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A good week for ...
Kayaker Benjamin Boukpeti has been made a prince of Aneho. "I'm really happy with the welcome I've received. I've dedicated this medal to the Togolese people," said Boukpeti, whose bronze in the kayak slalom was Togo's first Olympic medal. So what does he get if he wins gold?
As if enjoying a tabloid-scoop busting court victory over the News of the World wasn't enough, Max Mosley this week had the unbridled joy of watching Bernie Ecclestone eat his words."I think like all these things, people have now really come to the conclusion that whatever happened with Max was Max and nothing to do with anybody else and I don't think they really care any more," said Ecclestone. It's all a far cry from a few months back when the beady-eyed impresario said of his pal, the son of a fascist, that he should quit the Formula One game altogether. What's the world coming to when a Mosley family member has to pay to be beaten up?
Back to his best? Hardly. But it warmed SuperShorts' bitter heart to see Michael Campbell pick up a second successive top-10 result on the European Tour.
A lifelong Man City fan (ahem), Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim, of the Abu Dhabi United Group, has big plans for his new plaything. On the shopping list: Cristiano Ronaldo, David Villa, Thierry Henry, Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas and the other Ronaldo. Of Cristiano, he had this to say: "Ronaldo has said he wants to play for the biggest club in the world, so we will see in January if he is serious. Real Madrid were estimating his value at US$160 million ($235 million) but for a player like that, to actually get him, will cost a lot more; I would think US$240 million." The entire revenue of the NZRU last year was US$69 million. Just pray these characters never develop an interest in rugby.
So how is the other Ronaldo? The one who scoffs pies and dabbles with trannies? The man who Dr Al-Fahim would have leading the attack at Man Citeh has been without a club since his contract with AC Milan expired in June; he's currently munching burgers and having his knee tweaked in Sao Paulo. "Clinically he is doing very well," his doctor said. "He needs to lose weight, then he will start practicing with a ball again."
Adios Walter "Killer" Kowalski, one of professional wrestling's first major stars and most-hated villains. He died last Saturday, aged 81. The fans hated him. He told Esquire magazine last year: "A woman once came up to me after a match and said, 'I'm glad you didn't get hurt'. Then she stabbed me in the back with a knife."
A bad week for ...
Remember the most cringe-worthy of Jim Bolger's many cringe-worthy habits? Greeting world leaders in a sort of pidgin-English approximation of their own accent. Now former England coach Steve McLaren - who has washed up at Dutch outfit FC Twente - has adopted the same trick. Check him out on YouTube.
SuperShorts spent the best part of a decade mouthing off in London pubs about how your average Super 12/14 team would thump any English club you cared to name. So, thanks very much to John Mitchell and the Western Force, who lost 48-7 to kick-and-clap merchants Leicester.
Ah, the Baggy Green: that rarest of honours. Cricket's most famous rumpled hat has long been the very byword for excellence and dedication to the team cause. As a bonus, it's handy for keeping the sun of your head when, like Aussie allrounder Andrew Symonds, you choose to go fishing instead of attending a compulsory team meeting. Naturally, he got booted out of the side. In the pre-IPL days - back when the Deccan Chargers weren't paying Symonds US$1.8 million ($2.6 million) a year to play a little smash-and-sprint - he might have valued his test spot more highly. A friend said Symonds was "angry, hurt and embarrassed". Why's that? Were the barramundi not biting?
South African rugby officials have offered 10,000 rand ($1900) as a reward in an effort to track down three white men who attacked a black woman at Ellis Park last weekend. The attack happened during halftime in South Africa's win over Australia. Hmmm, did anyone see three white racists at Ellis Park on Saturday?
Alan Curbishly has won the Premier League managers' sack race. First prize? He no longer has to put up with Lucas Neill.