Sports Poets Society

Duecentocinquantasette chilometri e 27 settori di pavè per un totale di 52,8 km di pietre. E’ l’inferno del Nord, è la Parigi-Roubaix che andrà in scena domenica 10 Aprile per la sua 114 esima edizione. Tre i passaggi-chiave della corsa caratterizzati da 5 stellette: si parte con la Trouée d’Arenberg, 2400 metri da affrontare dopo 161,5 chilometri, poi i tre chilometri a Mons-en-Pévèle, dopo 208 chilometri di gara, fino al momento cruciale, il Carrefour de l’Arbre, posto a poco più di 15 chilometri dalla conclusione. ANALISI DEL PERCORSO Corsa “tranquilla” fino al km 98, quando si affronterà il primo tratto in pavé, che di fatto aprirà le danze. Da quel momento in poi quasi un terzo dei chilometri percorsi saranno su strada irregolare e sconnessa, terrificante da un punto di vista fisico in quanto va a debilitare sia le gambe sia le braccia, mettendo a durissima prova i corridori. Foresta di Arenberg (2,4 km; dopo 161,5 km) Il primo passaggio spettacolare sarà quello...

Gp Scheldeprijs con il re del  Fiandre, che pensa alla Roubaix.  Tra Kittel, Kristoff e Cav c’è Viviani by GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT, 6 aprile 2016 Obiettivo: una salutare sgambata per sciogliere le tossine della trionfale cavalcata di domenica al Fiandre e ritrovare immediatamente la concentrazione in vista dell’appuntamento che domenica chiuderà la Campagna del pavé con la Parigi-Roubaix. Con questo spirito Peter Sagan si presenta al via del 104° Scheldeprijs, o Grand Prix de l’Escaut, semiclassica di 208 km da Anversa a Schoten tradizionalmente aperta alle ruote veloci. Fermo restando che il campione del mondo non si tirerà certo indietro dalla lotta se gli si presenterà l’occasione propizia per lasciare un altro segno. Ma è chiaro che i rischi — e qui se ne corrono — li lascerà prendere ad altri: è troppo importante il piatto che lo attende fra tre giorni sulle pietre della «madre di tutte le corse» (sarebbe il terzo a fare en plein con Gand-...

https://rouleur.cc/journal/riders/peter-sagan-interview JOURNAL RIDERS  03.11.15 Thoughtful, funny, clever. In the court of the real Peter Sagan, cycling's new World Champion WORDS Timothy John May 15, 1988. Ayrton Senna laps the street circuit at Monaco a full 1.427 seconds faster than his closest competitor, then double world champion, Alain Prost, who happens to be his team-mate. Senna’s performance in qualifying is mesmerising, even to him: he will later compare the lap to "an out of body experience". Peter Sagan is a resident of Monaco and no stranger to extraordinary sporting performances. He shares Senna’s exceptional talent – even his peers consider him uniquely gifted – but I shelve my carefully prepared question: Sagan is too level-headed for such flights of fancy. He admits to no more than riding on instinct, which isn’t to suggest that he is unthinking. Spend anytime at all with Sagan and the routinely two-dimensi...

by Jordi Punti Guardiola was born to coach,” said Juan Manuel Lillo, who managed him when he turned out for Dorados de Sinaloa . But Guardiola is far from the only player who learned his trade under Johan Cruyff and later went on to coach a leading team. There are many such examples, some boasting years of experience in the job. The list includes Ronald Koeman , currently in charge of Southampton, Julen Lopetegui (Porto), Albert Ferrer (Cordoba), Michael Laudrup (Lekhwiya, Qatar), Eusebio (Barcelona B) and also Sergi Barjuan and Hristo Stoichkov, although both are currently without a club. In reality these former players are not only keeping alive the legacy bequeathed by Cruyff. Another Dutchman, Louis van Gaal, nourished and maintained a strictly defined house style during his spell at the Barcelona helm, handing Xavi his debut for example. Against this background, Van Gaal’s arrival at Manchester United following his success with the Netherlands at this summer’s World Cup cou...

http://www.fantagazzetta.com/approfondimenti/paris-roubaix-storia-curiosita-statistiche-e-pronostici-185169 La Parigi-Roubaix (fr. Paris-Roubaix) è una corsa in linea maschile di ciclismo su strada, una delle cinque cosiddette classiche monumento, che si svolge nel nord della Francia, in prossimità della frontiera belga, ogni anno la seconda domenica d'aprile. La distanza totale della corsa supera i 250km variando a seconda delle edizioni. Dal 1989 è stata inserita nel calendario della Coppa del Mondo e dal 2005 in quello dell'UCI ProTour. Creata, ideata e fondata nel lontano 1896, fino al 1967 la corsa partiva da Parigi e terminava nel velodromo di Roubaix, comune nel Pas-de-Calais. Dal 1968 ad oggi inizia dalla città di Compiègne (circa 60 km a nord-est dal centro di Parigi), mentre il traguardo è ancora situato a Roubaix. La corsa è l'ultima delle cosiddette classiche del pavé, famosa appunto per i numerosi tratti in pavé, l'elemento caratterizzante di questa corsa...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2016/03/28/johan-cruyff-the-american-years/?postshare=7281459197468257&tid=ss_tw By Friso van der Oord and Pieter van Os  March 28 at 4:37 PM    Johan Cruyff (By Tony Quinn) We, the Dutch, don’t usually revere our sport stars. But last Thursday, when the news about Johan Cruyff’s death broke , the country was in collective shock, in complete disbelief. Cruyff was immortal, we thought, despite his recent lung cancer diagnosis. Days of press coverage and tributes since then revealed not only deep adoration for his sheer genius but also strong nostalgia for our own past. Memories of Cruyff led to flashbacks of our own youth, since Cruyff had always been there, on or off the field, as a key figure. Surely, he was a world-class soccer player and coach, who modernized the game of football. More importantly, he helped shape our national identity over the last 50 years, perhaps even more so than the House of ...

MORENO / Miguel Moreno https://www.mundodeportivo.com/futbol/fc-barcelona/20160328/40721053522/un-amigo-que-todos-echaremos-de-menos.html Charly compartió amistad y grandes momentos en el FC Barcelona Carles Rexach Entrenador Actualizado a 29/03/2016 06:00 CET La principal ventaja de la figura de Johan Cruyff era que no dejaba indiferente a nadie y que cuando decía cualquier cosa su transcendencia futbolística era a nivel mundial. De ahí las reacciones a su muerte en todo el planeta. Ha sido un adiós precipitado, nadie se esperaba que fuera a producir a esa velocidad, y es una gran pérdida. En el mundo del fútbol han existido dos personas que hicieron evolucionar el juego. Uno fue Alfredo Di Stefano , que fue un delantero centro que jugó posicionado un poco más atrás y que tenía un concepto futbolístico adelantado a su época. Lo mismo pasó en Barcelona con la llegada de Johan Cruyff . En una época en la que de un delantero se esperaba que fuera alto fuerte, apareció un holandés que er...

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/33qhgy/a_look_at_the_1967_nba_champions/ A New Direction Going into the 1966-67 season the Sixers had made a big coaching change by firing franchise leading scorer Dolph Schayes and replacing him with Alex Hannum. Schayes was a 12 time All-Star while playing for the Syracuse Nationals, but had lost to Boston in the playoffs in both 1965 and 1966 despite a franchise record 55 wins in the latter. Hannum on the other hand was the last coach to beat the Celtics in the playoffs as the coach of the 1958 St. Louis Hawks. The problem was that since ’58 the Celtics had rattled off 8 consecutive championships under Red Auerbach and Bill Russell. The Sixers were in just their 4th year in Philadelphia since moving from Syracuse and had just marginal success. Wilt Chamberlain had made the move with the Philadelphia Warriors to San Fransisco in 1962-63 but made his way back home to Philly mid-way through the 1964-65 season. Wilt joined former All-St...

http://thelab.bleacherreport.com/the-church-of-cruyff/?utm_source=twitter.com Forever Spreading the Football Gospel by David Winner March 8, 2016 “THE HOLY APOSTLES AND DISCIPLES OF OUR SAVIOUR WERE DISPERSED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.” THE CHURCH HISTORY BY EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA Jesus was the inspiration, but it took a small army of evangelists to turn his radical ideas into a big religion. This model—of a towering central figure and a host of followers and interpreters—is still a pretty good way to transform the world. It works in small ways as well as big ones. For example, Sigmund Freud and his students, rivals and successors changed the way we understand the mind. Karl Marx and his readers shaped the 20th century. Surreal modern British comedy wouldn't exist without Spike Milligan and his host of admirers and successors. As in life, so it is in football. There have been lots of brilliant football figures down the years, but none has been as signifi...