Seems like some in an around the Olympic Games are having some trouble identifying the real Michael Phelps!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Olympics II
This does really do it for me, the Chinese showing their true colours (red), it's this sort of stuff that takes away from the Olympics!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/rowing/7485023.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7507461.stm
The old Project 119, now that is what embodies the Olympic spirit!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/rowing/7485023.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7507461.stm
The old Project 119, now that is what embodies the Olympic spirit!!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Olympics
It was recently brought to my attention by one of Sportsmouth' avid readers, that they had been eagerly awaiting comments on the Olympic Games!
Ask and you shall receive, probably not what you were anticipating though!!
The main reason why Sportsmouth has been quite on the Olympic front is this, most of the sports are a total waste of time and shouldn't even be there, here is a list of sports that should be excluded from the Games!
Badminton - do I really need to give a reason
Baseball - as above, its certainly not what every young baseballer dreams of doing
Basketball - Olympic gold or NBA riches, not a hard decision
BMX - what the f#@k is this doing in the games
Beach Volleyball - great to watch, but Olympics me thinks not
Handball - they'd be better off with the school yard version
Hockey - nope, sorry
Judo - not karate not wrestling, not worthy of Olympic Games
Mountain Biking - BMX for big kiddies - see BMX
Rhythmic Gymnastics - balls, ribbons, hoops, its dancing with stuff
Sailing - Americas Cup anyone, no a 5 foot esky lid sounds better
Soccer - 90,000 quid a week or Olympic gold
Softball - baseball for chicks, you play this for school sport so all the not so sport oriented get to play as well
Synchronised Diving - diving + 1 doesn't make it any better
Synchronsied Swimming - I'm sure I don't need to go any further
Table Tennis - you play this under the house with your mates
Taekwondo - see Judo
Tennis - Wimbeldon fame and glory or the gold medal....
Trampoline - I'm not kidding
Walking - yeah it's part of atheletics but really, how fast can you walk or how slow can you run?!
We could go further, by breaking down some of the swimming events, do they really need to go forwards and backwards over so many distances, the modern pentathlon is also up for debate, if they actually made that event one big race for instance, competitor grabs sword (fencing) has to beat opponent, then runs (run leg) to the lake and swims across (swim leg) jumps on his horse (horse part)and gets to shoot something with his pistol (pistol part) in the shortest time possible then we've got something!!
Ask and you shall receive, probably not what you were anticipating though!!
The main reason why Sportsmouth has been quite on the Olympic front is this, most of the sports are a total waste of time and shouldn't even be there, here is a list of sports that should be excluded from the Games!
Badminton - do I really need to give a reason
Baseball - as above, its certainly not what every young baseballer dreams of doing
Basketball - Olympic gold or NBA riches, not a hard decision
BMX - what the f#@k is this doing in the games
Beach Volleyball - great to watch, but Olympics me thinks not
Handball - they'd be better off with the school yard version
Hockey - nope, sorry
Judo - not karate not wrestling, not worthy of Olympic Games
Mountain Biking - BMX for big kiddies - see BMX
Rhythmic Gymnastics - balls, ribbons, hoops, its dancing with stuff
Sailing - Americas Cup anyone, no a 5 foot esky lid sounds better
Soccer - 90,000 quid a week or Olympic gold
Softball - baseball for chicks, you play this for school sport so all the not so sport oriented get to play as well
Synchronised Diving - diving + 1 doesn't make it any better
Synchronsied Swimming - I'm sure I don't need to go any further
Table Tennis - you play this under the house with your mates
Taekwondo - see Judo
Tennis - Wimbeldon fame and glory or the gold medal....
Trampoline - I'm not kidding
Walking - yeah it's part of atheletics but really, how fast can you walk or how slow can you run?!
We could go further, by breaking down some of the swimming events, do they really need to go forwards and backwards over so many distances, the modern pentathlon is also up for debate, if they actually made that event one big race for instance, competitor grabs sword (fencing) has to beat opponent, then runs (run leg) to the lake and swims across (swim leg) jumps on his horse (horse part)and gets to shoot something with his pistol (pistol part) in the shortest time possible then we've got something!!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tell us what you really think coach!
Sometimes a coach just needs to vent & these guys let fly, enjoy!
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/extramustard/07/28/like.itis/index.html
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/extramustard/07/28/like.itis/index.html
Monday, August 11, 2008
Cadel Evans
I know its been a while since the Tour De France, but I wanted to comment quickly on a headline by a British newspaper.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/cycling/article4412510.ece
Now it sounds like the typical whingeing pom routine to me, but there's no need to go into that, the biggest difference and what I guess alot of people and the times included don't realise is that although an individual is awarded the overall honour of winning the Tour, it really is a team event and it shows in the fact that it's custom for the individual winner splits his winnings evenly amongts his teammates!
Now if anyone from the Times chose to listen to some of the fantastic commentary, they would've realised that it wasn't until the final few stages that Carlos Sastre (eventual winner) came to the front of his team, for the preceeding 20 odd days he was allowed by his team to sit at the back of there group and do very little work, thus allowing him to conserve energy to attack at the appropriate time and to also be as fresh as possible to take on the time trial.
Unfortunatley Evans did not have this luxury and was many times left to defend himself in the mountains with no teammates to help, this I'm sure left him both physically and mentally drained for the time trial!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/cycling/article4412510.ece
Now it sounds like the typical whingeing pom routine to me, but there's no need to go into that, the biggest difference and what I guess alot of people and the times included don't realise is that although an individual is awarded the overall honour of winning the Tour, it really is a team event and it shows in the fact that it's custom for the individual winner splits his winnings evenly amongts his teammates!
Now if anyone from the Times chose to listen to some of the fantastic commentary, they would've realised that it wasn't until the final few stages that Carlos Sastre (eventual winner) came to the front of his team, for the preceeding 20 odd days he was allowed by his team to sit at the back of there group and do very little work, thus allowing him to conserve energy to attack at the appropriate time and to also be as fresh as possible to take on the time trial.
Unfortunatley Evans did not have this luxury and was many times left to defend himself in the mountains with no teammates to help, this I'm sure left him both physically and mentally drained for the time trial!
SBW
Pretty clear what is going on here, but as with most others the biggest issue comes from the fact that Sonny Bill Williams walked out on a contract!
Most organisations sporting or otherwise do not want employees contracted to their organisation if they don't really want to be there, as it would obviously affect perfomances. Maybe SBW just had to ask to leave, remember that old saying "all you can do is ask, and all they can do is say no"!
As stated Sportsmouth doesn't really have any problem except that he walked on the contract when it could've, should've been dealt with in a more professional manner. Now Sportsmouth does find it interesting that some of the most outspoken critics of SBW's movements are former players, who during the Super League war back in the 1990's did very similar things when deciding whether to sign with the rebel super league or stay with the ARL and lets just remind some of them that at that time they were contracted to their clubs who were licensed by the ARL and they broke ranks to sign massive contracts with the rebel league.
Some of these contracts with the bigger names in Rugby League were said to be around $800k per season(1996 money, work out how much that is today), now that's only about what SBW signed for today to play rugby in France!
Most organisations sporting or otherwise do not want employees contracted to their organisation if they don't really want to be there, as it would obviously affect perfomances. Maybe SBW just had to ask to leave, remember that old saying "all you can do is ask, and all they can do is say no"!
As stated Sportsmouth doesn't really have any problem except that he walked on the contract when it could've, should've been dealt with in a more professional manner. Now Sportsmouth does find it interesting that some of the most outspoken critics of SBW's movements are former players, who during the Super League war back in the 1990's did very similar things when deciding whether to sign with the rebel super league or stay with the ARL and lets just remind some of them that at that time they were contracted to their clubs who were licensed by the ARL and they broke ranks to sign massive contracts with the rebel league.
Some of these contracts with the bigger names in Rugby League were said to be around $800k per season(1996 money, work out how much that is today), now that's only about what SBW signed for today to play rugby in France!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
NRL has problems
That could be the understatement of the year, the NRL has some big issues which it must deal with as soon as it can or the way forward is murky at best.
The biggest issue is the structure, from my limited knowledge the NRL is 50% Aust Rugby League (ARL) and 50% News Limited. This was brokered at the end of the super league war which at the time kept the piece and all stakeholders happy.
Times have changed and this structure no longer works, if you break down the structure it looks like this, with all the following parties having a say in what goes on. There is the NRL they just run the competition, ARL governing body (yeah right), News Limited, New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), Queensland Rugby League (QRL), Country Rugby League (CRL-NSW), Queensland Country Rugby League (QCRL) all these parties have a say in the running of the game and they are run by people who are more interested in bettering their position in the heirachy then the betterment of the game.
News Limited have stakes in or own several clubs including the reiging premiers the Melb Storm, now they also have a part ownership in Fox Sports one of the major broadcasters, if that is not a conflict of interest then I don't know what is. Think about this, as a stake holder in the NRL they should be seeking the most money possible from broadcasting rights, as major stakeholder in Fox Sports they would be seeking to pay the least amount possible for the broadcast rights!!
There needs to be a completely independant body that is in charge of this game, that is responsible for tv rights and sponsorship that is to the benefit of the league and the clubs that provide the entertainment.
It would be a quite the over statement to say that this would be the start of dead man walking for rugby league, but if it's not seen to and in the right manner then it'll certainly create more harm then good.
As you can see there is more then one major issue, there are many, governing structure, running structure, salary cap, tv rights, private ownership of teams, superannuation, sponsorship, the list goes on and on.
The biggest issue is the structure, from my limited knowledge the NRL is 50% Aust Rugby League (ARL) and 50% News Limited. This was brokered at the end of the super league war which at the time kept the piece and all stakeholders happy.
Times have changed and this structure no longer works, if you break down the structure it looks like this, with all the following parties having a say in what goes on. There is the NRL they just run the competition, ARL governing body (yeah right), News Limited, New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), Queensland Rugby League (QRL), Country Rugby League (CRL-NSW), Queensland Country Rugby League (QCRL) all these parties have a say in the running of the game and they are run by people who are more interested in bettering their position in the heirachy then the betterment of the game.
News Limited have stakes in or own several clubs including the reiging premiers the Melb Storm, now they also have a part ownership in Fox Sports one of the major broadcasters, if that is not a conflict of interest then I don't know what is. Think about this, as a stake holder in the NRL they should be seeking the most money possible from broadcasting rights, as major stakeholder in Fox Sports they would be seeking to pay the least amount possible for the broadcast rights!!
There needs to be a completely independant body that is in charge of this game, that is responsible for tv rights and sponsorship that is to the benefit of the league and the clubs that provide the entertainment.
It would be a quite the over statement to say that this would be the start of dead man walking for rugby league, but if it's not seen to and in the right manner then it'll certainly create more harm then good.
As you can see there is more then one major issue, there are many, governing structure, running structure, salary cap, tv rights, private ownership of teams, superannuation, sponsorship, the list goes on and on.
Club Culture
Another week and another high profile sportsman has gone and gotten himself into a right mess and would you believe it, alcohol was involved!
What is the problem with these guys, young, healthy and plenty of cash and adored by many.
That is the problem, these guys come out of high school where they were molly coddled because they were good at sport, never made accountable for there actions on or off the field, then they sign big dollar contract and all of a sudden their high school fan club just got a whole lot bigger, with night club managers handing them drinks and women throwing themselves at them.
But the big problem lies with the teams and managers of said players who go about covering up all the mistakes they make out in the real world, make them accountable for their actions, if they go out and do something that society believes to be wrong them punish them accordingly and let them feel the pain of their mistakes. The clubs and managers by covering up all the indiscretions create a false environment and maybe they should be held as accountable as the stars they look after!
All Sportsmouth asks is for the punters not to treat them like stars but to let them have a drink with there mates or who ever they may be with. Sportsmouth has never and will never understand the mindset of those who star gaze at the site of a so called famous face, let them have some time out and get over the star gazing, really it's pathetic
What is the problem with these guys, young, healthy and plenty of cash and adored by many.
That is the problem, these guys come out of high school where they were molly coddled because they were good at sport, never made accountable for there actions on or off the field, then they sign big dollar contract and all of a sudden their high school fan club just got a whole lot bigger, with night club managers handing them drinks and women throwing themselves at them.
But the big problem lies with the teams and managers of said players who go about covering up all the mistakes they make out in the real world, make them accountable for their actions, if they go out and do something that society believes to be wrong them punish them accordingly and let them feel the pain of their mistakes. The clubs and managers by covering up all the indiscretions create a false environment and maybe they should be held as accountable as the stars they look after!
All Sportsmouth asks is for the punters not to treat them like stars but to let them have a drink with there mates or who ever they may be with. Sportsmouth has never and will never understand the mindset of those who star gaze at the site of a so called famous face, let them have some time out and get over the star gazing, really it's pathetic
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