Running Total : 11/15
Cincinatti Bengals @ Houston Texans
My Patriots would dearly love for the Bengals to stage an upset here, so we avoid Pittsburgh. And as it's a bit boring to pick all home teams, I'm going to tip them to get one.
Detroit Lions @ New Orleans Saints
The Saints stellar offense against Detroit's secondary ? Blow out, Brees to pile up the yards and TDs.
Saturday, January 07, 2012
Monday, January 02, 2012
World Darts final
Running total from yesterday : 10/14
I'm going for Adrian Lewis to successfully defend his title tonight.
I'm going for Adrian Lewis to successfully defend his title tonight.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
PDC World Darts Semis
Couple of great games in prospect tonight, the quarters were brilliant to watch. So hard to call these.
Andy Hamilton v Simon Whitlock
Great win for Whitlock against my tip Gary Anderson in the last round. Hamilton is in the form of his life, and looks like he believes for the first time. Hamilton's scoring power to see off Whitlock, who has to miss doubles some day.
Adrian Lewis v James Wade
Defending champion v tournament favourite. Lewis is better in the longer matches and has done it before, but Wade beats him more often than not. Wade to reach his first final.
Update 1 : Hamilton, but only just. What a great game !
Update 2 : Well, at 5-1, I thought I was quids in there. Incredible fight back from Lewis, never seen anything like it in my 30 years of watching darts. Amazing.
Andy Hamilton v Simon Whitlock
Great win for Whitlock against my tip Gary Anderson in the last round. Hamilton is in the form of his life, and looks like he believes for the first time. Hamilton's scoring power to see off Whitlock, who has to miss doubles some day.
Adrian Lewis v James Wade
Defending champion v tournament favourite. Lewis is better in the longer matches and has done it before, but Wade beats him more often than not. Wade to reach his first final.
Update 1 : Hamilton, but only just. What a great game !
Update 2 : Well, at 5-1, I thought I was quids in there. Incredible fight back from Lewis, never seen anything like it in my 30 years of watching darts. Amazing.
NFL Week 17
Okay, i'm just going to write about games that potentially impact the playoffs - teams that can either clinch their place or change their seeding today.
AFC
Patriots can nail down the number one seed for the second successive year with a win at home to Buffalo - not that it did us much good last year. Brady to eke out another ugly win, beating Marino's record but not catching Drew Brees.
Baltimore will win their division with a win at Cincinatti, who themselves need to win to get a Wild Card. Ravens to nick it.
Denver need to beat Kansas City to win their division, but Kyle Orton will have a point to prove. Chiefs to spoil the Tebow party. Which will allow Oakland in for the divisional title if they can beat the Chargers, which I think they will.
Titans to steal the last wild card by beating a disinterested Houston, who are guaranteed the third seed whatever, and Pittsburgh to crush Cleveland. Jets to win but miss out.
NFC
Green Bay have the number one seed locked up, so they will rest most of their team against Detriot, who will want to win to get the fifth seed and will therefore do so.
49ers will hammer the hapless Rams to take the second seed. New Orleans will keep Brees in the game until halftime or so, which will be long enough to get the job done and see off Brady.
Atlanta will beat Tampa Bay and hope Detriot slip up.
And in the big one, the Giants to continue the Cowboys late season misery.
Update 1 : Patriots did i the hard way, going 21-0 down at the ened of the first quarter, before blasting 49 unanswered points past Buffalo. Can't really believe we've gone 13-3 with such a poor defence - we can't give three score starts once the playoffs start.
Titans scraped past Houston, who played their starters for no apparent reason. The Jets lost, and three more interceptions for Mark Sanchez, for whom time must surely have run out.
Green Bay still managed to win, despite benching key players - backup QB Matt Flynn throwing for 500 yards and 6 TDs - wonder if someone will come in for him. Young Stafford looks class if he can stay fit too.
49ers and New Orleans both won as expected.
So far, 4/6.
Update 2 : Denver bottled it as expected - incredibly poor game - but so did Oakland. Baltimore and Pittsburgh did the business. Atlanta hammered Tampa Bay.
Now 8/11.
Update 3 : Giants always in control. Final score 9/12.
AFC
Patriots can nail down the number one seed for the second successive year with a win at home to Buffalo - not that it did us much good last year. Brady to eke out another ugly win, beating Marino's record but not catching Drew Brees.
Baltimore will win their division with a win at Cincinatti, who themselves need to win to get a Wild Card. Ravens to nick it.
Denver need to beat Kansas City to win their division, but Kyle Orton will have a point to prove. Chiefs to spoil the Tebow party. Which will allow Oakland in for the divisional title if they can beat the Chargers, which I think they will.
Titans to steal the last wild card by beating a disinterested Houston, who are guaranteed the third seed whatever, and Pittsburgh to crush Cleveland. Jets to win but miss out.
NFC
Green Bay have the number one seed locked up, so they will rest most of their team against Detriot, who will want to win to get the fifth seed and will therefore do so.
49ers will hammer the hapless Rams to take the second seed. New Orleans will keep Brees in the game until halftime or so, which will be long enough to get the job done and see off Brady.
Atlanta will beat Tampa Bay and hope Detriot slip up.
And in the big one, the Giants to continue the Cowboys late season misery.
Update 1 : Patriots did i the hard way, going 21-0 down at the ened of the first quarter, before blasting 49 unanswered points past Buffalo. Can't really believe we've gone 13-3 with such a poor defence - we can't give three score starts once the playoffs start.
Titans scraped past Houston, who played their starters for no apparent reason. The Jets lost, and three more interceptions for Mark Sanchez, for whom time must surely have run out.
Green Bay still managed to win, despite benching key players - backup QB Matt Flynn throwing for 500 yards and 6 TDs - wonder if someone will come in for him. Young Stafford looks class if he can stay fit too.
49ers and New Orleans both won as expected.
So far, 4/6.
Update 2 : Denver bottled it as expected - incredibly poor game - but so did Oakland. Baltimore and Pittsburgh did the business. Atlanta hammered Tampa Bay.
Now 8/11.
Update 3 : Giants always in control. Final score 9/12.
Talking 'bout a Resolution
Resolutions for 2012
Well, the first goes without saying. Drink less, lose weight.
There's a second one concerning work, but I don't write about work on here.
Finally, get back on the Social Media horse. And stay on it this time.
I'm going to primarily (but not exclusively) make this site about sports previews and predictions. The Premier League has shown itself to be a mug's game in the last 24 hours, so I'm going to avoid that where possible.
Spoilt for choice today - last day of the NFL regular season, and PDC World Darts Semi-Finals. Posts coming up. Feel free to join in via Comments.
Well, the first goes without saying. Drink less, lose weight.
There's a second one concerning work, but I don't write about work on here.
Finally, get back on the Social Media horse. And stay on it this time.
I'm going to primarily (but not exclusively) make this site about sports previews and predictions. The Premier League has shown itself to be a mug's game in the last 24 hours, so I'm going to avoid that where possible.
Spoilt for choice today - last day of the NFL regular season, and PDC World Darts Semi-Finals. Posts coming up. Feel free to join in via Comments.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Trent Bridge
First blogpost for more than a year, but let's get past that and move on, eh ?
I've been slightly disappointed in the media this week. The triumphalism around the victory over India on Monday was understandable, the universal assumption that England will cruise to victory in the remaining tests was not. India are a fine side, and have more steel than Indian touring sides of yore. I confidently expect them to win at least one test this summer, most likely at The Oval.
Having said that, England have to be heavy favourites in Nottingham this weekend. Here's why.
Trent Bridge used to be the best batting wicket in England. Draws were a regular result. Then, in the mid-to-late 2000s (I always want to call them the noughties), Nottinghamshire decided to redevelop the ground. They did nothing to the square, but, crucially, the big new stands square each side of the wicket clearly affected the atmospherics. The ball suddenly swung more and for longer than had previously been the case, and the average first innings score dropped by around a hundred.
Which brings us to Jimmy Anderson. England's primary seamer has taken a phenomenal twenty seven wickets in his last three tests here. Anderson is at the top of his powers at the moment, and this very talented Indian batting order looks under-cooked, due to the mad schedule their board has imposed upon them. Sadly for India, their bowler most likely to exploit the conditions, Zaheer Khan, has been ruled out again. As an additional factor, this is the ground Kevin Pietersen made his reputation on within the county game - he has two big Test centuries here. It all points to England being on top.
One word of caution - one has to go back to 2004 to find the last instance of a side winning the test batting second, and that was courtesy of a virtuouso performance by a genius named Muralitharan. That little coin tomorrow morning may yet prove to be the most decisive element.
I've been slightly disappointed in the media this week. The triumphalism around the victory over India on Monday was understandable, the universal assumption that England will cruise to victory in the remaining tests was not. India are a fine side, and have more steel than Indian touring sides of yore. I confidently expect them to win at least one test this summer, most likely at The Oval.
Having said that, England have to be heavy favourites in Nottingham this weekend. Here's why.
Trent Bridge used to be the best batting wicket in England. Draws were a regular result. Then, in the mid-to-late 2000s (I always want to call them the noughties), Nottinghamshire decided to redevelop the ground. They did nothing to the square, but, crucially, the big new stands square each side of the wicket clearly affected the atmospherics. The ball suddenly swung more and for longer than had previously been the case, and the average first innings score dropped by around a hundred.
Which brings us to Jimmy Anderson. England's primary seamer has taken a phenomenal twenty seven wickets in his last three tests here. Anderson is at the top of his powers at the moment, and this very talented Indian batting order looks under-cooked, due to the mad schedule their board has imposed upon them. Sadly for India, their bowler most likely to exploit the conditions, Zaheer Khan, has been ruled out again. As an additional factor, this is the ground Kevin Pietersen made his reputation on within the county game - he has two big Test centuries here. It all points to England being on top.
One word of caution - one has to go back to 2004 to find the last instance of a side winning the test batting second, and that was courtesy of a virtuouso performance by a genius named Muralitharan. That little coin tomorrow morning may yet prove to be the most decisive element.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Canadian Grand Prix
Well, that was a cracker wasn't it ?
So into my F1 these days, and an absolute McLaren convert since the tour of their Technology Centre.
Contemplating a trip to Spa for August Bank Holiday as a late birthday present to myself...
So into my F1 these days, and an absolute McLaren convert since the tour of their Technology Centre.
Contemplating a trip to Spa for August Bank Holiday as a late birthday present to myself...
ITV HD
There now follows a transcript of my reaction to ITV HD cutting to an advert and missing the England goal last night. I will leave out the swear words.
Dismal England Performance
No, no, not THAT. I'm talking about the rugby.
We seem to have regressed back to 1991, stick it up your jumper. Australia are building up nicely into an exciting team that is all set to break All Black hearts *again* next year.
It's not good Johnno, it's really not. We need a playmaker at 10 or 12, and we need pace at 13. Picking two bangers in the centre is not going to work in international rugby - they tackle too well. And our backs' kicking out of hand has been consistently poor for so long now its unbelievable this has not been addressed.
Kudos for hanging in there and making a game of it, but I'm afraid Australia's young boys gave our lumbering old men a right run around.
We seem to have regressed back to 1991, stick it up your jumper. Australia are building up nicely into an exciting team that is all set to break All Black hearts *again* next year.
It's not good Johnno, it's really not. We need a playmaker at 10 or 12, and we need pace at 13. Picking two bangers in the centre is not going to work in international rugby - they tackle too well. And our backs' kicking out of hand has been consistently poor for so long now its unbelievable this has not been addressed.
Kudos for hanging in there and making a game of it, but I'm afraid Australia's young boys gave our lumbering old men a right run around.
Priorities
Why is it that when I come under pressure at work, as I have in recent weeks, the first things I sacrifice are the things that help me let off steam (RSS, blogging, Twitter etc) ?
It just means I end up abusing my only remaining outlet - alcohol - which just leads to an ever decreasing spiral of depression.
Going to make a conscious effort to rectify this starting now. It's either that or I'm going to start punching people in the pub.
It just means I end up abusing my only remaining outlet - alcohol - which just leads to an ever decreasing spiral of depression.
Going to make a conscious effort to rectify this starting now. It's either that or I'm going to start punching people in the pub.
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