Most Commented Sports Blogs (166)

It seems so long ago now that a virtually unknown back-up QB for the New England Patriots replaced an injured Drew Bledsoe. The rest, as they say, is history. Of course, I'm referring to Tom Brady. Tom Terrific. Touchdown Tommy. The G.O.A.T.

At age 41, Mr. Brady is heading to his ninth Superbowl. It boggles the mind really. Love him or hate him, the numbers don't lie. Credit needs to be divided between a whole cast of talented characters including coach Bill Belichick, owner Robert Kraft, and a diverse and viable Patriots roster but it's Tom Brady who takes center stage and here are a few reasons why.

Regular season wins by a starting quarterback (207)
Most passing yards, regular season and playoffs (81,431)
Most passing touchdowns, postseason included: 590
Most touchdowns thrown to different receivers (71)
Division titles (16)
Playoff games started (39)
Playoff wins (29)
Playoff touchdown passes (73)
Playoff passing yards (10,917)
Super Bowl appearances (9)
Super Bowl wins (5)
Super Bowl MVPs (4)
Super Bowl touchdown passes (18)
Super Bowl passing yards (2,576)

Congrats to the Patriots and Tom Brady. This transplanted fan is rooting for ring #6.

In South Africa there were 22 000 tickets on public sale for the Test between the resurgent Springboks and All Blacks at the 52 000-capacity Newlands stadium. They took less than 60 minutes to be snapped up by eager fans.


Jamie Roberts, the 93-Test Wales centre and former Lion, said the All Blacks sellout reflected the pulling power of the international game's No 1 side.

"When the All Blacks come to town it's one of the greatest challenges in rugby ... probably the greatest challenge," Roberts said in a WRU media release.

"They are ruthless for 80 minutes, and the skill set of all their players is pretty special. You know you are in for the toughest game of your career. It's unlike anything you have experienced before and, mentally, it's the most challenging."

As I watch the Olympic games on TV, I notice that the majority of female athletes appear to have a smaller breast size. Understandably, its not like at the library where you simply wont get a job there if you dont meet the criteria. So from now on, if I see a lady thats a more petite size I'll simply ask her if she's an athlete.

June 3, 2016 marked the death of arguably the greatest and most beloved Black athlete in history: Muhammad Ali.

No sport has exploited athletes, particularly Black athletes, quite like boxing. The very first boxers in America were African slaves. White slave owners would amuse themselves by forcing slaves to box to the death while wearing iron collars.

Even after the abolition of slavery, boxing became the first sport to be desegregated so that white boxing promoters could continue to exploit Blacks and make money from the deep racism in American society.

Eugenics was used to justified slavery, and the pseudo science of the time “proved” that Blacks were not only mentally inferior, but also physically inferior to whites.

Ironically, early white fight promoters unwittingly created a space where Black boxers could destroy white supremacist ideas of society and racial hierarchy.

The 1910 victory of Jack Johnson against “The Great White Hope” launched one of the greatest nationwide race riots in U.S. history. Out of that embarrassment, in which a Black man defeated a white man, Congress passed a law outlawing boxing films.

With a brief look at the history of boxing, it is abundantly clear that the races and cultures that have suffered the most at any given time always tend to produce the greatest champions.

Boxing has a tendency to both attract and indeed pray upon talent from underprivileged minority communities. Through boxing, one can read a direct chart of the underprivileged in America. The sport highlights the line of minorities who struggle to make it up the ladder, until they succeed, and then disappear from the boxing scene. Tellingly, the minorities that remain in the ring today are a consequence of still being on the bottom rung of America’s economic ladder.

You had the waves of underprivileged Jewish boxers, then Irish boxers, Italian-American boxers, African American boxers, and now, increasingly Hispanic boxers.

In a society that is so violently racist, the sport of boxing became an escape valve for people’s anger. Boxing symbolized a twisted manifestation of the American dream, where minorities have to, literally, fight their way out of poverty.

The modern image of Muhammad Ali, portrayed by the establishment, is one of a Black man dancing in the ring and shouting, “I am the greatest!” His image is now used to sell everything from luxury cars to soft drinks.

Despite the establishment’s whitewashing and Santaclausification of Ali’s image, history shows that the true Muhammad Ali was a staunch Black Nationalist, who was good friends with Malcolm X, and a member of the Black Power group, The Nation of Islam.

Ali was unquestionably the best boxer in history, not simply because of his achievements in the ring, but because he brought the fight against racism and war into professional sports.

Muhammad Ali grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, as the Black freedom struggle was heating up and beginning to boil over. Born in Louisville as Cassius Clay to a house painter and domestic worker, Ali was immersed in America’s racist nature from birth.

After winning the Olympic gold medal at the age of 18, Ali was so proud of his medal that he said he wore it round his neck almost all the time. Fellow Olympian W. Rudolph remarked, “He slept with it, he went to the cafeteria with it. He never took it off.”

Days after returning from the Olympic games, Ali was eating in a restaurant with the medal swinging around his neck and he was denied service by the white restaurant owners. Ali then threw the gold medal into the Ohio river.

Ali found answers to America’s racism in friend and mentor Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. “X and Ali were one in the same,” journalist J. Tinsley wrote. “Both were young, handsome, intelligent, outspoken African American men who scared the crap out of White America during a time period when racial tension was the norm.”

(Cont'd in Comments section)

Hope everyone has a fantastic day. Its good to be ALIVE.


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Deeply shocked to hear this great rugby player has died, at only 40.

It's at 11 am (est).

Although I generally find soccer boring, I may actually watch the final game, or match

Just out of curiosity, I checked the betting line on the game and found this interesting summary;

When talking about Matadors and what they do, gets some people protesting about animal cruelty. This is a sport that's been going on for...
Let's check.

When did bullfighting first originate?
Yahoo says:
"The first ever recorded bullfight in Pamplona took place on 2 August 1385, paving the way for what would become the world-famous Sanfermines, or ‘running of the bulls’."

Britannica claims it was as early as 1621.

So what's the problem worrying about some angry bulls when this has been going on for so long. Do you think complaining will curb or prohibit the sport?
Doubtful... I'd say.

Anyway, I'm only reminded about bullfighting when something goes wrong.
This week, Andrés Roca Rey, considered one of the best bullfighters in the world, missed his mark by a few feet and was struck by the bull. Thankfully his injuries weren't life threatening.

Twitter link here:


And THAT is a lot of BULL...

Been and paddled: -5 (feels like -8), NW 3m/s, full sun shine. It can’t be better on the last day of January. A few strokes and you are gliding into vastness and stillness of the fjord, it’s only you and a few birds, who are still inhabiting the place. The mundane boredom of the past week – gone. The pain of the wrecked hip – gone. You made it again: you are on the water and moving and no one around…

…well, no one, except your companion, who fancies himself a singer and who happened to own the kayak, you are paddling in, and it all can go to hell any given moment, if you don’t contain yourself.
Which you usually do.

Success is not given. An obstacle is expected at every step of the enterprise: the garage door might get stuck so that you can’t manage it and there’s nothing else to do, but to abort the journey. The traffic might get stuck for so long, that there’s nothing else to do, but to abort the journey. The car is old, to put it mildly, so no comments. The ice at the perch might be too thick, that there’s nothing else to do, but to abort the paddling. Yes, you drove 110 km (the route includes a ferry) and there’s nothing else to do, but to turn around and go home. It is in the calculus and you’ve prepared to face it as a grown-up.

But when you made it and on… When you on the water and paddling… When you are already made the first third of the trip, just got that “at least!” feeling, when the tension started to seep off you and relaxation on its way… Your companion says: “There’s fog and we are to turn around and paddle as fast as possible to get from it.”

Wut? It’s a sea smoke, goossake man!, and there’s no wind, no waves, no boats and we have GPS in my mobile.

Goose – facking sake – and he insisted and I turned around.

The very first paddling that’s a complete disappointment. 7 km in 2 hours and I hated the last half of it. Pure primordial hate.


Saw a fox on the way back.