Djokovic's early exit opens the door for Murray

Defending Indian Wells champion, the world #3, Novak Djokovic's defeat in the quarter finals to Andy Roddick will see him lose a sizeable chunk of points when the new rankings come out next week. His score of 1000 for the tournament last year will be replaced by a meagre 180 for his 2009 performance, dropping his overall tally to 8420.

This is the opportunity that world #4, Andy Murray, needed. Through to the final at Indian Wells, victory there will propel his score up to 8250, just 170 behind Djokovic. With both players only defending 1st round exits at the next tournament, the Masters 1000 event in Miami, then a straight race ensues for the #3 spot; providing both players make at least the quarter finals, then if Murray gets further in the tournament than his Serbian rival he will claim the position. Before the Australian Open, I had predicted Murray would be #3 after Miami; but his subsequent quarter-final exit in Melbourne seemed to put paid to that idea. Now though, he has a real chance to claim that new highest ranking - one higher than compatriots Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski managed.

Even if Murray loses in the final on Sunday, or underperforms in Miami, he looks favourite to claim that position in the long run. He failed to advance beyond the round of 16 in any of his 2008 clay court outings - the 'swing' of the season that follows on from here, leading up to the French Open in June. Djokovic, meanwhile, has semifinal appearances at Roland Garros and at two Masters events - Monte Carlo and Hamburg - on his 2008 scoresheet, as well as victory in the Rome Masters, meaning a hefty sum of points to defend in the coming months. This defence must come from a player whose 2009 win-loss record (before this week) reads 14-6 versus Murray's 15-1.

If Murray can improve his performances on clay - and I believe he can; he is a much changed player even from 12 months ago, and his noticably improved power and serve will help him here - then he can challenge that #3 position, and by the year's end, hope to put pressure on Federer for the #2 ranking. One feels only US Open victory would be good enough to make inroads into the top two, but the way Andy Murray has started 2009, that is not beyond him.

The FIA - Missing The Point(s).

This week the FIA introduced, with immediate effect, a new rule to decide the F1 World Champion. The driver with the most wins would be crowned champion, irrespective of his points score. This, in turn, rejected the suggestion of FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) to change the points scoring to 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1, and also a development from Bernie Ecclestone's equally short-sighted 'medals' system (i.e. award gold/silver/bronze to the drivers, and the driver with the most golds wins the championship).

How ridiculous.

Ecclestone claims that the drivers will be encouraged to race because of this change. Even in his interview on Five Live he refers constantly to the lack of incentive to overtake for 'two points' - well why not give more points to the winner - as per the FOTA suggestion? Also, 'drivers' - plural - is a bit far-fetched, surely this only applies to one driver per race (the guy in second?).

And in this season of all seasons. The new rule is reported in some quarters as 'shaking up F1' - well, in this season of dramatically different car shapes, KERS and slick tyres, I think there is enough shaking going on already thank you. On that point, surely because of this consistency in driving should be rewarded sufficiently? I predict that there will be more shuffling of the pecking order throughout the season as teams learn their way around the new regs; improve their aero (especially the struggling McLaren), introduce their KERS systems etc. Drivers that can keep towards the front throughout all of this, all season long, should get an equal chance to win the championship as someone who struggles initially but comes with a late surge in the back end of the season, or starts off quick but gets swamped by the pack by mid-season. For instance, last year, Robert Kubica - who was always there or thereabouts in his BMW - would not have ever been considered a title contender under these rules, but was in the fight up until the last few races last year. Had he stole the title from his competitors in demonstrably quicker cars through consistent driving (while his opponents were busy crashing into each other) I don't think anyone would have begrudged him winning.

Furthermore, this system - which I would wager was partly to try to simplify matters for fans - is actually causing some confusion. Already on one thread on BBC's 606 message board people have been asking questions or making incorrect statements. For clarity, the following is true:

- The current scoring system - 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 - will be kept in place.
- The changes ONLY affect the outcome of the world drivers' title - all other positions will be decided by the points.
- The world constructors' title will still be decided by points.
- Yes, the changes do come into effect for 2009.

Whilst I would not go out and accuse the FIA of anti-Hamilton/McLaren bias, the fact that this rule has come in the year after Hamilton won the WDC with fewer wins than rival Felipe Massa may only serve to fuel those (already quite popular) suggestions. Especially after Ecclestone likes to cite Hamilton's supposed 'settle for second' attitude, blatantly disregarding his bold/stupid moves for the lead at Spa/Fuji (which he got penalised for both times - so no wonder he might be scared of overtaking anyone by the end of the season) and his pole-and-victory run at Shanghai (the penultimate race of the season). Only at Brazil were the 'just do enough' tactics out in force, and we all know what happened there - one of the most exciting finishes to a season in living memory. No-one ever brings up (for instance) Fernando Alonso's (absolutely correct and sensible) adoption of these tactics to land him his first crown.

Besides, everyone has got it wrong anyway. The points should go down to at least 12th place. The CART/Champ Car system from the late 90s was one of the best:

20-16-14-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 (plus, I seem to recall, bonuses for pole/fastest lap)

The MotoGP system is also useful, with the top 15 scoring. In my view, points are supposed to be merely a reflection of performance throughout the season, rather than something special to be earned. We would get a better picture of the midfield battle (which has been very tight in recent years) if points went to more places. To be honest I don't see why we can't have points for all of the positions available, at least then we can have fights throughout the field, and every position means something, even if it is a driver gaining, say, 14th instead of 15th. The old system of points for the top 6 went back to the days when barely more than 6 cars finished - even with 26 starters (wiki any race result from the late 80s/early 90s). They were right to change it to top 8 in 2003, but surely with the reliability of modern F1 cars, something needs to be changed again.

All in all, this seems like a very long and very reactionary article to something that might not even have an effect anyway (usually the driver with the most wins takes the title). But these changes themselves seem similarly reactionary and, given their prominence in the current sporting news, definitely warrant discussion.

A list of bands I've seen (probably, no, certainly non-exhaustive).

So, I thought (just for my own amusement) that I'd sit down and try and compile a list of every band/singer/artist I've seen live. Well, for a start not all of them, because there's no way I could recall the myriad of student bands I've seen, so I'll omit them for a start. Otherwise, I present this list, ordered with some sort of weighting criteria based on number of times I've seen them, how much I like them, commercial success, and to some greater extent the order in which I remember, which will usually mean support bands go right under their respective headliners unless I really like/dislike them. Don't expect to have heard of too many of these, though, many are local bands, random support bands, or just generally 'underground' acts. Here goes (starting with the obvious, for those of you who know me well enough)...

Frank Turner x7
Athlete x4
Sky Larkin x3
Los Campesinos! x2
Johnny Foreigner x2
Youthmovies x2
British Sea Power x2
iLiKETRAiNS x2
Pulled Apart By Horses x2
Editors
Ra Ra Riot
The Kissaway Trail
65daysofstatic
Asobi Seksu
Tired Irie
Adam Gnade x2
Broken Social Scene
¡Forward, Russia!
Cursive
Sometree
Nine Black Alps
Boy Kill Boy
The Magic Numbers
Snow Patrol
Silversun Pickups
Iain Archer
You Say Party! We Say Die!
Kyte x2
British Expeditionary Force
Napoleon IIIrd
Dive Dive x3
Beans On Toast x2
These New Puritans
Film School
Morning Runner x3
Alberta Cross
I Was A Cub Scout
Rolo Tomassi
This Town Needs Guns x2
data.select.party
Colour
Omes
Collisions and Consequences
Brontide
Oceansize
The Mules
Kid Harpoon
Noah and the Whale
Captain Black
Jay Jay Pistolet
Chris T-T x2
Emily Barker
Wintermute
Fell City Girl x2
The Winchell Riots
We Are Scientists
The Little Ones
Frightened Rabbit
Captain
Blanket
Xmas Lights x2
Borderville x4
Hreda
A Silent Film
worriedaboutsatan
Laboratory Noise
New Rhodes
Thomas Truax
Shy Child
Applicants
Victorian English Gentleman's Club

Minnaars - a new band to rock your face (and give away free music)

Probably best described as a cross between Foals and ¡Forward, Russia!, combining the former's mathy guitars and danceable beats mixed with the latter's vocal acrobatics (and the production duties of former ¡F,R! singer Tom Woodhead) .
Owing to problems with their record label, they have decided to give their debut EP away for free. Definitely worth a listen!

Check the Myspace for the details.

Check the video for 'Busy Hands' here:

Birmingham Games 2009, 31 Jan/1 Feb (part 1)

What a weekend! I'd entered myself for the 800m, where I made the final last year (finishing 6th), running a PB in the heats in the process. This time around, however, due to excessive entries the organisers decided to put in first round heats at 10:30 on Saturday morning, before semis and final on the Sunday. This already claimed one victim - Irish hopeful Eoin Everard, who booked his flight for Saturday before the extra round was added (more on this later).

This put an extra strain on what was turning out to be an extremely busy weekend. The Oxford University AC 'Annual Dinner' was on the Saturday night, and I was going, even though I wasn't going to be drinking due to the race on Sunday (or so I thought, before the Saturday round was added). The only train that would get me there on time necessitated a 6:30 start, which was far from pleasant. (This was still a better prospect than the other Irish contender, Joe Warne, who told me he had caught a flight at about 4 that morning and travelled to the stadium from the airport).

Warming up for the race, I felt okay, not wonderfully fresh considering I had tapered for the race, (I put this down to the early start) but felt confident about making the semi finals at least (like I said, I was a finalist last year, so surely the semis was a given, right?). There were to be 5 heats of 5, with the winners and 5 fastest losers progressing to the next day's semis (bizarrely, they seemed to be only using 5 lanes of the 6 lane track for the start).

The intention was to go out and try and run 1:55 or so in the heats, as I would be at my freshest throughout the weekend and I was up for making it a time trial as well as a championships. Things didn't go to plan though, and as I took the lead, from Joe Warne, I was watching the clock every 100m and found myself drifting off from my pre-race target pace. 28 through 200m, fine, then 58 through 400 which was slow. I just had no zip in my legs and at the bell (reached in 1:28) Warne took the lead which he held to the line, with me second in 1:58.41.

That time, I thought, might be good enough to take me through. Of course at the time I had only a rough idea of what I had run, the exact tenths and hundredths were beyond my knowledge. So I sat through the remainder of the heats (I was in heat 1) looking to see if I was to make it. Heat 2 was okay, only the 2nd placed athlete beat my time, but the third was a disaster. It was so closely packed, and with the 4th athlete well into the 1:57 mark I was suddenly the last qualifier on time, with two heats still to run! At that stage I believed I was gone, and was facing the prospect of returning to the Annual Dinner (having made a fuss about not wanting to go so I could race on Sunday) with my tail very much between my ill-equipped legs.

The fourth heat was a much slower affair, thankfully, with the winner outside of 1:58. Suddenly I felt in with a chance again, with one heat to go. The athletes here went through 200 in 29 (slower than me - I felt safe), 400 in 58 (same as me, and I could not feel confident any longer) and two approached 600 in 1:27. That was it, I'm out, I thought. Mercifully, one of the two seemed to fall apart in the final 100, and I looked and saw that he was being passed by Danny Crates (2004 Paralympic champion) who was finishing like a train. The clock had stopped for the winner, but I continuted counting in my head, and felt that Crates had crossed the line 2nd in a mid-1:58.

This was agonising. Had I made it? If I had it would only have been by tenths, if that. I went for a 15-minute cool down run by the nearby canal, hoping that when I returned, the results would be up. They were...and I was through! I was right on the times though, my 1:58.41 was the slowest man through, Danny Crates was next on a 1:58.56. Although I was relieved at being put through, I was not at this stage confident of my chances; I felt like I ran hard, and there seemed to be nothing there. My focus on 400m training (rewarded with an indoor PB last month in Sheffield) seemed, perhaps, to have detracted from my 800 performances. Still, I could do nothing more than come back the next day, and try again in a more competitive field.

This blog.

Hey,

I'm not sure why I signed up to this, or what it will become in the end. At the very least it is probably the best place to dump a whole spectrum of my thoughts. This will include those on running (specifically my progress therein, but maybe on the sport in general) and perhaps stuff on other sports I like to follow too. Also I will probably post stuff about music - bands I like, gigs I've been to, that sort of thing. And then just anything else that amuses me (but I'd guess no-one else).

For now,
Danny.