Silver lining

I'm not buying the "I'm suffering a Tory government, get me out of here" hysteria, for several reasons, not least that when Labour told us in 1997 that "things can only get better" they did for a while but it's not like 2010 is much more financially stable than 1997.  In short, I'm not as scared as everyone else of the Tories being back in power.

But here's really why I'm not so bothered:

England won the FIFA World Cup in 1966.

England won the Rugby World Cup in 2003.

In 1966, Harold Wilson was the Prime Minister of a Labour government.

In 2003, Tony Blair was the Prime Minister of a Labour government.

In short, England have won World Cups - but always under a Labour government.  So when Gordon Brown got so spectacularly thumped last Thursday, he didn't just lose an election and the opportunity to govern again.  He lost England the World Cup as well.

So, even for the 84% of Scots who are mad that they didn't vote for the Tories and still got a Tory government, be comforted in the knowledge that it may just save us from 50 years of clips showing Rio Ferdinand parading the FIFA World Cup Trophy (as the new one is called).  Silver lining indeed.

(Incidentally, before the comments come saying I should be supporting England at the tournament, I'll say now - I can't be bothered with the argument.  If they win it, well done.  If they don't, too bad.  I won't really be that bothered either way.  I just wish the media would calm down some).

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NFL Predictions

****Sport post - look away now if you don't care about NFL****

Another pretty busy week, but given the NFL season kicked off last night with an overtime win for the Steelers over the Titans, I wanted to note down my predictions for the season so that, come March when the 49ers and the Browns* contest the Superbowl we can laugh at how bad my predictions were. Perhaps only fellow NFL fan Stephen Glenn will be interested in this post, but thats fine too.

I'll start with the NFC:
North Packers (12-4, #1 seed)
East Giants (11-5, #2 seed)
South Falcons (11-5, #3 seed)
West Cardinals (10-6, #4 seed)
Wild Cards Saints (11-5, #5 seed) Eagles (10-6, #6 seed)

NFC Championship:
Packers over Saints

AFC
North Ravens (11-5, #3 seed)
East Patriots (13-3, #1 seed)
South Texans (9-7, #4 seed)
West Chargers (12-4, #2 seed)
Wild Cards Steelers (10-6, #5 seed) Jets (9-7, #6 seed)

AFC Championship:
Patriots over Steelers

Superbowl:
Patriots over Packers

So there we go. Check back in January to see how badly I've fared with these predictions. I had to back my Jets for a playoff spot, and that's at the expense of both the Titans and Colts (which might be surprising but I reckon I'm ahead of the curve here). In the NFC, the Cowboys will be the biggest disappointment in their new stadium, as they miss the playoffs and cost Wade Phillips his job. And through gritted teeth, I think Pats will seal another Superbowl.

You read it here first. Though perhaps not, if you've already read it somewhere else.

*This is, of course, a joke. Like saying Motherwell and St. Mirren will be the main contenders for the SPL trophy.

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+++ Scottish Tennis Champion +++

Pictured above is six-time Wimbledon Champion Roger Federer sporting his true national colours at a young age.

Said the First Minister:

"Forget about the grumpy guy that made the semi-finals, you know, what's-his-name. Roger is a true Scottish Champion, a credit to his country and a man who is proud to support his nation at any sport - even the ones that we're crap at."

"When I were a lad, I had dreams of standing on the moon like Neil Armstrong. I even had a spacesuit with a Scottish flag on the sleeve. If I'd worked harder at it, there's no question I could have been the first Scotsman on the moon."

*Disclaimer - there is of course no truth to the statement above (apart from the picture being of Roger Federer of course). Though you can just imagine...

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Ayrton Senna - 15 years on

Fifteen years to the day since the death of racing legend Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

I can still remember where I was and what I was doing at the time - despite being only 9 years old. And I remember watching racing at the time thinking "this guy is a crazy genius." I doubt there'd be many that would argue with that.

His death - alongside that of Austrian Roland Ratzenberger in qualifying the previous day - brought about a number of changes in driver safety in the sport.

The BBC have a documentary about his life in Formula 1 - which, judging by some of the haircuts, is a few years old. Well worth a wee look though, and you can see it here.

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English Buttons

Love the BBC.

Britain's Jenson Button spends his whole career pre-2009 winning one race.

Britian's Jenson Button wins the first two races of 2009 and he becomes England's Jenson Button.


Funny how it was the other way round with David Coulthard (ie - he was Scottish when he was losing/ British when winning).

I'd like to point out, I don't really give a damn. Just show some consistency.

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My top five...

After watching Federer v Nadal Part XIX last weekend, I got thinking about what the best sporting events I had watched live were. I struggled to cut the list to five, but here they are. Are they in order? I don't think so... because how can you compare one sport to another?

1) 2008 Wimbledon: Men's Singles Final: Nadal beats Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7. Seven hours (including rain breaks) of a to-and-fro battle between the two best players in the world. Tension-filled, finishing in near-darkness, Nadal finally triumphed to end Federer's five-year reign as Wimbledon champion and win his first Grand Slam outside the French Open.

2) 2008 Olympics: 100m Final: Usian Bolt runs 9.69secs and breaks World Record. And he practically walks over the line. Was absolutely staggering a) how fast he was and b) how much faster than everyone else he was. Still can't believe how much he slowed in the last 10m.

3) 2005 Champions League Final: Liverpool beat AC Milan on penalties after 3-3 draw, despite being down 3-0 at half time and looking pretty pathetic at that. In truth, I nearly turned it off... sticking with it only for the first 15 mins of the second half to see how they got on. Glad I stayed with it though - what a comeback. Amazing to watch.

4) 2003 Rugby World Cup Final: England beat Australia 20-17 after extra time on a last-second Jonny Wilkinson drop goal. I know... the less said about it the better. But it was a tension-filled drama to the very end, with two incredibly evenly matched sides... even if it was the wrong result!

5) SuperBowl XLIII: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Arizona Cardinals 27-23 with a touchdown with only 35 seconds remaining. I know it was only a couple of days ago, and I should think about it for a while... but it was an instant classic, if only for the Cardinals fourth quarter comeback from 20-7 down to lead with 2.37 remaining.

Honourable mentions:

• 2009 Australian Open Men's Singles Final: Nadal beats Federer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 in another epic. The standard of tennis was phenomenal at times.
• SuperBowl XXXVIII: New England Patriots beat Carolina Panthers 32-29 on a 41-yard Adam Viniateri field goal with four seconds remaining. 37 points in an end to end final quarter that could have gone either way.
• 2008 Olympics: Usian Bolt breaks Michael Johnson's 200m record.
• 1999 Champions League Final: Man Utd 2-1 Bayern Munich, won with 2 goals in the last minute of the match. Amazing stuff.
• 2001 UEFA Cup Final: Liverpool 5-4 Deportivo Alaves. After Extra Time. Liverpool led four times Alaves equalised in the last minute of normal time before an own goal in the first half of extra time was enough to win it.
  

Yeah, you might have guessed, I do love my sport. Probably a controversial list. If I was letting personal support get in the way, I might also have had the 2003 UEFA Cup final (Celtic losing to Porto 3-2) or Scotland's 21-6 Autumn Test win over South Africa in 2002 (a match which I was lucky to be in attendance at!). But there we go. Anyone watched anything better?

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Green Formula

The 2000 green Jaguar Formula One car driven by Eddie Irvine.

This is the only way the words "green" and "Formula 1 car" will go together.

So what's this I see? Formula One goes green?

Nope... just some stripes on the tyres.

Oh well... nice idea. Might be more environmentally friendly to go back to racing in daylight though. Just a thought.

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