General Sports Thread

I'll be right when you're knocked out of the fa cup

 

Okay. And so what? Are we not allowed to enjoy watching football as a result?

 

No, my original point many posts back was in response to saint magic's negativity about the Vikings by pointing out that they'd achieved more this season than either of our football teams will.

 

Except the Vikings haven’t. You are looking at American Football with English football logic. Each season there is 1 winner and 31 losers in the NFL, it’s that simple. Whoever loses the Super Bowl out of the Eagles and Chiefs will have failed and had a bad season. It is why the smaller teams in England will struggle to gain much support in the US as most sports fans couldn’t understand a successful season being finishing 7th or whatever is the benchmark for most teams outside the top 6

 

Perhaps I am using English football logic, but I don't think it's a bad thing. It means I don't get depressed/angry if we're one of the 31 teams that don't win the super bowl and I can recognize and celebrate smaller scale success like a division title. In my experience there's a lot of Americans that think your way, but a few think my way. Personally I think your way is just building yourself up to disappointment.

Although talking of the super bowl, who will you be supporting?

 

R.I.P. Jean-Pierre Jabouille

He was also Jaques Laffite’s brother in law .


Jean-Pierre Jabouille: First Renault driver to win a Formula 1 grand prix dies, aged 80

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By Andrew BensonChief F1 writer
Last updated on 2 February 20232 February 2023.From the section Formula 1

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Jean-Pierre Jabouille, right, with Renault team-mate Rene Arnoux at the 1979 French Grand Prix, where he earned Renault's first victory in Formula 1
Former Grand Prix driver Jean-Pierre Jabouille, the man who took Renault's first Formula 1 win, has died aged 80.

The Frenchman was a key part of Renault's 1977 entry into Formula 1 - and they were the first manufacturer to use a turbocharged engine.

Jabouille took Renault's maiden win in the 1979 French Grand Prix.

His final victory came in Austria in 1980, but his career was ended later that year when he broke a leg in a crash in Canada.

He had been in any case due to leave the Renault team because his seat had been taken by rising star Alain Prost for 1981.

Jabouille tried to return with the Talbot Ligier team, but was clearly unfit and retired as a driver after failing to qualify for two of his four attempts.

The Alpine team, owned by Renault, said in a statement that it was "incredibly saddened" by Jabouille's death.

"A humble racing driver, brilliant engineer and a pioneer of our sport. Jean-Pierre was a true racer.

"He spearheaded Renault's journey into F1 in 1977 with his resilient and dare-to-do attitude. He was Renault's first Grand Prix winner in 1979, a landmark moment in Renault's journey in Formula 1.

"His determination and dedication to succeed inspired many, and these values remain central to the current team in its now blue colours of Alpine.

"We are where we are today because of Jean-Pierre and his legacy lives on."

Jabouille, an engineer by trade, joined the Renault F1 project from its start to help develop its new turbo engine.

At the time, F1 was dominated by naturally aspirated three-litre V8s but Renault was the first to see the potential of an equivalence formula that permitted the use of 1.5-litre turbos.

Initially, the car was a laughing stock, dubbed the "yellow teapot" by British rivals because of its poor reliability.

But the engine was immediately more powerful than the V8s used by other teams. Assiduous work improved the engine's reliability and, by 1979, the team also had a competitive chassis.

Their maiden victory could not have come in more ideal circumstances for a team representing France's national car company: it came on home soil at Dijon-Prenois, with a French driver in a French car with a French engine using French Michelin tyres.

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Jabouille in the Renault F1 car at the 1979 US Grand Prix
The sadness for both Jabouille and Renault is that the race was destined to be more famous for the gripping racing between his team-mate Rene Arnoux and Ferrari's Gilles Villeneuve for second place.

One of the greatest duels in F1 history was eventually settled in Villeneuve's favour after a final few laps marked by improbable overtaking moves, regular position swaps, off-track moments and wheel-banging incidents.

Jabouille had earlier in the season taken the team's first pole position, aided by the high altitude at the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami, and he took two further poles that year in Germany and Italy, although poor reliability prevented any further wins.

In 1980, Jabouille took two more poles along with his win in Austria, while Arnoux won twice in South Africa and Brazil.

After his retirement from F1, Jabouille was briefly a manager at the Ligier team, before stepping away.

He returned as head of the ill-fated Peugeot engine programme in the 1990s.

Peugeot, fresh from winning Le Mans in 1993, joined forces with McLaren for 1994, but the relationship was a tense one and it ended early - after just one season of poor performance and reliability. Peugeot switched to Jordan from 1995-97 and then to Prost's team from 1998 before withdrawing at the end of 2000.

 

Wales taking a beating from Ireland, 3-24 at the 24 minute mark.

 

Brilliant by Smith

 

Wow. What. A. Try.

 

Has Nathan Jones been training the English team In tackling?

 

Well that cheered me up a bit! Good game.

 

RIP Dickie Davies

 

With F1 testing now underway, I think now is a good time to pray to the F1 Gods that Mercedes can be a lot more competitive this season and that Ferrari are all blundered out from last year! 2021 was fantastic with Max and Lewis so close so if we could have 3 (or more) drivers fighting for the Championship it would take the drama to a whole new level.

 

Farrell’s kicking seems to have deteriorated this series.

 

England win but only 2/6 kicks (iirc) by Farrell, 3 of which he would have scored in his sleep a couple of years ago. And the other would’ve been 50/50 from the touch line.

 

Blimey, a red card each for France and Scotland after 12 mins!

 

Sounds like Dalvin Cook is getting cut @tomw24 should be some big changes in the team this off season

 

Hmm, interesting. If we can re-sign Mattison (who's a free agent) I'm absolutely fine with this. I rate Mattison and he'd be cheaper than Cook. Vikes desperately need to create cap space.

 

They need to cut a number of the older high earners. Kendricks/Cook/both Smiths/Thielen/Tomlinson all need to restructure significantly or go. None will have any trade value and all are earning a wedge this season. Not sure how many picks the Vikings have in this years draft but pretty sure they only have 1 pick in the first 3 rounds so unlikely to make a huge impact without giving up future draft capital to do so. Kwesi would be an idiot to do that as this team isn’t good and will be worse when you cut a lot of the main players, and have a first placed finish team schedule. Accept that this year will most likely be **** and make moves to build a competitive team in 2025, the Wilfs won’t do this though as they don’t really care about winning the Super Bowl as long as the team is “competitive”