9. Henk Spaan

I'm back. Henk Spaan's Saturday column in Dutch newspaper het Parool gave me to urge to pick up writing this blog again. It is by far the best written column to be found in the Dutch press. Frank Kalshoven's a very distant second. It is the only reason I buy the metropolitan newspaper every Saturday. My aversion for anything from Amsterdam is not something I usually try to hide.

In his Spaan geeft punten (Spaan gives grades), Spaan discusses people, developments, public debates, even referees and TV commentators relating to football. The column sharpens the mind, gives insight, is newsworthy, poetic, opinionated and outright funny. It is a pleasure to read, even if you are not into football at all.

Anyway, from now on I will steal his format, aspire to reach his level and try to keep it up a little better.