BANDWAGON: The Echo would never think of jumping on one
In line with much of the media at the moment- not least Athletics' own Athletics Weekly- we are going to diligently list the 11 ways in which Track and Field can be compared to the Football World Cup.
1. ROONEY: Well, it doesn't take a genius to work out that England's Wayne shares his name with the far more famous Martyn- Team GB's heroic Olympic finalist.
2. PENALTY SHOOT-OUT: In some ways, the relays can be seen as a bit of a penalty shoot-out. We spend a lot of money on them but are still absolutely hopeless.
3. DELUSION: 'England are going to win the World Cup.' Much in the same way that Andy Baddeley is going to break the World 1500m record.
4. RUNNING: Footballers run. Coincidently so do athletes.
5. CAPELLO: Is the Echo alone in thinking that Sir Fabio (won't be long) looks quite a lot like the far more famous UKA Director of everything except endurance, Charles Van Commenee?
6. USAIN BOLT: ....likes football. Therefore it must be cool.
7. WATFORD BMC: The plucky BMC are directly competing with the England match tonight. ITV are understood to be offering a 'split screen' service to customers via the red button.
8. SCOTLAND: Are as terrible at football as they are at athletics.
9. GOLD: The World Cup is gold. Isn't it amazing that athletes chase gold medals in the Olympics as well?
10. THE FA: Nearly as useless UKA....but not quite.
11. SPONSORSHIP: Sponsors love World Cup. So we at the Echo would like to declare our love for the competition. It's great, isn't it? How a well read blog like this one can be so clearly linked to this multi-billion pound market? I am sure that lots of people would buy a product that was endorsed on a site that may possibly have exclusive coverage of the way in which athletics is a lot like football (or soccer if you are an American company). Not that a site would ever sell out like that.