Rob Minto

Sport, data, ideas

Month: February 2005

Quick pint, Marat?

No, is the answer. Marat Safin is one of the more interesting players on the tour. Rumours of girls and booze and partying gives him a George Best-type aura. Thank God. Sport needs these kinds of characters, otherwise it’s all too squeaky-clean. Much as I admire Federer and previously Sampras, they aren’t that exciting off the court.<br />
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But now Marat has had a <a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4283581.stm”>big hissy fit and said that he is upset by the press</a>. Come on, Marat. Play up to it. Don’t go all Henman on us.

Tennis dating

Jennifer Capriati is an eternal source of gossip from the tour. Shoplifter, drug-user, Dad from the Sopranos. It’s all there. And, apparently, porn-star boyfriend, according to Tennis-X. But, as the only news source to report the Jennifer was dating a blue-movie stud, they sadly were the only source I can find to de-bone (<a href=”http://www.tennis-x.com/story/2005-02-07/d.php”>their words</a>, not mine) the story. Here is their followup:<br />
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<i>Porn star Dale “DeBone” Rutter told Tennis-X that, contrary to other reports, he was never dating Jennifer Capriati: “Jennifer and I are not dating. We met one time with a group of people and that was it. I can’t believe where these stories come from. If it were just affecting me I really would not care. But this is so not fair to her. I’m sure she is not happy. Can we clear this up. I feel bad for Jennifer.”</i><br />
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He feels bad. A tart-with-a-heart. How sweet. Quick aside: with a last name like Rutter, does he really need the nickname “DeBone”? To paraphrase Seinfeld, does Bozo the Clown really need to add “the Clown” bit?<br />
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And what is this? Sol Campbell, persistently the subject of “he’s gay, isn’t he?” rumours, and one-time tennis #1 Martina Hingis <a href=”http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,6903,1404029,00.html”>are a couple</a>? <br />
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So it seems: Hingis confirmed the fact according to the <a href=”http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/02/09/sthodg09.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/02/09/ixtenn.html”>Telegraph</a>. Perhaps this is the key factor in Martina’s short-lived comeback. Who wants to trog round the lower reaches of the WTA tour, getting beaten by endless Russians when you could be hanging out in Highbury with the Arsenal crew?

Arsenal vs Man U

What fun these two teams are. I can’t decide if they really hate each other, or if it’s the kind of fake animosity that you get in WWF. Anyway. In all the post-match analysis, one quote from Roy Keane stood out.<br />
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If you are Gary Neville, how humiliated do you feel right now? Here is a player who has won every honour at club level, won countless caps for his country, played in some of the most intimidating stadiums around the world. And Keane says this about him:<br />
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“Viera is six foot four inches and he is having a go at Gary. I just told him: ‘Come and have a go at me’, it’s as simple as that. If he wants to intimidate our players, Gary is an easy target. I am not having it.”<br />
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There you go, Gary. You may have played in Turkey where the England team received death threats, but apparently in the run up to a Premiership match in the badlands of, oooh, North London, you’re an easy target.<br />
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And if Roy Keane is sticking up for Gary, who is taking care of little brother Phil?

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