The Sports Pages

It's a delicious irony that many of the cognoscenti look down upon those whose interests in a newspaper do not extend much farther than the sports pages when much of the best writing available can be found there.

Case in point: Peter Roebuck writing about the poor umpiring decisions that India suffered against Australia in the recent test in Sydney:

INDIA has been dudded. No-one with the slightest enthusiasm for cricket will take the least satisfaction from the victory secured by the local team in an SCG Test match that entertained spectators at the ground, provided some excellent batting but left a sour taste in the mouth. It was a match that will have been relished only by rabid nationalists and others for whom victory and vengeance are the sole reasons for playing sport. Truth to tell the last day was as bad as the first. It was a rotten contest that singularly failed to elevate the spirit.