Revis holdout a symptom of Sport's latest sickness

It happens every year during the NFL pre-season - a star player holds out and does not attend training camp until he gets a contract extension that pays him ridiculous sums of money. While some have looked at the plight of the San Diego Chargers, with Shawne Merriman and Marcus McNeill both making new demands of their franchise, the biggest holdout has been that of CB Darrelle Revis of the New York Jets. Just a few weeks ago, Brian Baldinger of the NFL Network stated that Revis was the best player in the league at any position. It may seem like an outlandish claim but Baldinger's opinion is one I respect, purely because he referred to former Eagles' QB Donovan McNabb as "flawed", making me feel a whole lot better about the new season!

Revis wishes to become the highest paid cornerback in the league, surpassing Nnamdi Asomugha of the Oakland Raiders. Both are exceptional talents in the secondary, but has a greater range of abilities - Asomugha is more of a playbreaker than a playmaker, whereas Revis is equally adept at intercepting passes as he is defending them. Both have proven that they can shut out the best WRs in the league on a regular basis, although Asomugha has done it over a longer period of time. If talent equalled money, Revis has every right to be the richest corner in the NFL. However, ambitions of a Superbowl ring for both player and franchise will be significantly weakened if the holdout continues into the regular season, in spite of what the Jets say about the perceived depth at Revis' position. Good though Antonio Cromartie and rookie Kyle Wilson could be, the fear that drives opposition QBs to avoid one side of the field completely will be lost. And will Revis find a team with as good an all-round defence as that which Rex Ryan has at his disposal? Of course, he could ride the Peyton Manning train in Indianapolis and get as close to a Superbowl, but will the satisfaction be the same in what is a weaker defensive unit? The whole drawn-out negotiation process appears to be to everyone's detriment.

Or is it? Here comes another soapbox moment. Does Revis care more about the legacy of his NFL career or the size of his pay cheque? His behaviour seems to suggest the latter and he certainly would not be the first sportsman to put money before glory and silverware (some would suggest Asomugha does the same thing remaining in Oakland!). One look at England's (association) football team, continuing their lacklustre ways in the friendly against Hungary this week, to see this point in action. So long as they continue to pick up their super-sized wages at their clubs, they couldn't give a shit about performing on behalf of their nation. I'd like to think that Scotland's players are different and are just lacking in world-class ability, but as myself and Graeme pointed out last week, the Old Firm players at least are more focused on club matters. Even at club levels, players are more interested in the wages they receive than the level of football they would be playing at. Step forward Man City - both Robinho and Yaya Toure had offers from more prestigious Champions League team, but would rather have picked up ridiculous sums of money (£200,000 a week for the Toure brother becoming surplus to requirements at Barcelona) and play in the Europa League than strive for the very best that they could achieve.

The World's Best Paid Footballer - coming soon to the Europa League

It happens in other sports too. Rugby Union and cricket fans will tell you at great lengths that "their sport has professionals there for the love of the game and are not acting like those overpaid football yobs". Which is why Danny Cipriani essentially abandoned his international career to move to the Melbourne Rebels, where I believe he is on a very tidy contract indeed. Ditto all those who moved to play in France, despite warnings from management. Which goes to show how much respect Martin Johnson commands as a manager. An ECB central contract for Test cricketers is not too shabby either, with all travel expenses paid. And with the advent of the IPL, we have regularly seen players in a battle with their national boards over their commitments to the country versus the lucrative contract. Eventually, the contract will win out more and more often, as it did back in Australia in the 1970s with Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.

Sport is going through a phase of the individual considering themselves more important than the team or nation and would rather be financially well-off than majorly successful at the top level. This is understandable, given the brief shelf life of a top class sportsman. However, sometimes, as in the case of Darrelle Revis, you have to question the logic and the motives.
RM

Here Comes Football: A Brief Premiership Preview

This is a short look at how this season's English Top Flight will pan out. I've split the league into groupings to reflect what each group will be likely to achieve.

Group 1: The Title Contenders

1st. Chelsea: Have the right title-winning experience, and are still a season away from being an old team. Bringing in a new face or two alongside Ramires (work permit permitting) would seal the deal.

2nd. Arsenal: A Man U slump will let Arsenal be more involved in the race. Still too naive, and plan B still isn't up to scratch. Plan A, fortunately, is bloody effective.

3rd. Manchester United: The season when the tired old legs finally fail? Everyone seems to have forgotten how injury prone and lacking in depth they were last season.

Goup 2: Stuck in a Final Champions League Spot Battle

4th. Manchester City: Have a good manager, and shitloads of cash. Do not have a great manager, or great purchases from their shitloads of cash. Still not good enough, but 4th place is easily in reach.

5th. Liverpool: Hodgson should remind them that the talent is still there in parts. Torres, Gerrard and particularly Reina will win some games on their own. The defense, once Benitez's greatest asset, will cost them games. And if Mascherano leaves, there really will be precious few other top quality players in the squad.

6th. Tottenham Hotspur: Need to avoid injury and regression towards the Europa League. They've deluded themselves somewhat with regards their squad depth. It doesn't count for much if the players are constantly on the treatment table.

Group 3: Looking up at 4th Place in Hope, but Happy with the Europa League

7th. Everton: They had their chance at the Champions League a few years back. They won't get another shot for a while yet. On paper they are very talented, but injuries and other issues always seem to stop them reaching full potential.

8th. Aston Villa: This actually seems optimistic after O'Neill's departure. They still have a side clearly superior to the Group 4 sides below, Milner or not, and I can't see them slipping that badly provided a good manager is brought in.

9th. Birmingham: McLeish has built a side that no-one really wants to watch, but importantly, no-one wants to play. If Foster replaces Hart adequately, I think they will do a bit better than last season's effort.

10th. Sunderland: Belong in Group 4, but one of those teams will inevitably have a good season and end up finishing 10th or higher. This year, with no real evidence, I'm going with the Wearsiders.


Group 4: The dull lower-mid table lot that are always last on Match of the Day

11th. Blackburn: Could replace Sunderland in Group 3 provided they buy a couple of depth players. Big Sam is massively over-rated, but is still a good bet to keep a team safely camouflaged in mid-table.

12th. Bolton: Owen Coyle should, after a full summer with the team, improve their chances. They lack creative players beyond Lee Chung-Yong, but do have Jaaskelainen and a now recovered Gary Cahill. Which is better than a lot of clubs possess.

13th. Fulham: They finished 12th with Sir Roy last season, and haven't got any better through signings. Mainly though, I don't rate Mark Hughes. I've never liked him and feel he was massively overrated in previous jobs. He won't be taking them higher than 10th any time soon.

14th. West Ham: Last seasons shambles will hopefully be forgotten. Avram Grant is a perplexingly decent manager and the squad, while as deep as a puddle, contains Green, Cole, Parker and over 80% of the country's Young English Talent TM. Signings have been decent too.

15th. Stoke: Have Shawcross. Are solid enough. Are dull. But not dull enough to get relegated.


Group 5 Relegation Fodder

16th. Wolves: When your success has been delivered by Mick McCarthy, you know the bubble will burst sooner rather than later. The squad is the same one as the decent lot from last season, plus Stevie Fletcher, but I don't think they'll be reaching the heady heights of 15th this year.

17th. Newcastle: Not a good team by Premiership standards. Hughton, while I don't mind the man, has no real experience and basically fluked on winning the Championship. The defense has been shored up only by Sol Campbell's remains, and goals must come from Andy Carroll and Peter Lovenkrands. There is no-one else. Not a recipe for success.

18th. West Brom: They've been promoted again. I don't care. Nobody cares. They go up and down so many times, and do so little of interest when they are up, that they are dismissed every year. Which is what I'm doing, although to be honest I think they're probably a better team than Newcastle and could stay up.

19th. Wigan: Pretty passing football does not work if you are based in the North, especially when your flair players are Jordi Gomez, Hugo Rodallega and Jason Scotland. The squad has only 18 outfield players, and most of them are crap. They lost their best defensive talent, Titus Bramble. Titus Bramble.

Group 6: Blackpool

20th. Blackpool: Basically, they are fucked.


GM

The County Scene - Week 20: The Runners and Riders

I'm going to start with the Victoria Sponge Lad of the Week Award, purely because it was so abundantly clear who should win it for this week. That and I haven't seen highlights of the last day of the Test match yet and so cannot post a 100% accurate analysis (now rectified). This star turn came in a not-so-glamourous encounter between Gloucestershire and Worcestershire at Cheltenham, a not-so-glamourous venue. The hosts (Gloucestershire for those of you who don't know your geography of the beautiful South West) have struggled this year getting through the 90s and making big hundreds. No such problem here as Ireland captain Will Porterfield and Kiwi James Franklin were amongst the runs in a big first innings score of 480. Worcestershire looked in control of things at the end of Day 2 at 124-2, with the match heading for a draw, what with some dodgy weather around. Cue madness on Day 3, where 18 wickets fell. Worcestershire folded for 278, a concession of 202 and were indebted to Daryl Mitchell's 104. However, Alan Richardson and Bangaldesh spinner Shakib Al Hasan ran through the home order for 136 second time out, leaving a stiff target of 339 to win. Opener Mitchell saw them home with an unbeaten 134, in partnership with Moeen Ali, who made 59 and 94 in the match. On a deteriorating pitch and with a healthy run rate required, Mitchell's effort in the comeback victory makes him a LAD.

I thought it would be a good time to see where everybody is at in county cricket and who is likely to make a push for glory or despair in the last few weeks of the season. Championship Divison One will likely be contested by three teams. Notts are currently top, five clear of Yorkshire with a game in hand, with Somerset a further eight points back. My boys have been in this position the last couple of years and haven't been able to make the final push and this year will probably follow the same script. Yorkshire did well to hold out for a draw against the leaders this week to deprive them of crucial points and keep the gap tight - the weather could yet play a role in deciding the outcome. Durham, Warwickshire, Hampshire and Essex are the four teams battling relegation, although Durham will probably pick up enough bonus points to escape trouble in their games in hand. Warwickshire would have been doomed had they not beaten Essex in a low-scoring match this week. It'll probably be those two to drop I would think. In Division Two, Sussex should hold on for the title and will almost certainly be promoted along with one from Glamorgan and Northamptonshire. The Welsh side are the one who will probably adapt best to the higher level. Derbyshire look nailed on for the wooden spoon.

The CB40 is also getting towards the sharp end. Somerset look unstoppable in Group A with their perfect record. Yorkshire, Essex and one-day specialists Gloucestershire are in the tightest battle in Group B. Warwickshire and Notts have comfortably pulled away from the pack in Group C. All of the top teams and the best second place team go into the semis before the grand finale to the season at Lord's in mid-September.

Now - the Test match. Another comfortable victory for England

England 251 (Pietersen 80, Trott 55, Saeed Ajmal 5-82) and 118-1 (Trott 53*, Strauss 53*) beat Pakistan 72 (Anderson 4-20, Broad 4-38) and 296 (Zulqarnain Haider 88, Saeed Ajmal 50, Swann 6-65) by 9 wickets



RM

Qualifying Graeme's Piece on Celtic Not Qualifying

I'd like to make it clear that this post in no way criticises what Graeme wrote yesterday - if anything it takes things on a step further. Anyway, he's a big boy and can deal with most things thrown his way (unless it's coated in peanuts). I think I might be in trouble for that one.

I feel I have borne the brunt of a lot of abuse of Scottish football through my life having lived in England. If things go wrong for us in any way, I have to hear about it in gloating tones and remain gracious, taking things in good humour. Of course, moments like the Germany match make up for this problem! However, I will say that the ribbings I receive are not down to the failings of the Old Firm in Europe - more down to the lack of quality, if not effort, of our national side. It should be the case that our two biggest clubs feed directly into the national side. This ideal is not as prevalent as it should be because neither side stands for Scotland or the national team. Rangers fans are more obsessed with Orange marches, the Queen and the United Kingdom, a union which many Scots have been trying to get out of for 350 years. Celtic are more interested in the Pope and Ireland, remaining touchy about a famine which affected roughly none of them.

Here's a solution - and a message to the fans of both clubs - just watch the football lads. Put your petty sectarian differences to one side and focus on building two clubs that represent the country in which you play. Who cares what the others believe? That is, if they even do believe it and are not simply looking for a reason for a square go.

My argument is this - ordinary non-Old Firm supporting Scottish football fans should feel no disgrace in the Old Firm's failings, because the Old Firm and their fans have no interest in representing us. This to me is not a spirit indicative of Scottish football, which for the most part is friendly, full of witty self-deprecation or gallows humour and focused on the actual play, not some archaic religious symbolism. The Scottish Football League starts on Saturday. Graeme and I both have season tickets for the small club we have followed since we were tiny. We will follow them, win, lose or draw. We may moan, we may even come to blows, we may encounter a stupid opposition ned who fancies a scrap but we will be there purely for the love of the team and of the Scottish game.

THAT is what represents true Scottish football
RM

Pathetic Celtic Disgrace Us. Again.

I could have written the headline to this piece weeks before either of the two games were even played. To anyone clued up on Scottish football, the end result of the two Champions League Qualifiers between Celtic and Sporting Braga really was that predictable.

Lo and behold, a shockingly poor performance in Portugal led to a 3-0 win for Braga. We then had to hear all the pathetic drivel about 'Fortress Parkhead' and Celtic's 'intimidation factor', as if having to put up with slightly louder abuse than usual was going to seriously derail a team that comfortably picked a disjointed Bhoy's side to pieces without breaking sweat.

And by this stage, after all that bluster and bullshit, it was simply inevitable that Braga were going to come into Parkhead and open the scoring. Surprise surprise eh?

I am sick and tired of being the laughing stock of everyone in Western Europe when it comes to football. The Old Firm, with their monopoly on European football and its attached revenue, are finding more and more ways to balls everything up, each more embarassing than the last.

And, save the national team (who are still the punchline to many a crap football joke in England and beyond), the Old Firm are the only exposure others have to Scottish football. I for one am sick and tired of the Glasgow 'Giants' making the rest of us look like fools.

This years domestic title race is between a pauper squatting in his soon-to-be-reposessed stadium and a leper clinging to his patchwork cloak made of obscure, mediocre Korean and Dutch defenders. Who will keel over and die first and who will be the lucky one left to drag their pathetic body over the finishing line, claiming the glory of being the best of an awful pair?

One thing is certain. A couple of months later, after the celebrations have ended and both sides have drunk themselves into a stupor of sectarian violence, nightclub bans and prison time they will be in European qualifying action once again. And as another team from the Continent, bolt gun in hand, prepares to do the inevitable deed, they still expect us to care about these worn-out nags?

Frankly my dear, I don't gve a fuck. Sorry for the language kids.

GM

The County Scene - Week 19: Pakistan thrashed by swing-king Jimmy

I have decided that this is the perfect opportunity to make my first proper use of our new Audioboo technology, much like the Umpire Decision Review System, which was used for the first time in England in this test match. As has been said, each recording can only last five minutes. Hence why I have decided to call this segment "Five Minute Test Match". Yes, I know, it's so clever. Here is the score and analysis:

England 354 (Morgan 130, Collingwood 82, Mohammad Asif 5-77) and 262-9d (Prior 102*) beat Pakistan 182 (Gul 65*, Anderson 5-54) and 80 (Anderson 6-17) by 354 runs



There really can be no denying Jimmy Anderson at the moment. Career best match figures, to go with a successful Saturday night game show:



So after a multimedia approach to the test match, it's probably time to settle down and cover the domestic T20 quarter-finals. Which for the most part were pretty good. The only one which failed to set the pulses racing was Somerset's seven-wicket cruise against Northants. To be honest, I couldn't care less how they won but it was so one-sided! Murali Kartik and Arul Suppiah bowled their eight overs of left-arm spin for less than 30 runs in total as nobody managed to find their timing on an unusually dry and hostile Taunton pitch. Rob White's hilarious running between the wickets didn't help at all as three men perished run out.

Now the other three games certainly had their merits. Notts only managed 141 from their overs against Sussex, which seemed under par on a good Trent Bridge pitch, although not as poor as 80 all out in a test match! Yasir Arafat picked up 4 wickets, looking potent as ever at the death of the innings. However, Notts defended the total magnificently, particularly Darren Pattinson with 3-17 in his three overs. No batsman got 30, so no momentum was gathered, and Sussex fell 14 runs short. Lancashire put up a stiff 183 for Essex to chase and they succeeded thanks to a second wicket stand of 147 between Mark Pettini (81) and Matt Walker (74) in an eight wicket victory. The best game came at Edgbaston. Home side Warwickshire hit 153, Darren Maddy top scoring in a real team effort. The runs were restricted by Hampshire's left arm spinner Danny Briggs. The run chase was certainly a one-man effort - James Vince underlined his huge potential with an anchoring 66* as the Royals scraped home by 5 wickets with one ball left. Vince is the Victoria Sponge LAD of the week for this knock.

I have a Notts vs Essex final (my brother tells me this is a pretty pessimistic view). For the fourth year in a row, I will be away for finals day which is a bit gutting but to be honest Livingston vs Dumbarton will be so worth it!
RM