"There's only one Bobby Robson"

Sir Bobby Robson died today after a mammoth 18 year battle with 5 types of Cancer. First diagnosed in 1991, he beat bowel cancer in 1992, a malignant melanoma in 1995 and a tumour in his right lung and a brain tumour, both in 2006.

It's not often that England has a truly good English England Manager; in fact with possible exception of Terry Venables, they've pretty much all sucked since 1990 when Bobby Robson left the job to join PSV Eindhoven.

The defining moment of Sir Bobby's 8 year tenure as England manager came on July 4th 1990, that World Cup Semi Final, when those of my generation got as close as we've ever come to seeing England in a World Cup Final...when we lost agonizingly on penalties to Germany.

He was also manager at the 1986 World Cup when England lost 2-1 to Argentina with the infamous 'Hand of God' goal making the difference; after which he was quoted as saying - "It wasn't the hand of God," ... "It was the hand of a rascal. God had nothing to do with it".

You could claim that England had little luck under his management - when both of those games could be described with an "if only..." His legend would have been far greater if the ref had spotted that handball in 1986, or if his players had been able to score penalties in 1990...

Fittingly, Sir Bobby was honored in his final days; nice to see someone honored in life, not just in death. Just last Sunday he made his final public appearance at a charity match at his beloved St James' Park in Newcastle on Sunday. 30,000 people showed up...

An England side, featuring Alan Shearer and several members of the 1990 World Cup squad including Paul Gascoigne and Peter Shilton, played a repeat of the 1990 World Cup semi-final, but this time beat a Germany team 3-2. FYI - Shearer scored the winner in Sunday's friendly, from the penalty spot. If only that had been the result 19 years ago...

Close your eyes, listen to Nessun Dorma on this video, and it'll take you back to that summer of what might have been...

Just Perfect!

There are somethings that happen very rarely in sport, like a hole in one or an undefeated season; today perhaps the rarest of sporting feats was achieved in Chicago when Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox pitched a 'perfect' baseball game. 'Big deal' I hear being cried from the other side of the Atlantic...well let's put this achievement in perspective for those who don't know the game.

Baseball is played over a long and gruelling season. Teams play 162 games in the regular season (i.e. before the play-offs) in the space of 180 days. So that's only 18 days off (and a 'day off' may include a 5 hour flight from NY to LA for the next game) in 6 months. That means there are 2430 games played each season between the 30 MLB teams; if you count the playoffs it's getting up towards 2500 games a year.

The last time a perfect game was thrown was in May 2004 by then Arizona Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson. So that's about 12,500 games since it last happened. Only 19 'perfect games' have been thrown in the history of Major League Baseball, and that's around 140 years, depending on which date you believe the 'league' was formed. So there have probably been somewhere between 250,000 and 300,000 games of Major League Baseball since the league's inception...the fact that this has happened only 19 times tells you what a rare feat it is...only nine times in my lifetime.

So for international readers, just what is a 'Perfect game'?

According to Wikipedia, a 'perfect game' is defined as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any other reason—in short, "27 up, 27 down".

I can't think of an equivalent feat in another sport...maybe a cricketer bowling for 2 or 3 hours without giving up a run, a wide or a no-ball?? Never happens, so maybe even that isn't a good comparison. So even if you don't like or follow, or even understand baseball, you can probably imagine that Mark Buehrle is certainly enjoying a career defining moment, even as he flies from Chicago to Detroit for the next series of games, having joined a very exclusive club.

It must also be a thrill when the sitting President is a White Sox fan, as Obama demonstrated at the All Star game just last week when throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in his White Sox jacket; President Obama called Buehrle after the game to congratulate him on his perfect day. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama told Buehrle: “It was an unbelievable achievement, something that everyone will always remember.”

President Obama throws first pitch at the MLB All-Star game
Uploaded by itnnews. - News videos hot off the press.

Money can't buy you love...

There's obviously something about Manchester City Football club that does not appeal...

Now as a typical Man Utd fan (i.e. someone not from Manchester!) I don't feel a natural animosity to Man City, as perhaps I would Bristol Rovers (also being a Bristol City fan raised in Bristol), so it's not a biased opinion. But has anyone else noticed that no-one seems to be that keen to go to Eastlands, no matter how much money is on offer?

City have so far spent £55m signing Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tevez - decent players certainly, but hardly the 'Galactico's' that they were after! £200k a week not enough for Kaka; £250k a week appears not to be enough for John Terry. Emanuel Adebayor seems to be on his way from Arsenal, but really that's no big shakes...

Executive chairman Gary Cook insists that players coming in are an investment for the future; he wants Man City "to become the darling of world football." He added: "I think Man City has a strong heritage in the world of football, particularly in England. We've become the focus of attention, most definitely in the past 12 months."

That will happen when you spend £150 million in 12 months and still have a first 11 team that reads...

1 Shay Given

2 Wayne Bridge

3 Micah Richards

4 Richard Dunne

5 Pablo Zabaleta

6 Shaun Wright-Phillips

7 Gareth Barry

8 Stephen Ireland

9 Robinho

10 Carlos Tévez

11 Roque Santa Cruz

I don't know about you, but I don't think the likes of Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea will be too concerned - they might give Arsenal a run for their money, but when you consider the current Real Madrid squad (with my choice of first 11 highlighted in yellow) (and look at the names left out!) who do you think will be the 'darlings of World football' in the coming years? Not sure if they'll win anything though...I'll still put my money on Utd...

Goalkeepers
Casillas
Dudek
Defenders
Salgado
Pepe
Ramos
Albiol
Marcelo
Torres
Heinze
Metzelder
Garay
Midfielders
Javi García
Drenthe
Diarra
Gago
Lass
Guti
Parejo
De la Red
Sneijder
Van der Vaart

Forwards

Cristiano Ronaldo
Kaka
Robben
Raúl
Benzema
Van Nistelrooy
Higuaín
Huntelaar

Explaining cricket to a foreigner...

So 2 years have come around again and, if you follow cricket, it's time for the most anticipated few months on the cricketing calendar. The Ashes - A 5 match battle between the Australians and England, that the Australians typically win! Held every 2 years, Australia won the last Ashes battle in 2007, played Down Under, and England won the last series here in England in 2005. Prior to that I think the Australians had held the Ashes for about 20 years!

Bearing in mind that I might have some Americans reading this, I thought a quick explanation of the rules of cricket may be in order... Pay attention, I may be asking questions!

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. With me so far?

When they are all out, the side that's out, comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. You wonder why it takes 5 days to play?

There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game. Get it, good!

Here's a little animated snapshot that may help you understand the history of this great sporting rivalry... Enjoy

World's largest press conference

This article on American sports blogging site http://www.deadspin.com/ provides an interesting "American" take on Ronaldo's crowning at Real Madrid this week...I especially like some of the comments that follow it...

http://deadspin.com/5309191/cristiano-ronaldo-stars-in-worlds-largest-press-conference

Has Formula 1 hit rock bottom?

Has Bernie Ecclestone driven another nail into the coffin of Formula 1?

Ecclestone, who owns the commercial rights to Formula 1, is no stranger to controversy. He once said women should dress in white "like all other domestic appliances." In fact he probably craves the coverage to boost his net worth; after all the PR gurus say there is no such thing as bad publicity.

But Formula 1 has indeed suffered enough bad publicity recently; the internal squabbling, the financial issues. Personally I lost interest in Formula 1 during the procession of the Michael Schumacher years, when the very dull German won the championship for what seemed like 25 years in a row. So my facts may be a little out, but the sport does need revitalizing and I think that has been accepted.

As sport in general has become more global, with the media injecting money left right and centre, sport has to re energise itself to keep the public interest, to stop viewers selecting other channels, to keep them buying tickets and stop them spending their money elsewhere. Take Twenty20 cricket as an example. Something had to be done to save domestic cricket, especially in the UK, and this new and improved format is bringing kids back to the sport.

The future of Formula 1 depends on the public, the kids; not Ferrari, Marlboro or other big business. Because if people aren't watching and buying merchandise, then the sponsors will soon disappear...something Mr Ecclestone would do well to remember before making comments like these...

nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/31734969/ns/sports-motor_sports/