If you love sports - and write on it - then Melbourne is the place to be. Outside my house there was a public park where on summer days I'd hit golf balls into a blue sky. In this city is tennis' Australian Open, the iconic MCG, the horse "race that stops the nation", Formula One and enough fine beer to wash down all this entertainment with.

So, of course, I did the logical thing. I left the "sports capital of the world" and came to Singapore in November 2007. Pals said I was crazy. The same people who were soon begging me for tickets when Serena Williams came to town.