparently in the run up to a Premiership match in the badlands of, oooh, North London, you’re an easy target.<br />
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And if Roy Keane is sticking up for Gary, who is taking care of little brother Phil?