The tennis at Indian Wells is always a pleasure, but the 200 mile round trip is not the easiest to make for sure. I’ve reluctantly decided to give it a miss and watch the big names let rip on TV instead. Great to see Donald Young beat Murray, but a bit too predictable that he would get battered in the next round by Tommy Robredo. Not sure about US tennis right now with Roddick ancient, Isner and Querrey so tall, and Harrison and Sweeting getting there sort of.

I must admit my mind is more on a vacation right now. I do fancy Las Vegas or maybe San Jose and a bit of cards, roulette and video slot machines for some entertainment that might just have a chance of paying for itself. Maybe!

By the time the Steelers had settled into the match the game was beyond them really, despite a fairly valiant rally. It just shows the occasion can get to everyone. For stats geeks, apparently it had the lowest number of rushing attempts in any Superbowl ever. Both sides went to the air quickly, and the Packers did pretty well considering Charles Woodson was out of action for the latter part of the game.

I am not sure if it was good for the NFL or not. It’s always good I guess to see one of the traditional powers win which pleases the sponsors. However, the 6th seed coming through is sometimes questionable.

I have a grudging respect for the Packers, who have come through late pressure and away games in the playoffs to make it. I still think they have serious flaws. Their running game has arrived on the scene but pretty late and they are clearly over reliant on passing.

I would say the Steelers are the stronger unit and that the bookmakers have got it right with Pittsburgh three point favourites on the early betting lines. I expect another Steelers superbowl win.

The one thing that will come of these playoffs is that Jay Cutler’s reputation will take a permanent knock for coming off injured. Most people wouldn’t be satisfied unless he had his ankle bone sticking through his boot. I’ll hold judgement until something is said about his injury.

There is probably nothing original left to say about the way Roger Federer plays the game, but his style makes him a personal favorite compared to Rafael Nadal. One of those two will surely win it.

As for the women’s, well who knows? So many imponderables. I see the tipsters at Free Tennis Betting Tips have gone for Justine Henin for the women. They could easily be right.

This was always going to happen at some point with the smaller divisions as the NFL expands, but I hope the Seahawks get a pasting in Chicago.

In the other games, it was fun seeing Rex Ryan run his mouth off as the Jets squeezed past the Colts, Baltimore blew out Kansas City and it was good to see Michael Vick get his season ended with the Packers beating the Eagles. Where on earth did the Packers find a running game from?

The running game wasn’t working, Mike Norbert went off, and you need that kind of basic running game in those conditions to establish the offence. Then there are the mistakes right at the start, Vincent Jackson’s early fumble, a horrible punt and so on.

And the Bengals – the lost 10 in a row Bengals! – it makes it worse to stomach. One of the great things we’ve learned to do is win in the clutch period of the season in December. But not this time. I wonder how significant the overhaul over the off-season will be.

The trouble is everyone is playing it cagey when it comes to what his future is – or isn’t with the Chargers.

Norv Turner’s been ducking the question with some flair at the usual press conference – check these quotes: “I’m just excited to have Vincent here and our players are excited to have him here. He’s a good guy. He’s come back in here and I think it’s been good for our team and it’s been good for him.”

It’ll probably be down to A.J.Smith as GM I guess, though I am sure Norv will have a word in his ear.

Jackson’s surely not stupid enough to want two stand offs like this in a row.

If only that contract dispute hadn’t wrangled on for so long I’m sure we’d be in a much better position now.

River has now made another 4,000 yard season, for the third time in a row. The guy is just so consistent and has an arm you could compare to an elephant gun.

The only thing that could be better is to be in the NFC West, then the playoffs would be a breeze!