Ruth's Sport's Desk - Thrills and Spills

This weekend was all set to be fantastic one - Arsenal vs Manchester United and Moto Gp from Indianapolis but once again reality intervened to bring me crashing down.

Arsenal lost 2-1 to Man U in a an absolute travesty of a match. Arsenal played much, much better with flowing passing, commanding midfield and many many close shots on goal. But thanks to some absolutely diabolical refereeing and one very very bad header Man U scraped the win. They got a penalty that shouldn't have been and anyone saying I'm biased watch it again Wayne Rooney is already on his knees by the time Manuel Almunia gets to the ball, Darren Fletcher absolutely scythed through Andrei Arshavin in the box and got away with it and Arsenal had a goal incorrectly disallowed for offside. What a joke.

The race at Indianapolis was a bit better. Dani Pedrosa had absolutely dominated all weekend, storming to a magnificant pole position and in the beginning of the race he once again stormed to the front and was looking so strong until he lost the front end and came off on lap 4. He did however manage to get his bike back p and running ok and carriedon like the little hero that he is (more on that later.) Which left Valentino Rossi in the lead ahead of Jorge Lorenzo. Everything pointed to another epic battle but Valentino suffered an almost identical front end issue and fell in about lap 9, he also got his bike back but was not as lucky because shortly after finding Dani and being passed by him (very very sweet of him like Donnigton in reverse) he had to stop because his bike was no longer working. Which left Jorge ten seconds clear in front and cruising. The battle for the other podium positios was super close with Nicky Hayden, Alex de Angelis and lovely Andrea Dovizioso all working tremendously hard. Dani meanwhile was lapping at one second faster than the entire grid and manged to ride everyone down and with the help of Niccolo Canepa and Marco Melandri falling off managed to finish in a fantastically fought tenth place after overtaking one of the suzukis almost on the line. He was so brave and so clever and I was absolutely thrilled for him managing to save his day. Jorge won and celebrated by climbing the fence and throwing himself at his crew, De Angelis finished second- a timely podium for him as like Toni last week he has also lost his contract at Gresini Honda and Nicky Hayden came third with Andrea almost taking it on the last lap. So plenty of excitement as usual and in the immortal words of the bbc guy STONKING.

Oh and today marks the return of Grand Slam tennis with the US Open kicking off at flushing meadows. Vamos Rafa.

Ruth's Sports Desk- A Welcome Return.

It is with great delight that I can finally say the words I have been waiting over a year to say "Tomas Rosicky is back." Oh yes. He has actually officially played football again. Hurrah!

He's been injured with an uber complicated knee complaint since January 2008. He returned to training at the end of the season and has been training intensively in Prague. He played the first half of Arsenal's first pre-season friendly against Barnet during which he was captain. I'm so pleased he's back, he's one of my favourite footballers ever and both myself and the Arsenal team have missed him badly (not that I know them or anything, its just obvious.) So I am now very very excited and hopeful for the new season. In other Arsenal related news our new signing Thomas Vermaelen played the entirety of the Barnet match and seemed to be looking good.

Now to Moto GP. Last week's race was at the Sachsenring (spelt right oh yes) in Germany. It was very exciting. Valentino and Jorge were once again fighting it out for the lead and exchanged positions several times, Valentino overtook Jorge with two laps left and came over the line 0.9 of a second ahead of him. Casey Stoner was third for a long time but begaan flagging towards the end which allowed Dani to reel him in and overtake him and even make up some ground on the leaders. It was great. Dani is now right back in the fight for a top three finish.

And finally some sports related news that I found out this very morning. Roger Federer's wife Mirka has had twins. Both girls, named Charlene and Myla. Aaah sweet. How very very nice. Congrats.

Ruth's Sports Desk- STONKING

Wow. Just wow.

I had a day full of sports on sunday and it was wonderful. It started out in the best way possible with the best Moto GP race I've ever seen. Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were a point apart in the championship standings and the race promised to be competitive. And boy did it deliver. Valentino took the lead early then was overtaken by Jorge and stuck close to him for a few laps seemingly studying him and planning his move. You could feel the tension building and as the last few laps approached things really got interesting. They swapped the lead several times, with several amazingly close passes. Both riders were flat out and did everything but knock each other off. Then on the final lap Jorge passes Valentino on the straight going into the pit lane in the process it seemed like he had the race won but Valentino being the legend that he is (seriously I think he has magic powers) passed Jorge on the final corner by the tiniest of margins then flew over the line for an emotional victory(his 99th). He dedicated it to Jerry Burgess his crew chief (a lovely man) saying 'a big kiss for jerry without you I wouldn't have survived to 99 victories' which was so wonderful. He also said 'mamma mia' confirming my suspicions that he's moonlighting as the Dolmio man. Little Dani managed to recuperate enough in time to race and came sixth after a decent battle with Loris Capirossi who apparently 'you can't kill with a stick' (thank you BBC man) I was so pleased for him considering how much pain he must have been in. He's an absolute hero.

I then watched Andy Murray become the first British Champion at Queen's since Bunny Austin in 1938. Which was great. Fab news for British tennis. I'm really looking forward to Wimbledon I think its going to be very very close this year.

I then watched the Confederations cup. Spain won 5-0 against New Zealand which was cracking. The two Davids (Villa and Silva) were fantastic, Cesc put in a solid display and Fernando Torres tried to disprove my theory that he can't play when he isn't the best player in the team by scoring a hat-trick. I'm still not convinced about him though. I watched Italy-USA yesterday which was quite good. USA had a man sent off and it ended 3-1 to Italy. With the goals scored by- get this- Rossi and De Rossi. Weird or what.

Oh and more gold from the BBC Moto GP man- "All the gear and no idea." Fabulous.

Spazibo everyone.

Ruth's Sports Desk - A void in my life.

The football season is over. Done. Finished. There is a massive gap in my life where it should be. sigh. Transfer madness has descended and I'm attempting to ignore the crazy rumours linking almost literally every player under the sun to a move elsewhere. I tend to just bury my head and sing 'lalalala' very loudly. I'm getting by watching world cup qualifiers which is ok.

The French Open has gone completely wrong the final is Federer v Soderling. Something which I believe is called a 'no win situation.' roll on wimbledon.

The Mugello GP was a disaster with Casey Stoner winning and ending Valentino Rossi's seven year victory run. Poor Dani Pedrosa injured himself on the saturday practice then crashed in the actual race and was stretchered off the track which was just awful. The only thing that saved it was Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo ending up on the podium. Poor Dani has cracked his thigh bone but is attempting to be fit for Catalunya, I was very very worried for him but I have faith he can do it. Get well soon Speedy.

Spazibo.

Ruth's Sports Desk - Nightmare in a bubblecar.

Well Well.
After seeming to go right Arsenal's season has finished a little flat. But let's not detract from our achievements- two semi-finals (lost to chelski in FA cup and lost to Man U in Champs league) is a good achievement and definitely a step in the right directio. Plus considering how dodgy it looked earlier (pre christmas) a solid fourth place is good, i guess. But I won't deny I was gutted, especially considering how well we'd played at certain stages. It was very depressing watching other teams lift trophies and reach stages that rightfully should be ours.
Tennis- Rafa lost in Madrid. To Roger Federer. *sigh* BUT he has won in Rome and Monte Carlo and looks in amazing form.
Moto GP. Finally some joy. Sunday's Le Mans GP heralded the first use of the word 'stonking' this season by the bbc man and the debut of the phrase 'nightmare in a bubblecar.' Genius. Plus Dani Pedrosa came third after a storming last lap. Vamos Speedy.

Ruth Sport's Desk- mixed bag

Lots of sports related things today.
1. I have been very slow on my Champions league updates. Arsenal won 4-1 on aggregate against Villareal (wonderful games as well, a real joy) and now play Man U. The other semi is Barcelona- Chelsea with Barcelona especially impressive winning 5-1 on aggregate against Bayern Munich.
2. Premier League. After being waaaay behind Aston Villa in a worrying fifth position. Arsenal are now on a wonderful unbeaten run of (I think at last count) 18 unbeaten games with a 7 point advantage in a solid fourth and catching on third with all the big teams to play.
3. Tennis. Rafael Nadal has JUST (almost literally) won a record breaking fifth title at Monte Carlo meaning a very very good start to clay season. Vamos!
4. FA Cup. whoops nearly forgot. Arsenal unfortunately lost out at the semi final stage to Chelsea yesterday. Both teams played badly. I nearly wept. Everton and man U are playing the second semi final as I speak.
5. Moto GP is back back back. Hurrah my Sundays now have more structure. First race in Quatar was won by Casey Stoner (not my favourite rider.) For those interested (ie no one) my favourite riders are Dani Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo (in that order.) Dani because he is tiny and sounds like Speedy Gonzalez, Val because I love his accent and surreal life (he once gave a post race interview focussing entirely on his dog little Guido) and Jorge Lorenzo because of his strange penchant for Chupa Chups.
Phew. And goodniiiiight sports fans!