"It's a really important game"

This was said with no trace of irony whatsoever on the news this evening, as someone tried to convince the viewing public that a few blokes kicking a ball around was actually of any relevance to anyone at all. Yes, we were indeed taking a break from the reporting of people dying of swine flu, reports of the torture and murder of a couple of students, reports of the rapid spread of the flu, reports of the usual financial disasters, and other natural disasters. Because we needed to know whether someone had kicked a ball in a particular direction without other people getting in the way.

I would love it if people just reported the news on the news. There are whole channels dedicated to sports, and even then many other channels take off what they should be showing to put on yet more sport.

The news is bloody miserable again with all the talk of yet more dead people, but taking precious news time to talk about sport like it matters makes me really grumpy.