#3 and #4 are ridiculous
Juan Veron to Man Utd.
Bought to replace Keane I reckon but Keane had more left in the tank and Veron never got a shot in the defensive playmaker position he craved. Veron was shifted around into a mix of positions without ever looking like succeeding. Top player at international and club level eventually exited in a bizarre move to Chelsea where he was worse and his career at the top level fizzled out quickly.
keane was a defensive playmaker?
not in the xabi alonso sense but he was the first receiver of the ball from the back and dominated that area of the pitch
he couldnt pass the ball :lol:
He could actually and pretty well too. In this stats driven age Rocko and zonal marking types would be creaming themselves over how many completed passes he made and rarely losing possession.
5 yard passed to scholes perhaps but he wasnt a decent passer of the ball- because you watch English football you have a lower expectation of what a decent passer is
[quote=“Watch The Break, post: 443209”]Six misleading national hurling league finals:
1991-92 Limerick 0-14 (14) 0-13 (13) Tipperary Gaelic Grounds
Limerick demolish Cork in the semi-final and pip Tipp in the finale. Glory beckons for the shannonsiders. Unfortunately Cork have other ideas and take Limerick to pieces in Munster come the summer.
1994-95 Kilkenny 2-12 (18) 0-09 (9) Clare Semple Stadium
Clare on the back of two munster final humiliations, get a shot at redemption under new management. They fail horribly and Kilkenny win at a canter. Clare are written off as a team who just don’t have it.
1998 Cork 2-14 (20) 0-13 (13) Waterford Semple Stadium
Cork obliterate Clare in the semi-final in Thurles. They go on to outclass a promising Waterford in the final. Their time has surely arrived. Except it hasn’t. Clare roll over them in championship.
2007 Waterford 0-20 (20) 0-18 (18) Kilkenny Semple Stadium
Waterford finally deliver. Silverware at stake, top class opposition in their way, and they finish strongly and power home to a national title. The revert to type and surrender several months later.
2004 Galway 2-15 (21) 1-13 (16) Waterford Gaelic Grounds
Galway look to have finally recovered from the fallout of 2001. Except they haven’t. Kilkenny maul them in Thurles amd many careers end.
1977-78 Clare 3-10 (9) 1-10 (13) Kilkenny Semple Stadium
After promising to deliver for the previous half decade, Clare look to finally have matured enoough to deliver. Two leagues in a row, Kilkenny profesionally beaten. Championship glory awaits? No. Clare choke again when it nactually matters.[/quote]
Great post
Marty Whelan from RTE to Century Radio
Des Lynam from BBC to ITV
Paul Williams from the Sunday World to the News of the World
Raymond van Barneveld from the BDO to the pdc
There are loads of moves that don’t work out for one reason or another but it’s hard to argue with the logic for Veron in joining United then. They were doing well in Europe, were dominant in England and, much lauded though he was, he was only playing for Lazio.
Keane was only 29 when Veron joined. I don’t think he was bought to immediately replace him, though it may have been a longer term hope.
Veron at that stage of his career was playing much further forward than a deep lying playmaker. It was only in the later stages of his career did he adapt to the deep lying playmaker role.
Andrei Kancheslkis was a brilliant player with Manchester United but made a series of poor moves saw his career go downhill pretty quickly.
Six of “Holy fucking Shit” performances by a race horse.
I couldn’t be arsed numbering them.
Sea Bird wins the Arc in an absolute canter, and beats an international cast of stars in doing so
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w6l4dycjDE
Golden Cygnet ins Supreme Novices 1978. Scary to think how good he could have been.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_8KSgxz4pg
Secretariat wins the Belmont in 1973. He ran the first 6f of this 12f race in 1:09 and change, which would win most 6f races. Went past the 10f pole in 1:59, which was faster than his record winning time in the Derby, and he still had 2f to run at that point.
Arkle wins Gallagher Gold Cup at Sandown 1965. Absolutely destroys a quality field giving away stones of weight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY1ypQ2ROOc
Lonhro wins Australia Cup 2004. Overcomes all kinds of traffic trouble to somehow get up and win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfLFDrcjt5s
Frankel’s Guineas. Some will say the Queen Anne was his greatest performance, I think this one was more visually impressive…
:rolleyes:
Really good Joy of Six in the Guardian today - the writing is excellent in it.
[S5aNU5xEEIY[/media]eature=youtu.be&t=24s"]5) Kevin Pietersen’s switch-hit (June 2008)]([media=youtube)[/b]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5aNU5xEEIY
Rumours that this week’s Joy of Six was convened solely for its writers to spend the week humming songs from Hammerstein and Kern are false, but if Pietersen rhymed with Bill, well, that would’ve been handy. It doesn’t, though; typical arrogance.
Between February and July 2008 England’s cricketers played two series against New Zealand, neither of which especially exercised anyone. Still, there were some memorable moments: Andrew Strauss’s career-saver[/url],[url=“http://www.espncricinfo.com/nzveng/engine/current/match/300444.html”]Tim Southee’s career-starter[/url], [url=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPF4H9oE1ic”]Ryan Sidebottom’s hat-trick[/url] and[url=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d1xuDejdn4”] various efforts from Pietersen[/url], all upstaged by [url=“http://youtu.be/S5aNU5xEEIY?t=24s”]the inaugural switch-hit.
The moment came during the first ODI of the second series, when, with Pietersen on 68, Scott Styris ran in to bowl. In the time it took him to hurl a sphere of cork-covered leather 22 yards, Pietersen pirouetted en pointe, switched from right- to left-handed stance and slurped a glass of Amarula, before humiliating the ball over the boundary for six. Shot!
By way of context, humans have redeemed the species via the game of cricket for several hundreds of years – yet it took this particular incarnation to conceive, attempt, and execute the switch-hit. Play every ball on its merits, says the truism. Play every ball on my merits, said Pietersen.
Given cricket’s duelling, repetitive nature, its potential outcomes are relatively few and apparently finite, leaving little that’s new[/url] and [url=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtkFmufS6k8”]even less that’s positively shocking[/url]. And yet Pietersen found both, subsequent debate regarding [url=“http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/9188352/Kevin-Pietersens-switch-hitting-routine-officially-curbed-but-far-from-outlawed-as-proved-during-stunning-century.html”]the shot’s legality[/url] polishing its status; not just reimagining the technical manual but [url=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2t3ja3sZ5M”]bothering the rulebook too, iconoclastic as well as creative.
Though every showboat boasts a subversive aspect thanks to the disdain necessarily at its core, the switch-hit is special. Even the action is gloriously dismissive, a swatting swish of superiority. Begone! It might not be delivered as powerfully as a cover-drive, but you could say the same of how punch relates to slap: a punch hurts more, but only slap can take the prefix bitch. Roughly, the difference is that between pain and suffering.
Still, purists might challenge its showboating status on the basis that it’s just a shot to score runs; Adrian Lewis’ blind 180[/url], say, or [url=“http://youtu.be/Wweh3ROiqWI?t=1m18s”]Leeds teasing Southampton[/url], both rank higher on the dog-tongue-testes scale. But the problem with the gratuitous, if you’ll pardon the heresy, is that there’s no pressure to succeed – [url=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4fsLeCjB4s”]if it fails you look silly[/url], but that’s it. When, on the other hand, you incorporate into general play what is by nature [url=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTxbRVhc7Zk”]a showboat[/url], failure also encompasses a competitive penalty, [url=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjhKq-Tovfs”]in cricket a more significant one than in any other sport.
And once there’s a genuine purpose, the criticism of not paying opponent or game requisite respect vanishes – but we ought to be above such delicate sensibility in any event. It is, after all, only sport, and in every other art-form – literature[/url], [url=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Street_and_Gin_Lane”]painting[/url], [url=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TZ_9-rbslo”]music[/url], [url=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVHhg67RVd4”]films[/url], [url=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volpone”]plays[/url],[url=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beano”]comics[/url], [url=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxsGyljd6B0”]comedy – a goodly chunk of the best and most important are underpinned by the total absence of deference.
Nonetheless, Pietersen has been constantly criticised for his style, an attitude peculiarly British in its carping churl. It oughtn’t to be surprising; our language does, after all, consider “too clever by half” an insult, “don’t get clever” a warning and “audacious and bold” a primary school telling-off. People don’t cope well when other people are unashamedly better than them at stuff, but really, there’s no need; we are, genuinely in this circumstance, all in it together, all of us in the world who aren’t KP. It’s fine.
To the spectator, a showboat should be inspirational, not threatening. David Foster Wallace once described high-level sport as “human beings’ reconciliation with the fact of having a body”, and channelling hopes and dreams through the brilliance and beauty of others should help reconcile us to all that we can’t do ourselves.
The problem arises when it’s done by someone we don’t like, which turns flair to flash and a show into showing-off. But that’s what professional sport is, what anything competitive is, and what anything professional is: a show. No one goes to the opera and grumbles about a singer trying to reach the high notes, or is aggravated by a surgeon who performs a tricky operation. Yes, it’s principally for their pleasure, but why shouldn’t it be? How couldn’t it be?
It’s no coincidence that the sportsman most similar to Pietersen was also underappreciated while he played in the purportedly green and pleasant land. Cristiano Ronaldo is a competitor of similar confidence and conviction, of all the things, also committed to intense practice and innovation, desperate to be the outstanding individual in a team sport. Oh, the effrontery! That being good, it’s just not on!
So instead, people focus on their demeanour. It’s understandable in a sense: the only thing more annoying than someone shouting the talk is someone sprinting the walk switch-hitting or stepping-over as they go, before refusing to denigrate their genius with phony humility and team ethic platitudes. And yet, in every school changing room there’s a kid with a very adult attribute, displayed at every opportunity, in exchange for due adulation. We’ve changed.
Which is to say that the point is this: showboats and showmen remind us why we love sport, and rekindle the childish wonder legitimised by sport that we wish was legitimised by life. Yeah, everyone loved watching Rahul Dravid bat because he was classical and beautiful and a mensch, but he didn’t make hearts jump, nor force involuntary exclamation of the desire to perform a biologically impossible act.
Consider then, that, at worst, Pietersen is a bit of an idiot. Then, consider all the other sportsfolk and teams who’ve brought you pleasure: are you sure they’re not guilty of anything a lot more reprehensible? Lastly, consider yourself. Are you sure you’re not a bit of an idiot? Can you say for certain that you’re a superior incarnation of humanity? Or put another way, there’s no one on the planet not an ordinary guy, but only a few who make us thrill. Enjoy them. Daniel Harris
6) And if you are going to showboat …
Six key All-Ireland Football Quarter-Final moments
6) Mark Poland’s early goal, 2010
Kerry were heavy favourites to break their 100% losing run against Down in the championship but in a direct reversal of their 2009 quarter-final, the tone of the match was set right from the start, as Kerry stood off and let Down come at them. A lucky break from a blocked down pass allowed Mark Poland a one on one and he blasted it past Brendan Kealy. Down always led after that and ended up running away with the match to inflict Kerry’s first ever quarter-final defeat.
5) Tomas Quinn’s wasted goal chance, 2008
Despite losing Alan Brogan to injury, favourites Dublin were well on top on the play in the first 15 minutes against Tyrone in 2008 but wasted chance after chance. The key one was a great goal chance when Quinn broke through for a two on one but misplaced his handpass to Diarmuid Connolly and the chance was lost. Shortly afterwards Sean Cavanagh roasted Ross McConnell for a goal and Tyrone assumed total dominance of the match.
4)Tomas O’Connor’s disallowed goal, 2011
Kildare were three points up halfway through the second half against a Hunegal team playing atrociously. Johnny Doyle went for a point but the ball hit the post. Tomas O’Connor was waiting for the rebound and finished to the net. Replays showed O’Connor was outside the square, but the goal was wrongly disallowed. The incident proved the key turning point in a match Kildare had looked in control of.
3)Colm Cooper’s goal against Dublin, 2009
Kerry’s awful performances in Munster and in the qualifiers saw them go in as outsiders against Dublin in 2009. Those odds were made to look foolish with the first attack. Dublin failed to mark Michael McCarthy coming up from the back and he fed Gooch who placed the ball under Stephen Cluxton after 37 seconds. Dublin collapsed and Kerry won by 17 points.
2)Owen Mulligan’s goal of the decade, 2005
Dublin dominated Tyrone in the first half and led by five. Tyrone had reduced that to three with 20 left when Owen Mulligan gathered the ball just inside the 45, turned Paddy Christie, dummied past both Stephen O’Shaughnessy and Paul Casey and smashed the ball into the net. Tyone only drew the match, but it benefitted them in the long run. They ran out convincing All-Ireland champions over 10 matches.
1) Dara McGarty spurns his goal and takes his point, 2002
With Sligo six points down and a man down with 15 minutes left, Armagh looked to be coasting through to the semi-final. Then Sligo began to reel them in, and by the end Armagh were a shambles and hanging on for dear life. With Sligo searching for the equaliser in injury time, the Armagh defence completely opened up and Dara McGarty had a clear one on one with Benny Tierney. Instead of going for the goal that would have won the match he fisted the ball over the bar. The final whistle blew from the kickout. Armagh won the replay and went on to win their first and so far only All-Ireland.
Had a conversation about this earlier. 6 albums of my youth.
@TheUlteriorMotive will have a pain in his arse with a middle aged man defining himself through music.
Rattled. And Hum.
And 6 albums since then.