1) Baseball is in mourning for Hank Aaron, who died last week aged 86. The Atlanta Braves legend held the MLB home-run record for three decades, with 755. Here’s a documentary charting his rise featuring some old footage to cherish. And here’s his historic 715th home run, called by Vin Scully, when he overtook the great Babe Ruth. Listen to some tributes to Aaron from fellow players. and watch him chatting to David Letterman about how the game has changed.
2) The fine recent form of India and England has whetted appetites for the four-Test series between the teams starting next week. Whet it some more with a trip down memory lane to England’s unlikely win in India under David Gower in 1984-85. Here’s their victory in the fourth Test, featuring finest hours for Neil Foster and Graeme Fowler. Away wins are usually a rarity when these sides meet, so here’s India’s first win in England, at the Oval in 1971, with BS Chandrasekhar spinning them to victory. More common have been emphatic home wins, such as India completing a 3-0 whitewash over a hapless England in 1993 and their 4-0 romp four years ago, sealed with a flourish and Karun Nair’s triple century in Chennai. England will be drawing on brighter memories such as their series win in 2012, featuring Monty Panesar’s dream ball to Sachin Tendulkar and peak Kevin Pietersen in the same Mumbai Test. Andrew Flintoff also enjoyed his best captaincy moment in India, scrambling a creditable series draw in 2006.
3) The US gymnast Nia Dennis has been winning plaudits for her latest routine, which she dedicated to black culture. Here’s the stunning floor exercise. It’s far from Dennis’s first rodeo, while it’s as good a time as any to catch Katelyn Ohashi again.
After competing on the road, @DennisNia had an unforgettable "Homecoming" performance in Westwood last weekend. 👑🥁
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) February 27, 2020
No. 3 @uclagymnastics returns to the floor Saturday to face No. 18 Oregon State at 1 PT/ 2 MT on Pac-12 Network. pic.twitter.com/Y31HmZc6WP
And for some archive gymnastics footage, get a load of the Danish team performing on a boat ambling around Manhattan in 1939.
4) York City bade farewell to their much loved Bootham Crescent home with a poignant little video featuring some of the ground’s best moments. Old-school stadium nerds can also enjoy similar tributes to Brentford’s Griffin Park, Chesterfield’s Saltergate and further up the leagues Upton Park and White Hart Lane.
Farewell Bootham Crescent
— York City FC (@YorkCityFC) January 20, 2021
1932-2021 ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/k0a6uAytC0
5) No one likes to see this dept: some on-piste argy-bargy as Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov gets a bit too bolshy with Finland’s Joni Mäki in the cross-country skiing World Cup in Lahti.
6) There’s been a bit of weather about in the past week, and the snowy conditions at many matches at the weekend brought back some memories of orange balls and bracing conditions. Here are Southend taking on Liverpool in a snowbound FA Cup tie in 1979, a Premier League snow montage and the conditions denying Hanover a goal in the Bundesliga in 2019. It’s all still easier to play in than mud, however: Manchester City and West Ham strutting their stuff majestically on a Maine Road bog in 1970.
Our favourites from below the line last week
1) Hugues-Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso broke the world indoor triple-jump record earlier this month. He’s coached by Teddy Tamgho, who did the same thing in 2010.
2) “The scorer is my dad”: Eddie Hogan’s stunning free-kick remembered by reader edhoganderby in Telford’s Cup upset of Darlington in 1984-85.
3) More hot Group B memories, with Will Gollop taking on Martin Schanche in the 1988 British Rallycross Grand Prix final. And here’s Gollop taking Barry McGuigan for a spin.
4) Are these football’s 10 most elegant players?
5) Anger management for golfers.
6) Millmoor war: A feisty Big Match remembered, between Rotherham and QPR in 1982-83.
Spotters badges: vsbain67, edhoganderby, germit, whobroughtoranges, GrahamClayton
