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INPHO/James Crombie
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The Sunday Papers: some of the week's best sportswriting

Killing time before the Gaelic football/rugby/soccer/Super Bowl starts? Us too… here’s something to keep you off the streets.

1. “When Mark Knopfler’s Local Hero is reverberating around St James’ Park before kick-off on Sunday, Shay Given could be forgiven for coming over all sentimental.

This will be the first time the Irishman has played at Newcastle United since he quit the club to join Manchester City at the start of 2009, bringing to an end the best part of 12 colourful years on Tyneside.

It is tempting to suggest that it must have felt like a life sentence at times, particularly towards the end, when Joe Kinnear took over and became the eighth and last Newcastle manager Given played under, yet there is no trace of any frustration at the way things unravelled.”

Ireland’s No 1 takes a trip down memory with the Observer’s Stuart James lane ahead of today’s game at the Sports Direct Arena.

2. “Coughlin’s intensity is famous. Announcers talk about it, fans laugh about it and players endure it, mostly because they realize it is genuine. Coughlin, the players say, is nothing if not consistent: the clocks have always been set five minutes fast at the Giants’ training facility, the road dress code has always been backed up by fines for noncompliance and the practice schedules have always been planned down to the very last second of the water breaks.”

Sam Borden sketches a portrait of  the Giants head coach in the New York Times.

3. “Contact sports, such as Gaelic games, have a strong element of physicality to them. What normally occurs on a pitch is not deemed an assault because players are said to consent to levels of contact within the rules and spirit of the game. Violence occurring outside this is, however, potentially criminal in nature.

The criminal law is not some distant threat and players, substitutes, and spectators should be aware of its reach.

Last November, for instance, at Cork District Court a Gaelic footballer was convicted of assault causing harm to another player. The victim was kicked in the jaw while on the ground.”

Sports law expert Jack Anderson writes on his blog about the GAA and violence.

4. The FCF: Did you research the role of Vito?

JG: Not really, I mean, how do you research guys who are conflicted, sort of bisexual, attracted to men, I was a chef in a total gay restaurant I’ve been around gays in the New Orleans cooking scene. Do I know what goes on in their inner conflicts or their inner lives? Not really. Hard to say I researched it.”

I love you, Jonny Cakes. The FCF preview the Super Bowl with Sopranos actor, Joe Gannascoli.

5. “Before we begin, a caveat. Consider the following stats a fuse under pre-tournament arguments and pub discussions rather than scientific fact. They are designed to be provocative rather than predictive, rugby freakonomics rather than the basis for regime change. But they are intriguing nonetheless.”

Tom Fordyce explains on the BBC’s new-look website why Ireland are the most successful Six Nations team.

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The sporting tweets of the week