Macca

Highlights of last night's game .... And here's the line-up of EPL games to be shown on SBS (assuming SBS are going to be covering the Saturday lunchtime fixtures - ongoing) Sat Aug 12 ... 9.30pm Burnley vs Liverpool Sat Aug 19 ... 9.30pm Swansea vs Man Utd Sat Aug 26 ... 9.30pm Bournemouth vs Man City Sat Sept 9 .... 9.30pm Man City vs Liverpool Sat Sept 16 .. 9.30pm Crystal Palace vs Southampton Sat Sept 23 .. 9.30pm West Ham vs Tottenham Sat Sept 30 .. 9.30pm Huddersfield vs Tottenham

That was a decent opening fixture .... Leicester led twice and ended up losing 3-4 to the Gunners. It could be quite a season with 6 teams having a genuine chance at the title. Here's my finishing order (for what's it's worth) ... Man City Man United Arsenal Liverpool Chelsea Tottenham West Ham (14th)

For those without cable or a game pass the Seven Network will be covering 3 live games again on Monday's (our time) ... and that includes SNF. That agreement is for the 2018/19 season as well. There's a decent line-up of Thursday night games again this season ... the Pats & KC kick off the season on Sept 7th (Friday 8th our time) and here's the full line-up of Thursday night games.

Couple from Donald Fagen ...

NFL for me has become one of my favourite sports to watch (as a whole) ... it's right up there with Test Cricket but It's probably the only sport (NFL) where I have a really keen interest from week 1 to the Super Bowl. Most other sports I tune in and out of or the interest is primarily the finals/playoffs or major events like the Olympics/Tour de France or Golf & Tennis majors. The big impact with the NFL is how things can change dramatically from week-to-week. The division/conference/playoff set-up is second to none with regards to maintaining interest and there are just a stack of storylines (and that's week to week as well) It's a sport where it's so much more than just about your own team (well, that's how I view the sport anyway) I'm not sure @JV7 can bear to click on the following link ... Super Bowl LI: Patriots vs. Falcons Mic'd Up | NFL Films

It's cable for me JV (since the mid 90's) but more specifically, ESPN. Redzone, Sportscenter, NFL Primetime and all the associated shows fulfill my needs. SNF & MNF are also on the must watch list ... I'm hangin' out for the season to start. Redzone especially is great. I pay about $60 per month (HD & IQ) but I get a stack of other sports and other stuff so I see cable as fantastic value. I'm not sure I could cope without it. What do you get for the game pass? Every game? What's the picture like when fed through to the telly?

Here are the stages that involve various category 1 climbs in the 'Tour de France' ... click on the highlighted areas for details. Cadel Evans gives a summary of each stage as well (provided by the links) Wed 5th ....... Stage 5 Sat 8th ......... Stage 8 Sun 9th ........ Stage 9 Thurs 13th ... Stage 12 Fri 14th ........ Stage 13 Sun 16th ...... Stage 15 Wed 19th ..... Stage 17 Thurs 20th ... Stage 18

'Luminous' with "Make it Happen" along with 'Floris' with "You and I"

Johan Brunkvist with 'Downtown Lounge' followed by Hiromi with 'Seeker' (the full version)

Quintana takes the lead in the Giro d'Italia after a gruelling climb to the finish in stage 9 Unfortunately the Giro isn't being shown on SBS due to rights restrictions but the event can be seen on Eurosports if you've got cable. Here's a stage by stage preview ... stages to look out for with regards to difficult clubs are stages 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 & 20 (mainly the last week) Edit: And now Dumoulin takes over the lead after a superb time-trial in stage 10. Dumoulin holds a 2:23 minute lead over Quintana after Nairo had a poor time trial. There's plenty more to play out though.

Gotta go with Pittsburgh this time GTG ... and would it be Nashville's first appearance in the final if they get through over Anaheim? It might be their first conference final appearance. Anyway, I'll be tuning in. Anaheim v Nashville Ottawa v Pittsburgh

Couple from 'Fall Out Boy' ...

Here's a more than decent podcast made recently by the BBC about Kerry Packer and the World Series Cricket days ... 5 Live Sport Specials - Kerry Packer: The revolution that changed cricket

AP to the Saints ... low salary as well (3.5 mil per year for 2 years) He might give them 1 good year, maybe 2. At 33, he's nearing the end but because he's been great previously, he might have a bit left. A new team could be just the tonic. Beast-mode should end up at the Raiders and the same scenario applies - however, Lynch is only 31. Again, 3.5mil per year is not a lot of money by NFL standards.

Well I'm just a terrible tipster ... all the info in the world won't change that! St Louis v Nashville Anaheim v Edmonton Washington v Pittsburgh Ottawa v New York Rangers

Here's a One-Series-Wonder from the past called 'Nowhere Man' (IMDb link) All the episodes from this one and only series (released in 1995) have been uploaded onto youtube so if you like your drama/mysteries with a real twist, you may like this. The show is very much in the mode of 'The Prisoner' You can watch 'Nowhere Man' here

Went 3/8 myself so you win again (is that every time?) And yeah, with a bit of luck your Leaf's could have won that series ... all 4 losses were close and 3 of the losses went to O/T. I'll do the next lot of tips later on but the Pens/Caps series should be a beauty. Nashville could be tough to beat too - very impressive over the Blackhawks.

Well I'm nearly 'over-it' but mainly because I reckon the punishment was fair enough. What I would like to see is an admission of guilt and for the EFC club to face up to it's responsibilities to the sport - won't happen though. They remind me of common criminals who never admit to their crimes. Also, the AFL had a great opportunity to get really tough with regards to PED use ... but that didn't happen and almost certainly won't happen either. There's too much money at stake and in their eyes, PED use is far too difficult to curtail. So we get a softening in all areas - in turn, the footy public and the whole order of things is kept in check. Weekly blood tests which results in blood-passports would help enormously ... instead of that the players are subjected to 1 or 2 urine tests (on average) per season. Token.

Have any of the 34 players ever said a bad word about him? You would think they should especially after being rubbed out for a season. Strangely quiet though ... 4 years later. Anyway, some of us were saying exactly the same thing as to what you've said both here & elsewhere in early 2013 TF. Not that many of the footy loving public were ever listening back then. Even now many just want to turn a blind-eye. But that's the nature of sports fans the world over ... we shouldn't ever expect anything otherwise. The media will in turn reflect the public sentiment and there you have it. At a guess I'd say there's any number of copies of the records - and those records will almost certainly never see the light of day either. The big losers were the EFC ... they are still in recovery mode and will be for quite some time. As for the drugs-in-sport issue, most have come around to the realisation that all sports are tainted with PED use (with some more so than others) But there's big money at stake in sport and those monies must be protected. Could have said that 30 or 40 years ago too - it's not necessarily a recent phenomenon. I'm assuming that you've heard all of the above before but others might not have.

Can't complain with the Packers schedule either ... our home games are all winnable. We're @ Atlanta in week 2 with other road games at Dallas, Pittsburgh & Detroit but I relish the games against the good teams. Helps having Rodgers of course. We've got Seattle at home in week 1 - Lacy might have a bit to prove first up for the Seahawks. The Falcons are at the Patriots in week 7 (SNF) ... that will be interesting.

And just like that the EPL title race just got interesting again. It's still Chelsea's to lose as Tottenham would need to just about win-out but 4 points can be whittled down to 1 point in the space of 1 round of games. Ironically, Spurs play Chelsea next up in a FA Cup semi-final.

The Leafs made it ... tough series first up vs Washington though GTG. I've picked the Capitals but you may surprise. Still, it's playoff hockey where anything can happen and often does ... here are the 8 matchups with (for what it's worth) my picks in dark italics. East Montreal vs NY Rangers Ottawa vs Boston Pittsburgh vs Columbus Washington vs Toronto West Minnesota vs St Louis Edmonton vs San Jose Chicago vs Nashville Anaheim vs Calgary

Adam Scott would have to be a realistic chance as he does finish well and is only 3 behind. However, Justin Rose might just be too good in the end. 31 on the back 9 today from Rose might be pointer. Spieth, Garcia, Moore, Fowler, Hoffman & Schwartzel are all within striking distance as well. As always, high drama will almost certainly ensue. Especially on the back 9.

A few TV series to look out for ... Better Call Saul (season 3) April 10 Fargo (season 3) April 19 Silicon Valley (season 4) April 23 Orphan Black (season 5 final) June 10 The most recent seasons of Billions, Homeland & Baskets have already been released this year ... all up to their usual standards too. Big Little Lies might be worth a look ... just released on cable (foxtel) the show was written by Australian author Liane Moriaty and stars Nicole Kidman & Reese Witherspoon. Glitch looks the goods after a decent first season - this award winning Australian paranormal drama loosely borrows from Les Revenants (The Returned) I'm delving into some more Aussie drama with Jack Irish, Janet King, The Code, Rake, Tangle, Spirited, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Serangoon Road & The Doctor Blake Mysteries all on the must-see list.

For those who are interested in watching the replay, here's the edited highlights with the various players & coaches mic'd up ... the link can't be embedded so you'll have to clink on the link & watch on youtube ... 2 months later and I'm still 40/60 on Atlanta blowing it vs the great comeback by New England. Super Bowl LI - Patriots vs Falcons ... NFL Films