Sports Saturday

  • Philips HD TV – £1600
  • Sky HD Box – £300
  • Sky Monthly Subscription – £52
  • Watching England get knocked out of the World Cup again on penalties, Terry and Beckham shedding tears and Andy Murray winning magestically all in high definition – priceless

Andy MurrayWhat an amazing day of sport. First Andy Murray. Great performance especially as Roddick was serving so well. Still think it’s too early to be thinking of semi’s or final’s but that performance today was one of the best sport moments of the year so far. As for England they didn’t play well when they had eleven men, they had the better of the game after Rooney was sent off, the substitutions were frankly bizarre (take off wide man and put on Crouch, aka gigantaur, with no one left to cross it?) and to be honest the England team performance throughout the world cup did not merit a semi final place. Bye.

Looking forward to Murray in the 4th round now. Just how far can he go? I hoped that the comments on his website would be a bit more positive after the nasty stuff left over the last week but the one copied below shows that despite a really good post match interview some people just never let up.

If you weren’t such an unbelievably lucky hitter and hoper, so incredibly dull and such a nasty piece of work, it would be easy to look past the fact that you’re so dam ugly.

I thought Mr Burns was a cartoon character. I didn’t realise he was real and had offspring.

So sad.

World cup – who to support?

There was a real kerfuffle this week over Jack McConnell’s comments regarding England at the World Cup. So he won’t be supporting them. No big deal unless your an MP at Westminster hoping to make some petty gain from the statement or Jack Straw still stinging from his demotion. This Stuart Cosgrove quote summed up my feelings.

By what weasel arrangement are England fans allowed to dislike Argentina, Germany and France, while we have to snuggle up to them as if history and rivalry meant nothing?

This was taken from a Daily Record article which stated his position and his annoyance at the anger around Scots not supporting England. I have much the same view – I won’t be supporting England and it’s not anti-English, racist or whatever anyone else wants to paint it – it’s football and I don’t support them. I support Scotland who are surprisingly missing from this years tournament and hence I want a team that plays good football to win – no great allegiance to anyone. I do know that I don’t want England to win or even do well – they are a rival. There’s also another reason.

PropagandaThe most grating aspect of England at the World Cup is the hype and propaganda that the whole country has to suffer in the run up to and during the World Cup, even after they have been kicked out at an early stage (fingers crossed). For me summed up by the re-release of Escape To Victory – since when was it England vs Germany – John Wark was playing for them – Pele too. A free England flag as well. Agggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh. Same with Mars now called Believe. This is across of the whole of the UK – not just England. The whole Rooney broken foot saga is also getting out of hand with Alex Ferguson now getting cast as the nasty Scots villain. Tragic.

Saying that it’s less than a fortnight until it all kicks off. Can’t wait. I’m hoping for a more open tournament and some real performances from the flair players.

Sent Them Homeward

Scotland 18 – 12 England. What a match. At the end of the first half I had real doubts about the Scots. They had to defend most of the half and it was looking grim. Second half though saw the English tire badly and the Scots had most of the possession. Great performance, great defence but most importantly a great win and thoroughly deserved. Disappointed that we had the Scottish commentary team not because they were poor – would have loved to have heard what Jeremy Guscott had to say after that win.

Jill Douglas – At what point did you think you could beat England

Frank Hadden – Last week

Loved that quote – summed up the confidence that Scotland now have. Bring on the Irish.

The Ashes

This is something I didn’t see coming. I like cricket, I loved The Ashes series and well done England for winning. The middle three tests were great to watch and all had tense endings. The end of this match was a bit of an anti-climax but none the less entertaining. What struck home the most was the level of competition between the two teams but also the sportsmanship and respect on display – unusual to see from an Aussie team.

A cautionary note – I hope the players don’t turn into celebrities like footballers in general and the England team (with wives) in particular. I couldn’t care less about there off pitch life’s, who they are married to or how many of them stay in magnificent houses. Keep to the sport – far more interesting. Take the hint Mrs Flintoff although he must be a sure bet for sports personality of the year.