The Grinch (part 2)

Then the boys, young and old, would sit down to a feast.
Wise old Loris sat at the head of the table, pride of place,
Telling them stories from all of his three hundred races,
A happy smile on his wise old face,
Further down the table, with his shirt wide open was Randy
Looking cool, French and fine and dandy
At a small table were baby Marc and all of the baby bikes crew,
Maverick Vinales, Toni Elias, Pol Espargaro and Yuki Takahashi too
All were full of smiles and christmas cheer,
And hiding in the corner were Nicky and Colin, drinking beer,
All of the boys came together to meet,
To chat, to be happy, to smile and to eat,
And they'd feast! And they'd feast!
And they'd FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!
They would start on chocolate pudding, and colin’s special rare roast-beast
Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least!
And THEN
They'd do something he liked least of all!
Every boy down in moto gp-ville, the tall and the very small,
Valentino lofty and tall, and dani pedrosa dainty and small,
Would stand together their hands clasped tight,
And the other boys would join them and stay up all night,
They would stand all close together, with Christmas bells ringing.
They'd stand hand-in-hand. And the boys would start singing!
They'd sing! And they'd sing!
AND they'd SING! SING! SING! SING!
And the more the Grinch thought of the boys’ Christmas-Sing
The more the Grinch thought, "I must stop this whole thing!
I must stop it all, he said with a groan,
So I can go have my Christmas all quiet and alone,
"Why for twenty seven years I've put up with it now!
I MUST stop Christmas from coming!
...But HOW?"
Then he got an idea!
An awful idea!
CASEY THE GRINCH
GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!
"I know just what to do!" The Grinch Laughed in his throat.
And he made a quick Santy Claus hat and a coat.
Although he found the whole santa disguise too sappy,
The idea of ruining the boys fun made him very happy,
And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great Grinchy trick!
"With this coat and this hat, I'll look just like Saint Nick!"

The (stinky) Grinch who stole Christmas

Ladies and Gentlemen, Sports Wall is once again very proud to present our Christmas Story. This year in honour of the retirement of Casey Stoner, we give you "The (stinky) Grinch who stole Christmas".  Its adapted (of course) from Dr Seuss "The Grinch" and full credit to Dr Seuss for the bits of the original story that he wrote. All the additional, new Moto GP bits were written by yours truly. So without further ado, here's part one.

Every boy
Down in moto gp-ville
Liked Christmas a lot...
But stinky the Grinch,
Who lived just south of moto gp-ville,
Did NOT!
Casey the Grinch was miserable all year round,
From April to November, he just frowned and frowned,
No one complained as much as Casey Stoner,
It made the other boys sad that he was such a moaner.
He always blamed everyone else with a sarcastic sigh,
And was so mean he once made Valentino Rossi cry.
The Grinch hated Christmas! And the whole racing season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that his leathers were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.
But,
Whatever the reason,
His heart or his too tight leathers
He stood there on Christmas Eve, hating them all (with pleasure),
Staring down from his garage with a sour, Grinchy frown
At the warm lighted windows below in their town.
For he knew Dani and Valentino down in moto gp-ville beneath
Were busy now, hanging a mistletoe wreath.
He knew they would be laughing and playing kiss-chase,
All their flirting and smiling brought a bitter grimace to his face.
"And they're all hanging their stockings!" he snarled with a sneer.
"Tomorrow is Christmas! It's practically here!"
Then he growled, with his grinch fingers nervously drumming,
"I MUST find a way to keep Christmas from coming!"
For, tomorrow, he knew...
...All the moto gp boys
Would wake up bright and early. They'd rush for their motorbike toys!
And then! The engines, the partying, the laughing Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

Fashion Files: NHK Special

Last weekend's NHK trophy was the last event before the Grand Prix finals and so it was crucial in terms of qualifying points. As well as being super competitive, it was also very very inspirational. The fashion on show at NHK was nothing short of fabulous, so lets dive in shall we?

Fashion Files - mid season swing

So the grand Prix series has brought us some brilliant skating, some great new programs and some surprising results. But as well as all that the Grand prix series also brings us another gift. A gift that keeps on giving. The gift of figure skating fashion. Let's go through the looking glass ice fans.

Delightfully Dramatic Derby Day

So once again that time of year is upon us, no not Christmas, it is of course the North London Derby. Always massively important, always unpredictable, always dramatic and this year it was no different.

Saturday night's alright for fighting

So I'm a pretty big fan of the Klitschko brothers. They're clever, they're charming, they're very very good at what they do. I follow them on twitter, I read stuff about them, I keep up with their results. But I've never actually had chance to watch one of their fights in full. Now (thank you VERY much ESPN) I finally had that chance. It was an interesting match-up Wladimir Klitschko was taking on Mariusz Wach from Poland who at 6'7 and a half is actually taller than Wlad, he also boasted an unbeaten record of 27 wins, 15 by knockout. He's a big, imposing guy if a little rough around the edges. Wladimir is, of course, his usual composed self, focussed and polished as befits a world champion. While the fight was perhaps unspectacular, lacking a big showy dramatic moment but that's not to say it wasn't still entertaining. It was, very much so. I really enjoyed watching Wlad get into his rhythm and watching his strategy evolve. It was really great to watch all of his movements, his footwork, thee little drops of his shoulder. There's definitely a sort of beauty to it all and I can definitely see how people get hooked on watching these fights. However, that's not to say i don't acknowledge the reality of it all, those slow-motion shots of all the punches connecting are absolutely brutal. And there were plenty of replays. Wlad dominated pretty much every round, landing almost every swing and sticking to a tiight gameplan and not allowing himself to get caught. Wach did however land one big right hand on Wlad in the 5th but was unable to capitalize afterwards. He wasn't lacking in power but unfortunately wasn't very quick which hindered him more and more as the fight went on. He was pretty much out on his feet by the end of the 12th but he did acquit himself well. And so the Klitschko party goes on.

Short and sweet in Shanghai

So the Grand Prix series continues apace in Shanghai. This week saw the season debuts of Brian Joubert, Daisuke Takahashi, Fabian Bourzat and Nathalie Pechalat and Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov. An exciting field, I'm sure you'll all agree and the competition was not short on drama.

Early Season Fashion Files

So the figure skating goodness just never ends. I wasn't planning on doing fashion files this early, but the first two Grand Prix events of the year provided me with so many moments of fashion joy and confusion that I just couldn't help myself. Are you all ready? Then let's go.

Hotting up at Skate Canada

The men's contest at Skate America opened the season well with some surprises and set the bar very high. So looking at the field for Skate Canada we had high expectations. And we weren't disappointed, it was a cracker.

Up and coming in Canada

So Grand Prix season is now in full swing and we've moved on to Skate Canada. The pairs contest sees the first outing of Worlds Champs Robin Solkowy and Aliona Savchenko, along with a couple of exciting up and coming couples so let's dive right in.

Rise and Fall at Skate America

So finally after a months long wait, the figure skating season has started again. Joy of joys, figure skating is back in all its floaty, sparkly, ridiculous glory. And the whole shebang kicked off good and proper at Skate America.

Nightmare in Norwich

Well, there's not a lot you can say about a performance like that. But that's what I'm here for, so here we go.

The great Grand Prix preview

So Skate America and the beginning of the Grand Prix series are now just over a week away and the entry lists are out. Having looked over the new programme list and the entry list for each Grand Prix, I'm very very excited to see what these competitions are going to bring. So who is going where? And what impact will it have? Well let us begin at the beginning with Skate America...

On the up at Upton park

So today's match had a bit of a feeling of deja vu about it. Occasionally sketchy moments in defence? Check. Someone in midfield having an off day? Check. Letting in a silly goal? Check. Fighting spirit? Check. Excellent comeback goals? Check. Olivier Giroud? Check.

medal worthy at olympiakos

So, our unbeaten start to the season  game to an end against Chelsea at the weekend, meaning that our Champion's League tie against Olympiakos was not only a chance to take a significant hold on the group but also to restore our momentum.

Progress

So, we were having a frustrating start to the season. Then we played Liverpool. The team pulled out an inspired performance and things seemed to be coming together. Then this weekend we played Southampton and really hit it out of the park.
The performance level of the whole team really seems to have gone up several notches over the past couple of matches. The whole team has been really really excellent, with everyone putting in a shift. I really want to commend the defence, who seem to have made a massive leap forward, due in no small part I'm sure to Steve Bould. Per Mertesacker has, so far this season, been outstanding. He seems a completely different player from last season. Kieran Gibbs has improved massively and was brilliant on Saturday, running up and down the wing like no one's business. Carl Jenkinson seems to be improving too and Thomas Vermaelen is reliable and strong as always and seems to be taking to his new role as captain very well. Sticking with defense (sort of) Mikel Arteta is really starting to make defensive midfield his own. Simply, he kicks ass. He's strong, he's efficient, he's calm and unflappable and he's an excellent passer of the ball. And now for a sentence I never thought I'd say; let's hope Diaby comes back quickly because against Liverpool he really showed us what we've all been waiting for. Then we have the rapidly forming understanding between Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski which is just glorious to behold. I'm very very excited to see what those two could do for us this season. And even Gervinho is having something of a renaissance. His performance on Saturday harked back to the promise he showed when he first arrived. And I'm hoping he can get an extended run in the team and take his chance. There is of course still the Giroud problem to solve but I think the solution to that may just be time and a the confidence he'll get when he hits his first goal.
And tonight marks the exciting return of Champion's League football. I for one can't wait. Arsenal in Europe is generally an adventure (of both the exciting and stressful kind) so I can't wait to see what this year's campaign has in store.

Stoked

So we started the season with a frustrating nil-nil draw. And then in our second game we improved and progressed and....wait...nil-nil again?!

Figure skating xmas aka new programs

Today I saw the list of new programs that are being planned for the new season. This is pretty much the figure skating equivalent of Christmas, its that exciting and that much of a gift.

Opening day

Well opening day of the football season is upon us. Its the most hopeful and optimistic day of the year as anything can happen. Our opening result was an unspectacular 0-0 draw. Frankly though, I'll take it. We opened against Sunderland and I remember many many bad decisions going against us in these matches recently (particularly of the offside and time keeping type) and also I remember our opening game against Newcastle last year in which Gervinho got sent off for the stupidest incident ever. These are the sorts of things that we can really do without at the beginning of the season, so frankly I'll take nil nil. I know we all want a spectacular 6-0 win (props to Fulham and Swansea  for going close) to kick off our campaign but its not always that simple as all the players are coming off a long break and we have new arrivals who need to get up to speed. In terms of our transfer comings and goings obviously I was pretty annoyed about the whole Robin van Persie situation. But at the end of the day, there's not a lot else that the club could have done. What it all boils down to is this; either we force him to stay, he's unhappy and he plays badly and we get no money for him at the end, or we cut our losses and get a decent fee and reinvest it in the squad. Its that simple for me. And I'm pleased with our new acquisitions. I think Podolski and Giroud look exciting prospects. Lukas in particular looks like he fits right in and as if he's always been here. Santi Cazorla I think was a master stroke and fits right in with the Arsenal way. Maybe we may bring one more in, possible in defence or defensive midfield, I'd be very happy with that. Otherwise I think we've strengthened well. So while results are important, in an opening fixture its popssible that the performane of the players is more important than the actual score. Its important to get the nerves out of the way and get the team playing together and gelling. Its a long long season and there's plenty of time for spectacular 6-0 wins. Here's hoping that the Arsenal boys are listening. Happy Football season everyone!

Aesthetic Olympics part 2

So I enjoyed putting together my Olympics hotlist so much I decided to compile part two. Also the Olympics just continued to be awesome and provide me with plenty of inspiration. So hear we go, hold on to your hats.

Aesthetic Olympics

 As I'm sure you're all aware I love the olympics. And this year's event in London is no exception.   Now I'll get to the serious sports commentary bit later but first I've been inspired by Cosmopolitan's frankly shocking list of the hottest athletes at this year's games and I decided I could do a way better job myself.

From Rio to the Riverside

I was lucky enough to see Brazil play team GB at the Riverside stadium for pre- olympic football friendlies. It was incredible, such an honour to see such a skilled team playing live and in the flesh. The squad was packed with an unbelievable amount of talent; Neymar, Hulk, Pato, Marcelo, Oscar, Leandro Damiao, Ganso. They were all reall really impressive. Hulk amazed me, I've never seen anyone like him before. He really is huge, his shoulders are enormous he's like an American quarterback. For someone so huge he's surprisingly fast and nimble on his feet. Marvellous to watch. the other person who really stood out was obviously Neymar. He really is a superstar in waiting. He too is very quick and so clever, really skilfull. I couldn't take my eyes off him. Oscar looked very impressive during the game, pulling a lot of strings in midfield. We alsso got to watch GB ladies playing Sweden ladies. It was a really cool day. Here are my pictures of the Brazil team warming up and the GB and Brazil teams lining up.

Olympic Spirit

I'm sure you're all aware that there's something big going on down in London and I'm sure you're also aware that I LOVE the Olympics. And its been brilliant so far.

Figure Skating off season shuffle

Well its figure skating off season as I'm sure you know and we're all eagerly awaiting the start of the next round of competition and all the new routines (and outfits!) that this brings. But while we're all waiting I thought we could play a little game. The figure skating music shuffle game. I've been challenging myself to come up with the music that I would really love to see some of my favourite figure skaters take on. I'm sure you'll all know the songs but just in case I'll include links.

Dani day in Deutschland

This week the giant bubble of hilarity that is the Moto GP paddock decamped to Sachsenring in Germany. Now this season has been missing something but finally on Sunday it happened. Dani Pedrosa won. It was marvellous. He had a brilliant battle with Stinky until about twelve laps to go when he overtook him with a lovely smooth maneouvre. The BBC for some reason seemed to think Casey 'had let him past' on purpose which is frankly ludicrous and anyway Dani's laptimes were faster the whole time he was stuck behind Casey and he clearly had no trouble keeping ahead of him once he did pass him. But there was more to come. Firstly we had the brilliant battles further down the field. Lovely Dovi and his teammate Cal Crutchlow were once again throwing everything they had at each other for fourth place, which eventually meant that Cal pushed a bit too hard and ran off track ending up in eighth. Valentino Rossi had a stellar battle all race with Nicky Hayden and Hector Barbera with all of them trading positions several times which was made all the better by Alvaro Bautista's stunning run from right at the back of the grid right through to seventh position.  The highlight of Alvaro's spectacular (and mad) race was his hilarious kamikaze move towards the end of the last lap where he seemingly said to himself "screw it. I'm going. Aaaaaaaaaah!!" and just lunged desperatley past three people and right to the edge of the track. I don't know how he stayed on but he did so kudos to Alvaro on that one. On top of all that excitement Vale managed to finish in sixth and home town hero Stefan Bradl finished in fifth which was really fantastic to see both for him and all the lovely people at team LCR, not least the delectable Lucio Cecchinello himself. But that wasn't the most dramatic moment of the day. This came on the second last corner of the last lap with Dani pushing hard and Casey pushing even harder to try and overtake him. Then the end of Casey's bike folded and slid out from underneath him. At HQ we couldn't believe our eyes, we'd been jokingly pointing at him all race (actually all season) in the style of the evil monkey from family guy and the bbc man had been predicting that he would retake the lead when suddenly down he goes. Actually though you could see it coming, he seemed to be pushing way harder than Dani and right on to his limits and a few times in the last few laps his bike had been squirming and sliding all over the track. So Dani wrapped up his first victory of the season and his hattrick of victorys at Sachsenring. His beaming little face on the podium was just wonderful and watching him jump up and down with excitement was adorable. And we even got a Pedrossi moment when they shook hands as they rode around post-race. Brilliant

The Best of Euro 2012

So there were many highlights of the European Championships, some serious footballing ones and some fun lighthearted ones. So without further ado, let's dive right in.

Moto GP merch

Check it out - I've acquired a Valentino Rossi shirt. It will from now on be my 'race day shirt.' I love it so much.
PS: You'll notice that on the TV behind me you can see the half-time highlights of the Euro 2012 final.

A Grand Finale

So Spain were once again crowned Champions of Europe on Sunday after a 4-0 win over victory in the Euro 2012 final. I had predicted Germany would win the whole thing but they were overcome by a storming performance by a valiant Italian side. I had thought before the kick off that Italy might be able to edge Spain but that also was not to be. I had not counted on the Spain's effortless switch into a higher gear for the final when previously they had looked to be struggling and short of the fluidity and attacking edge we've all come to know so well. Unfortunately for Italy, it also seemed to be just a game too far for them with first Giorgio Chiellini and then- disastrously after all three subs had been used- Thiago Motta succumbing to injury problems. I thought Italy fought valiantly and at times during the match it looked like they might be capable of pulling something back and they looked brighter once Federico Balzaretti and Antonio di Natale came on but there was only so much they could do against Spain's suffocating endless posession, especially after they went a man down. Its not all doom and gloom for Italy though, I think there's real potential in that squad and they've really restored pride in their national side. Spain were way better than they had been at any point during the rest of the tournament and looked almost back to their 2008-2010 best. Its hard to pick out individual performances when the whole team was excellent but Sergio Ramos looked very strong and seems to have grown a lot as a player, Gerard Pique was also excllent at the back. Jordi Alba looks a hell of a prospect and his run down the wing was just electrifying. The Spanish celebrations were lovely to watch too. It was really sweet seeing them all bring their kids onto the pitch to join in the celebrations, especially watching Fernando Torres unleash his inner princess by joyfully frolicking in the glitter confetti with his daughter. Also a lovely touch were the t-shirts worn by Sergio Ramos and Cesc Fabregas commemorating Miki Roque, Antonio Puerta, Dani Jarque and Manolo Preciado. It was a simple but very touching gesture that along with the strong family presence made the celebrations that bit more meaningful and allowed it to transcend the barriers of football with a lovely personal touch. All in all its been a really good tournament full of both exceptional footbball and wonderful moments, stay tuned for the traditional awards type post...you know players, teams, goals of the tournament, that sort of stuff.

Paying the Penalty

So we're at the semi final stage of Euro 2012 and the drama has been ratcheted up. The last quarter final (England v Italy)  and the first semi final both went to dramatic penalty shoot outs. Similarly dramatic as I've said but vastly differing in a few ways.

Euro 2012 - progress report

I've been a little remiss on my posting lately as HQ is currently slightly chaotic with some DIY happening. But I can assure you i have not been remiss in watchinng the Euros. So the early excitement of the group stages has now given way to the intensity and drama of the knockout stages. So I'm feeling the need to collect my thoughts so far.

Euro 2012 - Impressions so far

The Euros are officially here! Weeks of glorious, dramatic, unpredictable football. And so far its been pretty decent.

Euro 2012 Predictions

Since Euro 2012 is almost upon us, I decided that Sports Wall should dip our toe into the murky waters of predictions. First up I think that The Czech Rep and Russia will get out of their group. I think that the experince within the Czech squad will see them through (hopefully) and I can't see Greece or Poland having enough quality (or consistency) to get through ahead of Russia. Obviously I see Germany and Holland getting through their group but I can see Denmark putting up a spirited challenge. Once again, obviously I see Spain getting through. I'm not completely positive that Italy will join them though. I think its quite likely but I think its going to be very close between them and Croatia, it entirely depends on which Italy actually shows up (awesome 2006 togetherness version or so close yet so far 2010 version?) And finally I can see France getting through and (sigh, eye roll) probably England depending on whether England can actually pull together as a team and manage to not implode. Also depends on if Sweden or Ukraine sufficiently man up to the challenge. As for the overall winner, I've got a feeling for Germany this year, I think that its this squad's time. Player wise I think that Mario Gomez, despite his shoddy Champion's League final will have a good tournament, I'm thinking Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain might make a decent impression if he's used correctly and I really really hope Tomas Rosicky has a great tournament. So I know some of them are fairly obvious predictions but based on all the football I watch that is what I think will happen. Comment or tweet if you want to add anything!

Review of the Season

Now I've managed to get over the stress of the final day of the season I'm finally ready to look back over the season. The start was an absolute nightmare, actually nightmare is an understatement for what happend against Manchester United but somehow from the jaws of utter ignominy we managed to snatch some kind of victory. This season kind of summed up what it is to be an Arsenal fan in a small microcosm.

Manning up in Le mans

I've been a little remiss in my lack of Moto GP posts this season. But the race at Le Mans this weekend was a cracker. It was in fact 'stonking' (thank you Charlie Cox.) Dani's day seemed to sort of ebb and flow as he started out in pole but then he seemed to get in difficulty and found himself back in six and at this point it would have been very easy to assume he was being over-cautious in the ridiculous conditions. BUT then first Cal Crutchlow and then Andrea Dovizioso fell victim to the slippery track and slid off while cornering. So Dani's very sensible little ways earned him a more than respectable fourth placed finish instead of the 'nightmare in a bubblecar' that the Tech 3 boys endured. Then there was Valentino. Now, you don't get to be a nine time world champion for nothing and there's no substitute for experience. During the past few months rumors of Valentino's fall were greatly exaggerated. But this weekend he showed us all what he was made of. He totally manned up this weekend and owned that circuit. He put in a vintage Valentino performance riding the wheels off his Duke to come home a fantastic second. The neighbours must once again have wondered what on earth was going on at HQ as the celebration level was pretty high given how long we've been waiting to celebrate for Val again. But the fun wasn't just restricted to on the race track. First up we had the lovely Matt Roberts from the BBC shoving right into Michael Schumacher in the middle of his live grid chat thing much to the frustration of Schumi's furiously gesticulating press lady. Then there was Michele Pirro very calmly nearly giving the BBC a heart attack by proclaiming something (the weather or his weekend I think, I missed exactly what he said) 'shit' live on air. At lunchtime. I don't think he even realised that he wasn't supposed to. So all in all a pretty good weekend in France.
PS: There's a pretty cool interview with Valentino up on Moto GP.com http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2012/Monster+Energy+Presents+Ask+Valentino+1      check it out, he's pretty charming, as usual. Though I don't believe for a second he's a fan of Angelina Jolie

Special Send offs at the San Siro

It wasn't just Arsenal having emotional goodbyes for club legends this week. This week AC Milan said goodbye to a trio of club legends. And one superhero. First up Alessandro Nesta is hanging up his boots, the guy has put in a phenomenal amount of effort and energy over the years and his commitment to the club has been extraordinary. Then we have Gennaro Gattuso and Gianluca Zambrotta. Two phenomenal servants to the club and football in general. I love Gianluca because he is just so classy and an absolute consummate professional and I love Gennaro because he's a maverick and bursting with passion. I'll miss them both because of the wonderful contributions they've made to all the great Milan moments and because of the great character they bring to the side. Then we have the big one. The superhero. More than a forward, more than a player. What can I possibly say about a man so vital and inextricably connected to my love of football, what can I say that I haven't said before, what can I say that's enough. I'll leave it to the man himself. "The first and foremost thing that I want you all to know is I played and won for "us"...Of course the reality went beyond our wildest dreams...Destiny gave us more than we had dared hope.Ciao to my wonderful fans who followed me the world over with affection and passion. Ciao to my team mates from today and yesterday.My dear Milan, I’m leaving you only because that the way life goes. The moment has come and you know it as well." When I read his open letter, I filled up. It's so beautiful, as beautiful the football he's provided us with all these years. Apparently his brother says he wants to play on, so hopefully, Pippo still has a little more magic left for us.
Here's the rest of the letter here - http://www.acmilan.com/en/news/show/141274

source

The End of an Era

The word legend is thrown around a lot these days but there are some people who not only deserve it but pretty much embody it. I'm talking of course about the one, the only Pat Rice. Just to put his legendary status into contex here; he's spent 48 years at Arsenal. As a player, youth coach, caretaker manager and assistant manager. And on Sunday he's retiring. It's not going to be the same without him, he's a presence that will genuinely be missed. For a start, he's a consummate professional and unbelievably hard-working, he's out there every game every week kicking ass at pre-match warm ups. He's unbelievably enthusiastic on the touchline always pointing and directing and he's yelling directions near constantly for ninety minutes. Frankly the term assistant doesn't do him justice, him and Arsene they're a team. He's the Dr Watson to Arsene's Sherlock Holmes, the Tonto to his Lone Ranger, the Robin to his Batman, I could go on (and believe me I did, and feel free to join in the comments or tweet me.) And also he's just cool. He rocks his shades like a boss every week. And despite seeming to be a super nice guy, he also seems to be somehow quietly badass. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm pretty much his biggest fan. So on Sunday I hope all you gooners out there (and fans of football) join me in saluting Pat Rice for all of his dedication, commitment and sheer love of the game. So raise a glass or put on some shorts (regardless of the weather just like Pat) or something and yell "Thank you Pat!" at your TV.
"Thank you Pat! Sports Wall loves you!"

The England manager appointment

Normally I'm not really very interested in stuff to do with the England National Team. But I've had some thoughts on the (seemingly) imminent appointment of Uncle Roy Hodgson as England manager. Now don't get me wrong here, I like the man. I do. But I'm not sure its the right move. Not for England though, for him. I get the obvious he's English so he really wants to manage his national team thing but I think in the light of how his tenure at Liverpool turned out though its a slightly baffling move. Personally tto me it seems like the England situation he's walking into will be similar to the one he had to contend with at Liverpool only on a larger and more pressurised scale. I mean it was a situation where it was an institution with a lot of history that tends to focus heavily on the weight of the past (some times to a counter productive degree,) an atmosphere with a huge amount of expectation, difficult to please fans with another candidate in mind and players that he inherited rather than chose. Check, check, check and check. I just hope that the insane amount of media pressure he's going to get and the squad selection headaches that will no doubt come his way don't make for a high profile repeat of his stresses and strains at Liverpool because he seems like a lovely man who genuinely loves football and knows his stuff. Having made the case against his taking the job, I would like to just add to that that I do think he's a better option than Redknapp though. Largely due to his experience with managing abroad and at international level. I know that there are loads of you who could cite tons of managers who have won things without much experience but I think you can't undervalue the amount of experience someone like Hodgson has. Fianlly to finish off, I'd like to share with you the popular opinion here at HQ on the alternative candidate we would have liked the FA to give a chance to. The Sports Wall family (particularly my mum) think that Roy Keane would have been a brilliant left field choice for the post. I know I just said experience can't be underrated BUT hear us out here. We think he'd be good as the England manager becuase of his unbelievable intensity and let's face it there's no way he'd take any crap from those players. Maybe he'd finally be able to instill a bit of discipline in the ranks. Plus he's not short of passion. The guy radiates passion for football. Which frankly the England set up could do with. So there you go, the man to restore a bit of blood and thunder to the Three Lions, is the other Roy.

French Fashion Files - Nice 2012

Here we are again at the end of another brilliant season of figure skating competition. This time we had the added bonus of Worlds decamping to one of the fashion capitals of the world- France. Did the lovely boys and girls of figure skating step up their sartorial games for the bright lights of La Belle France? You bet they did, so follow me and let's see what delights were in store down at the rink.

A whole World(s) of drama

So I've finally gotten around to watching the pairs free from Nice 2012. I think I've been stringing it out because its so good that I don't want it to end. As we all remember the short program was packed full of shocks with three Russian pairs making mistakes, so the free was poised to be one hell of a contest.

A point to prove

On Sunday Arsenal played Manchester City at the Emirates. Now most commentators focussed on the fact that if City lost they dropped to 8 points behind Manchester United and the title race was effectively over. But I feel this was missing the point slightly. For all of us Arsenal fans though there was something else. Something more important going on. It was a grudge match. We had a point to prove. Man City had stolen our players, they wrenched Gael Clichy away from the warm embrace of Arsenal and the warming glow of his (frankly epic) bromance with Bacary Sagna. They turned Samir Nasri's head with their filthy lucre. So the match wasn't just about the league. It was about principles, it was about morals, team spirit and earning something against cold, hard cash and success at all costs. So to see our boys, my boys out there playing Man City's billion pound team off the park was particularly sweet. And outplay them they did. Bacary Sagna was excellent, he was absolutley everywhere. The midfield was outstanding, Tomas Rosicky ran the show (woop), Alex Song was as always a total beast and even poor old Yossi who took a lot of flak for starting ahead of golden boy Oxlade Chamberlain played pretty well and worked damn hard. As brilliant as our immense performance was seeing Samir Nasri being completely anonymous his entire time on the pitch. How does that taste now Samir? But honestly aside from being bitter, it was fantastic to see the team bounce back from a small blip last week with not only a great result but an even better performance. Also Andre Santos returned. And promptly gave Mario Balotelli a big old shove, presumably while yelling "BOOM! You've been Andre Santosed!" He's become something of a cult hero with my friend Simon and I largely because he's so hardcore, unpredictable and as Simon so beautifully put it 'terrifying.' Gary neville was once again on a roll this week with his at once withering and hilariously outtraged  ideas on how he would manage Mario Balotelli "I'd just tell him never to tackle. Ever." Then there was the bemusing but strangely amusing sight of two rather mature man City fans fighting over Vincent Kompany's shirt rather than giving it to the younger fan right next to them. I mean I was pleasantly surprised by how ripped Mr Kompany is and I can fully appreciate city fans harbouring a man crush but seriously let the younger fan take the shirt.

Twice as Nice

So after the drama of the pairs short, could I handle any more of what Nice had to throw at me? Well we all know the answer is of course, a resounding YES. So on I went watching short dance and men's short.

Nightmares in Nice

Just when we thought it was safe to back on the ice rink, World Championships came along and brought us a whole load of drama. And when I say a whole load, I mean a whole load. A drama fest, drama a go go, drama-rama.  It all kicked off in the pairs short program.

The sidekick

Inspired by Tomas Rosicky's recent form. I made sure his super hero outfit has the same colour scheme as Robin's (as in Batman) usually does.

RvP Cake

Carrying on the sport's related bakery products theme from last year's Dani Pedrosa victory cookie. Here is the RvP cake that I made on Sunday. Its made with Nutella (because Europe loves nutella) and has the number 11 made with stars in the colours of the Dutch flag. Also it was delicious.

Happy International Women's day

Once again its International Women's Day so here at Sports Wall we'd once again like to fly the flag for feminism and salute all the wonderful women making sports great.Firstly Hope Solo- She's beautiful, she's badass and she's absolutley brilliant at what she does. The ultimate women's day girl crush.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - She's a World Junior Champion, Youth Olympics Gold medallist and she won two Grand Prix titles on her debut. And she's only 15. Phenomenal.
Eva Carneiro - You may not know they name but you would certainly recognise her if you saw her. She's the lovley lady who sits next to the manager on the Chelsea bench. She's their first team doctor you see. Again she's gorgeous but more importantly she strikes a blow for girls in a male dominated industry and is so inspirational that we all just wish we were her.
Kim Clijsters - She retired for two years then when she came back she became the first wildcard and unseeded player to win the US open. Then she defended her title the next year. Then she won the Australian Open in 2011 to become world number one. And she's the (joint) most successful mummy in tennis history.
Caster Semenya - She won the 800m gold medal at the World Athletics Championships at aged 18. But the reason that we love her and the reason she is the perfect inspirational woman for women's day is the grace and dignity with she handled what must be every girl's worst nightmare. And for coming back and proving them all wrong and winning a silver medal at the 2011 Worlds. She's a wonderful example of courage and strength and I can't think of better slogan for Women everywhere than her very own "God made me the way I am and I accept myself." Right on Caster.
Happy Women's Day to all the kick ass ladies worldwide.

So close yet so far

Well what a situation we nearly had on our hands there. Arsenal came within literally touching distance of the biggest comeback in Champion's League history. Seriously, the fingertips of Christian Abbiati are all that kept us from a fourth goal, history and extra time. Having said that, even though ultimately we still fell short I'm still very very proud of all the boys. I know there are many, many different reactions to this game but for me they really managed to restore a sense of dignity and hope following the first leg. I know we still lost but the boys put in such a courageous, determined performance that its impossible not to be pleased with them. Tomas Rosicky in particular carried on his fine recent form and scored a lovely little goal (much like his lovely little self.) Once again, as you all know, I could not be happier about this, there is nothing I want more than to see my (beautiful and talented) little dumpling doing well. It wasn't just Tomas though, everyone played their part. Robin was (as always) excellent, Koscielny and Vermaelen were super hardcore at the back, Bacary Sagna was flying up the wing like nobody's business, Song was a total beast in midfield. The list goes on. The first half was an absolute revelation, they totally owned both Milan and the whole pitch. Alas the colossal effort they put in was their undoing as the pace of the game and the weight of the deficit took its toll and by the end they were all just too tired. Also we had a lack of options on the bench to change the game but to be fair to Le Prof its not really his fault as we have a lot of midfielders out injured and he can't just pull players out of thin air (I wish.) But as hard as it is to take that even though they were so good, even though we got so close, we're still out, its good to know that the team can fight that hard for each other and dig that deep for a performance. I really, really hope we can keep up this brilliant spirit we've found.
Oh and I never ever thought I would be saying this but well done Gary Neville. It is 'bingo time' my friend, it certainly is.

High Five

There was unbridled joy unleashed all around HQ on Sunday. I'll set the scene, Arsenal were coming off a mini-slump a disastrous four nil loss to Milan, a dispiriting two nil defeat to Sunderland in the cup, then we have possibly one of the biggest games of our season looming, and its the derby against our fiercest rivals who are currently-whisper it- above us in the league.

Sartorial Shuffle - Sheffield

There wer pleny of *ahem* interesting fashions for us to get our teeth into at the ISU European Championships in Sheffield. It was a BIG event and the stars of the circuit certainly rose to the occasion. So without further ado, let's review some outfits people.

Happy Valentine's Day

It's that time of year again everyone. It's Valentine's day! And once again the boys of Sports Wall are on hand to bring you a handy guide to the art of love. There are many ways to catch the eye of the object of your affections,



perhaps buy a card or gift?



maybe buy a snazzy new outfit?

 You could call up your wing man

you could try some gentle flirting

you could get romanticor get a little more 'intense'

or maybe you could go all out and re-enact a scene from their favourite movie?

Whatever you do Ruth's Sports Wall wishes you a happy boy love day.

The King of all comebacks

I said previously but I'll say it again. Holy Crap. Oh my goodness. The men's free programme was something else. In the big daddy of all shocking comebacks Evgeni Plushenko skated out of his skin and scored his best mark ever to win the European title for the seventh time. Seriously there aren't enough italics in the world for me to properly convey my surprise and awe at this situation. The man is unbelievable. His free skate to an amazing arrangement of 'el tango de Roxanne' was just fabulous, full of power, drama and attack and despite not having skated in a while he still looked close to swaggering, imperious best. Artur Gachinski came second, once again rediscovering the sort of form he showed at last year's Europeans. Noow he seems to have pulled it together, I really do like Gachinski's 'interview with the vampire' routine, it has a lovely flow to it and his feathered outfit is just divine. Florent Amodio took third place and celebrated as if he'd won again, it was adorable he started crying and everything. There's just something about it when someone with a face that beautiful starts crying, it was just so sweet. And the way his coach just picked him up was so lovely. There were strong performances from two of my favourite competitiors 'Lovely Brian' Joubert and my Italian eccentric Samuel Contesti. I love Samuel. He's a born entertainer. He always puts so much personality into his performancess and they're always a little different to everyone else. All in all it was a great competition and I think all the people that I really like did well and landed in the toop ten. With Plushenko's massive rreturn I think worlds is going to be absolutely stellar. Can't wait.

Shocks in Sheffield

It's that time again folks, ISU European Championships time! This year it was held in Sheffield which isn't that far away from where I live (in the 'grim' North) and I had really hoped I could have gone. I was desperate to be there but unfortunately it was not to be. But of course I did catch as much as I could on  Eurosport. I started out with the pairs competition. Aliona Savchenko and Robin Solkowy and Alexander Smirnov and Yuko Kavaguti were missing in action due to an injury to Robin and appendix surgery for Alex. However it was still a  great competition. Maxim Trankov and his partner Tatiana finally got the recognition they deserve and after a couple of stellar performances deservingly claimed the gold medal. Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov took the silver despite  the misgivinngs of (your friend and mine) Nicky Slater about their costtumes; "Its like a practice outift!" And Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov made it a hat-trick and an all Russian podium. I was lucky enough thatt on the end of my paris coverage Eurosport had scheduled the highlights of the men's short programmes. And boy did I get a shock. Plushenko is back. YES. Plushenko is BACK. As I said at the time (rather loudly) Holy Crap. I didn't know he was due to be back. It was so  exciting. And boy did he knock it out of the park. His short program still had the old Plushenko crazy showmanship element but somehow it wasn't as frantic, it was more controlled but still mega dramatic. It's just always a pleasure to watch Evgeni, he's so expressive and always draws your eye. Artur Gachinski (coached by the same man as Evgeni) also pulled it out of the bag, fnding the consistency he lacked around Grand Prix time. Tomas Werner put in a solid performance, way better than I'd seen it at the grand prix. So it's all very well poised ahead of the long programme.

In defence of football's coolness

I had some more thoughts after reading F365 http://www.football365.com/faves/7440104/What-s-More-Important-Fans-Or-Trophies the other day. Specifically it was the letter about halfway down in which some guy is whining that he doesn't think football is 'cool' anymore. Please.
Ok I'll cut him some slack on the fact that yes, some footballers these days are way too interested in themselves, money and cars. And yes a lot of them do seem to think that they can do anything they want without consequences. But to say that he finds it hard to support Arsenal  because he doesn't like any of the players? What?! Where is he looking? In defence of this ridiculous statement, he cites Theo Walcott, Alex Song and Emmanuel Frimpong. Alright Theo Walcott is crazily uncool for a boy of his age. But Frimpong? He's so cool he has his own word for cool. And he's hardcore. And in what universe is Alex Song not cool? He is quite possibly the coolest man on the whole team. He's related to Rigobert Song for God's sake. The Arsenal team is a plethora of cool people. The boy Chesney is super cool and he knows it, he totally seems like a guy you would want to hang with, Tomas Rosicky is a secret badass (see the hotel Praha scandal) and therefore very cool, Bacary Sagna possesses the coolest hair in the league, Thomas Vermaelen is not just cool he's ice cold like a robot in the Antarctic. And of course our captain is very cool. He's cool in a slightly awkward way but he has that awesome Dutch accent and fighty, feisty edge that add up to serious cool points. And there are still other footballers out there who aren't all selfish and badly behaved and headline grabby who still allow the beautiful game to remain cool. People like Francesco Totti who has played for Roma his whole career because loyalty and living the dream playing for your hometown team are cool, people like Thierry Henry showing us that comebacks are very very cool, people like Pep Guardiola and Iker Casillas who clearly really love football and really love having football as a job. And above all people like Tim Cahill who seems like an all around nice guy, Gennaro Gattuso who is so down to earth that he fulfilled his boyhood dream not through his successful footy career but in buying a fish shop in his hometown, Pavel Nedved who used to donate his wages from the Czech national team to charity and Dider Drogba who despite his dreadful falling on the floor antics outside of football does a lot of stuff for charities in the Ivory Coast. Because nothing is cooler than nice people who do stuff for others. So in my opinion football has plenty of stuff still going for it, its still cool enough that despite the fact that I'm 22 (ie a grown up) and female I still pretended that I was Robin van Persie scoring for Arsenal in the FA cup  final when I was playing playground football with some kids from my school (that I work in) the other day. That is why football is still cool because it still has the power to make us dream big like that.

Football philosophy

http://www.football365.com/faves/7440104/What-s-More-Important-Fans-Or-Trophies-
I was reading the letters page on Football 365 the other day and came across two things that made me think. Firstly there was the Arsenal fan who claimed that for him trophies mattered more than fans or atmosphere, it was this little line about how he views his support for Arsenal that got me though "I see it as a desperate struggle to win every game we possibly can, because at the end of the season there might be something nice and shiny to boast about." I find that frankly despicable. And to be honest I would rather people like that didn't support my club. It's opinions like that that lead to all the impossible to please, buy a centre half, 'Wenger out' so called fans of  club freaking out every week at the slightest provocation. I just don't get it, if thatt's why you watch football then you aren't going to get any joy out of it. And if you're not getting any enjoyment out of it, what's the point? For me, that's the core of supporting not just a football team but football in general. Football for me is a passion, its demanding, its life-consuming, its a huge emotional attachment, it dictates my schedule (ask my friends, its true) and none  of these things would be true if I didn't love watching it. And no matter how many times I see my boys lose, no mattter how dispiriting it is, I'll still put all of my emotions and my heart back into it the next week. For me football is not trophies. Its more than that. I watch Arsenal because I love the game, I love to see football played properly and that's why I love the way they play it. I love the connection you build with your team, the investment into it. For me, its not trophies its that for those ninety minutes you're connected to your team and to the other fans of your team, you all want the same thing. Its that collective rush that is so special. That, to me, is the best reason to support football.

Aussie Rules baby

New Year means of course the Aussie open, and this year the drama and excitement have begun early. The other day I watched Lleyton Hewitt playing Cedrik-Marcel Stebe. In terms of intensity Lleyton never disappoints. It was a hard fought five setter with the momentum swinging between the two players. He's just fascinating to watch with the way he engages the crowd and the atmosphere was electric with all his aussie fans singing the roof off the arena. He came through battling and some of the shots were just great. Plus now he plays Andy Roddick which I think will be a hell of a match in terms of atmosphere with both of them no doubt yelling and glaring up a storm. Then today there was another dramatic five setter featuring the king of dramatic five setters David Nalbandian. I really have a soft spot for good old Dave, partially I think because he's been going quite a while and he's a player I've watched a lot so I've gotten quite attached to him. And he's a very stylish player to watch, he jsut comes up with stunning shots out of nowhere. I'm sure most of you are aware of what happened at the end of the match but to recap John Isner had a serve called as an ace and David wanted to challenge but the umpire decided he couldn't because he had signalled too late. Cue rage. Personally I felt like the poor guy got a raw deal because that essentially blew the rest of his game as it happened at 8-8 and pretty much directly caused him to lose focus and the match. Its kind of ridiculous that he wasn't allowed to challenge as I can't count the amount of times a tennis player has gone to inspect the ball mark on the court before challenging so to say he took too long is not really good enough. So I'm in camp Nalbandian on this one.
PS: (Desperately trying not to jinx it) Sports Wall favourite Feliciano 'Flic' Lopez has progressed to round three. Fingers crossed for tv coverage. Come on Eurosport do us a favour.

The Grand Prix Series- Fashion files

I decided that because its one of my favourite aspects of ice skating and because its been too long since its been on TV i'm going to do a sartorial review of the grand prix series.

Down the swansea...

Well that was a rather infuriating match. It was one of those days when you just keep screaming at the screen throughout the ninety minutes. It was a game that Arsenal totally should have won. I know many people will say that Swansea played really well today and for some periods of the game its true they did. BUT having said that, it was more a case of us losing that game than them winning it. For a start, that was not a penalty. Not in a million years. Aaron ramsey barely caught him and was then in fact fouled by Dyer in return. Watch it again, you'll see that Dyer clearly stands on Aaron's leg. And to compound Aaron's shocker of a day (seriously its like he was competing to see how many times he could give it away) the second goal was his fault too. He gave the ball away very poorly. Silly boy. While we're on the subject, poor old Yossi had a bit of a nightmare in a bubblecar too as did Andrei Arshavin (again, has he walked under a ladder or something?) So there I believe was the problem, we were carrying three people in midfield (four sometimes, I'm looking at you Theo.) But it wasn't all doom and gloom and forgetting the art of defending. There were some glimmers of goodness amongst the nonsense. Once again, after a great performance at Leeds the other night, Ignasi Miquel (or baby Bambi if you like) was once again brilliant. I've said it before and I'll say it again the calm and assurance he has for a nineteen year old is incredible. Laurent Koscielny was immense at the back throwing himself at everything. And I know I say this all the time and I know I'm slightly (!) biased but Tomas Rosicky was great when he came on, and he really made a difference to the team and the performance. We don't see him as much as I would like but I think today he showed that in terms of an eye for a pass he has TOTALLY still got it. I think most of the boys acquitted themselves well at the end of the game as they were really fighting for it and flinging everything at the Swansea goal but alas it was not to be. So all in all it was a weird inbetween good in some ways bad in others sort of day. Sums up supporting my team really.

The return of the King

On Monday night Thierry Henry returned to his home. And my what a return it was. I think my neighbours must have wondered what was going on in my house, I went a tiny little bit crazy celebrating. It was quite an emotional screaming and jumping around moment. It was such a special occasion that even my mum was moved to watch the match. It was beautiful, like a fairytale. Within ten minutes of coming into the game he scored the winning goal. It was a trademark Thierry goal too. Lovely movement and a neat, clever little finish. But it in was the moments afterwards, the celebrations that the real magic showed. To see him so inspired, so pumped up and in the moment was so beautiful, so moving, so poetic. My mum put it best I think when she said "Look, he's smiling right up to his eyes." A sight to warm the heart of every gooner watching but also warm the heart of any fan of football. I put it to you that no matter who you support, the story of not only a club legend but one of the best players to ever play in the Premier League returning to a club that represents his spiritual home and then scoring a wonder goal to roll back the years, is still enough to give you a fuzzy little warm feeling in your heart no matter how faint.
Another highlight of the match was my mum's assessment of Andrei Arshavin, "I think that boy needs glasses."

More musical madness

More of my 'songs that remind me of famous sports people.' First, Bacary Sagna is dressed as a member of Take That (Howard, as he had dreads at the time) in the video for 'Back for good.' Do you see what I did there? Bac for good. Ha ha. Then Mr Torres makes another appearance this time dressed as Agnetha from Abba. Because they sang 'Fernando.' Yeah I know, sophisticated humour. Then finally, the one and only Guti is dressed as Beyonce in the 'bootylicious' video. Because that song is known as 'gutilicious' in our house.

Wonderful World of Ruth gets musical

Just some little doodles I did based on some songs that make me think of sportspeople. In the top image, we have Fernando Torres dressed as Lady Gaga (circa the 'Poker Face' video) because whenever I hear THAT line in Alejandro I can't help but think of Fernando, plus the return of his blonde hair only adds to it. Then in the bottom image we have Morgan Parra. Coldplay's 'Paradise.' 'Para, para, para-dise' no more explanation needed. If anyone has anymore suggestions for songs that remind you of sports, comment or tweet me.

Some thoughts on the grand prix final

I had my two cents worth on Patrick Chan and the grand prix title a little while and I've finally managed to watch all the other stuff I tapped so now I'm going to have my two cents worth on the pairs and dance too. Let's start with the ice dance shall we.