Okay, the word on the street is...

There are 71 posts tagged: sport

Meathead: 1 October 2024; It seems that allowing yourself to be used as a punching bag for money is not a path to long-term good health. Or much money either, at least not if you're a woman; or just don't draw the crowds, I guess. Whatever. (shrug)
(more…)
Talibanned: 29 August 2024; The Taliban has prohibited MMA fighting in Afghanistan, claiming that it's incompatible with Islamic sharia law.
(more…)
Bad breaking: 10 August 2024; As the Olympic Games have broadened their scope from the traditional feats of speed and strength, which could be readily decided by objective measures such as time taken; distance thrown; and last man standing, they've ~~progressed~~degenerated to more populist sports and subjective measures of skill. I'm sure it's very clever, but synchronised swimming was the very nadir for me; dancing in a pool is totally fucking lame. And now we have synchronised diving; skateboarding; and breakdancing.
(more…)
Swim to win: 31 July 2024; Andrew McMurtry, who appears to be some kind of sports commentator, maintains that the US is only doing better than Australia in the Olympic Games' medals table because Americans cheat. By tallying all medals together, that is.
(more…)
Not everyone is represented: 30 July 2024; Controversy rages over the Paris Olympics' opening ceremony, in which one tableau featuring queer dears has caused offence by mocking the last supper of Christ. Except it does nothing of the sort, it's a depiction of a pagan feast, albeit it one with bearded drag queens and featuring a landwhale as its centrepiece. Hey, it's the Olympics, let's celebrate athleticism.
(more…)
Make-up free moment: 29 July 2024; Eurosport has sacked veteran commentator Bob Ballard, for a sexist remark following the final of the women's 4×100m freestyle relay, when the victorious Australian team were taking their time getting to the podium for the baublebash. His co-commentator, Lizzie Simmonds, immediately branded his remark outrageous. Immediately after she'd pulled the stick out of her arse that is.
(more…)
Black man pedalling: 7 July 2024; And reading that led me to this, although it was posted almost a week ago.
(more…)
Re:cycling: 7 July 2024; Two cyclists competing in the Tour de France have been fined by the sport's governing body, the UCI, for unseemly or inappropriate behaviour during the race and damage to the image of the sport.
(more…)
The LOL before the storm: 20 June 2024; I don't know how Scotland's team and supporters feel about having reached a draw with Switzerland in Euro 2024. But to have it relayed by to the world at large by none other than a Tom English has gotta rub salt into any wound they might harbour.
(more…)
Marathon woman: 22 April 2024; For those for whom this sort of thing is their sort of thing, the London Marathon was a thing over the weekend. It's not mine, so it'd completely passed me by. And would've continued to do so, if it weren't for the lead on the BBC's home page: Jepchirchir wins in women's only world record time.
(more…)
The world is Euro: 27 March 2024; Once again, only three years after Euro 2020, we're teased with the possibility that England's soccer pundits might be able to move on after almost six decades, as England's men hope to emulate the ladies. And I don't mean in terms of lipstick and mascara. Or perhaps in terms of lipstick and mascara, it takes all sorts.
(more…)
Gamblers' luck: 21 March 2024; Two professional football players—soccer, if you're in the Land of the Free—have been suspended for breaking their associations' rules on gambling. Another ex-footballer, who's also a compulsive gambler, thinks it's jolly unfair.
(more…)
Swifter Bowl: 12 February 2024; The US NFL's Super Bowl LVIII was a thing yesterday. And excitable little monkeys among BBC News' editorial team just can't spew out enough coverage, no matter how tenuous.
(more…)
Commemorate the date: 4 October 2023; Chinese authorities are removing from the interwebz a photo of two of its athletes embracing at the Asian Games. Or, at least, from that part of the interwebz lying behind the Great Firewall of China.
(more…)
The name of the game: 27 September 2023; On viewing this lead on the BBC's home page, my first thought was to why FIFA(exclamation) would change its name to that of a video game,* especially if it represents a big gamble. The production company must be offering a megashit-tonne of money for the promotion.
(more…)
The fight of the century: 14 August 2023; Mark Zuckerberg complains that Elon Musk isn't serious about a cage fight between the two tech billionaires.
(more…)
Games without frontiers: 4 August 2023; With its relevance well past, the value of the Commonwealth Games is being called into question by politicians and authorities who have to justify the expenditure. The prohibitive cost has caused hosts for the next two competitions to pull out, preferring to spend taxpayers' money on things that will benefit taxpayers, rather than a few elite athletes.
(more…)
History in the making: 15 July 2023; The link teases a historical moment in women's tennis. And not because either of the finalists is a biological man; the PaTRiARchY's saving that momentous occasion for another year.
(more…)
Football TV: 6 July 2023; A fluff-piece about the captain of the Indian national football team, Sunil Chhetri, is only notable for introducing those of us blissfully unaware that FIFA has a channel to the fact that FIFA has a channel.
(more…)
Soccer stats: 29 June 2023; Another footballer is in the dock accused of rape. It almost seems like an occupational hazard. (shrug)
(more…)
Black king takes black queen: 15 April 2023; Men self-identifying as women, and dominating their opponents in sporting competitions, is an ongoing controversy. It's widely accepted, by anyone with a modicum of knowledge and absence of emotional fragility, that boys and girls develop differently during puberty. Consequently, men who later think they're women have physical advantages over real women who've been women all their lives.
(more…)
Sticking the (soccer) boot in: 17 March 2023; At a guess, I'd say that being sacked for underperformance must be a humiliating experience. To be sacked in the public eye, with your performance laid bare for all to see, even more so.
(more…)
A measure of success: 17 December 2022; After the raging success of the best ever World Cup, FIFA will discuss changing the format. Surely, if Qatar 2022 was that successful, everything about it would be retained?
(more…)
Beware of Greeks accepting gifts: 13 December 2022; Greek MEP and one of no less than fourteen EU vice-presidents, Eva Kaili, is in a bit of a bind. It was seemingly with the best of intentions that she just recently tried to assuage Gary Lineker's angst over attending Qatar 2022:
(more…)
A game of two halves: 11 December 2022; Adam Hurrey asks, on behalf of BBC Ideas and The Open University: why is football so full of cliches? Therein he briefly explores their background and use, and more artful foreign alternatives, as well as their value as a conversation-leveller.
(more…)
The end of a two-week era: 9 December 2022; Stadium 974, the World Cup's first temporary stadium, will be dismantled and recycled after hosting seven matches for Qatar 2022.
(more…)
Symbolic gesture: 19 November 2022; The BBC is sending Gary Lineker, its most highly-paid mouth-breather, to Qatar to watch tosspots kick balls around fields. But, he's not excited by the prospect. Oh no. He's really only going so that he can champion the cause of human rights and raise awareness. Oh yes.
(more…)
The lads doth protest too little, methinks: 29 September 2022; The upcoming World Cup, hosted by Qatar, is mired in controversy over the treatment of migrant workers and the country's strict anti-LGBTQIABC+FLAPFLAPFLAP laws. And it's causing some consternation, not least at Danish sportswear manufacturer, Hummel International Sport & Leisure A/S.
(more…)
Sport without sweat (sweaty): 5 August 2022; Until now, opportunities for sporting glory have been limited to people who're physically fit and don't mind getting sweaty. Those who want to stay in bed or loungewear; who don't like getting out of breath; or who don't want to mess up their hair, have been excluded. But all that's changing, as esports are making their debut at this year's Commonwealth Games. And it's about time too!
(more…)
Girls running around: 1 August 2022; England's women's soccer team beat Germany's to win Euro 2022. I'm so pumped.
(more…)
Not so manly: 26 July 2022; Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, an Australian National Rugby League team, is appealing to the twinks with a pride competition jersey. In doing so, they've lost seven of their players, who were not consulted on the change, and who're boycotting it on otherwise unspecified religious and cultural grounds.
(more…)
The running man: 12 July 2022; Olympian Sir Mo Farah has been praised for discussing his childhood trauma, being trafficked into the UK and forced into domestic servitude. The usual fawning yada-yada from the usual political, media, and celebrity suspects.
(more…)
Swimmin' with the non-wimmin: 20 June 2022; The world's swimming governing body, World Aquatics (FINA), will ban transgender females from women's competition, unless they physically transitioned before the onset of male pubertal development. This is effectively a ban on all transgender women competing unfairly against biologically-relevant women.
(more…)
Les e-sports: 31 May 2022; Académie française, the custodian of the French language, has advised government officials to use French equivalents in place of English terms, when referring to video gaming. It's good to know that someone's on top of this shit. (thumbup)
(more…)
Dear heart: 14 April 2022; Shortly after it was reported that US bodybuilder Cedric McMillan wouldn't participate in the 2022 Arnold Classic, he confirmed the decision by dying of 'roids-unrelated causes.
(more…)
Moving goalposts: 24 March 2022; Just Stop Oil is a youth activist organisation mobilised against the exploitation of all fossil fuels, not just oil, in the UK. Another one.
(more…)
Swimmin' with the wimmin: 22 March 2022; Lia Thomas, a trans-woman swimmer, has been dominating US women's college swimming. I simply cannot imagine why. (rolleyes)
(more…)
Skating on thin ice: 8 February 2022; Wahey! Weibo's nationalistic shitheads are at it again. The it being brutally castigating their Olympians' performances, when failing to excel at things that they—the nationalistic shitheads, that is—wouldn't have a hope in hell of achieving in the first place. In particular, figure skater Zhu Yi, who fell a lot, leaving Team China out of the medals.
(more…)
Tennis the menace: 21 January 2022; Naomi Osaka is taking an early bath, after failing to reach the last 16 stage at the Australian Open. This will obviously come as some relief for her social anxiety, now that she'll have no more press interviews to content with.
Haunted hotel: 29 October 2021; Yes, it's another clickbait link on the BBC home page. The question posed in the article's headline is, perhaps more mundanely, The US' most haunted hotel?
(more…)
Not fast enough: 24 October 2021; On the shooting death of Ecuadorian sprinter, Alex Quiñónez, outside a shopping centre in Guayaquil, BBC News notes that This is the second killing of an international athlete this month. Just over a week ago, Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death in Kenya.
(more…)
Really record breaking: 14 October 2021; I have no interest in athletics, so I'd never heard of Kenyan distance runner Agnes Tirop, until her murder was reported today. She was only 25.
(more…)
Iron Giant is bestester: 6 August 2021; Internet dweebs have mocked the BBC, after a tweet by BBC Sport from the Tokyo Olympics confused a Gundam statue with a Transformer.
(more…)
Sore losers: 3 August 2021; It appears that Weibo's nationalist shitheads don't take kindly to China's Olympic athletes unpatriotically losing out on gold. From behind their keyboards and keypads, they fulminate and humiliate their fellow countrymen and ‑women for failing at something that they could never achieve themselves. And the athletes, like dumfux, accept it.
(more…)
Keeping a low profile: 27 July 2021; After dropping out of the French Open and Wimbledon grand slam events, Naomi Osaka claimed that she wanted to focus on her preparations for the Tokyo Olympics. It must've come as some surprise to the WTA number 2, then, to exit early in a straight-sets defeat at the hands of 42^nd-placed Marketa Vondrousova.
(more…)
Just. Can't. Stop.: 7 July 2021; See? They just can't help themselves.
(more…)
Pot luck (marijuana): 3 July 2021; When US sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson tested positive for cannabis, her qualifying result from the US Olympic trials was expunged, jeopardising her attendance at the Tokyo Olympics.
(more…)
NFL HAZ TEH GAYZ: 30 June 2021; Must. Pander. Harder.
(more…)
55 years and counting: 28 June 2021; Heading into their last sixteen Euro 2020 match against Germany, England manager Gareth Southgate describes it as an historic opportunity.
(more…)
Tokyo no-go: 25 June 2021; The British Olympic Association admits that some of its athletes don't want to be vaccinated against the Chongvirus prior to the Tokyo Olympic Games. Its chief executive, Andy Anson, said that while 90% of athletes will have been fully Chongvaxed prior to the Games, some are holding out.
(more…)
Laurel hardly: 21 June 2021; Laurel Hubbard is a transgender weightlifter from New Zealand, who competed as a man until 2013. Hubbard, ranked 17 in the world, will become the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympic Games.
(more…)
Bottom secret: 18 June 2021; I thought that I couldn't care less about Victoria's Secret's angels. How wrong I was.
(more…)
Hooked!: 18 June 2021; Oh, the irony! The BBC reports that Insider Voice, a US news website, has referred to Leicester Tigers' hooker, Tom Young, as a prostitute. Despite having been advised of the error, the headline hadn't been corrected a week later.
(more…)
Poor little rich girl: 1 June 2021; After refusing to take part in post-match news conferences, Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the French Open, citing mental health concerns. Other sports personalities have come out in support, but some have also reminded her, and us, that news conferences are part of the gig. Indeed, participation is written into the Grand Slam rulebook, which Osaka effectively signed up to. The media rights pay for the tournaments' pay days, which benefit all participants, not just those who're privileged with massive sponsorship deals.
(more…)
The transsporting life: 3 May 2021; In the same interview in which he announced his surgical diminution, Elliot Page objected to bans on transgender girls playing in girls' sports. (snowflake)
(more…)
Political football: 20 April 2021; For reasons that are too boring to recount here, a select few top-tier European football clubs are planning an exclusive European Super League. For other reasons, that are similarly too boring, many people are upset by the proposal. A third group cannot give a shit one way or the other; this is a mark of disinterest, not constipation.
(more…)
God's right hand: 26 November 2020; On the death of Diego Maradona, huge crowds in Argentina are in mourning.
(more…)
While my heart gently bleeds: 15 July 2020; US basketball player Elena Delle Donne complains that she has to choose whether to risk my life or forfeit my paycheck, as her Lyme disease is not considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase risk for severe illness from the Chongvirus.
(more…)
Make love, not football: 18 May 2020; During the COVID-19 lockdown, football clubs are playing their matches to empty stadia. The BBC asks if play can only resume in empty stadiums, how can the atmosphere be improved?
(more…)
If it walks like a duck: 19 March 2019; The Football Supporters' Federation is aghast that football fans who invade the pitch are being criminalised.
(more…)
At least they bend their gender: 2 March 2019; Former women's swimming Olympic silver medallist, Sharron Davies, has come out; in support, that is, of Martina Navratilova's position that transgender athletes are cheating. Needless to say, the snowflakes are all a'dither, whining that:
(more…)
A Bridge Not Far Enough: 16 June 2017; Yves Bot, advocate-general to the European Court of Justice, has said that the card game bridge is a sport and should be exempt from VAT—sales tax.
(more…)
Deadly cricketing injuries: 30 November 2014; For anyone, including myself, who thought that cricket was possibly more tedious and less dangerous than watching paint dry, come two poignant events that dispel the myth. Only days after Australian batsman Philip Hughes died after being struck in the neck by a bouncer, Israeli umpire Hillel Oscar died after being struck in the neck by a freak ricochet from a batsman's shot.
(more…)
Off with his head!: 8 July 2013; A referee at a provincial amateur football match in northern Brazil showed one of the players the red card, sending him off. The player refused to leave, so the referee showed him his knife…and then fatally stabbed him with it. That's one way of dealing with recalcitrant players, I guess.
(more…)
Silent running: 26 June 2013; Drayson Racing Technologies has broken the world land speed record for a lightweight electric vehicle, with the Lola B12 69/EV. The car recorded a top speed of 328.6km/h (204.2mph) at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire. I think that it is quite pretty, in a my-wife-would-never-approve kind of way, although the range (as far as the extension cable) and luggage capacity (none) might be problematic.
(more…)
Referee!: 17 October 2012; Following the England Under-21 soccer team's 1-0 victory over Serbia, and racial abuse of England defender Danny Rose, a spokesman for Number 10 said that British prime minister David Cameron was appalled by the scenes that we have seen in Serbia.
(more…)
By jingo(ism)!: 6 September 2012; MegaCorpUSA runs a weekly poll on the company intranet. It's trite and easily overlooked. But the most recent asks which nation will win the most medals at the paralympics. Usually these polls attract about 3000-5000 votes, so this one's at an early stage, but of 175 people we seem to have a distinctly deluded majority. Presumably these are night-shift workers, who're either tired or simply just not that bright.
(more…)
Oh no! Poor Joe! He's got no morals: 14 November 2011; One of the joys of international business travel is the opportunity to be in proximity to people who're sick. In this case, I contracted viral bronchitis on a flight to Washington, and thus I came to spend an evening at George Washington University Hospital's A&E.
(more…)
Glam boxing: 27 October 2011; The Amateur International Boxing Association would like its female competitors to wear a skirt during international competitions. Because, as you know, it's so much more ladylike if a member of the fairer sex is wearing a skirt while she beats the shit out of another.
(more…)
Psychic Paul: 'im paella: 26 October 2010; Paul, the octopus who gained fame as a world cup football pundit, has turned up all eight of his toes. I bet he didn't see that one coming.
(more…)
Mr or Miss? Only his or her parents know the terrible truth!: 9 September 2009; Gretel Bergmann, who is Jewish, was replaced in the 1936 German Olympics team by one Dora Ratjen. The International Olympic Committee had insisted on Jewish participation as a condition of Berlin hosting the 1936 Olympic Games, but the organisers feared that Adolf Hitler would be embarrassed by a Jew winning gold. Two years later, Dora was revealed to be a man, Horst Ratjen.
(more…)