My Favourite Cricketer: Coming Tomorrow!

Tomorrow's My Favourite Cricketer is by The Reverse Sweep's literary marvel David Green, who explains why a past great of the game is his favourite and most admired cricketer of all time.

Stay Tuned!

Stanley Cup: Rome's suspension signals start of NHL concussion plans

Part six of our season-long series: An Australian on Ice Hockey

Aaron Rome's season has passed on. It lies on a gurney next to Nathan Horton's, the man whose Stanley Cup dreams now depend totally on how well he's able to recover from Rome's blindside hit. He was yesterday suspended for four matches by the NHL's temporary Arbiter of Justice, Mike Murphy, a decision greeted with disdain on both sides of the continent.

In encouraging signs for the NHL, they've got this one right. Just as they did so by turning a lemon into lemonade with the Thrashers' relocation to Winnipeg, when faced with two very tricky situations (this Rome hit and that relocation) a commission notoriously unpopular in Canada has made excellent, reasoned decisions. This comes on the back of the NHL All-Star Game breaking with tradition and opting for a "captain's choice" format. Three times, the NHL has faced issues which could derail or overshadow their season. On each issue they've come out on top. It would have been easy just to keep on trucking with the Great Southern Experiment and just as easy to suspend Rome for one or two games.

By levying such a heavy tax on the offender the NHL has announced they will no longer stand for blindside hits that endanger players. The penny, it seems, has finally dropped. Hockey, like the NFL and even baseball needs to minimise the effects of violent contact to the head. With such writers like Malcolm Gladwell weighing in on the area of concussions in sport, popular opinion has begun to swing from "entertainment" to "safety". With hockey and football, where mandated violence is such a staple, reduction in head-hits are best achieved through via punishment doled out by the league's HQ.

As much as it will upset the traditionalists, hockey's rules need to change. In the wake of Crosby-gate and the Zdeno Chara/Max Pacioretty hit, the league has to reinforce to players that hits to the head will not be countenanced. After the Chara/Pacioretty affair, we discussed the need for players of all sports - but particularly hockey players - to realise the need for a duty of care: a player's first duty should be to win, but not at the expense of their (or their colleagues') safety.

Rome's suspension is the first sign the NHL believes the same and are acting to clean up hockey.

Any suggestion that the game would suffer were they to penalise players for head-high contact is rubbish. People watch hockey for the game itself, not the surrounding hullabaloo - it's easy to suggest only a very small percentage of viewers would turn off the NHL were the league to crack down on head-high contact. The same could be said for fighting although hockey fights are more WWE than the die-hard fan cares to admit.

Many leagues have cleaned up their act and gone on to produce a better product. The NBA suffered from a poor popular perception during the 1970s and early 1980s. Fighting and cocaine were destroying the league, but when commissioner David Stern began his reign, heavy fines and suspensions were levied on fighting and drug use, which became more and more uncommon. Pro basketball was no longer seen as a competition for thugs and junkies. It is currently enjoying the end of perhaps it's greatest season in recent memory.

The same occurred for the AFL who, after several incidents like Leigh Matthews being charged with assault in the mid-80s, created a much more family-friendly league by instituting retrospective penalties for incidents in-game officials may have missed. The Australian Football League probably leads the league in family appeal and it's all-inclusive nature.

The second step forward for the NHL was taken today (Wednesday) when the League's collection of General Managers voted to take an amended "Rule 48" to the Players' Association - essentially penalising any contact to the head with in-game penalties or even suspensions. This is a great step by a league who's surprisingly made good decision after good decision starting with the All-Star game - but the ultimate responsibility for player safety depends not just on the league's head honchos, but also on the individual players themselves.

Read more "An Australian on Ice Hockey":

Part 5: The Psychology of Choking

Part 4: Canadiens vs Boston the Austin Powers NHL playoff matchup

Part 3: Chara's Pacioretty hit means a lot for NHL - and pro sport

Part 2: NHL All-Star Shakeup a great idea

Part 1: You make excuses for the Habs

Images courtesy: sports.yahoo.com and espn.com

Scoring Stats - Europe's most important players

A few months ago - just before his untimely suspension before the Milan derby with Inter - it became known that Zlatan Ibrahimovic had either scored or assisted on an astonishing 45+ percent of all AC Milan's Serie A goals.

Which got me asking which players were the most crucial to their club's fortunes throughout the course of season 2010-2011. Such estimates had to be quantifiable, so Scoring Stats (goals plus assists) became a measuring stick for players in the four major leagues throughout Europe.

Almost immediately, there were nuances to such plain numbers - a player's role defined their total. Some, like Dimitar Berbatov or Freiburg's Papiss Demba Cisse acted chiefly as "finishers", while others like Everton's Leighton Baines or Kaiserslauten's Christan Tiffert performed the role mainly as providers.

So interesting was this matrix that they became something of a minor obsession! The results for all of Europe (and all four English Leagues) can be found on the Balanced Sports Scoring Stats page. Once again Cristiano Ronaldo agonizingly trails Lionel Messi - although he contributed more goals, Messi's contribution to Barcelona's scoring ranked significantly higher than that of the Madridista. While Ronaldo does all he can to be the world's best (and Messi is), they are both surrounded by remarkable talents and as such it's curious to find their clubs so reliant upon them.

The Premier League proved much less reliant on one player than the other three major leagues in Europe. In England, the average team leader in Scoring Stats contributed to only 31.9% of his team's goals. In Germany it was higher still at 35% while Italy was higher still at 35.9%. Spain, however, mostly due to the efforts of those two marvellous players (and Villarreal's Giuseppe Rossi) find one player contributing much more to team scoring - a whopping 37.3%. This only serves to show how extraordinary the efforts of players like Bologna's Marco Di Vaio were, who managed a goal or assist in a phenomenal 60% (!) of his team's scores this year.

Here, in order of percentage input to their team's scoring, are the ten most irreplaceable players in Europe:

League	Player	Team	Games	Goals	Assists	Total	Team Goals	%
Serie A	M. Di Vaio	Bologna	39	19	2	21	35	0.600
Bundesliga	T. Gekas	Frankfurt	31 (3)	16	2	18	31	0.581
Serie A	E. Cavani	Napoli	32 (3)	26	6	32	59	0.542
Serie A	A. Di Natale	Udinese	35 (1)	28	7	35	65	0.538
Bundesliga	P. D. Cisse	Freiburg	32	22	0	22	41	0.537
La Liga	L. Messi	Barcelona	31 (2)	31	18	49	95	0.516
La Liga	C. Ronaldo	Real Madrid	32 (2)	40	10	50	102	0.490
Serie A	S. Eto'o	Inter Milan	35	21	9	30	69	0.435
EPL	C. Tevez	Man. City	30 (1)	20	6	26	60	0.433
La Liga	G. Rossi	Villarreal	35 (1)	18	5	23	54	0.426

You can see who led each team in Europe at Balanced Sports' Scoring Stats page.

Marco Di Vaio image courtesy: www.footballitaliano.com, image of Leighton Baines courtesy: sportydesktops.com

Complete English Premier League Table, 1993-2011

Yes, we know, we're stat-heads and have no life. At least, that's what it feels like at times! But the pointy-heads at Balanced Sports have spent the past several hours slaving over an increasingly hot lap-top to bring you THE COMPLETE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE since 1993!

Manchester United sits atop with twelve titles, but who sits behind them? Arsenal? Chelsea? Palace? The Battersea Home for Lost Dogs third XI ... click across to find out. (It's too big to post here).

Anti-Franchise: In defense of provincial cricket

To hear recent suggestions that in the future cricket sides will be drawn down franchise, rather than national, lines is both predictable and upsetting. Cricket, a sport unique in both in the basis of its rules and its appeal, continues to evolve at a rate unthought of only a decade ago. In many ways, the game has benefited from this enforced change. In others, it has not.

The Franchise model forms the basis of nearly every team sport in the world. In every type of football, all the American-born sports, motorsport and even cycling, competition is played out by teams of players coming from diverse nations, backgrounds and experiences. In cricket - and perhaps Rugby Union - players generally represent the province in which they were raised. The IPL (the forerunner of any future franchise system) aside, players don't enter a draft and subsequently are not doled out to whoever is prepared to pay the most.

It's this state-based system which, like only Rugby, cover-drives home the simple fact that the pinnacle of cricket is the International game. Where football has the World Cup, basketball has the NBA and tennis has Wimbledon, the highest single honour a cricketer can receive is just to represent their country. The romance of the Baggy Green - as with all countries colours - still holds firm. What an insignificant piece of cotton becomes when transformed by green dye and an emblem! It seduces the best of the best and lures them in what seems a more wholesome way than that of money or fame.

International cricket is what drives the sport, of that there can be no question. It's not Domestic Twenty20 that fills the ICC's coffers. Neither has First Class cricket made superstars of polar opposites like Sachin Tendulkar and Merv Hughes. To witness two domestic teams compete is now often an exercise in loneliness. It has been thus for years. Full endorsement of one's cricketing abilities has for so long been a letter from a national selector, not an excited gathering around a television screen or Green Room, waiting for one's name to be read out. That is now changing as cricket, so long the gentleman's game, inexorably plunges the way of all the others.

For, should an ICC Franchise model go ahead, it wouldn't be long before the biggest event in World Cricket isn't an Ashes series or a Border/Gavaskar trophy clash, but a match between "perpetual arch-rivals" Mumbai and Essex. Witness how the UEFA Champions' League now carries so much weight. Football has a franchise model because it has the budget to administer such a network worldwide. Look at every English Premier League rostser and count the home-grown players. The best players always play for the big clubs, which creates a two-tier system of "haves" and "have-nots".

If the World Cup is the pinnacle of football (and this in itself is sadly questionable), with such ludicrously ostentatious money available at the "second level", the best football is now played in the UEFA Champions' League and not the World Cup. (Note: we're talking "best" here, not necessarily "most exciting"). Last week's finalists, Manchester United and Barcelona, would most probably defeat the national teams of the countries in which they play. It would be so with cricket and suddenly, the International game is not the top level of the sport and could be seen by many only as an irritant.

The franchise system wouldn't be the end of world cricket. It would perhaps allow for more competitive matches between teams able to buy, sell or trade their way out of a slump rather than depend on youth development like downtrodden national sides are now forced to resort. But surely the highest possible level of competition isn't the most important thing? Cricket is perhaps the most popular sport in the world where it's impossible to follow without supporting a team. And choosing a side to support is easy - it's your national side, made up mostly of players who play on your shores. While no-one's suggesting that International cricket is in danger, its unique nature as the best level of competition will be.

As will the individual nature of each team. For so long it's been common knowledge to pack spinners for India, fast men for Australia and experts at swing for England. The qualities of individual cricketers that go hand-in-hand with their passport will lessen as they ply their trade in countries and climes anew. Imagine how much sooner India could have claimed the World's number one ranking should Rahul Dravid or Yuvraj Singh played for a franchise from Perth? By implementing a global franchise system (and it would have to be global and binding), cricket once again loses part of each nation's identity with willow or leather.

A franchise system is an easy fix. Pacemen not performing? Then buy/trade for another one, rather than either a) creating new techniques and tactics to minimise those weaknesses or b) developing a new fast man, c.f. the Australian Cricket Academy.

Which suggests another reason for maintaining the status quo: franchises have far less impetus to develop youth both in their locality and in general. Why invest time and expense in a kid from the bush when you can, via global scouting networks, secure an uncontracted slightly-proven quanitity from Zimbabwe, Ireland or Pakistan? With franchises, their primary responsibility is not to the game, but to themselves and their owners, prompting far fewer locals rising through the ranks.

No, the best way to continue First Class cricket is with provincial sides. First-class cricket is what it is - a sport for the fanatic with minimal broadcast revenues, serving primarily to develop youngsters. While crowds may increase at the notion of two all-star sides meeting, they could also drop considering the lack of global televisual interest in First Class cricket. Such a drop would be almost catastrophic for the sport - a franchise-based landscape would mean paying "import" players more to represent you than local talent would demand, presenting an almost insoluble problem for owners. It's far-fetched but possible that deserving fans are robbed of any first-class cricket by poor administration and the Adelaide Redbacks end up as the Kochi Elephants or Dublin Terriers.

Change is good. But change for its own sake brings with it entirely new responsibilities. Before endorsing any franchise-based feeder system to International cricket, the ICC must understand the ramifications of such a decision. For it a choice from which there is no turning back.

Image of IPL "faces of the franchise" courtesy squidoo.com

My Favourite Cricketer: Allan Border by Ben Roberts.

In the second of our series "My Favourite Cricketer", co-hosted by World Cricket Watch and Balanced Sports, is by Ben Roberts and features the man who single-handedly dragged Australian cricket from the doldrums, Allan Border.

Upon request I have journeyed deep into my memory to come to the point of selecting Allan Border as my favourite cricketer of all time. At the time that his career concluded I was just out of primary school and I am sure he was not the player that I aspired to be. My history however has the years rolling by with me continuing to turn over who my favourite player was at any one point, and likewise having been asked I have settled (with surprising ease) on Border as the one most worthy of my admiration.

My undoubted first love was Craig McDermott, now Australia's bowling coach. He was the fast bowler leading Australia's attack at the time I remember first watching cricket on TV and all I wanted to do was bowl fast. In hindsight it is a strange choice for two reasons. One, these formative memories have Sir Vivian Richards pasting McDermott and others all around Australia on his final visit to our shores; and two, my own cricket career finished with me an unspectacular opening batsman rather than a feared fast bowler.

But I did not stop there with the fast men, Glenn McGrath then followed in my affections. Maybe he carried to further height a similar style to McDermott, consistency and fire being in the right balance. Today, I remain enamoured with a fast bowler out of the current crop. Without a doubt it is Peter Siddle whom I love to watch play cricket most. But this is more about his overall attitude to the game than skills. As an adult now I have perspective on how misguided we can be that cricket is more than a game. Siddle is a breath of fresh air, he just loves playing the game, running in and bowling fast.

I have seen all the great modern Australian batsman score centuries live but none really stick in my memory as particularly inspiring. Of batsmen however, Steve Waugh during the 1989 Ashes was a favourite based purely on making the first centuries of his career with a Gunn and Moore bat (my first bat was a G&M also). I will also go to my grave claiming Mark Taylor is Australia's greatest captain ever.

But it is not the statistics or great memories that leave Border sitting atop my list. He was not the most classically gifted batsman as Greg Chappell was, nor could he play an innings of absolute power as Adam Gilchrist became known for. Yet Border climbed to the top of the batting world at a time where pitches varied wildly and each nation boasted an array of world-class bowling talent. He did so through willpower and technique alone. What elevates him above all others is who he was in Australian cricket history and what he means now to the historical landscape of Australian cricket. Allan Robert Border, no matter what position they found themselves in, represented Australian Cricket.

 
Getting his chance while the World Series players were out of the way, he quickly became a worthy First XI selection in a team of Second XI talent. Within only a few years he was a constant and a leader in a team that was as volatile off the field as it was on. He was a controlled player that underpinned the flashiness surrounding him.

When Australian cricket was at its lowest ebb, as a captain departed in tears and the core of the great side left as one, there Border remained, though still in his twenties, a man among the boys. He took on a role that today's leadership experts and sports psychologists would probably steer his type away from. In fact Border himself did not appear assured in accepting the role, being aware of his limitations in areas beyond batting.

He rolled through series after series of being battered by a West Indian pace attack that was as unforgiving as it was fast. If you look at his career he nearly outlasted three generations of these fearsome bowlers and of the greats, only Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh continued beyond him. Imagine turning up to your workplace day after day and being confronted by the message 'try as you might, you will fail today': This was Australian cricket in the 1980s.

 
Minimal footage exists of his 1984 test in Port of Spain where he dug in for 98* and 100*, but newspaper descriptions of it are enough to fire my enthusiasm for tough test cricket. West Indian wicketkeeper Jeff Dujon has gone on record saying it was the saddest thing he saw in his cricket career that AB didn't get a hundred in each innings. He was unforgiving in nature also. Less than established in the test team, Dean Jones found this out in the middle of India's M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. Though Jones scored a double hundred in immense heat, vomiting all the way, Border still asked more of him and the tied result of the match maybe justified his stance.

Despite never getting the ultimate success (for the age) against the West Indies, Border's career concluded with Australia as number two and taking off for the glory years. Border was still a constant and a force in the breakthrough 1987 World Cup and the 1989 Ashes victories. While others were on glorious runs of form in both of these tournaments, the captain held his game together as solidly as ever in the middle order. He retired after Australian cricket returned to South Africa and left behind a core of players that built on his legacy.

 
Both Waugh twins, Ian Healy, and Mark Taylor became the leaders of the next generation of Australian cricket and all learned much about mental toughness and winning hard from their former leader. Even while Shane Warne was spinning a web around the hapless Englishmen there was still one man who could still attack him. Warne himself has admitted that he has never been played as well as by Border (in training) in his early career. Despite his unspectacular batting nature you can do a lot worse than to watch footage of Border batting against spinners to learn the art of playing the slow men.

I never saw a Border century live, and struggle to remember seeing one on television except maybe for glimpses of his second test double century, this against England in 1993. I maintain Taylor as the best captain that Australian cricket had tactically and in understanding the game, but give me Border to bat or captain for my life any day. He did not inspire me as a child during his career, but in retrospect he has become the marker of what I consider quality cricket. Maybe why I love watching Peter Siddle today as it is he who epitomises individuals who play as though they want to squeeze every last drop of success out of their talent.

With questions abounding Australian cricket of what group of players will lead the way back up to the top the question for me is not how much do they want success? It is whether they want it as much as AB did?

Swansea City's Scott Sinclair deserves England callup

Anointing a youngster "future England regular" is an exercise both in optimism and presumption. There have been several recent nominees for the position future England star - from Jermaine Defoe, through Jack Wilshere, Andy Carroll and even Adam Johnson. Each has had their sparkly moments in the Three Lions' shirt and as Fabio Capello begins to assemble his squad for Euro 2012, certain names have been categorized already: Rooney - definitely, Lampard - probably, Naughton - perhaps, Bothroyd - unlikely, Scholes - I wish and Nugent - never in a million years.

Here's one more suggestion for that "perhaps" category, a bolter from the field: Scott Sinclair, of Swansea City. In fact, it's not too long a bow to draw to suggest he should have been considered for a call-up to the current England training camp as they prepare to face Switzerland. Take note he probably doesn't deserve a place in the team just yet, but with his Championship form, Chelsea pedigree and blistering pace down the left of midfield he - and England - can only benefit from his exposure to top level competition.

The former Chelsea man isn't the best English left winger in the country. He may not even make the top seven. But what he does offer is an abundance of pace, youth, finishing skills and enthusiasm. In International football, speed is a crucial part of a team's gameplan and something- Theo Walcott's fragile body apart - that the Three Lions lack. He may develop into a gamebreaker (or not) but to include him at this juncture would only aid England's process of ensuring the most appropriate talent makes their representative team.

Understanding that during their past few internationals England have trotted out James Milner, Stewart Downing and Ashley Young as regular left midfielders - Milner the incumbent and deserving Villa pair rewarded for good Premiership form. Other wide players like Matt Jarvis and Johnson round out the England squad - both of good, but not world-class standard. It's hard to believe that Sinclair is that far removed from that second level, especially when viewed on a purely physical basis. Man City's Johnson went from the Championship with Middlesbrough to the national setup within months of his acquisition by the Citizens and appears as if he has an England future. Sinclair could do the same.

The argument for calling up the Swans' star is simple: why not? What has England got to lose? They include an upcoming youngster, give him exposure to training with top-class talent and play him only if they're confident he won't let the side down. If he's not good enough, so be it - he can easily not be included in their matchday team. His Championship background shouldn't scare Capello - the Italian called up Jay Bothroyd earlier this season and Sinclair's record (27 goals in all competitions this year) is comparable to, if not better than, that of the former Cardiff City striker. He's already in the system as well as a regular for Stuart Pearce's U-21 mob.

As any four-year old is frustratingly aware, the simple rebuttal to an argument of "Why not?" is "Why?". England have a bevy of wide players with better and more established pedigrees - ranging from Milner to Jarvis. To represent one's country should be earned and it's questionable that Sinclair has done so. Often, managers look for two years of performances before rewarding players with higher honours. But really, does training with the National squad have the same weight of meaning? Two years ago, Joe Lewis of Peterborough was called into the England training camp while Jordan Henderson's tremendous start to last season got him an England cap, after which his form tailed away. To look back on those two's call-ups is to ask if they truly deserved them also.

Scott Sinclair will find out later this year when Swansea City begin their Premiership campaign if he's quite the player he seems. But Fabio Capello's watching brief shouldn't just include obtaining results but developing the national team for the future as well - and Scott Sinclair's definitely one to watch. It appears he has missed a trick by disregarding the young Swan.

Image courtesy: telegraph.co.uk

Where to now for Blackpool?

The third in a three-part series detailing possible next steps for the relegated Premier League teams.

Blackpool's one-season jaunt in the Premiership, perhaps likely always to be record-setting, has come to a close. The Tangerines did set records, but not the ones that many predicted at the start of their top flight campaign. Blackpool boasted the smallest wage bill seen in the EPL for several years as well, capping their players' deals at a (comparatively meagre) ₤10,000 per week. They also scored a Premier League record number of goals by a relegated team and may have had one of the better records in league history of any relegated side against the division's elite.

As expected, Blackpool were eventually relegated. But they brought a spirit to the Premiership which is going to be missed and English fans are hoping that Swansea City can bring some of the same verve in their Premier League bow next year. It's arguable that while Blackpool expected this and prepared for life back in the Championship by banking much of their TV revenues and are likely to do so again with their parachute payments.

Let's take a look at how Blackpool can bounce back into the Premier League:

Blow the whole thing up and start again

Sheffield United went down this year after three years of trying to replace their Premiership squad on a bit-by-bit basis. They came out of EPL relegation in reasonable financial shape, given their West Ham settlement and reinvested part of those monies in an attempt to recapture EPL status. The gamble - like many of their signings - didn't pay off and League One now hosts Steel City derbies. With Blackpool unlikely to be able to retain their better players (Adam, Campbell, Gilks and Crainey), perhaps it's best to bid a fond farewell to the team that overachieved the last two years. Chalk them down to a beautiful, happy memory and move on.

This would allow the Seasiders to maintain their business model of not overpaying wages or transfer fees, which in turn would give manager Ian Holloway the chance to build again from the ground up around a combination of Matt Phillips, Elliot Grandin, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, perhaps Luke Varney and the everpresent Ian Evatt. This would again be a long process, but with responsible use of their parachute payments they could raise their wage ceiling by ₤3-5K from their current ₤10,000 ceiling and employ better quality players. This challenge is one of building the club from a small-scale Championship one to a middle-tier team capable of challenging year-in, year-out yet still with the finances to retain their best players.

In essence, this would keep to Karl Oyston's original plan of building a club, not a team.

but for instant gratification:

Sell Charlie Adam and replace him

Adam was crucial to everything Blackpool has done over the past two years. His scoring in the Championship (18 goals and 8 assists) allowed the Tangerines the chance to cream Cardiff in the Playoffs and he followed that dose with 12 EPL goals and 8 assists. Sir Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish and Harry Redknapp are all admirers - even if only two of those three are actually interested in bringing him in. He'll go this Summer. The man 'Olly signed in January to replace him, Andy Reid, ex of Sunderland has already departed.

Chances are Adam will fetch somewhere between ₤5-10 million, significantly below the rumoured ₤14 million asking price in January. Reinvesting some of that money in a potential replacement - the first names that stream to mind are Joe Ledley, Kris Commons and Lewis McGugan, all potentially interested in a move but hard to get - in Adam's central role could go some way towards ensuring another Tangerine top-10 finish. Likely though, as DJ Campbell, Stephen Crainey and Matt Gilks will follow Adam out the door, it's possible Holloway decides to revamp the entire Blackpool squad and with it, alter the way they play their game.

Try to keep DJ Campbell

For so long, Dudley Campbell has been earmarked "Championship Only - Leave behind when promoted". After thirteen EPL goals, his publicist has tagged him available and he could move if the price is right. He - and his services - are needed in the Northwest, so Chairman Oyston should try and retain him. If they can't, the recently released Kevin Phillips could prove a bargain-basement type replacement for his fox-in-the-box role and Marlon King has been good for Coventry City since his mid-season arrival.

Reinforce the defense, however, whenever, with whatever. Use 4x2s if needed.

Blackpool leaked goals partly because of their up-and-down style of play, and partly because their defence simply wasn't up to Premiership standards. Ian Evatt, wholehearted trier that he is, just doesn't cut the mustard as a EPL centre-back. How about testing Burnley's resolve for Clark Carlisle? Perhaps ask a few pointed questions of promoted QPR's spare central defenders as well. As for full-backs, see what Cardiff are doing with the disposable Paul Quinn or how much Coventry City really wants to keep Richard Wood.

The task is harder for Blackpool than for West Ham or Birmingham simply because they don't have the same foundations for growth as their relegated comrades. On the bright side, however, they don't have any of the crippling debt which is likely to play a key role in the future fortunes of the other two clubs, meaning that they are in a prime position to build a lasting entity rather than embark on a short-term "Premiership or (literally) bust" campaign.

Shaquille O'Neal Retires: Olympus beckons for Big Aristotle

Shaquille O'Neal has retired and the NBA has lost one of it's born entertainers. The league, and the sporting landscape in general, will be poorer for his departure.

He entered the league with the inevitable comparisons to Wilt Chamberlain, succeeded Wilt in rings won while owning basketball in Los Angeles, won a ring with "Flash" and then turned into a role-player for hire. At times the most overwhelming inside the force the game has seen (remembering Chamberlain often favoured the fadeaway jumper to show he had skills as well as size), he played nineteen years in the league, won four Championships and took part in probably the best feud the NBA has ever seen that didn't involve Charles Oakley.

Even after his athleticism declined he remained a viable second option in Phoenix and Cleveland, before becoming an overstated but important part of the 2011 Celtics. The list of players assembled around him is notable for its extreme quality and without question, his enormous on-court presence added to each of their collective legacies. At times, even he seemed amazed by his remarkable mix of power and explosiveness. While his lithe early years showcased a more fluid offensive game (his first NBA bucket was a fadeaway jumper from 12 feet), he didn't have the breadth of experience that's shaped him into the statesman he is now.

Though his game was extraordinary and a thing of awesome power, the most appealing part ofabout Shaquille O'Neal wasn't necessarily those skills.It is his lighthearted nature. He was, and remains, a fun guy to be around. While others treated the NBA like a game of life and death, Shaq played in the league.

His early years in the league marked him one of the sport's rising cross-media stars. He rapped, did Shaq-Fu, acted (mostly terribly - have you seen Kazaam?) and won scoring titles. He went to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996 to pursue those interests and after the demise of Jordan's Bulls, led the Lakers to three straight NBA Championships. In each Finals he was unstoppable despite the best efforts of designated "Shaq-stoppers" like Dale Davis, Dikembe Mutombo and (cough) Todd MacCulloch. As well as owning the lane at both ends, he had finally developed the inner steel to back his outer confidence leading his teams to destroy the title aspirations of many of the league's recent greats. No-one was stopping the Lakers during that time - not Allen Iverson, Reggie Miller, Chris Mullin, Jason Kidd, Dikembe Mutombo or Kenyon Martin.

He walks into the sunset boasting a more garrulous and accessible media profile than any athlete since Magic Johnson, all part of a man with myriad off-court interests. He has maintained a strong interest in law enforcement and in keeping with his multimedia empire announced his retirement through Tout, a new video-sharing form of Twitter. No-one gave pressers or interviews like Shaq. That his first target here is the notoriously intense Kevin Garnett - who responded well - says volumes about the way his teammates responded to his slightly alternative methods of communication in 2011. When he owned the NBA at the turn of this decade, Shaq played in the league.

Perhaps his background, growing up an Army brat watching his mother and stepfather work for everything they had gave him this unique viewpoint, a sense of perspective allowing him to understand life was bigger than the twenty-nine NBA cities he frequented. To play basketball, be a cross-media baron and basically to do what he wanted with life was fun - and fun things are to be enjoyed. So he did. This awareness contributed to his movement from being thought of as a young punk to being respected across the entire spectrum of the league. As a spokesman for the league in 2011, there are few who speak with the authority - and intelligence - that he does.

In a poll on ESPN today, 72% of respondents said the thing about Shaq they'd remember most outside basketball wasn't the feud or Blue Chips, it was his outgoing media style which prompted his self-appointed moniker "Big Aristotle" among many others. Critics may suggest that these outside activities took his focus away from the game but when a man has four NBA rings, it's a difficult game suggesting he didn't earn them.

Shaquille O'Neal leaves behind a trail of devastation unseen since Willis Reed's (very different) NBA tour of duty. He also leaves behind thousands of happy memories.

Image of Kazaam courtesy: fixingflicks.net

Image of Shaq dunking on David Robinson c1992 courtesy: bleacherreport.com

Balanced Sports on Soccerlens: Where to now for Blackpool?

Blackpool have gone down to the Championship. In this post on Soccerlens, we examine how best to move on from there.