Photo by foodiesathome.com via flickr. TreeHugger asked Andrew Sharpless, CEO for the Oceana ocean protection organization, why we really personally care about the health and fate of the world’s big water bodies. Many of us, after all, live far from the coast. TH asked Sharpless to please tell us how and why the health of the oceans affects each of us directly. Here are his replies: … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Six Selfish Reasons You Don’t Want Dead Oceans
Tagged big-water, from-the-coast, health, oceana, really-personally, Score, sharpless, the-oceans, the-world, world
Former England rugby international known as a maverick character in a monochrome side England’s current doleful, po-faced rugby tour of Australia would not have been to the liking of Andy Ripley, who has died aged 62 of prostate cancer. Ripley was the last of the great Corinthian sportsmen who played rugby union for fun. For him, the sport, which turned professional in 1995, was never about money. It was a means of self-expression. Ripley won 24 caps for England between 1972 and 1976, and scored two tries. As now, it was not a happy time for an England team constantly in the shadow of a great Wales side. In fact, England lurched between the sublime and the ridiculous. In the space of 18 months, they beat the three southern hemisphere giants: South Africa 18-9 in Johannesburg; New Zealand 16-10 in Auckland; and Australia 20-3 at Twickenham, with Ripley scoring one of the tries. But during his all too brief time in the England back row, the side always finished bottom of what was then the Five Nations championship. Ripley, the No8 in a back row of Peter Dixon and Tony Neary, was a distinctive figure on the pitch. A rangy athlete, with a long stride to match his flowing long hair, he was a maverick character in a monochrome side. Ripley played with an elan more associated with the Welsh side of that golden era, or the French team that in those days would run rings around the yeoman England side. It was on the 1974 Lions tour to South Africa that Ripley was able to give rein to his talents. The team that beat the Springboks was the greatest to leave these shores and, even then, Ripley had to play second fiddle to Mervyn Davies, the Wales No8, who played in all four Tests. Ripley, so often the insouciant Englishman, recently admitted that not making that Test team had left him “devastated”, while Davies has said that Ripley was his most difficult opponent. Born in Liverpool, Ripley had only taken up rugby at the age of 19 while at the University of East Anglia. He played his last game for England against Scotland in 1976 (inevitably England were beaten at Murrayfield), but he continued to play rugby for his club, Rosslyn Park, until the age of 41. In his international playing days, rugby union was an amateur game that received little attention, but somehow Ripley became even more famous as an ex-player. In 1978, this all-round athlete reached the semi-finals of the AAA championships in the 400m. Two years later, he won the BBC series Superstars, in which well-known sportsmen of the day competed in a number of disciplines. Typically, Ripley, in his working life a city gent with the United Bank of Kuwait, gave the £8,000 prize he won in the Superstars competition to the Rugby Football Union. “I reckoned that once I paid tax on it, I would be lucky to buy a second-hand Mini,” he said. More pertinently, Ripley knew that Twickenham would then frown upon a player in an amateur game making money from rugby-related earnings. Five years later, he published Ripley’s Rugby Rubbish (1985), a typically eccentric collection of musings and pictures with mocking captions. Ripley appeared on the BBC’s Wogan programme to plug his book, which he dismissed as a “load of twaddle” and again he gave the profits away, this time to the NSPCC. As he entered middle age, Ripley continued to excel at sport. He was a triathlete, became the world indoor veterans rowing champion and he almost qualified to row in the Boat Race. He continued his association with Rosslyn Park, the unfashionable south-west London club whose ground on the South Circular had barely changed since his playing days. When the English domestic game turned professional in 1996, Rosslyn Park stayed strictly amateur and Ripley pined for what was being lost. In an interview with the London Evening Standard, he railed against professionalism. “Friendship and loyalty have been smashed,” he said. “Rugby has lost its heroes. I want to have heroic figures out there. If they’re chasing a few quid like me I don’t like it. It devalues them. It means they are marionettes, puppets, manipulated by people with money.” He went on to admit he was a “nostalgic, sentimental old buffer”. As usual, though, the light tone hid a serious point. Life was to get more serious and in 2005 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Ripley remained characteristically good-humoured and became an ambassador for the Prostate Cancer Charity. He was recently made an OBE in the 2010 Birthday Honours. Jean-Pierre Rives, another rugby eccentric and contemporary of Ripley’s in the French back row, once said: “Rugby needs people like Andy. You can still meet people like him in the game, and that proves to me that rugby still has spirit.” Ripley is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and three children. • Andrew George Ripley, rugby player and athlete, born 1 December 1947; died 17 June 2010 Rugby union Ian Malin guardian.co.uk
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Andy Ripley obituary
Tagged altidore, birthday, celeb news, donovan-world, light, London, mind, south-africa, space, Sports, superstars, wanted-success, world
Filed under: FIFA World Cup , Germany , Serbia PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa (AP) — Milan Jovanovic scored one minute after Germany striker Miroslav Klose was sent off Friday, giving Serbia a 1-0 win over the three-time World Cup champions in Group D. Jovanovic side-footed a shot past Germany goalkeeper Manual Neuer in the 38th minute to leave both teams with three points in the group. The win was Serbia’s first in the World Cup win as an independent nation. Lukas Podolski had a chance to equalize in the 60th, but he missed a penalty, sending a weak shot to the left of Serbia goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic, who read it and stopped it. ADVERTISEMENT Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic gave away the penalty in the 59th with a handball, the same needless move that cost Serbia the match against Ghana, when Zdravko Kuzmanovic did the same and Ghana scored for a 1-0 win.
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Serbia Upsets 10-Man Germany
Tagged bennyhollywood, coverage, fifa, group, manual-neuer, Match, nemanja-vidic, Score, serbia, Sports, stars, TMZ, united-states, world
Filed under: FIFA World Cup , Slovenia , United States FanHouse has a USA vs.Slovenia live blog for a World Cup 2010 Group C match in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday. The Americans tied England 1-1 in its World Cup opener, and Slovenia defeated Algeria 1-0. More Live Blogs Friday: Germany vs. Serbia | England vs. Algeria More FanHouse UK: Injuries to Watch | Where Are They Now? | Full Coverage
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USA vs. Slovenia 2010 World Cup Live Blog
Tagged algeria-more, bennyhollywood, Hollywood, House, match up, south, south-africa, streaming, TMZ, United, usa, world
Footballers aim to draw on spirit of Gillo Pontecorvo’s revolutionary classic ahead of tonight’s match with England When football players seek inspiration they normally opt for a round of golf. Not the Algerians, though. Ahead of their big match with England tonight, the north Africans have made a trip to the cinema to watch a screening of The Battle of Algiers. Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 classic is set during the Algerian war of the 1950s and details the emergence of the native resistance against the imperial French. It’s a gritty, troubling film that shows the moral compromises that war forces on all sides. It’s also over two hours long, but that doesn’t appear to have stopped the Algerians from being inspired. “I had never seen it before. It was very moving, and it was very moving to spend the time together. This is the kind of thing we need to do to feel together,” said Hassan Yebda, the 26-year-old midfielder who played in England last season with Portsmouth. The screening was arranged by Algeria’s coach, Rabah Saâdane, and Yebda believes it will help the side forge a new mentality after losing to Slovenia in their opening World Cup match last Sunday. Yebda compared their new attitude to that which helped Algeria qualify for the World Cup in a playoff with Egypt. “When we were in Sudan we had an obsession to win and that is what enabled us to beat Egypt. Had we lost that match, we would have been eliminated. The same goes for tomorrow. We must go on to the pitch with the same obsession to win.” Quite whether “an obsession to win” would be the message most viewers would take from The Battle of Algiers remains to be seen. Indeed, the movie’s history as an educational tool is a chequered one. It was also the subject of an infamous screening for Pentagon staff shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Algeria World Cup 2010 Algeria World Cup 2010 Group C Paul MacInnes guardian.co.uk
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Algeria prepare for World Cup battle by watching The Battle of Algiers
Tagged algeria-world, algerian, cinema, espn, Hollywood, match-between, michael-bradley, movie, north, shows-the-moral, south-africa, spend-the-time, Sports, world
The Gallas and Henry generation is over for France and Laurent Blanc will look to Benzema and Ribéry to lead the new one France’s enfeeblement at this World Cup is more chameleon than karma. In Dublin they laugh that Les Bleus are being punished for the double Thierry Henry handball that sent France to South Africa ahead of the Republic of Ireland, but the cause is less faith-based, unless you count Raymond Domenech’s astrological leanings. The chameleon Domenech has led this generation into the Seine with his oddball selectorial whims, tactical aberrations and confrontational modus operandi. Blindingly apparent in Thursday’s 2-0 defeat to Mexico was that these French players are desperate to reach the end of the Domenech era so they can start afresh under Laurent Blanc, even if that means withdrawing their labour during games. Professional footballers who hoist the white bedsheet while on national service take a grave risk, because the public are seldom inclined to support an insurrection that wrecks a major tournament campaign, but the side led by Patrice Evra have plainly had their fill of the great survivor, Domenench, who held on to the post despite France failing to progress beyond the group phase at Euro 2008. The French federation’s refusal to act on the coach’s deep unpopularity in the dressing room exhibited suicide loyalty. In 2006, in Germany, France drew with Switzerland and South Korea before beating Togo to set off on a winning run that was inspired by the senior players, almost in defiance of their leader. Persuading Zinedine Zidane to return from international retirement proved a masterstroke, but only because it gave the rest of the squad a hero to coalesce around, when the alternative was to quit on the job – which they appear to be doing now. A report now confirmed in reliable sections of the French press is that Domenech tried to make Chelsea’s Florent Malouda play in a defensive midfield position in the opening 0-0 draw with Uruguay to allow Yoann Gourcuff freedom to roam. Malouda, arguably the best attacking player in the Premier League after Wayne Rooney last season, objected and was left on the bench. Meanwhile William Gallas expressed his disgust at being overlooked for the captaincy by refusing to talk to the media. France claimed the title of the new Holland: a warring family determined to sabotage their own talent. In theory they could still advance if they beat South Africa and there is a positive result between Uruguay and Mexico but the game is already up, with L’Equipe calling this team ‘The Impostors’ and Zidane diagnosing that Domenech has lost control of the camp. The coach will not have to consult his star signs to know that old pronouncements will be thrown back at him like rotten Brie. Leos, he once said, were “show-offs” who made unreliable defenders. Robert Pires was handicapped by being a Scorpio. Naturally. So for the four years since they lost to Italy on penalties in the 2006 final, French football has been in a race to destruction. The only doubt was who would end up with the bulk of the blame: Domenech or his rebellious players. This mortification will pass, of course, and France will draw on its Clairefontaine academy system to produce new heirs to Zidane, and Blanc will reverse Domenech’s folly in leaving Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema at home. This is the end for the William Gallas-Thierry Henry-Nicolas Anelka generation and now Malouda, Nasri, Benzema, Lassana Diarra and Franck Ribéry, if he gets his mind right, will lead France from the mire in the spirit, Blanc will hope, of fraternité . France World Cup 2010 Group A World Cup 2010 Paul Hayward guardian.co.uk
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World Cup 2010: France quit on the job and end the Raymond Domenech era
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With France now needing a miracle against South Africa, their captain admitted they took a big punch from Mexico and never saw it coming Thierry Henry walked out of the Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane without saying a word to anyone after watching the 2-0 defeat to Mexico as a non-playing substitute. Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, as France captain, did have something to say, but he gave the distinct impression a whole lot more would be said when this sorry World Cup campaign is finally over. Barring a miracle, and Evra specifically said he is not expecting one, that will be in only four days’ time. “I’m still in shock after such a loss, we have behaved like a small football nation,” Evra said. “We have received a big punch and I couldn’t see it coming. The first goal was very painful but I thought we would be able to react, but we were not able to. We will talk about it during the following days. There is a lot to say but I’m not going to say it in public yet. I am disgusted. We have to beat South Africa now, but as for the qualification, I don’t believe in miracles. We are not a great team.” France always seem to be at one end or the other of the World Cup spectrum, with little in between. After winning the event in their own country in 1998 they were a major disappointment in South Korea-Japan 2002, leaving the tournament early, then somewhat against expectation they reached the final in Germany four years ago, where they could conceivably have beaten Italy but for Zinedine Zidane’s aberration against Marco Materazzi. Reaching the final in 2006 silenced some of Raymond Domenech’s many doubters, effectively giving the France coach a stay of execution until the next tournament, though after the manner in which Les Bleus surrendered against Mexico and the likelihood of another early departure, it appears he has little room left for argument. After leaving Henry on the bench for the whole 90 minutes, witnessing another supine display from Nicolas Anelka and wholly ineffective ones from Franck Ribery and Florent Malouda, Domenech has some questions to answer. So, for that matter, has Evra, whose part in the decisive penalty that clinched Mexico’s win was not the one of a captain willing to fight for every inch. Evra more or less waved Pablo Barrera past on his way to the penalty area, where he was clumsily fouled by Eric Abidal, the whole episode suggesting a tired and demotivated team. For that, Domenech will ultimately have to answer. “For the moment I’m searching for words,” the coach said, wearing his habitual puzzled expression. That makes a change from searching the stars – he freely admits astrology has informed some of his decisions in the past – and a disappointed nation will be hoping the dictionary might contain more sense. “We still have a match to play and there is an infinitesimally small chance we can go through. I do reproach myself, yes. But that’s my own business. Perhaps we didn’t have quite the punch we needed but there was definitely a team playing, not just a collection of individuals. Initially we were fairly calm.” France World Cup 2010 Group A Mexico Thierry Henry Paul Wilson guardian.co.uk
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World Cup 2010: I am disgusted, says France’s captain Patrice Evra | Paul Wilson
Tagged algeria-more, brazil, celeb news, dictionary, florent-malouda, France, injuries, match up, nicolas-anelka, portugal, quite-the-punch, stars, usa, watch, world
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