Random Sports Babbling Post 2

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Chris Ashton = England's most natural try scorer since Jason Robinson?

 

Ronaldo (the real one) has announced his retirement. Quite simply he was the greatest footballer I've ever seen. Pre France 98 he was phenomenal. He just wasn't the same after that mysterious final though. Still, he was still good enough to top score as he lead his team to another world cup. He just had everything, if he had remained injury free he'd probably rank up there with Pele and Maradona.

 

That's a pretty sad comparison if it's true, given what a ballet dancer Jason Robinson was. Surely you've had better try scorers than that hip-hopper.

From what I have seen Ashton looks way better than Robinson, with the added bonus that the rest of the team actually passes the ball out wide sometimes these days.

 

Ronaldo played a while for a Dutch team. He was good but not top notch.

 

54 goals in 57 games for PSV? Followed up by 47 in 49 for Barcelona? He won world player of the year three times and is the all time top goal scorer in the world cup. I can't see how he couldn't be considered top notch.

 

Check out some of the highlights on YouTube from his prime. He was class, but when he was off his game, he was really off.

 

Ronaldo is the best striker I have ever seen in my lifetime. It's as simple as that. Absolutely unstoppable.

He scored 310 career goals at the top level in less than 450 games, and that includes his international career. There is no other word for it, that is simply outstanding.

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Robinson was quality for England! Yeah, the team try to get the backs involved more, as the rule changes in RU reward you recylcling the ball quickly.

Ben Youngs and Ben Foden are quality players, too. Especially Youngs, he's mature beyond his years.

 

What I mean is that he is not an complete player. He was great in teams that were good due to the total of all players.

He cannot carry a team, make other players better. Only a few great can. So he is not top notch, but very good.

 

He could carry a team because so many of his great goals were brilliant solo efforts. It's a bit hard to be critical of someone so awesome. Are we going to slam the guy because he might (for argument's sake) only be in the top 10 players of all time, instead of the top 5? Wow, what a loser!

 

No. Top ten perhaps, but he does not have the class of Platini, Maradonna, Cruijf, Pele, Zidane to name 5. They can make a team better.

 

Before Ronaldo's injuries began nobody would have considered Zidane better than him. They both played in Serie A at the time too so comparison wasn't that hard. Ronaldo may not have been a playmaker but when you've a player who's liable to run through the entire defence and score at any time it makes a huge difference to the tactics of the teams. The opposition had to make sure they had cover on him at all times.

I suppose there is an element of what might have been with Ronaldo. Zidane clearly had the better career overall. If Ronaldo had carried on as he started he'd arguably have been the best ever.

 

Anyone seen the cricket match between England and The Netherlands? I have not. And even if I had, I wouldn't have understood a thing, because I really don't know anything about the sport.
According to some Dutch newspapers, Holland made a good impression and performed very well, even though they lost. Those papers are prone to use propaganda when it come to sports, though, so I'd like a second opinion.

 

Yeah, the Dutch really gave a good go of it. They have a really impressive batsman called Ryan ten Doeschate, who plays his cricket in England. He played really well (aided by some horrible play by England) but unfortunately they don't have any good enough bowlers to win a game against a top side. It was a really impressive and gutsy performance though.

 

The Dutch did really good. Ryan Ten Doeschate (who played an awesome game) has played cricket for Canterbury in New Zealand as well, that is, exactly where the earthquake has just hit. That's my interesting piece of coincidence in the news for you today.

 

That must be weird, to see a place in ruins where you have once played, but got away from. Still, it must be weirder to see a place in ruins where you actually live.

Well, thanks for your opinions, guys. I'm a bit biassed towards these papers when it comes to sports.

 

India world champs cricket. Nice. I decided to look up the rules, and what do you now, they are not that hard.

 

Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest sportspeople in history, from any sport, from any country. What. A. Legend. It's so awesome that he could get a World Cup win. Did I mention what a legend he is?

 

WE'VE GOT AN NHL TEAM AGAIN!!!!

 

Yeah - and Winnipeg is a city that should have a team. It's shameful it ook as long as they have to get one since the Jets left. On the other hand, Atlanta now has the dubious reputation of being the only city to lose two NHL franchises (and Canada inherited that one too). If they keep moving franchises into Atlanta, the NHL can go back to being and all Canadian and northern US league!

 

The only thing that concerns me a bit is long-term fan support. The first few years won't be an issue- the owners are targeting 13,000 season tickets, with 3 to 5 year commitments required, and I don't think that will be a problem. What might be a problem is when it comes time to renew - if the team isn't doing well, that could hurt sales. One of the reasons the Jets left was lack of fan support (there were other reasons as well, though, and those don't exist anymore). Hopefully that support will remain. I know I won't be getting season tickets, but I'll probably go to a few games a year (if I can get tickets, that is).