Power to inspire

It is beyond reasonable doubt that the vast majority of sport’s films present in today’s society get an extremely bad press and rightly so. When I think of bad sports films I immediately think of the mediocre ‘Goal!’ films that have been in circulation in recent years. There have been many others aswell. Rocky III and Rocky V will forever remain etched in my memory as two of the worst sport’s films I have ever seen.
However, for every bad sports film there are undoubtedly some very fine ones. I was a big fan of the original Mighty Ducks film, aswell as enjoying films such as Raging Bull and the more recently made Friday Night Lights. A film about sport has a way to inspire perhaps like no other genre of film. There is one particular film that stands out for me above all others and that is Any Given Sunday. Despite it’s stellar cast including Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz it is a film that has gone very much under the radar.
The scene that makes this film great for me is just before the team go out and try and win the Superbowl. Al Pacino, who takes on the role of the downtrodden coach in the film, makes I think one of the finest and most inspiring movie speeches of all time in an attempt to motivate his players. Enjoy.


I don't know what to say really.
Three minutes
to the biggest battle of our professional lives
all comes down to today.
Either
we heal
as a team
or we are going to crumble.
Inch by inch
play by play
till we're finished.
We are in hell right now, gentlemen
believe me
and
we can stay here
and get the shit kicked out of us
or
we can fight our way
back into the light.
We can climb out of hell.
One inch, at a time.

Now I can't do it for you.
I'm too old.
I look around and I see these young faces
and I think
I mean
I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.
I uh....
I pissed away all my money
believe it or not.
I chased off
anyone who has ever loved me.
And lately,
I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.

You know when you get old in life
things get taken from you.
That's, that's part of life.
But,
you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
You find out that life is just a game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game
life or football
the margin for error is so small.
I mean
one half step too late or to early
you don't quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast
and you don't quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in ever break of the game
every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch
On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us
to pieces for that inch.
We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.
Cause we know
when we add up all those inches
that's going to make the fucking difference
between WINNING and LOSING
between LIVING and DYING.

I'll tell you this
in any fight
it is the guy who is willing to die
who is going to win that inch.
And I know
if I am going to have any life anymore
it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch
because that is what LIVING is.
The six inches in front of your face.

Now I can't make you do it.
You gotta look at the guy next to you.
Look into his eyes.
Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.
You are going to see a guy
who will sacrifice himself for this team
because he knows when it comes down to it,
you are gonna do the same thing for him.

That's a team, gentlemen
and either we heal now, as a team,
or we will die as individuals.
That's football guys.
That's all it is.
Now, whattaya gonna do?

Ronaldo release to rejuvenate Rooney

Amidst all the headlines this morning about Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Manchester United for Real Madrid it comes as no coincidence to me that United have accepted the offer on the back of two outstanding performances from England's very own boy wonder Wayne Rooney.
For the past two or three seasons now Rooney has been forced to sit back and watch as Ronaldo has accumulated glory, headlines and personal accolades as Manchester United completed global domination of the game. Rooney, being the selfless character that he is, has willingly sacrificed himself for the good of the team, to allow the Portugese genius,to take centre stage. And no matter what anybody says about Ronaldo there can be no denying that he is the greatest foreign footballer to ever grace the Premier League stage. He has dazzled with his skills and goals, which were even more impressive coming on the back of the controversial incident with Rooney at the last World Cup.
However it has now become evidently clear that it is time for Ronaldo to move on. He has achieved everything he possibly can in the English game and the lure of Madrid is too much for a young man who grew up supporting the team. What is also clear is that despite concerns that Madrid are reverting to their former 'Galactico' era is that they could be on the verge of something very, very special and Ronaldo does not want to miss out on this.
What worried Manchester United fans must remember though, is that they have the greatest manager in the history of the game and that nobody leaves Old Trafford without the say so of the manager. With the £80 million they will receieve for Ronaldo the club will be able to secure the services of Carlos Teves and possibly lure Karim Benzema and Frank Ribery to the Theatre of Dreams and also buy the high quality holding midfielder they desperately crave in the continued absence of Owen Hargreaves.
The most important thing about the whole move is that Rooney can finally be let off his leash. For too long he has been forced out to the left, with defensive duties a key aspect of his role, preventing him from doing the damage higher up the pitch.
With Rooney playing back in his central role, it might not be too long before the working class lad from Liverpool usurps the Portugese superstar as the greatest footballer in the world.

Today saw history made in the world of professional sport as Roger Federer became the first man since Andre Agassi in 1999 to complete the full set of Grand Slam tournaments, and equal Pete Sampras’ record of Grand Slam titles.
In my mind, and that of other sports fans this undoubtedly places him above the shoulders of all the others and elevates him to the pantheon of the greatest male tennis player in the history of the game.
It seems that everytime Federer plays now he etches his name further into the history of the game.
However it is not the records and the amount of trophies racked up that makes him the most revered player to ever swing a racket. I, for one, think that Rafael Nadal will break every record Federer has ever set as long as he manages to stay fit and healthy, though his latest knee injury shows that this may not be possible. It is the way that the Swiss maestro plays that sets him apart from the rest. He plays with such a grace and elegance that is no longer seen in the modern game today. Players such as Nadal, Murray and Djokovic are counter punchers, who play from the baseline and wait for their opponent to make a mistake. Federer takes the game to his opponents and does so with such style that he has become a joy to watch.
After today’s victory it makes a mockery of those who said that he was finished as a player. He has played in the last five Grand Slam finals, winning two of them. Not bad for someone who is over the hill.
So now onto Wimbledon and the one that Federer really wants. Losing his title last year hurt him more than anything else in his career. He wants his title back. Only a fool would bet against him.

The Dreaded Drop

So it finally happened. After all the years of mismanagement both at boardroom level and in the dressing room Newcastle United finally succumbed to the dreaded relegation.

When I decided to buy my ticket for the Villa away game I did so in the hope that it would all be done and dusted by the last game of the season anyway and that we could just enjoy the game rather than have to worry about the ramifications of staying up or going down.

However, when it became clear that it was going to go down to the last game of the season things became more and more nerve-wracking. I had spent the days leading up to the game in a state of resignation giving us little chance of staying up.

When I woke up at 6am yesterday morning, though, I did so with a renewed sense of optimism. Anything can happen in football and with Hull, Middlesbrough and Sunderland all facing tough fixtures I was confident that a point would be enough to keep us at the top level of English football for another season at least.

And I was right. A point would have been enough. However, the first fifteen minutes aside, we managed to produce one of our worst performances all season with Brad Friedel reduced to the role of a mere spectator for the second half of the game.

However, I left the stadium a proud man. The support from Newcastle United fans was truly unbelievable and will live with me till the day I die. We sang from the beginning till the end. Had the players on the pitch showed as much commitment as the fans did off it we would never have found ourselves in the position that we did.

So, now the rebuilding job begins. It is essential that we give Shearer the job. While at times he has looked like the managerial rookie that he is, there have been signs over the last few games that he is learning quickly. His decision to put Ameobi on yesterday will still be one that forever baffles me but he is not the first manager to make the mistake in thinking that Shola has something to offer.

The one thing that sets Shearer out from the rest is his character. He is not afraid to make big decisions as evidenced with his treatment of friend Michael Owen who has found himself on the periphery since Shearer returned to the club. The most important thing is that Shearer truly cares about the club, and in a season where Newcastle United has become a laughing stock, the full time appointment of the club’s greatest ever player will go some way to restoring the dignity to a team that so desperately needs it.

Time to walk away...

The events of early Sunday morning were extremely sad for Ricky Hatton and his millions of fans across Britain and the sporting world. Not only was he out of his depth, but found himself completely destroyed by the best pound for pound fighter in the world, Manny Pacquiao.

Of course there is no shame in losing to such a great fighter. Pacquiao is the man after all who destroyed one of the greatest boxers of all time when he demolished Oscar De La Hoya.

However it was the manner of his defeat that will have been most worrying for the Mancunian and his legion of loyal followers. He looked a shadow of his former self. A fighter who has seen his best days. Despite all the world titles and great performances (his victory over Kostya Tszyu will live long in the memory) when Hatton has come up against truly world class opponents he has fallen short.

There is no shame in this. He will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the legends of British boxing. Hatton was a brawler of the highest quality. Unfortunately against Mayweather and Pacquiao brawling wasn’t enough.

So what of Mayweather and Pacquiao. Well it appears that Pacquiao’s anointing as the new pound for pound king has stirred something in Mayweather who has announced that he will be coming out of retirement and will face Juan Manuel Marquez in July.

If Mayweather beats him, which he should it would set up a clash between perhaps the two most talented boxers of their generation, if Pacquiao were to accept the challenge which he surely would.

Hatton shared the ring with the very best that boxing had to offer, and gave it everything he had. There is no shame in being a gallant loser. Hatton still has his dignity intact. He should walk away from the sport while it remains that way.

Shear legend returns

Well it looks like Alan Shearer is going to ride in on his white horse and attempt to rescue his beloved Newcastle United from relegation. It is a decision that I think has surprised many fans of Newcastle United after Shearer was critical of the current ownership regime after the departure of Kevin Keegan as manager back in September 2008.

Many had also thought that Shearer had perhaps turned his back on the idea of management having turned down coaching and management roles at England, Newcastle and Blackburn since his retirement from the game in 2006, with him building a successful career in the media and keeping himself busy with his various pieces of charity work.

However it appears he has had a change of heart and will take charge of the team for the remaining eight games of the season as the players battle desperately to avoid dropping into the Championship. It is undoubtedly a clever bit of timing by Shearer to finally step up into the management game. He literally can’t lose. If we stay up he just adds to his already incredible legacy, and if we go down the blame can’t be attributed to him.

I for one think that by appointing him we have at least given ourselves a chance. Hughton and Calderwood proved in the last game that they are tactically inadequate. To bring Ameobi on when we had Guittierez kicking his heels on the bench was one of the most baffling decisions I have seen for years.

When Alan Shearer stepped up to take his penalty in his testimonial game the commentator marked the moment with these words.

“And Alan Shearer who has rescued Newcastle so many times before, has a chance to do so again.”

If anybody can rescue us now, Alan Shearer is that man.

Roddick Re-emerges

For many tennis can be quite a monotonous game. A great deal of people just cannot understand the appeal of watching two players hitting a ball as hard as they can at each other over a net for at least two hours at a time. I, however, have always enjoyed the game. When I was growing up the great rivalry was between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi who played some epic matches over the years. Following that there was the dominance of Roger Federer before the emergence of the player who will possibly emerge as the greatest of all time Rafael Nadal.

However what I have felt that the sport always lacked was real personalities, which is why I have been delighted to see the re-emergence this year of American Andy Roddick as a real force to be reckoned with on the Tour. Roddick is undoubtedly an outstanding player and would surely have added to his solitary Grand Slam had he not come across Roger Federer on the three other occasions that he has battled his way to a Grand Slam final.

However since 2006 and his last Grand Slam final appearance Andy Roddick has been written off by many with 2008 being one of the worst seasons of his career. In the Grand Slam events he only managed a quarter final place in the US Open, missed the French through injury, progressed to the third round at the Australian and gave one of his worst ever performances at Wimbledon, being knocked out in the second round.

It would have been a mistake, though, to write him off completely, and Roddick has come roaring back this year. He progressed to the final of the Qatar Open where he was defeated by Andy Murray before progressing to the semi finals of the Australian Open, beating defending champion Novak Djokovic along the way.

He will no doubt depart the French Open in the early rounds like he always does, but will be a genuine threat on the grass and hard courts of Wimbledon and the US Open. Andy Roddick is back.