Shooting up at the ball game

The Mitchell report condemns the players of Major League Baseball but the shame should be shared by the administrators, owners and managers. The scale of the wrongdoing is such that most involved were cheats, fools or collaborators.

There is no way the records can be wiped and history re-written. The answer is simple. From Opening Day 2008 MLB should publish its banned substance list, introduce frequent and random testing and punish transgressors with immediate life bans for the players and an extra game in the lost column for the teams.

Why is this the answer? Simple, it costs the cheats and their employers money.

For the record Mr Bonds stood at the plate just 8 times when Mr Clemens was on the mound. In the juiciest of contests Mr Bonds struck out twice, was walked five times and hit by a pitch once. It is unlikely that this record will need revising in the future.

The Golden Generation

The ambitious soubriquet conferred on England's current crop of soccer players (Beckham et al) which once again proves that little that blusters is gold. For most teams Israel's unlikely conquest of Russia would have been a lifeline. For England merely a rope with which to hang themselves.

Tomorrow the tabloids will savage their erstwhile heroes with the same blithe venom that kings beheaded their fools 500 years ago. The hapless manager will be vilified eased only by the breathtaking golden parachute that rewards failure. Months will pass 'til the next poor sap takes the job based on the joint criteria of 'plausible enough to appoint, stupid enough to accept'.

English soccer is OK, the circus that surrounds it is quite disgusting. Football maybe going home, but not to England.

Red Sox Nation

Boston win the Series. It's a shame the Rockies did not show up and the contrast between the most exciting regular season ever and the damp squib of the Fall Classic could not be more acute. The last Series of equal torpor was the Sox 4-0 blow out of the Cardinals in 2004, but here's the thing. If you are a Boston fan 4-0 is EXACTLY what you want. All the tension of being a fan all your life is quite enough thanks.

England 6 South Africa 15

Integrity, effort but in the end defeat. We only lost the match but gained in every other department.

Showtime

3pm NY, October 20 2007. England attempt the impossible task of becoming the first country to retain the Rugby World Cup. This cannot be done, there is no way at all that we will beat the mighty South Africans, they have too much power, too much skill and too much belief. Issue settled. The result from the last encounter is on the shirt.

But on the other hand......some of us remember the night of February 11th 1990 when James "Buster" Douglas beat Mike Tyson. In relative terms Tyson was better than South Africa and England better than Douglas.

Guest post - The sports maven speaks

From Adam Samuel:

Just come back from Lausanne to find that my video failed to record a certain Rugby match. It's tough providing the necessary analysis on the basis of highlight reels. The French defence was clearly at fault for the Lewsey try. A lack of Pallister/Bruce - esque attacking of the ball going on on the part of Traille. The high tackle on Robinson was definitely high. More to the point, perhaps, conceding one try in two games will help a great deal. Has our defence been that good?
Anyway, happily, the final is a Saturday night here. So, I have no excuse. My concern is that with the big South African pack, I cannot see where our advantage lies. I always suspected that we could beat both Australia and France upfront. I think that we'll have to handle the South Africans a little differently.
One thing that is apparent is that all the plaudits for Brian Ashton were right. It's one thing to coach the best team in the world to the World Cup Final (2003) but the sixth best (NZ, SA, Australia, France, Ireland in that order were probably regarded as better at the start) is a bit special.
Anyway, on Saturday, I'll be missing you horribly and thinking of trudging through the rain four years ago and trying not to soak Bishop while removing my layers of waterproof clothing. Actually, fancy a trip to London?
More seriously, I subscribe the Mike Brearley Headingley 1981 fourth inning approach which accepts the likelihood of defeat but the possibility of victory. South Africa look the better side from what I've seen but if you can stop the other side scoring, interesting things begin to happen.

Content is king

The only way I could see the England vs France rugby match on Saturday was by paying $14.99 to Setanta to watch via a DSL connection on this laptop. The picture was poor, it froze at least 10 times during the match albeit not at crucial moments yet it was the best $14.99 I have ever spent.

This simply proves that the value of the content can be a decisive factor that overrides every other consideration. Would that there were more content like it.

Ooh La La

Ce n'est pas possible. Les Ros Bis sont magnifique.

Next Saturday, the World Cup again? Perchance to dream.

Head coach anyone?

Male, late 60's, seeks employment. Most recent role, manager of New York Yankees baseball team. Major achievements, 12 consecutive post seasons, 6 World Series appearances, 4 World Series wins. Used to dealing with talented but difficult employees and navigating relationships with challenging shareholders.

Alas Joe Torre, you picked the only sports franchise on the planet where not winning the whole thing every year is failure. Goodbye George Steinbrenner (the Boss way before Springsteen), hello Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame.

Adam Samuel - lawyer, sports maven

I take the libery of commenting on sport in this blog. I do it at my peril as my good friend Adam may just respond leaving me seeming ill informed or just plain ignorant. Clearly his contributions are a good thing so please do look out for them. Before you decide to correct him I offer one word of advice. Don't. He will be right you will be wrong.

NFL Sunday : The Jets and The Giants

What greater rivalry could there be in all of sport than the Jets and the Giants? The only cross town rivalry in the entire National Football League (let's ignore the 49ers / Raiders), a shared stadium and history on both sides. Yet in fact the rivalry probably would not rank in the top 50 of US sports. The Jets and the Giants play in neither the same division nor conference which means they can never play a winner takes all game unless by miracle they meet in the Superbowl itself. Actually they only get to play at all every fourth year which is barely enough to confer bragging rights.

For the record the Giants are at home today, both have had average to poor starts to the year, maybe just as well the game is not in NY at all. The stadium is in New Jersey. By the way the Giants won.

Oh me of little faith

England 12 , Australia 10. It beggars belief. I have never missed being in England as much as I do now simply to share the lake of beer that accompanies beating the Australians at anything. In Mrs. Thatcher's words.........Rejoice, Rejoice!

More surreal still is that France beat New Zealand (the best team in the world for 47 out of every 48 months) to set up a repeat of the 2003 semi-final next weekend.

Be sure of one thing; England CANNOT win this World Cup.

Two hours to go

England remain Rugby World Champions, for at least another two hours. In twenty minutes they start a game against Australia, the defeated finalists last time. This time almost no one thinks England have a chance. More later..................

What a difference a week makes

The Mets win 3 in a row, the Phillies lose a game, the Jets and Giants win and even Tottenham get to draw (tie) at Bolton. England rugby beat Samoa. Rejoice, Rejoice. All remarkable stuff and dare we wish good portents for the week ahead.

Ever decreasing circles

This has little to do with anything but share my pain for a moment. I am a sports fan; specifically a fan of the Mets and the Jets, of Tottenham Hotspur, England cricket and rugby. In the last five days the Mets are 0 and 5, the Jets 0 and 2, Tottenham blew a 1-0 lead to go down 1-3 against Arsenal (THE rival), England cricket lost to South Africa and Australia and England rugby was murdered by South Africa. Fortunately I am a fan of Tiger Woods. Always good to have some security in a sub-prime world. Thanks for listenting.