Macca

Here are the 4 divisional playoff game highlights ... Chiefs @ New England AFC Divisional Playoff Highlights Packers @ Arizona NFC Divisional Playoff Highlights Steelers @ Denver AFC Divisional Playoff Highlights Seattle @ Carolina NFC Divisional Playoff Highlights

From memory these arrangements often start out this way but any change could happen quite quickly if the outcomes don't come up to expectations. Win early and Goff has to wait ... but if you lose games early then Goff may well get fast-tracked.

Rotten news mate ... I was expecting Teddy to take it to another level this season too.

I'd forgotten about the Bengals blowing that game against the Steelers ... post #3983 in case you missed it. Anyway, here's the other 2 wildcard games ... Packers @ Washington NFC Wildcard Highlights Seahawks @ Minnesota NFC Wildcard Highlights

Not long to go now ... final practice games on Thursday night and then we're into it. In the meantime I'll post up all the playoff game highlights from last season ... 2 games at a time for the next week and a half. The links will take you to youtube where you can full-screen the highlights. Chiefs @ Texans AFC Wildcard Steelers @ Bengals AFC Wildcard

Yeah, he's been quite impressive by all accounts ... regardless, that division (NFC East) is always a total mystery anyway. Any team can win it but Dallas will miss Romo ... I picked them to win the division but I'll stick with the tip because they've probably still got just as good a chance to win it as the other 3 teams. Be interesting to see how the Eagles go with their new QB (Wentz)

Well here goes ... NFC North - Vikings NFC East - Dallas NFC West - Arizona NFC South - Panthers AFC North - Steelers AFC East - Pats AFC West - Denver AFC South - Colts Wildcards - Seattle, Packers, Bengals, KC Super Bowl - Panthers MVP - Cam Newton Passing yards - Carson Palmer Receiving yards - Julio Jones Rushing yards - Adrian Peterson

I'll have a go at the division winners etc on the weekend ... the season kicks off in just over 2 weeks - that came around quickly this time probably because of the footy team still being thereabouts and getting all of our attention. Does anyone take any notice of the preseason games? I'm well and truly hooked on the real stuff but barely even look at the scores in the preseason games. The games are ultra important for formations, schemes, running routes and what not but the importance of the winning & losing is probably reserved for the real stuff. Anyway, we can do the tipping comp again if we have enough starters (5 or 6 or more) ... thought it best to leave it as it is (tip 3 road winners from 3 picks) but may throw an extra bonus point round in (or 2) Bonus weeks can be the odd numbered weeks starting with week one ... 2 points max except week 17 which traditionally carries 3 points.

The SBS game this week is the lunchtime match ... Tottenham vs Liverpool Saturday 9pm (AEST) Bit early to post up the standings but this table does update & reorganise itself as the results occur ... so I'll make sure to post it up as we move on to a new page on this thread.

On the theme of 'Classic albums' here's a band who's album was featured in series 3 of that excellent show. 'Cream' with "Disraeli Gears" ...

Just for you 'HT' ... (actually, I'm not a big wrap for this song either - oh so different to the stuff on the 2 albums that I posted up)

They involved a veritable who's who of session muso's for both albums from what I've gathered. The songs on both albums go up and down the pecking order as the years pass too ... for instance, I instantly liked 'The Fez', 'Josie' & 'Peg' but I now really like all 3 songs for different reasons. Their music (especially on these 2 albums) is everlasting.

Steely Dan ... 'The Royal Scam' (the album) ... Here is an album from nearly 40 years ago. All the songs on this album will grow on you if you like the style (jazz /funk/rock/fusion) Although none of the songs lifted from the album became hits, that outcome was almost certainly not the intention of Fagen & Becker anyway. 'Aja' was the follow-up album from this one and is arguably better, but this album (The Royal Scam) was originally marked a little harshly probably because the music was such a departure from their previous stuff ... later on it was recognised in a much much better light. Whilst here I may as well post up the follow-up album 'Aja' 'Aja' the album was featured in that excellent "Classic albums" series ...

I ended up getting Fetch TV very cheap 'GV' because I'm with Optus (internet & home phone) already. Basically restructured things for about the same price. Fetch TV have a number of dedicated HD channels covering the EPL. But unless you've got that prior arrangement, you'll have to pay extra to get the EPL. However, Optus may be able to offer a decent deal as I'm not sure they've had an abundance of start-ups. It's good to see SBS covering a game a week regardless ... hopefully the game will be the regular 'lunchtime' match (UK time) so as viewers here can watch at a fan-friendly time.

The best 5 drama's I've seen in the last few years are as follows ... True Detective Fargo Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul Mr Robot Orphan Black But you may or may not like any or all of them nutbean. It's all very subjective. I'm not a 'Game of Thrones' fan but I know people who are and they also like or love some or all of the shows that I listed. Homeland and House of Cards are first rate drama's too ... but again, it's just my opinion. Pick of the bunch is True Detective season 1 and all 5 seasons of Breaking Bad. The first season of 'Stranger Things' is great family entertainment as well. My rule of thumb is to watch at least the first 3 episodes of a new show. Or, seeing as you're going to be in Italy in your travels you could get into the swing of things with this quality Italian drama series ... Gomorrah ... the show is quite gritty and realistic and compares quite favourably with 'The Sopranos' .

We could take it back further and promote spin bowling in this country (and seam bowling for that matter) ... the Sydney & Adelaide tracks were often spin-friendly historically and even the Melbourne wicket used to take more turn. The Gabba was often a green-top and the Perth wicket used to be a lot more bouncy than it is now. The Sydney wicket would often favour seam bowling early in a test much like the Gabba used to favour seam bowling, often for 4 or 5 days. Now all our tracks are very similar (especially in comparison to yesteryear) ... so our batsmen and bowlers are not playing on enough variable wickets. I'm not surprised that we struggle on sub-continent wickets at all. The variance in our tracks was a reason why we've been the best performed tests teams ... we now struggle on spin-friendly tracks and when confronted with seaming conditions in England, we've also struggled of late. Curators creating flat decks that last 5 days is not necessarily the fault of the curators though ... the ground trusts, CA and TV all have a strong say in proceedings. I agree with you on the 'horses for courses' idea 'TD' but it shouldn't have necessarily gotten to the stage where we need to use that option. A good test batsmen should be able to bat in all conditions.

General classification after stage 18 1 Christopher Froome (GBr) 2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) 03:52 3 Adam Yates (GBr) 04:16 4 Nairo Quintana (Col) 04:37 5 Romain Bardet (Fra) 04:57 6 Richie Porte (Aus) 05:00 7 Fabio Aru (Ita) 06:08 8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) 06:37 9 Louis Meintjes (RSA) 07:15 10 Daniel Martin (Irl) 07:18 Froome has almost certainly got the tour wrapped up but Richie Porte can still get a podium finish. 2 tough stages to come so there may still be a few surprises. Tonight's stage ... Saturday's stage ... Official Site SBS Tracker Cyclingnews.com

In a round about way - Kent. Kent = the compensation pick we ended up receiving for the loss of Moloney & Rivers (and the acquisition of Byrnes) ... the compensation was pick 48 in the 2012 Draft. Where we've lost out is not acquiring quality free agents in the last 4 off-seasons - but that's easier said than done and acquiring free agents would have affected our compensation in at least 2 of those years (which you highlighted, RP) Going forward we need to be a player with regards to free agency. Picking up one good player per year (via free agency) is not a big ask. Here's the list of free agents (Not sure how up to date the list is)

On their way to the Alps the riders encounter the 'Grand Colombier' tonight ... there are 8 climbs all up tonight and the stage promises to be a good one. Froome is looking very strong though and his Sky team have backed him to an immense degree but ... he still needs to get it done. Porte is working his way up the standings and could still get a podium finish as long as he doesn't have a bad day. *SBS are covering tonight's stage from 8.30pm. General classification after stage 14 1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 01:47 3 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 02:45 4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 02:59 5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 03:17 6 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 03:19 7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 04:04 8 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 04:27 9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 05:03 10 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 05:16 Official Site SBS Tracker Cyclingnews.com

Decent climb to Chalet-Reynard tonight ... originally the riders were required to climb all the way to Mont Ventoux but gusts of wind have been predicted to exceed 100km/h for today's stage ... all the same, with those sort of conditions the stage could get very interesting - the climb beginning at Bedoin should begin a little before midnight (or thereabouts) Here's the preview from the official site ... Official Site SBS Tracker Cyclingnews.com

There's a miriad of stuff to watch these days ... something for everyone. There's lots of stuff that doesn't necessarily appeal but each to their own.

Mr Robot (s02) has just started airing in the US so it's probably on 'Presto' (streaming) again ... you'll have to google etc. IT Crowd is great but the show finished up some time ago. Better Call Saul - excellent show. I've found a lot of European drama worth watching for those who like their drama to be real-life/gritty ... I'll post up a summary of what I've come across down the track.

Mr Robot is back (season 2) Another show to keep an eye out for ... The Bridge (A Swedish/Danish production) The French/UK have done a remake of the show called The Tunnel but the first season of 'The Bridge' was very good. Billions is also quite a good show and well worth a look. Paul Giamatti & Damian Lewis are superbly cast as high-powered foes. .

The big guns are all nearly 6 minutes behind Van Avermaet but the next 2 stages will start sorting the GC contenders out (and Van Avermaet as well) Tonight's stage looks brutal but tomorrow night's stage looks just as difficult. Porte is 1:49 from the main contenders so he's not out of it ... Contador is 1:25 behind those same main contenders. Stage 8 profile ... Stage 9 profile ... Official Site SBS Tracker Cyclingnews.com

First day in the mountains tonight (stage 5) ... here's tonight's profile and Friday's profile (stage 7) Tomorrow night's stage (stage 6) is a flat stage but the riders will have to contend with the Pyrenees on Saturday & Sunday as well. Any of the GC riders might make a move in the next few days especially those who have already lost vital time (Porte & Contador) Official Site SBS Tracker Cyclingnews.com