A summer of sporting misery

Albion out of the play offs.

England footie fail miserably in the WC
Rugby - All Blacks win again
Tennis - Andy Murray bombs out QF
Cricket - A bloo*y ongoing shambles
Cycling - Froome - well what can you say.

At least we won the snooker this year
and at least we're not Brazil footie supporters

Commonwealth Games? - washing my hair that two/three
weeks.

Roll on the Autumn and let's get back to doing what we
do best "Blatter Baiting".

Cycling - Cav out as well.

On the plus side...

Boxing - the Froch v Groves II card was an excellent event! Seems so long ago now!
F1 - Hamilton wins british GP

dig54 said:

Cycling - Cav out as well.

On the plus side...

Boxing - the Froch v Groves II card was an excellent event! Seems so long ago now!
F1 - Hamilton wins british GP

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Small, insignificant beer imho.

essbee1 said:

At least we won the snooker this year
and at least we're not Brazil football supporters.

Roll on the Autumn and let's get back to doing what we
do best "Blatter Baiting".

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You kidding? If WE had got to the semis under Woy they'd have knighted him. And let's face it WE wouldn't have lost 7-1 (I think)

Danny-Boy said:

You kidding? If WE had got to the semis under Woy they'd have knighted him. And let's face it WE wouldn't have lost 7-1 (I think)

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If we'd got to the semis of the WC - I'd have run up the Mall in London naked shouting "can anyone
see the point of this?"

essbee1 said:

Small, insignificant beer imho.

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I disagree because I like boxing and F1 more than cricket and rugby.

Yes the World Cup and Andy Murray's defence of Wimbledon was pretty poor though.

All this aside.. I cannot flipping wait for the footy season to begin now!

It's been a dreadful sporting summer all round, definitely. Which is annoying as I had high hopes before it begun...

Big contrast from the feelgood factor of 2012 or even last year ( Murray etc )
1) England at the World Cup....was that really any surprise? Overrated long standing players who always fail to deliver and too much inexperience at this level. A lesson taught in how much our youngsters have to develop and learn. The only surprise is the complete mandate for Hodgson to continue his fine work ( worst WC performance since 1958 ) We never learn.
2) England v All Blacks. Hardest part of learning curve for a new and improving side. No disgrace and not unexpected. Good times ahead for the English RU team.
3) Murray. Disappointing to see old mental frailties return. Thought Lendl had moulded him into a more resilient character. The abject surrender v Dimitrov was very worrying and calls into question how much he depended on his previous coach. Big questions now re his working relationship with Mauresmo. If he thought he had cracked it at the highest level he needs to rethink and quick. Young guns coming up behind him now and he will be under increased pressure to maintain standard. Thought he would make semi's and lose to Djokovic, so below par performance.
4) Cricket. A bit of a shambles at mo. A captain who can't score a run and before central contracts would have long since been dropped. A gimme wicket to all opposition at the top of the order and puts side under pressure straight away. Cook has had technical and mental issues throughout his career and keeps lapsing back into them. At times he looks a world beater, then his confidence goes, his game collapses and its back to failure again. Selectors have got to grow some and admit he needs a rest. No decent spinner ( almost tempted to say bring back Monty! ) and a keeper who is no more than adequate at Test level ( poor drop yesterday ) All bowlers have now worked out that he is chicken against the short stuff, put in a short leg, dig it in and he is gone very quickly. He has even resorted to turning his back on short stuff! Better, younger and braver options out there. Anderson is all over the place and I worry that he has now peaked as a Test bowler. Seems to want to bowl too short all the time. Pitch it up and let it swing. Ineffective outside England. Bell has to step up to the plate, concentrate and make big runs. He has to replace the KP/Trott runs but hasn't been delivering of late. A number of youngsters look promising but they are still learning and are 18mths-2yrs off the finished article. India sense their chance against us and we will do well to get anything out of this series. England are guilty of too many ragged sessions at present and hard work lies ahead.
5) Cycling. Very competitive. We've had a fantastic run lately. Temporary blip ( Cavendish / Froome ) We will be back.

With cricket, it's been a summer, winter and summer of sporting misery.

The England management and team got ahead of themselves c.3 years ago when they were doing well, saying they saw an Aussie like domination for years ahead. It was built on sand with some brilliant but last day marginal wins. Once Swann cracked then retired, our batting collapse disease of the 1990's returned, as did opponents breaking batting partnership records against us ... why always playing against us?

5) Cycling. Very competitive. We've had a fantastic run lately. Temporary blip ( Cavendish / Froome ) We will be back.[/QUOTE]

Agree. Unlucky that injuries to both have taken them out of the major cycling event, and it does seem that other teams have raised their game in response to Sky, but we still have some of the best cyclists in the world, which is more than you can say for most other sports.

Danny-Boy said:

You kidding? If WE had got to the semis under Woy they'd have knighted him. And let's face it WE wouldn't have lost 7-1 (I think)

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I think I'd have been happy to lose 7-1 to germany, I fear it could have been worse !

dig54 said:

I disagree because I like boxing and F1 more than cricket and rugby.

Yes the World Cup and Andy Murray's defence of Wimbledon was pretty poor though.

All this aside.. I cannot flipping wait for the footy season to begin now!

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Agreed dig - out of all of this I feel the only thing that I *really* care about deeply in a
sporting sense is the Albion.

Best world cup ever. If that's misery then call me Morrissey cause I ****ing love it.

essbee1 said:

Albion out of the play offs.

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Nah that was still Spring