Random Sports Babbling Post 2

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My school basketball team placed 4th in the Washington (state) basketball tournament... it was sweet, I was 2nd team all-tournament. That was about 2.5 weeks ago, just felt like I'd say it now.

 

This Tim Ambrose guy looks reasonably good. How come he has only played two tests?

 

He doesn't play for Durham, Lancashire or Hampshire, hence he needs to play out of his skin in domestic before the selectors will even consider him. He's always been a better keeper AND a better batsman than Matt Prior for me.

It took forever for Sidebottom to get another chance, and he's now our best bowler! Unfortunately, the selectors have their favourites. How Andrew Strauss or James Anderson have made the squad I'll never know.

 

Can't wait for the third test, I want to see young Tim Southee have a go!

 

Southee did OK. Shame our batsmen are so lame. Actually, this series is going to end up the way everyone predicted before it started.

 

Yeah, Southee looks a good young talent.

Anderson proving to be as useful as I thought though. I don't know why Charlie Shreck hasn't had a chance in an England shirt yet. Shame about Strauss' high score, that'll keep him in the side for the next few series' at least. He's one of a few batsmen in our lineup whose on thin ice for me. There's plenty of good batsmen deserving of a chance.

Good to see Broady getting a good go and a good stretch of overs. He's a genuine number 8 who's going to be our main pacer for the next 8 or so years.

 

I am shocked that nobody has commented on the glorious victory of the Canadian women's curling team at the world championship yesterday. Shocked, I say!

 

And ditto for the Canadian men's team.

You people just don't recognize a sporting dynasty when you see one.

 

Splunge: Your double post seemed so lonely that I just couldn't resist, so here goes:

Congratulations, Canadian curling team(s)!

World championship in curling had no impact whatsoever as far as my backyard of the globe is concerned, though.
Still, I do know what curling is (thank you Winter Olympics).

With that said, back to babbling.

A local football derby took place two days ago. Fans got the chance to shout their frustrations at anyone who would listen, the game was far from brilliant, and the losing side complained of the arbitration. (This always happens, regardless of the winner.)
In a word, I knew there was a reason for me not watching local football.

 

I 'prefer' local football. I'm a firm supporter of my local team and go to nearly every match. It's more 'raw', has more heart and you know your support is genuinely needed. Man Utd or Chelsea don't need more fans...

 

O, guys, my mistake, sorry. By local, I meant Serbian football, not local as in local of a city.
I simply didn't want to bug you with names of teams you might have never heard of. (Though Red Star was the winner of 1991 European Cup... )
I don't watch domestic football in general - that's what I meant to say.

Barmy: If Serbian lower leagues were as good as the ones in UK, I'd probably prefer them too. The truth is, however, that, imo, football over here needs serious help. Too much corruption, too little hard work.
A lot of interest and money goes into the game, but all the wrong people are running the show.

 

Montresor, if you ever come to Serbia, my brother says he's buying you a pint, and taking you to Marakana. He's a die-for-Zvezda kind of fan.

You get an ice cream from me too.

 

OK, but back to curling (or not):

So, how about Danica Patrick?

 

After googling her name... she's a racer? There ends my knowledge. Sorry, Splunge.

Today I heard a tennis match broadcast on the radio in my brother's car. Took me totally by surprise. I wasn't aware you could radio broadcast tennis... This could be just me though.

That sport has gained a lot of popularity in Serbia, ever since Novak Djokovic, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic started winning their matches. Five years back only rackets you could see were ping pong ones (table tennis) and now it's common place to see a little kid with racket bag as large as his body...

I don't follow it much, myself. I know the rules, tune in here and there, for the scores, rarely see a match.

I guess I'm old school, basketball indoctrinated generation.

For the sake of clarity: athletics, football, almost all Olympic (winter and summer) events, swimming, fencing, ice figure skating, hockey... even an occasional NFL match... I can watch.
Tennis, ping-pong, car races and box - not my cup of tea, really.

Am I off topic? Sorry if so.

 

Ah come on Lorey, just say the words, I know you want to... Tennis is boring!

 

Saying that during a Nole (Novak Djokovic) match around here equals high treason...

Boring. Most of the times.

I like watching the winner ceremonies, though. The Wimbledon Jamie Murray - Jelena Jankovic mixed double win was nice. (call me a romantic fool, BA, if you want)

 

I'd never call you any kind of fool, Lores! I value my life too much .

Tennis is sometimes OK, but mostly bores the hell out of me! I grew up in a time when the main British hope was Tim 'I'm-just-happy-to-be-here' Henman, and he was hopeless, always has been! Now, Federer just wins everything these days!

 

I can't say I'm much of a tennis fan either but I think you're being a bit harsh on Henman there. He was consistently in the world top ten for a number of years and is the best England has produced for a long, long time. His problem was that because of that he had to carry unreal hopes every year at Wimbledon as he had an outside chance of winning but no more than that. He was a good, very consistent player but really would have needed a large slice of luck to win a major. It hardly helped that Sampras, one of the sport's greatest ever players, was especially dominant on the surface where Henman had home advantage to help him. He wasn't a great player by any means but he was a far cry from being hopeless either.