Euro 2008: 17 days to go...

As part of our attempt to bring you a veritable smorgasbord of stuff to prepare you for the Euro 2008 Finals next month, today we bring you a selection of super sites to get you in the mood quicker than Lewis Hamilton riding a rocket-powered cheetah.

Firstly, we bring you a website which could have been the older sibling of SPAOTP that was separated from us at birth but which we've now been reunited with in a teary and emotional manner. That site is called 'The Onion Bag' and I make no apologies for giving it star billing here as two of the men behind it, Duffman and Sp3ktor, have recently joined the SPAOTP writing pool which until recently consisted of... well, just me, actually.

Now is a very good time to go and visit The Onion Bag as only yesterday they celebrated their fifth birthday - a tremendous achievement in blogging terms and all the more remarkable given the high standard of frankly silly but nonetheless amusing material they produce. If you like football stripped of all its self-consciousness and left to gawp embarassed at its own naked reflection in the mirror, The Onion Bag will give you what you want by the shed-load.

Oh and by the way - they've got heaps of Euro 2008 stuff too, including a handy facility to help you decide who to support this summer if you're English and a special edition of their Fantasy Football Agent game. Go pay them a visit - they'll love you for it and you'll love them back in return.

Elsewhere, if you want to read lots of great stuff about the history of the European Championships along with some incisive guides to this year's tournament, you need Twohundredpercent. As ever, it's the place to go for a regularly updated supply of writing on all aspects of the game, but with Euro 2008 looming menacingly on the horizon you won't be surprised to hear that it's being covered comprehensively too. Check it out...

Finally a special mention to my good friend, The Gaffer, who's back back back after a long spell of illness to continue the excellent work over at EPLTalk.com. He and his merry band of writers do a sterling job covering the full nine yards of world football on a daily basis - not just the Premier League as their URL suggests - and they also have a bulletin board, regular podcasts and a shop from which to buy lots of wonderful merchandise too. Their build-up to Euro 2008 is already underway, so why not drop by and see what's happening there?

Don't forget - other blogsites are available, so if we've left you out, please don't take it personally. If you'd like a mention though, drop us a line to info[at]spaotp[dot]com telling us what your site is doing in the lead up to the European Championships and all being well, we'll point people in your direction.

And that's it for now. More Euro 2008 news coming soon - in the meantime, mark your calendars: there's only 17 days to go 'til the action gets underway...