Grapeviney

Juve 2 - 1 Real Barca 3- 0 Bayern Messi scored twice in 3 minutes after it looked like Barca were going to be held to a scoreless draw at home. He and Ronaldo have now scored a combined 153 goals in UEFA matches!

Beware of fake celebrity supporters. In the UK, the PM David Cameron was giving a televised speech and urged people to support West Ham. Unfortunately he's an Aston Villa man. This was his explanation for the mix-up, and it's not particularly coherent: “I want to say how sorry I am. "All I can explain is I went past the West Ham stadium the day before and I just said the word West Indies in my speech and I was making a point about the cricket Test and all the rest of it. “I meant to say Aston Villa and I am profoundly embarrassed.”

Champions League semi finals draw is out and Bayern v Barca and Juve v Real sets up the delicious prospect of an all-Spanish final. May 5: Juve v Real @ Turin May 6: Barca v Bayern @ Barca May 12: Barca v Bayern @ Munich May 13: Juve v Real @ Madrid Saturday June 6: Final

Got Foxtel connected the other week and gotta say I'm loving the amount of football, and all in HD. It's like being at the game. But it seems Fox only has rights to the EPL, La Liga and UEFA on ESPN. What about Serie A, the Bundesliga and the South American leagues? I miss the old days when SBS on a Sunday was basically soccer all day, and you pretty much saw every single goal that was kicked around the world during the week. Edit: Turns out Fox does have those other leagues (German, French, Italian, Argentinian and Brazillian) - the beIN sports channel apparently. Re-Edit: Turns out I don't get the beIN channel, even though I have the sports package! WTF?!?!

Not playing the West Indies leg of the tour because it will clash with the birth of his first child, but will be available for the Ashes.

Yep, was a cracker of a game with the momentum shifting back and forth throughout. SA only have themselves to blame with the missed catches and run-outs. How about Steyn calling for the doc with 4 balls to go!

I live a few tram stops away dc and the parking all around st kilda is shite, with inspectors always out on the weekends. If you can get on a train I'd go to Balaclava station and then you can just tram up the road. There is parking on the beach side of Luna Park but not a lot and it's busy on a normal Sunday, let alone with the GP on.

from the Daily Telegraph in London

Anyone else listening to the ABC broadcast and the excellent commentary from a female commentator? Anyone know who it is? British accent, so I'm guessing it might be Alison Mitchell from the BBC? Whoever it is sounds a natural. Edit: Nope, it's Ebony-Jewel Rainford-Brent: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebony-Jewel_Rainford-Brent

No-one said anything about channel 9 broadcasting into India (although pay TV there does show our domestic season via ch9 on Star Sports). The ICC could have structured the broadcasting rights deal however which way it wanted, separating the international deal from the local one here. It's not like the pay tv audience here is substantial - it's the market on the sub-continent that really matters. Anyway, that was a ripping finish with some great bowling from Starc. At the start of the day you would never have guessed that the two teams combined wouldn't be able to get 300 runs between them.

Feeling very disconnected from the World Cup (I don't have Foxtel). I think they made a big mistake giving the broadcast rights to pay TV and allowing Channel 9 to cherry-pick the handful of games it wants to show. All the games should be on Gem or Go at least, even if it is Afghanistan versus whoever. Chris Gayle hit a double ton today and all you get is 15 secs on the news. The excitement that should accompany an event of this magnitude is totally missing.

It's funny, I agree with you nut, the constant preaching is tiresome, but it feels churlish to say or think that when, at least at the outset, their intentions must have come from a good place; ie, the desire to use their incredible fame / reach / audience to bring attention to various political and social issues. Then again, if you're forking out big $$ for concert tickets, i guess you have a right to feel annoyed if you get a lecture instead.

Still a very awesome OP

Now that you've explained the process, I'm doubly shocked at how good it sounds. I've got friends who make electronic music via file-sharing but it's obviously a truckload easier to do with computer music than acoustic stuff.

Great track ht, i really dig it. I mainly listen to electronica these days but this is the kind of gear i used to love rocking out to. Reminded me a bit of The Angels (a good thing in my books). Surprised that it's been artificially arranged (if i can call it that) with musicians on separate sides of the world; I mean i know it can be done but it sounds very organic, like two guys just jamming in the studio. Did you do the production etc ?

Yeh me too. I mean, I knew it didn't amount to much, but was still surprised. I remember back in the late 80s or early 90's when Don Lane hosted the ABC's coverage, their match of the week would go for 1 hour... in my memory, it was just play after play, but with the benefit of hindsight and these stats, I guess they showed the entire time the game clock was running. Was a great way to watch, with another 30 minutes devoted to highlights from all the other games. And being on the ABC, there were no ads!

Four hours of Superbowl - just 12 minutes of actual game-time! http://www.marketwatch.com/story/there-were-just-1206-minutes-of-actual-gameplay-during-the-super-bowl-2015-02-02?mod=mw_share_twitter

Another sensational finish at the 'G from the Stars, and a brilliant innings from Hanscomb to win them the game (and bring up his ton) when they looked gone for all money. Marsh batted well too.

Three Colours Blue was on late at night a couple of days ago on SBS. I'd forgotten just how good a film it is, so little dialogue yet so powerful. It's beautifully shot and the music is stunning, very much befitting of the magestically-named "concert for the unification of Europe". I'm listening to the score again now, and it makes me think that Leonard Cohen was right in claiming that there are secret chords that please the Lord - music that speaks to divinity, beauty and truth in ways that words alone cannot express. <3

I didn't see it but if the only difference is 4-game sets rather than 6 games, I can't see what the appeal will be, particularly if as TD says some matches still go for 2+ hours. T20 is successful not just because its shorter, but because it's a different product to 50over cricket - in tactics, execution, wow factor and all the gimmicks. Other than time, what distinguishes fast4tennis from normal tennis?

Me too TD. Thought Punter's questions were excellent, didn't dodge the hard ones and didn't let KP off the hook. Was far more enlightening than the usual banter between commentators. It's also been good to see some of the father-son players coming through, McDermott and Wessels, was a big fan of both back in the day.

Few raised eyebrows in England too over the omission of Stokes. Was in swashbuckling form in the BBL the other night, smashed 77 off 30-odd balls. One of the better innings of the whole series. Channel 10 put up numerous tweets from English cricket types saying he should have been selected.

You were there Macca? Or Mrs Macca? You must have better eyesight than me DC.. or at least a better telly

Yep that match was a cracker. The replay on the final ball was inconclusive from what I could see, so I think they made the right call giving the batsman the benefit of the doubt. Was also good to see a Melbourne jumper in the crowd at one point!

Brett Lee went one better the other day when he said that 63 was becoming the most important number in cricket. Emotional hyperbole.