St Landrew

Tell you what, if you're a farmer in a field, in Iowa, and a voice whispers... if you build it, he will come... you'd want to give it up and get yourself armed with a baseball bat.

You'll do no such thing. With pun[ditry or ditty] of that calibre you can leave your coat on the hook. Not a wine-spluttered-over-keyboard-moment for me, but I appreciated it a lot.

To be fair, most major modern games were invented by the British, either in the UK, or wherever they happened to be ruling on the globe at some particular point. Unless, of course a game was invented by the Chinese first and then lost in the mists of time. Skiing..! The British didn't invent that, but surprisingly were heavily involved in the development of alpine skiing as a sport. You wouldn't think it. But then again, that's becoming the way of football now.

Hooray..! I actually feel like a ITK style member. But the difference is, I actually do. Ta Steve. There's no need to ban yourself now.

Yep, Ron you're absolutely spot on. I couldn't agree more.

Like the railway based programme that Mark Williams [Fast Show - today I'll be mostly...] has also presented, this is a real delight. If you like programmes that highlight Victorian engineering innovation, then is one for you. Mark Williams is not just a presenter, but a knowledeable enthusiast. And it shows.

OK, I'll ask him to see how he feels about it.

What an unfeeling barsteward..!

Germany through. Thoroughly deserved and a pleasure to watch.

The Germans play so intelligently though, don't they..? I can't fault them. They get so many players into the right positions at the right time, and know instinctively when to press, when to play simple, when to be fast, when to slow the game down. 4-0. Lawrenson: This is counter attacking football at its best.

If you mean, re England, mate, Germany have played better against Argentina than they did against England, IMO. Although, I've only been watching since the 35th minute or so.

That was brilliant. 3-0

Good goal.

Shall we wake up Stevie G for the definitive answer..?

I'd forgotten the game was on. Never thought I'd feel like this, but I hope Germany win. Their style of play is so good to watch, and hence good for football.

Yes, I know you are pretty hot on the spelling front. But I was just too sodding lazy.

Well I'm not getting my Away game predictions fooked just because I got the score the wrong way round. Of course, if I accidentally get the prediction right, I err... won't be saying a dickie bird.

As far as I know, Basketball and Netball are the only games invented in the USA. I believe that every other major game they play was invented elsewhere. I played Badminton to schools representative level. It didn't feel like I was a bit iffy, when I was out thinking an opponent, when he was quite clearly a technically better and more powerful player than I was. It certainly isn't for the unfit, although it isn't heart attack territory like Squash either. I played rounders for my junior school and Rugby Union for the school in my teens. Played quite a few sports back then.

Well it seemed to me you'd done it before.

I can understand why the club want to be secretive about significant changes. Sudden announcements are sometimes really gobsmacking, especially when there's not so much as a sniff of an idea of what's coming. I can tell you that my jaw has never really recovered after hitting the floor when I heard Kevin Keegan was signing for Southampton. For the general public, there wasn't even the merest foetus of a hint of a rumour of what was going to happen until Lawrie announced it. Late the previous night he had been dogged by a journalist for so long and so closely, who just had an instinct that something was up, that he finally answered the question to... Come on Lawrie, tell me, who are you signing..? To which Lawrie, who had been bursting to utter something for days, said... KK and then got into his car and left. Late that night, in bed, the journalist suddenly sat up in bed and shouted... I've got it... it's Kevin Keelan..! [the Norwich City goalkeeper]. Even though he'd been given a great clue to the news, he obviously couldn't believe it, to consider it. If Nicola Cortese likes to pull stunts like Lawrie did, then I'm all for it.

Oh sh!t, I thought you guys knew but were being cagey about it.

As the coming season will be my first go at this, can you just clear the scores question up for me..? Obviously, for Home matches we put Saints score first, but for Away matches, do we put Saints score second..? That may well seem obvious to anyone who has done it before, but it's just as well to be clear. Ta.

Completely take your point, even the well worn phrase. And if we all stepped back a little and realised that we are watching something that other people are doing, rather than going out and actually doing something active ourselves, we might realise the level of importance it probably should have in our lives. There have been occasions during this World Cup, where I have been watching some obscure match and I've thought... wtf am I watching this for..? Not because it was rubbish, but because I had got myself caught in the net of television. So it isn't like that, is it..? We get involved, while watching. We watch a team prosper, perhaps a little unfairly, over another, and our passive involvement becomes a little more vocal. Yes, justice may well have been seen to have been done, but Ghana are still out of the World Cup. Is that enough justice..? They were the victims of cheating, and they are still the victims. But you're right. It's only a game.

west [lothian question]

That was close. I had only heard the commentator say his name once or twice, so guessed the spelling. Of course, I could have looked up and down the thread, but then that's a dubious exercise itself.