Grapeviney

Your initial response got deleted because all it said was "I'm not going to bother reading this rant." You're wasting precious internet space, and the time of people who are following this thread. If you don't have anything further to add, don't post!

OK so a little bit of digging and I've discovered the 4th hardest thing comes from Champion Data, who calculated a points system using the difference in each team’s FOR and AGAINST totals at the end of last season’s home-and-away rounds. For example, Hawthorn at +904 points is rated hardest to play against and adds 904 to your "difficulty total". Carlton at -829 is the easiest and reduces your total by 829 points. When you tally it up this way, we do indeed have the fourth hardest draw. BUT...Hawthorn is the only one of last year's finalists who we play twice, so I'm not really sure there's too much to complain about, and no-one has really complained about it until now. The fixture thread on here is almost all focussed on the commercial aspects, like scheduling and home opponents etc. No-one seemed to mind at the time, and I don't see how this new (old) assessment changes that. Edit: Oops, meant to respond to you p-man

I didn't see the show and don't have the fixture in front of me but I seem to recall that the consensus on here when the draw was released was that it was crap commercially but favourable in a football sense. Are people just accepting the Fox Footy assessment at face value or do we genuinely have the fourth hardest draw in the league?

There's lots of improvement still required, but gee, it's hard to put into words just how happy I am to be following a proper footy team again.

Well, Martin is probably short for Martinez, and I don't know about you, but I for one am sick of illegal Mexican immigrants taking the place of homegrown Aussie players on AFL lists. Aussie rules for Aussies I say!

That awkward moment when you find out there's a 9-page Demonland thread telling you to take a good hard look at yourself.

That's exactly what I said. Can't believe you've been back on the boards for about an hour and already I'm deleting your posts... Edit: Back on topic please

It seems neither of you read the original article properly - BA obviously missed the main thrust of it, and you've missed the fact that the thread title is almost a word for word copy of the original article's headline. It's the AFL that put a sexy headline on a nothing story, not BA.

Beat me to it Wise, those three weeks (and indeed his entire '94 season) were just exhilarating, took more marks than anyone else that year (including Carey) and finished with 60 goals from CHF. Also worth reading this article, which - like the YouTube clip - is the work of Age journalist and MFC supporter Jesse Hogan, who's fighting for his life in hospital after a stroke. What I like about the article, and the short clip above it which features Jesse, is that he basically says he was a star-struck 6 y.o Demon fan in 1994 who thought Schwarz a superstar, and when he grew up and became a journo and checked with the experts they confirmed it was so. I've still got his number on my jumper.

Had a wedding in Sydney last night so only just caught up with the action now, after avoiding the scores all day. Given the circumstances, Arsenal will be relieved while Spurs will see it as a golden opportunity that got away. Kane's goal was a beauty, and with momentum on their side, Tottenham really should have gone on with it from there. Looks like it was a cracking finish from your boys at Goodison Park, Macca.

Stay on topic please - it's a serious one and shouldn't be trivialised or turned into a laugh. If you want to discuss Hird or the Israeli Government, go somewhere else to do it. In future, such posts will be deleted.

Massive week coming up, with Leicester in the box seat to maintain top spot and even increase their lead over their challengers. City (@Liverpool) and Tottenham (@West Ham) both have tough midweek matches, with Spurs then hosting Arsenal on the weekend, while the Foxes would be expecting to win against both West Bromwich and Watford. City took out the first piece of silverware for the year, beating Liverpool on penalties in the League Cup final.

He won't just start in the centre square, he'll get the first clearance.

One of football's most iconic images

Incidentally, the Herald Sun follow-up story to the Age article quotes the Melbourne-based rep from his management agency and has a more pro-MFC spin to it, for those reading the tea leaves.

I'm tempted to open up a separate thread - a Jesse Hogan panic room - where those who have misunderstood this latest development can gather and stress each other out, leaving this thread for its intended purpose, which is to celebrate the great man and marvel at his feats.

I noticed that the soccer team I support is playing the soccer team you support at my team's home ground in a couple of weeks. Do you think Arsene will field his strongest side or are you guys just concentrating on the FA Cup again this year? On a serious note, Macca's point about the diminished status of that competition was on display over the weekend, with City sending out a bunch of kids to be thrashed by Chelsea, and Arsenal (who play Barca in the CL tomorrow morning) and Hull (focussed on promotion) also both fielding weakened teams.

Not really... Remember the 'veil of negativity' comments, which forced the club into a double-twisting-backflip clarification as to whether it was the supporters or the club at fault? (It was the whinging fans in the end). That was terrible PR from PR.

This thread is so good I'm going to preserve it just the way it is.

A number of years ago, SBS put together a great 4-part series called Height of Passion which focussed on four rivalries - AC vs Inter, Real v Barca, River Plate v Boca and Vasco da Gama vs Flamengo. Was a bit odd they didn't include any of the English derbies, although at that time I think Serie A was still considered the best league in Europe. Anyway, it's a good doco hosted by Les Murray with plenty of highlights but also a lot of background and cultural info on how the rivalries developed and how they play out. You can watch it through YouTube. I've always had a fascination with big stadiums, large crowds and great atmosphere, and one day hope to travel through Europe and / or South America and go to the big games. Edit: I've been to Camp Nou, but it was just a stadium tour (still amazing). Even the lesser-light leagues have their great grudge matches, such as Olympiakos-Panathinaikos in Greece and Galatasaray-Fenerbahce in Turkey. Would be great to catch some Bundesliga action, too, as virtually all their games are sell-outs. These kinds of images give me goosebumps. River Plate stadium in Buenos Aires: 'La Bombonera' in Beunos Aires, home to Boca: Borussia Dortmund: This Youtube channel has lots of great 'atmosphere' clips from around the world under the 'stadium atmosphere' sub-heading: https://www.youtube.com/user/Partofthegametv/featured

Yep, I think they said last night that they've lined up with the same team and bench for the past 7 league games; the combination of a rested and stable team could be telling in the end. I know we're still a long way off, but Leicester play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the final round. Putting my allegiances to the side, wouldn't it be a fairytale ending to an already amazing story if they had to beat the reigning champions away on the last day of the season to win the title?

Cracking night of football, with both games delivering in spades and plenty of controversy surrounding the penalties in each match. Leicester have only themselves to blame, not just with Simpson's send-off but also the final, crude challenge which led to the winning goal. But for that, they would have had 3 away wins against their 3 challengers in the 7 weeks since Christmas, when they knocked off Spurs at WHL. It's hard to see the top 4 changing at this stage, even though United are only 2 wins behind City with 12 weeks to play, and one wonders what's going to happen to LVG, and when.

Would be great if Nasher could turn this into an emoticon..