Well, it's just over four months since I last posted. We had a major personal disappointment a couple of weeks after the last post and to put it into some kind of perspective the various bits and pieces I comment on here didn't really seem that interesting for a while.
Looking back on the blog though, I put a hell of a lot of work into it, there are loads of things to comment on and it seems like a good idea to start again.
So stay tuned...
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Saturday, October 06, 2007
An update at last...
City lost for the first time this season, 3-0 at Barnsley. We've got Sheffield United at home later on (as in 5.20pm on Sky Sports) and they've not won down here since March 1971.
Or to put it another way, since this was Number 1:
...and that's a very long time ago indeed. Madame Zaza finds this a difficult one to call as although we're undefeated at home, we've only won once. The Blades have only picked up one away point this season (a 2-2 draw at Blackpool) but don't seem to have any trouble scoring away from home having scored two goals in their last three aways. We don't need to win as much as they do, but I still fancy a draw...even though I'm not going to bet on it, like I did last week.
Right, smashing my way through College Football...
No. 1 LSU (5-0) at home vs No.9 (and reigning National Champions) Florida. Obviously game of the week, but because baseball is in playoff mode, unless I tape it 'as live' at 3:30pm on Sunday I won't see it. Shouldn't be that hard to avoid the result as we're staying at friends tonight after playing poker and we're having lunch at my in laws tomorrow.
FSU (3-1, 4th in the ACC Atlantic Division) v North Carolina State (1-4). My bet is looking anything but secure at the moment...all because of a slip of the mouse at the start of the season. 5-0 Boston College leading the way in the Atlantic Division.
Michigan (3-2, currently undefeated in the Big Ten but in fourth place) v Eastern Michigan (2-3). Still a lot to play for here, but Big Blue are looking like a bit of a long shot. The undefeated pair of Ohio State and Wisconsin are leading the way.
Right, I'm off to collect my bike from the shop - the chain snapped on Friday, almost two years since I destroyed the last one.
To finish: Jimmy Hill!
You bloody tell 'em Jim!
Or to put it another way, since this was Number 1:
...and that's a very long time ago indeed. Madame Zaza finds this a difficult one to call as although we're undefeated at home, we've only won once. The Blades have only picked up one away point this season (a 2-2 draw at Blackpool) but don't seem to have any trouble scoring away from home having scored two goals in their last three aways. We don't need to win as much as they do, but I still fancy a draw...even though I'm not going to bet on it, like I did last week.
Right, smashing my way through College Football...
No. 1 LSU (5-0) at home vs No.9 (and reigning National Champions) Florida. Obviously game of the week, but because baseball is in playoff mode, unless I tape it 'as live' at 3:30pm on Sunday I won't see it. Shouldn't be that hard to avoid the result as we're staying at friends tonight after playing poker and we're having lunch at my in laws tomorrow.
FSU (3-1, 4th in the ACC Atlantic Division) v North Carolina State (1-4). My bet is looking anything but secure at the moment...all because of a slip of the mouse at the start of the season. 5-0 Boston College leading the way in the Atlantic Division.
Michigan (3-2, currently undefeated in the Big Ten but in fourth place) v Eastern Michigan (2-3). Still a lot to play for here, but Big Blue are looking like a bit of a long shot. The undefeated pair of Ohio State and Wisconsin are leading the way.
Right, I'm off to collect my bike from the shop - the chain snapped on Friday, almost two years since I destroyed the last one.
To finish: Jimmy Hill!
You bloody tell 'em Jim!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Sweet
I lost £5 on this game, but for obvious reasons I don't care. Major update to follow.
Congrats to Cov, who knocked ManYoo out of the League Cup.
Congrats to Cov, who knocked ManYoo out of the League Cup.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Nobody saw this coming!
Shabby Peasant has left Chelsea.
Oh well. I'm not that bothered.
Last weeks wins: Manyoo, City, Derby (?), Preston, Green Bay (though I don't know why I thought they were playing the Bears), San Francisco, Denver (in overtime - the Raiders are getting better!), Tampa Bay (phew), the Cheating Yankee Bastards, Baltimore Ravens, Michigan (who shut out Notre Dame), LSU (shut out Middle Tennessee) and FSU (beat Colorado 16-6)
Here's what cheating looks like:
And this is wonderful:
So, the weekend comes, my cycle hums, ready to race to you...so let's do College Football first because I have fewer teams to track.
Michigan v Penn State
This is a huge game anyway, but in the context of Michigan winning the Big Ten it's suddenly a lot bigger. If the Wolverines win it makes them 2-2 but more importantly 1-0 in the conference. If Penn State wins, they go to 4-0 and 1-0 in the conference. Michigan has won the last eight, but the Nittany Lions will go after them having seen them give up 30 points in their opening games. Even though my money's on Michigan for the Big Ten, I think Penn State will win this one.
This is a radio game for me as NASN isn't carrying it. Darn. They are carrying LSU v South Carolina 'as live' but as this also kicks off at 8:30pm GMT then it's going to be impossible avoiding the score. Both teams are 3-0 and 1-0 in the SEC East, but LSU haven't lost to the Gamecocks at home since 1994. I'm pretty sure LSU will win, but I don't think they'll put 40 points on South Carolina.
FSU are putting their feet up this weekend in order to prepare for Alabama next weekend.
Oh well. I'm not that bothered.
Last weeks wins: Manyoo, City, Derby (?), Preston, Green Bay (though I don't know why I thought they were playing the Bears), San Francisco, Denver (in overtime - the Raiders are getting better!), Tampa Bay (phew), the Cheating Yankee Bastards, Baltimore Ravens, Michigan (who shut out Notre Dame), LSU (shut out Middle Tennessee) and FSU (beat Colorado 16-6)
Here's what cheating looks like:
And this is wonderful:
So, the weekend comes, my cycle hums, ready to race to you...so let's do College Football first because I have fewer teams to track.
Michigan v Penn State
This is a huge game anyway, but in the context of Michigan winning the Big Ten it's suddenly a lot bigger. If the Wolverines win it makes them 2-2 but more importantly 1-0 in the conference. If Penn State wins, they go to 4-0 and 1-0 in the conference. Michigan has won the last eight, but the Nittany Lions will go after them having seen them give up 30 points in their opening games. Even though my money's on Michigan for the Big Ten, I think Penn State will win this one.
This is a radio game for me as NASN isn't carrying it. Darn. They are carrying LSU v South Carolina 'as live' but as this also kicks off at 8:30pm GMT then it's going to be impossible avoiding the score. Both teams are 3-0 and 1-0 in the SEC East, but LSU haven't lost to the Gamecocks at home since 1994. I'm pretty sure LSU will win, but I don't think they'll put 40 points on South Carolina.
FSU are putting their feet up this weekend in order to prepare for Alabama next weekend.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Elitism
I'm not going to bother with the bottom two divisions in the Football League this season as I no longer have any interest in them. I hope I don't look back on this in a years' time and regret writing this. Early indications show that I might not, but 'football...bloody hell!' to quote Alex Ferguson...which brings me nicely on to...
Division 1 Game Of The Week: Everton v Man Utd
United basically won the championship last season with their come from behind win at Goodison Park. Although it's a bit early in the proceedings for this game to have that kind of impact it's still a must win for United and a must win for Everton if they're going to be taken seriously. ESPN Soccernet is reporting that Wayne Rooney will be in the ManYoo squad although whether he's there to play or to wind up Everton fans is another matter.
Division 2 Game Of The Week: Coventry City v Bristol City
And deservedly so. First v Third; we knocked Cov out of the FA Cup last season and they won't have liked that.
Division 1 One Sided Nonsense: Derby v Newcastle
Anti-game of the week because Derby are probably this year's Watford and Michael Owen is on a hot streak after scoring a brace against the Soviet Union on Wednesday. Not surprisingly, Newcastle are favourites.
Division 2 One Sided Nonsense: Leicester v QPR
But only because there are four points between them...which isn't saying much.
Division 2 Down Upside Is League Football The: Preston v Sheffield Wednesday
Both these clubs were either in or hovering around the playoffs last season and now they are the bottom two. You wouldn't expect this to last, but you never know. The Wendies looked poor when we beat them a couple of weeks ago.
So what, who cares:
Orient are top of Division 3. Some team called Nottingham Forest are currently 20th, which is worse than Bristol Rovers (who lost 3-0 at home to Leeds last night). Colin 'Fcuk Off' Calderwood is still Forest manager, but for how much longer?
If anyone cares (and I don't anymore) Darlington and Chesterfield are top of Division 4.
Futbol Americano
This season I'm just going to concentrate on the teams who I've backed in the NFL and the BCS and so far - after one game - things are decidedly mixed.
The Packers, Steelers, 49ers and Broncos all won in Week 1 and all have a reasonable chance of doing the same thing this weekend. If the Packers beat the Bears, the NFC Central becomes extremely interesting as there will be two teams with 2-0 records: if they don't the winner of Minnesota v Detroit will lead the division. Despite Chicago reaching the Superbowl last season, this division is not a strong one - hence the bet on Green Bay.
The Raiders travel to Denver. Josh McCown is allegedly out for three weeks so I imagine Dante Culpepper will start, backed up by Andrew Walter and with newly signed JaMarcus Russell as the third option. Great. The Broncos by about a zillion.
Tampa, Jacksonville and Philadelphia all lost. The Buccs have a tough game against the Saints, the loser will be 0-2 and it'll be time for all those statistical cliches to appear on Tuesday. The Jaguars should beat Atlanta and I expect Philly to beat a Redskins team that only won in overtime last weekend.
There are a couple of other games worth keeping an eye on. The Cheating Yankee Bastards have San Diego at home but arguably the most intriguing game of the week is the Jets travelling to Baltimore. The loser drops to 0-2 and although Jets QB Chad Pennington will not be playing, there are all sorts of wild rumours that Ravens LB Ray Lewis may be out for the season. I'm conflicted by this. I have the Ravens D in my fantasy league (I also drafted the Packers D for 'insurance purposes') and hopefully Baltimore will play well - but not well enough - to stop the Steelers from winning the division and therefore preventing me from collecting my bet.
The Cheating Yankee Bastards got their reward (sorry, punishment) yesterday and now - not surprisingly - their Superbowl wins are under scrutiny.
In a parallel sporting universe, another cheating case came to something of a conclusion this week. This will probably be the first and only time that Formula One makes it into this blog but the McLaren team and the CYBs were both caught doing something they shouldn't in order to increase their 'competitive edge'. This is what can happen when you don't play nice.
Arguably the simplest way to increase your competitive edge is to win a game. So it's rather bemusing to report that Michigan plays Notre Dame later in a game that one of them has to win. Both teams are 0-2 and although I saw the Michigan/Oregon game last week I've not seen ND yet...but both teams may be really awful.
LSU welcomes Middle Tennessee. This could get ugly early but although they lost the Blue Raiders put 42 points on Louisville last week. LSU will still win and there will be a lot of points.
FSU is in Boulder, CO for a game at...well, Colorado. Both teams are 1-1 and this is Colorado's home opener.
I'm going to a wedding party tonight so the next post may well be on Monday. I've got a day off and I'm going to fritter it away ;-)
Oh yeah, England Egg Chasers were shut out to the tune of 33 points by Sarth Effrika in the Ruggery World Cup on Friday. I can gloat at the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised if Wales get stuffed by a similar score by Oz today.
Division 1 Game Of The Week: Everton v Man Utd
United basically won the championship last season with their come from behind win at Goodison Park. Although it's a bit early in the proceedings for this game to have that kind of impact it's still a must win for United and a must win for Everton if they're going to be taken seriously. ESPN Soccernet is reporting that Wayne Rooney will be in the ManYoo squad although whether he's there to play or to wind up Everton fans is another matter.
Division 2 Game Of The Week: Coventry City v Bristol City
And deservedly so. First v Third; we knocked Cov out of the FA Cup last season and they won't have liked that.
Division 1 One Sided Nonsense: Derby v Newcastle
Anti-game of the week because Derby are probably this year's Watford and Michael Owen is on a hot streak after scoring a brace against the Soviet Union on Wednesday. Not surprisingly, Newcastle are favourites.
Division 2 One Sided Nonsense: Leicester v QPR
But only because there are four points between them...which isn't saying much.
Division 2 Down Upside Is League Football The: Preston v Sheffield Wednesday
Both these clubs were either in or hovering around the playoffs last season and now they are the bottom two. You wouldn't expect this to last, but you never know. The Wendies looked poor when we beat them a couple of weeks ago.
So what, who cares:
Orient are top of Division 3. Some team called Nottingham Forest are currently 20th, which is worse than Bristol Rovers (who lost 3-0 at home to Leeds last night). Colin 'Fcuk Off' Calderwood is still Forest manager, but for how much longer?
If anyone cares (and I don't anymore) Darlington and Chesterfield are top of Division 4.
Futbol Americano
This season I'm just going to concentrate on the teams who I've backed in the NFL and the BCS and so far - after one game - things are decidedly mixed.
The Packers, Steelers, 49ers and Broncos all won in Week 1 and all have a reasonable chance of doing the same thing this weekend. If the Packers beat the Bears, the NFC Central becomes extremely interesting as there will be two teams with 2-0 records: if they don't the winner of Minnesota v Detroit will lead the division. Despite Chicago reaching the Superbowl last season, this division is not a strong one - hence the bet on Green Bay.
The Raiders travel to Denver. Josh McCown is allegedly out for three weeks so I imagine Dante Culpepper will start, backed up by Andrew Walter and with newly signed JaMarcus Russell as the third option. Great. The Broncos by about a zillion.
Tampa, Jacksonville and Philadelphia all lost. The Buccs have a tough game against the Saints, the loser will be 0-2 and it'll be time for all those statistical cliches to appear on Tuesday. The Jaguars should beat Atlanta and I expect Philly to beat a Redskins team that only won in overtime last weekend.
There are a couple of other games worth keeping an eye on. The Cheating Yankee Bastards have San Diego at home but arguably the most intriguing game of the week is the Jets travelling to Baltimore. The loser drops to 0-2 and although Jets QB Chad Pennington will not be playing, there are all sorts of wild rumours that Ravens LB Ray Lewis may be out for the season. I'm conflicted by this. I have the Ravens D in my fantasy league (I also drafted the Packers D for 'insurance purposes') and hopefully Baltimore will play well - but not well enough - to stop the Steelers from winning the division and therefore preventing me from collecting my bet.
The Cheating Yankee Bastards got their reward (sorry, punishment) yesterday and now - not surprisingly - their Superbowl wins are under scrutiny.
In a parallel sporting universe, another cheating case came to something of a conclusion this week. This will probably be the first and only time that Formula One makes it into this blog but the McLaren team and the CYBs were both caught doing something they shouldn't in order to increase their 'competitive edge'. This is what can happen when you don't play nice.
Arguably the simplest way to increase your competitive edge is to win a game. So it's rather bemusing to report that Michigan plays Notre Dame later in a game that one of them has to win. Both teams are 0-2 and although I saw the Michigan/Oregon game last week I've not seen ND yet...but both teams may be really awful.
LSU welcomes Middle Tennessee. This could get ugly early but although they lost the Blue Raiders put 42 points on Louisville last week. LSU will still win and there will be a lot of points.
FSU is in Boulder, CO for a game at...well, Colorado. Both teams are 1-1 and this is Colorado's home opener.
I'm going to a wedding party tonight so the next post may well be on Monday. I've got a day off and I'm going to fritter it away ;-)
Oh yeah, England Egg Chasers were shut out to the tune of 33 points by Sarth Effrika in the Ruggery World Cup on Friday. I can gloat at the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised if Wales get stuffed by a similar score by Oz today.
Beating Charstards
It's all very well having multiple divisional championships, conference championships and Superbowl wins, but the N*w Engl*nd P*triots are also (allegedly...so far) a bunch of cheats.
They were caught stealing Jets defensive signals last weekend and according to this slightly tongue in cheek article, this isn't the first time this has happened. The Football Outsiders thread on this issue is worth reading too.
My take on this: anything that can help the rest of the league stop them is a good thing. I've never liked them and I don't intend changing that now. Here's the main reason I don't like them:
And here's a reason to rejoice:
To close the matter for the moment, this is what class looks and sounds like, Patriots fans. I was lucky enough to see Walter Payton play in person, at the inaugural American Bowl in London about six months after this interview.
Finally, a story that seemed bleak at the start of the week has now improved somewhat. Good luck to Kevin Everett.
I'll attempt some sort of round ball football update tomorrow as I've got a half day off.
They were caught stealing Jets defensive signals last weekend and according to this slightly tongue in cheek article, this isn't the first time this has happened. The Football Outsiders thread on this issue is worth reading too.
My take on this: anything that can help the rest of the league stop them is a good thing. I've never liked them and I don't intend changing that now. Here's the main reason I don't like them:
And here's a reason to rejoice:To close the matter for the moment, this is what class looks and sounds like, Patriots fans. I was lucky enough to see Walter Payton play in person, at the inaugural American Bowl in London about six months after this interview.Finally, a story that seemed bleak at the start of the week has now improved somewhat. Good luck to Kevin Everett.
I'll attempt some sort of round ball football update tomorrow as I've got a half day off.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
The Hand Of Fate...
OK, here's what's happening with the NCAA bets so far:
LSU 1-0, beat Mississippi State 45-0. Looking good so far...facing 1-0 Virginia Tech in Baton Rouge this Saturday. 1-0 in SEC West. As the VTech game isn't a conference game, they could actually afford to drop this one, but as this could also be some sort of National Championship preview this is unlikely.
FSU 0-1, lost 14-28 to Clemson. 0-1 in conference games. Not too clever; they take on UAB in Tallahassee this weekend. This could get ugly quickly as FSU looks to rebound; I'll know more about where they are in the ACC after they play their next conference game (against North Carolina State on 6th October).
Michigan: 0-1, lost to Appalachian State. It's a damn good job that this wasn't a conference game and it's probably a damn good job that this weekend's opponents aren't in the Big Ten either. The bad news: Oregon beat Houston last weekend and Big Blue tumbled out of just about every poll in existence. Some more good news: the game is live on NASN at 8:30pm GMT Saturday night! Whooo! Alright! Rock and Roll etc.
The NFL starts properly this weekend too. There's too much going on already. Nothing for months then everything at once. Typical.
More to come, including a possible preview of a game I turned down tickets for: England v Israel this weekend in the qualifiers for Euro 2008.
And possibly some posh boy egg chasing, although New Zealand seem to have that tied up already and the tournament hasn't even started. Who they beat in the final would seem to be the more interesting prop.
Oh yeah, City are third in the Championship. It won't last, but so what.
LSU 1-0, beat Mississippi State 45-0. Looking good so far...facing 1-0 Virginia Tech in Baton Rouge this Saturday. 1-0 in SEC West. As the VTech game isn't a conference game, they could actually afford to drop this one, but as this could also be some sort of National Championship preview this is unlikely.
FSU 0-1, lost 14-28 to Clemson. 0-1 in conference games. Not too clever; they take on UAB in Tallahassee this weekend. This could get ugly quickly as FSU looks to rebound; I'll know more about where they are in the ACC after they play their next conference game (against North Carolina State on 6th October).
Michigan: 0-1, lost to Appalachian State. It's a damn good job that this wasn't a conference game and it's probably a damn good job that this weekend's opponents aren't in the Big Ten either. The bad news: Oregon beat Houston last weekend and Big Blue tumbled out of just about every poll in existence. Some more good news: the game is live on NASN at 8:30pm GMT Saturday night! Whooo! Alright! Rock and Roll etc.
The NFL starts properly this weekend too. There's too much going on already. Nothing for months then everything at once. Typical.
More to come, including a possible preview of a game I turned down tickets for: England v Israel this weekend in the qualifiers for Euro 2008.
And possibly some posh boy egg chasing, although New Zealand seem to have that tied up already and the tournament hasn't even started. Who they beat in the final would seem to be the more interesting prop.
Oh yeah, City are third in the Championship. It won't last, but so what.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Early analysis: The Hand Of Fate
For a few glorious hours, City were top of The Championship after beating Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 thanks to a goal from Brian Wilson.
No, not that Brian Wilson.
I celebrated by sinking a few whilst watching College Game Day followed by Virginia Tech vs East Carolina (which pitched a very unconvincing VTech team against a scrappy and competitive ECU team) and then it was over. FSU doesn't play until Monday, but a convincing win for them and the hand of fate may have the upper hand.
Coventry (our next opponents, who will probably be looking for payback for knocking them out of last season's FA Cup) beat Preston 2-1 but we're third and we're undefeated.
Meanwhile, a long way away in Ann Arbor, MI a major as in MAJOR upset in College football was occurring. They really don't get any bigger than this: Appalachian State won at Michigan.
Here's some perspective for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about. App State is from what used to be called Division 1AA, but is now known as the 'Football Championship Subdivision' which is effectively the same sort of relationship to Division 1 as The Championship has towards the Premier League. I don't know if this rebranding was influenced by the round ball game in this country but it smells funny.
There's a big difference between 1A and FCS though...basically fewer scholarships, less money and a lot less media coverage. Also you can't be promoted or relegated from Division 1 although you can move up from FCS to 1A permanently but I'm not going to bore you with how or why.
All you need to know is that Appalachian State won consecutive FCS/Div1AA titles in the last two seasons and were getting $400,000 from Michigan for scheduling the game. Oh and I bet $10 that Michigan would win the Big Ten, whereas I might have been better off giving my money to a total stranger. Having said that, one game does not make a season and one non-conference defeat to a supposedly minor team doesn't actually change their chances of winning the conference. But they're going to be embarrassed when the polls come out next week (they were ranked number 5) and their next opponents (Oregon) beat Houston 48-27.
Autumn Thunder is probably the best Michigan blog to read right now as the others are in some kind of denial phase...or still out drinking themselves stupid because it's not even 2:00am in that area yet.
More later but remember this, sports fans: although headline grabbing 'David beats Goliath' stories are part of all games, we've all suffered really awful losses at some time or another.
Like being beaten in the Play Off Final by Brighton, which makes being top of Division 2 (the highest league place for nearly three decades) even for a few hours worth all the pain, heartache and frustration seem worth it.
BTW, Bama won (they beat their FCS opponents) and ND lost (at home to Georgia Tech by 30 points), which is what I thought might happen. UNLV won as well! First away win for three years!
No, not that Brian Wilson.I celebrated by sinking a few whilst watching College Game Day followed by Virginia Tech vs East Carolina (which pitched a very unconvincing VTech team against a scrappy and competitive ECU team) and then it was over. FSU doesn't play until Monday, but a convincing win for them and the hand of fate may have the upper hand.
Coventry (our next opponents, who will probably be looking for payback for knocking them out of last season's FA Cup) beat Preston 2-1 but we're third and we're undefeated.
Meanwhile, a long way away in Ann Arbor, MI a major as in MAJOR upset in College football was occurring. They really don't get any bigger than this: Appalachian State won at Michigan.
Here's some perspective for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about. App State is from what used to be called Division 1AA, but is now known as the 'Football Championship Subdivision' which is effectively the same sort of relationship to Division 1 as The Championship has towards the Premier League. I don't know if this rebranding was influenced by the round ball game in this country but it smells funny.
There's a big difference between 1A and FCS though...basically fewer scholarships, less money and a lot less media coverage. Also you can't be promoted or relegated from Division 1 although you can move up from FCS to 1A permanently but I'm not going to bore you with how or why.
All you need to know is that Appalachian State won consecutive FCS/Div1AA titles in the last two seasons and were getting $400,000 from Michigan for scheduling the game. Oh and I bet $10 that Michigan would win the Big Ten, whereas I might have been better off giving my money to a total stranger. Having said that, one game does not make a season and one non-conference defeat to a supposedly minor team doesn't actually change their chances of winning the conference. But they're going to be embarrassed when the polls come out next week (they were ranked number 5) and their next opponents (Oregon) beat Houston 48-27.
Autumn Thunder is probably the best Michigan blog to read right now as the others are in some kind of denial phase...or still out drinking themselves stupid because it's not even 2:00am in that area yet.
More later but remember this, sports fans: although headline grabbing 'David beats Goliath' stories are part of all games, we've all suffered really awful losses at some time or another.
Like being beaten in the Play Off Final by Brighton, which makes being top of Division 2 (the highest league place for nearly three decades) even for a few hours worth all the pain, heartache and frustration seem worth it.
BTW, Bama won (they beat their FCS opponents) and ND lost (at home to Georgia Tech by 30 points), which is what I thought might happen. UNLV won as well! First away win for three years!
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Fame!
Mrs MSK has just appeared on Soccer AM having submitted this screenshot to Third Eye which she took during City's defeat by Manchester City during the week...
Sky showed the footage from the game (which is even funnier) and if I can find it I'll post it.
NB: this is the same photo that appeared on OTIB.co.uk on Tuesday night because it was Mrs MSK who took that too. I was at the game, so I can't take all the credit for it ;-)
Anyway, we've got another game on TV in about half an hour - against bottom of the table Sheffield Wednesday. If we win, we go top for our highest league position for 27 years.
LOL, I've just had a king high club flush crushed but that was OK because it was after I'd withdrawn the resources to place my bets on College Football. However, fate intervened in a strange way when I was putting the money on...I'd intended to put some money on Virginia Tech to win the ACC but my hand and the mouse conspired to put it on Florida State instead!
The hand of fate or a dumb mistake? Time will tell!
Sky showed the footage from the game (which is even funnier) and if I can find it I'll post it.
NB: this is the same photo that appeared on OTIB.co.uk on Tuesday night because it was Mrs MSK who took that too. I was at the game, so I can't take all the credit for it ;-)
Anyway, we've got another game on TV in about half an hour - against bottom of the table Sheffield Wednesday. If we win, we go top for our highest league position for 27 years.
LOL, I've just had a king high club flush crushed but that was OK because it was after I'd withdrawn the resources to place my bets on College Football. However, fate intervened in a strange way when I was putting the money on...I'd intended to put some money on Virginia Tech to win the ACC but my hand and the mouse conspired to put it on Florida State instead!
The hand of fate or a dumb mistake? Time will tell!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Everything is back!
Whooooooooooo! I'm excited!!!
OK, here's the City situation. Two league games, two points, three goals...and yesterday morning I was in a queue for tickets for the second round Carling Cup game against Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Yes, that sentence is correct. Looking back on the posts from last season and looking at what's already happening it really is another world in the Championship. We've got England U21 v Romania U21 at the Gate tonight (more Sky money), the Man City game is on Sky (more money) as are the home games against Sheffield United and the away game at Sheffield Wednesday. Even more TV money.
Without wanting to sound triumphalist (remembering what happened last time we were at this level), this is some kind of reward for all those lack luster performances, all those rubbish games, just missing out on promotion and losing in the play offs. This is such a wonderful opportunity for everyone connected with the club.
And now...Madama Zaza presents her NFL Divisional and College Football predictions!
(First price is willhill.com, second price is bet365)
AFC East: New England Patriots (1/4 & 2/9)
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers (11/4 & 12/5) or Baltimore Ravens (13/8*)
AFC South: Jacksonville Jaguars (4/1*)
AFC West: Denver Broncos (9/4 or 2/1 ) or San Diego Chargers (4/7 or 8/13)
NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles (6/4 or 7/4)
NFC North: Green Bay Packers (11/2*)
NFC South: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6/1)
NFC West: Seattle Seahawks (11/8 or 7/5) or San Francisco 49ers (2/1 or 11/4)
Some surprises there! I like the Eagles at and the 49ers prices but the Chargers' price looks silly and doesn't take into account Norv Turner taking over from Marty Schottenheimer. Signficantly, bet365 hasn't got a line for the NFC South...perhaps because nobody knows who the Falcons quarterback will be. More of that another day.
As for College, willhill.com will only take bets on the BCS Championship whereas bet365 will let you punt on individual conferences. So here's MZ's tips:
Big XII: Oklahoma (9/4) (key date: 13th October - OU v Missouri)
Pac 10: USC (2/5)
SEC: LSU (5/4)
Big X: Michigan (2/1)
ACC: Virginia Tech (11/5) or Florida State (2/1) (Nov 10th: FSU at VT)
The Whole Thing: USC
Phew. I need a lie down!
OK, here's the City situation. Two league games, two points, three goals...and yesterday morning I was in a queue for tickets for the second round Carling Cup game against Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Yes, that sentence is correct. Looking back on the posts from last season and looking at what's already happening it really is another world in the Championship. We've got England U21 v Romania U21 at the Gate tonight (more Sky money), the Man City game is on Sky (more money) as are the home games against Sheffield United and the away game at Sheffield Wednesday. Even more TV money.
Without wanting to sound triumphalist (remembering what happened last time we were at this level), this is some kind of reward for all those lack luster performances, all those rubbish games, just missing out on promotion and losing in the play offs. This is such a wonderful opportunity for everyone connected with the club.
And now...Madama Zaza presents her NFL Divisional and College Football predictions!
(First price is willhill.com, second price is bet365)
AFC East: New England Patriots (1/4 & 2/9)
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers (11/4 & 12/5) or Baltimore Ravens (13/8*)
AFC South: Jacksonville Jaguars (4/1*)
AFC West: Denver Broncos (9/4 or 2/1 ) or San Diego Chargers (4/7 or 8/13)
NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles (6/4 or 7/4)
NFC North: Green Bay Packers (11/2*)
NFC South: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6/1)
NFC West: Seattle Seahawks (11/8 or 7/5) or San Francisco 49ers (2/1 or 11/4)
Some surprises there! I like the Eagles at and the 49ers prices but the Chargers' price looks silly and doesn't take into account Norv Turner taking over from Marty Schottenheimer. Signficantly, bet365 hasn't got a line for the NFC South...perhaps because nobody knows who the Falcons quarterback will be. More of that another day.
As for College, willhill.com will only take bets on the BCS Championship whereas bet365 will let you punt on individual conferences. So here's MZ's tips:
Big XII: Oklahoma (9/4) (key date: 13th October - OU v Missouri)
Pac 10: USC (2/5)
SEC: LSU (5/4)
Big X: Michigan (2/1)
ACC: Virginia Tech (11/5) or Florida State (2/1) (Nov 10th: FSU at VT)
The Whole Thing: USC
Phew. I need a lie down!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Michael Vick: WTF?
Michael Vick is making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
My take: I agree with Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia: dogfighting is a barbaric activity and if the charges against Vick are proven then he's in a lot of trouble. He's in a massive sh1tstorm anyway.
On a more positive note, it's great to see an AFC West preview appearing on the Kansas City Chiefs site that begins with:
'It’s time for the AFC West to start worrying about the Oakland Raiders again.'
It's not because raiders.com added two more languages to the site this week either.
I noticed the dinosaur story from the San Jose Mercury News and here it is. For years now I've subscribed to the theory that Neanderthals weren't killed off en masse by Homo Sapiens, but might have been gradually absorbed into the more dominant species - although restricted diet and economic factors have also been put forward. I wonder if this could be a similar idea?
Anyway, today's theory: dinosaurs were more humane than Michael Vick. Discuss.
My take: I agree with Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia: dogfighting is a barbaric activity and if the charges against Vick are proven then he's in a lot of trouble. He's in a massive sh1tstorm anyway.
On a more positive note, it's great to see an AFC West preview appearing on the Kansas City Chiefs site that begins with:
'It’s time for the AFC West to start worrying about the Oakland Raiders again.'
It's not because raiders.com added two more languages to the site this week either.
I noticed the dinosaur story from the San Jose Mercury News and here it is. For years now I've subscribed to the theory that Neanderthals weren't killed off en masse by Homo Sapiens, but might have been gradually absorbed into the more dominant species - although restricted diet and economic factors have also been put forward. I wonder if this could be a similar idea?
Anyway, today's theory: dinosaurs were more humane than Michael Vick. Discuss.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
A long, long time ago...
Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com
LOL, get over there. Thanks to my mate The Chapel for the link...this WAS me about 20-25 years ago.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Hail To The RedCoats
The RedCoats made the playoffs in the EFL after a 7-5 seaon, here's the report:London
Deep.
7-3 to Lexington with not even five minutes gone.
Actually, I will share them with you. Here's a link to Dave Scharf's book. They're all in there and I thoroughly recommend it.
I am not quite sure what to do with my dollar yet, although it has invoked the 'if you win, you need to at least make a deposit' rule.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
The Sprout has landed
Ivor Sprout arrived recently and I forgot to tell you. He's fast, has a bit of a temper and scores goals. He also has two songs:
'He's here, he's there, he's fukc1n9 everywhere' and 'I can't help falling in love with Sproule'.
500k according to rumours. If he can score the winner against Cardiff, he will walk with the gods.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Freerolls and other thoughts
Without giving anything away, I've been making some on line poker observations recently.
I had the most success at at small stakes pot limit tables. That shouldn't come as a complete shock. I also won some cash at a new player free roll.
Worst: the William Hill free rolls. The game speed is glacial and the rewards are so low as to be not worth the effort. I've been scraping into the top 30% of players by doing extremely little and to be honest there have been a couple of times when I've invoked the mercy rule and bet wildly on hands that aren't worth it just to finish the game.
Seems to me that free rolls generally are a bit of a crap shoot...errr...I hope you see what I mean there. I'm thinking of doing an experiment to see how far I can get with auto fold/muck switched on, although to be fair to those players who enjoy participating in them it's probably better if I don't play free rolls at all. To paraphrase a football manager whose name escapes me, you get nowt for coming 489th.
Bit of an update: I had another incredibly small scale success in a $1 Buy In Bet365 No Limit Tournament. I placed 40th of 434 and won a massive $5.04, but it was the most exhilarating £2.50 I've ever won. I went all in a couple of times when I was about to crash out, won the biggest pot in my short online poker history ($13.2k) and generally had a whale of a time, including a 20 minute dinner break when the Chinese takeaway arrived. More than made up for the moaning about stuff elsewhere.
Something I would strongly recommend: try to keep accurate stats of how you do in any session you play even if it's play money. I've been doing this with my sessions and to be honest I've made a pretty poor job of it - to the extent that I'm going to junk what I've already done. I might even stop recording my progress in free rolls as I'm obviously not taking them seriously at all.
Fantasy baseball is still going well, I'm still first (I've been top since St George's Day or April 23rd if you don't know when that is) and a rather ridiculous 33% of my roster have been voted to appear for their respective leagues in the annual All Star game. Here are two blokes from my fantasy team that haven't been:
Matt Holliday OF Colorado Rockies
Kelvim Escobar SP Los Angeles Angels
Basically, Holliday is playing for an average team in the less spectacular National League. All his key stats are better than a lot of the players from the American League but it's probably because he doesn't play for one of the glamour teams that he's not been selected by the fickle American public. If he keeps this up, that will change.
I'm not sure why Escobar wasn't picked. He has similar stats to Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers but I think the problem might be because he's had a stint on the Disabled List and - unlike Verlander - he hasn't had a no hitter this year. All he did (on the same day as Verlander got his no hitter) was strike out 14 batters in six innings. I imagine the US press went nuts for Verlander and Escobar's achievement was lost in the shuffle.
Ah well. They're both making more money than I'll ever see, so that's probably some consolation.
I had the most success at at small stakes pot limit tables. That shouldn't come as a complete shock. I also won some cash at a new player free roll.
Worst: the William Hill free rolls. The game speed is glacial and the rewards are so low as to be not worth the effort. I've been scraping into the top 30% of players by doing extremely little and to be honest there have been a couple of times when I've invoked the mercy rule and bet wildly on hands that aren't worth it just to finish the game.
Seems to me that free rolls generally are a bit of a crap shoot...errr...I hope you see what I mean there. I'm thinking of doing an experiment to see how far I can get with auto fold/muck switched on, although to be fair to those players who enjoy participating in them it's probably better if I don't play free rolls at all. To paraphrase a football manager whose name escapes me, you get nowt for coming 489th.
Bit of an update: I had another incredibly small scale success in a $1 Buy In Bet365 No Limit Tournament. I placed 40th of 434 and won a massive $5.04, but it was the most exhilarating £2.50 I've ever won. I went all in a couple of times when I was about to crash out, won the biggest pot in my short online poker history ($13.2k) and generally had a whale of a time, including a 20 minute dinner break when the Chinese takeaway arrived. More than made up for the moaning about stuff elsewhere.
Something I would strongly recommend: try to keep accurate stats of how you do in any session you play even if it's play money. I've been doing this with my sessions and to be honest I've made a pretty poor job of it - to the extent that I'm going to junk what I've already done. I might even stop recording my progress in free rolls as I'm obviously not taking them seriously at all.
Fantasy baseball is still going well, I'm still first (I've been top since St George's Day or April 23rd if you don't know when that is) and a rather ridiculous 33% of my roster have been voted to appear for their respective leagues in the annual All Star game. Here are two blokes from my fantasy team that haven't been:
Matt Holliday OF Colorado RockiesKelvim Escobar SP Los Angeles AngelsBasically, Holliday is playing for an average team in the less spectacular National League. All his key stats are better than a lot of the players from the American League but it's probably because he doesn't play for one of the glamour teams that he's not been selected by the fickle American public. If he keeps this up, that will change.
I'm not sure why Escobar wasn't picked. He has similar stats to Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers but I think the problem might be because he's had a stint on the Disabled List and - unlike Verlander - he hasn't had a no hitter this year. All he did (on the same day as Verlander got his no hitter) was strike out 14 batters in six innings. I imagine the US press went nuts for Verlander and Escobar's achievement was lost in the shuffle.
Ah well. They're both making more money than I'll ever see, so that's probably some consolation.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Not quite a WSOP bracelet, but...
A $25 win on Bet365 will do, won't it?
I got to the final table of their weekly new player freeroll on Wednesday and fluked fourth spot - there really is no other way of describing it. Having sat in the guaranteed $10 spots for most of the evening I managed to be a penny pinching, cheese grating tight arse and stole fourth when the player in front of me (who had something in the region of twice my chip stack) went all in and lost.
Bingo. Or not ;-)
More to follow.
Here's one for you: according to reports coming from Barcelona this morning, Thierry Henry is off to North Eastern Spain, which now seems to be confirmed. The Arse are 1000-1 to be relegated on William Hill and talking of Arses*, I'm pretty sure this is about to happen too...
Merde. Je departerai aussi.
Oh joy. I've just realised that it's possible that I might be able to buy a Thierry Henry replica Barcelona jersey on holiday. Fantasy Football indeed.
* Third 'arse' of the day. I must be in a good mood.
I got to the final table of their weekly new player freeroll on Wednesday and fluked fourth spot - there really is no other way of describing it. Having sat in the guaranteed $10 spots for most of the evening I managed to be a penny pinching, cheese grating tight arse and stole fourth when the player in front of me (who had something in the region of twice my chip stack) went all in and lost.
Bingo. Or not ;-)
More to follow.
Here's one for you: according to reports coming from Barcelona this morning, Thierry Henry is off to North Eastern Spain, which now seems to be confirmed. The Arse are 1000-1 to be relegated on William Hill and talking of Arses*, I'm pretty sure this is about to happen too...
Merde. Je departerai aussi.Oh joy. I've just realised that it's possible that I might be able to buy a Thierry Henry replica Barcelona jersey on holiday. Fantasy Football indeed.
* Third 'arse' of the day. I must be in a good mood.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Summer's here...so it must be time for...
Poker and baseball, two of the activities I have something of an interest in.
To be honest with myself, the only reason that I've got back into them is because of a lack of anything happening on the football front. There are the usual daft transfer rumours fuelled back the inventiveness of journalists - on one level, Barcelona are supposed to be interested in Arsene Wenger and on another level, City are interested in Hibs and Northern Ireland striker Ivan Sproule.
Ivan Sproule, Ivan Sproule, Ivan, Ivan Sproule,
When gets the boule, he scores a goule...
Obviously I'll let you know if we buy The Sproulemeister, but this is not important now apart from the fact that sightings of Norn Iron replica shirts at The Gate might go up.
Fantasy baseball is going well...too well. I've been top of my Brits only league since St George's Day and currently have a 19 point lead. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but let's just say that spending far too much time and effort on scouting players is paying off. It's fun, it keeps me off the streets and out of the pub etc.
Poker is another matter though. I don't play that often (it's been a while since I played a live home game) but I like to mess about on line - I've been getting back into it recently, but only when I can afford the time.
That's actually a lesson I learned the semi hard way - I probably played cards a little too often at school when I should have been concentrating on my A-levels but hindsight is always a blessing isn't it? Looking back on several periods of my life I've always enjoyed playing cards. I'd love to be good at chess, but I don't have the application for it; draughts is fun but too much like snap...so poker it is then.
Here's what I've been up to recently. I've been blagging on freerolls as I'm too tight to part with real money (although I do play with real money when the mood takes me) and in keeping with my overall description of 'marginally profitable' I've done relatively well. For example, on Sunday I came fourth in a loyalty points freeroll at Pokerworld (admittedly not one of the bigger sites) and I had a funny but rather manic session on Monday where I played simultaneous tournaments at Pokerworld and bet365. So basically, I'm looking for low traffic sites that offer freerolls with small player bases right now. I will report back with any findings, but I finished just outside the scoring positions on Pokerworld (14th of 132) and got bored and went all in to finish off my bet365 session finishing 199th of 3587 players.
The reason why I got bored? I knew I wasn't going to be placed, it was getting late and it was my turn to make the tea.
That's pretty hardcore. Not.
Whether it's deciding on which hat to wear, raising trips on the turn or leaving the table for a comped tuna sandwich, poker is all about decisions.
To be honest with myself, the only reason that I've got back into them is because of a lack of anything happening on the football front. There are the usual daft transfer rumours fuelled back the inventiveness of journalists - on one level, Barcelona are supposed to be interested in Arsene Wenger and on another level, City are interested in Hibs and Northern Ireland striker Ivan Sproule.
Ivan Sproule, Ivan Sproule, Ivan, Ivan Sproule,When gets the boule, he scores a goule...
Obviously I'll let you know if we buy The Sproulemeister, but this is not important now apart from the fact that sightings of Norn Iron replica shirts at The Gate might go up.
Fantasy baseball is going well...too well. I've been top of my Brits only league since St George's Day and currently have a 19 point lead. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but let's just say that spending far too much time and effort on scouting players is paying off. It's fun, it keeps me off the streets and out of the pub etc.
Poker is another matter though. I don't play that often (it's been a while since I played a live home game) but I like to mess about on line - I've been getting back into it recently, but only when I can afford the time.
That's actually a lesson I learned the semi hard way - I probably played cards a little too often at school when I should have been concentrating on my A-levels but hindsight is always a blessing isn't it? Looking back on several periods of my life I've always enjoyed playing cards. I'd love to be good at chess, but I don't have the application for it; draughts is fun but too much like snap...so poker it is then.
Here's what I've been up to recently. I've been blagging on freerolls as I'm too tight to part with real money (although I do play with real money when the mood takes me) and in keeping with my overall description of 'marginally profitable' I've done relatively well. For example, on Sunday I came fourth in a loyalty points freeroll at Pokerworld (admittedly not one of the bigger sites) and I had a funny but rather manic session on Monday where I played simultaneous tournaments at Pokerworld and bet365. So basically, I'm looking for low traffic sites that offer freerolls with small player bases right now. I will report back with any findings, but I finished just outside the scoring positions on Pokerworld (14th of 132) and got bored and went all in to finish off my bet365 session finishing 199th of 3587 players.
The reason why I got bored? I knew I wasn't going to be placed, it was getting late and it was my turn to make the tea.
That's pretty hardcore. Not.
Whether it's deciding on which hat to wear, raising trips on the turn or leaving the table for a comped tuna sandwich, poker is all about decisions.Monday, June 04, 2007
The Dark Time Begins
Football is as good as over. There are a couple of European Nations Cup qualifiers in the next ten days but that's it for a few weeks. Next season has already begun: I’ve already renewed my season ticket. Not surprisingly, it cost more than last season but I'm not going to moan about it.
Anyway, here are some round ball loose ends.
What a dilemma. If they lose, I'm happy. If they win, I get a tenner.
Footage from ESPN Deportes (check out the ticker...)
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Coming Soon: The Championship
We beat Rotherham 3-1, Forest only drew with Crewe - they finished fourth after Blackpool smashed Swansea 6-3 at the Liberty Stadium.
So...we're up. We're in the Championship next season. We did it! Cue Jeff Stelling!
Much more later, but my Friday post was almost ridiculously spot on:
'Three of the four goals Rotherham have scored in their last eight games came in the first 20 minutes, including two in the first ten minutes. If Rotherham are going to score, it'll be early on (ie before ten minutes) or - and this is a particular City weakness in the last eight games - just before half time (three of the six goals conceded at home in the last eight games have been in this period). If Rotherham don't score early on, the chances are that they won't score at all.'
Not quite accurate - Rotherham got their goal in the 58th minute. Now for the spooky bit... If the patterns within Rotherham's away form and City's home form occur tomorrow, City should probably be a goal up half way through the first half (first fifteen minutes seems like a good time), with the possibility of a second before the end of the half. It then becomes more likely that there might be a third before the hour.
David Noble scored in the eighth and 44th minutes. Alex Russell got the third in the 55th minute. Not only was I excited about the way the game was going anyway, I also couldn't believe just how well it went to form.
Of course, the other prediction that was easier to make but still pretty accurate was the one where after the game I meet a couple of mates outside Quba Ice on North Street, drink a lot of San Miguel and sing songs.
Quba Ice before the game and before the urban bullfighting with cars and buses that took place later.There will be more to come...but here's a really good photomontage of a very memorable season to enjoy.
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