Inspiration Is All Around

In life, and in sport, perspective is everything.

The majority of posts on this site, sporadic as they are, are of the here and now; of the game/match/fight/story of that day. Current affairs are, after all, the most pressing kind.

However, that does not mean that we should not know from where we come. I enjoy watching sports and fights from before I was born as much as I do those happening live on television. Some query this; my better half lists ESPN Classic and the BBC Red Button’s fantastic Classic Formula 1 feature among her pet hates. I also love watching sports documentaries, often about people and events I know little of, and I do this for one reason above all others.

Inspiration.

Perspective and knowledge are key, but without inspiration sport wouldn’t exist. Sports stars need a hook to draw them into a sport. Bernard Dunne speaks about the importance of Barry McGuigan, Lewis Hamilton idolizes Ayrton Senna and goodness only knows how many 10 year olds have kicked a ball against a wall imagining they are Pele, or Maradona, or Keane, or Rooney or whoever. As much as sport is about community, and our very existence, it is also something that inspires us, fans and competitors alike, and spurs it on.

I watch those historic events to be inspired, to see great fighters and athletes at their best, creating history. I also watch live events to see history as it is created, so in years to come I can say I was there when Dunne knocked out Cordoba, or when Schumacher clinched a World Title, or at the very least I can say I was sat in front of the television rejoicing with millions others when Bolt ran 9.58 in Berlin, or McAteer scored against the Dutch or any one of thousands of other events. I was alone, or in a small group, but I was one of many rejoicing. Together, alone. We were inspired by the things in front of our noses, something that I get to experience every day.

I am inspired by the woman I love, my Hellie. She took up blogging at my behest, twitter too. She know kicks my ass at both. Tomorrow, we heard to Belfast for the Irish Blog Awards 2011 in which her blog, http://www.anseo-a-mhuinteoir.com is nominated in the Best Education/Science Blog Category. Her’s is the only Primary School blog in the final five. She is also very active on twitter, @anseoamuinteoir, and best of all, she does this not for herself but for others. Blogging and interacting allows her to be a better teacher, something she loves, something she was born to do.

It is her passion, and it is her hope to inspire children for years to come. This passion can be see on her site, and in how she has made friends and relationships and earned the respect of others online. She inspires me as well. I intend to work hard over the next twelce months so that when we return to next year’s awards, we do so as a pair of nominees.

Thanks babe x

A-Rod Reaction Reveals Baseball Ambivalence

This week, Alex Rodriguez has hit his 600th home run in Major League Baseball.  It’s a feat which puts him in 7th position in the all time home run list, and at the age of 35 he still has a good chance to surpass Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds et al and become the leading home run hitter of all time.

To understand the significance that this event would have had in years gone past, one must realise the special place held by baseball in American society.  There was a time in which it was more than a sport – it was also a pastime, as intrinsic a part of American society as apple pie and the 4th of July.  Also, more so than any sport popular in the States, baseball has historical resonance – A-Rod’s numbers are comparable to those of Babe Ruth, for example, because they played the same largely individual game, even if they did so in different eras.  Therefore milestones such as 600 home runs are moments to be celebrated, a time in which heroes are to be revered.

Normally.

The reception to this landmark, which bear in mind had been coming for some time, has at best been muted.  Fans, pundits, and even A-Rod himself have acknowledged that this moment is not as special as it once was, and perhaps should have been.  That is for one simple reason, steroids.

Like the aforementioned Barry Bonds, and along with the likes of Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemons (and a heck of a lot more), Rodriguez’s career has been tarnished by his use of steroids.  He has acknowledged that he has cheated in the past, but such revelations naturally impacted on his popularity.  Once the special one, the sport’s future Golden Boy, he is now hated by some, and certainly disliked by many, yours truly included.  He is a cheat, and cheats should be castigated and excommunicated, of that there is no doubt.

But let’s look at this a different way, just for a moment.  Alex Rodriguez took steroids in a time where other players took steroids too.  Drug use, for a long period of time, was rampant.  Did he cheat?  Yes.  But did he gain an unfair advantage?  Well, probably, but he did so at a time in which several of his peers were doing the same.  Pitchers such as Clemons, who Rodriguez faced throughout his career, were also on steroids so why shouldn’t he?  It’s an argument I don’t like, but it’s a reasonably valid one regardless.

The sport itself seems to validate it by not imposing heavy suspensions on the likes of A-Rod when their transgressions emerge.  Bonds and McGwire still hold their respective home run records, with not even an asterisk alongside them in the official record books, and the same stands for Rodriguez who has taken performance enhancing drugs while soaring through the rankings.  Though they have competed in this tainted era, and though their records are tainted, the sport itself has not acknowledged this in the way that athletics would, stripping cheats of medals and records.

Until baseball does this, until it takes corrective action, until Bud Selig admits that they got it wrong and allowed this to happen and until the integrity of the game is protected, then muted receptions like the one we have seen this week will continue.  The ‘meh’ response from fans must act as a wake-up call to those in charge, though why it would happen now and not before I don’t know.

Heroes who should be heralded will be disliked, and innocent players will have unfair doubts cast upon them.  The sport as a whole will suffer, and its role as America’s past-time will be consigned to the past.

The Morning(ish) After The Night Before

Time for a post-mortem.

The last post prior to the fight was titled 'Bernard Abú' which is ironic, because last night about 9,000 souls in the O2 Arena were saying 'Bernard..Ah...Boo' or something like that. It was a disappointing fight.

I'm sure you saw it - it seemed to us that Bernard controlled, if not dominated, the opening two rounds but when he was drawn into a fight in the third, he was outclassed by Poonsawat who simply had too much power. Bernard was caught with a strong left hook - and don't underestimate the effect of the punch that cut and hurt his ear while on the way down - and he never truly recovered. He should have tied up, he should have spoiled and fouled, but he didn't. The second knockdown was brutal - there was never going to be a repeat of Cordoba Round 5.

Sometimes, when our sports stars lose, we feel cheated but not last night. All indications were that Bernard's training camp went well and he made no excuses on that front in his post-fight interview. There's also no doubt that he gave anything other than 100%. He was just beaten by a better man on the night.

Sport sucks sometimes.

At this point, I don't know if Bernard Dunne's career has been one in which he under- or over-achieved. That's because I don't want it to be over. I don't say that as a selfish fan but as someone who's genuinely trying to think of his best interests. Dunne has been beaten twice, sure, both knockouts, but he hasn't taken a large amount of beatings in recent years (Cordoba aside). He's not like, say Ricky Hatton, who looks punch drunk and should hang up the gloves. Bernard has a lot left to give inside the boxing ring, the only question is where and how.

For me, I'd be happy to see him fight Rendall Munroe for the European Super Bantamweight Title. Munroe would be a 'name' and the fight would also make cash common sense. His only other option, in my opinion, would be to move up to featherweight. At 5'7", Dunne is big at the 122lb limit and the extra bulk in his body could help him. That plan was indicated as most likely by Brian Peters last night, and both he and Bernard say that the Dubliner will fight on. Good. He needs to recover from last night, mentally more than anything else.

The good thing, though, is he will be back.

***

The rest of the card, Dunne aside, was quite good. Stephen Haughian was lucky to get a draw, and Tyson Fury wasn't that impressive - an injury to his right-hand may have something to do with that. The Jamie Power-Michael Sweeney fight on the other hand was a cracker. Like Dunne-Poonsawat, it only went three rounds but there wasn't a dull moment and it was a great win for Sweeney, the Ros Muc based Mayo native. I'd love to see the two of them go at it again. Brian Peters, or whoever, should get them to fight in a small-hall show in Power's native Limerick because that's a fight I'm more than willing to watch a lot more of. Should it happen, then I'll see you there.

***

A big thanks to all of you who checked out the live blog last night. There were hiccups, and there were issues but it was fun to share our thoughts with you in such an instant way. It's something you'll definitely see more of here at The Almost Daily Sports Blog.

Bernard Dunne...So Far

As part of our preview for Bernard Dunne v Poonsawat, here is a profile of the WBA Super Bantamweight Champion and Ireland’s own, Bernard Dunne.

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The first time I saw Bernard Dunne, professional boxer, was not inside the ring but in a feature on SKY’s much-missed boxing magazine show, Ringside. They profiled Dunne, who at the time had about seven wins from his first seven fights in the United States. The reporter (I think it was Adam Smith) kept up an Irish tradition in that when he went to visit Dunne, he brought him a present from home, in this case the ubiquitous box of teabags. He may have been all the way over in LA, but Bernard was still Irish, that's for sure.

When it comes to inside the ring, we didn’t get Bernard’s fights while he was Stateside, but his reputation was growing online. Aside from a few national amateur finals that had been shown on RTE, he existed only in print. He had gone from Neilstown to California, and was managed by Sugar Ray Leonard, trained by Freddie Roach. He was set for big things...but then all those plans changed.

Leonard decided to leave this contender to start his NBC TV series, The Contender, leaving our Bernard in the lurch. He was without a manager; he was without a firm future. He was forced to come back to Dublin. Though it didn’t seem a good move at the time, this move was to make Bernard Dunne the highest-profile and publicly-available boxer on this island since Barry McGuigan.

Leonard was replaced by Brian Peters, who took advantage of the opportunity.  He, and an unlikely RTE television deal, allowed Bernard the opportunity to base himself in Dublin and fight in front of his home fans. He was to give Irish boxing fans our first taste of the sport on the box. We lapped it up.

There were wins over Jim Betts and a scary last round against Yuri Voronin. Dunne made occasional trips to Germany and Italy but by and large, he built up his fanbase in Dublin, so much so that in November 2006, Dunne was able to lure Esham Pickering to Dublin to defend his European title.

It was a hard-fought and well-won points decision for Dunne, and it was the biggest night in Irish boxing since the days of Steve Collins. In under two years, Dunne had gone from career disaster in America, to winning the European Title in front of 9,000 hometown fans. He was one of the biggest earners in his weight division and it seemed like world class opponents would soon be coming our way.

The next chapter of Bernard’s career gives his critics plenty of ammunition. He fought a pair of relatively obscure European Title contenders, instead of pushing on like Peters’ own website had proclaimed. He won those fights comfortably, before the fateful night against Kiko Martinez. Dunne rushed into the fight – it came just nine weeks after his previous win against Reidar Walstad. The curtains were closing on the Point after this fight, and Martinez very nearly brought the curtains down on Bernard’s dreams in just 86 seconds.

Disaster doesn’t sum up how much of a blow this was. Bernard had been all conquering, he had been unbeaten in 24 fights; now he was Bernard ‘Dunne in One’. A long rehabilitation process was necessary. Dunne took a break, and when he did return his next three fights came against mediocre South American opponents; two of them were even held in Castlebar.

Then came Cordoba.

While Dunne’s career probably didn’t merit a shot at a world title, his earning power did. The fact that he had been on RTE for so many years, and was so well known, meant that a World Title Fight in Dublin could sell thousands of tickets, enough to lure Ricardo Cordoba all the way from Panama. Boxing, as the Don King adage goes, is not about what you earn: it’s about what you negotiate. Peters excelled, allowing Dunne to challenge for a World Title in his home town.

All Dunne had to do now was deliver, and boy did he do just that. Dunne put Cordoba down early in the fight, but then hit the canvas himself, twice, in the fifth round. It was de ja vu, the Martinez fight all over again. Dunne was once again on the seat of his pants, in the same arena where he'd suffered his worst night in boxing.  His supposed weak chin had cursed him again.  Yet Bernard Dunne survived through the fifth round, and the rest of the fight, before knocking Cordoba out in the eleventh. It's a good job he did - Dunne would have lost the fight if the judges were to be asked for their opinions.  But they weren't.

It was one of the most dramatic moments in Irish sports history, and given what had happened that afternoon, that’s saying something.

You can argue about the merits of the WBA as a body, but Dunne is now a legit World Champion, even if he’s not the true cream of his weight division. Unification may come further down the line, but for now Dunne stares into Saturday’s bout with Poonsawat. We’ll look at him, and at Saturday’s event in Dublin, tomorrow night.

***

Remember, The Almost Daily Sports Blog will be LIVE blogging all day Saturday for Bernard Dunne v Poonswat and we want YOU to be involved. Sign up below for an email reminder about the event, and be sure to check back here Saturday for all the build up to the fight, and the atmosphere direct from the O2 Arena.

A Venture Into The Unknown

Last March, on the same day that our rugby team won their first Grand Slam in 61 years, another remarkable sporting event occured in Ireland.

Bernard Dunne became WBA Super Bantamweight Champion in one of the best fights you'll ever see, knocking out Panama's Ricardo Cordoba in the 11th Round at Dublin's o2 Arena. I, along with the boss, was lucky to be there and we're going back to the o2 this Saturday for Dunne's first defence, against Poonsawat Kratingdaeng.

We're going to be blogging all day, about the journey up, the food, the cost, the fights and those quirky things that make a day like this memorable (this time I WILL figure out just how Marty Morrissey gets a crowd excited).  Our start time is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. but you can expect the comments to come in long, long before that and then they'll ramp up nearer to and during fight time.

I have some idea about how this will work, but not a massive amount! There will be issues, technical ones, but I hope that we'll be able to convey a sense of what's going on and give you a bit of the atmosphere live from Dublin.  I hope this will be the first of many live blogs here on the site.

To get you in the mood for the fight there'll be plenty of Bernard Dunne related stuff here on The Almost Daily Sports Blog all week. Sign up below if you want an email reminder about the event, and be sure to check back here on Saturday for all the shenanigans!!!

All's Quiet On The Western Front

It’s a really quiet day in work today (the August Bank Holiday weekend is traditionally the slowest time of the year for news) and it’s also a relatively quiet time of the year for sport. Sure, Kerry are taking on Dublin in an All-Ireland Quarter Final today but since it’s a contest that’s as one-sided as a hippy missing his left-leg, it’s not coming close to stirring my sporting passions. Baseball is ongoing, but that has fleeting moments of greatness (Note to self: must post one I saw recently) and, sure, NASCAR is on today, but it’s Pocono. Don’t start me on the Ashes.

So not the most exciting couple of weeks but at the same time, there’s stuff on the horizon to whet our appetites. The Premier League will return in no time. The World Athletics Championships are only just around the corner. It won’t be long until Michael Schumacher returns.

All that’s exciting, but it’s not going to arrive for a little while yet. In the meantime, relax, enjoy something else like the football if that’s your shtick, and maybe spend time with your family and loved ones. Your favourite sports stars will be waiting for you to return in no time at all.

Morning All

Welcome to August.

Here's an August 1st treat for you all: it is, after all, Stephen Hunt's birthday. So there!

Saw this game, Jane Thomson's Marathon, and said I'd share it with you all. There's a prize to the first person to send me a screengrab of the game's completion screen.

Like My New Shoes?

So... the relaunch!

We're looking pretty snazzy, don't you think? Actually that's the reason for this post. Many hours of work by Gavin means that The Almost Daily Sports Blog now looks different. It should be easier-ish to read, and there's new features on the left hand side. Subscribe to our Twitter feed for the latest updates from the team. "Team?" I hear you cry! Yes, team. New writers have been hired and I'll tell you more about them in the coming days. We've also added a Blog Roll, and a new way to search through this blog. If there's anything more that you'd like to see, that we've left out, comment here and let me know. We'll be sure to do all we can.

Yes, there are ads, but something must pay the bills. Everything else is much better and you can now expect more updates, more opinion, commentary, videos and much more. Hope you enjoy.

Still Recruiting

Hey all

College exams this week meant a bit of a lull on the blog, and that lull will go on into next week probably. I'm being brought away for a couple of days.

There'll be all change once I come back though. The Almost Daily Sports Blog will be relaunched before the end of the month with new features, a new design and most importantly, new writers. If you want in, contact me for more info. gavingrace@hotmail.com

Now, back to the match. Come on United!!

I have a cunning plan....

1:16 a.m. is always the best time for brainwaves... I’ve found. Well, I’ve found that just now. So it’s simple. I’m going to revamp this blog and make it meaningful. There is a niche and a void for a well-written, funny, articulate sports blog based in Ireland. I want this blog to fill that void. I have ideas but I’m open to more. The first and main one is I want new writers to comment (mainly) on sport and to drive visitors to the site. I won’t pay you – I can’t. But if you’re looking for something to do with your time now that the economy is gone down the shitter then this is it. The Almost Daily Sports Blog is set for a post-exam overhaul. Trust me, this bland space you see before you will take off in the near future. I guarantee it. Join me for the ride.