Read this
Again not a critical post but something which needed to be said:
Peter Gammons wrote a beautiful piece over at espn.com. He is one of the shining examples of the blog as an art form.
I promise to hate more once the Premier League season starts and evryone fawns over Frank Lampard.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Monday, 7 July 2008
A non-critical post
This isn't really in the general spirit of this blog but...
Hat tip to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for producing the best tennis match of a generation at Wimbledon yesterday. Let's hope for many more meetings between the two.
Hat tip to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for producing the best tennis match of a generation at Wimbledon yesterday. Let's hope for many more meetings between the two.
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
End of the Motson Era?
So, the time has come at last.
My favourite Motson moments from Euro 2008?
In one of the Holland games we got this classic:
Robben sets up RVP and Motty states 'A goal made in Chelsea and finished by Arsenal'
Arjen Robben of Real Madrid may not agree with that, especially as he has been there for the entirety of the 2007/08 season.
And
'If you're coming in late, let me refresh your memories'
Which is exactly the kind of garbage he talks on a regular basis
Also props to his awful co-commentator Mark Lawrenson for this one in the final:
‘That's a contradiction in terms an angry Lehman’
Well no actually that is the opposite of what it is.
This statement hurt my head so much I was forced to look up tautology via google
Anyway back to Motty:
"I am coming to the end of my career, I know that," said Motson.
Maybe he’s had so much horrible ‘fan’ mail that he has realised his time is up. Didn’t send any of by the way, honest.
Motson will continue to commentate on Match of the Day and Radio 5 Live
I KNEW it was too good to be true. He isn’t going anywhere. What are the odds the BBC still wheel him out for EVERY big game from now until the end of time?
In total, Motson has covered six World Cup finals as well as his 34 FA Cup finals (29 finals and five replays), and more than 200 England matches.
Those years of aural abuse have taken there toll on me. I am now medically almost 90% deaf to all sports commentary.
Still, outbursts like "it's Arsenal 0, Everton 1, and the longer it stays like that, the more you've got to fancy Everton," and "for those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are in the all yellow strip," added to Motson's charm rather than detracted from it.
BBC Sport propaganda departments says: all the utter nonsense he has come out with over the years only makes him more beloved.
I say: good riddance and take your verbal diarrhoea with you.
That was underlined in 2004, when he was named the Royal Television Society's Sports Commentator of the Year, receiving the same honour from Four Four Two in 2005 and from The Variety Club in 2006.
In an unrelated story the 1997 Academy Award for best picture goes to Titanic and not LA Confidential.
"Younger reporters and commentators depend on club websites and the like," he said. "I'm of an older generation. I haven't changed my system since 1971 and I couldn't adjust now - I'm too old.
Didn’t you just know that Motty hated the internet. It ruined his enjoyment of statistics. Now everyone has access to them and he can’t make them up on the spot anymore without being called on it.
Look I don't hate John Motson (though that may be difficult to believe) but his commentary has ruined my enjoyment of BBC football for too long now. I am glad he is taking some sort of semi-retirement so that I can enjoy listening to Jonathan Pearce and the likes from now on.
As a final comment on this let's go back to my previous post where Motson predict Huntelaar for top scorer:
Jan Klaas Huntelaar
Games started in Euro 2008 = 1
Goals scored = 1
My favourite Motson moments from Euro 2008?
In one of the Holland games we got this classic:
Robben sets up RVP and Motty states 'A goal made in Chelsea and finished by Arsenal'
Arjen Robben of Real Madrid may not agree with that, especially as he has been there for the entirety of the 2007/08 season.
And
'If you're coming in late, let me refresh your memories'
Which is exactly the kind of garbage he talks on a regular basis
Also props to his awful co-commentator Mark Lawrenson for this one in the final:
‘That's a contradiction in terms an angry Lehman’
Well no actually that is the opposite of what it is.
This statement hurt my head so much I was forced to look up tautology via google
Anyway back to Motty:
"I am coming to the end of my career, I know that," said Motson.
Maybe he’s had so much horrible ‘fan’ mail that he has realised his time is up. Didn’t send any of by the way, honest.
Motson will continue to commentate on Match of the Day and Radio 5 Live
I KNEW it was too good to be true. He isn’t going anywhere. What are the odds the BBC still wheel him out for EVERY big game from now until the end of time?
In total, Motson has covered six World Cup finals as well as his 34 FA Cup finals (29 finals and five replays), and more than 200 England matches.
Those years of aural abuse have taken there toll on me. I am now medically almost 90% deaf to all sports commentary.
Still, outbursts like "it's Arsenal 0, Everton 1, and the longer it stays like that, the more you've got to fancy Everton," and "for those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are in the all yellow strip," added to Motson's charm rather than detracted from it.
BBC Sport propaganda departments says: all the utter nonsense he has come out with over the years only makes him more beloved.
I say: good riddance and take your verbal diarrhoea with you.
That was underlined in 2004, when he was named the Royal Television Society's Sports Commentator of the Year, receiving the same honour from Four Four Two in 2005 and from The Variety Club in 2006.
In an unrelated story the 1997 Academy Award for best picture goes to Titanic and not LA Confidential.
"Younger reporters and commentators depend on club websites and the like," he said. "I'm of an older generation. I haven't changed my system since 1971 and I couldn't adjust now - I'm too old.
Didn’t you just know that Motty hated the internet. It ruined his enjoyment of statistics. Now everyone has access to them and he can’t make them up on the spot anymore without being called on it.
Look I don't hate John Motson (though that may be difficult to believe) but his commentary has ruined my enjoyment of BBC football for too long now. I am glad he is taking some sort of semi-retirement so that I can enjoy listening to Jonathan Pearce and the likes from now on.
As a final comment on this let's go back to my previous post where Motson predict Huntelaar for top scorer:
Jan Klaas Huntelaar
Games started in Euro 2008 = 1
Goals scored = 1
Friday, 6 June 2008
Jumped before you're pushed?
Can it be true?
Almost as unthinkable as a big tournament without England is one without John Motson, but the BBC’s voice of football is considering hanging up his sheepskin jacket before the next World Cup finals.
Unthinkable? Un-fucking-thinkable? Un-motherfucking-thinkable?
My god we'd actually be able to watch a BBC game without continually suppressing the urge to throttle someone/anyone.
Proof that Motson can divorce patriotism from pleasure comes in his choice of favourite tournament: Euro 2000
Thank God he can do that, although I have always been more concerned with his inability to string a sentence together, or keep a coherent thought process without wandering off into a statistical cul-de-sac, or his laughing off mic at appalling Lawro 'jokes', or randomly and infuriatingly raising the tone or volume of his voice when saying a players name when nothing is actually happening, or stating the obvious over and over again.
“Klaus-Jan Huntelaar of Holland is my own favourite for the golden boot. He’s scored so many goals in the Dutch league and I think he’s capable of doing it in a tournament.”
Can you say Miroslav Klose?
Huntelaar = good player. His chances of golden boot would be hampered by the fact he didn't start the last 3 qualifiers or the final 2 warm up games for Euro 2008. And now van Persie is fit as well, and they may not even get out of the group phase. Nice call though Motty.
But I digress. We may be about to be relieved of the great burden of listening to Motty every time an interesting game is on the BBC. It's just a shame he won't take Mark Lawrenson with him.
Almost as unthinkable as a big tournament without England is one without John Motson, but the BBC’s voice of football is considering hanging up his sheepskin jacket before the next World Cup finals.
Unthinkable? Un-fucking-thinkable? Un-motherfucking-thinkable?
My god we'd actually be able to watch a BBC game without continually suppressing the urge to throttle someone/anyone.
Proof that Motson can divorce patriotism from pleasure comes in his choice of favourite tournament: Euro 2000
Thank God he can do that, although I have always been more concerned with his inability to string a sentence together, or keep a coherent thought process without wandering off into a statistical cul-de-sac, or his laughing off mic at appalling Lawro 'jokes', or randomly and infuriatingly raising the tone or volume of his voice when saying a players name when nothing is actually happening, or stating the obvious over and over again.
“Klaus-Jan Huntelaar of Holland is my own favourite for the golden boot. He’s scored so many goals in the Dutch league and I think he’s capable of doing it in a tournament.”
Can you say Miroslav Klose?
Huntelaar = good player. His chances of golden boot would be hampered by the fact he didn't start the last 3 qualifiers or the final 2 warm up games for Euro 2008. And now van Persie is fit as well, and they may not even get out of the group phase. Nice call though Motty.
But I digress. We may be about to be relieved of the great burden of listening to Motty every time an interesting game is on the BBC. It's just a shame he won't take Mark Lawrenson with him.
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
More Lampard Loving
More ridiculous Frank Lampard snobbery here.
What is it about Frank Lampard? How come he is the one who gets booed at England matches when he is no more of an over-paid waste of space than the rest of them?
Well I beg to differ. To start with he wastes much less space due to the fact he can usually be found wandering around the half way line or occassional popping up in and around the area looking for a deflection. And he is more overpaid than most I would think.
Yet here is Jose Mourinho - who describes him as the finest player he has worked with - keen to make Lampard his first Inter Milan signing. So he must have something.
Don't remember Jose ever saying that. If he did then he is wrong if you consider these guys.
Oh yes also Mourinho 'worked with' Ronaldo (the fat one), Rivaldo, Figo and Stoitchkov at Barcelona. For the record they have between them 5 FIFA World Player of the Year awards and 5 Ballon d'Or awards.
Still, Lampard did score 4 against Derby this year didn't he?
But still we continue to mock and sneer. It can't be anything to do with the fact he is the only footballer in the Premiership with a GCSE in Latin, can it?
This I find the most insulting tool of the sportswriter.
They think they are better than us poor poor proles.
They think we are envious of Frank Lampard because he is middle class.
Is it not simple to grasp that non-Chelsea fans only care about what he has done for England recently (ie less than nothing) and don't really care who he is?
Also I quite like the idea that Jim White has researched the GCSE results (or equivalent) of every footballler in the country before coming up with this shit.
Really people ought to re-connect with reality before they go out and write articles like this.
What is it about Frank Lampard? How come he is the one who gets booed at England matches when he is no more of an over-paid waste of space than the rest of them?
Well I beg to differ. To start with he wastes much less space due to the fact he can usually be found wandering around the half way line or occassional popping up in and around the area looking for a deflection. And he is more overpaid than most I would think.
Yet here is Jose Mourinho - who describes him as the finest player he has worked with - keen to make Lampard his first Inter Milan signing. So he must have something.
Don't remember Jose ever saying that. If he did then he is wrong if you consider these guys.
Oh yes also Mourinho 'worked with' Ronaldo (the fat one), Rivaldo, Figo and Stoitchkov at Barcelona. For the record they have between them 5 FIFA World Player of the Year awards and 5 Ballon d'Or awards.
Still, Lampard did score 4 against Derby this year didn't he?
But still we continue to mock and sneer. It can't be anything to do with the fact he is the only footballer in the Premiership with a GCSE in Latin, can it?
This I find the most insulting tool of the sportswriter.
They think they are better than us poor poor proles.
They think we are envious of Frank Lampard because he is middle class.
Is it not simple to grasp that non-Chelsea fans only care about what he has done for England recently (ie less than nothing) and don't really care who he is?
Also I quite like the idea that Jim White has researched the GCSE results (or equivalent) of every footballler in the country before coming up with this shit.
Really people ought to re-connect with reality before they go out and write articles like this.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Old big nose
Having two Premier League sides in the Champions League final is a huge boost for our standing in European football.
Really? More insights please…
But there is a downside to having two English teams in the final
Yes it does sort of devalue the competition called the Champions League when 2 teams from the same country are in the Final I suppose. Also it isn’t really a truly European event is it I suppose?
- defeat to a team from your own country will be even more damaging to the loser.
What? Why?
What you’re really saying is this massive downside to English football is that either Chelsea or Man Utd will be damaged in some way not possible if they got ravaged 4-0 by Barcelona or the likes?
I've spoken to a lot of Liverpool fans who feel they could never have lived it down if they'd lost to Manchester United in the Champions League final - and I know some Man United fans feel the same.
Oh yes I forgot that Liverpool were playing in the final this year again. You feel that it is all he can do to not start typing ‘we won it 5 times’ over and over again from here until the end of the article. In fact I like to think that Thommo sings that as a lullaby to his kids every night (even though they are in there 20’s) and thinks of Stevie G when he’s doing the missus.
Anyway the point he is making – that the winning side’s fans will mock the other teams – is not really relevant considering there is no historical rivalry between Chelsea and Man Utd and the Chelsea fans are really not too bothered about anything other than a nice pre-match meal in the Chelsea village. Certainly there is not anything on the scale of Liverpool/Man Utd hatred here.
In 1977, Liverpool had just lost the FA Cup final to Manchester United and they had to go and play in a European Cup final four days later. The FA Cup defeat united the group, bonded everybody together and there was no way they were going to lose again.
Phil Thompson basking in Liverpool’s past glories shocker!
Thommo then goes into a tactical analysis that a schoolboy could’ve made just as easily such is the incredible obviousness of it:
I think United will start with a front three of Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo
That means winning possession of the football in the midfield area will be very important.
It's very important to handle yourself properly in the build-up to a game like this. The players won't need any motivation and even the most laid-back person will be fired up for this one.
These players know what it's like to win trophies and titles, but I still expect they will get nervous before the game.
Platitude after platitude after platitude.
Then the coup de grâce:
UNITED WIN - I'm hoping and praying we see a fantastic display from both teams and I'm calling it as 3-2 to Manchester United.
If this game finishes 3-2 I will join the official Liverpool Supporter’s Club. How’s that Thommo?
Friday, 16 May 2008
Do you understand the NFL draft?
The BBC.
The national broadcaster of the UK. If you want to watch any channel at all you have to pay them money to do so. They do a lot of things right in their coverage of sport.
Their Sports Editor is Mihir Bose. He has a blog. I'm afraid to say he wrote something about the NFL draft. It is from the end of April but worth a look anyway.
American sports have always been a foreign country to me, so much so that whenever I visit the United States I am forced to change my newspaper reading habits. I grew up reading papers from the back, but when I go to the USA I start reading them from page one as most of the sports they report on make little sense to me.
1. Yes America is a foreign country
2. You will never learn anything new with that attitude
3. You are the sports editor of the BBC for fuck's sake at least pretend you know something about US sports
In that above paragraph Bose links to an International Herald Tribune wrap of a Yankees v Indians game. I'm guessing he never got past the title 'Wang helps Yanks' before giving up on this one.
The insularity of US sports reporting does not help either.
Completely unscientifically I have just checked out the BBC Sport homepage top 20 stories. 15 are based entirely on British sports. 8 are British football related despite the fact the season is over already.
Yes US sports reporters focus on *gasp* US sport. I don't doubt that it is much worse than other countries but the BBC are the pot calling the kettle black here I'm afraid.
The NFL has always been that American curiosity where, in the land of the free market, the biggest sport is an advertisement for red-blooded socialism.
Links in this one sentence to Milton Friedman and Tony Benn. Wow Mihir you're so clever and you know so much about politics I'm glad the BBC have employed you as their... oh wait Sports Editor. Then WTF is the point of this? Alienate anyone who knows enough about sport to realise you are talking shit?
It may have worked for some but not for me.
It is a compelling event, both very visible and open to scrutiny, and, in many ways, the NFL draft mirrors the way Americans run their primary elections campaigns, of which there is no equivalent in our Westminster model.
Seriously now is this a sporting blog or a political blog? Make up your mind what you want to be.
In what way does the NFL draft have anything to do with Presidential primaries?
Oh yeah I remember when Mario Williams successfully won more delegates than Vince Young or Reggie Bush in the 2006 draft. That was a classic.
In contrast, transfers in English football come across as cloak and dagger operations.
This is the non-cloak and dagger NFL draft where it is completely possible to speak to a player before drafting him to find out if he wants to play for you. Where the players come from a college system rife with bungs and added incentives to players to take up certain agents or attend certain schools.
Same in all US sports really.
Never seen Blue Chips?
Anyway now to my favourite bit:
The draft, which this year saw 252 college players signed by the 32 NFL teams, is also marked by what Americans call "trades".
Way to insult the license fee payer's intelligence. High five! What are these magical "trades" of which you speak?
a team will sometimes trade its number with another so it can sign a player it wants. Such trades only surface as the draft unfolds live on television, often providing the element of surprise and heightening the drama.
And that is Bose's comprehensive explaination of the trade system. No mention of value in picks traded whatsoever.
Can you imagine Bill Parcells deciding he needs a corner not a left tackle so trades the number 1 overall for the number 16 and takes Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie instead?
Not even Isiah Thomas is that stupid.
The annoying thing is that this year the BBC televised the SuperBowl live and did a pretty decent job, especially with their employment of Mike Carlson as analyst. But their sports editor needs to start reading those pesky back pages of USA today. Or better still some Peter Gammons or Gene Wojciechowski or Bill Simmons or something.
The national broadcaster of the UK. If you want to watch any channel at all you have to pay them money to do so. They do a lot of things right in their coverage of sport.
Their Sports Editor is Mihir Bose. He has a blog. I'm afraid to say he wrote something about the NFL draft. It is from the end of April but worth a look anyway.
American sports have always been a foreign country to me, so much so that whenever I visit the United States I am forced to change my newspaper reading habits. I grew up reading papers from the back, but when I go to the USA I start reading them from page one as most of the sports they report on make little sense to me.
1. Yes America is a foreign country
2. You will never learn anything new with that attitude
3. You are the sports editor of the BBC for fuck's sake at least pretend you know something about US sports
In that above paragraph Bose links to an International Herald Tribune wrap of a Yankees v Indians game. I'm guessing he never got past the title 'Wang helps Yanks' before giving up on this one.
The insularity of US sports reporting does not help either.
Completely unscientifically I have just checked out the BBC Sport homepage top 20 stories. 15 are based entirely on British sports. 8 are British football related despite the fact the season is over already.
Yes US sports reporters focus on *gasp* US sport. I don't doubt that it is much worse than other countries but the BBC are the pot calling the kettle black here I'm afraid.
The NFL has always been that American curiosity where, in the land of the free market, the biggest sport is an advertisement for red-blooded socialism.
Links in this one sentence to Milton Friedman and Tony Benn. Wow Mihir you're so clever and you know so much about politics I'm glad the BBC have employed you as their... oh wait Sports Editor. Then WTF is the point of this? Alienate anyone who knows enough about sport to realise you are talking shit?
It may have worked for some but not for me.
It is a compelling event, both very visible and open to scrutiny, and, in many ways, the NFL draft mirrors the way Americans run their primary elections campaigns, of which there is no equivalent in our Westminster model.
Seriously now is this a sporting blog or a political blog? Make up your mind what you want to be.
In what way does the NFL draft have anything to do with Presidential primaries?
Oh yeah I remember when Mario Williams successfully won more delegates than Vince Young or Reggie Bush in the 2006 draft. That was a classic.
In contrast, transfers in English football come across as cloak and dagger operations.
This is the non-cloak and dagger NFL draft where it is completely possible to speak to a player before drafting him to find out if he wants to play for you. Where the players come from a college system rife with bungs and added incentives to players to take up certain agents or attend certain schools.
Same in all US sports really.
Never seen Blue Chips?
Anyway now to my favourite bit:
The draft, which this year saw 252 college players signed by the 32 NFL teams, is also marked by what Americans call "trades".
Way to insult the license fee payer's intelligence. High five! What are these magical "trades" of which you speak?
a team will sometimes trade its number with another so it can sign a player it wants. Such trades only surface as the draft unfolds live on television, often providing the element of surprise and heightening the drama.
And that is Bose's comprehensive explaination of the trade system. No mention of value in picks traded whatsoever.
Can you imagine Bill Parcells deciding he needs a corner not a left tackle so trades the number 1 overall for the number 16 and takes Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie instead?
Not even Isiah Thomas is that stupid.
The annoying thing is that this year the BBC televised the SuperBowl live and did a pretty decent job, especially with their employment of Mike Carlson as analyst. But their sports editor needs to start reading those pesky back pages of USA today. Or better still some Peter Gammons or Gene Wojciechowski or Bill Simmons or something.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)