mikehealy

Sports: The ultimate in reality TV

12:52 PM ET 10.03

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In a now not so recent issue of that rag we all know as SI, I read an article by Chris Mannix entitled "Are you like me? (I bet you are) I bet you hate soccer". For the ignorant, the article was an attempt by Mannix to immerse himself in soccer and its culture for five days in an attempt to exorcise the demons of his days as a nine year old goalkeeper and turn him into a football fanatic. While the experiment was not a total success, Mannix did have a few of his own preconceptions about the sport dispelled with a little help from La Barra Brava and a few South American football…

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The King is Dead? Long Live the King?

05:48 PM ET 07.06

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You used to be able to set your clock by Roger Federer. Usually at this time of year, you would find the Swiss with his trademark squint and smile parading around Centre Court at the All-England Club in Wimbledon with that famous gold trophy, usually. This year: "Ladies and gentlemen, the runner up, Roger Federer". Rafael Nadal is the new King of SW19. This evening, in the gathering gloom a disbelieving Nadal collected the Wimbledon trophy. Even during post match interviews he fondled it, wide eyed as a child, as though he still couldn't believe it were real. The…

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And like that...they were gone

05:26 PM ET 06.26

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As the rampant electrical storm over Vienna fades this evening, so do the hopes of a rejuvinated footballing nation. The Russians, who have provided us with so many moments of excellent football and from which one of the stars of the tournament has emerged, limped to a defeat this evening that was difficult to watch against a rampant Spanish side. After watching Andrei Arshavin ghost his way past the Dutch in Basel it was difficult to imagine you were watching the same player as he put in a virtually anonymous shift against the Spanish in Vienna. The little maestro's reputation goes…

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