Acclaimed American sportswriter Steve Rushin has been to the North and South Poles and most places in between. However, his love of the written word remains undimmed

It wasn’t very long after Galway and Kilkenny had fought out their dramatic draw yesterday week when we got word in Tullamore that the replay wouldn’t be televised.

Lately, I notice quite the competition between betting outlets in the advertisements on television.

Lord I wasn’t born a gambling man, as the Allman Brothers never sang.

Before last Sunday’s Munster SHC replay between Cork and Waterford, both teams were prevented from going out onto the Semple Stadium field.

Mark Zuckerberg may be an unlikely port of call in a discussion centred on the Tipperary hurlers, but the Facebook guru, or Satan of social media, depending on your viewpoint,offers a good starting point in this particular debate.

No doubt many readers are watching GAA games from the traditional perspective this summer, but depending on your familiarity with stadium seating plans, some of you may be trying to peer past the increasingly large squadrons of backroom staff clogging up the sidelines of the nation.

The World Cup kicks off shortly in Brazil, with associated nonsense either starting soon or already well under way (exhibit A: Wayne Rooney’s faux outtrage, with the English media’s interest in him and his family).

Quite the kerfuffle over a man bringing a computer to the FA Cup final, I notice.

Are we looking for too much in our analysis?