Clickety clackety clickety clackety
Hands up if you’re already bored by the Olympics? Is that everybody (apart from the weak orangey drink sipping nerds at the back, obviously)? Good. Then let the alternate games begin. My mate Ted - a Philadelphian, a chiropractor and a keen rugby player - is boycotting the Olympics to protest [...]

Croatia’s Luka Modric scored the only goal against Austria. Photograph: Hans Klaus Techt/Getty Images
As if the power and durability did not suffice, Germany frequently employ their reputation to beat rivals into submission. They and Croatia each won their opening fixture at Euro 2008, but the resemblance ends there. It is the smaller nation that has [...]