Davis Cup dancing, a Pukki party and the Malice at the Palace
1) Fights on and off the field have dominated the recent sporting landscape, and while commentators might tell you “nobody wants to see that”, Classic YouTube begs to differ. Let’s start, appropriately enough, with gridiron. Kyle Turley may have notched a couple of Pro Bowl call-ups but he is undoubtedly best remembered for tossing Damien Robinson’s helmet across the turf after a dust-up. At college level, mass brawls do not get much feistier than Florida International v University of Miami in 2006, featuring flying helmets, body slams and even a rogue crutch.
Cycling offers different foreign objects to scrap with. As does cricket. Baseball also has a strong history of bench-clearing scraps, all the way back to 1965. The Bundesliga recently saw this fracas between Freiburg and Frankfurt. Basketball might have the Malice at the Palace and Georgetown Hoyas v Bayi Rockets, but nothing comes close to a tear-up in the NHL:
2) The reformatted Davis Cup is taking place in Madrid, which provides an excuse to pull out this outrageous ‘tweener’ from Gaël Monfils, another from Juan Martín del Potro and whatever this is from Yannick Noah.
3) LeBron James is still king.
4) The UK Championship, snooker’s second-biggest tournament, kicks off in York next week. Here’s highlights from the 1983 final, when Alex Higgins fought back from 7-0 down to beat
Steve Davis, who was so stunned he carried on chalking his cue. The world champion, Judd Trump, is the man to beat after beating Ronnie O’Sullivan in an epic NI Open final last week.
The Bristolian’s breakthrough moment came in 2011, edging out Mark Allen with a nerveless 91 break. And this is a bit ridiculous. Selby’s not even snookered and takes longer over one shot than Ronnie took to complete his 1997 147 …
5) Live from Helsinki, this must be the biggest Pukki party ever. Staying with Euro 2020, if you’re starting to think England might be in with a shot, this video of Thiago Alcântara and Rodri pinging 40-yard volleys to each other might change your mind:
6) Meet Milton Martinez, the skateboarding daredevil from Argentina.
Our favourite from below the line last week
1) Proof Chelsea were bringing the kids through long before Frank Lampard took the hot seat.
Spotters’ badge: caw35guardian.
Guardian YouTube football channel
Do subscribe, if you fancy.
Guardian YouTube sport channel
Do subscribe, if you fancy.