As Bill Lawry Would Say: ‘It’s All Happening’

Ashton Agar after getting out for 98 in the First Test

So for once, instead of struggling to come up with a topic to write about, this week there has been so much going on that I couldn’t decide which topic to pick. Therefore, as the fence sitter than I am, I figured I’ll just touch on a bit of everything and then reward myself with a weekend away.

To start, let’s talk about the Origin decider. The Queensland streak remains alive after they hung on to win by two and NSW have to wait another year to try to end the drought. Those who follow me on Twitter or Facebook know that I, like many others, think the biggest issue for NSW was halfback Mitchell Pearce.

The only people I have seen defending Pearce have been Roosters fans and even Roosters fans have been divided on it. I am not questioning Pearce’s heart or effort levels. I think he desperately wants to be the best player he can and gave it his all yet again, but he quite simply isn’t good enough. He is a good defender for his position but NSW need a halfback that can create points and that is something Pearce has not done in five years playing for NSW.

His kicking game is below par and he doesn’t have the dynamic passing or running game. He also didn’t take control of the direction of the team, which lead to many plays that looked like they had no plan.

The argument that a halfback needs a forward pack going forward to be able to perform doesn’t hold water here either as the NSW pack won the arm wrestle. NSW had every opportunity to win game 3 as well as getting the better of the forward back for the last two years in general. Pearce may well be a great guy, but he has had more than enough chances and it’s time NSW make the move they should have made before this series. It’s certainly a popular opinion and I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said elsewhere over and over, but enough is enough and it’s time the Pearce experiment ends. He just isn’t that good.

Onto the Ashes, where Australia lost the First Test but there were certainly a number of positives to take out of it. From a neutral standpoint it was one of the most entertaining and gripping Tests I have ever watched and whilst Australia ended up on the losing end, it gave me belief that we can absolutely make this a competitive series.

Darren Lehmann’s decision to play Ashton Agar instantly paid off with one of the greatest moments in Test history, with a 19 year old Agar, batting 11 and with Australia in dire straits, getting to 98 (alongside a tremendous knock by Phil Hughes) before holing out trying to get his century.

There is clearly a concern with the top order, which hopefully will be rectified as the series moves forward, but I can’t remember a tail that so consistently wags. Our bowlers are honestly not that much worse at batting than our specialist batsmen are. Which isn’t really a compliment to our batsmen, but is still praise for our bowlers.

As I write this the team for the Second Test was announced and so I had to quickly rewrite this bit about selections for the match. Cowan was axed as expected and replaced by Usman Khawaja, who was the likely replacement. Mitchell Starc also makes way with Ryan Harris getting the nod over Jackson Bird as the replacement fast bowler. Cowan had to go and Starc has been a bit down on form so neither was unexpected. I wasn’t sure whether Harris, Bird or a second spinner would come in depending on the conditions and it’s hard to argue with Ryan Harris getting the nod.

But either way, I’m no longer feeling as down about our chances for the series as I was before the First Test, which is saying something considering we are now officially trailing in the series.

Also a quick point on the whole DRS and Stuart Broad saga. First of all, I think we need to be a bit careful to put all the blame on England, when we got a bit lucky ourselves in the first innings with Agar and the fact that Clarke continues to misuse the review system. That said, Broad should have walked and the fact that he didn’t absolutely makes him a dirty cheat.  Also, the on field umpires were atrocious for both sides and this wouldn’t be an issue if they actually did their job at a level even near competent. Aleem Dar is one of the worst umpires I can remember and it baffles me how he continues to get such big matches. He is like cricket’s Jason Robinson.

Onto Le Tour. Whilst some of the individual stages have been exciting, is it just me or is the fact that Chris Froome is so dominant making the race kind of boring. It’s hard to stay up at night knowing the result is already over barring injury. That’s not to take anything away from Froome himself. He was expected to do this and he is delivering in spades and proving that he probably would have won Le Tour last year as well if his team had let him.

I also think raising speculation of him cheating as the media have been doing is ridiculous. It’s an unfortunately side effect of the sport’s history, but Froome has done nothing to suggest he is cheating besides being really, really good. I’d like to think he isn’t cheating because neither are his competitors anymore. However, should he end up in a doping scandal at any stage, it would be tragic and would be another nail into the coffin of the sport for many people.

We also are currently being graced with the presence of English Premier League champions Manchester United, who are here to play an A-League All Stars team this weekend. Then next Wednesday, my beloved Liverpool will be taking on the Melbourne Victory and I am fortunate enough to be traveling to Melbourne to watch the game. I’ve never seen Liverpool play and I’ve never been to a sporting event at the MCG, so to say I’m excited would be an understatement.

I hope to write about the experience next week, so stay tuned for that and remember, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.

Too Old For These All Nighters

 

I have been staying up late to watch sport for as long as I can remember. Whether it’s for the Tour de France, international cricket or to watch English football, being up in the middle of the night for a game has been part of my life forever.

At present we are experiencing an apex of late night sport watching activities with the Tour de France overlapping with The Ashes and before that, Wimbledon. There’s also been some late night motorsport on too and some others, depending on your interests. So you’d think I would be in my element, getting no sleep and loving every minute of it and that’s what I thought too, but for the first time I have found myself not able to do it anymore.

Every night I have gotten settled in to watch le Tour and the tennis or cricket and right as it’s starting to get good, I can’t keep my eyes open anymore and end up passing out and missing all the action. I think this is something that ends up happening to us all as we get older. First you can’t handle the all night partying of the early 20s and eventually you can’t even handle the all night TV watching. I’m officially getting old at the ripe old age of 28.

Watching sport has a way of forcing you to come to terms with your own mortality, even if you aren’t actually doing anything besides sitting there and watching a TV screen. First comes that day where you finally realise (well most of us anyway) that you aren’t going to actually become a famous athlete and that most of the guys you are watching are younger than you. That is a sad, sad day and I don’t think I’m fully over it yet, despite the fact I was never good at sport and barely played it.

Then after that, comes this day, where you can’t even watch sport like you used to. As someone who actually writes about sport and planned on writing about these late night events, it certainly has made it a lot tougher considering I’m not actually seeing it happen.

So what do I do? Either I accept the fact that I no longer am the spring chicken I once was, capable of putting in the hard yards on the couch watching TV, or I train harder than I ever have before, stop coasting off natural ability to stay awake and get there on determination and hard work. Or perhaps I should go down the route of performance enhancing drugs and take up drinking coffee.

All I know is that this phenomenon is new to me and I don’t like it one bit. Hopefully I can put it behind me and get back to watching sport like I used to, because we’ve got an entire Ashes series in front of us as well as the meat of le Tour still to come. Then we go straight into the start of the English Premier League season and I foolishly am once again optimistic about Liverpool’s future.

Yes, I am fully aware that this entire silly article is the quintessential ‘first world problem’. Shut up.

2013 Tour de France Preview (From a Guy That Can’t Ride a Bike)

Chris Froome at the Vuelta a Espana

If you know me well you know how much I love the Tour de France. Well this year’s edition, which begins on Saturday, is the 100th edition of le Tour and they have gone all out to make it a cracker.

For the first time in a decade le Tour doesn’t leave French soil, with the first three stages being held on the island of Corsica for the first time. We also will see two individual time trials and a team time trial as well as a stretch through the Alps described (at least on Wikipedia) as brutal, including a double climb of the famed Alpe d’Huez, which happens to be my favourite mountain the Tour regularly climbs.

One thing they are doing without this year is the Prologue time trial stage at the beginning of the race, so instead of seeing Fabian Cancellara (who isn’t even racing) in Yellow for a few days, we will likely see one of the top sprinters like Mark Cavendish in yellow come stage 2. However with it going straight into the mountains the next day, that won’t last long.

If you happen to be one of those fans who for some reason prefers the sprinters fighting it out for the Green Jersey then this probably isn’t the year for you. There are only seven flat stages and they are spread out over the three weeks, plus I think quite a lot of the sprinters will struggle to make the time limit to finish the stage in that last week through the Alps, especially on Stage 18.

So that’s a bit about the structure of this year’s Tour, but what can we expect during the race itself?

Well first and foremost you can expect Chris Froome to win. Froome, if you don’t know, finished second last year to his teammate Bradley Wiggins, but many thought he was the strongest rider last year and if the team had let him he very possible could have won the race for himself. This year Wiggins has pulled out of the race and appears to never be returning, so Froome, who has been in even better form this year, is the unbackable favourite to wear the Maillot Jaune on the steps in Paris.

That said, anything can happen during the three weeks and crashes or illness or injury can change everything. So if things go awry for Chris Froome, who else is in with a shot?

Well this year Aussie Richie Porte will be doing the role for Froome that Froome himself did for Wiggins last year. Porte is in great form himself and the main thing stopping him contending is the fact that his job is to help Froome win as opposed to himself. But if Froome struggles, Porte will be given the green light to try to win it for himself and he is a very big chance to do so if given the chance.

Old favourites and former champions Alberto Contador and our own Cadel Evans are still there and always in with a shot, but I have a feeling neither will be able to quite keep up and we will see the next generation of riders surpass them once and for all. Contador certainly has the ability, but he has never been the same since he got off the juice. But that kind of goes without saying now doesn’t it.

That dastardly Andy Schleck will be competing without big brother Frank this year and is being counted out. I agree with counting him out as he hasn’t quite been up to it lately and two time trials will ruin his chance. The time trials will likely also ruin the chances of some of the great climbers, such as Pierre Rolland and some of the Spanish climbing specialists.

I think we will see great performances from young guns like American Tejay van Garderen, who last year was supposed to help Cadel Evans, but when Cadel couldn’t keep up, Tejay went out and finished fifth overall himself. Similarly Evan’s former teammate Jurgen Van Den Broeck finished fourth last year and continues to improve. I expect to see the Belgian on the podium in Paris with Wiggins and 2012 third place getter Vicenzo Nibali not in the field.

I also think we might finally see Canadian Ryder Hesjedal live up to a lot of the hype he had going into le Tour last year. I don’t think he will podium, but he is a chance to do so and there will probably be at least one stage where he looks like a real threat.

In terms of the Green Jersey, the obvious duo of Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish are the only two considered a chance to take it out. Sagan is favourite as he is much more adept than Cav at getting through mountain stages, as well as joining breakaways to pick up extra points along the way. I also worry about Cavendish finishing the race at all, a concern I don’t have for Sagan. In terms of value betting, Cavendish’s former teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen is paying huge odds to win the Green Jersey and he, like Sagan, is a sprinter who can also handle the mountains and enjoys picking up extra points out on the course. Plus he no longer has to worry about helping Cavendish and whilst his team will be focused on the Yellow Jersey, he is a chance to give the Green Jersey a shake.

However, much like with the expected winner of the Yellow Jersey, I think the favourite will end up winning the Green Jersey as well, with Sagan top of the pops in Paris.

The Polka Dot Jersey for best climber is much less clear. The betting favourite is everybody’s favourite Frenchman Thomas Voeckler. It quite simply isn’t a Tour de France if Tommy V doesn’t break away and wear the Yellow Jersey for a few days. Second favourite for the jersey is Voeckler’s teammate and climbing specialist Pierre Rolland. Two years ago Rolland did an incredible job helping Voeckler hang onto the Maillot Jaune for a lot longer than people expected and they are a formidable and entertaining duo. Rolland however drew the ire of many riders last year when he attacked during the “Tacks on the Road” fiasco that left many riders, including Cadel Evans, with flat tyres.

Beyond the Team Europcar duo there is a plethora of climbers and aggressive riders who will be looking to win the jersey, especially in a race filled with climbs. It will be a year of attacks and counterattacks and the Polka Dot jersey will be one to watch in 2013.

As mentioned earlier, the Tour this year features a Team Time Trial stage. The thing about TTT is that it heavily favours those riders with stronger overall teams, even more than having a strong team helps on regular mountain stages or building a lead out train for a sprinter. It doesn’t matter how good an individual time trialist you are if you are on a weak team and have to slow down to stay with your weaker teammates. This is yet another reason why Froome is so heavily favoured to win this year, as Team Sky is so strong from top to bottom and will not lose much time on the TTT stage.

I hope to see the Australian team Orica-GreenEDGE perform well in the TTT stage as a lot of the boys on the team are very solid individual time trialists and it would be good to see the Aussies shine for a stage or two.

If you are someone who likes to support riders based on their names I offer you two solid options. First there is Dutch rider Lars Boom. Boom isn’t a chance to win the Yellow Jersey or anything, but he is a great time trialist and might be involved in a few breakaways. Also his name is Lars Boom.

If that doesn’t tickle your fancy and you are more into TV, New Zealander Jack Bauer is your man. To be honest he likely won’t be a factor too much during the race and I guess it is unlucky for him that the race never reaches a Stage 24. No word yet on whether Bauer and his team will spend the entire race communicating via very loud whisper.

Overall, despite the fact that the winners of the Yellow and Green Jerseys seem to be predictable, the 100^th edition of the Tour de France could still be one of the most entertaining ever. The course is one that big fans of the race are super excited about and hopefully there are no doping scandals or major crashes and injuries to change the focus. It would also be great if people on the side of the road kept their dogs on a leash as there always seems to be at least one Labrador that gets in the way at some point.

I will be getting very little sleep throughout July and I invite you to stay up late with me and get involved in all the banter. I’ll be tweeting a lot (@DanCuzns) and my mates over at SBS and Stackla have put together a great Social Hub to get involved.

Download the SBS Tour Tracker now as well to keep up to date during the race or the following day.

See you on the road.

Bad Time to be an Armstrong

Generic photo of Lance not looking pleased

This article is totally about Lance Armstrong, but hey, I can’t write this article and not mention that a few days later, an even more famous Armstrong in the great Neil Armstrong passed away. I certainly don’t think there was any performance enhancing drug scandal about the moon landing though.

I deliberately waited a while before writing about the Lance Armstrong case, partly so some of the dust could settle, but also because I figured and still think this story isn’t over yet. Yes he has officially been stripped of his titles and says he is done fighting the charges, but I still think you’ll hear the occasional comment from him in the media and you’ll also get new information from others coming out every once in a while.

Overall, public opinion on this one seems to be divided. Most people I’ve spoken to or read their thoughts seem to think Lance is guilty. Others think he is either innocent or that they didn’t get anywhere near close enough to proof to take this sort of action. As usual, I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I do think Lance most likely was doping, however I think he was doping only as much as literally every other guy in the race was. Also I do have some concerns about the unusual way in which this decision was reached.

Normally when someone gets banned for doping, it’s simply a matter of failing a drug test, testing the B sample to confirm and then taking the appropriate action. This situation on the other hand came from testimony in court from witnesses and blood tests that whilst not proving he was on drugs, imply that he may have been taking EPO. If that sounds confusing, it is because it is. The best source I’ve found to explain the situation is this piece from Deadspin.

Whilst the testimony of some of Lance’s former teammates doesn’t really carry much value with me because it’s obvious why these people may have been willing to cut a deal, there is one man whose testimony certainly stands out. George Hincapie, at least in my opinion, had nothing to gain by lying to cut a deal. The guy is by all accounts one of Armstrong’s closest friends in cycling, even after his testimony, he was retiring anyway so a reduced sentence on his own doping ban was irrelevant and most importantly he didn’t have to testify that he was doping at all. No one was coming after George Hincapie and he is one of the most respected guys in the sport, yet he chose to testify that he was cheating along with Armstrong. The only options in my mind as to why this would occur is that he took being under oath seriously and wasn’t going to lie, or he was bribed or something else sinister. Of course I don’t believe he was bribed, so I’m going with the former.

If I had to believe one conspiracy theory in all this mess, it’s probably the long standing rumour that Armstrong did in fact fail drug tests in 2001, but they were covered up by the UCI because it would destroy the sport. However, obviously those are just rumours and I can’t use that as complete justification for what has happened now.

I still have concerns about the precedent that has been set by this situation. Regardless of whether I personally think Armstrong is guilty, it should take a serious amount of proof to get to the stage where you strip him of his titles. I know the stakes aren’t the same, but if Casey Anthony is found not guilty because there wasn’t enough proof, you’d think it might be similar in this case, but I guess USADA disagrees.

That’s why I don’t think Armstrong should have had the titles stripped, I just would put an * next to them. Much like Barry Bonds’ home run record and other controversial drug scandals, there isn’t the proof to wipe it from the books, but I think we can all agree it was very fishy. Most importantly, I don’t want the titles given to the guys who came second. Much like giving the 1988 Men’s 100m sprint gold to Carl Lewis, giving titles to guys like Jan Ullrich and others who were either definitely doping or allegedly doping doesn’t sit right with me. Let those years be blank and let’s just move on.

I would like to think these sorts of scandals are going to become a thing of the past as testing improves, however that is probably somewhat naive, as newer and sneakier drugs are always coming out and some athletes are always going to look for that edge. But as long as they get caught at the time, the sport should be able to maintain some level of integrity.

Wiggins’ World. Party Time. Excellent.

A well earned glass of bubbly

So it is finally official and Bradley Wiggins is the first Brit to win the Tour de France. If he wasn’t the best man across the three weeks, then at worst he was maybe second to his teammate Chris Froome, although we’ll never know if Froome could have put enough time on Wiggins in the mountains to counter Wiggins in the time trial.

To me the real story of this year’s edition of Le Tour is the domination of the entire Sky Team rather than of their captain. They had not only the two best overall guys, but their domestiques were still chugging along when most teams were down to only their leaders, not to mention their ability to help Mark Cavendish win the stages he won. Even Wiggins took his turn in the lead out train to help Cav win his stages. Sky really were an all-star team and I can’t remember a performance like this.

Lance Armstrong was always blessed with amazing teammates, which maybe could rival this. But to watch as Sky climbed mountains with four or five men, doing the hard work as other teams sat behind just hanging on, it was quite staggering.

Question now is whether they can keep the band together for another go around. If they come back in 2013 with the same squad I can only see history repeating itself, however cycling teams rarely stay together too long. At some point Froome is going to not only want to be a team leader, but someone will pay him like one. If I had to predict, I’d say he sticks with Sky for now but by 2014 we might finally see Froome vs. Wiggins fighting for the yellow jersey. It’s also a delicate balance trying to have enough climbers to support the team leader whilst also trying to win sprint stages and support Cavendish.

Meanwhile there are rumours that Cadel Evans will drop out of the Olympics after he struggled in Le Tour. Whilst I’d love to see Cadel represent Australia, I don’t think anyone could blame him for pulling out and realistically, someone in better form coming in to replace him might be better for the team as well. I have to wonder whether Cadel simply had a bad tour or whether he is now simply declining and being past by younger, better riders. He has nothing left to prove and it wouldn’t surprise me if he is ready to hang it up. Then again he is the kind of guy who would read this (not that he will ever see it) and decide to prove everyone wrong, which frankly would be awesome.

But my favourite possible outcome would be for Cadel to realise that Tejay van Garderen is ready to lead and stick around another year to be the Froome to Tejay’s Wiggins. I think the only way to dethrone Sky now is to switch the Cadel/Tejay roles from this year and hope Tejay has the legs to get over the top.

For now, I don’t envy those boys. After three gruelling weeks they get a few days off and then have to compete at some little event called the Olympics. Oh man... the late nights just don’t end.