A good result for my team Hull City yesterday. According to my two West Ham supporting friends, Hull were quite lucky to get anything from the game.
My dad was at the game supporting Hull and he was not particularly happy with the referee either.
I'm off to see Hull play Arsenal at the Emirates on 19 Dec so I'll be sure to post up lots of photos and videos on here.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
2018 World Cup bid videos...
...make your own mind up:
Hull
Birmingham
Bristol
London
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
Manchester
Milton Keynes
Newcastle
Nottingham
Sheffield (clubs in alphabetical order)
Sunday, November 8, 2009
F1 Review 2009 - The Top 5s
Top 5 drivers:
5. Rubens Barrichello: A good year overall for Barrichello who showed that he can still win. His early season slip-ups however, notably his heavy-handed tactics in Australia, confine him to 5th.
4. Lewis Hamilton: A great comeback in the second half of the year, after a testing time (partly of his own making). Could have been right there at the end despite the car's early performance. Needs to stop silly errors such as those in China, Monaco, Germany and Italy.
3. Mark Webber: Had a number of storming drives and fully deserved his first and second F1 victories. Ironically, given his previous history, it was his qualifying that let him down.
2. Sebastian Vettel: After a brilliant breakthrough season last year, we knew Vettel was going to be a contender. If he can cut-out silly errors like the ones he made in Australia, Monaco and Turkey, he will be a champion.
1. Jenson Button: It has to be Jenson. Undoubtedly a deserving champion after his commanding early season performances and that stunning drive in Brazil. Its great to finally see him achieve the potential that was so clear. He has clearly learnt a lot from the 2004 season when he was the only driver to push the Ferraris, and was just waiting for a car deserving of his talent.
4. Lewis Hamilton: A great comeback in the second half of the year, after a testing time (partly of his own making). Could have been right there at the end despite the car's early performance. Needs to stop silly errors such as those in China, Monaco, Germany and Italy.
3. Mark Webber: Had a number of storming drives and fully deserved his first and second F1 victories. Ironically, given his previous history, it was his qualifying that let him down.
2. Sebastian Vettel: After a brilliant breakthrough season last year, we knew Vettel was going to be a contender. If he can cut-out silly errors like the ones he made in Australia, Monaco and Turkey, he will be a champion.
1. Jenson Button: It has to be Jenson. Undoubtedly a deserving champion after his commanding early season performances and that stunning drive in Brazil. Its great to finally see him achieve the potential that was so clear. He has clearly learnt a lot from the 2004 season when he was the only driver to push the Ferraris, and was just waiting for a car deserving of his talent.
Notable mentions: Felipe Massa for regularly beating Raikkonen; Alonso for struggling away; Fisichella (when in the Force India).
Top 5 races:
5. Silverstone: Not an especially interesting race in itself, but it showed that Brawn and Button would not run away with the titles.
4. Belgium: The battles at the front were framed by the story of Force India finally coming to the fore.
3. Germany: A dramatic start and a crushing first victory for Webber - one of the most popular drivers in the championship.
2. Australia: Barrichello's antics, Kubica and Vettel crashing, Lewis-gate controversy and the beginning of the Brawn story.
1. Brazil: A fitting climax to the season. Nothing was going to beat last season's dramatics, but Jenson's stirring drive showed he deserved the championship. It's just a shame that, despite the intrigue of this season, the individual races were not the best.
Notable mentions: Not really... Singapore?
Top 5 stories:
5. Diffuser: Difficult for the layman to understand, but made for plenty of column inches.
4. Lewis-gate: Just the beginning of a bizarre series of scandals.
3. Brawn GP: A fairytale story that would have been unbelievable in Hollywood.
2. Breakaway Threat: It was worrying times for the sport at one stage this season, fortunately the teams' threat was averted as with the GPWC.
1. Race-fixing: Renault and Piquet's actions will no doubt go down in both F1's history and the history of all sport as one of the most blatant attempts to manipulate a result of a sporting event.
Notable mentions: Schumacher's abortive return; McLaren's return to form; Massa's recovery;
Top 5 overtaking moves:
5. Raikkonen on Fisichella in Belgium: I'm struggling to remember any other significant overtakes than the ones here. Bring back Montoya anyone?
4. Button on Hamilton in Bahrain: A great pass on a KERs car early on in the race which was critical to Button's victory.
3. Kovalainen on Fisichella in Japan: Completely took the Italian by surprise on the exit of the pit lane. A brilliantly instinctive move.
2. Any of the moves in Malaysia: Poor conditions = brave
1. Button on Grosjean in Brazil: Perhaps Grojean has not been the best driver on the grid this year, and for this reason you could argue that the pass was easy. But it is because of just that that makes it my number one. Jenson after Spa that Grojean was not to be trusted, and yet when fighting for the championship he dared to drive all around the outside of the Renault driver in one of the quickest corners at Interlagos.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Radio Xpress American Sport Show
For most weeks during term-time I will be giving my opinion on the NBA for the American Sports Show on Xpress Radio here in Cardiff. You can listen on Sunday nights at 22.30 to 23.30 by going to the Xpress Radio website.
Two weeks ago I did my season preview and I'm hoping to have it up on here as soon as possible.
Until then, take a peek at NBA TV's (slightly better and more comprehensive) coverage:
GP2: A Success Story
Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Timo Glock and now Nico Hulkenberg. GP2's success in promoting its champions directly to Formula 1 is proof that the series has been a success.
Today's announcement that Hulkenberg will join Barrichello at Williams for 2010, means that four out of the five GP2 champions have advance directly to F1.
GP2's ancestor, Formula 3000, struggled between the 2000 and 2004 seasons to produce conditions whereby the champion of the series was an instant shoe-in for a Formula 1 seat.
Champions such as Justin Wilson, Sebastien Bourdais and Vitantonio Liuzzi all made it into F1 eventually - usually by testing or racing in other series - but other champions were not so lucky.
The cars were seen as difficult to drive, and the best drivers would generally have to race them for two or three seasons before challenging for the title. Drivers tried to avoid the category if at all possible - preferring to jump straight from F3 to F1.
The perfect example of this is this year's F1 champion, Jenson Button. He says in his autobiography that he and his managers really wanted to miss the championship out.
That is not to say that good drivers did not come from there - Fernando Alonso is an F3000 alumni for example - but the category had become stale and viewed by many as a better feeder series for the American based ChampCar series.
Certainly history would back up that view: Justin Wilson, Bruno Junqueira, Sebastien Bourdais and Juan Pablo Montoya all went on to have successful careers in the United States.
The new GP2 car however, was designed in such a way that makes it closer to F1 and F3 cars so first year drivers can be successful, and also more conducive to good racing. As a result, of the past champions only Giorgio Pantano has not been given a F1 drive as a result of winning the series - and he was returning to the series after a stint in F1.
All that brings me to the following question: If the GP2 series has been so successful at doing what it set-out to achieve, why do we need F2?
Today's announcement that Hulkenberg will join Barrichello at Williams for 2010, means that four out of the five GP2 champions have advance directly to F1.
GP2's ancestor, Formula 3000, struggled between the 2000 and 2004 seasons to produce conditions whereby the champion of the series was an instant shoe-in for a Formula 1 seat.
Champions such as Justin Wilson, Sebastien Bourdais and Vitantonio Liuzzi all made it into F1 eventually - usually by testing or racing in other series - but other champions were not so lucky.
The cars were seen as difficult to drive, and the best drivers would generally have to race them for two or three seasons before challenging for the title. Drivers tried to avoid the category if at all possible - preferring to jump straight from F3 to F1.
The perfect example of this is this year's F1 champion, Jenson Button. He says in his autobiography that he and his managers really wanted to miss the championship out.
That is not to say that good drivers did not come from there - Fernando Alonso is an F3000 alumni for example - but the category had become stale and viewed by many as a better feeder series for the American based ChampCar series.
Certainly history would back up that view: Justin Wilson, Bruno Junqueira, Sebastien Bourdais and Juan Pablo Montoya all went on to have successful careers in the United States.
The new GP2 car however, was designed in such a way that makes it closer to F1 and F3 cars so first year drivers can be successful, and also more conducive to good racing. As a result, of the past champions only Giorgio Pantano has not been given a F1 drive as a result of winning the series - and he was returning to the series after a stint in F1.
All that brings me to the following question: If the GP2 series has been so successful at doing what it set-out to achieve, why do we need F2?
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