arbitrary constant

Recent Entries in Sport

• Clegg and the World Cup bid

  Is it just me, or does Nick Clegg completely miss the point during his statement to the FIFA inspection team? Apart from the fact he nearly called them the infection team, he spent well over half of his statement talking about himself and the coalition rather than how England is the best country for hosting the 2018 World Cup. And if I was part of FIFA and heard a chap saying that England's World Cup...

• Alan Shearer's management record

  Games: 8. Won: 1. Drawn: 2. Lost: 5. That was Alan Shearer's management record for Newcastle United during the 2008/09 season, in which they were relegated. This, reader, is the person who is being mooted as a potential saviour of English football. If you think Shearer's the man for the job, you're even more deluded than the average England fan....

• Dennis Bergkamp! Dennis Bergkamp! Dennis Bergkamp!

  In honour of the Dutch playing in their third World Cup final this evening, and revealing my preference for who I hope will win (even if I don't think they will), here's a nice little video (via kottke:...

• Intellectualising the World Cup, no.7

  Argument by analogy is not a good technique at the best of times. Any attempt to draw an extended analogy between the England football team and the coalition government is horrible in principle and in practice, and receives an automatic entry to this series. With an opening line like this: There are remarkable similarities between Team Cleggeron and Team England ... I don't even have to read the rest of the letter to know this...

• Intellectualising the World Cup, no.6

  I've not been able to write as many entries in this series as I'd have liked or as there is material for. Nevertheless, I'm soldiering on with this one from that intellectual powerhouse, Prospect magazine: In the post mortems that are to come, whether we are talking about football or about the state of the nation, we are going to have ask ourselves how and why or free-market, high-wage, globalised industries are so phenomenally successful...

• Intellectualising the World Cup, no.5

  I actually liked this little paean to goalkeepers. Having been a keeper myself, I fully recognise how weird you need to be to fulfil the duties of that role. Nevertheless, I couldn't let the article pass my intellectualising series (the previous entry, with links to other entries therein, is here) with a line like this in it: I assume he has never compared his role between the sticks with that of the versifier, but his...

• Intellectualising the World Cup, no.4

  This series continues (previous entries: 1, 2 and 3) with an entry which only needs the title of the blogpost to which it links to make its point: The thinking blog's guide to the World Cup pointy-heads Good work, Next Left!...

• Intellectualising the World Cup, no.3

  Following numbers 1 and 2 in this series come the Who Should I Cheer For? website: WhoshouldIcheerfor.com is a site from the World Development Movement that ranks all the teams playing in the World Cup to find the most supportable on the basis of their efforts to eradicate poverty and social injustice. The basis used is stats relating to issues such as life expectancy, inequality, women in government and maternal mortality. Even though it sort...

• My full list of World Cup predictions

  Having done so well in the General Election prediction stakes, I'm looking to do the same for the World Cup. Thus, here are my full predictions for how I think the World Cup will go. Feel free to debate my selections in the comments... Group A Mexico Uruguay France South Africa Group B Argentina Greece Nigeria South Korea Group C England USA Slovenia Algeria Group D Germany Serbia Ghana Australia Group E Holland Denmark Cameroon...

• Intellectualising the World Cup, no.2

  The wonderful Stumbling and Mumbling contributes the second in the series implied in my first post on this topic, intellectualising the penalty. That is, here's another post which delves beyond the "game of two halves" to see what lies beneath the game of football. This time, we get national stereotypes and penalties: One of the delights of the coming World Cup will be commentators’ liberal use of cliché: the Brazilians play the beautiful game, Italians...

• "North Korean striker told to play in goal after squad blunder"

  This is already a top-3 story from the World Cup: North Korea have been told striker Kim Myong-won can only play as a goalkeeper at the 2010 World Cup after he was named as the third-choice keeper in his national squad. Coach Kim Jong-hun named two goalkeepers in his final squad of 23, but added Kim as a third, hoping to use him as an extra option up front during difficult group games against Brazil,...

• Tribute to tribalism (and the mighty Gills)

  I would like to offer a virtual brotherly-bloggerly hug of consolation to Phil after Swindon's defeat to Millwall...but I can't. Quite frankly I was overjoyed as Swindon FC are simply scum. Clearly my joy in seeing Swindon lose was tempered by the fact that it meant that Millwall won but Swindon will always be the most hated team in Gillingham. I like Phil. I even met him once (although I cannot see that happening again)....

• Que sera, sera

  And so, it came to pass, that The Mighty Swindon Town FC did not triumph in the League One Play-Off Finals. I bore witness, as the men in white (why white rather than red, exactly, I still don't fathom) were apparently overawed by the occasion in the first half, and who can blame them: the travelling West Country faithful too were subdued by the colossal scale of Wembley where, unlike at the County Ground, there...

• In it for a biscuit

  I don't normally follow the ins and outs of rugby, but if it's normally this funny, I may have to start: A row has broken out between the Rugby Football Union and Saracens over a disputed disciplinary case. Sarries criticised the way boss Brendan Venter was handed a misconduct charge following an incident at Leicester... The RFU released an 11-page statement on Thursday, in which it observed Venter's "arrogant behaviour" during the hearing, citing his...

• Penalties, sweet penalties

  Yes! Rich's post from a couple of days ago has given me all the excuse I need to write about The Mighty Swindon Town's indescribably fantastic triumph over Charlton in the League One play-off semi-final, second leg, at The Valley on Monday. Clearly intimidated by the thunderous atmosphere and the second minute injury of their first choice goalkeeper, Swindon's players were nervy throughout much of the first half, and were two goals down by the...

• Intellectualising the penalty

  We can expect much more of this sort of thing over the next few weeks: As the World Cup approaches, so does the recurring English nightmare of penalty shoot-outs. Fabio and the boys might do well to read a fantastic new study of penalty-taking carried out by some cognitive psychologists. The underlying aim of the study is work out whether or not the participants in a penalty  - penalty-taker and goalkeeper - behave rationally. The...

• GB is shit at tennis

  Continuing today's sporting theme, my chosen blogpost title is the only way to put it following today's Davis Cup result against Lithuania. After losing to a group of teenagers from a country that only has 3 world-ranked players, it's a sorry state of affairs, and Great Britain now face a relegation play-off against Turkey to avoid dropping into Europe/African Zone Group III, where they could face those tennis powerhouses of Albania and Malta. Great Britain...

• Football, in theory

  I do occasionally like to consider the theoretical aspects of sport, and football in particular. See, for example, this old post on the true effects of managers and my thoughts on Arsenal's home record having moved to the Emirates stadium. Another element of the sport that will remain in theory is goal-line technology: FIFA has said that it will not introduce it. I agree with its decision. Goal-line technology is one of those things that...

• Crucible 147s

  Prompted by a bit of 147 magic from Stephen Hendry at today's Snooker World Championships, I thought I'd provide some links to each of the previous 8 147s. Happy viewing... — 1983: Cliff Thorburn v Terry Griffiths (the one with the fluke) — 1992: Jimmy White v Tony Drago (the one with the wobble on the green) — 1995: Stephen Hendry v Jimmy White (the 'boring' one) — 1997: Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mick Price (the...

• Politicians swearing? Surely not

  Turns out, politicians swear! Who'd have thought it? Erm, arbitrary constant would: we've covered the topic in some detail before (1, 2). On a related note, this: THE official slogan for the 2012 Olympics will be 'London, City of Fucking Sport and Shit', mayor Boris Johnson has confirmed. Mr Johnson insisted the foul-mouthed slogan not only encapsulated London's status as one of the world's great cities but emphasised that it would 'host the fuck out...

• A night with the Masters

  Earlier this week, and for the very first time, I went to watch the Masters snooker tournament at Wembley Arena. I have to say, it was one of the most exciting things I've ever done. I've been following snooker on and off for ages — most people have some passing acquaintance with it because of its coverage on the BBC — and will always sit down to watch it if it's on. Whilst watching this...

• Following through

  One thing I learned fairly early in the world of work is that, if you say you're going to do something, you should do it. I was to see this in action a while later, when someone threatened to hand in their notice if something didn't go the way they wanted it to. It didn't go the way they wanted it to, and they, well, didn't hand in their notice. Essentially, their bluff had been...

• "Playing golf can 'damage hearing'"

  That's the headline on this article, which goes on to say that players who use a particular driver should consider wearing ear plugs, because the club creates a sonic boom which might damage hearing. I'm a bit of a golfer (see picture; by 'bit', I mean 'crap') and can't help but feel that the doctors have missed the point. Losing your hearing because you hit the ball too hard and too far with a nice,...

• Quotation(s) of the week

  I haven't had to have a wank for 20 years. — Boris Johnson It being this time of year, there are plenty of other good quotations going around at the moment, of which a couple of good sporting ones from this list are offered below: My wife wouldn't let me retire. She kicks me out of the door at 7am every morning. She's quite a formidable person. — Sir Alex Ferguson I do not think...

• Marcus Trescothick: sport and depression

  A moving account of the former England opening batsmen, Marcus Trescothick, and his sport and his depression, is covered by this interview and a review of his autobiography. Typically, you hear a lot about people with depression in the creative arts. I can't remember too many people, though, who are top-level sports people whose depression affects their profession — a result, it is suggested, of the particular pressures associated with the sporting environment: The sporting...

• Sporting targets

  I'm not talking archery, but the government's pre-Olympic target of 41 medals. Norm isn't impressed with a specified target having to be achieved. That is fair. I think, though, there are two parts to the story from the government's point of view. The first is intention: money is invested in a given sport so that improvements can be made and achievements realised. This doesn't strike me as being different to, say, Sir Alex Ferguson investing...

• Banksy, Amy Winehouse and Gary Lineker

  London might as well pack up now. What could they possibly do in 2012 to match the extraordinary craft, precision and artfully poised readings of history delivered by Zhang Yimou, 14000 performers and an LED screen the size of a football pitch? I shudder to think, particularly given it might well involve Banksy, Amy Winehouse and Gary Lineker London shouldn't and won't try to do what Beijing did. Nevertheless, Dan's point is a good one:...

• Quotation of the week

  To mark the end of the Olympics: There are times in sport when you wonder if you don't spend rather too much of your life bothering with it, and then again, there are moments when you know beyond all doubt that sport can be as marvellous a thing as we humans are capable of coming up with. That's if you think that joy and aspiration and the pursuit and capture of excellence are marvellous things....

• Blogging the Masters final round

  Tonight is the final round of the Masters — the first golf major of the year. Since I intend to watch it all the way through, I might as well blog it... a new, but hopefully interesting departure for arbitrary constant. 20:18 — The leaders, Trevor Immelman (-10), and Brandt Snedeker (-10), are on the third. England's Paul Casey (-8) is doing well on the fourth, and Tiger is struggling (-4) having not been on...

• Home advantage

  There was a lengthy but ultimately satisfying article on the "myth" of the home advantage in last week's Observer sport monthly. Its findings? The fans, the players and the media have merely bought into a myth of their own relative power or powerlessness, one that fits what they want to believe. There is no evidence that home advantage is much affected, if at all, by the size, intensity or commitment of the fans. Instead, home...

• Newcastle's illusion (updated)

  Newcastle's board and fans are suffering from an illusion. Chris Dillow, at Stumbling and Mumbling, is constantly engaging and very often entertaining, as well as always challenging. Here he takes Newcastle United's recent difficulties and explains some of the reasons behind it. The rationalist error sounds plausible, for sure, and I'll happily accept that contributes to it, especially given the lack of trophies for 50 years (what rational being really thinks a club which hasn't...

• Expert analysis

  In today's Observer, the following bit of analysis, from someone who "knows about the value of live rights" for sport, struck me as, well, not having to necessarily come from someone who knows about the value of live rights for sport: If Manchester United played in front of 70 million people [on TV or internet] on a global level, and each of them paid £1, that's £70m a game. Perhaps you just need to tell...

• Positive discriminiation turns to positive action for Boks

  The rugby world cup was an excellent spectacle, and although I was obviously disappointed that England didn't beat South Africa in the final, it was right that the best team of the tournament won the match and thus the Webb Ellis trophy. I was slightly less magnanimous over the Boks' plans, however, to guarantee a side which represented the ethnic background of South Africa. To do this, it was proposed that there be a quota...

• "Magnificently preposterous"

  [Join us] next week for the final, magnificently preposterous installment of England's defence of their crown. — Guardian over-by-over of last night's amazing England rugby victory. I surely will join them. (Full match report here.)...

• On a football World Cup

  I watched England V Argentina and the latter were comically bad. For the first goal, the defender headed the ball into her own net under no pressure whatsoever. It was slow, non-league standard at best. The USA game might be interesting though as sawker is a woman's sport over there. I don't enjoy losing to them at any level. I know you shouldn't plunder the comments in any blog for insightful remarks, but I couldn't...

• The Premiership season so far

  You will know, dear reader, that arbitrary constant enjoys its sport. What red-blooded male doesn't? [Enough of the cliches — ed.] It is thus that your two humble writers may very well follow the Premiership season, somewhat sporadically there can be no doubt, and record some thoughts on it here. Both correspondents growing up in the 1980s, it should be obvious to most that arbitrary constant's humble writers are both Liverpool supporters. This follows because,...

• Quotation of the week

  These so-called big stars are people we are supposed to be looking up to. Well they are weak and soft. If they don't want to come because their wife wants to go shopping in London it's a sad state of affairs... [T]here are players going to clubs in London simply because it is London. To me, that is wrong. It is not a football move, it is a lifestyle move and those are the type...

• Sporting ambition

  As a young man, I enjoyed sport. As a slightly older man, I still do, though I don’t play nearly as much as I’d like to. This aside, I used to have a list of sporting achievements I wanted to complete by, erm, whenever. The recent achievement of one of these accomplishments — my first 180 in darts — reminds me of that list and where I got to. Some are skilful, some are...

• Three points on England's win against Estonia

  Three observations follow from England's win over Estonia last week: The Match of the Day commentator, on at least three occasions during the edited highlights, mentioned that Peter Crouch had an excellent scoring record against teams that had a low world-ranking. More specifically, he has scored 7 goals in the last 6 matches again England’s lowly-ranked opponents (including, I assume, a hat trick against Jamaica). The same Match of the Day commentator highlighted that Estonia...

• Going logo

  Who would have thought a logo would cause so much fuss? On the one hand, the organisers of the London 2012 Olympics would have hoped their recently-launched logo would cause a fuss — namely positive, whilst on the other they would have hoped it wouldn't cause the sort of fuss it has — namely negative. What can be said with certainty is that the logo, in its static form, is not as good as it...

• A night for red heroes (updated)

  It's not often I win a bet, but my John Higgins punt — for him to win the World Championship — would have come off if I'd have put money on it. Still, knowing I was right is good enough for me. The other bet I planned on putting on was for AC Milan to win tonight's Champions League final. I couldn't quite bring myself to do it, though, in my heart of hearts, I...

• Cricket's recovery has been delayed

  Following the difficulties at The Oval last year, involving the Pakistan cricket team, a questionable seam and some foot-stompingly bad sportsmanship, I suggested that cricket would recover. After this (and this), I'm not so sure. Perhaps England can lift everyone's spirits with a series victory over a Brian Lara-less West Indies, with the help of a bit of sledging... Mind the windows, Tino No? Ok — let's just watch the snooker....

• Two bets

  Alas, it will not be an all-English final in the Champions League this year. Preliminary betting suggests that Liverpool are favourites, which means I'll be off to my local bookies to put a bet on AC Milan straight away. I rashly said the bet would be £5, though it is more likely to be £1. My second bet will be on John Higgins to win the snooker world championship. Unfortunately, I've not been able to...

• Shevchenko

  I'm really looking forward to the football on the television over the next couple of days — 3 English clubs in the semi-finals of the Champions League, and what will, I hope, be an all-English final. As is traditional, I'd like to see Liverpool stuff Chelsea tonight and send the soulless millionaires home; indeed, it would be highly amusing if Chelsea only won one trophy this year, instead of the 4 they might currently be...

• Boy, England are bad

  We don't do much football here at arbitrary constant, though it does take up a fair bit of our time in the real world (including watching the match tonight). But when you get such good analysis as this (see last paragraph) there's no need to add to the white noise: After the drearathon in Israel my neighbour Joseph adjusted his spectacles and told me where we had gone wrong. "He played Lennon on the left...

• Taking a beating

  Federal Court Ruling from the Melbourne Age, Australia (AP) - A seven year old boy was at the centre of a courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree...

• 704

  It would be remiss of arbitrary constant not to highlight Shane Warne's remarkable achievement of becoming the first bowler to take 700 Test wickets. His haul currently stands at 704 following his 37th fiver-fer performance. Not being one to believe in fate, it is a remarkable coincidence Warne achieved the feat at the Melbroune Cricket Ground, or mcg as it is better known — his home pitch. Of course, you can take Warne's average, determine...

• Post mortem

  If you're not depressed, you should be. Here's Guardian writer Lawrence Booth on the money: In the credit-where-it-is-due department, Warne was a force of nature. It is easier to burn the opposition's house to the ground when they are fanning the flames, but rarely has one man been on a mission with as much wild-eyed focus. It remains one of the wonders of the modern age that he keeps escaping a dissent charge, but his...

• Quotation of the week

  This week's quotation has got to go to seven-wicket hero Matthew Hoggard, who reveals the secret are of fast-medium swing bowling with this incisive comment: Every dog has its day, you close your eyes and wang it down and take your chances....

• Ricky Ponting

  I was raving about Paul Collingwood the other day, and quite rightly, since he'd just scored 206. But the real star of the Ashes at the moment is the Australian captain, Ricky Ponting. Ponting rightly pointed out a while ago that there had to be an Australian captain who would lose the Ashes at one point or another. I'm not quite sure there was anyone, however, who thought he would almost single-handedly win them back...

• Paul Collingwood — MBE

  For those that are following such things — and I hope there will be many — Paul Collingwood should be worth a toast this evening. For he completed a majestic innings against the Aussies in the second test of this year's Ashes early this morning, knocking Warne, McGrath et al. all over the Adelaide Bowl for 206 magnificent runs. It was around this time last year that people were critical of Collingwood's receipt of an...

• Quotation of the week

  We do not have a strong educational culture. — Howard Wilkinson on the qualifications of managers in England. It could be argued quite persuasively that there's not much education in football as a whole! Remember, of course, Graham Le Saux, the "cleverest" footballer in England — because he reads the Guardian!...

• Soulless

  An article at the Telegraph about Chelsea Football Club has received a fair bit of coverage lately. There's quite a lot of bile in it, but you can't help but feel it has a point. Here's the money paragraph: West Bromwich Albion is a football club. Accrington Stanley is a football club. Chelsea has not been a football club for some while. It is a vanity publication, run by vulgarians for whom modesty is a...

• Quotation of the week

  In preparation for the start of the second Ashes test tomorrow, here's number 6 of 10 possible reasons why England might win in Adelaide: Troy Cooley's reputation as England's finest-ever bowling coach is under threat. All it requires is for Kevin Shine's secret coaching session with Steve Harmison in Adelaide to bear fruit. According to snatched pictures in the Adelaide Advertiser, Harmison's plan is to walk to the crease in slow motion, with Shine clinging...

• Five days

  For those that follow these things, the Ashes — or at least the first test — has been a bit of a low point. Fourteen months of gloating that we, the English, are the current holders of the Ashes was undone in 4 and a bit long, long days, ending in a 277-run thrashing. From my man on the street in Australia, the word on the street (for where would a man on the street...

• More exciting than Christmas

  That's the Ashes, that is — more exciting than Christmas. It starts soon — late Wednesday evening to those of us not lucky enough to be in Australia. I'll be staying up as much as possible to see coverage online and to frequent pubs with late night opening and the necessary television channels. In the meantime, here's what each player in England's First XI needs to do, including KP and Freddie: Kevin Pietersen: The key....

• Quotation of the week

  Courtesy of The Spin comes this corker: The sports section frontpage on Saturday 4-5 November is an absolute disgrace. Photos of England winning the World Cup and Ashes and a quote about how they can retain the Ashes is completely unacceptable in an Australian paper. It should be about how Australia will win the Ashes back. At the very most, articles about England should be a footnote. Do you have Pommie editors or something? —...

• Snatching a draw from the jaws of victory

  It was my pleasure to be dragged up in Gillingham, part of the picturesque Medway towns. Gillingham is where David Frost went to school (the same as me, much to my surprise) and he also supported the mighty Gillingham FC. The Gills have had a less than triumphant history but they are always great value for money, albeit not always for the right reasons. There was the consecutive weekends in 1987 when we beat Southend...

• Arsenal's home record

  Up until this weekend just gone, Arsenal's home record this season read: P3 W1 D2 L0 F5 A2 Last season, at the same point, it read: P3 W3 D0 L0 F8 A1 Now, I'll be the first to admit I'm not that good at making predictions, but I did say some time ago that Arsenal would lose their home advantage for at least a season or two (scroll down). Now that this appears to be...

• Whoops a daisy

  In hindsight, it was perhaps best that I spent a good 45 minutes walking around London Bridge trying to find somewhere that was showing England v. Croatia, so dismal was the match when I actually got to see it. England are clearly not going to win a major tournament in the next 15 years (though my predictions have been known to be wrong). There's a part of me that feels sorry for Paul Robinson after...

• Glorious draw

  What with the obo battle between Rich and I, you may have thought that I would be reporting on how England's two victories snatched a series draw from the jaws of defeat. However, due other commitments (like having to work at work, dammit) I missed all of the comings and goings (and I'm not some JCL by the way). Given my newfound status as some sort of unlucky mascot, I shall be locking myself in...

• Aussie rules

  ...[what other sorts of events are there at the Oval? — ed]... That was me, earlier, on what events other than cricket you might find taking place at the Oval. Turns out, Australian Rules Football is also the sort of event you get there, too. It just goes to show: you never know. Thanks to Wrighty for the tip....

• Seemingly intransigent

  It seems that the cricketing events at the Oval [what other sorts of events are there at the Oval? — ed] are verily taking the countries involved by storm. As well they might, for this sort of thing has never happened before — not ever in the history of Test cricket. It seems to me that the whole fiasco could have been avoided had the umpire who pulled the Pakistanis up for ball tampering allowed...

• 100 days to go

  There are 100 days to go until the start of the Ashes series in Australia this winter. To prepare for the series, Australian coach John Buchanan is sending his squad for an Outback boot camp to try and toughen his players up and instill a bit of team spirit (which sounds like a joke in itself [1]). This could be seen as a bit drastic, especially since (a) what more motivation could an Australian team...

• Quotation of the week

  It was one of the most remarkable things. — Richie Benaud on Shane Warne's mesmerising leg breaker (the "Ball of the Century") delivered to Mike Gatting in the first test of the 1993 Ashes series...

• OBO — an update

  Back when England's cricket team were being taught a lesson in perseverance by the Sri Lankans, a second match was highlighted to readers of arbitrary constant, in which Rich Watts and Stefan Webb went head-to-head in order to secure the most mentions on the Guardian's obo coverage. With the series tied at 1–1, the first test between England and Pakistan was a spectacular affair. Having secured a mention (116th over) during the morning session of...

• World Cup fantasy football

  With the end of the World Cup comes the end of a private tussle that has consumed far more time than it should have done: a Fantasy Football private league. I am pleased to report that arbitrary constant came top in the main private league it was competing in, beating its nearest competitor by 6 crucial points. In a second league, arbitrary constant came second — a crushingly disappointing 7 points behind the winner. What's...

• "Beautiful values of sport"

  I would like to express all the respect that I have for a man who represents at the same time all the most beautiful values of sport, the greatest human qualities one can imagine, and who has honoured French sport and, simply, France.That's Jacques Chirac, somewhat bizarrely, on Zinedine Zidane. I'm not convinced the "most beautiful values of sport" or "greatest human qualities" include headbutting someone, which must mean that Chirac is the only person...

• Quotation of the week

  Having already delivered what could be the quotation of the year, Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is in danger of turning the quotation of the week category into his own stomping ground with this peach ahead of tonight's World Cup semi-final with France: My first job has been to try and help the players to see where the limits are. Then I must help them to get near the limits and then to reach the...

• Footballing comparisons

  England have failed to progress past the quarter finals in every World Cup since 1990. Brazil have appeared in every final of the World Cup since 1990. Which of the two nations do you think was the most disappointed on this sunny Monday morning?...

• England's World Cup defeat

  Perhaps I spoke too soon:England's fair play record is well known, having been awarded the fair play award at the 1990 and 1998 World Cups. England players have received yellow cards on 32 occasions and red cards on just two. One was David Beckham against Argentina in 1998 — answers on a postcard for the other. Assuming Wayne Rooney plays some part, let us all hope he manages to control his temperament and ensure he...

• England and the World Cup — in figures

  A couple of very interesting papers have appeared recently linking economics and football. The first is from the World Bank whilst the second (.pdf) is from Goldman Sachs. Here are a few interesting facts taken from these papers, which may or may not dampen England’s expectations of success over the next month. England are ranked 10th in the FIFA world rankings for May 2006 behind teams you would expect (Brazil in 1st, Argentina in 9th)...

• The real match

  Tomorrow sees the start of England's third test against Sri Lanka — a contest arbitrary constant hopes will be high on the agenda of most of its readers. For those that can't make it along to Trent Bridge, the Guardian's over-by-over (OBO) coverage will have to suffice. But it is here that you will find another fine contest — this one between arbitrary constant and one of its good friends. For each time a test...

• Lore of averages

  I am now back from holiday and have enjoyed reading the offerings of my good friends, Messrs Canning and Wright. Many thanks to them for their time spent writing such illuminating posts (be assured, though, that words will be had with Wright concerning the introduction of Kula Shaker to arbitrary constant — ed.). The holiday provided plenty of opportunity to read and follow England's dismal cricket performances in the one day internationals against India. There...

• England in India

  England recorded their first Test victory in India for 21 years today and I'm absolutely over the moon about it. The Guardian has a weekly email bulletin called The Spin, which is a pretty funny — and very-well informed — bit of journalism. It had this to say about Freddie Flintoff and Kevin Pieterson respectively: Freddie Flintoff — Four half-centuries, 11 wickets and plenty of intuitive, imaginative captaincy. It's too early to say whether he...