James Dart

Picture of the weekend: Konstantinos Mavropanos taking one for the team.

📸 Dave Shopland

From Run Nation to Power Slap: what is leading the dumbing down of sports? From violent collision contests to celebrity-backed offshoots, spin-off sports are finding captive audiences. Their spectacle masks something more sinister

Slap-fights and modern jousts: in an era of spin-off sports, the grim spectacle masks something more sinister

It would be a macabre story but relegation needs to happen for Tottenham | Jonathan Liew All the managers since Mauricio Pochettino have drained life from the club, which appears interested in anything but football right now

'Why a Tottenham relegation may just rank as the single most spectacular failure in the history of English football.' By @jonathanliew.bsky.social

Barcelona fan ‘gutted’ at missing Newcastle game after going to wrong St James’ Park A Barcelona fan ended up 366 miles from where his team were playing after confusing Exeter’s St James Park with Newcastle’s St James’ Park

Pain on top of pain

He shoots, he scores! Basketball as you’ve never seen it before – in pictures In 2019, Austin Bell embarked on a wild quest to photograph all 2,549 of Hong Kong’s outdoor basketball courts using drone cameras and Google Maps. The results offer a fresh perspective on the city

In 2019, Austin Bell embarked on a wild quest to photograph all 2,549 of Hong Kong’s outdoor basketball courts using drone cameras and Google Maps …

Humiliation for Kinsky as Tottenham crumble early in thrashing by Atlético Madrid Goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky was substituted early in the first half of Tottenham’s humiliating 5-2 defeat at the hands of Atlético Madrid

‘This was a dramatic act of self-destruction that “Spursy” doesn’t get anywhere near, both deeply comic and also desperately sad, the final ridiculous scene of a tragedy, the ultimate humiliation. Only, terrifyingly, that may still be to come.’ By @sidlowe.bsky.social

David Squires on … FA Cup magic for Port Vale and a close call for Mikel Arteta Our cartoonist reflects on the FA Cup fifth round, including Ben Waine’s commitment to the bit

This week's @davidsquires.bsky.social cartoon features Ben Waine's Shearer tribute act, plus an unsettling trip to Mansfield for Mikel Arteta …

Nathan Martin wins closest L.A. Marathon in race history, edging Michael Kimani Kamau YouTube video by THE BUZZ

Incredible finish to the LA marathon, Nathan Martin getting up on the line

Absolutely taking those and running 🙌

Argyle … win?

Igor Tudor enacts ghostly role in the most stupid of hires with Tottenham too bad to stay up | Barney Ronay The problem here is not the interim manager, it’s the ad hoc interim ownership and the short-term sense of identity at this ghost town club

This town … is coming like a ghost town. @barneyronay.bsky.social on Spurs

Sandra Jessen v Essen? Footballers facing nominative opposition teams | The Knowledge Plus: hat-trick heroes who were not named player of the match, managers sacked after big wins, and more

Mike England v England, Milan Baros v Milan, Lautaro Martínez v Roma and so on … this week's edition of The Knowledge

Luke Donald to remain Europe’s Ryder Cup captain and go for historic three-peat Confirmation that Luke Donald will captain Europe’s Ryder Cup team for a third time will increase pressure on the PGA of America to tie down Tiger Woods to lead the US in Ireland next September

Luke Donald will go for the Ryder Cup three-peat …

David Squires on … Gianni Infantino’s accomplishments in 10 years as Fifa supremo Our cartoonist on a decade of magic moments in the big job for world football’s leading ‘man of the people’

Some alternative Gianni/Fifa 10-year branding right here from @davidsquires.bsky.social

Norway’s all-conquering Winter Olympians have a message for us all – and it’s not what you think | Cath Bishop How did a small Nordic country dominate the Games? By making sport fun and not something for kids to suffer

What we can all learn from Norway's all-conquering Winter Olympians

A Swan and a Dogg, naturally

Crampons, crashes and creativity: Tom Jenkins’ best photos from the Winter Olympics Our well-travelled photographer shares his favourite images from the Games in Italy

In which @tomjenkinspix.bsky.social presents his best photographs from the spectacular Winter Olympics that was

📸 Phil Noble

Vinícius, Mourinho and treating racism as reputational risk rather than a lived reality | Jonathan Liew The Brazilian has seen this before, football has seen this before, and yet why does it feel like nothing ever changes?

on vinicius, jim ratcliffe and bad immigrants

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

David Squires on … Jim Ratcliffe’s comments and his need for some home truths Our cartoonist reflects on the Manchester United co-owner’s recent statements and electioneering, via the prism of Cracker’s DCI Bilborough

They always are, but this is a Cracker from @davidsquires.bsky.social on Big Sir Jim

Saga of the Silkmen: calm before the storm in Macclesfield as Brentford await After Macclesfield’s FA Cup giantkilling, the quiet Cheshire town remains suitably unassuming in the spotlight after years of heartbreak

More on Macclesfield.

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Eden Hazard: ‘I’m more of a taxi driver than a football player now, but it’s OK’ The former Chelsea and Real Madrid idol wants nothing more than to be remembered as ‘a good player and a funny guy’ after a vintage career of league titles, European triumphs and spats with José Mouri...

Eden Hazard: 'Now my life is quite simple. I’m a dad of five. I’m more of a taxi driver than a football player, but it’s OK'

Love in a cold climate: Winter Olympic village runs out of condoms after three days Free condoms for competitors at the Winter Olympics have run out within a record-breaking three days

Yes, it's the Olympic village condoms stage of the Games cycle

Love this: Layers of the Games at the women's snowboard halfpipe final … 📸 Héctor Vivas

Football must reject Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s cynical, self-serving electioneering | Barney Ronay Tax exile has already proven himself a terrible club owner; now his ill-informed diatribe about immigration has poured fuel on wider flames

‘Manchester United supporters may be stuck with Ratcliffe. But football, sport and everything in its arc can reject the things he is asking us to do, refuse to be spooked, refuse to fall into the arms of the opportunist he is promoting.’

By @barneyronay.bsky.social

French biathlete guilty of fraud wins Olympic gold while scammed teammate comes 80th Julia Simon, who was convicted of committing credit card fraud against one of her national teammates, has won an Olympic gold medal for France in the women’s 15km biathlon, beating her victim to do it

An Only-at-the-Olympics Headline: "French biathlete guilty of fraud wins gold while scammed teammate comes 80th"

There's silencing your critics … and then there's being found guilty of stealing your France teammate's credit card (and that of a team staff member) and handed a three-month suspended prison sentence, before bringing the shush after claiming a second Olympic biathlon gold at these Winter Olympics

Norwegian biathlete wins Winter Olympics bronze and then tells TV interview of affair Sturla Holm Lægreid broke down in tears after winning bronze in the men’s 20km biathlon and apologised for having an affair

Norway's Sturla Holm Lægreid broke down in tears after winning bronze in the men’s 20km biathlon, apologising for having an affair and saying: 'Three months ago I made the mistake of my life'

Heat seekers: amazing thermal images from the Winter Olympics Photographers using compact thermal-imaging cameras have crafted eerie and ‘poetic’ results at the Milano Cortina Games

Heat seekers: amazing thermal images from the Winter Olympics