The whites have been washed and neatly folded in the locker and the coloured outfits, live music and white balls have been taken out for another high octane season of 20/20 cricket in England.
20/20 blazed into the fixture cards of all of the English Counties in 2007. For the first time in years were county grounds across the country were full to the rafters with paying spectators desperate to catch a glance of this latest form of the beautiful game.
This year the competition arrives on the back of the hugely successful and much talked about IPL in India where for the first time, the best exponents of this shortest form of the game have made 6 figure salaries. Players such as Brendan McCullum of New Zealand, the man mountain Andrew Symonds and many more have been merrily smashing some pretty decent bowling to all parts. Shane Warne, captain of the victorious Rajasthan side heralded the IPL as the best thing to happen in cricket for years and only England seem to be holding out, opting instead for a meaningless, non ICC affiliated series of charades under the watchful eye of Alan Stanford.
With the first round of matches on the horizon, the crowds wait, the amplifiers are being warmed up and the big heavy bats being dusted off for what should once again be a rollercoaster ride. The only people not looking forward to the new season remain the seamers who, at whatever pace remain cannon fodder in this form of the game. The faster it comes down, the faster and higher it goes. Bowl up sonnny!!
20/20 Cricket Season Begins
Arsenal Football Club - Transfers and Gossip
We are fast approaching the Euros and Arsenal have still not signed a player. On the flipside we have lost arguably our most consistent performer last season (Flamini) and arguably the most gifted technical player in our squad (Hleb).
Am I annoyed that they have left? Well.. yes. I am annoyed because they are quality players.
Off the top of my head I am going to name a few Man Utd midfielders: Nani, Anderson, Ronaldo, Giggs, Oshea, Scholes, Carrick, Hargreaves (have i missed any out?)
Here are a few Chelsea ones: Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Cole, Wright-phillips, Malouda, Makele, Sidwell..
Now here are some of ours (from last season of course): Hleb, Fabregas, Flamini, Rosicky, Gilberto, Denilson, Diaby, Walcott..
Now the problem is not numbers here, we have as many midfielders as the top 2, I don't even think there is a quality issue here. The reason we are lagging behind is that:
1. The players are not experienced enough
2. World class players are not contempt to sit on our bench (look at diarra). Chelsea and Man Utd have 2 sets of midfielders, most of them sitting on the bench every week, training and keeping their mouth shut. Why is this? Is it only down to the money? Do players honestly think Chelsea are a bigger club than Arsenal?
Anyway, I'm hoping we sign 4 of the following:
Nasri, Ben Arfa, Micah Richards, Robinho, Villa, Ramsay, Ribery. There are probably a few others but i cant think right now. Time will tell who we buy.
Anyway, here are some images to remind you of the good old days..
The possible NBA Expansion to Europe from a business perspective
Compared to any of the traditional American sports basketball is the one sport which is played worldwide. Ever since the Dream Team played in the 1992 Olympics the European fan base of the NBA has increased immensely. For most Southern European countries Basketball is the second major sport right after soccer.
So how is it then that until this point the NBA has not tried to take part in the European basketball market. The NFL, which is the American football league, started a European league that helps potential NFL players to gain attention during the offseason when no football games are on TV in the states. Soccer stadiums are easily converted to football arenas and host as many as 30.657 spectators (Berlin Thunder- NFL Europe).
This is where the problem for a NBA Europe leagues overweight the benefits. While the infrastructure for NFL type areas is a given in Europe, there is no major sport in Europe which currently needs a 20,000 NBA type arena. Even though American football never had an established fan base in Europe before its entrance to the market the lower cost make it more profitable than a potential European NBA league.