The Sports Review

The NFL and its players association is busy updating their disability plans for retired players hoping that it would be easier for them and the retired players to extract greater benefits in the future. The plan which would feature a medical director to advise the claims committee, medical panels and other facilities comes in after the repeated criticism of the current system by the former players. This was officially confirmed on Tuesday evening by union spokesman Carl Francis.

After a significant improvement by Great Britain in the World Cup Race-Off, we are off to see some more Elite League Action as the players all head to Ipswich which is slated to Hold Swindon on Monday. Leigh Adams has been fantastic for Australia in the World Cup and will be a treat to see in this matchup as well. This will be an exciting event and the fans know it as most of the tickets have already been sold.

 The National League Central is shaping up to be a division that now features some of the best teams in the league but also now some of the best pitchers.  With the Chicago Cubs trading for Rich Harden and the Milwaukee Brewers acquiring C.C. Sabathia, it is making the division that much harder.  Previous seasons always show this division to be one of the hardest to win and this year will be no different.  The Chicago Cubs currently hold a lead over the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers but all three teams have been hot with almost no room for error.  These teams will play each other a bunch in the next coming weeks and it will be very hard to seperate themselves from one another and fans are looking forward to an eventful rest of the season. 

After an amazing win in Los Angeles, the Lakers have pulled within one game of tieing up the series with the Boston Celtics.  This epic battle has been so exciting to watch.  With a 103-98 victory over the Celtics on Sunday night, Im getting ready to see a war on the court Tuesday night at the TD Bank North garden.  Im going to be live at the Boston Celtics Game I got my seats last week.  Will this game be the end of Lakers, or will they be able to get one more for a historic Game 7 game in Beantown.  Stay Tuned!

The New York Mets manager and leading sports coach Willie Randolph had a very long meeting with the franchisee owners last Monday. Randolph was asked to pep up the players and motivate them to win more games as they have been showing poor form for the last few games. Randolph’s place as a manager was intact at least for now and he has decided that he will drive his team to win some ballgames. The Mets, who have received good reviews from all quarters, have lost 10 of their last 14 games and will have to put up an impressive show from now on to win the support of their loyal fans.

After an 18 day tour to three countries and four cities, the red sox are on their way back home. The team concluded their road trip with a 7-4 defeat by the blue jays this Sunday. The red sox had started their trip from Tokyo. From there they traveled to Los Angeles followed by the trip to Oakland and finally concluding the series with a trip to Toronto.

 The epic road trip covered around 16,000 miles and the players are happy that it has finally come to an end. It was a first trip for the team of such a kind and there was a major adjustment that had to be made. One of the most difficult parts of the trip has been the mental and physical strain it takes on the players. The team had got off to a good start by winning two games in Japan. This was followed by their wins in Oakland as well. Things were however not very smooth after this and some claim fatigue was a major factor which deteriorated the team’s performance.

Red sox nation has been touring 18 days and they are more than eager to come home and play their home matches. The team will return to play the Tigers at their home stadium, Fenway Park. The players of the team are excited to get back home and start playing amidst their home crowd. Daisuke Matsuzaka would be taking the mound for the team. In his last game he permitted only two hits and a run while himself striking out 9 over 6 2/3 innings.

 In Tuesdays’ game the two teams would be trying to get out of the slump. The tigers have not had a good run and though they were the favorites to win the American League Central, they have gone without any win in the first few games. The Red sox too have not had a very successful run in the sports trip and were defeated by the Blue Jays. Many believe that extensive travel over three countries during the road trip and fatigue might have deteriorated the performance of the players in the team but Youkilis did not want to use that as an excuse for his team’s poor performance. The win at their home turf might give them the push that they have been looking for to get over the early season slump.

Chelsea scored a solitary goal to win over Middlesbrough in their match at Stanford Bridge and by virtue of this win they have now climbed one spot up the Premiership table to gain the second place. Ricardo Carvalho was the surprise goal scorer for the Chelsea team in the fifth minute of the match and the Chelsea forwards missed out on a host of other goal scoring opportunities. Gareth Southgate of Middlesbrough said that his team played better in the second half and put a lot of pressure on Chelsea.

Avram Grant said that it was important to win the match in the context of the tournament even though his boys showcased a mediocre performance in the game. Avram said that his team deserved winning this game and is looking forward to the remaining few games with baited interest. Manchester United, a team that has received good reviews from former greats, is the team that is sitting pretty at the top of the table right now.

There were four tickets to the British Open golf tournament that were up for grabs in the finals of the International Qualifying rounds for Asia zone and none of the Indians who participated in the finals could make it to the prestigious sports tournaments in the world. Jyothi Randhawa and a few of his compatriots were outclassed by Malaysia’s Danny Chia and Australian Adam Blyth in the game held at Sentosa’s Serapong Golf course. Danny won the qualifying session with a three under 69.

There was a thrilling playoff between Lam Bing of Singapore and Filipino Angelo against Tomohiro Kondo of Japan for the third and the fourth place and eventually the Japanese player had to make way for the other two players to qualify. The Indians comprising of Randhawa, Gurbaaz Mann and Digvijay Singh played so poorly in the first round that they did not even turn up to play the second round.

Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who returned to the team after a miserable year with McLaren, feels that his team will be ready for the world title only by next year. The double world champion admitted that a third world title is unimaginable for him in this season. The 26 year old racer from Spain said that he is hoping that his team would improve in all areas to make the title bid possible at least in the next season. He added that he is waiting to have a wheel to wheel fight with a McLaren or Ferrari. He knew that his team was well behind the Ferrari, BMW or McLaren in this season.

He considers his team in the group of Toyota, Red Bull and Williams; whose performance depends on circuit and strategy and will be sometimes in front or behind in a race. Alonso was the champion in 2005 and 2006 but finished at the fourth position in this year’s Australian Grand Prix. Alonso thinks that the team should improve everything including the aerodynamics of the car. Even though he is not very happy with the engines, he cannot do anything about that. He said he is always interested in racing as it gives a chance to be in the middle of a group.