Over on www.orlandogolfblogger.com, I discuss whether the British Open missed the presence of the best golfer in the world, Mr Tiger Woods. After winning the US Open by going through the pain barrier, it was announced that he would miss the rest of 2008 because of a knee injury.

A lot of the build up surrounding the tournament was about his absence rather than the players that would be fighting for the title.

That's inevitable I guess - Tiger Woods is one of the biggest names in sport and any tournament that he doesn't appear in will lack 'the Tiger factor'. A phrase which is normally used in reference to the massive following he has around a golf course because of his phenomenal talent.

In the few days leading up to the tournament, there was doubts over defending Champion Padraig Harrington's fitness. The Irishman had a wrist injury and was very close to pulling out. Luckily for him and the tournament as a whole, he pulled through. A Major Championship without the best golfer in the World or the defending champion certainly wouldn't have seemed the same.

Something the absence of Woods and the uncertainty over Harrington's injury did do was open up the field for a new champion, a new hero. Many golf bets were being placed on the highest ranked player competing Phil Mickelson, the man who lost to Harrington in a play-off last year Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood who was in good form after finishing 3^rd in the US Open.

Continue reading this article at:

http://www.orlandogolfblogger.com/2008/07/24/did-the-british-open-miss-tiger-woods/

I pick over England's defeat to South Africa at Headingley on www.laytheodds.com and suggest that the batsmen are more culpable than the selectors for the home team's predicament.

I have just had my 'Nasser Hussain at Brisbane' moment. As soon as Graeme Smith won the toss at Headingley and bowled, I knew my prediction that a fielding decision would be a mistake would come back to haunt me. My tip for an England win also looked instantly wide of the mark.

However, I do feel let down by the home side. They say look up at Headingley, not down, and Smith was not alone in following this advice. England's batsmen convinced themselves that the grey skies meant they were batting in trickier conditions than were actually in evidence.

This paranoia manifested itself in a panicked display of loose strokeplay, with Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Broad all falling to unnecessarily attacking shots. Nine players were out caught, which reflects England's failings more than it does South Africa's skill with the ball.

Continue reading this article at: http://www.laytheodds.com/articles/562/1/Shot-selection-not-player-selection-is-England039s-major-problem.html

I discuss England's second test defeat to South Africa and Headingley and the selection issues surrounding Michael Vaughan's team on www.buzzincricket.co.uk.

First of all, let's talk about Darren Pattinson. Why on earth was this man included? Basically, he is a 29-year-old Australian raised swing bowler who has only played 12 first-class matches. The fact that he was picked above Matthew Hoggard on his home ground or the in-form duo of Simon Jones and Steve Harmison is quite bizarre.

The ECB line on Darren Pattinson's call up seems to be that it was a 'horses for courses' selection. They wanted someone to make the most of the Headingley conditions. If that was the case, why on earth wasn't Matthew Hoggard chosen? He is one of the best swing bowlers in the world on his day, has taken 248 test wickets and knows the Headingley pitch better than anyone. I would have put all my cricket betting money on the Yorkshire bowler causing plenty of problems to the South African batting line up.

Continue reading this article at:

http://www.buzzincricket.co.uk/after-england%e2%80%99s-heavy-defeat-to-south-africa-%e2%80%93-who-will-line-up-in-the-third-test/131/

En este artículo voy a intentar desvelar como está el mercado de la Premier League, o Liga Inglesa, hasta el momento. Como en todas las ligas, es difícil saber si las noticias que leemos son ciertas o no cuando nos referimos a fichajes, traspasos, etc.

Para empezar, y aunque ya sepa que es el culebrón del verano (pero me siento en la obligación de transmitirlo), la idea de que Cristiano Ronaldo no vuelva a Manchester parece que cada vez es más rotunda. Y es que en el United ya no apuestan por los goles del luso la próxima temporada, y por ello están buscando un sustituto que este a la altura. Este sustituto tiene nombre y apellidos, Dimitar Berbatov, jugador del Tottenham de Juande Ramos. El equipo dirigido por Sir Alex Ferguson estaría dispuesto a dar 25 millones de euros por el bulgaro y esperan cerrar el traspaso la próxima semana.

El Liverpool de Rafa Benítez ha fichado a un guardameta, el brasileño Diego Cavalieri, el cual ya ha hecho unas declaraciones en las que reta a Pepe Reina por la titularidad. Como apunte personal tengo que decir que el brasileño lo tendrá difícil, ya que Pepe es un porterazo, a parte de ser campeón de Europa con la selección española, pero esto hará que la sana rivalidad que exista entre los dos haga que se empleen a fondo el siguiente curso.

Continue leyendo este artículo en: http://verdadelabuena.blogspot.com/2008/07/el-mercado-de-la-premier.html

I discuss the future of Chelsea midfielers Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard on http://thechelseablog.wordpress.com, both of whom have one year remaining on their current contract. There is uncertainty surrounding whether Ballack will stay beyond his current deal and whether Lampard will even be at Chelsea when the season starts in August.

My gut feeling is that Ballack will be on top form next season. He will have to put the disappointment of losing the Champions League and Euro 2008 finals behind him and start again in August. These final defeats will make him more determined to win trophies with Chelsea and I expect him to be scoring vital goals for Scolari over the next couple of years. I'd like to see the football odds on Ballack scoring 15+ goals next season - he is Scolari's type of player in my view.

So that leaves Lampard. As we all know, there is much doubt over his future. He also only has one year left on his current deal and Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan are supposedly upping their pursuit of the England midfielder despite Scolari saying that he will be staying at Stamford Bridge. Like everyone, I am fed up of Lampard contract talks. He wants a five year deal, Chelsea are offering him four. Considering this contract is set to include a £150,000 a week salary - is the disagreement over an extra year really worth the risk of losing Lampard?

Continue reading this article at: 

http://thechelseablog.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/michael-ballack-v-frank-lampard-who

-would-you-choose

Things never run smoothly at West Ham. There's always something wrong, whether it's the club, the players, the fans or a mixture of all three, and followers of the club are very rarely content . I similarly am not a happy hammer.

And the worst part of it is, there is no sympathy at all from anywhere else. I recall a time when the East End side were the football man's second team, but since the Carlos Tevez saga, we're very much on football's death wish-list.

I also recall a time when the Hammers played exciting football, even if they did occasionally succumb to 5-0 and 7-1 defeats to the likes of Everton and Blackburn.

But that is what being a West Ham fan is about and at the moment it feels boring to be a West Ham fan. We couldn't have finished any more mid-table in 10th, which tells you something on its own. I actually think many fans would have preferred to have suffered near heart attacks in another relegation scrap than be bored witless by a consistently average campaign.

Fans are split at the moment. There are those in favour of Alan Curbishley and those who are not. Those in favour of the former Charlton boss say that the poor season was due to injuries. That the gaffer did well with what was available and should be remembered for saving us from relegation. The rest say that his football is tedious, like himself, and he will not take the club anywhere higher.

The board created this optimism when they stated their ambitions of Champions League football in coming years. This excited fans, and an apparent 'list' was made of players that the club wished to acquire. This was reportedly a factor behind Lucas Neil's decision to sign for the Londoners ahead of Liverpool, after he saw the names and wanted to be part of what he believed would be a bright future.

I personally am not a fan of Curbishley. I appreciate what he has done for the club, but I think now is the time to move on. The only problem being that he hasn't actually done anything worthy of sacking, so is it the wrong thing to do?

Many believe he will receive the chop if West Ham fail to impress in the opening stages of the season, and punters are already taking bets on where the Hammers will finish up next season.

I don't think Curbishley is right for us. His football is boring, and easy to work out (which happened numerous times last season). But most of all it's himself. He is not going to attract the players the the club wish to acquire.

Not only that, but he just doesn't seem to be trying to sign players. There has been hardly any transfer involvement so far in the window. we've been strongly linked with both Stephen Carr and James Harper- I needn't say any more.

Eidur Gudjohnson and Valon Behrami sounded slightly more promising, but Behrami's agent has laughed off reports that he would sign for West Ham and Gudjohnson has not played for about 10 years.

We have the likes of Keiron Dyer and Craig Bellamy fit again, but how far will they seriously take us? A UEFA Cup challenge? A domestic cup run? I don't know for sure, but I seriously doubt it. Head this way to place your stake on a potential cup-winning side.

I just want something to look forward to as a West Ham fan when the season starts again. Even Alan Pardew managed to raise some eyebrows with the bargain capture of Yossi Benayoun - Curbishley bought Nigel Quashie.

Who knows what will happen. Maybe the boss has something up his sleeve and will surprise everyone with something dramatic and out of the blue. But for now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll lose the opening 5 games of the season and appoint Slaven Bilic as manager... with Paolo Di Canio as his assistant of course.

I pay tribute on www.ezinearticles.com to Sanath Jayasuriya, who continues to be one of cricket's great entertainers at the ripe old age of 39.

Sanath Jayasuriya will not be remembered as a legend of the game, but he perhaps should be. There have been some notable retirements in recent times (Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brian Lara to name just three) but the little opener from Matara deserves to be held in similar company.

He is of course still going strong in One Day Internationals (he signed off from Tests last December with a typically attacking half century) , so it is a little early for a career review. However, Jayasuriya's longevity (he made his international debut in 1989) earns special recognition, as his career does more than span eras; he helped start a whole new one in cricket.

 

Continue reading this article at: http://ezinearticles.com/?Sanath-Jayasuriya---A-Birthday-Tribute&id=1293391

With the night sky descending on SW19 a new era of mens tennis was beginning to dawn. As Roger Federer sent a forehand crashing into the bottom of the net Rafael Nadal fell to the floor in joy and the knowledge that - unofficially at least - he is, right now the best player on Earth.
After coming so close last year to toppling the World number one, taking Federer to five sets Nadal was desperate to taste victory on in what he later described as, "his favourite tournament", And after claiming both of the opening sets it seemed that this year was going to be his and his in dominant fashion. Such is the determination of Federer that he was not going to give in easily and clawed his way back into the match.
Nadal had taken both the first and second set on a solitary break 6-4 but the man from Basel had a plan up his sleeve for the remainder of the match and it oh so nearly came off.
Federer took his time, as did Nadal, deploying a definite strategy to take whatever he could off the Spaniard's serve and making sure that he held his own.
The plan nearly backfired however though as Nadal took a 0-40 lead against the Federer serve with the games locked at 3-3 but the former champion rallied, winning the next five points to save his service game.
After this it was plain sailing for Federer and when the tie-break came he stepped up yet another gear.
The pair had not lost a single breaker between them all tournament although in the 2007 final they played out two, both of which Federer won.
Whether last years result was playing on Nadal's mind we will never know but his elder oponent raced out of the traps to take the breaker on a 7-3, serving the set out on an ace.
Centre court's atmosphere is among the best in the sport but even for the most ardent of tennis fans, the electricity in the clouds above was mirrored in the stadium below as 15,000 fans almost begged for the match to go all the way. What was about to happen before their eyes though, no-one could have predicted.
Federer stayed calm and as the Rudyard Kipling poem - which famously features on the players walk to Centre - kept his head whilst all those about him were losing theirs even when his serve was letting the great man down.
Twice in the fourth set Federer went down 0-30 on his serve but as only he can do it seems, managed to keep his focus squarely on the job in hand and in a flash reeled off a pair of pocket aces and two more powerful backhands to hold serve once more and take us into another breaker.
This time however it was the younger Spaniard who began in cruise control and even though Federer broke Nadal's serve in the opening point, the World number two stormed to a 5-2 lead and had two serves with which to take the set.
Nadal's serve has vastly improved this season which is one of the reason's why his next serve caused many to believe the tension was getting to him.
Nadal stepped up to the baseline and inexplicably double faulted and then Federer took full advantage of any nerves the 22-year-old may have been showing, winning the next point to bring it back to 5-4 and taking his chances on both of his own service points. Eventually the breaker was won by the Swiss 8-6 and left many believing that Nadal had now blown his chances of claiming his first Wimbledon title against his greatest of rivals.
Not so though as in the final set, with the games level at 7-7 Nadal took his chance, upping the intensity of his shots and forcing Federer to take risks, to which led to errors and the young Spaniard had yet another possibility of taking the match. Regardless of who had bet on either player at the start of this match, hearts would be in mouths right now.
He made no mistake this time. Even when Federer saved match point - the third of the encounter - it did not dampen his spirits and following a final fine rally Nadal pushed Federer out wide who then hit a forehand into the base of the net and, close to the baseline an overwhelmed Nadal fell to the floor with camera flashes flickering above him taking the match 6-4 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-7 (8-10) 9-7.
After four hours and 48 minutes - the longest Wimbledon mens final in history - Nadal had made it and he climbed up to the players box, just as Pat Cash had done so in 1987 before climbing across the commentary positions to the Royal box where he was  greeted, draped in his Countries colours by the Prince and Princess of Spain.
The moment will live with Nadal for the rest of his life and will serve as a massive blow to Federer who truly is one of the games greats. What lies in store for these two only time will tell but we will not have to wait long as they are in line for a showdown in the masters series in a month.

A short article written for www.footy-boots.com looking at Chelsea's new midfield import Deco.

'Big Phil' Scolari has wasted no time in bringing Deco to Chelsea and the Portuguese ace looks ready to take the Premier League by storm.The Brazil-born schemer was deemed surplus to requirements at Barcelona and new Blues boss Scolari, having managed Deco with Portugal, quickly landed him for £8million. It might seem a little steep for a midfielder who is 31 next month, but considering his lively showing at Euro 2008 he looks far from a spent force.

To read the full article go to: http://www.footy-boots.com/deco-to-light-up-the-bridge-4557/