The silly soccer wars
FIFA would like you to call it “the world’s most beautiful game” but soccer is marred with corruption, childish ear biting, hooliganism and even war.
Back in 1996 when England fell to Germany in a UEFA Euro game, riots broke out in Trafalgar Square. In 2007, four Bulgarian men bit off part of a Greek man’s ear after Greece’s 4-1 loss to Turkey in a European Championship qualifier. Read more…
Super Bowl XLVII brawn, brains and soul
What a game! Super Bowl XLVII delivered the thrills and spills millions of NFL fans dreamt of. And then some. At 4 hours, 14 minutes, it was the longest Super Bowl ever and packed with new records.
Battling it out for America’s other most famous cup, the confident San Francisco 49ers were beaten narrowly by the young Baltimore Ravens team in a nail-biting 34 – 31 final score at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana,. Young, because the brawny Ravens originated in 1996 while the Niners who were founded in 1946. Read more…
2012 F1 best ever
The 2012 Formula One season was the best ever. That’s a big statement for a sport that started almost 100 years ago – as the European Grand Prix – and delivered many exciting seasons. Think Juan Manual Fangio vs Striling Moss in the 50s, Prost vs Senna in the 80s and 90s, Schumacher vs Häkkinen at the turn of the century and, in 2012, Vettel vs Alonso.
What made the 2012 season different? The field hosted 6 world champions. There were seven different winners in the first seven races – throughout the season there would be eight different winners. The driver and manufacturer championship went down to the last race, Sebastian Vettel scoring enough to beat Fernando Alonso by a mere 3 points to take his third world title. Read more…
Best Rugby World Cup Team
World Cup Rugby fever is at a pitch. The road to the finals on 23 October in Auckland, New Zealand is half littered with broken dreams and half filled with joy. If the fixtures at first seemed to stuffed with obvious results the bookies are in for a bonus this year.
There have been some shock surprises, non more when Australia got beaten by Ireland and France got beaten by Tonga – neither without being knocked out of the tournament – in the pool stages. The best World Cup Rugby team, however, did get knocked out. Yes, Wales was the team with the most surprises, fighting spirit and some stylish play. Read more…
Football World Cup surprises
Raise your glass. Raise another. And another. Blow your vuvuzela. Make a noise. Fall over. Tomorrow morning will bring another new surprise. That is the Football World Cup, otherwise known as the soccer world cup.
Whatever you call soccer – see why soccer is called football – the Football World Cup is a celebration to behold. There are few occasions in the world where cultures are more feverishly united in blind emotion. War comes to mind, when principles are thrown aside. Same with banking.
But we’re talking sports here. When millions of people have their eyes glued on a ball that is the same size as the head of any of their kids… but gets more attention. Read more…
I don’t want to know
When the Ferrari F1 team radioed Fernando Alonso during the last laps of the Australian Grand Prix that Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber were catching up fast with him, Alonso replied, “I don’t want to know!” It will probably go down as one of the most classic responses ever by a racing driver. It was, however, not a cry of desperation by the two-time Formula One champion; rather, it was testament of his absolute concentration on the track. Here was an example of a master at his craft. After all, Fernando Alonso is considered by many to be, pound-for-pound, the best F1 driver on the track today. Read more…
Winter Olympics was amazing
The Winter Olympics in Vancouver 2010 was amazing, from the opening moment to the closing. There were many brilliant moments and surprise wins. Which is what makes the Olympics – Summer and Winter games – the most watchable sports occasion. But it is the spirit of the Olympics that is simply awesome: for just 2 weeks every 2 years the whole world seem to be united.
The two outstanding 2010 wins, for me, were Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk in a nail-biting finish in the Ladies 30km Mass Start Classic cross country and Norway’s Petter Northug‘s equally spectacular gold in the Men’s 50km Mass Start Classic. Canadians probably will disagree; their gold in Men’s Ice Hockey was the obvious national favorite. Read more…
