Macca

Congrats JV ... far too good and fully deserved victors. Good luck in the SB!

The alleged perpetrator recently converted to Islam (probably to justify the parts of islam that were to satisfy his future needs - certainly not for peaceful measures) He has been ranting continuously on facebook in a mirror-like fashion to certain ISIS ideologies. He belted his brother and put him into hospital 5 years ago and on Thursday night he attempted to kill him - why? Both times because he was gay. More ISIS ideology He told his girlfriend that he was going to mow people down in the City 2 hours before he did so - another ISIS ideology. He also told a passer-by at that time that armageddon was coming and to watch the 6pm news. He burnt a 'Bible' and threw it into the face of the old man who he then stole a car off - a Bible. It's been reported that as he was in his murderous campaign, he was continually leaning out of his killing machine screaming 'Allahu Akbar' (Allah is great) and also used the fore-fingered sign that is synonymous with ISIS. The route he took (4 blocks) just happened to be the only busy pedestrian route where a car can proceed virtually unimpeded (apart from the pedestrians) ... he wasn't necessarily stopped at Lt Collins St by the ballards in place either - his intended route in my opinion was to mount the pavement at the corner of Little Collins & Swanston St. The video of him turning on to the pedestrian pathway looks quite deliberate. The route was planned - meticulously. It had to be. He picked the busy lunchtime crowd too. The incident immediately preceding the mowing down of innocent victims involved at least 6-8 minutes of donuts which also looked to be planned.- whether that was to bait the police or not is debatable. It certainly looked that way ... regardless, he knew full well what his next move was. Being a nutter/drug freak and buying into ISIS Ideology are not mutually exclusive ... in fact, we see this lethal combination on an almost daily basis world wide - and we more often than not call it a terrorist attack. To verify all of the above you're going to have to use google and get a number of sources. A lot of the above will possibly come to light at a later date. CT means counter-terrorism ... the authorities saying that it wasn't a CT situation is true but they didn't say it wasn't a terrorist act in the first place. Words are often used to satisfy the masses. And it's easy to understand why the authorities don't want us to believe that this act was a terrorist act ... but what is the truth? .

Yes, I concur JV... and that best team might be the team that has last use of the ball. It's been a great ride for both our teams but only 1 team will go on.

I'm praying that the 3 month old infant recovers and somehow lives a healthy life. A reunion of mother and child is something to wish for. Thoughts are also with the others who have sustained life threatening injuries. Those who work in the vicinity or anyone in the area at the time of this heinous act will be deeply effected. A lot of people are going to need a lot of counselling ... the injured will too as well as having a possible lifetime of having to live with the debilitating after effects of those injuries. I feel so sorry for those who died - their lives taken away in the blink of an eye. My thoughts are with them and their families and friends. Edit: The 3 month old boy died later tonight ... breaks your heart. .

Broken ribs can take an age ... at least 4 weeks but more like 4 to 6. I've just learnt to never be too hopeful with these sorts of injuries. If we get through to the SB I'll see it as a bonus if Nelson suits up and is as involved in as many plays as usual. He might suit up and be involved in selected plays. That's more realistic. He'd almost certainly have to wear a back plate anyway ... and that can be restrictive for a WR. Besides all that, if we lose without him so be it. There are no excuses (apart from if Rodgers was out) ... and that would be a reason, not an excuse. .

In my opinion he won't play again this season ... but I'm a realist.

Packers 31 Atlanta 30 Steelers 24 Patriots 21 I have to pick the Packers but I'm concerned about how we're possibly going to limit Atlanta's scoring power ... although the same could be said in reverse with Rodgers and his WR's. I'd be surprised if it's not a high scoring game. And I reckon the Steelers can provide an upset ... they'll need to be at their best and hope that New England are off their game a trifle. The game should be a close one regardless.

Post Season Tipping Comp Leaderboard 7 - JV7, Macca 6 - Clintosaurus 5 - Gorgoroth, DeeSpencer Next week's games Monday 7.05am ...... Packers @ Falcons Monday 10.40am .... Steelers @ Patriots

I reckon the Pats/Steelers game is an even money bet ... same as the NFC Championship game although the odds makers will no doubt see it differently. ... Actually, I checked and it's Atlanta -3.5 and the Pats -5.5. Home teams normally get 3 points in evenly matched games but the Steelers will be right in it. It's too late to change it this year but we could in the future make the Championship games worth 2 points each in the post-season comp.

*Always gamble responsibly As for the Packers/Dallas game, I could only listen via tunein but that's as good as sports radio can get. It sounded like the game had everything and I'll watch the replay later. As it's turned out, one of JV7 or myself will have a team in the SB and that's a good result, all things considered.

Atlanta & Ryan far too good ... so it's either @ Dallas or vs the Packers. The Falcons will be confident of winning either way (after today's performance)

The KC/Steelers game has been moved to Sunday Night instead of it's earlier scheduled time slot of early Sunday arvo. New revised schedule ... Sunday 8.35am ..... Seattle @ Atlanta Sunday 12.15pm ... Houston @ New England Monday 8.40am .... Green Bay @ Dallas Monday 12.20pm .... Pittsburgh @ Kansas City

And you've hired Wade Phillips as your defensive coordinator. A good move. The Chargers moving whilst predicted still seems to be low-impact in my eyes (in terms of the San Diego fans losing their team) I guess private ownership governs these sorts of outcomes and the Americans are well used to it. As for the people of LA embracing the Chargers, who knows when that might happen? .

The KC/Steelers is a tough one and a Packers win will require another stellar performance from Rodgers - and who's to say he can't do it again. Falcons 27 - Seattle 22 Patriots 28 - Texans 13 Chiefs 21 - Steelers 20 Cowboys 24 - Packers 27

What's important is for the club to excel at trading if we find ourselves in a strong position with regards to trading ... so, if we do have a fringe player or 2 who has real currency, we'd hopefully be in a great position to win-out on any trade. Real depth should ultimately make a club stronger. If we're top-notch at trading, we shouldn't therefore be too concerned about losing players who can't get a regular game (despite those players being decent footballers) The real concern would be losing a player or 2 who could be classed as being amongst our best players in a team that wins more than it loses ... however, if we're great at trading we can turn a situation like that into a win as well. If we start playing finals other clubs will come at our better players. If they come at the fringe players, make them overpay. .

Post Season Tipping Comp Leaderboard 4 - Clintosaurus, JV7, Macca 3 - Gorgoroth, DeeSpencer Next week's games (AEDT) ... Sunday 8.35am ..... Seattle @ Atlanta (-4.5) Sunday 12.15pm ... Houston @ New England (-15.5) Monday 8.40am .... Green Bay @ Dallas (-3.5) Monday 12.20pm .... Pittsburgh @ Kansas City (-1.5)

It's all academic now but it was an over-confident call by McCarthy and not needed. Going for it is an artform ... only Belichick gets it right most of the time. But he's the master. Obviously ecstatic about the win though ... we should be able to cover for Nelson if he's done.

McCarthy never seems to know when to go for it and when not to go for it. He stuffed up big time in Seattle 2 years ago and now he's done it again. Leading 14 to 6 you punt from the GB 42 yard line and put the pressure on an (at times) shaky Eli. Edit: New York's only score in the 2nd half resulted from the above play. Footnote: All of GB's 38 points came with Nelson off on the sidelines. .

Seattle have been a bit better than I thought but Detroit have been very very average on offense. Oakland were even worse though and Houston weren't extended to any extent.

And there's nearly always at least 1 upset in both the first 2 weeks of the playoffs ... however, the Giants winning wouldn't be that much of a surprise. If either Miami or Detroit get up then that would surprise. I'm not changing my tips but Oakland winning against an average Houston team might happen. The line is only -3.5 in Houston's favour. Anyway, for those who don't have cable or the like, all the playoff games will be on 7mate.

A few speculative points ... The Giants worry me but Eli will need his defense to be supreme. Against that, Rodgers is in stellar form. It's the game of the weekend as long as New York can bring their A game and the Packers are totally switched on. Packers just. Atlanta are my pick to go through to the SB unless the Giants or Packers can stop them. I'm not sure on Dallas ... Prescott would be the first 'relied-upon-rookie-QB' to win through but if he does, kudos. If Seattle get past Detroit (as expected), I don't believe the Seahawks are good enough to win at the Falcons. New England should breeze through to the AFC Championship game but that may be to their detriment. Not playing an in-your-face tough game for a month is not ideal. KC or the Steelers may provide an upset in week 3 - especially Pittsburgh. But winning @ Foxborough ain't easy - anytime. So it's an Atlanta/New England SB for mine ... failing that it's the Pats vs the Packers (or Giants) for the big dance.

Couple of clips featuring the late, great Mr Richard Shawn ...

More 80's rock ...

If I had my way I'd have the sport played like it was pre flooding and the press. Forwards playing forward and backmen playing back. Real wingmen and without the eye-sore of regularly having an abundance of midfielders all scrambling for the ball. But hey, that can't happen unless the rotations are scaled right back. It's not ice-hockey. My forward line is a trifle top-heavy but 'elusive-qualities' abound. Apart from Neitz, the other 5 were all good on the ground. Schwartz before he did those knees could get about.

Sun 8.30am .....(HOU -3) ..... Oakland 13 @ Houston 19 Sun 12.30pm .. (SEA -7)....... Detroit 17 @ Seattle 24 Mon 5.05am .... (PIT -9.5)..... Miami 10 @ Pittsburgh 21 Mon 8.40am .... (GB -4) ....... NY Giants 16 @ Green Bay 24