Top-flight world football has no openly gay players, except one – Swedish midfielder Anton Hysén. So why did he make the move, and what has been the reaction?

Anton Hysén looks every inch the modern footballer. The 20-year-old Swede has his initials tattooed behind one ear and his parents' names on each forearm. On his left arm, in particularly elaborate lettering, is: "UNWA". This is Hysén's tribute to Liverpool, his birthplace, and the terrace anthem of his favourite club – You'll Never Walk Alone.

Hysén, the son of former Liverpool defender and Swedish international Glenn Hysén, is currently walking very much alone. This month, the left-sided midfielder came out as Sweden's first openly gay male footballer. He is only the second high-level footballer to come out in the world, ever. The first, Justin Fashanu, revealed he was gay in 1990, found himself shunned by the footballing world, including his brother, John, and hanged himself eight years later. (John later expressed his remorse.)

A generation on, when gay men and women play prominent roles in every other kind of entertainment, it looks increasingly bizarre that world football has no openly gay players – apart from Hysén. Although, as he points out, he currently plays in the fourth tier of Swedish football, working in the local Volvo factory to support himself, Hysén's honesty about his sexuality is a big deal. His family is a footballing dynasty in Sweden; Hysén's older brother, Tobias, is a Swedish international; their father, Glenn, was a tough defender who remains a celebrity in Sweden. In Britain, it would be rather like John Terry having a footballing son who came out. Perhaps most significantly of all, Hysén, like the English cricketer Steven Davies, who came out last month, made his declaration at the start of his career.

A bouncy, articulate athlete who speaks excellent English with an American twang picked up during a year at college there, Hysén is utterly at ease with his decision when we meet at his family's apartment in Gothenburg before his team, Utsiktens BK, play their first big match of the new Swedish season. He has no time for gay stereotypes. As he politely puts it: "I'm not a big Pride person. There's nothing wrong with Pride but it's just not my thing."

His story began, however, at Stockholm's Pride march in 2007, when his dad made a surprising appearance. It was controversial because the gay community assumed Glenn was a homophobe after he threw a punch at a man who groped him in the toilets at Frankfurt airport in 2001. But this macho football legend confounded critics by talking with great empathy of "a 16-year-old who didn't want to come out because he feared what his teammates would think". No one realised at the time, but he was referring to his son. "He said, 'I'm doing it for you,'" remembers Hysén.

Hysén's family and close friends have been completely supportive since he revealed his sexuality to them a few years ago; he figures he was born this way. "I always knew but I didn't really think about it seriously when I was younger – you live at home and hang out with girls and you only really think about it when you start to want a serious relationship," he says. Injuries stalled his development as a footballer with the Swedish premier-league club Häcken and now Hysén is rebuilding his career at Utsiktens, where his father became coach last year. Hysén did not court the flurry of global publicity that, invariably, came with his revelation. During a football magazine interview, Glenn casually mentioned his son's sexuality; the journalist then politely approached Hysén to see if he wanted to come out. Hysén thought he might as well and, with typical frankness, told Offside magazine: "It is completely strange, isn't it? It's all fucked up. Where the hell are all the others? No one is coming out."

That is probably because homophobia is rife in global football, from the top to the bottom. When Fifa last year awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal, president Sepp Blatter sniggered that gay fans "should refrain from any sexual activities" if travelling there. "Thank goodness only healthy people play football," said Vlato Markovic recently, vowing there would be no gay players while he was president of Croatian football. In 2009, Max Clifford claimed he advised two gay Premiership players to stay in the closet because football was "in the dark ages, steeped in homophobia". Last year, Gordon Taylor, head of the Professional Footballers' Association, casually remarked that homophobia was not high on the Premiership's agenda after no footballers would front the FA's anti-homophobia video campaign.

Calling football "institutionally homophobic", as Ben Summerskill of Stonewall put it, looks like an understatement. A Stonewall survey found seven in 10 fans have witnessed homophobic abuse. In 2009, seven men were found guilty of hurling taunts at Sol Campbell, in the first case of indecent chanting brought to court. Ipswich supporters still repeat: "He's gay, he's dead, he's hanging in a shed, Fashanu, Fashanu" at fans of Norwich, where Fashanu began his career.

Even if this is excused as pantomime tribal rivalry, the violence of it is terrifying. But Hysén does not fear his experience will in any way replicate Fashanu's. "His teammates and his brother turned their backs on him," he says. "That's the biggest tragedy." Hysén's glamorous, fur coat-wearing mother, Helena, vividly recalls Fashanu's coming out shaking footballing circles when she was living on Merseyside with Glenn and their children. "I remember this picture when he was lying down on the grass under an oak tree just in jeans and he told the world he was gay. Everyone was like: 'What the heck is he doing?'" She hopes it would be different now in Britain, although, as she puts it: "English men are more conservative [than Sweden]. They still wear wigs in court."

Two hours before Utsiktens kick off against Assyriska in the regional cup final, I grab a lift with Hysén and his dad to their stadium. So far, reaction has been the polar opposite to that surrounding Fashanu, except for one offensive letter from a fan. "Everyone has been very positive. I was on the train last weekend and this girl said: 'You've made the world a better place, thank you for being there for everyone,' and I haven't done anything," Hysén smiles. "But when you think about it, you kinda have. Obviously I haven't been playing in the top league but I'm still going for it, and I'm still the only active player who has come out, so of course it's huge."

Fans might assume it is impossible for footballers to come out because of teammates – or managers. Brian Clough treated Fashanu brusquely after his million-pound transfer to Nottingham Forest in 1981 and the striker's career fell into terminal decline. Hysén has two managers at Utsiktens; his dad is strongly supportive and his other coach, recounts Hysén, told him: "I support you 100%. If anybody else says anything we'll kick them out. Just do your thing." Hysén understands other gay players might fear discrimination by managers because of their sexuality but "if someone turns you down because of that, they would be the dumb one".

Dressing room "banter" is notoriously Neanderthal but Hysén insists he is totally comfortable at Utsiktens. "Everyone is positive. Everyone," he says of his teammates. It may help that nine of the team are under 22. "Who cares about a gay joke? I do it too. I joke about myself." Before the cup final, the Utsiktens players slouch around in flipflops and tracksuits, playing computer games and cards. The smell of Deep Heat rises from the dressing room; Guns N' Roses pumps from the stereo. "We're an international team," explains Sonny Karlsson, a big Serb-Swedish striker, pointing out teammates from Bosnia, Germany and Albania. "And we've got a fag, how about that?" adds Hysén.

Rightwinger Niklas Tidstrand, a friend for five years, has publicly supported Hysén. "We're a really good, tight group – perhaps that's why Anton came out as well," says Tidstrand of their young squad. "It's good for him. He doesn't have to lie when girls come up to him. It's hard to have something inside you that's really big. I supported him from the first moment he said he was gay and when he came out to everybody I thought it was good but we didn't think it was going to be a big deal like this."

Premiership players are startlingly reluctant to talk about homophobia or gay players in the game, as if they will be marked men simply for discussing the issue. Former Sheffield Wednesday captain Darren Purse said he would have to think hard before advising a young player to come out; Bayern Munich's German striker Mario Gomez made headlines when he did the opposite, urging gay players to break this last "taboo". Hysén hopes his brother Tobias's support might encourage other top Swedish footballers to come out. "Other players should know he is someone they could talk to as well," he says. Hysén would like to see Premiership players stick up for gay colleagues. "If you're a real man in the Premier League you'd say, 'If you've got a problem, call me.' There has to be some way – whoever plays in the Premier League should try to support them."

Does Hysen feel pressure to be a role model now he is football's only gay player? "Not at all," he says. "There's nothing to be a role model for – you're gay, it's not a big thing. People tell me I'm a celebrity now, and I shouldn't be. But as long as it helps [others by speaking openly], I'll do everything I can. If there's anyone afraid of coming out they should give me a call."

Hysén admits it made it easier to come out given the fact that Utsiktens count their crowds in hundreds rather than thousands. Last week's cup final was the biggest game Hysén had played since he came out.

At half-time, Utsiktens fans of all ages are supportive of Hysén, although there are a few old jokes. "What we say is, 'Don't drop the soap in the shower, boys,'" says one fan. "He has really placed our team on the map. Everybody knows what is Utsiktens – it's Anton Hysén," beams Thelma Lingonblad, an elderly stalwart. "It's very brave coming out like that," nods Lars Borjessön. "The media minds more than us," declares young fan Selma Arnautovic, just as Utsiktens grab a second goal. "Lots of people think it's his private life. People don't think any differently about him. They like the way he plays," she smiles, "not which side he is on."

Hysen is not dating anyone and says he would "just laugh" if future romances were reported in the press. The media "can say whatever they want as long as it's not bullshit". He is finding it "really hard to find someone within sports that acts like you" – "masculine", as he puts it. "I like to go to gay bars but it gets a little bit too much when it comes to Pride. We'll see. You meet people every day so no stress. I'm not searching for anything."

It may be easier to come out in Sweden, that bastion of liberal civility. Hysén is a great Anglophile (even sporting the St George's flag on his personalised boots) but agrees that Sweden is more tolerant. "People here are a little bit more liberal but I understand people of other cultures and religions if they don't respect it," he says of his sexuality. "You can't love everyone."

And it is not all peace and love in Sweden. Hysén's mother is worried about his meeting bigger clubs. "Three or four teams in the highest league have really bad fans," she says. "If they meet a team like that, I don't think Anton gets scared. He gets more determined. But I'm scared. I'm his mum. And if he goes out to a nightclub, everyone knows him now. I'm scared he'll get beaten up."

As the match enters the final 10 minutes, Tidstrand is sent off for his second yellow card. Cursing on the sidelines, he says Assyriska's fans were shouting: "Are you sure you are just Anton's friend?" and "Are you gay as well?" at him. "It's the first time it's happened."

Utsiktens win the cup 2-1. Fans run on to the pitch, celebrating. "The left foot is back!" says Hysén delightedly. But, for the first time, he was abused. "I heard so much shit," he says of the opposition fans. "'Fucking faggot' and things like that." Hysén admits he was initially furious. Then "I was laughing, I was psyched to play the game. It's just talk. It's just shouting. My attitude is: 'I've got the ball – you don't. I'm on the pitch – you're not.' And if you hate that, I couldn't care less." He points out that he heard other fans telling his abusers: "Shut up, you can't say things like that."

Hysén heads home with his mum and sister, looking forward to a proposed trip to Britain for a televised discussion with gay sportsmen Steven Davies and Gareth Thomas and then to watch his beloved Liverpool. There with the rest of the fans he will belt out You'll Never Walk Alone. Perhaps he won't have to for much longer.

Plus: Stadium plans that went down the swanny, German team-naming conventions, and how Cambodian league football spreads it about. Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk and follow us on Twitter

"Has a referee ever won an international cap either before, during or after his refereeing career?" wonders Adrian Curran.

Plenty of folk both refereed and played the game in football's early days. Robert W Gardner was as close as anyone is ever going to get to the ultimate football polymath. He played as a striker for the groundbreaking Queen's Park side of the late 1860s before moving back into goal, whereupon he didn't let one in for eight years. His international record wasn't so hot, though. Having kept a clean sheet in the world's first international between Scotland and England in 1872 – a game he was instrumental in organising – he let a goal in during the first minute of the return match the following year, by all accounts dropping a real clanger while dealing with a stiff breeze. By 1876, he had picked up the whistle, presumably using both hands and cradling it like a crystal vase.

Llewelyn Kenrick, who starred in Wales's first international in 1876, went on to referee in 1881. That was the year of his last cap, won in extraordinary circumstances: Wales were a man down when a player simply didn't turn up, so Kenrick lived every schoolboy's dream and jumped the fence, playing in his civvies and putting in a stellar performance while wearing his everyday clogs. "Mr Kenrick, in broadcloth and ordinary boots, turned out as substitute and played remarkably well," ran a report of the day.

Even in those more civilised days the referee was still a, well, Segar Bastard, who whistled his way through matches between 1878 and 1881, including the 1878 FA Cup final. Whether his nickname was 'Useless' is not on record but his only appearance for England, in 1880, led to a 5-4 defeat.

In more modern times, Mohammed Attar El-Diba scored all four goals in the first Africa Cup of Nations final as Egypt lifted the 1957 trophy with a 4-0 win over Ethiopia; he would go on to referee the 1968 final in Ethiopia, Congo Kinshasa triumphing over Ghana.

Andre Daina played for Switzerland during the 1960s, and went on to referee at the 1986 World Cup finals and at Euro 84. He was also the man who made the most outrageous decision in football's history that meant absolutely nothing: he awarded Juventus their dubious penalty in the ill-fated 1985 European Cup final at Heysel.

But probably the biggest name on our roll call is that of Karoly Palotai, who played for Hungary in the 1964 Olympics, and took charge of the 1976 and 1981 European Cup finals, the 1975 Uefa Cup final, the 1979 Cup Winners' Cup final, and the famous England-Scotland crossbar match of 1977, as well as games at the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals.

Stellar achievements all, which make you wonder why Howard Webb has such a glide in his stride.

STADIUM PIPE DREAMS, FROM BARÇA TO BEATLEVILLE

"Having seen Portsmouth's designs for a fabulous waterside arena go up in smoke as a pipe dream, what other ambitious plans have proved to be well beyond the means of the clubs announcing them?" asks Jeremy Orbell.

Portsmouth fans can take heart that even plans made by the world's biggest clubs can descend into the sort of building-related farce not seen since that time Tommy Cooper and Eric Sykes tried to deliver a 12x2 length of wood.

Barcelona have been thinking about tarting up Camp Nou, or the Nou Camp as we Brits used to call it before everyone started putting on airs and graces and doing hi-falutin' things like getting stuff right, for the best part of a decade. As you'll no doubt have noticed, they've barely given the place a lick of paint in all that time. Sir Norman Foster was asked to redesign the place for the stadium's 50th birthday in 2007, but his proposal to add 10,000 new seats – or seats nou, if you will – weren't grand enough. Then came the credit crunch, and that was that. A local architect has since tried to steal a march on Foster by unveiling plans for a stadium to be built in the sea, but he could be an Espanyol fan taking the mick, who knows.

The giants of Merseyside have infamously struggled to get grounds past the planning stage. Everton have seen three proposals fall by the wayside, varying in grandeur from a glittering riverside stadium in the prestigious King's Dock to something tacked on to the side of a Tesco near a motorway, possibly in the north-west of England if the Toffees are lucky. Meanwhile neighbours Liverpool were promised a plush new stadium on Stanley Park by Trading Places tribute act Tom Hicks and George Gillett, but the design – a futuristic meld of a Breville sandwich toaster and something you might see in the back of a dry cleaners – never made it off the page.

Some clubs have managed to cock things up halfway through the process. In the late 1940s, Port Vale announced plans to build Vale Park as 'The Wembley of the North' but in austere post-war times, building materials were hard to procure, and only half of the planned main stand was ever built. Vale could count themselves unlucky, but Sheffield Wednesday were simply craven. Their 1961 cantilevered North Stand was a modern gem, described by stadium guru Simon Inglis as a "space-age E-Type Jaguar: a sleek, instantly recognisable icon for the 1960s … British football had entered the modern world". The plan was to build similar stands all round the ground to create a 40,000-seater all-enclosed Owls' nest. But Wednesday's board balked at the cost and threw up an old-school post-and-beam West Stand instead. "The North Stand had not heralded a new era at all," wrote Inglis in his majestic Football Grounds of Great Britain. "It had just been a brief interlude in an otherwise typical story of piecemeal development." Manchester United took Wednesday's grand idea and ran with it themselves instead. And now look.

DAS NUMBERS

"I looked at the Bundesliga table recently and noticed three of the teams have a '1' at the start of their name: 1.FC Kaiserslautern, 1.FC Koln and 1.FC Nurnberg," muses Frankie Lowe. "I can understand numbers in titles such as 1860 Munich and 1899 Hoffenheim, which clearly denote the year the club was formed, but unless the teams mentioned above are older than I thought then I am completely stumped. Can you help?"

"This is all explained excellently in the first chapter of the book Tor! The Story of German Football by Ulrich Hesse-Lichtenberger," writes Matias Pasch. "He explains all sorts of Bundesliga naming conventions that confuse foreign fans (if the oldest football club in the world is Notts County, vintage 1862, how can there be a German football club named TSV München von 1860?). Regarding the 1. he mentions 1. FC Nürnberg: 'The first football club in Nürnberg.' Indeed, when using the whole name of such a club one says 'Erste FC Kaiserslautern', or 'First FC Kaiserslautern'. All the clubs mentioned are nominally the first football clubs of their respective cities, thus they carry a '1.' in their name."

MORE CHAMPS IN A SINGLE STADIUM

Last week, in our quest to find the stadium that's been home to the largest number of champions, we put out an APB for a Cambodian fitba expert.

And oh ho! Oh ho! We got one! Here's Andy Brouwer, who until recently covered Cambodian League football for the Phnom Penh Post English-language newspaper, and is now the media officer for league champions Phnom Penh Crown.

"All league games are played at the National Olympic Stadium," writes Andy (who also pens this blog on Cambodian football). "Of the 10 teams in the 2010 Championship, two were from outside the capital though all of the matches were played at the stadium. There are two games every Saturday and Sunday and one on a Wednesday. My understanding is that C-League matches have always been played at the stadium, head and shoulders the best ground in the country. There's another stadium, the Army Stadium, which may've been the venue for league matches in the past but I can't verify that at the moment."

But it seems we didn't have to go as far as Bhutan, Afghanistan or Cambodia to find multiple champions sharing one stadium.

"In Malta," begins Craig Turp, "seven of the eight teams who have won the Maltese Championship since the second world war (Birkirkara, Floriana, Hamrun Spartans, Hibernians, Marsaxlokk, Sliema Wanderers, and Valletta) share three stadiums (all Maltese premier league games are played in the same three stadiums – Ta' Qali, Tedesco and Hibernians, usually as double headers). Here is the fixture list for this season. The only former champions not in the top tier are Rabat Ajax, currently in the second division. Their games are played at smaller grounds."

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE

In light of the announcement of the forthcoming nuptials between Prince William and Kate Middleton, let's revisit a question from 2006:

"Ten years ago, I made the mistake of getting married on the day that England beat Scotland in Euro 96. Every major tournament since then, my anniversary seems to be jinxed by clashing with an England match; this year is no exception, with me destined to miss the Trinidad game. Am I just being paranoid, or was June 15 statistically the worst day I could have picked to tie the knot?" pleads Alasdair Maughan.

A rookie mistake indeed, Alasdair, but fret not: there are worse days you could have conducted your nuptials, as Richard Dixon explained. "15 June is a long way from being the most popular day for England internationals," he began. "Since records began (1872) to the end of the first round of this year's World Cup, England will have played a total of 838 internationals. The most popular date for a game is 24 May (15 times), followed by 17 May (11) and 18, 21 and 22 May (all with 10 games). There then follow a further seven dates which have seen nine matches, including Alasdair's wedding anniversary."

Daniel Tunnard was another on the case, or in other words, another having a quiet morning work-wise. "I assumed that England had played more games in June than any other month. They've played on June 3 and June 8 nine times each, but they take on Jamaica on June 3 this year making that 10. Furthermore, all of England's June 3 games have been in the last 24 years! They've played on June 15 eight times (though only twice since 1996) – the match against Trinidad and Tobago will be the ninth. But then I checked again and found out their propensity for May 24 matches," which are as follows:

24.05.1923, Stockholm, v Sweden 3 - 1

24.05.1926, Antwerp, v Belgium 5 - 3

24.05.1939, Bucharest, v Romania 2 - 0

24.05.1953, Santiago, v Chile 2 - 1

24.05.1959, Mexico City, v Mexico 1 - 2

24.05.1961, Rome, v Italy 3 - 2

24.05.1964, Dublin, v Rep of Ireland 3 - 1

24.05.1967, Wembley, v Spain 2 - 0

24.05.1970, Quito, v Ecuador 2 - 0

24.05.1975, Wembley, v Scotland 5 - 1

24.05.1978, Wembley, v Hungary 4 - 1

24.05.1980, Glasgow, v Scotland 2 - 0

24.05.1986, Burnaby, v Canada 1 - 0

24.05.1988, Wembley, v Colombia 1 - 1

24.05.1997, Manchester, v South Africa 2 - 1

For thousands more questions and answers, take a trip through the Knowledge archive.

CAN YOU HELP?

"Recently retired French player Cyril Rool racked up 25 red cards and 187 yellow cards during his career in the French championship from 1993 to 2010," notes Graham Clayton. "Have any other players received so many red cards and yellow cards during their career?"

"After watching Sligo Rovers' Ciaran Kelly save all four penalties in the FAI Ford Cup final shoot-out against Shamrock Rovers on Sunday," begins Tom Welby, "I wondered which keeper has saved the most consecutive spot-kicks ever?"

"Are Samoan 2007 champions Gruz Azull, by any chance named after Mexican primera division team Cruz Azul, which in turn is named after the Mexican Cement company cemento Cruz Azul?" wonders J Seynave.

Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk.

Many thanks to football historian Cris Freddi, author of The Compete Book of the World Cup

A fairly comprehensive birthday day, weighted in favour of the South Americans and led by the formerly missing in action Juan Martin del Potro.

Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG), 22.

Del Potro celebrated his 21st still basking in the glow of shocking the tennis world and winning his first major, the U.S. Open, beating Roger Federer in the final a year ago.

Since then, little but misery.

He has barely played this season, he's out of the top 30 because of it, and he's finally supposed to make his long-awaited return next week in Bangkok.

He also has apparently signed up for every single tournament for the rest of the year. So either he's really feeling 100%, or he isn't and he's thinking he'd better try to get in as many tourneys as he can in case he doesn't get far.

The first match will probably tell us more.

In the last two years, del Potro lost the long hair, got bangs, and instantly raised the hotness factor by several degrees. So his full package is complete.

Carlos Kirmayr (BRA), 60.

Kirmayr had a decent and long career as a pro, spending half his time on the main tour and the other half on the Challenger circuit. He reached the round of 16 at the French Open and the third round at Wimbledon in 1981, and the quarter-finals in doubles at the French Open in 1983. He won a few titles, mostly in doubles, including Berlin in 1983 with Ivan Lendl. His highest ranking in singles was No. 36 in 1981.

He was better known as probably the best coach Gabriela Sabatini ever had. And he was kind of a free spirit, a drummer in a band called the Fleabags in his native Brazil.

He once spent a summer in Montreal, at the Monkland Tennis Club, in the early 70s, part of a gang of college buddies then-pro Pierre Lamarche (later Fed Cup captain) brought to Montreal for, let's just say, a summer of sun and fun.

Mark Woodforde (AUS), 45.

One of the "Woodies" along with compatriot Todd Woodbridge, the lefty drew comparisons to Rod Laver mostly because of his leftiness, and his red-hair-and-freckles look.

He was a good singles player, reaching a career high of No. 19 in 1996 (relatively late in his career, esp. for someone who became a doubles specialist). He won four singles titles, three of them in Australia/New Zealand.

But it was in doubles that he made his mark, winning 67 titles, most of them with Woodbridge. They lost the gold-medal match at the 2000 Olympics in their homeland (Sydney) to Daniel Nestor and Sébastien Lareau of Canada.

(Their record together of 61 was finally broken by the Bryan brothers this year).

Here's a look at the list: 

1988--Los Angeles, San Francisco; 1989--US Open, Monte Carlo; 1991--Brussels, Copenhagen, London / Queen's Club, Brisbane; 1992--Australian Open, Memphis, Philadelphia, Singapore, Cincinnati, Tokyo Indoor, Stockholm, Doubles Championship; 1993--Adelaide, Memphis, London / Queen's Club, Wimbledon, Stockholm; 1994--Los Angeles, Nice, Dubai, Pinehurst, Wimbledon, Indianapolis, Stockholm; 1995--Sydney Outdoor, Key Biscayne, Pinehurst, Coral Springs, Wimbledon, Cincinnati, US Open; 1996--Adelaide, Philadelphia, Indian Wells, Key Biscayne, Tokyo, Coral Springs, London / Queen's Club, Wimbledon, Atlanta Olympics, US Open, Singapore, Doubles Championship; 1997--Australian Open, Key Biscayne, Wimbledon, Cincinnati, Stuttgart Indoor; 1998--Sydney Outdoor, San Jose, Memphis, Munich, Singapore; 1999--San Jose, Memphis; 2000--Adelaide, Sydney, Miami, Hamburg, Roland Garros, London / Queen's Club, Wimbledon, Cincinnati 

That's 12 Grand Slams by my count, including 6 Wimbledons but with at least one of each, something Daniel Nestor achieved this year by winning Wimbledon. The first, the 1989 U.S. Open, came with John McEnroe.

Last year, he was coaching Yen-Hsun Lu of Taipei. These days, he seems to mostly be doing TV.  He and Woodbridge were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame last year.

Felix Mantilla (ESP), 36.

Mantilla was part of the first invasion of the Spanish armada, so to speak, long before Nadal and company. He reached the top 10 in June, 1998 and won 10 career titles, mostly on clay. He was a semi-finalist at Roland Garros in 1998, by far his best Grand Slam result, which probably was why he didn't get that much notoriety.

He was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2006, during a period in which he was off the tour because of a shoulder injury. He recovered, and played a little bit in 2007. His last match was a first-round loss to Robin Haase in Umag, Croatia in July, 2007, but announced his retirement only in April, 2008.

In 2008, Mantilla was hired by Tennis Australia to be a full-time consultant to help its highly-regarded prospects master the vagaries of clay-court tennis. He was to be based in Barcelona.

Miles MacLagan (GBR), 36

MacLagan wasn't much a player in his day (high of No. 172 in singles, No. 200 in doubles, 3-11 on the main Tour in his career - par for the course for most Brits not named Henman or Murray). For years, he was part of "Team Murray," the large contingent that was helping Andy the Scott climb to the top of the tennis heap.

MacLagan was born in Zambia, of Scottish parents, hence the connection.

This summer, that relationship ended, apparently because MacLagan didn't like being the only chef in the kitchen (Murray also had clay-court guy Alex Corretja on board. And given the two were at a football match this week together, it seems that they're still pretty tight although Murray is publicly looking for a full-time coach.

His new charge, just announced, will be Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.

Marcelo Melo (BRA), 27.

Melo, a doubles specialist, teamed up well with countryman Andre Sa for many years. 

Melo was in the top 25 in doubles (he hit No. 18 in Feb. 2009), where in singles he never got any higher than No. 273.

The two (left) were upset by the Lapentti brothers in Davis Cup doubles a year ago.

This year, Melo is playing with another countryman, Bruno Soares. And that's also going pretty well although Melo's ranking is down to No. 38

The guy's listed at 6-8 and 192 points. Uh, that's not a lot of meat. You'd think he'd have a much bigger serve, with that leverage.

The two got to the final in Gstaad and Auckland this year, and won Nice.

2010 US OPEN

DAY 8 MEN’S NOTES

Monday 6 September 2010

Round of 16 Bottom Half

Featured matches

No. 2 Roger Federer (SUI) v No. 13 Jurgen Melzer (AUT)

No. 3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) v No. 19 Mardy Fish (USA)

No. 5 Robin Soderling (SWE) v No. 21 Albert Montanes (ESP)

No. 17 Gael Monfils (FRA) v Richard Gasquet (FRA)

The Spanish quarter…

The 4 players who won the 2009 Davis Cup title for Spain fill the first quarter of the men’s round of 16 draw. On Tuesday, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal will take on Feliciano Lopez, while Fernando Verdasco will face David Ferrer. This is the first time since the 1981 US Open that 4 players from the same country have filled one quarter of the round of 16 here. In 1981, 4 Americans (Eliot Teltscher, Brian Gottfried, Mike Cahill and Jimmy Connors) reached the same quarter in the round of 16.

A total of 6 Spaniards are through to the round of 16, equalling the highest number of Spaniards through to the round of 16 at any Slam. There were also 6 Spaniards in the round of 16 at 1998 Roland Garros.

No. 21 Albert Montanes is the lone Spaniard in round of 16 action on Monday. He bids to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal on his 36th attempt. In the Open Era, only 2 players have played more majors before reaching their first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

All-French clash…

The last 2 surviving French players, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet, meet on Louis Armstrong Stadium today, with the winner becoming the first French quarterfinalist here since Arnaud Clement in 2000. Gasquet is only 2 months older than Monfils, with both players being former ITF Junior World Champions.

NO. 2 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v NO. 13 JURGEN MELZER (AUT)

Head-to-head: Federer leads 1-0

2010           Wimbledon       Grass (O)          R16      Federer             63 62 63

A second consecutive Grand Slam meeting in the round of 16 for two players who had never previously met before this year’s Wimbledon despite growing up in juniors together and playing doubles at the junior Orange Bowl.       

FEDERER                                   v                                        MELZER

29                                 Age                                           29

2                           ATP Ranking                                    15

63                               Titles                                           2

206-29                     Career Grand Slam Record                       42-33

54-5                               U.S. Open Record                               11-8

724-174                             Career Record                               240-217

424-94                         Career Record - Hard                          108-104

42-10                                  2010 Record                                   39-20

24-4                              2010 Record - Hard                             18-10

17-13                         Career Five-Set Record                          12-10

6                 Comebacks from 0-2 Down                           2

281-147                      Career Tiebreak Record                         95-103

16-8                            2010 Tiebreak Record                           12-15

FEDERER has not dropped a set on his way to the round of 16, defeating Brian Dabul 61 64 62 in the 1st round, Andreas Beck 63 64 63 in the 2nd and Paul-Henri Mathieu 64 63 63 in the 3rd round.

The last time Federer failed to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam was at 2004 Roland Garros, when, as top seed, he lost in the 3rd round to Gustavo Kuerten 64 64 64. He is on a run of 25 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances.

Federer is bidding to contest his 26th successive Grand Slam quarterfinal. Jimmy Connors is the only man in the Open Era to have appeared in more consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals than Federer:

Jimmy Connors                   27

Roger Federer                    25

Ivan Lendl               14

Bjorn Borg              12

Pete Sampras                     11

(NB: In the Borg/Connors/Lendl era, players frequently did not compete in 4 Slams per year)

Five-time champion Federer is bidding to regain the title having lost to Juan Martin del Potro in last year’s final 36 76 46 76 62. He had won 40 consecutive matches in New York before his defeat in the 2009 final.

Federer is looking to set an Open Era record by winning his 6th US Open title. He currently shares the record with Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras on 5 titles. He is also looking to extend his record number of Grand Slam titles to 17 titles and close the gap on the 5 women that have won more Grand Slam singles titles.

Federer’s five victories in the final here were over Lleyton Hewitt (2004), Andre Agassi (2005), Andy Roddick (2006), Novak Djokovic (2007) and Andy Murray (2008).

Federer finished second behind Andy Murray in the US Open Series after winning at Cincinnati-1000 (d. Mardy Fish), and finishing as runner-up at Toronto-1000 (l. Andy Murray). As such he will receive a bonus of $500,000 if he wins this year’s US Open.

Federer has a win-loss record of 73-24 against lefthanders. 14 of those losses have been against Rafael Nadal. The last time Federer lost to a left-handed player other than Nadal was in January 2003, at Sydney (l. Franco Squillari).

This is Federer’s 44th straight Grand Slam. He has the longest active streak for consecutive Grand Slam events played. He has only retired during a match once in his career, at the Belgian International Junior Championships aged 16. 

Federer has lost his last match against both potential quarterfinal opponents. If he wins today he will face either No. 5 seed Robin Soderling for the 3rd time in a Grand Slam quarterfinal or No. 21 seed Albert Montanes on Wednesday. He leads Soderling 12-1 in head-to-head meetings, but lost their last match at this year’s Roland Garros, bringing an end to his run of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances. He leads Montanes 3-1, but also lost their last meeting at 2010 Estoril.

Since winning his 16th Grand Slam title at the 2010 Australian Open (d. Andy Murray), Federer has only won one other title at Cincinnati-1000. He lost in the quarterfinals of both Roland Garros (l. Robin Soderling) and Wimbledon (l. Tomas Berdych).

Federer is the most successful active player on hard courts having won 41 titles. Only Andre Agassi (46) has won more hardcourt titles in history. He has extended his 2010 hardcourt win-loss record to 24-4, putting him in 5th place behind Andy Roddick, Marcos Baghdatis, Marin Cilic and Andy Murray.

Federer cannot take back the world No. 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal even if he wins the tournament. He lost the No. 1 ranking on 7 June one week short of equalling Pete Sampras’s record for most number of weeks (286) at No. 1.

Federer has started working with Paul Annacone as his coach. He continues to travel with Swiss Davis Cup captain Severin Luthi.

MELZER is bidding to become the 2nd Austrian player to reach the quarterfinals in US Open history. The other is Thomas Muster, who reached the quarterfinals here in 1993, 1994 and 1996.

By reaching the round of 16, Melzer has recorded his career-best US Open result. He won back-to-back 5-set matches 64 62 36 46 62 against Dmitry Tursunov in the 1st round and 64 67 63 16 75 against qualifier Ricardas Berankis in the 2nd, before defeating former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero 75 63 61 in the 3rd round.

Last year here, Melzer fell in the 2nd round to eventual champion Juan Martin del Potro.

Melzer broke through to his first Grand Slam semifinal at this year’s Roland Garros, upsetting No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic 36 26 62 76 64 in the quarterfinals for his first ever comeback from 0-2 down, before losing to Rafael Nadal 62 63 76 in the semifinals. It was his 32nd Grand Slam tournament.

Melzer’s other highlights of the season so far are a runner-up finish at Hamburg (l. Andrey Golubev) and semifinal finishes at Zagreb (l. Marin Cilic) and Dubai (l. Mikhail Youzhny). He has yet to win a singles title this year.

Melzer had a disappointing US Open Series, losing to Canadian wildcard Peter Polansky in the 1st round at Toronto-1000 and Ernests Gulbis in the 2nd round at Cincinnati-1000.

Melzer has not won a match against a Top 2 player since 2002, when he defeated No. 2 Tommy Haas 64 63 at Vienna. In fact, he has not won a set against Top 2 opposition since that victory against Haas.

If Melzer wins today he will face either No. 5 Robin Soderling or Albert Montanes in the quarterfinals. He leads Soderling 2-0 and Albert Montanes 3-2 in head-to-head meetings.

Melzer plays here on his career-high ranking of No. 15, which he first recorded following a round of 16 finish at 2010 Wimbledon.

Last year, Melzer was one of just 2 men, along with Tommy Robredo, to finish the season in the Top 30 in both singles and doubles.

Unseeded, Melzer won the men’s doubles title with Philipp Petzschner at this year’s Wimbledon (d. Robert Lindstedt/Horia Tecau). Seeded No. 7, they lost in the 1st round (l. Kevin Anderson/Victor Hanescu) here. 

Melzer is coached by Joachim Nystrom.

NO. 3 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB) v NO. 19 MARDY FISH (USA)

Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 5-0

2006           US Open                       Hard (O)            R64      Djokovic           76(5) 64 36 76(3)

2008           Hopman Cup                 Hard (I)             R2        Djokovic           62 67(4) 76(4)

2008           AMS Indian Wells          Hard (O)            FR        Djokovic           62 57 63

2009           Wimbledon                   Grass (O)          R32      Djokovic           64 64 64

2010           Indian Wells-1000          Hard (O)            R64      Djokovic           61 06 62

DJOKOVIC                                  v                                        FISH

23                                 Age                                        28

3                           ATP Ranking                                 21

17                               Titles                                        5

82-22                      Career Grand Slam Record                    34-30

23-5                               U.S. Open Record                            12-9

309-101                             Career Record                            233-175

186-56                         Career Record - Hard                       170-115

41-12                                  2010 Record                                37-13

23-6                              2010 Record - Hard                           24-9

11-5                           Career Five-Set Record                         5-7

1                 Comebacks from 0-2 Down                        0

107-61                       Career Tiebreak Record                       91-98

9-8                  2010 Tiebreak Record                         19-5

DJOKOVIC came from two-sets-to-one down to defeat countryman Viktor Troicki 63 36 26 75 63 in the 1st round. Troicki held a point to lead 4-1 in the 4th set. He had more straightforward matches in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, overcoming Philipp Petzschner 75 63 76 and wildcard James Blake 61 76 63.

Djokovic’s victory over Troicki improved his 2010 Grand Slam 5-set record to 2-2. He suffered 5-set defeats in the year’s first 2 Grand Slam events, in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open (l. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga) and the quarterfinals at Roland Garros (l. Jurgen Melzer). He went on to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon (l. Tomas Berdych 63 76 63).

Djokovic is attempting to reach his 6th straight Grand Slam quarterfinal, and 13th quarterfinal in the last 15 majors. This would also mark the first time he has reached the quarterfinals at all 4 Grand Slams in the same calendar year.

This is Djokovic’s 6th straight US Open and 24th consecutive Grand Slam. He has reached the semifinals here for the last 2 years and was runner-up in 2007. On all 3 occasions he lost to Roger Federer.

Djokovic won his 17th career singles title at Dubai in February. However he has failed to reach another final, with his best results being semifinal appearances at Rotterdam (l. Mikhail Youzhny), Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Fernando Verdasco), Wimbledon and Toronto-1000 (l. Roger Federer).

Djokovic contested 2 US Open Series events, losing to Roger Federer in the semifinals at Toronto-1000 and Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals at Cincinnati-1000.

Djokovic is unbeaten in Davis Cup play this year, helping Serbia to its first-ever World Group semifinal. Serbia faces Czech Republic in Belgrade later this month for a place in the final.

Djokovic is one of 3 former Grand Slam champions through to the round of 16 from the 6 to start in this year’s US Open men’s draw. He won the 2008 Australian Open title, defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final, having previously recorded a runner-up finish at the 2007 US Open.

If Djokovic wins today he will face either No. 17 Gael Monfils or Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals. Djokovic leads Monfils 4-0 and Gasquet 2-1 in head-to-head meetings.

This is Djokovic’s 2nd consecutive meeting with an American player and he has a 27-7 win-loss record against them.

Djokovic has been coached by Marian Vajda since June 2006. His wider team includes physio Milan Amanovic.

FISH reached the round of 16 after defeating Jan Hajek 60 36 46 60 61, Pablo Cuevas 75 60 62 and Arnaud Clement 46 63 64 16 63 in the first 3 rounds. It is the first time he has scored 2 successive victories in 5-set matches, and takes his career 5-set win-loss record to 5-7.

This is Fish’s best performance at a Grand Slam this year. He lost in the 1st round at the Australian Open (l. Andrey Golubev), and reached the 2nd round at Roland Garros (l. Ivan Ljubicic) and Wimbledon (l. Florian Mayer).

Fish plays here with his highest ever seeding at Flushing Meadows. He has only been seeded higher than No. 19 at one previous Grand Slam ­– at 2004 Wimbledon, when he was the No. 14 seed.

Fish is competing at his 10th US Open. He missed last year’s tournament because of a rib injury. His best result here – and at a Grand Slam - is the quarterfinals in 2008 (l. Rafael Nadal). He also reached the quarterfinals at the 2007 Australian Open (l. Andy Roddick).

Fish finished 3rd in this year’s US Open Series behind Andy Murray and Roger Federer. He will win a $250,000 bonus should he win the tournament.

Fish is having an impressive year. He won back-to-back tournaments for the first time at Newport and Atlanta, going on to enjoy his longest-ever winning streak of 11 matches. This was the first time he has won multiple titles in the same year and takes his career singles titles total to 5.

Fish’s hot streak this year started when he was runner-up at Queen’s (l. Sam Querrey). He was also runner-up at Cincinnati-1000 (l. Roger Federer) where, as a wildcard, he defeated both Andy Murray and Andy Roddick on his way to the final.

Following his successful summer run, where he has reached 4 finals in 6 tournaments, Fish has climbed from No. 108 in the rankings in March to No. 21 this week. He is set to climb even higher as he doesn’t have any ranking points coming off for the rest of the year, as he missed the end of the 2009 season after undergoing knee surgery.

Fish is a former Top 20 player, reaching a career-high No. 17 in 2004, but last year he finished the year outside of the Top 50 for the first time since 2005.

If Fish wins today he will face either No. 17 Gael Monfils or Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals. Fish holds a 1-0 lead over Monfils and trails Gasquet 2-1 in previous meetings.

After knee surgery on 28 September 2009, Fish hired a nutritionist to cook and portion-size all of his food. By counting every calorie and cutting out pizza, French fries and cheeseburgers, he lost 30lbs.

In 2006, Fish established the Mardy Fish Foundation to support youth organisations in Indian River County. The Foundation provides after school programs in the community. The program provides a place for children to go and partake in various activities that will help them better themselves using sports, music, art and dance.

Fish won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics (l. Nicolas Massu).

Fish is coached by David Nainkin. His fitness trainer is Christian LoCasio.

NO. 5 ROBIN SODERLING (SWE) v NO. 21 ALBERT MONTANES (ESP)

Head-to-head: Soderling leads 2-1

2007           Roland Garros               Clay (O)            R128     Montanes          76(4) 4-1 ret. (neck injury)

2009           US Open                       Hard (O)            R128     Soderling          61 36 61 64

2010           Roland Garros               Clay (O)            R32      Soderling          64 75 26 63

This is the pair’s 4th meeting at a Grand Slam event.

SODERLING                               v                                      MONTANES

26                                 Age                                           29

5                           ATP Ranking                                    23

5                                 Titles                                           5

41-27                      Career Grand Slam Record                       25-35

12-7                               U.S. Open Record                                4-8

254-153                             Career Record                               174-187

138-84                         Career Record - Hard                            27-56

39-14                                  2010 Record                                   31-17

21-7                              2010 Record - Hard                               9-5

7-8                 Career Five-Set Record                            5-1

2                 Comebacks from 0-2 Down                           2

89-99                         Career Tiebreak Record                          67-63

9-7                  2010 Tiebreak Record                            10-7

SODERLING is bidding to reach the quarterfinals for the second successive year. Last year he reached this stage for the first time (l. Roger Federer). This is his 8th US Open.

Soderling advanced to the round of 16 after defeating qualifier Andreas Haider-Maurer 75 63 67 57 64 in the 1st round, Taylor Dent 62 62 64 in the 2nd and Thiemo de Bakker 62 63 63 in the 3rd. His 1st round victory means he has now won his last 3 five-set matches in Grand Slam events, having defeated Tomas Berdych in the semifinals at Roland Garros and David Ferrer in the round of 16 at Wimbledon.

In 2010, Soderling reached the final at Roland Garros for the second successive year. In 2009, he fell to Roger Federer 61 76 64 in the final, but avenged that defeat in this year’s quarterfinals by defeating the Swiss 36 63 75 64, ending Federer’s record run of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances. Soderling went on to finish runner-up to Rafael Nadal 64 62 64 in the final.

Soderling followed up his appearance in the Roland Garros final by reaching his first Wimbledon quarterfinal, losing again to Nadal 36 63 76 61.

Also in 2010, Soderling has won the title at Rotterdam (d. Mikhail Youzhny) and finished runner-up at Barcelona (l. Fernando Verdasco), Roland Garros (l. Rafael Nadal) and Bastad (l. Nicolas Almagro). He has won 5 career titles overall and played here on a career-high ranking of No. 5.

Soderling enjoyed less success on the 2010 US Open Series, losing in the round of 16 at both Toronto-1000 (l. David Nalbandian) and Cincinnati-1000 (l. Andy Roddick).

If Soderling wins, he will face either No. 1 Roger Federer or No. 13 Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals. He trails Federer 12-1 in previous meetings but holds a winning head-to-head over Melzer 2-0.

Soderling is one of only 2 players, alongside Juan Martin del Potro, to defeat both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at Grand Slam events. Del Potro did so en route to the title at the 2009 US Open.

Soderling broke the Top 10 for the first time on 19 October 2009. He became the first Swedish man to finish the season in the Top 10 since Magnus Norman and Thomas Enqvist in 2000.

For the 2nd successive year, Soderling was the only Swedish man to start in the men’s main draw here. Between 1972-2008, there were at least 2 Swedes in the draw each year. The last Swedish man to win the title was Stefan Edberg in 1992.

Soderling is coached by former player Magnus Norman, who reached the last 16 here in 1999 and 2000.

MONTANES is bidding to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in 36 majors. Only two players have taken longer to reach their first Grand Slam quarterfinal, Fabrice Santoro (54 majors) and Mark Woodforde (38).

By reaching the round of 16 here, Montanes has recorded his career-best Grand Slam result. He defeated Michal Przysiezny 57 16 75 76 60 in the 1st round, wildcard Carsten Ball 64 63 61 in the 2nd, and was leading 62 2-1 against qualifier Kei Nishikori in the 3rd when his opponent retired with a groin injury. His victory over Przysiezny in the opening round took his career 5-set win-loss record to 5-1.

Montanes has had his best year at majors, reaching the 3rd round at each Grand Slam this year. He lost in the 3rd round at the Australian Open (l. Roger Federer), Roland Garros (l. Soderling) and Wimbledon (l. Novak Djokovic).

Montanes’s previous best US Open result was reaching the 2nd round in 2005, the only time he had won a match here in 8 previous attempts.

Montanes has a win-loss record of 3-13 against Top 5 opposition. This year, he ended a losing streak of 9 matches against Top 5 players by defeating Roger Federer in the semifinals at Estoril.

This is Montanes’s first tournament on hardcourt since Miami-1000, where he lost his opening match in the 2nd round to Florent Serra. Montanes did not play any matches in the US Open Series because of a leg injury.

Montanes has won 2 titles this year, at Estoril (d. Frederico Gil) and Stuttgart (d. Gael Monfils).  He has won 5 career titles, all of which have come on clay. His successful title defence at Estoril marked the first time a player had won back-to-back titles there since Thomas Muster in 1996.

If Montanes wins today, he faces either Roger Federer or Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals. He trails Federer 3-1 in head-to-head meetings, but did win their most recent match at 2010 Estoril. He also trails Melzer 3-2 in head-to-head meetings.

Montanes has posted a Top 100 year-end ranking for the last 9 years. He recorded a career-high ranking of No. 22 in August this year and plays here ranked No. 23. He is seeded No. 21, his highest-ever Grand Slam seeding.

Montanes started playing tennis aged six at the Serramar Tennis Club. In 1997 he won Spain’s Junior Tennis Championship aged 16.

Montanes is coached by Narcis Pelach.

NO. 17 GAEL MONFILS (FRA) v RICHARD GASQUET (FRA)

Head-to-head: tied 2-2

2004                       Metz                             Hard (I)             QF        Gasquet            75 61

2005                       Metz                             Hard (I)             QF        Monfils             76(3) 62

2007                       Australian Open             Hard (O)            R32      Gasquet            60 46 75 63

2009                       Metz                             Hard (I)             SF        Monfils             64 63

This is an historic first meeting between 2 French players in the round of 16 at the US Open in the Open Era. This is the latest stage 2 Frenchmen have played each other at the US Open – the previous record was the 3rd round meeting between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Julien Benneteau in 2009.

This is the 2nd Grand Slam meeting between the two players. Surprisingly, 3 of their 4 previous meetings took place at the ATP World Tour event in Metz, which takes place indoors in September.

Gasquet is only 2 months older than Monfils. However they became ITF Junior Boys World Champions 2 years apart. Gasquet was World Champion in 2002, aged 16, after winning the Roland Garros and US Open junior titles. Monfils was World Champion in 2004, aged 18, after winning the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon boys’ titles.

Monfils and Gasquet never played each other on the ITF 18 & Under Junior Circuit.

Both players are bidding to reach their first US Open quarterfinal, having both reached the round of 16 here on 2 previous occasions. The winner will be the first French quarterfinalist here since Arnaud Clement in 2000.

MONFILS                                    v                                       GASQUET

24*                               Age                                           24

19                          ATP Ranking                                    38

2                                 Titles                                           6

39-19                      Career Grand Slam Record                       33-23

10-4                               U.S. Open Record                               10-4

169-114                             Career Record                               213-137

97-65                           Career Record - Hard                           104-72

28-14                                  2010 Record                                   29-16

18-8                              2010 Record - Hard                              11-8

7-2                 Career Five-Set Record                           4-11

0                 Comebacks from 0-2 Down                           1

69-53                         Career Tiebreak Record                          73-75

11-11                           2010 Tiebreak Record                           10-12

*Monfils turned 24 on 1 September

MONFILS has reached the round of 16 here for the 3rd successive year. He is bidding to reach his first US Open quarterfinal. He lost in the round of 16 in 2008 (l. Mardy Fish) and 2009 (l. Rafael Nadal).

Monfils defeated qualifier Robert Kendrick 36 63 64 67 64 in the 1st round, Igor Andreev 63 64 63 in the 2nd round on his 24th birthday, and Janko Tipsarevic 76 67 62 64 in the 3rd round.

Monfils is looking to reach his 3rd Grand Slam quarterfinal. His best Grand Slam performance to date is a semifinal finish at 2008 Roland Garros (l. Roger Federer). He also reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals in 2009 (l. Federer).

Following his 1st round win over Kendrick, Monfils’s career 5-set record now stands at 7-2.

Monfils has reached the round of 16 at a Grand Slam event for the first time in 2010. He lost in the 3rd round at the Australian Open (l. John Isner) and Wimbledon (l. Lleyton Hewitt), and the 2nd round at Roland Garros (l. Fabio Fognini).

Monfils played 2 tournaments in the US Open Series, reaching the last 16 at Toronto-1000 (l. Andy Murray) before losing in the 1st round at Cincinnati-1000 (l. Alejandro Falla).

Monfils’s best result this year was finishing runner-up in Stuttgart (l. Albert Montanes), where he retired with a right ankle injury. He also reached the semifinals at Brisbane (l. Radek Stepanek) and Johannesburg (l. Feliciano Lopez). He had to withdraw from Miami-1000 with a left wrist injury.

Monfils entered the Top 10 for the first time in February 2009 and finished the year ranked No. 13, having improved his year-end ranking for the 3rd straight year.

Monfils narrowly missed out on achieving the Junior Grand Slam in 2004 after winning the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon. His preparation for the junior US Open that year was hampered by a knee injury and he lost in the 3rd round to Viktor Troicki. He was named 2004 ITF Junior Boys World Champion.

If Monfils wins, he will face No. 3 Novak Djokovic or No. 19 Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals. He trails Djokovic 4-0 and Fish 1-0 in previous head-to-head meetings.

Monfils has been coached by Roger Rasheed since July 2008.

GASQUET is through to the round of 16 here for the first time since 2006. He is bidding to reach his first US Open quarterfinal. He lost in the round of 16 here in 2005 (l. Robby Ginepri) and 2006 (l. Lleyton Hewitt). Last year, he lost in the 1st round (l. Rafael Nadal).

Gasquet defeated Simon Greul 63 64 62 in the 1st round, No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko 63 64 62 in the 2nd round, and Kevin Anderson 64 76 75 in the 3rd round. These are his first Grand Slam match wins since the 2009 Australian Open. He is contesting his first Grand Slam round of 16 since 2008 Wimbledon.

Gasquet is looking to reach only his 2nd Grand Slam quarterfinal. His best result at a Grand Slam is the semifinals at 2007 Wimbledon (l. Roger Federer). 

Gasquet’s win over Davydenko in the 2nd round marked his second victory over a Top 10 player in 2010. His first came when he defeated Fernando Verdasco to win his 6th career title at Nice in May. It was his first title since 2007. In 2010, he has also reached the final at Sydney (l. Marcos Baghdatis) and Gstaad (l. Nicolas Almagro).

In 2010 Grand Slam play, Gasquet lost in the 1st round at the Australian Open (l. Mikhail Youzhny) and Roland Garros, where he let slip a two-set lead against Andy Murray. He missed this year’s Wimbledon with a rib injury.

Gasquet contested 3 US Open Series events, losing in the 1st round at Washington (l. Kristof Vliegen) and Toronto-1000 (l. Sergiy Stakhovsky), and the 3rd round at Cincinnati (l. Mardy Fish).

In 2009, Gasquet finished outside the Top 50 for the first time since 2004. He did not play from May through to July because of a doping suspension.

Gasquet was ITF Junior Boys World Champion in 2002. He won 2002 junior Roland Garros (d. Laurent Recouderc) and the 2002 junior US Open (d. Marcos Baghdatis). He is the only US Open junior boys champion to reach the round of 16 from the 8 to start in the men’s singles draw. Only Stefan Edberg and Andy Roddick have won both the boys’ and men’s singles titles here.

If Gasquet wins, he will face No. 3 Novak Djokovic or No. 19 Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals. He trails Djokovic 2-1 and leads Fish 2-1 in previous head-to-head meetings.

Gasquet started working with Argentine Gabriel Markus in January 2010.

Givenchy's new campaign features a controversial face who has emerged from backstage onto the catwalk

At first sight, the only thing that is striking about Lea T is her beauty. With her full lips, strong jaw and dark tresses falling in cascades over her shoulders, she is the perfect high-fashion package: alluring, whippet-thin and with a face too distinctive to be considered merely pretty.

No wonder, you might think, she has gone from backroom assistant to sar- torial sensation in just months, appearing in Givenchy's autumn/winter ad campaign, smiling in Italian Vanity Fair and – as a crowning glory – posing naked for the hallowed pages of French Vogue.

But if this Brazilian bombshell is causing such a stir it is perhaps because there is more to her than meets the eye. Lea T was born Leandro and, as well as being a model and a muse, she is an out and proud transsexual.

For Riccardo Tisci, the creative director of Givenchy and the man who first encouraged his "very feminine" friend to go to a party in women's shoes, the move was obvious. For Lea, 28, however, the transition – from man to woman and from misfit to role model – has been anything but.

Not only, she says, has it turned her into someone at whom strangers feel entitled to point and stare, but it has provoked the anger of her Catholic family. It has filled her body with mood-altering hormones and brought her face to face with what she says is the inherent loneliness of transsexuality.

Despite all this, she says, the "war in her head" has been worth fighting. "The choice," she said in an interview in Italian Vanity Fair, "is between being unhappy forever or trying to be happy."

Born in 1981 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil's third largest city, Leandro or "Leo" Cerezo grew up in the privileged environs of a family that, long before one of its number graced the pages of fashion magazines, was no stranger to the limelight.

It was with undisguised glee that, once Leandro had appeared in photoshoots as Lea T, a Rio newspaper's gossip column revealed she was none other than the daughter of soccer hero Toninho Cerezo, the World Cup veteran and contemporary of legendary Brazil players like Falcão, Sócrates and Zico. He had not, the paper said, reacted well to its questions concerning his child's new existence.

"We got in touch with the former star but, irritated, he limited himself to saying that he had four children, one of them called Leandro," the newspaper reported. "When asked if the boy had starred in the Givenchy campaign, Cerezo hung up the phone." The same newspaper, Extra, noted that in a 2007 interview Cerezo, now manager of the second division club Sport, had claimed to have only three children.

Lea's brother, Gustavo, has denied claims of a family rift, insisting: "It's Lea's success, not the family's. All I will say is that we are on her side and we support her."

But the model herself has admitted that Toninho is not overjoyed by her transformation. "He doesn't even like to touch on this matter," she told Brazilian radio. In the Vanity Fair interview, moreover, she said she "never spoke directly" to her father about undergoing the hormone treatment that will, eventually, give her the body of a woman. Conversation, she said, was limited to trivialities.

This reaction, say observers, may be unfortunate, but it is not surprising. "In a macho, Latin-American, Catholic culture… [a family's response] is complete denial," Brazilian transsexual Walkiria la Roche, founder of Belo Horizonte's transsexual and transvestite association, Asstrav, said. "We are excluded when we go to primary school, but the first institution that excludes us is our family."

According to Léa, this fact that his young son was different from other boys had not escaped Toninho, even though their time together was limited to sporadic visits by the footballer. "When papa came home he would look at me and say there was something wrong with me. In the years to come, everyone started to pray that I was gay. It would have been the lesser evil for a religious family used to rules and type of colonial, rigid way of life," she said.

Even as an adolescent at a European school, in Italy, however, Lea knew her situation was not that simple. She had been attracted to girls and boys and remembers feeling she had no "defined sexuality, or a precise direction to follow". However, it was a big leap from that uncertainty to embracing the idea that she might be happier as a woman. "When I discovered transsexuality, I was curious then recoiled with fear, telling myself, 'I am not like that,' she said.

It was only later on, when she met Riccardo Tisci, a young graduate of Central Saint Martins art college, London, that Lea began to consider the prospect for real. With his penetrating artist's eye, Tisci, then an aspiring young Italian designer, recognised his friend's inherent femininity. "One night he encouraged me to wear pumps to a party," she recalled in French Vogue. "We went shopping for 'drag queen' shoes and we bleached my eyebrows. It was a revelation."

Fast forward several years and Tisci is now a star of the fashion world at Givenchy. But he has never forgotten his old friend, employing Lea as his personal assistant and using her as his fit model behind the scenes of the prestigious couture house. He is unstinting in his praise of her to the industry bible, WWD: "She's a true goddess. She's always been very feminine – super-fragile, very aristocratic." When, in a reflection of a growing industry trend, Tisci decided to base his autumn/winter collection around the idea of androgyny, there was one person he wanted above all, and – to his delight – she said yes.

"I agreed to pose in the name of all my transsexual friends," Lea has been quoted as saying. In a sign of her increasing self-confidence and determination not to hide her transsexuality, the French Vogue photograph is unashamedly bold. With one arm around her waist and another only partially covering her male genitalia, it leaves little to the imagination.

Carine Roitfeld, the magazine's formidable editor, is known for her desire to shock – to use fashion to push the boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not. In the past she has featured Karen Elson tied up in a "glamour bondage" shoot and Eva Herzigova as a blood-spattered butcher lovingly fingering a meat cleaver.

Some commentators have dismissed both Tisci and Roitfeld's use of Lea as a "gimmick". But others welcome the boldness of the gesture, regardless of the motivations behind it. "Carine Roitfeld consistently leads in advancing our international discussion of human sexuality," remarked one US blogger, adding that the French Vogue picture "would never run in a fashion magazine in America."

In Lea's hometown, too, reaction has been positive among activists who see her fame as a step towards greater tolerance. "It's a good, positive example and this is very rare," said La Roche, who heads a government department fighting for transvestite and transsexual rights and claims to be one of only three transsexuals working in government around the world. "It is important to have Lea in a magazine. All positive press shows society that we are capable of things other than prostitution or being hairdressers."

The enduring difficulties which people incur when they choose to switch sex are all too familiar to Lea. From the every day humiliation of being laughed at by strangers to the disorientating effects of sex change drugs – "I would wander the streets, full of hormones, depressed, with people laughing behind my back" – she is proving to be an eloquent ambassador to what remains a globally marginalised and misunderstood community.

Even now, with her education and privileged background, and all the comforts that come from her burgeoning celebrity status, Lea is under no illusions about the emotional challenges that lie ahead —and not only from the intense media interest, which has been relentless since the Givench ads were launched.

Lea, who says she "cannot allow [herself] the luxury of being in love", is pessimistic about her chances of finding happiness with someone else. Those transsexuals who do enter into serious relationships, she says, often do so by keeping their past from their partners.

"They live as hypocrites; it is a variation on solitude," she said. "We transsexuals are born and grow up alone. After the operation we are born again, but once again alone. And we die alone. It is the price we pay."

ESPN Films Announces ‘30 for 30’ Fall Schedule

Alex Gibney, Steve Nash, Ron Shelton and John Singleton among the next group of filmmakers; four new films announced

ESPN Films has announced the fall schedule for its critically acclaimed film series 30 for 30 Presented by Cadillac. The series’ remaining films will begin airing Tuesday, Aug. 24, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN HD, and will be aired Tuesday nights throughout the fall. New films added to the lineup include Little Big Men (Al Szymanski and Peter Franchella), Unmatched (Directors: Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern Winters; Producer: Hannah Storm), Four Days in October (Major League Baseball Productions) and Pony Excess (Thaddeus D. Matula). These films join the previously announced Jordan Rides the Bus, One Night in Vegas, The House of Steinbrenner, Marion Jones: Press Pause, Steve Bartman: Catching Hell, Tim Richmond: To the Limit, Once Brothers, Into The Wind and The Best That Never Was. 

The schedule:

• Tuesday, Aug. 24, 8 p.m. – Jordan Rides the Bus(Ron Shelton)
• Tuesday, Aug. 31, 8 p.m. –  Little Big Men (Al Szymanski and Peter Franchella)
• Tuesday, Sept. 7, 8 p.m. – One Night in Vegas (Reggie Bythewood)
• Tuesday, Sept. 14, 8 p.m. – Unmatched  (Directors: Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern Winters; Producer: Hannah Storm)
• Tuesday, Sept. 21, 8 p.m. – The House of Steinbrenner (Barbara Kopple)
• Tuesday, Sept. 28, 8 p.m. – Into The Wind (Steve Nash)
• Tuesday, Oct. 5, 8 p.m. – Four Days in October (Major League Baseball Productions)
• Tuesday, Oct. 12, 8 pm. – Once Brothers(NBA Entertainment)
• Tuesday, Oct. 19, 8 p.m. – Tim Richmond: To the Limit (Rory Karpf )
• Tuesday, Oct. 26, 8 p.m. – Steve Bartman: Catching Hell (Alex Gibney)
• Tuesday, Nov. 2, 8 p.m. –  Marion Jones: Press Pause(John Singleton)
• Tuesday, Nov. 9, 8 p.m. – Pony Excess(Thaddeus D. Matula)
• *Saturday, Dec. 11, 9 p.m. – The Best That Never Was (Jonathan Hock) * two hours

Film summaries

Jordan Rides the Bus (Ron Shelton)

In the fall of 1993, in his prime and at the summit of the sports world, Michael Jordan walked away from pro basketball. After leading the Dream Team to an Olympic gold medal in 1992 and taking the Chicago Bulls to their third consecutive NBA championship the following year, Jordan was jolted by the murder of his father. Was it the brutal loss of such an anchor in his life that caused the world’s most famous athlete to rekindle a childhood ambition by playing baseball? Or some feeling that he had nothing left to prove or conquer in basketball? Or something deeper and perhaps not yet understood? Academy Award-nominated director Ron Shelton, a former minor leaguer who brought his experiences to life in the classic movie Bull Durham, will revisit Jordan’s short career in the minor leagues and explore the motivations that drove the world’s most competitive athlete to play a new sport in the relative obscurity of Birmingham, Ala., for a young manager named Terry Francona.

Little Big Men (Al Szymanski and Peter Franchella)

On August 28, 1982, Cody Webster and a small group of schoolyard friends from Kirkland, Wash., sat anxiously in a dugout waiting to take the field for the championship game of the Little League World Series. Their focus was just about what you’d expect from any 12-year-old: hit the ball, throw strikes, cross your fingers and then maybe – maybe – you’ll win. Adults in the stands and watching from home saw a much broader field of play. The memories of American hostages and a crippling oil crisis were still fresh; the economic malaise of the late 1970s still lingered; and the new President was recovering from an assassination attempt even while confronting new threats from the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, back on that tiny baseball field in Williamsport, Pa., where America’s game was celebrated each summer, no American team had won a true international Little League World Series Championship in more than a decade. When the Kirkland players rushed from their dugout that day, they stepped onto a much bigger field than the one they saw. What they did, how they did it, and what happened to each of the players in the years that followed is a multi-faceted story. Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Al Szymanski and Peter Franchella will examine what became of a group of childhood teammates when the high point in their athletic lives occurred before their lives had really begun.

One Night in Vegas (Reggie Bythewood)

On the evening of September 7, 1996, Mike Tyson, the WBC heavyweight champion, attempted to take Bruce Seldon’s WBA title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. At this point in his career, Tyson’s fights had become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, where the ever present hype of the professional boxing scene would come face to face with the worlds of big business, Hollywood, and hip hop. Sitting ringside was controversial rapper Tupac Shakur. Shakur and Tyson were friends; a feeling of kinship linked them as each rose to stardom from poverty only to be thrown in prison. Following Tyson’s victory, Shakur and “Iron Mike” were to celebrate at an after party, but the rap star never arrived. Shakur was brutally gunned down later that night, and the scene in Las Vegas quickly turned from would be celebratory revelry to ill fated and inopportune tragedy. Director Reggie Bythewood, with the full cooperation of Mike Tyson, will tell not only the story of that infamous night but of the remarkable friendship between Tyson and Tupac.

Unmatched (Directors: Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern Winters; Producer: Hannah Storm)

The first time Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova stepped onto a tennis court together, the world scarcely noticed. Only a few hundred spectators saw the pert 18-year-old beat the scrappy 16-year-old Czech in 1973. “I remember that she was fat,” Evert recalled. “She was very emotional on the court, whining if she didn't feel she was playing well. But I remember thinking, if she loses weight, we’re all in trouble.” Said Navratilova, “My goal was for her to remember my name.” Eighty matches later – amid the extraordinary growth of women’s tennis – Evert not only remembered, but became a tried and true friend and confidante, remarkable considering the two appeared to be polar opposites in upbringing, life styles and personal relationships. Through a series of personal conversations between Evert and Navratilova, filmmakers Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern Winters, along with producer Hannah Storm, will tell the story of one of the greatest one-on-one sports rivalries and capture these two extraordinary athletes’ views on tennis and an ever-changing world.

The House of Steinbrenner (Barbara Kopple)

Love them or hate them, the Yankees remain the most successful team in American sports history. Behind George M. Steinbrenner, a man who at his passing in July 2010 has proven to be as iconic to the team as its pinstripes, the Yankees restored their storied sports stature with seven World Championships. Through all the ups and downs of his reign, “The Boss” managed to link the legends and legacy of Yankees past to Yankees present, and in so doing, assured the passage of older generations of Yankee fans to a younger generation that promises to carry forward well into the 21^st century. An essential part of that accomplishment included the closing of the old Yankee Stadium and the construction of a new one, and the passing of ownership from George himself to his heirs, led by his younger son, Hal.  Two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple documents this historic moment of transition for the team, the family and its fans, all of which was magnificently capped off with the Yankees’ 27th World Championship.  

Into The Wind (Steve Nash)
In 1980, Terry Fox continued his fight against bone cancer with the pursuit of a singular, motivating vision: to run across Canada. Three years after having his right leg amputated six inches above the knee after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma, Fox set out to cover more than a marathon’s distance each day until he reached the shores of Victoria, British Columbia. Anonymous at the start of his journey, Fox steadily captured the heart of a nation with his Marathon of Hope.  However the 21-year old BC native's goal was not fame, but to spread awareness and raise funds for cancer research. After 143 days and two-thirds of the way across Canada, with the eyes of a country watching, Fox’s journey came to an abrupt end when newly discovered tumors took over his body. Two-time NBA MVP, proud Canadian, and first-time filmmaker Steve Nash will share Fox’s incredible story of perseverance and hope.

Four Days in October (Major League Baseball Productions)

When the night of October 6, 2004 came to a merciful end, the Curse of the Bambino was alive and well. The vaunted Yankee lineup, led by A-Rod, Jeter, and Sheffield, had just extended their ALCS lead to three games to none, pounding out 19 runs against their hated rivals. The next night, in Game 4, the Yankees took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, then turned the game over to Mariano Rivera, the best relief pitcher in postseason history, to secure yet another trip to the World Series. But after a walk and a hard-fought stolen base, the cold October winds of change began to blow. Over four consecutive days and nights, this unlikely group of Red Sox miraculously won four straight games to overcome the inevitability of their destiny. Using extensive archive coverage from that week, Major League Baseball Productions will produce a film in "real-time" that takes an in-depth look at the 96 hours that brought salvation to Red Sox Nation and made baseball history in the process.

Once Brothers (NBA Entertainment)

Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac were two friends who grew up together sharing the common bond of basketball. Together, they lifted the Yugoslavian National team to unimaginable heights.  After conquering Europe, they both went to America where they became the first two foreign players to attain NBA stardom. But with the fall of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991, Yugoslavia split up. A war broke out between Petrovic's Croatia and Divac's Serbia.  Long buried ethnic tensions surfaced. And these two men, once blood brothers, were now on opposite sides of a deadly civil war.  As Petrovic and Divac continued to face each other on the basketball courts of the NBA, only hatred passed between the two. Then, on the fateful night of June 7, 1993, Drazen Petrovic was killed in an auto accident. Once Brothers will tell the gripping tale of these two men, how circumstances beyond their control tore apart their friendship, and whether Divac has ever come to terms with the death of a friend before they had a chance to reconcile.

Tim Richmond: To the Limit (Rory Karpf)
Natural. Rock star. Outsider. In the 1980s, race car driver Tim Richmond lived his life the way he raced cars – wide open. Born into a wealthy family, Richmond was the antithesis of the Southern, blue-collar, dirt-track racers who dominated NASCAR. He also was a flamboyant showman who basked in the attention of the media and fans – especially the attention of female admirers. Nevertheless, it was Richmond’s on-track performances that ended up drawing comparisons to racing legends. And in 1986, when he won seven NASCAR races and finished third in the Winston Cup series points race, some believed he was on the verge of stardom. But soon his freewheeling lifestyle caught up to him. He unexpectedly withdrew from the NASCAR racing circuit, reportedly suffering from double pneumonia. In reality, the diagnosis was much more dire: He had AIDS. Richmond returned to the track in 1987, but he was gone from the sport by the next year as his health deteriorated. He spent his final days as a recluse, dying on August 13, 1989, at the age of 34. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Rory Karpf will examine the life and tragic death of one of NASCAR’s shooting stars.

Steve Bartman: Catching Hell (Alex Gibney)

With five outs remaining in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, a foul ball descended from the cold Chicago sky, seemingly destined for the glove of Cubs left fielder Moises Alou. But a flurry of hands reached up from the left field stands, and one hand, belonging to Cubs fan Steve Bartman, fatefully tipped the ball away from a frustrated Alou. As the cameras subsequently isolated on Bartman trying to stay composed in the stands, most long-suffering Cubs fans, including a chorus of hostile ones in Wrigley Field, quickly became convinced that he had swatted away Chicago’s chance of advancing to the World Series for the first time 58 years. Even though he was one of many who reached for a ball that appeared to them clearly out of play, and even though Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzalez booted an apparent inning-ending double play ball, and even though the Cubs still had a Game 7 left to try to win it, Steve Bartman became the most reviled man in Chicago. The mild-mannered Bartman released a sincere public apology, but his fate was already sealed by the Cubs fans’ need for a scapegoat to explain a near-century of losing. Although Cubs Nation has since moved on to other seasons and other losses, Bartman remains ostracized from a community he lives in and a team he once loved. Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney relates the scapegoat compulsion to his own frustration as a Red Sox fan when Bill Buckner was similarly singled out for letting a fateful ground ball go through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.  Gibney engages Buckner and his story as a means of exploring what has kept Bartman so silent despite highly lucrative offers to tell his side of the story, and what has led many fans and media people in Chicago to now act as if the whole notorious incident never even took place. 

Marion Jones: Press Pause (John Singleton)

Few athletes in Olympic history have reached such heights and depths as Marion Jones. After starring at the University of North Carolina and winning gold at the 1997 and 1999 World Track and Field Championships, her rise to the top culminated at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. There, she captivated the world with her beauty, style and athletic dominance, sprinting and jumping to three gold medals and two bronze. Eventually, though, her accomplishments and her reputation would be tarnished. For years, Jones denied the increasing speculation that she used performance-enhancing drugs. But in October 2007, she finally admitted what so many had long suspected – that she had indeed used steroids. Jones was sentenced to six months in prison for lying to federal investigators and soon saw her Olympic achievements disqualified. Now a free woman, Jones is running in a new direction in life and taking time to reflect. Oscar-nominated director John Singleton will focus on the evolution of Marion Jones.

Pony Excess (Thaddeus D. Matula)

From 1981-1984, a small private school in Dallas owned the best record in college football. The Mustangs of Southern Methodist University (SMU) were riding high on the backs of the vaunted "Pony Express" backfield. But as the middle of the decade approached, the program was coming apart at the seams. Wins became the only thing that mattered as the University increasingly ceded power of the football program to the city's oil barons and real estate tycoons and flagrant and frequent NCAA violations became the norm. On February 25, 1987, the school and the sport were rocked, as the NCAA meted out "the death penalty" on a college football program for the first and only time in its history. SMU would be without football for two years, and the fan base would be without an identity for 20 more until the Mustangs' win in the 2009 Hawaii Bowl. This is the story of Dallas in the 1980's and the greed, power, and corruption that spilled from the oil fields onto the football field and all the way to the Governor's Mansion. Director Thaddeus D. Matula, a product of the SMU film school, chronicles the rise, fall, and rebirth of this once mighty team.

The Best That Never Was (Jonathan Hock)

In 1981, college athletic recruiting changed forever as a dozen big-time football programs sat waiting for the decision by a physically powerful and lightning-quick high school running back named Marcus Dupree. Having already graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, Dupree attracted recruiters from schools in every major conference to his hometown of Philadelphia, Miss. More than a decade removed from being a flashpoint in the civil rights struggle, Philadelphia was once again thrust back into the national spotlight. Dupree took the attention in stride, and committed to Oklahoma. What followed, though, was a forgettable college career littered with conflict, injury and oversized expectations. Eight-time Emmy Award winner Jonathan Hock will examine why this star burned out so young and how he ultimately used football to redeem himself.

The series

“30 for 30” is an unprecedented documentary series featuring 30 films from some of today’s finest storytellers. Each filmmaker brings their passion and personal point of view to their film detailing the issues, trends, athletes, teams, rivalries, games and events that transformed the sports landscape from 1979 to 2009.  Crossing the barriers of sports, the films reflect on the impact these events had across the pop culture spectrum. 

Select films from the series are available for purchase on iTunes the day following air. Additional films are available for purchase at www.amazon.com/30for30.

Plus: Brazil 0-1 Umbria Regional XI; World Cup superstitions; and who was supposed to host the 1986 World Cup? Send your World Cup questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk

"After seeing that Nani has managed to rule himself out with an injury suffered while attempting an overhead kick in training, I was wondering what would be the most ridiculous way in which a player has cost themselves a World Cup appearance?" asked Steven Maley last week.

Ridiculous? World Cups? Raymond Domenech seems the natural place to start. "If Robert Pires is to be believed his reason for missing out on the World Cup in 2006 was being a Scorpio," writes Diego Black. Not sure if that can be considered the player's fault but damn ridiculous in any event."

The Knowledge favourite's second-favourite goalkeeper (after our old friend Lutz Pfannenstiel) Jean-Marie Pfaff cost himself a World Cup appearance in 1982 for disclipinary reasons after apparently pretending to drown in the swimming pool at the Belgium team hotel.

Whether Wayne Bridge's decision to miss this World Cup was ridiculous is open to interpretation, as, to a lesser extent, is Roy Keane's decision to walk about of the Ireland camp in 2002.

Injury-wise, as many of you pointed out, Brazil captain Emerson ruled himself out of the 2002 tournament after injuring a shoulder while mucking about in goal in training and the Spain goalkeeper, Santiago Cañizares, missed the same tournament after severing a tendon in his foot after dropping a bottle of aftershave on it.

In a slightly different direction: "Another story is the one about the Yugoslav captain in 1950," writes Eberhard Spohd. "Right before the beginning of the match against Brazil Rajko Mitic ran against the dressing room door and severely cut himself. But that didn't cost him the appearance in the game: the wound was stitched up an Mitic followed his team on the field after the kick-off. As far as I know it's the only match in World Cup history not to begin with 22 players on the pitch." Quite what he was doing running into a door in the first place is open to question.

And though he didn't miss a World Cup game, it's always worth remembering that Norway defender Svein Grondalen had to withdraw from an international during the 1970s after colliding with a moose while out jogging.

JOGA BONITO UMBRIA-STYLE

"England made light work of beating Platinum Stars," writes Anna Cartwright. "But have there ever been cases of major sides getting beaten by club sides of a similar stature right before a major tournament?"

"While training in Italy before World Cup 1990 Brazil lost to an amateur regional team from Umbria, 1-0," writes Claudio Kristeller, and he's not wrong. A team containing Careca, Bebeto, Romario, Dunga and Branco were beaten in Terni less than a month before the 1990 tournament kicked off, though there is some debate over whether this was an official fixture since, according to the always excellent rsssf.com: "Brazil played wearing training uniform, without numbers on their shirts". But if this video – which despite it's headline we're quite confident is from 1990 – is anything to go by, the people of Umbria were certainly taking it seriously.

Think you can do better? Let us know at knowlege@guardian.co.uk

VERY SUPERSTITOUS

"Like many others, I suspect I was intrigued by South Africa's pre-game huddle in which all of the players put their hands on Steven Pienaar's head," says Joseph Pringle. "Have any other teams had curious pre-game rituals like this at a World Cup?"

The first answer that springs to mind is, of course, France's World Cup-winning side of 1998. Centre-back Laurent Blanc famously used to kiss goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's head before kick-off in every game, and those two went on to play a huge role in the team conceding just two goals in the entire tournament. Less well-known is the fact that team also insisted on occupying the same seats on their bus for every journey and listening to Gloria Gaynor's 1970s hit "I Will Survive" in the changing-room before each game.

Moving on to personal rituals, England's Bobby Moore used to insist on being the last member of the team to put his shorts on before a game, while Italy's Gennaro Gattuso developed all sorts of absurd superstitions during the 2006 World Cup. As well as wearing the same sweater he had worn on the first day throughout his time off the field during the competition – even though the weather was often sweltering – he also insisted on packing his bags ready to go home before every game Italy played.

In 1986 Argentina coach Carlos Bilardo borrowed some toothpaste from one of his players before Argentina's first match in Mexico and continued to do so before every match, and 20 years earlier Nobby Stiles apparently had a pre-match routine that involved rubbing olive oil into his chest.

And though it's not technically a pre-match ritual, it would be remiss of us not to mention the Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea's habit of urinating on the pitch before penalty shoot-outs in 1990. As he told our Small Talk column in 2007, the superstition began when he was forced to take a pee before the shoot-out against Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals but had no time to get back to the changing rooms. "We won, so then when the semi-final against Italy went to penalties I did it again – and it worked! So from that moment on I did it before every shoot-out. It was my lucky charm."

Know of any better World Cup rituals? Let us know at knowlege@guardian.co.uk

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE

"Can you settle a disagreement that I've started in my local?" asked Dan Blandford in 2001. "I set the questions for the weekly quiz and asked the following question: the 1986 Mexico World Cup was originally meant to be held in which South American country? Let me know your answer as mine was challenged by the rest of the pub!"

In 1974 Fifa awarded the 1986 World Cup to Colombia – but infrastructure and financial problems meant that by 1983 the country was struggling to meet its promises. Realising the prospects of a World Cup in Colombia were slim, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States offered themselves as alternatives for the 1986 tournament.

After Colombia were forced to drop out, Brazil decided they weren't interested in World Cup 86 after all. And so Fifa, faced with three competing bids, decided in May 1983 to reject Canada and the US in favour of Mexico.

There was much outrage in the US about the decision. Henry Kissinger, the leader of the US bid, even petitioned Fifa for another chance, arguing that the 1986 tournament would revive the fading North American Soccer League (NASL). He was supported by Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer – but Fifa's president Joao Havelange was singularly unimpressed. Fifa claimed their decision was down to logistics – the US bid included venues on the east and west coast, which meant increased travelling times and weary footballers. But the real reason was that they wanted to teach US football a lesson.

In 1981, Fifa had threatened to outlaw the NASL and suspend the US Federation because the NASL had changed the offside line from halfway to 35 yards out and used a shoot-out to decide drawn matches. The NASL refused to back down – and even threatened legal action against Fifa. But what comes around goes around, and two years later Fifa got its revenge by rejecting Kissinger's bid. With the last hope of reviving the NASL gone, it folded before the start of the 1986 World Cup.

For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive

Can you help?

"Just wondering if you happen to know which World Cup team was the most recent to field 11 players with consecutive shirt numbers (plus 12 and 13 on the bench as subs)," writes John Ashburne. "And indeed when was the last time an England team ventured out thus?"

"Has any outfield player ever worn the No1 jersey in a World Cup," ponders Thomas Kelly. "Does it have to be worn by goalkeeper during the tournament or is this just convention?"

Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk

After 40 years in racing the legendary trainer tells why he still has passion for the job and how he is concerned for the sport's future

Last Saturday, on one of the most memorable days of his life, Sir Michael Stoute could not contain himself. Usually, in the familiar glow of another victory, he prefers to slip away into the comforting shadows. He was different at Epsom. Stoute beamed and waved his hands in the air as if he could finally celebrate 38 years in the unsentimental business of training race horses, with Derby winners stretching from Shergar to the new champion, Workforce.

When they called him to the winner's enclosure the normally elusive 64 year-old swirled his top hat high above him in unfettered delight. In that delicious moment, as he acknowledged his 15th English Classic victory, it was possible to imagine him as an exuberant teenager back in Barbados. It also felt imperative to remember again the extraordinary journey Stoute has made over the past 46 years.

Stoute left Barbados in 1964, aged 19 and having spent the previous three years as a schoolboy racing commentator moonlighting at the old island track of Garrison Savannah. He arrived in Britain with just one distant racing contact and yet, through perseverance and an uncanny talent, he has become a knighted giant of British racing, working with owners ranging from the Aga Khan to the Queen to Sir Alex Ferguson. He is now on course for his 11th champion trainer title.

Workforce's staggering run helps explain why Stoute, normally such a reluctant interviewee, should approach our meeting with a booming laugh and cheery wave. Inside his office at Freemason Lodge, the Newmarket yard where he trains more than 160 horses with a mastery that makes him one of the most fascinating figures in British sport, Stoute is even warmer.

"There have been a lot of sweet days," he says. "But they become sweeter the longer you go on. Winning the Derby again was one of my most pleasurable days. It's still one of the greatest races in the world."

But the Derby also underlined the serious problems that now beset racing. Rather than being transfixed by an engaging storyline, featuring the venerable Stoute and the inexperienced Workforce, who ran the fastest Derby in history, the British public were indifferent. Despite no real competition from other televised sport, and a week before the World Cup, the BBC's viewing figures were down by a third on last year while betting revenues dropped between 10 and 20%.

"I'm obviously concerned," Stoute says. "We're in a very worrying situation because public interest appears to be dwindling and there is a lot more competition for the punters' money. Prize money is dropping and the levy contribution [bookmakers' money paid into racing] is being reduced. In the early 1970s things were very tough but we have a really big worry today because we're in the midst of an economic climate that's darker than we can remember for a very long time.

What can racing do to boost its waning appeal in such straitened times? "We have to make it more attractive and one immediate answer is that Racing For Change have got to be encouraged," Stoute says, offering his support for the initiatives prompted by the collective of industry insiders who aim to galvanise an often badly promoted sport.

"None of us can be complacent. Racing For Change understand this and they're trying really hard. Obviously they don't have all the answers but they realise that they need to gather more facts and figures and meet the people that matter. My own worry is that we have too much racing. A lot of questions need to be asked – and we never seem to get any answers."

Racing For Change have said they would investigate the possibility of moving the Derby to a Friday. Would this automatically revitalise the race? "I'm not convinced it's that simple. I don't know the answer myself. We had a problem this year with a hyped-up horse, St Nicholas Abbey [trained by Aidan O'Brien]. Of course the press said he could be the successor to Sea The Stars [last year's magnificent multiple winner] because sometimes truly great horses come in twos."

St Nicholas Abbey finished a dismal sixth in last month's 2,000 Guineas, then suffered a slight injury and he was withdrawn from the Derby. "Because the embryo champion didn't turn up," Stoute smiles thinly, "people might have thought the Derby was anticlimactic."

Workforce, however, was electrifying – and another jolting reminder of Stoute's brilliance. "His debut at Goodwood had been full of promise but he had a difficult spring. In his second race, at York, the bit came through his mouth when he straightened up. So we knew he had to show more maturity. An important part of his Derby preparation was a run-out at Lingfield where we got him to rattle down the hill and take that left-handed turn. I felt then he was ready. But none of us were expecting him to win the Derby by seven lengths."

That winning margin has been bettered by only two horses – one of which was Shergar in 1981. "There was more relief than ecstasy with Shergar. He was so superior to the rest of the field that, if he'd lost, I would've felt I'd let Shergar down. I could enjoy it more with Workforce. He's a very exciting horse but the next race is really important. We need to think hard about whether he should go back 22 days later to the Curragh [for the Irish Derby] or do we hold him back for the King George?"

According to Stoute the latter is the more likely option. But there is a glint in his eye when he says: "I'm sure we'll want to aim for the Arc in the autumn."

Stoute has won every other major race he cares about around the world – and, having clinched the St Leger with Conduit in 2008, at his 25th attempt, he lacks only the Arc de Triomphe. "The Leger became a monkey on the back. I got to the stage where I said: 'The Leger? When is that?'"

Stoute rocks with laughter until asked if the Arc has also begun to haunt him. "We've run consistently well in the Arc and had so many placed horses. I try to feel philosophical about it but, yes, I would like to win it."

Such racing ambition deserves to be laid out in rich detail for the benefit of the wider sporting public. It's one obvious way of broadening the appeal of an often insular business for the horses themselves cannot sustain a compelling storyline. At the height of their powers they are retired to stud as the millions they can generate in the bloodstock business always outweigh the purity of sport. Stoute admits that he feels a growing responsibility to engage more with the media and public in an attempt to offset racing's deepening problems.

But why had he been so defensive in the past? "I believe the horses should do the talking," he says eventually. "The papers will ring for quotes from a trainer before a Listed race and you really should have them at the breakfast table the next day to see who talked the most rubbish. Nobody is going to say: 'I don't want to run this horse at York because the ground's unsuitable and the opposition is too tough – but the owner happens to live in Yorkshire and he's taking the family for a day out.'"

Stoute's own early interest in commentating and journalism is intriguing when set against his racing persona. "It was my ambition back in Barbados," he says. "I thought I would be a journalist-cum-commentator. My mother took me to the track at Garrison Savannah and I was captivated by the colour and speed of the horses. But things really got going when my father was made deputy commissioner of police and we moved from the middle of the island to one of the Garrison houses. A ladder took you over the wall at the bottom of our yard onto the track.

"Unlike cricket, my other great love, there was no competition in becoming a race commentator. When I did a phantom commentary in the studio aged 16 there was no disquiet from the other gentlemen. If they had to come to the Garrison every race day to commentate they would have to do a lot of homework so they were very encouraging of me. In my school holidays I would go across to Trinidad and commentate for Radio Trinidad – with [the future ITN newsreader] Trevor McDonald. But Trevor was an all-rounder. He wasn't a racing man."

Stoute's sole racing contact in Britain was a retired jockey who had ridden for plantation owners in the Caribbean. "My parents knew him and when I came to England he showed me this advertisement [for a BBC racing commentator's job]. I made it to the final six, incredibly, and we were invited to do some commentary at Newbury. We were all issued with tickets at Paddington and one of the six was [future BBC racing commentator] Julian Wilson. Five of us travelled together in second class but Julian decided he had better sit with the selectors and so he coughed up a bit more for a first-class ticket."

The portly trainer rolls in his seat with amusement as he remembers a day that had such ramifications for the future of British racing. If he had been successful he might have never gone into training and his lilting voice, which still carries echoes of Barbados, could have become a BBC institution. "It was a foggy October day and visibility wasn't good. I started as the rank outsider because I did race six of six. But I had been commentating for three years and none of the others had done any commentary before. Julian got the job in the end. But they asked me to keep in touch and I did three more recordings. They saw me as a possible back-up if Peter Bromley broke his leg skiing."

He was ensconced, then, in the Yorkshire yard of trainer Pat Rohan. "It was a wonderful grounding. You can go to a lot of yards and work your backside off and never really get inside a trainer's head. I got lucky. His secretary had just left and so I went into the office every evening after working all day in the stables. I became involved in Pat's thinking and conversation with owners."

Within four years Stoute had set up his own operation in Newmarket, with 15 horses, one of which was owned by his father. "Sandal was my dad's only horse. I'll never forget it because it gave me my first winner at Newmarket. Oh, it was ecstasy. It won by a neck with all Lester Piggott's assistance. I knew Lester from my Rohan days."

Was Piggott the stoneface of racing archetype? "I saw the other side of Lester," Stoute cackles. "He can be very communicative when he wants something."

Later, when asked to name his most significant victories in a glittering career, Stoute returns to that Newmarket day in 1972. "You cannot forget your first winner. That was a very special day. Only last year's King George, when we finished 1-2-3, with Conduit winning, ranks as highly. But perhaps the most significant of all was finishing 1-2 at the Breeders' Cup. Never mind the Leger – the Breeders' Cup was the one I wanted. That was a great, great day.

A contrasting hurt clouds Stoute's face as he remembers Shergar's kidnapping by the IRA – and the recent revelation that he was probably machine-gunned to death after the ransom demand failed so abjectly. "It was tragic. He was such a lovely horse, a great horse, and they made the terrible mistake of thinking he was owned just by the Aga Khan rather than an international syndicate. I knew it would end in a horror story – but I've closed the book on that pain."

Stoute's yard is humming again and he soon has us striding across his kingdom, pausing only to nuzzle a filly, Apace, for a photograph. His head is already full of next week's racing. "Ascot is Test cricket all right," he shouts gleefully.

"Yeah, Guv," a stable hand agrees, "there's none of that Twenty20 nonsense at Ascot."

Stoute even points to his most likely winner next week. "Harbinger's a very good shot next Saturday. He wouldn't want the ground to be too fast but he's in with a real chance. Kingsgate Native is another I like on Tuesday in the King's Stand Stakes. But it's a tough ask for Ask in the Gold Cup."

He chuckles at his bad joke, before pointing out that, even in Ascot week, he will not be immune to World Cup fever. "I started out following Brian Clough's teams," he says, grinning. "I saw Cloughie at the 1970 World Cup and thought: 'This is a lunatic – but what a character!' I've been a Cloughie-man ever since. I'm also a Capello fan. He takes no nonsense and I think England will do well. I won't miss an England game for anything this month."

The rest of the time Stoute will be plotting yet more winners with a training technique that blends meticulous preparation and intuitive decision-making with an enduring ardour for his work. "I've got a passion for the job," he says simply. Stoute stops in the middle of his yard to look around, almost in wonder, and all racing's problems suddenly seem redundant in the face of his winning exuberance.

McENROE BEATS WILANDER TO SET UP SEMIFINAL SHOWDOWN WITH BORG IN BOSTON

BOSTON, Mass., April 30, 2010 – John McEnroe defeated Mats Wilander 6-3, 6-4 
Friday in the quarterfinals of the $150,000 Staples Champions Cup and advance 
into a semifinal confrontation with his legendary rival Bjorn Borg. The two Hall 
of Famers will meet in the Saturday evening session, 30 years after their epic 
singles finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1980.

Jim Courier and Mark Philippoussis will compete in the other semifinal match, to 
be played in Saturday’s day session. Courier advanced into the semifinals Friday 
by defeating Jimmy Arias 6-3, 6-3.

The Staples Champions Cup is the second event on the 2010 Champions Series 
circuit, the global tennis circuit for champion tennis players age 30 and over. 
The event is being played for a fifth straight year and for the fourth time at 
the Agganis Arena at Boston University.

McEnroe was extra motivated to beat Wilander and set up the semifinal with Borg. 
He executed his serve-and-volley game to near perfection, losing very few points 
on serve and controlling play early and often.

“I am excited to play Bjorn,” said McEnroe. “Anytime I play him is an extra 
special feeling. I had to get through the first matches, but not that we are 
here, I am up for it. I am going to be aggressive and try to take it early. We 
have seen each other enough that we know what our tendencies are. Hopefully 
there will be some real energy with the crowd and will fire us up. I liked 
having a match under my belt to get ready for this.”

McEnroe and Borg played 14 times during their ATP Tour careers, each player 
winning seven times. Their 1980 Wimbledon final is regarded by some observers as 
the greatest match of all-time. Borg was able to win his fifth-straight title at 
the All England Club and stave off McEnroe, playing in his first Wimbledon 
final, by a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18), 8-6 margin, highlighted by the famous 
18-16 fourth-set tie-breaker. McEnroe avenged his loss to Borg later that summer 
in a five-set U.S. Open final. In 1981, McEnroe beat Borg in both the Wimbledon 
and U.S. Open finals.

McEnroe said that his favorite tennis memory was actually losing the 1980 
Wimbledon final to Borg.

“As time has gone by that is the match people always talk to me about,” he said. 
“It’s one of those cases where I felt like I came out with a higher stature even 
though I lost and that doesn’t happen that often. That you can come out and you 
can gain. I learned something from him. I learned what a great champion does – 
they find another gear. I didn’t think he had it. He found it and it was 
unbelievable.”

Borg’s appearance at the Staples Champions Cup marks his debut on the 
five-year-old Champions Series. Since he played his final official match on the 
ATP World Tour in 1993, he has competed in other various events around the 
world, but not in the United States since a tournament in New York City in June 
of 2000. Borg dropped of the pro tour full-time in 1981, playing his last Grand 
Slam tournament at the 1981 U.S. Open, where he lost to McEnroe in the final. He 
made a sporadic comeback to the ATP Tour from 1991 to 1993. A 1987 inductee into 
the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Borg is best known for his five 
consecutive Wimbledon titles from 1976 to 1980 and his six French Open titles 
won from 1974 to 1981. He won 64 ATP singles titles and ranked No. 1 in the 
world for 109 weeks.

McEnroe has enjoyed some of his best success on the Champions Series circuit in 
Boston. He was a singles finalist in Boston in 2009, losing to Pete Sampras 7-6 
(10), 6-4, one day before his 50th birthday. He won the title in 2008, defeating 
Aaron Krickstein in the final, and was a finalist in the inaugural event in 
2006, losing to Todd Martin.

Courier outslugged Arias in the first quarterfinal match Friday night. 

“I thought early on that Jimmy was really dictating play with his forehand and I 
needed to step up my offense,” said Courier. “Early in the match I was trying to 
feel my way into it. Once I got that first set in my pocket, I felt better.”

Said Courier of the McEnroe vs. Borg semifinal, “I am playing an afternoon 
match, but I can guarantee that I will be front row and center for John and 
Borg. I’ve never seen them play live and I don’t know if I will get many more 
chances. I’m excited to see them play. We are watching history.

The remaining schedule of the event is as follows; 

Saturday, May 1
Starting at 2 pm
Doubles Exhibition
Followed by
Jim Courier vs. Mark Philippoussis

Starting at 7 pm
Doubles exhibition
Followed by
Bjorn Borg vs. John McEnroe

Sunday, May 2
Starting at 2 pm
Third-Place Match 
Followed by
Championship Match

The Staples Champions Cup is part of the global Champions Series tennis circuit 
for champion tennis players age 30 and over. To be eligible to compete, players 
must have reached at least a major singles final, been ranked in the top five in 
the world or played singles on a championship Davis Cup team. Each event 
features $150,000 in prize money – with the tournament champion earning $60,000 
– and ranking points that determine the year-end No. 1. Each tournament champion 
earns 800 ranking points. Courier finished the 2009 season as the top-ranked 
player on the series, followed by Sampras and Martin.

Former French Open semifinalist Fernando Meligeni of Brazil was the surprise 
winner of the opening event on the 2010 Champions Series, winning the title in 
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, defeating Philippoussis in the final.

CHAMPIONS SERIES VIDEO FOOTAGE 

The Champions Series video page features exclusive behind the scenes footage of 
events and candid player chats. Videos can be seen at <A HREF="http://m1e.net/c?117624096-6gdAHTjfwcglc%405280235-/TnXDObvNvAXY">http://m1e.net/c?117624096-6gdAHTjfwcglc%405280235-/TnXDObvNvAXY</A>

BECOME A FAN OF THE CHAMPIONS SERIES ON FACEBOOK & FOLLOW US ON TWITTER 

facebook.com/championsseriestennis | twitter.com/cs_tennis

CHAMPIONS SERIES WEBSITE: <A HREF="http://m1e.net/c?117624096-C4dKhYUEFBzr2%405280236-VVLAwFYU1ikhY">http://m1e.net/c?117624096-C4dKhYUEFBzr2%405280236-VVLAwFYU1ikhY</A>

InsideOut Sports + Entertainment is a New York City-based independent producer 
of proprietary events and promotions founded in 2004 by former world No. 1 and 
Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel 
executive Jon Venison. In 2005, InsideOut launched its signature property, the 
Champions Series tennis circuit, a collection of tournaments featuring the 
greatest names in tennis over the age of 30. In addition, InsideOut produces 
many other successful events including "Legendary Night" exhibitions, charity 
events, corporate outings and tennis fantasy camps such as the annual "Ultimate 
Fantasy Camp". Through 2009, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment events have raised 
over $4 million for charity. For more information, please log on to 
www.InsideOutSE.com or www.ChampionsSeriesTennis.com or follow on Facebook, 
Twitter and YouTube.

BORG EDGES PERNFORS TO OPEN STAPLES CHAMPIONS CUP IN BOSTON

BOSTON, Mass., April 29, 2010 – Bjorn Borg, playing in an event in the United 
States for the first time in 10 years, defeated fellow Swede Mikael Pernfors 
6-2, 2-6, 10-8 (Champion Tie-Breaker) Thursday in the opening match of the 
$150,000 Staples Champions Cup at the Agganis Arena at Boston University. 

The 53-year-old five-time Wimbledon champion advances into the event’s 
semifinals, where he will play the winner of Friday night’s match between John 
McEnroe and Mats Wilander. Also advancing in the event Thursday was Mark 
Philippoussis, who beat Wayne Ferreira 6-3, 6-2. 

The Staples Champions Cup is the second event on the 2010 Champions Series 
circuit, the global tennis circuit for champion tennis players age 30 and over. 
The event is being played for a fifth straight year and for the fourth time at 
the Agganis Arena.

Borg’s old school flair was present early against Pernfors as he used 
penetrating and consistent groundstrokes to control play. In the second set, 
Pernfors switched his strategy, resorting to trickery and using effective slice 
backhands and drop shots to keep Borg off balance and on the run. In the 
Champions Tie-Breaker, a first to 10-point tie-breaker played in lieu of a third 
set, Borg jumped out to an 8-4 lead with consistent backhand returns and 
aggressive baseline play and held on for the 10-8 victory.

“It was a good match and we had a lot of good points,” said Borg. “We know each 
other’s game really well. I think it was a good match and I was really pleased.”

Pernfors, 46, was impressed with the form and fitness of the elder statesman of 
Swedish tennis.

“It was a little bit surprising how well he played,” said Pernfors. “I didn’t 
think he would be moving as well as he did. I don’t think I was aggressive 
enough from the start. It felt like he was out there feeling good and he 
definitely played a much better tie-breaker than I did. I haven’t played him in 
15 years and I haven’t seen him in ages. So you go and think that he is not 
going to be able to play. He mixes up the pace so much. With 75 percent of the 
shots, there is no pace whatsoever. You have to create the pace yourself and 
that is really difficult. He disguises his shots so well. He lures you into 
taking the pace off.”

Borg’s appearance at the Staples Champions Cup marks his debut on the 
five-year-old Champions Series. Since he played his final official match on the 
ATP World Tour in 1993, he has competed in other various events around the 
world, but not in the United States since a tournament in New York City in June 
of 2000. Borg dropped of the pro tour full-time in 1981, playing his last Grand 
Slam tournament at the 1981 U.S. Open, where he lost to McEnroe in the final. He 
made a sporadic comeback to the ATP Tour from 1991 to 1993.

“I love to play in the States,” said Borg. “It’s always been one of my favorite 
places to play. It’s just a matter of scheduling and getting everything together 
with my kids. It worked out very well and I am happy to play in this event.”

“The first time I played in Boston was 1974 and I won Longwood (U.S. Pro 
Championships) three years in a row - 1974 was my first really big year when I 
won the Italian Open, French Open and I came to play Longwood in August. I have 
really good memories of Boston.”

A 1987 inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Borg is best known 
for his five consecutive Wimbledon titles from 1976 to 1980 and his six French 
Open titles won from 1974 to 1981. He won 64 ATP singles titles and ranked No. 1 
in the world for 109 weeks.

In 2010, tennis fans will celebrate the 30th anniversary of his epic duels with 
McEnroe in the finals of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, the Wimbledon final being 
regarded by some observers as the greatest match of all-time. Borg was able to 
win his fifth-straight title at the All England Club and stave off McEnroe, 
playing in his first Wimbledon final, by a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18), 8-6 
margin, highlighted by the famous 18-16 fourth-set tie-breaker. Should McEnroe 
defeat Wilander on Friday night, the two rivals would meet again Saturday night 
in the semifinals.

Said Borg of a possible match with McEnroe on Saturday evening, “Playing John is 
always something special. It would be nice to see John’s face on the other side 
of the court.”

The remaining schedule of the event is as follows; 

Friday, April 30
Starting at 7 pm
Jim Courier vs. Jimmy Arias
Followed by
John McEnroe vs. Mats Wilander

Saturday, May 1
Starting at 2 pm
Doubles Exhibition
Followed by
Jim Courier or Jimmy Arias vs. Mark Philippoussis

Starting at 7 pm
Doubles exhibition
Followed by
Bjorn Borg vs. John McEnroe or Mats Wilander

Sunday, May 2
Starting at 2 pm
Third-Place Match 
Followed by
Championship Match

McEnroe was a singles finalist in Boston in 2009, losing to Pete Sampras 7-6 
(10), 6-4 one day before his 50th birthday. He won the title in 2008, defeating 
Aaron Krickstein in the final, and was a finalist in the inaugural event in 
2006, losing to Todd Martin. Sampras also won the title in 2007, defeating 
Martin in the final.

The Staples Champions Cup is part of the global Champions Series tennis circuit 
for champion tennis players age 30 and over. To be eligible to compete, players 
must have reached at least a major singles final, been ranked in the top five in 
the world or played singles on a championship Davis Cup team. Each event 
features $150,000 in prize money – with the tournament champion earning $60,000 
– and ranking points that determine the year-end No. 1. Each tournament champion 
earns 800 ranking points. Courier finished the 2009 season as the top-ranked 
player on the series, followed by Sampras and Martin.

Former French Open semifinalist Fernando Meligeni of Brazil was the surprise 
winner of the opening event on the 2010 Champions Series, winning the title in 
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, defeating Philippoussis in the final.

CHAMPIONS SERIES VIDEO FOOTAGE 

The Champions Series video page features exclusive behind the scenes footage of 
events and candid player chats. Videos can be seen at http://m1e.net/c?96018513-iHQipmMzSpOZk%405275862-bNRsBUm.ZVibU

BECOME A FAN OF THE CHAMPIONS SERIES ON FACEBOOK & FOLLOW US ON TWITTER 

facebook.com/championsseriestennis | twitter.com/cs_tennis

CHAMPIONS SERIES WEBSITE: http://m1e.net/c?96018513-1hQQVKB22uPiQ%405275863-Gzy9a1cWIS0pM

InsideOut Sports + Entertainment is a New York City-based independent producer 
of proprietary events and promotions founded in 2004 by former world No. 1 and 
Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel 
executive Jon Venison. In 2005, InsideOut launched its signature property, the 
Champions Series tennis circuit, a collection of tournaments featuring the 
greatest names in tennis over the age of 30. In addition, InsideOut produces 
many other successful events including "Legendary Night" exhibitions, charity 
events, corporate outings and tennis fantasy camps such as the annual "Ultimate 
Fantasy Camp". Through 2009, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment events have raised 
over $4 million for charity. For more information, please log on to 
www.InsideOutSE.com or www.ChampionsSeriesTennis.com or follow on Facebook, 
Twitter and YouTube.

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:

President Obama said, “I am grateful that these exceptional individuals have chosen to dedicate their talents to serving the American people. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.” 

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:

Rafael Moure-Eraso, Nominee for Chair, Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
Rafael Moure-Eraso is currently serving as a Professor and Graduate Coordinator for the Department of Work Environment in the School of Health and Environment at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he has been Chair of the department for the last five years. He has been a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts for twenty two years --12 as an Associate Professor (1988) and 10 as a full Professor since 2000.  From 1993-2000, Dr. Moure-Eraso was a Visiting Lecturer in Occupational Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.  In 1994-95, he held an Intergovernmental Personnel Assignment at the U.S. Department of Labor as a special senior advisor on the prevention of chemical exposures to the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA).   Prior to joining the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Dr. Moure-Eraso served for 15 years (1973-1988) as an Industrial Hygienist Engineer with the national offices of two international unions: the Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers (OCAW) and the United Automobile Workers (UAW).  His ten years as an Industrial Hygienist of the OCAW gave him substantial field experience in the Chemical and Petro-Chemical industry. Dr. Moure-Eraso has been a member of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health for OSHA and a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).  He also was a member of both the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council and the Board of Scientific Counselors to the National Toxicological Program for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institute of Health (NIEHS). He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering (University of Pittsburgh ‘67, Bucknell University, ’70) and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Environment Health (Industrial Hygiene) (University of Cincinnati ’74, ’82). He has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist for Comprehensive Practice (CIH)since 1985. Dr. Moure-Eraso is a senior member of AIChE, AIHA, ACGIH and APHA where he had held national leadership positions.

Mark A. Griffon, Nominee for Member, Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
Mark Griffon’s career has included work in academia, the public sector and the private sector.  He started his career in the private sector as a project manager for Chemical Waste Management and then worked in the Work Environment Department at the University of Massachusetts Lowell to develop and deliver Hazardous Waste Training, Radiation Worker Training, and Toxics Use Reduction planning curricula.  While working for the University’s Toxics Use Reduction Institute, he also headed an effort to conduct industry-specific planning workshops with metal working companies, electronics companies, chemical and plastics industries and paper and textile manufacturers.  In 1992, Mr. Griffon founded Creative Pollution Solutions, Inc. to provide environmental and occupational health consulting including management and technical oversight of large remediation projects, waste site characterization, radiation surveys, health and safety and health physics audits and investigations, and exposure assessment research.  Mr. Griffon has served as a member of the Federal Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health from 2002 to the present.  In addition to being a member of the Board, Mr. Griffon chairs the subcommittee on dose reconstruction review and chairs several workgroups.  Mr. Griffon also served as a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on External Regulation of Department of Energy Nuclear Safety and as a member of the Advisory Board for the U.S. Transuranium and Uranium Registries. Mr. Griffon holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.S. in Radiological Sciences from University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

Robert M. “Skipp” Orr, Nominee for United States Executive Director, Asian Development Bank, with the Rank of Ambassador
Robert “Skipp” Orr is currently Chairman of the Board of the Panasonic Foundation, a member of the Board of Trustees of J.F. Obirin University and a member of the Board of the East-West Center Foundation. From January 2002 until March 2007 Orr was President of Boeing Japan. He held this position during the development of the most successfully selling airplane in history, the 787 Dreamliner. Prior to joining Boeing, Orr was Vice President and Director of European Affairs for Motorola based in Brussels. And before that he held various senior level posts with Motorola in Japan culminating as Vice President of Government Relations. In that capacity he successfully led the negotiations that opened up the cellular phone market in Japan. He is also a former Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce Japan. In addition to the corporate world, Orr also has spent many years in academia and the United States Government. Between 1985 and 1993 he was a professor of Political Science at Temple University Japan with two years off to run the Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies and the Stanford Center for Technology and Innovation at the Stanford Japan Center in Kyoto. His book, The Emergence of Japan’s Foreign Aid Power, published by Columbia University Press won the 1991 Ohira Prize for best book on the Asia Pacific. Orr’s career began in 1976 when he served for two years as Legislative Assistant to Congressman Paul G. Rogers (D-FL) a 12 term member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Between 1978 and 1981 he served on the House Foreign Affairs Asia Subcommittee staff seconded from the Select Committee on Narcotics. In 1981 he was appointed as Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrator of Asia in the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Department of State. Orr holds a B.A. in History, cum laude, from Florida Atlantic University, an M.A. in Government from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Tokyo University. He speaks German and Japanese fluently and has intermediate French.

Carl Wieman, Nominee for Associate Director for Science, Office of Science and Technology Policy
Dr. Carl Wieman currently divides his time between the University of British Columbia and the University of Colorado.  At each institution, he serves as both the Director of Collaborative Science Education Initiatives aimed at achieving widespread improvement in undergraduate science education and as a Professor of Physics. From 1984 through 2006, he was a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Presidential Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado. While at the University of Colorado, he was a Fellow of JILA (a joint federal-university institute for interdisciplinary research in the physical sciences) and he served as the Chair of JILA from 1993-95.  Dr. Wieman has conducted extensive research in atomic and laser physics.  His research has been recognized with numerous awards including sharing the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 for the creation of a new form of matter known as “Bose-Einstein condensation”. Dr. Wieman has also worked extensively on research and innovations for improving science education; he was the founding Chair of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Science Education. He has received numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation’s Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award (2001), the Carnegie Foundation’s U.S. University Professor of the Year Award (2004), and the American Association of Physics Teachers’ Oersted Medal (2007) for his work on science education.  Dr. Wieman received his B.S. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1977.

The situation of the Guarani tribe of southern Brazil is one of the worst of all indigenous peoples in the Americas, says a new report by Survival to the UN.

The release of the report coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21st March.

The Guarani suffer high rates of suicide, malnutrition, unfair imprisonment and alcoholism, and are regularly targeted and killed by gunmen hired by the ranchers who have taken over their land.

The denial of the Indians’ land rights is singled out in the report as the main cause of this explosive situation.

The report warns that the growing demand for ethanol as an alternative to gasoline will take more land from the Guarani and further worsen the situation.

Despite living in one of the wealthiest states in one of the world’s largest emerging economies, many Guarani live in dire poverty. Some live under tarpaulins on the side of busy highways, others in chronically overcrowded ‘reserves’ where they are reliant on government handouts.

One Guarani community living on the roadside, who have seen three of their leaders killed by ranchers’ gunmen, said, ‘We are growing impatient with the excessive delay of land demarcation. It is slowly killing us and exposing us to genocide’.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘This report exposes the appalling situation which the Guarani face. It is the Brazilian government’s moral and legal responsibility to ensure that the human rights abuses and the racial discrimination which the Guarani are suffering is stopped. If swift and efficient action is not taken, many more Guarani will suffer and die’.

Some facts

1. Violence: the Guarani suffer from violent attacks and many Guarani leaders have been assassinated. 42 Guarani were killed in Mato Grosso do Sul in 2008 because of internal and external conflicts.

2. Suicide: the suicide rate amongst the Guarani is one of the highest in the world. More than 625 Guarani have committed suicide since 1981 (almost 1.5% of the Guarani population), and in 2005, the Guarani suicide rate was 19 times the national rate. Guarani children as young as nine years old have taken their own lives.

3. Malnutrition and poor health: many Guarani suffer from malnutrition, and their infant mortality rate is more than double the national average, whilst life expectancy is more than 20 years lower than the national average.

4. Unfair imprisonment: Guarani are often wrongly imprisoned, with little or no access to legal advice and interpreters. They serve ‘disproportionately harsh sentences for minor offences’.

5. Exploitation of manual labourers: many Guarani are forced to work cutting sugar cane for the ethanol factories which now occupy their land. They earn pitiful wages and are exposed to inhumane working conditions.

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Former director of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys

Roger Thatcher, who has died aged 83, occupied a dual role in one of the oldest offices of central government as the registrar general for England and Wales and the director of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS), which delivered the 1981 population census. During his later years, he contributed significantly to the international demographic literature on centenarians, especially those who lived to more than 110. Throughout his career he was a man of wide-ranging interests, with learned articles to his name on subjects as diverse as Newtonian cosmology, mathematics and   prehistoric archaeology.

Roger, the son of Arthur Thatcher and Edith (nee Dobson), was born in Birmingham and brought up in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Educated in Cambridge, he went to the Leys school, and then to St John's College, where he studied mathematics, economics and statistics. In 1946 he became a Wrangler – a student who has completed the third year of the mathematical tripos with first-class honours. As national service was still compulsory, he was sent on a crash course in meteorology which resulted in him briefing navy pilots about his weather forecasts.

After demobilisation, Roger joined the North Western Gas Board, from where, in 1952, he moved to government statistics, working for the Admiralty and then the newly formed Central Statistics Office, pulling together data for the Robbins committee on demand for higher education and the decimal currency commission. He then joined the Ministry of Labour where, in 1971, as deputy director of statistics, he compiled the first edition of British Labour Stat- istics: Historical Abstract 1886-1968. Roger subsequently became director of statistics in the renamed Department of Employment and Productivity, where he had a ringside seat observing British politics in action. Ministers he served included Michael Foot, Barbara Castle and Willie Whitelaw.

The 1981 census gave him his most challenging role, simply because of the scale of the operation, sensitivity about its inclusion of a question regarding ethnic origin, and its lack of flexibility. It was probably the last traditional census, though he did have to remove three questions after a meeting with Margaret Thatcher, the then prime minister. Even so, Roger needed to be ruthless to keep the census as streamlined as possible.

His experience in the Department of Employment gave him confidence to trust the fieldworkers collecting data. His favourite story, allegedly true, was about one who knocked on a door to be answered by a woman with a very long face who said: "It's no good leaving me the census form." "Why not?" the enumerator asked. The woman replied: "Well, I'm just going to commit suicide." The enumerator said: "Well, I'll come back on Monday, just in case you change your mind."

In addition to his professional career, Roger was a scholar with many publications to his name in the field of statistics and demography. He was the co-creator of the Kannisto-Thatcher database on old-age mortality, which includes data on death and population counts classified by sex, age, year of birth, and calendar year for more than 30 countries. It is widely regarded as the crown jewel of the data holdings at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, in Rostock, Germany.

His book The Force of Mortality at Ages 80 to 120, written with Väinö Kannisto and James Vaupel, was first published in 1998 and updated in 2002. These authors showed remarkable stamina and an abundance of technical skill, regularly adapting their methods to take advantage of new technologies.

But Roger also addressed popular interests. In a paper published in 1983 by the International Statistical Institute, entitled How Many People Have Ever Lived On Earth?, Roger demonstrated that the oft-stated idea that the population of the world in the 20th century was greater than the sum total of all people who have lived previously is not true – by a very wide margin. His conclusions reappeared years later in the New Scientist's Last Word column, and subsequently in the book Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? (2006), although the myth still circulates on the internet.

He continued to write papers, in conjunction with international scholars from Europe, the US and Asia, until his final year. He had articles published in learned journals on such matters as the theory of numbers, cosmology and the Station Stones at Stonehenge.

Roger's interest in centenarians grew out of him finding an anomaly between the 1971 and 1981 censuses. The 1981 census found about twice the number of centenarians as had been expected on the basis of 90-year-olds recorded in 1971 census. This led to him searching for the first validated centenarian, to ask how their number had evolved over 400 years, and whether there was a maximum length of life.

On hearing of Roger's death, Vaupel said: "He was an Englishman with traditional values and virtues – he was polite, cordial, modest, well-meaning, good-humoured and had a broad educ- ation and a broad-ranging mind that allowed him to be an amateur who could make major contributions to specialised areas of research. I always considered him to be a mathematician at heart, and even though he would not have considered himself to be one, he had the mind of a mathematician and was able to develop deep mathematical insights into the demography of ageing."

Roger is survived by his wife, Mary, whom he married in 1950, and his two daughters, Jill and Susan.

• Arthur Roger Thatcher, mathematician and civil servant, born 22 October 1926; died 13 February 2010

From a tale of four goalkeepers to Clough v Robson, Rob Smyth recalls six great last-eight ties

NB: The point of the Joy of Six is not to rank things, only to enjoy them. Also, this week's piece is particularly long, but we think these are good stories. So.

1. Leicester 5-2 Shrewsbury, 06/03/1982

Don't even think about skipping to the next entry, or shutting down the browser, on the grounds that this involves little old Leicester and Shrewsbury. This is good enough for a full Forgotten Story, never mind a Joy of Six entry. Leicester were involved in another famous quarter-final in 2001 – also known as The Fairytale of Roy Essandoh – but that had nothing on this, The Farce of Filbert Street. It had four goalkeepers, seven goals, 13 minutes of injury-time in an age when there were usually around 13 seconds and, most improbably of all, an Englishman called Chic.

Not that there was anything particularly chic about the game. It was a rugged knee-trembler of an FA Cup tie which, wrote Patrick Barclay in this paper, "produced so much excitement that purists in the 30,000 crowd forgot to complain". Quite right too. Even though Shrewsbury had put the Uefa Cup holders Ipswich out in the previous round, these were two fairly average second-division teams and the intoxicating prospect of reaching the semi-final drove them to produce a classic.

It started fairly routinely, with Larry May heading Leicester ahead from a corner in the sixth minute; but from the moment the Leicester goalkeeper Mark Wallington injured his thigh badly in a collision with Chic Bates in the 21st minute, all bets were off. Wallington stayed on after some encouragement from his Scottish manager Jock Wallace, but he was excruciatingly at fault when Shrewsbury scored two quick goals through Bates and Jack Keay. For the first Wallington could not even come to the edge of his six-yard box to meet a deep free-kick, and for the second, unable to get off the ground because of his injured thigh, he punched hopelessly at fresh air like an amply refreshed gentleman trying to settle a particularly profound debate in the traditional manner.

Wallington had to go off after that mistake and, with no substitute goalkeepers in those days, he was replaced by the centre-forward Alan Young. Seconds later, and on the stroke of half-time, Leicester were level after a farcical own goal from Steve Biggins. Leicester started the second half well after their mildly psychotic manager Wallace – who once grabbed Gary Lineker by the neck and threw him against the wall at half-time in a reserve match, even though Leicester were 2-0 up and Lineker had scored both goals – had what he described in rather sinister fashion as a "wee word in their ears at half-time". Then it all started to go wrong again when the stand-in goalkeeper Young had to go off after landing awkwardly in another collision, this time with Bernard McNally.

He was replaced by Steve Lynex and, because only one sub was allowed, Leicester were down to 10 men. Eventually Young came back on an as an outfield player; a few minutes later, in an inspired move, Wallace put him back in goal and Lynex back on the right wing. With his first touch Lynex created a neatly taken third goal for Jim Melrose, who – keep up with us now – had come on for Wallington in the first place; from there, Leicester ran off into the distance. A 21-year-old Lineker scored coolly to make it 4-2, and Melrose's last-minute header finished things off. When Filbert Street was closed in 2002, Lineker picked this as his favourite game, saying "It may sound a strange choice." To those who were there, it was the only choice.

2. Nottingham Forest 3-3 Ipswich, 07/03/1981

Hailing something as a classic before it has happened is a dangerous exercise. An optimist is frequently disappointed. Remember all those New Year's Eves that were going to be the best night ever, only for you to end up looking into the eyes of the one friend you can really trust, Armitage Shanks. Or those dates on which the paths of expectation and reality quickly diverged. Yet occasionally, just to make it all worthwhile, a highly anticipated event somehow exceeds expectation. Like this stunning quarter-final between Nottingham Forest and Ipswich, European champions and treble-chasing league leaders, Brian Clough and Bobby Robson. The Observer headline said simply: "MATCH OF THE SEASON".

Of all the ways a 3-3 draw could unfold, this might be the most enthralling: away side goes 2-0 up, home side roars back to 3-2 before the away side rouse themselves again to score a late equaliser. Even within that template there was so much of interest, not least one of the great shockers from poor Viv Anderson. His dreadful backpass gave Paul Mariner the opening goal after 15 minutes; for the second, eight minutes later, he conceded a free-kick wide on the left and then headed it past Peter Shilton. To prove that abject misery comes in threes, Anderson dislocated his shoulder just before half-time and was taken off. In comparison to that 45 minutes, said his manager Clough, "castration would have been a kindness". When asked if Anderson would be unfit for the replay three days later, Clough deadpanned: "All being well, yes."

Anderson was replaced by the Swiss international forward Raimondo Ponte, one of English football's forgotten foreign players, but by then Forest had almost completed a startling comeback. Moments after Anderson's own goal, the brilliant Trevor Francis volleyed their first from Russell Osman's errant header – "an act which can be compared to provide an arsonist with a blow torch", wrote Ronald Atkin in the Observer – and made the second for Colin Walsh shortly before half-time with a classy run on the right.

When Ponte's cross was handled by John Wark in the 51st minute, John Robertson's penalty put Forest ahead. Ipswich were flagging but Robson took the necessary gamble with his only available substitution, replacing a defender (Steve McCall) with an attacker (Kevin O'Callaghan). It precipitated a siege and, although Kenny Burns offered a one-man barrier for a while, Ipswich equalised with six minutes to go through Franz Thijssen's deflected shot.

It was the completion of a remarkable week, in which Ipswich played three away games in three different competitions and scored 11 goals, including an outrageous 4-1 win away to St Etienne, who had Michel Platini, Johnny Rep and a phalanx of French internationals, and who would win the French league that season. Ipswich won the replay against Forest 1-0 three days later, thanks to that rarest of things - a right-footed Arnold Muhren volley, but would lose in the semi-final. Clough had to wait another six years to reach the first FA Cup semi-final of his career after, in another fine last-eight match, his son Nigel had subjected Arsenal to death by silk.

3. Sunderland 2-1 Chelsea, replay, 18/03/1992

When fans of clubs who have changed ground in modern times wistfully recall their old stadium, nights like this are what they have in mind. Football truly in the raw. In an atmosphere that doubled up as a hearing aid – and is beautifully evoked by Jonathan Wilson here – Sunderland had one of their most famous victories at Roker Park. There have been other celebrated late goals in FA Cup quarter-finals, including Jurgen Klinsmann's feelgood finale at Anfield in 1995, but arguably none have captured the mythical magic of the cup quite like this.

It was also part of an engaging wider picture, one of those wonderful and now impossible nights when all manner of things were going on in the league, the FA Cup and all three European competitions. Sunderland, who were fighting against relegation from the old Division Two under their caretaker manager Malcolm Crosby, had earned an unlikely draw at Chelsea through John Byrne, who scored in every round except the final. Byrne's shot led to Peter Davenport's opening goal in the 20th minute of the replay, but in the second half Chelsea began to batter Sunderland. The goalkeeper Tony Norman made sensational saves from Kerry Dixon and Andy Townsend, who also hit the bar; then, with six minutes to go, Dennis Wise equalised with a goal which, from memory at least, was similar to his effort at San Siro seven years later.

Sunderland were shot to pieces, and had the game gone to extra-time Chelsea would surely have won. But before they had chance to exert their superiority, Gordon Armstrong caught them cold with an outrageously good header from Brian Atkinson's corner, powering it into the far corner from the penalty spot after clambering all over Dixon. Lord only knows where he got the energy, after chasing Chelsea shadows for most of the second half. It was a triumph of the human spirit.

The roar after the goal was arguably exceeded moments later when, capturing the mood of defiance and to hell with logic, the preposterously hard right-back John Kay decided to clean Vinnie Jones out on the edge of the penalty area. Wise's free-kick came to nothing and Sunderland won against a side managed by, of all people, Ian Porterfield, the goalscorer in the 1973 FA Cup final win over Leeds. That cup run included what is said to be the greatest Roker Park atmosphere of them all – the 3-1 win over Manchester City in the fifth round, which prompted the City manager Malcolm Allison to break into the ground searching for loudspeakers the following morning – but this one ran it seriously close.

4. Newcastle 4-3 Forest, 09/03/1974

Another famous atmosphere in the north-east, for slightly different reasons. If you thought the sight of generously proportioned Newcastle fans with their belly buttons on show was exclusive to the sophisticatedly affluent Premier League, you were wrong. When Newcastle went 3-1 down, and were reduced to 10 men, against second division Nottingham Forest, a riot started because of what the Observer described as the "chubby strivings" of one particularly magisterial specimen of masculinity. The picture is painted beautifully in Paul Fitzpatrick's Guardian report:

Only a spark was needed to set alight combustible feelings, and a balding middle-aged looking pugilist provided it. His paunch exposed, his shirt flying, this heavyweight bare-knuckle fighter set his arms flailing like a windmill and at least five policemen were needed to cool his ardour and pin him to the muddy turf. But the damage had been done and the crowd went haring down the pitch to the Gallowgate end.

If this bedraggled champion – with his mad-professor hair and top barely reaching halfway down his protruding stomach as he was led off by the police towards the mother of all hangovers – was comedy gold, what followed certainly wasn't. There were 39 arrests and 25 people were taken to hospital, two with fractured skulls. Forest's Dave Serella was punched in the face. The police let the dogs out and the referee took the players off for eight minutes; when they returned, Forest, playing with all the freedom of men with a Messerschmitt up their arse , surrendered feebly. Despite being two goals and one man down, Newcastle recovered to win 4-3.

Even allowing for Forest's understandable subservience, however, it was astonishing stuff from Newcastle. The Observer said they played with "inextinguishable fervour" amid a "shattering pandemonium". Bobby Moncur scored a palpably offside winner in the last minute; the linesman, it was said, feared being "lynched" if he raised his flag. After dithering over a few 15-course buffets, the FA eventually ordered the game to be replayed at Goodison Park. That was drawn 0-0, but Newcastle went through with a 1-0 win in the replay of the replay, also at Goodison. They went all the way to the final, where, in the words of David Coleman's commentary, they were "absolutely stripped naked" by Liverpool. But they would almost certainly not have got that far were it not for those chubby strivings two months earlier.

5. Arsenal 1-3 Watford, 14/03/1987

Arsène Wenger's work at Arsenal is probably the greatest example of a manager changing the DNA of a football club, one for which we should all be thankful. But Wenger's dismal gracelessness in defeat is in tune with parts of George Graham's reign, most notably after this notorious defeat to Watford. "Arsenal lost it all," began Frank McGhee's Observer report. "The match, an FA Cup semi-final place, their heads, their tempers, and something that once meant most to this club – their dignity."

Watford led 2-1 with only a couple of minutes to play when Luther Blissett scored a controversial but legitimate third goal. Arsenal were attacking when the linesman flagged, presumably for a foul by Steve Sims on Niall Quinn in the penalty area, but the referee Brian Stevens – who was much closer to the incident – overruled him, a decision supported by replays. Absurdly, Tony Adams and Steve Williams simply stopped playing, allowing Blissett to run 60 yards and score. It prompted the mother of all collective tantrums; Stevens's bald pate was pelted with coins as he left the field, while Williams went after the Watford manager, Graham Taylor, apparently calling him a cheat. Earlier in the week, Taylor had asked for a change of referee, because Stevens had sent his goalkeeper Tony Coton off at Highbury earlier in the season.

The truth is that, as the Guardian report noted, the controversy was "a giant red herring that obscured the true quality of a famous victory by Watford". They recovered from the concession of a ludicrous opening goal, scored by Ian Allinson in the 12th minute, to dominate the game, with the first two goals both coming from excellent raids by the strangely underrated David Bardsley, playing as a right-winger in those days. Blissett deftly volleyed in the first and John Barnes scored the second with a regal header. No surprise, this: Barnes had form at Highbury, where he bagged a hat-trick at the age of 19, and also in FA Cup quarter-finals, having scored an outrageously good goal at Birmingham in 1984.

6. Luton 3-2 West Ham, replay, 23/03/1994

Underdogs are intrinsically likeable, but David Pleat's Luton, who reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1994 despite finishing only two points off relegation to the third tier, had a greater appeal than most. They had a romantic fusion of youngsters and old lags, with everybody either over 30 or under 25, and most of all they played football the way Pleat's teams always played: with a little charm and a lot of style. This see-sawing victory over West Ham – in which Luton trailed, led, were pegged back to 2-2 before winning it late on was the outstanding game of a classic FA Cup season, and the 21-year-old Scott Oakes, the son of a Showaddywaddy guitarist, scored a hat-trick of such pace, directness and swaggering certainty that he seemed destined for a fine career. It did not work out like that, but the bittersweet postscript only adds to the beauty of this night, when the whole English football world knew Scott Oakes's name, and when anything was possible.

I’m sure just about everybody will agree that the participation of NHL players in the Olympics is a great thing. But there was an era, different than today, when Canadian and United States Olympic hockey teams included many young prospects that would soon join the ranks of NHL teams after the games were done. In the case of one future Montreal Canadiens Hall of Famer in 1984, this scenario provides for an interesting flashback and some good story-telling.

Especially in the 1980’s, some of these young players made an impact with their teams in the stretch drive and the playoffs. Many might recall defenseman Ken Morrow who was part of the Miracle On Ice United States Olympic hockey team that won gold in the 1980 Lake Placid Games and then went on to win the Stanley Cup that spring with the New York Islanders. That same year, many Canadiens fans (myself included) might remember that a certain Steve Christoff, of that same US team, joined the Minnesota North Stars and contributed to the Habs playoff elimination that spring. Another example is Canadian goaltender Sean Burke, who, after the 1988 Calgary Olympics, guided the New Jersey Devils to their first playoff birth and to a run to the semi-finals.

The 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics in Yugoslavia featured another group of NHL prospects. For one, the defending Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders were awaiting the arrival of two of their high draft picks, American Pat Lafontaine and Canadian Pat Flatley. Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens and their fans had their eyes on U.S. defenseman Chris Chelios.

After playing junior hockey in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, the Chicago native was the Canadiens fifth pick, 40th overall, in the 1981 draft. He followed that with two strong years at the University of Wisconsin where he helped his team win a national championship in 1983. That year, Chelios postponed turning pro and committed to the U.S. National team for whom he would play a series of exhibition games to prepare for the ’84 Sarajevo Olympics.

There was no miracle for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team in Sarajevo as it finished a disappointing seventh but Chelios, along with Lafontaine, were among the bright lights for the team.

The arrival of the 22 year-old with the Canadiens was highly anticipated as indicated by The Montreal Gazette’s Red Fisher in a February 16 1984 article, a week prior to the defenseman joining the team.

The fanfare associated with the one-time University of Wisconsin all-star has been so great, his arrival in the NHL is generally regarded as The Coming of Chris. Immediately, - and without any magic words – Chelios becomes a regular member of the roster even though he has never played a game in the NHL.

First-year General manager Serge Savard and Club President Ronald Corey had travelled to Sarajevo during the Olympics to conclude a deal with Chelios and also hoping to obtain the services of another draft pick, Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak.

The U.S. team played their final game at the Olympics on February 17 th. Chelios arrived in Montreal on February 22 where he signed a three year contract. The next day, The Montreal Gazette featured a big photo of Chelios being welcomed by Canadiens coach Bob Berry. Here is that entire page view. Clicking on the article pages will enlargen them for easier viewing.

Suffering from a bruised ankle after he got hit by a shot during the Olympic tournament, Chelios could not play right away for the Habs. But, he who had only been to Montreal once in his life for a pre-olympic game, quickly found out about the expectations regarding the Canadiens. Two days after his arrival, Savard fired coach Berry because of the team’s poor results and replaced him with then assistant Jacques Lemaire.

Chelios finally made his debut with the Habs on March 8th at the Forum as the Canadiens beat the Hartford Whalers 3-2. Right away, he impressed, showing good passing abilities and a hard shot. Thanks to the mentoring of Larry Robinson and Craig Ludwig, he improved steadily. He collected two assists in the last 12 games of the season.

But the Habs struggled during that period with four wins and eight losses, including six in a row to end the season. For the first time since the 1950-51, the Canadiens finished the season below .500 but still earned a playoff spot. In the first round, they were huge underdogs in a best-of-five series against the Boston Bruins, having finisthed 29 points behind their rival who had clinched the Adams division title with 104 points.

In a move that ressembled Ken Dryden’s playoff debut in 1971, coach Lemaire chose to start rookie goalie Steve Penney, who had been called up a few weeks earlier from the Nova Scotia Voyageurs and who had played just a few regular season games. The move paved off as Penney was spectacular. Chelios scored the Habs first goal of the series, on a power play, his first NHL goal, as the Canadiens took the first game 2-1. They followed that with a 3-1 win the next day and swept the Bruins with 5-0 shutout in Montreal.

In the following Battle of Quebec, the Canadiens continued their winning ways, downing the Nordiques in six-games (the clincher being the famous Good Friday brawl game) to advance to the semi-finals against the 4-time Stanley cup champions, New York Islanders, the team of former olympians Lafontaine and Flatley. While Lafontine had been a teammate with the U.S. Olympic team, Flatley had been one at the University of Wisconsin. After winning the first two games at the Forum, the Canadiens lost the next four to the Islanders. But, so unexepected was that playoff run that it was even more satisfying and it restored pride and hope to the fans.

Penney’s heroics and Lemaire’s defensive system were certainly two major factors in the Habs success that spring but Chelios was a dominant force who played with the poise of a veteran in moving the puck out of his zone and acting as a quarterback on the power play. He finished second to Mats Naslund in Canadiens playoff scoring with ten points (one goal and nine assists).

It was a great start to what would become a long and successful career. The following season he was the Calder Trophy runner-up to Mario Lemieux before winning his first Stanley cup the season after that. As a Hab, he won the first (88-89) of his three Norris trophies and earned the first of five first-team all star berths. At the start of the 89-90 season, Chelios was voted Canadiens co-captain with Guy Carbonneau to replace retired Bob Gainey. Then, during the summer of 1990, he was traded to Chicago for Denis Savard, apparently because of his off-ice troubles. His career included many other international competitions: three Canada Cups, Rendez-Vous 87, the World Cup and three more Olympic games.

As part of this flashback, there are two videos below. The first one shows Chelios and a few other notable players from the U.S. and Canadian Olympic hockey teams from the opening game for both teams of the Sarajevo Olympics, February 7th 1984. The team featured future Habs players, Russ Courtnall, Kirk Muller and Jean-Jacques Daigneault, the last two not even drafted at the time and who would be part of the ’93 Stanley cup winning Habs.

The second video features Chelios in Habs hi-lites during the 1984 playoffs, starting with his first NHL goal in game 1 of the Canadiens-Bruins series.

Chief of staff who sustained President Nixon in office, and secretary of state who failed to avert the Falklands war

The record books say that America has only ever had one unelected president in its history: Congressman Gerald Ford. But General Alexander Haig, who has died aged 85, might well rate as a second. He never faced an electorate in his life, but he ran the White House almost in secret during the 15 months up to President Richard Nixon's resignation in August 1974 - taking over the impetus of a paralysed presidency in a manner that, however necessary under the circumstances, was barely constitutional.

His second period at the highest levels of government came as secretary of state for the first year and a half of Ronald Reagan's presidency, from January 1981. Two main themes preoccupied his brief tenure of the post — the ferocious bureaucratic battles that marked the Reagan administration and Haig's obdurate belief that communism was baying at the gates of the US. The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, Tip O'Neill, said, "Haig hadn't been secretary of state more than three weeks when he told me over breakfast that we ought to be cleaning out Nicaragua."

Though he clearly did not understand it at the time, Haig's poorly hidden presidential ambitions were scuppered in those early days with his lamentable performance after the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in March 1981. Amid the inevitable confusion, the secretary of state burst into the White House press room to declare, when a reporter asked who was making the decisions, "As of now, I'm in control here in the White House."

He later said that, at the moment he was asked, he was technically right. But his demeanour and his apparent ignorance of the constitutional lines of power left an abiding impression of impetuousness and arrogance. When he did run briefly as a Republican hopeful for the White House in 1988, he rated just 3 per cent in the opinion polls.

Though Haig's preoccupation with Central America had a greater long term impact on America's internal and foreign politics, the greatest crisis he faced at the state department was the 1982 Falklands war, in which he tried unsuccessfully to act as mediator. There was probably little chance of success, but his efforts were seriously undermined by undisguised support for the Argentinians from the US ambassador to the UN, Jeane Kirkpatrick.

In his memoirs, Haig commented: "The war was caused by the original miscalculation on the part of the Argentinian military junta that a western democracy was too soft, too decadent to defend itself. This delusion on the part of undemocratic governments has been, and remains, the greatest danger to peace in this century." But his failure to avert the conflict, as he also conceded, "ultimately cost me my job as secretary of state".

His reign had been marked by ferocious battles, set out in loving detail in his memoirs, over bureaucratic turf with Reagan's kitchen cabinet. However, even Haig's well-honed skills were inadequate on this field, and he lost the fight in June 1982, when Reagan handed him a letter accepting his resignation. Since Haig had not actually offered it, he got to work on a draft. It was still not complete when he heard the president announce his departure on television.

The pattern of Haig's life was set very early. Born the middle child of a prosperous lawyer, he was raised in one of the classier suburbs of Philadelphia. But the family's comfortable life was suddenly shattered when his father died of cancer at the age of 38. Haig was then 10 years old, and no more than average academically. He had gained a scholarship to a Roman Catholic preparatory school but did not do well. It was withdrawn after a couple of years and he transferred to a local high school. Though his mother was keen he should follow his father's calling, he was intent on a military career. Confirming his headmaster's view that "Al is definitely not West Point material", his initial application to the US military college failed.

Then his uncle, who had been largely supporting Haig's mother and siblings, intervened with his considerable local influence and Haig scraped into the military academy, situated to the north of New York, in 1944 as an acknowledged political appointee. Under the stress of war, the normal four-year course for officers had been cut to three. The topics removed from the curriculum included English, social sciences and history, in all of which Haig later proved notably deficient.

He graduated from West Point in 1947, finishing 214th out of 310. His classmates shrewdly assessed him as having "strong convictions and even stronger ambitions". Haig opted for the cavalry and, after a year's training, was posted to the American occupation forces in Japan.

Eighteen months into that posting he married Patricia Fox, the daughter of one of the top brass in Tokyo, General Alonzo Fox, and was then appointed the general's aide-de-camp. This brought the young lieutenant into the extraordinary military headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur, run more or less as an alternative court to Emperor Hirohito's.

The experience of MacArthur's imperious megalomania left an indelible impression on Haig. He commented later that "I was always interested in politics and started early in Japan, with a rather sophisticated view of how the military ran it." The outbreak of the Korean war also fixed his career-long belief that the Communist enemy was always at the door.

The initial North Korean assault in June 1950 was a disaster for US forces on the peninsula and brought home how ill-prepared MacArthur's command had become for its military role. Although Haig's unit was rushed to Korea and suffered heavy casualties, he did not go with it: instead, he was sent to accompany his father-in-law to Taiwan, on a liaison mission to Chiang Kai-shek.

When he was eventually assigned to the battle zone, it was as a military assistant on the headquarters staff of an old friend of his father-in-law's, General Edward Almond. MacArthur's selection of Almond as commander of US troops preparing to land in force behind the enemy's rear was later described as "an act of military nepotism".

Haig's role in the highly successful Inchon landings remained obscure, but the ensuing campaign led to the first of many controversial episodes in his military advance. During the battle for Seoul, Haig was awarded a Bronze Star for bravery during a crossing of the Han River. The official citation referred to his outstanding heroism.

However, the later official history of the crossing said there had been "no enemy resistance" and that the North Korean positions were "lightly manned". General Almond had recommended the decoration for his assistant and later awarded him two further Silver Stars for flying over enemy positions in a light aircraft.

Haig left Korea as a captain in 1951, suffering from hepatitis, and picked up his interrupted career. In 1953 he was appointed to the staff of West Point as a disciplinary officer, remembered for his obsession with spit and polish, and was then assigned to a tank battalion with the American forces in Europe. He gained a routine promotion to major and, redeployed to the European Command headquarters in Germany, had his first experience of diplomacy.

Congress had been grumbling about the cost of maintaining the US presence in Germany, and Haig took part in the 18-month negotiations to persuade the West Germans to shoulder more of the burden. This brought him another medal for "remarkable foresight, ingenuity, and mature judgment".

It also seemed to increase his taste for the administrative and political aspects of military life. In 1959 he enrolled on a military staff course and then went on to a further course at Georgetown University in Washington, where American diplomats traditionally trained.

The thesis for his Georgetown master's degree showed how his ambitions were developing. It spoke of the need for a new breed of military professional occupying a prominent seat among presidential advisers. It also gave an early glimpse of his infamously tormented prose, with incomprehensible references to "interpretive vagaries" and "a permeating nexus".

Armed with these new qualifications, Haig was assigned to a staff position at the Pentagon, where his father-in-law had become deputy to the assistant secretary for international affairs. Though Haig's own job was in military planning, his very presence at the defence department, allied to his family connections, pitched him into the tangled world of Washington's cold-war politics.

The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 erupted soon after his appointment, and he later claimed that it disillusioned him with the way the doctrine of flexible response was applied. "You never applied one iota of force," he commented. "I was against this. It provided an incentive to the other side to up the ante."

The key moment in Haig's career came in 1963 when he was picked to act as military assistant to Joe Califano, a lawyer in the army secretary's office. The army secretary was Cyrus Vance, and this period established personal and political connections from which Haig benefited for the rest of his public life. He seemed to sense that it was time to make his mark. Califano commented later that Haig proved even more of a workaholic than he was.

When Vance was promoted to become deputy to the defence secretary, Robert McNamara, Califano and Haig floated up with him. Though Haig still held a relatively low-level job, he acquired considerable access both to information and to Washington's movers and shakers.

But the growing US involvement in the Vietnam war made it essential that any ambitious officer become directly involved in the fighting. In 1966 Haig was made operations planning officer for the First Infantry Division, stationed near Saigon and, in a war that saw a total of 1,273,987 medals awarded to American troops, gained a Distinguished Flying Cross within a month of his arrival. Lightly wounded in the eye when a prisoner blew himself up with a hand grenade, Haig was involved in a number of battles in which he gained two more DFCs and 17 Air Medals. Once again, there was a conflict between some of the citations and later official accounts of the incidents.

However, by the time he returned to America with the rank of colonel in 1967, he was firmly established as a Vietnam hero. He went back to West Point to revive his reputation as a military martinet until in 1969, with Nixon the incoming president, he was unexpectedly recruited by the national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, to the National Security Council, recommended, as Kissinger noted in his memoirs, by Califano and McNamara.

Haig, Kissinger continued, "soon became indispensable ... By the end of the year [1970] I had made him formally my deputy. Over the course of Nixon's first term he acted as my partner, strong in crises, decisive in judgment, skilful in bureaucratic infighting ... [But] I could not help noticing that Haig was implacable in squeezing to the sidelines potential competitors for my attention."

Among the crises in which Haig played a leading role was America's covert effort to overthrow the regime of Salvador Allende in Chile (1970-73). Haig was also cementing his relationship with President Nixon and was party to one of the early manifestations of the White House's growing paranoia.

In response to a number of leaks of diplomatic and military information, the phones of 17 officials and journalists were tapped by the FBI. Haig helped select the candidates and, apparently aware of the doubtful legality of the operation, ordered that there should be no written record.

He was also closely involved in the aftermath of the massive leak in 1971 of the secret history of the Vietnam war, the Pentagon Papers, when the White House moved illegally against the man responsible, Daniel Ellsberg.

This loyalty was rewarded by promotion to major-general in 1972 and, six months later, by appointment as vice-chief of staff of the army, raising him to full general and allowing him to leapfrog 240 more senior officers. He did not, however, remain long at the Pentagon.

As the revelations of the Watergate scandal began to accumulate, following the burglary of the Democratic party headquarters in Washington on 7 June 1972, Nixon was forced to sack many of the senior staff involved. On 30 April 1973 it was the turn of the White House chief of staff, HR Haldeman. The search for a successor was urgent. With the president obsessed with the scandal, the process of government was almost at a standstill.

Haldeman, who had become friendly with Haig during the skirmishing over the Pentagon Papers, recommended him as an interim chief of staff, a suggestion bitterly opposed by Haig's recent boss, Kissinger. However, Kissinger could not offer an alternative, and Haig's appointment was duly announced on 4 May, to what turned out to be the most significant job of his life.

Since Haig never gave a substantive account of the 15 months he spent with Nixon, it is unclear if he arrived with a definite strategy in mind. The crisis threatened to pitch the three arms of government - the presidency, the Congress, and the judiciary - into unprecedented conflict. In Haig's early weeks as chief of staff, he seemed to do little more than meet each development as it came along and fend it off as best he could.

The Senate hearings on the Watergate allegations had begun within two weeks of his appointment, with damaging testimony from the former White House counsel John Dean highlighting the president's direct involvement. Two months later came Alexander Butterfield's revelation of Nixon's all-embracing tape-recording system.

The president's refusal to hand over the tapes and his dismissal on 20 October 1973 of Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor who tried to force the issue, clearly signalled the beginning of the end for Nixon. The day after this action, 22 bills of impeachment were introduced into Congress. On 10 October, the ineffectual vice-president, Spiro Agnew, had resigned because of bribes he had taken as governor of Maryland, and was succeeded by Ford. From being an interim appointee, Haig moved more and more centre stage as chief of staff. Though it has not been clearly documented, there is strong evidence that he became functional president.

Kissinger commented that "by sheer willpower, dedication, and self-discipline, he held the government together". Leon Jaworski, who eventually mounted the dozens of Watergate prosecutions, had to work closely with Haig. He wrote that he was convinced that "Haig, not Nixon, was making the executive department of government function," and quoted Haig as saying: "I'm not trying to save the president. I'm trying to save the presidency." But Jaworski also thought Haig was intent on blocking the prosecutor's efforts to uncover the conspiracy.

Haig briefly stayed on at the White House under Ford and was widely believed to have played a crucial role in the decision to pardon Nixon — a misjudgment that cost Ford the 1976 election. Then Ford appointed him Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, the top military job in NATO, from which General Andrew Goodpaster was precipitately removed to create the vacancy.

Haig's arrival in December 1974 was not popular among the allies: the Dutch foreign minister called it a public relations disaster. This feeling was compounded by Haig's casual revelation, before the West German government had been consulted, that an American brigade was to be stationed in the north of the country. He also got into hot water making political speeches against Eurocommunism and telling the Italians that communist participation in their government would be "unacceptable".

However, he gradually toned down his rhetoric to concentrate on narrower military issues, and his popularity in Europe increased proportionately. His term was extended for a further two years in the dying days of the Ford administration, and he then found himself coping with the vagaries of President Jimmy Carter's policy on the deployment of the neutron bomb in Europe. Haig threatened to resign when Carter unexpectedly changed his mind about deploying the weapon, but the dust gradually settled and he was given another two-year extension.

He later said that his principal achievement during his term was to secure a commitment from the 14 member governments to increase their military spending by a regular 3% a year to counter the Soviet block arms build-up. But he was becoming highly unpopular in Washington and was excluded from much of the debate about the Salt II strategic arms limitation agreement.

In January 1979 he announced his resignation. Just before his departure in June that year there was an attempt on his life when a bomb exploded near his car as he was travelling to the Nato headquarters in Belgium. No group ever claimed responsibility.

There was a widespread assumption that he would run for the presidency, but he formally disclaimed any ambition at the end of the year and took over as president of United Technologies, a major defence contractor. A few months later he underwent a double heart by-pass operation. As part of the standard wheeling and dealing of the American military-industrial world, he maintained contact with politicians of both parties, including Richard Allen, national security adviser to Ronald Reagan.

Partly through this connection he was asked to speak on foreign policy at the 1980 Republican convention and then began to be tipped as a likely secretary of state. With the election of Ronald Reagan, he was duly nominated, though the two men had only spent three hours together in their lives.

After leaving the state department, Haig turned to business. From 1984 onwards, he put his experience to commercial use through the "strategic advice" offered by his firm Worldwide Associates, and made his views more widely available as a commentator on the Fox News television channel. He became a director of various firms, including MGM, America Online and Compuserve.

Haig's principal skill - learned early in life - lay in playing the system to the full. Otherwise he was not very bright and extremely vain. If his major service was to help his country through its worst constitutional crisis, it was offset by the long-term consequences of his ill-conceived interventions in Central America.

He is survived by Patricia, daughter Barbara, and sons Alexander and Brian.

• Alexander Meigs Haig, soldier and politician, born 2 December 1924; died 20 February 2010

Headscarf incident in Flemish parliament: “take it off or leave”

In the Flemish parliament on Wednesday February 10, Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter lashed out about a woman with a headscarf in the public gallery of the parliament, who was in the audience for the plenary session. Dewinter demanded that the woman take off her headscarf out of respect for the parliament or leave the public gallery.

“When Muslimas are in the public gallery, they must at least take off their headscarves out of respect for parliament,” Dewinter said, noting the veiled woman. “Otherwise, they should leave the gallery,” he added. The Vlaams Belang leader pointed out that regulations state that neutrality [in visible political expressions] is required in parliament. The party colleagues of Filip Dewinter applauded this.

The Chairman of Parliament, Jan Peumans (N-VA) did not follow up on Filip Dewinter’s demand. “It disturbs me not at all that this lady is in the audience with a headscarf. And moreover, you are directing your remarks at someone who is in the audience and can not defend herself. I want to make that clear,” Peumans said. The Chairman of Parliament received extended applause for his intervention.

Veiled woman appointed to lead anti-racist organization CGKR

Earlier in the day in Parliament, there was already commotion around the appointment of the veiled woman Fatima Zibouh as director of the CGKR [Center for Equal Opportunity and the Fight against Racism].

She had been nominated to the post by the party “Ecolo” [“Confederated ecologists for the organization of original struggles”, a left-wing Walloon environmental party] to the organization that is directly under the Prime Minister and Minister for Equal Opportunity.

Fatima Zibouh has a degree in political science of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and studied the political participation and the campaigns of elected representatives of North African origin in Brussels. Since 2007 she has been employed as researcher for the Center for Ethnic and Migration Studies (CEDEM) at the University of Leuven. “Fatima Zibouh was selected based on her competencies. No other consideration determined the choice,” a spokesman of the party Ecolo explained.

In an interview Fatima Zibouh asserted her independence from political parties, including Ecolo. “I appeared before a selection committee of Ecolo to prove my capacities. I think that is the only party which organizes such a selection scheme for the allocation to a political office. But I underline: I remain totally independent of political parties and I am not a member of Ecolo”.

MR-Senator Alain Destexhe had already let it be known that he regrets the choice of a veiled woman. According to him, that is inconsistent with the neutrality requirements in public service, and the Greens in this way contribute to a strengthening of religious elements in the public sphere.

She wears the veil. But beyond that, what she has “on the head” is also is what she has “in the head.” And there is little doubt: the political profile of Ms. Fatima Zibouh is frankly reactionary. The new group Vigilance Citoyenne [“Citizen’s Vigilance”] reveals her true face.

• Dr. Fatima Zibouh was one of the first signatories of the international Belgian petition calling for the EU to withdraw Hamas (Palestinian branch of Muslim Brotherhood) from the European list of terrorist organizations. This petition was launched on February 1, 2009 by Mrs. Nadine Rosa-Rosso, former CEO of PTB (far left) and in June 2009 candidate of the Brussels’ Islamo-leftist party “Equality”. As a reminder, the frontman of this party, Mr. Nordine Saidi, recently had to resign from the office of the [controversial, see note 3] Belgian anti-racism organization MRAX [Mouvement contre le racisme, l’antisémitisme et la xénophobie] for posting anti-Semitic texts on his blog. On Facebook, Ms. Fatima Zibouh is a “friend” of… Nordine Saidi.
  
• Dr. Fatima Zibouh is a member of the Collectif Présence musulmane Belgique [“Collective Representative of Muslims in Belgium”], which relays in our country the theses of preacher Tariq Ramadan, the grandson the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood Hassan el-Banna, from which ideological heritage he never distanced himself. Among other positions, the Collectif Présence musulmane Belgique opposes to the right of adoption by homosexual couples, a right that has always been demanded by Ecolo.
  
• In the spring of 2007, Ms. Fatima Zibouh participated in a “legal coup” organized by Mr. Radouane Bouhlal to strengthen his power and infiltration in the anti-racism organization MRAX. In office since 2004, at a general assembly held on May 31, 2007, Mr. Bouhlal submitted a list with 75 names of new applicants for membership of MRAX. These 75 candidates, including Fatima Zibouh, without any discussion became full members (with voting rights) at a second general assembly, held a week later, on June 9, 2009. Due to this sudden and massive membership increase in a few days, the number of full members of MRAX rose by… 50%. Among these 75 members, 45 are of North African origin and many of them are part of the most radical fringe and/or rigorous Arab-Muslim community. Among them: Miss Fatima Zibouh (“the friend” of Nordine Saidi); Mr. Nordine Saidi himself (who soon became director); several individuals who are candidates of the Islamo-leftist party “Equality” (Nadia Boumazoughe, Fatima Hamyani, Sandrine Corten…); Miloud Merzguioui, the organizer of the latest performances of [anti-Semite “comedian”] Dieudonné; members of the Mouvement Citoyen Palestin, who are admirers of the viewpoints of Hamas…

The new representative of Ecolo finds herself in good company!

“No petition signed”

The Ecolo fraction leader Muriel Gerkens criticized the statements about Fatima Zibouh. In doing so she repeated that her party nominated Fatima Zibouh based on her capabilities and nothing else. Fatima Zibouh denies that she signed a petition calling for Hamas to be taken off the list of terrorist organizations, as Claude Demelenne of “Citizen’s Vigilance” accused her of. “I have never signed such a petition,” she emphasized. […]

[According to “the list” here, she had at least signed a petition calling for “the suspension of all trade agreements and diplomatic relations with Israel”.]

Also the allegation that Fatima Zibouh is part of a radical Muslim organization is a surprise to her. “I am not a member of a structured organization; it is more like a think tank that seeks to build bridges with non-Muslims. I am tired of the climate of suspicions, whereby it is assumed that every Muslim organization is a terrorist sleeper cell. This creates a real malaise in which Muslims are continually forced to justify ourselves.

“My choice of clothing has absolutely nothing to do with my appointment,” said Fatima Zibouh in response to the website parlemento.com. “I do not know whether everyone realizes that the demographic configuration in Belgium and Brussels has changed ^[2] and that it is only right for people who themselves are part of the diversity should be able to participate at certain levels,” she stressed. [emphasis added]

• Dr. Fatima Zibouh was one of the first signatories of the international Belgian petition calling for the EU to withdraw Hamas (Palestinian branch of Muslim Brotherhood) from the European list of terrorist organizations. This petition was launched on February 1, 2009 by Mrs. Nadine Rosa-Rosso, former CEO of PTB (far left) and in June 2009 candidate of the Brussels’ Islamo-leftist party “Equality”. As a reminder, the frontman of this party, Mr. Nordine Saidi, recently had to resign from the office of the [controversial, see note 3] Belgian anti-racism organization MRAX [Mouvement contre le racisme, l’antisémitisme et la xénophobie] for posting anti-Semitic texts on his blog. On Facebook, Ms. Fatima Zibouh is a “friend” of… Nordine Saidi.
  
• Dr. Fatima Zibouh is a member of the Collectif Présence musulmane Belgique [“Collective Representative of Muslims in Belgium”], which relays in our country the theses of preacher Tariq Ramadan, the grandson the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood Hassan el-Banna, from which ideological heritage he never distanced himself. Among other positions, the Collectif Présence musulmane Belgique opposes to the right of adoption by homosexual couples, a right that has always been demanded by Ecolo.
  
• In the spring of 2007, Ms. Fatima Zibouh participated in a “legal coup” organized by Mr. Radouane Bouhlal to strengthen his power and infiltration in the anti-racism organization MRAX. In office since 2004, at a general assembly held on May 31, 2007, Mr. Bouhlal submitted a list with 75 names of new applicants for membership of MRAX. These 75 candidates, including Fatima Zibouh, without any discussion became full members (with voting rights) at a second general assembly, held a week later, on June 9, 2009. Due to this sudden and massive membership increase in a few days, the number of full members of MRAX rose by… 50%. Among these 75 members, 45 are of North African origin and many of them are part of the most radical fringe and/or rigorous Arab-Muslim community. Among them: Miss Fatima Zibouh (“the friend” of Nordine Saidi); Mr. Nordine Saidi himself (who soon became director); several individuals who are candidates of the Islamo-leftist party “Equality” (Nadia Boumazoughe, Fatima Hamyani, Sandrine Corten…); Miloud Merzguioui, the organizer of the latest performances of [anti-Semite “comedian”] Dieudonné; members of the Mouvement Citoyen Palestin, who are admirers of the viewpoints of Hamas…

Until China’s recent emergence as an economic power, Taiwan was the world’s leading bicycle manufacturing country. Most people assumed that large orders by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) helped Taiwan attain this position, but they did not realize that considerable technological innovation has enabled Taiwan to attract foreign customers who place orders with Taiwanese bicycle companies. Ongoing technological innovations by those bicycle manufacturers and component manufacturers have never stopped, and R&D expenditures have remained constant at about 2% to 5% of sales.

While most OEM orders were transferred to bicycle manufacturers in China, Taiwan’s bicycle manufacturers and bicycle component manufacturers took advantage of their technical expertise and manufacturing technology to build their own brands. For example, Maxxis is the largest bicycle tire manufacturer in the world; the roller chain made by KMC accounts for 70% of world market share; bicycles made by FSA are highly favored in Europe; and the bicycle brakes made by PROMAX, particularly its mechanical disc brakes, account for 90% of world market share.

But to produce bikes in Taiwan, Schwinn had first to teach the Taiwanese how to produce such high quality bikes. Therefore, in 1981 it shipped its best engineers and its most sophisticated machinery to Taiwan and began training the workers at Giant plants in the art of making fine bicycles (which involved the use of both machine and hand labor).(p54)

Table 2 shows the growth of exports in Taiwan’s bicycle industry from 1993 to 2006. In 1996, exports reached a peak of some 9.5 million bicycles, but by 2006 this number had decreased to 4.31 million. The average price per exported bicycle rose from $103 in 1993 to $200 in 2006, owing to the fact that Taiwanese bicycle manufacturers changed their business models to fit today’s dynamic environment, and are now exporting their high-price and high-quality bicycles to the market [2]. The result is that Taiwanese bicycle companies have moved to the top position. Moreover, they have moved away from the role of OEMs, instead becoming original design manufacturers (ODM) or original brand manufacturers (OBM), thereby striving to be specialized value-added bicycle manufacturers.

Beginning in late 1984, the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan (ITRIT) was charged with implementing the Carbon–Fiber Bicycle Development Project, funded by the Taiwanese government. Initially, many Taiwanese bicycle companies participated in this R&D project but they later withdrew for financial reasons. However, GIANT continued to participate, thus reaping substantial benefits. It was a great opportunity for GIANT to upgrade its technological capabilities, but it was not easy to manufacture the carbon–fiber bicycle frame. Although GIANT continued to lead the Taiwanese bicycle industry, any failure that might result in a loss of its huge R&D investment would be devastating. However, in 1988 the first carbon–fiber bicycle was successfully developed, manufactured, and sold by GIANT, and by 1993 its annual production capacity had reached 100,000 bicycles. Later, the Materials Research Laboratories (MRL) and ITRIT transferred the technology for manufacturing carbon–fiber bicycle frames to other Taiwanese bicycle manufacturers. It is clear that the Taiwanese bicycle manufacturers relied on the Taiwanese government and semiofficial institutions before they accumulated enough resources to engage in R&D projects on their own [5].

As GIANT began to mass-produce carbon–fiber bicycles (before that, only some Italian and French bicycle manufacturers produced handmade carbon–fiber bicycles), Merida took the lead in developing the first aluminum alloy sport bicycle in 1993. Moreover, in 2002 Taiwan Hodaka applied a new magnesium alloy (also used in missiles) to develop advanced bicycle frames. Taiwanese bicycle manufacturers went to great effort to upgrade their capabilities, but that investment enabled them to obtain international competitive advantage and to succeed in the world markets.

Taiwanese bicycle and bicycle components manufacturers modularize their bicycle components to improve quality control of their products. Modularization means integrating several related components into one unit or system. The best example is the integrated bicycle hub created by the R&D Center of Taiwan’s bicycle industryda front fork, disc brake, and V-brake as one oil pressure disc braked creating the world’s first modular bicycle unit. In today’s uncertain and complex business environment, modularization of components is essential for managing the growing complexities associated with product varieties, costs, time, and quality.

The center-satellite plant systems are located primarily in the middle part of Taiwan, including GIANT (mainly in Taichung County) and Merida (mainly in Changhwa County). These manufacturers integrated the needed component manufacturers to form their own center-satellite plant systems. For example, GIANT put together the largest center-satellite plant system by combining a total of 21 component manufacturers. With such close integration of center factories and satellite factories, these manufacturers are able to shorten their operations processes, decrease transaction costs, increase competitive advantage, and upgrade the R&D capabilities of the entire Taiwanese bicycle industry [37].

The US should abandon its claim to Navassa Island, off Haiti, as a token of goodwill during the country's recovery

As if the sorely taxed government of Haiti didn't have enough to do at this time of national catastrophe, its load has been made heavier by the activities of foreign NGOs – many of whom have only haziest notions about the country – who have seized the opportunity to parade their evangelistic claims.

As Jean-Max Bellerive the prime minister said in the senate in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday aid coming to the country through the NGOs was creating "popular frustration and also frustration for the government", adding that many of the NGOs "were not up to the job".

Such is clearly the situation of the 10 Baptists from the US state of Idaho arrested in the Haitian capital and now charged with kidnapping after their failed attempt to take a group of Haitian babies and young people out of the country into neighbouring Dominican Republic with no documents or permissions.

Though labelled "orphans" many in the group seemed not to have lost their parents and, if they had been taken away to Idaho, would have certainly lost contact with their extended families in the land of their birth. Even if it is eventually proved that 10 ten had no connection with the trade in and prostitution of young people which is a hazard at the best of times in poor countries, it is clearly an act of gross irresponsibility for any group of foreigners – Baptists, Muslims or Sikhs or those of any religion or none – to march into Haiti and spirit a bewildered group of young people away. You don't have to have any expertise in Haitian or international law to realise that such action is at best heartless and ill-advised, and at worst criminal. And such is particularly the case with citizens of a country like the United States whose treatment of Haiti in its two centuries of independent history has been overbearing, patronising and aggressive in its meddling and occupations.

So what should Christians and foreigners of goodwill around the world do in such circumstances?

Well, here's a novel idea which has the advantage of causing President René Préval and his government no new headaches, no fresh problems for the Haitian forces and police. They need to concentrate of the maintenance of order and keeping an eye on the activities of the foreign troops on their territory, the successors of the soldiers who were responsible for 200 years of brutal western intervention against a population whose principal crime was ejecting the French slave owners and proclaiming their freedom in 1804. The plan, which can be put into practice in any home from Idaho to Belgrave Square with internet access, any church, chapel, temple (or indeed mosque) with a congregation able to compose and post a letter, involves asking President Barack Obama and his government to give up its precarious claim to Haitian territory and sending a copy to President Préval and to the secretary-general of the United Nations.

Since 1856 Washington has claimed sovereignty over Navassa Island, a 5 square kilometre uninhabited rock 50 kilometres off Haiti, near Jamaica and Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. It has been Haitian for more than two centuries. The US used the Guano Act, passed by the US Congress to seize assorted islands around the world, moving in and supporting a US company, the Navassa Phosphate Company, which mined the island until 1900. The company engaged hundreds of freed slaves from the US to dig out the island's guano, a valuable natural fertiliser formed from bird droppings, but the working conditions were so terrible that the labour force revolted in 1889 and killed their foremen. In 1981 six Haitian radio hams made a dramatic gesture. Using government helicopters and with a Haitian TV crew they landed and transmitted on a call prefix allotted to it by the government in Port-au-Prince.

But still Washington maintains its shaky claim. If white westerners got the US go see sense and give up its claim they would do a meritorious deed. It would go some way to offering the Republic of Haiti token compensation for the constant horrors of slavery, financial pillage, military occupation and political interference that it has suffered since its founders had the impudence to throw off slavery in 206 years ago.

In a league that is now more competitive for European spots, the margin of error for Thomas Schaaf has become much smaller

We've been here before, of course. Every season seems to bring about the sort of existentialist crisis that would destroy even the strongest management regime but Werder Bremen always find a way back. Thomas Schaaf is the Bundesliga's most immovable object. In his 11 years on the Weserstadion bench, he has weathered more storms than his secret twin brother, Captain Birdseye.

But this time, it's serious. Werder were second in the league in the beginning of December and unbeaten for 23 games in all competitions. They were playing sublime attacking football. They were incredibly balanced. They were unstoppable. Then they fall apart. Seven games without a win – Schaaf's worst ever run of results – saw them crash to sixth place. Saturday's 4-3 defeat away to Gladbach – their fifth in a row – marked a new nadir. Bremen were 3-0 down after 18 minutes and conceded the fourth goal before half-time, too. Not since 1981 have they collapsed so badly, so early. "We've made defensive mistakes like a school team," said Klaus Allofs. The sporting director better prepare himself for a class action by educational establishments for this mean-spirited slur. A St Boumsong College XI would have done better than Werder's utterly useless back four in the Borussia-Park.

With some better finishing, the Gladbach striker Raul Bobadilla should have scored a lot more than two goals. As in the 3-2 defeat against Bayern a week before, Bremen saw fit to push all the way up to the halfway line and leave themselves constantly vulnerable to a measured through-ball. Once again they could count themselves lucky not to have gone down to double figures. It's impossible to know what they were trying to do there.

Allofs, puzzled like everybody else, suggested a kind of collective football amnesia may have set in. "Everybody seems to have forgotten the things that made us strong before," he said. "We don't do the things we practise in training, we don't have belief, everybody's only fighting for themselves, nobody's helping out."

New signing Aymen Abdennour, the Tunisian left-back, looked particularly poor but it is indeed unfair to "blame the weakest link" (Allofs) for problems that started much further up the pitch. Marko Marin and Mesut Özil, Werder's two creative sparks, do not get enough of the ball to shine and have totally lost their form. Schaaf's switch to a system with two defensive midfielders after Diego left to Juventus was supposed to bring much-needed balance to Bremen's perennially unhinged midfield but, against Gladbach, they went back to their flawed diamond. Worryingly, Tim Borowski's phenomenal lack of drive seems to have rubbed off on his colleagues. Captain Torsten Frings still looks like he should belong in Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, but these days, Werder's middle of the park is where the mild things are. Goalkeeper Tim Wiese, a man whose silly antics could never mask his formidable talent before, has now lost the plot, too. The South Africa hopeful went on an aimless run outside his box and was easily dispossessed by Bobadilla before the fourth goal.

Bremen have always had a self-destructive streak, to be sure. But in a league that has become more competitive in terms of the European places, the margins for error have become much smaller. Werder need to be involved internationally to keep their stars; a second successive year without the Champions League millions would seriously hurt. They are currently seven points off a Europa League spot.

"We won't do crazy things now, we don't talk about the manager," said Allofs. Gruffmeister Schaaf, however, is only a couple of defeats away from losing his "untouchable" status. Discontent is bubbling underneath the surface. Croatian midfielder Jurica Vranjes, on loan at Genclerbirligi, described the 48-year-old as "the best manager" he ever had but added that he was "a catastrophe in human and psychological terms". "Schaaf is stubborn and deceitful," said defender Dusko Tosic shortly before he was sent away to second division MSV Duisburg last week.

On another day, Bremen might have had enough up front to come back against one of the least impressive sides in the league. But without a fully fit and sharp Claudio Pizarro, they were bound to struggle. Aaron Hunt ("I'm a bit surprised that nothing much happened in the transfer window") is not the only one wondering about Bremen's transfer policy. Allofs used to be the best in the business but has bought a remarkable number of duds in the last couple of years. In addition to that, local reporters seem unsure about the health of the club's finances.

The situation's not quite as dire as Bild ("Schaaf and Allofs have left Werder in ruins") has it but Schaaf does need to get his fish-finger out and turn the tide double quick. Werder's whole USP – "the Bundesliga's humble, popular, financially sound footballing side" – is in danger of becoming lost to the depths of mediocrity.

Talking points

• Leverkusen (3-1 against Freiburg), Schalke (2-0 over Hoffenheim) and Bayern (3-0 over Mainz) all won their home games comfortably to make it into a three-horse race for the title. Third-placed Bayern, however, typically believe the champions will come "from a select group of one", as Peter Kenyon once put it with unsurpassed charm. "We can only beat ourselves," boomed Mark van Bommel.

• In the 3-1 win away to Hannover, Nürnberg's Swiss striker Albert Bunjaku scored the first hat-trick of his career. As far as he could remember, that was. "I think so," he said. Nürnberg coach Dieter Hecking took all three points on his return to the AWD-Arena. 96 suffered their fifth defeat in a row. Mirko Slomka, who has only been in the job for 10 days, already looks despondent. His players performed "like a team who have forgotten how to play football", according to Süddeutsche Zeitung. To be fair, they didn't really know that much to begin with.

• If Jürgen Klopp is indeed "Dortmund's white Barack Obama", as pundit Mario Basler predicted before the season, then Christian Gross must have posed naked for Cosmopolitan in his youth. His re-energised Stuttgart team destroyed their opponents with three goals in the last 17 minutes in a hard-fought match. Former VfB captain Thomas Hitzlsperger has, meanwhile, signed for Lazio to improve his World Cup chances. It's a logical move. If you do have to fight against relegation with your team, you may as well do so in Europe's most beautiful city.

Results: Hamburg 1-1 Wolfsburg, Hannover 1-3 Nürnberg, Frankfurt 1-2 Köln, Hertha 0-0 Bochum, Gladbach 4-3 Bremen, Bayern 3-0 Mainz, Schalke 2-0 Hoffenheim, Stuttgart 4-1 Dortmund, Leverkusen 3-1 Freiburg.

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A combination of bad harvests and speculation has sent the price of cane soaring - and provoked protests and violence in Asia

Will that be one lump or two? Or, perhaps, none. A sugar rush is gripping the global commodities ­market. The price of the world's favourite sweetener shot to its highest level for 29 years this week in a worrying surge that has sparked political strife and street protests in parts of southern and south-east Asia.

A militant women's group staged a breakfast demonstration outside ­government offices in the Philippines on ­Tuesday, demanding intervention to bring down sugar prices. Protesters banged utensils at a rally in the Indian state of Bihar, and in Pakistan the authorities have rationed sugar, prompting violent confrontations as anger spills over at the perceived greed of producers.

Raw sugar traded on New York's Intercontinental Exchange surged in price by 128% last year, while white sugar on ­London's Liffe trading floor jumped by 123%. In the US markets on Monday, the price of a pound of raw sugar touched 30 cents for the first time since 1981, far above the range of 12 to 15 cents prevalent between 2007 and early 2009.

Toiling in a generally low-profile ­corner of the commodity markets, sugar traders are suddenly in the spotlight. But the immediate blame for this spike in prices lies in a factor indisputably beyond human control – the weather. A late monsoon disrupted sugar harvests in India, while too much rain disrupted supplies in the world's biggest ­sugarcane-growing nation, Brazil.

"It was the wettest harvest season here for decades," says Andy Duff, a commodities analyst at Rabobank in São Paulo. "There was less cane harvested than previously anticipated and the quality was lower than anticipated."

For the second consecutive year, ­global supply has fallen short of demand and many nations with sugar stockpiles are running short. The global financial crisis has not helped, making it harder for growers to finance outlay on fertiliser and equipment. In South America, ­environmental incentives have seen some sugarcane diverted into ­production of ethanol fuel.

Meanwhile, demand is robust – fuelled by population growth and rising incomes in emerging markets such as China. In poorer nations, a good chunk of every extra dollar earned is directed at food.

Population drift to the towns also adds to the appetite for sugar, according to Duff: "Increasing urbanisation drives changes in diet. It's associated with more consumption of sugary snacks and processed food."

Analysts at Commerzbank describe the sugar situation as "the perfect storm". In a research note, the ­German bank suggests the price still has "immense upside potential" and could even reach 40 cents per pound – a level exceeded only twice, during sugar crises in 1975 and 1980.

Tom Mikulski, a market strategist at commodities dealer Lind-Waldock in Chicago, says: "Unless we have a massive jump in production, I don't really see this market breaking any time soon."

For consumers, the link between ­commodity prices and supermarket costs is complicated. Sugar, more than most traded products, occupies a financial niche in which Wall Street and the high street are worlds apart. To protect European sugar growers, the European Union routinely keeps sugar prices artificially high – so shoppers in Britain and on the continent are used to paying a premium anyway.

The US has a similarly protectionist setup, limiting imports to safeguard its own farmers. But snack manufacturers such as Mars, Hershey and Krispy Kreme have been urging the Obama administration to raise import quotas, warning that a shortage of sugar could lead to job losses.

But in developing countries, the price of sugar has historically been lower and the recent spike in cost has been a shock. A columnist in the Manila Standard Today newspaper complained this week that a kilo of white sugar in public markets in the Philippines had jumped in cost from 40 pesos to between 50 and 60 pesos since Christmas. And a kilo of sugar on the black market in Pakistan, where sugar consumption is among the highest per person in the world, can reportedly fetch more than a day's pay.

"If you look at the impact, sugar comprises a greater share of the food basket in developing markets," says Sudakshina Unnikrishnan, an expert in agricultural commodities at Barclays Capital. "We don't really expect these problems to be a precedent set for developed countries, which have a kind of artificial system by which prices are set."

Since sugar inflation began to take hold in mid-2009, the news from growers has been consistently bad. In addition to poor harvests in India and Brazil, smaller producers such as Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam have come up short. "It's not that demand has grown extraordinarily this year – it's been ­growing in line with long-term trends," says Unnikrishnan. "The problem has been underperformance on the ­production side – and the big surprise is that, in spite of price rises, demand has held up."

In an unusual move from Brussels this week, farm commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel announced that the European Union intends to export 500,000 tonnes of sugar to the global markets above and beyond its usual quota to try to ease a squeeze in supply. This faced swift condemnation from other sugar producing nations, which complain that European farmers are unfairly subsidised. Brazil's sugarcane industry association, Unica, said it was a short-sighted breach of international trade rules.

Sensing an opportunity, speculators have shown little mercy. Hedge funds have piled into sugar, aggravating lurches in the price. Blaming speculators, ­however, would be a cheap shot, according Jonathan Kingsman, founder of the specialist sugar broker Kingsman, based in Switzerland.

"The speculators are involved and they'll always be involved, but there are fairly solid fundamentals to this market," says Kingsman. "There's not enough sugar to go around."

A calming in prices, he believes, will ultimately happen once growers react to the prospect of higher income and plant more crops: "Price is the best possible fertiliser," he says.

Given that I am feeling particularly uninspired by our first performance of 2010, I have decided to kick off the new year with an article about someone who has absolutely nothing to do with our club at all. Yet.

Maxi Rodríguez is the name on everyone's lips at the moment and with some credible sources making noises of a transfer being imminent I feel It is my duty to find out everything I can about this player and regurgitate it for your reading pleasure. So let's get right to it.

Full Name: Maximiliano Rubén Rodríguez

Birth Date: January 2nd 1981

Birth Place: Argentina

Height: 5' 11" (1.80m)

Weight: 12.4 st (79 kg)

Age: 29

Position: Winger (Right) / Attacking Midfield

Dominant Foot: Right

At a glance then, what we have here is an Argentinian winger of considerable experience who has just about the right physique to go shoulder to shoulder with the Premier Leagues finest. However, all this is just numbers and figures. So let's learn a little more about exactly how Maxi Rodríguez came to find himself occupying our thoughts.

Making it:

Rodríguez is a product of the youth set-up at Argentinian club Newell's Old Boys and he spent three seasons at the club before moving to Spain. Prior to this move he had enjoyed a 6 month loan spell at then second division club Real Oviedo.

Arriving at Espanyol in 2002, Rodríguez established himself in the first team within his first season. He got a dream début against Spanish giants Real Madrid and despite being unable to prevent a 0-2 loss, Rodríguez had arrived in La Liga and went on to appear in almost all of their games that season.

Stats:

As we can see from the table below, his first season was hardly prolific but still quite an impressive input from a player in his first season at a new club.

Maxi Rodriguez continued to post consistent figures in the following 2 seasons at Espanyol and began providing more chances for his team mates as well as getting his own name on the score sheet.

After enjoying three successful seasons at Espanyol, Rodríguez attracted the attention of Atlético Madrid and in 2005 he left for the Vicente Calderón for a fee of €7 million. In his debut season for Atlético Rodríguez continued to show the form that had earned him the move in the first place.

Rodríguez's form at Atlético saw him drafted into the Argentinian nation side, having previously won the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship with the Argentina under-20's and being part of the full squad in a friendly match against Japan in 2003.

After a dream début season though, Rodríguez's career was about to stall as he encountered injury during his second term with Atlético.

Limited to just ten club appearances by an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury, Rodríguez was forced to sit on the sidelines for much of the season. When he did play, though, he more than made up for lost time and was again included in the international set-up.

2007/08 saw Maxi Rodríguez return to regular first team football as well as retaining his international place. By now he was an established first team player and with time on his side he still had time to improve.

2008/09 gave Rodríguez the chance to shine on the biggest stage of them all. He performed brilliantly in the UEFA Champions League, albeit in a shortened campaign.

This season Maxi Rodríguez has fallen out of favour at the Vicente Calderón and has reportedly been told he will be allowed to move on. If he can replicate the kind of form he's shown in Spain then we could be onto quite a player here.

With all the numbers and figures out of the way, then, it's time to take the anorak off and take a look at Maxi Rodriguez's style of play. Of course as with anything on youtube this video only shows the good bits, but damn, are they good!

Having recently being re-appointed as a director of Juventus, now seems like an appropriate time to look back at the career of Bianconeri hero Roberto Bettega.

Born in Turin in 1950, he became one of the club's all-time greats. During his time at the club Juventus enjoyed a fantastic spell of dominance, and finally lifted a European trophy. He will be remembered as a fine goal scorer, as well as a man dedicated to the club he loves.

Bettega joined the club as a youngster and stayed for 13 seasons in the first team, making 481 appearances and only leaving to see out his playing days in Canada with the Toronto Blizzard.

After spending a year on loan in Serie B, Bettega made his full debut in 1970, scoring the winner away to Catania.

This was the start of an amazing period for both Juve and Bettega, who won Lo Scudetto in 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978 , 1981 and 1982, as well as the Coppa Italia in 1979 and 1983. The title win in 1982 was an especially important one, as it gave the Bianconeri their second star, noting 20 title wins. During this spell they also reached the 1973 European Cup Final, only to lose to Johan Cruyff's Ajax.

As impressive as this dominant spell was, there two more achievements that Bettega made to the club's history that mark him out as a true Bianconeri legend.

First is that he remains the club's third all-time leading scorer, with 178 goals. The only players ahead of him are Giampiero Boniperti and Alessandro Del Piero. He also won the Serie top scorer title in 1980.

The UEFA Cup victory in 1977 remains perhaps his finest contribution. Juventus played Athletic Bilbao over two legs, and it was Bettega's second leg goal in Bilbao that gave Juventus their victory.

One more point of interest is that the win was the only time an Italian team has won an International trophy with a team made up of only Italian players.

Bettega made 42 appearance for the Italian National team, finishing fourth at both the 1978 World Cup and the 1980 European Championships. Sadly, a knee injured prevented him taking his place at the 1982 World Cup, robbing him of a winner's medal as Italy triumphed.

After retirement, he return to the club at the request of Umberto Agnelli, serving as Vice-President from 1994 to 2006, overseeing yet another dominant spell for the Old Lady. He has returned to a similar role recently. Let's hope it signals the start of another period of success for Juventus.

Her achievements on the tennis court are almost without parallel.

Her energy in supporting the rights of others has been a constant.

Her passion for the sport that she says “gave her a soul” is unquestioned.

Yet it is one particular interview, following one particularly unlikely event in this tennis icon’s life, that throws as much light on her character as any of those achievements.

Martina Navratilova was a surprise participant, and a surprisingly popular finalist, in the 2008 television show “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here.” And in an interview for the U.K.’s revered Times newspaper, she admitted it was simply the challenge that made her sign up.

“I want challenges, whether cerebral or physical…If you never push yourself, you won’t know what your point of failure is. People always said I was so competitive. Not with other people, with myself.”

This gets to the heart of what made Navratilova one of the most successful women ever to pick up a tennis racket: the need to prove to both herself and the world what was possible.

However, there is a second quote that gets to the heart of what makes her such an enduring, respected, and important woman beyond the tennis court.

“If I feel strongly, I say it. I know I can do more good by being vocal than by staying quiet. I’d have a whole lot more money if I lied, but I wouldn’t have enjoyed spending it.”

This is the story of a courageous, feisty, and generous woman who also happened to challenge political repression and personal prejudice on her way to becoming one of the world’s greatest living athletes.

“You can’t live in the past.”

Navratilova was born in October 1956, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, but her ski-instructor father and her mother divorced when she was still very young.

Tennis ran in her family. Her grandmother had been an international player and, when her mother remarried in 1962, her stepfather became her coach.

By the age of eight, Navratilova reached the semifinals of her first tournament, and her talent began to attract the attention of the Czech authorities.

In 1972, age 15, Navratilova won the Czech national tennis championships. The next year, she reached the quarterfinals of the French Open and the third round of Wimbledon.

She also met, and was beaten for the first time by, the woman who would forever become associated with her career, Chris Evert.

But it was 1975 that became one of those watershed moments for Navratilova.

It was the year when she turned professional.

It was the year she became runner-up in two Grand Slam singles tournaments (to Evonne Goolagong in Australia and to Evert in the French).

And it was the year when her background collided with her future.

“Just go out there and do what you have to do.”

In 1968, the Soviet army had invaded Czechoslovakia and forcibly imposed an orthodox communist regime on a country that was attempting to move towards more liberal politics.

In the years that followed, Navratilova frequently came into conflict with the new regime, offending the authorities by publicly expressing opinions that conflicted with the official line. Her movements were shadowed by Czech security, and she had become used to having most of her winnings commandeered by the regime.

She was warned that further “offences” would lead to her being denied the exit visas she needed in order to travel outside Czechoslovakia.

In that watershed summer of 1975, the visa she needed to take part in the U.S. Open was indeed refused, and it was only the interception of her countryman, the former French Open champion Jan Kodes, that changed the decision.

So she took the decision to defect. After losing to Evert in the semifinals, the 18-year-old Navratilova went to the offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in New York City and completed the paperwork on the spot.

Within a month, she had her green card, and she went on to gain full American citizenship in 1981.

But her decision cut her off from her family. They could not leave Czechoslovakia to visit her, and she would be arrested if she returned to her homeland.

Navratilova did not see her family for four years, and was suddenly cut adrift in a foreign country with no home and few friends. Once more, it is Evert's name that appears in the Navratilova story, since it was Evert, with the rest of the American squad, who became the defector's surrogate family.

But Navratilova found life hard, gained weight, lost matches, hit bottom. It would be almost three years before she and her tennis gained the confidence to win her first singles Slam title: at Wimbledon in 1978.

“Wimbledon is like a drug. Once you win it for the first time you feel you've just got to do it again and again and again.”

Navratilova had never even seen a grass court until a week before her first appearance in London in 1973.

Watching Wimbledon on television as a child, she imagined the grass would be a couple of inches long, like a football pitch.

When she touched the court at Queens Club, where she was practising before Wimbledon, she could not believe how short and tightly-woven it was.

She was immediately hooked and immediately at home.

By that tumultuous year in 1975, she had reached the quarterfinals of what was to become her signature tournament.

The following year she made the semis.

After another quarterfinal exit in 1977, Navratilova won for the first time. It was the start of a record-breaking 13-year period during which she won nine singles titles, she reached the finals of three more, and made at least the semis in every year up to 1994 (barring a quarterfinal exit in 1991).

Her victories included five over Evert and one each over Andrea Jaeger, Hana Mandlikova, Steffi Graf, and Zina Garrison.

Although Graf stopped Navratilova going on to seven consecutive Wimbledon singles titles, she did not stop Navratilova both reaching and winning, in straight sets, her ninth consecutive final in 1990, at the age of 33.

Such success at such an age illustrates what distinguished Navratilova from almost every other woman in tennis at that time. It also shines a light on the influence she has had on both the male and female players who have followed.

She set herself higher benchmarks by “getting off my butt and…really starting training.” Like Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt have done over the last year, she attacked her own fitness levels and retooled her skills.

She constantly evolved elements of her game such as her big, sliced, left-handed serve, her net-rushing and volley put-aways, and her tactical research.

She claims that this willingness to change enabled her to win her ninth Wimbledon title. “Billie Jean [King] helped me with my last Wimbledon singles title by changing my footwork—talk about teaching old dogs new tricks!”

A message for all times.

“All eras have their great players, but Martina straddled many eras as the greatest.” (Billie Jean King)

For some, such an assertion from King would suffice. But at some point in the story of a great tennis player, a few statistics must underpin a reputation. This is the point in Navratilova’s story.

Wimbledon, of course, shone like the North Star in Navratilova’s heavens: 12 singles finals, a record nine singles titles, and 20 Wimbledon titles in all: equalling King’s own record.

Navratilova, though, was the dominant force across the whole of women’s tennis throughout the 1980s. Indeed, she was also a major figure in the late '70s (four Slam singles finals, two of them wins) and the early '90s (three Slam singles finals, one of them the title).

In the Australian Open, for example, she entered the singles 10 times in a 14-year period, and never failed to reach the quarters, reached the finals six times, and won it three times.

In the U.S. Open, she entered the tournament in 21 successive years, reached the semifinals in 12 of them, the final in eight, and won the title four times.

Even at Roland Garros, the most difficult surface for her aggressive, forward-moving game, she entered 10 times between 1973 and 1987, reached the quarters in nine of them, the finals five times, and won twice.

In all, she won 18 Slam singles titles, 31 women’s doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 mixed doubles titles.

In the year-end championships between 1975 and 1992, she won eight times and was runner-up six times. In the doubles, she won all 11 finals between 1980 and 1991.

She holds the Open era record for most singles titles (167) and doubles titles (177), and has the longest winning streak of 74 consecutive matches.

And the killer blow: from 1982 to 1984, Navratilova lost only six singles matches.

The statistics are extraordinary. But to give some perspective to the time span of her career, here’s a look at a few of the partners in her Grand Slam doubles victories.

Three of her earliest women’s titles were with King, and her last runner-up place was with Svetlana Kuznetsova.

She won her first mixed Slam back in 1974 with Ivan Molina, paired up with Paul McNamee and Peter Fleming in the '80s, won two titles with Leander Paes, and reached her last Slam final, in 2006, with Bob Bryan.

There’s one more illuminating angle to consider in Navratilova’s record-setting.

She competed between the mid-'70s and the mid-'80s against one of the most successful women of the Open era, Chris Evert.

She then faced, from the mid-'80s until her retirement, one of the most successful women of all time, Steffi Graf.

Giving almost 14 years to the young Graf—whose athleticism owed a great deal to the older woman’s example—Navratilova won half their 18 matches and five of their nine Slam singles matches. In their last Slam meeting (the semifinals of the 1991 U.S. Open) the 34-year-old won 7–6, 6–7, 6–4.

Navratilova truly did stand astride the decades like a colossus.

“She helped me play longer and, most of all, she helped me play better.”

It’s a common theme in Navratilova’s life: the constant acknowledgement of the contribution from others to her own success.

She references King in almost every interview she gives.

She talks of the part played by Nancy Lieberman and Renee Richards in achieving her extraordinary fitness.

She credits her coach and step-father for the help and support they gave in her early life. And she credits—in the above quote—the champion who helped to define her career: Chris Evert.

This most enduring of all rivalries lasted 16 years. They met on 80 occasions, 60 of them in finals. Between 1975 and 1986, one or other of the them finished the season as No. 1.

Though Evert is the elder by fewer than two years, she began her Slam-winning ways at 19, while Navratilova was slower out of the blocks, winning just two Slams by the age of 25.

They had become friends before they became such great rivals, and joined forces to win the French Open doubles in that watershed year of 1975. They repeated their success at Wimbledon the next year.

As the rivalry grew, so did the distance between them, as both realised it was difficult to combine such a close friendship with the need to dominate the other. Their split was encouraged by Lieberman, who believed it was necessary to dislike an opponent to totally dominate them.

Evert led their early head-to-head 20-5. So Navratilova improved her athleticism to levels never before seen in the women’s game, and developed new strategies to take time away from the punishing base-line game at which Evert excelled.

By the end of their rivalry, the head-to-head had shifted in favor of Navratilova 43-37. They ended their careers with 18 Slam singles titles apiece.

What made their matches even more compelling was the contrasting styles and personalities they brought to the court.

Evert was adored as the all-American, feminine, prettily-modest girl-next-door, while Navratilova had a muscular, athletic, challenging demeanor. She was “out” as a lesbian—still not a universally popular admission at the time. She was also uncompromising in her focus and fiery in her desire to win.

So while Navratilova garnered the fans’ respect, it was invariably Evert who was their favorite.

What was, and remains, clear is that Navratilova always garnered popularity from her fellow players. Just as she has been quick to extend credit to others, they in turn have been enthusiastic supporters of her.

Evert and Navratilova quickly put their rivalries behind them and became firm friends once more. King has always been a friend and admirer. The same is true of long-term, record-equalling doubles partner, Pam Shriver.

Leander Paes’s first act after winning the French Open doubles this year was to leap into the crowd to embrace his former Slam partner: “Watching Martina play inspired me as a kid growing up in India…Thank you Martina for being my vehicle to greatness.”

Lisa Raymond, who partnered Navratilova during 2003, found her inspiring: “I think she made me a better player, a better team mate.”

Bob Bryan was wowed by her serve, her brain-power and her reflexes, and more than a little flattered to be invited, by text, to play with her.

Little wonder, perhaps, that she showed just a hint of sarcasm in talking about the I.T.F.’s decision this year to give her its highest accolade, the Philippe Chatrier Award. They had awarded the same distinction to Evert 12 years before.

Navratilova’s comment? “They waited a while!”

“Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people.”

Navratilova retired in 1995 with one of the greatest records in tennis to her name. But her high-energy approach to life continued apace. “Taking life easy” is simply not in her DNA.

She gained her pilot’s licence (and she’s afraid of heights), learned to dive (because she’s afraid of drowning), wrote a couple of mystery novels, and took up photography and painting.

She was president of the W.T.A. players’ association for many years during the '80s and '90s.

She has always dedicated her time and energy to political and social causes. Her work in support of equality for gay and lesbian rights is well known, but she is also a vociferous campaigner for animal welfare and for environmental causes.

In short, she lives by her own beliefs: “Don’t get limited by people who say ‘No, you can’t do that because you’re too old or because you’re heavy or you’re not an athlete.’ Whatever your limitations might be, don’t let them define you. I didn’t let them define me.”

As a result, when she decided in 2000, aged 43, that she wasn’t ready to turn her back on tennis, it was an easy decision to commit to a limited schedule again. She had stayed supremely fit, and wanted to join the new young players, not the “senior tour.”

She won a dozen women’s doubles titles, including the mixed titles in two Slams, with a half-a-dozen different partners.

She played in her first Olympics.

She stretched her Fed Cup record to 40-0 before a final loss in 2004 marred her perfect sheet.

What she also won was the enthusiastic support of crowds wherever she played, and that clearly meant a lot: “What I’m getting from the crowd I never got in my life…I didn’t expect that.”

“I hope, when I stop, people will think that somehow I mattered.”

When she did finally hang up her racket, it was done in style, after one final Grand Slam victory, at what she regarded as her home tournament in Flushing Meadows, with American partner Bob Bryan. She turned 50 a month later.

Now she is still relishing a whole new set of challenges.

There are the personal challenges, from “I’m A Celebrity…” to auditioning for the London production of Chicago.

There’s the ongoing need to challenge prejudice, from campaigning for gay rights, to writing books for the over-50s on physical and mental health, to public speaking about aspiring to new goals.

Then there’s tennis: she’s been forthright in her condemnation of high-volume grunting on court, and is keen for today’s women to take a leaf out of the men’s game and mix up their play.

For Navratilova, it’s always been about pushing herself beyond her comfort zone, refusing to be limited or defined by her career, her age or her sexuality.

This therefore continues to be the story of a courageous, feisty, and generous woman who happens to be one of the world’s greatest living athletes. Watching footage of Navratilova in full flow, rushing the net even on clay, picking off every shade of volley to perfection, is still one of tennis’s joys.

It seems appropriate, therefore, to give the closing words to one of her oldest friends. King said of Navratilova in 2006, “She’s the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who’s ever lived.”

I, for one, have no intention of arguing.

A short appreciation of Navratilova, with a three-minute video of her first Wimbledon singles win in 1978 against Christ Evert, can be seen on the Wimbledon website .

Read other articles in this series about great women players and their contribution to tennis:

Molla Mallory

Helen Wills

Suzanne Lenglen

Althea Gibson

Maureen Connolly

Evonne Goolagong

Billie Jean King

Maria Bueno

Margaret Court

Steffi Graf

Chris Evert

In the second of a six-part daily series, the Guardian's political commentator makes the case for the late foreign secretary

At the start of the decade he was a high-flying foreign secretary, hoping to exceed the great Ernie Bevin's six-year tenure of 1945-51.

By the end of the decade Robin Cook was dead, a great what-if counterfactual of the New Labour years.

He was demoted to leader of the Commons after the 2001 election, and resigned from cabinet on the night the invasion of Iraq began, 17 March 2003. He died of a sudden heart attack while on a walking holiday in Scotland on August 6 2005, aged 59.

A radical Labour MP since 1974, almost a decade before Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Cook was one of a generation of Scottish politicians who matured under John Smith and succeeded to senior jobs in the cabinet elected by the landslide of 1 May 1997.

A Tribune group supporter, Cook had been an early proponent of constitutional and electoral reform ("If Thatcher represents strong government, I want weak government," he would say) though a late convert (1983) to devolution. Pro-CND and Eurosceptic, he backed Michael Foot for Labour leader in 1980, but supported Denis Healey against Tony Benn's challenge for the No 2 position in 1981, a crucial shift in Labour's long march back to power.

Cook had been Neil Kinnock's leadership campaign manager and a modernising ally, though he judged Blair's New Labour makeover a shift too far. By the time he became Blair's foreign secretary, he was also one of the Commons' most feared and forensic debaters – the man who had eviscerated the Tory defence after a hasty perusal of the Scott report (1996) into covert arms sales to Saddam Hussein's Iraq by supposedly neutral Britain.

He entered cabinet as an active exponent of having an "ethical dimension" to foreign policy and of liberal interventionism to curb oppression abroad.

With his fellow Scot, Lib Dem Robert Maclennan, Cook also brokered the Lib-Lab consultation that reshaped key constitutional issues ahead of 1997: devolution, the Human Rights Act and the expulsion of (most) hereditary peers. The size of Labour's majority put paid to much later cooperation, notably on PR elections for Westminster.

Cook, who hankered be chancellor but was kept out of economic policymaking, threw himself into foreign affairs, championing British military intervention in Sierra Leone (despite embarrassment over mercenaries) and Kosovo – despite the absence of UN approval for this Nato operation to protect the ex-Yugoslav province from Serbian expansionism and ethnic cleansing.

He was also involved in Operation Desert Fox, a three day US-UK bombing of Iraq for alleged breach of UN resolutions.

This was the backdrop to Cook's unexpected demotion in 2001, though not the cause. That was thought to have been Europe, the foreign secretary's enthusiasm and determination to press for an early referendum on UK membership of the new euro zone deemed too disruptive in a cabinet where his old Scottish rival Gordon Brown was determined to block it.

Cook had never been a Blairite. Jack Straw was appointed to the Foreign Office to be more pliable.

Cook hesitated, urged by his acolytes to go to the backbenches. But the lure of office proved too strong. He became a reform-minded leader of the Commons, biding his time and seeking to end the stalemate on the final shape of Lords reform.

Offered a range of options from a 100% elected second chamber to a fully appointed one, MPs rejected them all, though came close to embracing 80% election. The stalemate endures today.

But 9/11 and the growing determination of the Bush administration – against whose influence Cook warned Blair – to use the "war on terror" to depose Saddam alienated Cook further from his colleagues. The decision to join the US-led invasion, despite the failure to obtain the disputed second UN security council resolution, triggered Cook's resignation from cabinet before the Commons voted in favour – and 139 Labour MPs, including Cook, rebelled. Unlike Clare Short, he did not hesitate.

In his resignation speech – the first to prompt a standing ovation since Churchill's at the end of the second world war – Cook said: "I can't accept collective responsibility for the decision to commit Britain now to military action in Iraq without international agreement or domestic support."

In backbench opposition Cook reverted to older instincts, opposing student tuition fees, supporting a fully elected Lords and the EU's doomed constitution. He was even reconciled to his old foe, Brown, from whom he might have expected a return to office.

He wrote widely and critically of the Bush-Blair connection and blamed the rise of al-Qaida on the "monumental miscalculation" of western intelligence agencies that had stirred Islamist radicalism against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Critics hinted at the charge of opportunism, citing his support for Nato's Kosovo attacks without UN support as proof that office – and the lack of it – had been crucial determinants of his stance. But friends credited him with restoring a more libertarian and democratic vision of Labour's socialist goals after corrosive years in power.

• What do you think of Michael White's choices? Have your say and suggest alternatives. Tomorrow: Alex Salmond.

Now that 2009 is so last year - well, almost - it's time to look forward to the next 12 months and the start of a new decade. Here we present our guide to 2010: the most promising newcomers, how the old guard are staying ahead of the game, plus the latest creative thinking in the arts, technology, politics and culture

1 POP Ellie Goulding Ellie Goulding's success in 2010 may be preordained by industry insiders, but don't hold that against her. "I'm a country girl – I couldn't be less sceney if I tried," she laughs. Blessed with sirenlike tones and a gift for cleverly skewed pop, the 22-year-old Welsh singer-songwriter (pictured below) has already been named the winner of next year's Critics Choice Brit Award, last year bestowed on Florence + The Machine, and is putting the finishing touches to her debut album, due out in February. Though weaned on folk and chart pop, her songs bear the imprint of more recent discoveries: electro and the bassy throb of dubstep (reclusive producer Burial is a fan) but alongside these smart appropriations, there's evidence of a highly individual talent at work. "I'd like to think I'll always be morphing into different things," she says. ALLY CARNWATH

2 POP The Drums Singer Jonathan Pierce gamely describes the sound of the Drums in three words as "Rock. And. Roll!" but for a longer summary imagine a marriage of Factory Records miserablism and West Coast sunshine, nowhere better evinced than on "Let's Go Surfing" (none of them surf, by the way) and its catchy whistled melody. The four Floridians released their EP Summertime last October which, along with the band's acclaimed live performances, has prompted NME to announce them "New York's official Coolest New Band". You can see them become London's coolest new band when they play this side of the Atlantic on the NME Shockwaves tour in February. HERMIONE HOBY

3 GAMES Bioshock 2 Expectations are high for the sequel to 2007's Bioshock, a first-person shooter with such an intricate design and storyline that it felt less a game, more an experience. Set once again in the underwater dystopia of Rapture, but 10 years later, this time the player takes the role of one of the Big Daddy characters (who, with their charges, the Little Sisters, were at the heart of the original). Out February. GILES RICHARDS

4 BOOKS Novelists get real Neither Dave Eggers nor Jonathan Safran Foer have exactly shied away from serious issues in their work to date – in 2006, Eggers wrote What Is the What, the fictionalised autobiography of a Sudanese child soldier, while Foer's last novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, confronted 9/11. But in March two of America's hippest young novelists are temporarily turning their backs on fiction in favour of reportage. Eggers' latest, Zeitoun (Hamish Hamilton), tells the terrifying true story of a Muslim New Orleans family whose lives were wrenched apart in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Eggers has dropped the po-mo pyrotechnics in favour of a plain style that underlines the horror of the city's descent into chaos. Despite the quiet tone, this is a nightmarish book, indicting the Bush administration and revealing the racism endemic in America's police. As for Foer, Eating Animals (Hamish Hamilton) is a spirited, emotional and well-researched investigation into what our taste for flesh really means. Foer brings the industrialised miseries of factory farming to reeking life and employs his usual typographic tricks to keep the subject fresh. OLIVIA LAING

5 BOOKS Major titles • The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis (Cape). Set in an Italian castle during the 1970s, Amis's new novel – six years in the writing – promises to be "blindingly autobiographical".

• Burley Cross Postbox Theft by Nicola Barker (4th Estate). Nicola Barker has made a career out of unnerving takes on everyday life. After 2007's Booker-nominated Darkmans, she turns her beady eye on Yorkshire with this comic novel about two policemen.

• The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris (Viking). Ferris's first novel was a hilariously acute take on the world of work. Here he takes up the story of a man who leaves his family, his job and his home, walking his way out of the securities we take for granted.

• Solar by Ian McEwan (Cape). McEwan has in recent years become increasingly interested in the faultline between art and science. This satire on climate change promises to be thought-provoking and very funny.

• The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (Sceptre). After the autobiographical Black Swan Green, Mitchell returns to the big canvas with this historical novel set in a Japanese outpost of the Dutch empire. OL

6 BOOKS The Twitter author We've all had a laugh at the expense of our parents at some point, but while most of us save our anecdotes for the pub, since August American Justin Halpern has been sharing his father Sam's wry, expletive-laden comments on Twitter. Having amassed thousands of followers, the 29-year-old creator of Shit My Dad Says has signed a book deal with Harper Collins and hooked up with CBS to create a family comedy. "My dad's crazy, not actually insane, but he's, like, old school," Halpern has explained. "A mix of a blue-collar redneck and this smart doctor of nuclear medicine." Classic lines include: "Why the fuck would I want to live to 100? I'm 73 and shit's starting to get boring. By the way, there's no money left when I go, just fyi." With the book due out in May and Will & Grace creators executive-producing the sitcom, Halpern's set to make a fortune. So next time you roll your eyeballs at your parents, just remember you could be sitting on comedy gold. IMOGEN CARTER

7 THEATRE Royal Court It's been a bumper year for the Royal Court with hit shows Enron and Jerusalem enjoying praise, awards and West End transfers. And it seems the only way is up. The election year finds several playwrights tackling social class, including Roy Williams, Bola Agbaje and Laura Wade, whose feverishly anticipated second play Posh, shrewdly scheduled for April, centres on the Bullingdon Club-style debauchery once whipped up by David Cameron and his cohorts. Continuing 2009's trend of young female playwrights finding success, four of the Court's seven new shows are by women, including Spur of the Moment, a widely tipped debut from the daughter of a canon at Westminster Abbey, Anya Reiss. The 18-year-old is already being compared with playwriting wunderkind Polly Stenham. IC

8 ART Gauguin at Tate Modern Super-fertile scenes of glowing guavas, raspberry rivers and peach-breasted girls reaching for strange fruit in the Eden of Tahiti: Gauguin is as familiar as former housemate Van Gogh. Or is he? Amazingly, it is 50 years since the last major survey in Britain, not least because the works are almost too expensive to insure. But this September Tate Modern has managed to borrow more than 100 works from all over the world for this momentous event, including some key masterpieces such as Self-Portrait with Manao tu papau and The Vision After the Sermon, to give a whole new view of Gauguin's art for today's generation. LAURA CUMMING

9 DANCE Jonathan Watkins Jonathan Watkins is a pig. At least, he is in the Royal Ballet's current production of Tales of Beatrix Potter, where he dances Alexander, the "hopelessly volatile" brother of Pigling Bland. More glamorous parts await the 25-year-old First Artist, however, including Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, a role traditionally assigned to fast-track male dancers. In-the-know fans have also been tracking his progress as a choreographer; in February a new Watkins ballet will be performed on the Royal Opera House stage. The piece, as yet unnamed, will slice into a series of contemporary lives – young people at a house-party, a TV-obsessed couple, a workaholic man, a lonely single woman – and examine the dynamics of connection and alienation. "It's about the importance of identifying yourself as an individual," says Watkins. "Only then can people learn to embrace each other's differences." The commission is the culmination of a decade of creativity by the dancer, who won the Kenneth MacMillan prize for choreography when he was 15. On the night of the new piece's premiere, Watkins also dances a testing role in Wayne McGregor's Infra. Catch him if you can. LUKE JENNINGS

10 COMEDY Watson and Oliver Perhaps the comparison with French and Saunders was inevitable for any female double act signed up by the BBC, but Lorna Watson and Ingrid Oliver are happy to acknowledge the pair as an influence, along with Morecambe and Wise, or Fry and Laurie. Like other classic double acts, their comedy rests on an easy familiarity with one another – not surprising, since the pair, now 32, have been friends since their schooldays.

After pursuing separate careers – Lorna in stand-up and improv, Ingrid in straight acting – they decided to do the show they'd always talked about before they hit 30. In November 2005 they booked the Canal Café theatre in London, gave themselves four weeks to write a sketch show, and haven't looked back. That first show won them an agent and a promoter willing to take them to Edinburgh the following year, where their surreal, character-driven sketches attracted the attention of comedy writer and producer Robert Popper and BBC head of comedy Mark Freeland. Three acclaimed Edinburgh stints later, they are about to make their television debut in a BBC2 pilot being filmed in March– a rare instance of a new act being launched straight to a terrestrial channel.

"We don't think of what we write as 'female comedy'," says Ingrid. "We play a lot of male characters, and animals. But our audiences have been very mixed so the hope is that we'll have a wide appeal." Lorna adds: "We just write what we think is funny. It might seem quite mainstream, but then there's a twist." STEPHANIE MERRITT

11 FILM Alice in Wonderland Expect Tim Burton's reworking of Lewis Carroll's classic tale, due for release in March, to be as mind-bendingly strange as his source material. Alice, now a headstrong 17-year-old, goes back down the rabbit hole where she sets out to free Wonderland from the reign of the despotic Red Queen. Australian actress Mia Wasikowska plays Alice and Johnny Depp is in his tripped-out element as the Mad Hatter. A combination of live action and motion capture technology has been used to help Burton recreate the hallucinatory quality of Carroll's story. AC

12 FILM AND TV Political biopics It's too easy to forget what fascinating political times we've lived through, even recently. This is remedied in 2010 with the third in Peter Morgan's "Blair trilogy" (after The Deal and The Queen), with Michael Sheen starring again in The Special Relationship, which focuses on the power-plays our PM enjoyed/suffered with Bill Clinton. Meanwhile, in Mo on Channel 4 in January, Julie Walters reminds us what crucial walk-on parts the late Mo Mowlam played in our political narrative, from the rise of New Labour, to Irish peace, to the bitter fallings-out over Iraq. It was always going to be about time to do Mandela. Clint Eastwood's Invictus, telling how Nelson cleverly used the 1995 Rugby World Cup to spur on unity, opens here in February. Shortly afterwards comes the BBC4 biopic Mrs Mandela, a mesmerising portrayal of the decades of traumas and stresses that poisoned Winnie. EUAN FERGUSON

13 THEATRE Bristol's renaissance Tom Morris's first production as artistic director of the Bristol Old Vic promises to take the theatre out of the doldrums and into the news in March. Juliet And Her Romeo, which the co-director of War Horse has been working on for 12 years with producer Sean O'Connor, has Shakespeare's words; but the lovers are in their 80s and are resident in a Verona retirement home. SUSANNAH CLAPP

14 TECHNOLOGY Personal apps Bored with your blog? Tired of Twitter? In 2010, celebrities and any self-respecting member of the technorati will abandon these tired mediums and instead develop their own app. Your own app means you must matter, not least because it involves serious development skills. To do what? Any form of personal branding is the answer but it doesn't really matter. In an age when everyone can be famous for 15 tweets, the personal app will itself act as a status symbol. CASPAR LLEWELLYN SMITH

15 CLASSICAL Amanda Echalaz The name Amanda Echalaz started circulating first when Opera Holland Park cast her as the impassioned, sexy heroine in Montemezzi's rarity L'Amore dei tre Re. Then came OHP's Tosca, to such rave reviews that when Angela Gheorghiu called in sick at the Royal Opera House one night in July 2009, they asked the 31-year-old South African to cover, which she did sensationally. Puccini's heroine is now one of her trump cards and Echalaz is poised for stardom. The UK event to watch for is her Tosca at English National Opera in May, staged by the one-time great dramatic soprano, Catherine Malfitano, in her new role as director. FIONA MADDOCKS

16 POLITICS Rising stars • Rushanara Ali's political convictions are grounded in her experiences growing up in east London under a Conservative government. "You couldn't help but be angry at the waste of talent and resource," she says. A Labour party member since the age of 17, whose CV includes stints at the Home and Foreign Offices, Ali has always remained most active in her own community. The 34-year-old's work on social innovation projects with east London-based think tank the Young Foundation saw her named one of Britain's 25 most influential Muslim women in a poll last year and in the coming general election, she will contest the Bethnal Green and Bow seat currently held by George Galloway's Respect party.

• "It will be a barometer seat without a doubt," says Liberal Democrat Ed Fordham of his battle against veteran Labour MP Glenda Jackson in Hampstead and Kilburn. The 38-year-old, a former Lib Dem campaigns officer who is expected to play a major part in shaping the party's future agenda, needs an estimated gain of 474 votes to be elected, in one of the closest-fought battles of the coming election. Fordham, has already won some influential supporters. Former American governor Howard Dean, a key figure in Barack Obama's 2008 success, compared Fordham's work on local communities to that of the American president, leading his local paper to dub him the Barack Obama of Hampstead.

• From The Weakest Link to prospective parliamentary candidate may be an unusual career trajectory, but it has given Conservative Charlotte Leslie a refreshingly irreverent perspective on Westminster village. "Politics can be eaten up by an ecosystem that is dislocated from the world around it," says the 31-year-old. "You need to be confident smashing that to bits." Leslie only turned to party politics in her mid-20s, when she grew frustrated with her job as a BBC researcher. A crash course followed – first with a job at influential think-tank Policy Exchange, then as special adviser to the then shadow education secretary David Willetts. Her profile has risen rapidly since and she will contest the Bristol North West seat in the coming election. AC

17 FILM AND TV Screen inspired by the 80s For much of the Noughties, it seemed, we were constantly stuttering towards an 80s revival. There was always a band reunion, a new fashion trend, or the return of the Wispa bar or some such. This time round, however, it really is happening more solidly, particularly in film and TV. But rather than going back for a wallow, the "creatives" are taking the ideas which enthralled them as teenagers, and in many cases updating them for the digital age.

In Tron: Legacy, for instance, a long-awaited reprise on the cult hit, Jeff Bridges is still stuck in cyberspace but it's a more beautiful, graphically rendered and dangerous cyberspace than in 1982.

Wall Street 2 has Michael Douglas coming out of jail just in time to attempt to predict the crash of 2008. The new Karate Kid has Will Smith's son Jaden in modern times, and in Beijing. It might even be less patronising towards the Chinese, which wouldn't be hard; but it will still have some splendidly silly fights. There's also an A-Team movie, with Liam Neeson in the George Peppard role and an all-new updated Footloose with Chace Crawford in the Kevin Bacon role.

Never fear, though, fans of verity. Martin Amis's Money – adapted in two parts by BBC2 as part of an 80s season – has Nick Frost (the lovable best friend Ed in Shaun of the Dead) as anti-hero John Self, and almost without doubt, all the excess, cocaine, high shoulders and low morals of those strange unhappy days. And Royal Wedding, setting the Charles-Diana marriage against the backdrop of a small Welsh village where they're just beginning in 1981 to feel the bony finger of Margaret Thatcher, promises enough grey skies, fag-smoke, simpering Alice-bands and incipient class war to drag you right back there, kicking. EF

18 POLITICS The Stilettoed Socialist In a political blogosphere dominated by "very right wing, angry men", 20-year-old student Ellie Gellard, or The Stilettoed Socialist as she's known on her blog, is a welcome anomaly. Her thoughtful and passionate posts on Labour politics have earned her a fan in Ed Balls, while her 2,000 followers on Twitter include cabinet ministers and MPs. Politics is in the family, she explains: "Like Mandy, I was born into the Labour movement." Though she hastily adds: "That's the only thing I think I have in common with Mandelson!" Yet the real trigger for her engagement with politics came when she was hospitalised with meningitis aged 15. "I received such incredible care from doctors and nurses that I felt I had a duty to lend a voice to whichever party was going to maintain the quality of the NHS." She describes fellow Tweeter Sarah Brown (who messaged Ellie to invite her to the "Downing Tweet" Christmas Party) as "just brilliant, a real credit to the Labour party", and I imagine Mrs Brown would say the same of her. HH

19 FILM Tahar Rahim Fate may have been smiling on actor Tahar Rahim when he found himself sharing a taxi with one of France's most celebrated directors, Jacques Audiard. But it's now Audiard, best known in this country for The Beat That My Heart Skipped, who must be counting his blessings. Soon after their taxi meeting (Audiard is friends with the TV director Rahim was working with at the time) he cast the virtually unknown actor as the star of his forthcoming film A Prophet. The 28-year-old responded by delivering one of the most brilliant big-screen debuts of recent years. He plays Malik El Djebena, a small-time crook who has been sent down for six years in a French jail. Malik develops from ingenu into ruthless operator, skilled at playing the jail's internal politics to his own advantage, but Rahim invests the role with great sensitivity, so that we find ourselves rooting for him throughout. He is now much in demand; his next role will be in Kevin Macdonald's Roman epic The Eagle of the Ninth. And his performance has helped A Prophet to a tidal wave of acclaim; it won the Grand Prix at the 2009 Cannes film festival, the best film award at the London film festival, and is widely expected to pick up a nomination for best film at the Oscars. AC

20 ART International Festival of Visual Art The Glasgow Biennial, as it used to be known, gets better every time, buoyed up by the city's famously strong art scene. 2010 features over 50 artists in the museums, galleries, streets, bridges, libraries and hidden architectural spaces of Glasgow. Look out for Fiona Tan's vast video installations, David Shrigley's surreal sculptures in Kelvingrove, Joseph Beuys at the Hunterian and major new commissions from Christoph Buchel and Gerard Byrne. Douglas Gordon opens the festival in April with a special forward and backward playing of 24 Hour Psycho and the banks of the Clyde will resonate with Susan Philipsz's haunting new soundwork. LC

21 TECHNOLOGY Augmented reality If real life isn't interesting enough for you, fear not, because 2010 will see augmented reality come into its own. This means computer-generated images mixing with and adding to reality – so your experience of taking a journey, reading a magazine or going to a gig will alter for ever. We're used to watching swimming races on TV and seeing a virtual line inserted into the image that tells us whether the world record is in danger of being broken. Now with the aid of your mobile phone, you can expect to take such experiences into your own hands. For example, armed with an Android handset you can stand outside Abbey Road studios in London, hold your phone in the direction of the famous zebra crossing and watch the Beatles traversing it on screen, while simultaneously being deluged with a host of relevant facts. Next thing you know, they'll be putting the band back together. CLS

22 ACTING Olivia Grant and Harry Lloyd Olivia Grant is reminding Harry Lloyd of one of his earliest roles. "We were in Chicken Licken together when we were seven," she giggles. "I was a rabbit and he was a narrator. But he says he doesn't remember..." Grant, best known to TV viewers as Lady Adelaide in BBC One's Lark Rise to Candleford, has known Lloyd since they went to primary school together in Notting Hill. They met again, a decade later, both reading English at Oxford University. At 26, with breakthrough TV roles under their belts (and, in Lloyd's case, a teenage internet fanbase since appearing as Will Scarlett in the BBC's Robin Hood), the pair now find themselves extremely busy and appearing in multiple stage and screen projects in 2010.

Grant has just finished shooting Mr Nice, the Rhys Ifans-fronted Howard Marks biopic due out in the autumn, an experience that was, she says "manic". "While Howard Marks was at Balliol he's meant to have had these massive drug parties in his room, and when I originally read the script they were 'party scenes', but when we got to set the wording had been changed to 'orgy sequence'! I was quite perturbed..."

It's a far cry from her role as the very proper Lady Adelaide, reprised this January in the third series of Lark Rise, after a year away playing the disappearing PA Grace Darling in Channel 4's Personal Affairs. Lloyd, meanwhile, is used to playing around with the dark side. His most talked-about part to date has been a scene-stealing role as a Doctor Who villain (in The Family of Blood episode), and he has just recorded a pilot for HBO's Game of Thrones, a major ensemble piece crammed with British luminaries which Lloyd describes with relish as a "dark, political intrigue set in a fantasy world... with incest". First, though, there's the stage-run of The Little Dog Laughed, with Tamsin Greig and Rupert Friend in January. Still, for this former Eton schoolboy, the stage can hold no new fears. "When I first started doing drama I had to play the girls because my voice hadn't broken," he remembers. "I hated it." EMMA JOHN

23 CELEBRITY Rock star offspring The Geldof dynasty are so noughties. The teenage rock star offspring to look out for in 2010 are electropop singer Coco Sumner (daughter of Sting) who records under the name I Blame Coco, Lily Collins (daughter of Phil) who appears in widely anticipated Hollywood film The Blind Side, Georgia May Jagger (papa was a Rolling Stone) who will front Versace's spring 2010 campaign and Leah Weller (daughter of Paul) whose modelling career is in the ascendant after a star turn at 2009's Graduate Fashion Week. AC

24 FOOD Whoopie Pie Traditional Amish snack Whoopie Pie is heading to the UK after a surge of popularity stateside. Taking over from the ubiquitous cupcake, the "pie" involves two mounds of cake sandwiched together with buttercream, and has recently been introduced at hip London cake shop Outsider Tart. LUCY THACKRAY

25 SOCIETY The big idea The defining question of our (western) times might be: "Am I happy enough?" Gary Greenberg, who has been a clinical psychotherapist for 25 years, explores the implications of this question, and the "depression industry" – one of the few growth areas in the shrinking economy – in Manufacturing Depression, a book which will be among the most contentious of the coming year. Using his experience and a range of sources from the Book of Job to the recent meltdown in the financial markets he makes the argument that depression is a cultural rather than a medical phenomenon, a catch-all diagnosis for a disease called the difficulty of life. In America, in particular, where 30 million people are taking $10bn of anti-depressants every year, this is tantamount to heresy. His book grew out of a magazine article in American Harper's in which he brought a spirit of cynical philosophy to his involvement in a clinical trial for depression. TIM ADAMS

The Camping World Truck series once again had a very memorable, while adding a record setting season this past year in 2009.

Ron Hornaday Jr. at the age of 51 led the way winning his fourth record setting truck series championship, along with becoming the first truck driver to win four races in a row.

Hornaday didn’t stop there when he added a fifth victory to put his name alongside NASCAR legends Richard Petty, and Bobby Allison as the only NASCAR series drivers to accomplish the feat.

Even with these three record setting performances that Hornaday consumed as the season progressed, there was still one more record that not even the man who drove the No. 33 Copart sponsored Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc. could touch.

We have all heard of the term,” Built Ford tough”, or if you are one of the few that hasn’t try asking 51 year old Rick Crawford driver of the No. 14 International Truck Engine sponsored Ford F-150, what the term means to him.

Crawford set a Camping World Truck series record earlier in the season when he made his 300th career start during the American Commercial Lines 200, at Atlanta Motor Speedway back in March.

“I’d like to also mention that this is 300 starts with Tom Mitchell, but it’s also 300 starts with the same make—Ford Motor Company. If that don’t mean Built Ford Tough, then you probably need to look for another definition.”

Crawford got his first start in racing back in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama in 1981 as a short track racer.

“I’m a third-generation racer out of Mobile, Alabama. Probably one of the first races I remember coming to is this one back in the '60s," said Crawford.

“Then I met Mr. Mitchell, but along the way several people – probably too many to mention everybody—but everybody from auto parts vendors to tire vendors to volunteer help on the weekend because we all had jobs.”

Crawford also added that, “Back then in racing we worked regular jobs during the day and we had volunteer help at night working on our cars in the evening, and we raced on the weekends," said Crawford.

"We put everything we had, and even from Cup to racing locally, everything people did back then—whatever they made that week got them to the next week. That’s how we made it back in the late '70s and early '80s.”

The truck series is probably one the most underrated series in the world of NASCAR, and many fans underestimate just how tough a driver has to be in order to be competitive in this series that is growing more and more popular each year.

So exactly how does a 50 year old Camping World Series truck driver, continue getting behind the wheel at his age?

“First of all, let me make it quite clear that it’s 300 steroid-free starts (laughter).”

Crawford first came to Circle Bar Racing in 1992, and his first attempt at driving in the NASCAR series came in 1993 when he failed three times trying to qualify for a Winston Cup race.

Crawford continued to race for Mitchell in the All-Pro Series, and it wasn’t until 1997 when Mitchell moved his Circle Bar Race team along with Crawford to the Craftsman Truck Series.

“He’d been in Cup in ’86 with a Cup team, so his advice to me was, ‘Let’s keep an eye on this truck series and see how we’re doing. I own two truck stops in southwest Texas and that’s what I want to do. I want to field a truck team. Do you want to drive it?’ And I’m like, ‘Heck yeah. Let’s do it,” said Crawford.

“So that’s where we’ve been and that’s where we’ve stayed. We’ve been very loyal to the series. We started with one truck and one engine, and now we’ve got two really nice race teams sponsored by International running in the series, so it’s quite a commitment by the Mitchell family.”

Crawford also gave team owner Tom Mitchell, and his family a lot praise for the way they have supported him for the past 17 years.

“The Mitchell family support for 18 years as a driver for them and over 13 years here in the truck series, so that’s what means a lot to me. He’s sending his daughter. Lisa Mitchell is going to be here and she’s representing her dad. She usually does. She was at Daytona and then she’s going to be here.”

Accomplishments such as this only come once in a lifetime, and they can never be repeated nor can they be taken back and done over.

Most of us during our lifetimes are always striving to reach these types of milestones, especially the ones that take years to accomplish when it seems that father time is breathing down your back.

It took a lot of hard work, dedication, and of course stamina for Crawford to reach this pinnacle in his racing career.

Crawford, who finished out the season 10th in points with three top fives and seven top 10 finishes, just might decide to live by these words after setting a Camping World Truck series record of his own.

“If that don’t mean Built Ford Tough, then you probably need to look for another definition.”

As half of one of the greatest sports rivalries of all time, Chris Evert is probably the “half” less appreciated today.  Her battles with Martina Navratilova grew to legendary status as they met so often in the finals of majors.  The fact that Navratilova’s career extended years beyond Evert’s is the reason the Czech-American is better known today.

Chris Evert was a powerful baseline player and Martina Navratilova was the ultimate serve and volleyer.  They battled during an era when these two playing styles clashed on tennis courts around the world.

But more than playing styles were different about these two champions—their on court demeanor and their individual personalities were as different as night and day.  But one thing they did share in common was an ultimate drive and a fervent determination to be the No. 1 tennis player in the world.

Knowing her, you have to believe that when Christine “Chris” Marie Evert was born on Dec. 21, 1954, she must have come into the world with a tennis racket clutched in her tiny little hand.  Thank goodness her mother never had to endure such a handicap.  Mom simply had to contend with family members whose lives revolved around the sport.

Evert’s father Jimmy was a tennis professional and coach.  Thus reared in a tennis-dominated environment, Chris began playing at a very early age, enabling her to find  success on the professional tennis stage by the tender age of 15.  

She was known first as the “Ice Princess” and later as the “Ice Maiden” because Evert remained completely stone-faced on court –– unflappable, stoic and determined. 

“Chrissie” Evert’s pre-ordained illustrious tennis career allowed her to leave her indelible mark on the women’s game in the seventies and eighties when women’s tennis became a sport with a world-wide audience.  

Evert’s Tennis Career

Early on her talent, discipline, and drive compelled her to stretch and reach for the top rung.  Evert grabbed hold and never let go until forced, hanging onto every opportunity like a fierce terrier.  Case in point—she never lost a first or second round match in a major tournament.  Evert simply refused to lose.  

During her tenure at the top of the women’s game she won 18 Grand Slam titles in singles—seven French Open, six U.S. Open, three Wimbledon, and two Australian Open.  Her record of six U.S. Open titles still stands. Evert’s win-loss record of 90 percent remains the best of any male or female who played professional tennis. 

In her career, Evert won 157 titles in singles, and in doubles she won three grand slam championships and 29 regular tour titles.  She was ranked world No. 1 in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, and 1981.

Evert’s career spanned almost 20 years and she played the best players in different eras —from Margaret Court and Billie Jean King, to Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.  Through it all, Evert remained remarkably competitive, displaying consistency and discipline—her demeanor forever implacable.

The Beginnings

At age 16 Evert made her grand slam debut at the 1971 U.S. Open where she mowed down the competition, making it all the way to the semifinals.  There she met and was defeated by Billie Jean King 6-3, 6-2.  Not too shabby for a teenager taking her first tentative step into the limelight. Back in those days there were no teenagers playing professional tennis—unlike today.

In 1973 she improved—ending up as a runner-up at both the French Open and Wimbledon.  In 1974, she won both of these events.  It was at this time that Evert and fellow American Jimmy Connors were engaged and “love” followed them around like the press, hot on their heels.  The romantic duo  played “mixed doubles” together at Wimbledon and then later at the U.S. Open in 1974.

For Evert, time spent playing doubles was short-lived—as was her relationship with Connors.  She preferred to concentrate her time and training energies upon her singles career.

For the next five years Evert dominated the women’s game.  In 1975 she won the French Open again and captured the U.S. Open—a title she would win for the next four consecutive years.  In 1976 she took back the Wimbledon crown.  

As Evert reigned supreme on the tennis courts, she was being called “the Ice Maiden” of tennis.  Today we might have called her “The Terminator.”

The Evert-Navratilova Rivalry

In the latter seventies, a new rival was pushing her way onto the scene, Martina Navratilova.  The young lady from Czechoslovakia made her way to the top of the game, where she inevitably met Evert.  

At first Evert dominated their matches.  Navratilova did not like losing.  It got under her skin and motivated the Czech.  It pushed Navratilova to lose weight, get in shape, hire a coach, and go after the American.  

Evert was smart and she played smart.  She possessed a powerful two-handed backhand—one of the best in the game.   If you ventured to the net, Evert had the ability to pass you on either side.  With excellent speed and footwork, she used all of her arsenal to defeat Navratilova early on in their rivalry.  

Eventually, however, Navratilova became the dictator with her fast-paced serve and volley style of play—paralleling the rise of McEnroe, who overcame Borg’s dominance on the men’s side.  

But consider this—Borg and McEnroe played each other 14 times in their great rivalry.  Evert and Navratilova played each other 80 times from 1973-1988—15 years.  

As matches grew tighter, Evert became more focused, more consistent—patient and more determined.  Navratilova grew more agitated and volatile, often arguing with the chair umpire, quipping and joking with the crowd.

The rivalry between Evert and Navratilova became the central spoke of the women’s game in the eighties.  The two rivals bore the brunt of building the women’s game.  While they each had their fans and their detractors, overall, their rivalry was a positive one in building a fan base for women’s tennis.

Like Borg, Evert dominated on clay.  The surface suited her game best.   From the beginning in 1973 Evert won 125 consecutive matches on clay, losing only 7 sets.  Her record stands today as the best among men and women.  It ended in 1979 at the Italian Open when Evert lost to Tracy Austin. One suspects that her record on clay of 197-1 from 1973-1981 will never be broken. 

One wonders how Borg might have fared in comparison, had he continued to play. Certainly on clay no one could ever equal the “Ice Maiden” Evert –– not even the “Ice Man” Borg.

In all she won seven French Open titles.  In the process, Evert had to defeat Navratilova three times in three-set matches at French Open finals.

Over the course of their rivalry Evert faced Navratilova in 14 grand slam finals, losing 10 of them.  “Chrissie” played best on clay and on hard courts.  Navratilova’s best surfaces were grass and indoor carpet.  

Overall Navratilova holds the edge in their head-to-head meetings 43-37.  The win-loss difference, however, must take into account the number of times they met on their preferred surface. 

Conclusions

Evert holds the record at the U.S. Open for the most wins in singles—101.  She won at least one major each year for 13 consecutive years between 1974-1986, highlighting her mastery of consistency and focus.  Her legacy is firm, rooted in the core of her belief in herself and her game.

In 1989 Evert retired from professional tennis.  Her last match came against Conchita Martinez in the 1989 Fed Cup.  In 1995 she became only the fourth player ever elected unanimously into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Evert has remained active in tennis –– teaching, coaching and writing.  Her impact on the game has been well-documented.  Evert’s career, and her rivalry with Navratilova, came at the most opportune time: after Billie Jean King co-opted the women’s tour and got it up and running.

Evert’s domination, with her pure strokes, pin-point placement, and stern countenance became the perfect foil for the colorful and often irascible Navratilova.  Together they became the popular staple on the women’s tour –– building for future rivalries and leading the way to today’s game... 

To read about the other "Queens of the Court" who helped build the game, follow the links listed below:

Molla Mallory  
Helen Wills  
Suzanne Lenglen
Althea Gibson
Maureen Connolly
Evonne Goolagong  
Billie Jean King
Maria Bueno
Margaret Court

Steffi Graf

Before we end up with a King Charles speaking out of turn or a bland, waving King William, let's rethink the whole royal situation

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away with the fairies, there lived a young prince known as the Shadow King. The land had been ruled for three score years by his much-loved grandmother, but with his father now so old he had been granted a magic Oyster to help him travel, the nation was looking to the Shadowy One as the man who would lead them through the critical early years of the third millennium.

Yes, that's right. Here we are, a decade into the early 21st century, and we're still having to talk about fairytale royal successions. "The Palace" has just issued a denial that Prince William is being groomed as the "shadow king", as Elizabeth II starts to reduce the number of her foreign visits. Royal denials aren't really worth the wax they're sealed with, but in this case that's hardly the point. The real question is, why on earth should we even be having to think about the lineage of the house of Windsor at all?

Until now, most people have shrugged their shoulders at such questions. Yes, it may be a little silly, but the Queen works very hard you know, and think about all the tourism money they bring in. Besides, if you didn't have a monarch, what would you have? President Boris? Republicanism is just for frustrated class warriors with a chip on their shoulder about posh people acting as heads of state.

It may be true that whether or not Britain remains a monarchy is not quite as important as whether we have a decent healthcare system, uphold law and order, offer good education for all, drag the economy out of recession, stop the world overheating, avoid future resource wars, help lift billions out of poverty, find cures for cancer, dementia … you get the point. But that is not to say it doesn't matter at all, and it might soon start mattering significantly more.

When our current queen took office in 1952, the vast majority wholeheartedly supported the monarchy. The coronation in 1953 was a day almost everyone from that generation remembers as incredibly special. At the time of the silver jubilee in 1977, the nation could still be counted to celebrate a major royal event more or less as one, as was shown again when Charles took Lady Diana Spencer as his wife in 1981. That, of course, marked the turning point.

Since then the mystique of royalty has gradually eroded. When the Queen celebrated her golden jubilee in 2002, the majority hardly even noticed. Nevertheless, most had also grown up with her reign as a fact of life, her throne simply a part of the cultural furniture. So what will happen when a nation that has fallen out of love with the monarchy has to face the spectacle of a succession? Pushing the Queen off the throne is one thing, installing Charles or Wills on it is quite another.

The choice itself is a dismal one. Whether you agree with him or not, Charles is too opinionated a figure to occupy the role of head of state by mere dint of being the product of winning a medieval sperm and egg lottery. Today he'll be talking at Copenhagen. It is simply unacceptable that an unelected prince should speak on behalf of my country at such an important international event.

But if the monarch is to be purely ceremonial, then why should William be condemned to a life of being no more than a professional hand artiste, specialising in shaking and waving? If a contemporary king with power and opinions is outrageous, then one with no more than a smile and good social skills is ridiculous.

So whether it's a top priority or not, we're going to have to rethink the monarchy soon, preferably before the caterers are called in for the next coronation. A republic is not the only choice. According to the campaigning organisation Republic (which I support, albeit mainly passively), the monarchy currently costs 100 times more than the Irish presidency. At the very least, it should be scaled down to fulfil only the ceremonial and diplomatic functions needed.

But we should not rule out a full republic. There is no reason why an elected president would have to come from the ranks of the political parties. And, really, what is the worst that could happen? I'd rather risk Boris Johnson for 10 years than an unelected regal buffoon for life. If history has taught us anything, it's that both are horribly possible.

"Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones."

Obama 2 (speaking for himself):

Whatever mistakes we have made.... the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace.

If President Obama had been the least bit serious about combating the threat of global warming--potentially the greatest threat ever faced by the human race, and a grave threat to the future peace and security of America and the world (OL diary here)--he passed up the best possible opportunity to rally support for the kind of dramatic action that needs to be taken at the Copenhagen Summit in his Nobel Peace Prize Speech (transrcipt). Of course, there were two good reasons for doing so. First, he has absolutely no intention to push for such desperately needed action to combat global warming. Second, he was far too busy justifying war to think much about anything else.  (The word "peace" appeared 32 times in his speech.  The word "war" appeared 35 times.) Repeating one of his favorite lies from his Afghanistan War speech, he said:

Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: the United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden, not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest, because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if others' children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.

So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace.

Rather than repeat myself (Afghanistan and Obama's lies--a further note), as Obama has done, and parse his claims in detail once again, why not just look at one part of this claim--that "the United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms."

Instead of picking one decade at random out of our past, to see how freely we intervened in other countries, let's first take a look at the period Obama referred to, and then take a step back to look at his speech in context.

On the flip is a list of post-WWII interventions.  Just take a look, and ask yourself, is this what global security looks like? Or is it a confused mish-mash best explained not as a defense of freedom and global security, but as the unaccountable workings of empire?  Remember, not a single one of the interventions listed on the jump was authorized by a congressional declaration of war--the legally prescribed process under the Constitution.  UN Security Council approval--required under international law, which is also binding under the US Constitution--has been almost as rare, meaning that virtually everything listed below is a specific collective national act of lawless violence, carrying with it countless individual acts of violence as well.  But this is the record of 'underwriting global security' that Obama blithely claims as justification for yet more of the same lawless violence in the name of 'peace.'
Killing Hope

Here' the table of contents from Killing Hope: US Military and CIA
Interventions Since World War II by William Blum:

1. China - 1945 to 1960s: Was Mao Tse-tung just paranoid?
2. Italy - 1947-1948: Free elections, Hollywood style
3. Greece - 1947 to early 1950s: From cradle of democracy to client state
4. The Philippines - 1940s and 1950s: America's oldest colony
5. Korea - 1945-1953: Was it all that it appeared to be?
6. Albania - 1949-1953: The proper English spy
7. Eastern Europe - 1948-1956: Operation Splinter Factor
8. Germany - 1950s: Everything from juvenile delinquency to terrorism
9. Iran - 1953: Making it safe for the King of Kings
10. Guatemala - 1953-1954: While the world watched
11. Costa Rica - Mid-1950s: Trying to topple an ally - Part 1
12. Syria - 1956-1957: Purchasing a new government
13. Middle East - 1957-1958: The Eisenhower Doctrine claims another backyard for America
14. Indonesia - 1957-1958: War and pornography
15. Western Europe - 1950s and 1960s: Fronts within fronts within fronts
16. British Guiana - 1953-1964: The CIA's international labor mafia
17. Soviet Union - Late 1940s to 1960s: From spy planes to book publishing
18. Italy - 1950s to 1970s: Supporting the Cardinal's orphans and techno-fascism
19. Vietnam - 1950-1973: The Hearts and Minds Circus
20. Cambodia - 1955-1973: Prince Sihanouk walks the high-wire of neutralism
21. Laos - 1957-1973: L'Arm?e Clandestine
22. Haiti - 1959-1963: The Marines land, again
23. Guatemala - 1960: One good coup deserves another
24. France/Algeria - 1960s: L'?tat, c'est la CIA
25. Ecuador - 1960-1963: A text book of dirty tricks
26. The Congo - 1960-1964: The assassination of Patrice Lumumba
27. Brazil - 1961-1964: Introducing the marvelous new world of death squads
28. Peru - 1960-1965: Fort Bragg moves to the jungle
29. Dominican Republic - 1960-1966: Saving democracy from communism by getting rid of democracy
30. Cuba - 1959 to 1980s: The unforgivable revolution
31. Indonesia - 1965: Liquidating President Sukarno ... and 500,000 others
   East Timor - 1975: And 200,000 more
32. Ghana - 1966: Kwame Nkrumah steps out of line
33. Uruguay - 1964-1970: Torture -- as American as apple pie
34. Chile - 1964-1973: A hammer and sickle stamped on your child's forehead
35. Greece - 1964-1974: "Fuck your Parliament and your Constitution," said
   the President of the United States
36. Bolivia - 1964-1975: Tracking down Che Guevara in the land of coup d'etat
37. Guatemala - 1962 to 1980s: A less publicized "final solution"
38. Costa Rica - 1970-1971: Trying to topple an ally -- Part 2
39. Iraq - 1972-1975: Covert action should not be confused with missionary work
40. Australia - 1973-1975: Another free election bites the dust
41. Angola - 1975 to 1980s: The Great Powers Poker Game
42. Zaire - 1975-1978: Mobutu and the CIA, a marriage made in heaven
43. Jamaica - 1976-1980: Kissinger's ultimatum
44. Seychelles - 1979-1981: Yet another area of great strategic importance
45. Grenada - 1979-1984: Lying -- one of the few growth industries in Washington
46. Morocco - 1983: A video nasty
47. Suriname - 1982-1984: Once again, the Cuban bogeyman
48. Libya - 1981-1989: Ronald Reagan meets his match
49. Nicaragua - 1981-1990: Destabilization in slow motion
50. Panama - 1969-1991: Double-crossing our drug supplier
51. Bulgaria 1990/Albania 1991: Teaching communists what democracy is all about
52. Iraq - 1990-1991: Desert holocaust
53. Afghanistan - 1979-1992: America's Jihad
54. El Salvador - 1980-1994: Human rights, Washington style
55. Haiti - 1986-1994: Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?
56. The American Empire - 1992 to present
Notes
Appendix I: This is How the Money Goes Round
Appendix II: Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-1945
Appendix III: U. S. Government Assassination Plots
Index

Stupid Wars

Obama owes his entire career as a national politician to one speech, his speech in which he came out against the invasion of Iraq, framed in terms of opposition to "stupid wars."  He was not against "just wars" he explained--invoking America's classic "good wars", WWII and the Civil War.  But he was against "stupid wars."

Then.  But not now.

Now he's all het up on fighting in Afghanistan.  He brought it up again in this speech:

The world rallied around America after the 9/11 attacks, and continues to support our efforts in Afghanistan, because of the horror of those senseless attacks and the recognized principle of self-defense.

But in fact, the vast majority of world public opinion opposed a military response to 9/11.  People rightly saw that it was a monstrous crime, that its perpetrators were ciminals, not warriors, and that they should be treated accordingly.  And the people were right.  The invasion of Afghanistan did not lead to the capture of those responsible for 9/11.  And once Obama and his top aides escaped, there was no serious effort to go after them.  Now, less than 100 al Qaeda operatives are said to be in Afghanistan.  Obama's escalation there simply has no credible rationale.  It's the very definition of a "dumb war", since it only makes matters worse by increasing al Qaeda's recruiting pool, not only in Afghanistan, but around the world.

Obama's rationale has been utterly discredited, as is made plain, for example, in two recent pieces by Gareth Porter, an investigative historian and journalist, author of Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam, the first, "The Taliban - Al Qaeda Schism" in Counterpunch and the second, "Obama Had Rejected His Own Speech's Surge Rationale", for the Inter Press Service.

In the first, Porter went into some detail about the reasons why expert observers see a fundamental  schism between the Taliban and al Qaeda, which is why I quote at some length:  

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen argued in Senate Testimony Wednesday that the 30,000-troop increase is necessary to prevent the Taliban from giving new safe havens to al Qaeda terrorists.

But that argument is flatly contradicted by the evidence of fundamental conflicts between the interests of the Taliban and those of al Qaeda that has emerged in recent years, according to counterterrorism and intelligence analysts specializing in Afghanistan....

It is well known among government officials working on Afghanistan and al Qaeda, however, that serious tensions between the two organizations emerged after the attack on the "Red Mosque" in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad in July 2007. Western intelligence quickly discovered the attack was an al Qaeda operation, and that it marked the beginning of an al Qaeda campaign calling for the overthrow of the Pakistani government and military.

That created a serious conflict between al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to specialists who followed the issue closely. The Taliban leadership, which is based in Quetta, Pakistan, had been depending on assistance from the Pakistani military to increase its military capabilities and did not look kindly on that al Qaeda policy.

Despite widespread confusion over the two, the Tahreek-e-Taliban, the Pakistani jihadist group that has been an umbrella organization for the military campaign against the Pakistani military, is not related to the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Pakistani group, which has now changed its name, is a close ally of al Qaeda, but does not see eye to eye with the Afghan Taliban....

Two former counterterrorism intelligence specialists who followed the Taliban closely until earlier this year told? me this week that the facts do not support the portrayal by Gates and Mullen of the Taliban and al Qaeda as ideologically united.

"We make a serious mistake in equating the two organizations," said Arturo Munoz, who was a supervisory operations officer in the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center from 2001 to 2009 and is now a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation.

Munoz called the Taliban "a homespun Pashtun, locally-based revolutionary movement with a set of goals that are not necessarily those of al Qaeda".

"It is well known that deals have been made between the Taliban and Pakistani commanders," said Munoz. "Obviously the Quetta Shura [the top Taliban leadership organ] is located there because of a deal with the Pakistani government."

But al Qaeda's view has been different. "The more fanatical al Qaeda types say 'let's tear apart Pakistani society'," he observed.

Veteran specialist on counterterrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan Rick "Ozzie" Nelson agreed that the relationship between al Qaeda and the Taliban that has evolved in recent years is very different from the one they had up to 2001.

"The Taliban is a nationalist organization, which wants to govern Afghanistan under Sharia law, not attack the United States," said Nelson, who was on the inaugural staff of the National Counter-Terrorism Center's Directorate of Strategic Operational Planning in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from 2005 to 2007.

Nelson directed a Joint Task Force in Afghanistan until early 2009 and is now in the International Security Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"The Red Mosque was a big deal," Nelson recalled. The al Qaeda-directed assault on the mosque and subsequent Taliban reaction to its jihadist campaign in Pakistan were what convinced officials that "their goals have become more divergent", he said.

More recently, counterterrorism analysts have noted that the gap has widened even further, as the Taliban leadership has gone public with a "nationalist" line that openly departs from al Qaeda's global jihadist stance.

Taliban leader Mullah Omar's Sep. 19 message for Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan, called the Taliban a "robust Islamic and nationalist movement" which "wants to maintain good and positive relations with all neighbors based on mutual respect".

I would go even further, and argue that this split in thinking was always present, although submerged by circumstances prior to 9/11, circumstances that were deeply intensified when we recklessly chose the path of war and invaded Afghanistan in November, 2001. But be that as it may, it's quite clear that there's a fundamental split in place today, and Porter's second article points out that Obama himself knows this--and that's the reason he resisted the push for escalation for so long:

President Barack Obama presented a case Tuesday for sending 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan that included both soaring rhetoric and a new emphasis on its necessity for U.S. national security....

But during September and October, Obama sought to fend off escalation in Afghanistan in part by suggesting through other White House officials that the interests of the Taliban were no longer coincident with those of al Qaeda.

....

Only three days later, however, the New York Times reported that "senior administration officials" were saying privately that Obama's national security team was now "arguing that the Taliban in Afghanistan do not pose a direct threat to the United States".

That "shift in thinking", as the Times reported, was an obvious indication that the White House was preparing to pursue a strategy that would not require the additional troops McChrystal was requesting because the Taliban need not be defeated.

One of the senior officials interviewed by Times said the administration was now defining the Taliban as a group that "does not express ambitions of attacking the United States". The Taliban were aligned with al Qaeda "mainly on the tactical front", said the official.

A second theme introduced by the official was that the Taliban could not be eliminated because it was too deeply entrenched in the country - quite a different goal from that of the counterinsurgency war proposed by McChrystal....

Porter goes on to discuss how Obama's foreign policy team argued against his position--a battle that raged over two months, before he retreated.  Still Porter notes:

Although Obama bowed to pressure from his major national security advisers to agree to the 30,000 troops, his conviction that the Taliban is not necessarily a mortal enemy of the United States could influence future White House policy decisions on Afghanistan.

Obama's speech even included the suggestion that the defeat of the Taliban was not necessary to U.S. security. That point could be used by Obama to justify future military or diplomatic moves to extract the United States from the quagmire he appeared to fear only a few weeks ago.

So, in short, Obama knows he's just announced the escalation of a stupid war, and the sole reason for doing so is that he's on the inside now, and thus is committed to doing all the stupid things he claimed to be against in order to get where he is.

Which brings us directly to our next level of hell section.

Delusion? Or Collusion?

David Mizner's quick hit, "Obama's Delusion" quoting from David Bromwitch in the London Review of Books has attracted a flurry of comments.  The graph he quotes is this:

Delays in the passage, first, of Obama's 'stimulus package' to strengthen the economy after last September's financial collapse, and, second, of his healthcare bill, have been due in large part to his public pauses to wait for Republicans to lend these measures a bipartisan glow. A few came along, at a high price, to vote for the economic stimulus. None has taken up the offer on healthcare. The Republicans stand in place, and give no sign, and watch as the president's stature dwindles. His reason for waiting doubtless has something to do with fear. Obama receives four times as many death threats as George W. Bush did. Yet he is also encumbered by the natural wish of the moderate to hold himself close to all the establishments at once: military, financial, legislative, commercial. Ideally, he would like to inspire everyone and to offend no one. But the conceit of accommodating one's enemies inch by inch to attain bipartisan consensus seems with Obama almost a delusion in the literal sense: a fixed false belief. How did it come to possess so clever a man?

But I fear that Bromwich's analysis doesn't cut nearly deep enough.  In his very first paragraph, he writes:

It was always clear that Obama, a moderate by temperament, would move to the middle once elected. But there was something odd about the quickness with which his website mounted a slogan to the effect that his administration would look to the future and not the past. We all do. Then again, we don't: the past is part of the present. Reduced to a practice, the slogan meant that Obama would rather not bring to light many illegal actions of the Bush administration. The value of conciliation outweighed the imperative of truth. He stood for 'the things that unite not divide us'. An unpleasant righting of wrongs could be portrayed as retribution, and Obama would not allow such a misunderstanding to get in the way of his ecumenical goals.

This isn't wrong so much as it is incomplete: his "ecumenical goals" just happen to exclude precisely the very foundation of his national political career--his outspoken opposition to "stupid wars".  He was against them, before he was for them.  Unfortunately, he was against them when he was virtualy powerless to do anything to counter them, and he's for them when he is virtually unfettered in waging them.

Indeed, it's now quite clear that Obama's main reason for not prosecuting Bush officials was not a desire to avoid conflict with Republicans.  It was because he wants to continue those very same practices himself, and completely normalize them.  Warrantless wiretapping.  Stupid wars.  Secret prisons.  Corporate-friendlywritten legislation.  Adopting the Nazi's Nuremberg Defense as official US policy. This is not delusion.  It's collusion. And it has absolutely nothing to do with peace--except, of course, for the peace of the dead.

Adopting the Nazi position on war crimes is the most clearly despicable aspect of this collusion agenda.  Jonathan Turley made this quite clear in a blog post this week, Nuremberg Revisited: Obama Administration Files To Dismiss Case Against John?Yoo:

John Yoo is being defended in court this month by the Administration. Not the Bush Administration. The Obama Administration. As with the lawsuits over electronic surveillance and torture, the Obama administration wants the lawsuit against Yoo dismissed and is defending the right of Justice Department officials to help establish a torture program - an established war crime. I will be discussing the issue on this segment of MSNBC Countdown.

The Obama Administration has filed a brief that brushes over the war crimes aspects of Yoo's work at the Justice Department. Instead, it insists that attorneys must be free to give advice - even if it is to establish a torture program....

The Obama Administration has gutted the hard-fought victories in Nuremberg where lawyers and judges were often guilty of war crimes in their legal advice and opinions. The third of the twelve trials for war crimes involved 16 German jurists and lawyers. Nine had been officials of the Reich Ministry of Justice, the others were prosecutors and judges of the Special Courts and People's Courts of Nazi Germany. It would have been a larger group but two lawyers committed suicide before trial: Adolf Georg Thierack, former minister of justice, and Carl Westphal, a ministerial counsellor.

They included Herbert Klemm, who was sentenced to life imprisonment and served as minister of justice, director of the Ministry's Legal Education and Training Division, and deputy director of the National Socialist Lawyer's League.

Oswald Rothaug received life imprisonment for his role as a prosecutor and later a judge.

Wilhelm von Ammon received ten years for his work as a justice official in occupied areas.

Guenther Joel received ten years for being an adviser (like Yoo) to the Ministry of Justice and later a judge.

Curt Rothenberger was also a legal adviser and was given seven years for his writings at the Ministry of Justice and as the deputy president of the Academy of German Law

Wolfgang Mettgenberg received ten years as representative of the Criminal Legislation Administration Division of the Ministry of Justice,

Ernst Lautz (10 years) had been chief public prosecutor of the People's Court.

Franz Schlegelberger, a former Ministry of Justice official, was convicted and sentenced to life for conspiracy and other war crimes. The court found:

'...that Schlegelberger supported the pretension of Hitler in his assumption of power to deal with life and death in disregard of even the pretense of judicial process. By his exhortations and directives, Schlegelberger contributed to the destruction of judicial independence. It was his signature on the decree of 7 February 1942 which imposed upon the Ministry of Justice and the courts the burden of the prosecution, trial, and disposal of the victims of Hitler's Night and Fog. For this he must be charged with primary responsibility. 'He was guilty of instituting and supporting procedures for the wholesale persecution of Jews and Poles. Concerning Jews, his ideas were less brutal than those of his associates, but they can scarcely be called humane. When the "final solution of the Jewish question" was under discussion, the question arose as to the disposition of half-Jews. The deportation of full Jews to the East was then in full swing throughout Germany. Schlegelberger was unwilling to extend the system to half-Jews.'

It was the "ideas" that these lawyers advanced that made the war crimes possible. Other officials were tried but acquitted. All of these officials used arguments similar to those in the Obama Administration's brief of why lawyers are not responsible for war crimes that they defend and justify. Bush selected people like Yoo to justify the war crime of torture. If they had written against it, the Administration might have abandoned the effort. The CIA director and others were already concerned about the prospect of prosecution. The Obama Administration's brief revisits Nuremberg and sweeps away such quaint notions. Indeed, the brief for Yoo could have been used directly to support legal advisers Wolfgang Mettgenberg, Guenther Joel, and Wilhelm von Ammon.

If successful in this case, the Obama Administration will succeed in returning the world to the rules leading to the war crimes at Nuremberg. Quite a legacy for the world's newest Nobel Peace Prize winner. [Emphasis added]

Make that the Nobel War-Is-Peace Prize winner.

Click through for a thorough, inspired look at Patella injuries throughout the NBA and other sports, courtesy of all-world commenter Norsktroll.

-- Ben Golliver | (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com) | Twitter

This post got mainly inspired by my hope that Greg Oden can return back to the level he had reached this season rather quickly, and this comment in Dave's What if? What Now? post:

I would like to hear some stats on broken patellas. I have never come across this in my years of playing/coaching/being a fan. How common is this? Should anything be read into this ( I mean, there wasn’t any contact, does Oden have a bone/muscle problem?), Is this an injury from which someone can make a full recovery, like a broken hand, or is it something that forever slows you down, like a ruptured calf?

And mostly, does anyone read the Umpteenth post this far down?!?!?

by CaptHustle on Dec 7, 2009 8:28 PM PST

Yes, I did. I wrote a short reply with some examples I knew by heart and from Kevin Pelton's excellent post on the topic over at Basketball Prospectus, but wanted to look into this in much more detail so I did some research.

The available data not surprisingly is more accurate since the (mid-)90s. As you can see from some examples below this injury has always happened to players, but for much of the earlier occurrences there is no detailed information available. At least on the Internet. Even in the 80s it often just got reported that the knee in general was injured, or a "knee ligament" without stating what exactly happened. Maybe it was an ACL injury, maybe it was a patella injury. So the listings despite long are hardly exhaustive. At the end of this post I also take a look at these injuries in other pro sports (NFL, NHL, baseball, it probably is also a common injury in soccer and other sports) to get some more examples.

I am no orthopedic surgeon, so I can just look into some publicly available sources about variations of this injury to the knee of athletes and see what happened later in their career. Draw your own conclusions. Thanks to sites like CBSSports, Prosportstransactions, NBA.com, Basketball-Reference.com and its sister sites for other sports, Wikipedia, and SBN's own player profiles that all include detailed information on injuries and statistics.

Anatomy of the Knee

From Gray's Anatomy 20th edition, via Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

In Greg Oden's case, the patella (knee cap) seems to have basically broken in half resulting in a severe displacement. BUT, the good news amid that bad news is that the two strong tendons attaching it which control knee flexion and extension - the quadriceps tendon to the quadriceps femoris musle on the upper leg and the patellar tendon to the lower leg -reportedly were not torn. Also no other surrounding ligaments (ACL, MCL) were damaged.

(The term patellar tendon is a bit misleading, since tendons typically attach bones to muscles. It really is a ligament, attaching a bone to a bone, in this case the patella to the tibia. I will continue to use the term tendon since that is what usually got reported.)

Here is a look at different kinds of patella and patellar tendon injuries over the years.

Broken and/or dislocated patella

SF Elgin Baylor, 1965, age 30, Lakers: Fracture?

Required surgery on "injured kneecap" in April.

Next season: Appeared in 65 games, but saw his minutes and points drop massively by about 1000 each. Apparently made a full recovery returning to his previous level of production in the following seasons.

G Ronnie Lester, 1983, age 24, Bulls: Fracture

Fractured right kneecap in March, out for the remainder of the season (played 65 games).

Next season: Appeared in 43 games. Declining numbers, ended his career in 1985-86 on the Lakers after being placed on the injured list with "tendinitis in knee". He continued to work there as a scout and eventually as an assistant GM.

Trivia time: Ronnie was drafted by the Trail Blazers with the 10th pick of the first round in the 1980 NBA draft but got immediately traded along with a 1981 first round pick (#4 Al Wood) to Chicago for Kelvin Ransey and their 1981 first round pick (#15 Darnell Valentine).

C Shawn Bradley, 1994, age 22, 76ers: Dislocation and chipping

Dislocated patella and bone chip in left knee had to be surgically treated in February, out for the remainder of the season (his rookie year).

Next season: Played in all 82 games recording the most minutes of his career and improving his numbers in about all categories. Followed by a ten year career with some other sprains and muscle tears, but seemingly no ill effects from this particular injury.

SF LaPhonso Ellis, 1994, age 24, Nuggets: Stress fracture

Stress fracture of the right patella in September. Initially prognosticated to be out 8 weeks he only appears in 6 games that season.

Next season: Appeared in 45 games with lower numbers than in the season before the injury (sophomore). Then production goes up again in the following 2 seasons to the former level. After that he needed different arthroscopic surgeries on the other knee, and continued to be somewhat injury prone.

PF Bison Dele (born Brian Carson Williams), 1995, age 25, Nuggets: Stress fracture

Small stress fracture of or below left kneecap in February. Played 63 games that year.

Next season: Played 65 games for the Clippers, starting all and posting career highs up to that time.

SF Mario Bennett, 1995, age 22, Suns: Severe bruise, chipping?

Surgery on left knee to repair what was reported as "roughening under kneecap" (chondromalacia) at the end of October. Comparable to a bone chip a la what Greg had last year? Missed 4 months before he was reactivated.

Next season: No team in 1996-97. Appeared in 45 games in 1997-98 for the Lakers, the most of his short NBA career.

C Priest Lauderdale, 1996, age 23, Atlanta: Partial dislocation

Happened in mid-November. No surgery, played in 35 games that season.

Next season: Played in 39 games, posting better numbers in most categories. His short NBA career then ended (28th pick in 2006). He continued his career in US minor leagues and internationally in Cyprus, Bulgaria (citizenship after 3 years in the league), Saudi Arabia, China, and Iran where he is still active.

PF/C Dino Radja, 1997, age 29, Celtics: Patella fracture

Required surgery on left patella in January, missed the rest of the season.

Next season: Six months later he failed a physical voiding a trade that would have sent him to the 76ers for Clarence Weatherspoon. Never played in NBA again but successfully continued career in Europe (somewhat easier schedules), winning 2 Greek championships with Panathinaikos, a league MVP title, a Croatian championship, and playing until 2003 at age 36.

SG/SF Greg Buckner, 2001, age 24, Mavericks: Dislocation

Dislocated left kneecap in April. Missed the remainder of the season.

Next season: Appeared in 44 games for the Mavericks on about the same level of the previous season (when he played 37 games). Then in 75 games for the Suns, posting career highs or close to that in many categories.

PF Antonio McDyess: See below for injuries to both the patella and the tendon

PG Shaun Livingston, 2004, age 19, Clippers: Dislocation

Dislocated right patella end of November during his rookie season. Appeared in 30 games.

Next season: Appeared in 61 games, the most of his career so far. Then obviously hurt the other knee much more severely in 2007 dislocating not just the kneecap but tearing multiple ligaments in a well-covered gruesome moment. Successful comeback at the end of the 2008-09 season.

SF Jarvis Hayes, 2005 and 2006, age 24, Wizards: Two patella fractures

On March 2nd 2005 he was put on the injured list with 'right knee tendinitis'. Two days later he was diagnosed with a fractured patella, and missed the remainder of the season. It appears that he didn't have surgery.

Next season: After a preseason game, swelling returned to the knee and he missed the rest of the preseason but was named a starter. On December 15, he had to leave a game vs. the Lakers, and was diagnosed 3 days later with another fracture to the right kneecap. He again tried to let it heal without surgery, but in mid-February 2006 ultimately needed to have screws inserted and missed the rest of the season. For the 2006-07 season he returned and appeared in all but 1 regular season games. In the 2007-08 season he played all 82 games. His total stats dropped slightly due to a decrease in minutes per game, though he eventually became a more efficient shooter and played similar minutes again. It's debatable how much better his career would have become without the injury (e.g. clear starter instead of just rotation player).

SG/PG Randy Foye, 2007, age 24, Timberwolves: Stress reaction/fracture

Stress reaction in November 2007 in left patella. Missed 43 games.

Next season: Appeared in 70 games posting career-highs in minutes, points, assists.

C Andrew Bynum, 2008, age 20, Lakers: Dislocated patella

On January 14th, Bynum dislocated his left kneecap and suffered a bone bruise in a game against the Grizzlies. He was initially expected to be out 8 weeks. After slow healing progress, he required an additional arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bone debris from the knee and thus missed the rest of the season/playoffs.

Next season: Returned to full form, until in February 2009 an unrelated torn MCL in the other knee caused him to miss two months.

PF Blake Griffin, 2009, age 20, Clippers: Patella stress fracture (not dislocated)

This year's #1 draft pick is out with a fractured left patella since end of October, and not expected back until Christmas. He opted to have no surgery (rather a crack than a complete break).

C Greg Oden, 2009, age 22, Blazers: Patella fracture (dislocated)

Injury on the left knee on December 5th, projected to be out for remainder of the season. Had already suffered what was reported as a 'bone chip' on the same knee after a collision missing 15 games in the previous season. The two injuries were reported as not related to each other by the surgeon examining Oden.

Bruised patella

A much milder form with no (severe) breaks. Some examples from a longer list:

PF/C Harvey Catchings, 1982, age 31, Bucks

Put on IL with bruised kneecap for November. Still appeared in 74 games with no discernible drop in production.

PF Shawn Kemp, 1995, age 25, Sonics

Had to leave a game with a bruise, but played in 79 games that season at the peak of his production.

C Bryant Reeves, 1998, age 24, Van. Grizzlies

Missed most of April.

SG/SF Quentin Richardson, 2003, age 22, Clippers

Missed about the last 2 weeks of the season, played 62 games in total. 

Next season: Played 79 games, stats on same level (some up to career highs, some down)

SF Caron Butler, 2009, age 29, Wizards

Bruised left patella end of October. Missed 1 game.

Injuries to the patellar tendon

Milder forms usually stated as "strained patellar tendon" and "patellar tendinitis" (inflammation) on injury reports. Many, many occurrences of this injury. Here is a quick rundown of some:

Danny Manning, 1990, Clippers

James Worthy, 1994, Lakers

Ben Wallace, 1997, Bullets

Bruce Bowen, 1997, Heat

Dominique Wilkins, 1997, Spurs. Missed 8 games.

Otis Thorpe, 1997, Van. Grizzlies. Missed 4 games.

Donyell Marshall, 1999, Warriors. Again in 2000.

Fred Hoiberg, 1999-2000, Bulls. He managed to strain the quadriceps tendon in both legs, the counterpart to the patellar tendon that gets injured less often. Missed much of the season playing only 31 games.

Stephon Marbury, 2000, Nets. Again in 2006.

J.R. Reid, 2000, Cavaliers. Both knees, eventually ending his career that season after appearing in just 6 games.

Brian Cardinal, 2001, Pistons. Again in 2002. In both knees.

Antonio Harvey, 2001, Sonics

Jonathan Bender, 2002, Pacers. In his case it was the first sign in a series of more serious knee problems over 3 years (usually just described as a "sore knee" in the injury reports), ultimately leading to his retirement.

Brent Barry, 2003, Sonics

Mike Sweetney, 2003, Knicks

Joel Przybilla, 2004, Hawks. 'Left knee patella tendinitis', placed on IL for close to 4 months after initial diagnosis of 4-6 weeks. Might have been more than just tendinitis, or just a strategic move to free a spot.

Anderson Varejao, 2004, Cavs

Mario Kasun, 2004, Magic. Again in 2005.

Tim Thomas, 2005, Knicks

Kenyon Martin, 2005, Nuggets

Mike Miller, 2007, Grizzlies. Missed 1 month.

And dozens more players. It was and is a common cause for missing a few games especially while the injured lists still existed, usually returning after anything from 1 game to 2 weeks.

Torn or partially torn patellar tendon: A much more severe injury.

SF Cedric Ceballos, 1996-97, age 27, Lakers/Suns

Partial tear of the right patellar tendon in November 1996, expected to be out 2 months. He got reactivated in January, but it continued to bother him throughout the season missing several more games with a strained patella in March after a trade to the Suns. He continued to have s ome problems with his right knee (meniscus) and especially his wrists over the following years. Some drop in production, though he did have another strong season with the Mavericks in 1999-00.

PF Antonio McDyess, 2001-2003, age 27-29, Nuggets: Several fractures and tears

Subluxated left patella in March 2001 (partial/incomplete dislocation). Missed remainder of the season. 

Initially there was no surgery, then in October 2001 he required surgery to repair what was then diagnosed as a partially torn patellar tendon. In addition he needed arthroscopic surgery on the right knee to clean out some loose debris and was expected to be out 3-4 months. In March 2002 he briefly got activated, but was deactivated quickly again when both knees got inflamed.

Next season: Joining the Knicks that offseason, he was immediately placed on the injured list with a "left knee inflammation", and then in October required another surgery to repair a fracture to the left patella. In April 2003 he needed yet another surgery on the left knee patella missing the entire 2002-03 season.

When finally returning to action, he played in 42 games in 2003-04 season. Then continued to play several seasons completely or close to. His statistics dropped significantly across the board before going up slightly again but never back to previous state. However as of now he is still active as a rotation player.

SF Glen Rice, 2001-02, age 34, Rockets

Partial tear in December required surgery on right knee a month later, out for the remainder of the season.

Next season: Appeared in 62 games, but he continued to have some problems with the right knee (strain, hyperextension, bruise). His stats dropped slightly, and at age 36 he was reaching his career end the following season where he appeared in his last 18 games.

PG Damon Stoudemire, 2005-06, age 32, Grizzlies

Surgery on torn right patellar tendon in January 2006 after injuring it just before the end of the year, out for remainder of the season.

He already had suffered from what was deemed 'left knee tendinitis'  a decade earlier when on the Raptors missing the end of the 1995-96 season without going into detail which tendon. While with the Blazers he missed much of November with 2001 right knee tendinitis.

Next season: Played in 62 games. Stats dropped to level from a few years earlier while about maintaining efficiency. Career end after 2007-08 season where he played in another 60 games.

C Alonzo Mourning, 2007, age 37, Heat

Surgery on right knee to repair torn patellar tendon after 25 games, out for remainder of the season.

Next season: Ended career

SG Kelenna Azubuike, 2009, age 26, Warriors

Torn patellar tendon in left knee after having appeared in 9 games, out for the season. In the video of the injury it looked like someone had beaten him out of mid-air with a bat when he tried to go up on a drive to the basket.

Other sports: NFL

DT/NT Joe Klecko, 1982, age 29, Jets

Torn patellar tendon in left knee in September, out for season

Next season: 16 games. Played successfully until age 35 reaching 3 more Pro Bowls and 1 first-team all-pro selection.

RB/Ret Byron Hanspard, 1998, age 22, Falcons

Torn patellar tendon and torn ACL in August, out for season.

Next season: 12 games, his last.

DE Joseph T. Johnson, 1999, age 27, Saints

Torn patellar tendon in August, out for season

Next season: 16 games, AP Comeback Player of the Year, Pro Bowl selection

RB Correll Buckhalter, 2004 + 2005, age 26, Eagles

Torn patellar tendon in right knee August 2004, out for season

Next season: August 2005 torn patellar tendon in right knee requiring surgery again, out for another season. Continued career in 2006 appearing in 16 games. Then played 3 more years upping his production again after a drop.

LB Antwan Peek, 2008, age 29, Browns

Torn patellar tendon in right knee in September, out for season. Ended NFL career.

Other sports: Baseball

It doesn't seem to be a very common problem there. The only events that I could find were:

Milton Bradley (Dodgers) in 2005 with a torn patella tendon as well as ACL injury in the left knee requiring surgery.

Manny Ramirez (Red Sox) in 2006 with tendinitis.

Aramis Ramirez (Cubs) in 2007 with tendinitis.

Jeff Keppinger (Reds) in 2008 with a 'kneecap injury'.

Other sports: NHL

D Borje Salming, 1984, age 32, Maple Leafs

"Cracked kneecap" in March, out for the rest of the season.

Next season: Appeared in 73 games, among the most of his career. Played until age 38.

D Glen Cochrane, 1984, age 26, Flyers

"Multiple fractures" of the right patella in March, out for the season.

Next season: Appeared in 18 games, down from 67. Continued his career with the Vancouver Canucks, playing in 49 games the following season and eventually in 73. Ended career at age 31.

D Doug Halward, 1987, age 31, Red Wings

Dislocated kneecap and damaged ligament in January. Only 11 games that season.

Next season: Played in 70 games, the third-most of his career. Played one more season after that before retiring.

D Michael Thelven, 1988, age 28, Bruins

Tendinitis and inflammation under right patella in December. Played in 40 games.

Next season: Played in only 6 more games before ending his career.

D Shawn Chambers, 1990, age 24, North Stars

Fractured left kneecap in October, surgery in December. Played in 29 games that season after a career-high 78.

Next season: Changed teams and played in only 2 games for the Washington Capitals. But then had a successful career with the Tampa Bay Lightning, New Jersey Devils and Dallas Stars until age 33 winning 2 Stanley Cups.

Trivia: "Chambers holds the record as the athlete with the lowest rating in video game history. In EA's NHL 93, then a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, he had an overall rating of 1." (Wikipedia)

C Bob 'Bobby' Carpenter, 1990, age 27, Bruins

Surgery on fractured left kneecap in December, out for the season after playing in 29 games.

Next season: Played in 60 games, and continued his career for 7 more seasons mainly with the New Jersey Devils (along with Chambers) helping them win their first Stanley Cup. He stayed as an assistant coach winning two more.

D Shea Weber, 2007, age 22, Predators

Dislocated kneecap in October, out several weeks. Played in 54 games.

Next season: Played in 81 games posting career-highs. Is still with the same team.

C/RW Dainius Zubrus, 2009, age 31, Devils

Fractured right patella in November after 20 games, out indefinitely. In NHL since age 18.

General observations

So all in all injuries to this part of the body are not uncommon. A number of NBA players were able to recover very well from it, others not so much. Injuries involving a rupture of the tendon tended to have a lot more severe consequences, so that definitely is a plus for Oden's recovery.

Age doesn't seem to have a lot to do with it. Athletes are injuring themselves there from their early 20s to their mid-30s.

One thing I found interesting where I'm not sure if that means something or not: Severe injuries to the patella and patellar tendon very often seem to happen early in the season (November, December, January). Are supporting muscles and ligaments really "tired" for the first time then? Imbalances in the body? I don't know.

I hope this rundown of players gives you some hope that Greg Oden can recover well from this serious injury, and continue to have a successful and long career.

(Ed. Note: Our series "5 Reasons I Love Hockey" features puckheads from all walks of life revealing five things that either made them a fan or that keep them watching hockey. It will run every weekend. Have a suggestion for a "5 Reasons" guest blogger? Hit us on email. Enjoy!)

Jamie Bell is an online producer for TSN.ca, working with them since 2001.  He's also an Ottawa Senators fan living in Toronto, which probably offers a few reasons to offer him pity. 

Married father of two and a dedicated puckhead, Bell was nice enough to offer his list of hockey likes, ranging from hockey cards to video games to classic moments on the ice. 

1.  EA Sports NHL series                                         

While most people consider NHL '94 to be the be-all, end-all of hockey titles, I can't be so specific. I have bought every EA Sports NHL game since 1993 (yes, that's pretty sad to admit for someone in their mid-30's) and I can't even begin to calculate the number of hours I have spent playing them. Honestly, if I had spent an equal amount of time working on a fission reactor, chances are by now I would have solved the energy crisis.

The great thing about these titles is how universal they are. In first year residence at Carleton University in Ottawa, I was paired with a bit of a farm-boy homebody from Winnipeg named Andrew Seymour. Me being the ‘cool guy' punk from Toronto (well, really a suburb) I thought that our rooming relationship was doomed for failure. That was until he broke out the Sega Genesis with a well worn NHL 95 cartridge. From then on I knew it would be smooth sailing.

We created a Sega League for our floor, which got out of hand in a hurry. Our dorm room became the de facto home arena of the Glengarry Sixth Floor Sega hockey league with my roommate acting as Commissioner. Whether it would be the resident pothead Isaac flaunting the league's substance abuse policy before every game, or breaking up near fist fights between competing owners, the ‘Commish' faced enough ridiculous problems that would have brought Gary Bettman to tears. When I reflect on the amount of time we spent playing that game, my mind boggles. 

2. The 1987 Canada Cup

I was in my first year of existence when Canada faced off with the Soviet Union in the Summit Series, so you'll excuse me if my memories are a little hazy. However in 1987 I was 11 years old and as big of a hockey fanatic as one could possibly be.

At this time, Russian players were largely thought of as mythical automatons, who only emerged every so often to pound the rest of the World at the Olympics or the World Championship, however news of several key players had begun to filter through the cracks of the Iron Curtain.

I remember hearing about this Makarov character, who was supposed to rival Wayne Gretzky and that the Russkies had a defenceman named Fetisov who was allegedly a 50-50 mix of Bobby Orr and Jesus Christ. Of course in my 11 year old mind I knew that Canada was going to wipe the floor with them.

Well it didn't exactly work out like that. But what did occur was some of the best hockey my young eyes had ever seen. I remember watching in awe how the Soviets were able to move the puck around and their unbelievable patience. I also remember thinking that the USSR's coach Victor Tikhonov was the embodiment of evil and the single greatest threat to liberty and freedom on the planet. It was my firm belief that if Canada lost this series that Soviet tanks would be rolling into Toronto the very next day.

I remember watching the final game at the house of some family friends, the Smiths. While they had immigrated from the UK just 10 years earlier, they were already diehard puck heads. I recall this being as tense a game as I have ever witnessed. When Mario Lemieux ended up scoring what proved to be the winner, I remember the whole room exploding in glee. I also remember my dad's friend Dave Smith yelling something like "Take that ye Commie bastards!!!!" at the TV in a thick Northern accent.

In short Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux (along with Rocky IV) caused Communism to crumble and the Berlin Wall to come tumbling down...at least that's how I choose to remember it.

3.  1981-82 O Pee Chee Hockey Cards                   

This is really where my love for the sport began. When I was a kid, my parent's church held a rummage sale just before Christmas every year. Usually there was nothing but old Parcheesi sets and horrible "art work" from past decades, however on once occasion I came across cardboard gold.

Sitting in a nondescript brown paper bag was a complete set of 1981-82 O Pee Chee hockey cards (minus the Dave Keon card for some reason) that had been lovingly mutilated by their previous owner for the low, low price of one dollar. In retrospect it was probably the greatest purchase of my entire life. 

I studied these cards religiously. I used to lay them out on my bedroom floor in order of highest scorer (Wayne Gretzky) to the lowest (Kim Clackson) and all sorts of other permutations. Years later when I was a "serious" collector, I would come to the realization that my cards were actually most likely taken from a giant uncut sheet likely directly from the manufacturer that was then butchered by some foolish kid. Those cards would be worth a small fortune today; but the amount of joy they brought to my 10-year-old self was priceless.

4. Sean Burke(notes) vs.  Mark LaForest

The 1980's were a particularly dark period for hockey fans in the Greater Toronto area. Maple Leafs' owner Harold Ballard's reign of terror continued unabated while the team on the ice was abysmal at best. To compound matters it was impossible to get a ticket to see the aforementioned abortion of a hockey team.

For my 13th birthday, my aunt scored me some ducats to see the Leafs play the New Jersey Devils. I had never been to Maple Leaf Gardens before so I was obviously stoked despite the fact that I had standing room only ticket for what was likely a meaningless mid-season game between a pair of also-rans.

While the game was a sloppy affair at best, it did give me one of my greatest ever memories from an event that I actually attended.  Both teams had their fare share of goons, and the game turned into a bit of a gong show with one brawl after another. 

Near the end of the second period the refs had completely lost control of the game. At this point Devils' goaltender Sean Burke decided he wanted in on the action. He motioned down to the other end of the ice to the Leafs' keeper Mark LaForest in the international signal of: "Come get a taste."  Bless his heart, LaForest was willing. Unfortunately his balls were bigger than his brains and he was handed a savage beating by Burke who had about five inches and 30 pounds on him.  Both guys were tossed for their efforts and I remember completely marking out and jumping up and down in one place screaming "Rip his F'ing head off!!!"  That also marked the first time I was able to loudly swear in a public place with zero repercussions.

My first ever live NHL game, and it was epic.

5. Roch Carriere's "The Hockey Sweater"

Hands down the greatest hockey (and possibly sports) story I have ever read. Whether it be the original French version or the English translation or even the award winning short film, Monsieur Carrier sums up the feelings of Canadian hockey fans perfectly. I read this book to my own children almost every night and it never gets old.. It is as big a symbol for Canada as back bacon, toques and the game itself.