England and the lose canon

Everyone loves a winner. But what we love even more is a loser, if it is the right loser. There can have been few more ideal losers than England when they crashed against lowly Iceland in the European soccer championships this week. We really, really loved that.

Blues versus Pies: is the deadly enmity dying?

Do great rivalries die, or merely fall dormant from time to time?

A sorry state of affairs

Is there anything quite so insincere as the sporting apology?

Sport: Where reality and make-believe cross paths

One of the best sports movies ever made is Bull Durham, a riff on the machinations of a minor league baseball club, starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. One poignant motif is the moment the manager, Jo Riggins (Trey Wilson) calls a declining player into his office and says with a stagy sigh: "This is the hardest thing a manager has to do." You know what comes next. Eventually, it comes even for the Costner character, Crash Davis.

The bigger the Pies are, the harder they fall

To plagiarise the Queen on her birthday, this is now officially Collingwood's annus horribilis.

A Bolt into the Blues: the man recasting Carlton

Until now, Brendon Bolton has had such a slight presence in the game that you might easily have the wrong idea about him.

When 'strike' means 'no action'

• COMMENT

Tom Lynch as good as handed himself in on a striking charge, and still the AFL judicial system didn't put him away.

Port thrash Magpies by 67 points

Port Adelaide ran rings around disjointed Collingwood to claim a 67-point victory in Sunday's AFL clash at the MCG.

Cloke struggles as hapless Pies are overpowered

Travis Cloke went goalless on his return to the Collingwood senior team at the MCG on Sunday.