Category: Sport

I really hate those England games that ITV shows. They’re just painful to watch. Not because of all the ad breaks. Not because Steve Rider’s just dull. And not because those sponsorship breakers are just unfunny. No. The real problem is that ITV gives its big games to that dynamic commentary duo of Clive Tyldesley…

You know those really annoying Budweiser football analysts that ITV have in their sponsorship credits? They’re the ones who are only marginally more annoying than the EDF ones. Well I decided, using the power of the internet, to try out ESPN2 coverage of tonight’s Spain v Tunisia fixture. First of all, the picture I got…

What a shame.

And so to Highbury for the very last time. Today’s fixture against Wigan was the last of the season. There was also the small matter of the fact that we needed to beat Wigan while hoping that West Ham could hold Spurs to a draw or better. That way, we’d finish fourth and get a…

I could probably spend about an hour writing a vituperative piece on all the inequalities of the Worlld Cup’s ticket distribution system. The Observer’s been waging a campaign against the current scheme that sees just 8% of tickets going to the fans from each country in any given match. Sponsors, meanwhile, share 16% of the…

I was very excited to learn about the route of Le Tour when it arrives in 2007 for Le Grand Départ. The prologue takes place on Saturday 6 July 2007, and is a 7.9km time trial starting in Whitehall just down from Trafalgar Square, running through Parliament Square (think pictures of cyclists with Big Ben…

News just in (sorry, I can’t bring myself to say “Breaking News”… damn): London has been confirmed as hosting the start of Le Tour next year. Ken Livingstone has been working hard for a while to get the start of the Tour, which hasn’t been in Britain since it came through Kent in 1994. There’d…

Not the greatest of surprises that Freddie Flintoff won it. But I’m with Steve Cram on the merits of the runner-up, Ellen MacArthur, getting an award in this arena. I was in Stanfords earlier today where they have a fine selection of books on adventurers. And that’s the category that MacArthur belongs in – adventure.…

Yesterday I went to two fabulous places. Sadly, due to my having to sign an NDA, I can only talk about one of them. But if you run into me, feel free to ask! Roll on 2006 is all I can say, when, at some point, I’ll be able to reveal all… The place I…

Of course there was another sporting event at the weekend – days three and four of the Ashes. But with a poor batting performance alongside poor weather, I didn’t want to dwell on it too much. The problem is that there are a maximum of 20 more days for me to dwell on it while…

So another fabulous tour ended, and Lance Armstrong retires from professional cycling with his 7th consecutive win in what is quite probably the toughest sporting event on the planet. It wasn’t his greatest win ever – he only won his first individual stage in Saturday’s time trial, and Basso stuck to him like glue in…

I can’t tell you how pleased I am that London’s been awarded the Olympics in 2012. I’m as big a naysayer as you could find, and I’ve long railed against the corruption that’s endemic in the IOC. But I’m thrilled! I was basically transfixed the whole morning as the IOC went through its voting process…

Rather than depressing myself terribly with all this ID Card stuff, I thought I’d brighten up and remind anyone still reading that The Tour De France starts on Saturday. It’s Lance Armstrong’s last tour and he wants to finish with a seventh win in a row. As usual ITV (well ITV2), are covering it as…