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'Course the world of sports takes itself way too serious. Sports writers are all high and mighty.

Professional sports is a business.

In all Games, there is always a tendency, particularly in the lead up to the Games when there isn't much sport to talk about, to write about things that are not sport.

I think of sports writers as mediating between two worlds. Athletes probably think of sports writers as not macho enough. And people in high culture probably think of sports writers as jocks or something. They are in an interestingly complex position in which they have to mediate the world of body and the world of words.

In sports teams, apart from talk of sporting prowess and the imparting of inspirational thought, an extraordinary amount of time is spent discussing, and flaunting, material possessions.

Sports is entertainment.

Not winning a title gives fuel to sportswriters and talking heads who question an athlete's true value.

I will always treasure the privilege of writing the 'Sports of The Times' column.

Sports are a microcosm of society.

I judge the jobs I've had in this business by the places they took me, and by that standard, there simply has been nothing to match 'The National Sports Daily.'