My Choice this year

Ok so last year at the start of the premiership I spent ages trying to pick a team to follow. Gav and I argued over which team would suit me best and why. I spend hours on google learning about them all. And far too long on Wiki trying to grasp something that would find me the perfect team for the year. If you don't remember the post then shame on you for not reading it well enough. And shame on me for not making it good enough to remember. So if either of those two statements are true I'll leave a link here so you can go back in time and find my post and hear all about my issues with each premier team.
Now that you're all up to date I can safely say that I chose the right team last year. I had Chelsea as my team for the season and I was clearly right as they were the out right winners, which needless to say pissed Gav off totally as he is a staunch Man Utd fan. So for that reason alone I am ruling Man Utd out as my team for this year... There's no fun in us both supporting the same team. Although we did watch the Man Utd v Rangers match together last night and for a change I was half paying attention to it and almost enjoyed it. Especially when there were so many close calls. But there I am again going off point.
The point is I need a new team this year to keep me "with it" in regards to the premier league. So after a week or two of watching and listening to the essentials of the season I've chosen a team.

I've always been about the under dogs really! So with such an impressive start to the season I've bitten the bullet, gone for gold and chosen the new comers.
They were founded in 1887 in the seaside resort of Blackpool. This year sees their first ever trip to the top tier of the Premier League and their 100th season in league football. The nicknames make me smile, the colours make me ill but still I'm backing them to do well this year and be my side for 2010/2011. May 09 saw the currant manager Ian Halloway take over on a one year contract so we hope he does well and stays around! They play their home games in Bloomfield since 1901 which was done up for this years Premier league fixtures, woohoo! And there's even an Irish man playing Forward for the team, Billy Clark. Something I like very much in my choice team! As a supporter I'll be known as Tangerine Army or Seaside Barmy Army! 


So thats me. I have a team so support again this year and as much as I hate tangerine as a shade of orange (and orange in general) I shall fly the colours proudly and cheer on the greatest under dogs and the unexpected promoted team of Blackpool FC. Lets just hope I'm right again this year...

A Blog Post...For Your Ears

I did this once before, but it's going to become more regular. I introduce you to the Almost Daily Sports Blog Podcast. Here's my thoughts on the Republic of Ireland, following wins this week over Armenia and Andorra.

I'll have another one of these on the start of the NFL season tomorrow.  Please leave feedback below.

Haye Hits Bum Note

Just a quick addendum to Hellie's post about the Haye - Harrison fight yesterday.  Most pundits reckon that the fight is going to be a fairly easy one for Haye - the bookies have him a 1-3 favourite to win by knockout, and 1-12 to win the fight in any method.  It's also odds on to finish inside the distance, and there are no surprises there.

Another person who thinks it is likely to be one-sided is Haye himself, as you can see from the quotes below.  Here's another, that didn't really emerge until the publication of the papers today however.  Haye said to Audley: 'You're going to get violated... This fight is going to be as one-sided as gang rape.'

Unsurprisingly, the comments have been met with widespread condemnation.

In the heat of the moment, men in particular say a lot of things that aren’t met.  While never being in the situation, I can imagine that to be particularly likely in a pre-fight press conference – two men are building themselves up to dislike the opponent, while controversial comments sell tickets, and in turn generate money.  Therefore, odd as this may seem, I can understand why Haye said this.  I cannot, however, condemn the fact that he has yet to apologise.

Rape of any kind is a heinous crime, and to liken a fight to it is quite frankly disgusting.  For a man who sells himself as a genial fellow, and one who the British public in particular should like, his refusal to apologise is surprising.  Controversy may generate publicity, but to this extent it is not needed.  The fight will still go ahead, it will still cost fans €22 or so to watch it on TV, and I’m sure many will spend that...  But I hope Haye sees the error of his ways sooner rather than later.

Another Fight I wanna see!

David Haye
Born 13 October 1980 in Bermondsey, South London
WBA Heavyweight World Champion
Former Cruiserweight World Champion


 Height 191cm or 6ft 3
 Reach 198 cm


 Total Fights 25
 Wins 24
 Wins by KO 22
 Losses 1

Audley Harrison


Born 26 October 1971
Sydney Olympics 2000-First ever British gold medal in Superheavyweight boxing
Turned professional 2001


Height 1.96m or 6ft 5
Reach 86inchs 


Total Fights 31
Wins 27
Wins by KO 20
Losses 4

And the point to this post today?? 

News out today is that David Haye will defend his WBA World Heavyweight title in a fight against fellow Briton and Olympic Gold Medalist Audley Harrison.  (which explains the fact-file type section above!) I loved the press conference from the BBC today so I'll put the link HERE. It's well worth a look but I'll leave some of the quotes that made my day right here for you to nose through at your own time!

"I don't believe Audley deserves a chance but enough people want to see him finally destroyed, that is why this fight is happening," Said Haye

"The fight will be a public execution"

"His resume is not as good as that of the last five people I have fought." Thems fighting words there Haye....

"I'm the most devastating fighter on the planet. This is the time your career gets well and truly finished." You'd never think that these two used to be friends and trained together would you? That is until a falling out some time last year...

Although Harrison had a few choice words to say as well!

He is a guy I groomed,"  

"I have tasted his punches and power and he never hurt me in a training session.

"This is my destiny - on 13 November Audley Harrison will be champion of the world and of that there is no doubt.

"If David Haye thinks I've taken this fight strictly for a payday, he is in for a rude awakening."

As I say this is a fight I badly want to see... Bring on November 13th for what should be a great fight from a World Champ and the wannabe Harrison who recently won Prizefighter...Not that he's had a fantastic career but David Haye is decent fighter and I suspect this to be a cracking fight (as Gavin would say)

I've marked it into my diary already...