May I point your attention to this nugget which I picked up via Deadspin. It's an old article but I thought it worth mentioning for one specific moment.
This is the kind of thing that so often gets lost amongst the masses of news stories around North American athletes. I guess that is due to sheer amount of stuff that comes out over there. And certainly very little gets picked up here in the UK of relatively minor stories like this.
Edgerrin James was at this time the running back for the Indianapolis Colts. Basically one of top players on one of the top teams in the NFL.
The way the night owl James saw it, to regain the form that enabled him to lead the NFL in rushing in each of his first two seasons, 1999 and 2000, it was imperative that he work out on his own schedule, peculiar as it might have seemed. So James created Alligator Alley's answer to a 24-hour fitness center. As for his spotters and running partners, he didn't have a lot of options. "At that time of night the crackheads are the only ones awake," James says. "I'd roll down Second Street, find a dude stumbling around and say, 'Yo, come rack my weights.' Other times I'd pay one to run with me." Talk about speed training.
Let us not forget quite how bonkers this is. Imagine that a Premier League footballer came out with this one. We would never hear the end of it.
The killer line, and he actually said this:
"I know it doesn't sound like much but for crackheads, that's two hits and a solid meal."
Not much more to say really. The madness speaks for itself.
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Mihir Bose: knows nothing about lots of sports
May I point you to this incredibly interesting article by BBC Sports Editor Mihir Bose on the Olympic shooting venue.
This man is a joke. Summed up better than I could by the second reader comment:
I have a lot to say on this matter. However, I must re-arrange the cutlery in the draw in the kitchen because someone has placed a spoon the wrong way around, so I shall have to return later, if I am not further distracted by paint drying, counting the leaves on a tree or measuring the widths of all my ties and finding the average width.
Not only is the article a complete non-story to 99% of license fee payers but it is factually inaccurate!
Keep it up Mihir. Cricket, Football and the Olympics are the only sports in the world right?
This man is a joke. Summed up better than I could by the second reader comment:
I have a lot to say on this matter. However, I must re-arrange the cutlery in the draw in the kitchen because someone has placed a spoon the wrong way around, so I shall have to return later, if I am not further distracted by paint drying, counting the leaves on a tree or measuring the widths of all my ties and finding the average width.
Not only is the article a complete non-story to 99% of license fee payers but it is factually inaccurate!
Keep it up Mihir. Cricket, Football and the Olympics are the only sports in the world right?
Jeff Powell vs the greedy Premier League
This guy has so much anger inside him he makes me look still and steady.
Even as Ronaldo lurches between disgrace and glory in the space of 24 hours, a small army of lawyers abroad are working ever closer to the reform which will give back our national game to the humbler home-grown English player.
Humbler like Jermaine Pennant? Joey Barton?
The only thing disgraceful about Ronaldo's sending off against City was the refereeing. One yellow for a fair tackle and another for a harmless (although admittedly bizarre) handball.
News of this development, even though it should regenerate the England team as a future World Cup power, will throw the Premier League into frenzied protest.
1. I don't buy all this less foreign players will make us into a World Cup power bullshit. The last World Cup winners were Italy, where a massive number of foreigners play. In terms of talent coming through they are no better than England but they had a winning mentality and great coaching.
2. Journalists everywhere seem to be picking up on this and saying that the Premier League clubs will protest. I am seeing no evidence for this, only presumption. In this article alone we get:
frenzied protest
cause chaos
Furious
panic-stricken defence
consternation
blinkered insularity
indenial (sic)
I give you Jeff Powell: master of subtlety.
Jeff here is a Brazil nut if you fancy... wait a minute Jeff put down the hammer, put it down. OK now step back and use this nutcra... SMASH.
Oh man now I'm going to have to vacuum the living room again. And stop slavering all over my new sofa for God's sake man.
It will also cause chaos among the major clubs, challenging managers such as Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez to wean themselves off their dependence on French, Spanish or other foreign imports and start developing young English footballers.
Put a limit on Johnny Foreigner and even Arsene will have to bring on the English.
Burnley v Arsenal Carling Cup:
number of French players in Arsenal staring line-up = 1
number of British players = 6
Arsene knows you know.
I also must point out that 90% of Wenger's 'foreign' players will be eligible for a British passport by the time they get into the first XI anyway.
A decline in Premier League attendances this season - down by an average of almost 1,000 per game - comes as a reminder of the importance of England success to football’s popularity in this country.
WTF? Linking foreigners to lack of success by England team is tenuous at best, then we take another gigantic leap in logic and uncover the dastardly secret that foreigners are responsible for a lack of attendances by proxy? Anyone would think this was an article from the Daily Mail. Rivers of blood, send them back etc.
Fabio Capello’s team are still a work in progress which could use more skilled labour. Not that we want Ronaldo to go home, or even to Madrid, unless he keeps insisting until Sir Alex Ferguson gives in.
Yeah our recent results have been awful haven't they Jeff? Anyway keep Ronaldo cos he's really good but fuck the rest of those spic bastards.
If Enid Blyton were still writing her children’s books, be sure young Cristiano would be one of her Five Go To Old Trafford.
Awful writing there Rowley. Perhaps Blyton is his race relations mentor?
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Lawton
You can feel the spittle of righteous indignation all over the screen of the laptop on which James Lawton penned this article:
Keane stands idle as mob rule shrouds stadium of darkness
I know that the headlines are not always written by the author of the article in newspapers but this one is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
The stench of yob anarchy is back on the terraces and the field.
Shock news just in: fans celebrated beating their closest rivals for the first time in over 20 years at home by running on to the corner of the pitch after the game had finished.
It is a time, you might think, for every football man of any genuine stature to take his hands from his eyes and exert some of the influence gained in all the years of growing reputation and wealth. Someone like Roy Keane, certainly, someone to show that for all his own offences against discipline and decent order in his playing career, he knows now he cannot afford to pussyfoot on such a vital issue, not as the manager of a club whose fans had just spilt on to the pitch spitting their hatred.
Keano: I thought it was disgraceful our fans celebrating a victory over Newcastle. I mean they’re shit now anyway innit.
Also it was the Newcastle fans who piled on to the pitch wanting a fight in reaction to Sunderland celebrating (albiet I'm sure with some mocking going on)
Here, surely, was the chance for Keane to confirm his new status as a man of the future, fit to hold the highest office, perhaps at Old Trafford, and maybe even to atone for some of the atrocities of his past, and not least the cold-blooded assertion that he had attempted to ruin the career of an opponent against whom he held a grudge.
Yes if you are to follow in Fergie’s shoes then you must uphold the integrity of the game in the manner which he has demonstrated on so many occasions.
Keane's reaction was so spineless it seemed to underwrite all those years of Clockwork Orange violence that made English football the pariah of world sport.
I somehow doubt that most Sunderland fans listen to Ludwig Van on a regular basis, but tenuous link sort of accepted.
It was a stunning abdication of responsibility and if the Football Association does not see it as an invitation to take some meaningful action, some attempt to lay down significant deterrents before the rabble take hold again, it too will be guilty of the most appaling complacency.
I once knew a Sunderland fan when I was at University who shagged around behind his missuses back. I gave Peter Reid some grief for that the adulterous monkey headed scouse bastard.
Keane may say that he is responsible solely for team affairs but that would be nonsense.
Because as the manager of the team he should be what? Responsible for stadium security or fan behaviour? Give me a break
But this was a test of his mettle as a significant figure in a game to which, as a player, he brought both great glory and disfigurement. What would the achievement of Keane's team in beating Newcastle United, of all teams, have meant if it had accompanied, as it could so easily have been, by the death or maiming of some kid caught in the chaos that came at the end of the game.
Death or maiming? That is laugh out loud crazy. Seriously when was the last time anything resembling death or maiming ever occured due to hooliganism inside a football ground in this country? Hillsbrough and the Bradford Fire weren't even the fans fault. I honestly cannot think of any during my lifetime inside this country, inside a football ground. Of course some evidence by way of investigative journalism would prove me wrong but far be it for a Sports Journalist in this country to do that. Don't let that stand in the way of a good story eh?
Would Keane have kept his head so firmly rooted in the sand then? Would he not have been susceptible to the idea that he was completely out of step with all that had happened so sickeningly around him?
Mentalism. Yeah Keano some little child could have been ripped limb from limb as the baying mob spotted the Sunderland badge on his jacket and their bloodlust got the better of them. Won't you think of the children Keano for the love of God? You sicken me you fucking Ostrich.
When he led a pack of Manchester United players in pursuit of a referee he displayed a shocking lack of control and leadership. After making his spine-chilling, premeditated assault on Alf Inge-Haaland, he wrote in his autobiography that he had experienced not a sliver of regret.
One of my all time favourite football quotes: “The ball was there (I think). An eye for an eye.”
Most football fans I know find Keano's revenge mission on Haaland pretty funny. Is that a telling indictment of our culture? Meh.
What happened at the Stadium of Darkness was that the fans of both Sunderland and Newcastle attempted to establish mob rule. They fought on the pitch after breaking through cordons of police and security men.
Newcastle at last! There was another team involved. I thought I was making it up.
I hate to burst James's bubble here (not really) but security men at football grounds are like shop floor assisstants at PC World. They give the illusion of being able to help but when they have to do something you find they haven't got a clue how to do there job in any detail whatsoever.
Breaking through a line of Stewards is as easy as taking cheap shots at sloppy sports journalism. Hazzah!
The Stadium of Darkness should be closed down for two home games. It would send the right message into every corner of football. It might even make Roy Keane think about the immutable difference between right and wrong.
Well I think Keano would not give a flying fuck as actually Sunderland play at the Stadium of Light.
Keane stands idle as mob rule shrouds stadium of darkness
I know that the headlines are not always written by the author of the article in newspapers but this one is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
The stench of yob anarchy is back on the terraces and the field.
Shock news just in: fans celebrated beating their closest rivals for the first time in over 20 years at home by running on to the corner of the pitch after the game had finished.
It is a time, you might think, for every football man of any genuine stature to take his hands from his eyes and exert some of the influence gained in all the years of growing reputation and wealth. Someone like Roy Keane, certainly, someone to show that for all his own offences against discipline and decent order in his playing career, he knows now he cannot afford to pussyfoot on such a vital issue, not as the manager of a club whose fans had just spilt on to the pitch spitting their hatred.
Keano: I thought it was disgraceful our fans celebrating a victory over Newcastle. I mean they’re shit now anyway innit.
Also it was the Newcastle fans who piled on to the pitch wanting a fight in reaction to Sunderland celebrating (albiet I'm sure with some mocking going on)
Here, surely, was the chance for Keane to confirm his new status as a man of the future, fit to hold the highest office, perhaps at Old Trafford, and maybe even to atone for some of the atrocities of his past, and not least the cold-blooded assertion that he had attempted to ruin the career of an opponent against whom he held a grudge.
Yes if you are to follow in Fergie’s shoes then you must uphold the integrity of the game in the manner which he has demonstrated on so many occasions.
Keane's reaction was so spineless it seemed to underwrite all those years of Clockwork Orange violence that made English football the pariah of world sport.
I somehow doubt that most Sunderland fans listen to Ludwig Van on a regular basis, but tenuous link sort of accepted.
It was a stunning abdication of responsibility and if the Football Association does not see it as an invitation to take some meaningful action, some attempt to lay down significant deterrents before the rabble take hold again, it too will be guilty of the most appaling complacency.
I once knew a Sunderland fan when I was at University who shagged around behind his missuses back. I gave Peter Reid some grief for that the adulterous monkey headed scouse bastard.
Keane may say that he is responsible solely for team affairs but that would be nonsense.
Because as the manager of the team he should be what? Responsible for stadium security or fan behaviour? Give me a break
But this was a test of his mettle as a significant figure in a game to which, as a player, he brought both great glory and disfigurement. What would the achievement of Keane's team in beating Newcastle United, of all teams, have meant if it had accompanied, as it could so easily have been, by the death or maiming of some kid caught in the chaos that came at the end of the game.
Death or maiming? That is laugh out loud crazy. Seriously when was the last time anything resembling death or maiming ever occured due to hooliganism inside a football ground in this country? Hillsbrough and the Bradford Fire weren't even the fans fault. I honestly cannot think of any during my lifetime inside this country, inside a football ground. Of course some evidence by way of investigative journalism would prove me wrong but far be it for a Sports Journalist in this country to do that. Don't let that stand in the way of a good story eh?
Would Keane have kept his head so firmly rooted in the sand then? Would he not have been susceptible to the idea that he was completely out of step with all that had happened so sickeningly around him?
Mentalism. Yeah Keano some little child could have been ripped limb from limb as the baying mob spotted the Sunderland badge on his jacket and their bloodlust got the better of them. Won't you think of the children Keano for the love of God? You sicken me you fucking Ostrich.
When he led a pack of Manchester United players in pursuit of a referee he displayed a shocking lack of control and leadership. After making his spine-chilling, premeditated assault on Alf Inge-Haaland, he wrote in his autobiography that he had experienced not a sliver of regret.
One of my all time favourite football quotes: “The ball was there (I think). An eye for an eye.”
Most football fans I know find Keano's revenge mission on Haaland pretty funny. Is that a telling indictment of our culture? Meh.
What happened at the Stadium of Darkness was that the fans of both Sunderland and Newcastle attempted to establish mob rule. They fought on the pitch after breaking through cordons of police and security men.
Newcastle at last! There was another team involved. I thought I was making it up.
I hate to burst James's bubble here (not really) but security men at football grounds are like shop floor assisstants at PC World. They give the illusion of being able to help but when they have to do something you find they haven't got a clue how to do there job in any detail whatsoever.
Breaking through a line of Stewards is as easy as taking cheap shots at sloppy sports journalism. Hazzah!
The Stadium of Darkness should be closed down for two home games. It would send the right message into every corner of football. It might even make Roy Keane think about the immutable difference between right and wrong.
Well I think Keano would not give a flying fuck as actually Sunderland play at the Stadium of Light.
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Cascarino not so Wise
I have no objection to ex-footballers writing about football per se, but stuff like this makes you wonder why some of them get paid.
If you're in his camp, you love him, if you're on the outside, the chances are you hate him. That's how it's always been for Dennis Wise and he couldn't care less.
I think perhaps Calum Davidson may disagree with the start of this article, although of course it would have been difficult for him to voice those concerns after 20th July 2002 when his then team mate Dennis Wise broke his jaw on a pre-season tour of Finland. Davidson you may remember tried to break up a fight between rat face and another team mate.
Why anyone would want to break it up when they could've joined in the shoeing on Wise is another matter entirely.
You'll rarely meet anyone as brave or as thick-skinned.
A man who uses violence to achieve his goals is a coward. Wise is such a man. I wouldn't be suprised if Keegan quit due to Wise biting his nose off or spitting on him during a board meeting...
MA: So Kevin have you thought of any key transfer targets over the Summer?
KK: Well the targets for me to take this club forward need to be truly world class. Frank Lampard, Ronaldinho for starters then...
DW: (jumps on the table of the boardroom in Gollum-esque fashion, coughs up a big greenie and launches at KK) You shall not have the precious. (turns to MA) Take Xisco and Danny Guthrie instead master.
I recall when my name was booed by Chelsea fans when it was announced to the crowd. It left me feeling, well, about as big as Dennis. But he ran over from 30 yards away to tell me: “They really hate you, don't they!” Cheers.
And I quote: "If you're in his camp, you love him". If I was in Cascarino's shoes here I would have waited until after the game and then locked Wise in a room with a bunch of irate taxi drivers.
Another time at Chelsea, he stuck two fingers up at his own supporters when they jeered him.
And I quote: "If you're in his camp, you love him".
Dennis walked away from the Millwall job because he wanted transfer funds to push for promotion and the board wouldn't give him the money. Sounds similar to Keegan, but the difference is that if he doesn't get what he wants, Dennis will roll up his sleeves and prepare for battle. He'd have no sympathy for the sort of cry-baby, toys-out-of-the-pram attitude that Keegan has been often accused of.
What the fuck is this paragraph all about. Wise walked away from Millwall when he didn't get what he wanted but he will roll his sleeves up if he doesn't get what he wants?
No he won't you thick "Irish" bastard you just said so in the last fucking sentence. YOU fucking said it yourself! Monumentally stupid writing.
I can't figure out if he is really just that thick or if he was drunk when he wrote this article, either way it's horrible.
Also: Dennis Wise has quit Millwall, Swindon and Leeds Utd manager jobs and now has gone behind the scenes at Newcastle. What a battler!
Wise sums up all that is wrong in football today. He is a convicted criminal without any loyalty to team mates or employers and yet people continue to employ him. I cannot for the life of me figure out why but perhaps it is because people like Cascarino exists that people like Wise still hold positions of power at football clubs.
If you're in his camp, you love him, if you're on the outside, the chances are you hate him. That's how it's always been for Dennis Wise and he couldn't care less.
I think perhaps Calum Davidson may disagree with the start of this article, although of course it would have been difficult for him to voice those concerns after 20th July 2002 when his then team mate Dennis Wise broke his jaw on a pre-season tour of Finland. Davidson you may remember tried to break up a fight between rat face and another team mate.
Why anyone would want to break it up when they could've joined in the shoeing on Wise is another matter entirely.
You'll rarely meet anyone as brave or as thick-skinned.
A man who uses violence to achieve his goals is a coward. Wise is such a man. I wouldn't be suprised if Keegan quit due to Wise biting his nose off or spitting on him during a board meeting...
MA: So Kevin have you thought of any key transfer targets over the Summer?
KK: Well the targets for me to take this club forward need to be truly world class. Frank Lampard, Ronaldinho for starters then...
DW: (jumps on the table of the boardroom in Gollum-esque fashion, coughs up a big greenie and launches at KK) You shall not have the precious. (turns to MA) Take Xisco and Danny Guthrie instead master.
I recall when my name was booed by Chelsea fans when it was announced to the crowd. It left me feeling, well, about as big as Dennis. But he ran over from 30 yards away to tell me: “They really hate you, don't they!” Cheers.
And I quote: "If you're in his camp, you love him". If I was in Cascarino's shoes here I would have waited until after the game and then locked Wise in a room with a bunch of irate taxi drivers.
Another time at Chelsea, he stuck two fingers up at his own supporters when they jeered him.
And I quote: "If you're in his camp, you love him".
Dennis walked away from the Millwall job because he wanted transfer funds to push for promotion and the board wouldn't give him the money. Sounds similar to Keegan, but the difference is that if he doesn't get what he wants, Dennis will roll up his sleeves and prepare for battle. He'd have no sympathy for the sort of cry-baby, toys-out-of-the-pram attitude that Keegan has been often accused of.
What the fuck is this paragraph all about. Wise walked away from Millwall when he didn't get what he wanted but he will roll his sleeves up if he doesn't get what he wants?
No he won't you thick "Irish" bastard you just said so in the last fucking sentence. YOU fucking said it yourself! Monumentally stupid writing.
I can't figure out if he is really just that thick or if he was drunk when he wrote this article, either way it's horrible.
Also: Dennis Wise has quit Millwall, Swindon and Leeds Utd manager jobs and now has gone behind the scenes at Newcastle. What a battler!
Wise sums up all that is wrong in football today. He is a convicted criminal without any loyalty to team mates or employers and yet people continue to employ him. I cannot for the life of me figure out why but perhaps it is because people like Cascarino exists that people like Wise still hold positions of power at football clubs.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Tatum Bell v Rudi Johnson
This story is madness of the highest order. Utterly baffling and hilraious at the same time.
Check the comments at the bottom of the page. My personal favourite is:
"The source also said Bell took the bags to the home of a female acquaintance." Ironically enough, that is the longest carry he had in his career with the Lions.
Check the comments at the bottom of the page. My personal favourite is:
"The source also said Bell took the bags to the home of a female acquaintance." Ironically enough, that is the longest carry he had in his career with the Lions.
Monday, 1 September 2008
Phil Thompson 'expert' analysis
In SkySports.com's dubiously named expert column featuring Phil Thompson (I can't say it was written by Thommo as he is only quoted due to the fact he hasn't yet learnt to type. His only attempt was in 1998 but he found he cannot see the keyboard due to the size of his nose. Yes I know cheap shot) he discusses West Ham's Alan Curbishley.
"It was a brave a decision to play the same side that played so dismally at Manchester City last week," said Thompson. "But as I said right at the start of the game it shows his faith.
Perhaps it was more reflective on the fact Curbs has no one who's any good on the bench? Except a returning from injury and not fully fit Bellamy of course.
"It wasn't a 4-1 game and probably 2-1 would have been justified because they scored two late goals. But they played very well.
2-1 would have been justified except for Blackburn's disallowed goal that was not offside and the missed penalty. Probably Thommo was too busy thinking of the beautiful flowing locks of his dreamboat Nando Torres to see those incidents.
"I've seen it again and he wasn't offside because he was in line with the defender and the linesman got it completely wrong. That might have changed the whole complexion of the game."
Oh so he did see that.
Might have changed = would have changed because it would have meant the score changed to 2-2 therefore by definition changing the whole complexion of the game
"Robert Green made the penalty save, but he made two other saves as well.
And that.
Note the weird use of 'but' in the above sentence. As if juxtaposing the two halves of the comment. It's as if he means that saving a penalty is valid (and not lucky) if you've made some other good saves during a game as well whereas if it's the only save you make then you have ripped them off or something. Absurd logic.
"So he might feel a little unfortunate that they've been given a whacking today."
Freudian slip here (be afraid Nando, be very afraid).
NB. Bonus points for Thommo not mentioning Liverpool mean I didn't really rip into him as much as I would've otherwise done.
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