What sports teams do you support?

[Heid the Ba]

It was just for last year, the other winners:

WORLD SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR
Sebastian Vettel (Germany) - Formula One
-------------impressive, but not a sport.

WORLD SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR
Missy Franklin (USA) - Swimming
--------------no idea what she did since it wasn't an Olympic Year and I don't follow swimming, I would have gone with Marianne Vos or Marit Bjoergen.*

WORLD TEAM OF THE YEAR
Bayern Munich (Germany) - Football
--------------seems reasonable

WORLD BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR
Marc Marquez (Spain) - MotoGP
------------again impressive, but not sport, even though I watch it.

WORLD COMEBACK OF THE YEAR
Rafael Nadal (Spain) - Tennis
------------was he ever away? I have no idea since I don't watch tennis.

WORLD SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR WITH A DISABILITY
Marie Bochet (France) - Skiing
-----------decent call, but again I don't really know.

WORLD ACTION SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR
Jamie Bestwick (UK) - BMX
-------------no idea. [old man mode] Get on a proper bike and stop dicking about in carparks . . .[/old man mode]


Edit to add:
*Fucking hell, I have only ever seen her wearing a ski suit before, some of the images that come up when you google her are scary. She could be the world's tiniest linebacker.

[Heid the Ba]

Meanwhile in Bangladesh HD's lot are giving the Saffers a scare in the World 20Twenty cricket.

[Halcyon Dayz, FCD]

Meanwhile in Bangladesh HD's lot are giving the Saffers a scare in the World 20Twenty cricket.

Which surprised absolutely everybody.

Of course, most people didn't even know we had a cricket team...

[Lianachan]

I didn't know you had a cricket team. I thought you guys were reasonably civilised. Pah!

[Heid the Ba]

There are a lot of Southern Hemisphere accents about the team, though the best bowler is Rotterdam born. Unfortunately they came up just short.

The Lankans are going well against Eng-ger-lund, we can only hope.

[Heid the Ba]

Ah the sweet smell of hypocrisy. One of the Lankan batsmen was caught out but the unpire didn't give it and the batsman stayed at the crease. Not out. English players go ballistic, including the captain Stuart Broad, who did exactly the same thing in an Ashes Test last summer and claimed it was all part of the game then. Now, no doubt, it will be cheating.

[Lianachan]

Ah the sweet smell of hypocrisy. One of the Lankan batsmen was caught out but the unpire didn't give it and the batsman stayed at the crease. Not out. English players go ballistic, including the captain Stuart Broad, who did exactly the same thing in an Ashes Test last summer and claimed it was all part of the game then. Now, no doubt, it will be cheating.

Perfidious Albion - a statement that's as true of sport as it is of politics.

[Heid the Ba]

And that's two nil to Schalke and it's looking grim for Hertha.

[Arneb]

And that's two nil to Schalke and it's looking grim for Hertha.

I TOLD ou so.... still four points short, and I am asking myself all the time where they are going to com from.

Of course, to see Bayern clinch their St. Fuckemal'S Day in my beloved Olympic Stadium in Berlin was a real downer, if anything but unexpected...

Now I just hope Bayern they will slaughter ManU in similar fashion.

[Heid the Ba]

Meanwhile in Bangladesh HD's lot are giving the Saffers a scare in the World 20Twenty cricket.

Which surprised absolutely everybody.

Of course, most people didn't even know we had a cricket team...

And now they are doing the same to England, they might not win but they are proving that England aren't the worldbeaters they claim to be who are only out because of rain in their first match.

The Dutch are actually a decent side, one of the best of the second division which means they can give most people a good game at Twenty20.

Edit to add: Oh dearie me.

Edit 2: I know I said this "There are a lot of Southern Hemisphere accents about the team" about the Dutch, in the interests of balance I should point out the the England team contained a Saffer, a Barbadian, a Welshie and a Mick.

[Мастер]

Edit 2: I know I said this "There are a lot of Southern Hemisphere accents about the team" about the Dutch, in the interests of balance I should point out the the England team contained a Saffer, a Barbadian, a Welshie and a Mick.

I had to look some of those terms up!

[Heid the Ba]

We didn't want to win that cup anyway . . .

Vanmarke third in the Ronde van Vlaanderen and India lost to Sri Lanka. It's an odd old weekend when the highspot is Hertha getting a point at home.

No interest in the tennis, boat race or Grand National.

[Arneb]

It's an odd old weekend when the highspot is Hertha getting a point at home.

It's not only odd, it's painful. When even Braunschweig starts to win games, as they did this weekend, you really start wondering where those final three points are going to come from.

No interest in the tennis, boat race or Grand National.

I take note of the Boat Race whenever there is a German on any of the two teams and German newspapers start to write reportage on those quaint Tommies, their sportive excentricities and how the Germans fit in with them in spite of all the Never Mention the War stuff.

This year's German Boat Race Participant (GBRP) had the bad fortune to sit in Cambridge's boat. However, he is notable for having made his way from overweight, heavilyi smoking couch potato to GBRP in a matter of two years, so he is expecially suited for a human-interest story with a bit of a poignant flourish at the end.

Tennis? Oh Gawd, those Germans were about the first team evah to lose a Davis Cup match after leading 2-0.

At least Bayern lost.

[Heid the Ba]

I take note of the Boat Race whenever there is a German on any of the two teams and German newspapers start to write reportage on those quaint Tommies, their sportive excentricities and how the Germans fit in with them in spite of all the Never Mention the War stuff.

Exactly. We have a lot more in common with each other than Little Englanders would care to admit.

This year's German Boat Race Participant (GBRP) had the bad fortune to sit in Cambridge's boat. However, he is notable for having made his way from overweight, heavilyi smoking couch potato to GBRP in a matter of two years, so he is expecially suited for a human-interest story with a bit of a poignant flourish at the end.

That in a nutshell is the problem with the boat race. There are very few undergraduates in either boat, just a selection of hired guns given full scholarships for a one year course, which they don't attend and most will be on their way home by now never having had any intention of graduating. They are full time athletes for the duration of this academic year.

Edit: On checking your German seems to be doing a proper course. A quick glance shows a number whose connection to academics at either uni is fairly tenuous.

At least Bayern lost.

We take our victories where we can.

[Heid the Ba]

Paris - Roubaix weekend, Sunday afternoon is already written off. I may rewatch "A Sunday in Hell" to get more in the mood.

Edit: It is also the Virgin Money London Marathon* this weekend, and when the commentators refer to that as the toughest amatuer race in the world I just laugh. The P-R Randonee will take most good cyclists over 10 hours.

*I have a contractual obligation to give it its full title, don't ask.

[Arneb]

Hah!

Bayern 3 - 1 ManU.

Good. Exellent, in fact. Next, Real. Always so nice to see Cristiano Ronaldo cry.

[Heid the Ba]

And it was decent of Bayern to give them a goal start.

[Heid the Ba]

So I settled down to watch the Hertha game, and they gave away a goal in the first minute. They should be safe since everyone below them is just as bad.

[Arneb]

That's pretty much the only thing keeping me up. If none of the immediate relegation candidates gets above 27 points next weekend, they've made it - as far and away the worst team of the second round so far...

[Heid the Ba]

And that single point should do it for Hertha, particularly since Nurnberg are a goal down.

[Arneb]

And that single point should do it for Hertha, particularly since Nurnberg are a goal down.

Yes, they've made it, as both Hamburg and Der Glubb lost. 10 points ahead, 9 remaining. Hamburg needs a snooker.

However, I'd feel better if they somohow managedto get past 40, into the first half of the table, and not to become the worst team of the second round, having scored a grand total of 10 points so far.

[Heid the Ba]

. Hamburg needs a snooker.

[Arneb]

FC Bayern München 0 - 4 Real Madrid

Arrgh. Two goals from that bloody diving Dago.

[Arneb]

Hertha 0 - 4 Dortmund

Hertha finish the season in 11th place of 18, just one point ahead of that magic number (40) which I begged them to reach during the second half of the season. So, marginally better than my most pessimistic scenario I appreciate being made an honourable Scot, Heid. But you can see I was downbeat with good reason, can't you? I nominate them as no. A I 1 a alpha relegation candidate again for next season.

Nürnberg go down (along with Braunschweig), which gives me a welcome edge over my in-laws. For a year. Assuming Greuther Fürth, currently third of the second leaguem, don't move up a place tomorrow (they could, but rest assured they will manage not to), they will take part in 2 final relegation matches against the 16th of the Bundesliga, Hamburg. There, they will have the chance of
a) sinking Hamburg into league 2 for the first time in 51 years and
b) moving up into the Bundesliga while archrival Nürnberg do down to seconde, which would result in a year-long permanent state of orgasm for every true green-white Fuerther

Which means, of course, that they will either
a) be pushed down into fourth place by Kaiserslautern tomorrow despite being three points ahead and leading on goal difference by 6 goals, with many more goals scored.
or
b) botch it playing Hamburg.

Where can I apply for Scottish citizenship later this year?

[Arneb]

OK, so
SpVgg Greuther Fürth 2 - 0 Sandhausen

which means Fürth at least didn't boitch it. However, since Paderborn won against Aalen, Paderborn, a wholly forgettable city with (as a colleague related to me) a particularly vicious edge of Catholic bigotry, will play in the Bundesliga for a year.

So my lot will have the chance to botch it against Hamburg the week after next, thus prolonging Hamburg's zombie existence as Germany's prime example of a once proud football club ruined by megalomania, self-serving pomposity and sheer bigotry.