Play-offs, parsimonious pitchers and Navy Seal v chimp
1) With so much at stake, you'd expect the Football League play-off finals to be turgid affairs. But they're not. Ever. They're a gift from the sporting gods that just keeps on giving. Hark back 10 years to Charlton's epic victory over Sunderland, arguably the finest game ever played at Wembley. Sorry, the footage is a tad fuzzy but it improves if you lean back from the screen and squint your eyes a little.
A year later, in the Division Two play-off final, Manchester City pulled-off the most unlikely comeback since Bobby Ewing re-appeared in the shower. Carl Asaba and a big-boned Robert Taylor put Gillingham 2-0 up with just minutes to go. That prompted the Gallagher brothers to leave Wembley in a huff which meant they missed this and, better still, this.
Here's another play-off humdinger: Reading v Bolton in 1995. Reading scored early then they scored again (poor Bolton defending) , then Bolton's keeper Keith Branagan saved a penalty (a turning point, surely) before Bolton pulled one back, equalised through Fabien De Freitas and then, in extra-time, took the lead courtesy of Mixu Paatalainen (yes, we'd forgotten him too) . De Freitas put the game beyond doubt with a dodgy handball only for Jimmy Quinn to put it back into doubt again with a cracking finish. Phew!
2) Apart from the word "bogey" and overly-outlandish slacks, there's nowt so chucklesome in the world of golf than players falling in the water. And oh how we laughed when, on his way to winning the Irish Open last week, Richard Finch went for an unscheduled and undignified dip . But Finchy isn't the first. Woody Austin suffered a spectacular splash, while Jean Van de Velde, got his feet needlessly wet as part of his humiliating Carnoustie choke at the 1999 Open.
3) In 2006, Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester recovered from a rare form of cancer. A year later, he won the World Series and then, last week, he threw a no-hitter – a feat rarer than rocking horse doo-doo. Well done him.
4) So then, this Samir Nasri chap? The one dubbed the new Zinedine Zidane and supposedly on his way to Arsenal - any good is he? Well, yes, he is. Very good by the looks of things.
5) Doh! A deer! A flying deer! This clip of a racing car swatting Bambi into orbit is surely a sham wrapped in a swindle but let's not let that get in the way of a good chortle. Here's another one and, while we're discussing human conquest of the animal world, here's a Navy Seal owning a chimp. And therein lies the beauty of the interweb.
Our favourites from last week's blog
1) In their ice hockey world championship quarter-final clash with Russia, Switzerland take the whole "neutrality" thing a tad too far by scoring two own goals in a 6-0 defeat.
2) The combination of a broken chain and living life in complete denial of an engine proves too much for David Millar.
3) In 2001, the welcome at Waratahs was anything but warm for the British Lions. Shiners, broken ribs, stitches, ankle-knack, aggressive Antipodeans… Heaven knows why they want to go back.
4) Monaco's grand prix circuit will give even the world's best drivers a feeling that most of the British public will endure on the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend. Check out David Coulthard's misery behind an Arrows in 2001.
5) Before it gets flooded by the effects of global warming, here's a little something for all (both) of you Norwich fans: an emotional ode to Darren Huckerby.
Spotter's badges: cybot, folano, notgethithatonharry, EdwardHitler, DaleGordon.
And finally, the best bits from today's Guardian ...
1) Queen of the South are in Sunday's Scottish Cup final. How did that happen? A bit like this.
2) Poor old Steve Harmison, the fall guy of English cricket. Does no one remember when he single handedly skittled out West Indies in 2004?