Drink, Drugs and Sausage Rolls

I was always intrigued by the Ulster Councils initiative “Drink, drugs and sausage rolls,” not just due to its t-shirt slogan name, but mainly as to what it was all about. Turns out the Ulster Council reckons these are the three things that turn good minor players into that lad who sits at the bar and tells you about the time he scored a point against Cavan in a Minor all Ireland in 1995. From a purely cuisine point of view I think this is incredibly harsh on sausage rolls. Surely jambons ruin a man’s arteries quicker than the sausage snack? Alas I digress, the main crux of my problem with the initiative is the exemption of the Minor players greatest deterrent – women. We all know that the late teens are a time in a man’s life when women stop becoming something you look at from afar and become people we could actually strike up a conversation with. Believe it or not being able to put the ball over the bar from the 45 while on the run gets massive kudos with the ladies (I always knew I was doing something wrong!). So why then is the Ulster Council initiative not called “Drink, Drugs and the girl from number 47 who’ll make you miss training to take her to see Sex and the City 2”. All minor players should be advised to only date girls who know their way around a hurl or who, better still have played inter county since they were 15. (Note to readers: There is a line here. I currently date a girl who is better than me at football, it’s very bad for my ego).

NBA Finals - Dallas Mavericks One Win Away From Franchise's First Championship

Last night, the Dallas Mavericks took a giant step towards towards their first NBA championship with a 112-103 victory over the Miami Heat. With this victory, the Mavs take the lead in the best of 7 series for the first time as the teams head back to Miami with Dallas leading 3-2. It was Miami's first consecutive loss of the playoffs and gives the Mavericks a great opportunity to avenge their '06 finals loss against the Heat where they held a 2-0 lead before losing four on the spin. 

Once again the star of the show for Dallas was Dirk Nowitzki, scoring 29 points and 100% from the free throw line. The big German has been his team's driving force in the post season, rescuing them from large deficits with his impeccable shooting. Although he didn't have his best game of the series so far, his offensive play allowed Dallas to score over 100 points against arguably the best defensive team in the league. He was ably assisted by Jason Terry, JJ Barea & Tyson Chandler as the Mavs hit 13 3-pointers in game 5 and they now look like they have the belief to go and claim their first title.

Hold on to your hats

Said I would give an update on all bets in this blog and so true to my word here goes...
In work on Saturday, missed the Barbarian game. One of the rules of mug betting is never bet on an event you won't get to watch.
I completely subscribe to that mentality. Never going to get rich gambling so may as well get to enjoy the game I have had a bet on.
Get home at seven, forty-five minutes to go till the Toulouse game, still have not had my bet. Have to make a phone bet, logistically cannot get to Kingbet and take advantage of the best price special offer. Have completely forgotten about the Ba-Ba game at this stage.
Ring up, first check the balance, don't know how it's that high. Barbarians must have won, excellent start to my tipping career.
Will I have the entire account on Toulouse, price is slashed to 1 to 5, have the bookies started to take notice of my prowess?
Kipling said "if you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss" - got to have the full account.
Game starts: Toulouse are dominant, Montpellier give away two kickable penalties.
Both missed, worrying sign - despite the wisdom that: "forwards win games, backs decide by how much", kickers win games full stop, they keep the score board ticking over.

What Next?

Only fifteen football players have sold for more than thirty million pounds in a single go. Looking at the next two months, one thing is certain: that number is going to increase before the European season restarts. As every team seeks to unseat Barcelona at the pinnacle of European football, and the old certainties that pervaded the Premiership go out the window, it appears that an unprecedented transfer window is in the offing. With that in mind, let us look at what plans the biggest teams in Europe might have for purchases.
England hasn't held the record for a purchase since Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima unseated Alan Shearer in 1997, yet the Premiership is the richest league in the world, and getting richer. As a result, there is likely to be considerable activity here, particularly as the Big Four of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, who dominated the game for much of the first decade of the twenty-first century, now find themselves joined by Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur as a Big Six, all fighting over those four crucial Champions' League slots.

Unlike his colleagues, Alex Ferguson has the luxury of dong nothing, should he wish. His biggest headache, replacing Edwin Van Der Sar in goals, has been hopefully dealt with by the likely arrival of David De Gea from Atletico Madrid, though that transfer has yet to be finalised. While, aged just twenty, De Gea may lack experience at directing a defence, the pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic need little assistance in that department. United's other problem is that, following Paul Scholes' retirement, a replacement centre midfielder would be desirable, as neither Michael Carrick or Darren Fletcher are particularly good. In addition, Ryan Giggs has now been playing for so long that it will soon be time to consider what will happen when he dies, let alone retires. Expect United to start nosing after Luca Modric, Wesley Sneijder, or possibly Bastian Schweinsteiger, if he could be acquired cheaply. The latter could be traded for Dimitar Berbatov, who is now deemed surplus to requirements at United, and is the subject of rumoured interest from Bayern Munich. Ferguson, however, is nothing if not unpredictable. The defeat to Barcelona in Wembley will undoubtedly spur him to strengthen his squad, and the likelihood is that the Glazer family will provide the means to do so. Nonetheless, it may be that the wily Scot will look to a relative unknown to fulfil his midfield requirements.

Mixed weekend for Irish sport stars but King Rafa reigns supreme once again in France

                                                    From golf to cricket and football to boxing, the Irish had their fingers in a lot of sporting pies. Not the kind of pies that this armchair fan is most fond of, but in Ohio and in Wales, in Lord's, Skopje and Cardiff this Irish sports follower had plenty to chew over last weekend. However, the sports headline of the weekend must be Rafael Nadal’s tenth Grand Slam and sixth French Open win at the tender age of only 25 over his great rival Roger Federer at Rolland Garros on Sunday last. Whatever may be said by those with 20-20 hindsight vision, his victory was by no means a foregone conclusion. He had been beaten twice by Novak Djovkovic in two clay court finals leading up to the French, in Madrid and Rome and his shaky 3-2 win over big serving John Isner in the first round only gave credence  to those who questioned whether his veneer of invincibility on the clay was beginning to lose its polish. He got better with each game however and when he comfortably beat both Robin Soderling and Andy Murray 3-0 in the quarter and semi finals respectively it looked as though rumours of the King’s demise had been greatly exaggerated. In this blogger’s opinion though, the fact that it was Federer that he faced in the final and not this years form player Djokovic, was a huge boost for the Spaniard. While Federer still oozes class, only dropping one set on the way to the final, it appears as though Nadal has the mental edge over the Swiss man. They have met each other on eight occasions in grand slam finals with Nadal winning six to Federer’s two. Indeed those two are both at Wimbledon and were back in 2006 and 2007. Since then, the Spaniard has beaten Federer in the finals of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the French Open twice. Djokovic won this year's Australian and last years US Opens and if he is able to beat Nadal in two consecutive finals on the Spaniard's favourite surface then the Serb could be the real threat to the world number one in the coming months.

                                            In the women’s section China’s Li Na defeated defending champion Francesca Shiavone of Italy. Both Li Na and Rafael Nadal picked up cheques for €1.2 million. While I appreciate that viewing figures worldwide for the women’s final may have been greater than the men’s this year (because of China’s huge population), this is the exception and certainly not the rule. Women’s tennis is nowhere near as gripping as it used to be, when Navratilova and Graf were in their pomp or when the Williams sisters bothered to compete in all of the Slams and not just Wimbledon. However, even if it was as entertaining as the men’s, the fact is that women simply do far less work than the men. On the way to her maiden Grand Slam Li Na played 16 sets and spent 727 minutes on the court. Compare that to Nadal’s 24 sets and 1258 minutes of game time and it’s clear that Nadal is clocking in for over eight hours more yet going home with the same pay. If women want equality in terms of remuneration well then I think it’s time that we went back to ‘equal pay for equal play.’

‘The Excitement of the US Open is Building’

The US Open is set to be one of the most ‘wide open’ tournaments of the past 10 years and a shift in control at the top of the world ranking might see the media circling around the top Europeans rather than the Americans!

However many Americans are in contention, Ricky Fowler the confidence man for one, with his orange onesy and attacking style is due a top five finish. Down on fedex cup standings compared to what is expected. Is he in the same league as fellow young guns Matteo Manassero, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy? All of which have had some really good performances this year already. As we get closer to the US open all the big name players seem to raise their game and he won’t be any different. He see’s friends like Donald, Day and Bubba doing so well lately he won’t want to be left behind. Ricky is 48th in the world at the minute and anyone can see that he has the skill level to match those above, as yet some element has been lacking which has left him a bit inconsistent. The second biggest major for the Americans will bring more drive and focus from him, raising his game and consistency, so watch out for him in preparation tournaments running up to the US open on the 16th of June.

Kyle Lafferty Declares for the Republic? Don’t bet your bowler on it.

Amongst all the furore surrounding James McCarthy not turning up for international duty, Marc Wilsons absence seems to have been glossed over.  Wilson one of the Northern “Deserters” choose to play for Ireland rather than his “native” Northern Ireland. One of the many inaccuracies thrown at these players by Norn Iron fans is the notion that they are “glory hunters”. Indeed I recently spoke to a good friend, Scott, who’s studied in the area of Northern Catholics supporting Northern Ireland and he still maintained that the search for success was the driving factor.  Surely Wilsons’ absence – interestingly at a time when he could have a picked up a medal – blows this argument out of the water. When Kyle Lafferty decides to throw his lot in with the Republic then I’ll believe this argument but currently it is all nationalist who are declaring.