Sports Notes - BOLTON JOLTIN EPL - Is Portsmouth FC 4-Real? - ASEAN Football Championship - January 2007

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

Portsmouth FC Blaze the Trails - On the Move? David Beckham - Zinadine Zidane in Bottom 10 - Allan Iverson takes a Hike - What's Up With Thailand? - Cambodian Football Report

Tuesday January 9, 2007

BOLTON - PORTSMOUTH JOLTIN EPL - EXCUSE ME but.... am I dreaming or what?

We said it before and we'll say it again Bolton Joltin EPL. Well Sam Allardyce and his boys have been there and done that before BUT!!!... Portsmouth…. Am I dreaming???

Portsmouth. Yep… surprise, surprise Portsmouth has been holding down a top six spot through 22 games and really must be the biggest surprise of the EPL season thus far.

Manager Harry Redknapp has been given much of the credit from elevating a club that was almost regulated last season to ascend to the top six in the league with 36 points through 22 games. The club only had 38 points in all of last season while finishing 17th one notch above relegation status. Go figure!!!

The Napper made some shrewd signings coming into the new campaign when he picked up former England national team players David James and Sol Campbell. In addition he picked up a sleeping giant in Nwankwo Kanu on a short-term contract. Kanu started off this season by knocking in goals all over the place.

Other signings included former under 21 midfielder David Thompson. Veteran striker Andrew Cole was also brought in on short-term contract. Midfielders Manuel Fernandes and Roudolphe Douala were acquired on loan. Serbian midfielder Ognjen Koroman's loan from Terek Grozny was extended for a further season. The club's most expensive signing was that of Croatia international Niko Kranjcar, who cost £3.5 million from Hajduk Split.

The club's most recent trophy was won on April 27, 2003 when Pompey beat Rotherham 3-2 to win the First Division championship, giving the club promotion to the Premier League. Their best finish occurred in 2004 when they finished 13th. That finish included 12 wins, and 9 draws for 45 points. They are on track to have their best EPL season ever. The question is can they keep up the pace and maintain a top six position? Stay tuned…

Standings --Team --------P---W--- D--- L--- Pts--- GF--- GA--- Diff

1. Manchester United---- 22- 17----3----2--- 54 ----49 ----15--- +34

2. Chelsea ---------------22 --14--- 6--- 2--- 48---- 37-----17--- +20

3. Liverpool -------------22 --12--- 4--- 6--- 40----- 32---- 16-- +16

4. Arsenal ---------------22-- 11--- 6--- 5--- 39 -----41-----19-- +22

5. Bolton Wanderers ----22 --12--- 3--- 7---- 39---- 27----- 21--- +6

6. Portsmouth -----------22-- 10--- 6--- 6 ----36 ----33 -----22-- +11

7. Tottenham Hotspur ---22 ---9--- 5--- 8 ----32 -----26 ----28---- -2

IVERSON MOVING ON

The biggest story is the NBA's Allen Iverson's love hate relationship has come to an end as he was traded to the Denver Nuggets after 10 turbulent years with the Philadelphia 76ers that resulted in no championship rings. The question is can the 31-year-old Iverson with the 22-year-old Carmelo Anthony. Will their egos create construction or destruction? FULL STORY

THE BEST TRADE OF ALL TIME?

In the 1956 Red Auerbach made what many consider the greatest deal of all time when he obtained Bill Russell from the St. Louis Hawks. At the time Russell had never played an NBA game.

He was drafted by the Hawks in the first round (third pick overall) of the 1956 NBA Draft. He went on to win a record 11 NBA titles as a player including two as a player coach (1969 & 1969). He is considered by many to be the greatest player in NBA history.

Auerbach made another great trade by obtaining Robert Parrish June 9, 1980 from the Golden State Warriors. He was a member of four NBA championship teams and was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003. He played in the NBA until he was 43-years-old. He retired just five days before his 44th birthday after playing a record 21 NBA seasons.

There are other notable NBA trades including Eddie Jones, Glen Rice, Norm Nixon, Kobe Bryant and Wilt Chamberlain. FULL STORY

BAD BOY ZIDANE RANKS #10

Zinedine Zidane's being ejected after head-butting an opponent for insulting Zidane’s sister during a World Cup game with Italy ranks number 10 in the 10 Bottom 10 Moments in Sports, 2006. What could be worse? FULL STORY

DAVID BECKHAM

With all of the brew ha ha about David Beckham being shipped off to Japan, the LA Galaxy and wherever else the sidebar story that came out of all of that mess is about he has been asked to extend his contract with Real Madrid. The problem being that Beckham wants control of his image rights.

The Beck-man has also been credited with building soccer schools and facilities linking him to the Galaxy and the LA area. The question is why doesn't he visit needy Cambodia and help the poor kids there? They also love his image that adorns a beauty shop in Phnom Penh. They love ya Beck's. They also love football.

ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Championship

The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Championship formerly known as the Tiger Cup will begin Friday January 12th.

The name change came about when Tiger Beer pulled out as the competitions sponsor thus no new sponsor and the name change.

The format changed for this event when the minnows of the ASEAN consisting of Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, East Timor and the Philippines played in a pre-qualifying round that took place from November 12 through 20 in the Philippines.

The two top teams Laos who topped the group followed by the Philippines proceed through to the regular rounds of competition. The games are split between two groups A & B that will be played in Bangkok, Thailand and Singapore.

The Group A games to be played in Bangkok consists of three time Tiger Cup champions Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar and Malaysia.

Singapore, Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam are in Group B. Their games will be played in Singapore.

The group stages will be played from January 12-17. The top two teams from each group will proceed to the semifinals in a home and away affair January 23-24 and January 27-28.

The final will also be home and away affair. That will take place January 31 and February 4.

SAY WHAT???

The competition will have some interesting stories brewing. Indonesian coach Peter Withe has come under fire for the recent poor showing of the national side and word has it that his job is on the line with one year remaining on his contract. Withe previously coached Thailand to two Tiger Cup titles.

In the last Tiger Cup two years ago he coached the Indonesian side to being the runner-up to Singapore for the title. Is there some irony in that?

YA LOVE ME… YA LOVE ME NOT???

In a former TV series in the USA called Kojack the star of the show often asked "Who Loves Ya Baby."

That can be asked of the senior Thai national players that were virtually discarded by the FAT (Football Federation of Thailand) two years ago in an effort to go with younger players. Well that was then but this is now.

Thailand's veteran striker Kiatisak "Zico" Senamuang returned to the squad for the Kings Cup competition played in Bangkok last month after being omitted from the squad for two those years.

Senamuang quit the side after a loss to North Korea in Bangkok two years ago that was followed by complaints from then Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that the team was not putting forth a good enough effort.

"Zico" has been playing in Vietnam in the V League for several years. Since the Thaksin comments he has continued to do so. He seemed to be out of favor with the FAT.

After a cooling off period Senamuang said he would play for the national side again if asked. Several times his name came up but the FAT rejected "Zico" saying they wanted to continue to develop young players. The decision wasn't fruitful as the young players didn't produce as well as they did with Senamuang on the side.

The former policeman has leadership skills and top notch experience playing on the Thai side that defeated South Korea and Arsenal as well as playing Manchester United tough in a 2-1 friendly loss as well as being learning football lessons from Brazil in a 7-0 drubbing. He was also a member of two Tiger Cup championship teams coached by Peter Withe.

Last month after a lot of controversay "Zico" returned to the Thai team for the the Kings Cup and fit right in scoring goals and supplying deft passing that led to others in helping Thailand to the title. The Kings Cup competition consisted of Singapore, Vietnam and Kazakhstan.

CAMBODIAN FOOTBALL

The Cambodian national team came up a bit short of making it into the group stages of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Championship finishing third of the five teams vying for the two qualifying positions.

In their first game they drew with Laos 2-2 followed by a 1-1 draw with Brunei in which they conceded the equaliser in last minuite of injury time.

They lost 1-0 to the Philippines when they conceded a penalty in 81st minute. They then closed out their competition by defeating East Timor 4-1.

Cambodian coach Scott O'Donell said, "We are all disappointed because thought we were good enough to qualify."

THE FORMER CONTENDER

Excuse me… there is lineage here… in The Contender reality TV show. Sylvester Stallone the star of the Rocky boxing movies and also Rambo films was one of the creators of The Contender TV show. Fighter Joey Gilbert who fought on the show in the first season of The Contender has joined forces with Frank Stallone, Sly's brother to create a website that you can talk to boxers. FULL STORY…

JIM MURRAY MEMORIAL FOUNDATION - 2006 Murray Scholars were honored at La Quinta Resort & Club, The Waldorf Astoria Collection

Jim Murray ranked as the # 1 Sports story read in 2006 on NR

Who Is Jim Murray???

On Sunday evening, November 12, at the La Quinta Resort & Club, The Waldorf Astoria Collection, the eighth annual Jim Murray Invitational Golf Classic's Murray Scholars' Award Dinner the 2006 journalism scholarship winners were:

Jason Acunzo, Trinity College-Hartford (Murray's alma mater);

Timothy Bontemps, St. Bonaventure University;

John W. Cox, University of Florida-Gainesville;

Jae Haley, Wake Forest University;

Emily Ortman, Ball State University;

Orr Shtuhl, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;

Megan Garber, Columbia University.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a first-time winner and St. Bonaventure University continues its unbroken record with seven consecutive Murray Scholars.

Wake Forest welcomes its second Murray Scholar, Ball State University embraces its third scholarship recipient, and University of Florida-Gainesville lays claim to four Murray Scholars. Trinity College and Columbia University have annual JMMF scholarship recipients.

As of this year, 49 Murray Scholars have each received a $5,000 scholarship.

Linda McCoy-Murray, Jim's widow and president-founder of the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation notes, "We miss Jim and his columns that were filled with incredible humor and insightfulness. Not only does his legacy live on through our Murray Scholars, we're taking our mission to yet another level with the debut of the long-awaited one-man play on Jim's life, An Evening with Jim Murray: The Wit and Wisdom of the World's Greatest Sportswriter."

Jim's early passion to become the next Eugene O'Neill will add yet another dimension to his life's story.

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