Injuries and Sporting Humanity
“He’s someone doing something that conventional wisdom says is not the thing to do,” said David Shaw, a Stanford graduate who was named the Cardinal’s football coach last month. “But the people here say, ‘I understand.’ ” If I told you the above quote was about Andrew Luck, it would probably not surprise you at […]
How it Happened | Ben Stokes Saves The Ashes
I had always planned to write a post at some point about why Test cricket is such a special thing in the world of sport, and while I already had ample fodder for that article, the events on the 4th day at Headingly just piled a whole load more on top. So to avoid covering […]
NFL Season Preview | AFC North
Like most divisions, the AFC North is about the haves and have-nots. In recent memory the Steelers and Ravens have bossed this division, with the Browns and Bengals writing more punchlines than headlines. It looks like this year the Bengals are going to be left behind as the rest of this division looks set to […]
NFL Season Preview | AFC East
The Patriots dominance of this division over the years has hinged on two major factors. Number 1 is their ability to consistently reinvent themselves, and to find value and cultivate talent seemingly out of nowhere. Number 2 is the inability of the rest of the teams to come close to being able to do this, […]
Clutch: Of Closers and Kickers
I’m going to borrow from the laziest of tropes for speeches and articles and drop in a dictionary definition for the intro to this post: clutch noun (DIFFICULT SITUATION) US a difficult and important situation that needs a lot of skill to deal with successfully: “This team was able to perform in the clutch every […]
A Tale of Two VARs
In the short-lived history thus far of VAR, it’s most significant moment to date was of course in the Champions League semi-final between Man City and Spurs. The debate over the merits or otherwise were therefore naturally amplified when the same technology intervened this weekend to again decide the course of the result against City. […]
THAT Ronny Rosenthal Hat-Trick
The 1994-95 season is the first that I have actual, tangible memories of football from. Oddly, neither are actually of the football action itself but instead both are recalling the emotions I felt sitting on the upper stairs (I lived in a townhouse with 2 separate sets of stairs) reacting to formative moments in my […]
Swing and a drive. Belted right…
Baseball is a sport that thrives on its history. The hall of fame ballot is an annual cacophony of debate, statistical milestones are tracked and followed with more fervour than some religions, and moments of note are known by single words or phrases. The catch The streak The called shot Mr October Baseball is nothing […]
Premier League Week 1 Recap
Plus ça change Given the aggregate score of the last 4 games at London Stadium between the teams is 17-1, it can hardly be much of a surprise that Man City ran out 5-0 winners on the opening day of the season, but the manner of their victory is what suggests it could be a […]
Premier League Preview | Wolverhampton Wanderers
The best-kept-secret are a secret no more. A stunning emergence onto the scene last year sees us arrive at the trickiest of second albums for NES and the crew. Probably most importantly for this squad – they saw an offseason come and go without any of their start players or board having their heads turned […]