Representative Expression

He qualified first at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, the first Englishman to do that for 11 years.

In the very last lap of qualifying (by all of the drivers), he drove superbly and beat Kimi Raikkonen by 0.102seconds.
(Raikkonen probably robbed himself of pole position by hitting the dirt in the very last bend).

Lewis probably gained half a second from the support of the local home crowd as evident by the massive roar that could be heard as he crossed the line at the end of Q3.

For someone so young to handle the immense media pressure is a testament to Lewis, his father (and family) and the support from McLaren.

I keep waiting for him to make a mistake and throw the car off the track, but the more pressure there is, the better he seems to perform.  8 podiums in 8 races is a dream start for a rookie in his first full season of F1 racing.

But as much as I want him to win this afternoon (1pm July 08th 2007), I have a sneaky feeling that in an effort to keep up with the apparently faster Ferrari's of Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, today is the day when a podium finish will elude him. If it does happen, it will be interesting to see how he handles the disappointment in his home Grand Prix.  Only Lewis knows what he himself is capable of, and only he knows what his level of expectation is.  Of course he has to go out there each race believing he is 100% capable of winning or there would be no point.
Take Jenson Button who yesterday was alleged to have claimed he would quit F1 rather than be content with finishing 8th every race.  When you believe you have the ability to win, but don't have the car to do it, things can be very difficult.

But the F1 following expect Lewis to win today, more so the British contingent.  The disappointment of not winning today, would be bad enough, not finishing on a podium would be unthinkable, and not finishing at all would be a total disaster. But is this how Lewis thinks, or is he really that level headed to know this is just his first season and that everything that has happened so far is a bonus.  Don't forget, Lewis has been prepared for F1 racing for years, so he's not where he is at the top of the F1 Driver standings for no reason. He is there because the guy has the skill and determination to succeed.

Of course I don't want him to fail today, I'll be there screaming out loud when he crosses the line in first. But at the same time, it would be a massive test of his character if he did fail today, and would let us know what he is really made of.  For him to finish in every race in a podium position in his first season would be something extraordinary.  

Images From: http://www.mclaren.com/interactive/wallpapers.php

Well ok, he is actually in a three-way tie with Alonso and Raikkonen, but still it's news that has surprised the public, but not those in the F1 community.  Many knew he had the skill, but didn't expect McLaren to have the car to go with it.

But he also made history today in Bahrain when he became the most successful new (rookie) driver in F1 history.

No doubt the bubble has to burst soon, but still, he shows a lot of promise for the future and deserves all the praise that will be afforded to him when he and the rest of his team arrive back after 7 weeks 'on the road'.

A British driver leasing the World standings? Surely not...

Formula One

FIA

Flintoff hails comeback kings

England captain Andrew Flintoff toasted his team-mates after they crowned the Ashes tour with one-day success.

Flintoff’s men completed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in sporting history to shock world champions Australia 2-0 in the finals of the Commonwealth Bank Series.

England seemed destined to catch an early plane home when they lost twice in a week in Adelaide mid-way through the tournament but they somehow ripped up the form book to qualify for the best-of-three showdown.

From: http://www.ecb.co.uk/england/flintoff-hails-comeba...

I didn't manage to wake up in time (3.45am on a Sunday morning... I think not...), but when I did wake up and switch the TV on, the score was 39-2 and I thought that sounded promising, just as the rain came down.  (Why couldn't they play this at the MCG, no chance of rain there).
Every time we took a wicket it appeared that the Gods would be against us and the heavens would open, but unusually for the England team on this tour, they stood up to the plate and gave an extra effort to get the job done.

Ricky Ponting was full of praise for the England team having demoralized them in the Ashes tour he gave nothing but good words for the England team.

So the flight back in a few days won't appear so long with the one piece of silverware in the hold.  It's only a shame that despite the way England played, the actual Ashes trophy will also be coming back to.  If there was ever a time to let the holders keep the trophy, this was the tour to do so.  Australia confirmed their ranking of world number one.

Second one-day final, Sydney:
Australia v England
Match starts 0315 GMT

England beat Australia in Friday's first final in Melbourne

England could end their Ashes tour in Sydney on Sunday by becoming the first side for 14 years to beat Australia in a home one-day final.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/63...

 At 3.15am on Sunday morning, Flintoff will lead out the England Cricket Team with a chance to gain back some credibility of what has been so far a disastrous tournament.
I'm still not sure how England managed to play their way into the finals.
Two fine consecutive innings from Paul Collingwood helped but will the rest of the team step up to the crease to make it 3 wins on the trot?

But for a poor performance by the Australians (a rare site after their previous performances), England could have been on their way home already.  But the innings played by Collingwood was probably the finest one day international innings for a long time.
McGrath was bowled out for a duck, dropped an important catch and didn't take a single wicket. Not often you can say that about one of the worlds finest players.

Winning this one day international series won't make up for losing the ashes, but as far as the players go, it will certainly make the long trip back home a damn site more enjoyable.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/englis...

Robinson scoring England's try just before half-time

England made heavy weather of beating Italy to earn an unconvincing second Six Nations win of the season.

Until Jason Robinson's try just before half-time, all England had to show for their early pressure was three Jonny Wilkinson penalties.

A second win in two weeks, but this wasn't the most convincing win I've seen from England. (It was still better than the more convincing defeats that I have seen in the last year or so).
A lot was said in studio commentary on the BBC about how poor England had played, but I disagree with that.
After the win last week we knew that Italy was going to be much less tougher opposition, so maybe we only had to do what was necessary to win today. 
Some had doubted the reasoning behind bringing back Johnny Wilkinson for last weeks match and that we should be holding him back for the Irish match in two weeks time. 
Well having played only 40mins of club rugby prior to last weeks win, he probably needs all the play time he can get.  Simarlly so for most of the England team. 

Last weeks win was important, as was the style that England played.
Not losing this week was important, not the style of winning. On that front England performed that task well.  Now we have two weeks to prepare for the match at Croke Park against the Irish.  The result of that match will provide a good indication of how far England have come or have to progress to get back to the World Cup form of 4 years ago.  It will also provide a measure of how much work the new coach Ashton has in order to prepare us for the upcoming Autumn World Cup Series.

Hardly an entertaining match for the 82,000 or so fans at Twickenham, but none the less, we can say that England are so far unbeaten in 2007, in the Six Nations and that has to be an improvement over last year.

Portsmouth 2-0 Everton

Matthew Taylor celebrates his spectacular strike for Portsmouth

Matthew Taylor's wonder-goal set up a comfortable win for Portsmouth against a disappointing Everton side.

Took my two boys and my father down to watch the game today.  The boys were impressed (as was I), when they saw probably what will turn out to be the goal of the season from Mathew Taylor.
We were sat behind the goal to the right in which Matty hit that 45 yard volley over the unfortunate Howard on the 16minute mark.
I knew it was a goal the minute it left his foot, just glad to say I was there to see it.  Worth the money to see the look on the boys faces.

As much as it still amazes me when I see Portsmouth 3rd in the table (ok, joint 3rd with Liverpool), they are there on merit.  I doubt that we will be there at the end of the season, unless they show the same determination as they did today in every match.
Sol Campbell is a rock at the back and it gives Primus the confidence in his game too.  If the current squad can stay fit, or if Harry gets a budget to buy some cover in January then there is a chance they will stay near the top. (Pompey in Europe ?  After last season ? More chance of me winning the lottery, but I can dream).

I think it took us 45minutes to travel down from home to Portsmouth.
On the way back, it took us 45minutes to get from the ground to the motorway such was the amount of traffic.  (There was only 19,528 fans which for Pompey isn't bad, but the roads just can't handle that amount).
I remember going to a Pompey - Man Utd match at Old Trafford a few years back with 50,000+ and that was no problem getting to or from the game.
Still, that was 45minutes to talk about 'that' goal.

BBC SPORT Report

Liverpool endured the frustration of being held to a goalless draw by a dogged Portsmouth side at Anfield.

The Reds were allowed to dominate play as an injury-ravaged Pompey barricaded their goal behind the massed ranks of a spirited and stubborn defence.

0 - 0 at Liverpool isn't a bad result when you are expecting the bubble to burst at any moment. 15 games into the season and when I see the league table and Pompey are still second it still amazes me.
Now I don't expect Pompey to be anywhere near 3rd place at the end of the season, and even a European place isn't a real possibility, but next season could be a different story.
One thing that has made a change this year is the solid defence led by Sol Campbell. Whatever his problems at Arsenal, he has shown he is still a world class player. Perhaps being coached by Tony Adams helps a lot.

I've actually got tickets for the Pompey home match against Everton, so I'll be taking the two boys and my Dad will be coming down. This will be the first Pompey game I've been too since coming back from America (3 years ago last week). My eldest has decided to support Pompey down to the fact he was born about 500yards (if that) from the Milton Road stand, which coincidently is where we will be at the Everton game. Hope it doesn't rain since that is the open end.

BBC SPORT | Football | Premiership | Middlesbrough 0-4 Portsmouth
Portsmouth climbed to second in the Premiership with a magnificent victory over Middlesbrough at The Riverside.

Now if I was reading that at the end of the season, I'd be a happy bunny.
Still... I can only but dream.

They'd be second behind Chelsea of course

BBC SPORT | Football | Premiership | Man City 0-0 Portsmouth

Manchester City earned their first point of the season in a match marred by a disgraceful challenge by Ben Thatcher on Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes.

In what turned out to be a mediocre match, the only noteworthy moment turned out to be a disgraceful challenge by Ben Thatcher on Pedro Medes. On viewing the reply you can clearly see Thatcher raise his hand towards the face of Mendes resulting in the Portsmouth playing appearing to collapse to the ground unconscious before sliding into the advertising hoarding.
Now whilst I can understand the reaction of Harry Redknapp and many of the fans, and although being a Pompey fan myself, I don't think Ben Thatcher intended to hurt Mendes. Having watched Ben Thatcher over the past few years, I think it was more of a dangerous tackle that he is prone to committing once in a while, but in no way am I condoning what he did. The F.A. needs to review the tackle and take the appropriate action before Thatcher ends up seriously injuring another player. If he could remove that element from his game, he would be a better player for it. No doubt Thatcher is remorseful for what he did, but the fact remains he could have seriously injured Mendes and needs to sort himself out as soon as possible. When you go into tackles at 110%, you have to be perfectly sure you make the tackle or it could be a career ending move for the other player.

Hopefully Mendes will be back in action as soon as possible. I still believe his goals towards the latter part of last season were instrumental in helping Pompey avoid the drop

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Man City | Thatcher faces FA & police probes

The Football Association and Greater Manchester Police are to launch investigations into Ben Thatcher's challenge on Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Fans lose trousers to gain entry

Football's governing body has explained why up to 1,000 Dutch fans watched a World Cup tie wearing no trousers. Around 1,000 fans arrived for the Ivory Coast tie in their traditional bright orange trousers - but bearing the logo and name of a Dutch brewery.

To protect the rights of the official beer they were denied entry, so the male fans promptly removed the trousers and watched the game in underpants.

It amazed me at the start of the World Cup that Anheuser Busch was trying to stop people from drinking German beer around the stadiums of the World Cup. Hmm.. .Would you rather drink Budweiser or a German Beer (some of the best beers in the world are German, and that comes from a Brit !!).

To see that they've taken it to the level where fans could not go into the stadium because of their trousers (which you can't really see) is an absolute farce.
If they are going to be that pendantic, I'd like to see Carlsberg supply the tee-shirts and bras of the Brazilian fans. That would take our minds of any dreary performance from them this time.

To understand this, you have to think back to the last game of the season between West Ham and Tottenham, when 10 of the Tottenham team went down with food poisoning

Has St. Harry (Harry Rednapp) finally got the team sorted out and will this be the start of a revival?
Looking at the other teams around us, I don't hold out much hope right now. I'll review that in a few more games. At least we have the easier run in to the end of the season than other teams around us.

Mendes did score two great goals though. The second was the better, if only for the fact it was scored well in to injury time and was so important. Let us hope it gives the team a boost in confidence.

I don't have to worry about Chelsea, the Premiership should be theirs, barring them getting kicked out of the league for something.
But Gillingham are going to make me sweat it to the end of the season as well.
Looks like I am not going to have any nails come the World Cup. Talking of which, for my birthday last week, my kids got me one of the swanky new England tops. The only bad thing is, it has Owen and #10 on the back. Not a real problem, I quite like Owen and he will probably be in the side. But being 6ft 3in, perhaps Crouch would have been a better choice. But at least I have a new England top and regardless of whatever it says on the back, it was a great pressie from my kids :)

BBC SPORT | Football | Fixtures
Gerrard caught out by Chelsea mascot

I must have missed this on MOTD and it gave me a good laugh...
Click here

World Football News Article | Reuters.co.uk
D'Alessandro from VfL Wolfsburg on loan until the end of the season on Tuesday with a view to a permanent move.
The 24-year-old is the latest in a string of signings made by the Premier League club this month and manager Harry Redknapp told Portsmouth's website: "The boy is a really influential playmaker and you can't have too many of those.
"This is a massive signing at the club for sure. I am delighted with the way things are working out because we have got together some players who can have a huge influence on matches and this lad is one of them."
D'Alessandro moved to the Bundesliga from River Plate for $11 million in July 2003. He won an Olympic gold medal with Argentina in Athens in 2004

Not that this will help us with the match against Liverpool, but hopefully will strengthen the squad somewhat more.
At least in the second half we troubled Liverpool. After the first half performace I was begining to think that my score of 1 - 4 to Liverpool was going to be rather conservative. But as the old cliche goes, at least we can concentrate on Premiertship survival. Staying in the premiership has nothing to do with playing in the lower leagues, its the stigma of having to play the Scummers again. (That and the fact that if Reading carry on the way they are going, we shall have a premiership team within 20mins of where we live right now and I might even consider getting a season ticket).

Sky Sports - The Best Sport Coverage From Around The World
In an historic announcement, The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) have confirmed that rugby and soccer internationals will be held at Croke Park in 2007.

External Links:
http://www.gaa.ie/
http://www.crokepark.ie/

This basically revokes Rule 42 - "which bans 'foreign' sports from being played at Croke Park, the headquarters of The GAA".
Landsdowne Road is being redeveloped and should be completed by 2009 when it should be one of the best 50,000 seater stadiums in the world. The seats could have spikes on them, only be big enough for kids and it would still be the best stadium in the world. No other stadium has the best supply of Guinness like Landsdowne road.

I am sure Pompey seem to be playing Liverpool in Cup matches an awful lot in the last few years.
And after Liverpools performance against Luton, I don't hold out much hope either. Liverpool seem to have a good team spirit these days.
And on the subject of Luton - Liverpool, that has to be one of the greatest matches of the F.A. Cup in recent years. Luton played with great skill throughout the match and were it not for sublime goal from Alonso and a great performance from the sub (name???), they would have been outclassed and well and truly beaten. But they never gave up hope. You can ignore the last goal, apart from the guy who won £25,000 by placing a bet of £200 that Alonso would score from his own half this season.

Oh well, we struggled to beat Ipswitch reallly, and against Liverpool ? I don't think we'll be progressing much further in the cup this season. That will give us a good excuse to concentrate on Premiership survival at least.

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp was furious with referee Uriah Rennie's decision to award Tottenham a penalty in his side's 3-1 defeat.

I only had the match on the radio last night and John Motson was even saying that it was in no way a penalty. It turned the game and probably cost Pompey vital points at a time when they need all they can get. But I suppose when things are going bad for you, these things add up. I'd like to think that Pompey will get the good luck towards the end of the season when they will probably really need it.

How the referee could award a penalty for hand ball when the shot was blasted at him I can not understand. Even when I viewed the incident on TV it looked like ball to hand if anything, despite the fact that it appeared to hit the top of his arm, let alone his hand.
Calling a TV Referee for important decisions needs to be investigated as soon as possible. It happens in a lot of modern games these days and I think it adds to the excitement whilst ensuring that results are not affected by bad decisions. I understand that referees can make mistakes and it is not their fault. But when we have the technology to reduce the impact of thost mistakes, it seems daft not to use it.

So Harry Rednapp is coming back to Portsmouth. Personally, I didn't think it would take him long to realise where the smell was coming from. You see he left Portsmouth just over a year ago because he said things were beginning to stink. Now that he has worked out that the Scummers were only a few miles down the road, he also knows where the smell was really coming from.

But in all seriousness, its not Southampton FC that stinks so much, more the way that Rupert Lowe the chairman doesn't seem to have a concern about the football club. You'd think that the chairman of a football club from an area responsible for the departure of so many cruise liners would know a thing or two about stability and maybe apply some of the same logic to his football team, (ah, think Titanic).

Rednapps first task after moving back to Pompey will be to pay a visit to the dockyard to see what a Victory looks like. (Hasn't seen one of them at Southampton for a long time).

But really seriously... As I've stated before, I only followed Pompey because it was my home base for 9 years whilst in the Royal Navy. So I shouldn't really knock them since if I had been based in Southampton, I would probably have followed them. (I won't mention that my house was closer to Southampton FC than Pompey FC). Who ever they get to be the next manager, the chairman should be prepared to back them for a long term future and not crap himself every time they go through a losing streak. Southampton are a premiership team and need to return back there as soon as possible. They have a great history in the top flight, and although in recent years it has resulted in a struggle for survival, they have the support, the ground and usually the players to more than justify their existence in the Premiership. All that has been lacking of late is the support of the Chairman. Just because he holds the cheque book doesn't mean he can throw his toys out of the pram as and when he chooses. It makes the life of the manager very difficult when he doesn't feel like he has the support of the boardroom.

And just to even out my knocking of Lowe, I actually think its a great decision to bring in Clive Woodward to the team. That is one area that could pay dividends in the future. Football has a lot to learn from Rugby and let us hope this helps to bring success back to Southampton, (but not at the expense of Pompey please!!).

Harry, all you need to do now is get Jim Smith back and everything will be complete.

Hmmm. When I first checked the scores during yesterdays match, 0 - 0 didn't look too bad to start of with. A temporary manager who is hoping to get the job full time. Saved themselves from going into adminstration (which would cost them 10 points they can't afford to lose). I read a report on the Gills wesbite about how they just need to string a few results together and they could be in the playoffs.

So when I check the scores at full time to see that they lost 5 - 0, I suppose I am no longer surprised. They'll be playing in the same league as Basingstoke before too long. God knows what has happened to them, things looked to be on the up for a while, but now they can't beat an egg. (They have a lot of injuries in the squad right now, and as my dad said, its serves the manager right for buying in players that were crocked to start off with.

BBC Website Match Report
Gillingham FC Official Site

UPDATE 2-Rallying-Former world champion Burns dies at 34
Sat Nov 26, 2005 11:52 AM GMT

(adds David Richards quotes, byline)

By Alan Baldwin

LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Richard Burns, the only Englishman to win the world rally championship, has died of a brain tumour at the age of 34, his family said on Saturday.

Burns died in London's Wellington hospital on Friday evening with family and close friends at his bedside. He had been in a coma for some days.

By a sad coincidence, his death came on the fourth anniversary of his championship win with Subaru in 2001.

The Briton was diagnosed with the astrocytoma, a form of brain tumour, after blacking out at the wheel on his way to the British Rally in Wales in 2003 where he could have won a second championship with Peugeot.

Reuters

Two posts about a death in two days. It's not all doom and gloom, honestly but this is still very sad to here of someone so young, and so talented as Richard.
World Rally had a tough time this year and the news of Richards death will hit home hard within their community.
I was shocked when I first heard the news when he pulled out of the Welsh Rally in 2003 because of a brain tumour, but at the time they thought it would respond to treatment, but alas it turned out not to be the case.

Added 25/11/2005:
George Best lost his fight for life this morning. Actually, I think it was more his body lost the strength to carry on. Even at the end I reckon George was still a fighter and would have grasped any chance he could to carry on, as his doctor said, "His heart was strong". He knew he had done some wrong things in his time, but he was honest about it. He openly warned people away from the pitfalls he suffered.
Now he is at rest, so let us remember George Best for what really made him great - His Football.
My thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time. No father should ever outlive his son, no son should ever lose his father. Now the press and the rest of us need to let them grieve in peace.

According to the news on the way home from picking the kids up from school, George Best is not expected to last much longer.
The lung infection he is suffering from at the moment has left him unable to fight any further infections.
It's bad enough when you hear that a celebrity/idol etc has passed away, but knowing that he is dying seems to make it a tadge more saddening. It must be a very tough time for the family and friends and I hope the media give them the space that they deserve.

Besty had his problems, he would be the first one not to deny that. The Oliver Reed of the football world. An extreme talent on the pitch, but a wild side to equal it off the field. I was born and grew up towards the end of the Best era but he was one of the names on the radio/TV that was mentioned much in the same way as Rooney is talked about now.
No one will ever doubt the level of his skill on the field, and there will be many people saddended to hear this news, let alone close family and friends.

I hope his final hours are in peace, and my thoughts go out to his family and friends.
Best was Simply the Best - nuff said.

Hearts Football club today announced that Graham Rix is to be the new boss. Graham Rix was charged and found guilty of indecent assault and sex with a girl of aged 15 six years ago. Since he was placed on the sex offenders register, he is unable to work with kids under the age of 16.

I followed this case back then, not only because I am a father, but as a fan of Chelsea football club with whom he had strong ties, (he was also the manager of Portsmouth FC). Now one thing I must point out is that I am not saying he is 100% innocent. He did himself admit that he slept with the 15 year old, but he has always maintained that he did not know she was 15. After the initial court case, there were several reports in the paper about there being some collusion by the child's parents after it was found out who Rix was. He claimed that she always said she was over 16 and there were reports in the papers saying that her family push this point in order to gain from it later on. Whatever the true facts, there was always something dodgy about the facts that were presented, but as I stated before, he slept with an underage girl, admitted that (because you can't hardly deny it really). For that he was punished, and has suffered as a result of it.

Personally, I believe this was the start of many claims against high profile players. Because of the laws in the UK, the defendants name is not with held, therefore if you are accused of such crimes or similar, your name will be dragged through the courts. So you either have to go to court to clear your name, or settle out of court. There are many cases which are not reported through the media, but they happen.

Since the Rix case there as been a major increase in the number of claims against premiership football players. Many of these have failed to get to court, or have been thrown out in court. There have been many more than have settled out of court for money in order to protect the name of the player and/or club.
Again, don't get me wrong, as I do believe there are players who are both abusive and/or guilty of such attacks. Some of these are probably settled out of court, but we will never know. Our judicial system is fast following the media frenzy that surrounds the US court system and we must put a stop to that now.

It is time that both the victim and accused ID's be kept secret. In conjunction with that, I think it is about time that any previous convictions by the accused should be taken into account. (That is worth another post on its own, since I can't believe they don't tell the jury or previous convictions in case it biases there opinion. Erm, excuse me, the fact that a rapist has 8 previous similar convictions tells me that along with the evidence presented to me might actually be relevant. If they don't have the evidence to convict him, then previous convictions should not matter. It has to be beyond reasonable doubt).

Rix was found guilty mainly on his own admissions because it is something he could not deny. That and the evidence of one other person. In truth, only they will ever know the true story. Thanks to press coverage it was over hyped and we shall never know the truth.

Rix has done his time, served out his punishment and has the right to a second chance. He will be watched like a hawk, he will also be hounded by those who don't agree with it. But would someone so guilty come back into the limelight? They would more than likely go hide somewhere and keep out of the spotlight knowing of their own guilt.

Rix has had his family with him all the time, and it must be really hard for him. I really hope he gets a chance to do his job. It will be hard, there will be taunts (far worse than Beckham, Posh and anal sex). He's brave man and I wish him good luck.

Now if it was my daughter, then I don't think I would be saying the same things. I'd probably be calling for him to be hanged or worse (or even doing it myself). Thanks to the UK press, we will never know the true outcome.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2215702005
http://www.football.co.uk/hearts/rix_set_for_jambos_job_208214.shtml
http://www.lasalute.net/article47362.html
http://www.soccer365.com/EUROPEAN_NEWS/Scottish_News/page_111_108810.shtml
http://www.soccer365.com/EUROPEAN_NEWS/Scottish_News/page_111_108803.shtml
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/scorecard/11/08/truth.rumors.more/1.html

Well as far as Chelsea, Gillingham and Pompey go, this Saturday was the first time this season that ALL three of them won on the same day (or weekend).

None of the three matches where straight forward victories either. Gillingham went 1 - 0 down to Blackpool and I thought "Oh no, here we go again". But against the run of form and despite their squad being weakened by many injuries, they pulled together and came back to win the game 2 - 0.

Likewise Portsmouth went 1 - 0 down at Middlesborough to an early penalty. Their away form hasn't been the greatest this season, (and come to think of it, being so close to the bottom, their home form can't be considered too great either!). Pompey though never seem to give up, and despite my obvious bias, are often unlucky with the results they have had this season. It was also down to a rather comical goal keeping error that gave them a way back into the match, but the goal of the month was definitely scored by Matty Taylor when he lobbed the keeper from at least 35-40 yards which a tremendous shot that flew into the net.
Pompey finally ran out 4 - 1 winners which has to be their best result of the season. Let us hope that this is the start of a run of much needed good form.

Now Chelsea got off to their usual start and took a 2 - 0 lead and it looked like they were heading towards another victory. For some reason they almost went to sleep and found themselves at 2 - 2 before anyone realised it. Jose Mourinho must have gone nuts at them because in the second half they woke up and started going about Blackburn eventually winning 4 - 2 thanks to another great performance from Frank Lampard.

Now if only my sons team (Lodden FC) could have played like they have done for the past 3 games (which they have won). Arriving at the ground at 10.15 with the kick off at 10.30, the heavens opened and it rained like it does in Texas. Visibility was down to feet, not yards. It was bouncing back up off the grass and in no time at all we were saturated. Even with the umbrella up, it couldn't keep the rain out as the wind was blowing it everywhere. Unluckily, Lodden were playing into the wind in the first half and soon went down 3 - 0 by half time. In the second half things went better to start off with when Lodden scored an early goal to make it 3 -1. Chris who is the biggest player in their team tried his own copy of Pompeys Matty Taylor and struck a good 30 yard shot (with the wind) that sailed into the top of the goal. Then unfortunately, Wycombe scored on the break almost straight away to make it 4 - 1. From that point on their heads dropped and they couldn't string much together. They came close a number of times, only for Wycombe to catch them on the break again and make it 5 -1. Well after 3 wins, perhaps they needed a wake up call to make them remember that they have to play for it, and not expect to win.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/football/teams/g/gillingham/4390086.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/4366688.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/4366682.stm

Now that the F1 season is over and with Alonso the Champion, has this signaled the end of the Schumacher era?
One thing is for certain is that along with the Grand Prix of the USA debacle, fans are flocking away from F1 due to the races becoming boring and predictable.
Apart from it seems McClaren, it doesn't matter who you are, or what car you drive. If you qualify low down, or start from the back of the grid for whatever reason, you cannot expect to finish high up. Because the design of the cars in their present state generate so much down force it prevents a lot of cars from being able to overtake. (This is where I put my McClaren proviso again. If it is so difficult to overtake, how come that when Rakkonen gets demoted down the grid for yet another engine failure, how does he always manage to get back to a podium position. Is that car so much more powerful than the rest?).

Because the cars are generating so much down force when they get close to the car in front that they are intending to overtake, the air coming from the car in front is 'spoiled' which means that in effect, they lose down force and are unable to over take.

The FIA have released a press statement showing the results of a survey they have been conducting to try and get round this problem. Now considering my past opinions of some of the people involved in F1, this is a great move and fantastic news for the fans. It might turn it back into a race again.

The FIA consultation on the future of Formula One clearly demonstrated that the vast majority of the viewing public (94% according to the FIA/AMD survey) want more overtaking. This is at a time when overtaking in Formula One has become increasingly difficult.

Article

More links:

http://www.fia.com
http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s107/st84074.htm

View image of new wing#2
View image of air flow changes


The full size image originals can be found on the FIA web site.

Great result for one of my teams last night against one of my other other teams.
Pompey who are not having the greatest start to the season, who are already in danger of going down to the same league as Southampton, were playing my home town team of Gillingham in the Carling Cup.
Gillingham won 3 - 2 after extra time, but even though it appears the Pompey keeper gifted two goals to the home team, throughly deserved their victory according to most of the match reports.

In fact it wasn't a good night for Portsmouth seeing Southampton were also knocked out of the Cup.
Spurs also made a shock exit. Funny how it is being reported as Pompey lose, Southampton lose, but Spurs losing is s shock. Tells you what they think of their chances this season.

Darren Byfield again scored two goals, although one was attributed as an own goal to the Pompey goal keeper after his shot rebounded off the post and deflected in off the keeper.
On a recent visit to Gillingham I took my 3 kids, the wife and my niece to watch Gillingham play Nottingham Forrest, and although we were convincinly beaten on that day, Byfield looked like a player of class in the team. I suspect he won't be there for too much longer since Gillinghams financial and current status within the Football League.
Not too sure why they are in financial trouble though, IIRC, I think I paid £170 for the 5 tickets and thats for what would be considered a division three game.

Mainly because I wanted a quick link where I could click to get to the BBC site about Cricket news, I created a feed from the BBC RSS Feed.
It should update each time you reload the page, but it will only pull new items from the BBC every hour, if there are new items to read.
I sometimes do this rather than add a bookmark, (or I end up with zillions of bookmarks that I only ever read once).

Northern Ireland put a dent in England's World Cup hopes as David Healy's goal gave them a stunning win.

Leeds striker Healy fired home Steve Davis' pass after 73 minutes to give Lawrie Sanchez's side their first victory against England since 1972.

It capped a nightmare England display, in which a petulant Wayne Rooney picked up a yellow card that rules him out of the next qualifier against Austria

Pants. That's all that can be said about Englands display tonight.
God knows what happened, and fair play to the Northern Irish. They played their part in reducing England to such a drab performance. No wonder the cricket is so popular right now if that is the best that our National Football team can muster.
I don't think you can pin it on any one player either, it was such a bad team performance. Again, I think you have to congratulate Northern Ireland for the way they played and that is where Englands frustration came from.
By making the pitch as narrow as the rules would allow that frustrated any attacks from the wings and only Sean Wright-Phillips showed any promise of getting round the defence to create any chances. Just when I thought he was starting to get into the game, he was taken off and replaced by Joe Cole. Not sure that was the best decision in the game, but then I suspect that Sven is going to take a lot of stick from this match and not only for that decision. Beckham although playing in a different role did hit some great passes, but nothing was made of them. Perhaps the position he was playing in did take something from Gerrard and Lampard and maybe restricted their play. So much so that they were both substituted (why?) later in the second half by Defoe and the closset Kraut who nearly gifted the game to the Northern Irish twice (Hargreaves - who I can't remember who he plays for now).
It never looked like a team out there tonight, and there were no signs of individual brilliance either. Which reminds me about Rooney losing his rag once again and even had a go at the captain Beckham when he tried to calm him down.
For the 16 years I've been married (this Friday 09/09 btw), my wife from Newry, Northern Ireland has always supported the Republic. If she so much as gives me a 'smirk' when she comes home from her nightshift in the morning, we'll be hard pushed to make it 17 next year... And boy do I know that she will (from her parting words to the kids as she left tonight, "Take those England tops off, and support the other team because mummy is going to work"...

I've checked out quite a few blogs about the Ashes series, but this one has to top the lot. I'd definitely check out http://theashes.typepad.com/
I especially like the way that he uses photographs to highlight the matches without violating any copyright laws, (you'll have to visit the site to see exactly what I mean).

It's written by an Aussie, so you would think it might be biased, but then us Pommies are great at making assumptions without getting to know the facts.
As you read more of the blog, you'll find that first he is a Cricket fan and then an Aussie. (Ok, I think we can safely assume that he wants Australia to win).
He is of the same opinion as I am, in that I don't really care who wins the Ashes. It has been such a great exhibition of Cricket that a true cricket fan could not complain about who wins in the end.

Ok, I'd be a bit disappointed if we (England) didn't win the Ashes, but there has been such effort from both sides, I have gained more from watching it, than from who will win it eventually. Don't get me wrong, I'll be supporting England from start to finish, but I've found myself on more than one occasion applauding great cricket from both sides.

So far my man/men of the series are:

1. Brett Lee - for his attitude and determination. I think he was responsible for the draw with a great show of batting. Both him and Shane Warne nearly won the last match and the passion/commitment he showed was amazing. He definitely had England worried (and me to the point that I couldn't watch the match live anymore because every time I looked around a wicket had fallen). His and Shane Warnes effort inspired the rest of the team.

2. Shane Warne - Ball for Ball, Run for Run he has far out played Freddie Flintoff so far in this series. He is a character unto himself as well, the fact that he plays for Hampshire which is where I have lived for most of my life (other than Kent, Wiltshire and Texas, USA) is not the point. Watching him bowl is like watching fine art. You really have to look at it to appreciate its beauty and the skill employed. He is thinking at 110% on every single ball he bowls and has a great cricketing brain. His attitude with the bat is just the same. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Pieterson met him after he got out for a duck in the first innings. He will be remember for being one of the greatest players of my time (and not for sneaking off for a crafty smoke!!).

3. Michael Vaughn - For some of the most amazing field management I have ever seen. He really knows his stuff and has captained the side with great skill. As the captain of England trying to win the Ashes back, the pressure he is under must be immense. He also has the respect of all of his team mates which is rare for an England captain. He has managed to get a great team spirit going. Most often getting awarded the captaincy takes its toll on the player, and although his statistics have dropped somewhat, the results have more than made up for it.

4. England Bowling Team - All of the England bowlers deserve a mention, but Simon Jones probably leads the pack for determination and effort. I think it is our bowling that has made the difference between the teams. I think it began a few years back with the introduction of Darren Gough. He had the same 'effect' on the crowd and team as our 'Freddie' does now.

On the issue of subs that Darryl raises on his blog, I am in total agreement with him that there is something that is 'not quite cricket' about this. Ok, there have been subs played when players have had genuine injuries, and likewise for visits to the rest rooms etc. But I don't want to see regular subs being played in order to give the bowlers a rest or to prepare them for their next stint of overs. The suggestion that teams could select 'specialized' fielders for specific positions could be too tempting for some and I would hate to see it abused in the future. (Not that I saying we are abusing it now, but the rules need to be changed to prevent it from happening).

So whatever happens in the last match, Cricket is the overall winner. This whole series has been so obviously between the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the world. It has been played in such a great spirit, and the respect that the teams have for each other is obvious. Best of luck to both teams in the final match and the best team will win. And I hope that we get 5 days of available cricket. What I would hate to see is 3-4 days of cricket, only for the match to be drawn because of the weather. If this happens, I reckon they should org anise another match, or, play 5 days worth of cricket no matter how long it takes. Both teams want to win the match outright, and not by default.

Good luck to Pontin, Vaughn and the teams... Thanks for a great series so far.

Once we bowled Australia out in the second innings, I was fairly confident of us winning the match. Now that we have one the match, I am wishing I had put some nail hardener on before the second England innings.
I said 'fairly' confident because we have been bowled out for much less in the past. And as the saying goes, "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings".
One thing that has struck me during this Test Series is the level at which it is being played. Both teams thoroughly deserve their rankings of number 1 and 2 in the world.
As in most matches, there were some brilliant individual performances and once again Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff produced a great all-round performance.
Even as an English fan I cannot congratulate the performance of the Australian team enough. Brett Lee and Shane Warne produced a session of pure passion to almost win the match for the Aussies. And if we had have lost the match, there would have been no complaints from me, such is the standard of the cricket involved.
The match has been played in such great sportsmanship, despite what is at stake and that is a credit to both teams.
The last match at the Oval next week will be as nail biting as the previous ones. I hope that the weather holds out, but I won't be too disappointed if it rains for the last 4 days.

Was great news to see that London won the big to host the 2012 Olympics.
It was quite a close run race with France and I can bet they are disappointed as this is their 3rd attempt to host it in modern times.
They needed Lord Seb Coe on their side and I believe it was his work that gained us the 4 extra votes that were required to win.

We sat down with my 3 children last night to decide which sports they will starting to train on to bring their dad a few gold medals.
My 6 year old daughter might be struggling to get involved with the games, but my 9 and 11(almost) year old sons could have a chance. Its shame that they are not very 'sport' minded other than the normal football etc.

As an update, it appears that this morning terrorist attack in London was related to the G8 conference being held in Scotland and not the winning of the Olympics winning bid.
My thoughts are with those families effected by todays attack.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has had a dramatic change of heart and decided to stay at Anfield. The 25-year-old told Liverpool he wanted to leave after contract negotiations broke down. Chelsea looked set to land Gerrard after having an initial £32m bid rejected by Liverpool. But Gerrard has another change of heart after talks with chief executive Rick Parry, who said: "He realises how much the club means to him."

You know that he is Liverpool through and through.
He has been offered a contract paying him £100,000 a week.
Chelsea were reputedly about to up their first offer of £32,000,000 and a weekly salary of over £125,000.
So why would he consider leaving?

Ok, in the current climate of G8 talks and poverty in Africa, 30,000 kids a day dying etc, how can you justify a salary and a transfer fee like those being banded around.
I don't begrudge soccer players that sort of money. You can't say they are worth that much, but when you look at their careers it can be put into perspective (to some degree).
Gerrard is at the peak of his career. From now on it is all downhill. It won't be a steep slope and hopefully he be playing as good as he did last year for a few more years yet (not that I am a Liverpool fan by the way. In fact, being a Chelsea supporter I'm disappointed that we didn't land him. Him and Lampard in the same team would have been an awesome midfield).
I know quite a few ex-proffessional football players who through injury had their careers stopped dead in their tracks. Often giving up a decent education or failing that, a career path that would support them in order to concentrate on their soccer.
Once injured and unable to play anymore, what can they do? Sports teachers, tv pundits, insurance salesman, all a far cry from being the thing that they've always wanted to be. Their careers are quite short in terms of the number of years worked so they deserve as much as they can get really. If Gerrard was injured tomorrow and unable to play soccer again, he'd be on the scrap heap before you could say "Now then our kid!".

But even though I agree with the salaries, it is the transfer fees that I object to.
So when you look at all the fuss about why he didn't sign sooner for Liverpool, he was looking after number 1, and rightly so. He could be out of football in another 10 years, or next week, you just don't know. He has to look after number 1 regardless of what his heart is telling him.