Great comebacks

Europe's Ryder Cup comeback brings back memories of other great golfing moments, notably the USA's identical feat in 1999. It also brings back memories from other sports. Here are five classic non-golfing comebacks:

1999: Rugby World Cup semi-final, France vs New Zealand

The greatest rugby match of all time? The All Blacks were favourites for the tournament, whilst France had been largely unimpressive, reaching the semi-final despite not playing any of the other big guns, but looked pumped-up from the start, belting out the Marseillaise and scoring an early try. However New Zealand exerted their control, and France's inability to tackle Jonah Lomu left them 24-10 down. Then Christophe Lamaison kicked two drop goals, and the French sparked into life, seizing the momentum as only they can. Time and time again they flew forward, scoring three tries and 33 unanswered points, while the shell-shocked New Zealanders never regained their composure, only scoring again when it was too late. Unpredictable as ever, one week later, an emotionally spent French team was unable to conjure up the same magic, losing the final to Australia.

1999: Champions Leaguefinal, Manchester United vs Bayern Munich

For all their domestic dominance in the nineties, Manchester United had failed in Europe. Finally reaching the Champions League final, they looked poor without the suspended Paul Scholes and Roy Keane, and trailed Bayern 1-0 as the match entered injury time. The German bench was already celebrating, when a United corner caused chaos in the Bayern penalty area. The United players looked as panicked as Bayern's but Ryan Giggs' scuffed shot found its way to Teddy Sheringham, who equalised. Munich were stunned, and seemed unable to react when, moments later, another corner was flicked on by Sheringham for Ole Gunnar Solskjær to score the winner. With 90 minutes up, the game seemed lost, yet United were champions, combining with the league title and FA Cup wins to complete a treble. Alex Ferguson's post-match comments said it all: “football, bloody hell.”

2004: American League Championship Series, Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees

Carrying the weight of 86 years of failure, the 2004 Red Sox went 3-0 down to their bitter rivals. No team in major league history had come from 3-0 down in the playoffs to take it to a seventh game, let alone won the series. Entering the final inning of game four, the Red Sox were losing, and an 87^th year of hurt seemed inevitable. Then Dave Roberts stole a base, and scored the tying run. It took until a twelfth inning in the early hours of the morning for David Ortiz to hit the winner. Boston then went on a run of dramatic wins, each an epic in its own right. The highlight was Curt Schilling, pitching in game six despite the blood oozing out of his surgically repaired ankle and through his sock. Completing a 4-3 series victory in Yankee Stadium seemed to exorcise 86 years of demons, and a week later the Red Sox won the World Series, lifting the curse of the Bambino.

1981: England vs Australia, third test match, Headingley

After a dismal start to the series led to Ian Botham's resignation as captain, England found themselves in trouble against their old enemies. Asked to follow on 227 runs behind, bookmakers famously offered odds of 500/1 on an England victory, but carefree batting from Botham and inspired bowling from Bob Willis secured a historic win, the first by a team following on since the 1894. In 2001, India pulled off the same feat, again versus Australia, no less remarkable, and to date, only the third such win.

2005: Champions League final, Liverpool vs AC Milan

Milan had won the tournament two years prior, and finished second in Serie A, whilst Liverpool had struggled through a difficult season, finishing outside the top four. Three-nil up at half time, Milan were already celebrating in the dressing room. Rafael Benitez changed his formation, adding an extra man in midfield, and Liverpool responded with three goals in the first fifteen minutes of the half. The Italian side still had chances, but were too flustered to take them, whilst Jerzy Dudek was having the game of his life in the Liverpool goal. Despite experience of winning a shoot-out in the 2003 final, Milan crumbled when it went to penalties this time, scoring only two. Dudek's save from Shevchenko secured Liverpool's fifth title and first since 1984.

Honourable mentions:

1995: Indiana Pacers vs New York Knicks

Down 105-99 with 18.7 seconds remaining, Indiana's Reggie Miller scored eight points in 8.9 seconds, and the Pacers held on.

2001: Australia vs British and Irish Lions

Humiliated in the first test, and losing at half time in the second, Australia's rugby minds took control, whilst their more abrasive characters put the Lions off their game. Many argue the series turned on Nathan Grey's cynical elbow to Richard Hill's face, which removed the Lions' best player.

2012: Manchester City vs QPR, Premier League

City secured the title in dramatic last minute fashion thanks to Edin Dzeko's 92^nd minute equaliser and Sergio Aguero's 94^th minute winner.

Feel free to add your favourite comebacks in the comments.

The Top Earners in Sport

Sport Magazine, a free publication distributed around London (and possibly beyond) recently ran a list of the top-earning sportsmen (and they are all men), based on annual earnings, and it made for interesting reading.

1 Tiger Woods - £59.3m
2 Phil Mickelson - £31.6m
3 David Beckham – £26.9m
4 LeBron James - £ 25.3m
5 Kimi Raikkonen - £23.9m
6 Manny Pacquiao - £23.8m
7 Lionel Messi - £23.7m
8 Alex Rodriguez - £23.3m
9 Valentino Rossi - £20.9m
9 Fernando Alonso - £20.9m
9 Shaquille O’Neal - £20.9m
12 Kevin Garnett - £20.7m
13 Yao Ming - £19.7m
14 Lewis Hamilton – £19.6m
15 Kobe Bryant - £18.6m
16 Roger Federer - £17.6m
17 Allen Iverson - £17.3m
18 Vijay Singh – 17.1m
19 Derek Jeter - £16.9m
20 Ronaldinho - £16.3m

Although you would expect many of those sportsmen to be on the list (compiled from Sports Illustrated’s figures), it did hold a couple of surprises, the main one being the dominance of basketball, with six representatives. Kevin Garnett, a difference-making player in the NBA, but not that well-known outside of the sport, and left out of the most recent US Olympic team, ranks above a global superstar in Roger Federer. Given that the NBA has a salary cap, whereas European football does not, it is surprising that there are not more footballers on the list, especially given their international appeal, and one would expect the likes of Ronaldo and Kaka to figure in future lists. Basketball however, is a truly international sport these days, with a strong following in Europe and South America, whilst the NBA is increasingly multinational in its make-up. Indeed, perhaps one would have expected Yao Ming to be higher on the list, given his international profile, and marketability in China and Asia. Nonetheless, the level of basketball’s dominance is startling.

Kevin Garnett of the NBA's Boston Celtics

That Federer is the only tennis player is also surprising, one would expect the list to be dominated by individual, rather than team sports, although injuries to Rafael Nadal presumably prevented him earning more this year. It is also perhaps surprising that the Williams sisters were not a factor. One might also have expected more golfers to figure, but the dominance of Woods and Mickelson makes it hard for others to build up consistent wins, and both also dominate the market in terms of endorsements. It remains to be seen whether Woods’ personal problems affect his ranking next year, although that would involve Mickelson making up a £28m deficit in one year. Finally, whilst it is not surprising to see the top Formula 1 drivers on the list, it is perhaps a little unexpected to see Valentino Rossi figure so highly, despite the fact that he is perhaps the only figure who currently transcends motorcycle racing into the wider consciousness. Indeed, his endorsements more than double his salary of £9.5m per year.

Tiger Woods, believed to be sport's first billionaire

In coming years, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Jenson Button, Nadal and the aforementioned footballers might expect to break into the top 20, assuming no hiccups along the way. Other one-off events, notably a much-anticipated fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather might also change the makeup of the list. With Woods’ marketability taking a hit recently, there may be a few more opportunities for other sportsmen with international appeal to maximise their earnings.

The Worst Sports Kits in History

This week, Edinburgh Rugby unveiled a spectacular new kit to be worn in their Magners League and 1872 Cup match-ups against Glasgow, and it got me thinking about some of the worst sports kits of all time.

There are ten here, but dozens that I could have included. Whilst there’s no accounting for taste, there appear to be some universal rules about what makes a kit truly terrible: attempts to make kit that fans can wear as casual gear (they’re going to wear it anyway, what difference does it make?), luminous colours, brown, grey, all goalkeepers’ kits since 1990, colours that sports teams don’t usually wear (there’s a reason everyone opts for blue, red, black etc…), anything from the ‘70s, anything ‘modern’ or for the ‘youth’ market (or a marketing man’s idea of what that is).

Take a look at this list and suggest some shockers of your own.

Denver Broncos: 1960-62 (1962-96)

As a part of this year’s celebrations of 50 seasons since the American Football League began (originally a rival, it merged with the NFL in 1970), the original eight AFL teams have been wearing throwback uniforms in selected matches. Unfortunately, this has meant a renaissance for the hideous brown and mustard yellow Denver Broncos kit, which was so unloved that when it was ditched after two seasons, it was burned at a public bonfire.

The Broncos then changed to their ‘classic’ bright orange jerseys with powder blue helmets. Not a great look either, but at least it wasn’t brown. Is it coincidence that the Broncos only broke their Super Bowl duck in 1997 when they changed to navy blue? Probably. Still a wise move though.

Scotland rugby team: 1998-2000

In 1998 some bright spark decided to replace Scotland’s traditional white change strip with a bright orange one. Thankfully it didn’t last. This kit was so terrible, that hardly any pictures of it can be found on the internet. But try as they might, the Scottish RFU can't pretend it didn't happen.

Stade Francais: 2005-present

Stade President Max Guazzini has, to his credit, turned a lower league side into one of Europe’s biggest rugby clubs. However, he is also a shameless publicist. Since 2005, he has committed he club to a new shirt every year, often the work of fashion designers, and incorporating the brightest colours possible. It has worked, Stade’s kit regularly gets headlines around the rugby world, but it is a shame that their old jersey, navy blue with red lightning bolts, has been forgotten.

Manchester United: 1995-96

This infamous grey kit took the blame when United lost 3-1 to Southampton in 1995. The players claimed that they could not pick each other out from the crowd, resulting in a 3-0 deficit at half-time, when they changed to their third strip and pulled a goal back, but it was too little, too late. The fact that they usually play in front of thousands of fans all wearing replica kits, presumably making their red shirts hard to pick out, was never raised.

(Picture: Umbro/Flickr)








England football team: 1996

What is it with Umbro and grey kits? After the Manchester United debacle, they decided that what England fans wanted was a kit that would go well with jeans. Nevermind that England’s traditional red away kit was worn in the 1966 World Cup final. One semi-final defeat to Germany in Euro ’96 later, and red was reinstated.

(Picture: Umbro/Flickr)










New Zealand cricket team: 1980s

The 1980s, the early years of coloured kits in cricket. Each side needed a colour and an identity. New Zealand’s idea of an identity? Beige.

To be fair, it has enjoyed a renaissance as an ironic look for the Kiwi answer to the Barmy Army, the Beige Brigade, and the national side seemed to enjoy wearing beige as a one-off for a Twenty20 match in 2005, but for all concerned, I think it’s best left to the fans.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 1976-1996

The now legendary ‘creamsicle’ uniforms were worn by the Buccaneers for the first twenty years of their existence. This period saw them produce the first winless season of the Super Bowl era, and it took them 26 games over two years before they won a game. Even the picture of a Buccaneer on the helmet looked more like a camp cavalier. This ignominious history earned them the nickname, ‘the Yuks’, which was not helped by their horrific uniforms. Like the Broncos, they changed their colours, and within a few years, won a Super Bowl.

What’s even more mystifying is that they brought the colours back this year for a game against Green Bay. Unlike the former AFL teams, who had a reason to be wearing throwback jerseys, the Buccaneers had none. That said, it did bring their first win of the season, maybe unsurprising, given that their opponents were presumably playing with their eyes closed.

Cameroon football team: 2004

First they tried sleeveless shirts in 2002, but FIFA banned them. Undeterred, Puma decided to push their luck and produced an all-in one kit for Cameroon’s 2004 African Cup of Nations campaign. FIFA, realising that this heinous crime against football was the most important issue that they had to face, and more threatening to the fabric of the game than controversies over drugs, club debt, the trafficking of young players or video technology, banned it again, and deducted points from Cameroon’s World Cup qualifying campaign. Although the points were later returned, never let it be said that FIFA don’t clamp down on the big problems in the modern game. Aesthetically, this kit is fine, but one that costs its side six points is not worth the trouble.

Goalkeepers: since 1990

Goalkeepers have a rough deal. Whilst the outfield players grab all the glory, they are pilloried for making one mistake. Meanwhile, those pesky outfielders also went and reserved all the good colours, leaving some shockers for their colleagues between the posts. England ‘keepers of the '90s fared especially badly, though Mexican goalie Jorge Campos is right up there with them.

Denver Nuggets: 1980s

US sports teams produced some shockers in the '70s and '80s, but this ticks my box for anything attempting to look ‘modern’.