Will Tidey - Freelance Sportswriter

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He's bringing bogeys back
2008-06-05 23:10:00
Justin Timberlake's last appearance at a major sporting event culminated in Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" at SuperBowl 38, but the pop star could be in line for far greater embarrassment at US Open venue Torrey Pines.Timberlake will join Miami Dolphins quarterback Tony Romo, NBC presenter Matt Lauer and a competition winner picked from over 50,000 entries to take part in Golf Digest's US Open challenge on Friday - in a publicity stunt that's captured the imagination of golf fans.The eclectic foursome will play the feared South Course with a film crew for company, and Tour professionals are predicting nothing short of public humiliation."I don't see it happening," said Tiger Woods of any player breaking 100, "Especially if the setup is like it was at Oakmont last year. No way. People don't realize how thick the rough is, and how difficult it is controlling shots. I know Matt and Tony are good players, but until they experience it, they have no idea."The compet...
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Heathland course is a museum to the romantic past
2008-05-01 11:19:00
Few historic courses can rival the Old Course at Walton Heath for its rich sense of tradition, writes Will Tidey.The club was formed in 1903 and opened for play a year later with an exhibition match between the game's legendary triumvirate of Harry Vardon, JH Taylor and James Braid. Surrey's heathland retreat is a thriving museum to golf's romantic past. Braid, five times the Open Champion, who served as the club's professional, welcomed such esteemed guests as WG Grace and Winston Churchill, and ushered in Walton Heath's first captain, Edward Prince of Wales in 1935. Built upon chalk hills, and peppered with natural chasms many of which would later become bunkers, William Herbert Fowler's golf course has proved enduringly popular.After more than a century, Fowler's design remains largely untouched. Aside from the rhythmic swishes of passing traffic from the nearby M25, this setting is the antidote to city living. Scattered liberally with bright purple heather, and lined by w...
More About: Romantic , Museum , Past

Clampdown overdue
2008-03-28 16:22:00
FA plans to tackle dissent represent a long-overdue step to address the moral malaise blighting every tier of England's national game.The crimes of Javier Mascherano and Ashley Cole will be soon forgotten by fans of Liverpool and Chelsea, and sooner still by those who pay their wages. By football's twisted logic, ill-discipline has become an acceptable caveat to success.Built on such philosophy, the Premier League has become a lawless state - where referees endure incessant abuse, and losing managers appear contractually obliged to spit bile in their direction at every opportunity.To understand the trickle-down effect of such histrionics, simply spend an afternoon watching your local amateur side - you'll soon realise the petulant acts of Cole, Mascherano et al resonate far beyond the glamorous surroundings of Anfield and Stamford Bridge."The problem these days is that lower league players expect to be able to get away with the behaviour they see in the Premier League," said Paul...
More About: Premier league

Sears wins it for Hammers
2008-03-18 12:52:00
Teenager Freddie Sears scored on his Premier League debut to give West Ham a vital 2-1 over Blackburn at Upton Park.With just 10 minutes remaining, 18-year-old Sears saw his initial shot parried by Brad Friedel, but he stooped to head home the rebound and end West Ham's miserable run of three consecutive 4-0 defeats.The Hammers came into the game reeling from identical maulings at the hands of Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham - and with the future of manager Alan Curbishley subject to mounting speculation.As the rain clouds gathered over East London, however, it was Curbishley's inspired decision to introduce an untried youngster which ultimately provided both he and the long-suffering West Ham fans the relief they desperately needed - and resigned Blackburn to just their second Premier League defeat of 2008.In an open first-half, Blackburn went ahead with a breakaway goal after 20 minutes, when Morten Gamst Pedersen was sprung clear in acres of space on the left. The Norwegian's...
More About: Wins

Who will pilot the Toon Anti-Tardis?
2008-01-10 17:31:00
I would never attend a sci-fi convention, but from I can muster Dr. Who operates from a vast spaceship disguised to appear dramatically smaller. Such clever understatement, or inverted snobbery, lends the Time Lord an air of gravitas, gifts him the element of surprise, and serves to lower expectations. After all, exceedingly few of history's great pioneers have spent their lives housed in telephone boxes ? aside perhaps from 'Thai princess, 26', whose name and phone number adorn all of South London's best. To draw parallel with football, as we invariably must, the Doctor's task is akin to managing Wimbledon in the mid 1980s. Dave Bassett, who steered 'The Crazy Gang' from the old fourth to first division in six remarkable years, seldom suffered the pressures of boardroom expectancy. Plough Lane was a miserable, run-down dog track and there were barely enough fans to fill it. Bumbling along ? looking not unlike a ravaged Peter Davison ? the success of his Wimbledon team was fo...
More About: Newcastle United , Park , Anti , Pilot , Tardis

All Hail The Rocket
2007-12-19 15:38:00
I'm no Alastair Campbell, but announcing your desire to emulate a convicted rapist, drugs offender and rampant reprobate seems unlikely to feature in a PR model for professional sports stars. Clearly Ronnie O?Sullivan , who did just that following his UK Championship triumph on Sunday, has not read many footballers? autobiographies. In the kingdom of the one-dimensional, cliché-spouting, market-friendly robo-athlete, Michael Owen is king. To his endearing credit, O?Sullivan has never been one for conformity. In truth, his stock as snooker?s dark circus, its biggest draw, and most popular player, is built on precisely the opposite. The Rocket ?s allure is his genius, and genius is inevitably accompanied by chaos. It should therefore come as no surprise that Mike Tyson serves as O?Sullivan?s role model elect. 'For all his faults, whenever he was in the ring he brought excitement and that's as important to me as records. Tyson was explosive, on the edge and with an edge,' he said.The...

Grant unveils Chelsea blueprint
2007-12-15 09:30:00
In the wake of Chelsea 's 2-0 loss to Manchester United in late September, fears of a post-Mourinho footballing recession hung over southwest London as grey as the Special One's trademark coat. For new manager Avram Grant , the spectre of his predecessor's achievements appeared capable of suffocating his reign in its infancy.Nearly three months later, with Chelsea unbeaten in 16 games and just three points adrift of Sunday's opponents Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, Grant has a new four-year contract at the club to show for his progress and ? he believes ? a much-improved team. 'We've developed our game,' he said. 'The United game was two days after I had been in charge, so it was not so easy.'During Friday's press conference at Chelsea's state-of-the-art facility in Surrey, the former Israel manager spoke of his tactical blueprint for the future of Chelsea, urging the fans and media alike to stay patient as he strives to create a team playing football that is bot...
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McClaren: wonderful PR man, woeful manager
2007-11-22 17:25:00
Steve McClaren was left to do what he does best this morning, deflecting a ravenous media from the key questions hanging over England's miserable failure to qualify for Euro 2008 . As we always sensed it would, McClaren's beguiling mastery of the press seems set to mask his team's shortcomings well beyond his 18-month tenure.There would be no statement of defiance, no explanation of his skewed tactics and certainly no criticism of English players, the English game or anything remotely linked to to the FA. After all, they of slick suits and big lunches had sacked McClaren with one pen, while writing a cheque worth £2.5million with another. As decisions go, it appears attaching a four-year contract to the most volatile job in the country rates roughly alongside selecting a novice goalkeeper for the most important football match of your managerial career. "I was honoured to be the England head coach," McClaren said. "It is a sad day to be relieved of my post, but I can understand th...
More About: Manager , Sacked , Wonderful , Ager

How Janis Joplin saved England
2007-11-21 11:37:00
Oh lord, wont you buy me a mercedes benz ? My friends all drive porsches, I must make amends.Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,So lord, wont you buy me a mercedes benz ? So sang Janis Joplin on her 1971 album Pearl, firing an ironic parting shot at materialistic America in the process (she died before the album's release). The real irony followed in 1995, however, when those owning the rights licensed the song to Mercedes themselves. Naturally they deployed it to sell millions of expensive cars as part of an ad campaign that spanned the globe. The song has thus grown to feed the beast it was seeking to destroy. In recent years, Joplin's provocative left-wing musings have been further undermined by 'her people' signing a record deal with Starbucks - that beastly corporate monster responsible for just about everything bad in the universe. Surely she would not have approved. Furthermore, it seems the cars she has inadvertently helped to shift this past 30-odd yea...
More About: England

Is Juande Special Too?
2007-11-09 08:03:00
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0 - 2 Tottenham Hotspur (Keane 26, Berbatov 31)Uefa Cup Group G Two weeks is a long time in football. In their previous European outing, Tottenham capitulated to a miserable 2-1 home defeat against Getafe, their manager Martin Jol was sacked during the game, and Dimitar Berbatov appeared poised to exit White Hart Lane stage left. Chairman Daniel Levy was not, you would imagine, best pleased.Enter Juande Ramos, the suave Spaniard who arrived as predictably as a Spice Girls reunion, but presumably has far more to offer. A heartening Carling Cup win against Blackpool ensued, followed by Saturday's 1-1 draw away to Middlesbrough. Small steps perhaps, but for Tottenham fans, hope springs eternal. Yesterday's comfortable Uefa Cup victory will have done little to subdue talk of the Ramos renaissance.A sense of perspective is most definitely required, however. Hapoel Tel-Aviv are languishing at the bottom of the Israeli league, with three draws and five defeats from thei...
More About: Uefa cup , Special , Spurs

2018: Get Ready for Hurt and Hurst in Abundance
2007-11-01 18:51:00
Hooray. The FA is to bid for the 2018 World Cup and it?s almost certain England will not only win that, but the whole tournament too. After all, that?s what happened in ?66. Omens don't come any bigger. Cue spontaneous street parties in the shires, the uncorking of vintage port in social clubs, and revelry so infectious it marries the warring classes and unites a nation. Call David Beckham. Call Des Lynam. Call Baddiel and Skinner. It?s coming home.What sublime genius from Gordon Brown to back the bid. That?s what we want from our Prime Minister - a thinker, a doer, a man of the people. And people love their football. What was Maggie thinking? She might have lined the wallets of thousands, told those pesky unions where to go, and done it all to a soundtrack of Duran Duran, but she had no handle on the national game whatsoever. How can you expect to be remembered, when you failed to win the rights to a single major football tournament during your tenure? As for the FA, all is forgiv...
More About: Abundance , Hurt , Ready , Get Ready

Hamilton mistake sets up fitting crescendo
2007-10-08 15:35:00
Those who write sporting scripts are clearly in the form of their lives. Beginning with their sacking of Australia, England's erstwhile dour, unimaginative excuse for a rugby team have summoned two seismic, monumental efforts to flatter Hercules through comparison. A World Cup Final beckons.Meanwhile the mighty All Blacks, a team so good many felt they should have been Fed-Exed the Webb Ellis trophy before the Rugby World Cup began, will yet again watch the final at home. In their quarterfinal defeat, opponents France were bolder, more expansive and took the types of risks only the underdog can. It goes to show that sometimes being an overwhelming favourite undermines the very qualities which took you there, replacing them with fear. The fear that maybe, just maybe, he who should, won't.It is with this sentiment we turn to the sublimely talented golden boy of Formula One, Mr Lewis Hamilton . This may appear sacrilege, but I would argue his coming to a 'sandstill' in Shanghai was ...
More About: Sets , Cres , Mista

Rugby ignites and unites the streets of Nantes
2007-09-25 10:35:00
Nantes, Saturday lunchtime. Cold beer, warm sunshine and hot food have formed glorious union to thaw those gathered in the picturesque Place Bouffay. As a particularly dishevelled band of England rugby fans lumber into view, loud cheers greet their colourful, if ridiculous, Hawaiian costumes. The youngest of their number, in a shirt with 'Tour Slave' emblazoned across the full girth of his quarter-aged spread, plants a kiss on Austin Healey, who is wearing rollerskates. Over the next two hours, to a soundtrack of The Beatles and a backdrop of 17th century architecture, rugby pilgrims from Taunton to Toronto launched themselves into World Cup festivities with the vigour of Sébastien Chabal attacking a ruck. Despite the heady atmosphere, a less savoury ruck was far from their minds. Even the ever-hilarious English take on La Marseillaise was received warmly by French fans, and all and sundry join for a rousing rendition of Flower of Scotland accompanied by a bagpiper.As the throngs ...
More About: Rugby , Streets , The Streets , Unit , Antes

Juicing Another Game?
2007-09-20 12:13:00
I'm not sure if you heard about it, but some years back, baseball's top table dismissed talk of performance-enhancing drugs as irrelevant. In what is essentially a game of skill, they argued, no substance invented could better a player. If anything, bulking up would detract from a hitter's natural swing and slow-down a pitcher's wind-up.It was, as it turns out, a misjudgment of George Bush proportions. In 2003, a survey of 568 major league players found 79% believed steroids played in a role in the glut of broken records which defined the game's most prolific decade. Steroids weren't quite an epidemic (7% tested positive that year), but in the hands of beefed-up sluggers Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds, they had already left an indelible mark of the soul of baseball. The game's overlords had either been oblivious or complicit.Five years after MLB belatedly brought drugs testing to its ballparks, golf is finally following suit. In 2008, the European and U.S. tours will be carryin...
More About: Game , Juicing

Holywood Hero Set for Lead Role
2007-09-07 20:19:00
At a time when thousands of 18-year-olds up and down the country are packing their bags, cashing their student loans and heading for freshers' week, Rory McIlroy is making plans for his graduation. Providing he makes his predicted grade, spiralling debt will not be a worry.In nine days' time, golf's latest prodigy will join 1,000 or so hopefuls in the European Tour's very own version of 'clearing' - Qualifying School. If he succeeds, he will be issued a Tour card and his rise to stardom will continue. Despite the odds - fewer than one in 20 make it through all three stages, played over 252 holes - McIlroy is typically confident.'You only have to finish in the top 30,' he says. 'When you think of it that way, it doesn't seem to be that hard, but obviously it is. I'm just going to try and win it like any other event. Then if you finish twenty-fifth, you're disappointed, but in another way you're not - you're on the Tour.'Next weekend's Walker Cup at Royal County Down w...
More About: Role , Hero , Observer , Lead

Europe's last frontier beckons
2007-08-01 12:51:00
It's been 77 years since Tommy Armour became the last European-born player to triumph in the PGA Championship. Along with Jim Barnes (1916 and 1919) and Jock Hutchinson (1920), born in England and Scotland respectively, he had acquired US citizenship some time before his name adorned the Wanamaker trophy, however.Of the three US-based major championships, the PGA is therefore the last bastion of European exclusion. Along with Ryder Cup success, the continent has produced 20 US Open champions and 11 winners of the Masters, yet no PGA champion in the tournament's 101-year history, despite 88 attempts.A European victory in Tulsa would therefore be of far greater significance than Padraig Harrington 's Open Championship triumph at Carnoustie. Fittingly, in the wake of his retirement, it would rank alongside Seve Ballesteros's Masters win in 1980 - Europe's first at Augusta - as a statement of intent; announcing the re-emergence with serious credibility of European golf on the world ...
More About: Frontier , Rope

Bring on the plastic play-off
2007-07-11 21:37:00
There's something intriguing about watching great purveyors of their craft in unfamiliar surroundings. It's not that we grow tired of their mastery in its natural domain; just that curiosity occasionally demands they be thrown the odd curve-ball.Twenty20 cricket is the perfect example. Batsmen who cultivate runs slowly and deliberately, nurturing innings like prize vegetables in four-day games, have no choice but to evolve. If they don't, they fail. Pure Darwinism.Then there's the crossing of codes in rugby; world-class athletes wiping clean the blueprint of their success to prove themselves all over. The master becomes the apprentice; the venerable, becomes vulnerable. Jason Robinson and Jonathan Davies, twice brilliant.Perhaps best of all is watching those who succeed in one sport attempt to master another. The best example in modern times is Bo Jackson, the American football player, who managed to combine his remarkable NFL career with the LA Raiders with another one in Major...
More About: Play , Plastic , Play-off

A grim tale of foreboding
2007-07-06 11:08:00
It had to happen. Success, it seems, can never run pure. It began when Lewis Hamilton was pictured entering a London nightclub with Natasha Bedingfield, a fellow human being, following last weeks' concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium. In the opinion of those who steal music from the internet, Miss Bedingfield is of course more than just a fellow human being; she is a fellow celebrity. Quite why the two were together is something of a PR coup for both their agents, but a landmark transition for Britain's sporting hero-in-waiting. In one photo-spread our 22-year-old steered his life towards Celebdom. The road to ruin; the road of least resistance; the road most travelled. All apply. For a brief moment it appears this model of professionalism, the epitome of reserve, was seduced by that most destructive drug, adulation. A predictable backlash in the form of 'spying' allegations against his McLaren team has followed. The media beast has to eat and without race wins to feed it, scur...
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The Hamilton Effect
2007-06-11 22:51:00
There's something curious happening to English sport. A nation prolifically adept at spawning over-hyped, underachieving sports stars who valiantly toil but seldom deliver, has to its name a bona fide home-grown champion. Unlike so many of his countrymen before him, Lewis Hamilton is not a nearly man.On Sunday, Hamilton took victory in the Canadian Grand Prix with the kind of ruthless efficiency rarely associated with these shores. For a blissful moment the perennial trepidation of England's faltering football team, the inevitable failures of its tennis best and the post-2005 fall-out of its cricket team appeared an illusion.This was English sport the way we dreamed it as children. Our hero, without fear, standing aside the giants of his field, bereft of their wisdom or experience, but armed with that most elusive of qualities, unfailing self-belief. Tiger Woods has it. Roger Federer has it. It's the sporting equivalent of 'the force'.They say success in life can come too early...
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Romero Leads Senior PGA
2007-05-25 15:56:00
Many sports have tried, and failed, to extend the shelf lives of their prized athletic commodities by introducing senior events. In most cases success has been moderate at best. It appears few of us enjoy watching our heroes' legacies diluted with the onset of time.Golf's PGA Champions Tour is a notable exception. Now in its 28th year, the tour offers over $54million in prize money (at an average of $1.86million per tournament) and continues to attract the cream of golfing talent upon their 50th birthdays. Generous media coverage and packed grandstands reflect a brand built in part through nostalgia, but largely through the sustained ability of golf's twilight generation to perform remarkable feats."The only real difference between older and younger players is focus," said 44-time Champions Tour winner and all-time money leader Hale Irwin. "Sure, there might be a small gap in driving distance, but largely the same skills prevail. What changes is your priorities in life, having a ...
More About: Senior , Leads , Romero

THE POTATO, THE WALRUS AND THE RAGING BLANCMANGE
2007-03-16 10:45:00
For a generation weaned on heroin chic, liposuction and size zero models, sport has served as an unlikely bastion of moral sensibility. As Bermudian spinner Dwayne Leverock will testify, in our world a few extra meals can put your next one on the table.At 19 stone, Leverock is the latest in a long line of portly sportsman to garner acclaim on the cricket field. Whether he could justify inclusion in an all-time "rotund and revered XI" is unlikely however. Colin Milburn, Darren Lehmann, Inzamam "the potato" Ul-Haq, Greg "fat cat" Ritchie and W.G. Grace would make anyone's line-up. Whoever joined them, the battle to field in the slips would be brutal.Cricket fans are not alone in their love for the plus-size performer. Before football entered the age of nutrionalists, Ferenc Puskas scored goals for fun and washed them down with a cake chaser. "Look at that little fat chap, we'll murder this lot," said one England player to another during the warm-up to the 1953 clash against Hungary ...
More About: Potato

FRIENDLIES UNDER FIRE
2007-03-05 07:59:00
If you think international friendlies are irritating, life-sapping sores on the glistening skin of sport, spare a thought for England fans in the late nineteenth century. Beginning in November 1872, our Victorian ancestors had a mere seven games over seven and half years for sustenance; all of which were friendlies against Scotland.The first encounter, played at West of Scotland Cricket Ground, marked the birth of international football itself. An England team picked by the F.A. and packed with scholarly upper class types greeted the occasion with an absurdly attack-minded 1-1-8 formation ? no place for Frank Lampard in that one.With Scotland deploying a similarly ridiculous 2-2-6, drawn entirely of players from Queen?s Park, the dawn of the international friendly was an odds-on firecracker in the making. All too prophetically, an insipid 0-0 draw followed; which is hardly surprisingly when you examine the English tactics more closely."Whoever had the ball would dribble at the oppon...
More About: Fire , Friendlies

MARCH MADNESS
2007-02-21 08:33:00
About this time of year, my brother-in-law in North Carolina calls me from his office. Fuelled by a heady mix of strong coffee, grits and adrenalin, he is frothing at the mouth by the time I get to the phone."Time for your picks," he'll say. "I'm all about the Wolfpack. Alabama look good again, but no defence..I hope Duke get railed. What do you think about Boston? They're on fire, but then they always are at the start, they'll fade I know it.."It's March in America, and college basketball has hijacked the sporting agenda. What began with the initial selection of 64 teams by the National Collegiate Athletic Association on March 11th, will play out over 21 days of inescapable drama and attract a combined television audience in excess of 120 million people. No wonder they call it March Madness .According to recent reports, CBS Sports' decision to stream live games from this year's tournament could cost employers $3.8 billion in lost productivity. If they took into account the h...

IN PROFILE - JACK NICKLAUS
2007-02-09 08:32:00
As he waved an emotional farewell to major championship golf upon St. Andrews? iconic Swilcan Bridge in 2005, Jack Nicklaus was honoured with a standing ovation that bought him, and many others, to tears. The ?golden bear? was both golf?s greatest player and its greatest ambassador.Alongside Arnold Palmer, Nicklaus was influential in golf?s boom as a spectator sport in the 1960s. It was an era that bought a new association with the game; where players became heroes like boxers and film stars before them. In the gold rush that followed, Nicklaus surpassed them all to become the greatest sportsman of his generation.Born in Columbus, Ohio on January 21, 1941, Nicklaus was a golf prodigy. He began playing aged ten and scored 50 for his first ever nine holes. Aged 16, he won the Ohio Open competing against professionals, and qualified for the US Open a year later.On the back of two US Amateur Championships titles in 1959 and 1961, Nicklaus turned professional in 1962 and won the first of...
More About: Profile , Klaus , Profil

A GIFT FROM GOD
2007-01-31 20:36:00
Truly great lives can resonate far beyond the dusty pages of history textbooks. Through their passion, verve and determination, some will live in the consciousness of civilization for eternity. Virginia is proud to call one such man its son.Arthur Robert Ashe Junior was born in Richmond, on July 10 1943. Growing up black in segregated society, he faced a daunting and uncertain future from his first breath. A frail and awkward child, he leaned heavily on his mother and was devastated by her death in 1950. Adversity would become a familiar theme in his life.Aged seven, Ashe began playing tennis at Brookfield Park, a racially divided facility close to his home where his father worked as a parks policeman. ?Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can,? he would later reflect. Soon enough his obvious talent attracted the attention of a local coach named Ronald Charity.Charity arranged for him to spend a summer with Dr Walter Johnson, a man who was later daubed the ?godfathe...
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THE OSCAR FOR BEST GOAL GOES TO...
2007-01-29 12:30:00
Goals are like films. Each year thousands of them are made by overpaid prima donnas, but most are instantly forgettable and ultimately inconsequential. Just occasionally, though, one appears so flawless that it transcends its genre and is universally acclaimed as a work of genius. To enter this category, two elements are nearly always in place. Firstly, the execution must be sublime and beyond the expected. Whether the work of an individual or ensemble cast, its rare vision of beauty appears somehow otherworldly amid the sea of mediocrity that surrounds it. Secondly, key to its impact is the context and timing of its appearance. A truly perfect goal, like a cinematic tour de force, arrives at precisely the right time to frame its magic. For this reason, the sixth goal in 8-0 win pales in comparison to an injury time winner in the European Cup Final. In the world of film, culturally reflective masterpieces such as Along the Waterfront, Taxi Driver and American Beauty would have made ...
More About: Oscar , Goal , The O , Goes

THE OCEAN COURSE - KIAWAH ISLAND, USA
2007-01-05 22:49:00
From the Blue Ridge Mountains of the north, to the wildlife rich lowcountry of the south, the palmetto state of South Carolina is both geographically and culturally diverse. Elegant architecture, sweeping dune-framed beaches and streets draped with Spanish moss make the region an enduringly popular tourist destination. For the sports orientated, the state also boasts one of the world's greatest golf courses. With family in neighbouring North Carolina, the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island had long beckoned. The links hosted the infamous 1991 Ryder Cup, dubbed the ?war by the shore?, and has received plaudits from just about every golf publication to take pen to course since. Home to this year's Senior PGA Championship and the 2012 US PGA Championship; I had all the justification necessary. And so, having opened a line of communication with Mike Vegis, the resort's affable publicist, I secured tee times and we loaded our clubs into a very American SUV. A golfing odyssey began....
More About: The O

THE DAY CLAY SHOOK THE WORLD
2006-11-17 16:34:00
On February 25th, 1964, Cassius Clay , the precocious 22 year-old from Louisville, Kentucky, conjured one of the greatest upsets in sporting history; taking Sonny Liston?s heavyweight crown after the defending champion conceded his title at the start of the seventh round.As the bell rang out Liston remained motionless in his corner and unable to continue, causing Clay to dance across the Miami canvas in wild celebration. The 7-1 outsider, given little chance in the build-up to this fight, had finally lived up to his hyperbole. All the talk wasn?t just talk. Cassius Clay was the heavyweight champion of the world.?I shook up the world,? he said afterwards. ?I upset Sonny Liston. I am the greatest fighter that ever lived. I told you, I told you.?Ultimately, the contest was won and lost through adversity. Clay?s vision was severely impaired for the entire fifth round, but somehow he survived. Liston?s resolve was not as strong. The aging champion eventually succumbed to a shoulder injury...
More About: World , The World , Hook

ENGLAND FANS ARE REALLY NICE, HONESTLY
2006-10-27 20:57:00
If you believe the stereotype, England football fans are drunken hellions with a rabid thirst for violence. As the FA face charges after alleged incidents in Croatia earlier this month, one passionate fan from Brighton has been compelled to give a first hand account of events that day.As she strolled through Zagreb, Lisa Kerridge remembers the atmosphere between the two sets of fans being upbeat and jovial, with each exchanging songs and mingling without incident. The ugly scenes that followed, she says, were sparked by inexplicably poor organisation on the part of local Police.?As we approached the ground there were only one or two very small gates to go through and they were frequently being shut,? she says. ?Naturally, fans became more frustrated as the crowds grew. The nearer it got to kick off the more agitated we all became.?As panic took hold, England fans were met by baton wielding police and resultant clashes reportedly left several supporters with head injuries. According ...
More About: Fans , Nice , Ally

CARNOUSTIE LINKS, SCOTLAND
2006-09-19 17:52:00
Barring a bizarre chain of events, I will never play football at Wembley Stadium. Gone too is any chance of playing cricket at Lord's, rugby at Twickenham or winning the men?s singles title at Wimbledon (I?m English). It seems destiny has made me an everyman, a voyeur from plastic seat or through plasma screen. For this perennial dreamer, the door to the grandest stage is all but closed. ?I could have been somebody,? as Marlon Brando best said. Last month, however, I walked in the footsteps of sporting legend. It didn?t cost anything, there was no real training involved and it had absolutely nothing to do with talent. Golf, it appears, is the game which brings you closest to your sporting gods. When I wrote to the Carnoustie Links , I did so with a preconceived notion of stuffy officious types greeting my request with guffaws of cake-muffled laughter. ?This young man is asking to play the Championship course,? they would scoff, ?what insolence!?Opening my emails the following morn...
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