Benjamins Yarn

Throughout the world there must be millions of weekend golfers who play the game they love just once in their hectic and sometimes very tiring week, hoping to find out the secret of this magical but really frustrating pastime. One topic inevitably crops up when we make our weekly pilgrimage around the 18 shrines we call a golf course.

Golf clubs! Now there’s a subject I guarantee always comes up on a round of golf. If not on the course, then certainly in the clubhouse afterwards, where we are celebrating perhaps one good shot in a round or drowning our sorrows in a beer glass for yet another waste of a good morning.

Let’s examine the clubs further. Firstly, we usually have two or three woods in the 14 permitted clubs we are allowed to carry in the bag (what a strange number). A driver is the biggest of them all - both in head size and club length - and, in theory at least, if used correctly, can and should hit the ball the longest distance. Why oh why can’t I hit the ball like that nice Mr Woods just once in my lifetime. Granted he is more talented than I and he practises about 18 hours a day, but it still would be nice just once to hear that crisp click of the ball leaving the club heading in the right direction.

All higher numbered clubs are supposed to do about the same thing, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 irons are also supposed to be hit huge distances yet no matter how often I have had lessons, I can’t seem to make a shot from a three iron travel any further than a shot from a five iron.

See what I’m saying about being frustrated! Next, the 6 and 7 irons - or mid irons are used if you are lucky enough to hit a half reasonable shot with a long iron, leaving the ball just a bit too far for an 8 or 9 iron (which are used for play closer to the green) you can then hit the mid-iron in the hope that you will reach the green and give yourself a reasonable chance of sinking a putt.

The sand wedge and pitching wedge are used around the green for particularly close shots that don’t quite land on the green or finish up in the sand of a bunker. And finally, while on the smoother surface of the green, you get to use the putter. You have probably seen these implements in all shapes and sizes. Like broomsticks, extra pieces stuck on the handle and all sorts of different club heads.

Let’s see what the generalisation is then: all iron clubs vary in degree of angle. If you imagine the one iron as being almost straight, the 2, 3, 4, etc, all have increasing angle on the club head to give you more lift when you hit the ball. Therefore, the sand iron and the pitching wedge would have the greatest angle, thus giving you the most lift from the ground.

If I sound like a text book, I am sorry. I have tried for almost 15 years to find out the secret of which club to use for which shot but I still generally finish up using a five-iron for pretty well everything.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Golf Clubs
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Outright Odds: 22/1
Group D Winners: 5/6

After a disastrous 2002 World Cup, in which they finished bottom of their group following defeats by both the United States and South Korea, Portugal will be looking to finally live up to their potential on the international stage.

Qualification was a breeze. They remained unbeaten in their group and finished seven points clear at the top. Portugal meant business in this group, putting 11 past Luxembourg across two legs and hammering second-favourites Russia 7-1 at home.

The charismatic Luiz Felipe Scolari, or “Big Phil” to his friends, has built a new team to replace the ageing or retired underachievers such as Rui Costa, Joao Pinto and others although Luis Figo, now entering “veteran” status and out of retirement, will be present in Germany. Despite guiding Portugal to the final of Euro 2004 and emphatic World Cup qualification, the public are still not convinced he is the man for the job.

The team’s core is based around four players who won the Champions League with FC Porto in 2004. Defenders Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira and midfielder Maniche - now all at Chelsea and Costinha, now at Dinamo Moscow provide a solid base for the attack-minded stars to play around.

Attacking players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Simao Sabrosa and naturalised Brazilian Deco compliment the side perfectly and create numerous chances for striker Pauleta. The Paris St. Germain hitman overtook Eusebio’s record of 41 international goals with an impressive haul of 11 in qualifying, making him the European zone’s top goalscorer.

Manchester United winger Ronaldo could illuminate the finals with his skills and coveted step-overs. He weighed in with seven qualifying goals from midfield, raising his “Fantasy Football” stock considerably.

Portugal have all the makings of a World Cup winning side: a solid defence, exceptional quality and goalscoring potential from midfield and Europe’s deadliest striker in qualifying.

Their main downfall appears to be the goalkeeping position. Sporting Lisbon’s Ricardo and Quim from Benfica are both vying for the jersey although the supporter’s choice seems to be out-of-favour Vitor Baia. A veteran of the 2002 World Cup side, 36-year-old Baia was omitted from Scolari’s final 23 in the Euro 2004 squad.

Recommended Bet:
The underachieving squad from the past have almost all been replaced by a brand new crop of young talent. Old stagers Luis Figo and Pauleta will look for a final swansong, with the latter a sound each-way bet for top goalscorer status.

Portugal to win Group D @ 5/6
E/W Pauleta as top goalscorer @ 40/1

David Walker runs a free World Cup bets website and written World Cup previews. A free 45-page World Cup guide is available from the website and features a “free World Cup football shirt” offer.

The small matter of who is going be next England manager is being discussed the length and breadth of the country so I figured I would give my 50 cents on the subject.

I have never been that much of an admirer of Sven and his actions since he has been in the job have not impressed me one bit. His talks with Chelsea were an absolute disgrace and his subsequent affairs have diverted attention away from the main failings of his term, which for me have been his tactical incompetence in crucial games.

Most notably the games against Brazil in 2002 and France and then Portugal in 2004, taking the Brazil game first. England went one nil up and looked comfortable until a lack of concentration in defence allowed Brazil to equalise just before half time, and then go ahead though a fluke goal from Ronaldinho who then got himself sent off in a rather calamitous fashion. After this England had the numerical advantage to go all out and attack a Brazilian defence that is clearly not their strongest area. Yet for some reason we did not create a single worthwhile attempt on goal after the Ronaldinho dismissal.

Eriksson has since claimed that he felt that players were fatigued after a long season, during which they did not have a break. Could it not have anything to do with Eriksson insistence on picking a clearly unfit David Beckham, which meant England were not at their attacking best? Moving onto the France and Portugal games, Eriksson tactical failings were again evident. Against France, England opened the scoring and looked a superb team who could score at any time, but then something changed and we retreated and defended deeper and deeper allowing France to take control of the game and eventually go on to win the game. Of course England did have chances to wrap up the win against France long before France could have got back into the game, the penalty miss being the obvious one. Against Portugal, though this was not the case after going one up against the host nation and seeing Wayne Rooney depart, England had no attacking ability whatsoever. Sven looked as jaded as his players and once again the excuse of fatigue was used.

Despite this, I do actually believe that England have an excellent chance of winning the World Cup. We now posses a core of world class players, in Lampard, Gerrard, Owen and Rooney. Our defence however is clearly the weakest link, only Terry, Carragher and King are in any sort of form amongst the main central defenders, but Eriksson seems reluctant to play King or Carragher ahead of Ferdinand.

Moving onto who should succeed Sven Goran Eriksson, I feel, that despite my criticism of Sven, another foreign coach should not be ruled out.

Looking at the main contenders we have seen the following managers named mentioned.

Sam Allardyce is the favourite amongst the bookies, but I feel that his style of football is not attractive enough for the England job. Do we really want to see England turned into an effective yet dull team? Would Kevin Davies be drafted into the team? I hope not.

Alan Curbishley, for me, does not have the right credentials for the job. Whilst he has done a brilliant job at Charlton and established them as a Premiership team, does no else feel that the frequent blips in form that Charlton go through each season after they achieve their goal of safety suggest that Curbs not have the necessary motivational skills?

Steve Bruce is another Englishman linked with the job but surely his record of walking out on clubs in times of trouble should rule him out.

Martin O’Neill is surely the fans and pundits favourite, he has anything you could want in a manager, tactical skills, motivational skills and respect amongst the players. The fact that he is from Northern Ireland should not rule him out, the fact that he is still caring for wife who is suffering from ill health may mean that he will not take the job.

Steve McClaren once seemed to be the obvious choice for the England manager’s job. But the recent demise of Middlesboro has all but ruled him out. When boro fans ironically sing “McClaren for England” you know he is not a popular choice.

Gus Hiddink is the leading foreign coach to be linked with the job and has all the right attributes for the job, but he is also the manager of PSV. Would he give that up for England remains to be seen?

And now onto my final candidate for the England job…………………….. Stuart Pearce. ‘Psycho’ is enjoying an excellent spell in charge of Manchester City winning plaudits from fans and commentators alike. His man management is second to none; tactically Peace seems to know his stuff and he surely garners the respect of England players and fans. Some people feel that Peace is not experienced for the job, but I feel that England could follow the lead of other European nations and appoint a so called ‘novice’ to the job, Holland have Marco Van Basten and Germany Jrgen Klinsmann had no coaching experience before they took on the role of the national team managers, Both Klinnsman and Van Basten have both done solid jobs and they are among the favourites for the World Cup.

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An article by Michael Cotton who writes articles for Focus on football - Football news and articles from the fans.

Running becomes a positive addiction due to the epinephrine hormone the body releases as a response to the natural stress of the activity itself.

There are those who still argue whether running is “natural” or not but I know one thing for sure - running can really get you “high” especially if you push over the 5K limit.

That happens when you run long distances because like in all cases of physical stress, your body releases the epinephrine hormone so that you can cope with the “threat” of a higher-than-usual level of effort.

Epinephrine, coming from Greek “epi+nephros” (”to the kidney”) is also known by its Latin name, adrenaline (ad+renes, or, “on the kidney”).

Secreted by the glands sitting on top of our kidneys, epinephrine is what all “extreme sports” fans (bungee jumping, boxing, parachute jumping, skiing, car racing, etc.) are hooked on.

Police officers, firefighters, bail bondsmen, detectives, and soldiers in combat are also intimately familiar with the heart-racing, blood-pressure hiking effects of epinephrine. It’s an evolutionary solution to the instant need to get the body ready for a fight-or-flight confrontation in the extreme cases.

Running does not present such a do-or-die challenge (thanks goodness!) however the sheer exertion involved in the activity still triggers good amounts of epinephrine get released into the blood stream.