Macca

Not surprised ... there have been murmurings for quite some time about his position. You've often got to make changes in order to improve.

8 new teams make the playoffs ... which means that 20 different teams have made the playoffs in the last 2 seasons. Quite amazing. I'm not sure there's another sporting league in the world where the parity is as it is in the NFL. Every team has 167 million to spend on player salaries which should mean that every team gets to have it's fair share of top-end talent. Except for the Browns it seems

Ha ha! Again, just a great story D77. As much as it's a gambling sport, the stories that surround the winning & the losing of these major races is very real for the participants. I really do like seeing people achieve their lifelong ambitions. It's part of what attracts me to these group races ... they are quite literally life-changers. Anyway, we've got the Magic Millions coming up on the 13th of Jan but I may have a nibble at Japan & HK next weekend (there's 3 or 4 Group 3's on show - all with very healthy prize-pools) And for those who haven't seen the Perth Cup, here it is as well as the interviews afterwards et al ...

Pounamu was a good thing beaten wasn't it? Definitely worth following if it comes over to the East - looks a Flemington horse the way it powers home. It's a 6 year old but it's found it's true form. I got a percentage of the Tri as I changed my mind on Material Man - took it to win as well as Pounamu & Trap For Fools instead of Royal Star to win. But it was a grandstand finish and a fairytale ending for the family involvement of Material Man. A great story.

From ESPN ... 2017 NFL playoff primer: Bracket, schedule, Super Bowl paths, more

Yep, agree with all that Gorg. The Browns just have to keep going back to the well with fingers crossed ... the Sixers (NBA) and the Raiders have also both had horrendous luck with drafting but both franchises are now slowly starting to come good. All that tanking and then they draft busts! Drafting is often a cruel beast.

They could draft a couple of busts again! ... and I've yet to witness anyone ever being able to predict a bust (or at least being able to do so consistently)

Noted NFL insider Adam Schefter is saying that Jon Gruden is set for the Oakland Raiders job. A huge story if true. Jack Del Rio has been fired to make way? If it happens Gruden will end up coaching out of Las Vegas. Chuck Pagano has been sacked as the Colts coach

Yeah ... it's free scoring alright. The Americans can't get enough of it though. My interest extends to the playoffs (only) like I often am with a few other sports (Rugby League, the pointy end of a number of soccer cups, Super Rugby, NHL etc etc)

Work intervenes but the 2 College SF's could be good viewing ... I really only tune in at this stage of the College season but it would be good if they expanded the playoffs to 8 teams. Close finishes are my ideal outcomes as I don't really have a dog in any of the fights. Alabama just made it into the playoffs but the 2 SF's are played at neutral venues.

That's the idea Dappa ... if one has a poor tipping result in week 1 or week 2 of the playoffs there's still a chance at winning overall with a strong finish. Here are next week's games again - all times are AEDT ... Sun 8.35am ...... Titans @ Chiefs Sun 12.15pm .... Falcons @ Rams Mon 5.00am ..... Bills @ Jaguars Mon 8.40am ..... Panthers @ Saints

Traditionally it's been 1 point per winner with 3 points up for grabs for the Super Bowl but ... I'm interested in making the NFC & AFC Championship games worth 2 points for each game just to spice things up and keep people interested. What does everyone think? We've also traditionally posted up our likely score outcomes but those scores are there for interests sake only. @pantaloons started things off that way back in 2013 and we've all just followed suit.

Regular Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2017 Clintosaurus Go the Biff Dappa Dan --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 Gorgoroth cowboy_from_hell Clintosaurus/ DeeSpencer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Gorgoroth cowboy_from_hell/ Macca JV7/ DeeSpencer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 Dappa Dan DeeSpencer Gorgoroth --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2013 cowboy_from_hell/ pantaloons/ Gorgoroth Strafford Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2016 Gorgoroth/ JV7 Clintosaurus Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 JV7/ cowboy_from_hell Gorgoroth/ Macca DeeSpencer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 JV7/ pantaloons Gorgoroth/ Go the Biff Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2013 titan_uranus DemonDave cowboyfhell/ Macca -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall Medal Tally Gold Silver Bronze Gorgoroth 3 0 4 JV7 2 2 0 Macca 2 1 3 ---------------------------------------------------- cowboy_from_hell 1 3 1 Go the Biff 1 1 0 Clintosaurus 1 0 2 Dappa Dan 1 0 1 Strafford 1 0 0 titan_uranus 1 0 0 DeeSpencer 0 2 2 pantaloons 0 2 0 DemonDave 0 1 0

And we have a winner in the tipping competition! Congratulations to Clintosaurus who wins the competition with a record score of 15 points - well done and well played. Go the Biff (2nd place) stayed up near the pace all season but couldn't quite bridge the gap. Former winner Dappa Dan rounds out 3rd place. Final Tally 15 - Clintosaurus 12 - Go the Biff 10 - Dappa Dan ------------------------------- 7 - Macca 4 - JV7, Gorgoroth Well played to all though ... the comp is easy to run from my point of view and hopefully we'll get a few more joining in next season. We can do another post-season tipping comp as well if we can get enough takers (more on that later) To the victor go the spoils ...

The Chargers will be kicking themselves after their tardy start to the season and after not looking like making it for the best part of the season, the Falcons get to 10 wins and earn a spot. Atlanta could be the surprise packet.

Just imagine being a Ravens fan at the game - gut wrenching. Well done to the Bills though ... 17 long seasons without playoffs and they finally make it!

Next Week (all times are AEDT) ... Sun 8.35am ...... Titans @ Chiefs Sun 12.15pm .... Falcons @ Rams Mon 5.00am ..... Bills @ Jaguars Mon 8.40am ..... Panthers @ Saints

I'm hoping you win for your sake JV. You never know, the team might click into gear if they get into the playoffs. The Panthers deep-down must know that the Saints & Vikes are not going to slip up and that realisation may be apparent by half time of your game. I do like the scheduling though ... the games that matter being played at the same time.

It's nearly always a curious week (week 17) ... the teams in contention that have to win, usually win, and those teams that don't have to win, don't usually win. Teams that have secured a playoff berth and can't move from that spot often rest their starters and other teams that are completely out of it only have pride & future contracts on the line. It's reflected in the betting markets. The lines & head-to-head odds are a lot different to what we normally see - it's actually a good betting week if you can get your head around what is going on. It wouldn't surprise to see the Bills, 49ers, Titans, Denver & Dallas all win ... all 5 of those teams are favoured to win where as ordinarily they'd nearly all be underdogs. And every season in week 17 it's a similar story. It's hard to see any of the Ravens, Chargers, Vikes, Pats, Steelers, Seahawks & Saints losing either.

Ha ha ha! That's probably a more interesting link Wadda ... sent the link out to a mate who follows cricket fairly closely. It is a good extensive list in that it breaks up the captaincy records series by series. Here's the proper link (fingers crossed) ... Bernborough Hcp Doomben 5.40pm For what it's worth my top 3 picks are the 2, 3 & 6

The winner looks a decent horse ... running good times too. The horse looks like it now knows how to win after being in contention for a lot of it's runs. Bad luck for the Zephyr .. never really in it but the horse has had a lot of runs of late. Had the winner but didn't have the 2nd or 3rd horse ... ah well, it's on to the Bernborough Hcp Doomben 5.40pm

Drawing against England is like a win given the circumstances ... and it looks like we're going to get out of this match with a draw Losing anytime to England is like the Demons losing anytime to the Pies, Dons, Tiges, Blues, Hawks etc etc etc! Not long to race time ... let's hope we all get a collect!

The topweight has claims as well given it's great record but meets this lot with a big discrepancy in the weights. The race being only 1400m helps 'Burning Front' though But we need the Zephyr to feature D77 ... Go the Dan!

2 scratchings so we have a field of 9 Wadda. However, the multiple dividends can still pay well with the right combo. A number of horses can win whilst all of the runners are genuinely capable of running a place or in the first 4. I do like Ozi Choice to win though. Thelberg is another to watch out for ... ran 2nd to Ozi's Choice last start and will only carry 51kg again.