Random Sporting Thoughts

I failed for the first time this year on producing a New Year’s blog making sporting predictions for the year ahead. After essentially promising Floyd and Manny would fight for the last 15 years (it feels that long), I can officially confirm that they agreed to fight this year purely because they didn’t feel the weight of expectation based on my annual blog. We may be a few months into the year, but still plenty to predict and look forward to…..and I have to write another blog for work tomorrow which I have to nail, so I need to get back into this writing business!

Manny & Floyd

We may as well start at the start. I am giddy. I have been known to get giddy about the biggest fight ever numerous times (for numerous read monthly) in the past. This is it though. This is as big as they come. So how do it see it? For once, I am sticking with my initial thought that Floyd wins on points. It is so easy to get caught up in these fights and the hype and go back and forth on them, and I have had thoughts that Manny’s workrate is too much for Floyd. However, I still just have to go for Floyd. Defence is impeccable, he’ll land with enough straight rights and his accuracy percentages will be way way higher. Manny will land more punches, but I’m dubious about how many quality shots he will land. So much will depend on the judges, but if it comes to that which I am pretty sure it will, Floyd will get any favours. It’s one of the reasons they are fighting in Vegas. Floyd on points.

Josh Warrington

You may not know the name but he’s fighting tonight at the First Direct Arena in Leeds. He’s a hometown boy, went to the same school as me, and he is good. You’ll only know him if you’re from Leeds or love Boxing, but remember the name.

Barca or Bayern?

Those two are my picks to go all the way in the Champions League this season, and I am slightly edging Barca. I do think Paris (you may still say PSG, but they actually asked UEFA to change their short name for branding purposes) could test them but I favour Barca to get a good enough result at home while Paris are without some key players in David Luiz, Thiago Motta, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marco Verratti and that may be a little too much to overcome.

Why Barca over Bayern? Super tough call and little to separate them. I just edge Barca because I think they have the greater individual attacking brilliance to turn a tight game, I think Rakitic has adapted so well and come strong in the last couple of months that they have recaptured their best form, and I just think Barca are tested at the highest level a little more often than Bayern domestically which may give them a marginal edge.

My only hope is that they avoid each other until the final.

Rugby League Rule Change

Saw plenty of NRL the last week which was thoroughly enjoyable. A definite upgrade in intensity from Super League, and fierce competition. The Bulldogs versus the Rabbitohs was a quality match, but there was an interesting moment when a player was forced off through a bad injury which came from a naughty knee to the head. Not pleasant. In those circumstances where a team loses a player through injury due to foul play (could be a penalty or if the referee puts a player on report), the team on the receiving end should be able to use an additional player outside of the four replacements they have on the bench. Seems harsh to penalise a team due to foul play. This goes across multiple sports, but a general frustration of mine for so much punishment that goes on in sport, is that it rarely does not benefit the team that the crimes were committed against in that specific game – it’s the team(s) their opponents play next. #rantover

A Sucker For Stories

Today at 6.30pm UK time the Ottawa Senators will play in Philadelphia in the NHL. The Sens need a point to reach the play-offs. In their last 30 matches, they have won 22, picked up a point in 4, and only lost 4 of those games – an unbelievable run and if they do manage to do it today, it will be a story in itself. The Sens General Manager is a chap called Bryan Murray – he’s been there since 2005. In November, it was announced that he has colon cancer – stage 4 meaning it has no cure, and his deterioration has visibly shown in the last few months. He’s one of those older chaps who you see and listen to and think you’d be happy enough if he was your granddad. I sincerely hope, and I think they will, that the Sens can produce the goods today and do it for him.

Speaking Of Loveable Grandad Types

Sad news of the passing of Richie Benaud yesterday. Another one who just sounded like a gentlemen, an excellent player converting into an excellent commentator/analyst. There are not too many Aussie sportsmen who have endeared themselves to the English as much as Richie – and that is as big an achievement as anything.

Roberto Martinez

Soft Bobby has left the room and here comes Ruthless Robby. I’d sack him personally. Sounds harsh after a record points tally last season, but I’m not convinced by a number of his fundamentals. Transfers are questionable, tactically struggles to change a game in-play, has struggled to juggle his players and prioritise the right games at times this season, and more than anything else, his excessive praise of the players – ‘amazing, incredible, fantastic’ – even in defeat, is beyond believable. Harsh, but I think we continue to decline with him in charge.

The Rain In Spain

It has been a while since I posted some random ramblings and after a week in Spain, it seems like the perfect time to do so. Here is what I learned…or remembered….last week.

The word drizzle does not exist in Spain. When it rains, it pours, and boy did it pour this last week. It is rare that we get time just to chill and relax – we travel plenty but usually it is fast and frenetic. Every so often, when the batteries are a little depleted, we try and get away for a good old fashioned break. When you want to relax, you want sun. Hence why we went to Sevilla. They were vicious rumours about the city being one of the hottest cities in Europe. It rained all week. Still, it was heartening to know that there was a heat wave in the UK and Switzerland was glorious.

The good old Spanish media. Real Madrid scrape a draw against Barca with ten men and the media hammer Jose Mourinho saying that it was no way for a Real team to play against any team, especially after spending hundreds of millions. Fast forward to Wednesday night and their Copa victory playing virtually the same style and Mourinho is suddenly a tactical genius. No team can live with this Barca by taking the game to them but Mourinho has got them well drilled and organised enough to compete. Kudos to Javier Clemente who was 100% correct in supporting Mourinho and the style in his Marca column – if only the rest of the paper wasn’t so blinded and fickle.

I have wanted to go to Sevilla for a number of years now so it was great to finally get there and see what the buzz is about. I can confirm that Semana Santa is not the best week to go there however. That said, wandering around with Oranges hanging from the trees every few yards was fantastic. Buying a huge box of strawberries for less than two Euros was just as pleasant. I could get used to stuff like that.

As cool as some elements were in Sevilla, there was one slightly bizarre trend. Every chap has to make the occasional crotchal rearrangement, but the number of rearrangements among the Sevillanos was extreme and slightly disconcerting….so much so that Burns and I were rolling around laughing if cringing every time we spotted it. It was common. We are not weird. Just for the record.

So we moved from Semana Santa and the rain in Sevilla to Madridand their rain midway through the week. Madrid is a pretty cool city, but I think undoubtedly our favourite place is the Mercado de San Miguel. Always full of people, but they are worth fighting through for a sandwich or two. Anybody wanting a reason to go to Madrid or planning to go soon, check it out – I am prepared to put my reputation on the line for this place. Heck, I’ll even put Burns’ on there too.

My last random thought from the week, that I can remember anyway, was from the Copa del Rey final. Having spent a fair amount of time in Barcelona, I know the sentiments that run there so I was not surprised to hear the Catalan fans boo the Spanish national anthem before the game. I was surprised though that TVE muted the sound from the stadium and isolated the anthem, while other television channels played it normally. English fans were hammered when they booed the US anthem in Vegas for the Hatton/Mayweather fight and rightly so. This is no different. Gerard Pique spiced things up after the first game by telling the Madrid players that Barca were going to win ‘their king’s cup’. I would love to be a fly on the wall in the next training camp of the Spanish national team after some of the things that have gone down between Barca and Real in the last few weeks.