The Savage Rabbit

'Small swift graceful antelope of Africa and Asia having lustrous eyes'

2010-02-06T16:35:00.003Z

Say what you like about [Europes #1 24-Hour Sports News channel] but one thing you can't accuse them of is lacking the ability to fill hour upon hour with rumour, conjecture - and a nice graphic to illustrate the rumour and conjecture - presented as news.

Monday this week saw the closing of the football transfer window. In past years this has seen a day of frantic big-budget trading amongst the worlds top clubs but this year, of course, things were different. Like the rest of us, football is [finally] feeling the pinch. Despite the best efforts of the presenters - who did their best to hype the rumours they were receiving from their reporters located in various stadium and training ground car-parks up and down the country - the day was lacking in any real excitement.

Things reached something of a low-point when we were told, in fevered tones 'news just in, [player we've never heard of] will not now be leaving Doncaster and moving to Preston'.

Not an exact quote I admit, but not a million miles away.

At 5 o'clock, as the 'window' closed in England we were comforted with the news that the days excitement wasn't over as we were treated to a lovely graphic explaining how the window would remain open for a while yet across Europe's top leagues (and Scotland).

As the week wore on, and with news thin on the ground (despite John Terr's best efforts) viewers to the channel were able to enjoy a feature highlighting the aerial abilities of Everton's Australian midfielder Tim Cahill who, despite being someway short of six foot tall has a tremendous record of headed goals.

Experts were interviewed and highlighted Cahill's ability to find space, get a good leap, 'hang' in the air (is that physically possible) and direct a firm header.

If we still weren't convinced by the experts, back in the studio it was graphic time - sure Cahill was a good jumper but just how good was he?

A flea, we were shown, can jump as high as one foot. A cat can jump even higher. Crikey! As each animal in turn was able to jump higher than the one before the feature climaxed with the news that a gazelle can jump nearly 14 feet. Remarkable.

[Europes #1 24-Hour Sports News channel] - when they do things well, they do it VERY well. At other times they illustrate how high a flea can jump.

I'm off to find out what lustrous means - back next week.

'Where We're Going, We Don't Need Roads'

2010-02-01T13:15:00.004Z

With no cycling, F1 or Champions League football in the last seven days my focus this week has been on the London Stock Exchange.

No, really.

Every month for the past 3 years I've been investing a small sum of money from my wages into my employer's share scheme.

The scheme matures today (1st February) and I will either get all of my investment back plus interest or, and this is what I'm hoping for, I can sell my shares for a tidy profit.

At Christmas the shares were dong very nicely and I worked out I was in line for a £750 profit and, in my mind at least, I've already spent that money:

1. an HD television - although I still think it's a case of the 'emperors new clothes'
2. a shed - I'm at an age where I need a shed
3. a bike - I've wanted a bike for a long time and now (see 2) I'll have a shed to keep it in
4. a tattoo

A week ago the shares fell to the point where it was looking like I would make a £550 profit - or, more to the point, I had lost £200.

By the end of the week my loss was £250 as the value of my shares fell once again.

This morning as the shares opened my investment took another hit and in the space of a month I have lost £300 and they haven't been sold yet.

Do you remember the scenes in Back to the Future where Marty is holding a photo of his family and, as time passes, they slowly fade? That's how I've felt.

My picture of 1. a tv; 2. a shed; 3. a bike; and 4. a tattoo, is slowly fading.

I've long since waved goodbye to the tattoo and I said to myself that I'd be satisfied with just the tv, shed and bike.

Towards the middle of last week the bike started to fade to the point that on Friday evening all I had left of it was the front wheel and the pump - this morning even those have gone and the shed is looking vulnerable.

I'm now telling myself that if I really must I'll consolidate my losses and 'settle' for 'just' the tv.

And as much as I remind myself that I haven't actually lost anything, that it's effectively like being given a new 32inch wide screen high-definition television for free, it doesn't feel like it.

That's the last time I plan.

What, a Week?

2010-01-25T14:57:00.006Z

Another week passes us by - and what do I have to show for it?

Well, ...

Live the Wembley Dream!
Highlight of my week was a trip to Wembley Arena to see Nickleback perform. I've got to be honest, as much as I enjoy the bands music the thought of driving to London meant I wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

Living in the country I think I've become spoiled when it comes to driving and I just don't have the patience for traffic or ignorant drivers. And besides, my lovely wife couldn't navigate her way out of a square room with only one door so I was worried.I needn't have been though - traffic was pretty light and even the last few miles before reaching the arena went smoothly.

The show itself was superb: we had great seats (and I think it's important to sit down at these events, if I wanted to stand I wouldn't have paid for a seat), the music was superb and the 'staging' - lights, visuals etc - made for a memorable evening.

As we left the arena, having sat in traffic for over an hour to get out of the car park, we saw a sign on a newly-built block of flats - sorry, apartments - advising that there were still some flats - apartments - available. The banner included the phrase 'Live the Wembley Dream'.

I certainly applaud the developer's optimism.

Tour Down Under
Thank goodness Pro Tour cycling is back - I never thought I'd say this but since the end of the cycling and F1 seasons back in November football just hasn't been enough for me. The coverage of the Tour Down Under was something of a bonus and I hope that Sky continue to show some of the events that aren't being shown on British Eurosport this year - they do love a stat and a graphic on Sky Sports don't they?

The penultimate stage was one of the best days cycling I've seen in my 6 months (!) following the sport. As a fan of HTC Columbia I was routing for André Griepel throughout and for a while there it looked like he'd lost the leaders jersey. Once again though, the Columbia train showed why they are the best in the business as they recovered their position and delivered Griepel to first place.

Next, the Tour of Qatar on British Eurosport over the second week of February.

Is That It!
Yes, that's my week, a few days off around the concert followed by a couple of hectic days at work!

As you know, last June my ankle was broken by an appalling tackle during Monday night football leading to the happiest 2 months of my life, sat at home, watching tv sport. Seven months later, I'm scheduled to return to the football field tonight - fingers crossed!

By way of a footnote, for those that asked I can confirm that the sewage pipe is now flowing smoothly - thanks for your concern.

Next week ...

Here We Go Again ...

2010-01-18T16:26:00.004Z

Another seven days ... and it feels like all I've done this week is work, work and work. Usually at the turn of year I manage to convince myself that we're just weeks away from lighter evenings and warmer days - then a couple of weeks later the reality hits me that it'll be another three months before the clocks change and we've still got the worst of the winter ahead of us. So my mood has dropped accordingly and the most exciting things to happen this week were being invited to a six-year-old's birthday party (during which we played Zombie Nazi's on the PS3) and dealing with a blocked sewage pipe.

Tour Down Under
There's a light at the end of the tunnel though - the return of the Pro Cycling season starting this week with The Tour Down Under. The season got off to a great start for the new British-based team Sky as Greg Henderson and Chris Sutton finished in first and second place in the Cancer Council Helpline Classic criterium. The Tour Down Under itself starts tomorrow (19 January) with highlights every day and live coverage from the last two stages on Sky Sports.

Daybreakers
We went to the cinema at the weekend and saw Daybreakers - I'm still not sure what I thought of the film but I would say 1) it left me feeling a little disappointed and 2) I would definitely recommend going to see it.

I'll explain more when I can understand what I mean.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
As much as I enjoy watching the Spanish league football - and particularly the FC Barcelona matches - on television I am getting increasingly frustrated by the quality, or lack thereof, of the commentary during the matches.

During Saturday evenings Barca v Sevilla fixture the commentary team spent fully 20 minutes explaining that Zlatan Ibrahimovic 1) was off his game and 2) hadn't scored for a full month.

Well, 1) probably true, by his own high standards he doesn't appear to be operating at 100% but who, particularly in sport, ever performs to their maximum potential all of the time and 2) true but entirely misleading - as a result of the Christmas break in Spanish football and the Club World Cup 'Ibra' had only played twice since his last goal: not exactly a drought.

If you are going to commentate then do it properly. Or don't do it at all. If I want to watch the game while listening to badly-informed comment I'll go to the pub.

Barbeque Summer
Following last years ''we're in for a barbeque summer'' the weather people have once again excelled themselves during the recent wintry weather that we've been experiencing.

'Lots of snow on Sunday' was the prediction, which changed on the Sunday when it was clear that snow wasn't likely to 'It's coming on Wednesday' - needless to say it didn't.

The only thing more surprising than the poor job the weather forecasters (aka scaremongers) do is that we, the people, still listen to them.

I can feel my mood darkening, hopefully, this week should be a bit 'livelier'. Back next week.

'I'm Not Reading It ... It's All Football'

2010-01-10T13:17:00.008Z

So, it was a case of back to work this past week - working on those tasks that for two weeks before Christmas I had managed to put-off, speaking with those people that frustrate me so much that I find myself walking around my home muttering the things that I'd love to say to them but know that I won't have am opportunity until my last day with the company ...

Anyway, onto my week:

Rubbish
Watching last weeks Celtic v Rangers football match last weekend I was reminded just how poor the quality of Scottish football is at the moment when I singled-out Georgios Samaras as my man of the match. As rubbish as the two teams were, they were well matched and as such contributed to a very watchable game of football.

Slippery Slope
Later that evening ITV Sport managed to drag the FA Cup down to new depths last week by inviting 'comedian' Frank Skinner to Wembley Stadium to take part in the draw for the next round. Former professional footballer, charity worker and anti-racism campaigner Paul Elliott drew the home teams, West Bromich Albion supporter Skinner the away teams.

It surely can't be long before we get Ant and Dec presenting the draw, which will be decided by a public telephone vote, with the ultimate choice of venue for the final being decided by Simon Cowell.

I'm kidding of course. It'll never happen. Will it?

New Year, New Pro Cycling Season
As a recent convert to the sport of professional road cycling (watching you understand, the list of sports that I still have a chance of competing professionally in dwindles by the day ...) I was excited by the public launch of Team Sky on Monday morning. The professional riders were joined by 300 or so members of the (London) public - a nice touch I thought - as they rode through the capital to the media presentation. At the presentation the riders and team staff were introduced in turn by Sky's very own Dermot Murnaghan and as he called out their names I was reminded what a very good news-reader he is.

Although, surprisingly, I was a little disappointed by the television coverage of the event I have been impressed already how the team have embraced 'new media' - a great website and a busy, and sensible, twitter feed bringing the riders closer to the public than most sportsmen will ever be: keep it up!

I'm looking forward to following the team throughout the season starting at The Tour Down Under later this month - live on Sky Sports I understand: great news. The broadcaster doesn't, I believe, have much experience screening cycling and I just hope the coverage avoids going down the 'Jamie Redknapp' route. I really enjoyed following the sport on British Eurosport throughout last summer and I'd suggest their somewhat understated approach is the model to follow.

Best wishes to the team - we'll be following their progress at The Savage Rabbit throughout the season.

The New Didier Drogba
During the Birmingham City v Manchester United game on ESPN last night the commentator introduced the young Manchester United substitute Mame Biram Diouf by comparing him to Didier Drogba.

Thankfully the young man avoided throwing himself to the ground theatrically and disgracefully swearing at the camera during his 15 minutes or so of action.

Have a good week.

Welcome Back (Again!)

2010-01-03T10:48:00.008Z

Clearly it's been a long time since my last post: what with my work commitments - six flights in a 20-day period - and the run-up to Christmas I've just not had the time or, more tellingly, the inspiration to post.

Going forward I've got a new plan for posting on the blog - I'm planning one 'digest' style post every week.

I'll publish at the start of the week - to be clear that's Sunday or Monday, not a Friday - and I'll include all the stuff that's caught my attention in the week gone and the week ahead.

Sports Personality?
One of the things that did catch my eye before Christmas was the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards. As a child this award really mattered to me - we didn't have 500+ channels to watch and as such it seemed everyone with even a modest interest in sport would watch and I'd go into school on the Monday morning and everyone would be talking about it. A bit like snooker.

In recent years the importance of the award - to me at least - has been reduced to the point where I don't think I've watched the award show for more than 5 years. I tuned in this year hoping to see either Jenson Button or Mark Cavendish win the award.

I couldn't believe it when it was announced that Ryan Giggs had won. I'd say he's been one of the great footballers of the last 20 years, has had a magnificent career and continues to perform at the top level. But the 'stand-out' performer of the year.

If the award is quite literally presented on the basis of 'personality' or charisma then again, as nice a guy as he is, it's not Giggs.

Compounding my surprise, the Team of the Year award went to the England mens crickets team rather than either BrawnGP or, my own choice, the all conquering England womans crickets team.

I won't bother again.

Celebrity Birdwatching!
Just when you think there are no new ideas in television ... this week sees the start of a new television series Bill Bailey's Bird Watching Bonanza which is described as a fun and fascinating series in which 'birdwatching shakes off its anorak image as celebrities go head to head in testing twitching tasks'.

I've seen a trailer for the show, the highlight of which features wild laughter as one of the 'celebrities' remarks they can see a 'tit'.

How do they come up with these ideas? Quite remarkable.

The Comeback
After six months out of the game I'm making my 'long awaited' comeback to the football field tomorrow night after breaking my ankle last summer (leading to what is now known as 'the happiest two months of my life'). I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Invincible?

2009-12-06T13:02:00.006Z

Ten days ago Chelsea captain John Terry was reported to have said:

'I really think we’re [Chelsea] getting back that invincible feeling we had three years ago’ [source]

The comment was followed up with an impressive three goals to nil victory at Arsenal.

However, since then things have not gone to plan for Chelsea.

During the week his team were knocked-out of the Carling Cup by Blackburn Rovers and yesterday they were well beaten by Manchester City.

Clearly feeling invincible and being invincible are two completely different things.

Whilst undoubtedly a talented footballer I just wish Terry would avoid speaking in public.

Football Thoughts

2009-12-01T14:41:00.003Z

A new, and I suspect recurring, feature: Football Fool of the Week.

The nominees:

The entire FAI (Football Association of Ireland), still feeling sorry for themselves following their one-one draw against France in the FIFA World Cup play-off match, asked FIFA to allow them to enter next years World Cup as an additional (33rd) team (more thoughts on this to follow). The idea is so laughable that even FIFA President Sepp Blatter couldn't resist a chuckle - this from a man who suggested womens football could be improved by the players wearing tighter shorts.

Real Madrid-biased journalist Tomás Roncero for complaining in AS newspaper that the referee in Sundays Barcelona v Real Madrid match allowed Zlatan Ibrahimovic's winning goal despite the player being, and I quote, "nearly offside":

No, it's impossible, I can't choose.

"That's Good Manners" - Roy Keane

2009-11-22T10:31:00.003Z

He's right of course.

The Beautiful Game

2009-11-19T11:45:00.003Z

'The game of football is rotten: so many players cheat, so many officials miss or bottle the big decisions. I often say that I love and hate football at the same time, it's just that I have so much history with the sport that I can't walk away.'

'No, I think he's only done what any pro footballer would have done: cheat'

'Part of the problem is that cheating has become institutionalised - managers cheat by putting officials under pressure ahead of big games, players cheat by diving and pretending to be injured, the authorities leave themselves open to suggestions of cheating by leaving it until the last minute to decide whether the seed the qualifying draw to favour the big countries.'

'And there's the hypocrisy: cheated players shaking hands and hugging with a cheating player: 'honour amongst thieves'. No doubt the media will go on about the injustice for days and then when cheating works in 'our' favour they will turn a blind eye. The game is rotten.'

These are some of my comments from a text conversation I had with a friend last night while we watched the FIFA World Cup Qualifier between France and Ireland. France secured their place in next years World Cup thanks to a controversial goal.

Sure enough, immediately after the game on the 24 hour sports news channel the staff were reaching the point of hysteria - it was a outrage that the referee didn't spot the incident (interesting to note that it was initially the officials who were condemned rather than the player involved), the authorities should order the game replayed ... etc etc.

No doubt this story will rumble on for a few days labouring the 'cheated once again by Johnny Foreigner' line (players/officials: delete as appropriate) until the broadcast media get bored and move onto their next 'sensational' story.

Ultimately the referee or linesman will be held responsible by the authorities, media and fans alike and pay the price accordingly: his character will be assaulted and he'll miss out on future appointments, perhaps retire from the game - it's happened before.

Interestingly, I understand that the last time this particular match referee appeared on the English-media radar it was when he awarded Liverpool a 'dubious' 95th minute penalty in a Champions League fixture at Anfield. Liverpool scored to claim a 1-1 draw with Atletico de Madrid.

I don't remember too many calls for the match to be replayed that night.

Robert Enke

2009-11-11T18:08:00.007Z

Robert Enke
24 August 1977 to 10 November 2009
SV Jena Pharm, Carl Zeiss Jena, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Benfica, FC Barcelona, Fenerbahçe, Tenerife, Hannover 96
A top goalkeeper and, I understand, a top top man.

Quote of the Day

2009-11-09T19:03:00.006Z

For the second week running I've been unable to find a 'Weekend Hero' - I'd hoped for a nominee from yesterdays 'Super Sunday' football match between Chelsea and Manchester United but the match - unsurprisingly - just didn't live up to its 'Super' billing.

The match - or rather the post-match television discussion - did however provide the 'Quote of the Day'.

Jamie Redknapp, a former professional footballer of note and regular studio 'pundit' reportedly remarked:

"Manchester United will be delighted ... apart from losing the game."

Well done Jamie.

I say reportedly because I'd switched-off the tv on the final whistle, fed-up that yet another match had been decided, not by a moment of brilliance from one of the players, but by match officials (referee Martin Atkinson) not doing their jobs: 1) the free kick that led to the goal was simply not a free-kick, 2) a Chelsea player (Drogba) fouled a Manchester United player (Brown) as the free-kick was played before 3) Drogba was in an off-side position as John Terry headed goalwards.

I imagine Redknapp was suggesting that Sir Alex Ferguson and his coaching staff would have been pleased with their teams performance, despite the result, against one of their title rivals. But he wasn't - and he said so - during his after-match interview. His team didn't do enough to win the game in my opinion - despite long periods of possession they rarely troubled the Chelsea goal and I can only remember Peter Cech making one real save of note. As such, Manchester didn't deserve to lose the game and a draw would have been a fair result.

Well done Mr Atkinson.

'Best League in the World' anyone?

[photo credit: Tom Jenkins/www.guardian.co.uk]

40 Years of Sesame Street

2009-11-05T13:51:00.012Z

Although the true anniversary isn't until next Tuesday apparently, Google in the UK are today marking 40 years of Sesame Street with a Cookie Monster 'google doodle'.

I used to enjoy Sesame Street when I was younger (and by younger I mean in my 20's) - my favourite characters were always Elmo and Count von Count.

As my own tribute to the show here are some out-takes from when Ricky Gervais met Elmo on the show earlier this year.

'You're not supposed to touch Elmo!'

"I'm Gonna Need A Hacksaw"

2009-10-30T09:00:00.000Z

Whenever I see Kiefer Sutherland/Jack Bauer I think of this line from the first episode of season 2 of 24. Jack appears to be a beaten man - his CTU career is over, he's seen his daughter kidnapped, his wife murdered ... he just didn't have anything else left to lose.

What happened before Jack uttered those words set the tone for the show from that point onwards I think: anything is possible!

Six or seven years later and the programme is onto the eighth series ('day') and for me everything about the show - the acting, the writing, production - is just as strong as it was during those early episodes.

Earlier this week Fox released what I believe is the first trailer for 'day 8' and it looks like we're in for another great series.

24 Season 8 premieres January 2010.

The Weekend Hero #3 - Roy Hodgson

2009-10-26T19:56:00.003Z

Roy Hodgson is clearly a true football man. I get the impression that if he wasn't managing a team - currently Fulham FC in the English Premier League - he'd be quietly queuing at a stadium somewhere to buy matchday tickets. His love for the game is there for everyone to see and, finally, it seems the game is showing its appreciation - it's respect - for Roy Hodgson.

Over 7 days last week - culminating with yesterdays match at Manchester City - his team were committed to playing three matches. It doesn't sound much to those of us that work 'regular' jobs but in football this is quite unusual. Last Monday evening Fulham took on Hull City in a Premier League fixture at their Craven Cottage home stadium. Three days later they played host to the Italian giants AS Roma in the Europa League and then yesterday afternoon travelled to Manchester to contest another Premier League fixture.

Not an ideal schedule for a team with quite possibly the smallest first team squad in the English Premier League. Paying due respect to each opponent Mr Hodgson fielded a full strength side in each of the three fixtures - there was no sign of the sadly now common practice amongst other Premier League managers of fielding a weakened side for the Europa League game.

Not once did I hear Mr Hodgson or any of his staff complain about the schedule, they simply got on with the job in hand. I can only imagine the fuss - from manager and media alike - had one of the 'big 4' been faced with a similar run of fixtures with such limited, in terms of numbers, resources.

Mr Hodgson and his Fulham team were well rewarded for their hard work - four points out of six in the league, including a fine 2-2 draw yesterday at Manchester City having been two goals to nil down, and a well deserved draw against AS Roma.

This physically demanding schedule went almost unnoticed by the media, but not by The Savage Rabbit: Roy Hodgson - The Weekend Hero #3.

Quote of the Day

2009-10-25T22:07:00.009Z

"There's the lesser spotted Eidur Gudjohnsen - he doesn't even make the bench these days for Barcelona"

Rob Palmer, commentator, Sky Sports Spanish football coverage

Towards the end of the first half of this evenings La Liga fixture between FC Barcelona and Real Zaragoza the camera cut to the grandstand to show Eidur Gudjohnsen enjoying the match.

That's the same Eidur Gudjohnsen that signed for French league side AS Monaco during the summer transfer window.

That probably explains why he doesn't make the bench for Barcelona these days.

... When You Float Like A Cannonball

2009-10-23T14:03:00.011+01:00

I've been enjoying some time off work this week - lot's of reading, a bit of television (Countdown has been particularly good this week), one or two chores around the house: in fact, at times, it's been reminiscent of the glorious time I spent at home during the summer months.

I've also had the time - and just as importantly the motivation - to go to the gym two or three times, as well as visit the leisure centre to play table tennis.

[Note to self: listenning to the wonderful music of Damien Rice all afternoon prior to playing table tennis doesn't properly mentally prepare me - my performance could be described, at best, as lackluster (no disrespect to my opponent). Next week it'll be Collision Course by Linkin Park and Jay-Z on the drive to the leisure centre!]

One of the benefits of going to the gym during the day rather than in the evening is that's it a lot quieter. Yesterday, when I arrived at the fitness room (as I must remember to call it, it's apparently not a gym) the facility was only being used by a young lad, perhaps around 20 years of age, and an older, grey haired gentlemen who a suspect may have been a Senior Citizen.

After 10 minutes or so the young lad left leaving just myself and my elderly companion.

'Would you mind if I turned the radio down?' I asked the gentleman.

'Not at all', he replied with a smile, 'it is rather loud isn't it. I think these youngsters sometimes forget that us oldies don't want to listen to loud rock music'.

'Us oldies'? How dare you sir.

Cycling Thoughts - First Victory for Bradley Wiggins

2009-10-19T08:45:00.000+01:00

Special mention this morning for England's Bradley Wiggins who, over the weekend, won the first stage race of his professional career - the Herald-Sun Tour in Australia.

The Garmin-Slipstream rider went into the final stage of the race - a 15-lap circuit of Carlton, Melbourne - with a five second lead over his team-mate Chris Sutton. Wiggins finished the final stage of the race in ninth position with the same time as stage winner Jonathan Cantwell of the Fly V Australia team. This extended Wiggin's lead in the General Classification over Sutton to 11 seconds. Canadian Svein Tuft, who also rides for Garmin-Slipstream finished the tour in fourth place to seal a remarkable performance from the UCI ProTeam team.

Following his fourth place finish at this years Tour de France, victory in Australia brings an end to a magnificent season for Wiggins. Here's to another great season, hopefully with the Garmin-Slipstream team, in 2010.

The Weekend Hero #2 - Ross Brawn

2009-10-18T21:03:00.005+01:00

Having followed another great Brazilian Grand Prix this evening courtesy of the excellent coverage on the BBC, it was quite difficult to settle for just one weekend hero.

Clearly the hero would come from the BrawnGP team and, having secured his first World Championship, the obvious - and deserved - recipient would be Jenson Button. At times F1 can be something of a procession: super-fast cars driven by skilled drivers who just can't overtake because either the track or aerodynamics work against them. Sao Paulo is an 'old school' circuit with a number of places to overtake and Jenson Button seemed to find all of them as he rose from his starting place of 14th to a hugely impressive fifth place. That, coupled with team mate Rubens Barrichello's eighth place finished crowned the Somerset-born driver World Champion.

Then my thoughts turned to Barrichello - one of the most popular men in F1 among fellow drivers, team managers, mechanics and fans - who was the first to congratulate Button on his success despite his own disappointment at having seen his own World Championship ambitions ended. Whatever your sport, and whatever your success - or lack of - it's important to remember, and demonstrate, true sporting values and Barrichello did exactly that. During his glorious career the 37 year old Barrichello has finished the season second or third no less that three times - this season will make four: despite another 'near miss' Barrichello pulled his car alongside Jenson and applauded his team mate - magnificent.

Sport being a team activity, I then settled on my Weekend Hero, the Team Principal and owner of Button and Barrichello's team: BrawnGP. Ross Brawn has constantly impressed me throughout this hugely successful season: equally gracious in victory and in defeat. His first thoughts and words when congratulated on his teams great season of success was to mention the people that he had to let go earlier in the year when he was forced to reduce the number of team employees following his acquisition of the Honda F1 team. The team's former employees had all played their part in the season's achievements, he explained, and without them such success would not have been possible.

One man to truely represent a team of around 500 - great humility from a true sporting gentlemen.

Quote of the Day

2009-10-14T20:01:00.001+01:00

Interviewed on Eurosport after the official presentation of the route for the 2010 Tour de France, Mark Cavendish was asked:

'What do you have to do more to win that green jersey?'

Without a seconds delay, and delivered with a determined look, Cavendish replied:

'Hopefully not get a bent barrier in the road, you know.'

Brilliant.

The reply refers back to the 14th stage of this years Tour when, whilst contesting the green jersey with main rival Thor Hushovd, Cavendish crossed the line in 13th place but was later placed 154th and credited with the same time as Hushovd for straying from his racing line during the sprint. It was generally felt that Cavendish had been hard done by as, if Hushovd had been blocked, it appeared to be a situation created by a poorly laid-out crowd control barrier.

[More]

The Weekend Hero #1 - Martin Palermo

2009-10-12T08:45:00.002+01:00

An exciting new feature on The Savage Rabbit - the Weekend Hero: the stand-out performer from the weekends sports fixtures.

The first recipient of this award is Argentine footballer Martin Palermo. Palermo scored a 93rd minute winner for his country in his country's penultimate World Cup qualifying fixture against Peru, a match played in Buenes Aires.

What makes the story all the more remarkable is that Palermo had been recalled to the national team after a 10-year absence - quite incredible.

Argentina's qualifying campaign has so far been notable for coach Diego Maradona's unusual team selections, his teams poor performances and even poorer results. Anything less than a win last night to South America's bottom side would have almost certainly have consigned Maradona's team to a last-chance play-off fixture. As it is, if Argentina can now avoid defeat against Uruguay in their final fixture on Wednesday night they will qualify for the finals in South Africa automatically.

Having taken the lead last night through a Gonzalo Higuain strike shortly after half time Argentina looked to have blown their chances as the game entered injury time, when they conceded a Hernan Rengifo headed equalizer.

Incredibly, 3 minutes later, Argentina reclaimed the lead courtesy of Palermo's tap-in at the far post, sending the crowd - and the Argentine bench - into wild celebrations. Remarkably, Maradona's men so nearly through away their win as Peru's Rainer Torres hit a shot straight from the kick-off which crashed against Argentina's crossbar.

Martin Palermo has enjoyed a magnificent career at both club and international level although, before this weekend, he comes to my mind as the player who missed 3 penalties in the same match - a Copa America fixture against Columbia in 1999.

Assuming Argentina make the finals I don't think anyone would begrudge Palermo his place in the squad. Whether it's a squad managed by Diego Maradona remains to be seen.

[Click here to see Martin Palermo's winning goal]

"Are You Going To Stay On?"

2009-10-11T16:31:00.003+01:00

Roy Keane interviewed following another defeat for his Ipswich Town team, this time to a 96th minute goal at Barnsley.

Following an eleventh game without a win, the interviewer asks "Are you going to stay on?"

If looks could kill ...

Brilliant.

Football Thoughts

2009-10-06T20:02:00.004+01:00

This past weekend, like so many others in the world of the FA Premier League, has been dominated by referees.

To my great disappointment, but I have to say not surprise, it was Sir Alex Ferguson who set the ball rolling on Saturday evening following his teams disappointing performance - and crucially result - at home against Sunderland.

According to Sir Alex's comments the match referee, Mr Alan Wiley, was not physically fit enough to referee a game of such high intensity and, as a result, missed crucial decisions throughout the game. Sir Alex also claimed that Mr Wiley booked players to give himself an opportunity to rest and catch his breath having apparently admitted as much to one of the Manchester players.

It's one thing in my opinion to criticise a match official for making mistakes - issuing a card when it wasn't deserved or awarding a dubious penalty for instance - but to claim the referee's fitness was inadequate is out of order and, I'd suggest, factually incorrect.

All officials must undertake, and pass, a series of tough fitness checks before the start of the season - and the season only started 6 weeks ago - before they are 'licenced' for the new season. Ironically Mr Wiley was the fourth official at the recent Manchester derby fixture and was seen enjoying a laugh and a joke with Sir Alex on the touchline when United scored their 95th minute winner.

It's fair to say that Mr Wiley's physique rather counts against him - he's not the tallest of men and is, to use a quaint term, somewhat 'barrel-chested'. That said, he will have passed the relevant fitness tests pre-season and doesn't deserve this smear on his reputation.

Perhaps Sir Alex might look a little closer to home to explain his disappointment with the result - his goalkeeper is currently displaying a severe lack of confidence, his forward line looked impotent and even the most reliable of his players failed to respond to the challenge, perhaps feeling the after-effects of a difficult European Champions League encounter in midweek.

Even if Sir Alex had valid concerns regarding Mr Wiley's fitness he should, in my opinion, have gone through the proper channels to inform the authorities of his views - and those proper channels don't include the after match interview on live television.

The broadcast media won't criticise Sir Alex for his comments: after all it's a good - easy (lazy) - story for them and, let's be honest, they are far too close to most club managers and players to say anything critical. Entertainment ahead of journalism and integrity is the order of the game it seems.

Over the years I have developed an enormous amount of respect for Sir Alex Ferguson - for his knowledge of the game and for his achievements within it - and I continue to respect him despite this outburst. That said, on this occasion I feel he's out of order and should face FA charges.

Whether he does - and the extent of any reaction from the authorities - remains to be seen.

'What Are You Going To Do With A Used Waterbottle?'

2009-10-01T07:45:00.001+01:00

You wouldn't believe the number of people that have asked me that since my recent post about the Tour of Britain and my souvenir: a genuine Team Barloworld bidon.

'It's not a waterbottle, it's a bidon' has been my initial response each time, quickly followed by 'you just don't know me at all do you'.

To be fair, I didn't say the second bit to my wife when she asked .. but I thought it.

Anyway, anyone who really knows me knows that I wouldn't look upon the bidon as a single item, rather it's the launch pad for ... a collection.

Therefore, I'm excited to announce that my bidon collection has doubled in size thanks to the aquisition of a genuine, race-used, bidon from the КАТЮША pro cycling team.

КАТЮША ('Katusha'), one of the top pro cycling teams, is organised by the Russian Global Cycling Project foundation, which itself is funded by Russian businesses such as Gazprom, Itera and Rostechnologii. The team was launched in 2008 and first competed at the 2009 Tour Down Under in Australia. Amongst their squad of elite riders is 21-year-old Englishman Ben Swift, winner of stage 7 at this years Tour of Britain. I like to think it was once his bidon.

The bidon itself is in great condition, with the КАТЮША team logo alongside those of Itera, Gazprom and Elite. Whilst the seller advertised it as 'comes clean' I'm pleased to say it still has a lovely orange/glucose smell about it.

There's only really one rule for inclusion in the collection - the item must be race used: let's be honest, it wouldn't be a collection worth having if I could just walk into a sports shop and buy one, would it?

Ben Swift
Professional cyclist
Team КАТЮША

Can We Put The Football On Please?

2009-09-25T21:04:00.005+01:00

Continuing my 'pro-cycling is brilliant' epiphany I took the day off work today to watch the UCI World [Cycling] Championships from Mendrisio, Switzerland.

'That can't be', I hear you say, 'today is the rest day'.

And you'd be right, of course, today is the rest day. On Wednesday and Thursday this week the elite mens, women and mens under-23 time trials were held and I enjoyed watching the edited highlights on British Eurosport each evening. Today I'd planned to watch the full, unedited broadcasts courtesy of my Sky+: all 12 hours or so (minus advert breaks).

Unfortunately things didn't go to plan and, with less time for tv than I'd hoped something had to give - and naturally it was the womens event that met the yellow Delete button. The line had to be drawn somewhere and, well, it wasn't a difficult decision.

The mens race was dominated, from a sporting perspective, by the magnificent performance from Fabian Cancellara that saw him finish a full minute and half ahead of his nearest rival - even a cycling novice like myself couldn't help but admire the athleticism and technique of the Swiss rider.

From an English perspective, the big story was the unfortunate malfunction to Bradley Wiggins' bike that saw him forced to switch to a backup bike, losing valuable time and any chance of a podium finish.

Credit to Wiggins for continuing with his race - I suspect that many sportsmen and women in his position would have walked off the circuit in his position but, having regained his composure, he eventually finished around two and a half minutes off third place.

A mention also for Kenya-born British rider Chris Froome - ahead of his move from Barloworld to Sky next season - who finished in eighteenth place: chapeau (as they say a lot on British Eurosport).

So, onto the weekend: it's an early start in the morning for the womens road race before the turn of the elite men on Sunday. Despite my earlier comments I'll be watching the womens race tomorrow, if only to get a feel for the course, before settling down for the main event on Sunday.

I decided back in the summer to cut back on the amount of meaningless football that I watch on tv: and let's be honest they don't come much more meaningless - in the grand football scheme of things - than Portsmouth v Everton and Sunderland v Wolves. My lovely wife didn't believe I would do it but so far I think surprised her.

Not that she's entirely supportive of the 'new me' though - on Wednesday evening, as we settled down for the days cycling highlights from Mendrisio she asked, with a hint of desperation in her voice 'it's Man Utd v Wolves in the Carling Cup tonight, I don't suppose we could watch that instead?'.

Following a short 'exchange of views' that centred around the merits of Sky Multiroom she retired to the 16 inch portable television up in the bedroom muttering something about sleeping on the sofa.

Cycling - the Tour of Britain

2009-09-21T08:45:00.000+01:00

Having enjoyed the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España over the past couple of months, courtesy of the great British Eurosport television coverage, this week I attended my first live cycling event - a stage of the Tour of Britain.

I've seen live road cycling events before but this was the first time I've gone out of my way to attend one. I'd been looking forward to the event for a couple of months and, despite only seeing the race competitors for about 20 seconds, I really enjoyed the experience.

I'd not previously given much thought about the logistics of staging a road cycling race but, having had a glimpse of just some of the organisation required I've now got huge respect for the various bodies that contribute, usually without acknowledgement, to the event.

Unlike the Tour de France, where course roads are often closed on the day of the race, the Tour of Britain operates what's known as 'the bubble'. The bubble is, in effect, a rolling road block that surrounds the cyclists, race officials' vehicles and the multitude of team support vehicles, as they make their way from start to finish.

Through the excellent highlight programmes on ITV4 this week I understand something like more than 30 police motorcycle riders 'manage' the route, operating a kind of relay system ensuring that road junctions along the route are clear ahead of the arrival of the Tour. These officers, drawn from different regional forces, stay with the Tour for its duration and work in conjunction with a similar number of race marshalls on motorcycles.

About 20 minutes before the cyclists arrival we got our first glimpse of the bubble with the arrival of the first motorcycles. Minutes later came the Tour officials and organisers vehicles who, via their public address system, thanked the public for turning out in support of the Tour: a nice touch I thought.

Next, and giving us an indication that the cyclists weren't too far away, came a couple of the competing team support vehicles before we caught our first glimpse of the cyclists themselves. A breakaway of escapees, perhaps 4 or 5 riders, shot past and disappeared up the road - blink and you'd have missed them!

A couple of minutes later and the main group of around 100 riders came into sight, accompanied of course by motorcycle outriders, Tour officials and team support cars. Despite having watched a lot (too much my patient wife would say!) of cycling in the past few months I was surprised just how much noise the pelaton made. Whether it was the rapid turning of pedals, the slick racing tyres running over the rough road surface or the morning breeze whipping through the wheels I don't know, but 100 or so cyclists travelling at around 35km per hour generates a low hum or buzzing noise that I just wasn't expecting.

No sooner had I clicked my camera two or three times then the riders had passed - pursued at high speed by vehicles carrying their various Directeur Sportif's, team mechanics, race Commissaire's, an ambulance, more motorcycles ...

As I walked back to work I came across my souvenir of the day: a discarded bidon - a water bottle to you and I - from a Team Barloworld rider. Ahead of the day I'd secretly hoped I might collect one so now my day was complete!

As is the case with so many events - not just sport - the best view is often offered by television rather than at the event itself. However, for pure excitement, atmosphere and a sense of occasion you just can't beat being there: I've always known this of course but it's never been clearer to me than it was this week as I stood by the roadside watching the Tour of Britain.

Back in the Blog

2009-09-19T19:26:00.007+01:00

Things have been so busy recently at home and at work at the salt mine that I've had little time for anything else. Admittedly, I've been watching on average around 3 hours of cycling on television a night but I can't concentrate on that and write at the same time. Can I?

Anyway, having recently 'graduated' a group of trainees they presented me with an unexpected gift - a hand painted (and therefore unique) mug decorated with the word WINNER and surrounded by each of their names.

I'm genuinely touched by their thoughtful gift - it's a timely reminder to me why I do what I do - and it's something I'll always treasure.

Normal blogging service will shortly be resumed ...

What a Week - Where Do I Start?

2009-09-05T14:02:00.006+01:00

Another busy week of work, table tennis and Asia's greatest export - the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet - has left precious little time for blogging but again, predictably, the world of football has been at the forefront of my thoughts.

I had initially planned to blog about the unexpected news that John Terry had been rewarded for his loyalty to Chelsea when turning down a summer move to Manchester City - managed by former Chelsea player Mark Hughes - with a new and improved contract. The new deal has seen his contract extended to 2014 and his wages increased to just over £150,000 per week. You'll remember that during the summer, as speculation continued that he would be changing clubs Terry declined to make any public commitment to Chelsea and he later announced that he never once considered handing in a transfer request.

At the time, commentators speculated that Terry's silence was all part of a plan to earn himself a new and improved contract - how foolish they must feel now.

Next summer, expect a repeat of this scenario, but replace Terry with Frank Lampard, Manchester City with Inter, Mark Hughes with Jose Mourinho. Once again, expect to be shown that money isn't everything as Lampard signs a new and improved contract with Chelsea.

Or did this already happen?

My attention then turned FIFA's decision to ban Chelsea from making any new signings for the next two transfer windows (so until January 2011) because of their behaviour when signing teenage forward Gaël Kakuta from French club Lens. I happened to have the television on when the news broke and I couldn't believe what I was hearing from the so-called studio experts: FIFA were apparently taking these measures because English clubs had become so dominant in European football; they were being punished because of previous disciplinary incidents in European matches; it was another sign - apparently - that the rest of the football world is anti-English.

I'd not heard such emotional, xenophobic, ignorant comments since ... let me think ... Chelsea's exit from the UEFA Champions League last season.

This morning, as news breaks of a second legal threat to Chelsea over allegations that they poached another young player from ASPTT Marseille, I can only hope that justice prevails and the West London clubs reputation as a well-run, friendly, family-focused club with a long and glorious footballing tradition is restored.

The Perfect Saturday?

2009-08-29T15:54:00.009+01:00

Text message received from a friend this morning:

Get in! Chelsea v Burnley, Gillette Soccer Saturday, Man Utd v Arsenal, AC Milan v Inter, Real Madrid v Deportivo, Match of the Day, Football League Review, a box of 36 Jaffa Cakes and a 2 litre bottle of Pepsi Max. Paradise.

That's commitment for you.

Be The Change You Want To See ...

2009-08-22T09:31:00.009+01:00

So, a week without posting hey? ... please accept my apologies.

I've returned to work this week after my enforced 'career break' - I can't tell you how happy I am to be back - and as I expected, it's been a busy week, and it'll continue to be busy for a while so my apologies in advance if posting is a little infrequent for a couple of weeks or so. Thanks.

Anyway, on to business. I've been disappointed by some of the comments I've heard and read recently from a football manager I admire and respect (and also from Rafa Benitez).

Firstly, Sir Alex Ferguson. As far as I'm concerned he's one of the great football men. Not just a great manager but also a man who knows and understands the 'culture' of football, understands how important it is to us ordinary folk, knows about the history and social significance of the game.

The recent Community Shield fixture between Manchester and Chelsea was overshadowed by a couple of incidents where players went to ground forcing the referee to consider whether the players in question were seriously injured. The referee stopped the game to allow treatment for Chelsea's Michael Ballack but didn't stop it later in the game for his own player Patrice Evra. In reality it appeared neither player was badly injured. To compound the problem, Chelsea scored within moments of the Evra incident.

After the game Sir Alex quite rightly bemoaned the lack of consistency from the match official and remarked - referring to Michael Ballack's exaggerated behaviour - that 'something needs to be done about these players' (not a direct quote but very, very similar).

Well, I agree totally. The obvious people to 'do something' are the managers themselves. In fact they are probably the only people who can affect this change. Every club - Sir Alex's included - has players who will exaggerate a fall or injury for the benefit of their team - to win a free kick, a penalty or get a player sent off.

Quite simply managers need to put their own house in order and make their players aware that this type of behaviour - and let's be honest it's cheating - is simply not acceptable.

Rafa Benitez is a curious man. His managerial record speaks for itself - at Valencia he won the league twice and the UEFA Cup once, at Liverpool he's won the FA Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup, whilst earlier in his managerial career he achieved promotion with Extremadura and Tenerife - and yet he doesn't really appear to get a huge amount of respect from the wider football community.

Why? I suspect it's because he complains too much. Not just after matches - we've come to expect managers to criticise referees, opponents and the football authorities following disappointing results - but in between as well. Last season we had the infamous 'fact' press conference where, referring to his prepared notes, he complained about Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson, suggesting amongst other things that they were favoured by the football authorities.

This week Benitez has taken his striker Fernando Torres to task, suggesting he should stop complaining and focus on his game. No, Really.

He may well have a point - Torres did spent a lot of last weekends game appealing to the referee - but what sort of example is the manager setting his player. It seems to be a case of 'do as I say, not as I do'. I suspect that if Mr Benitez led by example, his player would soon follow.

Be the change ...

Football Thoughts

2009-08-15T08:45:00.001+01:00

Today is, for many, the start of the football season in England. Although Football League and 'non-league' clubs have been playing for a week or so today the Barclays Premier League clubs kick off their season. For the next 11 months (it's a World Cup year remember) it'll be live football on television and on the radio and internet 7 days a week.

Heaven.

Except, back in the day, football seemed better. Games would be confined to maybe 3 days a week: the traditional Saturday afternoon fixtures with occasional midweek games on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening. There were no 'live' matches of course - back then we relied on crackly audio courtesy of Radio 2 medium wave. At 12 o'clock on a Saturday and 7 o'clock on a midweek match night Radio 2 would 'donate' their medium wave frequency for buildup and second half commentary from the big match of the day. I have fond memories of listening to a European Cup match featuring Liverpool away in Hungary against a team called Videoton: 'Video Town' as I was later to discover it exotically translated to. Fond memories indeed.

Live football was available to those of us with commitment and dedication: courtesy of Ceefax and Teletext. For 2 hours I'd sit glued to the television screen as the fixtures from my team's division - split across 4 'pages' usually - looped around. Each page would be displayed for about a minute before being replaced with the next. Just the scores you understand - no comments, no indication as to how the teams were playing, no stats showing shots on target, assists, corners ... just the scores.

Imagine the excitement, the sense that we were entering a new age of information, when Ceefax enhanced the service by displaying the names of players who had been sent off. Exciting times, I've got goosebumps just thinking about it.

I developed certain routines, traditions if you will, over the many years of watching Ceefax - for Ceefax was my preference over Teletext, which I always suspected was updated marginally slower - with the aim of improving my teams prospects.

I'd never allow myself to change the page to check out another division - who knew what might happen while I was looking away; I'd count out loud between the changing of the pages, believing that if I stopped, my team would suffer. For really important matches - usually relegation six-pointers - I'd attempt to hold my breath as the pages looped around only allowing myself to breath when my teams score was displayed.

It may have helped - who knows?

There was an 'in vision' option as part of the service which placed a small 'letterbox' at the bottom of the screen where goal flashes were displayed while you carried on watching your television programme. I dabbled with it but ultimately felt it showed a lack of commitment.

Nowadays, Saturday afternoons are still spent watching TV - only now we have reporters at every ground to update us as games develop, former players in the studio commenting on the days top matches, and a score ticker running across the screen informing us the very instant a goal is scored.

Football fans have never had it so good. Apparently.

Some day I'll blog about long summers spent 'watching' Test Match cricket via Ceefax - 8 hours a day for 5 days. Now that took a level of dedication that you rarely see in young people these days.

Football Thoughts

2009-08-12T13:03:00.009+01:00

A couple of times in the last few months (here and here) I've blogged about the poor behaviour of the employees of an English football club owned by a wealthy benefactor.

Up until now Chelsea - a club formed when two businessmen wanted a professional football club to use their Stamford Bridge stadium, having already been turned down by Fulham - have been the subject of my dissatisfaction.

My attention now turns to Manchester City.

Back in January, following Manchester City's failure to sign the former World Player of the Year Kaka, the clubs chief executive Garry Cook accused Kaka's club Milan of 'bottling it'.

"The player was clearly for sale," Cook told BBC Radio Five Live. "We had entered into a confidentiality agreement weeks ago but, in my personal opinion, they [Milan] bottled it." [source]

What a distasteful comment to make - ".. they bottled it".

This week it has come to light that the Manchester City "forgot" to inform the Football Association of Wales that their captain Craig Bellamy was not fit to represent the nation in this weeks fixture against Montenegro [source]. Not that Bellamy is blameless in this episode in my opinion, as national team captain is it unreasonable to think that the player himself might have telephoned the manager John Toshack.

I've always had a soft spot for Manchester City - perhaps it's because they've always been the underdog in the city of Manchester, perhaps it's because the size of their attendances has always left me thinking they deserve more (some?) success.

For all their expensive signings it's important to do things properly off the pitch or risk becoming the new Chelsea: the team everyone 'loves to hate'.

Some may feel that being the team everyone 'loves to hate' is a price worth paying for success.

The top, top clubs manage to achieve their success whilst being respected and admired - truly something to aspire to.

Well Done UEFA

2009-08-07T12:01:00.014+01:00

This year UEFA have changed the qualifying system for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League and I really like what they've done.

Imagine you are a player, an official or a supporter of a team that plays in one of Europe's, with respect, smaller (certainly less wealthy) leagues - Hungary, Romania, Austria, Bulgaria for example.

Over the course of a long - 9 or 10 month - season you overcome your domestic rivals to win your own league and, with that honour, a place in the UEFA Champions League.

In the past such teams then would be seeded to be drawn against the likes of Atletico de Madrid or Arsenal in a play-off for the lucrative group stage: in other words a team that had finished third or fourth in one of the top, wealthy, leagues. Invariably the larger, richer club from the larger, richer league would view this fixture as something as an unwelcome nuisance as their prepared for the start of their domestic league and, equally invariably, they would prove victorious in the play-off.

This year, UEFA divided the Champions into one qualifying route, and the Non-Champions another, completely separate, qualifying route towards entry into the group stage.

As a result of this morning draw we have an excellent chance of seeing some new sides in the competition - Sheriff of Moldova, Ventspils of Latvia, Debrecen of Hungary for instance.

Not only does this have to be fairer for the clubs concerned, it's got to be good for the competition itself. The UEFA Champions League is starting to be just a little predictable: the same teams playing one another - season after season - familiarity breeding contempt.

Ironically these new clubs will, I suspect, struggle at first in the group stage - this isn't a short term change. It'll possibly take 3, 4 or 5 seasons for clubs from these smaller leagues to benefit as their experience grows, and revenues expand.

This system, which as I say I'm in favour of, does mean that a number of the third or fourth place teams from the top leagues - England, Spain, Italy - will miss out. I don't have a problem with this, why should these teams be rewarded for not winning their league?

To illustrate this the runners-up from Scotland - Glasgow Celtic - have been drawn against the team that finished fourth in the English league - Arsenal - with the winner taking a place in the group stage.

I'm quite sure it's just a matter of time before someone from the English or Scottish media claims the system is unfair. I can hear it now as, for instance, Debrecen prepare to play Manchester United, the so-called experts in the TV studio complain 'it's a nonsense that they [Debrecen] are in the competition when the mighty Arsenal/Celtic are not'. Expect a repeat of the xenophobia we witnessed following last seasons Champions League Semi Final second leg at Stamford Bridge. Expect Michael Platini, president of UEFA, to again be branded the enemy of English football.

That's okay, it may take these media types a few seasons of this new system to stop looking inwards all the time and to stop insulting the intelligence of their readers, listenners and viewers at every opportunity.

Well done UEFA.

'Vodka Before Lunch Is Not Usually A Good Idea ...'

2009-08-06T08:45:00.001+01:00

Watching the evening news on Russia Today a couple of nights ago (Sky channel 512 in case you're interested, I particularly enjoy watching the weather forecast) I saw this story about a Missouri car dealership that is reversing a nationwide slide in car sales by offering a free Kalashnikov assault rifle (or $250 of fuel) with every truck sold.

The owner of the dealership, whose business slogan is 'God, Guns, Guts, and American Pick-Up Trucks', said that the response to the offer had been overwhelming.

The dealership won't actually be handing out the weapons - they will issue buyers with a voucher to use at approved stores, where they will undergo background checks and receive weapons training. Naturally.

Quite remarkable and yet not in the least bit surprising.

Stop It ... Now

2009-08-02T10:26:00.009+01:00

Continuity announcers annoy me. Back in the day their job was nothing more than to introduce the next programme:

'Now on the BBC ... Nationwide'

Simply and effective. Over time their job description expanded to promoting programmes being broadcast later that day:

'Later this evening on BBC1, a fascinating insight into the migration patterns of Vietnamese cattle, but next our first visit of the week to the residents of Eldorado'

Nothing wrong that that (just don't get me started on Eldorado).

Then, and I'm not sure when this happened, it was decided that the announcers needed to become personalities, passing comment, making jokes - preferably in a regional accent:

'Next up, and I've been looking forward to this programme all week, Casualty'

Totally unacceptable.

Over the weekend I settled down with a large mug of tea and a box of cherry bakewells to enjoy the 4 hour Nothing to Declare marathon on Living TV.

The show follows the hugely important work of the dedicated officers of the Australian Customs Service, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship as they enforce Australian customs, quarantine, immigration and finance laws.

At the end of one episode in which a gentlemen was refused entry to the country following a very tense and dramatic confrontation the continuity announcer practically shouted over the credits:

'What a shame, I really liked the guy'

He was travelling on irregular documents for goodness sake - I think that outweighs whether you liked him or not. And besides, I don't care what you think

After the next episode in which a large German gentlemen was refused entry because of recent involvement with organised crime:

'Oh dear, and I thought he had a lovely moustache'

[sigh] [shakes head whilst frowning]

Please, stop it - do your job, introduce the programme and no more. If you want to be famous or a 'personality' then audition for Britain's Got Talent, World Records Smashed! or another of the plethora of cheap, reality-based programmes that we are treated to and I can choose to watch something else.

Sir Bobby Robson

2009-07-31T12:02:00.005+01:00

Sir Bobby Robson, 18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009
Sir Bobby Robson - one of the greatest of football men - sadly passed away at his home in County Durham this morning, aged 76 years of age.

Just five days ago Sir Bobby made what was to be his final public appearance, fittingly at St James' Park, where he was attending a football match in support of his own cancer charity.

Sir Bobby managed the England national team for eight years including the 1986 and 1990 World Cups in Mexico and Italy. The dignity in defeat that Sir Bobby demonstrated upon controversial defeat to Argentina in '86 and the heartbreak of a semi final penalty defeat to West Germany in '90 spoke volumes for the man and was an example to us all.

At club level, Sir Bobby was a rarity - an English manager who managed abroad: PSV, Barcelona, Porto and Benfica. In England he was in charge at Ipswich Town and his home town club Newcastle United, having managed Fulham for several months in 1968, where he was at that time a senior player, before continuing his playing career at West Bromwich Albion. Sir Bobby appeared on 20 occasions for the England national team.

Sir Bobby Robson was a great man.

Same Old Same Old ...

2009-07-29T12:45:00.007+01:00

This video from last nights Real Madrid v Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito 'Peace Cup' ('preseason friendly') match for me perfectly sums up Cristiano Ronaldo.

A sublime piece of skill followed by an exaggerated tumble in the box to trick the referee into awarding Real Madrid a penalty and booking the Quito defender.

Nobody doubts Ronaldo's talent - it's there for all to see: he will never be fully respected, however, until he stops diving. He'd curbed his enthusiasm for such behaviour under the supervision of Sir Alex Ferguson but, sadly, it looks like he's returning to his old ways.

What a shame.

''... The Summer Reaches Its Moment of Sadness ...''

2009-07-28T11:25:00.013+01:00

So, the Tour de France has finished for another year - Alberto Contador winning the worlds biggest annual sporting event for a second time. Next up for Contador - and me - is the Vuelta a España at the end of August.

I've watched every minute of every day of this years Tour and, as I've said before, I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks largely to the comprehensive - and quality - coverage on British Eurosport I found I was able to quickly understand many of the subtleties of road racing, the commentary team taking time out to explain some of the basics to newbies like myself.

The sporting contest itself is set against the beautiful French (and Swiss, Italian, Andorran and Catalan) landscape where people turned out in their numbers to support the cyclists: the last-but-one stage took the riders up Mont Ventoux where more than half a million people lined the route. Half a million people! Up a mountain! Amazing.

Events during this penultimate stage reminded me what sport is - or should - be about. Sport shouldn't be about cricketers auctioning themselves off to the highest bidder for a months well paid work when perhaps they should be focusing on the forthcoming domestic season; it shouldn't be about journalists (I use the term loosely) and event organisers treating the public as fools by telling them that results in preseason football friendlies matter, and it certainly shouldn't be about footballers trying to play one club off against another to get a raise on their current £135,000 per week wages.

As the riders made their way towards the summit of Mont Ventoux on Saturday the four British riders in the Tour de France paid their own personal tributes to Tom Simpson, whose memorial stands at the spot, 1.5km from the top, where he collapsed and died during the 1967 tour.

Bradley Wiggins - who would go on to record a fourth place finish, equalling the best performance by a Britain at the Tour - raced with a photograph of Simpson taped to the frame of his bike; Mark Cavendish - who has now recorded more stage wins than any Britain - removed his helmet as he rode past the memorial and bowed his head; Charly Wegelius and David Millar left gifts at the memorial: Wegelius a water bottle, Millar a cotton hat on which he had written: 'Tommy Simpson RIP, David Millar.'

That's the essence of what sport should be about. Magnificent.

Onto the final day and I've never seen anything quite like Mark Cavendish's stage winning sprint. For 50km, up and down and around the Champs-Elysées and the Place de le Concorde the Columbia-HTC team drove the pelaton. On the final circuit the Columbia 'train' increased the pace - 60, 65, 70km an hour - and the pelaton did it's best to keep up. Rivals Garmin-Slipstream formed their own train to support their sprint finish but they couldn't compete with Columbia who had the racing line - with the finish in sight Columbia riders George Hincapie and Mark Renshaw peeled off before Cavendish showed his incredible speed to become the first Britain to win in Paris.

Click here to watch the last circuit of the city in full, fast forward to 6:00 minutes to see the duel between Columbia-HTC and Garmin-Slipstream.

French novelist Paul Fournel once wrote that 'with the end of the Tour de France the summer reaches its moment of sadness'. Prior to this year, having never previously followed the Tour, the significance of his words were lost on me.

Yesterday, I understood.

Congratulations To The Happy Couple

2009-07-24T19:14:00.011+01:00

I saw on the evening news that veteran radio and television presenter Noel Edmonds this week married his third wife, Liz Davies.

Many years ago, it was 1987 if my memory serves me, I found myself sat on a InterCity train at Birmingham New Street Station waiting for a late running connecting service to arrive before I could continue my onward journey.

Sat opposite me, was a round-faced, rotund young chap - yes, it was like looking in a mirror - who was becoming visibly angry about the ongoing delay.

Moments later, as the young fellow could contain his anger and frustration no longer, he cried-out at the top of his voice, to no-one in particular 'I hate the Queen, I hate Margaret Thatcher but most of all I hate Noel Edmonds'.

The young fellows outburst certainly set me thinking. I also made sure I didn't make eye contact with him.

Whilst I could understand that Her Majesty and the Prime Minister could elicit strong feelings one way or the other, surely Noel, the one-time Saturday Swap Shop presenter was someone who one could take or leave. Noel and his 'gang' had been an important part of my Saturday mornings growing up and as such someone I'd always held in high regard.

I assumed the young mans heart-felt declaration had been as a result of some unfortunate mental illness or a propensity to take drugs. Moments later our train continued on its journey.

Years later, and having experienced Noel's House Party, Noel's Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year Old, Noel's HQ and Deal or No Deal (possibly to be renamed Noel's Deal or No Deal at some future point?), I came to appreciate that the young man was a visionary, ahead of his time.

Anyway, back to the purpose of my post: heart-felt congratulations to Mr and Mrs Edmonds.

The Bubble

2009-07-21T11:15:00.007+01:00

Over at his Ænimic Digest blog the mysterious author Mozeley recently spoke at length about what he sees as a possible 'turning of the tide' as the balance of strength - on and off the pitch - switches from the English to the Spanish league.

As we know only too well, Real Madrid have made a number of high profile, and expensive, signings this summer, whilst Barcelona beat Manchester in the European Champions League Final at the end of May and throughout the season played a style of football that was universally accepted as the finest in Europe.

Whilst I think performance on the field is a cyclical thing - it was just 4 years ago I believe that we had an all-Italian Champions League final - I do think we are seeing a shift in the financial strength of the top two leagues in the world: Spain and England.

Years ago I worked with a chap who's stock phrase when talking about the English Premier League was 'the bubble is going to burst'. Fifteen years later the bubble hasn't burst but I am starting to see some strain.

Only last week Jermain Pennant - an at best average Premier League player in my opinion - signed a 3 year deal with Spanish side Real Zaragoza which is reportedly worth the equivalent of £80,000 a week.

The deal was made possible thanks to Spanish tax laws that mean that the top bracket of tax in that country is a 'mere' 23% - comparing very favourably to the 50% rate in England.

The Spanish have been helped to reduce this upper tax bracket by what has informally become known as the "Beckham law". In an attempt to encourage overseas businesses to place their leading executives in Spain, the government introduced legislation to cut taxes in the top bracket for the first five years.

So, with 'average' English players able to command such high wages can we expect to see more English players moving to Spain? Yes and no is my prediction!

English players - as do English people in general - have traditionally been reluctant to work abroad. Even before the days of huge wages in English football it was always easier, safer, to settle for a lower wage than move to a foreign country, learn a new language (heaven forbid everyone in the host country doesn't speak English!) and a new lifestyle and culture. Bottom line: we English like our comfort zone and that zone doesn't include a foreign language, foreign food or, for that matter, foreign people.

So, the top, top players - the Steven Gerrards, 'Mr Chelsea', Rooney - will take what they've got, bank their high wages and fees for endorsements etc, live like royalty and still get to watch The X-Factor on a Saturday night.

It'll be the next tier of English professional footballer - the Pennants - that will be most likely to be attracted by a move to the lower and mid-ranking Spanish teams. They won't go alone - I suspect we'll see Zaragoza pick up another English player to keep Pennant company - and I don't think they'll stay long - I predict Pennant will have left Spain in a year, having not learnt the language, not done terribly well on the field and claiming that he 'didn't settle'.

The best foreign players will, of course, head for Spain rather than England. For less - even the same - take-home pay why would you choose Aston Villa over Deportivo?

Is the [financial] tide turning? Will the bubble burst? I hope so.

English football needs a period of humility.

Go Let It Out

2009-07-18T08:45:00.001+01:00

With the football season fast approaching Oasis guitarist and Manchester City fan Noel Gallagher was asked for his thoughts about two of his clubs transfer targets - John Terry and Emmanuel Adebayor:

'I don't like John Terry and I never have', he said 'he's got funny eyes and he's a cry baby. He's also a cockney and he'd absolutely be coming just for the money.'

Gallagher continued "I have always had a great dislike for Adebayor. I don't like all that silly dancing by the corner flag."

Honest opinion - brilliant. If only we could have as much plain speaking and honesty from some of the tv pundits who talk so much, and say so little.

[Eurosport]

What's The Collective Noun for a Group of Snails?

2009-07-15T08:45:00.001+01:00

The most surreal moment so far of this magnificent sporting summer occured midway yesterdays tenth stage of the Tour de France.

Someway between Limoges and Issoudun, with the pelaton fast approaching, a keen-eyed cameraman from the host broadcaster spotted a rout of snails at the roadside

As the race support vehicles approached, one snail broke rank with the others, clearly determined to cross the road

Moments later, the snail had impressively covered 3 or 4 inches. However, he wasn't quite quick enough to cross before the traffic was upon him

At this point the camera cut away to spare our eyes the inevitable, but not before the English commentator had remarked that if the cyclists didn't run the snail over, the cameraman would surely have it - and the others - as a tasty midday snack.

National stereotyping ... and we wonder why the rest of Europe gangs up on us at the Eurovision Song Contest.

What a Fabulous Weekend of Sport on TV

2009-07-13T18:45:00.001+01:00

The weekend arrived on the back of the first test match in Cardiff between England and Australia and the ongoing Tour de France with a stunning backdrop of the mountains of Andorra.

Saturday saw the final practice session and qualifying for the German Grand Prix whilst the cricket and cycling continued. In the evening we were treated to watching Ukraine - the reigning champions - overcome Italy 3:2 in the final of the 2009 Summer Universiade football competition.

Into Sunday and we had the German Grand Prix - congratulations to Mark Webber for his first F1 race win - cycling in the Pyrenees mountains - apparently supporters had been camping for a week or more for the chance to see their heroes - and an exciting, tense finish to the cricket from Cardiff.

Over this weekend of sport there were a few interviews that caught my eyes and ears:

Prior to the start of the mountain climb in yesterdays tour the reporter from Eurosport asked the Australian cyclist Cadel Evans if he had any surprises in store for the viewers today. Evans thought for a minute and replied, in a perfectly dead-pan tone 'if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it'. True.

In the Mail on Sunday newspaper (I wouldn't normally read it but who can turn down a free Harry Potter sticker album? not my wife apparently) Chris Power commented that after qualifying for the race in fifth place 'Lewis Hamilton's nightmare year came to an end ...'. Approximately 15 seconds into the race Hamilton picked up a puncture before exiting the first corner and his day was effectively over.

Reacting to his team-mate Landon Donovan's comments that he was unprofessional David Beckham said 'It's unprofessional in my eyes. In every football player's eyes throughout the world it would be unprofessional to speak out about a team-mate especially in the press and not to your face'. Beckham went on to say that he'd take it up with Donovan when he next sees him.

Today has been a rest day on the Tour, the cricket has finished until Thursday and the next Grand Prix is a fortnight away. The next football on note isn't until mid-August (I'm ignoring the pre-season tournaments that the media are promoting at the moment for obvious reasons).

The BBC tried to fill the void today with coverage of the World Rowing Championship. Thanks anyway for trying.

[... Shakes Head ...]

2009-07-10T18:31:00.011+01:00

Physically fit, extremely wealthy, idolized by millions: footballers appear, at first sight, to have everything, and then they speak:

"I wanted to come to Spain and I had offers from important teams in Europe, but joined Real Zaragoza"

In his first interview since signing for Real Zaragoza, his eighth club, 26 year old Jermaine Pennant has, I suspect, not made a great impression on the supporters of his new team.

guardian.co.uk
realzaragoza.com

Le Tour de France - C'est Magnifique

2009-07-08T08:45:00.003+01:00

Being confined to an armchair for much of the day has given me the opportunity to follow the Tour de France cycling event courtesy of Eurosport TV: something I've wanted to do for a while but just hadn't had the time.

I remember back in the 1980s there was a cycling road-race series that took place around the streets of British cities. I really enjoyed the series - I seem to remember it was screened on Channel 4 on a Monday night - it was good television with a simple format: points awarded for the first cyclists to cross the finishing line, with the man who finished top of the cumulative league table at the end of the season declared the champion.

The Tour de France takes place over 3 weeks - 4 to 5 hours or so cycling a day with just a couple of rest days - starting in the South of France, ending with a sprint in Paris, with one stage leaving France for Catalunya.

The Tour has always seemed 'complicated' to me - part of the reason why I've not really followed it before: points for the top sprinters, points for team time-trials, a green jersey, a yellow jersey and even a polka-dot jersey. Four days into the tour and I'm starting to understand how it works. It's becoming clear that cycling is like any other sport - the more you follow it, the more you learn about it, the more you appreciate and enjoy it.

The television coverage from Eurosport is superb. The commentary team clearly know their stuff and do a good job of explaining some of the subtleties of the Tour, bearing in mind that some of their viewers will be - like me - new to the sport. I'm starting to understand the team structures, how the team trial works and what the different jerseys represent. I'm starting to recognise some of the 'names' amongst the 180 or so cyclists, and understand the roles that particular cyclists perform within their team.

Cycling is massive throughout Europe but in Britain it's always been viewed as something of a minority sport. With the launch in January 2010 of a British team that has ambitions to compete in the Tour next year I can see the sport really taking off amongst British fans.

Well Done Andy

2009-07-04T14:47:00.006+01:00

So, my interest in the All England Tennis Championship - Wimbledon - is over for another year.

Having avoided watching any of the tournament up until yesterday I felt compelled - for reasons I've already touched upon - to watch the mens semi-final between Andies Murray and Roddick.

One thing that struck me - putting aside the 'partisan' elements of supporting one of the competitors or the other - was just how dull the match was.

When I last watched a game of mens tennis - some years ago admittedly, a time of Jimmy Connors, wooden rackets, tight shorts and headbands - it was rather like watching a fencing 'duel'. It was subtle, thoughtful, graceful even as players would frequently come to the net, then retreat, attempting to outwit their opponent through guile and cunning.

Yesterdays match had this feel about it I must say - powerful exchanges back and forth, back and forth, until one or other made a mistake. That is, the points that weren't decided by a huge 110 miles-an-hour serve that neither the receiver or the audience could see.

Furthermore, I was dissapointed by the reactions of the crowd. Back in the day (copyright The Savage Rabbit) the crowds were more generous - knowledgable? - towards the players. Yes there were favourites, but unforced errors were never greeted with such enthusiasm, such pleasure, as I witnessed yesterday.

The television coverage seemed poorer than I remember as well. Where before we had insightful, informed comment yesterday we were treated to a demonstration of stating the obvious. The individual responsible for the pictures we saw was celebrity obsessed: 'there's Sir Michael Parkinson', 'there's Sir Trevor McDonald', 'there's [some young lady who presents the news on BBC News 24]'.

I gave it a go ... it's not for me.

Starting to Feel a Little Bitter

2009-07-02T09:41:00.011+01:00

It's been 10 days now since my ankle was broken in a football-related 'incident' and, over the past couple of days, I've finally settled into a routine.

In a nutshell, the core activity in this routine is 'sitting down'.

I'm up most mornings around 8 o'clock and take my place on a chair in the garden with a cup of tea. If I'm lucky my neighbours will also be pottering around their garden so there's a chance of some company and conversation. I've been staying in this seat in the garden until around lunch time when the heat and sun become too much at which point I'm then driven inside to a seat in front of the television.

Afternoons are then spent flicking around the channels looking for something to watch, before settling for Jeff Stelling and Rachel Riley as Countdown starts at 3.25pm.

The weekend is the same as a weekday. I've lost track of what day it is.

I imagine this is what retirement feels like.

Stuart Pearce

2009-06-29T08:45:00.004+01:00

This evening sees an England football team in the final of a major tournament for the first time since ... well, let's just say it's been too long.

The match in question is the final of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship from Sweden and will see England play against old friends Germany.

As I've said before I'm trying to take a bit of a break from football during these summer months, in the hope that when the new season comes around in August/September I'll be filled with enthusiasm, but I've made a point of keeping up with this important tournament.

In this country we tend to be very focused on what's going on at the very top of our own game - Premier League, Internationals, Champions League - at the expense of the wider football scene.

I've been impressed with England's performances throughout the tournament and I've been even more impressed with how team manager Stuart Pearce has presented himself during the matches and afterwards, when being interviewed.

For those of us of a certain age Stuart Pearce will always have a place in our hearts. As a player he was, in many ways, the stereotypical touch tackling English defender. Nicknamed 'psycho' during his playing days he represented six different clubs and made nearly 750 senior appearances. At international level he was first capped by England in 1987 in a game against Brazil and went on to represent his country, with pride and honour, a total of 78 times.

As a manager Pearce was employed by Nottingham Forest in a caretaker capacity during the 96-97 season and spent 3 years managing Manchester City before taking charge of the England Under 21 team in 2007.

For many, Stuart Pearce will be remembered for two incidents involving penalties.

One, the penalty shoot-out that followed the semi-final of the 1990 FIFA World Cup against West Germany. After the match had finished 1-1 Pearce was one of two England players to unfortunately miss their penalties and he left the pitch in tears as England were defeated.

Two, six years later, during the EURO 96 quarter-final penalty shoot-out against Spain at Wembley Stadium in London, Pearce again took a penalty and this time was successful. His emotional celebration in front of a joyous Wembley crowd became one of English football's most celebrated images. The expression on Pearce's face was one of uncontrollable joy mixed with an equal measure of relief. I remember watching the match live on TV at the time and being close to tears myself when he turned to the crowd, punched the air, shouted 'come on! and celebrated his successful penalty. It felt like a wrong had at long, long last been righted.

Whatever the result of tonight's game my first thoughts will be for Stuart Pearce - an English man we can be proud of.

[Further] Apologies!

2009-06-26T14:42:00.009+01:00

Recently I seem to be making more excuses and apologies than your average politician explaining their recent expenses claim. Here's another:

I'm not blogging much at the moment, so to my regular readers I once again apologise.

It seems a number of my colleagues felt that, despite my annual leave last week, I needed more time away from work and they took measures into their own hands ...

The consequence is that I'm finding using the computer difficult but, on the positive side, it gave me the opportunity to have a 45-minute conversation with a Polish taxi driver about the rivalry between the oldest Polish football teams, Cracovia and Wisła, known as The Holy War. I'm also enjoying the 5-year-old episodes of Dog The Bounty Hunter currently being shown on Bravo.

It never would have happened if I'd stuck to wiff-waff.

Anyone But ...

2009-06-23T08:45:00.002+01:00

The tennis at Wimbledon started yesterday and will continue for the next 2 weeks: pausing only for rain and for Cliff Richard.

I don't like tennis - and I particularly dislike the Wimbledon tournament - and as such I don't care who wins.

Anyone but Andy Murray.

The Straw That Broke The Camels Back

2009-06-20T08:45:00.003+01:00

Oh dear, that didn't go well. I'm talking about yesterdays trip to the cinema to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

The film itself wasn't bad - although possibly a little long in my opinion - but my 'customer experience' was poor and for the sake of a couple of extra pounds I'll be going elsewhere from now on.

Let me explain - living where I do I don't really have a 'local' cinema: it's a 35 minute drive to the nearest multi-screen. When I go to the cinema my preference is to reserve a specific seat in advance so as to be sure I'm comfortable with my view.

Realistically I have a choice of 2 cinemas within a shortish drive: cinema Y or cinema T ('names have been changed to protect the innocent') and, with money tight, I've been going to cinema Y recently because they are between £1 and £2 per ticket cheaper although 1) they don't allow me to book a specific seat and 2) they charge for parking (although you can reclaim up to £1.80 of the parking fee). Are you still with me? Good.

So, we got to the cinema about 20 minutes before the publicised screening time, parked, collected our film tickets and got a decent seat in the cinema. 'So far so good' I'm thinking. Twenty minutes - and some awful trailers - later the film started. Two hours and twenty minutes later, and with another Autobot v Decepticon fight underway, I realised that my 3 hour car-parking time had expired.

I've no idea what happened in the rest of the film as my mind was elsewhere - should I take a chance on a £65 overdue parking fine and enjoy the rest of the film or should I return to the car, renew my parking fee and come back to the film?

In the end I did neither - I sat there and willed the film to finish and then rushed back to the car to find, of course, that I hadn't been penalised.

Cinema T it is for me from now on.

As I said previously, I find blogging therapeutic, I'm feeling calmer now.

Postcard From My Garden

2009-06-19T08:45:00.001+01:00

I'm conscious that I haven't been posting much this week: 'blogging' has become quite therapeutic for me and, as I've been on annual leave this week I've been feeling particularly calm and relaxed. I feel some of my most 'fluid' writing often comes when I'm frustrated, wound-up or particularly tired and this week I just haven't felt the need of my therapist.

I've had a really nice week so far, I wouldn't say I've got too much to show for the week but that's OK (isn't it?): I've read loads, enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine while sat in my garden, watched some of of my favourite TV series (when the rain drove me indoors), had a couple of trips to the gym, played football on Monday night and spent a very, very enjoyable hour and a bit on Wednesday afternoon playing table tennis with a good friend.

I'd joked with my wife that anyone can play table tennis - 'it's standing whilst waving your arms' I told her before I went out - and I was really surprised just how physically demanding it was. Accepting that I'm not the fittest person it was a really good workout and I certainly felt tired for it later that evening (to be fair I'd also been to the gym in the morning so maybe next time I won't do both on the same day).

Today is the last day of my annual leave week - in fact it'll probably be my last leave before early October. My wife also has the day off work tomorrow so as a treat we're going to the cinema to watch Transformers 2. As I've said before I don't usually like going to see a film as soon as it's released - invariably the cinema is busy and I just don't have the patience to put up with 'anti-social' behaviour from my fellow film-goers: talking, kicking the back of my chair, using a mobile phone etc - but we'll give it a go, get there early and choose a good seat.

I haven't had to have anyone ejected from the cinema so far this year - I've had 3 people ejected from the supermarket but so far not the cinema - so fingers crossed for a good film and an uneventful afternoon.

To my regular readers: apologies for the lack of posts this week, I suspect things will be back to normal from around 9 o'clock on Monday morning.

Have a good weekend.

[More] Reading in the Sunshine

2009-06-15T09:44:00.006+01:00

I'm tempting fate I know but I think yesterday may well have been the first 'proper' day of summer. Not only was the weather glorious but I managed to convince my wife to abandon the television set, the computer and her mobile phone and join me in the garden where we sat and read for hours. Very relaxing.

After dinner we watched The Incredible Hulk film with Edward Norton (he stared in the film, I'm not suggesting he watched it with us you understand) which we both really enjoyed.

I'm on leave from the salt mine this week and in between a bit of football and a bit of wiff-waff I hope to be sitting and reading a lot more - weather permitting of course.

'He' Won't Be Missed

2009-06-14T09:00:00.001+01:00

So, in what must surely be one of the longest, most drawn-out, not to mention boring, transfer sagas in history Cristiano Ronaldo ('He'/'Him') has finally transfered from Manchester United to Real Madrid ('Them').

Almost all of the Manchester United supporters I have spoken to have reacted with a resounding 'good' usually followed by 'he's not the player he was last season'. At first I dismissed these comments as being the natural reaction when someone leaves you: 'the relationship was going nowhere', 'I wasn't happy', 'we were only together because it was convenient' etc but the more I think of it I genuinely think Manchester will come back stronger next season for 'His' leaving.

Firstly, and most obviously, Sir Alex will have £80m to spend - potentially meaning 3 top, top quality players: Ribery? Villa? Silva? Tevez even? The list is endless. And there'd still be change left over to put towards covering some of the clubs debt!

Then there's the effect on the team in light of 'His' absence. It's difficult to criticise Sir Alex given his track record but Manchester United have been looking like a team with several square pegs in round holes recently and I have a suspicion it was a situation engineered to accommodate 'Him'. Perhaps now Rooney might be an opportunity in his prefered (better suited?) role? Maybe Berbatov will be given the opportunity to show what a good player he really is? If Tevez is retained he could now take on greater responsibility rather than the 'bit part' he's had for the past 18 months or so. And so on.

Furthermore, I'm not convinced that 'He' is the type of player Manchester United need - not any more at least. I've felt that over the past season it's been a case of Ronaldo + 10 others - at least in 'His' eyes and that's been reflected in some of the disjointed performances - not results - I've seen. Look at the Champions League final for instance - United started well, as did 'He' - but when 'His' team went behind 'He' stopped functioning as part of the team and looked intent on winning the game single handedly: ignoring team mates and trying to beat two or three players, shooting from distance when a team mate was better placed ...

I don't think Manchester United can offer him what he wants anymore so it's a good time to move on. A good time for the player and a good time for the club.

Real Madrid will be a wonderful new home for 'Him'. Remember, this is a club in which the players have more power than the manager. A club where, it's reported, if a player didn't want to train a quick call to the President would see the manager over-ruled. A club where 2 daily sports papers will indulge his every act of disrespect, petulance and immaturity as well as the flashes of brilliance.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid - a perfect match.

Happy Days

2009-06-12T08:45:00.003+01:00

I have to say I work for what is a truly remarkable organization. Last Friday - as part of a 'summer of fun' promotion - we were treated to, amongst other delights, a surfboard simulator where members of staff (on their breaks of course) attempted not to be thrown from the surfboard onto the soft surround. Today we are promised a 'bucking sheep' - likewise presumably the idea will be to mount the 'beast' and resist its violent efforts to toss us from its back. Great fun.

However, most fun this week has come from a much simpler past-time: table tennis, or, as I like to call it, wiff-waff. Several days ago a wiff-waff table was erected in our rest-and-relaxation room and after initial indifference from most, myself including, it's now become hugely popular.

Prior to this week the last time I held a paddle, for wiff-waff purposes at least, was in 1984. Back then I was an active member of the school wiff-waff club - a founder member in fact - and represented the club in competitive fixtures against neighbouring schools.

Picking up that paddle this week transported me back in time to those childhood days. I don't pretend to be particularly good at the sport but I certainly enjoyed it. Furthermore, I appreciate its historical origins: first played on these shores by Victorian gentlemen - dressed in their finest clothes - using a champagne cork as a ball, cigar boxes as paddles, books fashioned into a makeshift net set out on a grand dining-room table. Fine English gentlemen who epitomised the Corinthian sporting spirit. Magnificent.

Having rediscovered the wiff-waff bug, myself and a select group of fine fellows from work are planning to take our participation further. The local wiff-waff club meet once a week at a nearby hall and, accepting that the Olympic games in London may come a little too soon for us, we'll be hoping that membership of the club will help us improve both as sportsmen, and as gentlemen.

God bless Her Majesty.

Thoughts from a Grumpy Old Man

2009-06-10T17:15:00.010+01:00

I read an article today on the interweb about the train strike that’s going on in and around London at the moment.

The headline to the article was ‘Tube Strike Brings Mayhem And Misery’ and I couldn’t help but laugh at the scale of the exaggeration from the author: typical of most of our London-based media when the story involves the capital city.

A quick ‘definition’ search of the words Mayhem and Misery using Google returned the following:

Mayhem: the wilful and unlawful crippling or mutilation of another person
Misery: a state of ill-being due to affliction or misfortune

Perhaps a more appropriate – but obviously less eye-catching - headline would have been ‘Tube Strike Brings Inconvenience and Frustration’

My advice - use the bus.

As I was flicking around the TV channels last night while the Premier League Bowls was on an advert break I came across a programme – I didn’t catch the name of it – that had a fairly simple and yet intriguing format: to interview what I believe are referred to these days as ‘young people’ (late teens), ask them simple questions, then sit back and marvel (!) at the responses.

One such question was ‘how do you spell elephant?’: one young lady suggested it was e-l-p-a-n-t, whilst one gentleman wasn’t sure if there were 1 or 2 f’s.

Another question was ‘what is 8 x 8?’ – you can imagine the answers I’m sure, needless to say there were plenty of answers that didn’t even come close.

My favourite question and answer though was ‘what is the capital of Spain’ to which one fellow responded ‘Holland’. Really, ‘Holland’.

Quite remarkable and yet I would hazard a guess that at least half of these 'young people' are currently enjoying a university education.

Marvelous.

Cricket (Yes Cricket!) Thoughts

2009-06-06T16:07:00.009+01:00

I won't pretend that I follow cricket very closely these days but nevertheless I was shocked to see that England lost to Holland last night in the World Twenty/20 at Lords Cricket Ground in London.

Despite not being able to field our strongest side I would still have expected this to be a comfortable victory for the home team.

It seems to me that in the there's been a lot of money coming into cricket - and particularly English cricket - in recent years and I can't help but feel that some players performances, not to mention their fitness, has suffered at the same time.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm right and it's just a coincidence.

Maybe.

Los Gladiadores de Pep Guardiola

2009-06-03T08:45:00.001+01:00

Here I am, living proof of what I was saying (grumbling?) in my last post - the domestic football season is over (in most of Europe at least) and I'm still writing about football.

My defence is that I'm still filled with joy and excitement at Football Club Barcelona's UEFA Champions League victory last week so I hope you'll forgive me as nights like that don't come along very often (or ever for the vast majority of clubs).

I was reading a story that Barca coach Pep Guardiola had compiled and then played a video montage of some of the highlights from the past season to his squad, set against a backdrop of magnificent Roman architecture and accompanied by a soundtrack and clips from the Oscar winning film Gladiator.

Guardiola enlisted the professional support of Catalan broadcaster TV3 and also stipulated that 1) every squad member should be featured in the video and 2) he (Guardiola) should not.

For me, little details like this are the difference between a good coach and a great coach.

Guardiola will be a great coach.

Here Comes the Summer

2009-06-01T16:53:00.009+01:00

Saturday's FA Cup Final marked the end of the [English] domestic football season. Although my preference was for an Everton win I don't begrudge Chelsea their small consolation.

I watched the game with my brother-in-law (himself a Chelsea supporter) and despite his obvious joy the match and the day as a whole seemed a bit of an anti-climax, as so many FA Cup Finals seem to have been in recent years.

Back in the day (I'm told I say this a lot!) Cup Final day seemed so much more of an 'event'. We didn't have many live club matches on the TV then of course - it was just the FA Cup, the European Cup, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup: and in the case of the European finals that was dependent on a British club being involved. Three or four matches over a 9-month season.

Coverage on Cup Final day would begin at 9am - live from the team hotels, travelling by coach to the stadium with the teams (the route would invariably follow a main road near my home and I would venture out and excitedly wave to the players as they went by), following the players making their way to the dressing rooms, analysis of the game ahead. I even enjoyed the ubiquitous 'celebrity supporter' focus that, showing my age here, always seemed to involve Jimmy Tarbuck!

The following day would see BBC Grandstand featuring coverage of the open-top bus parade from the winning team with interviews from the manager and one or two of the players, and that would be it for football for three solid months. Really.

Not a mention of football on the TV (this was before 24-hour sports news television of course), nothing on the radio, just cricket and athletics (and ice-skating!) in the newspapers. There were no summer England matches, no live pre-season friendly matches in early July, no live Charity Shield in early August.

Back then my summers were spent on long cycle rides, climbing trees, fishing, swimming in the river and chasing butterflies ... happy days.

Somehow the game of football - and my love for it - seemed better for the summer break.

Looking Forward to the FA Cup Final

2009-05-29T08:30:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow sees the English FA Cup final being staged at the 'new' Wembley Stadium - I'm not sure for how long we have to call it the 'new' Wembley but call it that we must it seems.

The capacity at the stadium is around the 90,000 mark - so plenty of tickets, you would think, for all of the regular supporters from the finalists Chelsea and Everton, who each have an average home attendances of around 40,000.

Wrong. Each club has received an allocation of just 25,000 tickets with the remainder going to Club Wembley 10-year season-ticket holders and 'people involved in the grassroots game and the football family'.

The way cup final tickets are allocated has always troubled me - surely the day should be about the 2 clubs involved, their supporters, not corporate sponsors or committee members/volunteers from clubs and county FA's with little or no direct connection to the finalists. The argument that's previously been put forward is that it's an opportunity to say thanks to the people that donate their own time and efforts to make the game what it is.

Fine, I don't have a problem with this argument but I don't feel it should be at the expensive of the supporter who goes week in week out. The 'football family' members can be thanked so many other ways - a dinner at the county or national FA or a letter of thanks from the FA for instance. If it must be an invitation to a Wembley game how about spreading the invitations across the FA Cup Final, the League Cup Final and the Community Shield?

The FA Cup Final is rightly regarded as a unique sporting event and, as such, I can't help but feel that more than 56% of the attendance should be made up from supporters of the two teams.

'On Nights Like this Everyone is an Englishman' - Really?

2009-05-28T19:19:00.006+01:00

What a season it's been for Football Club Barcelona. With the league title and domestic cup already secured last night they deservedly beat Manchester United by 2 goals to nil to lift the European Champions League trophy in Rome.

Aside from the opening 8 or 9 minutes Barca dominated the game and thoroughly deserved the win: even Manchester's manager Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that. Ahead of the game most of the English media allowed themselves to get a bit carried away - I heard various 'experts' claim it would be an easy win for Manchester, Barca couldn't defend, Manchester had too many attacking options, Spanish teams can't compete physically with English clubs etc etc. I suspect these views were formed on the basis of 1) watching Barca struggle to get past Chelsea in the semi and 2) watching Liverpool hammer Real Madrid earlier in the competition. How wrong they were.

I watched the game on Sky Sports (rather than the alternative ITV) and - all in all - I thought the coverage was excellent.

I've spoken before about how certain individuals in the broadcast team (presenter and pundits, commentator and analyst) annoy me and I'm sticking with my opinion, but even these guys couldn't (didn't) claim that it was anything other than a deserved victory.

I have no problem with favouritism or bias for the English team from an English broadcaster - it's to be expected that the coverage will be tailored to suit the vast majority of the audience - what I do have a problem with is when my intelligence is insulted by the 'experts' when they claim, for instance, that their team had been harshly treated by the match officials (see my previous comments regarding the semi final!).

On this occasion I felt that the commentary team got the balance just about right although one of the studio pundits nearly lost it when he suggested that Pique should have been sent off for a foul on Ronaldo: point of fact - it wasn't even a foul.

I'm now looking forward watching the DVD of the game with a Catalan commentary to redress the balance of bias.

X is For ...

2009-05-26T08:45:00.002+01:00

I see UEFA have appointed Swiss official Massimo Busacca as the referee for this Wednesdays Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona.

Busacca has a good track record of officiating at the highest level having refereed at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, taking charge of the 2007 UEFA Cup Final in Glasgow, three games at UEFA Euro 2008 and having been pre-selected for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

All of that said, expect more outrageous criticism from certain television pundits if things don't go the way of the English club - apparently the referee has to come from a 'top' football country to be a top referee and never make a mistake.

Really?* Are you sure?

Relegation a Good Thing?

2009-05-25T17:26:00.011+01:00

If you listen to their supporters - and some areas of the media - Newcastle United are apparently a 'big club': too big to go down in fact. Except they're not - not too big to go down as we saw yesterday with their spineless performance at Aston Villa. A game to save their Premier League status, a game in which they had perhaps one shot on target and, almost without exception, the players performed without commitment or desire. The supporters were magnificent - urging their team on with their constant encouragement and singing from the stands during the game. The players simply didn't respond.

And yet, at the end of the game the supporters applauded the players from the pitch. Today, as the same players left the club training facility they were again applauded to their expensive cars by the few supporters that had gathered. Remarkable loyalty - blind loyalty some would say - given the poor, poor performances that the players had delivered over the course of the season.

I like Newcastle United - they have always been what I think is a 'proper' club: a great stadium, huge support and a rich history - but for the past couple of seasons they've been a circus. Had they escaped relegation I think the temptation might have been to ignore many the problems at the club and just make a few cosmetic changes: a new 'celebrity' manager, fresh faces on the board, one or two new players in, one or two out. Now they have the chance to take stock: finances will probably dictate which players can be retained and which will move on. They'll need to appoint a manager capable of playing his part in rebuilding the club and, within two or three seasons, getting back to the Premier League. They'll need to come up with and, for once, stick to, a long term plan.

Furthermore, once the season gets underway the supporters need to be patient and not expect overnight success, not to turn against the management when results - or performances - aren't going to plan. Judge the manager and players over a prolonged period, not a couple of months.

We'll see.

Thoughts from a Grumpy Old Man

2009-05-21T08:30:00.002+01:00

Following on from my last post, and on a more general point, I'm enjoying going to the cinema less and less these days - and it's got nothing to do with the films I'm watching.

What is it about people that they can't sit for a couple of hours without talking to the person next to them, without checking their mobile phone every twenty minutes, and being unable to sit still and not kick the back of my chair?

I've always loved going to 'the pictures' - never mind that most films are best seen on a large screen but going to the cinema has always been an event for me. Travelling with anticipation, enjoying the trailers, the excitement when the curtain closes and then reopens to review the opening images of the film, chatting about the film on the way home ... my enjoyment is now being eroded by my fellow cinema goers: things can only get worse I fear as the cinema chains try to boost their profits by serving alcohol during films.

Now, where did I leave my slippers?

Weekend Visit to the Cinema

2009-05-19T21:46:00.018+01:00

At the weekend we went to the cinema see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I'd been looking forward to the film for quite a while and I wasn't disappointed, although I know the film hasn't been universally well received.

In its hour and three quarters running time the film covers a lot of ground - from Wolverine's childhood through to present day and his battles with various mutant assasins.

Along the way, we are introduced to a number of familiar characters from X-Men history: Cyclops, Gambit, Deadpool, Professor Xavier, Blob, Emma Frost ... and I'd like to see some of these characters origins explored further in future films.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film - it had a good story that was well paced, a good mix of action-packed and light-hearted moments and I don't think there was a bad performance from any of the cast - it left me wanting more: surely a good thing when it comes to films.

In some quarters the film has taken a bit of a knock - one commentator that I respect even said that he was 'embarrassed that was the best they could do' - but I can't help but feel that these people just have too high expectations. It must be a thankless task creating a film from a book or character that people really love, as is certainly the case with Wolverine, and perhaps try as the creators will such people will never be satisfied (and I don't mean that to sound a criticism of either party you understand).

I would say that maybe the film makers tried to cover too much material in the hundred or so minutes - or put another way, I'd have been happy for the film to run to another 30 mintues or so.

Would I recommend the film? I certainly would - in fact I'd like to go and see it again.

Over at Escape From Tomorrow

2009-05-16T13:00:00.004+01:00

Over at my 'comic culture' blog - Escape From Tomorrow - today I've posted my review of the Witchblade Annual #1 as well as reproduced an email that I received from one regular reader who takes issue with what he sees as some inconsistencies in the X-Men film series.

http://www.escape-from-tomorrow.blogspot.com/

Gym Rule #1 - Don't Make Eye Contact

2009-05-15T19:27:00.003+01:00

I've been going to the gym now for about 3 months and I'm pleased to say I'm feeling the benefits (and according to my neighbour looking a little trimmer) of regular exercise. My weight has come down - I'm approaching an important landmark that I'll share with you soon - and I'm feeling fitter. My stamina at football has improved and I find I'm planning my weeks wherever possible to make sure I get to the gym at least three times a week.

But I wouldn't say I enjoy going to the gym. I enjoy the results of going but not actually going.

For one thing it's not competitive enough for me. I may have said before that I'd always considered exercise a bit futile unless I was chasing a ball - football, tennis and so on. I suspect I'm not the only one who thinks this way because the gym have recently introduced the 'Tour de France' to the exercise cycles: offering to record our times and distances covered and mapping these against the race schedule. Likewise we can 'row across Lake Superior' and 'climb Mount Kilimanjaro' whilst remembering 'it's not a race'.

Secondly, it appears the first rule of the gym is 'thou musn't make eye contact with thy fellow exercisers'. Now don't get me wrong, I don't see the gym as a social club, I don't want to chatter and I don't want others to, but must we all walk around looking at the carpet? Can't we at least acknowledge one another - a nod of the head, a smile, a wink? OK, maybe not a wink.

Then there's the 'audio and visual entertainment'. Audio means the local commercial radio station - or worse still BBC Radio 1 - so loud I can hear it from the car park. Even with my iPod on I can hear every minute of the inane drivel spouted by the presenters.

Visual refers to the two tiny tv sets that show alternately BBC and ITV1 with subtitles. During the week this means The Weakest Link and Goldenballs. Saturday mornings are even worse when we are treated to 2 hours of food and alcohol courtesy of the Saturday Kitchen. I know I don't have to watch but it's become an involuntary act. Years ago I used to do a lot of travel up and down the country by coach and, as a result, have seen the film An Elephant Called Roly 28 times - I didn't want to watch it but it was on and I couldn't look away.

I'm told there are plans for a refit - but in the current economic climate I'm not going to hold my breath - but anyway that won't address the 'eye contact' situation: maybe I'll follow my own earlier advice and 'be the change ...'. Maybe.

Not Quite Random Acts of Kindness

2009-05-13T18:11:00.010+01:00

When did we - and by we I mean drivers - stop saying 'thank you' when other road users are courteous towards us?

Every morning on my drive to work I travel along a road that only has room for one stream of traffic because of parked cars. As the obstruction is on my side of the road I pull over to let oncoming traffic pass and very, very rarely does anyone ever say 'thank you' with a flash of their lights, a wave of their hand or something similar.

This morning I pulled over and let 6 cars pass me: not one - not a single one - acknowledged me. A little nearer work I was forced to stop on a busy road as a coach pulled out from a side road - and again, not even a nod of the head from the coach driver. It seems to me that everyone is so caught up in their own little world when they are driving that they often don't even register that there are other people around them.

How many times have you seen another driver picking their nose as they pass you - it wouldn't be seen as acceptable anywhere else in public so why do they think it's acceptable while they are driving? I'll tell you why - it's because as soon as they close their door and switch on the radio they are in their own little world.

I mentioned my frustration to one of my colleagues when I arrived this morning and their reply was 'what can you do about it, you can't make people say thank you' - I disagree.

Mahatma Gandhi famously said 'be the change you want to see in the world' and, with this spirit in mind, if enough like-minded people are considerate and courteous towards others then things can change.

It doesn't have to be driving, it can be holding the door open for others, putting the 'next customer' sign on the supermarket conveyor belt when you've unloaded all your shopping ... just saying thanks when someone is courteous to you.

'Be the change ...'

Bristol Comic Expo

2009-05-11T17:26:00.010+01:00

For the past few years we have attended the Bristol Comic Expo and this years event took place this past weekend. The show normally takes place in a large (ish) exhibition hall although for whatever reason this years show had been downsized and as such took place in the function suite (and a couple of smaller rooms) of a hotel in the city.

We arrived at the hotel at around 9am - about an hour or so before the start of the show - and were surprised to find we were one of the first there: in previous years there had been a couple of long queues forming around this time. At half past nine the ticket collection desk opened and by 9.45am we were in the function room.

My first thought was the fairly obvious one - 'crikey, it's a lot smaller this year'. Twenty minutes later and having done my first 'lap' I was quite happy: yes it was (obviously) a smaller event this year but there was still plenty of see and plenty of room to move around.

Half an hour later and my mood had changed a bit - it was starting to get pretty crowded, loads of people were stood around talking (not in itself a problem but why do they have to stand in the middle of an isle blocking other people?) and it was becoming difficult to get to the comic longboxes without having a wrestling match with the people either side of me.

Another change this year, enforced no doubt by the size of the facilities, was separating the 'small press' (independent publishers) into a different - smaller - room. In the past I've enjoyed seeing the different exhibitors alongside one another - on more than one occasion in the past I've unearthed an unknown gem after looking for something a little more mainstream.

It was good to see three or four large dealers at the show with their large stocks of new and old titles - both single issues and trades - and the usual mix of toys, statues and clothing.

Despite the show being smaller this year we did enjoy our day out - I think we managed to spend more money than in any previous year! I'm pretty sure we will go again next year but, assuming the venue and size stay the same, we'll need another 6am start to be there for when the doors open.

Expanding My Publishing Empire

2009-05-10T16:57:00.009+01:00

Just a bit of news for my plans for this blog. Very soon I'll be separating out my posts across two different sites.

This blog will continue to be the place for my thoughts about the things that matter to me - sport (mainly football of course), music, TV, films - as well as some of my more random observations and frustrations about the world around me.

Over the past couple of weeks, using state of the art equipment here in the burrow, I've been setting up a second blog that will be the home for my 'comic' comments - reviews, previews, sample pages etc - and in the next day or so I'll post the address of this site so that, if you're interested, you can take a look.

I'm hoping that this dual-site approach will make it easier for my few regular readers to find something that they are interested in without having to wade through posts that they are not. As I say, I'm just a couple of days away from finishing the comic blog layout and copying over the existing posts and once done I'll announce the address here.

As a very wise man once said - exciting times!

Match of the Day: The Next Instalment

2009-05-09T16:41:00.001+01:00

Thursday night last week saw the latest fixture for our work football team. This time out we played our now annual fixture against the guys from upstairs in the business support team under the floodlights at the local non-league clubs stadium.

We won the corresponding fixture last season by 3 goals to 2 although we went into this game with a general acceptance that we've taken half a step backwards in the past year - two or three of our better players have moved on and, to compound the problem, a couple of them have moved over and joined our business support colleagues.

To compensate for this we went into the match with a somewhat conservative game-plan: playing with a flat back four with a three-man defensive midfield just in front of them, two wide attacking midfielders and just the one forward.

Things went pretty well to plan I think it's fair to say. Having fallen behind to an early goal - a penalty - we equalised shortly before half time when the opposition keeper misjudged a shot/cross from out wide. One one at half time.

We switched things around a bit at half time reverting to a 4-4-2 formation and I think this actually suited us a bit better. We exchanged goals - 2:2 including a superb goal from our strker from the narrowest of angles.

With around 15 minutes remaining we took the lead - another goal from Matt our striker, the youngest and probably best player on our team - before conceeding the last goal of the game following a speculative shot from distance that beat our keeper who was still feeling the effects of an earlier sliding challenge.

So, 3:3 the final score and all in all a good performance and a good evening. Again I played the full 90 minutes and felt I did ok - playing on grass was certainly physically more demanding than our usual surface of astroturf.

We can still improve of course - clearly not everyone in the side believes in playing for the team! - and we'll take a lot of confidence from this perfromance and result into our next fixture in around a month.

Thanks are due to those people that came out on a cold and wet evening to offer support (and half-time oranges!), to the three match officials for giving up their evening, of course, to the volunteer staff from the football club for their hospitality.

Lots of Money - No Class: Part 2

2009-05-07T13:00:00.033+01:00

I won't go as far as to say that I enjoyed last nights Champions League semi-final second leg between Chelsea and FC Barcelona but, as a Barca fan, I certainly enjoyed the result.

Yeah, the referee was poor – as the referee was poor in the first leg – but comments that the game was 'fixed' are a nonsense and embarrassing. As poor as the referee was he was consistent - Barcelona's Eric Abidal got sent off because Anelka fell over his own feet and as for the 3 or 4 penalty shouts by Chelsea I could put up a counter argument why they weren’t penalties:

Alves on Malouda: I could argue that the offence started outside the area
Abidal (I think) on Drogba: Dogba clearly dived
Pique ‘handball’: no, ball-to-hand
Eto’o ‘handball’: actually hit him in the underarm/armpit area

Bottom line: I think they all come under the ‘I’ve seen them given’ category which if we’re honest is actually like saying ‘it wasn’t a penalty but I can see why the ref thought it was’.

‘Did you see that? It was a *$%*ing disgrace’ Drogba said words pretty close to that effect to the camera as the players left the field. Yes, I saw it: I saw him dive on numerous occasions (as is his way), I saw him fain a head injury to slow/stop the game (as is his way) and I saw him verbally abuse the referee as he left the field. I saw Michael Ballack – who shouldn’t have been playing as he should have been sent off in the first leg - ignoring a lose ball and a chance to win the game in favour of chasing, verbally and physically abusing the referee as play continued as he believed there was a penalty. So I would say to Drogba in answer to his question ‘yes I saw it and yes: your actions (and those of Ballack) were indeed a disgrace’. Chelsea Football Club should be punished for failing to control their employees. I won't be surprised if they are not - but I won't assume it's part of a conspiracy

Speaking of things being a 'disappointing', onto the post match analysis from the pundits: one of the studio guests – a man who is probably too close to the game and at least some of the players to give any objective analysis - complained, amongst other things, that ‘they’ve only had one shot all night’ – I agree, as Chelsea only had one shot in the first leg, the difference being Barca made theirs count while Chelsea (largely Drogba) failed. What he (the pundit) neglected to discuss was that even when they had a numerical player advantage Chelsea failed to control the game and when, on a number of occasions, Chelsea had 3 on 2 attacking opportunities they wasted them by either poor passing or poor finishing (Drogba again).

Then the ‘it’s a fix’ comments began: first from Hiddinck, shamefully encouraged by the ‘pitchside reporter's’ loaded questions, then from one of the studio guests who didn’t have the courage of his beliefs so shrouded his remarks as he stated ‘there will be people at UEFA who will be glad it’s not an all-English final’ – I agree, as there will also be a lot of ordinary football lovers in England and throughout who will be glad that the showpiece European game will be contested by the two best teams in Europe.

'Xenophobia: having abnormal fear or hatred of the strange or foreign'

Mes Que un Club

2009-05-05T20:02:00.011+01:00

It's only fair that I declare my allegiance up front: I'm a Football Club Barcelona supporter - I have been for as long as I can remember - and fully paid-up club member ('soci').

First and foremost however I'm a football supporter - I want to see my team win but not at any cost. I want to see a good game with players performing to their maximum potential.

At the weekend Barcelona travelled to Real Madrid for a match that was to go a long way to deciding who won the league championship. The hosts were humbled by six goals to two following a display of dynamic and aesthetically pleasing football. Moments after the final whistle the home supporters, despite their disappointment, felt compelled the applaud the performance of their greatest rivals.

Following the match the Barcelona President Joan Laporta spoke passionately about the responsibility that the team hold - the 'proposal', as he labelled it, is to play a blend of winning and attractive football. Even one or two of the Real Madrid players acknowledged that whilst they themselves had been on a marvelous winning run they had at times been very fortunate and their performances certainly hadn't been attractive.

Football Club Barcelona: More Than a Club

Coming Soon - Business as Usual

2009-05-01T09:00:00.001+01:00

A couple of my regular readers - remarkably there are one or two - have commented that my recent posts haven't had quite the usual hint of cynicism and 'world-weariness' that they have come to expect.

Whilst I find it hard to believe that I am ever cynical and anything other than upbeat and jolly I will acknowledge that I have been feeling particularly chipper just recently.

I put this down to the recent fine weather and a weeks annual leave from the salt mine. During this time I was able to catch up on some reading, take care of one or two jobs around the home and garden, and support my dear wife as she began her new career at the coat-hanger factory.

To those that are longing for the 'good old days' I have one or two words of encouragement: it's currently pouring down with rain and I am back to work this week - it can only be a matter of time before it's business as usual for The Savage Rabbit.

Watch the Football - That Mitchell and Webb Look

2009-04-30T18:01:00.009+01:00

'Every kick of it massively mattering to someone presumably'. Hilarious.

Pencils, Ink, Colour

2009-04-28T17:27:00.028+01:00

Just lately I've been writing a lot about a number of artists whose work I enjoy - with particular focus on Eric Basaldua and Stjepan Sejic. The preview pages from Witchblade Annual #1 that I recently posted reminded me of the inker and colourists role in the artistic process and I want to highlight the value that each of these people bring to a book.

The inker takes an artists pencil drawings and goes over them in ink, taking the image and turning it into a finished piece of work. The dark ink lines makes the art jump off the page as well as helping to add depth and dimension. One of the misconceptions about inkers is that they do little more than trace someone elses work. However, inkers must be accomplished artists in their own right, understanding anatomy, scale and perspective, for instance, every bit as much as the penciller does.

The colourists job is to apply colour to pencilled and inked artwork. This isn't as easy as it sounds though and typically the job is broken down into two parts: 1) 'flatting' and 2) 'colouring'. In the flatting process, the basic areas of colour are blocked out so the colorist knows what spaces to colour what. In the colouring stage, the colourist adds lighting and shading to help give the artwork a three dimensional feel.

Some pencillers will ink and colour their own work, some pencil and ink before involving a colourist - it's very much a collaborative process.

As an example, here's a page of inked pencils from the aforementioned Witchblade Annual

and here's the same page with colour

In these example Eric Basaldua is responsible for both pencils and ink (with ink assists from Dulce Brassea and Alix Minjarez) whilst the colours are the work of John Starr.

Here's another comparison from the same creative team - pencils/inks and then with colour added

I know that often when I'm enjoying a comic book and admiring the finished artwork I have a tendency to forget just how much of a team effort it's been. Credit where credit is due.

Film Review: Eagle Eye

2009-04-26T18:50:00.006+01:00

Over the weekend I finally caught up with the film Eagle Eye - featuring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan and Billy Bob Thornton. I first saw the trailer late last summer but for some reason missed the film when it came to my local cinema.

For those that haven't seen the film the story focuses on two characters Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) - strangers who are thrown together and forced to follow instructions from a mysterious female voice on the telephone. Their journey eventually takes them to the Pentagon, pursued by agents of the FBI led by Billy Bob Thornton.

Whether the two lead characters are travelling by train, fleeing the authorities by car or planning to disobey their instructions the female voice on the phone seems to be one step ahead of them.

I'm not giving too much away when I say that the core theme of this film is 'big brother
is watching us' - monitoring our calls, tracking our whereabouts from our mobile phone signal, reading our emails and so on.

I felt there were good performances from LaBeouf, Monaghan, Thornton and the supporting cast and that the dialogue was generally ok but overall the storyline left me unsatisfied.

I'm a big fan of conspiracy stories and have to say there have been a number of films
released over the years that I think are better - Enemy of the State, Conspiracy Theory, Mercury Rising ...

Disappointing.

Witchblade Annual #1

2009-04-24T15:00:00.058+01:00

Top Cow have released a number of preview pages from their forthcoming - and long awaited - Witchblade Annual #1. The main feature has been written by Jay Faerber with artwork from Eric Basaluda and there is also a backup story about Ian Nottingham, written by Joshua Cozine and Joe Henderson and penciled by Sheldon Mitchell.

Plot detail from the main feature are sparse although writer Jay Faerber describes it as a ''detective story with supernatural elements ... it's completely self-contained. You don't need to know anything about Witchblade continuity to appreciate it''.

There's a choice of 2 superb covers - each drawn by Basaluda - I'll be taking cover A (shown here).

If you've been thinking about reading Witchblade but didn't want to commit to a whole story-arc then I think this 'one shot' would be a great stepping-on point.

Witchblade Annual #1 is published 6 May 2009.

Happy Saint George's Day

2009-04-23T09:00:00.006+01:00

Not that you're likely to see it celebrated in many places but today is Saint George's Day.

Every nation has its own ‘Patron Saint’ who in times of great peril is called upon to help save the country. Wales has St David's Day, the Irish have St Patrick's Day and the Scots celebrate St Andrew's Day. The majority of English people, on the other hand, barely acknowledge St George's Day - in fact you're more likely to find an Englishman (or woman) celebrating one of the other British saints than their own.

St George's Day is celebrated by several countries and cities around the world. In additional to England, the old kingdoms and counties of the Crown of Aragon in Spain - Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia; Portugal, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, and the cities of Moscow in Russia, Genova in Italy, Ljubljana in Slovenia, Beirut in Lebanon, all celebrate on 23 April.

There is almost nothing known of the early years of St George's life. He was born sometime in the year 263AD, in the city of Lydia near Jerusalem. His parents were from Cappadonia, a city in present day Turkey.

At the age of seventeen George enlisted as a calvary soldier in the army of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He became a high ranking officer, rising through the ranks because he was a proficient soldier, an able horseman and had a commanding and cheerful attitude.

When the Emperor Diocletian began his campaign of persecuting Christians, George, who was a devout Christian, requested an audience with the Emperor and was granted one. George at this conference pleaded with the Emperor to refrain from this distasteful practice.

Diocletian was so annoyed and incensed, that he commanded George to recant his religion. When he refused, George was arrested, tortured, and finally put to death on April 23, 303AD. This day is now known as Saint George's Day.

There are moves afoot to have an annual public holiday to celebrate St George and I'd very much welcome this (aside from anything else we have far fewer public holidays than our European cousins).

St George's Day has alway been important to me. As a child I would wear my cub-scout uniform to school - St George being the patron saint of scouting. However, as a nation it seems that whilst we are happy to fly the Cross of St George to mark the major sporting events we're not particularly keen to remember the saint behind the cross.

The Batman Universe

2009-04-22T13:05:00.014+01:00

I've been a fan of Batman for as long as I can remember. Like a lot of people my age (I was reminded recently that I am 'quite old') I have fond memories of the 1960's television series staring Adam West and Burt Ward, the sometimes hit and sometimes miss films of the late 1980's and 1990's, through to the films with Christian Bale over the past few years.

Along the way I've enjoyed collecting Batman merchandise and mostly enjoyed reading the Batman comics published by DC, although I've enjoyed the comics a little less over the past year or so during the Batman RIP 'event'.

With Bruce Wayne now 'absent' we're currently in the middle of the 'Battle for the Cowl' to determine - amongst other things - who will be the next Batman.

It's a struggle to keep up with things at times! There is so much Batman news and information on the internet and not all of it is as trustworthy - or even worthwhile - as it could be.

One reliable source that I've discovered is a website called www.thebatmanuniverse.net/
The website covers, in great detail, the Batman comics, films, TV, merchandise and video games and includes a lively forum. The guys that run the site also publish a number of podcasts focusing on previewing and reviewing comic releases as well as interviews with creators.

A couple of months ago the guys added a blog to their publishing empire and whether I'm reading the website, the blog or listenning to the podcasts it's clear that authors really know their stuff and their enthusiasm for Batman comes across in their written and spoken words.

The Batman Universe has become my first stop for all things Batman.

The Authority: Relentless

2009-04-21T09:00:00.000+01:00

For Easter my good friend Simon gave me a copy of 'The Authority: Relentless' trade paperback. I wasn't familiar with the title but with a creative team of Warren Ellis and
Bryan Hitch the signs were good.

The book has sat on the shelf for the past week while I caught up with my regular monthly titles. Up-to-date, and with some free time yesterday evening, I sat down with the intention of maybe reading the first four-issue story arc. Two and a half hours and 192 pages later the book was finished - what a cracking read!

Having witnessed the demise of StormWatch - another creation of Warren Ellis - Jenny Sparks creates a new super hero team dedicated to protecting Earth against global threats. Sparks is joined by former StormWatch members Jack Hawksmoor and Shen Li-Min, and recruits four new members, the Doctor, the Engineer, Apollo, and the Midnight. This edition collects their first two four-issue missions, battling a nation of super-powered terrorists in the first and stopping an invasion from a parallel world in the second.

Publishers Wildstorm (a DC imprint) have included a number of The Authority volumes as part of their After Watchmen, What's Next promotion and you can download a preview of the artwork from their website.

As I say, a really good read. The writing and artwork is, at times, intensely violent, and the stories are told a grand scale - The Authority titles have in the past been described as 'widescreen comics' and this description sums the work up perfectly.

Another recommended read from The Savage Rabbit library.

The Authority: Relentless, paperback, 192 pages, published by Wildstorm, 2000.

Mystique: Tinker, Tailor, Mutant, Spy

2009-04-19T10:24:00.017+01:00

Over the weekend I've finished reading Volume 2 of the four Mystique trades I picked up recently.

As with Volume 1, Volume 2 - Tinker, Tailor, Mutant, Spy - is written by Brian K. Vaughan, however this time we have a different interior art team of Michael Ryan, Manuel Garcia and Raul Fernandez. Covers are again provided by one of my favourites, Mike Mayhew.

Having been recruited as a secret agent by Professor Xavier Mystique travels to South africa for her latest mission - to find and destroy a deadly new strain of smallpox that is spread telepathically. To complicate things, Mystique isn't the only mutant who wants the bio-weapon.

This volume, which collects Mystique #7 to #13, was a 'comfortable' read perhaps lacking some of the plot complexities of Volume 1 Dead Drop Gorgeous: that's not meant as a negative, this was a great 'page-turner'.

Michael Ryan's portrayal of Mystique herself is noticeably different to Jorge Lucas's in Volume 1 - here she appears as a smaller, slimmer - less curvey - woman. There's nothing wrong with Ryan's vision but personally I prefer Lucas's.

Bonus features include a numer of pencil sketches from Ryan as well as all of Mike Mayhews covers for the seven issues - these covers are superb.

Highly recommeded.

Mystique Volume 2: Tinker, Tailor, Mutant, Spy, paperback, 168 pages, published by Marvel Comics, 2004.

Blog Roundup

2009-04-17T18:16:00.013+01:00

I've not really had the time over the last few days to post anything meaningful ('when do you ever?' you are thinking) but here's a few more-random-than-usual random thoughts from the burrow:

I followed a large lorry for 15 minutes on my drive into work this morning - on the back of the vehicle was the company name and under that 'Walking Floor Specialists'. Walking Floor Specialists. What on earth is a Walking Floor?

My elderly next door neighbour remarked the other day that I'd lost weight - I pointed out that I'd actually gained weight since joining the gym as muscle is heavier than fat. The look on her face told me she appreciated being corrected.

Speaking of the gym, I've made a bit of a breakthrough on that front in the past few days: twenty-five years of sitting on the sofa means, amongst other things, that I'm susceptible to shin splits - sharp pains in my shins - but this week I've been able to complete not only the basic walking/running programme but also, for the first time, the extended warm-down programme.

Andy Gray on Sky Sports made the comment that although FC Porto have won the Portugese league for the past 3 seasons and will likely win it again this year 'it's not the English Premier League'. Factually correct but I felt the point could have been made a little less arrogantly: no wonder the European football community hate the English (and he's not even English).

Megan Fox has apparently signed-on to play the lead role in the forthcoming comic-book to film production Fathom - mmmmmmmm.

Following first and second practice at the Chinese Grand Prix it looks like Jenson Button and BraunGP are again likely to be 'there or there about' - good luck to them. It'll be another early morning start for me tomorrow - third practice starts at 4am with qualifying underway at 7am. Likewise, the race itself starts at 8am on Sunday.

Normal blogging service will be resumed over the weekend. Promise or threat: you decide.

Daredevil: Return of the King

2009-04-14T19:00:00.001+01:00

I've said many times that Witchblade is my favourite read at the moment and one of our readers challenged me on this by saying 'I thought your favourite was Daredevil?'

Correct, Daredevil is my favourite character and is always a quality read - month in, month out. Writer Ed Brubaker, artists Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano, and colourist Matt Hollingsworth never let the reader down. Every month it's a 9 (sometimes a 10) out of 10 - there's never anything less than an excellent issue. Because it's consistently great my expectations are consistenty high and, if I'm honest, I sometimes take the title for granted.

The last couple of issues (#116 and #117) mark the start of the Return of the King story arc. King of crime, The Kingpin Wilson Fisk returns from exile in Europe - his new life and family destroyed by The Hand - and offers Daredevil an unlikely alliance: combine their 'talents' and get revenge over The Hand.

I loved the way #117 ended - Daredevil meets Fisk in a cemetery, heavy snow is falling, Fisk puts his proposal to Daredevil who, having considered it asks 'And what about after. Where does that leave us?' to which Fisk replies 'Hnnh ...That's what I like about you ... you don't realize what an optimist you truly are ... I wasn't planning to survive ...'. Superb.

Marvel have published some preview pages - click here to see them.

If you're not currently reading Daredevil, this story arc would be a good jumping on point - highly recommeded. As always I recommend Destination Venus for your comic book supplier.

Support Your Local Football Club

2009-04-14T09:00:00.001+01:00

Despite my frequent moans and complaints suggesting otherwise, I really do love football. I was reminded yesterday just how much I love football when I went to watch my local 'non-league' team in action.

The standard wasn't great to be honest - we are talking about 7 divisions below the Football League here so what can you expect. However, everything was geared up towards the spectators enjoying their day.

Admission was just £4 for adults and £2 for children - this included a free 32 page matchday programme: as such the crowd included a lot of families. It was a nice sunny day so the bar in the clubhouse was doing a good trade, a mug - yes proper mug - of tea cost just 50p and a burger was just £1.50.

The players on the whole played with great discipline and, when occasionally tempers flared, the coaches reminded their players of their responsibilities.

The club attracted their largest gate of the season - 150 - and everyone appeared to have a good day.

I'm pleased to report that the sport is alive and well at grass roots - support your local club.

Call Me Petty ...

2009-04-13T18:06:00.011+01:00

Luton Town FC were relegated from the Football League today - good.

Twenty or so years ago I used to follow my team home and away every week. Around the same time Luton Town banned visiting supporters from their Kenilworth Road Stadium, erected huge fences around the pitch and, if that wasn't enough, they had a plastic pitch that nobody - except the home side of course - enjoyed playing on.

The idea that it was ok to ban supporters from watching their team away from home seemed completely contrary to our football culture in this country. Unlike any other country I believe, football supporters in England have always followed their team away from home in large numbers - at both club and country level - and here was a club preventing this and, further more, getting praise from the government of the day - I remember seeing the Luton Chairman speaking at a Conservative Party conference one year and getting a standing ovation for his stance on travelling supporters.

In recent years Luton Town have, like so many sides, fallen on hard times and I've not felt any sympathy for them at all - in fact, I've enjoyed seeing them struggle.

Perhaps now I'll feel that my grudge has run its course - we'll see. Call me petty ...

Lots of Money - No Class

2009-04-13T10:24:00.010+01:00

John Terry and Chelsea Football Club. John Terry annoys me - I want to be clear about that up front. Not just because he plays for Chelsea (but that doesn't help) - he just annoys me. Frank Lampard is not much better either.

Over the past few days Terry has come out with some rubbish, even by his own standards.

After their Champions League victory at Liverpool last week he used his time in the mixed zone to complain about Liverpool players putting the referee under pressure to book him following a challenge on Reina the Liverpool keeper. Aside from the hypocracy of these comments - no club puts pressure on the match officials as much as Chelsea - it was a bookable offence and it deserved a yellow card.

A couple of days later Terry is at it again - this time announcing that the Chelsea players want Guus Hiddink to remain as manager beyond the end of the season. These would presumably be the same players that said Jose Mourinho was the man for them, until he got the sack, then campaigned for Avram Grant to get the job permanently as he was apparently the best candidate and in turn announced their excitement about working with Luiz Felipe Scolari until they got bored of his ways and stopped performing.

Sadly, these irritating comments will continue so long as the media are prepared to offer Terry (and others) the platform that they crave.

Sunday Supplement on Sky Sports

2009-04-13T09:00:00.002+01:00

A couple of my regular readers have told me that they feel I've got a bit of a 'downer' on Sky Sports. Not so, although I'd acknowledge that in the past I have been critical of their choice of live matches and of their Super Sunday host Richard Keys. I'll also acknowledge that, as in life in general, we are quick to complain and slow to praise.

Therefore, I wanted to highlight what is - if you love your football - a must watch programme.

The Sunday Supplement on Sky Sports is one of my favourite programmes. Broadcast every Sunday morning for 90 minutes the format of the show sees journalist Brian Woolnough joined around the breakfast table by three of his colleagues from 'Fleet Street' discussing the top football stories from the week gone and the week ahead.

The programme is one of the few opportunities on TV for issues to be discussed at length by intelligent, well informed and articulate people. No soundbites, no unchallenged bland statements from players or managers, no ridiculous predictions from over enthusiastic supporters.

The Sunday Supplement, every Sunday morning, 9.30 - if that's too early for you then record it but do watch it.

More Witchblade

2009-04-12T18:55:00.010+01:00

I make no apologies for my latest mention for Witchlade - as I've said before, far and away the best thing I'm reading at the moment. Publishers Top Cow have released a number of preview pages of issue #126 and again Stjepan Sejic's artwork looks superb. This issue continues the War of the Witchblades story arc.

Events have been building to this storyline for two years, and by the time it's all over, everyone the Witchblade touches will be changed forever.

The rift between wielders Sara Pezzini and Danielle Baptiste deepens into all-out hostility. Meanwhile, the mysterious manipulator who has been pulling the strings in Sara and Dani's lives finally reveals himself, and chaos follows in his wake.

Check out the preview pages here and order your copy from Destination Venus.

Back in the Blog

2009-04-09T19:04:00.008+01:00

I'm home from my travels and it's not been fun. I've been thinking about how air travel could be made more enjoyable. I stopped using buses some years ago because it meant mixing with 'the public' and unfortunately in recent years 'the public' have been able to afford to travel by air.

Therefore, in a effort to make air travel more enjoyable I've come up with the following measures for consideration by the airlines.

1. Keep Announcements to a Minimum
Time spent travelling is time I'd like to read or listen to my iPod - if I want to buy perfume or a 'fun card' from the kiosk I'll ask (it's a trolley by the way not a kiosk).

2. No Hot Food
It's usually hot and stuffy on the plane and the smell of a cheese pizza is not going to improve things.

3. Careful Choice of Cold Food
No egg - obviously. Nothing spicy - obviously. Crisps would be OK. Except Cheese and Onion or Prawn Cocktail or Salt and Vinegar. Perhaps just Ready Salted.

4. Adult-Only Flights
As I say, I want to enjoy peace and quiet on my journey, I don't want to hear that the child in the seat 6 rows in front of me needs the toilet. Definition of adult: over 40 years old.

5. No Group Singing
Ever.

6. No 'Lovey-Dovey' Behaviour
Kissing, hand-holding and the like - I won't put up with it at home, why should I put up with it in public?

Radical suggestions - yes, I'll accept that, but something needs to change.

It's good to be back.

Apologies

2009-04-07T11:00:00.001+01:00

I'm currently travelling - also known as queuing at the airport - for a couple of days so haven't had chance to blog.

Back to normal - whatever that may be - soon.

In the meantime, read FreakAngels.

Football Thoughts

2009-04-06T08:00:00.001+01:00

Friday night was the first time I have played the full 90 minutes of a football match since ... 1984.

25 years! By my reckoning at least half our team on Friday were younger than 25!

Back in 1984 I was appearing for my school football team in an attacking midfield role. I remember it like it was yesterday: it was the first game of the season, I scored early in the game to put us in the lead. We went on to lose the game 17-1. That goal meant I was our top scorer for 6 weeks.

We were more of a rugby school.

Match of the Day: Rearranged

2009-04-05T17:07:00.011+01:00

On Friday night last week we had the rearranged football fixture against our company field engineers. The original game you will remember had to be abandoned after one of our players unfortunately broke his leg.

Fortunately, this time around there were no injuries as the engineers came out on top by two goals to nil, bringing to an end our 7 or 8 game unbeaten run.

The game was pretty even for 70 minutes or so - in fact we hit the woodwork twice during this time - before the opposition scored what was, to be fair, a fine goal. At that point, we went in search of an equaliser without really worrying their keeper. With just a few minutes left we got caught light in defence and they scored a second.

All in all, a good game of football, played in the right spirit.

We'll have them next time.

Man of the Week: Walter Smith

2009-04-04T21:00:00.001+01:00

I want to highlight and praise the actions these past couple of days of the Scottish Football Association, Glasgow Rangers Football Club and their manager Walter Smith. To fully appreciate the actions we'll need to briefly recap the back story that centers around Rangers players Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor.

The two players were dropped from the Scottish national team to face Iceland on Wednesday evening after a drinking binge which began at the team hotel upon return from the World Cup qualifier against Holland - at about 4 o'clock in the morning - and lasted until lunchtime the same day.

Rangers manager Smith contacted the two players on Monday to stress they should accept - with good grace and humility - whatever punishment came their way. However, the situation took a turn for the worse as the players were seen and filmed making highly offensive - not to mention incredibly childish - gestures before kick-off on Wednesday night as they sat among the Scotland substitutes for the Iceland game.

The Scottish FA have announced that neither player will ever represent the country again, while Glasgow Rangers have suspended both players without pay for 2 weeks and Ferguson - not for the first time - has been stripped of the club captaincy. Both players are expected to be sold during the summer transfer window.

Full marks to the SFA, Glasgow Rangers and Walter Smith for their actions, actions that will no doubt hurt their short term ambitions on the field of play but it's nice to see that - at a time when it seems that just about any and all misbehaviour from footballers is defended publicly by their clubs - there are still some people in the sport that have standards.

Thank Goodness: Club Football Is Back

2009-04-04T12:04:00.005+01:00

With top-level club football around the world on a two week break the focus of the media and supporters has been on International competition - World Club Qualifying. How boring have these 2 weeks been?

Of course I understand that if we are going to enjoy an international football tournament every couple of summers - a World Cup or Euro Championship - we have to have have a qualifying campaign. But the 2 weeks without a club game felt like forever.

From an England perspective Week 1 focused on the build-up to a home match v Slovakia. A friendly. A week listening to International footballers speaking a lot and saying very little (if nothing). A week for the host broadcaster to convince us that the game was important, it mattered - it was, apparently, a 'massive' game. On matchday, and before an almost full stadium (in itself remarkable, with money so tight everywhere), England ground-out a big win against very poor opposition. Supporters leaving the stadium, many with long journeys home must have wondered why they bothered. Those watching the game on TV at home quickly changed channels to catch Robin Hood.

Post-match media reaction took on a 'so what' tone - after all the next match was the big one - apparently whatever is bigger than massive. For the next 72 hours the England players grasped every opportunity to appear in front of the cameras ... and say nothing. Matchday came, England ground-out a win against average opposition, supporters left the gound excitedly thinking about their 2 hour wait to get away from the car parks and the media announced that England were well on the way to South Africa 2010 ... where they would almost certainly come up against one of the 'massive' teams - Argentina for instance - who would of course prove too strong.

Later that night massive Argentina lost 6-1 in Bolivia.

This weekend attention returns to the club games - Manchester United, Barcelona, Inter, Bayern et al: welcome back.

WTF?

2009-04-02T21:52:00.001+01:00

My local supermarket has an offer on 'Frijj' milkshakes this week:

£1.05 per bottle or two bottles for £1

Is it me?

[Note to SF: yes, possibly technically a Twitter (tweet?) but I'm holding back on Twitter (as I am with Facebook) as I'm not convinced it'll catch on]

Sort It Out: Part 2 in an Ongoing Series I Suspect

2009-04-02T19:39:00.015+01:00

Having been retrospectively promoted from fourth to third place as a result of a breach of rule by Jarno Trulli in last weeks Australian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team have today been disqualified from that race for giving "deliberately misleading" evidence to the race stewards. As a result, Trulli has been promoted back to third place. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes have confirmed they will not appeal the decision prefering to focus on the forthcoming weekends racing.

Now, I don't pretend to follow the sport so closely that I understand every subtle nuance of racing etiquete so let's put aside whether Lewis Hamilton did deliberate mislead the enquiry for now.

In general terms, if a disdemeanor has occured then the perpetrator should be punished - I have no problem with this, who would? My concern is the time it seems to take to consider the evidence and reach a decision.

There are 101 cameras following the action around the track along with cameras in the cars, in the stewards room and the pit lane. The team radio transmission are monitored and recorded - indeed these broadcasts form an integral part of the television coverage. There must be 100 or more marshalls (if that's the right term) placed strategically around the track to observe and advise and the performance of every car is electronically monitored and recorded.

With all of these resources surely a decision can be reached sooner. I will accept that with so much 'evidence' to consider that the podium celebrations won't always accurately reflect the final result but perhaps there could be a more satisfactory - realistic - cut-off point for objections/appeals and the subsequent investigation.

How about 2 hours after the race for an objection to be raised with a further 4 hours for a decision - that way everyone, newspapers included (in Europe at least - surely the largest and most important territory for F1) would know where things stand before the end of the day of the race.

If only for my own enjoyment of the sport I really do hope things change.

The Art of Stjepan Sejic

2009-04-02T13:00:00.002+01:00

I previously mentioned what a great read Witchblade is and I wanted to highlight the work of artist Stjepan Sejic.

Sejic is a 27 year old Croatian who graduated from Fine Arts Academy. Apparently his initial influences were a number of smaller Italian comic book titles before coming across a copy of Witchblade.

The tools he uses to create his art are 3ds Max, Mental Ray, Photoshop and ZBrush - not being an artist myself the only one of these I'm familiar with is Photoshop. If you can tell me anything about the other applications please leave me a comment.

Sejic often uses the alias Nebezial when releasing his work. Examples of his incredible work can be found in his portfolio at deviantART, where he also hosts a blog. I've added a link to the portfolio to the list of my favourite websites on the right.

Witchblade

2009-04-01T20:03:00.007+01:00

My favourite monthly read at the moment - for a little while now in fact - is Witchblade, published by Top Cow.

The series follows the life of New York police detective Sara Pezzini who is the bearer of the Witchblade - a supernatural artefact that carries great powers. The Witchblade has been worn by many woman over the centuries and indeed Pezzini currently shares it with Danielle Baptiste, a young dancer from New Orleans.

The Top Cow universe is populated by demons, dimensional gates, ghosts and magic. As Sara goes about her business she encounters all of these elements and uses the Witchblade to overcome them.

The writing on Witchblade is always to the highest standards of sequential story-telling - at the end of each issue I find myself desperate for the next - while the artwork - both interior and cover - is beautiful and menacing in equal measures.

If you're a long-time comic book reader then chances are you are already reading Witchblade - if you're not or you are new to comics then pick up a copy - you will not be disappointed.

[Try Destination Venus for your comic book orders - in terms of choice and customer service I've not found a better online store]

Taken

2009-03-31T09:00:00.001+01:00

Over the weekend we watched the film 'Taken' on Sky Box Office. I'd seen the trailers and thought it looked pretty good - no more than that - but I have to say I thought it was superb.

Without spoiling the film for you Liam Neeson plays Brian - a guy who's trying to rebuild his relationship with his daughter who he feels he's let down over the years that he was working away from home in his role as a Secret Service agent. When his daughter - Kim - is kidnapped he has to use all of his skills to track her down and rescue her.

For me, this is the film that the 2004 Punisher should have been (and, don't get me wrong, I liked the Punisher) - the lead character is fundamentally a good guy but someone's messed with his family ... so he's going to mess with them. The European location gives the film the feel of one of the Bourne films, with a nod to the Death Wish series.

I won't say any more - watch it on Sky Box Office or pick up the DVD, let me know what you think.