Swansea 3, West Brom 0.
Wolves 0, QPR 3.
To the neutral, these scores would mean very little, bar to perhaps local rivals and those who spend their days in the bookies, feeling like giants with the little pens.
But since the mid 1990s, something happened to football that suddenly made every game important. And not just the result. But who played, for how long, and whether they were a good boy or not.
Fantasy Football.
These three men are the front of this revolution:
Frank Skinner, a fairly popular Midlands comedian.
Angus 'Statto' Loughran, an odds-man more associated with horse racing.
David Baddiel, perhaps best known for dressing up as an old man saying to another, making jokes about "Your mum".
A cultural phenomenon, that brought to our screens Karren Brady, Jeff Astle and a man with a pineapple for a hairdo. It led to Three Lions, the England Euro 96 anthem. Friday nights on BBC2 were never the same.
But the days of the Internet, fantasy football has even more relevance. No longer do we have to post our transfer cards every week, or pretend to be posh when as a 14 year old, we need to purchase a Daily Telegraph on a Thursday for the latest points update. Just a quick check on the smartphone and our weekend's captain is selected.
We spend hours investigating whether our Columbian centre forward got the final pass before a goal. Or whether our injury prone winger played 59 minutes or the full hour. We spent hours picking a team, trying not to let hearts rule heads, convincing ourselves that if we leave Jermain Defoe in for another week, he may just hit form...
And of course, the 'comedy' names. AC Alittlesilhoutteofaman, Sporting Lesbian and Nothing Toulouse.
The average boss is probably wise. Unless he generally thinks that your annual expenses form now resembles this:
For the sake of office rivalry, in the Personnel mini-league, first is everything. Second is nothing. Or sometimes a fiver. This weekend my super Sunday is QPR v Aston Villa.
Eat that Sky.
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