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.

Cork City RIP

It seems that the League of Ireland club, Cork City F.C., are no more. This afternoon (Friday) the High Court said it couldn't compel the Revenue Commissioners to accept a compromise offer from the club on moneys outstanding to them. The club have just over one hour to lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court (4: p.m.) but as of yet it's unclear whether they will do this, or whether their scheduled game againt Bray Wanderers tonight goes ahead.

This is a piece I wrote, initially for Extra Time, on the wider impact of their demise.

***

There’s really only been one story in the League of Ireland this week, and unfortunately it is again a solemn one. If we didn’t have such a passion for the sport here, than I wonder whether these knocks would test our resolve and love of League of Ireland football. One shudders to think how many casual fans have been lost with each scandal that hits our sport. We give out about the number of English Premier League jerseys seen on our streets, yet at the same time even the most hardcore League of Ireland fan has to grudgingly admit that stories such as the collapse of Dublin City, the impending death of Cork City, the implosion of Shels and the rumours surrounding the likes of Bohs and Galway United have all given the League here a dubious reputation.

Sometimes, when sport makes the jump from the back pages to the front, it’s brilliant. Obviously, this week was not one of those times. I despaired when the news came down in work on Monday (I’ve do some work as a newsreader so was one of the first to learn of the judgement in the High Court). Though I’m a Galway United fan, this is the sort of news you hate to hear about for the reasons I’ve outlined above. The loss of Cork will hurt us all.

The news was everywhere; Newstalk led with it in their main bulletin, as did other national stations. Again, it was all over the papers the next morning. I don’t want to go into the reasons for the collapse here, that’s for someone more qualified than I. I will, however, recommend that you check out Con Murphy’s latest blog on RTE.ie. That’s telling. It’s just a shame that the wins of Derry and Pats in the Europa League last week didn’t get the same coverage.



I hope that you’re going to forgive me some self-praise for this week’s Media Watch, but I feel that I have to point out Alan Smith’s excellent piece right here on Extra Time on the demise of Cork City F.C. Most media outlets have focussed on the bare facts of the piece, and rightly so. All bar the most in-depth sports shows/publications don’t have the time or space to truly encapsulate what the potential demise of Cork City F.C. would mean. And for all those that have tried to sum this up, none have done so as well as Alan. It sums up, simply and honestly, what it would mean to the Rebel Army if they fail to find the needed miracle. The clock is ticking, but we’re all behind you lads.



EDIT: Cork have announced that they will lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court

EDIT to the edit: Things are looking good!

R.I.P Bobby Robson

Footballing legend Bobby Robson has passed away peacefully at the age of 76 after a long battle with cancer.

Numerous sites reporting on this RTE and BBC.

A Youtube Gem

So for reasons I won't get into here, yet, I've spent most of today looking back on Ireland's trek through Italia '90. I've been reading, listening, watching everything I can find and while digging through it all, I came across this on Youtube. Christy Moore, performing Joxer Goes To Stuttgart, in the RTE Studios during the build-up to the Quarter-Final against Italy.

Michael Schumacher To Return!

I’ve been writing about a lot of other things today but the news from the world of Formula 1 has made me down my pen on all of those and give my initial thoughts on the shock return of Michael Schumacher.

I’d heard the rumours – there was a story on the BBC website yesterday that Schumacher’s spokesperson wouldn’t rule out a possible return in place of the injured Filipe Massa. But did I really think that Ferrari would choose him over both of their reserve drivers and even, possibly, Fernando Alonso whose Renault team have been banned from the next event in Valencia.



Yet, no, Schumacher will be breathing fresh life into what’s already been a compelling Formula 1 season.

In many ways, it’s an odd decision. If it were any other driver who was in his circumstances, my response would be as follows. This is stupid: Schumacher hasn’t driven competitively since 2006, and hasn’t sat in any Formula 1 car for the best part of eighteen months, since when the regulations have been given a complete overhaul. He’ll also have no possibility of stepping into the car for any testing in the meantime, due to the ban on testing between now and the race in Valencia. Schumacher picked up back and neck injuries in a motorcycle crash this year and after three years away from the sport, there’s no doubt that his fitness would have deteriorated. He also is returning to a car that is far from a race-winner and thus it doesn’t make sense for his career. Bringing him back makes no sense.

However, Michael Schumacher was never any normal driver. He’s arguably the fastest man in the history of the sport and if anyone can overcome all of those issues, it’s someone who’s as technically-minded, focussed and determined as Schumacher. It’s a decision that I’m sure is driven out of company loyalty rather than a lust for competition, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t be driven from the moment he pulls out the pits for Friday practice in Valencia. I, for one, can’t wait.

Brett Says Bye

The annual ‘will-he-or-won’t-he’ Brett Favre soap opera is no more. Allah Be Praised.

There’s been little more annoying for fans of American Football to see the sport’s headlines dominated by the retirement saga of Number Four. We want to read about off-season trades, the repercussions of the NFL Draft, the all-too-regular misdeeds of the players. We don’t want to read speculation and conjecture about the future of a man who unfortunately out-stayed his welcome.



In an alternative universe, Brett Favre hung up his helmet in the wake of the NFC Championship Game loss against the New York Giants. It would have been an ignominious retirement, but one that would have came with honour. Brett would have led the Packers to their finest season in many years, and would have walked away as the battle-hardened hero he always was. Most of all, despite his final play interception, we’d have all had respect for the gunslinger.

However, in this universe, Brett is a figure of mockery. He’s more annoying than amazing, and the respect held for him by American football fans, and possibly even more importantly, the love held for him by the Packers’ fans, has all but evaporated. The man who led the Packers to their first Lombardi Trophies since Vince himself is no longer beloved by the Cheeseheads. Yesterday’s decision to retire before an unpleasant return to Lambeau in a Vikings’ uniform perhaps saves the semblance of respect they have for him, but his intention to move down the road to Minnesota in the first place has most definitely left a sour taste in the mouths of some.

The ironic thing, for Favre, is that after all of his previous humming-and-hawing, there are a lot of people who don’t believe his announcement that he has given up the sport forever. Today, on NFL Total Access, pundits openly speculated that they almost expect him to line-out again while over on Sports Illustrated Peter King is of a similar opinion. I, for one, do believe that this is indeed it for Favre, but like The Boy Who Called Wolf, we’ll have to wait-and-see if this, indeed, is it.

***

Favre’s announcement overshadowed another bit of NFL-related news that emerged last night. A true football hero, Eagles’ assistant Jim Johnson lost his valiant battle against cancer. One of the best defensive minds of all-time, Johnson’s long-term influence within the Eagles’ organisation led to the increased influence of co-ordinators across the League. I hope that, within the League, Favre’s announcement does not stop people from remembering Johnson as the great he was.

Vernon Forrest RIP

Another weekend, another boxer loses his life.

This time the man murdered is Vernon Forrest, a three-time world champion. Forrest was murdered during an attempted carjacking in Atlanta overnight. There's more details in the report on ESPN.com.

Forrest, and I mean this in as pleasant a way as possible, won't be mourned as much as either Arturo Gatti or Alexis Arguello who have also died in this horrible month for boxing.



Forrest's career highlights are his pair of wins over 'Sugar' Shane Mosely while he also won the WBC Light-Middleweight Champion with a win over Sergio Mora in what turned out to be his final fight last September. It was a good, if not great career, but to be murdered at the age of 38 is a terrible fate for anyone.

We've all heard of instances in which a terrible year has been referred to as an annus horribilis and while I don't know what the Latin for the word 'month' is, July 2009 will go down as a dark period for pugilism.

Cooper & O'Sé join the Naughty Boys club

Tomás O'Sé and Colm Cooper can add their name to list of players who have been disciplined by their Countys for apparently breaking rules regarding drinking. So the names of one the most famous families in GAA history & the name of one of the most celebrated players in a generation go alongside the names of pretty much in the entire Donegal panel in the Naughty Boys Club.

Attitudes towards drinking by GAA players during the Championship season is something that rears its head every season. But usually the Kerry stars steer well clear of that type of behaviour. This is an issue which seems to effect some counties more than others. Keith Duggan, in today's Irish Times, writes about the sensational reports about the the social dimension of Donegal teams have dogged them throughout the decade. The tales of a Behanesque pub-crawl in Dublin after a draw in the quarter final in 2002 are legenardy. Yet again though to Donegal players have been dropped from the panel for breach of discipline Neil Gallagher & Ciaran Bonner have been suspended by John-Joe Doherty for boozing it up.

Knowing Donegal as I do, and having witnessed first hand some players enjoying themselves thoroughly on nights out during the Championship I can understand where this reputation comes from. But it is hard not to feel sympthay for the squad. I mean Letterkenny has five massive niteclubs. The Grill, The Pulse, Voodoo, Milan, The Orchard and numerous late night bars all competing with each other to get the crowd in. Plus with the streams and streams of hen parties that flock to the town on a weekend from all over Northern Ireland, it must be hard for a young impressionable GAA star not to use his local fame to good effect.

Also it begs the question, if the GAA players were professional would this trend cease or just grow? Players would be less inclined to down pints in Voodoo Lounge if they were to be docked a few weeks wages.

When questioned about this recently a former Donegal County star said; "Jeez hi, i dunno sir, but that doll over there is fine." She wasn't.

Anyway Kerry take on Antrim this weekend without Cooper & O'Sé, while Donegal play Galway in Sligo. Both should be pretty tasty encounters with places in the All-Ireland Quarter Finals up for grabs. There'll be serious celebrations tonight in the towns and villages of the winning Counties. The losers will just drown there sorrows and dream of Sam coming home next year.

Marvellous Marcus

This is quite simply amazing. Footage of Marcus Gronholm driving a Ford Fiesta RallyCross up the famous Pikes Peak hill climb. Stunning.

Haye Gets His Title Fight

So David Haye has given up in his quest for a fight against either of the Klitschko brothers.

Shame.

But he is still to fight for a version of the World Heavyweight Title.

For those of you who've not heard, the Brit is to fight Nikolai Valuev on Saturday November 7th. The fight will be for the Russian's WBA Heavyweight Title who, for once, have not gone down the route of making Haye fight for their interim Championship first (Through 'Regular', 'Interim' and 'Super' Champions, the WBA will soon have 32 World Champions in 17 weight classes. Read Dan Rafael for more on this).



Due to the differences in fighting styles and size, I can't see this being a great fight. Haye will be giving away eight stone and about as many inches so you can expect to see him use his speed to outbox the Beast From The East.

Nonetheless, it will be a great event and hopefully Haye can win, propel himself onto a fight with one of the Klitschko's, and breathe some much needed life into the heavyweight division.

Roll on November.