The Franchise

Michael Phelps, Beijing 2008, 8 Gold Medals. Greatest athlete to have been born, Sports Illustrated cover and an American Hero.
The untouchable greatness he attained, however, would not have been possible without Jason Lezak. The unlikely hero in all of this.

With the playing field large and the sport extremely susceptible to variability, it is extremely difficult to achieve a consistency in results in golf. But is consistency even valued? Let's ponder over this with Ricky Fowler's 2014 season as the backdrop.

No player in recent decades has burst onto the scene quite like Gareth Bale did against Inter Milan in 2010. With him now being discarded by the footballing world, let's reminisce what 100 million pounds bought you 8 years ago.

Welcome to the Franchise.

This is not going to be solely about a certain Steve Francis and his tasty crossover of Troy Hudson on a usual Houston night circa. 2000. Rather, it is for those of you who are disappointed with that piece of information i.e. of not having an unlimited part Stevie Franchise podcast or have just googled to know what I am going on about. It is to connect you all to moments in sports which I have connected with over the 20-year career of losing eye contact as a re-run of a seemingly unimportant mid-season game comes up on a screen behind you. To remove the recency bias in your top 10 lists and to introduce you to new heroes, new sports and hopefully foster in you an addiction for the indomitable spirit that is often on display in those re runs. To have you tune into ESPN 30 for 30 episodes on the weekly, stay up on a Sunday night to watch the final group's back nine unfold at Augusta - golf's Mecca, or care about who has had their cue tip destroyed midway through a crucible final at the Snooker World Championships.

Join me to care about those who make your daily back pages and those who don't. Lend me your ears.