Cricket: Australia's woes

As bad as England have been on their current tour of New Zealand, Australia have been worse on their tour of India. This does not mean that England have bragging rights, especially if they lose the test and the series in Auckland tonight. However as Greg Baum of The Age runs the rule over Australia's tour and analyses their problems, England are at least clear of many of the uncertainties that are plaguing their rivals. Nonetheless, both teams' struggles, in a double Ashes year, suggest that they will not be vintage series, at least as far as the standard of cricket goes, although that does preclude them from being exciting.

Kits: The Adidas archive

Adidas have lauched a project, opening up their archive of historic sporting equipment to be explored via their website. For fans of design and sport, it's well worth a look.

Olympics: Wrestling with the political game

For wrestling to get back into the Olympics, it must win the vote against new contenders: rollers sports, karate, wushu, baseball and softball, squash, climbing and wakeboarding. Some, such as roller sports, don't have the history that wrestling does, but others, such as wushu and karate, have extensive histories, and international appeal. It would therefore be a mistake to rely on sentimental arguments.

These are also sports that have been lobbying for years and are used to the campaigning involved. A failure to recognise the need for lobbying, was a factor in Wrestling being voted out, as shown by its defeat by modern pentathlon, a fair less popular sport, but one with a similar sentimental claim, and a powerful lobby behind it, led by Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, the son of the former IOC President.

The first item on the agenda should be finding powerful and persuasive figureheads to offset the lack of countries with a strong wrestling tradition on the executive committee. The IOC have a history of being won over by international leaders (see Tony Blair's influence on winning London the 2012 games), so public shows of support for wrestling from Vladimir Putin and Donald Rumsfeld should be used to open doors and persuade voters. Putin could be especially influential, as the IOC executive committee is meeting in St Petersburg in May, and Russia is a traditional Olympic powerhouse. Similarly, wrestling is a national pastime in a number of populous nations that may become future powerhouses, such as Turkey (a possible host in 2020), and Iran.

Next, FILA (wrestling's governing body) needs to recognise that gender equality is one of the driving forces in recent IOC decision making. The committee has been looking to equalise the number of sports and events open to each gender, hence the opening up of female boxing, and the inclusion of sports such as trampoline gymnastics and synchronised swimming can be seen as a part of the same movement. Although Olympic wrestling opened up to female competitors in 2004, it has four weight classes, as opposed to 14 for men. Were a female only sport, such as netball, added to the games, that might offset the imbalance, but none are up for inclusion at the moment. Instead, the rise of female competition in the United States and Japan offers a blueprint for the future. Reduce or eliminate the imbalance, and committee members will have one less reason to drop the sport. This is a move that FILA should be making regardless. As boxing and weightlifting have shown, the days of male-only disciplines are rightly dying out.

Finally, the wrestling campaigners need to tackle some of the IOC's views on their sport. Wrestling may be old, but has a great deal of participants, with more medal winners at London 2012, than the modern pentathlon had participants (29 and 26, respectively). If modern pentathlon, invented by the father of the modern games Pierre de Coubertin, is being retained for historical reasons, then wrestling has a stronger claim on those grounds. It has also improved its record on doping, and was popular in attendance and televisual terms in London.

Perhaps IOC's real intention is not to drop wrestling, but to fire a shot across its bows. FILA was warned in 2002 that the sport needed to change, and appears to have failed to heed those warnings. Early indications would suggest that there is plenty of introspection in wrestling circles at the moment, so perhaps the IOC has succeeded in persuading FILA to reform. Perhaps the committee will also be chastened enough by the bad publicity following their decision, that some members waver. Others may be willing to ride it out though.

There is a wider question about what should be an Olympic sport. A gold medal should be the pinnacle of each sport that is part of the games, and the record of the likes of tennis and football is poor in this regard. Many remain unconvinced that golfers will ever value a medal over winning a major. For wrestling, the Olympic Games is the pinnacle, and the battle is persuading the executive committee that both parties need each other. In truth though, wrestling needs the Olympics, far more than the Olympics need wrestling, at least for now.

Olympics: Wrestling the loser in the battle between tradition and ratings

Last week's controversial decision by the IOC to eliminate wrestling from the Olympics has raised the perennial question of what defines an Olympic sport, leading to the question of what the Olympic Games are supposed to be. Is the IOC supposed to be upholding tradition or showcasing the world's most popular sports? Do the games need to work to stay relevant to younger generations or will those generations come to them? Tradition, popularity, money, television ratings, gender equality, politics, diplomacy, how should these factors balance against each other? There are no easy answers.

The exclusion of wrestling from the Olympics is a defeat for tradition. The sport was part of the original Olympics, and portrayals of wrestling are amongst the iconic images of of the ancient games. This is not a reason to keep the sport on its own, chariot racing has not survived to the present day, but combined with its history of being part of every modern games apart from 1900, it feels like a part of the identity of the games.

The decision seems to have been based on a desire to modernise the games, to make them more popular internationally, and to appeal to a younger audience. Those are reasonable intentions, a desire to keep the Olympic movement alive for future generations. Television ratings and money are necessary in order to fund their ongoing existence, so pursuing those is no great evil.

A number of sports are campaigning for inclusion in its place: baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu. Presumably the IOC feels that at least one of these has a greater international and generational appeal. Nonetheless, sports come and go in popularity, and it would be a mistake to throw one that has lasted as long as wrestling has, for another that has yet to prove whether it has lasting power.

Photo by Inkysloth via Flickr

The risk is that in race for survival, the games change so much that they lose their identity and dilute their brand, until they are lost in the international sporting landscape. Moreover, there seems to be no immediate need to make those sorts of compromises, viewing figures have never been higher, the games have never been more popular around the world, the era of boycotts and financial uncertainty in the 70s and 80s, when hosting the games was undesirable to many nations, has been replaced by an era when countries around the globe go to great lengths to accommodate the IOC, changing laws and making financial guarantees. It should then be possible to accommodate some modernity, such as the inclusion of BMX and kayaking, without compromising the history of the Olympic brand, and the sports that give the games their connection with the past.

All is not lost though, wrestling will now compete with those other sports for the spot that it has vacated, at a vote to be held in September. In part two of this post, the equation that wrestling faces is explored.

NFL: Ravens flourish in the Super Bowl's golden era

Super Bowl 47 was the sixth modern classic in a row, in a century that has been a golden era for the NFL championship game, largely free from the one-sided encounters of the eighties and nineties. Super Bowl 41, arguably the last not to be a classic, was nonetheless a close game, staying within one score until the Indianapolis Colts pulled away from the Chicago Bears in the fourth quarter.

This incredible run is partly luck, but also owes a great deal to the league's parity measures, which make building a truly dominant team difficult. A gruelling postseason ensures that only battle-hardened teams make it to the big one, and the rules have been engineered to encourage fast passing offenses that rack up quick scores and are capable of big comebacks.

It is no coincidence that the second coming of the NFL's popularity in the UK and around the world has taken place during this period, neither is it coincidence that football is currently America's favourite sport. Whether the developing crisis over head injuries begins to undo all that work, remains to be seen, but for now, there have been few sporting events that have been more consistently dramatic since the turn of the century.

Even if it had not been an exciting game, it would have been memorable for other reasons. Opposing head coaches Jim and John Harbaugh were the first brothers to face each other in the Super Bowl as head coaches, and it was the first in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, yet much of the pre-match build up had focused on the alleged involvement of Baltimore's talisman, Ray Lewis, in a doping scandal.

Once the game kicked off though, those storylines became back story for an engrossing encounter. The events of the third quarter alone, were dramatic enough to steal the headlines, beginning with Jacoby Jones' record 108 yard kickoff return, which seemed to put the Ravens out of reach. Then came the 34 minute power cut inside the stadium, during which players milled around, Baltimore's John Harbaugh screamed at officials, and commentators waffled. When power was restored, the Ravens appeared to still be blacked out, losing their confidence and rhythm as the 49ers roared back with 17 unanswered points.

However, the Ravens awoke from their slumber, resumed putting together drives, applied pressure with their defense, and picked up a couple of field goals that ended up being the difference. In the end, it came down to a desperate final drive from the 49ers, but Baltimore held their nerve and held on.

This game added credence to the belief that fortune favours the brave. The Ravens' fake field goal in the first half may have failed, but showed intent, and was reminiscent of the Saints' first half fourth down attempt against the Colts in Super Bowl 44. The attempt failed, but showed their willingness to take risks, and won the title. Likewise, the Ravens' attempt failed, but left the 49ers with bad field position, which turned into great field position for Baltimore, leading to a touchdown. It would be unfair to describe the 49ers as quite so conservative as the Colts were, but Jim Harbaugh and Kaepernick had uncharacteristic problems with game and clock management, and eschewed opportunities to make a bold statement, kicking a field goal instead of going for it on fourth and two, after a penalty brought them five yards closer to the marker, and not opting for a two point conversion on the first touchdown of their comeback, which would have given them more options later on. Harsh criticism perhaps, but somewhere along the way, they needed to find more ways to seize the initiative.

This was in contrast to John Harbaugh, who made smarter decisions than his younger brother, typified by the intentional safety Baltimore took at the end of the game, conceding points, but burning valuable seconds off the clock, making San Francisco's slim chances even slimmer.

The 49ers have been vocal about the officiating, but their own game management problems should concern them more than the refusal of the officials to award them a penalty for defensive holding in the end zone on their final drive. It looked like a hold, but some have argued that Michael Crabtree, their receiver, initiated the contact. More to the point, San Francisco benefited from bad decisions earlier in the day, such as a phantom penalty for running into the kicker on a missed field goal, giving David Akers a mulligan that he converted, or Isaac Sopoaga escaping punishment for his obvious illegal hit on Joe Flacco. To say that the officiating favoured Baltimore is wrong, but the bad decisions did not show the league in the best light, especially after pre-match claims that the referee was under-qualified.

Instead the 49ers should focus on the positives, and on the small improvements they need to make for next year. They are a young side, with many of their star names locked up in long term contracts. The biggest worry for Jim Harbaugh is how one of the best defences in the league became relatively toothless once defensive end Justin Smith picked up his triceps injury late in the year. Not only was he less effective, but star pass rusher Aldon Smith, so dominant throughout most of the season, was completely neutralised. Smith picked up 19.5 sacks during the first 13 games, only two short of Michael Strahan's single-season record, yet he picked up none after that, a barren run that coincides with his namesake's injury, because offenses were able to double team him. With Justin Smith in his 30s, the 49ers would be well advised to find themselves alternative options, should his health or performances start to decline.

As for Kaepernick, he was a revelation after coming into the line-up midway through the season. Many had predicted that he would take over at some point during the year, as Harbaugh had drafted him. However, the timing was surprising, given Alex Smith's good form. The assured manner in which he led his team to the Super Bowl was reminiscent of another second year quarterback, Tom Brady, in the 2001 season. He is a very different player to Brady, and ultimately did not emulate the New England quarterback's victory, but it was a similarly meteoric rise. Nonetheless, his lack of experience showed at key moments against Baltimore. He failed to connect on any throws into the end zone, and he will have to learn clock management. However, few quarterbacks master those areas of the game in their second year.

As for the Ravens, they have had incredible success since their 1996 foundation. A league best 14-7 playoff record, two Super Bowls and regular trips to the postseason make them a model franchise. The development of Joe Flacco in the playoffs is a significant step towards continuing that success. He shrugged off his regular season inconsistency to produce 11 touchdowns and no interceptions during the postseason, a feat only equalled by Joe Montana. His challenge is to become more consistent, but his success is reminiscent of Eli Manning, whose first title led to a growth in confidence and consistency in subsequent seasons. Flacco is also similar to Ben Roethlisberger, another tall quarterback with a strong arm who is surprisingly mobile, and sometimes produces indifferent regular season performances, but comes alive when the games matter most. Like the Pittsburgh quarterback, Flacco's initial success came thanks to a dominant defense and a powerful running game, which has now given way to a more expanded offense and more responsibility on his shoulders.

Flacco is clearly the Ravens' quarterback for several years to come, but otherwise they are entering a transitional phase. Ray Lewis, whose personality has been stamped all over this franchise since he was their first ever draft choice, is retiring. The Ravens have never experienced life without Lewis' leadership, and, it will be interesting to see how the personalities in the locker room hold together in his absence. He is retiring at the right time, he was poor against the 49ers, and although there were some good performances in his final season, the consistency was no longer there, his legendary preparation work and ability to read the game only went so far in making up for the decline in his physical abilities. The Ravens managed well without him on the field towards the end of the regular season, but Lewis was still present as a leader. The franchise has taken risks on troubled personalities such as Jimmy Smith in recent years, in the knowledge that Lewis would keep them in line, but new leaders must now emerge. In the meantime, they have a number of veteran free agents on defense, and it seems unlikely that they will be able to re-sign them all, so it may be a new, younger team that we see defending the title next season. They must also decide on the future of the offense, which seemed simplistic and uninspired under former coordinator Cam Cameron. After his replacement with Jim Caldwell two thirds of the way through the season, there was a clear improvement, but whether the former Indianapolis head coach can provide greater variety and incisiveness across the course of a season remains unproven. Nonetheless, the franchise will be rebuilding on strong foundations. In their first five years, Harbaugh and Flacco have had five trips to the playoffs and one title.

The Ravens may have ridden their luck, especially with Denver's implosion in the dying moments of regulation time in their divisional round playoff game, but so do all Super Bowl teams, and like recent New York Giants and Green Bay Packers teams, they did it the hard way, going on the road to win the championship.

For fans of the NFL, it is now be a long wait until the 2013 season, although free agency and the draft will provide some relief as a source of intrigue and speculation. For real action though, the seven month wait begins.

Cycling: Power, influence and Lance Armstrong

Repercussions of the Lance Armstrong story are still being felt, and will continue to be so for some time, and one of the great questions to arise from the affair is: how did he get away with it for so long?

Some answers can be found in an article by Selena Roberts, 'The Influence Peddler', which lays bare the level of Armstrong's political and financial influence, and the extent to which he was willing and able to use it to get what he wanted. It is a fascinating read, showing how no-one was safe from Armstrong's bullying tactics, not even US Senator and former presidential candidate, John Kerry. Perhaps what is most striking is that this only appears to be a small sample of episodes in Armstrong's career, and there are more questions to be asked about how much political influence he was able to exert, whether it accounts for the US Attorney for California suddenly dropping a case against him in February.

Even now, after all the revelations, this seems like only the tip of the iceberg, and hopefully at some point, the comprehensive story of the Armstrong tale will be told.

Junior Seau and life after sport

There's an excellent and heartbreaking article by Jill Lieber Steeg in the San Diego Union-Tribune about Junior Seau, the former NFL star who committed suicide earlier this year (part one and part two). What makes it stand out, amongst so much that was written after Seau's death, is that it is a carefully researched, fact-based piece, rather than conjecture.



Whether or not you are interested in the NFL, Seau's story is a poignant one, because it exposes the problems that retired sportsmen face, the things they lose when they retire: the structure to their days, the support network, the thrill of competition, the sense of purpose, the ability to earn money, the self-confidence. Then there's the need to live up to their public image, which seems to have weighed particularly heavily on Seau, and prevented him from asking for help, as well as the realisation that he had sacrificed family life for his career, and had no understanding of how to make amends for that that.

In May, the BBC aired Michael Vaughan's documentary, Sporting Heroes: After the Final Whistle, which attempted to deal with the same issues from a British perspective, but it was ultimately disappointing because rather than investigation and analysis, it offered a fairly soft series of anecdotal interviews with star names.

Lieber Steeg's article is far more incisive, and also raises the issue of the long term effects of head injuries, a pressing topic in the NFL and across American sports at the moment. It will be interesting to see whether or not Seau was suffering from years of undiagnosed concussions, but it would only be another in the long line of problems that faced a man who was perceived as not only one of the best players in the NFL, but one of the best people.