The No Fun League ...

... (as the National Football League is known over here) and its Commissioner, have decided that in pursuit of a better image players will now be penalised for racial and homophobic slurs in the game. Now given that a large number of players are black, and within the culture "nigga" (or variations of) are regularly used as a term of endearment (and disrespect) and in music, how the hell is a referee/umpire to decide. Obviously if a non-black player uses the term it can only be disrespectful.
Now as laudable as this move is, it only directed at the players and coaches - how about the team owners?   The team in the nation's capital has a nickname that is arguably the oldest racial slur in the US and the 2015 Super Bowl is due to be played in Arizona where the Governor has a bill before her that makes it legal for businesses to deny service to the LGBT community!!
Oh, wait a minute, the Commissioner is appointed by the owners - and just to add insult to injury the NFL is a "tax-exempt" body!! 

Typical over reaction when they can't get their own way - surprised they didn't pull their guns!!

Meanwhile in the US police also find it easy to over react!

http://running.competitor.com/2014/02/news/what-women-arrested-for-running_95654

Come together ...

... or there is some detente

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/19/sports/olympics/coaching-americans-and-canadians-but-russian-through-and-through.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140219

The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music

...  or Vanessa-Maes big day.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/18/vanessa-mae-67th-winter-olympics-giant-slalom

... of course not everyone was happy ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/winter-olympics-2014-violinist-vanessa-mae-proud-of-her-efforts-despite-finishing-74th-in-womens-giant-slalom-9135477.html

Same as it ever was!

The Ice Hockey scores have been shown in lights on the roof of the Bolshoi Ice Dome - and then the Federation lost and the score wasn't shown - such good sports Mr. Putin.

A transgender "woman" (born male, dresses as a woman), dressed in a "rainbow" clothing walked among the visitors in the Olympic park and tried to enter the ice hockey arena with a valid ticket - "she" was arrested and "she's" a foreign national (an ex-member of the Italian parliament).
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/17/sports/olympics/transgender-former-member-of-italian-parliament-detained-in-sochi.html

After all the fanfare of pre-Olympic amnesty and the release of members of the group Pussy Riot (what a great name!) they were arrested today (18th.) on the trumped up charge of stealing a woman's handbag.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/18/pussy-riot-members-arrested-sochi-winter-olympics

The Future?

One week in and he's still flying high!

Good bye to another boyhood hero

Only 4 weeks after the loss of another legendary  figure of English football (from a time when we still had a positive influence on the world game!) came the news of the passing of Tom Finney.
At a time when there is much discussion about the value of playing left footed players on the right and vice versa, it is worth remembering that Finney a world class right winger was switched to the left side by England's first ever Team Coach/Manager to accommodate an equally great Stan Matthews.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Finney

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26200831

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26201454

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=tom+finney+&qpvt=tom+finney+&FORM=IGRE

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26194543

Happy Valentine's Day!

Oddities

- Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" is played by something called "the choir from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs."!

- Somehow songs by Queen and t.A.T.u got by the censor! and plenty of Tchaikovsky (who was known to be gay) - I guess you can overlook lots of things if you need to; let's hope it continues.

- As expected plenty of classical music from the Russians, but one of the greatest classical musicians is very quiet - Chinese violinist Vanessa-Mae is representing Thailand (she has duel citizenship) in the alpine events.

- The stadium took a while to populate, and was not completely full - a first for an Opening Ceremony?

- I realise it's a little different when a big city is host, but similar to Atlanta Summer Games there was no reference to the host city.

- Yesterday's team figure skating was notable for its empty seats, even with marquee Russian athletes competing.

- Inevitably there is an historical element to each opening ceremony, and so whoever scripted this would have some challenges - there are certainly some messy bits of Russian/Soviet history! This one went from the Revolution straight to mid 1900s reconstruction, neatly avoiding the need to mention Uncle Joe - neither was there much mention of the gulags, prison camps or the Siberian salt mines, but to be fair LA didn't make much mention of the abuse of Native Americans in 1984!

- Don't tell the Mayor of Sochi about this (he was quoted as saying there is no "gay activity" in the city,
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/no-gays-in-sochi--huh--tell-that-to-the-people-in-sochi-s-club-mayak-001109107.html

- unfortunately it seems there is a downside to nearly everything!
http://www.recorder.ca/2014/02/07/russian-who-lit-olympic-cauldron-tweeted-racist-obama-photo

The Fireworks and the Flame

 

Anyone for tennis?

Strange, the first 4 athletes to carry the flame into the area are from Summer sports - led by Maria Sharapova, followed by (a rumoured to be pregnant) Izzy, a Greco-Roman wrestler Aleksandr Karelin and  a rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva whose Olympic accomplishments fall far short of many others, but is generally recognised to be Putin's girlfriend! The temerity of the man - it is thought that Thomas Bach had privately warned Putin to "behave" and "respect" the Olympics, and maybe this is how he shows who is boss!
... but finally two legendary Winter Olympic figures, ice skater Irina Rodnina and ice hockey goalie Vladislav Tretiak get to light the flame.
If  you had a bet that Putin himself would light the flame - bad luck! He also showed admirable restraint, declaring the Games open, but performing no feats of physical strength!
Very impressive flame lighting and excellent fireworks follow.
If you are on the left side of the Atlantic and didn't see it live.

From left to right Karelin, Putin's squeeze, Izzy and Sharapova

Just maybe ...

A wonderfully strong message from the President of the Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach.
In a sharp but nuanced speech in which he emphasised that the Olympics are about "tolerance, not discrimination" – this is clearly a reference to the anti-gay turn Russia has taken – but also exhorted politicians around the world to “have the courage to address your disagreements in a peaceful, direct political dialogue and not on the backs of these athletes.”
Will it be heeded? - particularly by the hosts

There have been others!

Just in case it is thought that Sochi is being singled out, there have been other gaffs.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/embarrassing-olympic-gaffes-to-remember-223138561.html

It's started already!

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/canadian-bobsledder-39-website-blocked-164029816--spt.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/theedge/2014/02/07/273068665/4-gay-activists-arrested-in-russia-as-olympics-kick-off

Oh Dear!

The Opening Ceremony is often seen as the defining moment for a host city, and unfortunately for Sochi only 4 of the 5 Olympic Rings made it - the shape of things to come?
It was supposed to be a breathtaking moment - and suddenly it was!

NPR's Robert Smith says: "Totally sad. It was designed as the defining moment. And then it was."
Which of the inhabited 5 Continents did the missing ring represent???

Let The Games Begin!

The German team in their "rainbow" uniforms waiting for the start of the Opening Ceremonies - can't wait to hear reception they get!!

That's how they spell it

Anniversary

For those of us of a certain age (mid 60s+) February 6th marks the date of the air crash in 1958 that decimated the Manchester United team, and arguably the heart of the England team - the Munich air crash killed 8 players, and others never played again.

http://munich58.co.uk/the-munich-air-crash-whos-who

https://www.facebook.com/pages/In-Memory-Of-the-Munich-Air-Disaster/213214788758

When's the next election???

How fucking out of touch can you be???
The Minister of Education (there's an oxymoron!) proposes a return the "traditional forms" of punishment for misbehaviour, including running laps. God help us!!

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/brendan-foster-hits-out-michael-6678073

Really?

What ever happened to common sense?

http://shine.yahoo.com/author-blog-posts/teen-runs-7-marathons-7-continents-only-began-000300959.html

The Day the Music Died

Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley), along with Ritchie Valens and "The Big Bopper" (J.P.Richardson) died in a plane crash on this day in 1959.

      

Changes!

The blog has been "tidied up" a bit - hopefully the issue of the page being wider than most screens has been addressed, and two more pages have been added - 'Coach's Chatter' and 'The Dedicatee'. The underlying "mechanics" of the blog do not allow separate posts as with the 'Home' page, but rather each will be a single "post'. This will not really be an issue for 'The Dedicatee' page, but a satisfactory organisation of the 'Coach's Chatter' is going to be challenging - see the page for an outline of its intent - but it will mainly be a repository of information. Whenever a post particularly commands your attention it will also appear on the home page.

                                          For both my Gooner friends!