3rd September

In this weeks sports news we havent had much to shout about but here is a roundup of whats going on....

Football
As soon as the transfer window slammed shut stopping Man City from adding anyone else to their 120 man, 45 striker's squad, did we start to hear from all the players who hadnt grabbed a single headline during the window about how many "big clubs" were interested in them... Nicolas Bentdner at Arsenal, Ryan Babel at Liverpool and Ryan Shawcross at Stoke.
All this belating from players is for one of 2 reasons....(both as likely as each other and is probably due to both reasons)
1... They need their ego massaging (and god know footballers have big ego's) they need to remind the world how great they are and that they could play for any tema in the world.
2... They want to try and get a better contract or more game time from their current club.

Lets translate some of these for you...
Shawcross " i was never really interested in moving i can see myself at stoke for a long time"
translates to.............. 'No one made an offer for me because although iv had a few good games they realise that outside the britania stadium i would look as truly evrage as i am'

Bentdner " Yes there were offers from Madrid and Milan but i have decided to stay with arsenal" translates to............. "Arsenal offered me a 5 year deal on better money than i am really worth or could get elsewhere"

Football is much better when there is actually somethins to talk about relating to the game rather than the players!!!

Cricket

Englands 2 game series eith the Auzzies ended in a washout draw. the 2nd days play called off amid dubious circumstances with many feeling there was no problem with wicket or weather.
This is the problem with cricket..... its far too civilized... they have Tea, Lunch and Drinks, they have to actually ask the umpire if they have got a player out (howwwwzaaattt does count as asking!) they sit on a balcony applauding each other and TTSB is yet to see the players surround the umpire like hyeenas when a LBW isnt given..... However the old tradition of not playing in the slightest bit of rain is holding the game back. TTSB thinks that there is no problem with playing a few overs of cricket in a bit of rain, whats the worst that could happen..... the ball skids off the surface under the batsmas bat and hits the stumps in a pea roller fashion?? The field drops a catch that his 3week old son would have made because he has wet hands?? this would add a bit of excitement to what can at times be a desperatley dull game!! We propose that every cricket match has at least 2 "sprinkler overs" from now on where for the next 6 balls 100 sprinklers across the ground come out and soak soak evryone whilst play continues! See Pieterson try and hit a reverse sweep 6 when he is drenched!!

Boxing
The upcomming Juan Manuel Marquez vs Floyd Mayweather Jnr match has failed to drum up much excitement amongst the boxing public for a few reasons...
1) it is at 144lbs (10stone 4) which isnt a real division and therefore no belt is awarded to the winner.
2) both fighters are notoriously cagey, back footed, counter punchers (so there will probably be less actual fighting than at the National pacifists association summer dance)
3) it is pretty much a forgone conclusion that the undefeated, younger, bigger, faster and generally much better fighter that is Floyd Mayeather will win it and win it fairly easily.
So promoter for the fight and former 6weight champ Oscar De La Hoya has spoken out to tell everyone how he thinks Marquez will be the 1st to hand Mayweather a defeat. This is the same man who picked Ricky Hatton to beat Mayweather, Roy Jones to beat Calzaghe and Hatton to beat Manny Paquiao when all were clear underdogs in fights that he had a hand in promoting (for the record Hatton and Jones lost convincingly in those fights as was expected by all except Dela Hoya)
So we learn from Oscars comment that a) Mayweather will win this very easily and b) the ticket sales arent going all that well!!
Personally we are going with the favorite on this one and cant see anything but an easy Mayweather win, although he has had 22 months out and is fighting a very in form fighter in Marquez we pick him to have too much guille, speed and power for the crafty vetran Marquez and will win a wide desicion.

Todays best Bet........... Golf
This weeksEuropean Masters gets underway today and Simon Dyson looks a good EachWay bet for this at 40/1 he has found some form of late and the course should suit the steady Dyson.
however it is hard to bet against lee Westwood and we will take him at 10/1 he has had a number of near misses in the majors this year but his putter seems to be working now and if he get going over the 1st couple of rounds he could be well clear come sunday.

Thanks for reading see you soon!!!

Fridays roundup

Welcome to the 2nd edition of TTSB.

Since our last post plenty has happened in the world of sport... well not really the world of sport but football mainly!

An apparently innocent millwall fan was stabbed outside Upton park where to the shock of everyone there were wars between rival fans! (that is everyone who hasn't seen one of the many football hooligan films or never heard of west ham and millwall)

Now TTSB being an avid Chelsea fan is aware of the fight culture that football was surrounded by in the 70s and 80s but those days are long gone and the most aggression we have seen at a football match in a decade is screaming "you dirty northern b*stard" over a row of stewards at Liverpool fans last season. (and to be fair they were dirty and northern and probably didn't know who there dads were) Luckily these football riots are things of the past and come around about as often as Spurs winning something so we wont dwell on this for another 2000 words!

Tennis Its the Annual Roger Federer Invitational this week (aka: the US open at flushing medows) Roger Federer is the huge favorite to retain his crown for something like the 38th year in a row............... (6th)

There is plenty of support for Andy Murray who was last years beaten finalist and he has shown in the past he has all the tools to beat federer and has a 6-3 career record against the Suisse legend. However he was taken apart in straight sets by Federer at Cincinnati last week and we cant see anything other than Roger retaining his crown.

Rafael Nadal returns to action for the 1st time since June and although many expect him to be rusty from the layoff we wouldnt be surprised if he finds himself in the latter stages of the tournament.

Football Man Utd take on Arsenal tomorrow in the first BIG4 clash of the season. (after this season we have a feeling it may be called the BIG5 as Man City look set to gatecrash the party)

Arsenal have started well this year (albeit against poor opposition) and whilst they aren't doing a lot different to past seasons they are taking more shots from further than the 6 yard box, and with the addition of vermaelen at the back they look a much more solid defensive unit. Vermaelen hails from the old school of centre halfs, he doesn't try Cruyff turns out of defense or clever passes, if there is a hint of danger he puts the ball in row Z!! TTSB like this approach as although its not pretty it is certainly a fact that if the ball is in row Z the opposition cant score!!

Man Utd have missed Ferdinand and Vidic of late and if they are not fit for Saturday afternoon then Ben Foster could have a very busy time. Ferguson's side haven't looked anything like the force they were last season and the 1-0 loss to burnley illustrates that... They had chances but the people on the end of them (owen, fletcher, nani) didn't finish them and you can bet your last £ that had a certain Perma tanned primadonna by the name of Ronaldo been on the end of any they would have been in the back of the net. Arsenal wont have a better chance to win at Old Trafford than Saturday and it should be a cracker!

Elsewhere Chelsea take on Burnley (a thrashing awaits!) and its hard to see anything other than another convincing blues win. Man City face the struggling Pompey on saturday and they look far too good to slip up at fratton park even with the new Dr Al Fahim in charge (we think he is as much a Dr as Dr.Fox and Dr.Evil) Liverpool have had a surprisingly poor start to the season and a trip to Bolton wont be easy. Gary Megson's side arent really much good but they make it nigh on impossible to play good football!

This weekends best bet....

Sheffield's 37 year old Clinton Woods takes on the unbeaten American Tavoris Cloud (19-0 with 18KOs) for the IBF light heavyweight title tonight and although woods has only lost to the best in Antonio Tarver, Roy Jones Junior and Glen Johnson he is looking slower and we fancy the big hitting Cloud to stop him somewhere between round 5-10

In the cruiserweight (200lbs) division Marco Huck takes on Victor Ramirez for the WBO belt, Huck is a quality operator and has only lost to former Champ Steve Cunningham (a fight in which he was leading until stopped with seconds to go) and will have too much for the un-tested Ramirez.

A double on Huck and Cloud will pay little more than Evs (for a reason - it will probably come in!)

We will take a chance on a Huck and Cloud to win by KO / TKO at 11/1

Thanks for reading!!