If we ever needed reminding, the past week has provided ample evidence of the dangers of making sporting assumptions. Not long ago, New Zealand was collectively dismissing this British & Irish Lions team as duds and their coach as a circus performer. That's why these one-hour TV build-up shows are so tedious - beyond up-to-date team lists, they provide little more than meaningless rhetoric. Being forced to put money where your mouth is makes desperate clairvoyants of all of us. Or, as Hugh Laurie's House character would say, "Speculation" makes a 'speck' out of 'you' ... and some guy named 'Lation'."

Source: New Zealand Herald July 04, 2017 03:11 UTC