Macca

Thanks for that ... I'll add Cam in on a new post (listing our chances) directly There's probably a few other outside hopes as well but I'm certainly no aficionado on the Winter Olympics! Edit: By the looks of it Cam Bolton competes on Thursday (10th) from 2.15pm (Final is on at about 6.15pm later that day)

Some fascinating bits of information The Ski Jumpers can travel in the air for up to 140 metres after leaping off into the air at 100kph The downhill skiers can reach speeds of 140kph ... that's rather quick The 'Luge' athletes can reach speeds of 140kph (steering with their feet whilst endeavouring to peer at the course lying on their backs) ... Skeleton 130kph (think bobsleigh, but head-first, lying on the bellies, on a tea tray) And the Bobsleds can get to 150kph The Aerialists can be launched up to 15 metres into the air (The Triple Kicker) That's 50 feet in the old language That's all a far cry away from cruising down Bourke St at Mt Buller! The speed skaters reach speeds of 60kph which seems rather cruisie compared to the snow skiers but that's still traveling quite quickly with just skates underneath The Steve Bradbury story has many layers ... 8 years prior to his stunning gold medal win he was involved in an accident in a world cup event where he lost 4 litres of blood and required 111 stitches in his thigh. Also, in another accident in 2000 he broke his C4 & C5 vertebrae ... it was only later on that he won gold after being one of the favourites to win 4 years earlier (where, ironically, he crashed out of the event) ... every dog has it's day So a lot of these Winter Olympic sports would best be described as extreme sports. I'm happy just to watch!!

On Ch7 every day from 10.00am/Noon until 2.30am (the next day) ... as well as a comprehensive coverage on the 7Plus app) Schedule & Results - Official Site The Aussies have got 44 competing athletes and here are our main chances to medal Matt Graham - Moguls (Sat 5th 10.30pm) Tess Coady - Snowboard Slopestyle (Sun 6th Feb 12.30pm) Jakara Anthony - Moguls (Sun 6th 10.30pm) Belle Brockhoff - Snowboard cross (Wed 9th 2.00pm/5.30pm) Scott James - Snowboard half-pipe (Fri 11th 12.30pm) Jaclyn Narracott - Skeleton (Sat 12th 11.20pm) Laura Peel - Aerials (Mon 14th 10.00pm) Bree Walker - Monobob (Tues 15th 11.15pm)

If so, the NFL might want to go after the Raiders for tanking (x 6?) haha Raiders, Philadelphia 76ers & Carlton - Tanking Kings! An artform for those 3! And how about the Houston Astros? ... tank, tank, tank, World Series Win! And for a time there paying $100k for losses would have been a waste of cash ... the Dolphins were going to lose anyway!

Excellent post For the reasons you outlined, I reckon we're at least a year away from getting full capacity crowds on a constant basis ... however, there will be a heap of Demons attending the Dogs encounter (in my view) And across the board I reckon we might see a 10% - 15% drop off in crowds on what would otherwise be expected if Covid wasn't a factor But memberships could easily increase as many still will want that connection to the club even if they choose to not attend in the same numbers And TV ratings will be healthy (or healthier) especially if we see the trend continue towards less congestion and more open play So augurs well for another bumper windfall for the AFL in terms of broadcast rights dollars (2025 onwards but they might negotiate an earlier agreement)

Can't help but think that providing absolute proof will be difficult but my opinion is that token interviews are a real thing. The Belichick text is the red herring though As for the cash for losses, that's how far tanking has gone. Tanking has been rife for decades now in the States much as tanking has been widespread in Footy for decades Again, hard to prove unless people spill the beans. And it's so widespread that it has become part of sports (tanking)

A big issue is the access to the best young athletes ... Footy, League, Cricket, Union, Basketball and other sports all take their fair share So where does soccer sit? ... perhaps 1 from every 10 top athletes where as in most other countries, soccer gets the cream of the crop unhindered. Often from a much larger population base In numerous other countries soccer is clearly the number #1 sport and it's often daylight to the next most popular sport To be honest, I'm not sure that soccer in Australia can do anything about it as the pathways here in those other sports is often quite well mapped out Sending young soccer players overseas is a good idea but soccer is missing out on the Oliver's, Petracca & Bont types ...and that's just footy and that's just 3 examples Across all the other sports, there are literally hundreds of other top talented sportsmen where soccer is not their chosen sport As previously stated, we punch way above our weight in terms of world cup qualification

Hasn't this thread degenerated! Slagging off at any team that loses and it's probably only going to get worse by the looks of it If that happens I'll be asking the mods to close the thread

Sure does Back in '06 we might have reached the S/F's if we had have somehow got past Italy in the round of 16 Ukraine were next up in the Q/F's but then Germany & France were after that! The issue looking ahead (in terms of qualification) is that the Asian countries are getting better each time Iran, the Saudi's, South Korea & Japan are all quite strong and other nations like China & Iraq can be expected to get better So again, just qualifying for the World Cup is a real achievement in my eyes Fast forward to right now ... our last 2 games are against Japan (home) and then Saudi Arabia (away) But the Saudi's might have already qualified before that last game A big ask but if we defeat Japan by at least 2 goals we're in with a chance of automatic qualification. Japan beat Australia 2-1 in the earlier match-up (stand corrected but overall placings are decided by head-to-head results and then it goes to goal difference) Points Table (all teams have played 8 games) Saudi Arabia 19 (GD +5) Japan 18 (GD +6) Australia 15 (GD +9) Oman 8 China 5 Vietnam 3 n.b. Our next game is in Sydney ... Thursday 24th March vs Japan The last match at Saudi Arabia is to be played in the early hours of the 30th March (AEDT)

Automatic qualification seems a stretch but we might still be able to qualify via the 3rd place playoff scenario ... but if we're in that scenario and then win that playoff we will then have to defeat the 5th best qualified team out of South America (probably either Uruguay, Peru, Chile or Colombia) And that's a tall order Our likely 3rd place playoff opponent (if it falls that way) will be one of 3 underperforming teams (UAE, Lebanon or iraq) I reckon we sit about where we sat last time ... we're not that good a team both in terms of quality & depth but we're still in with a chance anyway What we do know is that we have definitely qualified at least 3rd in our group so it's not quite over yet I'm a realist so my expectation of the Australian team is a hope that we can qualify for the World Cup (in any given 4 year cycle) Do that, and that's a high achievement (in my view) Anything above that is a total bonus. We are not a strong soccer nation and I highly doubt that we will ever be In terms of adult participation, we are miles off at least 30-40 nations. We seem to have good infrastructure & pathways and great fighting spirit so there's all that We were a terrific side in '06 though ... really punched above our weight then. Kewell, Viduka & Cahill were very good More of an aberration era though We often struggle to qualify for World Cups for good reason ... talent

Well done on making the SB, Gorg ... as you forecast, you stopped their run and left it up to Garoppolo to beat you. All the best in the big one but those Bengals just keep getting it done and they've got excellent fight-back qualities (during games) Rams are 4 point favourites which I see as line-ball. Fumbles, interceptions & errors can always be a big factor in this sport Blocked punts, missed field goals, the works. A 7 point play can eventuate from nowhere Should be a good game but I'm not sure many were predicting this SB match up even a few weeks ago. That's the sport hey!

Recently viewed 4 mini series Safe (8.0) The Five (7.5) The Stranger (7.5) Behind her Eyes (7.5) All British productions and all are in the Mystery/Thriller genre

Yep, 2 games decided by fundamental errors (at least, in part) KC should have taken the 3 points (with 5 seconds left in the first half) And Tartt just had to catch that sitter ... and he could have run the ball back for gained yardage as well (but you've got to catch it first!)

Telling shots in the big moments? Grand slam experience kicked in too Nadal seemed to get his 2nd wind when Medvedev starting scoffing down the pickle juice! He certainly changed things up by moving Medvedev all over the court with disguised cross court shots & drop shots Medvedev starting doing the same but it worked better for Nadal The rest is history ... great match!

Rams win in a thriller! Rams vs Bengals in the Superbowl! Leaderboard Tipping Comp 18 - Gorgoroth 16 - Clintosaurus 15 - Go the Biff 14 - JV7, layzie, Dee Zephyr, DemonDave, Macca 6 - titan_uranus

Bengals win!! Chiefs will rue their chances in not attempting a 3 point field goal close on half time. An 11 point lead at half time instead of a 14 points lead was telling Live Leaderboard Tipping Comp 15 - Gorgoroth, Go the Biff 14 - layzie, DemonDave, Dee Zephyr 13 - Clintosaurus 11 - JV7 8 - Macca 6 - titan_uranus

Rafael Nadal - 21 Today!! Next up is the French Open which Rafa has won 13 times already ... so he can get to at least 22 slams or more He's still got the legs and he's certainly still got the shots What an absolute champion!

You'd have to say that he got out on his own terms and at the top of his game I'm a tad surprised that he is retiring but he is 44 years old. Maybe the body said enough (or the mind) 7 x Super Bowl Champion! What a career!

And now for the Mens Final Hoping for a Rafa win so he can claim the record for most slams* won At the moment, Federer, Nadal & Djokovic have all won 20 grand slam tournaments each. 60 between them! *It can be argued that Rod Laver & Ken Rosewell would have won a stack more slams if the pro tournaments were counted in the 60's or if they were allowed to play in the traditional events (professional players weren't allowed to play at Wimbledon, the French & US opens for a decent period of time so they played on the (arguably) more competitive pro circuit)

So the Cats were in trouble as well It seemed that the Blues, Dons & Hawks were the only clubs keeping their heads above water back in those days All 3 of those teams were of course winning all the premierships in the 80's Best thing that ever happened was the formation of the Commission and then the intriduction of the draft & the salary cap (and therefore, the abolition of transfer fees) Although the merger talk (or takeover talk) continued on into the 90's

I highly doubt that is was signed, sealed and delivered but there were a few rumours about at the time Mind you, there were rumours flying about everywhere as a lot of the clubs were carrying a lot of debt ... Saints paid their players 7 cents in the dollar to remain viable and Richmond had their save our skins campaign which saved them Footscray & Fitzroy were broke (and nearly merged in '89) and South had to move North to survive. The Pies were in financial strife in the mid 80's as well after their transfer war with Richmond The VFL (AFL) Commission was formed in 1985 and not long after that, the draft started up as well as the salary cap. There was a fair bit going on

Ash Barty!! Superstar!!

Cinci 22 Chiefs 32 49ers 26 Rams 29

And the Leaderboard in the Tipping Comp