Hands up who is missing the football season? Ok, all of us, but the summer sports have done their best to make up for a lack of football. We have seen a dramatic batting collapse, two Brits winning tennis tournaments and an Englishman replacing another one at the top of the golf world rankings after beating him in a play-off.
As Rory McIlroy prepares for his final round in Maryland and Britain bracing itself for Wimbledon, here's hoping the entertainment doesn't stop and that Forest finally sign somebody (well, football never takes a break really).
Cricketers tower above Sri Lankans
When Jonathan Agnew hasn't been talking out about the difficulties of putting a rubber on, the England cricketers have slowly closing in on another series victory, this time over a Sri Lankan side who hadn't played a Test away from home in three years and whose two best players had been playing T20 cricket until about a week before the first day's play.
It was even more bizarre that England's best seam bowler, James Anderson, was injured with a side strain and couldn't bowl again in the second innings. Cardiff has only hosted two Tests but is starting to get a reputation as a ground for dramatic endings. Apart from watching Chris Tremlett and Graeme Swann blast through the Sri Lankan batsmen, we were treated two years ago to Monty Panesar and Anderson denying Australia in the first Ashes Test. Nevermind that Paul Collingwood batted for most of the day for a boring 70 odd, we only remember the two bowlers hanging on as Mitchell Johnson sprayed the ball everywhere. Well, some things never change.
The last match at Lords was a dull draw, but was noticeable for England fielding their tallest ever team, only for the pitch to be low and slow. However, the main talking point came from the smashed window in the home dressing room which came as a result of Matt Prior either: throwing a glove, which hit a bat, which smashed the window or, more likely, getting his bat and in a violent rage chucking it at the window. Because the game was so dull, this became the biggest topic of conversation which again highlights why we need to see the Indian team get here as quick as possible.
However, the Indians have already caused controversy by refusing to use the Review system for the Test series. This is like Fifa implementing goal-line technology, but not using it in a World Cup qualifier because one of the teams didn't want it. The fact that India are the dominant force in cricket and current World champions means they should be using the system alongside every other Test playing nation. I'm already hoping that in the first morning of the first day of the first Test, Sachin Tendulkar gets a shocking decision and there is nothing he can do about it. Maybe then they will change their minds.
England eye US success
England is known as a country which is good at pub sports and little else. So while we have dominated snooker and darts, we are no longer recognised as the best at anything which involves a great deal of fitness. So it may come as no surprise to see our recent successes at cricket and golf. Ok, both sports require some degree of fitness, but you get my point. However, this is not to say that I am not thrilled by watching Luke Donald and Lee Westwood fill the top two spots in the world rankings, especially as the latter is from Worksop and is a Forest fan (good lad!)
Add in Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Justin Rose etc and you have a core of talented golfers who are good enough to win any tournament. This leads us to the US Open which started on Thursday. Donald went into it as the number one ranked player in the world after defeating Westwood in a play-off. He had been in the top 10 in 15 of his last 16 tournaments, which meant it was inevitable he would do poorly this week. As Tiger Woods' ranking gets closer and closer to the number of women he's shagged, it means the tournament was wide open. Wrong! Watching Rory McIlroy play golf is like watching me play it on the Xbox, except with a much bigger audience and by using clubs instead of a controller. The number of people who have now said that he can overtake Jack Nichlaus' record of 18 majors are slightly premature, seeing as he has only won 1 and that was only his 3rd ever tournament victory.
Even more suspect is the Americans' support for young Rory. While we have to support our football team despite them being useless in pressure situations, the Yanks have decided to support a British player with Tiger struggling. Even more annoying was the guy interviewing McIlroy when he received the trophy asking him if he was going to come and play more in America, after the Northern Irishman decided to concentrate playing on the European Tour instead. I think the Americans should just accept that they are no longer as good as the Europeans and deal with it. I'm just waiting for the day Andy Murray wins the US Open and the crowd decide to try and make him their own.
However, it's a shame that despite all our great players in most sports, we pin our hopes on a Scot in the tennis and a Northern Irishman in the golf. But I suppose we have the darts for now, at least until Phil Taylor retires.
English tennis players getting high on grass
Yes it's that time of the year. Those two weeks where we all think Andy Murray will actually win Wimbledon (wouldn't back him if he was 20-1) and where we complain that no other Brits are any good. But wait a minute. Murray has just won Queens (still can't see him beating any of the world's top 3), Elena Baltacha has won a tournament in Nottingham and James Ward got to a semi-final after beating two of the world's top 20 players. Not that any of this will mean much when we get to the first day of Wimbledon, but it's nice to see that we aren't as bad as we make out, just not as good as most of Europe.
When we get to two weeks on Sunday, I full expect Roger Federer not to win, although if he played like he did at the French Open he certainly has a chance. What we have learnt in the past few years is that Federer can never truly be the best player in history. For a start, comparing players from past generations is pointless. Secondly, he is not even the best player in his own era. Watching him play Rafa Nadal over the past few years has just shown that the Spaniard is clearly the superior player, regardless of what happens in the next fortnight. Having beaten Federer at Wimbledon and the Australian Open finals, as well as Roland Garros, we have seen Nadal show that he is a true great. Not only does his game have no obvious weakness, even when he doesn't play brilliantly he has a way of winning. If we want Murray to win, maybe we will have to put something in his paella to stop him from making it to the court.
Flop(ianski) of the week
There aren't any obvious candidates as far as I can tell, but for his stupid and corrosive tweets, it has to go to Joey Barton. I know, what a shock. Maybe tweeting isn't quite the same as putting out a cigarette in a team-mate's eye or giving Ousmane Dabo a black eye, but when you have lost your best player, I don't think it helps to tweet saying you, Jonas Gutierrez and Jose Enrique are leaving. I think it shows the problem with the internet, that any idiot can use it. As I have proved myself.
Hall of Lame
Speaking of stupid tweets, it seems only right to pick an example of somebody embarrassing himself on the site. There are no shortage of people we can choose from, but the best example has to be Darren Bent. Trying to move from Tottenham to Sunderland, he decided the best thing to do was tell all of his followers the following:
"Seriously getting p***** off now,"
"Why can’t anything be simple. It’s so frustrating hanging round doing jack s***."
"Sunderland are not the problem in the slightest," there then followed more stringent criticism of Levy. "Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go stoke NO do I wanna go sunderland YES so stop f****** around levy."
Instead of insulting Hull, who have moved on from Bent's snub and signed Dele Adebola, he might have remembered that he had signed a contract and that his club did not have to sell him, just as he didn't have to leave if the club had accepted a bid from elsewhere. Maybe Spurs did not want to let him leave until they had signed Mrs Redknapp to replace him.
The week ahead
By the end of the week, only one Brit is preparing for the fourth round. And it's not Andy Murray. Elena Baltacha goes on a winning run whilst Muzza waits to get on for his second round match because John Isner and Nicolas Mahut decide to prove last year's efforts were nothing and play a 15 hour match of 4 days, which the American wins again. Fair play to Mahut though, it's rare to see a Frenchman not surrendering when under pressure.
Phil Taylor announces his retirement from darts and we realise we are now not the best at any sports, except like cycling.
Cesc Fabregas announces he is leaving Arsenal and Luka Modric says he will not play for Spurs again, before both saying they were misquoted and that they love their clubs. Chelsea buy Lukaku, City buy Sanchez, United buy Young and Arsenal buy... some French teenager nobody has ever heard of.
Alex McLeish resigns from Aston Villa, saying he has been undermined by the board and decides to join Celtic.
Quotes of the week
Arsene Wenger - "I feel that we will win the league in five years time with our young squad."
Darren Bent - "I don't want to play at Villa cause there's a ginger manager. No, I won't go to Wolves. No, I don't want to go to Stoke. Mr Lerner, I want to go Spurs, you prick, now sell me before I have a full-on strop."
Fabio Capello - "The Under-21 side have proved that I'm not a rubbish manager. Now I will go to Chelsea and make Torres great again."
And again because you have been patient...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm_7LIVwriU&feature=youtu.be
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