Reviews of the year are tricky. It can be hard to pick over the bones of a year without overanalysing, without totting up wins and losses and coming to the wrong conclusion, without forgetting the memories and moments dotted throughout a year and remembering only the outcomes. Sport at its best should chew us up and spit us out feeling like we’ve been through something visceral, it should get us deep in the gut. Jumpthefence finds that the greatest occasions are the ones we just can’t wait to talk about, when we’re bursting to describe and dissect all that just happened. Looking back, 2008 gave us a mountain of such days.
August 16th stands out. Jumpthefence sat on the couch that afternoon half-lazy and cranky but then Usain Bolt stomped his way through the 100m final and our mouths fell open; you just knew you were watching the real deal, something damn special. Something so wonderful we rang friends to tell them about it. Later that day Tyrone gave the performance of the year in making a mockery of Dublin’s Sam Maguire ambitions – they were as chillingly remorseless as Javier Bardem's killer in No Country for Old Men, assured of their abilities and skills as they conjured three wonderfully executed goals and ripped their opponents asunder time and again. We spent that night boring everyone within earshot.
Tyrone finished the job to be top of the tree once more - Mickey Harte staking his claim for manager of a generation and Sean Cavanagh for player of a generation - by finally killing off Kerry’s stumbling, never-really-convincing attempts for three-in-a-row. This Kerry side will have Tyrone hanging over them forever, much as they might recoil from that suggestion. We also saw a humdinger of a Munster final comeback from Cork in the rain of Pairc Ui Chaoimh, we saw a Wexford surge under Jason Ryan. Hey, we saw a good year of football.
In the hurling world, we marvelled at Joe Canning’s sheer brilliance for an hour in Thurles on the same evening that Cork reached into themselves for one more (final perhaps?) showing of the specialness they possess. Cork had nothing on Kilkenny of course, the cats hurling up a storm to floor the rebels with instinctive ruthlessness and then dismantling Waterford with the kind of perfect pitch possibly seen once a generation. We’ve never been one for the underdog, preferring greatness to brave defiance; that September afternoon was simply awesome.
For all its failings and critics, soccer gave us a few decent nights out. Giovanni Trapattoni has made his own mark on our Irish team already, installing a bit of a plan of how to play, which by its nature brought a lot more belief in the players. Stephen Reid looked like becoming a real player till injury again denied him. Andy Reid became the latest cause celebre without doing anything to deserve it. Stephen Ireland became the top Irish player across the water but isn’t playing for us. Seven points from nine, and indications we know where we’re going, would have been grabbed at previously, but there are tougher games ahead.
Elsewhere, the Champions League final was an epic rollercoaster, with first Man Utd imperious, then Chelsea powerfully dominant, and then the slip by John Terry of all people to swing the title in Man Utd’s probably just about deserved direction. Ronaldo was sensational and infuriating equally. Euro 08 was a little treat of a surprise, each team – Russia, Holland, Croatia, Turkey, especially - contributing something of themselves, trying to play a bit of ball with some creativity and technique. There were hardly any dud games, plenty of excellent ones and the best team won in Spain. No complaints.
Munster did what Munster do and ground out wins however which way they needed to in winning another Heineken Cup while the Irish team fell very, very flat. Our boxers gave us more cheer (along with three medals)in the Olympics than imagined and Paul Hession was really, sensationally excellent, while the likes of Derval O’Rourke, Eileen O’Keeffe and Alistair Cragg kinda disappointed. Padraig Harrington gave us two amazing weekends with two major titles while the Cork hurlers and county board left themselves down yet again with the ongoing bickering that gets more ridiculous (was there any sadder – and we mean it in every sense – picture than that of a group of hurlers who’re refusing to play bizarrely training themselves in Mallow?) each day it continues.
But we can’t be too greedy. Overall sport in 2008 gave us more cheer than gloom. In these times we can’t ask for anything more from it.
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Things that didn't float our boat in 2008
Things that Jumpthefence added to its black book…
1 Ongoing GAA problems
The Cork strikes. The Paul Galvin affair. The Justin McCarthy ousting in Waterford. The doping controversy. The Cork strikes again. Sure it’s nice to have something to talk about in the pub but there seems to be stuff happening every year now where nobody comes out with any dignity or class and the ordinary fan is just getting bored. Everybody loses a bit of themselves with the problems in Cork. Kerry didn’t do themselves any favours with the reaction to Galvin’s ban. The GAA themselves didn’t come up smelling of roses in any of the mishaps. Back to the on-field stuff next year maybe?
2 Irish rugby team
If Munster won hearts and minds and plaudits, Ireland’s rugby side continued the doomy spiral of the World Cup performances with an awful Six Nations and a dispiriting Autumn series (even with new manager Declan Kidney installed). There was something naturally gloomy about the camp in the final days of Eddie O’Sullivan and defeats to France, Wales and England were deserved and horribly predictable. Kidney came in to some fanfare but New Zealand made boys of us and the Argentina win was so ugly it felt like defeat.
3 Arsenal
Started the year top of the Premier League amid proclamations of Wenger’s genius at putting together the best young players in the history of the game. Just didn’t have enough steel, winning mentality and experience to see out big games or the season (the 4-0 defeat to Utd in the cup hugely deflated their aura, late collapses from winning positions at Chelsea, Utd and Liverpool (Champs Lge) summed up their problems). End the year with question marks over hanging onto fourth spot, having lost two captains and valid wonderings as to the judgement of their manager in thinking these youngsters were up to it.
4 Cristiano Ronaldo
Oh man oh man, how can anyone be so damned good yet so damned annoying? Jumpthefence actually feels sorry for him at times as he does tend to get kicked, fouled and taken out of games far more than most footballers. But the increasing ego that questions every tackle made as an offense, the petulance, the strutting, the arrogance, the self-perception that he’s now bigger than Man Utd, make one the world’s top players extremely unlikable. And that’s a shame, cos it alters the ordinary punters’ sense of how good he is.
5 Domestic football
Though the paranoia and bitterness that pervades the domestic game can make it hard to root for at times, nobody wants to see season after season dominated by clubs going down the swanny or stories of debts and administrations being more popular than feelgood stories. Cork City almost went under. Pretty much every other club around had some form of difficulties. All due to overreaching, misplaced ambition and just never being able to connect with the wider public. An awful pity, but every step forward of the past five years seems to be followed by two backwards.
6 The misplaced hypes and hopes
Hey, it’ll happen anyway and everywhere but Jumpthefence finds a terrible disparity at times between those who receive our cheers/ jeers and those who deserve them. Giovanni Trapattoni does a pretty good job early days yet gets abuse for not fielding an average-to-good prem lge player while Bernard Dunne beats a couple of no-hopers and continually gets peddled as a fighting machine. We talk up a rugby team that’s struggling to get into the top eight in the world while laughing at and dismissing individuals who’re fighting massive odds for not winning Olympic medals. Some perspective needs to be found at times. We won’t be holding breath.
1 Ongoing GAA problems
The Cork strikes. The Paul Galvin affair. The Justin McCarthy ousting in Waterford. The doping controversy. The Cork strikes again. Sure it’s nice to have something to talk about in the pub but there seems to be stuff happening every year now where nobody comes out with any dignity or class and the ordinary fan is just getting bored. Everybody loses a bit of themselves with the problems in Cork. Kerry didn’t do themselves any favours with the reaction to Galvin’s ban. The GAA themselves didn’t come up smelling of roses in any of the mishaps. Back to the on-field stuff next year maybe?
2 Irish rugby team
If Munster won hearts and minds and plaudits, Ireland’s rugby side continued the doomy spiral of the World Cup performances with an awful Six Nations and a dispiriting Autumn series (even with new manager Declan Kidney installed). There was something naturally gloomy about the camp in the final days of Eddie O’Sullivan and defeats to France, Wales and England were deserved and horribly predictable. Kidney came in to some fanfare but New Zealand made boys of us and the Argentina win was so ugly it felt like defeat.
3 Arsenal
Started the year top of the Premier League amid proclamations of Wenger’s genius at putting together the best young players in the history of the game. Just didn’t have enough steel, winning mentality and experience to see out big games or the season (the 4-0 defeat to Utd in the cup hugely deflated their aura, late collapses from winning positions at Chelsea, Utd and Liverpool (Champs Lge) summed up their problems). End the year with question marks over hanging onto fourth spot, having lost two captains and valid wonderings as to the judgement of their manager in thinking these youngsters were up to it.
4 Cristiano Ronaldo
Oh man oh man, how can anyone be so damned good yet so damned annoying? Jumpthefence actually feels sorry for him at times as he does tend to get kicked, fouled and taken out of games far more than most footballers. But the increasing ego that questions every tackle made as an offense, the petulance, the strutting, the arrogance, the self-perception that he’s now bigger than Man Utd, make one the world’s top players extremely unlikable. And that’s a shame, cos it alters the ordinary punters’ sense of how good he is.
5 Domestic football
Though the paranoia and bitterness that pervades the domestic game can make it hard to root for at times, nobody wants to see season after season dominated by clubs going down the swanny or stories of debts and administrations being more popular than feelgood stories. Cork City almost went under. Pretty much every other club around had some form of difficulties. All due to overreaching, misplaced ambition and just never being able to connect with the wider public. An awful pity, but every step forward of the past five years seems to be followed by two backwards.
6 The misplaced hypes and hopes
Hey, it’ll happen anyway and everywhere but Jumpthefence finds a terrible disparity at times between those who receive our cheers/ jeers and those who deserve them. Giovanni Trapattoni does a pretty good job early days yet gets abuse for not fielding an average-to-good prem lge player while Bernard Dunne beats a couple of no-hopers and continually gets peddled as a fighting machine. We talk up a rugby team that’s struggling to get into the top eight in the world while laughing at and dismissing individuals who’re fighting massive odds for not winning Olympic medals. Some perspective needs to be found at times. We won’t be holding breath.
Things we liked in 2008
Eight things that Jumpthefence took pleasure in throughout the past year…
1 Euro 08
Probably the best football tournament we can remember as regards consistent quality of football offered up by so many different teams and we hate to say it, but that was made more enjoyable for the absence of Ireland's and England’s dourness. So many top games or performances – Turkey 3 Czech Rep 2, Croatia 2 Germany 1, Holland 3 Italy 0, Portugal 2 Germany 3, Croatia 1 Turkey 1, Holland 1 Russia 3 – to name just a few, even if it maybe lacked one real classic defining contest.
2 Olympics
Yep, probably the best olympics of jumpthefence’s lifetime also. Michael Phelps dominated the first week. Usain Bolt left us in awe the second. Throw in plenty brave Irish performances (though were the boxers’ displays slightly overrated?) and a heap of interesting finals and stories and it kept us entertained for a fortnight.
3 Munster rugby
Sometimes we’re inclined to think we big up this crowd too much for a competition that in many ways English/ French sides care little enough about, but there’s no getting away from the fact that Munster have produced some wonderful displays and days and performers and 2008’s Heinken Cup odyssey was no less epic – wins away at Gloucester and Saracens before seeing off top dogs Toulouse.
4 Kilkenny hurlers
There’s not much left to say about this gang. Special is an overused word in sport but this team are that. Awesome is as overutilised but they deserved that tag for the final display over Waterford. We could watch them hook, block, tackle, strike, score and work all day long. All of the skills and professionalism without the crap hyping themselves up – others take note.
5 Padraig Harrington
We’ve already posted here that he well deserved the Irish sportsperson of the year award. Four majors – two titles is the sort of take that earns genuine top golfer status, and much as many will argue no, he probably needed the US PGA to really claim that he could go across the pond and do the business. Now he can earn greatness by continuing that sort of form.
6 Cristiano Ronaldo
Ah, come off it begrudgers. There’s a hell of a lot that’s unlikable about the man (see our list of disappointments to come) but Jumpthefence won’t listen to anyone who tried to argue this guy didn’t have a career season. Was the most influential player (31 goals) in the best league in the world and played a huge role – he was MOTM in the Champs Lge final for those who claim he can’t handle the big occasion – in winning the Champs Lge (8 goals) also. Brilliantly effective.
7 Stephen Ireland
Okay, he’s not playing for Ireland right now. But Ireland has turned himself around from the potential everybody could see to a real top premier league midfielder and surely a candidate for Young Player of the season across the water. We argued a couple of years ago that he was the most technically gifted Irish footballer we’d seen and he’s shown that with his form - scoring goals, creating goals, influencing games with his passing range, presence and fitness (the two worries previously) and ability on the ball.
8 Il Trap
Hard to believe that it was only this year that the FAI somehow managed to pull off a serious coup by dragging a genuine football legend from the hat when we were all expecting a Terry Venables or Graeme Souness. And he’s brought a feelgood factor back to Irish football, some decent results, an actual plan and shape of what he’s about (unlike our previous two managers) and we head towards 2009 in good spirits. We’d have taken that this time last year.
1 Euro 08
Probably the best football tournament we can remember as regards consistent quality of football offered up by so many different teams and we hate to say it, but that was made more enjoyable for the absence of Ireland's and England’s dourness. So many top games or performances – Turkey 3 Czech Rep 2, Croatia 2 Germany 1, Holland 3 Italy 0, Portugal 2 Germany 3, Croatia 1 Turkey 1, Holland 1 Russia 3 – to name just a few, even if it maybe lacked one real classic defining contest.
2 Olympics
Yep, probably the best olympics of jumpthefence’s lifetime also. Michael Phelps dominated the first week. Usain Bolt left us in awe the second. Throw in plenty brave Irish performances (though were the boxers’ displays slightly overrated?) and a heap of interesting finals and stories and it kept us entertained for a fortnight.
3 Munster rugby
Sometimes we’re inclined to think we big up this crowd too much for a competition that in many ways English/ French sides care little enough about, but there’s no getting away from the fact that Munster have produced some wonderful displays and days and performers and 2008’s Heinken Cup odyssey was no less epic – wins away at Gloucester and Saracens before seeing off top dogs Toulouse.
4 Kilkenny hurlers
There’s not much left to say about this gang. Special is an overused word in sport but this team are that. Awesome is as overutilised but they deserved that tag for the final display over Waterford. We could watch them hook, block, tackle, strike, score and work all day long. All of the skills and professionalism without the crap hyping themselves up – others take note.
5 Padraig Harrington
We’ve already posted here that he well deserved the Irish sportsperson of the year award. Four majors – two titles is the sort of take that earns genuine top golfer status, and much as many will argue no, he probably needed the US PGA to really claim that he could go across the pond and do the business. Now he can earn greatness by continuing that sort of form.
6 Cristiano Ronaldo
Ah, come off it begrudgers. There’s a hell of a lot that’s unlikable about the man (see our list of disappointments to come) but Jumpthefence won’t listen to anyone who tried to argue this guy didn’t have a career season. Was the most influential player (31 goals) in the best league in the world and played a huge role – he was MOTM in the Champs Lge final for those who claim he can’t handle the big occasion – in winning the Champs Lge (8 goals) also. Brilliantly effective.
7 Stephen Ireland
Okay, he’s not playing for Ireland right now. But Ireland has turned himself around from the potential everybody could see to a real top premier league midfielder and surely a candidate for Young Player of the season across the water. We argued a couple of years ago that he was the most technically gifted Irish footballer we’d seen and he’s shown that with his form - scoring goals, creating goals, influencing games with his passing range, presence and fitness (the two worries previously) and ability on the ball.
8 Il Trap
Hard to believe that it was only this year that the FAI somehow managed to pull off a serious coup by dragging a genuine football legend from the hat when we were all expecting a Terry Venables or Graeme Souness. And he’s brought a feelgood factor back to Irish football, some decent results, an actual plan and shape of what he’s about (unlike our previous two managers) and we head towards 2009 in good spirits. We’d have taken that this time last year.
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