View From The Bridge

Welcome to Greatest Rivals! Each Wednesday, this page will pitch two great rivals against each other to finally find out who the real winner is! Over the coming weeks, this page will cover many great rivalries, from the glory of el Clasico to the back and forth action of some of Wimbledon's finest performers.  Wednesday 31st March 2021 - Arnold Palmer vs Jack Nicklaus  It's   1954, and a 14-year old Jack Nicklaus stands rain-soaked on the 18th green, just finishing up his final round of the day. Despite thinking he is alone, he looks up to see an equally soaked Arnold Palmer on the practice green, 10 years his elder and future winner of 62 PGA Tour events along with 7 majors. Although Jack would go on to top these numbers before his 30th birthday, neither player knew that their futures as rivals were forever entwined and birthed arguably the greatest era of golf the world has ever seen.  The Palmer-Nicklaus rivalry spanned an entire decade from 1960 onwards, originat...

With 8:07 left to play in last nights game against the Pacers, Russell Westbrook sat on the bench with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 20 assists - his 6th career 20/20 game. He ended the night with 35 points, 14 rebounds and 21 assists - the first stat-line of its kind in NBA history and his 157th career triple-double. These 2K-like numbers are something we have got used to and have earned Westbrook numerous All-Star appearances and the league MVP in 2017. However, Westbrook\"s very production of these video game-like numbers is the driving reason behind why he will become one of the greatest ringless NBA legends of all time. Drafted in 2008 with the 4th pick, Westbrook\"s elite athletism is what drew the OKC Thunder to him, and at 6\"4" he truly defined the rise of the modern-day point day point guard. In his early years in OKC, he helped form the infamous big three of Westbrook, Durant and Harden, a team that could never quite win together but would each go on to have...

Since 2017, there have been 80 Formula One Grand Prix. This means that in the last 4 years, someone other than Mercedes has had 80 SEPARATE chances to win just ONE race. Mercedes have won 52 – Hamilton winning 43 of them. I’m pretty sure even Mercedes fans are now sick of seeing Hamilton and wingman Bottas on the F1 podium, but their dominance as a driver line-up has started to raise some questions – mainly, are they the greatest 1-2 punch in F1 history?    Not even close.    It’s no secret that the fanfare around F1 has gone stale in recent years, and Mercedes dominance is the pièce de résistance. Since Valtteri Bottas joined in 2017, Mercedes have had a 65%-win rate and earned a combined 2,673 points. Hamilton (otherwise known as Batman) has won 43 races in this time, with Bottas winning a very Robin-like 9. Yet, it isn’t something we haven’t seen before – in fact, it’s been a lot worse.  The key difference is that despite there being dominance, it was a ...

On the long list of NBA legends without a championship ring, you could make an argument that Elgin Baylor is without a doubt the most talented of the lot. As a 6'5" small forward, born into an era of Bill Russell's and Wilt Chamberlain's, Baylor still retired from his 14-year career with the knowledge that he changed the game of basketball forever.  As a student who struggled academically throughout high school, Baylor eluded the scouting reports of most division 1 universities - spending most of his time working at the local furniture store and playing pick-up basketball at the local gym. His skill set alone got him a scholarship to Seattle University after a year away from a college court. He immediately lit the NCAA scene alight, taking Seattle to an NCAA Finals appearance and making his stake for a shot at an NBA draft spot.  Despite overwhelming racism at the time, which included restrictions on the number of African-American players per team, Baylor was selected ...

I think it's fair to say that the 2020 F1 season was underwhelming, to say the least, with the only 2 major stories being Russell's rollercoaster weekend at Mercedes and Romain Grosjean's immortalisation as the man who walked out of fire. With fans growing increasingly tired of Mercedes dominance, the FIA has finally put a cap on team spending, meaning we should see a much more intriguing F1 season heading into 2021, and if all goes to plan, we might even see new drivers and constructors world champions by the season's end.  Hamilton vs Verstappen  2021 not only represents the worlds hopeful exit from Covid-19 but also could be the year where Hamilton actually has to overtake another car. As the most successful driver in F1 history, most of the past decade has had fans watch Hamilton lead a glorified parade for 60 laps before taking the chequered flag. However, Red Bull and Verstappen see 2021 as their best shot at ending Mercedes 7 year streak as constructors champions...

For a community whose real origins can be traced to the beginning of the decade, E-Sports aren’t doing too bad at all. In 2019, the Fortnite World Cup was viewed live by over 2.3 million fans during the Solo Finals. In 2020, the Dallas Empire and Atlanta Faze CoD League matchup brought in over 331,000 fans over a live stream on Youtube, the most in its history. Of course, these numbers are dwarfed by the likes of the Champions League Final or the Superbowl, but unlike E-Sports, their origins can be traced back decades. So, the question is, can E-Sports ever reach the popularity and monetisation of real live sport?  Right now, the water is a little murky. E-Sports is a new beast and therefore most old-school sports fans are scared to let go of the risk and rush that real sport provides. However, E-Sports is undoubtedly the future of live sport, and as technology develops and larger sponsors start to put pen to paper, old-schoolers will begin to realise that that same risk and rush ...

Welcome to Greatest Rivals! Each Wednesday, this page will pitch two great rivals against each other to finally find out who the real winner is! Over the coming weeks, this page will cover many great rivalries, from the glory of el Clasico to the back and forth action of some of Wimbledon's finest performers.  Wednesday 24th March - Kobe Bryant vs Phoenix Suns  Not often on View From The Bridge do we compare one man to an entire NBA franchise, but for Kobe, I think it's more than warranted. On multiple occasions, the Laker legend voiced his hatred for the Suns and as spectators, we were rewarded with a rivalry that played out over an entire decade.  In 2000, Kobe and Shaq had established themselves as the greatest one-two punch that the NBA had ever seen. So it's no surprise that when both teams met in the Western Conference Semi-Finals, the number one seed Lakers easily shrugged off the fifth-seeded Suns in 5 games (4-1). Kobe averaged 21 points across the 5 games and pl...