'Be the hero, Steve...'

Were the words I said to myself as Steve Brooker entered the fray on Saturday afternoon. 72 minutes gone, 1-1. As predicted, Dele Adebola scored the first, but Norwich equalised through Darren Huckerby and to be honest I was sitting in the Atyeo thinking we needed a bloody miracle.

Three minutes of injury time on the board, into the third minute, free kick to City, Brooker scores his first goal for City since the 3-3 draw with Coventry City in the cup in January 2007.

City 2, Norwich 1. Top of the Championship again.

Coventry City...Coventry City...Coventry City...

In a curious parallel, Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals (and the Arlen Spectres) hit a walk off home run to win the game against Atlanta on Sunday night, the first win at the new stadium in DC and the first Spectre home run of the season. Different games, thousands of miles apart, last minute dramatic finishes...happy, happy, happy. Check out Zimmerman in the Nationals road uniform...looks familiar, doesn't it?

Jerry Dammers Wouldn't Advertise Fish Fingers

And so to Norwich.

I did all the prep work yesterday, but it's currently upstairs, so please excuse me while I go and get it. Meanwhile, have some old time music that doesn't currently promote fish fingers.



The Specials. From Coventry. Fate.


Right...confusingly, Sky is reporting that City are attempting to beat Norwich for the third straight time which apparently means the third time in the league since May 1999. Errr...we've only played them once in the league since then, when we won at Carrow Road earlier in the season. Not much of a stat.

Norwich have won two of their last six aways but the last win was against the Huns on 9th February. Since then they've lost three (they drew at Watford but 'Watford' and 'draw' feature in a lot in sentences in this blog) and have scored a massive one goal in their last four, a late equaliser by former Gashead Jamie Cureton. He's not the goalscoring threat: Ched Evans (on loan from Manchester City and it's short for 'Chedwyn'...UPDATE: he's riding the pine this afternoon) has scored three of their last four away goals. Another stat for you: half of those four goals came in the last ten minutes.

We need an early goal or at least one in the first half, which is where three of the seven goals we've scored in the last six homes have come. Specifically, Dele Adebola needs an early one, followed by a goal by Defender To Be Named Later: defensively, in the last two games we've conceded just before half time and this needs to STOP RIGHT NOW.

Wild guess time: a similar game to the Sheffield Wednesday one. We get a two goal lead, then either Cureton or Evans scores late and it's squeeky bum time with three quarters of an hour of injury time. As it's a Saturday afternoon game and I'll be sitting in my traditional spot, this is a case of normal service.

Mind you, it's blowing a gale and pissing down outside. 0-0.

Keep repeating the mantra...Coventry...Coventry...Coventry....

And They're Off...

The A's split the Opening Series in Japan with the Sox, the Spectres are currently joint third.

City remain second despite losing to the Huns on Saturday. We've got Nardge Stee on Saturday, who last won down here in April 1980 during the last days of Division 1...to put it another way, when this was number one in the hit parade....



Which was replaced with this almost immediately...



Ah, those were the days.

Not much change in the top six apart from Plymouth have made their way back into it. There's a four point gap between them and WBA, but then four clubs immediately behind Gargoyle who could still make the playoffs.

T6H2H as follows:

WBA P9 W5 D2 L2 F19 A10 Pts 17
City P9 W3 D4 L2 F9 A10 Pts 13
Stoke P9 W2 D6 L2 F11 A9 Pts 12
Plymouth P10 W3 D3 L4 F13 A16 Pts 12
Hull P9 W2 D3 L4 F9 A12 Pts 9
Watford P8 W1 D4 L3 F3 A7 Pts 7

Remaining games:

Hull v Watford (this Saturday)
WBA v Watford (12th April)
Stoke v Bristol City (19th April)

Hull v Watford looks like a draw to me, although the Tigers haven't beaten Watford at home since 1978. Hull haven't beaten any of the top six at home this season, Watford haven't beaten any of the top six away in 2007/2008. Having said that, although Hull's recent home form has been pretty impressive, they've only played one team in the top half of the table in the last six games (Burnley). Watford have drawn five of their last six aways including games against City and Plymouth.

The top four have got a mixed bag this weekend. I'll post an in depth profile before our game on Friday or Saturday and let's assume that WBA will beat Colchester at The Hawthorns, but both Plymouth and Stoke are away, to Coventry and Sheffield Wednesday respectively.

Coventry are fearsome at home right now. Apart from being smashed 5-0 by WBA in the Cup in February the last time they lost - and conceded a goal at Highfield Road in the league - was in mid January. Plymouth's recent away record isn't too shabby but they may be up against it this time - this tends to be a series where the home team wins.

Sheffield Wednesday v Stoke has all the makings of an epic. Stoke have a one point lead over City but the Wendies are in the last relegation spot. They've lost two of their last six homes (WBA and Ipswich) whereas the Stokies have lost three of their last six aways. Wednesday haven't beaten Stoke at home this century, but two of the last three games have been draws.

While I was looking all this up, something struck me. If City go up, it may be because of some help from Coventry City. Why? Stay tuned.

This Year's Model

Barry Bonds has exactly the same birthday as me and my team was known as the Bristol Bondsmen for several years until he was shown the door by the San Francisco Giants at the end of last season...I won't go into too many details, but at one point I was going to call the team the Balco Bondsmen.

So it only seems fitting that my fantasy baseball team is renamed and after...well, minutes of deliberation...I give you The Arlen Spectres.

That's the infield done.

But lo - it's actually a triple entendre! A 6-4-3 if you will. So if Boomhauer, Hank, Dale and Bill are the players, here's the manager...

OK, a quick bit of background: Senator Arlen Spector (R, Pennsylvania) has been the most vocal critic of the Spygate Scandal that ran during the American football season. I'm not going to elaborate on Spygate because I already made my feelings known (scroll down to 'Beating Charstards') and the football gods got their revenge by letting the Giants win the Superbowl.

Of course, every sporting franchise needs some kind of evil GM (an Al Davros/Ge*rge Stoneburner type) and here's the third layer of...irony...nah...errr...'entendre'...oh I don't know...but here he is, the head of SPECTOR, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

So there we go...my team has cartoon players, a republican senator as manager and a Bond supervillain as GM. I'm very happy with that as I try not to take this stuff seriously but this year I am a defending champion rather than trying not to finish last. Let's take a look at the pitchers who are going to help me defend my title - outfielders to follow.

Pitchers

I didn't plan my draft with as much precision as I did last season, so if anything I'm a little short on pitchers. Three starters, three closers so at least it's symmetrical.

2007 Line:

Collectively they worked under 1400 innings (good) for 61 wins, 115 saves, 800 strikeouts with a combined ERA of 3.45 and a combined WHIP of 1.21. I must admit, that looks a little short on wins right now. As for projected numbers, Baseball Prospectus sees a drop of across the board so I think I probably need another starter at some point. When we get to outfielders you'll be able to see that I've plenty of trade bait.

Starters:

CC Sabathia (Indians) - back for another year of 200+ innings!

Cole Hamels (Phillies)

Danny Haren (Diamondbacks)

Closers:

Francisco Rodriguez (Angels) - did OK with the Angels I had last year (Guerrero, Escobar, Lackey, Kendrick and Cabrera), probably a good idea there isn't a post season in my league.

Mariano Rivera (Yankees, below) - cartoon character players, republican manager, evil GM and a Yankees closer!

Joe Borowski (Indians) - here's the risky one. Loads of saves, but dreadful ERA - he was actually on my Anti Watch list last season. Looking forward to seeing some Tribe games where CC starts and Joe finishes.

More later, thank you for reading...

Ups & Downs

A mixed bag being a red last weekend. City lost and are now second on goal difference to Stoke, who drew 0-0 at Watford. Having spent a lot of time hanging about in the rain I managed to pick up a stinking cold which I'm currently suffering from. I managed to pick up a ticket for the trip to Cardiff next weekend.

I'm culturally confused at the best of times, but my negative feelings about a football defeat were offset by a Grand Slam win for Wales. So it's ironic that travelling to the town where my grandmother and father were born to see the team that my grandfather followed and where my sister and brother in law live is such a pain in the backside...purely because I support Bristol City.

Of course, there's a lot more to it than that but it's bloody silly nonetheless. I'm sure I can't be the only City fan who is Anglo-Welsh.

Summer's coming. I drafted my baseball team on Sunday: more details coming, probably tomorrow.

The Championship Enters The Twilight Zone

Right, to business.

Hull are now a top six club and the T6H2H Table now looks like this:

1. WBA P8 W4 D2 L2 F17 A11 Pts 14
2. Charlton P9 W3 D4 L2 F12 A12 Pts 13
3. City P9 W3 D4 L2 F8 A9 Pts 13
4. Stoke P8 W2 D4 L2 F8 A7 Pts 10
5. Hull P9 W1 D4 L4 F8 A12 Pts 7
6. Watford P7 W1 D4 L4 F5 A7 Pts 7

Three of the remaining five fixtures between the current top six take place before the end of March, starting tomorrow when Stoke go to Watford. Stoke have won two of their last six aways but have been outscored by 6-9, Watford haven't lost any of their last six homes and have only conceded two goals whilst scoring eight.

The best result for City would be a Watford win or a draw. The 'Hornets' are the bookies favourites but if it was available I'd have a bet on how many birds in flight get hit by the ball. Watford were here on Tuesday and what a bunch of hoofers they were. Stoke aren't exactly well known as masters of the short passing game either.

We've got Plymouth. They've lost three of their last six aways, we're unbeaten at home since November and they've not won here since September 1931.

Make of that what you will.

Congratulations to WBA on belting the Gas 5-1 at The Mem to reach the semi finals of the FA Cup. Ordinarily that would be an achievement, but it's tempered slightly by the fact that there are two other Championship teams in the semi finals...Barnsley and Cardiff. One of them will reach the final - and there's a very real prospect that it could be an all Championship final if WBA beat Portsmouth.

Outstanding Baggies v Pompey fact: the last time West Brom won the cup (in 1968), they beat Portsmouth 2-1 in the fifth round. The season before was the last time Cardiff played Barnsley in the cup, Cardiff won the third round tie after a replay.

So here's my take: we beat Plymouth, Watford beat Stoke and our lead increases.

Then we go to Cardiff. More after the game tomorrow.

The Giddy Heights Part II

Two games, four points. Still top.

A win at home against Hull followed by a 1-1 draw with Charlton last night, which has amended the T6H2H stats as follows:

1. WBA P8 W5 D2 L1 F19 A9 Pts 17
2. Stoke P8 W3 D3 L3 F11 A9 Pts 12
3. Charlton P7 W2 D3 L2 F10 A12 Pts 9
4. City P7 W2 D3 L2 F7 A9 Pts 9
5. Plymouth P7 W2 D2 L3 F9 A12 Pts 8
6. Watford P6 W0 D3 L3 F4 A9 Pts 3

The only other game that had any impact this table was WBA beating Plymouth 3-0 on Saturday. I'm not going to spend any time on T6vB3 as the two games in that subdivision went as planned with wins for WBA and Plymouth against Sheffield Wednesday and Colchester respectively.

Wednesday looked...well, errr...Donald Ducked.

All this means is that City move up one place in my hypothetical table, but more significantly I think last night's point in South East London may mean that in the long run Charlton may well end up spending next season in the Championship. They've bought in former City striker Leroy Lita in on loan for the rest of the month, the sort of move that indicates that Alan Pardew realises that the game may almost be up this season. They've only got one more home game against a top six team (WBA on 21st March), the last opportunity for them to actually beat a top six club.

The bookies still seem to hate us though. City's odds seem to be shortening, but we're still outsiders in the automatic promotion slots. I'm probably not going to bother looking at them again until after the Leicester game on Saturday. We've struggled there in the league - haven't won there since 25th March 1915...about a week after the attack on the Dardanelles began.

Talking of which...the favourites for this weekend in the Six Nations are Ireland, England and France. Hmmm. I'd agree with two of those.

The Giddy Heights

Exactly a year ago I was worried about getting out of League 1. Having suffered through several seasons of failure via automatic promotion and the play offs it was nerve wracking to be doing so well. Everything turned out well in the end.


In August - like a lot of other City fans - I expected this season to be about consolidation. I thought mid table would be fine, perhaps with a cup run.


If we beat Hull today we go top of the Championship. We're currently second behind Stoke City and although I don't have a programme near me I think I'm correct in saying that we've not been out of the top five all season.


I did a head to head analysis this time last year and here's the same thing for this season. This is based on the top six playing each other:


1. WBA P7 W4 D2 L1 F16 A9 Pts 14
2. Stoke City P8 W3 D3 L2 F11 A9 Pts 12
3. Plymouth Argyle P6 W2 D2 L2 F9 A9 Pts 8
4. Charlton Athletic P7 W2 D2 L3 F9 A11 Pts 8
5. City P6 W2 D2 L2 F6 A8 Pts 8
6. Watford P6 W0 D3 L3 F4 A9 Pts 3

Top Six v Bottom 3:

1. WBA 21pts
2. Stoke 21 pts
3. City 17pts
4. Watford 16pts
5. Charlton 14pts
6. Colchester 13pts (interesting!)
7. Plymouth 12pts
8. Scunthorpe 10pts
9. Sheffield Wednesday 7pts

Comparison between the two tables seems to indicate the following:

* Watford are punching above their weight at the moment
* Colchester may be too good to go down
* WBA should win promotion
* Plymouth are erratic

Remaining games as follows:


Today: WBA v Plymouth

4th March: Charlton v City, Plymouth v Colchester, Sheffield Wednesday v WBA

11th March: City v Watford, Scunthorpe v Plymouth

15th March: City v Plymouth, Watford v Stoke

21st March: Charlton v WBA

22nd March: Plymouth v Watford

29th March: Sheffield Wednesday v Stoke, WBA v Colchester

5th April: Plymouth v Charlton

12th April: WBA v Watford, Sheffield Wednesday v Plymouth

19th April: Stoke v City

26th April: Colchester v Stoke, Watford v Scunthorpe


So basically the four games after today (including Leicester next Saturday) are absolutely huge. It's interesting to note that this is a remarkably similar situation to last season and the experience City got last year may be invaluable - in some respects we're actually doing better than we did against top six teams in League 1 during 2006/2007. We've lost fewer games and have conceded fewer goals although to be fair it's also worth pointing out that we've scored fewer.


Some more interesting things about the top six head to head games...


WBA are undefeated at home, so are Stoke. Two of WBA's last three games against the current top six are at home, Stoke have only one left (yeah, City)


Plymouth, Charlton and Watford haven't won at home. Watford only have one opportunity left while Plymouth and Charlton have two.


Stoke and Watford haven't won away. Stoke's last away game against the current top six is at Watford, the Hornets still have to travel to City and WBA.


City have the tightest home defence in these games (two goals conceded), Watford have the worst (seven). WBA have scored the most home goals (nine, including four against City and Charlton), Watford and City have only scored twice at home against other top six clubs,


Watford have the tightest away defence (two goals), Charlton have the worst away defence (seven goals). WBA have scored the most goals away from home (seven), Watford have only managed two.


Most common result: 1-1, four times

Home wins: seven (biggest: WBA 4 Bristol City 1) accounting for 35%
Draws: seven (again, 35%)
Away wins: six (biggest: Watford 0, WBA 3), 30% of the games so far


No team has won both games against any opponents (yet).

So what's going to happen?

I'd love to see City go up again. Three of the top six have been in the Premier League in the last four years and the pressure is on them to get back there, not us. Plymouth have never played in the top tier and Stoke haven't been up there since 1985, five years since we departed.

One thing I've not mentioned yet is the potential impact Bristol Rovers might have on all this. Without spending any time on the full story, WBA have to travel to the Mem for an FA Cup quarter final in a couple of weeks that I fully expect West Brom to win.

So what will the prospect of an FA Cup semi final at Wembley have on their league form? The games are supposed to take place on April 5th, the day they're supposed to be away at Blackpool.

But back to the first paragraph of this section. Here are the outcomes:

* Guaranteed Championship football next season (already achieved)

* Miss out on the play offs on the last day

* Playoffs, but lose in the first round

* Playoffs, but lose at Wembley

* Automatic promotion as play off winners

* Automatic promotion as runners up

* Automatic promotion to the Premier League as Football League Champions (and I can't believe I just wrote that)

I'd like the last one best. I have absolutely no idea yet what will happen, but the romantic version is this:

I went to see the New York Giants play the Miami Dolphins last October. I was wandering around the outside of New Wembley when I saw a Peter Carol coach in the car park - for those of you that don't know, that's the company that runs coaches for City. My immediate thought:

'It's early. It's not May yet.'

So the play off final v Stoke, eight years after they beat us in the Auto Windscreens at the old stadium.

This time...WE win.

Some kind of service resumed...

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...

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Normal Service About To Be Resumed

I can do nothing but agree.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.