Farewell to CMJ – A Voice Stilled

I have written before about the mark of the passage of time – first of all your sporting heroes retire (Ian Botham for example); then your sporting heroes have children who become prominent sportsmen (Liam Botham); and then the children of your sporting heroes retire too!

Similarly actors, TV stars, comics and singers who seem part of your life, having been on the radio, television or cinema screen seemingly for ever pass on, or the ones who are still touring are, remarkably, into their 60’s (Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, the Who, amongst others).

And then there are voices with which you have grown up which fade into silence…

The New Year started with the news of the death of one such.

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The Record’s Rangers IPO Speculation and a Polite Correction for Keith Jackson

Keith Jackson has succeeded James Traynor as the “big cheese” at the Record Sports Department (for which read Football Department!)

He wrote a piece yesterday (Monday) which has the temerity to suggest that the Rangers share issue might not be as successful as many have said it will be. Clearly Mr Jackson’s sources must be wrong, bearing in mind all that has been issued officially and unofficially from Ibrox about the IPO.

And I can exclusively reveal some gross errors in his piece today. You can find the article here.

Some extracts are below, but I recommend you read the full piece.

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THERE’S a touch of the Boycotts about Charles Green. And it has nothing to do with not taking tickets for Tannadice.

For six months this eccentric, torn-faced Yorkshireman has been strutting around Scottish football, smashing almost everything and everyone for six.

His aggressive, sleeves-rolled-up batting style has been fun to watch and, at times, pretty spectacular too.

It must be said, when it was announced only 10 or so days ago that he had secured £17m worth of reasonably blue chip institutional investment in his planned flotation, many a flat cap was doffed in Green’s direction. This was arguably an even more impressive success than his snake charming act on the masses.

Could an SFL2 Team Refuse Promotion If Two Visits By Rangers FC Was More Lucrative?

I will start by saying that the prospect I suggest in the heading is unlikely to happen, as I will discuss.

However, as we saw in the Olympics, and previously as example in the World Cup and in cricket’s Benson & Hedges Cup, the rules can be manipulated, within the letter, if not the spirit of the law.

2012 Olympic Badminton

As the BBC reported here:-

“Eight badminton players have been disqualified from the women’s doubles competition after being accused of “not using one’s best efforts to win”.

Two pairs from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia made a series of basic errors in Tuesday’s matches.

All four pairs were accused of wanting to lose, in an attempt to manipulate the draw for the knockout stage.

A South Korean appeal was rejected by the Badminton World Federation,  while Indonesia withdrew an appeal.

As well as the “not using best efforts” charge, the players were also accused of “conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport”.