Weather affecting sport

It's been a while since I last posted, mainly due to the fact, there hasn't been much that has annoyed me in recent times, but the one thing that has is this weather.

Living in Stoke is cold at the best of times but when there is snow and ice and general arctic-ness, the potteries is far less appealing.

It's not even the freezing conditions and treacherous pavements that annoy me, but the fact that the weather is preventing sport from taking place.

So not only is Soccer Saturday missing most of the drama that is League Two but our Hockey fixture against Nottingham was also postponed, adding to the frustration.

Hopefully it will clear but i'm not holding my breath.

I think sport in this country should take a leaf from the NFL...



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I hate to say i told you so...

Well what an enthralling first day of test cricket that was.

All the talking was over and both sides were eager to make a good start and for the Australians it was the perfect start.

That is what you get for writing off the Aussies!

Now I still believe all is not lost and if you'd have offered me 300 at the start of the day I would have taken it, but the fact so many of the impact players in the side got big starts and once again couldn't convert them into tons.

What was all the more disappointing was that Jonny Trott, KP and Colly all got out playing overly attacking shots when what was needed was a little level headedness.

Credit must go to the Australians and to be fair Ricky Ponting.

He rotated his seamers perfectly and used debutant spinner Xavier Doherty properly. However the biggest praise must go to Birthday boy Peter Siddle. His Hat-trick (see video above), turned the innings and the match on its head and he has put his side in a commanding position all while being a doubt for selection before the first test.

Perhaps most frustrating for me though was watching the action next to a Scotsman, who's knowledge of cricket could be written on the back of a postage stamp, with room for a drawing - Who also decided to wear an Australian cricket shirt.

Being a fellow sports nut, I respect his need to make a statement being the inferior Scot, but I wouldn't even consider wearing a Rangers shirt with his idol Kyle Lafferty's name on the back as it would annoy him so much, yet he felt it perfectly acceptable to wear this shirt in front of me.

Away from that though, the first session tonight will be key if we are to get back into the Test so hopefully we can start to rebuild - the Ashes truly begins tonight!

SR




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England being tipped to retain the Ashes.

For many, you may be thinking, "why is the England are being called favourites to win the ashes a bad thing?" but as an England fan for many years now, there is nothing good about it at all.

Of course England have won two Ashes series in recent years, 2009 and for the first time in 17 years back in 2005, mainly down to great moments like this one from the 'King of Spain' Ashley Giles.




Alas, there was of course a series in between, which I like many England fans like to forget about. That is of course the 5-0 whitewash in Australia.

But while England fans are happy about the preparation including the recent warm-up win against Australia A as well as sending the main bowlers off to acclimatise. 


The problems arise when many experts and ex-players have come out in the press confident that England will retain the ashes or that there is even a shift in the power between the two teams.

Are they mad?

Are we forgetting that we were smashed the last time we were down under, or that we haven't won down under since the regulars in the Sky Sports commentary box - messrs Botham, Willis and Gower among others were part of the team in 1986/87.


The fact that despite promising victories and the fact the Aussies can't seem to win any form of cricket right now, added to the fact even the technology is against Ricky Ponting at the moment, the bookies stil have the Aussies as favourite at 21/20 England 7/4 and the draw 9/2 (all courtesy of Bet365).

While I do in fact believe England will retain the Ashes, and it is undoubtedly our best chance to win down under since that series, saying the Aussies are vulnerable and will lose easily is naive.

Anyways the action gets underway tonight and it will be interesting to see if it goes as well as the first ball of the first test four years ago...







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Sportsmen who retire, then return, then retire again.

www.celebdirtylaundry.com
"I Don't know why you won't retire either Brett"

For anyone who knows the man above, you will know what I mean.

He is of course Brett Favre, one of the best quarterbacks to have graced the National Football League, but has ruined any credibility he had by putting fans through the now annual saga of "will he, won't he?", while no longer performing at the highest level.

Just look at his stats. In his last season at Green Bay, a place where his name has become legend, Favre threw 15 interceptions and was sacked 15 times in his 16 regular season games.

In the nine games he has played this season he has thrown 16 and been sacked 17 times.

Exhibit B

Another legend of his respective sport, Michael Schumacher is undoubtedly a Formula One great, but once again since his return, he has underperformed in a bad car, and is doing nothing for his reputation.

Why can't the likes of Favre and Schumi just retire at the top of their game and be remembered for the glory years, instead of dragging their reputation as well as the fond memories of the millions of fans that adore them?

Instead, they have to return to their respective sports, do badly and retire again, with the over-riding feeling among fans to be 'good riddance' instead of 'it's a shame you've left'.

And Finally...


Haile Gebrselassie is undoubtedly the biggest name in marathon running and holds or has held numerous world records, and when he announced his retirement after the New York Marathon shocked very few, myself included but I found myself very disappointed to see this:

"Haile Gebrselassie calls off retirement" 

BBC Sport Website -  Monday, 15 November 2010 


How in the space of a few weeks go from:

“I don’t want to complain any more after this, that’s why it is better to stop here"

to this:

"Running is in my blood and I decided to continue competing."

He hasn't competed again yet and it will be interesting to see how he gets on, but having failed to finish the New York Marathon and calling time on his career, things don't look too promising.

SR

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Annoying Sportsman #3 - Audley Harrison

Harrison downed against Michael Sprott
(www.boxingfancast.com)

I could probably leave it here with just the title and picture, but after Saturday's embarrassment of a Heavyweight Title bout, I was so annoyed by the whole thing that I just had to discuss it.

Firstly for those lucky enough not to see it, the fight ended in three rounds, with neither fighter landing a punch in the first round and Harrison landing only one in the entire fight.

Hopefully now all the false confidence and 'YES I CAN' t-shirts (Harrison's slogan) have long since disappeared , the Heavyweight division can move on and not be dragged through the mud by the likes of Harrison.

That is the main reason he annoys me but also because he got an opportunity that not only he didn't deserve but other boxers would give their right arm for - and he landed ONE PUNCH!

Add to this the fact boxing fans the world over had to pay £15 for the pleasure thanks to Sky Box Office, and you have a lot of upset boxing fans.

Well at least it was better value than Amir Khan's first box office showing...LOL




SR

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Amster-DAMN, travelling is a pain

http://www.rudystaxicompany.nl/page5.php

So I have returned from my travels safe and sound. Amsterdam is a lovely city, my only problem with the weekend has been the travelling to and from the country because I really hate flying.

The flight itself is bad enough, although 45 minutes from Heathrow to Schiphol is really not that bad, It is more the waiting around in the airport, and the combination of children and arrogant Americans with a serious case of 'little man syndrome' or Napoleon Complex.


Let me explain...


We're all at the gate waiting to take the bus to the plane and on gets a mouthy little American bloke probably mid 30's with what can be assumed is his wife/partner. Having made little effort to accommodate the other passenger and move down the bus, he was then told rather abruptly by a steward to move before making loud comments to no-one about how he couldn't move further down the bus and how there was no room when there clearly was. I mean what right does he have to stop others getting on the bus and i understand he needs room for him and his inflated ego but seriously...

That was the tip of the iceberg though.

During the flight i'm sat in my seat as you do, and bearing in mind its only a 45 minute flight and half of that is taking off and landing, realised I wouldn't be able to get much sleep.

The woman in front had other ideas, proceeding to recline her chair as far as possible so that I was near enough resting my chin on the top of her head.

Having been politely asked to move up so I could gain access to my tray table, she then lifted up a little, before moving back down seconds later.

I wouldn't have been too bothered if there wasn't a child making so much noise that it was hard to hear myself  think.

For me, if you are going to have children, you shouldn't bring them on planes, only to ignore them as soon as they want something.

That aside, it was a great trip and Amsterdam is well worth visiting again and is a top weekend, just not the travelling.



SR



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Door Supervisors

Just a short post today, as I don't want to dwell on this point for too long but my rant today is about bouncers or 'door supervisors' as they now like to be known.

Having spent nearly all of my life at one point or another, either living in, working in, or socialising in pubs, I have a good knowledge of and respect for bouncers, doormen whatever you wish to call them.

That being said last night was a prime example of why some people are in the job for the wrong reasons.

So, a group of friends out for the night walk into a bar in town. Being a large group of us, plenty of money is spent as we all get a pint and a shot to sit down and drink.

We start playing a few games to get everyone up for the rest of the night and admittedly we were a little loud.

Having been clocked by the two doormen as soon as we all walked in, we were made to feel unwelcome from the frosty attitude.

The first bouncer comes over a politely says "could you quiet down a bit as there are others in the bar" etc etc

No problem we thought.

While all this is going on, the other bouncer comes over picks on one of the group and before saying anything else says "you stop being a C**K"

Automatically the lad is taken aback and straight away quiets down. Clearly not enough for said bouncer.

He says it a few more times before making it more than obvious he doesn't want us there anymore.

The first bouncer comes back and says look guys I think you should drink up and leave, to which we agree completely and duly drink up and go.

Now for me, the first bouncer has the one characteristic any good bouncer will have...COMMON SENSE.

He could see we were not causing trouble, though being a tad loud we weren't looking for trouble and he recognised that we were spending a good amount of money in there at the same time.

The other one had the excessive aggressiveness that has given door men a bad name.

The need to exert some sort of physical power and dominance defies logic and show the bouncers in question to be nothing but small, paranoid individuals.

Ending on a lighter note, we left the pub and went onto have a great evening despite the efforts of the stupid bouncer.





SR

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Annoying Sportsman #2 - Randy Moss

(November 23, 2008 - Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images North America)

Now for many who know me, calling Randy Moss an annoying sportsman, when i've worn his name proudly on my shirt for the last two years may seem a touch hypocritical, no?

Well for me it isn't so much the annoyance of the man himself but the frustrated disappointment of throwing away chance after chance handed to him in the NFL.

For the unaware, Randy Moss has spent his entire career tagged with a label of being a trouble maker wherever he goes.

In his first season as a pro, he was fined $25,000 for squirting a referee with a water bottle.

His tendency to get disinterested when he felt he wasn't receiving enough passes, prompted one head coach to implement "The Randy Ratio", designed to make 40% of all passes thrown to be at Randy Moss, to keep him in the game.

He then moved onto Oakland where it was very much of the same but he still managed to produce some spectacular catches.



Having completely fallen out with the Raiders, and after all talk was of Moss' career being all but over, Moss was signed by my team, the Patriots.

Now i'll be honest i was a bit apprehensive about the trade seeing that in the superbowl winning years ad beyond Bill Belicheck made sure that any 'fractious' personalities or ego's would be sent packing. High profile names like Corey Dillon, Asante Samuel and Richard Seymour, echo the sentiment of Belicheck in saying that no one player is bigger than the team.

So why then does Robert Kraft and Belicheck decide to sign perhaps the most fractious of them all?

Because they saw what Patriots fans around the world saw very soon in Moss, the untapped resource of talent.

With Tom Brady in the driving seat, and Moss wanting catches, why not throw him the ball more then?

Simple and for the 2007 season simple was the order of the day.

Brady and Moss deconstructed every defence in the league en route to a almost perfect 18-1 season, coming unstuck on the grandest stage of all, the Superbowl.

Two more seasons followed and season ending injuries to Brady plus the emergence of Wes Welker as the best slot receiver in the league meant Moss was once again being used as a distraction to other teams permanently double covered to leave another player open elsewhere - and he was fine with that.

To this season and from the outset, there seemed to be a different tone to Patriots media interaction, one of seriousness and ruthlessness.

The sort of attitude we had seen in four of our previous runs to the superbowl, but this year felt different because Randy Moss wasn't on board.

Moss wanted more money, funny that. He had spent two years talking about how much he respected Belicheck and the Patriots organisation, yet it was going to count for nothing as he was to be left out in the cold like the rest of them.

Then after four weeks back in Minnesota with the Vikings, the Patriots come and teach them a lesson and keep Moss out of the game. Moss comes out in the press saying the side were 'under-prepared' and how much respect he still had for the Patriots.

24 hours later....See ya later Randy.

This highlights my point. Arguably the most talented active Wide Receiver in the league and is now without a team. He had a good thing going with the Patriots, who made him the Hall of Fame receiver he now is, but he felt that an extra million dollars here or there were more important than a realistic chance of a Superbowl Ring.

Anyway, I still hope he can find somewhere he will be as settled as he was in Boston, alas I feel he won't be able to find what he's looking for. Either way he will be remembered for moments like this one...



SR

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Annoying Sportsman #1 - Tim Bresnan

I have decided to chart the most annoying sportsman past or present as it combines my two favourite pastimes - Sport and Moaning.

So where better place to start then with the Captain Annoying himself Tim Bresnan?

My dislike of Tim Bresnan runs so deep and is so well publicised among my friends that it has since become a long running joke with them feeling the need to clutter my life with references to the man himself - anything from links posted on my facebook wall about his Cricinfo profile or twitter page, to notes slid under my door saying "I LOVE TIM BRESNAN

So where does my dislike of Tim Bresnan manifest itself?

Well if i'm totally honest i'm not really sure. Having seen him in a few county games and failed to impressed I thought no more of him.

Then having watched a lot of him in the occasional test match I realised how bad he actually is.

Despite the lack of talent, it is his "Extra Curricular activities" so to speak that annoy me the most - Coming predominantly from his twitter account. The comments in particular that annoyed me the most:

@timbresnanTim Bresnan

You will be pleased to know unlike Man City my form away from home is outstanding. Just took @stuartbroad8cash on the golf course.

31 Oct via Twitter for iPhone 

This peeves me because while I am all for sportsmen using Social Networking sites, and for the fact that they have some down time between practices, Bresnan is more interested in the other stuff than the game itself.

This is further manifested in the fact that Will then says to me "He is only there for the banter". That proves my point. Tim Bresnan is not test match quality.

@Swannyg66Graeme Swann

And thanks to both of you who enquired about my thumb. It's fine, I just like my boiled eggs runny.

1 Nov via TwitBird iPad Favorite Retweet Reply

This annoys me because not only is Bresnan not worthy of his place in the squad, he then manages to injure one of the England's best bowlers less than three days into the tour. Luckily for England fans Swann looks to have recovered, but Bresnan is a liability and must be locked away.

SR

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The Others....

It would be unfair to talk solely about Will and his 'Pursuit of Annoyance', as he does have a number of helpers, referred to previously as the entourage. So I thought I might introduce a few more to add some colour to the picture.

Will's right hand wo-man is of course his girlfriend Jade. Jade is lovely in so many ways her constant energy and positivity is to be praised...usually.

There are of course some occasions when one needs to take one's  foot off the pedal and relax. Let me give you a perfect example.

Its a typical Saturday morning after a typical student Friday night, and I want nothing more than to lay undisturbed on the sofa watching Jeff and the lads on Soccer Saturday, all the while nursing a dirty hangover. Alas Jade had other ideas...

Jade comes over and after staying relatively calm for the first ten minutes, proceeded to bounce around, becoming the first person ever to make me feel sea sick while sitting on a sofa.

Add to that an infatuation with the name of Norwich City footballer Wes Hoolahan and you have the worst way to spend a hangover bar none.

Next is David 'Scouse' Ball...

Don't be mistaken by this picture, Dave Ball hates cricket.

Now normally, while slightly annoying, Dave not liking cricket wouldn't be a problem, but it is the way he goes on and on and on about how bad cricket is, how cricket only has seven fans and they're all bored or asleep, and how the mere mention of cricket prompts pretend snoring noises and narcoleptic tendencies.

These are just a few of the ways David is one of the most annoying people I call a friend.

Another thing he does is of course the constant "Are you winning mate?" Whenever you are losing at anything, whether it be Fifa, Poker or anything.

Finally, there's Ash.

Ash is the epitome of annoyance. His constant sarcastic comments and incessant prank calls frustrate even the most tolerant. Now Ash isn't a bad person he just doesn't have an off switch. Sarcastic comment after comment mean it is near impossible to tell if Ash is being serious or not anymore. This in turn is the most frustrating feature of Ash...Well that and the fact he supports Liverpool.

They are just three of the people responsible for why i've felt the need to find a place to vent my frustrations, and they are numerous others, signalling what a team effort annoying me really is.

Having looked at a micro level, future posts will looke more at people and things in wider society including the media, that have a canny knack of annoying the hell out me, but for now see you later.

SR

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The Dr.Evil to my Austin Powers...

Don't let the cheesy innocent grin fool you...This is the face of an evil, evil man. I mentioned Will in a previous post but i thought i would put a face to the name.

William Turner has made it his sole ambition during our time at Staffs Uni to annoy the hell out of me. That is why he heads the list of the most annoying people in my life at the moment.

The reason he is more annoying then anyone else is because he doesn't even try hard. Some people that will feature in my moans and gripes really do try hard and make an effort, whereas Will does it without even trying.

There are of course other occasions where he does try.

Here are just a few recent example...

1. Those that know me will be aware of the fact I believe that Tim Bresnan does not deserve to play international cricket, due to the fact he is complete and utter garbage! I'm not doubting his role as a journeyman of the county circuit - in fact I would probably have some respect for him for that. However he doesn't. The fact he got anywhere near the plane to Australia has been a subject of much distaste for me but Will felt it necessary to leave a note under my door with the words "I LOVE TIM BRESNAN", so that upon my return from Gobble, I had a nice surprise waiting for me,

2. Having noted earlier people's reaction to the fact i don't like egg, Will took it upon himself to go into our bathroom, unroll the toilet roll, and write "I Love Eggs" before rolling it back up. Luckily for my sanity it wasn't me who discovered it, but you can spot the trend beginning to appear.

3. Finally the simplest but perhaps most annoying of his pranks...Having mentioned in passing conversation that I wanted to use the TV to watch the American football match between New England Patriots and San Diego Chargers. The conversation went a little something like this...

Will "You can't, I need to watch An Idiot Abroad tonight"



Me "It's On Demand, can't you watch it tomorrow"

Will: "No Dan [Will's Brother] has already seen it, he'll ruin it the next time i speak to him"

Me: "Ok then, can you not watch it before nine?"

Will: "No because Jade and I are watching Beauty and the Beast"........And so on.


There's me trying to find a genuine solution to the problem, where I could have just said "I'm watching it", and then Will having carried this on for some considerable time longer, just started laughing before the penny dropped.

Just a few of the numerous ways Will annoys me. It isn't just Will and that's why in posts to follow I will focus on other members of Will's entourage.

SR.

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How do you like your eggs in the morning?....In the bin

How do you like your eggs in the morning?....In the bin

Imagine the scenario.

You wake up in the morning and head to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and make some breakfast. 

You go to the cupboard to make your selection and you find that almost every item in your cupboard has been covered in a variety of words in permanent marker.

This is just one of the things that I have to put up with, and most of it is down to one person...Will. Will is at the same time a great mate and a total pain in the backside, what with his relentless sarcasm and practical joking, not to mention the fact that he seems my opinion on certain dairy products unfathomable.

I use the term "dairy" loosely as I am talking about Eggs.

I happen to one of the numerous people around the world I’m sure that either don't, won't or can't eat EGGs.

You may be thinking 'so what?' but to Will and a few other of my friends who will undoubtedly feature at some point in future posts, my dislike of the bird based by product, provides such hilarity and constant questioning that it is just ridiculous.

Now I’m not one to question people's food preference's but seriously...why is it so bad that I don't like eggs?!?

I mean, there are certain people not naming any names (Amy Mayne) that won't eat tomato based sauces. That surely is more ridiculous then the fact that I dislike eggs, is it not?

Anyway, that's just the tip of the iceberg there will be plenty more to follow I’m sure but for now see you later.

Sam