Sport

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Department of Equine Hyperbole

Sea the Stars winning the Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images. So long, then, Sea the Stars. A shame you won’t run as a four year old or in the Breeders’ Cup but hardly a surprise that you’re heading straight for the stud farm. The BBC News last night suggested you were the greatest horse we’d ever seen and an editorial in today’s Times suggests you may “without much quibble, be considered the greatest” of all champions. This is a typically unecessary piece of hyperbole. It doesn’t diminish Sea the Stars one bit to note that there is room for quibble here. Comparing horses from different generations

Sunday

Peter Hoskin

The Greatest

Wow, that really was something.  Just like last year’s Wimbledon final, Roger Federer’s 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14 victory over Andy Roddick has to go down as one of the greatest, and most nerve-wracking, contests in tennis history.  A spectacular way for Federer to claim his fifteenth Grand Slam title, breaking Pete Sampras’s record in the process. UPDATE: Ok, so it looks as though I have a bit of explaining to do here.  Most CoffeeHousers comment below that the match was actually a boring slog-a-thon, and paled in comparison with other Wimbledon finals.  First, I stress that the headline – “The Greatest” – is referring to Federer and his record-breaking

Wednesday

Kate Hoey

No longer beautiful

To some it might seem unbelievable that a goal scored at a football match at Anfield between Arsenal and Liverpool 20 years ago could be the event around which anyone could write an entire book. But this is exactly what Jason Cowley has done. Despite a childhood spent in the East End, and with a West Ham- supporting father, the author has been, from an early age, an avid Arsenal fan and wears his Arsenal shirt under his jacket when standing with his father at Upton Park. This book is certainly not just for Arsenal or Liverpool fans but for all who want to reflect on the huge changes which