Sport and sportsmanship (and other stuff)

More Sport (Just so Monica, Marcheline et al can ✂ skip this paragraph)

Liverpool's 2-1 win at West Ham on Sunday was their ninth in a row and took them back to the top of the table, just five wins away from an astonishing title triumph.  The match was a fiasco.  Liverpool were winning 1-0 when West Ham took a corner.  Andy Carroll (ex Liverpool!) jumped up and hit the goalie on the head before knocking the ball out of his hands and down at the feet of one of the West Ham players who ‘scored’.  Even Rugby doesn’t allow assault and knocking the ball out of a player’s hands. The linesman waved for a foul, the referee gave a goal.  The linesman and referee then had a lengthy debate and the referee over-ruled the linesman and gave the goal. 

I liked the way the Daily Mail phrased it the next day – “Carroll had a hand in West Ham's goal as he set up Guy Demel for the goal”.   The referee was obviously made aware at half time of what an idiot he had been so early in the second half he gave Liverpool a penalty which they didn’t deserve – he obviously believes two wrongs make a right.  Gerard scored and Liverpool won the match 2-1.  A fair result but a ridiculous way of winning.

Meanwhile (literally, since they were all on at the same time) Hamilton won the Grand Prix in Bahrain and Oxford won the Boat Race.  Hamilton's team-mate at Mercedes, Nico Rosberg, said: "I thought I'd got him about nine times but they didn't work. He always got the run back on me and he did a good job, that's it. Lewis is obviously a great driver and made it work and next time I need to do better."  Despite racing wheel to wheel several times, Rosberg said he never felt they were going to collide.  "I was just pushing to the limit, going for it and just making sure we don't crash, but all the way, as hard as possible and it worked out," he said.  "At no time were we at risk of taking both cars out. There was always the necessary margin. It might not have looked like it on TV but there was. It was good racing."  With ten laps to go the panicking team on the pit-wall went on the radio to both drivers saying 'Let's bring both cars home'.  You could almost hear them saying ‘Please, pretty, pretty please, guys’.

Oxford powered to victory in the 160th Boat Race on the River Thames. One of the Cambridge rowers almost fell out of his boat and lost control of his oar as the two crews clashed in the early stages. The incident allowed Oxford to surge forward and build up a comfortable lead. Oxford has now cut Cambridge's overall lead to 81-78 in the series between the two famous rivals, with just the one tied affair still in the overall standings.  The universities first raced in 1829, and the Boat Race is one of the oldest sporting events in the world.

I love the caption to this Mail-on-line photo -

 "Cambridge's Luke Juckett loses control of his ore 

during the Boat Race against Oxford on the 

River Thames, London."  If he was using an ore

 instead of an oar it's no wonder Cambridge lost.

And sportsmanship
One of the reasons I am proud to be a Liverpool supporter is because of the sportsmanship they show.  Most football club supporters boo players who used to play for them and now play for the opposition.  There was an example on Sunday where a player who gave a team six years of excellent service was booed by his former team’s supporters for the whole match every time he touched the ball.  How unsportsman-like that is. 

By contrast, the previous week, Cardiff came to play at Anfield and one of their players was Craig Bellamy.  Bellamy had two periods as a Liverpool  player – in 2006/7 and 2011/12.  Did the Liverpool supporters boo.  No, they cheered when he came out onto the pitch, they rose from their seats and applauded when he came down to the Kop end to take a corner, and they stood and applauded when he was substituted before the end of the match.  That is how to treat an ex-player.

Back to the 1870s
I mentioned the other day the increase in postal charges in the UK.  Later, I came across a note I once made about the 1870s and postal services then.   In parts of London there were twelve deliveries daily.  Other town districts received eleven deliveries a day but suburban areas ‘only’ received six deliveries daily.   It cost a ha’penny to send a postcard.  An old half penny is equivalent to one 480^th (or 0.002) of a pound.  Nowadays the cost of sending a postcard first class (i.e. next day delivery for the majority of mail) is 62 new pence, 0.62 of  a pound.  I think it cost 1½ old pence (or 0.006 of a pound) to send a postcard to the USA.  Nowadays that is £1.28.  An increase of 21333% (I think – as previously stated my maths leaves a lot to be desired).  All prices inflate over the years and I think it would be fair enough if the increase in cost was matched by at least a retention of the service.  So I look forward to my eleven additional deliveries a day…

Hand-made in Bali
I know one should shop local whenever possible but today I bought something that travelled about 10,987 miles (7,683 km).  Prior to today I have bought a lot of straps for my spectacles – most of them with a ‘Made in England’ sticker on.  I have bought pretty ones, sturdy-looking ones, thin ones, and thick ones.  I have bought ones with elastic ends and ones with plastic ends.  Some were cheap, some were expensive.  Some came from opticians, some came from chemists and a couple from a market stall. None have lasted more than six to eight weeks.  Today I got one from a craft shop.  It was hand-made in Bali.  The price was about middle of the range of what I have paid so far.  I wonder what the odds are on it lasting more than eight weeks?   

(It was fun scanning this picture – those are my reading glasses I use for the computer.  So my eyes were two inches from the screen as I adjusted the settings on the scanner.)

Have a good week, folk.