It was a marathon alright

In a bold fixturing move, the A-League decided to play five games in a row on a working day Wednesday, one after the other, starting in New Zealand and ending in Perth.

Day 2 at the SCG was what cricket is all about. Minus the rain delays, of course.

People have begun posting so-called strong rumours and inside information that a merger between South and the Melbourne Heart is on the cards, sooner rather than later. Cue bored and aimless speculation of a weary minority.

Despite his protestations, it was evident to all that Ross was not comfortable with Rachel's relationship with Joey.

I thought Melbourne Heart was supposed to have been broke by last September. People had sworn they'd even seen the paperwork.

Angela's ex-husband comes back into the picture, to tell her that he plans to remarry. He also wants to have his son, who is in Angela's custody, to be his best man at his wedding in Los Angeles. Somehow this becomes a pretext for the show to have a California special, bringing along the entire cast, with the requisite beach montage letting us marvel at Tony Danza's physique. The episode was to be continued.

I thought the A-League was supposed to be dead by now.

For reasons that escaped me, The Fonz was sporting a beard.

Whatever happened to that bloke who went by the moniker Western Greek? He used to rock up to our games dressed in exotic football jerseys based on the colours of the opposition, as part of some superstitious gimmick. He went over to the Heart, said he'd still follow us, and hasn't been seen since.

That 70s Show is just a Happy Days remake with marijuana. Discuss.

I wonder sometimes - despite the loss of 90% of our supporter base since the end of the NSL, are there still people supporting this team who are doing so only because they think our return to the top flight is imminent?

The Simpsons golden age is so long ago that it is but a distant memory. They could have stopped ten years ago, perhaps even five years ago, and that golden age would still have been deemed characteristic of the show's output. Now they're fishing for plotlines in the lives of Rod and Todd Flanders. Good luck with that.

How much have I backed myself into a corner, for the sake of a probably phony ideological purity, by resisting not only the charms of the A-League, but also of almost all overseas football?

While The Cleveland Show is for the most part a successful and funny spin-off, there is a meanness that has been added to Cleveland's character that is troubling to me.

The Hellenic Cup released its draw yesterday. Within a few hours, they released an altered version. In about a month's time, the annual pre-season public transport and walking trudge to the south-east begins for me again.