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GRAHAM'S
SPORTING WEEK, |
| Last Week |
Week O4-06-08 |
| In support of the
anti-bending-over-backwards-to-be-nice brigade; An e-mail sent to the Littlejohn programme on SKY last night regarding the D-Day celebrations remarked that it was a good job the war cemetery was in Normandy and not in this country, otherwise we'd have to cover up all the crosses to avoid upsetting other faiths. SIMON
SAYS – PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER Another
first time winner on the European Tour this week, with an equally stunning
performance. A
31-year-old Essex boy called Simon Khan had been a pro since 1991, and
like last week’s winner Scott Drummond, had been flitting around the
Challenge Tour with occasional hopeful ventures into the big league.
Admittedly he had established a bit of a presence in the past couple of
years, but was one of those who sometimes feature on the leaderboard in
the early stages of a competition before fading out of contention.
However, in the Wales Open at Celtic Manor near Newport, he scorched
through the front nine of his second round in a tour record equalling 27
strokes. Despite the birdie run drying up a bit from there on, he still
recorded a 61, which most pros dream of. This time he held his form
however, and came from behind playing partner Paul Casey in the final
round to force a playoff. After nervous pars all round at the first
attempt, he played it straight whilst Casey went into the long grass, and
eventually won by 2 strokes. That must have been a very satisfying
comeback after the previous week’s performance, when he was fined £2,000
and penalised one stroke at Wentworth for slow play! (Frenchman
Christian Cevaer was fined £4,000 at Celtic Manor as it was his second
offence this season, so maybe the message is getting through to the tour
organisers at last.) Over
in Jack Nicklaus’ back yard at Muirfield Village, Ohio, Ernie Els shot a
final round 66 to take the Memorial trophy by 4 shots from veteran Freddie
Couples. The youngsters were following closely though, with Tiger third,
ahead of Justin Rose. If
two childhood friends want to have a game of tennis, someone should tell
them that a Grand Slam final is not the place to do it. Nerves and lack of
fire got the better of the 2 Russian girls in Paris, leaving the
spectators with something which I thought virtually impossible – it made
the last Formula 1 race look positively exciting! Then, for two and a half
sets it seemed as if the 2 Argentineans were going to serve up a repeat
damp squib in the men’s final, but a fortuitously timed attack of cramp
for the dominant Coria gave unseeded Gaudio a way back, and he took it
through to a see-saw final set which the latter won 8-6. I noticed that a
commonly occurring theme in various reports on the French Open was praise
for Henman’s efforts. ‘Come on’ Tim did the unthinkable and took his
speedy grass court game to the French clay, shocking a succession of big
names into defeat. Had he just been able to get a few more first serves
in, he could have made the final, but he was nevertheless satisfied with
his best ever Grand Slam performance outside Wimbledon. I’ve
been rebuked by Kent for not mentioning the Indy 500 in last week’s
missive. I can honestly say I didn’t see or hear any reports of it in my
usual sources, but upon checking more deeply I discover that the first
race in 21 years that Kent hasn’t been able to attend was won by Buddy
Rice in a much rain-affected race that was ultimately shortened to 180 of
the planned 200 laps. I should think the drivers were mighty relieved not
to have to do the last 20 laps, as it reduced the potential level of
dizziness. Let’s face it; what do they have to do? Wind it up to 200
mph, keep the foot on the floor and the steering wheel turned left, and
that’s it unless someone crashes and the race is yellow-flagged. Mind
you, there is something in it – money! Buddy gets $1.76 million dollars
for his efforts. (Warning signs around the corner though – I mentioned
it to 3 Americans who are participating in the workshop that I’m
attending, and pointed out that I hadn’t heard any reports, to which
they replied, “It’s not particularly big in the States these days
either.”) The
MotoGP event in Mugello, Italy was another superb example of high-octane
excitement. The first part of the event saw 6 riders swapping the lead
endlessly until they started to drop off one by one, as a result of the
punishing pace set by Gibernau, whose superior horsepower enabled him to
overtake each time they went down the home straight, and Rossi, whose
slower but more agile bike enabled him to re-take the lead on the corners
that followed. Then the rain came and the race was stopped. At the
re-start it was a simple 6-lap shootout, on a wet track, with no credit
for what happened earlier. Rossi set off gingerly, but worked his way up
to the front, and as the track dried he took the gamble of breaking away
before the others, just holding off a fast-finishing Gibernau again. If
you’ve never bothered to watch it, find the time some day. It’s the
sort of stuff that has you sucking in your breath at almost every corner,
instead of wondering if you can finish the crossword before Schumacher
gets the chequered flag! |
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
Abramovich
has bought a new puppet for his Chelsea toy parlour in the form of manager
Jose Mourinho from Portugal. The new signing can certainly talk a good
game; “We
have top players, and I’m sorry I’m a bit arrogant – we have a top
manager.” The
Thai bid for Liverpool is still active, although subject to all sorts of
hiccups. The question of exactly where the money would come from was
further clouded with suggestions that they would run a national lottery to
provide the funds. First prize a weekend in Phuket; second prize an
under-performing English football team! Whatever
the results on the pitch we can be sure that England’s footballers will
milk the maximum amount of publicity from their presence in Portugal for
Euro 2004. Beckham and his merry men arrived on Monday, reportedly
complete with 24 cans of styling mousse. The
pleasant change of reporting on a sunshine soaked golf tournament in the
UK gave the commentators an opportunity to muse about the state of the
universe; “One
thing always amuses me about suntan lotion. When you go on holiday they
sell you a small travel pack. That’s the time when you need a dirty
great tub of the stuff!” Lleyton
Hewitt heaves a sigh of relief as Tim Henman gets through to the
quarter-finals of the French Open; “It's
great, another English-speaking guy in the locker room. There's not many I
can talk to!” There’s
a new movie called ‘Wimbledon’ in which an unknown Brit beats all the
odds to win the tournament. In commenting on the plot, Serena Williams
shows that she has enough tact to become president of her country; “It
must be a comedy if a British player is winning at Wimbledon!” During
the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the SKY
News reporter was interviewing one of the few surviving pilots of the
wooden gliders that had delivered the troops into the centre of the
conflict area by night. Asked whether he’d had any concerns about the
flimsiness of the craft, the veteran replied with a mocking rebuke; “They
were pretty substantial pieces of furniture.” Whilst
driving to the golf club last weekend we were waiting behind a small van
at the traffic lights. The advert on the rear window announced ‘Hot
Breads’, but I noted an air-conditioning unit on the roof?! Another
classic from the small ads in ADCO’s weekly circular; “Bedroom:
Six beds with good heads, size: 2 X 120 m.” |
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ON
THE BOX
Rugby Internationals Saturday 11:20
N. Zealand – England Sunday 09:45
Australia – Scotland Golf Diageo Championship from GleneaglesThu/Fri 18:00 – 21:00 Golf Buick Classic from Westchester, NY Thu/Fri 24:00 Football
Euro 2004 from Portugal Saturday 19:30
Portugal – Greece Sunday 19:30
Switzerland – Croatia Monday 19:30
Denmark – Italy Tuesday (15th)
19:30 Czech
Republic – Latvia Formula 1 Canadian GP from MontrealFriday 22:00 Practice 2 Saturday 15:45
Practice 3 Sunday 20:00
GP Motorcycle racing World Superbikes from SilverstoneSaturday 19:00 Superpole Sunday 14:45
Superbike race 1 Motorcycle racing MotoGP from Catalunya, SpainSunday 13:00
125cc Motor racing Le Mans 24 HoursSaturday 18:00
– 19:00 Sunday 11:00 – 12:30 Thursday to
Monday daily at 13:15 – 20:45 Athletics
IAAF events Tuesday 21:30 – 00:30 GP from Ostrova, Czech Republic Friday
22:00 – 00:30 Golden
League from Bergen Tennis Stella Artois tournament from Queen’s ClubFriday 16:00 – 22:00 Quarter-finals Saturday 20:45 Semi-finals (not live) Sunday 20:45
Final (not live)
Graham |
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Gift Idea |
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Good to report that as at
FREED AT LAST, |
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BLOGROLL
Atlantic Blog (defunct) Blog-Irish (defunct)
Jihad
Religion
Iona Institute
Leisure
Blog Directory
My Columns in the
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What I've recently
But it's not
entirely honest in its subtle pro-Palestinian bias, and therefore needs
to be read in conjunction with an antidote, such as See detailed review +++++
BP's ambitious CEO John Browne expanded it through adventurous acquisitions, aggressive offshore exploration, and relentless cost-reduction that trumped everything else, even safety and long-term technical sustainability. Thus mistakes accumulated, leading to terrifying and deadly accidents in refineries, pipelines and offshore operations, and business disaster in Russia. The Macondo blowout was but an inevitable outcome of a BP culture that had become poisonous and incompetent. However the book is gravely compromised by a litany of over 40 technical and stupid errors that display the author's ignorance and carelessness. It would be better to wait for the second (properly edited) edition before buying. As for BP, only a wholesale rebuilding of a new, professional, ethical culture will prevent further such tragedies and the eventual destruction of a once mighty corporation with a long and generally honourable history. Note: I wrote
my own reports on Macondo +++++
A horrific account of:
More details on my blog here. +++++
After recounting a childhood of convention and simple pleasures in working-class Aberdeen, Mr Urquhart is conscripted within days of Chamberlain declaring war on Germany in 1939. From then until the Japanese are deservedly nuked into surrendering six years later, Mr Urquhart’s tale is one of first discomfort but then following the fall of Singapore of ever-increasing, unmitigated horror. After a wretched journey Eastward, he finds himself part of Singapore’s big but useless garrison. Taken prisoner when Singapore falls in 1941, he is, successively,
Chronically ill, distraught and traumatised on return to Aberdeen yet disdained by the British Army, he slowly reconstructs a life. Only in his late 80s is he able finally to recount his dreadful experiences in this unputdownable book. There are very few first-person eye-witness accounts of the the horrors of Japanese brutality during WW2. As such this book is an invaluable historical document. +++++
This is a rattling good tale of the web of corruption within which the American president and his cronies operate. It's written by blogger Michele Malkin who, because she's both a woman and half-Asian, is curiously immune to the charges of racism and sexism this book would provoke if written by a typical Republican WASP. With 75 page of notes to back up - in best blogger tradition - every shocking and in most cases money-grubbing allegation, she excoriates one Obama crony after another, starting with the incumbent himself and his equally tricky wife. Joe Biden, Rahm Emmanuel, Valerie Jarett, Tim Geithner, Lawrence Summers, Steven Rattner, both Clintons, Chris Dodd: they all star as crooks in this venomous but credible book. ACORN, Mr Obama's favourite community organising outfit, is also exposed for the crooked vote-rigging machine it is. +++++
It is really just a collation of amusing little tales about surprising human (and occasionally animal) behaviour and situations. For example:
The book has no real message other than don't be surprised how humans sometimes behave and try to look for simple rather than complex solutions. And with a final anecdote (monkeys, cash and sex), the book suddenly just stops dead in its tracks. Weird. ++++++
It's chapters are organised around provocative questions such as
It's central thesis is that economic development continues to be impeded in different countries for different historical reasons, even when the original rationale for those impediments no longer obtains. For instance:
The author writes in a very chatty, light-hearted matter which makes the book easy to digest. However it would benefit from a few charts to illustrate some of the many quantitative points put forward, as well as sub-chaptering every few pages to provide natural break-points for the reader. +++++
The author was a member of Britain's V Force, a forerunner of the SAS. Its remit was to harass Japanese lines of command, patrol their occupied territory, carryout sabotage and provide intelligence, with the overall objective of keeping the enemy out of India. Irwin is admirably yet brutally frank, in his descriptions of deathly battles with the Japs, his execution of a prisoner, dodging falling bags of rice dropped by the RAF, or collapsing in floods of tears through accumulated stress, fear and loneliness. He also provides some fascinating insights into the mentality of Japanese soldiery and why it failed against the flexibility and devolved authority of the British. The book amounts to a very human and exhilarating tale. Oh, and Irwin describes the death in 1943 of his colleague my uncle, Major PF Brennan. +++++ Other books here |
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After
48
crackling, compelling, captivating games, the new World Champions are,
deservedly,
England get the Silver,
No-one can argue with
Over the competition, |
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