Headlines

Six years and still counting.

Amazing England/India match (many beautiful stats to relate).

Grand Slam still on!

These will be discussed at length tomorrow. For tonight I must sleep, perchance to dream of English glory and what might have been.

I'll keep you blogged...

Multi-sport!

Many things to talk about!

First of all my Dad would like me to mention Spurs' triumph over Inter Milan last Tuesday. He was away on holiday and watched the whole game then celebrated by drinking like a fish and 'pogo-ing the night away'. It was an amazing victory. Yes, the Arse upstaged them a day later but this should take nothing away from an amazing night for Tottenham (although, lets face it, it did).

I have been watching a lot of women's tennis in recent weeks and have been loving it. I missed the WTA tour. Watched a great match between Jankovic and Wozniacki. Women's tennis is exciting, I don't care what people say. Some of the rallies are breathtaking and the fact that it's so even at the top (will Serena ever come back?) can only be a good thing. There are so many women on top form at the moment which makes many of the matches incredibly even and very exciting to watch. Yes, it's great to see GoNads cream an opponent, but it gets dull after a while, right? You really want to watch a match that has a possibility for some competition. If you don't then you're not a sports fan, you're a GoNads fan (arf arf).

Six Nations! I have been sorely remiss at posting about the competition, and it's been really exciting! England absolutely annihilated Italy with a massive 59-13. That is quite a score. The Grand Slam is still on and many are predicting England to do it. As I've confessed, I don't know enough about rugby to really have an opinion on the matter but I hope the experts are right. However, the next match is against France and could be the sternest test yet. After a two week break the players should be refreshed and raring to go - bring on Twickenham on Saturday! I shall be watching.

Just a quick note on Cycling. Apart from the Olympic Velodrome becoming the first stadium to be completed, there have been a number of very exciting races leading up to 2012. The most exciting, as ever, had to be the men's Keirin. Sir Chris Hoy eased his way to an emphatic victory as practically every rider behind him fell. Azizulhasni Awang suffered the most as a huge splinter from the track pierced his calf clean through. It was huge and poking out on either side. Gross gross gross. Check it out on BBC Sport - It's pretty gruesome but well worth a viewing:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/9402907.stm

In the world of snooker Higgins battled past Maguire to win a third Welsh Open title and a 23rd-ranking title - one more than a certain Mr O'Sullivan. Gotta love that he's back.

Ok, now to the really good stuff. The cricket World Cup began a couple of days ago. England limped past a tough test from The Netherlands yesterday, eventually winning by six wickets. It was a poor performance by their usual standards, especially on the fielding front. There were dropped catches all over the place (most notably Swann and the Anderson/Pieterson mix up), overthrows, and, apart from Swann and Bresnan, a pretty dismal bowling display as well. This is not the England we've come to know and love under Andy Flower. You can be sure he was pretty peeved at them, even after the batters had managed to 'get them out of jail' (Strauss). They will have to step up their game enormously if they're to have any chance against India on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Ponting's miserable season continues as he faces ICC charges for allegedly damaging a TV after his dismissal against Zimbabwe. He is, as I have long suspected, an angry little man. Australia came through with a 91-run win against Zimbabwe. The kiwis battered Kenya, winning by 10 wickets. Sri Lanka beat Canada by 210 runs. And in the first match, India beat Bangladesh by 87 runs. No major shocks or surprises so far but some great matches have been played (and some brutal ones - the Kiwi/Kenya one was particularly gruesome if you're a Kenyan). Whoever says ODI cricket is boring and T20 is the way forwards, eat your tongue and watch the World Cup!

I'll keep you blogged...

Come on!!

Arsenal beat Barcelona 2-1
ARSENAL BEAT BARCELONA 2-1

I want to write that over and over again. Arsenal beat the best team in the world, possibly the best team ever. And better yet, they came back from a goal down to beat the best team ever. This can only bode well for their trip to the Nou Camp in early March for the second leg. I'll bet Barca didn't think they'd be leaving The Emirates with anything less than a draw, and probably more like an emphatic win. They looked a little shell-shocked afterwards (or was that just this Arsenal-fans mind imagining things?).

I have great fear and trepidation for the second leg. I know I should be all upbeat and endlessly positive like many Arsenal fans I know (football fans in general - they seem a very optimistic - blinded - lot), and usually I am the most optimistic person you'll ever meet, but for some reason when it comes to the Arse I just can't look at that glass and see it half full. It's not even half empty; it's leaking (that sounds disgusting but you know what I mean). Then again, I had this same feeling before last night and how beautifully they proved me wrong.

Ach... I have to leave! Got a dinner date and may well be late. Will continue this when I get home tonight. Until then, dear readers.

I'll keep you blogged...

Got the Ray-ray Blues?

Ray-ray lost horribly to Baggy the other day and looked pretty grim in his post-match interview. Is this going to be a repeat of last year when his impressive Aussie Open run ended in a straight sets defeat in the final, and was followed by months of wallowing in mediocrity (by his high standards) only to come good at the end of the year with a good World Tour Finals performance culminating in what is widely known as the best match of the 2010 season in his semi-final against GoNads? I hope not. Put some pep back in your step Ray-ray! You got the final of the first Slam of the season. You have started better than all but one player on tour. Chin up, eh?

I'll keep you blogged...

Six Nations

Well well, we beat the Welsh again - 26-19 in a hard-fought win at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. I was not aware that many people think of England as favourites for the competition. I didn't know we were that good. Granted, I don't know much about rugby, but I thought I would have known that. Perhaps my standards are slipping. Not good enough; must do better. I shall endeavour for this Six Nations competition to learn as much as I can about the fascinating (but frighteningly complicated) world of rugby. The difference between League and Union still means little more to me than in the former there are less players on the field and they seem to stop a lot less. Six Nations rugby is Union rugby, which, according to some, is a slower and more complicated version of the sport. I have to say I did not find the match on Friday night slow or boring. Complicated, yes, but isn't everything when you don't understand it?

Elsewhere, France beat Scotland 34-21 and Ireland scraped through against Italy 13-11 to save their blushes and deny Italy a first ever win over the irish in the RBS Six Nations.

This weekend promises more exciting encounters as England take on Italy, Scotland play Wales and France meet Ireland. I doubt very much I'll have the chance to see any of those matches live as I have a very busy weekend coming up (a weekend I cannot wait for - bring on the 'honeymoon') but I'll certainly be sneaking the occasional look at my phone to keep me in the loop and shall be cheering when England win. Can we possibly do the Grand Slam? Oh damn, I shouldn't have said anything.

I'll keep you blogged...

Colour...

THE COLOUR IS BACK! HURRAH!!

Furore

Oh dear, Fabregas has been a naughty boy. He apparently accused the ref of taking money from Everton after not disallowing Everton's first-half goal when Louis Saha was in an offside position. At half time Fabregas caught up with the ref and made the comments that have been causing such a furore in the footballing world these past few days. Arsene Wenger has crticised David Moyes for basically being too sensitive and Moyes has hit back today with revealing to the world what Fabby actually said, having previously kept the comments to himself.

It's all turning into a bit of a handbags at dawn fight, isn't it? Pretty bitchy. Like watching two fish wives have at it over the last haddock. Wenger v Moyes... I'm pretty sure Wenger would not do well out of that. Moyes looks hard and scrappy, like he got into a fair few fisticuff exchanges as a lad. Wenger may well be able to beat him in a poetry contest, but physical violence? I'm no convinced. Although if it is true that ol' Arsene's a vampire, as I have always suspected, watch out Davey.

Elsewhere the Pakistani cricketers Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, along with agent Mazhar Majeed, will face corruption charges. They will be charged with conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments and also conspiracy to cheat. They all deny deliberately bowling no-balls for money. It makes me feel sad that any of this is happening.

Oh, but the Six-Nations starts tonight which will brighten me up no end. I do not know that much about rugby - it seems to have so many rules! - but I like to watch it and I like the players. Come on England!! They play Wales tonight, in Cardiff, watch it or miss out!

I'll keep you blogged...