A 39th Step Too Far

Tiger Woods

ESPN.com recently ran an piece titled 'Is Tiger Woods the most dominant athlete ever ?' (link below)
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3263383

Woods won the WGC Match Play in Arizona last week. He has now won seven out of the last eight events entered ( his one blemish to a perfect record was a second place). When you think that one bad hole can cost you a round & a tournament, Woods winning run is astonishing. Clearly Tiger is the best player, but opponents have also admitted to being intimidated by him. Perhaps they over press by trying too hard to beat him, too. Woods focus & determination would seem to be the main reason for his dominance.Ominously, Woods said after his latest victory 'you can always get better'.

Champions League

Liverpool will be favourites to win their last 16 tie v Inter after the 2-0 win at Anfield. The trend for good European results but domestic inconsistency continues. How did a team who lost at home in the FA cup to Barnsley inflict the first defeat in five moths on the Serie A leaders ? Playing against ten men for an hour helps though- and both Materazzi's bookings looked a bit harsh. Arsenal may have missed their chance against Milan. Chelsea & Man U should win their home ties against Olympiakos & Lyon. In fact, I would be surprised if there was no English team in the final. If one of the Premiership sides does reach the final it will be the fourth year in a row-as you might expect from the richest league in the world.

Haye v Maccarinelli

These two massive punchers meet next Saturday. Haye's only loss (20 wins) was by stoppage to Carl Thompson in his 11th pro fight. Macca has also only one loss on his pro record from 29 bouts. Haye has arguably faced tougher opposition, and was impressive in knocking out Jean-Marc Mormeck in seven rounds in November, winning the WBA & WBC belts (traditionally the two most prestigious of the 'alphabet' titles). Haye by 10th round KO.

A 39th step too far

I share the delight of many footy fans that Richard Scudamore's plans for a 39th Premier League fixture abroad now seem to be dead in the water. Apart from it being just a cynical money-spinner which shows complete disregard for the fans, what about the sporting implications ? Imagine needing to win the last game of the season to stay up, & having to play a team going for the title. Hardly fair. The whole point of the league is that all play all home & away, and every team follows the same programme. Tacking on an extra fixture distorts the league competition. Instead of looking at more ways to generate revenue, the Premier League should be spreading more of the wealth from the TV contracts etc to the lower leagues & grassroots.