1. “Don’t get me wrong – if they thought there was a few quid to be made they’d be the first to be laying on F16s every Super Sunday. But Scudamore & Co’s endlessly acquisitive eye on foreign territories – even the ones we’ve been actively bombing at any given time – has at least had the benefit of keeping a strict separation between league and state. Let’s face it: British soldiers appearing in the big game buildup isn’t going to sell shirts in the middle east”
The Guardian’s ever-excellent Marina Hyde casts an eye over the NFL’s ‘overblown military association’.
2. ”If you ask Chante Hood, there is no way her family’s story can have a fairytale ending at this point. Not after everything she’s been through with her husband, Antoine. Not after all the sleep they’ve lost and the time spent apart. The sacrifices they’ve made. The tears they’ve shed. A happy ending, yes, but even a guaranteed contract with an NBA team won’t erase the memories.
‘Perfect is so gone’ she says.”
NBC’s Rob Dauster on a player who’s been through cancer, armed service and poverty as he bids to carve out an NBA career.
3. “The first thing that stands out about Teddy Sheringham as he strides into his office at Stevenage’s training ground is he looks as fit and wiry as ever, even though he turns 50 in April. He offers a firm handshake, flashes a smile and swings his feet on to his neat and tidy desk. He seems at ease, comfortable in his new surroundings. But lingering in the background, behind Sheringham’s easy-going confidence, lies the sense he may not be here for long if he cannot steer Stevenage away from the lower reaches of League Two soon.”
Jacob Steinberg catches up with Teddy Sheringham far from the poker table or the top of Europe’s football pyramid.
4. Andy McGeady on the sad demise of one of our favourite online destinations: Grantland.
5. ”This is not the sort of piece I would usually be inclined to write. The charge of self-indulgence is not one I would want to lumber myself with. But if it helps anyone to believe that setting targets, or finding things to look forward to on the other side of illness, is a good idea, then it is worth casting a little light on a private experience.”
We’re glad Paul Hayward broke the habit of a lifetime to write this personal piece. How the beauty of sport helped get him true his cancer diagnosis and treatment.
