The Gareth Bale story has become sad, and even a little embarrassing. After getting away from Real Madrid on loan in the 2020 "summer" transfer window, his bold comeback at Spurs has turned into the non-event of the season.

Once regarded as arguably one of the top five players in the world, he has started only two games and played a meagre 230 minutes in the Premier League all season. His latest appearance saw him hooked just after the hour mark in a limp display at Brighton. Even when Spurs were trailing against Chelsea in their next match, crying out for attacking menace, manager Jose Mourinho left Bale on the bench. And that is where he stayed on Sunday, looking a little forlorn in sub-zero temperatures, as he watched his teammates beat West Bromwich Albion.

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Mourinho has even become tetchy when the subject is raised, telling one reporter "you don't deserve an answer" and then, rather cryptically, remarking that "everyone is doing their best." But, of course, this is nothing like Bale's best. And with Spurs paying a big chunk of his wages (around £200,000 per week) someone worked out that he's costing the North London club roughly £32,000 per touch of the ball in the Premier League.

On the basis of performances, there's seemingly no chance that Spurs would have any interest in making the deal permanent. This would present a major problem for Real Madrid because he would return as a non-European Union player after Brexit, and the Spanish clubs are only allowed three such players.

It was never meant to be like this. Remember back in the autumn, when Bale's loan signing from Real Madrid set pulses racing in North London? Could he form a lethal attacking trio alongside Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son to help Spurs claim their first trophy since the 2007-08 League Cup? The other two have done their bit, of course, with a combined 37 goals between them, but only once have they started alongside Bale... and that was three months ago at West Brom.

Tottenham fans had been dreaming that they might see a revival of the young star who terrorised defences all over England with his Olympian speed, devastating crosses and nose for goal -- after all, he managed 26 in his final season when he was named Player of the Year for a second time. Having been purchased for £5 million from Southampton in 2007, he was sold to Real Madrid for £85m in 2013 and proceeded to win 13 trophies including four Champions League titles and two La Liga crowns, scoring some memorable goals along the way. Remember, too, the brilliant goal against Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey Final when he made a detour off the pitch and sprinted beyond a helpless Marc Bartra before finishing a quite stunning solo effort.

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At the European Championships in 2016, he led from the front and inspired Wales to a place in the semifinals, no small feat given Wales had never qualified for the Euros before. Then injuries mounted up and coach Zinedine Zidane made it clear that the Welshman was no part of his plans in Madrid. Real fans cruelly labelled him "the golfer," given his love for the sport; the fact that his Spanish was very limited did not help either.

When he moved back to Spurs on Sept. 19, his agent Jonathan Barnett said: "I hope he will get some happiness back in his life." Except that has not really happened, and it is a shame.

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Bale is a likable and decent man and, by all accounts, a genial presence at the training ground, where he has helped his fellow Welshman Joe Rodon to settle in after his move from Swansea. His early failures to make the Tottenham team could be explained by the fact that he was on a programme to rebuild his fitness after injuries and a prolonged lack of game time in Madrid. But that period is long gone. Putting it bluntly, Bale is not being selected now because the manager does not feel he's the right man for the job. So he finds himself behind Son, Stephen Bergwijn, Eric Lamela and Lucas Moura in the pecking order.

Mourinho says the problem is "complex," which perhaps hints at a crisis of confidence or even self-belief caused by disillusionment from his time cast into the shadows at the Bernabeu. No one is really saying. Perhaps it's unfair to wonder about whether this magnificent athlete has perhaps lost his appetite, but the question is relevant given that he appeared happy to go and play in China at the age of 30.

It's possible that another European Championship campaign this summer will restart the engines: Wales have been handed a tough, but manageable group with Italy, Turkey and Switzerland. He seems at his happiest and most motivated when performing with that Welsh dragon on his chest.

Ultimate, the hope remains that someone can relight the fires for Gareth Bale. He has been too good and achieved too much for his career to fade away like this.

Wasim Jaffer, the former India opening batsman and domestic giant, has resigned as Uttarakhand's head coach citing "interference in team selection" days before they were to compete in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament, starting February 20. His resignation has been accepted.

"I feel really sad for the players as I genuinely think that they have lots of potential and can learn so much from me but are denied this opportunity because of so much interference and bias of selectors and secretary in the selection matters for non-deserving players," Jaffer wrote in an e-mail to the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU).

The 42-year-old Jaffer further wrote, "If the honorary secretary of CAU would want to inculcate such kind of work environment while not letting me take certain decisions pertaining to the team's welfare and performance... then I don't think there's any valid reason for me to continue as head coach of men's senior team of CAU."

Mahim Verma, the CAU secretary, rejected Jaffer's allegations, countering that the coach had been given everything he had asked for since being appointed as the state team's coach last June. "We gave him whatever he asked for, had a pre-season camp for a month, let him choose his outstation players, trainer and bowling coach, but his interference in selection matters was getting too much," Verma told PTI.

Uttarakhand had a poor run in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, winning just one game and losing four in the group stage, and that didn't go down well with the association either.

"After the result in Mushtaq Ali did not meet our expectations, the selectors wanted to try out a few other players but he kept insisting on picking his own team, which is not right as selectors are there, too, to do their job," Verma said.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Patrick Mahomes is scheduled for surgery Wednesday for the turf toe injury that bothered the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback late in the season and throughout the playoffs, a source confirmed to ESPN.

Mahomes is expected to miss most of offseason work with the team but be full go by training camp, according to a source.

Mahomes had one of the worst statistical games of his career in the Chiefs' 31-9 Super Bowl LV loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was 26-of-49 for 270 yards, zero touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 52.3. Kansas City failed to score a touchdown for the first time since Mahomes became a starter in 2018.

But, as he noted shortly after the game, he played well with the turf toe in the AFC Championship Game victory over the Buffalo Bills.

"I can't say the toe was a problem when I played two weeks ago and I played well on it,'' he said. "Anytime you play football, you have to battle through injuries.''

NFL Network first reported news of the surgery.

Former NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer died Monday after dealing with Alzheimer's disease for several years. He was 77.

Schottenheimer was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2014. He was moved to a hospice facility near his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Jan. 30 because of complications from the irreversible, progressive brain disorder.

Schottenheimer was a head coach for 21 seasons in the NFL, leading the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington and the Chargers.

He posted a 205-139-1 career record, including the playoffs, leading his teams to the postseason 13 times. Although Schottenheimer coached in three AFC Championship Games, two with the Browns and one with the Chiefs, he never made a Super Bowl.

His NFL coaching career ended in 2006 following a 14-2 season with the Chargers and a divisional-round exit from the playoffs.

Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson played under Schottenheimer for five seasons with the Chargers and called him "the best coach I ever had."

"I never went into a game with Marty as coach feeling like I wasn't fully prepared to win," Tomlinson said. "He really wanted you to understand every detail of the game plan. I considered him a true All-American man. He was a great father figure, and I was fortunate that my wife and I got to know he and [his wife] Pat beyond the typical player and coach relationship. He was a well-rounded human being. He cared more about the man than the athlete. I will remember him more for the life lessons that he taught me."

Schottenheimer also played six seasons as a linebacker for the Buffalo Bills (1965 to 1968) and Patriots (1969 to 1970).

He is survived by his wife, Pat, two children, Kristin and Brian, and four grandchildren.

Brian Schottenheimer recently reached agreement to become the Jacksonville Jaguars' passing-game coordinator, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter, after previously serving as offensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks.

"We know he is looking down on us from heaven and smiling," his daughter said. "We are so incredibly proud of the man he was and how he lived his life."

LOS ANGELES -- Safety investigators say the pilot of Kobe Bryant's helicopter flew through the clouds in an apparent violation of federal standards, and likely became disorientedjust before the helicopter crashed and killed Bryant and eight others.

Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Tuesday that pilot Ara Zobayan was flying under visual flight rules, which means he needed to be able to see where he was going.

Zobayan piloted the aircraft to climb sharply and had nearly broken through the clouds when the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter banked abruptly and plunged into the hills below, killing all nine people aboard.

The helicopter did not have the so-called "black box" recording devices, which were not required.

Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and six other passengers were flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County on Jan. 26, 2020, when the helicopter encountered thick fog in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles.

AW promotion: New research highlights how the nutrient-packed fruit can be a potent weapon in your training armoury

In recent years, U.S. Montmorency Cherries have attracted an increasing amount of attention concerning their many potential health benefits.

A considerable number of academic studies have been undertaken, with the majority concluding that this bright red, tart tasting and nutrient-dense fruit does indeed make a difference when it comes to sport and exercise.

In a bid to fully understand the bigger picture, however, research teams from both Northumbria University and St Mary’s University recently produced what is known as a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, which essentially means that they assessed all studies which met a set criteria to come up with an overall conclusion.

The findings have just been published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism and are unequivocal – you really can put a cherry on top of your training.

The evidence would suggest that U.S. Montmorency Cherries can be a potent weapon in your nutritional armoury. In a previous post we examined how they can speed up recovery. Here, we take a closer look at how the cherries can help an athlete when it comes to power.

When it comes to resistance and plyometric exercises, there is good evidence to suggest cherries can have a positive effect

“We’ve done some work on resistance exercise and cherry juice has had positive effects with both moderately trained and well-trained individuals,” says Professor Glyn Howatson of Northumbria University, one of the authors of the review.

“For the studies, a specific muscle group is effectively trashed using heavy eccentric contractions and you supplement these athletes for a few days before the trial and during the time they are recovering.

“They showed an improvement in recovery and also some changes in terms of the level of inflammation to the muscles.

“It has a real potential, not just on runners but also, when it comes to more pure resistance exercises in the gym or doing plyometric exercise – the kind of thing that track and field athletes would routinely do – there is some good evidence to suggest they [cherries] can have a positive effect.”

Given that the evidence also points to them providing improved quality of sleep, there seem to be few downsides to giving U.S. Montmorency Cherries a try. As Professor Howatson adds: “It may or may not work for individual people but at the very best you can expect to get some improvements in your recovery and, at the worst, you will have an extra portion of fruit and vegetables. 

“Tart Montmorency cherries are absolutely crammed full of goodies. You are getting a really high quality fruit in your diet you probably wouldn’t have otherwise had.

“It’s so easy to take and to include in your diet. You can put it in a yoghurt, you can put it on cereal or make smoothies with it – there’s all sorts of ways in which you can consume it.”

Scotland's players were unaware a knee would be taken amid confusion before their match against England, says head coach Gregor Townsend.

There was no directive from World Rugby or the Six Nations other than there would be a minute's silence to demonstrate opposition to racism.

"It was a surprise to our players," he told BBC Scotland's Rugby Podcast.

"I think our players closer to the English players saw that and made the decision whether to take the knee as well.

"We were strung out 50 metres for social distancing at the anthem. Huw Jones was at the tryline and Stuart Hogg was on the halfway line.

"So I know half the squad didn't even realise that some of their team-mates and the English players were taking the knee."

The gesture has not been part of pre-match protocols in rugby this season, as it has in football in the UK, and no players took a knee in the other two Six Nations matches over the weekend.

The day after Scotland's 11-6 victory at Twickenham, Scottish Rugby said it was a personal choice for players to take a knee or not, and Townsend reiterated that stance.

Asked if he thought more of his squad would have done so if they had been asked or had it been discussed, Townsend responded: "I imagine a lot more would have than did. But I can't say.

"If they didn't, and they wanted to choose to reflect that moment by standing up like they did in previous games, then that would be fine.

"They didn't really know that that was going to be the case. That was probably one reason why you only saw the players closer to the halfway line taking the knee."

Wales flanker Dan Lydiate is set to miss the rest of the season after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the 21-16 victory over Ireland at Principality Stadium.

Johnny Williams, Hallam Amos and Tomos Williams will also be absent.

Player call-ups will be made and announced in due course following Covid-19 testing and results.

Lydiate will undergo a number of assessments and consultations in the coming days to establish the best course of management.

Centre Williams and Cardiff Blues wing Amos suffered head injuries against Ireland, while Cardiff Blues scrum-half Williams has a hamstring injury and is set to miss a few games.

Wales coach Wayne Pivac is hoping George North will be fit, after the 28-year-old back scratched an eye during the second half of his try-scoring performance on Sunday.

Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies will again be missing at Murrayfield having been unavailable to face Ireland with an ankle injury.

Dragons centre Nick Tompkins is also struggling with a shoulder injury, with Owen Watkin the other fit midfield man in the squad.

BARBERVILLE, Fla. – Justin Allgaier cashed-in on his DIRTcar UMP Modified experience at Volusia Speedway Park Monday night for his second career DIRTcar Nationals victory and first in the division’s most prestigious event – the Gator Championship feature.

For his efforts, a $5,000 check in his pocket and one of the most coveted dirt track racing trophies in the world headed back to his race shop.

More than 100 different drivers entered at least one event over the seven-day stretch, and Allgaier has now topped them all. Including his car builder and the newly crowned six-time Big Gator points champion, Nick Hoffman.

“We’ve been coming down here for a number of years,” Allgaier said. “What this week means to all of us as racers… I really don’t think people understand what the DIRTcar Nationals is all about.

“To have over 100 cars here this week and just to grind it out and battle some of the best racers in the country is truly special.”

Hoffman started on the pole of the 30-lap main event and looked as strong as he ever had been before, opening up a solid gap over the other leaders until the lapped traffic hit on lap 11.

“I went into [turn] one, and I don’t know what actually happened in front of me in the lapped traffic, but it was about four rows in front of me,” Hoffman said. “It looked like somebody was turned sideways and they were gonna wreck, so I checked-up because I didn’t know which way they were gonna go.

“Then they were four-wide down the back-straightaway; I got tight getting into [Turn] 3, so Justin passed me, then [Michael] Altobelli passed me. I think [Spencer] Hughes was alongside me; luckily the caution came out and saved me right there.”

With Hoffman now in his rearview, it was Allgaier’s time to shine. He picked up the pace throughout the rest of the race, keeping Hoffman, Altobelli and eventual third-place finisher Mike McKinney at bay behind him through several restarts.

McKinney came from 12th on the starting grid and made big gains throughout the first half of the race, cracking the top-five by the halfway point.

“There was a mud ring down on the bottom and some guys just weren’t really hitting it right,” McKinney said. “Once I hit it, I’d just wait for those guys to push up out of the groove and I was already set up to pounce on it when they made a mistake.”

Hoffman tried mightily throughout the final laps to catch Allgaier after making his way back around Altobelli for second, but just could not muster the speed he needed to get by his fellow Elite Chassis driver in the end. However, he was proud to see so many of the cars be built have success at Volusia over the entire week. His sixth consecutive Big Gator points championship is just icing on the cake.

“It’s one of the best years that I’ve had down here, for sure,” Hoffman said. “Very consistent every night. To run second to one of my team cars is pretty cool. I couldn’t ask for a better person to run second to.”

In victory lane, Allgaier jumped atop his Elite Chassis No. 7 before the confetti cannon was even in position, displaying his excitement after winning one of the biggest and most meaningful dirt races of his career after so many attempts at it throughout the past several years.

“I was able to win a [little] Gator on multi-Feature night one time, and I knew how much that meant to me. But this Big Gator, to add our name to the list, to beat the caliber of drivers we had here this weekend… there were a lot of teams that put on an all-out assault to try and knock Nick off, and we just got lucky enough that we were the ones to be able to do it,” Allgaier said.

The finish:

1. 7-Justin Allgaier [3]; 2. 2-Nick Hoffman [1]; 3. 96M-Mike McKinney [12]; 4. 11H-Spencer Hughes [11]; 5. 95-Michael Altobelli [5]; 6. 67-Garret Stewart [10]; 7. 12H-Jason Hughes [15]; 8. 88-Matt Crafton [2]; 9. 36-Kenny Wallace [22]; 10. 11J-Justin Haley [32]; 11. 77-Ray Bollinger [25]; 12. 17T-Tyler Evans [24]; 13. 5S-Curt Spalding [26]; 14. 17X-Richard Michael [17]; 15. 8S-Kyle Strickler [29]; 16. 51-Brandon Green [23]; 17. OOD-David Reutimann [21]; 18. 3L-Jeff Leka [18]; 19. 22T-Tony Anderson [27]; 20. OOEH-Steve Arpin [7]; 21. 18L-Michael Long [16]; 22. 25-Tyler Nicely [6]; 23. 45H-Kyle Hammer [8]; 24. 6A-Ryan Ayers [19]; 25. 44-KC Burdette [14]; 26. 12L-Lucas Lee [4]; 27. 4T-Zeke McKenzie [30]; 28. 25W-Allen Weisser [13]; 29. 7T-Drake Troutman [31]; 30. K19-Will Krup [20]; 31. 35-David Stremme [28]; 32. 21A-Nick Allen [9]

OCALA, Fla. – Thomas Meseraull has made a habit of winning USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget races of late.

A 21-year journey to his first series victory late last year has now led the San Jose, Calif., native to winning three of his last eight starts, including round two of the series’ season at Bubba Raceway Park, a race that was postponed to a rare Monday night start after being rained out on Saturday.

Meseraull led from start to finish in his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota, wiring all 30 laps at the three-eighths-mile D-shaped dirt track, but required having to fight off repeated challenges from reigning champ Chris Windom and Saturday’s winner, Buddy Kofoid, down the stretch.

In doing so, Meseraull became the third driver to win both a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget and USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Bubba Raceway Park (Tyler Courtney and Chris Windom). Meseraull previously won the sprint finale at the track in 2016.

In on the ground floor of the formation of RMS Racing in its initial season of competition in 2018, Meseraull quickly hit his stride, the best of which he’s enjoyed since his 1999 USAC debut. It’s a stride that has seen both the team and driver prosper and grow together into one of the elite powers on the trail.

“I feel like I’ve always been able to win, but I wasn’t in equipment that was capable of winning,” Meseraull said. “Tonight, we ended up on the front row and that was really the key to the night because the track was so fast.  There are always six to eight guys who can win these races, and if you start in front of those guys, you have as good, if not a better, opportunity to win.  I’m just excited to be a part of high-profile team like RMS Racing.”

Throughout the duration, Windom remained a couple car lengths behind Meseraull, and routinely presented a challenge to Meseraull by poking the nose of his car underneath at the exit of turn four, with Meseraull able to withstand any and all threats.  However, with eight laps remaining, a new hurdle lie ahead with the tail end of the lead lap cars in sight.

“Lappers are always tough because, anymore, everybody’s so fast,” Meseraull explained.  “We barely caught the lappers, and when we caught them, we were only a tenth or two faster than them.  It’s kind of hard to know where to go.  At this place, turns three and four are so tricky, and you really have to get off (turn) four correctly or you lose two to five tenths in a lap if you just mess up that corner.  That was crucial.”

As first heat race winner Taylor Reimer was perched high up in turn four, Meseraull responded by diving low into turn one. As Meseraull slid up, Windom ducked under when exiting turn two, pulling completely alongside Meseraull with Kofoid just a single car length behind as the top-three diced through traffic.

“I actually was getting ready to drive around the outside of (Reimer) and saw her toss the nose and come across the track,” said Meseraull.  “I ended up having to turn and go underneath her.  It worked out, but at the same time, I about crashed the car doing it.  But that’s how you win races; you’ve got to hang it out every single lap of every single race.”

Meseraull kept Windom at bay to score a .515 second margin of victory, with Kofoid, Justin Grant and Daison Pursley following.

Windom began his title defense with a pair of podium finishes in Ocala, a third on Saturday and a runner-up finish to round out the weekend.

“It’s disappointing because you want to win these races,” Windom said.  “It was wide open the whole time, and the only shot I had to get him was in lapped traffic.  We just didn’t make the right moves there.  I felt like we were better than him, but we just couldn’t get by him and he ran a smart race and didn’t make any mistakes.  When the track is that fast, that’s about all you can do there.”

Chase Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion, finished 14th in Monday’s feature event. Earlier in the night he raced to his first heat race victory with the series.

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