Ollie Phillips: Rugby in 2020 had fairytale triumphs and falls from grace, but it could all be derailed in 2021 December 23, 2020 Rugby in 2020 has been a mixed bag, with both fairytale triumphs and causes for real alarm. The club game delivered gripping storylines in the rise of Exeter from second-tier to European champions and the demise of Saracens. International rugby has suffered, though, and questions about concussion and dementia leave the sport in a vulnerable [...]
The Big Sport Quiz of 2020: How well were you following the action this year? December 22, 2020 Roll up, roll up: it’s City A.M.’s Big Sport Quiz of 2020! Yes, a lot of it was severely disrupted and most of it happened without fans present, but there was still plenty of vintage sport and some intriguing storylines to follow. So test your knowledge on our selection of questions covering all major sports [...]
Chris Tremlett: Why Zak Crawley’s double century was my cricket highlight of 2020 December 22, 2020 How a player starts their international career can be defining, so my cricket highlight of 2020 was a young man laying down a marker. Zak Crawley’s double century for England in the third Test against the West Indies during the summer was really impressive. A performance like that should fill the 22-year-old Kent batsman with [...]
Chadwick Boseman’s captivating farewell in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a career best December 21, 2020 It’s hard to write about Netflix’s new musical drama without reflecting on the passing of its star. The death of Chadwick Boseman was felt around the world, such was his impact in the seven short years since his breakthrough in sporting biopic 42. While the quality of a movie seems trivial when compared to the [...]
Sam Torrance: The golf year in review, from Superman Bryson DeChambeau to doyen of commentary Peter Alliss December 21, 2020 This has been a strange year and that has been true in golf as well. We all hope that normality can resume in every respect in 2021, and that tournaments will not have to be postponed or cancelled again. In the circumstances, the European Tour deserves great credit for putting measures in place to resume [...]
The Mandalorian Season 2, Episode 8 – S2E8 finale is pure Star Wars brilliance December 18, 2020 *** SPOILERS AHEAD: If you haven’t watched the most recent episodes of The Mandalorian Season 2, look away now*** So here we are at the end of season two, with The Mandalorian having been largely successful in its second season efforts. The show has managed to raise the stakes while not losing the episodic nature [...]
How Cyberpunk, the generation’s most hyped game, turned into its biggest disaster December 18, 2020 The Witcher 3, released in 2015, is rarely far from the upper echelons of “Best Game Ever” lists. Developed by Polish studio CD Projekt Red, it was a sprawling, hugely ambitious RPG that refused to offer players a neat solution to its deftly written quests. In its squalid, low-fantasy world, sparing the life of some [...]
Triller: Mike Tyson, Snoop Dogg and the TikTok rivalling video app’s big plans to shake up sports broadcasting December 18, 2020 Three weeks ago in Los Angeles, a 54-year-old Mike Tyson fought a 51-year-old Roy Jones Jr in a boxing match that was unusual not only for the age of its participants. Former undisputed world heavyweight champion Tyson showed glimpses of his old power and speed as the judges surprisingly scored the eight-round contest as a [...]
Jamie Peacock: Rugby league great on the importance of mindset, ultramarathons, Rob Burrow, and accepting the risk of dementia December 18, 2020 “I was never the most physically talented player,” says Jamie Peacock. It is a remarkable statement from someone who stands 6ft 5in, became a titan of rugby league and won the game’s Man of Steel award. But it reflects Peacock’s conviction that mentality and character are everything. “My ability to get the best out of [...]
Selling off museum pieces to save jobs should not be a taboo — especially during a pandemic December 18, 2020 When a group of Royal Academy of Arts grandees recently suggested selling one of the institution’s masterpieces, it caused quite a stir. This was not just any artwork: it was Michelangelo’s Taddei Tondo, a great unfinished masterpiece that is considered among the Academy’s crown jewels. The proposal — auction it off for more than £100m [...]