MacArthur provides red-letter day in sport

SPORTS writing is a language of its own really, one whose distinguishing feature is outrageous hyperbole.

Without blinking an eyelid, we scatter around words with a carelessness which totally undermines their original meaning. Tragedy is a goal conceded in injury time, bravery is moving your full-back to the half-back line, awesome is a midfielder who scored four points from play two games in a row.

It's not just sports writers who are to blame, in the age of hype and 24-hour news coverage everything has to be talked up. Stories are inflated like the body of a steroid-munching weightlifter, exaggerated like the ludicrous opinion of Kevin Myers.