Anyway, in the absence of any real content today,  I thought I’d broadcast my navel-gazing and some possible future subjects.

I’m off to Lords on Saturday to catch the third day of the First Test between England and India. I am, understandably, very excited about this as it virtually guaranteed (barring rain, naturally) to be an incredible spectacle and sporting occasion. I also have the following Monday off work, so if the game goes to the fifth day I may well be able to catch that too.

I love watching cricket live, as there is so much to take in, and so much time to take it in. As the action takes place at a leisurely pace there are plenty of opportunities to people-watch, or to take a wander around the ground, let alone to observe the nuances of what is going on on the pitch. I’m hoping I will be able to leave Lords with a number of witty yet pertinent insights to dazzle you with. You won’t need a match report, there are journalists for that. But maybe your life has been lacking ill-considered insight of modern Test Match cricket, from yours truly.

Anyone following me on Twitter will have noticed I enjoy following the horse racing and making a series of monster 10p, 20p and 50p tips. When I am in a particularly frivolous mood I even stretch to a pound. And I think there is a fascinating article to be written about all the weird and wonderful amateur tipsters now populating Twitter. It really is an odd phenomenon. The question is, am I the right person to write said article? Probably not, but I may give it a go anyway.

Finally, the baseball. I’ve actually been able to consume a fair amount of it, either listening to the previous night’s radio broadcasts at work, or watching games at home. This year I’ve dabbled with watching some minor league baseball, and should make the time to record some reflections on it, as it seems really quite distinct from the major league version, and there may even be some kind of point to be made about different levels of sport generally, or something.

I should also perhaps try to find the time to restart my weekly (-ish) baseball column. I will have to offer a huge apology to the good staff of BaseballGB for letting them down this season and see if they will have me back.

And it won’t be long before the new football season is upon us…

It is great to have some ideas in mind, and I have a few non-sporting ones too. But still I use the scoundrel’s excuse of lack of time. Work has been busy and stressful for reasons I’d love to tell you about, but am probably wise not to. Free time has been limited, holiday time non-existent. But maybe with a little motivation and a little inspiration something of interest might pop up soon that isn’t bacon-based gobbledygook.

Image from the US National Archives, via Flickr

I’m always a sucker for nostalgia, and there’s something I love about obsolete technology too, so I enjoyed reading Twohundredpercent’s look at the imminent demise of teletext very much indeed. The television text service was for many years the main way to access the latest football scores on a Saturday afternoon, with the added drama of having to wait for the right page to come up (and then inevitably looking away and missing them at the crucial moment). In this age where everything is available on demand, and Soccer Saturday’s constantly scrolling results, it’s fun to think back to how things were in simpler times.

Geegeez looks at the trends for November’s Melbourne Cup, if you could do with a few pointers for one of the world’s biggest horse races. I could always do with some help with how to not lose my money, so this is very welcome.

And there’s fun to be had at the Rogue’s Baseball Index, a sort of urban dictionary of, well, baseball.

What sporting stuff have you been looking at this week?

Goldolphin and Frankie Dettori are in a rich vein of form at the moment, so I’m concentrating on their runners today:

York:

Spring of Fame

Huntdown

Dandy Man

Salisbury:

Black Snowflake

All in the mug punter’s favourite bet, an each-way lucky 15. We’ll see how lucky I am, eh?

Goodwood:

3.40 Jimmy Styles (15.00) and Mac Gille Eoin (17.00) 1pt ew

5.25 Mountain Pride (6.00) 2pt win

Galway

2.25 The Shepherd (7.00) 2pt win

So, here goes…

Goodwood:

2.10 Drumfire (4.50) 2pts
3.25 Tartan Gigha (17.00) 1pt ew
4.00 Dick Turpin (2.00) 2pts
5.10 Red Dune (13.00) 1pt ew
5.45 Strictly (6.50) 2pts

Bangor:

4.50 Cooksgrove Lady (1.80) 2pts

Plus, as it’s Friday and I’m feeling dangerous I’ve gone for an each-way Heinz on the above too, a massive 1p a line, so £1.14 in total. If every horse comes in, I’m in the money. Of course, this isn’t going to happen.

But without these tips, I’ll have to actually generate some content…

Today I’ve veered away from studying form, trainer form, draw bias, the going or anything else. I’ve basically gone with what I’ve seen tipped elsewhere, and with Dazed and Amazed, a horse that actually won for me once. So, even if these come in I can’t really take any credit. “Today’s tips” as a blog post title is probably over-egging this particular pudding.

All Goodwood:

2.10 Hyades 2pts
2.45 Sugar Free 2pts
3.25 Schiaparelli 2pts
5.45 Dazed and Amazed 1pt ew
5.45 Piscean 1pt ew

Anyway, today’s losers…

2.10 Swingkeel (7.50) 2pts
2.45 Chapeno (7.00) 2pts
3.25 Paco Boy (4.33) 1pt and Forgotten Voice (29.00) 0.5pts ew
4.00 Highland Glen (7.50) 1pt and Akmal (11.00) 1pt
4.35 Damietta (7.00) 2pts
5.45 Something (13.00) 1pt and Purissima (5.50) 1pt

12 points staked.

2.10 Lang Shining (11.00) 1pt ew
2.45 Tactic (13.00) 1 pt ew
3.25 Ouqba (6.00) 2pts to win
4.00 Mister Manannan (10.00) 1pt ew
4.35 Sugar Ray (12.00) 1pt ew
5.45 George Benjamin (5.50) 2pts to win

12 points staked. I’ve gone with some in-form trainers (both at the track and generally) and tried to avoid the low draw. Hopefully the each-way bets are a safer means to a return – shame they are only for the first three places…

1.25 Ascot – King’s Point (21.00) 0.5pt ew
4.25 Golden Sword (5.00) 1pt to win