Crikey! Aussies really are the sorest losers

In his thoughtful book, The Meaning of Sport, Simon Barnes argues that the English are born to lose. He argues that losing is nothing to be ashamed of, simply something to manfully strive against. And because the English are so pre-disposed to sporting failure, it gives them an entirely different perspective on it, and indeed, [...]

Barber shop punditry: better than real punditry

I just came back from my barber where the standard of punditry was excellent. Here’s the latest:
Chelsea ‘are rubbish.’
Liverpool will win the League. Crucially, they need a big dose of luck to get there but that is ‘what all teams need to win the title.’
Man United need Berbatov back in the line-up and doing ‘his Cantona [...]

Chelsea remain in purgatory; Gourcuff gives glimpses of heaven

Bordeaux 1-1 Chelsea FC
Champions League, November 26th, 2008
It looks like Chelsea have to wait in football purgatory for another two weeks. Well, technically one more week, which is when Arsenal come to visit Stamford Bridge. But in the Champions League context, their match against CFR Cluj in a fortnight will decide if they get to go [...]

Why it’s right to hate Cristiano Ronaldo.

Aston Villa 0 – 0 Manchester United
Villa Park, November 22nd, 2008
Let’s get all the obligatory stuff out of the way quickly so we can get down to elaborating on this article’s purposely inflammatory headline.
There was a lot talk around how Aston Villa would take it to Manchester United in this game. Villa have had [...]

Sport: the original Armistice

I was going to write about the Australian cricket team’s series defeat to India – their first series defeat since the infamous 2005 Ashes series. I was going to write about how maybe Australian cricket is just not that good anymore. I was going to write about the ridiculous notion (currently permeating through the Aussie [...]

Redwings show they scrap as well as they strut

LA Kings 3 – 4 Detroit Redwings (penalty shoot-out)
Los Angeles, October 27th, 2008.
Sometimes champions have to abandon the remorseless precision that made them champions and win a messy, scrappy tussle with lesser opponents determined to take them down a notch. For that’s what it takes to win back-to-back Stanley Cups, and last night at the [...]

Keane repays Kop faith with timely brace

Liverpool 3-0 West Bromwich Albion
Anfield, November 8th, 2008
Liverpool fans will have walked away from last night’s 3-0 victory with spirits high from the satisfaction of a job well done. The performance was not brilliant; it was simply appropriate for a team at the top of the Barclay’s Premier League playing a West Brom side that [...]