Browsing: Incredible

Football

‘I competed in javelin at county level and cleaned up. I think my personal best was 55 metres when I stopped at 14 or 15 and football took over instead’ Long throw ace Rory Delap on his incredible trademark

For younger football fans, Rory Delap is probably more famous as the father of Chelsea striker Liam Delap, but ask any fan of a certain age about him and you’ll get a very different answer.

That’s because father Rory was the man who turned the humble throw-in from a functional part of the game to a deadly set-piece. If for whatever reason you don’t believe us, then we challenge you to find another footballer with a longer ‘throw-ins’ section on their Wikipedia page than the 941-word opus that Delap’s page has at the time of writing.

It was during his five-and-a-half-year spell at Stoke City that Delap hit the mainstream, but this weapon was a long time in the making.

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Rory Delap on his long throw-ins

Stoke City Rory Delap

Here comes another one… (Image credit: Getty Images)

So just when did Delap realise his throw-ins were something special?

“When I was playing for Carlisle’s youth team,” he tells FourFourTwo. “I used it at every club during my career but in different ways – at Stoke it only became notorious because we had eight or nine players who were 6ft 4in and very brave.

Rory Delap of Stoke City takes a throw in

Delap’s throw-ins were a deadly set-piece for the Potters (Image credit: Catherine Ivill/AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)

“But I used it at Carlisle, Derby and Southampton under Gordon Strachan – he used to like it if I threw it as high as possible, so the opposition couldn’t clear it. I used it for Ireland too.”

Delap’s throwing prowess was also born out of the skills he showed on both track and field as a kid.

“I got really good at 800m and javelin – I competed at county level and cleaned up in javelin. I think my personal best was 55 metres when I stopped at 14 or 15 and football took over instead.”

That journey saw him rise through the ranks at Carlisle, before going on to make more than 100 appearances at both Derby County and then Southampton.

Best Premier League managers ever

Pulis’ Stoke City were not everyone’s cup of tea (Image credit: Getty Images)

A short spell at Sunderland followed, before he joined Stoke initially on loan in October 2006, with a permanent move following 14 months later.

Tony Pulis’s side would go to ruffle more than a few Premier League feathers, with FourFourTwo ranking their 2009/10 side at no.9 in a list of the 30 most-hated teams ever in British football.

Delap has teamed up with bookmaker William Hill for their prediction game Final One Standing this season

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WWE

Mavs’ Kidd Says Cooper Flagg Isn’t Confirmed As Starting PG, Has Done ‘Incredible Job’

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If Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd has decided Cooper Flagg will begin the regular season as the starting point guard, he isn’t saying it publicly.

Following the Mavs’ 121-94 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in their preseason finale on Wednesday, Kidd was noncommittal when discussing Flagg’s position going forward while also praising the “incredible job” the rookie has done:

“He’s got to keep an index of who got shots, what was the last shot, and that’ll come with reps. But I think [Flagg] has done an incredible job of handling the situation of running the team. And the other thing that I think that is going unnoticed is that his teammates enjoy him running the team.”

Flagg started at the point in Dallas’ final two preseason games. He was used at forward in the first two games, with D’Angelo Russell running the point in matchups against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Charlotte Hornets.

Regardless of the role he was playing, Flagg looked comfortable on the court in all four preseason games. He averaged 11.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in just under 22 minutes per game in the preseason.

The Mavs have challenged Flagg by letting him run the offense going back to the Summer League.

ESPN’s Tim MacMahon noted Kidd became intrigued with the idea of using the No. 1 pick at the point when studying his tape from Duke because he saw echoes of Grant Hill’s game in the film.

Hill, like Flagg, had a traditional forward body with the ball-handling skill to lead an offense. The Detroit Pistons legend averaged at least five assists per game in each of his first seven seasons.

The Mavericks signed Russell in free agency to be a stop-gap point guard while they wait for Kyrie Irving to return from a torn ACL. He is a capable starter and also has experience coming off the bench.

Flagg could be one of the smaller starters in this Mavs lineup when everyone is healthy. The other players on the court with him will be Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington and Dereck Lively II.

Given the size that Dallas can put on the court, if Flagg can run the offense right out of the gate, this team could be very difficult to stop.

We will find out what role Kidd has in mind for Flagg very soon. The Mavs will tipoff the regular season against the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 22.

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WWE

WWE’s Cody Rhodes Details ‘Incredible’ Premiere The Rock Set Up For Him & Daughter

The Rock shaking Cody Rhodes hand after their feud during an episode of

WWE

On screen, The Rock and Cody Rhodes had a bitter rivalry that saw the “Final Boss” brutally assault “The American Nightmare” on one occasion, as well as claiming he wanted his soul. However, behind the scenes, Dwayne Johnson seems to have a friendlier relationship with Rhodes, and even once invited the WWE Undisputed Champion and his daughter to one of his movie premieres.

“The Final Boss, The Rock, tells us, ‘I want you guys to come to the Moana 2 premiere. And I jumped…Put us on an amazing golf stream, fully catered, Moana-themed desserts,” Rhodes recalled during an episode of his “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast. “So, he brings us out to Hawaii for the premiere and the premiere is done; it is the best premiere I’ve ever been to.” Rhodes further noted the premier catered towards families with several Disney characters.

Despite the fun day, Rhodes noted that his daughter, Liberty Iris, became fussy and was the only child not dressed in a “Moana”-themed outfit but went dressed as Elsa from “Frozen” instead. “So, full Elsa for the burning hot Moana 2 outdoor premier, and she’s sitting there, and I sai,d ‘Hey, do you wanna say hi to Maui? You know, talk to Maui?'”Â

However, Liberty Iris didn’t want to talk to anyone before realizing that talking to Maui was a big deal, and decided to turn around and wave to Maui instead. “It was jarring to see that she has the carny bone…”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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England hit 823 to move to brink of incredible win over Pakistan in Multan first Test

Harry Brook scores 317 and England hit 823 to move to the brink of an incredible victory over Pakistan in the first Test in Multan.

England enjoy one of their most famous days in Test cricket, scoring an incredible 823-7 before moving to the brink of victory against Pakistan in Multan.

Harry Brook and Joe Root combined to record England’s greatest-ever Test partnership, putting on 454 for the fourth wicket to take the game away from their hosts who had scored 556 in their first innings.

The issue for stand-in captain Ollie Pope was deciding when was best to declare, with the flatness of the pitch needing to be taken into consideration.

However, Pope and the rest of the England team need not have worried as their bowling attack tore through the Pakistan top order, taking six wickets in just 24.2 overs.

Pakistan deserve credit for avoiding defeat before the game headed into its fifth day, but surviving from here would represent a more outstanding feat than England have achieved by putting themselves in this position.

What records have been set?

Brook will take the majority of the plaudits from Thursday’s play, his 317 from just 322 balls featuring 29 fours and three maximums.

The Yorkshireman’s knock is the fifth highest by an Englishman in Test cricket, while his 454-run stand with Root was the highest fourth-wicket partnership in the history of Test cricket.

Root had to settle for just the 262, the 33-year-old recording his highest-ever score in Test cricket having spent 10 hours and one minute at the crease.

England’s total of 823 was still just their fourth highest in history, yet the speed of compiling it in only 150 overs may stand the test of time.

Jamie Smith made 31, Chris Woakes 17 and Brydon Carse nine before the declaration, which gave Pakistan 20 minutes or so to bat before tea.

England attack dismantle Pakistan

The momentum was already with England before Woakes sensationally clean-bowled Abdullah Shafique with the first ball of the innings.

Although the ship was steadied, Shan Masood (11), Babar Azam (5) and Saim Ayub (25) were all back in the pavilion by 12.1 overs, Carse and Gus Atkinson doing the damage.

Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel were next to go for 10 and 29 respectively, England having just under 13 overs to force an historic victory with a day to spare.

However, they lived to fight another day through Salman Agha (41) and Aamer Jamal (27) seeing out a nervy final hour, with Pakistan still trailing by 115 runs.

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