Caborn revealed a worrying lack of sports knowledge
I think I know how Richard Caborn feels.
Imagine the scene. My local village hall and the annual community quiz. My team of six is well-placed and we are down to the penultimate round - the sports round.
Mumblings of resentment around the room because the team from table six has got that sports news bloke from off the telly and they are bound to play their joker.
Well, they did - and the joker was me. Failure to distinguish the achievements of Jim Clark from Jackie Stewart and those of Len Hutton from Denis Compton left us short when it came to winning the fruit hamper.
I had cracked under the staring eye of the local vicar and the farmer from the end of the village.
And so did Mr Caborn on Radio Five Live under the gentle quizzing of Clare Balding, who must have been delighted as her scoop unfolded and yet doubtless also embarrassed by his failure.
For Clare's questions were mere long hops on the cricket pitch of sporting knowledge, inviting a dismissive flick over the square leg boundary and a shrug of the shoulders at the simplicity of it all.
Dolly it up or spin it as you wish, this all leaves Mr Caborn on the back foot when it comes to establishing the difference between image and substance as the government tries to convince us it means business about sport.
We know the government likes its football. We know Richard Caborn likes his football. He is a former director of Sheffield United.
We also know Jack Straw supports Blackburn. We also remember the head-tennis between Keegan and Blair, the photo-op with Sir Alex and so on.
But then we also remember the government's involvement in the World Cup bid and the Wembley story.
Image and substance.
The question Balding should have asked is when will the government, any government, realise just how important sport is to this country?
The Tories were no better, led for years by a woman who could not see beyond the hooligans of the eighties and realise that there is a beneficial sporting society - come to think of it, she did not believe in society at all.
And now, Tony Blair has elevated the role of Sports Minister to Minister of State.
That looks like a start towards a permanent place at the top table where real power and influence might just make a difference.
Portfolio without power
But is it image or substance?
Maybe Mr Caborn's Five Live performance has simply betrayed the fact that - in the general status of sports ministers - nothing has really changed at all.
It is a non-job, often a favour owed and granted to a colleague, a portfolio for a politician without power, enthusiasm or understanding.
Why have the politicians consistently insulted sport and those who derive health, happiness and - in some cases - a respectable income from it?
Could the government get away with appointing a Transport Minister who did not know the significance of Hatfield or Ladbroke Grove?
Or a Foreign Secretary who did not know his White House from his Kremlin?
Bring back Kate
Mr Caborn might well be able to tell us who played in the Sheffield United back four in the last game of the season. But we do not want an anorak. We do not even need an expert.
We just want an enthusiast. Someone who knows his way around a few sports, who has a grasp of what makes sport tick, and who knows what he can do for sport and what sport can do for the country.
We want a fan whose head rules his heart.
Mr Caborn is doubtless a nice fellow, an able politician and I do not wish him any ill, really I do not.
But I wish I could believe he was, well, just a little bit like Kate Hoey.