Over the past week, there have been a number of sporting results which can be categorised as upsets; Rafael Nadal, the world number one tennis player losing to his compatriot, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in Bangkok, Liverpool FC, England's most successful club, losing to newly promoted Blackpool on Saturday and the reigning NBA Champions, the Los Angeles Lakers losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in an exhibition game at London's O2 arena last night.
While Rafa's loss can be categorised as bad day at the office given he had numerous break points, he got back to winning ways in his next match in Tokyo. For Liverpool, it's a different story altogether as this result has meant the club have made their worst start to the league for 57 years, far longer than I have been alive. The international break means the Liverpool players will have to wait until 17 October to see if they can turn things around - given they are playing Liverpool's other club, motivation won't be lacking, but it remains to be seen if that will be enough. The Los Angeles Lakers played all but 6 minutes without Kobe Bryant who is recovering from knee surgery he had in July. The Minnesota Timberwolves coach, Kurt Ramblis, is an ex Laker so his motivation for getting one over Phil "The Zen Master" Jackson was not in doubt. The Lakers kept things close in the first two quarters, but they made numerous turnovers in the third quarter and it was a similar story in the fourth quarter. The Lakers started with four of their usual starters; Derek Fisher, Kobe, Pau Gasol and Ron Artest, but only Derek and Pau played a significant number of minutes. Kobe has his eyes on a 6th NBA championship ring so it's no wonder he's playing things very safe.
The drama at Celtic Manor as the last day of the Ryder Cup unfolded is something that would have been labelled fanciful if a scriptwriter had come-up with such a rollercoaster of a plot as the destiny of the Ryder Cup remained uncertain until the 17th hole of the last singles match to be played.
Sport is a great leveller and the guaranteed uncertainty is what makes the watching and participation so compelling.
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