Sports news

The highs and lows of British tennis at the Australian Open: great excitement that we have more entries on merit in a grand slam than at any time since 1992 followed almost instantly by the depression of seeing all but one rapidly put to the sword. Good news or bad news? Well it's no news really but look on the bright side: when I was a lad the Aussies were the major force in world tennis and look at them now - even local hero Sam Stosur has been seen off in the first round. At the risk of stepping into dangerous territory, can  I also recount the shedding of a small tear when I read of British cutie Laura Robson wearing some gay rights hair band thing. Now if she'd won her match...

Then there's the cricket. Hard to know which is the more saddening, the woeful English batting performance or the fact that a test match against Pakistan is being played in an empty stadium in Dubai. I despair, on a number of levels.

But cheer up - now's the time to be a Tottenham supporter! "Can Spurs win the league?" has been the question on the tip of every sports writer's pen recently. To which the answer, obviously, is yes but the real question is "will they?" To which the answer, almost as obviously, is no. We do not have league-winning experience in our blood, unlike the loathsome Man U. But then neither do the team from the other side of Manchester. However they do have unlimited amounts of money which has provided a stellar squad of startling depth. If Spurs are a striker down, they bring on a dozy Russian who'd rather be somewhere else. Man City on the other hand have stuck Tevez, one of the best players around, permanently on the naughty step and hardly miss him. 

Of course I'm hoping for a win in Manchester on Sunday and would be almost as happy with a draw. My hope is that Man City's bunch of overpaid primadonnas will soon self-destruct in a kind of bonfire of the vanities, that Spurs can maybe land a decent striker in the current transfer window (plus install some bionics in Ledley King) and that Man U will trip over a few times with young Wayne having some kind of meltdown, something which always seems likely.

It's time for blind optimism and praying before the poster of Jimmy Greaves. I say we won't but who knows? Come on you Spurs!