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Butterflies on the baize, indoor cycle speedway and Saker's danger ball

A flapping intruder at the UK Snooker championship, Brendan Venter's safety-first interview and MMA hubris all feature

1) Where do butterflies go in the winter? To Telford of course. Specifically, Ronnie O'Sullivan's first-round UK Snooker Championship defeat to Stuart Bingham where The Rocket wasn't the only one flapping. And while butterflies on the baize may not be common in snooker, in pool a trick-shot by the same name has for years been allowing suave French men called Vincent the chance to shirk getting a real job. Snooker's still more entertaining though ... when Adam Buxton's involved.

2) Here's Saracens coach Brendan Venter's safety-first approach to delivering a post-match interview while under threat of receiving an additional €15,000 fine from the ERC for talking out of turn.

3) If you're going to celebrate winning your MMA fight ostentatiously, make sure you don't flunk your backflip and end up rolling around on the floor like a crying three-year-old.

4) With the snow decimating Scottish football fixtures in recent weeks, those north of the border can be excused for pining for the days of the indoor Tennents' Sixes, last played in 1993 when Partick Thistle beat Airdrie 4-3 in a classic final to become champions (which they still remain to this day). There were some decent matches in the English equivalent too, one of the best being the final in December 1990, when a Liverpool team including Peter Beardsley, Jan Molby and John Aldridge (how did they get the insurance?) was thumped 4-0 by Luton Town. When it comes to Brazilian Masters football, mind ...

5) Ever wondered what speedway would be like if you substituted motorbikes for bicycles and brought it into something akin to a school PE hall? Well, wonder no more ...

6) NFL coaches can theorise all they like about how to stop opposing players, but sometimes sticking your knee out on to the pitch works just fine. For the record, the New York Jets' coach Sal Alosi was fined $25,000 and suspended without pay for tripping Nolan Carroll. One NFL player who wasn't tripped was the Arizona Cardinals' Jay Feely, who shapes to kick a field goal and then fakes it before running home a touchdown. It's a rare thing in NFL – it's only the fourth time it's ever happened. Loads of you spotted the Minneapolis Metrodome's roof trouble, but props to TheCorporal for getting there first.

Our favourites from last week's blog


2) Australia may be in for another battering in Perth if England's attack can step up a gear and do the kind of damage their bowling coach, David Saker, was once capable of.

3) A message to Hamza Boudlal, the KACM Marrakech goalkeeper: you're not Rene Higuita.

4) The 2010 Copa Sudamericana final between Argentina's Independiente and Goiás from Brazil had it all. A 3-3 draw, extra-time, penalties and a stupendous goal scored by Facundo Parra while lying down in the penalty area.

5) Please, please, please let a Premier League footballer ape John Jacobsen's 'Double Dream Hands' dance.

6) In lieu of his streak being over, here's a look back at 10 of Brett Favre's best plays.

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