It’s hard to make decisions staring down the barrel of a smoking gun Part II

The sporting world is the best escape imaginable. After watching a few sporting events this week, it perplexes me that there are even people in the world who have no interest in sports.

I reported last week that the British and Irish Lions are on tour and they will have a tough time making decisions as they staring down the proverbial barrel of a smoking gun.

But what of those teams who go into a tournament/match as favorites and everything goes wrong? In this instance its even harder to make said decisions.

It all started last week Wednesday when a certain Manchester United traveled to the eternal city of Rome to take on Barcelona in the Champions League final. Although many acknowledged that it would not be one-way traffic. It was widely believed that the Red Devils where the favorites going into the match.

Turns out that the scaly Brits from Manchester never even pitched for the match. Don’t get me wrong, there were on the field, but they were completely dominated to the extent that even the staunch Man U supporters, you know the Porras who support the club because of Ronaldo who they regard as a fake Porra because he comes from Madeira, acknowledged that Man U were never in the game.

All indications point towards geriatric Alex Ferguson’s poor selection of the side going into the game. Many believe that Man U would have faired better with Dimatar Berbatov or Carlos Tevez upfront instead of plating an extra man in midfield. But Ferguson stuck by his guns going into the match, and is a firm believer of players getting themselves out of trouble on the field.

Some will argue that it is tantamount to suicide to play that way in the final. But it’s hard to make decisions staring down the barrel of a smoking gun.

The second final this week was the Super 14 final which saw my boys from New Zealand The Chiefs take on the most hated rugby team in South Africa The Bulls.

With it being the final, many thought that it would be a tight affair. And when the Chiefs scored first it looked like it was headed in that direction, but then the Bulls hit back with 3 quick tries in the first half, which started an onslaught that really couldn’t be stopped.

Some argued that it the Chiefs contested better on the ground then they would have had a chance. Some also felt that Steven Donald put too much emphasis on the passing game where a kicking game would have served the team better. But as always, hindsight is a great thing, and in the heat of the moment it’s hard to make decisions staring down the barrel of a smoking gun.

Even Hitler was pissed off that the Chiefs lost. See below:




The final shock of the weekend is the early exit of Rafael Nadal from the French Open courtesy of lowly ranked Swede Robin Soderling. By all accounts Soderling came out to play and set a blistering early pace taking Nadal’s power game out of the picture.

Nadal could have fought back and won the match had he slowed the game down to a pace that suits him. However, that is all easier said then done and it’s hard to make such decisions staring down the barrel of a smoking gun.

In other news, the British lions came through their first South African outing unscathed, although they were behind for the majority of the match. Looking at the side that ran out. 8 of the players that Ian McGeechan picked for the team on the weekend maches my selection for the first test. So I'm almost there.