Due to technical problems with the Internets and a visit to my parents, I failed miserably in posting at the weekend. So here's a really quick recap from last weekend.
OK, it's not the best video ever posted on Youtube but I don't really care. If a better one turns up I'll post it. Sportsfans, Chris Carr will racing down the sideline for a 100 yard interception TD. The gentlemen wearing a white shirt with a number 7 upon it will be Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who threw the ball in the first place. Click the big black triangle and enjoy.
Oakland Raiders 20, Pittsburgh Steelers 13. Two game winning streak. Two games behind Kansas, three behind Denver and San Diego. There are two months of the regular season to go and the remaining schedule looks like this:
at Seattle (4-3)
Denver (5-2)
at Kansas (4-3)
at San Diego (5-2)
Houston (2-5)
at Cincinatti (4-3)
St Louis (4-3)
Kansas City (4-3)
at New York Jets (4-4)
So that's seven games against teams that currently have winning records, one with a split and one with a losing record. Stay tuned, this could get interesting; it's a shame we don't play the Cardinals again...
Denny Green: is he who he thinks he is? I'd love to see how you'd crown a bear's 'ass' though.
Other Football News
Let me make this clear. When the NFL and the College football seasons are over, this blog will revert entirely to round ball football but until it does, it's going to be American football pretty much all the way. However, it would be very amiss of me not to appraise any of you who are reading this about what's happening to City.
City are second in Division 3, having beaten Doncaster Rovers on Saturday, a week after we lost to Nottingham Forest. This weekend, we go to Yeovil Town in a game that might be the MSK Game of The Week for Division 3.
Oh, and Ronaldinho just crossed for Eidur Gudjohnsen to score for Barcelona against Chelsea in the European Cup. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
More later. Moustache.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Shaving With Biscuits
Whoa! Now with tags and embedded video clips!
NFL Picks
Last posting I described Tennessee at Washington as a 'can't fail, mortal lock' pick of the week.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The Skins lost 22-25.
I also picked the Chargers and the Donkeys to beat the 49ers and the Raiders (correct), but the margin of victory predictions were off. San Diego won by 29 points and Denver won by ten.
So here are the rubbish predictions for this week, broken down into vaguely interesting clusters.
Someone must win:
Arizona (1-5) at Oakland (0-5)
One win between them, the Cardinals are 0-2 on the road and 0-1 vs AFC teams. The Raiders were described on the web this week as the 'unofficial train wreck of the NFL' and seeing as though the Cards almost beat Chicago last Monday night, I'm taking Arizona with Anquan Boldin running riot through the Oakland secondary even though Arizona OC Keith Rowen was relieved of his duties during the week. Matt Leinart will also make *l D*v*s' decision not to draft him look like one of the stupider decisions amongst some very stupid ones that have been made in Northern California over the last few years.
It's very demoralising being a Raider fan right now. It wasn't as vocal as this when Cath and I were at Monster Park in pre-season in 2003 (we were under the scoreboard on the left of the video) but you get the general idea.
Miami (1-5) v Green Bay (1-4)
Dolphins - but does anyone actually care? I know I don't, although I'm really hoping that my decision not to pick up Joey Harrington this weekend doesn't backfire.
Lopsided:
Denver (4-1) at Cleveland (1-4)
Not that I've been paying much attention to this, but apparently there are a lot of ex-Browns on the Denver roster (including the entire starting D-line) and vice versa. Makes you wonder why the same players didn't do so well in Cleveland. Perhaps it's got something to do with Mike Shanahan being a good coach. I wonder if it's the same Mike Shanahan that got the boot from the Raiders in 1989? This game is The MSK Fantasy Meltdown of the week, because the Ashton Gators are having to start Charlie Frye at quarterback as the Saints have the week off.
Another Sunday afternoon on the Cleveland Browns sideline
Indianapolis (5-0) v Washington (2-4)
Colts. Seemingly lost in all the hype about the Bears (I've been listening to 670 The Score recently and anyone would think Da Bears had already booked their trip to Miami in February), the Colts are 5-0, despite giving up the most rushing yards per game in the NFL. Yep, the Colts everyone thought would be undefeated last season are playing the team I picked to win last week, which makes The MSK Official Suicide Pick Of The Week the Baltimore...sorry...Indianapolis Colts.
Black hi-tops? Check. Crew cut? Check. Not Payton Manning? Check.
Jacksonville (3-2) at Houston (1-4)
Byron Leftwich may not play, but that probably won't make any difference: David Carr drops back to throw - and Rashean Mathis picks him off. Jaguars.
New England (4-1) at Buffalo (2-4)
Through clenched teeth: Patriots. Big DCF* here though.
Philadelphia (4-2) at Tampa Bay (1-4)
There is something deeply satisfying seeing Jon Gruden not doing very well. And there is money at stake on the Eagles. Donovan McNabb leads the league in passing yards, passing TDs and passer rating which is probably all you need to know. If that wasn't enough, he also advertises winter coats of the type you apparently need indoors in Philadelphia.
So another win for the Eagles then, even though the branded Eagles parka will never come close to achieving the cultural icon status of the M65 fishtail parka.
San Diego (4-1) at Kansas (2-3)
Blah blah blah AFC West matchup blah blah blah. I have money on the Chargers and the first helmet I ever wore was a Chargers one. Chargers, possibly by a lot.
I Find You Strangely Attractive:
New York Jets (3-3) v Detroit (1-5)
Jets, although this could be an interesting one because Roy Williams now seems to be fulfilling his potential (he has 552 yards receiving) and the Jets pass defence isn't great. Congratulations to the Detroit Tigers on reaching the World Series, three years after losing 73% of their games - I'm going to pick them to beat the St Louis Cardinals purely on the basis of having spent a ridiculous amount of my life listening to soul music from the Motor City.
Pittsburgh (2-3) at Atlanta (3-2)
I wonder how many times Ben Roethlisberger is going to throw towards DeAngelo Hall? I still think the Steelers will win. One of the Sky Sports games on Sunday.
Games of The Week
Cincinnati (3-2) vs Carolina (4-2)
After a 3-0 start, the Bengals have lost their last two and meet a Panthers team apparently going the other way after starting 0-2. The Carolina and Cincinnati offenses are rated 18th and 19th respectively but the Panthers have the edge overall with a better running game which will probably tell in the end as the Bengals run D is much poorer than it's Carolina counterpart. DeShaun Foster has 72% of the carries and 69% of the yards, but the Bengals defense will also have to contend with Steve Smith and Keyshawn Johnson. This could be over by the end of the third quarter - Panthers.
Seattle (4-1) v Minnesota (3-2)
The late game on Sky Sports on Sunday. The Seahawks are one of the two teams with winning records that have given up more points than they've scored (the other is Carolina) and in their last three games they've given up an average of 31 points, which - along with Shaun Alexander still being injured and Bobby Engram being diagnosed with Graves' disease this week - ought to provide some encouragement for the Vikings.
The other angle here is whether there'll be any leftovers between Steve Hutchinson and his former team. (Note to self: Hutchinson wears 76) and how many times (and how successful) the Vikings will be with Chester Taylor running to the left side of the line.
I'm going to take the Seahawks here, purely because they've been dominating at home. But they won't win by much in a low scoring game.
New York Giants (3-2) at Dallas (3-2)
Big game not only for both of these teams but also for one of my pre-season investments. In all likelihood the loser will find themselves two games behind the Eagles in the NFC East.
Loads of different angles with this one: Bill Parcells coaching against one of his former teams is always an interesting, especially as it could be argued that he's never really attained the same level of success since he left the Giants in 1990. Then there's also the 'will he/won't he' rumours swirling around about current leading rusher Tiki Barber considering retirement and - of course - Terrell Bloody Owens. Even this article in The Onion sounds as if it has the ring of truth about it.
The Giants MNF record over the last four games is poor even though they currently have the upper hand in the series against Dallas and won in Atlanta last weekend. I'm taking Dallas here because their defence is a little better, but once again this will be a close one - Cowboys 21 Giants 17.
Right, I'm off to the shop round the corner to indulge in some hunter/gatherer type activities before settling down to watch Manyoo v Liverpool. Check back later in the week to see how wildly inaccurate these picks were!
* Don't Care Factor
NFL Picks
Last posting I described Tennessee at Washington as a 'can't fail, mortal lock' pick of the week.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The Skins lost 22-25.
I also picked the Chargers and the Donkeys to beat the 49ers and the Raiders (correct), but the margin of victory predictions were off. San Diego won by 29 points and Denver won by ten.
So here are the rubbish predictions for this week, broken down into vaguely interesting clusters.
Someone must win:
Arizona (1-5) at Oakland (0-5)
One win between them, the Cardinals are 0-2 on the road and 0-1 vs AFC teams. The Raiders were described on the web this week as the 'unofficial train wreck of the NFL' and seeing as though the Cards almost beat Chicago last Monday night, I'm taking Arizona with Anquan Boldin running riot through the Oakland secondary even though Arizona OC Keith Rowen was relieved of his duties during the week. Matt Leinart will also make *l D*v*s' decision not to draft him look like one of the stupider decisions amongst some very stupid ones that have been made in Northern California over the last few years.
It's very demoralising being a Raider fan right now. It wasn't as vocal as this when Cath and I were at Monster Park in pre-season in 2003 (we were under the scoreboard on the left of the video) but you get the general idea.
Miami (1-5) v Green Bay (1-4)
Dolphins - but does anyone actually care? I know I don't, although I'm really hoping that my decision not to pick up Joey Harrington this weekend doesn't backfire.
Lopsided:
Denver (4-1) at Cleveland (1-4)
Not that I've been paying much attention to this, but apparently there are a lot of ex-Browns on the Denver roster (including the entire starting D-line) and vice versa. Makes you wonder why the same players didn't do so well in Cleveland. Perhaps it's got something to do with Mike Shanahan being a good coach. I wonder if it's the same Mike Shanahan that got the boot from the Raiders in 1989? This game is The MSK Fantasy Meltdown of the week, because the Ashton Gators are having to start Charlie Frye at quarterback as the Saints have the week off.
Another Sunday afternoon on the Cleveland Browns sideline
Indianapolis (5-0) v Washington (2-4)
Colts. Seemingly lost in all the hype about the Bears (I've been listening to 670 The Score recently and anyone would think Da Bears had already booked their trip to Miami in February), the Colts are 5-0, despite giving up the most rushing yards per game in the NFL. Yep, the Colts everyone thought would be undefeated last season are playing the team I picked to win last week, which makes The MSK Official Suicide Pick Of The Week the Baltimore...sorry...Indianapolis Colts.
Black hi-tops? Check. Crew cut? Check. Not Payton Manning? Check.
Jacksonville (3-2) at Houston (1-4)
Byron Leftwich may not play, but that probably won't make any difference: David Carr drops back to throw - and Rashean Mathis picks him off. Jaguars.
New England (4-1) at Buffalo (2-4)
Through clenched teeth: Patriots. Big DCF* here though.
Philadelphia (4-2) at Tampa Bay (1-4)
There is something deeply satisfying seeing Jon Gruden not doing very well. And there is money at stake on the Eagles. Donovan McNabb leads the league in passing yards, passing TDs and passer rating which is probably all you need to know. If that wasn't enough, he also advertises winter coats of the type you apparently need indoors in Philadelphia.
So another win for the Eagles then, even though the branded Eagles parka will never come close to achieving the cultural icon status of the M65 fishtail parka.
Blah blah blah AFC West matchup blah blah blah. I have money on the Chargers and the first helmet I ever wore was a Chargers one. Chargers, possibly by a lot.
I Find You Strangely Attractive:
New York Jets (3-3) v Detroit (1-5)
Jets, although this could be an interesting one because Roy Williams now seems to be fulfilling his potential (he has 552 yards receiving) and the Jets pass defence isn't great. Congratulations to the Detroit Tigers on reaching the World Series, three years after losing 73% of their games - I'm going to pick them to beat the St Louis Cardinals purely on the basis of having spent a ridiculous amount of my life listening to soul music from the Motor City.
Pittsburgh (2-3) at Atlanta (3-2)
I wonder how many times Ben Roethlisberger is going to throw towards DeAngelo Hall? I still think the Steelers will win. One of the Sky Sports games on Sunday.
Games of The Week
Cincinnati (3-2) vs Carolina (4-2)
After a 3-0 start, the Bengals have lost their last two and meet a Panthers team apparently going the other way after starting 0-2. The Carolina and Cincinnati offenses are rated 18th and 19th respectively but the Panthers have the edge overall with a better running game which will probably tell in the end as the Bengals run D is much poorer than it's Carolina counterpart. DeShaun Foster has 72% of the carries and 69% of the yards, but the Bengals defense will also have to contend with Steve Smith and Keyshawn Johnson. This could be over by the end of the third quarter - Panthers.
Seattle (4-1) v Minnesota (3-2)
The late game on Sky Sports on Sunday. The Seahawks are one of the two teams with winning records that have given up more points than they've scored (the other is Carolina) and in their last three games they've given up an average of 31 points, which - along with Shaun Alexander still being injured and Bobby Engram being diagnosed with Graves' disease this week - ought to provide some encouragement for the Vikings.
The other angle here is whether there'll be any leftovers between Steve Hutchinson and his former team. (Note to self: Hutchinson wears 76) and how many times (and how successful) the Vikings will be with Chester Taylor running to the left side of the line.
I'm going to take the Seahawks here, purely because they've been dominating at home. But they won't win by much in a low scoring game.
New York Giants (3-2) at Dallas (3-2)
Big game not only for both of these teams but also for one of my pre-season investments. In all likelihood the loser will find themselves two games behind the Eagles in the NFC East.
Loads of different angles with this one: Bill Parcells coaching against one of his former teams is always an interesting, especially as it could be argued that he's never really attained the same level of success since he left the Giants in 1990. Then there's also the 'will he/won't he' rumours swirling around about current leading rusher Tiki Barber considering retirement and - of course - Terrell Bloody Owens. Even this article in The Onion sounds as if it has the ring of truth about it.
The Giants MNF record over the last four games is poor even though they currently have the upper hand in the series against Dallas and won in Atlanta last weekend. I'm taking Dallas here because their defence is a little better, but once again this will be a close one - Cowboys 21 Giants 17.
Right, I'm off to the shop round the corner to indulge in some hunter/gatherer type activities before settling down to watch Manyoo v Liverpool. Check back later in the week to see how wildly inaccurate these picks were!
* Don't Care Factor
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Lucky Break
Firefox crashed while I was writing the original version of the Saturday lunchtime post, but I'd only got about one line into it. I was about to write the rest of it when some old friends turned up with their kids, so I didn't get anything done before 3:00pm...but Forest have just scored.
Big NFL preview tomorrow plus the best of what happened on Saturday, if I don't drink too much tonight when Alabama play Tennessee...
Big NFL preview tomorrow plus the best of what happened on Saturday, if I don't drink too much tonight when Alabama play Tennessee...
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Here I am again...
Despite a good performance from Bristol City this afternoon against a reasonable Crewe side, the plan to hold some sort of celebration party upon achieving top spot in Division 3 had to be put on hold as Nottingham Forest retained first place after beating Gillingham 1-0 at Priestfield. Yeovil could only draw at Blackpool (and they only did that with the help of M*rc*s St*w*rt yet again) so City are now two points behind Forest (who we play at The City Ground next week) but - and this could be crucial over the next seven months - City are now three points clear of Yeovil.
Good crowd too - 11, 889 (the highest in Division 3 this afternoon, 1059 more than Huddersfield had today) and more than were at the Burnley and Luton games in Division 2. A very good atmosphere as well; there were times when it reminded me of some very good days indeed.
Mighty Squirrel Kingdom's Player Of The Game: Jamie McCombe
One of the biggest grumbles at Ashton Gate since the days of Shaun Taylor and Mark Shail is that we haven't really had a dominant central defender. Well, we have one now.
Honourable mention: Nick Wright
I wonder how much Birmingham City want for him? A genuine right winger, when he came on Scott Murray switched flanks and he caused Crewe some problems.
Moment of Total and Utter Confusion: Gareth Roberts* being sent off. I'm assuming that his straight red was for serious foul play, but being at least 50 yards away I couldn't really see what happened. I actually thought one of ours was going.
Coaching point: Jennison Myrie-Williams is young, has a lot to learn and has tremendous 'upside' as the Americans say, but Mr Johnson needs to have a word with him about wanting to score The Best Goal In The World Ever. He gets into some great positions but then rather than looking for a simple layoff to a better placed team mate, he dithers or tries to takes it too far and loses possession. He also needs to work on the physical side of his game - he was getting knocked over and blocked out of earlier games, but although he's better than he was, someone needs to show him how to either tackle properly or at least make a nuisance of himself with defenders without giving away fouls. He also looked really deflated when he didn't get a penalty late in the game, to the extent that Phil Jevons had to go over to cheer him up.
I don't want to sound too critical and I can't complain too much as that sounds like Dave Cotterell, who was sold to Wigan Athletic* for a tidy sum earlier in the season.
NFL Picks For This Weekend
Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington, Carolina, Buffalo, Atlanta, Dallas, Cincinnati, Miami, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Denver (yes, I know) and Chicago.
My 'can't fail mortal lock' bet of the week: Washington to beat Tennessee by 13-18 points at 4/1. I might also go for similar odds for San Diego over San Francisco and Denver over Oakland, the latter being a case of reverse schadenfreude. The Broncos are also my suicide pick for this weekend.
Oh for an upset, but more like oh for five.
EFL Special Update:
It looks as if the Redcoats are out of contention for the EFL XI playoffs after losing 43-58 to Hamilton...more later.
* No, not THAT Gareth Roberts. It's the same one that used to play for Tranmere.
** I still can't quite get over Wigan being in Division 1. It's like playing Championship Manager ten years ago when you're fifteen years in the future - it just doesn't look right.
Good crowd too - 11, 889 (the highest in Division 3 this afternoon, 1059 more than Huddersfield had today) and more than were at the Burnley and Luton games in Division 2. A very good atmosphere as well; there were times when it reminded me of some very good days indeed.
Mighty Squirrel Kingdom's Player Of The Game: Jamie McCombe
One of the biggest grumbles at Ashton Gate since the days of Shaun Taylor and Mark Shail is that we haven't really had a dominant central defender. Well, we have one now.
Honourable mention: Nick Wright
I wonder how much Birmingham City want for him? A genuine right winger, when he came on Scott Murray switched flanks and he caused Crewe some problems.
Moment of Total and Utter Confusion: Gareth Roberts* being sent off. I'm assuming that his straight red was for serious foul play, but being at least 50 yards away I couldn't really see what happened. I actually thought one of ours was going.
Coaching point: Jennison Myrie-Williams is young, has a lot to learn and has tremendous 'upside' as the Americans say, but Mr Johnson needs to have a word with him about wanting to score The Best Goal In The World Ever. He gets into some great positions but then rather than looking for a simple layoff to a better placed team mate, he dithers or tries to takes it too far and loses possession. He also needs to work on the physical side of his game - he was getting knocked over and blocked out of earlier games, but although he's better than he was, someone needs to show him how to either tackle properly or at least make a nuisance of himself with defenders without giving away fouls. He also looked really deflated when he didn't get a penalty late in the game, to the extent that Phil Jevons had to go over to cheer him up.
I don't want to sound too critical and I can't complain too much as that sounds like Dave Cotterell, who was sold to Wigan Athletic* for a tidy sum earlier in the season.
NFL Picks For This Weekend
Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington, Carolina, Buffalo, Atlanta, Dallas, Cincinnati, Miami, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Denver (yes, I know) and Chicago.
My 'can't fail mortal lock' bet of the week: Washington to beat Tennessee by 13-18 points at 4/1. I might also go for similar odds for San Diego over San Francisco and Denver over Oakland, the latter being a case of reverse schadenfreude. The Broncos are also my suicide pick for this weekend.
Oh for an upset, but more like oh for five.
EFL Special Update:
It looks as if the Redcoats are out of contention for the EFL XI playoffs after losing 43-58 to Hamilton...more later.
* No, not THAT Gareth Roberts. It's the same one that used to play for Tranmere.
** I still can't quite get over Wigan being in Division 1. It's like playing Championship Manager ten years ago when you're fifteen years in the future - it just doesn't look right.
Game Time!
LOADS of games today and tomorrow - in about an hour it's City v Crewe at AG and at some point today Lexington faces Hamilton in the EFL...more later, I promise ;-)
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