Sports Ladder (4th - 10th August)

UP - Rory McIlroy - Not a bad week for the young Northern Irishman as he effectively creates an own era for himself. The returning world number one has always had the talent to be the best golfer in the world but has never strung together a run long enough to claim this title. However, after his third consecutive tournament victory, two of these being majors, McIlroy has set himself aside from the rest of the golfing world and become the very best. We are now well and truly in the McIlroy era.

UP - Arsenal - 'Specialists in failure?' Jose Mourinho will be eating his words this week as Arsenal brushed Manchester City aside to win their second trophy in less than three months. It was a commanding display against the League Champions from a side who have been the laughing stock of the top end of the Premier League for so long.. As cliched as it sounds, that FA Cup victory really may open the floodgates for Arsenal and I see them as genuine title champions this year, not just contenders. Wenger certainly knows what he is doing.


UP - England Cricket - We won again! Two weeks in a row! Actual legitimate victories! This time by a whole innings! Insane! No more words are even needed!

UP - Venus Williams - This week must have felt so very pleasing for the eldest Williams sister. For years she has disappeared, cowering in the shadow of her dominant younger sister. Serena has been the number one ranked player ranked female for well over a year now whilst Venus has toiled with injuries and dropped well down in the rankings. However, this week Venus claimed her first triumph over her sister since 2009 and made the final of the Rogers Cup in the process. Unfortunately she lost but we'll ignore that part.

UP - Howard Webb - Referees get a lot of bad press. Most weeks on Match of the Day they are hounded by Linekar and the gang as well as most of the neutrals for poor errors all over the park. This week though, Manchester United, the Premier League mourned the loss of one of its greatest assets in Howard Webb. The veteran became the first of Louis Van Gaal's summer clear out  referee retired from his 25-year career to spend more time with his family. All jokes aside, Webb will be sorely missed.

DOWN - Mark Robins - Football sackings have become a bit of a joke in recent years. Managers fired before Christmas, given no time at all to implement their ideas and no time to at least try and implement some sort of recovery. Mark Robins decided that getting fired ten games into a season was too mainstream though, opting for the more ridiculous choice of leaving after ONE game of the new season. Huddersfield were spanked 4-0 by a rampant Bournemouth side which left Robins out of a job. My head was buried so deep in my hands at this ridiculous news.

DOWN - Andy Murray - After failing to retain his Wimbledon title it looks like Murray doesn't fancy retaining his Sports Personality of the Year award either. Another quarter-final exit in this weeks Toronto Masters sees the Brit make absolutely no ground on his rivals and continue to languish in a mediocre ninth in the world rankings. Despite the appointment of Amelie Mauresmo as his coach, little has changed for the Brit and it looks to be his worst year for a very long time on the court.

DOWN - Legia Warsaw - Picture the scene. 6-1 up on aggregate in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. Absolutely cruising. No way for the opposition to come back. So naturally the thing to do is bring on a player who is potentially ineligible to play with just three minutes to go. Another head-in-hands football moment as Warsaw saw themselves thrown out of the Champions League for this rookie mistake. Never underestimate the importance of paperwork.

DOWN - Bernie Ecclestone - The big, or should I say, little man at the head of Formula One made a bit of a tit of himself this week when he decided that the best way to sort out a bribery trial would simply be to buy his way out with an effectively legal form of bribery. Ecclestone was on trial for bribing a company he favoured to buy a stake in F1 and got out of the trial by paying a 100 million Euro buy-out. If that doesn't scream 'guilty' then I really don't know what does.

DOWN - Tiger Woods - Topping this weeks Sports Ladder was Rory McIlroy and his new era so it seemed only fitting to put his predecessor rock bottom after another week to forget. On a generous Valhalla course, Woods looked barely a shadow of his best, finishing on Friday after failing to make the cut by six shots. Plagued with injuries and still not looking focused after his off-the-course personal problems, the era of the legendary Tiger Woods is well and truly over.

Sports Ladder (28th July - 3rd August)

UP - Claudia Fragapane - It's hard to pick just one athlete from the wealth of successful competitors in Glasgow but really its hard to look past the 16-year-old pocket rocket. Becoming the first British gymnast to win four golds in over 80 years, Fragapane won both the team and individual all-round, as well as the individual floor and vault finals. But it was her floor routine which really captured the imagination, combining gymnastics with break-dancing and performing death-defying flips and twits, the Brit will be a national hero for years to come.

UP - Home Nations - That said, I couldn't ignore the fact that in Glasgow, all of the home nations performed exceptionally well. England ran away with the medal table but the performances of Scotland and Wales as well as Northern Ireland were all fantastic. Scottish athletes in particular embraced their home games, smashing their previous all-round medal record of 33 with 52, and that is still with a day of competition left to go! An amazing feat at home but can they replicate it in four years time down on the Gold Coast?


UP - England Cricket - Positive news from the England camp for the first time in, well, a very long time. A victory! England actually won a cricket match this week! In some style as well might I add. Looking freshly confident both with the bat and the ball England claimed a 266-run victory over India in the third test for their first test victory in over a year. Questions still remain over the captaincy of Alastair Cook, but with few others putting themselves about, Cook has definitely bought himself some time.

UP - Usain Bolt - He came, he danced, he conquered. Ever the showman, Bolt lit up the final night of the athletics with a blistering final leg to claim gold for his team in the 4x100m relay final. After a testing week, with reports of him being unhappy (to put it mildly) with Glasgow, Bolt confounded the critics, appearing to savour every moment out on the track. He danced to '500 miles' with the crowd right up until the race and hi-fived at least half of the crowd (slight exaggeration) afterwards. Unquestionably the greatest sporting athlete of our time.

UP - Sabine Lisicki - With all the goings-on in Glasgow it is all too easy to forget that some other sport has actually been happening and something which went disappointingly under the radar was everyone's favourite smiley German, Sabine Lisicki, breaking the record for the fastest serve in womens tennis. Her 131 mph serve trumped the previous record of 129 mph set by Venus Williams back in 2007 and led to a crescendo of 'ooooohs' from the American crowd. We'll just ignore the fact that she went on to lose the match.

DOWN - Yaya Sanogo - You would think that after scoring four goals in just 48 minutes you would be riding sky-high in the public opinion. Alas, poor Yaya Sanogo became the brunt of twitters cruel humour after his 'celebration' following his fourth goal against Benfica. The young Frenchmen, managed to get his legs in a twist, tripping and stumbling off the pitch. The positives are that he scored four goals, and Arsenal fans managed to turn the trip into a mocking of Steven Gerrard. All's well that ends well.

DOWN - England Netball - What a brutal week it was for England's netball girls as they lost by just one goal, not once but twice in heartbreaking circumstances. The first occasion condemned them to second in the group with a gutting 49-48 loss to Australia. Consequentially this left them against New Zealand in the semi-final where they rebuilt their broken heart only to smash it for a second time in a 35-34 loss to leave them contending just a bronze medal. Oh, and they just lost the bronze medal match to Jamaica to top it all off. Awkward.

DOWN - Ashley Cole - Remember this moment because it doesn't happen very often. I have sympathy with Ashley Cole. After turning down a lucrative deal in the USA to ensure he still plays at the highest level, Cole has still found himself ridiculed by the British public. Most players fade from our attention when they move abroad, but not Cole who became the butt of jokes after a team photo at Roma shows him slightly away from the rest of the team. This has led to a whole host of pretty funny edited photos showing Cole lurking in the background of iconic photos. Poor Cole, he just can't catch a break.


DOWN - Phillips Idowu - There was something extremely uncomfortable about seeing such a well established athlete struggle as much as he did in Glasgow and for that reason he makes my list. Idowu has long been a big favourite of mine but has struggled in recent times through injury and a hiatus from the triple jump. At 35 perhaps it is time for Idowu calls it a day as he looked a long way off the competition and is unlikely to challenge for a major medal again.

DOWN - Southampton - What a difference a few months make. At the end of last season Southampton fans were jubilant as their team finished off the season in their highest ever position of 8th. Nowadays they are just praying they have more players than Blackpool at the start of the season. I've been to Southampton plenty of times and love it but clearly it is not a place for professional footballers, with five established first team players departing and another four or five rumoured to leave. Ronald Koeman has a long season ahead of him.

Sports Ladder (23rd-30th March)

UP - Liverpool - Well it's been a long time coming, but this week Liverpool have finally risen back to the top of the Premier League. Whilst teams around them have faltered in recent weeks, the Reds have won eight consecutive matches and under the leadership of Brendan Rogers and the form of the SASASAS it looks like they legitimately could win their first Premier League title ever.

UP - Lewis Hamilton - We've had to wait some time to see a convincing smile emblazoned across the face of Lewis Hamilton but it was certainly present after the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend. A technical failure in the Championship's opening race in Australia meant he had to wait a few weeks for his second victory in the Mercedes car but it was an outstanding, commanding and controlling performance from the Brit.

UP - Laura Massaro - Massaro is not exactly a household name, but one thing is for sure, she is a world champion. This week she became the first female British Squash World Champion since 1999 after her 11-7 6-11 11-9 5-11 11-9 victory over Egyptian teenager Nour El Sherbini down in Penang in Malaysia. Massaro joins Brit Nick Matthew in currently holding world champion status in the world of squash..

UP - Martina Hingis - As both the men's and women's singles finals in Miami were contested by the first and second seed it was up to the doubles to provide something a bit different. And provide it did as the veteran Martina Hingis won her first title since 2007 as she surged to victory with smiley partner Sabine Lisicki. The pair defeated the Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina on their way to the title.

UP - Benedict Cumberbatch - It's not everyday you see a 'high-functioning sociopath' conducting the post-race interview after a Formula One race but on Sunday the actor who plays Sherlock was indeed up on the podium with Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel. It was a surreal moment but if you weren't aware of who Cumberbatch was you probably wouldn't have guessed he was an actor as he was calm, composed and collected in his new role as interviewer.

DOWN - Kosuke Hashino - It's rare that an event from Rugby breaks into my Ladder as it isn't a sport I follow very closely. However I couldn't help but have a little chuckle at the attempted 'swan dive' of Kosuke Hashino. After a brilliant interception Hashino found himself completely through but rather audaciously tried and failed the Chris Ashton 'swan dive'. Luckily Hashino and his team mates saw the funny side as Japan ran out eventual winners.

DOWN - Tom Cleverley - We haven't seen much of Cleverley in the news recently. He has had less game time recently under Moyes and hence we have less to complain about. However today the new England kit was released and many England fans will have been disheartened to see the Manchester United midfielder modelling the kit, suggesting he is going to the World Cup. I feel as though some sort of petition is in order.

DOWN - England Cricket - It hasn't been a particularly pleasant six months for the England Cricket team since their Ashes victory last summer and that trend continued this week. With just one win in their four matches Stuart Broad's team crashed limply out of the Twenty20 World Cup. Their dismal run of form continues after their demolition in the winter Ashes and the retirement of Kevin Pietersen.

DOWN - Andy Murray - Andy Murray's poor start to 2014 continued with yet another early exit after departing the Sony Open in the quarterfinals, albeit to Novak Djokovic, the eventual winner. It was not necessarily a poor tournament for Murray, but the loss means he moves down to 8th in the World Rankings, an extremely disappointing position for a current Grand Slam holder.

DOWN - Manchester United Fans - Interestingly Manchester United fans on the whole had a good week but there was a select few who really were an embarrassment to themselves and to football on the whole. The decision to hire a plane with the message 'Wrong One - Moyes Out' was both childish and pathetic as far as I am concerned. Moyes has clearly had a tough start as United manager but  stupid stunts like this will hardly improve his confidence.

Sports Ladder (13th Jan - 19th Jan)

UP - Ronnie O'Sullivan - Not only did Ronnie O'Sullivan claim his fifth Masters title this week, but he did it in such style. Leading 7-1 after the first session against defending champion Mark Selby, O'Sullivan finished him off, eventually winning 10-4. Brutal from Ronnie who only dropped seven frames throughout the entire tournament. Absolutely no pot luck about it.

UP - Australian Open - Where to begin? It's been an eventful week down under. Ridiculous weather ranging from a four day extreme heatwave to freak lightning storms. Seeds have toppled early in Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Juan Martin Del Potro and Caroline Wozniacki. Fedberg is proving to be a dangerous partnership. Oh, and Murray is quietly going about his business. Roll on the second week.

UP - Lizzy Yarnold - Yarnold is one of a number of British hopefuls who will soon be departing to Sochi to take part in the Winter Olympics. Normally we are happy to celebrate just getting one medal but this time there is a genuine chance of a number of medals. Yarnold in the Skeleton, Christie in speed-skating, and both curling teams are notable prospects in amongst a whole host of others.

UP - Hyde - Hyde fans were celebrating their first victory in 30 matches this week as they claimed a 2-0 victory against Welling United. Their last victory came all the way back in April and such a poor run of results has left them eighteen points adrift of safety. With just seven points and one win all season, it seems extremely unlikely that they will avoid the drop but you never know! Stranger things have happened.

UP - Jamaican Bobsleigh Team - This is a story with so much history. After Jamaican qualification to the 1988 Games led to the film Cool Runnings, it looks like Jamaica will be back, qualifying for the first time in 12 years. Courtesy of an issue with the Dutch team not meeting their National qualifying standard, it looks as though the two man team will qualify for Sochi. Then, they just need to raise the money to actually get there. Nothing warms the soul like a Caribbean country competing at the Winter Olympics..

DOWN - Alexis Ruano - I'm still wincing despite reading this story on Friday. Whilst a Messi wondergoal and a Neymar ankle injury stole the headlines, Alexis Ruano certainly came out of that game badly. After what seemed like a routine coming together Ruano was carried off on a stretcher. It was later revealed that the Getafe player suffered 'broken veins' in his testicle leading to it swelling up to an enormous size. I'm squirming just typing this.

DOWN - Jermain Defoe - Jermain Defoe's transfer to MLS side Toronto has been on the cards for months and this week it finally became official. However a combination of an overenthusiastic promotion video and a geographical nightmare has made the transfer a bit of a joke this week. The video [below] is hugely entertaining but it was Defoe stating that he was "happy to be in the USA" which stole the headlines. Who wants to tell Jermain that Toronto is actually in Canada?

DOWN - Rory McIlroy - Poor Rory. Just when he thinks he's back in form he's slapped with an unfortunate but required two stroke penalty meaning he ultimately finished just one shot behind. He claimed a moral victory as he literally hit the fewest shots despite not winning. Nevertheless, it was a strong showing from McIlroy who looked to be back to his best. Perhaps his upcoming marriage has given him a new lease of life?

DOWN - England Cricket - It just won't stop. The English men's cricketing collapse continued this week as they lost the ODI series 3-0 with two matches still to play. The second match was tight but the other two were feeble efforts and Captain Cook really needs to reassess the situation down under. At least the women are showing us how its done, closing in on an Ashes victory to show the men up.

DOWN - Serena Williams - The Queen has been dethroned! Well, technically she wasn't actually the Queen of Melbourne, just the Queen of tennis. Regardless, her loss this morning to Ana Ivanovic was by far the biggest shock of the tournament so far and has blown the women's draw wide open. Azarenka will now be the odds on favourite to claim a consecutive Aussie Open title.