Monday, January 29, 2007

Best Countries to Live

Quality of Life :

1. France
2. Australia
3. Netherlands
4. New Zealand
5. USA
6. Switzerland
7. Denmark
8. Italy
9. Luxembourg
10.Argentina
22. Canada
37. UK

Source: International Living

Friday, January 12, 2007

The world's highest-earning sports stars

Below are the highest-earning athletes according to Forbes in June 2006. Beckham's new annual income of $55m would put him third on the list.

1 Tiger Woods (Golf) $90m

2 Mchael Schumacher (Formula One) $58m

3 Phil Mickelson (Golf) $47m

4 Kobe Bryant (Basketball) $31m

5= Shaquille O'Neal (Basketball) $30m

5= Valentino Rossi (Superbikes) $30m

7= Alex Rodriguez (Baseball) $29m

7= Tom Brady (American Football) $29m

9 Carson Palmer (American Football) $28m

10 David Beckham (Football) $27m

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Sport's 10 most lucrative playing contracts

Sport's most lucrative playing contracts (figures only represent the official club salary, and do not include outside endorsements earned by the player)

1) Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers (baseball) - 10 years, £130m (£13m/year)

2) Derek Jeter, New York Yankees (baseball) - 10 years, £97.75m (£9.775m/year)

3) Manny Ramirez, Boston Red Sox (baseball) - eight years, £82.75m (10.3m/year)

4) Todd Helton, Colorado Rockies (baseball) - 11 years, £73.2m (£6.65m/year)

5) Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers (basketball) - seven years, £70.5m (10.07m/year)

6) Alfonso Soriano, Chicago Cubs (baseball) - eight years, £70.3m (£8.79m/year)

7) Michael Vick, Atlanta Falcons (American football) - 10 years, £67.25m (£6.725m/year)

8) Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana Pacers (basketball) - seven years, £65.45m (£9.35m/year)

9=) Kevin Garnett Minnesota Timberwolves (basketball) - seven years, £65.2m (£9.32m/year)

9=) Vernon Wells Toronto Blue Jays (baseball) - seven years, £65.2m (£9.32m/year)

9=) Barry Zito San Francisco Giants (baseball), £65.2m (£9.32m/year)

12) Michael Schumacher, Ferrari (formula one) - four years, £64.13m (£16.03m/year)

Top 10 NBA Fights

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

50 Most Heart-Breaking Moments in Sports History

1: 'Two steps forward, three to the side. Oh, he's down'
After running 26 miles, Jim Peters was 17 minutes ahead of his rivals and certain of gold. But after he collapsed, only yards from victory, he never ran again.

2: 12 yards: so near and yet always so miserably far ...
England have lost five penalty shootouts in major competitions.

3: The Whirlwind blows his biggest chance
Lee Honeyball: The crowd groaned as he walked back to his chair. With a sense of inevitability, Hendry made a 58 clearance to defeat White again.

4: The night when Ali screamed in pain
Larry Holmes reduced 'the Greatest' to a human punchbag - and called time on an era.

5: Jana dries her tears on the Duchess's shoulder
Her disintegration in the Wimbledon final struck Jana Novotna as she collected her runner's-up medal from the Duchess of Kent.

6: Crisp is caught by Red Rum in the dying strides
Awful yet glorious: that's how Reg Green described the 1973 Grand National. It's hard to think of a better description for one of the most stirring races of all time.

7: There's unlucky ... and then there's Christophe
Three times, mechanical failure cost Eugene Christophe the Tour de France. Even his skills as a blacksmith couldn't save him.

8: 'I hated the world. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder'
Derek Redmond was in an Olympic 400m semi-final when his hamstring went. His dad jumped out of the crowd to help him.

9: Henman's dreams are washed away in the rain
There was always next year. Except, after that year, there was not.

10: Francesco Panetta sacrifices steeplechase gold
If sport is all about glory then Panetta had draped himself in it. Not just for that day, but for all time.

The worst of the rest
11: Another chip, another defeat for Greg Norman
After a great shot from the unfancied Larry Mize, Greg Norman let another Masters slip by.
12: Jochen Rindt's widow receives his champion's trophy
13: No, Jean. Just don't even think about it
The Open is in your grasp. But you end up barefoot in the water and still think you will win.Jean van de Velde's strange journey on the 72nd hole.
14: Lee Trevino's fluke sinks Jacklin at The Open
15: 'Fame monster' forces Barry John to retire at 27
16: Gerd Muller sends England's finest back home
17: Ruffian breaks her leg in racing's 'Battle of the Sexes'
18: Graham Gooch's ton honours Barrington's memory
Graham Gooch on how he overcame tears and West Indies bouncers to pay tribute to his cricketing mentor.
19: Don Fox goes from rugby league great to 'poor lad'
20: Manchester United hit the net, Bayern hit the deck
When Teddy Sheringham equalised, then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the winner, it was as if God was saying he didn't want us to win that cup.
21: Nigel Mansell blows up and out Down Under
22: 'I wanted to play again. It was madness'
After 10 years away from tennis, Bjorn Borg returned in 1991, unfit and still using a wooden racket. He was humiliated.
23: China's unsung football heroines pay the ultimate penalty
24: Cubs fan knocks title from their grasp
25: Destiny slips away from the Mighty Magyars
26: A red card in the home straight shatters Aussie walker
27: The final match, the final minute - a city in disbelief
Arsenal's moment of ecstasy was agony for Liverpool fans, including Andrew Hussey, as the league title was prised away from a club still mourning Hillsborough.
28: Calais find that every underdog doesn't have its day
29: John White wins the race that never was
30: Exhausted marathon man denied Olympic gold
31: Connors blows away graceful Rosewall
32: Gee whizz! Bradman quits with a duck
33: The Dodgers leave for LA, Brooklyn feels the pain
34: Everyone cheered him - even his opponent's wife
There were hugs and tears on both sides when, less than six weeks after the death of his wife Heather, Darren Clarke inspired Europe to Ryder Cup victory. He tells Nick Greenslade about his emotional return to golf.
35: Forest are relegated in Clough's last game
36: Denis Law kicks his old club when they're down
37: Sampras wins it for his dying coach
38: Finn's final throw spears Fatima's gold hopes
39: Harmison's wide is the start and end for England
40: The Brown Bomber is destroyed in his last ever fight
41: Mandela unites a nation with his choice of jersey
John Carlin on how Nelson Mandela used a symbol of apartheid to usher in a new era for South Africa.
42: Paula hits the wall on the long road to Athens
43: One pained shriek and it's all over for Syd
44: They swung, they sashayed. How could they lose?
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean tell Emma John it was the unstinting support of the crowd that helped to soothe the crushing disappointment of a bronze at the 1994 Games.
45: Lions' victory slips through Johnson's fingers
46: Bodin and Wales miss out on World Cup
47: Bills' Superbowl goes wide right
48: Mike Atherton is run out for 99 against Australia
49: It's not often that you feel sorry for the Australians ...
50: Paris not so gay after London snatches the Olympics

Source : The Guardian

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Best 10 Cricket Test Teams

1 Clive Lloyd’s West Indies (1983-85)

2 Steve Waugh’s Australia (1999-2001)

3 Don Bradman’s Australia (1948)

4 Len Hutton’s England (1955)

5 Viv Richards’s West Indies (1986-91)

6 Imran Khan’s Pakistan (1987-91)

7 Ricky Ponting’s Australia (2005-07)

8 Ali Bacher’s South Africa (early 1970s)

9 Michael Vaughan’s England (2004-05) WHAT THE F ?????

10 Warwick Armstrong’s Australia (1920-21)

Source: The Times (UK)