Gone is the glamour as Jaguar are wheeled out on the web

Jaguar's formula one team will this week break new ground in announcing their new race car for the 2003 season online, which makes one wonder exactly what some of the hell-raising drivers of the past might have made of websites and the like.

From Innes Ireland to James Hunt, racing drivers were once known as devil-may-take-me party animals, with a twinkle in their eye and a love for champagne. Unveiling a new car used to be an excuse to wheel out the full publicity machinery and numerous glamorous models, not necessarily of the mechanic variety, and hang the cost.

But the budget-conscious boys from Jaguar will have none of it. So don't expect to be downloading anything which might conjure up memories of motor-racing in years gone by if you log on to the grand unveiling.

· "It is like a bitch," said a smiling Claudio Ranieri, when the Chelsea manager was asked on Sky TV on Saturday about the awful, sand-covered Stamford Bridge playing surface, which must be the worst in Premiership history. Whether, with his Italian accent, Ranieri intended to say "beach" was not quite clear. Certainly not as clear as the Anglo-Saxon expletives the normally urbane Frenchman Marcel Desailly appeared to use during his pre-match inspection.

We are told all will be rectified soon when the surface is returfed in the sort of operation which is now commonplace for Premiership clubs but which was not always so easy 30 years ago when Manchester United put out an appeal to fans to bring bags of worms to Old Trafford to help the groundsman aerate the playing surface.

Needless to say, although the bags of earth worms duly arrived, the operation failed and United's quagmire had to be dug up and reseeded.

· The days when Mike Tyson was the biggest draw in boxing are clearly over. Ticket sales for his fight against Clifford Etienne in Memphis on February 22 have been slow, forcing promoters to cut prices by 20%. Yet still they talk about a Lennox Lewis rematch in the summer.

Now I have nothing against Tyson trying to make a living in the only way he has ever known but please don't let us have to witness Lewis-Tyson II. We've seen the fight, and Tyson gets battered. What earthly reason is there for a rematch, except for those who take perverse delight in seeing the former champion beaten up, as if it somehow punishes him for previous misdemeanours?

· Nasser Hussain says his team was "sloppy" in the field for the latest one-day match against Australia in Hobart, which England somehow contrived to lose by seven runs. He criticised his bowlers and fielders, while seemingly exonerating the batsmen, which some might consider a little strange.

To lose after Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight had put on 165 in 32 overs in their opening stand was a collapse for which the word "sloppy" seems inadequate.

· The Jonjo O'Neill-trained Intersky Falcon is giving Alan Shearer hope of emulating Sir Alex Ferguson as a successful racehorse owner. Rock of Gibraltar was the Flat season's outstanding performer for Sir Alex and now Intersky Falcon has been installed as the 11-2 second favourite for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.

Not that Shearer can expect quite such an impressive reward for his investment as the Manchester United manager. While Sir Alex owns 50 % of his marvellous colts, Shearer is just one of 27 with a share in O'Neill's six-year-old gelding.