"I don't have much Christmas. It's practice, practice, practice at this time of year."
Phil "The Power" Taylor on resisting a second portion of ham during the festive season...
"When you've got nothing, you're always looking forward to having something. Now I feel a little bit spoilt and
disappointed in myself. Before, I was happy with a 50 car. If I'd had a 100 car I would've been over the moon. So, sometimes, I tell myself off because I can be driving a brand-new car and I don't feel nothing. Possessions don't mean anything now."
... and there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time. Comrade Taylor keeps it real.
"In the modern game there are so many flat, easy batting pitches around the world. They are so tame with no bounce that many batsmen look better than they are and their statistics flatter them."
England's arch-miserablist Geoffrey Boycott reckons things were tougher in his day, by gum.
"You fat Cockney bastard, get out of our club."
(Sung to the tune of Sloop John B) Newcastle United fans serenade the club's controversial owner, Mike Ashley.
"Let's stop using public money to finance the marathon, since the winners are always Africans and foreigners in underpants."
Italian politician Pietro Giovannoni, of the anti-immigration Northern League party, doesn't like marathons.
