Paul Allen (front, right) gives us an excuse to trot out this lovely Microsoft pic. Photograph: AP/MS
Just in case you missed it over the weekend, there was a lot of talk among football fans on the south coast that Paul Allen might be buying Southampton football club.
I'm sure it was the big story for Saints fans - such as Gamesblogger Greg - but of course, it wouldn't be the first time that a super-rich technology guru had bought into sport.
Nintendo's Hiroshi Yamauchi bought the Seattle Mariners baseball team and Mark Cuban, the entrepeneur, is the high-profile owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. And, of course, Allen already owns the Seattle Seahawks (American football) and Portland Trailblazers (basketball), though it's worth wondering what Southampton has in common with America's north-west corridor.
I reckon it would be fun to see Google's Sergey Brin (born Moscow, 1973) take on the might of Chelsea's Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Or how about Richard Branson buying out Middlesbrough (given how often they get their hands on the prize, he could rename them Virgin Reds). Or what if Jeff Bezos bought say, legendary Brazilian footie team Corinthians (because they're both very close to Amazon, groan).
OK, enough of the lame jokes. Which technology superstars should splash out on sports?
