Masters Preview

What with it being the start of golf's first major tomorrow, and the fact I haven't done a post in over two weeks, I thought I would do a preview of the Masters.

Obviously the biggest news heading into the tournament is that Tiger Woods feels he's back to his best form, the form that saw him hold all four majors at the same time following the 2001 Masters. If Woods is back to his best, it is ominous for the rest of the field as he can tame Augusta year in year out. The bookies seem to agree with Woods, with best price being 5-1. However, I don't feel Woods will walk away with another green jacket for his wardrobe this weekend. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something about Woods at the minute which makes me feel he can't win another major. Famous last words.

The second favourite is last year's winner that never was - Rory McIlroy. Will he have learnt from last year's horror show? He bounced back in the next major, the US Open, to win that whilst setting numerous records. He has also gone on to be World No.1, albeit rather briefly. So judging by that, he has. However, there could well be seeds of doubt in the back of Rory's mind whilst playing the first round which could hamper him. Much like Felipe Massa has never been the same Formula 1 driver since his horror crash, McIlroy might like confidence in playing Augusta after it brutally chewed him up and spat him out last year. His first round will be vital - survive it unscathed and he could well be a contender come Sunday.

However, I believe that Charl Schwartzel will be presenting the green jacket to an Aussie come Sunday. Jason Day finished runner-up to Schwartzel last year on his Masters debut. He then followed it up with another second place finish at the US Open, so the boy clearly has major potential within him. I also believe he has the short game required to beat Augusta. I just hope I have not cursed him, as most of my previous tips for the Masters have failed to perform miserably.

Like any major though, there could always be the potential for an unknown to storm to victory. He could play the best four rounds of his life this weekend and have his name forever written in the history books. Players like Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel & Louis Oosthuizen got surprise victories in majors through playing their best golf, and also through good fortune along the way. Whatever the result, all we can do is hope for another great edition of the most prestigious major in golf.

Weekly Round-up (19/03/12)

This week, one headline rocked the sporting world: the sad news that Bolton's Fabrice Muamba suffered a heart attack during the FA Cup quarter-final with Tottenham Hotspur. As the time of writing, Muamba is still in a fight for his life and is still being treated in intensive care. Like everyone involved with football, I wish him a full recovery and hope that one day, we may see him playing again. It's fair to say Muamba has talent, having represented England at every youth level and is the joint second most capped under-21 player for England of all time. Whilst it would have been unlikely that the midfielder would have made it to Euro 2012, it would not have been beyond the realms of possibility for him to have been pulling on a Great Britain shirt during the Olympics. However, in times like this, football becomes irrelevant and we can only pray that Muamba pulls through.

Elsewhere in sport, the Six Nations came to its conclusion. Congratulations to Wales for securing their third Grand Slam in seven years, a truly wonderful achievement. Of course, this only leads to people shouting even louder for Warren Gatland to be named Lions coach next year. I for one, however, am completely against this motion for the simple reason that Gatland has a strong dislike for the Irish. I may be slightly biased being of Irish heritage, but how can you let someone manage a side likely to be made up of some of the people he despises? It will not generate good team spirit, which could lead to poor performances and an embarrassment of a tour. In my opinion, I believe the task of leading the Lions should once again fall to Ian McGeechan. He just somehow seems to make the Lions click and perform at their best. Just look at 2009, even though there was a series defeat, faith was restored in the touring side after the debacle that was 2005.
At the other end of the Six Nations, Scotland finished with the wooden spoon after failing to win a single game. This is a huge worry to the Scots, and I would be all for sacking Andy Robinson. What has he done that Frank Hadden had not? I believe that, if anything, Scotland have gone backwards under Robinson. They have talent in Richie Gray, Dave Denton and Stuart Hogg, so it is not a lack of quality. If England stick with Lancaster, which they should given how well he has got England to perform, then Scotland should quickly swoop for Nick Mallet or John Kirwan. Both have previous in getting a team full of potential to where they need to be, and that is exactly the type of manager Scotland currently needs.

Furthermore, both France and Ireland suffered worrying campaigns. In the five matches, they both only beat the bottom two teams. For both nations, this is simply not good enough. We are talking about teams here who both believe they were going for the title this year. Ireland came into the tournament off the back of a World Cup where they beat Australia, and France from a World Cup final that they perhaps could have won. And yet for both sides to struggle as they did means there are lots of questions to be answered.

And finally, this weekend saw the return of Formula 1 - oh how I've missed it. I was absolutely delighted for Jenson Button to win the first race and I hope he carries his form into the rest of the season. Credit to Sebastian Vettel, who steered his Red Bull to second place despite starting sixth on the grid. However, my driver of the race would have to be Kimi Raikkonen. Having started in 17th, the Finn eventually finished seventh on his return to Formula 1. It just proves that for world champions, Formula 1 is like riding a bike - you never forget how to race well. I bet all the way through the race, there was a beaming smile underneath Raikkonen's helmet, reminding him why he loves the sport after two years of rallying.

Special Report: Port Vale

This week, rather than discuss the Premiership, I thought I'd delve into the plight of a lower league club in dire straits. Port Vale are based in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, where I also go to university. The Valiants are currently in administration for the second time in nine years. They have been unable to pay player wages recently, as well as the wages of the non-playing staff. Some may say they are on the brink of extinction after being hit with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue & Customs. However, the end of the 136-year-old club may be some way off yet if the generosity of the fans is anything to go by.

There have been stories all across the Potteries of fans donating their own money. These range from old ladies handing cheques worth hundreds of pounds to the manager, Mickey Adams, to young fans who have emptied their savings to give it to the club. Even the owner of the local Domino's franchise has got involved, donating 16 large pizzas to the club after learning the in-house caterers were no longer feeding them. And despite the rivalry between the clubs, fans of Vale's rivals Stoke City have also helped. Before a recent game between Vale and Burton Albion, two Stoke fans turned up to buy tickets, then walked off. They had never intended to watch the game, they were only looking to help a club in deep amounts of trouble in any way they could.

During the week, the university gave students the opportunity to speak with current Port Vale player Gareth Owen, and it was intriguing to learn how administration has affected the players. Owen believes that it has not affected the team's performances on the pitch, and rightly so despite their recent eight game unbeaten run ending at home to Barnet on Saturday. He also went into great depth about how it is affecting the players financially. Some have recently struggled to put petrol in their cars. It's a harsh reminder that not all footballers live the glitzy lifestyle. However, what was even more interesting was that Owen and the other Port Vale players did not know they were not going to be paid until the day before wages were due. And even worse is that it was left to manager Micky Adams to tell his players the bad news, not a member of the board. Not one of the players had any inkling beforehand that the club was in a poor financial state.

With Port Vale, we have a prime example of what is good and bad in football. The board of Port Vale were clearly trying to cover up constantly in the hope no one would ever find out how hard up they were. It's a shame they forgot that football is often an industry were secrets do not stay quiet for long. On the positive side, though, you can see the passion some of the fans have for their club, pumping in their hard earned cash during a recession to keep them afloat. This is what makes me proud to say I am a football fan when I hear stories like this. It also makes me proud to be spending my university years in what is clearly a very friendly and generous community. If only chairmen and owners were more like the fans of the clubs they run, rather than being the businessmen that they are. Maybe then will the problems of administration, which have reared their heads far too much since the turn of the year, begin to evaporate.

Weekly Round-up (05/03/2012)

The world of the football was dominated this weekend by one story involving Chelsea and their former manager, Andre Villas-Boas. Following their shock defeat to West Brom at the weekend, the Blues moved fast to remove AVB from his post. The result left Chelsea in fifth place, 3 points behind Arsenal in the race for fourth. In a way, I can see reasons both for and against the departure of the Portuguese manager. One obvious reason for his sacking is that Chelsea have been under-performing this season, finding themselves in a battle for Champions League qualification rather than in a title race, as they would expect. However, AVB was in charge at a time when Chelsea need to go through a transition. The old guard of Mourinho's era are reaching the end of their careers and need to soon be replaced by youthful equivalents. In ways, Villas-Boas tried to achieve this with the signings of Romelu Lukaku and Oriol Romeu. Given time, the 34-year-old may have created a new team of star players. But we will now never know what he was capable of.

In rugby, there was the rearranged France-Ireland fixture from the Six Nations, which ended in a 17-all draw. It was an especially frustrating draw for the Irish, as their counter-attacking performance in the first-half was brilliant, and their defence in the last 15 minutes of the second-half was exceptional. A few moments of indecision prevented Ireland from gaining a very credible victory in Paris. The draw also means that only Wales can now win the Grand Slam. However, there is still the tantalising prospect of a title showdown with the French in Cardiff on the final day of this year's Six Nations.

To end with this week, some sad news regarding West Indian cricketer Runako Morton, who has died aged 33. Morton died after his car collided with a utility pole in central Trinidad. Morton never made much of an impact in the Test arena, top scoring with 70* despite being a specialist batsman. But it was a different story in one-day cricket, where he had a top score of 110 and an average of 33.75. Throughout his career, Morton flirted with controversy. He was banned from the West Indian cricketing academy in 2001 for bad behaviour and was arrested in January 2004 following an altercation which left his cousin with stab wounds. And just under a year ago, Morton was arrested under the suspicion of marijuana possession. However, he will always be remembered for his brilliance at the crease, and, in the words of former team-mate Chris Gayle, "We lost a true warrior".

Weekly Round-up (27/02/12)

For a change this week, rugby is first up on the agenda as after yesterday's results, football is not something I really want to talk about. The Six Nations returned after a two week break and saw the Irish comfortably beat Italy to get their tournament back on track following a loss against the Welsh on the opening weekend. Hopefully this result can give the Emerald Isle confidence going forward ahead of their game against France this coming Sunday. Staying with the French, they too also won this weekend with a tight win over Scotland. So far, I have been impressed with Scotland this Six Nations despite losing all three games. If they were not let down by mistakes every game, their performances may have garnered at least two points, if not more. The game of the weekend was undeniably England vs Wales, which ended in controversy as England were adamant they had crossed the whitewash leaving Toby Flood with a chance to draw the game with his conversion attempt. However, the TMO gave a decision of no try due to "inconclusive" evidence. After the game, though, angles suggested that England may well have scored. In a way though, I am sure Flood is secretly pleased the try was not given as had he missed the resulting conversion, he would have been slated in the Sunday papers. Furthermore, the result of a draw would have stopped England winning a Grand Slam, much like the loss has, meaning little would have changed bar one point in the table.

In football this week, Liverpool won the Carling Cup on penalties over Championship side Cardiff. Reds fans seem to be slightly getting carried away following the victory, with many hailing it the beginning of a new era after winning a tournament where the bigger teams often field their youngsters. I remember a few years ago when Spurs won and I was ridiculed for celebrating the win by my dad, a Liverpool fan. Yesterday, I got a call from him telling me what an amazing inveiglement it was. Funny how views can change. Elsewhere, there was a London derby which we really do not need to go into much detail about except that Spurs played really well for forty minutes, and we all know that's when it truly matters.

Turning our attention to golf, and Rory McIlroy missed out on the chance to become World No. 1 after losing to Hunter Mahan in the final of the WGC Match Play final. McIlroy needn't be too despondent as he will surely be the official best in the world at some point this year. However, I hope he does not let that get to him in a similar way to his US Open triumph last year. Since then, McIlroy has begun to believe the hype despite only having won the same amount of majors as golfing luminaries like Louis Oosthuizen, Todd Hamilton and Shaun Micheel. Maybe Rory should take a leaf out of countryman Darren Clarke's book and just enjoy every moment of being a major winner.

Weekly Round-up (20/02/12)

The weekend saw the FA Cup move on to its fifth round, which on paper seemed to hand easy ties to most of the Premier League Clubs involved. Stoke, Liverpool, Everton and Bolton all dispatched their lower league opponents with consummate ease. However, the north-south divide was in force as the Premier League clubs from Southern England struggled. Arsenal went down 2-0 away to Sunderland to cap an abysmal week following Wednesday's 4-0 drubbing at A.C. Milan. The Gunners' next game is against Tottenham, with many fans believing Arsenal are there for the taking. However, I for one disagree with this, as after two poor games, Arsenal have to play well at some point. Staying with Spurs, they also didn't have the best of weekends as the majority of the team looked disinterested during their 1-1 draw with League 1 Stevenage at Broadhall Way on Sunday. As a Spurs fan, it was annoying to see a vastly superior team struggle against lower league opposition. However, credit were it is due to Stevenage, who played really well and are still yet to concede a goal in this year's tournament despite entering in round one. Chelsea also drew against lower league opposition as Championship side Birmingham forced a replay to increase the pressure on AVB. His weekend started well as Guus Hiddink, long speculated to replace him at Chelsea, was announced as manager at mega-rich Russians Anzhi Makhachkala. However, the Portuguese manager must be feeling the strain with Chelsea fans expectant of silverware after their recent successes in both league and cup. Norwich also went down to a Championship side in the form of Leicester despite having home advantage. Whilst fans may be disappointed not to have gone further in the cup, Norwich can now solely focus on consolidate their 8th place in the Premier League, and maybe even climb higher up the table.

Elsewhere in sport this weekend, there was the soap opera that was Dereck Chisora in Munich. Friday afternoon's weigh-in saw the drama begin as Chisora slapped opponent Vitali Klitschko. This bought widespread condemnation and a fine upon Chisora. Then there was the pre-fight spit drenching of Klitschko's brother, Wladimir. However, none of this pointed to the drama that would unfold between Chisora and former world champion David Haye in a post-fight press conference. Haye, who was at the fight covering it for television, was incensed with comments from first the Klitschko camp, then from Chisora himself. The two traded verbal blows before Chisora marched up to Haye, and shortly after the two began brawling. The end result was that Haye's manager, Adam Booth, had a cut on his head, Chisora was arrested and the reputation of both boxers, as well as British boxing, lie broken on the floor in tatters. Whilst I do not condone the actions of Saturday night and think that Chisora and Haye should be swiftly forgotten, I would like to seem them get it on in the ring. However, rather than the fight lining their back pockets, maybe the proceeds should go to charity. Sport Relief, is there still time to organise it? Just to point out, somewhere in the midst of all this, there was a boxing match where Chisora, who was given no chance, took Vitali Klitschko the distance only to be beaten by a unanimous points decision. Its such a shame that a brave performance was tarnished by Chisora's frankly yobbish behaviour.

Weekly Round-up (13/02/12)

This week I feel the need to open with an apology to a one Mr. L. Saha of Tottenham Hotspur. In last week's post, I bemoaned Harry Redknapp's decision to sign a striker "blighted by injuries" and who may have been considered past his best. On his home debut for Spurs, The Frenchman scored two well taken goals and showed signs of a superb understanding with strike partner Emmanuel Adebayor. All I can hope for now is that Saha continues his Spurs career in similar fashion as we look to consolidate third place and maybe even push for the title.

Ahead of us this week in football is the return of the Champions League. The first legs of the round of 16 ties are split over this week and next, with the sole English club playing this week being Arsenal. The Gunners have a tough game against reigning Italian champions AC Milan. It is worth noting, however, that the Rossoneri were knocked out by Arsenal's North London rivals Tottenham. Judging by the gulf in class in some of the ties, such as Lyon vs APOEL Nicosia, it could be argued that this tie is the eye-catching one of the round.

At the weekend, a Six Nations game was called off for the first time due to bad weather as the France-Ireland match was postponed due to a frozen pitch. I for one am glad the game did not go ahead as Ireland will - hopefully- not have to suffer the ignominy of losing back-to-back games in the championship for the first time as their next game will now be against Italy. Saying that, the Azzurri put in a good display against England, who again had to scraped for victory.

And finally this week, some heartwarming news from the African Cup of Nations. Zambia took home the trophy for the first time. But more importantly, they won 19 years after arguably their best generation of players was wiped out in a plane crash off the coast of Libreville, Gabon, where yesterday's final took place. Watching the game yesterday, I always had the feeling that the Chipolopolo would win against the heavily fancied Ivory Coast. There was a sense of an equilibrium when Stoppila Sunzu scored the winning penalty. I hope Zambia are able to build on this success, which is what they deserved after the sorrow of 1993.