Ryder Rides Into History!

Canadian cyclist Ryder Hesjdal finished ahead of his major rivals in today’s Stage 7 of the Giro D’Italia — the first hilly stage this year — and thus became the first ever Canadian to wear the race leader’s maglia rose — pink shirt.

With the first of three weeks racing just about done, Hesjdal has a genuine shot at winning the Giro, but my money is still on Roman Kreuziger who is 35 seconds behind on General Classification.  Long way to go, though.

Yes, I’m A Jock

What a great weekend for sports this weekend:

• First thing in the morning, there will be Stage 6 of the Paris-Nice Classic. Bradley Wiggins is making a wonderful start to a season in which he hopes — expects — to be on the Tour de France podium in July.
• Pretty soon after that finishes, Wales plays Italy in Rugby Union’s Six Nations tournament.  Wales has already won the Triple Crown and I fully anticipate them taking the Grand Slam this year.
• In the evening the Vancouver Canucks comes onto the ice to thrash the Montreal Canadiens.
• Saturday night closes with the first day of the Spring Basho — that’s sumo, you know.  If Baruto from Estonia wins the tournament we will likely have the first European yokozuna in the history of this very ancient sport.  I’ll be cheering for the Japanese rikishi Kisenasato.
• Finally, on Sunday morning, England plays France in the Six Nations.

Cycling, rugby, sumo and hockey — sometimes I just get lucky!

Sumo Is Back and Harumafuji Does It Again!

Regular readers will know  that my wife and I are devotees of sumo. This year has been a sorry one for fans of the sport as we had to deal with the remnants of last year’s betting scandal which was immediately followed by an even bigger match-fixing scandal.  The latter was so serious that it cost the jobs of a dozen or so rikishi (wrestlers) and managers who were thrown out of the sport.  The Sumo Association was forced to cancel the March basho tournament entirely while Japan TV refused to cover the next basho in May. There were times we seriously wondered if the ancient sport would actually survive.

But the July basho was held and televised, and will end tonight.  An interesting bunch of younger rikishi were promoted to the ranks of those now departed and it seems we might be back to normal.

One of our favourite rikishi is ozeki Harumafuji and I was pleased a couple of years ago to report here when he won his first yusho (championship). To be frank, he hasn’t been very good these past couple of years. He has been injury-prone and has barely done enough to keep his rank of ozeki. Since he won that yusho, the age’s greatest rikishi, Asashoryu was forced to retire for “lack of dignity” and the sport has been dominated by Hakuho who has won the last seven yusho in a row, equalling Asashoryu’s record. But last night Harumajui defeated Hakuho to win his second Emperor’s Cup.  It was a great and worthy fight and I cheered and cheered at the end.

More sumo here.

In other sports news, I have to report that my man Alberto Contador was just not up to snuff in the Tour de France this year.  But, luckily, the Schleck Brothers couldn’t win either and this year’s race will be won tomorrow by Cadel Evans, the first Australian to do so.  He thoroughly deserves the title.

Jelly Beans On Bicycles

I came across these two likely lads at the Gastown Criterium a few years back.

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Which Way Did They Go?

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My Sporting Life: An Update

Sadly, the Vancouver Canucks were beaten in the Stanley Cup playoffs.  We played pretty well overall but we just couldn’t beat Chicago.  Oh well. That leaves more room for cycling, sumo and cricket!

The Giro d’Italia race just began this weekend.  This is Lance Armstrong’s first grand tour since his comeback.  I am no fan of his and I can think of a dozen riders I’d prefer to win.  A win by Mark Cavendish would be a turn up for the books — it has been a long long time since England had a serious GT challenger.

The May basho also began in Tokyo this weekend.   After 3 days, only five rikishi are still unbeaten, and these include my favourites Haramafuji, Takamisakari and Kisenosato.   The highly publicized Japanese up-and-comer Goeido, and current sumo god Hakuho round out the top five.   The cracks that have appeared lately in the great Asashoryu’s game seem to have opened up again last night.  He was soundly defeated by Aminishki.  Early days, early days.  We’ll see how it shakes out come this time next week.

As for cricket, we England fans are still basking in the thrashing we gave West Indies in the first Test.  Coming off a limp series in the Caribbean and in advance of the classic Ashes series against Australia later this summer, the victory was greatly appreciated.   The second Test starts on Thursday and we will be looking to repeat.

My Sporting Life

The Fall basho passed quietly.  After the marijuana scandals of the summer, and the lifetime suspension of three Russian rikishi, I think everyone connected to sumo breathed a sigh of relief as the tournament itself went off well.  Yokozuna Hakuho has settled in as the reigning champion, easily winning his 8th Emperor’s Cup with a 14-1 record.  Our man Ama, smallest rikishi at the highest level, was second at 13-2, winning the Outstanding Performance Award and adding to his claim for promotion to ozeki.

The great champion Asashoryu seems to be winding down his career.  He lost 4 of his first 7 fights and retired from the tournament with “injuries”, the second time in a row he has pulled that stunt.  There will be pressure on him for sure to either pull up his socks or to retire.  Asashoryu has 22 Emperor’s Cups and was hoping in a few years to have taken the record from Taiho’s 32 wins.  However, Hakuho, Ama and a few up-and-comers will probably put paid to that idea.  Of course, if he comes back for a win in November, then all bets are off.

Hooray, the European football season is back!  It is a treat to watch good football each and every Saturday morning.  I am especially pleased that Chelsea are already top of the English Premier Division, a position I hope they hold until the end.

Also starting is the North American ice hockey season.  We are still in exhibition play for another couple of weeks, but the Canucks have begun what was supposed to be a “transitional” season for the team with a surprising 4-0 record.   Vigneault has been putting out some fascinating line combinations with our young prospects and a few of the talent acquired over the summer.   Today is the big pre-season cut day; a dozen or more players have to be cut from the roster.  It will be very interesting to see what the coach does with fewer options.

And finally, there is cycling.  Alberto Contador joined the list of only four other cyclists who have won all three Grand Tours: the Tour de France in 2007, the Giro d’Italia this May, and the Vuelta a Espagna this month.  It has been hard to follow the post Tour season.  My heavy load at work and no TV coverage has made it very difficult.  I love to watch cycling, and following it on text just doesn’t cut it.  Hopefully the 2009 season will be better covered by OLN and others.

Mixed Emotions As Both Tour and Basho End

The Tour de France ended about fifteen minutes ago.  And the summer basho in Nagoya finished just a fdew hours ago.  The men I had championed, Valverde and Kotooshu respectively, didn’t win.  In fact, both disappointed if truth be told.  But both events themselves lived up to pre-tournament hype.

The Tour, in particular, was more exciting than for many years past.  There were seven changes of the yellow jersey over the three weeks and the winner was in serious doubt right up until Carlos Sastre survived the Individual Time Trial yesterday.  Today was the typical parade into Paris, so Sastre takes the final yellow jersey and the overall win by about a minute.   One of the revelations for me has been Bernhard Kohl, who took the King of the Mountains title by a distance, and almost surprised everyone by his speed in the Time Trial.

Alejandro Valverde finished 9th, about 7 minutes down.   He was well-hyped for a podium finish and I thought he had a real shot at the final yellow.  He won the opeing stage with a terrific acceleration in the final sprint and I thought we were well set.  But he never seemed aggressive enough, never made the running, and when he lost time in the Pyrennees his chance was gone.   He did well in the Alps but, once again, his lack of aggression cost him dear in my opinion.  I wonder if he will be racing the Huelta?

In Nagoya, Hakuho powered his way to a 15-0 record in winning his seventh Emperor’s Cup.  In the final contest last night, he comprehensively defeated my man Kotooshu, bringing the ozeki to a lackluster 9-6 record.  Kotooshu won the basho in May and would have expected promotion to yokozuna, sumo’s highest rank, had he won back-to-back victories.  Now, he has to discipline himself for a much longer wait.

Ama continued his streak. His 10-5 was his sixth winning record in a row and he continues to generate crowd support and decent kensho bundles.  He was awarded the basho‘s Technique Prize for the fourth time in his career.

I didn’t get to see as much of this basho as I would have liked.  However, it is clear that there are a number of excellent young rikishi — eastern Europeans among them — who are beginning to break into the rankings.  I suspect we will see a number of the veterans forced out of the Makuuchi ranks over the next year or so.  These newbies are aggressive and want to grab the top spots as quickly as possible.  It makes for exciting watching!

My Sporting Life

Another full week of all work and no play.  I finally shut it all off at about 2 today.  I had a nap, cooked a wicked dinner, and even managed to do some painting.

I can’t blame all my tiredness on the long hours connected to the office, because there are a few complications unconnected to work; first and foremost being the Tour.

While it is certainly true that I prefer cricket, football and hockey to cycling, it is equally true that my favourite sporting event of the year — the only one I actively look forward to — is the Tour de France.  This year it started about two weeks ago, at exactly the same time that work became hectic.  It runs in my time zone from about 3am to 8am.   I usually manage to watch from about 5 until I have to leave at 7:30, following the finish on my Blackberry as the bus chugs along.  I’ve been known to leave late some days.  On the weekends, of course, all sense is discarded in the realization that I can watch from beginning to end, so long as I sacrifice a few hours sleep.

It’s been a wonderful Tour, by the way, a few drug busts notwithstanding.   Today’s mountain stage was some of the most extraordinary sporting drama created by extraordinary athletes I have ever seen.  I am taking a mental health day on Wednesday so as to be able to watch in relaxation the ride to L’Alpe d’Huez.  The day includes both the fearsome Col du Galbier and the mountain top finish at L’Alpe d’Huez.   It will be an historic and fascinating day.

We are also in the middle of the Summer Sumo basho in Nagoya.   Here, that is shown from midnight to 2am.  With the Tour going on, I just can’t manage to stay up that late.  But we tape it and I watch it the next day.

Ama

This basho, the first after Kotooshu won in May, has produced some interesting stuff, too.   The great yokozuna Asashoryu lost an early bout and was then the victim of dubious referring in another bout.  He quit the tournament with a damaged elbow.  He seems to have lost his edge, his determination, and he looks to be on the downward slope of his career.   The other yokozuna, Hakuho, is cruising to another championship with an 8-0 frecord so far.   Our favourite, Ama, is second at 7-1.

Again, these last few days have given us a great Open golf championship.  The nostalgia of Greg Norman (and his melodramatic semi-collapse on the final day), the excitement of the 20-year old amateur coming in 5th, and the nice guy Irishman winning for the second year in a row.  Good stuff.  But it began in the middle of the night, too.  Thank God it is over.

Now, I just have to survive another week of sumo and cycling — and another couple of days of England;s cricketers getting thrashed by South Africa — and I’ll be fine.   Until the Olympics of course.

Two Cyclists

As I get my mind in gear for the start of the Tour de France in a week or so’s time, I was reminded of these two colourful Jelly Belly team members from the Gastown Criterion a few years ago.

My Sporting Life

OK, it is time to bring up sports. I am, I guess, a couch jock: Too old and too battered to join in, I love to watch sports on TV. I follow Chelsea in football, the Canucks in hockey, Jeff Gordon in NASCAR, and — for my sins — I was a most loyal fan of the ever-losing Seattle Seahawks for a couple of decades. I don’t watch much car racing these days (something to do with my wife, the good ol’boy accents of the commentators, and grated teeth), but I still watch English Premier League on a Saturday morning, and hockey whenever the Canucks are playing, but my real sporting joys are elsewhere.

This post is written in celebration of the fact that about ten minutes ago England won a cricket Test Match against New Zealand. Cricket is without doubt the greatest game ever invented and I can watch it endlessly. Especially the Test version of the game, which can take up to five days to play, and in which time plays a strategic role as well as tactical. It is almost luxurious to watch the steady progression of a Test Match compared to the abbreviated One Day versions of the game, and even more so to the chaos that is the 20/20 version (three hours at most from start to finish) that administrators and marketers think is the future.

And then there is sumo. A sublime sport, I have written before how lucky we are to live in the age of Asashoryu the Great. I have also described how Asashoryu and sumo became part of the year of asterisks in world sport. We are currently eight days into the 15-day Spring Tournament (basho) in Osaka, and Asashoryu has regained his position at the head of the pack. My wife’s favourite — the other grand champion (yokozuna) Hakuho, a Mongolian like Asa — is in second place along with several others. Thank goodness we can get JapanTV on premium cable!

This fellow was an enthusiastic amateur at a North American tournament we attended some years ago.

And don’t get me started on road cycling! I’ll leave that one until closer to the major tours this summer.