Birmingham Post - Sport Blog

Blood - the real thing

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:16:49 +0000

Having been absent from the blogosphere due to holidays and illness, it's time I dipped a toe back into the waters. So, with a mild word of warning that this blog probably shouldn't be read before the watershed, here we go.

Time to put the brakes on English cricket's lager-drinking, money-making gravy train

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:06:38 +0000

Over the past week, I have looked on with increasing amusement as English cricket's authorities have tied themselves in knots over the unruly behaviour which plagued last weekend's Edgbaston Test and which will surely raise its head again at Headingley over the next few days.
Honestly, I know the England & Wales Cricket Board were the only people who didn't smell a rat over Allan Stanford (and didn't care as long as he was carrying wads of cash) but it's not that difficult, is it?

There's bad luck, there's really bad luck and then.....

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:13:20 +0000

It wasn't quite up there with Tom Watson losing out at the Open (did you know he was 59, by the way?) in terms of having the prize snatched from your lips, but it felt horribly close.
This week, I almost won the biggest prize of my betting career. Regular readers may not be surprised to learn that this doesn't amount to much. I wouldn't have paid off the mortgage on Warrillow Towers, or written the cheque for my wife's 50th birthday dream trip to Kenya, but it would have done nicely.

Those who can, do; those who can't predict a result to save their life, write about it

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:01:01 +0000

Actually, it wasn't Jimmy Anderson who did it. It wasn't Paul Collingwood and it certainly wasn't Monty (if in doubt, don't touch it) Panesar.
It was me.

Late-night tennis - a bright new world?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:36:02 +0000

My friend Claire (not her real name) is disabled. Not disabled in mind, her brain is as sharp as a tack and she is determined to make the best of what life she has, but physically.
Claire often uses a motorised wheelchair to get about and there are days when she cannot raise the energy to get out of bed.
Claire loves books, partly because there are days when she can do little else but read - or, rather, listen. That's how we met, at one of the audiobook groups at our local library.

Lunacy versus reality

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:52:11 +0000

It was as I checked Ceefax for the last time before getting into the taxi on my way to Birmingham Airport and a week in Fuerteventura that I discovered that Gareth "I really need Champions League football" Barry had signed for............Manchester City.

The big four - again...and again....and again....

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Clive Tyldesley doesn't get a lot right, but ITV's oh-so-pleased-with-himself football commentator was right on the money during the European Cup final.

It was a fair bet I'd lose - but it was fun trying...

Fri, 29 May 2009 12:40:31 +0000

Last weekend, I did something I don't do very often and probably haven't done for 12 months.
I enjoyed it so much that I'm intending to do it again tomorrow.

The perfect read for a golf lover

Tue, 19 May 2009 19:50:52 +0000

I discovered pretty early on in life that I'd never make a golfer. Actually, I discovered pretty early on in life that I'd never make an active sportsman of any sort but that's another story.

A story to restore my faith in football

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:42:39 +0000

I've moaned enough times on here about the money-obsessed nature of football these days, from the Premier League right down to the Conference National and below. But something happened this week to remind me of the game's everlasting ability to touch the hearts and stir the emotions of people of every age, of every nation, of every lifestyle.

Lambs step nervously into the limelight

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:56:11 +0000

I'm grateful to my colleague Rob Tanner, for bringing readers' attention to the thrilling end to the non-league football season, in particular the battles involving Burton Albion and Tamworth.
Burton can look after themselves (or maybe they can't, as they sit on the verge of blowing a 17-point lead) but as you may have seen by now, Tamworth clinched the Blue Square North title this week, courtesy of a fist-gnawingly tense 1-0 win over Hinckley Town at The Lamb.

No longer bowled over by cricket

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:18:17 +0000

Of all the sports to have sold their souls to television and money, I think cricket has suffered the worst.
Did you know there is still one match to go in England's interminable tour of the West Indies? Actually, if the dispute between the West Indies players and authorities over (guess what?), money, is not resolved, it may have finished already.

'The Long Fellow', 'AP'....and my nan

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:02:35 +0000

I blame my nan on my mother's side - for Nora Harrod was a proper punter.
Decades before At The Races and Racing UK, years before Teletext gave instant access to that day's racing results, Nora and her husband Charlie, a retired carpet factory worker, would sit every afternoon in their living room in Kidderminster, with a copy of The Sun and a mug of tea, poring over the form and flicking on the radio every 30 minutes for the sports news and the racing results.

Just promoting trouble

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:57:42 +0000

"Of course, if we go up, we'd have to change the entire team," complained a workmate as we discussed the previous evening's football results. "I wouldn't back any of them to get a first-team place next season."

Out of my ground

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:36:44 +0000

Where do Yeovil Town play? What about Dagenham and Redbridge? Or Stockport County?