TOM English, Chief Sports Correspondent of Scotland and Sunday and The Scotsman is arguably the top commentator on sport in Scotland today. Not the top writer about sport, however, that title resides with the three-quarters retired Doug Gillon of The Herald.
Tom has just contributed his thoughts on the Spanish Doping controversy to scotsman.com, the Hootsman's website. For those whose world of sport is encompassed by Scottsih football, I would suggest having a look at the piece, a good read and very erudite it is.
At the same time, along the M8 at The Herald building at the top of Renfield Street, my old mucker Kevin Ferry is this week having his say on the make-up of the British & Irish Lions squad which was named this week for the forthcoming tour to Australia.
Kevin makes some very salient points about the ways of the SRU and how these have led to Scotland - the country of Lions Legends such as Darkie Bedell-Sivright, Dan Drysdale, Herbert Waddell, Dan Davies, Laurie Duff, Jock Waters, Dr Doug Smith Arthur Smith, Mike Campbell-Lammerton, Jim Telfer, Broon Frae Troon, Mighty Mouse McLauchlan, Andy Irvine, Ian McGeechan, the Hastings Brothers, Fin Calder, David Sole, "Pigeon" Tait and Toony Townsend has now become the bit part nation when it comes to providing Lions for touring parties.
Kevin puts this down, in large part, to the failure of successive Murrayfield Mandarins to address the issues surrounding sport in Scotland.
The above-mentioned Doug Gillon, as THE premier athletics writer in the British Isles, has long made the same point regarding the state of Scottish athletics. If I can digress a bit here, at the weekend the excellent John Beattie, in his Saturday morning 'Sport Nation' programme on Radio Scotland asked listeners to text in with their top Commonwealth Games memory.
As it happened, my own one topped the list and I had a definite lump in my throat as I heard again David Coleman's memorable commentary on the last 200 metres or so of the 1971 Commonwealth Games 5000 metres final at Meadowbank: as two Scots, Ian McCafferty and Ian Stewart were roared home ahead of the great Kip Keino (even typing that, 42-years on, brings tears to my eyes). Stewart's and McCafferty's one-two is, for me, just millimetres ahead of Lachie Stewart destroying Ron Clarke in the 10,000 metres at the same games as THE Iconic Commonwealth Games moment for Scotland. Will we ever see something like that again?
IF you're still with me and wondering when I am going to get round to football, your wait is over.
Scottish Rugby - let down by officialdom. Scottish athletics - let down by officialdom. Their officials are, for my money only trying to catch-up with the world's most-consistently-outstanding awful officials, the Hampden Blazerati.
At least, Scottish rugby fans have, in the past 30-years, had the odd moment of joy - the 1984 and 1990 Grand Slams and the odd Calcutta Cup win for instance. Our athletics and minor sports fans have, as well as the two iconic wins highlighted above, been given cause to cheer by Liz (Lynch) McColgan, Yvonne Murray and the great Alan Wells, or by Chris Hoy, Catherine Grainger and others in Team GB kit.
What have our football fans had to cheer about since our annus mirabilis of 1967 (and don't forget, that year's win over England was almost as meaningless as the 1928 Wembley Wizards' victory in a wooden spoon Home International Championship decider)?
In short, nothing, zilch, failure. Even when we have qualified well for a tournament, as for the 1978 World Cup Finals, it has been a prelude to embarrassment.
Managers of the quality of Jock Stein and Alex Ferguson have failed with Scotland. Iconic players such as Jim Baxter, Denis Law, Kenny Dalglish, Jimmy Johnstone, Graeme Souness and Dave Mackay have known failure with Scotland.
We cannot - as we did with George Burley and Craig Levein - blame the managers. We are consistent only in our ability to fail. It has to be down to the system and the men who run that system.
If we get the officials we deserve, we must have done something terrible.
WHEN will the message sink-in. We MUST change the system and the mind-set if we are to move forward.
Now, if only Tom English would examine that, instead of the doping practices of a disgraced Spanish doctor, things might start to happen.
FINALLY, I trust we will not hear anything about the superb English Premiership or the wonderful La Liega between now and the European Cup Final at Wembley.
It wouldn't be right, with the seats covered in beach towels and goose-stepping Bayern and Borussia fans marching up Wembley Way to the strains of the Horst Wessel Liede, before belting-out Deutschland Uber Alles pre-match.
Or is that too-much like a Fawlty Towers story-line?
Speaking as a Mercedes driver - you've got to admire the Germans.
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