A Five Star performance

I think Saturday's game may be the one of the best game i've seen in quite a while. Complete and utter madness but a brilliant game nonetheless. At the end of the first half it seemed like it was going to follow a familiar pattern with us having enjoyed arguably the better chances of the game then falling behind to a goal we should be able to defend better. But then the second half happened. The crazy happened.

Maxim-um enjoyment

Well well well Skate Canada turned out rather good didn't it? The men's contest was not only surprising but totally brilliant. In the short programme Javier Fernandez pulled off an absolute stunner of a performance with a flawless quad (oh yes), some perfect triples and some charming choreography to sort of french themed music to storm into the lead. I've liked Javi since I saw his weird cartoon themed skate last year so to see him get a silver medal in the end was lovely. Then there was Daisuke Takahashi's mind-blowing blues themed free skate. Good God can that boy dance. He just oozes style, his movements are so fluid and slinky. As my friend text me shortly afterwards 'that guy was amazing.' Indeed. It says something for the strength of the field that this genius only got third.

Ice Cold

I've had a really heavy cold for about two weeks now. The last time I had a cold this bad you may remember what I did to cheer myself up and aid recovery. I watched figure skating. And what were Eurosport showing last  weekend? Only coverage of Skate America, the first grandd prix of the year! A happy coincidence readers. The difference with a Grand Prix competition is that it's assigned so it's a smaller field. It's no less fun though. In attendance at Skate America were some very exciting people.

SuperRobin

Something else I drew to cheer myself up. Inspired by Robin's prolific scoring in the last couple of matches. Remember Robin with great power comes great responsibility..

Where's Andre Santos?

Just a little visual representation of the 'Where's Andre Santos?' game we invented, that I did to cheer myself up the other day.

A tribute to Marco Simoncelli

source

I don't even know how to begin this post. It's difficult to find the words becuase it's still so difficult to actually comprehend that it actually happened. At yesterday's race in Sepang Marco Simoncelli passed away after a horror crash. Its such a tragic waste of such a wonderful person. Its such a sad day for the sport and the world but particularly for his family and those close to him. But as terribly sad as we are here at Sport's Wall, we would like to pay tribute to Marco by focussing not on the tragic way his life ended but on the many many postives it contained. We feel that its only right that such a fantastic joyous person should be remembered in the same way. We loved Marco for the sheer joy he brought to the paddock every week, we looked forward to seeing and hearing his interviews on TV because he was always so heartwarmingly goofy, we loved his giant hair and how tall he was and how weird his legs looked dangling off his bike, we loved how fearless he was in every race, how defiant he was in the face of criticism, how truly special he was, a complete wacky one off. I love that even as I get teary eyed writing this, he still makes me smile as I remember all the fun and hilarity he brought with him to every race weekend. So Goodbye Marco, you'll leave a massive gap in the paddock and while it won't be the same without you we offer you heartfelt thanks and love and say simply "ciao."

Gradual Progress

Very slowly, very quietly, against everyone's expectations Arsenal have gone top of their Champion's League group and back into the top half of the Premier League. I feel a tiny little bit excited but also I don't want to jinx it. Yes yes there are still some issues to be worked on BUT let's focus ont he positives here people, that's what we're all about here at Sports Wall. The confidence of the team is obviously still a little fragile but RvP is in fiiiiine form. In the game against Sunderland he scored two fabulous goals, put in a proper captain's performance and reiterated his commitment to the club in his programme notes. What a guy. Then we have Wednesday's game against Marseille. A solid defensive showing. Yes I'll say that again. A solid defensive showing. The back four actually looked pretty assured. Even Djorou at right back who was out of position. While he was on the pitch Jenkins looked very promising making some lovely, quick little runs down the flank. In both games the boy Chesney has continued to look very confident and assured which is precisely what we need. Tomas Rosicky played very well on Sunday, then played the entire 90 minutes, which is very encouraging. Wednesday's game also spawned our fun new game 'Where's Andre Santos.' Its a lot like 'Where's Wally' and originates in the fact that the commentator mistook Andre Santos for someone (we can't remember precisely who now) who looked absolutley nothing like Andre Santos. So now we like to spot him all over the pitch.

The Mentor

 This is based on a conversation I had with my friend Simon in which we imagined how difficult it would be to try and help Theo with his focus in front of goal. Also its the first time I've been able to draw anyone standing sideways.

(late) feliz cumpleaños dani

I've been very remiss readers. I forgot Dani's birthday. Considering the ridiculous amount of time I spend thinking about varying aspects of Dani's life and career, so much I could act as some sort of semi-official sponsor of his, its frankly outrageous that I've forgotten his special day. So Sports Wall would like to send massive belated birthday wishes (and mental hugs) to the tiny little boy that holds a big place in my heart. Happy Birthday. And to mark the special event here's the early draft version of Dani and Valentino.

New wonderful world...of moto gp

It took me a while, but here's my little character profiles of some of the moto GP boys

Two steps forward one step back

Well it seemed as if things were going in the right directionn. Firstly we had a three nil victory over Bolton. And in this match something very cool happened. Robin van Persie scored twice which took his total for the club up to 100. Awesome. Then there was the mid-week Olympiakos game. It was a very strange game. On the one hand Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored a lovely goal to become the youngest English goalscorer in the Champions League and Andre Santos scored his first goal for the club and Tomas Rosicky was captain. But on the other hand there was some extremely sketchy defending going on leading to the narrowest of escapes with one of their shots cannoning off the crossbar. But still the boys held it out extremely well and above all we were the ONLY English team to win in the Champion's League mid-week. But then the derby happened. A two one loss to Spurs. However, there aare things that must be considered. One: their forst goal was a handball. A clear handball. Again officialdom contrives to rob us. Two: for most of the game we were the better team. And that is a very important thing to keep in mind. The level of performance was much improved and we still have important players on the sidelines. Also  Francis Coquelin played very well in the centre of midfield. The boy has potential. It always seems like I'm saying the same thing after these results but I really do beleive its impoortant to find the positives. Because that's what being a football fan is. You don't just give up when its difficult, that's not how it works. When your team is struggling you just have to scream and cheer a little louder and with a little more feeling. You get behind them because if you don't, you shouldn't have been there in the first place. Because if you really love your team you can't just switch that off.