Minus the shooting

“Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules, and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.”

Thank you, George (Orwell) – let's get on with the fighting.

The panorama and the nitty-gritty

The Virtual Library of Sport is not pretty. It's been online for 15 years, and age has not done much for its appearance. But stick with it if you want background information about a wide range of sport.

The site is essentially a catalogue (or, if you like, a gateway) of links to external websites. When it was started in 1993, a trawl of all the existing sports websites netted just 100. Now they list many thousands. They still use humans to organise the links, and these days they include some paid-for entries as well as the free listings.

I had a look at cricket. You don't need me to tell you that cricket attracts a range of enthusiasts – it's a moot point whether the actual players of the game are outnumbered by the statistics junkies and the rules freaks. But whatever your interest, there is a good chance that you will find a useful link here, ranging from the history of the game to advice on improving your batting technique. The coverage is global, but if you scroll down the page far enough you will see a case-by-case coverage of the main cricketing countries.

I followed a link to an explanation of the Duckworth-Lewis method of deciding the outcome of rain-affected matches. This, it seems, “ is simple to apply provided one is prepared to take a few minutes to understand its logic.” When I woke up, luckily, it had stopped raining.

(From the Gateway to websites, select “Sport & recreation”. The Virtual Library of Sport is a Key Link.)

Lee Valley! Ra ra ra!

London 2012 – I wonder what that's about? Yes of course, it's all things Olympic. Maps, pictures, videos and web cams – they're all here, along with news, future plans and opportunities to get involved as a volunteer.

As you would expect from the official website, it's all irrepressibly upbeat, but I found that a rather refreshing change after being fed recently on a constant diet of carping criticism by BBC London.

(From the Gateway to websites, select “Sport & recreation”. London 2012 is a Key Link.)