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.
Aston Villa’s Alex McLeish Won’t Say A Word About The Injury To Jermaine Jenas Of Spurs
ASTON Villa manger Alex McLeish will not say anything about the injury to Jermaine Jenas, on loan from Spurs:
“I am bound by the fact Jermaine is not an Aston Villa player to reveal any news about him. We have left it in the hands of Tottenham and they will probably make a statement later on. So obviously it’s not good news.”
No news, then. “Nuff said, Alex…
“I think Jermaine has ruptured his Achilles and that will take some time to sort out.”
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Madonna To Play In Superbowl, Quite Possibly As A Wide Receiver
MADONNA’S appearance at the next Super Bowl has been one of the worst kept secrets in sports-entertainment. Just like [Whoa there Mr Libel! Name removed by Ed.] being a quite obvious closeted homosexual. Even their wife knows it fercryinoutloud!
Anyway, it has finally been confirmed that Her Madge will be doing the halftime show at Super Bowl XLVI on February 5th. The gig has been rumoured for some time now and it’s clear that the NFL and associated TV stations want to get someone properly famous with a decent back-catalogue on the show after last year’s awful Black Eyed Peas debacle.
And all the stops are being pulled out to say sorry, we won’t book a faddy pop band again as Madonna’s extravaganza will be “imagined” by Cirque du Soleil and her longtime choreographer/creative director Jamie King.
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Football Dive Of The Month: Sunderland’s Seb Larsson Penalty-Conning Swan Dive vs Wolves
FOOTBALL Dive Of The Month: Sunderland’s Seb Larsson Penalty-Conning Swan Dive vs Wolves.
Good news: Larsson duly missed the penalty he won by foul means and 25 seconds later Wolves scored.
Learn To Bat Like New Zealand Legend Chris Martin: The Video
LEARN to bat like Chris Martin – star of 32 ducks for the New Zealand rugby team:
Euro 2012 Outrage: England Team Showers Invaded By Tubby Sun Journalist
“WE’RE GUTTED – England training camp is a dump,” announces the Sun’s front page. England’s training base for Euro 2012 at Poland’s Hutnick stadium is not up to scratch. Maybe the Poles should import some English workers to show them how to do the plumbing?
Over page 1,4 and 5, Nick Parker gives the once over to the “muddy, waterlogged pitch“, “rubble-strewn changing rooms… barely fit for a pub team“. A labourer poses for a photo as he wheels his wheelbarrow.
Says Parker:
“A tubby security guard puffed on a cigarette as he lounged in a grim concrete stand.”
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Posted: 5th, December 2011 | In: Sports | Comments (2)
How Corporate Sponsors Bought Up The Rights For Their Staff To Run With The Olympic Torch
ARE you one of the 8,000 people carrying the Olympic 2012 Torch around Great Britain?
The London 2012 games website tells us:
8,000 inspirational people from around the UK will carry the Olympic Flame as it journeys across the UK. Nominated by someone they know, it will be their moment to shine, inspiring millions of people watching in their community, in the UK and worldwide.
They will have “memories to last a lifetime”.
Says Seb Coe, chairman 2012 Organising committee:
In the past five years, I’ve talked frequently about the importance of our stakeholders. This year, we are asking our most important stakeholder — the 60 million people in this country — to make sure they play a part in the greatest show on earth in 2012..
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Premier League In Photos: Mario Balotelli’s Hot Shoulder And Nine Other Hits
THIS week’s Two Ten Premier League Photos are brought to you in association with Manchester City strikers Mario Balotelli’s joyless shoulder, Gareth Bale’s boot (Spurs), Alex Song’s jumper (Arsenal), Javier Hernadez’s injury (Manchester United), Blackburn Rovers chicken hater, Chelsea winning, and did Alex McLeish (Aston Villa) blow his nose before or after shaking Sir Alex Ferguson’s hand..?
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Blonde Woman At Rugby League Match On BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Shortlist
THE BBC Sports Personality of the Year award 2011 features no women on the shortlist.
No mention of Vanessa Perroncel, Juici Jennifer Thompson, Cheryl Cole, Coleen Rooney, Carly Storey, Blonde in Aussie Bar, Pit Girl 6 and Pit Girl 7, Sian Massey, Andy Murray’s mum, blonde woman at Rugby League match, Erica Roe, Nicole Scherzinger, woman in bikini top at darts world cup, nor any of the other women in sport who have tried and tried to make British sportsmen appear charismatic and in possession of a personality, and given the cameramen something to zoom in on.
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Posted: 2nd, December 2011 | In: Sports | Comments (2)
Are The Tabloids And PFA Glamourising Gary Speed’s Suicide?
CAN the Sun turn Gary Speed’s death into a campaign?
Well, it can try to.
The headline runs:
Gary Speed suicide: Aces confess own troubles – 50,000 footie stars get depression guide
No, not a guide to getting depressed. You can’t catch it. But “footie stars” – 50,000 of them! – are being taught about depression. Get a lod of those “aces” who suffer from the illness.
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Posted: 2nd, December 2011 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Skegness CID Turn Hunt For Twitter Twat Who Racially Abused Man City’s Micah Richards Into A PR Exercise
DID you racially abuse Manchester City and England players Micah Richards on Twittre? Did you twat an offensive email from somewhere in Lincolnshire?
Well, if you did, you’d best worry. Police are looking for you. And if they catch you they’ll… They’ll. Well, what? Spend a lot of time and money taking you to court to make an example of you?
Det Insp Andy Wardell, from Skegness CID, says:
“Whilst the investigation is still in its early stages, Lincolnshire Police will be conducting a robust enquiry and wish to make it clear from the outset that racist comments aimed at anybody, not just those in the media spotlight, will not be tolerated and those committing such offences can expect to be pursued and dealt with under the relevant legislation.”
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Posted: 1st, December 2011 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (6)
Is QPR Anton Ferdinand’s Movember Moustache The Worst Ever?
SAY what you like about Anton Ferdinand, John Terry, but he has got a crap Movember moustache.
Newcastle United Boss Takes Moral High Ground By Standing On Gary Speed’s Coffin: Joey Barton Tweets
HOW much worse can the PR get at Newcastle United? Derek Llambias has a go at making the club look bad.
Joey Barton has made a dickish comment about his former club:
“Myself, Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith, Steve Harper and Andy Carroll – probably the bigger-name players at the time – advised the playing staff not to sign the bonus sheet and that filtered back to boardroom level. It’s no coincidence that I got sold – well, given away – Andy Carroll was sold, Kevin Nolan was sold, Steve Harper – a fantastic servant for the football club – has been forced to go on loan and maybe his position has become untenable.”
That would be Andy Carroll, a players sold for a well over the odds £35m, ageing Nolan and a reserve ‘keeper? Barton then goes on twitter to say of Newcastle’s managing director Derek Llambias:
“If he’s worried now, him and his fat mate should be ******** it, if I decide to write a book. There’ll be no holding back on those 2 muppets.”
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Posted: 1st, December 2011 | In: Sports | Comments (3)
Imanol Harinordoquy’s Dad Lucien Charges Into On-Field Rugby Fight And Misses: Federico Mendez Laughs
IMANOL Harinordoquy’s father Lucien Harinordoquy realises it’s never to late to make your mark in professional rugby union. During the Basque derby between Bayonne and Biarritz, Lucien charged onto the pitch. Upset at the rough stuff being dished out to his France international son, dad tried to punch Bayonne’s Jean-Jo Marmouyet in the face. He missed. He was then taken down by Bayonne fly-half Benjamin Boyet.
Says Boyet:
“I tackled him because he was attacking one of my team mates. I put him to the ground and (Biarritz hooker) Benoit August told me to stop, because it was Imanol’s father.”
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Therapy Industry Is Using Gary Speed’s Death To Advertise Its Services
MORE Gary Speed opportunism in the Scotsman, where Nicola Peckett, head of communications at the Samaritans, uses the Wales manager’s death to promote her own cause…
Nicola Peckett: Gary Speed in group most at risk from suicide
But we do not know what Gary Speed died. How can he represent an entire demographic?
The group most likely to take their life through suicide is men in their 30s, 40s and 50s. That is quite different to what most people think, as they tend to believe younger men are more at risk. Three out of four people who die by suicide in the UK are men, and those from poorer backgrounds have the highest risk. But suicide can also affect people from more affluent backgrounds, who appear to be successful in their work and home lives.
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Posted: 30th, November 2011 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (6)
Sunderland Sack Steve Bruce: Blackburn Rovers Stick With The Ridiculous Steve Kean
ON the day Sunderland sack Steve Bruce, we look at the world according to Steve Kean, a man still in a job:
Yes, definitely [we can win the Carling Cup]. We’ve said all along that we’d like to go all the way and get to the final and try to win the competition.” – Steve Kean, November 29th 2011
“We are in a position where we have forfeited going through and having the chance to reach a cup final. We have games against sides within touching distance of us in the league – we need to treat those games as cup finals.” Steve Kean, November 30th 2011
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Italian FA Advises Gay Players ‘Don’t Come Out’: Damiano Tommasi Say Homosexuals Not Welcome In Changing Rooms
COMING out in football isn’t ever going to be easy. Thus far, the only player to be out and proud is Swedish footballer Anton Hysen. He came out earlier this year and asked: “Where are all the others?”
Sadly, they may not be too keen to come forward if they’ve heard the comments of the Italian Footballers’ Association. President Damiano Tommasi has said that he would not recommend players publicly come out, because football is “different to every other profession”.
The head of the Associazione Italiana Calciatori said people did not need to talk about their sexuality in order to work in a “civil environment”. He added:
“Homosexuality in football is still taboo. In this sport the players practically live with each other, it’s different to every other profession. Expressing your sexual preferences is difficult in all environments, even more so for a player who shares the locker room, which is an intimate space, with others.”
“In our world there could be embarrassment. A sport where one gets undressed can make it more difficult when working together.”
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Posted: 30th, November 2011 | In: Sports | Comments (8)
Exploiting Gary Speed’s Death: How Many Footballers Will Die?
WE do not know why former Leeds United footballer and Wales manager Gary Speed died. The coroner has yet to rule that it was suicide. Yet the Daily Star manages to produce a front-page headline that warns:
SPEED: FIVE MORE FOOTIE STARS ON BRINK
On brink of what?
Jerry Lawton has news:
TEN top footballers have begged for help fighting depression following Gary Speed’s shock suicide.
First up: we do not know that Gary Speed suffered from depression. Unless a medic who was prescribing him treatment steps forward, or Speed’s wife choses to say something, we never will. We don’t need to know. We are nosy and curious. But knowing is none of our business. Secondly, Lawton’s opening line makes it sound as if the root of the ten footballer’s depression is Gary Speed’s suicide.
The desperate stars contacted Tony Adams’ Sporting Chance Clinic after the Wales manager was found dead at his £2million mansion.
Gary Speed drove them to it? The players, who have not been named, complained they had been secretly struggling to cope with the pressures and stress of the game at the highest level.
So. Speed’s death did not make them suicidally depressed. Is it that their work, in this case football, making the 10 grown men suicidally depressed? But how do we know there are “ten top footballers” battling mental illness? How do we know they have “begged” for help.
Last night the Professional Footballers’ Association revealed the 10 could be just the tip of the iceberg. They fear that many more are too scared to come forward in case their problems are exposed to team-mates, rivals and fans.
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Posted: 30th, November 2011 | In: Sports | Comments (4)
Iron Mike Tyson Sings The Girl From Ipanema While Dressed In A Bad White Suit
That’s right! Iron Mike has been on TV singing The Girl From Ipanema. You know the song don’t you? It goes like this:
“Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goeth walking, and when thee passes each one thee patheth goeth “aaaaaaah!” When thee walkth thee’s like a thamba that, thwingth tho cool and thwayth tho gentle, that when thee patheth each one thee patheth goeth “aaaaah!“
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Fans Send Neymar 1km Long Fan Letter
BRAZILIAN football’s star turn Neymar has tweeted this picture of a one kilometre-long letter. What do with it…? Answers on a toilet roll to the usual adress…
Also, what do you think the last words on long letter are?
Gary Speed: Feeding Speculation And Waiting For The Secrets We Have No Right To Hear
GARY Speed’s death is occupying minds at the Sun. The paper’s front-page headline says of the man who represented Leeds United, Newcastle United, Everton, Sheffield United And Bolton Wanderers:
“Gary didn’t argue with wife, he wasn’t depressed”.
We do not know why Gary Speed died. The manager of the Welsh football team was found hanged in the garage at his home near Chester. An inquest will be opened at the coroner’s court at Warrington Town Hall on Tuesday.
We may never know why he died. But do we need to know? Do we deserve to know?
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Posted: 29th, November 2011 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (6)
Blackburn Rovers: Steve Kean’s Numbers Don’t Add Up
BLACKBURN Rovers manager Steve Kean, the man who signed a long contract to manage the club and then didn’t, reacts to his side’s defeat to Stoke:
“I would agree the third goal is poor but to come to a place like this and create 15 chances and get 10 on target should be enough to get you something from the game.”
Like Alex Ferguson’s watch, Kean’s numbers do not tally with the official version.
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Tabloids And Twitter Wallow In The Death Of Gary Speed: It’s Not All About Football
HOW do you report on the apparent suicide of Wales manager Gary Speed, dead at 42? His wife found him hanged at their home in Huntingdon Hall, near Chester.
The Mail opts for the investigation into a private life. Gary Speed’s nearest and dearest are now considered fair game. The front-page picture is of Speed and his wife Louise, mother to his two children. The headline states:
“Suicide mystery of Gary Speed”
Indeed, it is a mystery. Trying to make sense of a man’s suicide is an imposisble job for those who have never contemplated it nor know nothing of the workings of the man’s mind and private life.
The Times also want to know why. It’s front-page headline says:
“MYSTERY OVER MANAGER”S DEATH’
Simon Barnes tells us:
To regular viewers who tuned into the BBC’s Football Focus on Saturday there was nothing obviously wrong with the young international manager lauded for reversing his team’s ailing fortunes. But hours later, Gary Speed committed suicide in the garage of his £2 million home.
A sporting idol and adoring father of two boys, Ed aged 14 and Tommy, 13, he left fans and fellow professionals asking “why?”.
It may be a case of now ‘why?’ but ‘why not?’ – why not earlier? Why now?
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Posted: 28th, November 2011 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (17)
Gary Speed RIP: Wales Manger Dies At 42 (A Life In Photos)
OVER the internet comes news that Gary Speed, the manager of Wales, has died at age 42. He will forever be remembered for his role in that season when Leeds United won the Premier League…
Chelsea’s Ashley Cole Accused Of Attacking Clubber: What Would Cheryl Think?
CHELSEA footballer and former Mr Cheryl Cole has “attacked” a “clubber“.
The Star’s Stone Age headline for a modern man appears above the news that:
“Ashley Cole was caught on CCTV throwing a wild punch at a football fan in a late-night bust up.”
Cole is alleged to have uttered the time-honoured enjoiner:
“Do you know who the f*** I am?”
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Posted: 27th, November 2011 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment
London Olympics Handball: It’s British Bulldog Without The Softness
GOOD news for anyone with tickets for the women’s handball at the London Olympics: it’s violent. Sad to say that the game did not goo all well and Great Britain will play for fifth place against Slovakia tomorrow. But the key moment is captured in these photograph, especially the third which show Great Britain’s Lyn Byl shooting at goal as she plummets to the floor. To her left, an Austrian beams with delight while another appears to have tripped Byl up. It’s bloody brutal in there, a kind of British bulldog, albeit without softness…
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