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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United and Chelsea fans pondering how to get to Moscow for 21 May are not the only ones with problems. Eco-conscious Watford supporters wishing to travel the 224 miles to Blackpool today by public transport faced the following journey, courtesy of Bank Holiday rail engineering work: 02.45am bus from Watford Junction to Bletchley, then a three-hour wait; 06.55 bus to Northampton; 08.22 bus to Coventry; 10.04 train to Birmingham; 11.03 train to Preston; 12.48 train to Blackpool North, arriving 13.16, then bus or taxi for the final two miles to Bloomfield Road. But at least they didn't have to apply for visas before setting off.
417
Number of nautical miles the 10-person crews face in the biennial London to Paris Rowing Race which set off on Thursday. If you fancy six days of agony, enter the 2010 race at london2parisrowing.com.
Big softie of the week
You're a highly valuable athlete, with females by the dozen available to you, but you're just not interested. In most sports that might please your bosses; but not if you're the 2002 Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem, bought for £8.6m by a Japanese stud farm. "You name it, we've tried it," say his owners. "We've had him on Viagra, we even brought back 'special' medicine from the red-light district. It's very odd." They could always introduce him to the fancied filly in last night's running of the race, Eight Belles, but as he can't seem to manage even one belle, there doesn't seem much point.
Good week for
Darrell Hair, Australian umpire, appointed to officiate at the England-New Zealand Test in Manchester on 23 May... Darren Clarke, Ulster golfer, won his first European Tour title for five years with a 40ft putt at the last hole of the BMW Asian Open... and Peter Frank, a 41-year-old paraplegic golfer, hit a 139yd hole in one.
Bad week for
Ronaldo, Milan and Brazil footballer, picked up three prostitutes who turned out to be transvestites and one tried to blackmail him... Harbhajan Singh, Indian bowler, hit by 11-match ban and loss of all IPL fees after slapping India colleague Sree Sreesanth... Leeds United, lost their appeal against 15-point deduction... and Mike Tindall, Gloucester and England rugby union back, charged with drink-driving.
Sporting gesture of the week
Sarah Tucholsky had never hit a home run in four years of college softball and had just three hits in 34 at-bats this year as she came to the plate in her final home game for league leaders Western Oregon against Central Washington, lying second. Bam! She smacked her first homer. Damn! She tore a knee ligament as she set off, and collapsed in agony. Her team were not allowed to help her – but the opposition could. Knowing what it meant to Tucholsky, they carried her round the bases to complete the run, and ended up losing the game. "It's not all about winning," said their coach. For once, you believed it.
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