| Ijaz Butt's blurtings reveal the beauty of having an inner bookie | Harry Pearson The PCB chairman's claims against England are unfounded but they could help explain our country's sporting failuresThis week's performance by the Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt has been so bizarre that, were it not for the fact that he is a man with an international reputation for probity, honour and blurting nutty stuff, the suspicion would be that he'd done it for a bet.We'll put aside the main thrust of Butt's allegations, which to be frank have all the substance of a Dimitar Berbatov tackle and so little corroborating evidence even my barber – who is prepared to believe in any rumour about sport he hears so long as it comes via the second cousin of a man whose sister-in-law once babysat for a child who grew up to attend the same school as Alan Shearer only a few years later – would have dismissed it without so much as a "do you want any gel on that?".Instead, let's focus on the insight it provided into the world of international bookmakers, among whom apparently "there was a lot of talk". Sadly Mr Butt did not tell us where he came across this talk, so we can only speculate that it is where gossip is normally overheard – at the school gate when picking up the kids. If so, the PCB man's children clearly attend a more interesting academy than my own, because the best I have ever heard is that Mrs Robson used "bought jam" in the Bakewell tart that carried off third prize in the 2009 village produce show. Hardly international news, though since I had five quid each-way on the woman she squeezed out, Old Ma Henshaw, it was more than enough to warrant an anonymous call to the local police. Investigations are ongoing. Some names have been changed for legal reasons.Clearly the chatter among bookmakers during their coffee break is quite different from the one that goes on in my office. Admittedly there is only the dog and myself, but we have spent most of the past week trying to compose a song that is guaranteed to be played constantly by the BBC during the 2012 Olympics, thus earning us a tidy sum. We have rejected the idea of uplifting self-help-style bombast of the likes of What Have You Done Today to Make Yourself Proud? in favour of something more literal in the mode of Keep on Running, Gold or Jump.Recognising that pop stars such as the Pointer Sisters and Spandau Ballet tend to ignore most of the power-based field events for reasons possibly relating to some subconscious trauma suffered in the shot put circle during their school days, we have concentrated on that. So far the best we have come up with is You Gotta Throw a Piece of Metal an Improbably Long Distance If You Want My Love. Will Young is lined up (well, after that cover of Light My Fire a queue at the DSS office was the only place for him).Anyway, be that as it isn't, the view round here is that if bookmakers are going to rabbit on within hearing shot of every Tom, Dick and Ijaz in this sort of frivolous manner, then the authorities should at least insist on them issuing a spoiler alert. That at least will prevent the unwary sports fan wandering into his local saloon bar and having his enjoyment of the Ashes totally ruined by some group of turf accountants noisily discussing the fact that Australia drop the first Test but go on to claim the series 2-1 thanks to a double century by Michael Clarke at Adelaide.I'm assuming that knowing the result in advance would ruin the series for everybody, though clearly that is not necessarily the case. After all, I enjoyed Roman Polanski's film The Ghost despite the fact a friend had already revealed to me the film's extraordinary secret – that Pierce Brosnan can actually act.Besides, believing the bulk of sports results are a fit-up would have its compensations. While the British, for reasons too obvious to need explanation, tend to favour the cock-up theory of history many Europeans prefer to believe that unseen forces are manipulating events in a fiendishly Byzantine, or indeed Far Eastern gambling consortium-like manner.After watching Spain thrilling beat Yugoslavia 4-3 in Euro 2000 I walked back into the centre of Bruges with a Serbian fan. He had an easy explanation for the Spaniards' last-minute win. "Yugoslavia is a small country," he said, "Spain is a rich country and so," he held up his right hand and rubbed the thumb across the tips of tips of his fingers. It was exactly the same gesture a Romanian TV cameraman had offered a couple of days earlier when asked about his national team's failure to beat Portugal at home in the qualifiers. To argue against either man was to feel prudish. Cynicism has a macho tinge to it that faith in the integrity of officialdom can never hope to assume. It is also much more comforting.While England spend months agonising over what elimination from the 2010 World Cup told us about our coaching methods, our schools system and the imperfections of our national psyche, these fellows simply shrugged defeat off with the word "corruption", suggested it was all down to some Fifa deal with a major sportswear manufacturer and got on with their lives, self-esteem undiminished. On balance, perhaps You've Got to Search for the Bookie Inside Yourself might be the anthem for the new age.Pakistan cricket teamEngland cricket teamCricketHarry Pearsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Armstrong staff member arrives to testify in LA By ANTHONY McCARTNEY 2010-09-29T17:13:58ZLOS ANGELES (AP) -- A staff member of Lance Armstrong's Team Radioshack has arrived at a Los Angeles courthouse to appear before a federal grand jury hearing evidence of alleged doping in professional cycling.... hosted.ap.org |
Jets resist Favre-led Vikings fightback • Jets claim 29-20 win to maintain first place in AFC East• Dwight Lowery's interception return for touchdown seals win The New York Jets held off a second-half comeback by Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings to claim a 29-20 victory yesterday and take sole possession of first place in the AFC East.The cornerback Dwight Lowery clinched the win when he intercepted a Favre pass intended for the tight end Visanthe Shiancoe and ran it back 26 yards for a touchdown with 1:30 left in the game."That was a heckuva win," the Jets head coach, Rex Ryan, said. "That was a championship-type game. A team that went to the NFC championship against a team that was in the AFC title game."The start of the game was held up for 45 minutes because of lightning, but once play began there were few fireworks, just solid play by New York on offense and a suffocating defence that threw a rude first-half homecoming party for Favre. The veteran quarterback had been at the Jets in 2008 before joining Minnesota.New York led 9-0 at the intermission and 12-0 in the third quarter thanks to four field goals and had dominated on defence, before Favre began to find the range. The 41-year-old threw three touchdown passes but came up short as the Jets added another field goal by the kicker Nick Folk and a crucial touchdown on a 24-yard burst up the middle by the running back Shonn Greene with 4:20 left in the fourth quarter.Minnesota had the ball on the 19-yard line with 1:38 to go, trailing 22-20, when Lowery stepped in front of Shiancoe to put an end to the Vikings' hopes. The victory on a rainy night lifted New York to 4-1 and dropped Minnesota, who last year played in the NFC title game, to 1-3."It was a great football game but I just wish we had won," Favre said. "We are 1-3 right now, which is disappointing. I think anyone who has seen this team play can see that we should be 3-1 or 4-0."Favre reached two milestones and extended his own NFL records as he surpassed the 70,000-yard mark in passing and notched his 500th career touchdown pass with a 37-yard connection to his new wide receiver Randy Moss, who joined Minnesota last week after a trade with New England.NFLUS sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Ashley Force Hood puts mind over matter with coach's assist I have been a race fan for 27 years, and a racecar driver for nine years, so it's safe to say I know a lot about NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing. ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Canada pole for Hamilton ALTHOUGH Lewis Hamilton broke the Red Bull stranglehold on 2009 pole positions yesterday, he did it by taking a tyre gamble that could backfire today. timesonline.co.uk |