Will Tidey - Freelance Sportswriter

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Articles: 1, 2

SAY HELLO TO MY SPRINTING FRIEND
2006-08-25 11:45:00
As the long suffering purists of cricket?s stuffy upper echelons bemoan the latest slight on their pristine institution, they will be quietly pleased to read at least one piece of news this morning. Thankfully from their perspective, their sport is not athletics.For while Pakistan?s captain Inzamam Ul-Haq stands charged with bringing the game into disrepute, and cricket bears the face of an embarrassed child following the grossly unsatisfying conclusion of last week?s test match; athletics would surely give its steroid-enhanced left arm to soak in such comparatively still waters.LaTasha Jenkins, currently the 6th ranked 200m runner in the World, has this week become the latest of a string of athletes to test positive for banned substances in recent months. In the wake of positive tests for Olympic champions Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin, news of Jenkins? fate has fanned the flames of mass misadventure within the sport and left many wondering if those yet to be caught are simply a f...
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OZZY USHERS IN THE CAROLINA RAILHAWKS
2006-07-22 12:11:00
In 1897, a small meeting held at a pub in England?s industrial heartland heralded the inception of one of soccer?s most historic teams. Having maintained their footing in the upper echelons of the professional game for over a century, Sheffield Wednesday arrived in North Carolina this week to witness a modern day sporting birth in stark contrast to their humble beginnings.Welcomed warmly to Cary?s SAS Park, the touring English Championship team, who once played against an XI that included Oliver Cromwell, earned a hard-fought 0-0 draw with the United Soccer Leagues (USL) all-stars before a crowd of over 5,000 fans. It was at halftime, however, that the real excitement took hold, as the league?s newest expansion team was introduced to the crowd. In a tone reminiscent of the most epic blockbuster movie trailers, a pre-recorded public address delivered the news with breathtaking fanfare. ?Over 150 years ago, steel struck iron and the railroad system across North Carolina was cast, ? be...
More About: The Car , Ozzy

PROBABLY THE WORST RETIREMENT GIFT IN THE WORLD
2006-07-10 17:15:00
It was supposed to be the curtain call of all curtain calls. Zinedine Zidane, universally considered one of the greatest players ever to grace the game, was set to conduct France's footballing orchestra for the last time in the World Cup Final. The sporting Gods of destiny had shined, and it seemed Disney's next movie had been all but written for them. Even in defeat, Zidane's epic journey would find a fitting end on the grandest stage of all.For the Italians, a stuttering campaign had finally caught fire in their thrilling defeat of Germany in the semi-finals. Far from the dour, defensive unit which struggled to a 1-1 draw with the USA in the group stage, Italy had begun to exhibit the kind of verve and movement with which we associate the top teams in Serie A. With Juventus' Fabio Cannavaro in peerless form and the influence of Andrea Pirlo growing game by game, the Italians came into last night's final with confidence soaring.Before an estimated television audience of one bi...
More About: Retirement , Gift , The World , Probably

HEROES NEEDED - NO DRAGON SLAYING REQUIRED
2006-07-05 17:42:00
Ever since St. George defeated that fearsome fire-breathing dragon, we British have worshipped our sporting heroes with an almost fundamentalist fervour. It really doesn?t matter if your name?s Damien or you enjoy projectile vomiting green bile; providing you?re remotely good enough, we?ll build a pedestal ten miles high with your name on it. When Andy Murray strolled onto Centre Court at Wimbledon this week, you?d have been forgiven for thinking Elvis was entering the building. Despite being a lowly-ranked player without a coach, Murray was greeted like a conquering king returning to his thrown. ?Now the world cup is over for England, all hopes turn to Andy Murray winning Wimbledon,? sang the media chorus. Ironically, of course, Murray isn?t even English. On a sporting landscape where the four corners of Britain engage largely in a bitter and liberal hatred of each other, the new hero of English tennis is a Scot. Isn?t it amazing how flexible our boundaries of national identity bec...
More About: Heroes , Dragon , Drago

THE GOLDFISH GENERATION
2006-07-03 21:31:00
Some things in life are so predictable that one wonders how bookmakers survive. For anybody born in 1970s Britain, experience has taught us there are infinitely more certainties than death and taxes. Take the once snarling sing-along rock n roll of Oasis for example. Seminal in the late 90s, but since What?s The Story Morning Glory took its place in every living room across Britain, the hedonistic Mancunians have disappointed with almost clockwork regularity. Every two years comes a new record, described by the mono-browed one as ?better than anything we?ve ever done.? Despite every piece of evidence in the known world pointing towards a dismal hour of recycled mush, many of us will pick up NME and feel a wave of wild expectancy flow through our veins. It?s a goldfish mentality, one that keeps the music industry afloat.In the world of film, the same bizarre condition gave us ?new hope? for both the second and third episodes of George Lucas? ill-judged Star Wars prequels. For a gene...
More About: Goldfish , Generation , The Go , The G

FRENCH FIND VA VA VOOM AS ENGLAND CRASH OUT
2006-07-02 17:27:00
On the World Cup merchandise stand at Asda there hangs a hastily prepared handwritten sign. It reads simply ?all items £1?. As bleary-eyed England football fans drift slowly passed the red and white shelves filled with everything from inflatable chairs to Wayne Rooney facemasks, it will prove a painful reminder of another failed crusade to bring home football's holy grail.Once again, the nation that gave football to the world is in mourning after a penalty shoot-out defeat to Portugal knocked their beloved team out of the World Cup. Having reached the quarter-finals, and with perhaps their most talented squad in forty years, England?s players were inconsolable after Christiano Ronaldo?s spot kick sealed their fate.Back in England, a media postmortem of C.S.I proportions has already begun. David Beckham, now 31 and unlikely to feature at the 2010 South Africa World Cup, has resigned his captaincy, and may have played his last high profile match for the national side. England?s outgo...
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