It’s Week 2 of the NFL season and here’s the rundown of what to expect from the slate of games set to be broadcast in the UK and Ireland, including the second ever Manning Bowl.
Everybody hates Chris
Who is he?
Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan is the reigning National League rookie of the year, but has struggled to repeat his excellent first season in the majors this year.
What has he done?
Coghlan’s season could be over after he tore the meniscus in his knee giving team-mate Wes Helms a shaving-cream pie to the face. Yes, you read that correctly. Just two months after Los Angeles Angels first baseman Kendry Morales broke his ankle while celebrating a game-winning home run, ending his season in the process, Coghlan joined him in the Stupid Injury Hall of Fame, and on the sidelines. Helms’s 11th inning hit had just won the Marlins Sunday’s game against Atlanta and Coghlan was on hand to deliver the traditional congratulations, with disastrous consequences. He has been placed on the disabled list and will likely miss most, if not all, of the remaining two months of the season.
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Posted in American Idiots, MLB
Tagged Chris Coghlan, Florida Marlins, injuries, Kendry Morales, MLB
I haven’t posted in a little bit, and while it’s been a fairly quiet couple of weeks Stateside, here are a couple of things that caught the eye, beginning with a couple of reactions to LeBron James’s decision to join the Miami Heat. James took a whole heap of flak from pretty much all quarters, not only for the decision itself but for the way he made it, announcing it on an ego-driven one-hour TV special.
Pick me... please?
Watching and listening to the American media reaction to the World Cup has been interesting to say the least. There appears to have been some sort of tipping point reached, where the desire not be seen to be missing out on the world’s most popular sporting event is beginning to outweigh the traditional scorn for soccer.
But for all the positives that come with the increased popularity of the game in the US, like a new girlfriend, it hasn’t taken long for Americans to decide they can change the sport for the better, with mild ideas like the widespread use of video replays right up to ridiculous proposals to introduce half-time shows or make the game 10 vs 10!
Yet listening to all these ‘helpful suggestions’ made me wonder if there actually was anything that football, and the Premier League in particular, could learn from American sports. With Major League Baseball preparing for its All-Star Festivities this weekend, the idea of a ‘Premier League All-Star Game’ is kind of intriguing.
King's new court? James has to decide whether to leave hometown Cavaliers
The NBA season may be over after the Los Angeles Lakers edged the Boston Celtics in a titanic seven-game Finals, but in many ways the Championship series was merely the undercard to the the main event that NBA fans have been waiting for for the past two years – 2010 free agency and the possible departure of two-time reigning MVP LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
‘King’ James, the top pick in the 2003 draft, has seen a Cleveland team built around him fall short in the play-offs in the past two seasons despite his growth into arguably the most exciting and talented player in the league (Cleveland’s failure to reach the Finals this year meant he could not settle that debate with Lakers scorer Kobe Bryant) and just the latest young star burdened with the potential to ‘become the next Michael Jordan’ .
Many now expect James, still just 25, to depart in free agency period this month, despite the Cavs having the right to offer him a contract worth an extra $28million over six years compared to rival teams. And James is just the headline name in an unprecedented free agent class that also includes former Finals MVP Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors big man Chris Bosh.
Posted in NBA
Tagged Chelsea, Chris Bosh, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Liverpool, Miami Heat, NBA, New York Knicks, Steven Gerrard
The first of an occasional series highlighting the sinister, cynical and sillier sides of American sports…
Who is he?
Albert Haynesworth, on his day, is one of the most disruptive forces on an NFL defensive line. Playing for the Tennessee Titans, Haynesworth was named to Pro Bowls in 2007 and 2008 and was considered the premier run-stopper in the league. In 2009 he signed a $100million seven-year deal with the Washington Redskins, with a record $41m guaranteed.
Posted in NFL
Tagged Albert Haynesworth, Mike Shanahan, NFL, Ray Lewis, Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins
Money talks, and as much in the NFL as anywhere else. So when it came down to deciding the venue for the 2014 Super Bowl, the $1.6billion investment made in a new stadium in New Jersey for the New York Giants and Jets to share was always going to be rewarded with the big game, despite the team owners’ vote going against the cardinal rule of Super Bowls – somewhere hot, or with a roof. Continue reading
I happened upon a piece by Washington Post columnist and ESPN’s PTI host Michael Wilbon [you may need to register, but it's free] last week about the general excitement amongst DC sports fans these days that really took me a little by surprise.
I was aware of Washington’s lengthy wait for a championship, a drought that goes back to the 1991 Redskins, The NBA Wizards (then Bullets) won their sole title in 1978, while the NHL Capitals have never won a Stanley Cup and the arrival of the Nationals from Montreal in 2005 ended a 33-year wait for America’s capital city to even have a baseball team.
Epic title droughts in major US sports cities are nothing new (just ask Philadelphia fans, who ended a wait of 28 years when the Phillies won the 2008 World Series), but what never struck me was just how dull it has been in Washington.
As Wilbon points out, Washington hasn’t been home to a’ superstar’ athlete in nearly 30 years, an extraordinary dearth of ‘appointment to view’ talent for a city of that size and stature. Continue reading
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