A Chara, - The station that brought us the news that Maradona was not a great player - "a good player but not a great player" - has done it again.
RTE's revolutionary and daring alternative coverage of the third place playoff in the World Cup has effectively illustrated just how superior our national station has been over the past month. "Apres Match" has been the perfect antidote to the brilliantly insightful but occasionally dour and technical panels of Giles, Brady et al.
BBC's slick, shampoo- and deodorant-promoting experts fool us for a while until sporting analysis turns inevitably and pathetically into xenophobic stereotyping amid claims that all the best players play in the Premiership.
Eurosport's excellent interviews and unstinting devotion to footballing action was, at times, too much and ITV was clearly struggling as the unlikely minnow in the group.
RTE's self-deprecating and hilarious interludes throughout France '98 have helped us to remember that while soccer could never be just a game, there may be limits to its effectiveness in matters of ultimate importance. Not good coverage, great coverage, - Is mise, James Fitzgerald,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.