1. “He wanted so badly for that reality to be believed by others. Like the story of teleporting himself out of a bar. The way he remembered the story, he walked into a shady bar in rural Missouri in the middle of the day. There were some men in the back corner, and something about how they looked at Tommy made him scared. He called it ‘an overwhelming feeling of evil.’ So Tommy closed his eyes and put his head down and the next thing he remembered he woke up outside in the sunshine.
‘Things like this don’t work for anybody that doesn’t believe it,’ he said. He looked at Trisha, then at me.
2. “Manchester United are not badly run in a commercial sense. In fact, they are the envy of the rest of the Premier League, if not Europe. Yet the football has been badly run this summer. Not since the film The Wicker Man has a chap by the name of Edward Woodward looked so out of his depth; except this was no act.
Woodward, the new Manchester United chief executive, has had his own excruciating baptism of fire. He ended up paying £27.5m on September 2 for a player who would have cost £23.5m on July 31, and might have got the goals United have so plainly needed in their last two matches.”
3. “Breaking Bad is superficially about Walter White, cancer-stricken chemistry teacher, who becomes Heisenberg, crystal-meth kingpin. Show creator Vince Gilligan said famously that the concept of the show was “how Mr. Chips becomes Scarface.” But I always saw it as the story of a man—Walter White—coming to grips with the fact that being a good teacher and caring dad is something that while in theory we are supposed to respect, actually gets you nowhere in twenty-first-century America. (Like The Godfather, The Sopranos and the best organized crime fiction,Breaking Bad constantly acts as an allegory of life in the USA.)”
4. “When Djokovic was six, he told his parents that it was his mission to become the No. 1 tennis player in the world. When he was eleven, nato began bombing Belgrade. Each night at eight o’clock, as the air-raid siren sounded, the family would run to an aunt’s apartment building, which had a bomb shelter. For seventy-eight nights, they crouched in darkness, praying amid the screams of F-117s. Djokovic kept up his tennis throughout the bombardment, playing on cracked courts bereft of nets. He writes, in “Serve to Win,” published this month by Ballantine, ‘We’d go to the site of the most recent attacks, figuring that if they bombed one place yesterday, they probably wouldn’t bomb it today.’”
5. “In a cruel twist for Spurs fans, the transfer wouldn’t have been possible without Tottenham’s help. Gervinho conspiracies theories aside, Bale’s transfer—and, more importantly, his transfer fee—along with the Real Madrid’s signing of of 20-year-old stud Isco, made Özil surplus to requirements.
And with the signing, we see a difference in strategy between the Gunners and Spurs. Tottenham sold their most valuable piece—basically their only valuable piece—and swapped him for a new team. Arsenal, after a disaster of a transfer window in which they failed to plug their holes, signed one legend.”
6. “The season opens basically with a two-part – it’s an hour-long, two half-hours — with Andre’s [Scheer] and Trixie’s [Mays] wedding. When last we left the gang, Andre and Trixie were engaged, even though Trixie is allergic to Andre’s sperm, but true love conquers all and they’re gonna get married. We’re gonna see their wedding is the most labor-intensive, user-unfriendly wedding on the planet, as they try to make it spectacular and pop. And in this, we’re gonna have NFL defensive player of the year from last year, JJ Watts, who is a giant man who’s actually very funny.”
7. “Steve now rarely daydreamed about playing for West Ham. In 1990, he had his first child, Chloe, and in 1993, a boy named Samuel Brooking, named after his West Ham hero, Trevor. To support his new family he became a same-day courier, driving night and day, delivering packages for companies. Finally, he could put to good use the knowledge of British geography he had acquired following the Irons cross-country.”
Window pain, Walter White and remembering Tommy Morrison… our favourite sports writing this week
1. “He wanted so badly for that reality to be believed by others. Like the story of teleporting himself out of a bar. The way he remembered the story, he walked into a shady bar in rural Missouri in the middle of the day. There were some men in the back corner, and something about how they looked at Tommy made him scared. He called it ‘an overwhelming feeling of evil.’ So Tommy closed his eyes and put his head down and the next thing he remembered he woke up outside in the sunshine.
‘Things like this don’t work for anybody that doesn’t believe it,’ he said. He looked at Trisha, then at me.
‘Do you believe me?’ he asked.
‘No,’ I told him. ‘I don’t.’
‘I believe it,’ Trisha said. ‘I know it’s true. I’ve seen it.’
Tommy smiled. That’s all he needed.”
Tommy Morrison passed away this week at just 44. His hometown newspaper the Kansas City Star’s Sam Mellinger remembers the man behind the world titles and movie glamour.
2. “Manchester United are not badly run in a commercial sense. In fact, they are the envy of the rest of the Premier League, if not Europe. Yet the football has been badly run this summer. Not since the film The Wicker Man has a chap by the name of Edward Woodward looked so out of his depth; except this was no act.
Woodward, the new Manchester United chief executive, has had his own excruciating baptism of fire. He ended up paying £27.5m on September 2 for a player who would have cost £23.5m on July 31, and might have got the goals United have so plainly needed in their last two matches.”
There’s been plenty written about the farcical way Manchester United went about their business this week. Martin Samuel crowbars in a couple of references to a 1973 horror movie.
3. “Breaking Bad is superficially about Walter White, cancer-stricken chemistry teacher, who becomes Heisenberg, crystal-meth kingpin. Show creator Vince Gilligan said famously that the concept of the show was “how Mr. Chips becomes Scarface.” But I always saw it as the story of a man—Walter White—coming to grips with the fact that being a good teacher and caring dad is something that while in theory we are supposed to respect, actually gets you nowhere in twenty-first-century America. (Like The Godfather, The Sopranos and the best organized crime fiction,Breaking Bad constantly acts as an allegory of life in the USA.)”
The Nation’s Dave Zirin — you might know him from the BS Report — on why NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is basically Walter White. Next week on TheScore.ie, why John Delaney is Don Draper.
4. “When Djokovic was six, he told his parents that it was his mission to become the No. 1 tennis player in the world. When he was eleven, nato began bombing Belgrade. Each night at eight o’clock, as the air-raid siren sounded, the family would run to an aunt’s apartment building, which had a bomb shelter. For seventy-eight nights, they crouched in darkness, praying amid the screams of F-117s. Djokovic kept up his tennis throughout the bombardment, playing on cracked courts bereft of nets. He writes, in “Serve to Win,” published this month by Ballantine, ‘We’d go to the site of the most recent attacks, figuring that if they bombed one place yesterday, they probably wouldn’t bomb it today.’”
What makes Novak Djokovic tick? Read all nine pages of this New Yorker profile and you might be some way closer to understanding.
5. “In a cruel twist for Spurs fans, the transfer wouldn’t have been possible without Tottenham’s help. Gervinho conspiracies theories aside, Bale’s transfer—and, more importantly, his transfer fee—along with the Real Madrid’s signing of of 20-year-old stud Isco, made Özil surplus to requirements.
And with the signing, we see a difference in strategy between the Gunners and Spurs. Tottenham sold their most valuable piece—basically their only valuable piece—and swapped him for a new team. Arsenal, after a disaster of a transfer window in which they failed to plug their holes, signed one legend.”
Have Arsenal psyched Spurs out of it with one signing in the window, asks Deadspin’s Greg Howard.
6. “The season opens basically with a two-part – it’s an hour-long, two half-hours — with Andre’s [Scheer] and Trixie’s [Mays] wedding. When last we left the gang, Andre and Trixie were engaged, even though Trixie is allergic to Andre’s sperm, but true love conquers all and they’re gonna get married. We’re gonna see their wedding is the most labor-intensive, user-unfriendly wedding on the planet, as they try to make it spectacular and pop. And in this, we’re gonna have NFL defensive player of the year from last year, JJ Watts, who is a giant man who’s actually very funny.”
Salon.com this week interviewed Jeff and Jackie Schaffer, creators of ‘The League’ — an acclaimed sitcom about Fantasy Football.
7. “Steve now rarely daydreamed about playing for West Ham. In 1990, he had his first child, Chloe, and in 1993, a boy named Samuel Brooking, named after his West Ham hero, Trevor. To support his new family he became a same-day courier, driving night and day, delivering packages for companies. Finally, he could put to good use the knowledge of British geography he had acquired following the Irons cross-country.”
If you read just one piece this week, make sure it’s Jeff Maysh’s incredible story of Harry Redknapp and one die-hard West Ham fan.
Alex Ferguson to visit Dublin in November to promote second autobiography
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