That Friday Feeling Part I – Vikings, Devils and Michael Vaughan



Welcome to a new section of The Sporting Hack, where events occurring in the world of sport will be commented on in a brief and opinionated manner every Friday. Please don't hesitate to get involved on Twitter @thesportinghack or by using the hashtag #TSHfridayfeeling as we look to make this a regular feature.

"I don't rate these new helmets much."



Yorkshire County Cricket Club will celebrate their 150th anniversary this year which is a tremendous achievement for any organisation and one which must be commended. Producing many titles and even more England players, the county is almost synonymous with one thing: Vikings. Yes, those bearded Scandinavian scallies with longboats and horns. The thinking of the new one day name underpins a new formed sponsorship deal with Jorvik History museum in York but sounds tacky, cheap and like it has been poached off a Lancastrian rugby league side – which it has. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer plain, no-frills ‘Yorkshire’, however it beats any potential deal with Aunt Bessy.







Fergie's learnt the art of long distance sarcastic applause

Whether Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir was guilty or not of committing a crime worthy of calling the police – shame on the 18 year old Nottinghamshire youth who did so – Sir Alex Ferguson has a duty, as the chief representative figure of Manchester United Football Club to give a post match interview, which would have inevitably centred on the controversial sending off of midfielder Nani. The Scot acted like a spoilt teenager who had just been told that the supermarket were out of Pot Noodles. Jose Mourinho got two things right over Fergie on Tuesday night, one in football and the other in humility.






KP, you should know by now that the pavillion's over there
Not one to ever divide opinion too greatly, Michael Vaughan has accurately criticised the England cricket team for their dismal performance with the bat (167 all out) against New Zealand in the first test in Dunedin. England face consecutive Ashes series this year and Vaughan knows what it takes to win them; respect and hard work. "England's mindset has been over-confident; they weren't prepared to do the hard yards,” he told the BBC. One pundit who revels in the division of opinion, Geoffrey Boycott, didn’t hesitate to say what he thought either, “I hope someone tells managing director Hugh Morris, who is probably sleeping back in England, when he wakes up that we're talking about the poor preparation,” he said. Nice and subtle Boycs.


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