It seems I am not the only "political" blogger to be diversifying into cricket coverage in the wake of England's Ashes flop. The Lib Dems' Jonathan Calder has an excellent post about how the lack of state games is affecting our chances, while Tory blogger Richard Bailey also has some very illuminating thoughts on the matter.Meanwhile Phil McIntosh, who has no particular political affiliations to my knowledge, has set up an excellent new blog dedicated to the Ashes series entitled Middle and Off.
Perhaps the only vaguely amusing thing to have come out of England's trials and tribulations thus far is that Monty Panesar's failure to be picked for either the Brisbane or Adelaide debacles has apparently boosted his chances of winning the absurd Sports Personality of the Year contest on Sunday.
If the award lives up to its name, the winner will surely be Darren Clarke, who did indeed show plenty of personality in overcoming his wife's death to help Europe win the Ryder Cup. But if it were about sporting achievement - which it never really has been - it should surely be between Joe Calzaghe, Beth Tweddle and Zara Phillips.
4 comments:
Paul
Having stayed up most of the night on Monday and suffered more than if had bewen giving birth to a giant, I can say that I was too depressed to post on the Ashes, despite being a fanatical fan. Most of my similarly minded mates have reacted as if to a death in the family. Bloggingwise it doesn't help that 'Norm' is downunder posting on the series and, despite being an Israeli supporting marxist from Zimbabwe originally, he manages to be a gung ho Aussie supporter. Which is perfectly fair of copurse, but his occsasional triumphalism makes especially difficult reading.
Paul, I agree how odd it is that Monty Panesar's chances of winning the Sports Personality of the Year have been boosted by his non-selection. This is typical of media hype. Monty, for all his skill as a finger spinner and commendations from coaches and pundits alike does not merit an award just yet. However, if there was anyone who did deserve such a ridiculous award it would have to be Darren Clarke in recognition that, despite personal tradegy, he was able to perform to such a high standard in the Ryder Cup. Actually, without Clarke, the line up looks rather pathetic!
Paul,
Phil's politics are very complicated! I am still trying to figure them out myself. You're probably best advised keeping off the subject and sticking to cricket!!
He's a big fan of politics and most especially political intrigue but I suspect he may be a bit closer to you than he is to me!
Rather nice to put aside political differences and wander together round the boundary rope!! (So to speak.)
What? Not Ross Davenport?
.. and I had you down as a patriot ;^)
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