October | 2009 | Wait until next year

This week’s sporting links

Quite a week for the blog – comments and people actually reading it and everything! Thanks in particular to Steven and Nathan for their comments. Do check out their sites.

Now onwards and upwards with sports stuff I’ve enjoyed this week…

Baseball

Faith and Fear in Flushing write the letter the New York Mets should have sent to their fans after a very disappointing season.

Wezen-Ball looks forward to the play-offs with a Simpsons clip and some choice dialogue.

Ninety Percent Scar Tissue considers a simple way to improve baseball.

Football (soccer, for our American friends!)

The ever reliable Twohundredpercent praises floodlit football.

Pitch Invasion looks at FIFA and potential bias towards larger countries.

A bit of a two-sport week, then, links-wise.

So, what have you enjoyed reading this week, in whatever sport? Has there been any decent commentary on Rio’s successful Olympic bid?

I’d love to hear about more of the good stuff out there…

Come Hull or high water

A frankly bizarre story yesterday, with Hull City, and their colourful (that colour predominantly being orange) manager Phil Brown, playing their part in some sort of Samaritian-esque fable.

Brown decided that he would take his players for a walk, as part of his efforts to turn around what has been a poor start to the season. I’ll let Phil himself take up the story:

“I have been up on the Humber Bridge many times. I walk over the Humber on many nights in the week. I was born on the river [Tyne] and I get strength from the river.

“We were looking for clarity up there. Did we find it? Absolutely. When you are jogging you cannot speak, when you are walking you can.”

But clarity was not all they found.

“We walked across the Humber Bridge on Wednesday and saved a girl actually.

“She was considering her future, shall we say, but you never know whether somebody is just standing there until they jump. But there was no need to be up there unless you were a football team looking for inspiration. Maybe she must have seen us and thought ‘at least it’s not that bad’. Well for me in particular – not the players.

“She was claiming she was 40-plus, but she looked a lot younger I tell you. Nobody said she was going to jump. She was contemplating her future, but so was I. In the end she tootled off back to wherever she had come from. I’d sweet-talked her out of it.”

Brown then completed his fable with a lesson. I can’t tell if he is mad, some sort of benevolent genius or a modern-day Confucius.

“The bridge was built with modern-day engineering so that when an ill-wind blows, it gets stronger. The weight bears down harder and it becomes a sturdier structure.”

I have something of a soft spot for Hull and hope they stay up, and hope that Phil Brown sticks around. He certainly makes the Premier League a more interesting place, and it’s good to see that eccentricity can still survive in sport. And after this week’s events, he’s a bit of a hero, really.

3 Comments

October 2, 2009

Man Crush Friday

I thought I’d follow up on the discussion that took place earlier this week on how wonderful Fernando Torres is, alongside many other things, and highlight a couple more man crushes of mine. While I don’t expect this to become the next huge internet meme, if it does take off to any extent then maybe this could become a regular (fun?) feature.

To help, here’s a definition of ‘man crush’ from Urban Dictionary:

“The highest tier of a man’s love for another man, without having any sexual want towards the man.”

So, who do you idolise in the world of sport, who makes you sigh at their prowess, marvel at their skill, gaze at their cheekbones. Er, no. Not that last one. No. Never confused. Never.

federer

Roger Federer

You could make a strong argument that Federer is the complete tennis player, and on his way to being the best ever. It’s incredible that despite that, and so much success, he seems so grounded. And here is also one dapper man. I think I first developed a full-on man crush on him when he wore a crisp white blazer when taking the field at Wimbledon. Such a wonderful nod to tradition – and such style!

david wright

David Wright

My main Mets man crush. Their best player, de facto team leader, and all-round nice guy. Just see his Wikipedia entry. I was very sad when I didn’t get David on my fantasy baseball team this season. Probably too sad. Maybe next year.

So, who is your man crush this week?

Federer by Squeaky Knees, Wright by Kidsire, both via Flickr

10 Comments

October 2, 2009

Rockies make play-offs, post-season takes shape

After Texas were eliminated from the play-off race this week, I feared that me choosing ‘surrogate’ teams for the post-season had produced some sort of unintentional curse. I’m happy to report that my jinxing skills have diminished, however, with the Colorado Rockies securing a spot in the play-offs last night.

I caught the game, and the Rockies looked very impressive casting aside the Milwaukee Brewers by 9-2. Aaron Cook pitched eight strong innings, in response to the Brewers starter Manny Parra, who had a tough day at the office, lasting only 2 2/3 innings (that seemed to go on forever and ever), giving up five runs.

The Rockies now face a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers to finish off their (normal) season, and can potentially overtake them to win the National League West. This is some turnaround by the Rockies and manager Jim Tracy. The Rockies looked dead and buried in May when he took over, but have since won 73, and lost 40 – a real contrast to their pre-Tracy record of 18-28.

The Rockies have been building up momentum for some time now, and while outsiders for a berth in the World Series, it would be hard to discount them, if they can sustain this rich vein of form and keep injury-free.

With three days of the regular season left, the play-offs are starting to take shape. Even without my beloved Mets involved I’m getting pretty excited. Picking a ‘surrogate’ team probably doesn’t hurt, but even discounting that, we’re going to see some pretty special teams and players going at it this month.

Are you looking forward to the post-season? Any thoughts on what to look out for? Dare I say it, any predictions?