Sportsocracy - 27th edition - Oguchi on the cheap

My lord our father, allah, buddah, larsson and all the other super gods, I give you shocking news that will quiver your dear little bones.

Footballers.....have morals.....and values.

If the other primadonnas snarl and spit at that last sentence well they can go and choke on their diamond encrusted cheerios and drown in their dodos milk.

Well they can blame Oguchi Onyewu. No it's not the cheap, copycat gucci, piss smell perfume, available from all great pound shops.

Oguchi Onyewu is an american internationalist centre back, who plays for AC Milan. The thing is he signed for them early before last season and not long after he picked up a serious injury that ruled him out for the whole of last season.

Poor bastard, not so poor he was getting paid full wages whilst he was injured, but unlike alot of footballers would be, Oguchi wasn't happy about this.

Now fit he has renewed the details in his contract, to state for the season 2010 to 2011 he will receive no wages at all. He has done this to show gratitude to the fans and club, as they did with him whilst injured.

All I can say is what a great guy he is. A true sportsman, doing it for the honest love he has for the game.

So J 'T'on of cash, 'Rob'inho, Ronaldoh, Cashley Cole, Michael Owe'n money to the bookies, Wained Ruiney and all other footballing money grabbing charlatons take note from Mr...no fuck mr.....Sir Oguchi Onyewu. A consummate footballing professional of the highest degree. Instant legend.

Sportsocracy - 25th edition - Volcanos, clubs say travel no-nos but uefa say go-go

BOOOM.....KERRRASH....KERPLOW...INSERT CLICHE VOLCANIC SOUND...

"ARGGGGGH!" said one Icelandian as his vienetta started to melt due to a sufficient lava flow crashing through his log cabin kitchen.

Kerry Katona, ex-iceland food guzzler and serial breadcrumber, who was signing on at the time, was asked about the eruption, she said; "Ah avunt herd a slam lyyk that since ah last called Brian fer moore CSA moneh and he slammed phone doon on meh. Fat c***."

Nick Griffin, BNP archaeli failed to answer any questions in front of the camera. The goggle eyed anti christ allegedly released a press release stating :-

"Icelandic Volcanos? sounds like zee verk of zee jews. In addition I wear Y fronts and enjoy being oiled by hairy men. I have no further comments. Nein more questions...Heil Sommerville."

In sports news the volcanic swirling ash cloud from good old iceland (Yes they sell that now in packs of 6) was a volcanic pain in the arse halting all air travel meaning all the teams playing away that are left in European competitions had to make arduous journeys similar to that of Frodo in Lord of the rings.

Poor superstars eh? Travelling like the rest of us, oh no.

Do you think Gerrard and Torres got seats on the Virgin trains down to the eurostar? or did they sit on their luggage in the lay-by in between the carriages smelling the stale shit of the un-veiling toilet door everytime a seated person came out saying "Excuse me can I pass you please my croissant and coffee are waiting for me at my lovely table seat."

Of course they f***ing had seats. They make space for top level footballers and yet there are single mothers that I have witnessed who can't get a baby buggy on f***ing board due to overcrowding. We are a step away from the trains of the third world. Its only a matter of time before families are being balanced with picnics on their luggage sat surfing on the roof of a carriage singing come by yah. Thats right big corporate transport companies make sure the footballers travel comfortably while your main conned marks, us, the hardworking public, may as well be running behind the train in a flintstone car.

Branson it's a pickle and it's a worse pickle than a pair of cheesy socks left in very out of date piccalili for months on end.

Good luck football teams travelling that are playing in European competition I'm sure you will get there well on your gold plated train seats, your radio headphone connection and laptop wall sockets that actually work...

...swivel.

Sportsocracy - 13th Edition - Part 2 - Wimbledon review finale and the top 10 sports topics today.

Slowly but surely due to a few rain delays and thunderstorms here and there we finally got to the final. Nadal and Federer totally apart in the two separate halfs of the draw beat every opponent put in front of them.

Nadal brushed aside Scotlands own top ten ranked player Andy Murray on his path to the final. Federer took apart well established tennis name Marit Safin easily also. The two where both on form but Nadal seemed to have a desire like none seen before at Wimbledon.

Passion oozed from his game, his serve was looking better than ever, his shot choices and in rally positioning was over exceptional, he looked the part.

Federer looked his usual calm, collected self. Typically making every win look easy, making every tough shot look like a breath of fresh air. Federer even though with already 12 grand slams under his belt, he wanted his 13th so badly.

The Fed express wanted his 13th grand slam so badly because this would put him 1 grand slam victory behind the record set by the great Pete Sampras with a record of 14 grand slam wins.

Both competitors had fire in their bellies and a high will to win. In addition Federer vs Nadal has slowly become a fued more established than the one like McEnroe and Borg used to have in the 70s/80s. Realistically this final was shaping up to be the most entertaining final ever.

The players walked out onto centre court to a mob-like roar and a rhapsody of cheers. The crowds appreciation seemed partizan. Half for Rafa, half for Fed but the look of determination on each mans face said it all.

Ultimate focus, both looking aggressive and uber-concentrated on the battle ahead. Centre court seemed more like a gladatorial arena, a coliseum of sheer calibrated class.

The hardcore Tennis fans were screaming in delight as the two Tennis titans got up from their seats. The stage was set and the final of all Tennis finals was about to begin. The Grandest of slams, the mens singles final at Wimbledon was about to be decided.

The number 1 seed against the number 2 seed, commenced.

Federer took a 4-1 lead then came the textbook Wimbledon downpour. After a short rain delay they came back out onto court. Then Nadal came out of the starting blocks like a rocket fuelled missile, he quickly overcame Federer’s early 4-1 lead to take the first set 6-4.

Then Nadal took the second set in succession with another 6-4 set win. Then came the third set and it soon was evens honoured with both players levelled at 3 games each. Dark rain clouds seemed to gobble up the panoramic distance of the BBC camera shot near Wimbledon. Federer, like all great champions, seemed to clamber his way out of a hole.

The Fed express then hit five straight points at Rafa, stopping Nadal going 4-3 in the lead and heading towards victory. Rafa then held his serve and so did Fed, As the rain began to fall and the court covers came out. The two Tennis titans where held in the third set with Federer taking a 5-4 lead, with Rafa two sets up.

Two rain delays and only just over 2 hours and a quarter into the final. It was looking as if this time the fans where going to have to wait to get their moneys worth. With no Cliff Richard to entertain the crowd the fans pleased themselves. Jimmy Tarbuck and Bruce Forsyth did show face and managed to get a few laughs out of a short BBC interview. Forsyth was on top form spouting off his typical household kareoke-cathphrases.

The rain stopped, to be honest it was nice to see them to see them nice after an 80 minute delay, when Federer and Nadal came back out onto centre court. The third set, was set up to be a stunner. With both men serving to perfection, it was soon at 6-6 each, which pushed the third set into a tie breaker. Federer showed his tie breaking class with a solid 7-5 win in the tie breaker. It was now 2 sets to 1 with Federer comfortably back in the driving seat

The world number 1 was on fight back mode when the 4th set stormed into another tie breaker. The atmosphere in the centre court crowd was electric, the vocal mixing pot producing a song of rafa-fed, fed-rafa chants as the 4th set hit a tie breaker. Rafa produced some stunning Tennis but it was Roger who stole the tie breaker, stopping two Nadal match points at 7-6 to go on to win 8-10.

An awestruck Nadal could not believe the fight back but as we all know Federer can play some superhuman Tennis and it showed. The Tennis titans were now locked at 2 sets each.The Wimbledon fans, the fans sat at home watching, the fans tuning into the radio, the fans watching on the internet all of which where about to be treated to a 5th and final set. The deciding set got underway.

The start of the 5th set was tense the buzz around the court could be felt even by the voyeurs at home. The Tennis behemoths battled back and fourth each taking their service game, at 2-2 in the 5th set touching 8pm down came the rain and again the court covers came out. Watching this myself I asked is this going to ever finish? Could this be the final of finals that just keeps going on and on due to the constant rain delays? One thing I did know was that it was not going to rain forever.

After a 30 minute drizzling downpour the sun partially came out again. The players came back out onto court. The Tennis leviathans then played out a massive 16 games against each other. In the 5th and final set no tiebreakers are allowed so this time a tie breaker could not save Federer.

As the sun began to set, and the evening haze began to linger, and the children watching in the crowd began to yawn as it was past their bedtimes, Rafa and Roger seemed all square at 7 games each. You could feel the hunger from Nadal, you could see it in his eyes.

The cliched saying "Eye of the tiger" came to mind. Nadal looked fierce and focussed. He knew he could take this from Federer and for the first time I could see the fear in Fed's face, I could see his disbelief that Nadal had matched him, shot for shot for the first time on another surface other than clay. Nadal had more in the tank and his aggression fuelled that even higher.

Grass had always been Federer’s "hood" as such; he ruled the roost on Grass but was this about to be changed? Was Federer’s beautiful record at Wimbledon about to be broke and shattered into pieces? It seemed in Nadal’s hands.

The match was tied in the final set on 7 matches each. Federer went on to stop 3 Nadal break points but Federer now looked drained, he looked like he had not much left to give. Nadal landed a massive blow when an unforced Federer error gave Nadal a match lead of 8-7. Nadal now had to serve out for the championship.

Rafas service started. He rifled one in which pummelled Federer, and another and another. Rafa had now got championship point on his hands, a chance to gain the holy grail of Tennis, the Wimbledon title which has settled in Roger Federer’s hands for too long. Nadal served then followed his serve in to volley back but Roger moved in and hit a simple forehand into the net. Nadal broke down and fell to the ground in ecstacy, he had stopped the rot, he had stopped the Fed Express in his Wimbledon "backyard" and he was the new Wimbledon men’s singles Champion.

The 22-year-old powerhouse won 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (8-10) 9-7 to become the first Spanish man since Manuel Santana in 1966 to win a Wimbledon singles title. Nadal is also the first player since 1980 to hold both the French Open and Wimbledon men’s singles titles back to back. The last player to do this was legendary Tennis leviathan Bjorn Borg. To put this into perspective Rafa's achievements this year have put him in the record books at the side of Tennis Gods. Is this the start of the reign of Rafa? Could he now be the dominant force in Tennis? Is Roger Federer’s era over?

I think we will see a Federer fight back, he will come back better than ever. I don’t expect that this will be the last time we will see Federer against Nadal, this feud is only just warming up.

With Wimbledon all done and dusted its now back to normality and present day here is a review of some important sports news in "Sports Bullets of the week" -

1 - Football, Cristiano Ronaldos move to Real Madrid may have been put on hold and Real Madrid attention may now have turned to Arsenals midfield maestro Cesc Fabregas.

2 - Football, Aston Villa defender Wilfred Bouma suffered a horrendous ankle break in the Intertoto cup win against Odense, he is set to miss at least the first quarter of the season.

3 - Cycling, Spaniard, Carlos Sastre seals his first Tour de France title.

4 - Tennis, Its two in a row for Nadal, Rafael Nadal continued his march towards the world number one spot by winning the Toronto Masters.

5 - Boxing, Mexican Antonio Margarito beats Miguel Cotto and becomes the WBA welterweight champion by chopping down the Puerto Rican in the 11th round.

6 - After injuring his hand, Joe Calzaghe believes his fight with Roy Jones Jr will now happen on the 8th of November.

7 - Snooker, Ronnie O'Sullivan has been fined and docked some ranking points as punishment for his rash comments at the China Open in March.

8 - Athletics, Jamaican Usain Bolt warms up for the Olympics by winning the 200m at the London Grand Prix in 19.76 seconds.

9 - Darts, Phil Taylor claims the Stan James World Matchplay title in Blackpool beating defending champion James Wade in a 18-9 victory.

10 - American sports, NFL legend Brett Favre confirms he has changed his mind over retiring and wants to continue a career in American Football.

That’s all for now folks and here is my final thought Fifa President, Sepp Blatter says the funniest of things and undermines Michel Platini all the time, but from my view he seems more like a comedian than a president.

Next time – Blatterisms, the crap Sepp Blatter splatters from his chops and more sports news.

Sportsocracy - 3rd Edition - Unusual but memorable sporting moments

A memorable sporting moment is not generally about the outright winner, or winners who get all the gold, silver and trophies. For example it could be the underdog beating a proven winner in the 1st round of a competition or the unsuspected boxing knock out of a great fighter by an unknown brawler, or the "shock" out of nowhere victory that nobody saw coming. These magical moments can lie more in the memory than outright competition winners, but remember memorable sporting moments are not always necessarily the good ones.

The recent run of form in the FA Cup of non-league, giantkilling, side Havant and Waterlooville has been amazing if not astonishing. The giantkillers have Wiped clean and beat opposition from divisions above them and brought back the good days of the FA Cup when giantkillers used to stalk these rounds of the FA cup on a regularly basis thirsting for the top teams blood. This is how their impressive FA Cup run has happened and ended: -

29 - Sep 2007 2Q Bognor Regis 1-2 Havant & W
13 - Oct 2007 3Q Havant & W 2-1 Fleet Town
27 - Oct 2007 4Q Havant & W 3-0 Leighton T
10 - Nov 2007 R1 York City 0-1 Havant & W
01 - Dec 2007 R2 Notts Co 0-1 Havant & W
05 - Jan 2008 R3 Swansea 1-1 Havant & W
16 - Jan 2008 R3 Havant & W 4-2 Swansea

THE NEXT FA CUP OPPONENTS - Liverpool 5-2 Havant & W
A match in which Havant and waterlooville took the lead in twice. An amazing football acheivement which I will not forget and im pretty sure the fans and players of Havant and Waterlooville wont forget either.

If that is not a memorable sporting moment what is? Well here a few good examples of memorable sporting moments : -

Goran Ivanisevic - Wild Card entrant and well liked Tennis character wins Wimbledon.

Rene Higuita - The columbian legendary goalkeeper and once self proclaimed best goalkeeper on the planet performed a scorpion kick in a friendly against England. He took the word exhibition to heart when a cross come shot by Jamie Redknapp headed centrally goalwards, Rene decided not to catch it and he jumped into the air, timed his leap and like a seal dived forwards making his heels come up behind his head connecting brilliantly with the ball with his heels to send the ball away from the goal mouth. Remember Cameroons dancing celebration striker Roger Milla? Rene does. During the 1994 world cup Rene decided it was time to play sweeper and try and take on Roger Milla inside his own half of the pitch, Roger cooly stole the ball and ran and slotted into an open net and then dancing in celebration.

Recently has made a comeback at local club level at the age of 41, theres life in the legend yet.

Louis Hamilton - Finishes 2nd overall in his 1st Formula 1 season.

Celtic FC - Uefa Cup finalists 2003 against Porto. Knocked out of the champions league group stage and wrote off afterwards, but Celtic prevailed under Martin O'Neill and battled passed a number of solid teams including Stuttgart, Barcelona and Villareal to get to the prestigous all eyes on you stage of the UEFA cup final.

Liverpool FC - Champions league winners against AC Milan, which nobody saw that coming.

Paulo Di Canio - Sportsmanship, the opposing goalkeeper was injured which led to an open net off a cross, Paulo could have headed it in but caught the ball. Remembered also for pushing over a referee and scoring one of the most memeorable goals ever in the premiership a stunning in air scissor volley.

Rafael Nadal - Stops Tennis machine Roger Federer again on clay, not once but twice to remind Roger hes human afterall and that clay is Rogers kryptonite playing surface.

Aberdeen FC - Once memorable for the exploits of Alex Qualify for european competition in 2007/2008 and are still in european football right now.

Greece National Football Team - The current European champions, they won the title in 2004. The outsiders outsider as they called them, took the title as they beat a strong Portugal side that was and is still under the influence of top manager Luis Scolari and included stars Deco, Ronaldo, Paulo Sousa and Luis Figo. Greece's star player in the tournament was Angelos Charisteas, but all players in the greek side seemed over average and talented and deserved their European victory playing tough non-entertaining football under the management of Otto Rehhagel, who still resides with the Greek national team.

Senegal - National team tore apart France and many a side in 2002. With stars coming through such as Diouf, Kamara who made a names for themselves in the English Premier League. Again Diouf made himself more memorable again when he spat at a celtic fan in a uefa cup game against celtic.

Muller - Barnsley goalkeeper injured his knee badly in a league match for them inside the 2nd half of the match but continued until the end of the match keeping clean sheet, but at the cost of being out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Anybody who wants to add to the list feel free?
Comments are gladly accepted.

SPORTSOCRACY - 1st Edition - Transfer Window

~ SPORTSOCRACY ~

Welcome, this blog has been created as a nest for the freedom of speech alongside the continuous ongoing world of sport.

Well what the hell is Sportsocracy? a word which was devised by myself and it is a hybrid of two obvious words : -

Sport - An individual or group competitive activity involving physical exertion or skill, governed by rules, and sometimes engaged in professionally.

Democracy - The right to a form of government in which power is invested in the people as a whole, usually exercised on their behalf by elected representatives. Includes freedom of speech.
(Definitions from Encarta online)

Add the two together - Sport + Democracy = Sportsocracy - and created is a world in which we can talk about sport in any manner we please. Freedom of speech with the spoken words of sport.

First topic of discussion - The football transfer window

With the January transfer window due to open in a matter of hours, and football being more money driven than it has ever been before, is it time a new process could be put in place similar to that of the NBA basketball draft system where the worse off teams get the first choices of a selection of draft players who make themselves/or their club makes them available to the transfer draft, also accounted could be swap deals.

For example - John Smiths* contract has ended with Whatever FC, he is now a free agent therefore that would make him out of contract and available for the draft system. This could apply to players who are in contract but want to leave the club they are at so the rules could be changed so a player can buy himself out of his contract after reasonable discussion with his club and therefore his name could then be put in the draft as per a conclusion of the discussion with the clubs hierarchy. (* John Smith is not a real player and is used for example purposes only)

This system could work but it would cut out transfer fees, meaning players wages could rise again and cut out agents when discussing overall transfer fees, which would mean they would push the players wage demands alot higher so the agents still get a cutback which will still be a profit.

For example right now as it stands - If John Smith moves to Real Madrid for 20 million euros/ pounds (or the currency of your choice), he is then subjected to all the usual scenarios club tour before hand, medical etc then a contract is discussed and john smith gets ££££'s per week, possibly above £50,000 a week for a top professional and pushing the £100,000 barrier then he is released to the hungry hounds for questioning as he is unveiled as the next big thing. His old club reaps nearly the entirety of the transfer fee and sits on a pretty pot of close to 20 million quid; obviously the agents involved take a cut also.

Not a bad days profit for his old club, especially if he cost sweet FA and came through the youth system. A positive for his old club yes, they have an instant margin above other clubs as cash in football breaks or makes you. The more cash you have as a club the more doors open for you to buy the better players and offer substantially large wages and bonuses. If you are a freshly promoted side up to the top division in your country, who spends little to gain profit, barriers are already in your way you cannot offer the higher wages or bonus's but you can offer top flight football and a possible below top division level average salary, but that’s were the book shuts unless a player really wants to come to your club, for example Roy Keane’s ambition to finish his playing career at Celtic, loyalty comes into consideration.

The draft could be the next step for football, it could save football and make it ever more interesting, well its got to be better than Platini wanting to rule out the slide tackle, he should be focussing his eyes on simulation (diving) and the introduction of goal line referees/ goal line technology whatever the preference with an added look over the current offside rule to improve it. For example post-draft if it happened - If Manchester United win the English Premier League title in 2009, the following season the 3 clubs coming up from the championship get first choice on the draft of players and the top gets the last pick. The draft system favours the underdogs and in the long run this could make football more appealing to the masses and giving teams a better chance and more of a competitive edge.

Its simple if your fed up of the same old top 3 or 4 clubs every season finishing in the top 3 or 4 places, the draft system could be very appealing. Another example is the SPL (Scottish premier league) - It has been dominated over the past few decades by Celtic and Rangers, this year Scottish football has come to the forefront with Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen still being in European competitions going into the new year, as well as the national team playing some absolute brilliant football possibly down to the inclusion of the ruling that three Scottish under 21 players have to be included in all league starting line ups. This has brought to the forefront some brilliant exuberant talent, Scott Brown (Celtic), Charlie Adam (Rangers), Alan Hutton (Rangers), Christophe Berra (Hearts), Zander Diamond (Aberdeen), Steven Fletcher (Hibernian). This even though this is a good formula for the Scottish international game, on a league level it is still Celtic and Rangers who are dominating the league, the draft system would be perfect for Scottish football.

The draft system definitely has its positives and its negatives, but its the money spinners in football who will not want this to happen. If FIFA chose this system to go worldwide you could imagine the possible mutiny of some of the bigger clubs. In this case the possible worst case scenario for FIFA could happen, the G14 clubs (no its not that Simon Cowell managed quartet, it is all of Europe’s top clubs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G14) could formulate their own Master League, a super league consisting of nearly all of Europe’s major clubs, that is possibly the most important negative argument against the "Draft system".

Any comments will be gladly appreciated.