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.