1. “Extra-time was bad enough in the summer but at this stage of the year! Then, potentially the misery of lads lining up for shoot-outs when either team had failed to beat the other – you could see where that was going. What if the whole business just went on and on?”
2.“As Hofman dived into the Southern Ocean, the crew on one of his two support boats were focused only on the possibility of him being joined by a far better, bigger swimmer.
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“Leopard seals can grow to 3.5m long, weigh 500kg and swim at speeds of 25mph. In 2003, one attacked and killed a British scientist diving in waters off Antarctica.
“While his support boat was poised to haul him aboard at the first sign of danger, Hofman was wrestling with his own demons.”
3.“It’s not a stretch, in other words, to say that part of the reason Moneyball was such a monster hit was that it represented a massive transfer of power from the jocks to the nerds, in the jocks’ own house. It empowered a generation of quick-thinking sports fans to see themselves as essentially above the games they followed, to believe that they were capable of mastering them at a higher level.”
4.“Chelsea were perceived as rogue upstarts but they played up to the mantle. Kenyon first upset the Football Association by attempting to lure England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, as he had previously attempted to do at Old Trafford, and sources recall Jose Mourinho partially being appointed due to his “anti-establishment” rhetoric.”
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Winter football woes, the Iceman and more of the week's best sportswriting
1. “Extra-time was bad enough in the summer but at this stage of the year! Then, potentially the misery of lads lining up for shoot-outs when either team had failed to beat the other – you could see where that was going. What if the whole business just went on and on?”
Sean Moran laments the need for a winter All-Ireland in the Irish Times
2. “As Hofman dived into the Southern Ocean, the crew on one of his two support boats were focused only on the possibility of him being joined by a far better, bigger swimmer.
“Leopard seals can grow to 3.5m long, weigh 500kg and swim at speeds of 25mph. In 2003, one attacked and killed a British scientist diving in waters off Antarctica.
“While his support boat was poised to haul him aboard at the first sign of danger, Hofman was wrestling with his own demons.”
Mike Henson brings Anders Hofman and the Antarctic Ironman to the BBC.
3. “It’s not a stretch, in other words, to say that part of the reason Moneyball was such a monster hit was that it represented a massive transfer of power from the jocks to the nerds, in the jocks’ own house. It empowered a generation of quick-thinking sports fans to see themselves as essentially above the games they followed, to believe that they were capable of mastering them at a higher level.”
For The Ringer, Bryan Phillips salutes the analytics nerds as Daryl Morey steps away from the Houston Rockets.
4. “Chelsea were perceived as rogue upstarts but they played up to the mantle. Kenyon first upset the Football Association by attempting to lure England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, as he had previously attempted to do at Old Trafford, and sources recall Jose Mourinho partially being appointed due to his “anti-establishment” rhetoric.”
Oliver Kay and Adam Crafton look at how The Big Six came to be, for The Athletic (€).
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