Latest news with #Devil'sAdvocate
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
3 reasons the Steelers signing Aaron Rodgers was a mistake
3 reasons the Steelers signing Aaron Rodgers was a mistake In case you hadn't heard, future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers is signing a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. When the news broke on Thursday, social media was quickly worked into a lather and the early reviews and opinions are divided. We decided to play Devil's Advocate here and offer up three reasons this signing could completely blow up in the face of the Steelers organization. Aaron Rodgers blows up team chemistry Make no mistake, Aaron Rodgers is a very opinionated guy and it's no reach to assume he's more interested in off-field political topics than he is playing football. Rodgers has gone on the record with some very controversial opinions and we have no idea how those will be met by teammates and fans. Aaron Rodgers makes the team too good in 2025 It might sound odd but what if the Steelers win 11 games in 2025 and make it to the second round of the playoffs? Sounds pretty darn good except when the 2026 NFL draft comes around and the Steelers are picking in the 20s in the first round. This would mean that if the Steelers want to draft their franchise quarterback, they could have to spend additional draft capital to make that trade. The Steelers still stink despite Aaron Rodgers presence Just like the Steelers might end up being too good to get their future quarterback, all this drama and money might amount to nothing if the Steelers end up with a losing record. And this is very possible. Maybe the only thing more damming than a great season is an awful one and it will reflect horribly on the decision making of head coach Mike Tomlin and the front office.
The 42
06-05-2025
- Sport
- The 42
The days of the skort are numbered, will it even see out the 2025 season?
IN THE SCRAPBOOK at home, there were more than a few pictures of my mother's heyday playing camogie. Camogie featured heavily in their sporting diets. The Wifi wasn't great. No reference was too fleeting and all clippings were preserved like precious artifacts, even one detailing how an uncle, a former county footballer, was home from Birmingham on his holidays and spent an evening refereeing a game at short notice. Back in the late '60s and '70s, the main thing you notice was the kit the players wore. Pinafores, I believe. Boxy, stiff, restrictive, all-in-one garments that made the playing of sport less enjoyable. Not so much your Speedo 'Second Skin' concept, as explained by Billy Connolly when he described the typical swimwear of the west of Scotland family on holiday, 'but second cardigan.' Onwards then to the '80s and the introduction of jersey and a skort. Even the invention of a compound word to indicate that this garment wasn't quite a skirt, wasn't quite a pair of shorts, feels like a twisted joke that Éamon de Valera foisted on the nation before he shuffled off this mortal coil. If memory serves, the offending garment was as heavy as some offcuts of tarpaulin, with pleats ironed in so sharp that it could have severed a limb. Even armed with all these watery anecdotes, 'Skorting Around The Issue' was the column topic that was always there on the emergency list, bobbling around with others that you could, at any time, have knocked a handy 950 words from. Only, you never did. Why is that? Because it was one of those topics that just seemed too obvious, too boring, too damn ridiculous. Camogie players at a recent launch. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO Unless you played Devil's Advocate and really went for it in a BorisJohnsonification effort where you dictated that, actually, it was perfectly fine to dictate to women what they should wear and that they bloody well should get on with it. Advertisement In a pre-Weinstein world, that might have even flown. Sepp Blatter suggested that women's soccer would instantly become more popular by introducing tighter kits. In the past, some columnists have even gone as far as to suggest the same for women's Gaelic games. You'd doubt they keep a copy preserved in their portfolio. Only after the protest of Dublin and Kilkenny camogie players in the Leinster semi-final has it become an issue. If raising awareness is what they wanted, then they achieved that. It was a timely protest in that a Gaelic Player's Association survey published last week held that 70% of inter-county camogie players found the skort to be uncomfortable, while 83% felt the individual player should have a choice between shorts or the skort. Concerns around skorts include testimony from players who have been exposed in social media from pictures taking while playing, while some have stated it impacts on their play in a negative way. Almost half said they experienced anxiety around their period showing. That's not good. In fact that's awful. At underage level, within my own hurling and camogie club, the coaches tell me that a lot of young girls absolutely hate the skort and every time they take the field there are at least a couple who try to wear shorts. It takes very little to put some young girls off playing sports. Why create this barrier? We also learned that four separate motions brought to Camogie Congress in 2024 relating to playing gear were defeated. So administrators are taking the players for granted. The Camogie Association have had their say. They are not for budging. They might have to think again in the coming days and weeks. Many more protests are reputedly planned. And the thing is, it will be easy to object now. The hard work has been done by the Kilkenny and Dublin camogs. The arguments by many but most especially by Ashling Maher has painted any opponents into a corner. There is no counter-argument. None whatsoever. Dublin captain Ashling Maher. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO So here's the solution. The Camogie Association calls an Extraordinary General Meeting. All the delegates are directed by a vote taken among their intercounty squad. The motion is passed. At club level, one club brings up a motion at the next county meeting, to apply to camogie within their county. Every club then takes their vote. Sports administration has a habit of making out things are complicated. They really are not. Because of all the things camogie players and camogie people could get het up about, this doesn't deserve to be an issue. There are huge issues with creating a calendar of fixtures with venues nailed down. Player welfare is still not perfect in many counties. Camogie needs a little help from the Hurling Development Committee in growing the game. There's also a deeper philosophical issue about the direction of camogie. For years, players have been crying out for a greater tolerance to contact, which has only recently been relaxed. Given the choice, most would wish to play hurling, basically. A couple of weekends back, Wexford's Lee Chin went viral with a clip of him blocking down a Dublin player using his hands, having lost his hurl. While it is undoubtedly an act of raw courage, anyone who had watched Cork camogie player Ashling Thompson's episode of Laochra Gael would recall her in an insane pursuit of an opponent, sans hurl, with hands in the air trying to block a shot down. This is the game as it is: athletic excellence, courage, mad amounts of skill. It's a vision of Irish womanhood generations and worlds removed from the de Valera notion of comely maidens at the crossroads. The days of the skort are numbered. It will do well to see out this season.
BBC News
31-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Take a draw at Forest and beat City at the weekend'
BBC Radio Manchester's Joe McGrath predicts Manchester United will draw with Nottingham Forest on Tuesday but beat rivals Manchester City in the derby on Red Devils are unbeaten in four Premier League matches and are beginning to build some momentum under Ruben Amorim, with a Europa League quarter-final also upcoming against Lyon."It could be quite the season for Nottingham Forest with the FA Cup and Champions League qualification looking a real possibility, so it looks like we will just be in their way," he told the Devil's Advocate podcast."It's a huge month for Manchester United in April and I see it being a successful month. Forest might be one of those games in which we just draw."I say we beat City at the weekend and we would take a draw here."We're going up against a big side. Ruben Amorim has had time to hopefully work on a lot with a lot of his players not travelling so fingers crossed they come back with fire in their bellies and realise that April is huge."Forest played at the weekend and have got that momentum now. For a team to make a jump to the Champions League and go on an FA Cup run - there is that momentum which means more than a good training session."Or you could look at it as they might be knackered from Saturday and have their minds elsewhere and United can make the most of it and get the win."It will be interesting to see how much United have progressed because we lost to Forest at home earlier in the season."Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds
BBC News
13-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'You need characters like Zirkzee in your team'
On this week's episode of BBC Radio Manchester's Devil's Advocate podcast, presenter Joe McGrath spoke about forward Joshua Zirkzee:"One of the things we highlighted about Zirkzee when we did throw criticism was that we enjoyed his hunger and his desire. What Ruben Amorim has managed to do is pull out the bits of his ability that suit Amorim's game the most."We have seen flurries of that throughout certain fixtures and we are like: 'Zirkzee might not be a waste of all this money after all because he's done really well there and I enjoy him'."You have to have characters like that in your team because they're hungry. I look at Rasmus Hojlund and I think: 'Is Hojlund hungry for a Premier League title?' I look at him and I think no, but I look at Zirkzee and I think he's got ambitions. "He wants to be in winning sides - he wants to be at the top of his game."Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds
BBC News
25-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'One of the worst United performances I've ever seen'
BBC Radio Manchester's Gaz Drinkwater says Ruben Amorim has turned United from an "average football team" into "relegation candidates". The Red Devils were 13th before the Portuguese manager's arrival in November, but have slipped to 15th after just 15 points from his 15 Premier League games in a late fightback and controversial VAR decision helped salvage a 2-2 draw at Everton on Saturday after another lacklustre display. "That was one of the worst United performances I've ever seen," Drinkwater told the Devil's Advocate podcast."That was absolutely desolate in terms of any sort of quality. The players couldn't string three passes together. There were instances when they couldn't even trap or control a ball. They couldn't turn with the ball on the halfway line. The defending was utterly embarrassing and the goalkeeper didn't cover himself in glory either."I think we're now looking at a goalkeeper who could potentially go down as one of Manchester United's worst in modern history. We've got a defence at the moment who can't defend. That first goal - what is going on? They're just not very good."You've got to point blame at the players when they're professional footballers who can't adapt to a new manager's system, however the fact still stands that Ruben Amorim has come in and taken over what were an average football team and turned them into relegation candidates. We're lucky the three promoted teams are awful."We aren't finishing higher than 15th so by that metric you're going into next season thinking anything can happen. Amorim is lucky this system isn't going to get us relegated because they can't play it. He needs to change something, it's a travesty."Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds
