A society’s century-long distrust of sports betting can be traced to the night of 21 September 1919, when the Black Sox went nationalAmerica’s century-long distrust of sports betting can be traced to the night of 21 September 1919. That’s when several members of baseball’s Chicago White Sox met with gambling boss Arnold Rothstein in a New York hotel room to throw the following month’s World Series. Related: UK bookmaker values rise by over £1.5bn as sports betting to be legal in US Continue reading...
Former Channel Five baseball co-host David Lengel believes Major League Baseball can make a splash in Britain despite a late startFor the tightly knit baseball community scattered throughout the UK and Ireland, Tuesday’s announcement from Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred and London mayor Sadiq Khan was as big as it gets: the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will play a pair of regular-season games at London’s Olympic Stadium in June 2019.For folks like myself, co-hosts Jonny Gould, Josh Chetwynd and others who passionately represented the sport on Channel Five’s baseball coverage from 1997 to 2008, the chance to finally see America’s national pastime on British soil is a champagne moment. Related: Red Sox and Yankees confirmed to...
This week’s roundup also features more NCAA drama, the evergreen Ichiro Suzuki and Football Italia nostalgia1) The Masters starts on Thursday, so let’s dip into the archive. Bob Goalby seizes the moment after a scorecard error by Roberto De Vicenzo’s partner meant the Argentinian signed for a 67 rather than the 66 he had gone round in. Tiger Woods’s return to form and prominence gives us an excuse, if one was needed, to relive that famous 16th-hole chip in 2005. And has a pressure moment ever been dealt with better than Sandy Lyle’s bunker shot at the last in 1988, which set him up for a remarkable victory? Two years earlier, Jack Nicklaus was on the charge, sealing victory with...
This week’s roundup also features an Australian Grand Prix washout, the best of Gigi Buffon and an outrageous rally move1) Formula One 2018 is go, go, go – starting with Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. Since moving to Melbourne Park, the race has become a regular curtain-raiser, but it used to end the season when held on the streets of Adelaide. Here’s a potted history of the race, and Ralf Schumacher taking off on the first lap in 2002. The 1991 edition was the shortest race in F1 history, abandoned after 24 wild and wacky minutes in a torrential downpour: Continue reading...
With research touting the benefits of sleep and recovery, teams are now paying more attention to recuperation. But is there such a thing as too much rest?Science sometimes seems so simple. Take rest for instance. With all the experts touting the benefits of recovery, the answer seems straightforward enough, protect players by resting them now or deal with the consequences later. After all, fortunes, literally, can change with a roll of an ankle or twist of a knee. With the host of factors that affect fatigue and stress, particularly a schedule that asks teams to fly across the country to play games in different time zones, playing time is one of the few factors that coaches can control. Related: Hacking...