1) The rise and rise of Watford under Graham Taylor included 1999’s play-off final victory – his fifth promotion at the club, and a moment that left an overwhelmed Elton John paying tribute via satellite link-up: “I’m very emotional as I speak … you know how much I think of you … To me you are the best, and the best person.” Warmth, humour and decency are themes in the footage from Taylor’s career – including in this BBC profile from 1990; a 5 Live interview from 1996 reflecting on the England experience; Taylor, Bobby Robson and Terry Venables in their 1994 Yellow Pages advert; and a chat with Des O’Connor in 1994, which began in self-effacing style: “There’s something wrong here … I’m being clapped by a crowd for the first time in four years.” Among the reactions to Taylor’s death on 12 January was this from his 5 Live colleague Mark Pougatch: “Graham Taylor showed the way to behave, to treat people – and to know what’s really important in life.”
2) It’s Sutton United FA Cup magic time again: Tuesday’s win over Wimbledon teed up what should be some classic fourth-round romance against Leeds. They’ve done it once before, of course, in 1970’s fourth round – 14,000 squeezing into Gander Green Lane to watch a 6-0 Leeds win. This time round Sutton will be hoping for something rather more like 1989’s effort. Look away now, Coventry fans.
3) Good news for anyone who fancies sacking a manager: Louis van Gaal hasn’t retired – he’s just biding his time before a comeback. So here’s why judging LVG on his United experience makes no sense: an astonishing defence-into-attack team goal from his 1995 Ajax side. Among other LVG clips from his golden era: a) why it’s not a good idea to cross him in training – they just don’t know where to look; and b) forget that comedy dive: here’s an acrobatic leap to make the eyes water.
4) Gervonta Davis became the IBF junior lightweight champion on Saturday aged 22. He’s a real talent: Mike Tyson, but smaller. Here’s why he might just be the future of boxing; here’s his 2016 best bits; and here’s his post IBF victory interview.
5) A Pointless jackpot win made waves last week – one of the contestants revealing that her boyfriend, a Celtic fan, had encouraged her before the show to give Henrik Larsson as the answer to any football-related question. Football knowledge often pays off; but the show doesn’t always go well for football people.
6) And here’s Neymar acting. He’s no Kevin Keegan.
Highlights from last week’s blog
1) Last time we offered up all the goals from France ’98. Inspired by that, here’s all 89 Australian wickets from the 2005 Ashes series, in a tidy eight-minute package.
2) “I don’t like this guy. I wanna cross the hell out of him,” says Allen ‘The Answer’ Iverson about the art of the humiliating ankle-breaker NBA crossover – a video guide featuring variations of the move including the inside-out, the between-the-legs, the hesitation and the double-behind-the-back crossover. Some more here from LeBron James, and last season’s top 10.
3) Here’s how Aaron Rodgers’ Hail Mary touchdown pass to his Green Bay Packers team-mate Randall Cobb sounded in Portuguese – and here it is again in German, where commentators Frank Buschmann and Patrick Esume saw it coming: “Hail Mary! Hail Mary! Das ist unglaublich!” Rodgers has a real knack for doing the unglaublich. Or, if you like your NFL less slick and more fumbly, here’s 17 minutes of the official Worst Plays of the 2016 Season.
4) Martin Klizan decided to concede a point after a rally against Stan Wawrinka in their Australian Open first-round match. Wawrinka decided to carry on regardless. “I’m sorry I hit him in the wrong place,” he said later. “He was OK.”
5) Gnarl factor 11. Sebastian ‘Bas’ Keep releases his latest BMX project, Walls – including riding off the side of a Croydon flyover.
6) And big news from Mexico’s Liga MX Pachuca v Chiapas game: not one but two roaming animals staging crowd-pleasing pitch invasions. First el perro bounds around for a bit, before el gato saunters on for a nice sit down.
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