Macca

Yeah layz tunein is great ... the best 11 bucks a month you'll ever spend if you're a fan of overseas sports ... especially the American sports because of the time zones. 1 simple click or 2 and you're straight to the game. All 4 USA sports convert well to live audio but it must be said that I'm an audio bloke. I sometimes prefer it to visual.

To be honest the only clear standout divisional winner looks to be the Patriots (again) In every other division there are at least 2 teams with claims. In some cases 3 genuine chances. Who wins the AFC South? All 4 teams are capable of having winning seasons if their QB's stay healthy.

There's a number of others who we can prompt up as we get closer to the start of the season ... JV7, T_U, DeeSpencer, Cards13, Dee Zephyr, Wadda We Sing, Strafford, Go the Biff, Clintosaurus (last year's winner) and a few others. The weekend before the first weekend of games works best for the tipping comp as it's fresh and people can post up their tips straight away if they wish to partake. No good going too early. I'll post up the honour roll, the rules and the upcoming week 1 games with the lines at the same time. Bonus weeks last year were weeks 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 & 17 and we probably need that many again to maintain interest. As we all know any point gained is to be treasured! In the meantime we could post up our tips for Divisional winners, MVP, SB Champs et al as we've done in the past. That's always tricky but a bit of fun.

The tipping comp might attract a few more here ... a dozen regular contributors would be ideal but we've probably had well over 20 different contributors over the length of the thread. I'm not big on fantasy sports but I know plenty who are so your idea is well worth persevering with Dappa. Once the practice games are done I'll try and post up the game highlights of last years playoffs. In the meantime, here's a treat - you may have seen the mic'd up version of the Super Bowl but if not, enjoy! To view the clip you'll have to go via youtube but don't forget to full-screen it.

September is now going to be chock-full of sports where we've multiple interests. Fantastic. Demons, Racing, Rugby League finals, Baseball playoffs later on in the month and of course the NFL starts as well. Speaking of which ... Your Chicago Bears are playing Wadda's & my Green Bay Packers at Lambeau in the first week of the NFL regular season (Monday Sept 10th) The biggest and oldest rivalry in American Football. Hopefully we'll see both of you gentlemen on the NFL thread ... at least for the tipping comp.

Well DZ I thought I'd hold off whilst we got the Best Sports bet off and running on the other thread. Just having to find 2 picks works quite well doesn't it? We'll probably have it down pat in no time. So I did have my eye on the Memsie Stakes on the 1st of Sept as that race looks like attracting a top-notch field. There are 3 or 4 other decent races on that weekend so it doesn't have to be the Memsie. Here are the early odds ...

I have still got visions of Performer veering off the track and in the process throwing Hughie Bowman off. Scary moment that was. And Performer was the early favourite for the Slipper from memory. There's a slight lull this week with only 5 Group or Listed races out of the Rosehill & Moonee Valley meetings but the rest of the program's at each venue are still quite solid. Still, the 5 Stakes races have a number of well performed familiar horses engaged.

Wow! Impressive copy & paste there DZ ... I believe I mentioned the match-up against Sandbar for Santos last week back but there's some decent opposition apart from Sandbar. Performer, Plague Stone & Dio D'ora round out at least 5 genuine chances in the race. The 1100m might suit Santos the best though. Small field but could well be a good betting race with so many chances.

I'm a huge fan of the Thursday night games ... either listening to the game live on tunein or try and avoid the scores and watch the game 'as live' on a Friday evening either before the footy or straight after. Once the footy is done it's pure NFL on a Friday night. We get our mini-fix of NFL before it all happens on a Monday. The full schedule of the week 16 games falls on Christmas eve this year and we even get a game on Christmas day as well (AEDT) - Denver @ Oakland. The Raiders will be an interesting team to watch with Gruden in charge. Similar for New Years eve here for all the week 17 games (again, AEDT) The other 2 Thanksgiving games (Nov 22) is the early game (Chicago @ Detroit) followed by the late game (Washington @ Dallas) The Falcons @ Saints is the evening game on Thanksgiving.

@Dappa Dan Foles & Wentz both at practice and in full training. Splitting the snaps in 11 on 11 drills. Not sure the 3rd QB Sudfeld is going to get a look in, in the season proper. In other news Adrian Peterson could end up at Washington, Deshaun Watson is back as the QB at Houston & Jameis Winston looks to have taken a step up for the Bucs.

Kizer is 22 so there is plenty of time to teach him the QB position - what hope did he have at Cleveland? He's only 1 year out of college. So there's a long term hope. Hundley would want to improve greatly as he's looking like being the 3rd banana right now. Rodgers will be 35 in December but elite QB's go on until they're 40 these days. Or more in the case of Brees & Brady. Aaron is still as hungry as ever so at least 4-5 more years as long as he stays healthy.

Only 2cm - 3cm difference in height but Kizer plays tall and Hundley looks small. Kizer looks a bit like Prescott and Hundley looks like a fish out of water sometimes. We've got both on the roster right now but if Rodgers stays fit, he'll be playing nearly all the minutes. I like the idea of having a back-up QB to Rodgers as someone who can take a hit and/or gain yards with the run. The throwing should revert to 6-7 yard lateral passes or shorter throws downfield as opposed to what a gun like Rodgers delivers - different QB, different type of role. McCarthy should be able to figure it out - hopefully.

Us supporters aren't supposed to be the ones with foresight but even if we were being heard, it's the paid professionals and the board who just have to have that knowledge. Looking back, it was pure amateur hour. I'm sure they were trying their best but the direction was skewiff. But we bought in anyway because we are trusting souls and when things didn't work out, we are still here. Remarkable resilience really. Fast forward to right now - with there being no real stand-out clubs apart from Richmond, we've got a chance to win a couple of finals. You just never know. But I'm always one to believe that a clubs list can always be improved greatly no matter where that club sits ... if you miss one year recruitment-wise because you are resting on your laurels, that can be very costly. Other years you might recruit hard and fall way short anyway - we've seen that happen. I'm liking the look of our list but we've still got a fair way to go. Same deal for the NFL ... my Packers have to become a better than average team that can win without Rodgers - twice now he's been incapacitated and we've fallen away badly as a consequence. Kizer might do alright at the Packers away from the Browns. Time will tell. He's a big lad, very athletic and still only 22 years old. We should be able to teach the kid how to play the QB position at least ?

Yep And if you are embarking on a total rebuild why would you appoint a rookie coach? We got it right with Roos/Goodwin but DB never stood a chance . . it is hard enough to win games as a rookie coach with regards to the supporter heat. We threw the guy to the wolves. Hibdsight though Dappa. Neeld the same really because our list was bog ordinary when he took over. Roos turned over more than 30 players in 3 years.

I do believe there are legitimate times to moan though Dappa ... Seattle/Beast Mode SB moment Atlanta more than 3 converted TD's ahead deep into a SB Rodgers breaking another collarbone therefore ending the Packers season with a jolt Wentz going down with an ACL Rams not making the playoffs for 11 years with a terrible head coach for the most part. The Cleveland Browns.

I look bigger picture as a sports fan even though I know my own thoughts are largely worthless and pointless. Ultimate success is an obvious goal so getting to the playoffs/finals is an achievement because you've got the chance to contend and it has been hard work getting there. And the journey should be enjoyed and not dismissed if the ultimate goal isn't achieved. Divisional titles are like playing 2 finals in footy in my eyes. So enjoy it. The Northey, Daniher & Balme years should be somewhat celebrated because we played some great footy and had winning seasons. Many might disagree but I don't care for those sort of views.

Those barren Demon years between '65 to '87 taught me that just having a winning season is something to be celebrated (as an onlooker) Playing sport is different because at least you can control things and help create a proper direction. Ultimate success is therefore quite achievable. As onlookers we can really only hope for the best. If you were a Cleveland fan you'd have my sympathies. But I believe you just achieved the ultimate success yeah?

Sometimes this place is like that Monty Python sketch where they are all trying to out do one another with their miserable tales. I went 22 years without finals ('65 to '87) yet I still don't moan about it. What is the point ... nothing can be changed.

It is about perspective ... we'll therefore have to agree to disagree. And I said 'Somewhat' dominant ... miss that word Dappa? Anyway, our team just made the finals so moaning about the past about your team seems a bit odd.

But it still could be way worse for you ... Cleveland! Those 3 years under Harbaugh any Browns fan would take - in a nanosecond. It's like the miserable pessimists on the footy threads bemoaning the fact that we've terrible for 53 years ... more nonsense. We played some great footy under Northey, Daniher & Balme.

The joke? That sort of joke usually comes from uneducated idiots and one should never listen to an idiot. Put another way it is just opposition fans being opposition fans (idiots) The Reid era at the Eagles was a somewhat dominant one except for the absence of a SB win. That is my view and you'll never change my mind.

You missed the great 49ers/Montana era then. I lived through it but didn't witness it because if the lack of cable.

Hang on a minute there Dappa ... the Eagles haven't exactly been 'Cleveland-like' in the last 15 years. 9 playoff series' in 11 years under Reid was painful? You should be so lucky. It is not always about winning the ultimate prize especially in a 32 team comp. And you won the whole thing last season so there's the icing on the cake. And you could win it again this year too. ha ha ?

Ha! What does happen quite frequently is that the top teams in Europe are often involved in games where there are more than 2 goals scored in the match. Mainly at home although we saw Juventus do it as the away team yesterday. Barcelona did it as well after scoring 2 very late goals. And those gun teams usually win against average/fair/poor opposition as well. The best odds for those sort of results is when it's a good team at home vs another good team. Like Chelsea over Arsenal yesterday. Man City just beat Huddersfield 6 - 1 at home. They are probably the best at it.

On a serious note that go to whoa bet is more apt when talking about a "good" team Wadda I mainly look for a situation where the good team blows the poor-to-average team out of the water in the first quarter and then maintains that dominance. Even at this early stage I fancy our chances of dispensing with GWS early on next week. Might get 5-1 up to 7-1 on a go-to-whoa bet based on the straight win market. Just a thought.