Ryder Cup memories, the greatness of Jimmy Greaves and brawling boxers

1) The Ryder Cup starts on Friday after a three-year pandemic-induced hiatus. Europe won impressively last time at Le Golf National, highlights including a Friday foursomes clean sweep. Here’s Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose leading the way, and Europe’s winning moment on the Sunday, as Francesco Molinari beat Phil Mickelson. The USA were rampant, however, when they last hosted, in 2016, and Ryan Moore clinched victory. The competition has often traded on a bit of spice, of course, so here’s a slice of the Battle of Brookline in 1999, when emotions ran high on both sides of the rope. Pressure is another Ryder Cup ingredient of course, so here’s a compilation of 10 memorable pressure putts. The first time Europe competed as a whole, came in 1979, losing 11-17. It all began more than half a century earlier, with only a Great Britain team competing, and here’s some Pathé News footage of that early action.

2) English football lost one of its greats last weekend, with the death of Jimmy Greaves at the age of 81. Let’s savour his finishing genius with some of his best Tottenham goals and here he is doing the business for Chelsea. He adorned West Ham’s front line too, scoring a couple in this thrashing of Manchester City. Here’s a 1969 BBC documentary about the striker, when he was still at Tottenham. He became a hugely popular figure in broadcasting after his playing career ended, of course, be it larking around with Ian St John on Saint and Greavesie or letting rip about television repeats or weather forecasts.

3) “Yes … no … sorry” – a comical run-out, and an inadvertently brutal reaction. Still, at least he didn’t smash his own car windscreen, or pull off a dropped catch/fluffed run-out double.

4) The pre-fight press conference for Canelo Álvarez’s fight against Caleb Plant got a little out of hand this week. Shades of Derek Chisora v Dillian Whyte there. There are some more scenes that no one likes to see (that everyone likes to see) here.

5) More animals-on-the-pitch high jinks have come to our attention: a goose invades the pitch at Macclesfield, and a midfield terrier excels in Bosnia. Both made a better fist of getting on than this fan at Falmouth Town.

6) Sochi stages the Russian Grand Prix this week, only the eighth running of the race in the modern era (there were two in 1913 and 1914). Lewis Hamilton has dominated here, with four wins, the first coming in 2014. Here’s a guide to the track with the man himself, though it’s not to everyone’s taste. It looks nice though. And here’s five feelgood moments from the race and Valtteri Bottas’s impressive win in Russia last year.

Our favourites from below the line last week

1) Everyone loves a cat video: a feline intruder makes some ground in the NFL while a dog runs amok in the AFL.

2) The elements get the better of Attila Valter and Johan Price-Pejtersen at the road cycling world championships two years ago.

3) Jingle writer Mike Brady celebrates the AFL Grand Final in song.

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