Has there ever been a more aptly named footballer than George Best?

The runnin’ and hoppin’ and leppin’ — and, if you’re Irish, the punchin’ too — will doubtless hog the headlines in London for the next couple of weeks (with the old dopin’ likely to get a bit of a showing too) but, with 26 sports on offer at the Olympic Games, the unfamiliar, the esoteric and the borderline weird will also get their place in the sun and rain.

Seismic! Historic! Revolutionary!

Just a few short weeks ago — which now feels more like many long years, — Ireland were sitting pretty and serene in their Montecatini base in Tuscany while no more than 30 miles away at their Coverciano training camp, Italy’s footballers were waking up to dawn raids, shock-horror headlines and all the trappings of another explosive calcio scandal.

It’s not true that there were no positives to be taken from Ireland’s depressing Euro 2012. In defeat, even more than in victory, the magnificent Irish support once again did the country proud.

The despair we can handle.

Almost there now…

Ahead of our departure for Poznan, we caught Poland’s dramatic 1-1 draw with Greece on television in Sopot last night.

We hadn’t even lifted our feet off Hungarian soil yesterday and it already felt like we’d finally arrived at Euro 2012.

We got the full monty here in Montecatini this week, from earth tremors to a minor eruption by Mt Trap.