Yeah, I read that about 20 minutes ago. He'll probably argue that he was not "pushed" to retire. Anyway, I think it's best for him, as he seems to be putting in the worst form of his career. Better to quit now, I reckon.

Australia wins the 20/20 match.

And there was much rejoicing.

I was watching it, too. I thought we were not doing to win it, as Australia were not really hitting any exceptional run-rate. Still, it was a good win, and now we have to prepare for the one-dayers.

I have no idea how we'll go in that one. Hayden has now retired (as if he wasn't pushed!), so someone with form should do well for us.

Jodie Meeks just set the single game scoring record for points and three point shots made for University of Kentucky basketball. That's impressive considering UK is the all-time winningest college basketball program and has had such players as Dan Issel (who held the previous scoring record), Ralph Beard, Jack Givens, Cliff Hagan, Kenny Walker, Jamal Mashburn, Antoine Walker, Rajon Rondo, Tayshaun Prince, Keith Bogans, Jamal Magloire, Derek Anderson, etc.

Meeks scored 54 points and shot 10-15 three-pointers. He shot 15-22 total and 14-14 free throws. He also had 8 rebounds and 4 assists as well as a steal.

Just thought I'd share.

Those 28 baseball writers who didn't vote for Rickey Henderson to go to the Hall should have their votes taken away permanently. How can you not vote for a guy who held three major records not the least being the stolen base record which will probably never be broken? Oh, yeah he also had 3,000 plus hits too. This should have been the first unanimous induction. Utterly criminal.

South Africa defeated Australia by a total of 3 balls. South Africa the new kings of cricket.

No one really seems to follow it here but my god ... Manchester City have bid over £100m for a single player. Apparently, if he goes, he'll be earning £500,000 a week, £2m a month and £24m a year. Astonishing.

Not going to happen. Kaka is such a devote Christian I can imagine him becoming a priest after retirement. It will never be about the money for him. Well, but maybe for the club!?

Any D.C. United fans here?

Yes, many people are hoping he turns down the incredible offer since it would make him more respectable as a person, not just a professional, but ... Its £24m a year ... I imagine its tempting since that sort of cash would tide him and his family over til death. Its all a bit ludicrous and almost like a management simulator. I can't see it being healthy for Man City themselves, since the owners will almost undoubtedly sell up at some point, leaving the club with high wages to pay. It would make no sense for Kaka to leave his beloved AC Milan anyway since City are in a relegation scrap.

Us Englishmen/women always find it funny when we take into account the fact that the likes of Kaka, playing in such an illustrious and glamorous city as Milan would come to play for the lesser Manchester side, fighting it out in the middle of winter against a scrappy Bolton or West Brom side at the bottom of the table. City are silly. Their problem is in defense, not attack.

I love that right there. If anyone want the perfect example of a club in a relegation battle and become a decnt club it would have to start in the early 2000's with Everton. Barely didn't get relegated in I think the '02 season? David Moyes(good tidings to him) took this team with a poor owner and even poorer players to a form that they could not have dreamed of in such a hort amount of time. Where did it start; the defense and mainly with Tim Howard and working his way up from there; bringing in quality unknown players with next to no budget. Yet where are they in the table and have been for the last 3 years? -5th(currently 7th?)

Being a Liverpool supporter, I don't wish to give Everton too much credit, but you're right. Everton had a poor squad, but bought shrewdly under Moyes who has done a fantastic job given his poor budget, especially in comparison to City. Villa, under O'Neill, are doing very much the same thing, as well as developing English youngsters like Young and Agbonlahor.

I support a side that very much supports your notion. Acquire a solid, tight defense and build upwards from there. A good goalkeeper is a must. Having said that, Everton's attacking options are better than their defensive - Cahill being a brilliant buy from lowly Millwall, my original local team in London.

I'm not to sure about the attacking being better to a real distinguishable point at the moment with Everton. Their defense has allowed only 2 in six I believe with no losses and one 0-0 draw. The defense earlier this season though, with the loss of Carsley, was certainly poor. The addition of Fellaini though has certainly made a differance. Although he is out now for the two derby matches with L.F.C. and another a game afterwords, which is pretty interesting to see how Everton will try play. Any goals from them vs. you guys will likely be from Arteta with his free kicks or Cahill and Lescott from set plays.

But back to the Man. C. problem; La Galaxy did the exact same mistake in the Mls. Landon Donovan was the top goal scorer, Beckam is "godly", they bought a couple Mls renowned forward and midfielders but sold off their defenders for worse ones because they couldn't afford to have decent defenders(one being the arguable best in the Mls). Where did they end up with their Oh, so great Beckam? Dead last.

Milan's management consider Kaka probably the most valuable player on the squad and have refused a lot of transfer offers but I think they would even let Kaka slip away this time. I mean no player is worth that. Hell, Kaka is a great player but he's been showing weaker performances than before, so this is offer is like an abuse. Manchester City just have a fuckload of money now and want almost every great player joining them, but this isn't helping their team. With that kind of money , they can get 3 top-notch players or even 5 very good players ( depending on how things work out).

As for Kaka, him moving won't do good for him. I mean yeah great money for him, I'll give you that, but he's in Ac Milan which is one of the biggest football clubs in the world. No matter what, he can't excel with Manchester City as he does with Milan even if he single handedly moves City ranks ahead, his name will drop and it will be hard for him to get awards especially that City qualifying to the Champions league is almost impossible with Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea in the competition. That and they almost lost hope to qualify for next year's Champion's League as their standing is really far in the Premiere League this year. Kaka is still young and has always been a player that Milan fully counted on and thus he is most respected in Milan. Plus he has a lot of money, why take such risk ?

As for Milan's side, I personally think Gattuso and Kaka were the center points of the team. When Gattuso got injured for the rest of the season , it has been all going back to Kaka. Regardless even given that, I think Milan , as Ancelotti said, could still be greatly competitive without Kaka. With that money they can get solid defenders ( since they desperately need some), use Ronaldinho as the center point of the team, and get some decent midfield-attacker or just pure attacker ( since Shevshenko has been at most a statue on the field).

Whatever, though, it would be totally disappointing for me as an Ac Milan fan to see Kaka leave.

Absolutely phenomenal amount of money right there. However, no matter how much is involved, I can't see Man City changing unless the entire structure of the club is revamped. Overpaying doesn't make good players and clubs, and if Man City want to be a good club then they'll need to do more than throw money at strikers.

Sjel - what made you change from Millwall to Liverpool?



I'm not really huge behind Major League Soccer, but I know D.C. United as having Fred play for them - that man personally carried my beloved Melbourne Victory to the 2006-07 Premiership, and 2007-08 Champions League, so if I went for anybody in MLS, I'd probably start following D.C.U. for that very reason - FREEEEEEEEEEEED.

Oh and I'll add - Adelaide United have a daunting task against the Central Coast Mariners to reclaim top spot!!! GO MELBOURNE VICTORY, CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPOT #1 IS OURS!!!!!!

He turned it down so all is well in the real world. I'm disappointed he didn't come because ... You know, Kaka in the Premiership would be amazing, but he did the 'right' thing. De Jong was a much better signing for City. They need defense minded players.

FA Cup weekend!

Ha! I never supported Millwall, god no. They were just the most local club to me. I despised them and their fans (the one's that I knew). I support Liverpool because its the 'thing' to do on my dad's side of the family. Tthey're all Irish and most moved from Ireland to Liverpool, they all supported Liverpool and in turn, 'taught' me to support them too. As far back as I can remember I've always loved watching Liverpool. I remember watching Rush and Fowler, two legends, combine as a child and being dazzled. I don't get the same feelings when I watch any other team.

For this reason I'm glad I switched (I'm ex-Arsenal for my own reasons). I'm a shameless convert from Australia's success at the 2006 World Cup, and I get a great feeling whilst watching the Reds, they just burst with excitement and are a great team to watch.

Australia got completely smashed in the cricket last night. South Africa have won the 5-game series 3-1, so the next game is a dead rubber.

How the mighty have fallen dramatically. I didn't watch the South African innings, but they only lost 2 wickets, right? Really good effort by them. I predict Australia will lose the next one, too, and South Africa will win 4-1.

I think SA's intensity will drop, so Aus has a good chance, just like they had in the last Test, also a dead rubber. Good result for SA after having lost to England last year - good grief, how did they manage that! - as for Ponting, the hard times get harder and the young openers let him down by going for rash strokes when they should have stayed around for the first ten overs at least.

If the American Big 3 were to pull out, mainly GM and Ford, and to a lesser extent, Chrysler, Nascar would lose a huge part of their fanbase, as well as the fact that it would hurt them in the long run, without the massive US exposure that they get from Nascar.

For those reasons, I say no.

However, I am also of the opinion that more top companies should invest in Nascar, like Volkswagen, or Nissan. Maybe even Fiat or Renaut if they can get off their asses, and bring their cars to America.

Sorry for the late reply, too.

Man, Roger Federer just beat the absolute shit out of Juan Martin del Potro at the Australian Open. And I mean he completely, utterly, comprehensively, and totally demolished the guy. Del Potro is number 8 in the world and Federer made him look like a complete amateur, with del Potro only winning 5 points in the entire last set. Very impressive by Fed, but almost embarrassing for Del Potro.

Go Steelers! smelt the Cardinals and feast on their innards!

Just read that New Zealand defeated Australia in the cricket from the final ball. When I stopped watching, they were only at 4/67-ish after 25 overs, which had me thinking that Australia might win if they kept the score low. Australia sucks.

Also, Nadal defeated Federer in the Australian Open. After the scorching heat every player had to endure, Nadal still remains champion, like everyone predicted. It was apparently a good game of tennis, though.

Yeah, it was surprising though, everything was going great for Federer. He won his sets easier than Nadal, but he just totally fucked up in the last set. It was really disappointing, because it could have been a great last set. Regardless. he got pretty emotional and started crying when he was saying his word as it seems he wanted to make a Grand Slam or something. He still has an opportunity ( although seems pretty complicated) to get a Career Grand Slam and win on clay in the French Open.

Regarding the world handball finals: fuck, we lost. And the blame goes on you, Danes.
Even though there weren't any big incidents during the championsip, I think some good ol' fashioned hooligan action can be expected in tommorow's news.

Watching the Super Bowl now. It's hard to follow, because I don't know the rules. Kind of interesting to watch, though.

Looks like it's Manchester United vs Liverpool for the Premier League title this year. It's fucking on!

I believe that Liverpool will fuck it up like they do every year and Manchester United will cruise to victory. I'd be very happy if Villa make the top four as they certainly deserve to. Arsenal will have a tough time fighting for a Champion's League spot in my opinion. They seem to have fallen apart slightly earlier than they did last season.

My hope is for Newcastle, Spurs and Man City to get relegated. It isn't going to happen, but wouldn't it be great?

Barcelona will win the Champion's League this year. The only team that looks like they can stop them is Manchester United due to having the best defense in the world currently. If they employ the same tactics as they did last year in the semi-final then they stand a better chance than any one else at stopping them.

No it was obvious Nadal was going to come on top. He didnt drop a set until the semis, whil federer almost got knocked out by Berdych, who isnt even in the top ten. Federer played a good match, but Nadal is, in my opinion, the better player by a good margin. I think he's going to keep his no.1 spot for the rest of the year.

I'm really glad Roddick beat that asshole Djokovic. A well deserved beatdown was what he needed to knock him down a peg.

The cricket match wouldn't have gone to the last ball if Brad Haddin had not of cheated, Niel Broom is in outstanding form domestically.

Get rid of him, he is scum

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=iBv4gq72p4M

Well done to the Black Caps and good luck for the rest of the series.

When i first saw this i thought that it was possible that Haddin had made a genuine mistake. However both his and Pontings reaction to Vettori's post match comments has shown their true colors, despite Haddins own admission of guilt (he admitted his gloves were in front of the stumps) there has been no apologies just attacks on the New Zealand captain.

How low the former number ones have fallen or so it would seem.

I agree, I don't like Haddin, even when he made that 160 or whatever in the test, I'm sure many Indians will remember the test where he threw his glove at the ball? Surely a wicketkeeper is in control of what his hands are doing etc, maybe Australia is starting to crave the winning feeling and taking a ruthless approach!

It's hard to fathom whether Haddin actually cheated. Either way, it's quite clear his gloves hit the stumps, not the ball. I doubt it was intentional, really.

Nevertheless, even cheating couldn't save the Aussies. The under-12's team could beat them at this stage. Now Ponting is going to be rested...maybe a good thing.

I think Haddin made a genuine mistake and that "cheater" is a bit harsh.

I do however, think Ponting is a knob that shouldn't be captaining us, our team has become a media showcase over a cricket team and now it's paying the price. Good luck to South Africa, New Zealand and all the other teams getting the job done and playing cricket.

Australia's decline has been surprisingly swift, in just the space of three or four months, they have crashed spectacularly in the sort of fashion one had become accustomed to of the West Indies team of the mid 90s. I most certainly didn't expect them to lose a match to this New Zealand team and especially that this batting line up could not muster 200 runs against their barely penetrating bowling.

saintinhell there is a reason Kyle Mills is ranked the third best one day bowler and vettori the first....

Is it Vettori really? Thought it was Bracken, he took the most wickets last year, didn't he? And I suppose there is a reason NZ is ranked 4th in ODIs - which is not bad by the way - and 8th in Tests, i.e, they lack penetration. As for individual player rankings, there are two Bangladeshi players in the bowling top 10 and two WI batsmen in the top 10, that at least for me tells me how much importance to attach to player rankings. Not trying to put down the Black Caps, but right now they are a bottom half team and it's reasonable for me to be surprised that they beat Australia.

Shakib al hasan definitely deserves to be in the top ten, give it five or six years and he will be world class

That's not the point, it takes a world class team to win, not a bunch of world class players. Vettori is an excellent spinner but he needs a great team to win too.

Never going to happen with a population of 4 million , player pool is too small