Though not quite showing the same brilliance whicharguably won England the Ashes in 2005, he is showing that he is far from retirement with these consistent performances.With the Ashes fast approaching, the England selectors need to take a long hard look at the team, and start to make the big cuts before the Aussies return, as the expectation to perform will be bigger than it has ever been before.. I love ESPN as much if not more than the next guy. My family gets angry whenSportsCenter is on for the third time in one day or when I flip to the Baseball Tonight recap of a game that I just watched.But every once in a while I turn toESPN and wonder what they could be thinking and my heart breaks when I’m forced to change the channel to a rerun of Seinfeld. Here’s my list of the ten worst “sports” ever put on ESPN.1.Cup StackingI can’t think of anything worse for the youth of this country than competitive cup stacking.That’s right cup stacking, creating pyramids out of cups in blurring speed.
It’s One of those things where you wonder how and why anyone would ever get into this…activity.That’s what will help America’s childhoodobesity problems, stacking cups.2. Spelling BeesA lot of people attack child beauty pageants for the stress and unfair pressure that are put on such young kids. I don’t think you’ve seen a stressed kid until you see a kid try to spell autochthonous. Don’t knock on any sport being slow until you’ve sat through a whole spelling bee. 3. Classic Car AuctionsA few days ago ESPN2 aired something that seems like it should be on the Home Shopping Network It was 13 grueling hours of a Classic Car auction. Putting old classic cars on tv and having old men throw money at them is in no way entertaining.4.
Scrabble CompetitionsThe evil twin of the spelling bee is the Scrabble competition. Not quite the pressure of a spelling bee, but somehow just as boring.The weird thing is that I like Scrabble, I play with family and friends, but there’s no way I’m going to watch it onTV. However, there was one moment of excitement in 2004 when one participant played the word “lez” which had been deemed aninappropriate word and was therefore an illegal play.5. Poker TournamentsThis one might be controversial, but one thing that I can’t stand and have never truly understood is watching poker on TV.I guess this is in a similar category to Scrabble, another game I enjoy, but should not be on ESPN. I would advise them to think long and hard about putting board and card games on ESPN in the future.6. Speed PoolA guilty pleasure of mine is speed pool, which always puts me in a weird position of wanting to change the channel but find my fingers unable to change the channel.For thoseunfamiliar with speed pool the idea is to pocket every ball in the quickest time possible, being penalized for scratches and rewards for knocking a ball in on every hit.7.
Competitive CheerleadingAh, the age-old argument of whether cheerleading is a sport. I personally have no problem admitting it is as physically demanding as most sports and personally have no problem calling it a sport I just don’t understand the fascination with it. In truth, all of the smiling, giddy cheerleaders creep me out.8 Bass FishingNo more needs to be said.9. BowlingIt’s late in the game tenth frame, and he’s going to need a strike to win the game.
He rolls the ball, it looks good, it has a chance, and…oh no! One pin is standing, he loses the game.I have no reason to dislike bowling except for the obvious There’s nothing exciting about it Not one thing.10. Softball Yep, it’s my second girls sport and some would say it’s sexist of me to this sport on this list, but it truly has nothing to do with gender. I love everything about baseball and I don’t understand why such a great sport had to be changed into thedemented sister that is softball.Those are just a few of my ESPN programming peeves Feel free to add or disagree with the list It would be great to hear everyone’s thoughts.. With the memories of Summer 2005 and Winter of 2006/07 very much in the distance now, England players and selectors are looking towards the next Ashes series: England in 2009.After horrific injuries, it is with trepidation that anyone mentions the name Simon Jones for fear of somehow breaking his ankle as soon as they discuss anything to do with full fitness.But it is hard to ignore the Welshman’s searing pace, a factor of his game that has been under discussion for some time now. In 2005 he had been bowling consistently over 90mph and he is looking like he could be on the verge of reaching that same pace once again.It was his spells in the Friend’s Provident Trophy, bowling for Worcestershire against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl, that really caught people’s eye. His first spell averaged just under 90mph, while a hat-trick ball he bowled hit 91mph. The current stock of England quicks would struggle to hit that kind of pace the way Jones did, even at full fitness.But the question over who he would replace remains they key issue under debate here.There is no question over Ryan Sidebottom staying in the side, as someone named as one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year isn’t going to be dropped from the national squad any time soon even if he under-performed at Old Trafford.Equally, Stuart Broad seems to be in the selector’s good books.