1) Carlos Alberto died on Tuesday, aged 72. His defining moment – that strike against Italy in the 1970 World Cup final – will never grow old. Longer game highlights are here, here’s the goal with Brazilian commentary, and again, brick-by-brick. Alberto joined the New York Cosmos in 1977, and reflected on his time there in a 2013 video. They paid tribute to him this week with a career montage, including the moment he was introduced to fans in New York. “The greatest defender in North American Soccer League history, number five – Carlos Alberto.”
2) World Series of Poker players giving it awkward verbals – headlined by England’s William Kassouf driving Canada’s Griffin Benger to distraction, and posing the question: when does “speech play” become “being a bad person”? Here’s more Kassouf: “I’ll keep it friendly, it’s a friendly table”; and more: “the more I talk, the more I get paid”. Plus other big poker spats: losing with good grace; more bad behaviour; and, of course, the Funniest Outburst in Poker Ever!
3) What if Monday Night Football did the news? “Well, you see you got your Assads, you got your Gaddafis, you got your Mubaraks there.” Other MNF clicks: the original “you got your Adams’s”; Jamie Carragher staying professional during some breaking Newcastle news; if MNF did Coronation Street; and the age old question: what makes a headbutt?
4) Were both feet off the ground? Just about. Full marks to Gabriel Paletta for looking incredulous at the red card, though. The week’s other big disciplinary news: IK Start’s Dennis Agyare Antwi booked for celebrating too close to opposition fans by mistake, and Kei Kamara booked for twerking.
5) What to do when you’re playing in the WTA finals but your ponytail is putting you off? Apply scissors. “Every time I would hit a good shot, it would hit my eye,” says Svetlana Kuznetsova. “I thought, ‘OK, what’s more important now, my hair, which I can let grow, or the match?’ I thought, ‘OK, I got to go for it right now’, and that’s it. I was not thinking too much, though.” She’s not the first.
6) And here are some American and Australian robots battling it out in the final of the RoboCup Challenge in Beijing. Keep an eye on the goalkeeper. See also: President Obama playing football with Honda’s Asimo.
Highlights from last week’s blog
1) Everyone knows there’s nothing big or clever about tricking a dog by pretending to throw a ball while holding onto it. They’re not deep thinkers. It’s way more impressive, though, when it works on humans, as shown by these MLB hidden throw/disguised ball tricks. The big lesson? Keep your eye on the ball.
2) On the same theme, here’s a crisply-struck penalty in a Croatian second division game hitting the back of the net. Then it keeps going, and the referee disallows it. Other genre classics: Palace’s Freddie Sears scores at Bristol City but the referee doesn’t notice (manager Neil Warnock: “I don’t know how they keep their jobs, me”); and Wrexham slot one into, and out of, the bottom corner with the same result. Of course, it can work both ways. Step forward Stefan Kiessling.
3) Anything Billy Casper can do, Hull legend Stuart Pearson can do not quite as gracefully. Here’s Pearson dangling his way onto the scoresheet in 1972.
4) It’s NFL sudden-death overtime in Seattle Seahawks v Arizona Cardinals, and time for cool heads. Enjoy both place kickers fluffing simple-as-can-be chances to win it. The first hits the bar, but the second is from the Waddle school of holding your nerve. People weren’t impressed.
5) Nervous disposition? Skip this one. A terrifying crash in the Moto3 Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. Luckily, riders John McPhee and Enea Bastianini escaped serious injury.
Spotters’ badges: GrahamClayton; TheCedarRoom; StuartRG; BlackCaeser; TheCedarRoom.
