Cornish Steve

It's bore Danny day! Looking back, it was hilarious. This was Britain's leading correspondence school at the time. I had no interview. They never saw a CV. They had no idea of my experience or proof of qualifications whatsoever. They received my letter and, la voila, I was their chief examiner. Still, it helped get me through a PhD program, so I'm not complaining. As for time, you make time. I also ran a free programming class for local unemployed in the area. (The university kindly allowed me to use their lab free of charge.) I tutored physics and maths undergraduates and 'A' level students. Oh, to be young again. And you know what? I would do that any day over being a greedy prima donna demanding 60K a week.

What happens if the winning team qualifies for the Champions League independently? Does the spot go to the team in second place - then third, then fourth, etc.?

They just had an article on the news about Chuck Blazer. Apparently, while working for FIFA, he put all expenses on his personal AmEx card and racked up over 25 million award points. That alone is enough for over 200 round-trip business tickets across the Atlantic. 25 million! Can you imagine how much these guys must be spending?

OK - someone is going to have to explain how county cricket works. Since I last took an interest (basically, when I left Britain), it seems all kinds of changes have taken place. 1) There are now two divisions 2) There are various ways to earn bonus points 3) There's a new team from Durham Looking at the current tables, Durham have played one more game than everyone else in the first division, which means they must have played a team from the second division. How does this work?

And I thought Dick Advocaat was a viagra salesman.

that's because he had "in their".

On this occasion, just one word comes to mind. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!! Can't stand the arrogance of Rangers or the way they've behaved over the last few years.

Half-time. 0-2

Look at the nationalities of the accused.

Looking at this from the perspective of strategy, maybe that's what TV buys us more than anything: stability and the ability to hold on to our best players.

Spot on. You pay a high price when doing a deal with the devil to secure supposed investment from a billionaire. It's not investment: You become a play thing that's subject to the whims and changing attitudes of that billionaire. Far far better, in my book, is to run a business as a business and do it well. There's no reason why Everton can't become and remain a top four club with the current financial setup. It simply takes a different strategy: more focus on stability and homegrown players and less paying exorbitant fees for prima donnas. This is the right way to do it, and it makes everyone proud, does it not? Winning at all costs is not right. Building a lasting legacy is the way to go. PS - if I could suggest one change, it would be to allow fans to become investors in some way. Other clubs have done this successfully, and it gives fans a greater say in some important decisions.

Traveling around the world, I've seen the blatant disregard for human life on major construction works. No safety equipment. No ropes. Men working day and night. And, of course, it's 100 percent immigrant workers who sign contracts and don't really understand what they are committing themselves to. I would hope all the major sponsors will pull out. In reality, that's the only way to change the host country.

Of course! I'd forgotten they were promoted to the Championship. Good call.

Interesting that neither team won their group.

Absolutely. Why is it that the US had to be the country putting together a case against them? Why no drive to prosecute them in Europe?

Not sure that I agree he's "miles better than they have." After all, Bournemouth won the Championship because of their attacking style and number of goals scored, not because they win games 1-0.

That was my point, really. Just look how much these guys believe they should earn, and put it in the context of our own lives.

Well, I think today's arrests reveal that the world does not stand by and let them.

I was 14 - although I kept the job until I was 16. Point taken, though. Incidentally, when I was a PhD student, I did hold five jobs at the same time - so we could make ends meet. The most amazing one was chief examiner in computer studies for a correspondence school. I wrote a letter to them suggesting I could be an instructor in any one of five different subjects. A few days later, a package came with course books and the first 50 papers to mark. First thing I did was read the books, because I'd taught myself how to program. Then, for three years, I kept up with that job. The neat thing was that I could do the work in my own time - especially after my wife had gone to sleep - so it didn't really interrupt anything. But, I digress.

I had a huge paper round in Cornwall - took me well over an hour and a half every day - and, out of sixty deliveries, only two had the Sun. One was a local doctor, and the other was the library. BTW, that paper round made me 60p a week. For those who grumble about minimum wage, that was well under 10p an hour - but you took what you could get.

Since you already went down a tangent...I've always had a fascination with numbers, which is probably why I ended up with physics degrees. For one Grand National, and it must have been close to that year, I invented some weird weighted algorithm based on dice rolls, number of letters in horse's name, and betting odds. Amazingly, I predicted correctly first, second, and third place (the winner, I believe, was Gay Trip). It was a complete fluke, but what a coincidence! My dad made the family's bet and chose something when he got to the bookies, so we won nothing.

Let me suggest a shocker: I think that maybe Leighton Baines will go. Think about it logically: Beginning to get on in years, nowhere near the same impact this year, and two if not three viable contenders for his position.

I was only 6 at the time, so don't remember. I do remember vividly our progress in the 1970 World Cup, though. For what it's worth, one thing that hits me looking back is just how biased the commentating and reporting was. Everything said and written about England and English players was positive. Very different from today's world where we are much more objective and open to differing opinions.

Excellent observation.

At this point, with no games on which to report, the transfer rumour mill is going to kick into overdrive. For the next several weeks, it will be lies, damned lies, and real deals.