Ceefax Lives!

It doesn't of course. It was put out of its misery several months ago. But I've recently found myself drifting back into that world where sport - it's always sport - is consumed via text.

There's a scene in a comedy programme, the name of which escapes me, when a woman expresses incredulity at her partner's liking for Sky's Soccer Saturday programme. This, for the uninitiated, is the Saturday afternoon show where all the goals from that day's fixtures are displayed while three ex-players comment on the day's biggest games which they're watching on monitors.

Reducing this scenario to its bare bones, the female character asks why he's watching other men watching football matches he can't see. There's no answer to that, it sounds ridiculous but makes for compulsive viewing.

Something similar is happening to me with live text commentary. The BBC do this regularly on their website; others may too. It was designed to provide live updates on fixtures that were either not available on BBC TV or were taking place during weekdays when many would be at work and unable to watch. A sensible and useful service.

But I'm finding myself consuming my sport through this medium even when it's available on the TV. I may have the pictures on but whereas previously the banal TV coomentary would send me to the mute button and the radio commentary, I'm now eschewing that for the text updates.

Why? Some of the journalists are very good, writing with wit and insight; most are OK; some are dreadful. They all suffer from having to include tweets and texts from members of the public - part of the BBC's desperately misguided attempt to be inclusive rather than leaving things to the professionals.

But let's face it, these guys are typing as they try to keep up with events, it's throwaway stuff.

All I can think is that their approach resonates with me, the armchair fan, because they're viewing the game from the same perspective. They're not in the stadium like the TV and radio commentators; they're sitting in a room somewhere with a TV and a laptop.

Much like I am now.