April Fools?

You couldn't make this up!

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Fallacious prediction #2734

Okay, I know I should have learnt my lesson after predicting that Man Utd might have blown it by only drawing 0-0 at Barcelona in the Champions League last season. I just have this feeling they're going to pay the price for not converting any of the chances they created against Inter last week. The fact they were so dominant against Fulham at the weekend only increases my fears. I just don't see United playing that well again on Wednesday - and surely Inter can't play as badly as they did in the first leg? If it wasn’t Mourninho I’d certainly favour United – but as it’s him, I’m afraid I’m expecting the worst…

Say It Ain't So, Joe

It was disappointing to learn of Joe Calzaghe’s decision to retire from boxing. Despite his unbeaten record, it’s hard to call Calzaghe a true great – he just hasn’t fought enough quality opponents. Having dominated a largely uninspiring intermediate weight division, he’d finally moved up to a ‘true’ weight class. But he only fought twice at light heavyweight (being knocked down in both fights) – against a 43 year old who many experts thought beat him, and a 39 year old who was completely shot. Calzaghe claims that throughout his career he never ducked anyone, although Sven Ottke and Dariusz Michalczewski might disagree. Certainly, one has to question why Calzaghe wasn’t prepared to take a couple more fights at light heavy, against quality opponents such as Chad Dawson. And surely, given the closeness of their first fight, Hopkins deserved a rematch (apparently B-Hop was even prepared to come over to the UK for that). Calzaghe seems to think that by retiring undefeated he’s guaranteed his legacy, ala Rocky Marciano. Perhaps. But both Ottke and Ricardo Lopez also retired as undefeated champions – and who remembers them?

Simply Super

The current NFL season (that’s American football to the uninitiated) culminates this weekend, with Superbowl XLIII. And what a season it has been - full of great games and plenty of upsets. There can’t be anyone on the planet who would have believed when it started back in September that the Arizona Cardinals would make it all the way to the showpiece event – indeed, despite winning their division, few pundits thought they’d even make it through the first week of the playoffs. This unpredictability is what makes the NFL so great – and provides such a refreshing change from the monotony of Premiership football, where the same teams continue to dominate year after year. Let’s hope Sunday’s game provides a fitting finale to a wonderful season – and my fear that the Cardinals could get blown away by the Pittsburgh Steelers proves unfounded.

He’s got the Power

Last weekend Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor became world darts champion for the 14th – yes 14th - time. Forget about the argument that darts isn’t really a sport – which I expect is only made by people who haven’t actually played it (or those who do play, but can’t manage to score more than 26). Frankly, I don’t care if you’re talking about tiddlywinks or knitting – to be the best in the world at anything on 14 occasions is simply extraordinary. Taylor’s record at the world championships is phenomenal – he’s lost only four matches at the PDC event since its inception in 1994, failing to reach the final just once. In fact, forget about calling him the greatest sports person in the country – I hereby declare Taylor to be the greatest living Briton.

This one's for you Fran

Just a very quick post (after an absence of nearly 6 months – sincere apologies) to announce my fighter of the year. I know you’d be disappointed if I picked Manny Pacquiao (far too predictable) and astounded if I went for Joe Calzaghe - but no need to worry. I’m going for Bernard Hopkins. Besides giving Pavlik a complete boxing masterclass, he also knocked Calzaghe on his backside, and in my opinion won that fight. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, he hasn't actually lost a fight since Roy Jones (then at his very prime) beat him - and that was over 15 years ago. Even 'officially' he's only lost three extremely close (and very contentious) decisions in that period. Undoubtedly one of the most incredible boxers of this or any other era. And he's still producing fantastic performances at 43. ‘Nuff said.

“42 years of hurt” (and counting)

Which of the following footballing nations is the odd-one out - Uruguay, Italy, France, Brazil, Argentina, Holland, England, Germany or Spain? Well, following Spain’s deserved triumph at Euro 2008, England are now the only one of these ‘footballing giants’ never to have won a major tournament on foreign soil. In fact, when you examine England’s record, it’s pretty appalling. Aside from '66, they’ve never reached a World Cup final – and they’ve only made it to the semi’s once (1990). Their record in the European Championship (winners of which include Denmark and Greece) is even worse – never a finalist, and they’ve only reached the semis twice (including 1996 when they hosted the tournament). Which perhaps puts into perspective the recent claims made by Premier League Chairman, Sir David Richards, that the number of ‘foreigners’ in the English game has ‘hurt’ the national side. The reality is that, aside from when they’ve had the (considerable) advantage of hosting a tournament, England have rarely performed well – often not even qualifying for the finals. Perhaps, rather than worrying about foreign players (or foreign managers), these high ranking officials might be better served concentrating their efforts on trying to win the right to host one of these tournaments. History suggests that this might be England’s only chance of doing well.