The roll of the wind....

..as we sail across the water.

Andy Murray's continuing quest for world tennis domination continues over the next few days as the surly Scot heads across to Miami for the Ericsson Masters, one of the nine 'Masters' series events, rebranded for 2009 as a '1000' event on account of the number of ranking points the winner receives. Murray is currently ranked number 4 in the world, and victory in Miami could see him leapfrog his nearest challenger, Novak Djokovic into 3rd spot. Both players lost in the 2nd round at this tournament last year, so won't have many ranking points to defend. Of course, the main obstacles in Murray's way will be world number 1, Rafael Nadal, a player who looks unbeatable right now, and Murray himself. Like compatriot golfer Colin Montgomerie, sometimes his biggest enemy is himself. With the right attitude, he should go a long way.

Talking of Monty, it was nice to see the big chap rewarded for reaching the impressive milestone of 500 European Tour events this weekend. He's been much criticized over the years for never winning one of the elusive 'Major' titles, and also because of his less than ebullient demeanour on the golf course. However, any player who wins the European Order of Merit eight times has to be respected. As I write this, the big chap has made a solid start to the current tour event, The Andalucian Masters in Seville.

In the world of gaming, this week I have been exploring the latest addition to the FIFA 09 game for the X-Box 360 - Ultimate Team. EA's attempt to mirror PES's Master League feature sees you attempting to build a team of the world's best players through a series of trading cards, and playing (offline or online) against other sides with your chosen players. Given it's merely an add-on to an existing game, it's pretty indepth stuff, and at the moment, I now have the likes of Vieira and Cambiasso playing for my Stirling Albion side. Realistic? I should say so. I'm still utterly hopeless at playing the game, however, so my online experiences have been pretty grim, as everyone else seems to be an expert.

And finally, to complete the day's sporting theme, Stirling Albion (the real one this time) face playoff rivals East Fife tomorrow afternoon at Forthbank in a must-win game for both sides. The two teams have been pretty disappointing in what has been a poor league this season, and from our point of view anything less than three points, and we can look forward to another season in this division.

Toodle pip for now.