1) Cheick Tioté tragically died on Monday after reportedly suffering a heart attack while training with his club in China. If you haven’t already rewatched his famous volleyed equaliser in Newcastle’s 4-4 draw with Arsenal, here you go. He wasn’t a great goalscorer, his one international goal in 52 appearances for Ivory Coast coming against Nigeria in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. His best game for Newcastle undoubtedly came against Manchester United in 2012 – Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick didn’t get a kick as Tioté put in a majestic midfield performance. RIP.
2) Alex Honnold this week became the first person to ever free-solo climb El Capitan, the legendary California cliff in the Yosemite Valley. The 31-year-old ascended 2,900 metres in less than four hours with no harness, no rope – his effort has since been dubbed the ‘moon landing’ of free-soloing.
Also, despite being the most famous free-climber in the world, he lives out of his van and seems to be a pretty nice bloke.
3) LeBron James is sick and tired of losing to the Golden State Warriors, and LeBron James is sick and tired of answering your stupid questions. This isn’t the first time he has responded spikily to reporters: two weeks ago he called out WHBC’s Kenny Roda: “There’s this weird thing with you, Kenny. You always come around when we lose, I swear. And in 2011, he blurted out “ask me a better question tomorrow” when he was with the Miami Heat. Maybe LeBron should take a leaf out of Russell Westbrook’s book: “I just don’t like you.”
4) It’s Scotland v England this Saturday – due to be the 114th meeting, Scotland have won 41, England 48 – which is a good excuse to roll out a few auld clips: Scotland’s Wembley Wizards tonked England 5-1 at Ibrox back in 1928 and became ‘unofficial world champions’ when they ended England’s 19-match winning run back in 1967 at Wembley, and repeated the trick 10 years later: invading the pitch and snapping the crossbar in two. Of course, England have also had their way, not least the biggest win, 9-3 at Wembley in 1961 – some fine commentary in there too – and the most recent meeting between the two sides: a 3-1 win for England at Celtic Park in 2014, which included two Wayne Rooney goals and one Wayne Rooney somersault.
5) The French Open comes to a close this weekend: defending champion Novak Djokovic is already heading home, losing heavily to Dominic Thiem. It had been a rough tournament for Novak – he also confronted the umpire during his match with Diego Schwartzman. If you’re looking for another meltdown, look no further than Nick Kyrgios, taking his racket to task, much to the surprise of the crowd behind him. There have also been some sublime shots – Gaël Monfils’s slam-dunk smash was a particular highlight, but it’s still some way off Roland Garros’ official top five French Open shots of all time.
6) And finally, Sunday league-style drama in Bulgaria, as Vereya’s Ivan Bandalovski finishes off a beer can thrown onto the pitch – and then scores a last-minute equaliser:
Highlights from last week’s blog
1) Stoke City’s Ramadan Sobhi becomes the latest victim of Egyptian prankster Ramez Galal, who likes his stunts with more than a hint of genuine peril. Needless to say, Sobhi is not best pleased.
2) Back in 1990, Singapore’s Paul Lim hit the first (and only) nine-darter at the BDO World Championship. 27 years later, 63-year-old Lim shows Gary Anderson that he’s still got it:
3) Team New Zealand’s bid to beat Ben Ainslie in the America’s Cup came to a dramatic halt, as their boat capsized just behind the starting line:
4) Diving is nothing new – here’s Rangers winning a dodgy pen back in 1945. Justice was served eventually.
5) To close, this Boston Celtics fan is livin’ on a prayer.
Spotters’ badges: StuartRG, LeeWall, RobBarwick, Daniel Sixsmith, InexileSteve
