UFO Info Week-End

We wouldn’t have been here without him Cowher said

We wouldn’t have been here without him,” Cowher said.All the same, O’Donnell’s performance may prove expensive. One of the great Super Bowl finishes seemed a possibility until O’Donnell, again intimidated by a posse of blitzing Cowboys, once more found Brown. This time the Dallas cornerback made it to the seven, and Smith’s second short- range TD ended the contest.Bill Cowher, the Steelers head coach, was quick to console his quarterback as they left the field “I told him to look at the big picture, not just this game. There are occasions when quarterbacks are unfairly blamed for ceding possession, but there can be no denying O’Donnell’s culpability.In the third quarter the Steelers’ attack was threatening an equalising score when the Steeler playcaller threw a bewildering pass straight into the hands of the Cowboys’ Larry Brown There wasn’t a Steeler within 10 yards of him. Brown returned the ball to the Dallas 18-yard line and a couple of plays later Emmitt Smith plunged over to give the Cowboys a 20-7 lead.Still the underdogs were not done, and with four and a half minutes remaining they took possession on their 33, having cut the lead to 20-17.

As a result the Dallas Cowboys won 27-17 to claim a third title in the last four years, but this was the least impressive of their recent triumphs and can only complicate, rather than settle, the debate surrounding the gifts (or lack of them) of their head coach, Barry Switzer.Twice in the second half the Steelers fought their way back into a game that should have been beyond them, and twice O’Donnell hijacked their hopes. Then Foggy grabbed the mike and said, ‘Yeah, but he isn’t the best rider’, and before we knew it we were arguing.”And then Carl said probably one of the best things he’s ever said. He said: ‘Look, me and Neil, we aren’t going to fall out with each other We want to do well. If I could win the world championship – and that’s the plan – I’ll be a big, big hot property, and everyone’s going to want me.”Is it developing into a “kick ass” rivalry? “It almost gets like that,” Hodgson said “We did a television interview and nearly ended up fighting I said, ‘Well, hopefully I’m going to win the championship I’m on the best bike’. “Over the past 20 months I’ve got to know Foggy a little bit better, but he’s hard to have a conversation with.” While respecting him as an opponent, he recognises the value of adding spice to the situation.”Carl Fogarty, I’d say, was the third or fourth best motorcyclist in the world, in any cc, and I’m going to try to beat him.

In terms of sponsorship, the grand prix circuit is tobacco road.”I’m pretty confident going into Superbikes,” Hodgson added. “I don’t think I’m going to go out there and win every race and be the man, because nobody’s ever done that. But I believe that I could learn and be up there and certainly win a few races.”Fogarty is the man. According to Hodgson, the Blackburn rider is “seriously wealthy now, incredibly outspoken – he slags his own team off – and a little bit weird”.On a personal level, Hodgson has come to terms with his rival’s personality. “I pulled out of grand prix, basically, because I wasn’t offered the right bike to win.”British riders tend not to be first in line for the best factory 500cc machines on account of national opposition to cigarette advertising. “I was really feeling quite small trying to carry the hod,” he recounted.

“They only had to put two or three bricks in it and it was weighing me down.”I was still working when I won the British 125cc championship. From being the man interviewed on television, squirting the champagne and having all these girls round me and being a bit of a star, I’d be back carrying the hod on a Monday morning after driving through the night to get home And the guys at work didn’t treat me any different I was the skivvy. I got the red hot tea bag on the back of the neck every morning But I’m not complaining. I’m glad I did that, because I appreciate the position I’m in now.”Hodgson’s level-headedness, exemplified by his resistance of a strong temptation to treat himself to a Porsche – “I could buy one now, but I’m a sensible northerner and know that things could all go wrong” – is counterbalanced by a fiercely competitive nature and a talent that has drawn comparison to Barry Sheene.”At school I was the captain of the football team, and I ended up fighting with my own players because they weren’t giving 100 per cent That’s how passionate I was about winning,” Hodgson said. If he wins the world title, he could earn from pounds 4-5m per year.”At school I was a daydreamer,” he said.