1. “Putting a plank of wood underneath the bed didn’t seem to be the most scientific recovery program in the world, but I thought it was worth a try. My dad’s former team-mate, Scottish pro Robert Millar, used to carry two ash trays in his bag in the ’80s so he could put them under the foot of his bed after each stage, so maybe there is something in it.
While I was at the dinner table with the guys, Yoan handed me the six strips of wood, wrapped up in black masking tape. When the meal was over, though, I couldn’t find them anywhere. Thinking that maybe the waiter took it and disposed of it, I asked all of the restaurant staff but nobody seemed to have seen it.”
We love Nicolas Roche‘s Tour diary. Here’s Wednesday’s offering.
2. “There was a funeral just up the road from Headingley on Thursday. It was for Martin Searby, one of the most truculent cricket writers the game has ever known. If he had experienced the usual depressing Headingley experience of random road closures, different every year, and collapsing Wi-Fi as England took on Sri Lanka in the second one-day international, he would have been red faced and angry before a ball had been bowled. In this case, rightly so.”
The Guardian’s David Hopps bids farewell to an old friend.
3. “In November 1999, Dublin staged the MTV Europe Music Awards at the Point.
(Suggested slogan: We had joy, we had fun, we had Bjork in Ballymun.) I worked in a bar that thought itself a bit of a player on the Dublin music scene at the time, the kind of joint that got thrown into the hotchpotch of places where it was rumoured one of the celeb-filled after-parties would go down. In the week leading up to the gig, we would slyly wink and tap our noses anytime a punter came up to ask if it was true. Sworn to secrecy, bud.
But yes, absolutely.”
Malachy Clerkin on Puff Daddy, the Vengaboys and Barry’s Tea. Great stuff.
4.“Before the fight which he had sold with trash talk of unprecedented tastelessness – and on the back of four heavyweight victories which were utterly lacking in any serious guidance as to how he might perform in anything vaguely resembling a legitimate examination of his credentials in a new division – Haye was entitled to a time-honoured benefit of the doubt.
His braggadocio and sneers were at least underpinned by a willingness to engage a heavyweight champion who, given these days of impoverishment, could be described as authentic.”
James Lawton isn’t Sports Writer of the Year for no reason, you know. Here’s his take on David Haye’s big mouth – and how Wladimir Klitschko shut it.
5. “For a man who made millions in a one-on-one form of competition, Agassi possesses a rare empathy. He began life and conducted much of his tennis career as more of a lover than fighter, less attuned to the pursuit of victory and more disposed to pleasing others. In one sense, Agassi is a survivor and a student. In another, he is a chameleon, shaping himself along the contours of those who most strongly exert their gravitational pull.”
Andre Agassi was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame this weekend. Writing for ESPN, Joel Drucker takes a look at a life lived in the public eye.
6. “The best way to judge a ‘keeper though, is often not by the saves made but by the number of errors that span a career. In his 64 championship appearances, Cummins has conceded 81 goals, an average of just over one per game. However, if you forensically examine those 81 goals, there are only eight which Cummins would feel he could have done better for. And only one of those — on his debut against Waterford in ’95 when he let a feeble shot pass through his legs — could be described as a goalkeeping error. That is serious consistency.”
Christy O’Connor dissects the career of goalkeeping legend Brendan Cummins ahead of today’s Munster SHC Final.
7. “Women, it is commonly presumed in male chauvinistic circles, love a little bit of drama. If things are too quiet, they will manufacture a reason to become upset and start a row. By contrast, men are rational, placid beings who will take control of a heated situation and restore peace and calm. And if you believe a single word of that, take a look at the Women’s World Cup.
It’s not just that, with the possible exception of Nigeria, the women are generally trying to play football the way it’s supposed to be played. It’s also that they behave towards each other like normal human beings. They haven’t lost sight of the fact that it’s supposed to be a game, and that any drama should result solely from action on the field.”
Male footballers have a lot to learn from this year’s Women’s World Cup, writes Ian Plenderleith for When Saturday Comes.
