Sporting Miscellanies

Fabio Capello is pulling out all the stops to avoid a repeat of the Wag-related nonsense which surrounded England's 2006 World Cup bid. Forget Baden-Baden, Potchefstroom, one of the venues being considered by the Italian boss for his base at South Africa 2010, is more Boring-Boring - a university town with a population of just 120,000 and over 1,300metres above sea level, well away from the bright lights and designer boutiques of Cape Town. Chief attraction, according to the tourist board's website, is Potchefstroom Museum, whose "excellent exhibits trace the history of the region with fine ethnographic representation including an oxwagon from the Battle of Blood River." We bet Wazza and Stevie G have already booked their places on the official tour.

Bale the latest to be hit by pedalo curse

What is it with sportsmen and pedaloes? Andrew Flintoff has never really recovered since he put the naughty in nautical in the Caribbean in 2007, now word reaches us from our spies that Tottenham defender Gareth Bale was spotted larking about with a mystery girl' on a lake in Cardiff just before being ruled out for two months with a knee ligament injury earlier this month. No confirmation on whether Bale's injury was caused by over-enthusiastic pedalling, but we'd like to think it was.

Thierry who? Henry's lost his va va voom

MORE compelling evidence as to just how little impact David Beckham has made on America's dismissive view of soccer players. Ahead of the recent finals game between LA Lakers and Orlando Pirates, the NBA's PR gurus circulated a list of celebrities who would be in attendance at Staples Center. The usual LA-based stars were present and correct — Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, P Diddy, Zac Efron, Rihanna et al — but one name conspicuous by its absence was Thierry Henry, despite the Barcelona star (and Lakers fanatic) being courtside. While the ex-Arsenal striker is hardly in the same league as Leo and Diddy, surely he can hold his own against Simon Baker, Dylan McDermott and Noah Wyle, all of whom merited a mention on the NBA's roll of honour?

Cink a bit of a Twitter as his fan club swells

Stewart Cink might not have made much of a splash at the soggy US Open last weekend but at least the American golfer proved a hit on the blogosphere. Cink's idiosyncratic contributions on social messaging utility Twitter have propelled him dangerously close to the status of cult hero. Our favourite was this effort posted by Cink last Friday: "We're pretty close to Manhattan here at Bethpage. I know because a guy asked me to sign the current issue of The Economist."