| 10 questions: Does Terrell Owens, Chad Ochocinco disappearance portend future problems for Bengals USA TODAY's Sean Leahy spins around the NFL with 10 questions from Sunday's Week 1 games and looks at how they will affect Week 2: rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Martin Kelner: Stories of North v South hit target BBC4 identified a definite North-South divide in sport with their series based around the year 1960, and it is still very relevant todayThis week, sport in the Third World: Iraq, Kosovo and the North of England. Obviously, I'm joking about the North of England – at least until the government's spending review kicks in – but BBC4 identified a definite North-South divide in sport, action being markedly feistier north of the Trent.Admittedly that was in 1960, when David Storey's This Sporting Life was published. The novel featured heavily in the BBC4 programme 1960 – Year of the North, which stressed Storey's "impeccable northern pedigree".The writer was born in Wakefield, the son of a miner, and played rugby league for Leeds. In an archive interview, he recalled how his epoch-making novel was born when a ball landed at his feet during a game at Leeds and he realised that if he picked it up he would get his teeth knocked in. Frankly you cannot get more impeccably northern than that.Even that, though, was not enough for northerners sporting chips on both shoulders in the traditional fashion. Storey gave an interview at the time in which he claimed to live in "working-class Hampstead", which had folk up here spluttering into their pints of mild and cocking quizzical snooks at their whippets, believing "working-class Hampstead" to be a myth, like Narnia or the Widnes stockbroker belt. All Storey meant, I suspect, was that he was more Gospel Oakish than up by the Heath.The programme reclaimed Storey for the North and illustrated the difference between the sporting North and South of 1960 with contemporary newsreels, showing hats at Royal Ascot followed by rugby league at Wigan. I have to confess to being a sucker for this kind of stuff, and when it is accompanied by a soundtrack featuring atmospheric pre-Beatles pop, including Billy Fury's Wondrous Place, a captive audience is assured round my gaff.A couple of telling scenes from the film of This Sporting Life, of which regular readers will know I am an admirer, were shown. Despite Richard Harris's accent, which settles uncomfortably somewhere between Caerphilly and Cleckheaton, the scene in which his character, Frank Machin, signs as a professional for £1,000, a substantial sum at the time, is beautifully done and still relevant today. As Stuart Maconie, an expert witness on the show, sagely observed, Machin is a man in a donkey jacket surrounded by men in suits."This pre-dates today's footballers," said Maconie. "Just like Machin, young people usually from humble origins suddenly have to deal with riches being heaped upon them." When Machin is shown blustering aggressively in an upmarket restaurant, bolstered by his new fortune, it is not a million miles away from the popular urban myth of the Premier League footballer – choose your name – setting fire to fifty-pound notes in a nightclub.Adrian Chiles, hosting Arsenal's Champions League match on ITV, pointed out that no London team has ever won Europe's top prize, whereas the names of Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Celtic are on the trophy, some more than once. The pundit Andy Townsend reckoned that while Arsenal might play pretty football in the early stages, they never seem to have the grit and determination to go all the way. It is probably too simplistic to put it down to a lack of the right sort of pies.In some countries, mind you, merely competing in international competition shows you are made of the right stuff. Transworld Sport on Sky told the story of the 21-year-old Kosovan weightlifter Orges Tafilaj, who receives no funding, is his own coach and appears to train by running round and round a small garrett and looking for weightlifting tips on the internet.Now he is proud to be blazing a trail for the young country, taking part in a competition in Turkey that he has no chance of winning.I do love these features on Transworld Sport, underlining not just the redemptive power of sport but the fact that whatever problems we face in the UK they are, to quote Tom Courtenay as Billy Liar in Year of the North, neither mickling nor muckling.• This article was amended on 20 September 2010. The original said that Iraq played West Germany in football's 1974 World Cup. This has been corrected.Rugby leagueMartin Kelnerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Fox Sports ups share of high-def Blue Jackets games Columbus Blue Jackets fans looking for high-definition action have better odds this year. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Caroline Wozniacki ascends to No. 1, faces Ana Ivanovic next Ana Ivanovic delivered one of her best results of the season to set up a quarterfinal against new No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki at the China Open ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Prestige is the driving force for Chisora The Commonwealth champion is heading up to Fort William to prepare for his WBA title fight with Wladimir KlitschkoDereck Chisora and his promoter Frank Warren claim the unbeaten London heavyweight is fighting the two-belt world champion Wladimir Klitschko in Germany on 11 December for the same money David Haye rejected.And how much would that be? "Crap," the blunt young challenger said. So, with one possibly indiscreet word, Chisora inadvertently spikes the accusation that Haye, who defends his WBA version against Audley Harrison in Manchester next month, was the hard-bargaining villain in protracted negotiations over the past two years with Klitschko, owner of the IBF and WBO titles, and his brother, Vitali, the WBC champion.But then doublespeak is the lingua franca of the fight game – not that Chisora is complaining about a deal that could deliver not just one Klitschko but both of them. Nobody is talking specifics about that package, except to say all parties are happy. For Chisora, the prize glows brightly enough to make up for his small purse against Wladimir."My world hasn't changed," Chisora said. "I just get in the ring and box. Nothing gets to me. I'm prepared. I know the Germans are going to try to discomfort me. I'm from the streets. I'm wiser than them. When we signed the contracts, Frank said: 'These guys are bastards.' I said: 'I'm more a bastard than them.' But at least we've signed the contract. The fight is on. But they are bastards. They were saying that if I say anything they'll pull out. You know what? I don't care."Chisora lights up his sport in an earthy way. "The Americans who went to Germany to fight [the Klitschkos] just went to get paid. I'm not going there just to get paid. They offered me crap money but this is me fighting for the sport I love and the titles I want. What winds me up every day is that they have made the game very, very boring."That's the sound of a hungry fighter, a big, tough article from Zimbabwe via Finchley and, lately, Hampstead, a free-swinging, 26-year-old bruiser with only 14 contests but, crucially, two titles, the British and Commonwealth. Those belts, secured recently in his second impressive stoppage of Sam Sexton, give him credibility as a challenger. Warren did the rest, nailing the challenge in only five days, an unusually short time in which to agree terms over a world title fight.When they met in London Klitschko, one of boxing's gentlemen, sought to keep relations cordial. "He's definitely impressed me with his spectacular knockout [of Sexton] in September. I have to give a lot of respect to Dereck for taking this chance, without considering it too long. The other man [Haye] was talking a lot but never faced me in the ring."Warren said: "This is a three-fight deal, the same deal that was offered to David Haye. There's a 50-50 agreement in it, so I don't know why Haye didn't sign it. This is a fantastic opportunity for Dereck. We believe his dream, and my dream as well, is going to become reality."There is another reality check before then, though. Chisora has pleaded guilty to charges of assault and theft dating from 28 May and is due in the City of Westminster magistrates court on 10 November for a pre-sentencing report. Warren says he does not expect the court case to affect the fight.The promoter is putting on a series of quality promotions lately, this Mannheim fight dovetailing with the second leg in Liverpool on the same evening, when Nathan Cleverly, Matthew Macklin, Kell Brook and James DeGale move closer to world title shots.In the early hours of the following morning, Amir Khan defends his world light-welterweight title against Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas, although Sky, which is screening the first two shows, has yet to sign a deal with Khan to cover his fight.Chisora, meanwhile, heads for Fort William in the Scottish Highlands next week.BoxingDavid HayeJames DeGaleAmir KhanKevin Mitchellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |