It is a shame that the gone but not forgotten Boo Weekley is not adorning this week's Ryder Cup in Chicago. If ever there was a figure who represented the average American golf fan at the Ryder Cup, it was Boo and his homely Southern drawl.

With the ambience at Chicago's Medinah Country Club apparently about to resemble finding one's self ensconced in the bleachers of the nearby Wrigley Field, golf's self-styled redneck would have been in his element dissolving into such times of shameless nationalistic fervour. Not that the US galleries need any invitation to fraternise with high jinks when

Dunblane locals toast Andy Murray's US Open win

The town of Dunblane near Stirling in Scotland is a quaint little settlement, a sleepy hollow, a smallish community of less than 10,000 inhabitants which is earmarked by a Cathedral and a rather fashionable hotel, whose restaurant is apparently operated by one of those 'celebrity' television chefs, Nick Nairn. On a train ride from Glasgow to Aberdeen, you know you are somewhere between Stirling and Perth when you roll into Dunblane.

Life moves slowly there. It is thousands of miles away, both figuratively and literally, from Flushing Meadows, a tennis site situated in the teeming borough of

Craig Levein sported a nifty pair of dark glasses during Scotland's 0-0 draw with Serbia at Hampden Park yesterday. He might as well as have been wearing a blindfold.

Scotland are not yet a hopeless cause in a murderous World Cup qualifying Group A, not quite an example of the blind leading the blind - not yet at least. But there are points of real concern to be addressed when one considers the section Levein's team find themselves stationed in for these latest edition of timeworn fixtures. Scotland seem to be blindsided by a worrying lack of forward planning, emanating mainly from some odd

Berti Vogts was derided by the tabloid press, but has been no worse than the managers who followed him

It will not dawn on the 50,000 or so fans who will descend on Hampden Park in Glasgow emboldened by whisky and the somewhat hairy buttocks version of the Sound of Music's 'Do-Re-Mi', but this weekend represents the tenth anniversary of one of the bleakest results in the history of the Scottish national side.

Scotland begin a World Cup qualifying campaign against Serbia on Saturday afternoon a decade after they were almost toppled by the tiny Faroe Islands in their opening qualifier for Euro 2004.

Scotland infamously drew 2-2 on the edge of a cliff in Toftir against an assortment of hardy

Sid Waddell during another one of his gloriously unique commentary stints

After a life celebrated among the ranks of double tops and double vodkas, the funeral of the fabled darts commentator Sid Waddell seems a fitting juncture at which to raise a glass or two to toast a gregarious Geordie who was obviously never happier than when tanked up on tungsten.

Waddell, the son of a Northumberland miner, was as much a figure of fun as the men he commentated on. There was a memorable sketch by comedians Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones on the BBC's satirical Not the Nine O'Clock News poking fun at the pint-laden, smoke saturated environs of the 1980s. The comedian Rowan

Andy Murray looks to the sky after reaching his fourth Wimbledon semi-final

Muzza and Monty have lived curiously similar lives in separate sports. Andy Murray's semi-final against the strapping Jo-Wilfried Tsonga today at Wimbledon is akin to the moment his fellow Scot Colin Montgomerie stood in the middle of a fairway on the 72nd hole of the 2006 US Open golf championship clutching a six iron and the lead. Murray knows what needs to be done. He knows what lies between him and home. He knows he is fit and able to complete the assignment. He knows it, we all know it.

Most pertinently, Murray knows he is capable of usurping Tsonga, a Frenchman he has brought to heel in

Roy Keane has been in excellent form as a pundit

"Keano, there's only one Keano" as the chant used to ring out back in the day. When Roy Keane was being touted for a move to Celtic from Manchester United in the early part of the last decade, Noel Gallagher, the one-time Oasis star who like Keane has been sounded out in Poland and Ukraine over the past week, conceded he had mixed emotions about what the United captain meant to him.

With leanings towards City and the Glasgow club with Irish roots, Gallagher commented: "I personally can't wait for Roy Keane to sign for Celtic, so I can officially have my picture taken with him and shake his

Scotland fared worse than Engelbert on Saturday

Out of the three humpings, it is difficult to argue that Scotland's pumping in a friendly gone wrong was the most "embarrassing" as the