Ronnie is THE Ace

I thought he couldn't get any cooler, but Ronnie O'Sullivan just did.

In my last post I explain how Ronnie had to be persuaded by the referee to pot the final black on a 147 maximum break. Ronnie apparently was going to stop the maxi at the final hurdle in protest of tournament organisers who neglected to include an extra prize for a 147.

Turns out he was just having fun with us all.

Ronnie the Ace

Ronnie O'Sullivan is a living example of "the Ace", a character type which is often employed by writers of fiction. 

Here's an explaination for those who are not TV Tropes savvy:

Q: What's the difference between God and a fighter pilot?

A: God doesn't think He's a fighter pilot.

— Old joke

Katie a Taylormade Champ

Two European Union Championships. Three World Championships. Four European Championships. Bray’s Katie Taylor is the best lightweight women’s amateur boxer in the world.

More than that she is pound for pound the best amateur fighter in the world; a point proved as she wins the cross weight division “best fighter” award at nearly every competition she enters.

Thierry Henry goes Stateside

Thierry Henry currently plays his footie in New York for the Red Bulls where he reputedly earns more dosh than Beckham's record breaking five-year $250m deal with LA Galaxy.

He's having quite a time of it there so I think it's high time I shared a few videos highlighting the odder moments of his time there so far. Time. Time. Time.

Rafa, King of the Castle

Rafa Nadal's victory at the US Open was a watershed in men's tennis and it puts to bed any lingering critics who questioned his

When men were men

Then...

Now...

Soccer Managers vs Players

Sometimes managers really have to vent some steam.

Tapattoni vs Bayern Munich

Read reports of

Roy Keane vs Ben Thatcher

'He comes into training when he fancies it, every now and again when the traffic's not too bad.'

Arsène Wenger vs Arsenal eh...
"In football you have to keep focused for 90 minutes, especially against a team that has nothing to lose and is fighting to stay up like Wigan were today. We did not stay concentrated and we were punished for that in the end."

John Toshack vs Wales
"If someone had said that was the worst Welsh performance ever, I would agree with that..."

Soccer Managers vs Journalists

Sometimes managers have to vent some steam.

But when they blow up it's more like a hurricane than a venting...

Nico blogging his way to fifth

After each stage of this year’s Tour de France Nicolas Roche wrote a blog.

The blog was great for us who do be only the casual cycling enthusiast as it shed light on the wacky world of bike riding, the madness of the Tour, and – more importantly – the kick the competitors get out of the whole sch-bang.

It was much more than a simple chronicling of Roche’s determined resolve to secure a top fifteen finish: it was a diary of obsessive fans, crazy commentators, and a whole lot of craic.

Best goals ever. Dude.

I don't care what you say.

Click for the videos

Gay Future with Murphy’s Stroke

Much sporting commentary of late has surrounded match fixing of one kind or another. But does anyone remember a certain race horsing scandal from 1974? Anybody?

Original "Raging Bull" Ronaldo

Who 8 Σ πs?

Nico at the Vuelta, Schleck at the bar

©greenjersey.wordpress.com

Ireland's top cyclist Nicolas Roche (right) is doing remarkable things in the Vuelta a España at the moment. And the same can be said of Andy Schleck.

Roche currently lies in ninth position in the overall classement with less than half of the race to go.

Three top ten finishes in the opening six stages have meant that Roche has been able to solidify a strong position at the head of the race.

Many giants of the cycling world have been left in his wake: Denis Menchov (twice Vuelta a España winner 2005, 2007, Giro d'Italia winner 2009), Carlos Sastre (Tour de France winner 2008), and Fränk Schleck (twice fifth in Tour de France while helping out his brother Andy, 2008, 2009) are all behind Roche in the overall classement.

Pakistan Cricket, the Year so Far: a Timeline (Part 1)

PAKISTAN SERIES IN AUSTRALIA

6 January Pakistan fail to chase down 176 runs and lose the second Test against Australia at Sydney despite having had a 206 run first innings lead. Australia’s victory is especially spectacular considering that in their second innings the Aussies were only 46 runs ahead with two wickets left. Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistan’s captain, backs Kamran Akmal after the wicketkeeper dropped three catches and missed an opportunity for a run out.

Shahid Afridi

31 January Pakistan T20 captain Shahid Afridi is banned by the ICC for two T20 Internationals after being found guilty of ball tampering. Video evidence showed Afridi apparently biting the ball.

5 February Pakistan’s tour of Australia comes to a close. Whitewashed, they finished having lost all 3 Test matches, all 5 One Dayers, and both T20 internationals.

10 March The Pakistan Cricket Board ban and fine seven players after an inquiry into the Australian series. Former captains Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf are banned from playing for Pakistan in any format indefinitely. Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan are banned for one year while Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers receive fines of Rs2-3 million.

16 March Although admitting a lack of concrete evidence, members of Pakistan's senate standing committee on sports announce they believe "one or more" Pakistan players to be involved in deliberately under-performing for money.

23 March Mohammad Yousuf announces his retirement from international cricket. The top order batsman – who was captain of the side one month previously – had a Test batting average in excess of 52.

5 April Opening batsman Nasir Jamshed is released on bail after being arrested for cheating in a school exam.

ICC WORLD TWENTY20

14 May After excellent performances, defending champions Pakistan are left with broken hearts after being beaten by Australia in the semi-finals of the ICC World Twenty20. Australia’s Michael Hussey stuns the world by scoring 38 runs from the final 10 balls of the game.

20 May Pakistan MPs summon players, coaches, and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt to answer questions related to the tour of Australia.

25 May Shahid Afridi is named as captain of the team for all formats of the game.

Mohammad Yousuf

29 May Shoaib Malik’s fine and one year ban are both cut in half by an appeal tribunal. Younis Khan is refused his request for a hearing.

5 June Younis Khan’s indefinite ban is lifted.  The Akmal brothers fines for acts of indiscipline are reduced. Shahid Afridi’s fine is revoked entirely.

ASIA CUP

19 June Harbhajan Singh’s four from the penultimate ball of the match knocks Pakistan out of the Asia Cup in a cliff-hanger. Indian celebrations were described as “explosive”.

20 June Top order batsman, former captain Younis Khan is not selected for Pakistan’s tour to England. His batting average was 50.

PAKISTAN SERIES AGAINST AUSTRALIA (IN ENGLAND)

5 July Pakistan win first T20 against Australia. With Pakistan banned from hosting cricket after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team’s bus in May 2009 the series is held in England.

16 July After one Test match, Pakistan’s captain Shahid Afridi retires from Test cricket. It was his first Test match in four years. Australia won the game by 150 runs.

Salman Butt

17 July Salman Butt is named as captain of the side for the remaining Tests.

24 July Pakistan series against Australia finishes. Pakistan square the series 1-1 with a thrilling win in the second Test. It is their first Test victory over the Aussies in 15 years.

PAKISTAN SERIES AGAINST ENGLAND

1 August After losing the first Test against England by 354 runs the PCB recall banned and retired former captain Mohammad Yousuf for the rest of the series.

10 August  Zaheer Abbas, the former Pakistan captain, says he fears for the future of Pakistan cricket due to what he feels is its poor administration.

21 August Pakistan win a Test match against England for the first time in nine years. Captain Salman Butt dedicates the victory to the victims of massive flooding which has left one fifth of the country below water.

All Ireland holds its breath

Brendan Cummings
But all eyes are on Kilkenny

© tribune.ie

Record breaking Poc Fada champion, four time All Star, All Ireland champion Brendan Cummings cried his eyes out as a child in Croke Park when Kerry were thwarted five All Irelands in a row by Séamus Darby’s wonder goal. Kerry had beaten Offaly in the final the previous year and the Faithful had waited for their revenge. And they got it.

That was then and this is now.  Just as he has done for the last fifteen years, Cummings will be between the sticks for Tipperary. But part of him will almost be with the Cats who are looking to pull off what has never been done. Part of him. Almost.  Because part of him is still with that Kerry team which fell just short of achieving immortality. All eyes – even his – are on Kilkenny.

Scenario A) Kilkenny win

They become the first team ever to win five All Irelands in a row and solidify themselves as one of the great teams, to be remembered as long as the game is played (and beyond).

Scenario B) Kilkenny lose

Much of the above still applies.

Because Kilkenny are that special.

Special manager. Special players. Special team.

The recovery of Henry Shefflin from a torn cruciate knee ligament four weeks after the injury demonstrates commitment. Ferocious commitment. Shefflin received treatment from world renowned expert Gerard Hartmann who has in the past salvaged the careers of Ronan O’Gara, Sonia O’Sullivan, and Colin Jackson (the Limerick based physio has been responsible for healing over 50 Olympic and world championship medallists). O’Gara described the treatment as “murder, the hardest thing I ever had to do in my career.”

So that’s huge commitment shown on Shefflin’s part.

But 8,000 people turning up at Nolan Park to see Mr Lazarus run out with his team mates for a training session demonstrates something else entirely. Something bizarre. Something obsessive. Something even a little terrifying.

Apparently word spread around the town. Shops were abandoned. Car doors left open. The terraces packed. And they all nodded and gasped on seeing Shefflin running, tackling, and scoring. And now he's on the starting lineup for the match.

Mad isn’t it?

Jackie Tyrell (2006), Henry Shefflin (2007),
"Cha" Fitzpatrick (2008), Michael Fennelly (2009)

Living in foreign as I do, I have often tried – with little success – to describe the GAA to friends for whom Ireland is just a blob on a map. It’s an amateur game. Played countrywide, nearly 2,500 clubs. An amateur game. Third biggest stadium in Europe. Amateur game. Teams throughout Europe, North America, Australia, Argentina, Japan, Taiwan... Yep an amateur game. Men and women, schools and communities, North and South. Fun? Passion? Rivalry? You better believe it.

We tend to explain so many of the eccentricities of the GAA to ourselves with phrases like “Sure hasn’t it always been like this” and “Don’t we go for the love of the game?”. But after seeing dedication shown by the likes of Shefflin generate such extraordinary responses, I am left as gobsmacked as my foreign friends.

A loss will take little away from the Kilkenny team. It would be akin to the great Don Bradman falling for a duck in his final innings and missing out on perfection. It might be summed up by a famous Joey "the Lips" Fagan quip (spoken at the end of Roddy Doyle’s “The Commitments” after the band has fallen apart and everything lies in tatters): "Sure we could have been famous and made albums and stuff, but that would have been predictable. This way it's poetry."

Win or lose, Kilkenny make a remarkable story and Shefflin will be forever remembered as its protagonist.

Dude looks like a Lady

Troy Polamalu is a not just an American Football player. Troy Polamalu is not just a man destined to shatter records. Troy Polamalu is a man with a lot of hair.

I mean, man alive that’s a lot of hair

©intentionalfoul.com

Of course long hair has its benefits for sponsorship and all that but it can also have its negative effects on the field; like when you are tackled by your hair as you are about to score a touchdown. Still Troy says he hasn’t cut his hair since 2000.

And the hair hasn't held him back. In his Pittsburgh Steelers’ opening eight games last year they made eleven turnovers in the four games Polamalu played while making only two in the four games he missed through injury. In a sport so dominated by possession it is little wonder that he has been chosen to go to the annual all-star Probowl game as the AFL's defensive safety every year since 2004, only missing out last year through recurrences of that same injury.

But there are plenty of hairy sporting superstars out there. Yes sir there are. What about all those hair-banded shots of Ronnie O’Sullivan or Dayfid Beck’em? Think of the scorpion kick from Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita and you’ll be recalling dozens of long haired sports stars, each one more awesome than the last.

What’s more is Higuita used to take penalties and free kicks for the national team. The man scored eight goals for Colombia. Naturally he's great friends with Maradona (played in Diego’s farewell match), and after retiring this January at the age of 43 he has said he wants to get into politics to tackle the drugs trade. What. A. Dude. And what hair.

And then there’s Dennis Lillee the great Australian fast bowler; seen here bowling with a terrifying nine slip fielders awaiting an edge from the trembling batsman. The batter isn't even a tailender. Top order chap named Peter Petherick who, inevitably, was out "bowled Lillie" for 1.

Crickey

Lille was an inspiration to fellow Aussies Glenn McGrath and - to a lesser extent - Jason Gillespie (Gillespie also employed a hairband for his flowing locks). On his retirement from Tests in 1984, Lillee held the record for the most number of Test wickets having taken a staggering 355 from the 70 he played.

In spite of this he is possibly best remembered by non cricket followers as man who tried to use an aluminium bat to improve his measly batting average of 13 runs per innings. Needless to say after one shot the umpires were none too impressed.

So lots of superb sportsmen have had lengthy hair at one time or another. Big deal you say? Who cares you say? Well maybe in some weird dimension lengthy hair gives these men an advantage; but even if it did I wouldn’t care.

For me, simply seeing a rugby ball carrying Sebastien Chabal charging full pace at a weedy, shaved headed, diminutive scrum half is awesome beyond belief. And I'm sure we all recall that well known mathematical corollary to Sportsman + Long Hair = Great Sportsman which states that awesomeness comes to apply to just about everything else that sportsman ever does.

Because today, friends, the moral of the story is just that: “Awesomeness comes to those with long, matted, greasy hair”.

And by the by, Troy Polamalu just had his hair insured for $1 million. You think I’m kidding?

Greetings!

Manys a hello there.

This is a blog about sports. Sports from around the world. All forms of sport. From any time period. Fact.

If that sounds vague, don't worry at all. Fresh articles, regular updates, and a quality second to pun will be the constants which you - my dear readers - can depend upon to hold this rather self-absorbed project together.

So enjoy!

Denis