Ryder Cup golf, Peter Reid still in a job, anti-climactic end to the ICC trophy and who can beat Arsenal?

The Europeans regained golf's Ryder Cup at the weekend, despite the presence of such greats as Tiger Woods on the US side, and Colin Montgomerie for the Europeans!

Lee Westwood and Paul McGinley were among the more notable European performers as the US were trounced 15 and a half-12and a half at the Belfry.

What I said last week:

'However, if they continue to play the way they have recently, he may have to go. What I think will be most likely is a defeat against Villa to be followed by Reid's elevation to Director of Football to be replaced by a young manager (perhaps a veteran player like Niall Quinn), or his demotion to assistant and replaced as
manager by an experienced old hand such as Howard Kendall, Joe Royle or George Graham.'

What happened this week: Sunderland beat Aston Villa 1-0, French striker David Bellion scoring on his first team debut, securing Reidy's job a little while longer. Sunderland beat Cambridge 7-0 in the Worthington Cup, an astonishing result against even a team like
Cambridge.

Also in the legendary worthless cup, my boys in blue, the mighty Everton, defeated Wrexham 3-0, 16-year-old Wayne Rooney scoring the 2nd and 3rd goals having come on as a substitute with only half an hour left. Rooney's goals make him the youngest player in the 124 year history of Everton to score a senior goal.

We also saw West Ham edge out Chesterfield on penalties, and Wolves go out to Rotherham as Charlton suffered a shock defeat at the hands of third division Oxford.

Also in football, Arsenal battered Leeds to prove that they really are GREAT this year, Man U came from behind to beat Charlton and won 4-0 in the Champions League, but Newcastle's champions league adventure is virtually over after they lost their first three
games, the latest against Juventus, whose talented young striker Marco DiVaio swallowed his tongue, although he has recovered after requiring mouth to mouth resuscitation.

The final of the ICC Trophy between India and Sri Lanka was started twice but not finished, due to a bizarre set of rules which say that the match cannot be played over more than one day. the rules are now being looked at (thank god).

Formula 1's US Grand Prix in Indianapolis descended into farce as Michael Schumacher slowed down as he approached the finish line, apparently so that he and his Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello could be seen together in a photo of a grandstand finish. However, he
slowed down too much and Barrichello beat him by 0.01 of a second. And so Formula 1's integrity died a little more...

As a baseball fan who has just managed to tune in channel 5 on his TV, I am very excited about the playoffs which have just got underway and which, by the end of the month, will decide the World Series champions.

For the uninitiated: Major League Baseball feature teams from the US and Canada, split into the American League and the National league. These two leagues are further divided into 3 regional divisions, east west and central. The teams all play each other (including teams
from different divisions and the other league) several times, so that by the start of October they have all played 162 games. Then the playoffs start, with the top team from every division, plus the best runners up from each league, which are called the wildcard team. The
playoffs are also split along league lines, and the best-of-five divisional series are followed by best-of-seven championship series. The two league champions then play each other in the 7 game 'World Series' at the end of October, and The New York Yankees usually win, although they got beat by Arizona in the world Series last year.

The Yankees are in the playoffs again this year, having won the American league Eastern Division. They have a divisional series against the Anaheim Angels (Wildcard team), while Oakland (AL west) play Minnesota (AL central). In the National league, Atlanta (east) plays San Fransisco (wildcard) while Arizona (West) plays St Louis (central).

This is all just a bit of background, as I will be getting increasingly frenzied over the next couple of weeks in this column.

So far in the Divisional series, Minnesota won game 1 against Oakland, the Yankees won game one against Anaheim, St Louis won game one against Arizona, and at the time of writing San Francisco were 8-2 up on Atlanta in the 7th inning (of 9) of their first game.

If you want to get as excited as me abut baseball, then the official major league baseball website has up-to-the-minute scores, reports and information.

Just to say that if anyone is a fan of any kind of sport I don't mention very often on here and would like me to focus on it at some point, I would be happy to.

Suggestions welcome in the forums below, on my space, or by e-mail to [email protected] . I live to serve.

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