Macca

7mate are covering the Packers @ Bears (3am), Ravens @ Broncos (6.30am) and then SNF (Giants @ Cowboys - 10.30am) Redzone is back on ESPN and ESPN is also covering SNF & MNF (double header for MNF this week) Thursday Night Football looks like it's being covered by both 7mate & ESPN Here are the 'Elo' predictions for this week and the yearly forecast for each team (with the weekly predictions you can click on 'Win percentage' or 'Points spread'. Interesting that 'Elo' can only find 4 clear favourites this week that are road teams (Packers, Seahawks, Panthers & Bengals) Miami are also 2 point favourites according to Elo. The Elo lines often differ quite markedly from the Vegas lines.

I can see the Pats heading towards the AFC Championship (again) ... unless a team or 2 from that division puts their hand up. They get the 1 or 2 seed and then it's win 2 games to get to the SB. The Colts might dominate their division but the other 2 AFC divisions are up for grabs. Didn't watch all of yesterday's game but I'm told that New England did it reasonably comfortably.

Colts Packers Panthers

Just a shout out to you blokes about the tipping comp ... no need to reply Also, if you're reading this ... DemonDave, daisycutter, old dee, Strafford, bananas, Arrow, Norm Smith's Curse, Beelzebub et al ... feel free to join in if you like Here are the rules again (posted on the previous page) ... Rules of the 'Demonland' NFL tipping competition ... (the same as last year except a couple more bonus weeks have been added) * All participants get 3 picks only in any given week (but .. they must all be 'road' teams) * Anyone who correctly tips all 3 winners from their 3 picks receives 1 point (any number of people can win a point in any given week) * Bonus points are up for grabs in weeks 2, 5, 8, 10, 13 & 15 (2 points to all winners) whilst week 17 carries 3 points to any given winner. * No margins or correct scores are required - just the straight winners. * If you miss a week or come into the comp later on, there is no penalty. You just simply miss the chance to win points for that week or weeks. You can join in the comp at any time. * Your tips must be in before the start of Monday's games (AEST) ... or before the Friday game if you include that game. All 3 tips must be included in your post (editing your tips is strictly forbidden ) * The person (or persons) with the most points at the end of the regular season wins. For those out there who just read this thread, feel free to join in the comp. It's just a bit of fun and we could do with a few more people on the thread anyway. Last year's notable point scorers (regular season) ... 8 - Dappa Dan 7 - Georgiou R. R. Martin 4 - Gorgoroth 3 - JV7, Go the Biff, Macca The season kicks on Friday (our time) - Pittsburgh @ New England. Regular Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2013 cowboy_from_hell/ pantaloons/ Gorgoroth Strafford Macca 2014 Dappa Dan Georgiou R.R Martin Gorgoroth Post Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2013 titan_uranus DemonDave cowboy_from_hell/ Macca 2014 JV7/ pantaloons Gorgoroth/ Go the Biff Macca

Regular Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2013 cowboy_from_hell/ pantaloons/ Gorgoroth Strafford Macca ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 Dappa Dan Georgiou R.R Martin Gorgoroth ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2013 titan_uranus DemonDave cowboy_from_hell/ Macca ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 JV7/ pantaloons Gorgoroth/ Go the Biff Macca ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rules of the 'Demonland' NFL tipping competition ... (the same as last year except a couple more bonus weeks have been added) * All participants get 3 picks only in any given week (but .. they must all be 'road' teams) * Anyone who correctly tips all 3 winners from their 3 picks receives 1 point (any number of people can win a point in any given week) * Bonus points are up for grabs in weeks 2, 5, 8, 10, 13 & 15 (2 points to all winners) whilst week 17 carries 3 points to any given winner. * No margins or correct scores are required - just the straight winners. * If you miss a week or come into the comp later on, there is no penalty. You just simply miss the chance to win points for that week or weeks. You can join in the comp at any time. * Your tips must be in before the start of Monday's games (AEST) ... or before the Friday game if you include that game. All 3 tips must be included in your post (editing your tips is strictly forbidden ) * The person (or persons) with the most points at the end of the regular season wins. For those out there who just read this thread, feel free to join in the comp. It's just a bit of fun and we could do with a few more people on the thread anyway. Last year's notable point scorers (regular season) ... 8 - Dappa Dan 7 - Georgiou R. R. Martin 4 - Gorgoroth 3 - JV7, Go the Biff, Macca So get your tips in Ladies & Gents ... the season kicks off next Friday (our time) - Pittsburgh @ New England.

If we can get enough starters (say 6 - 8+) I don't see why not I'll post up the rules again in another post Dappa ... along with our 'Honour Board!' Yeah mate, I'm in as long as it's not too time consuming.

Brady free to play in the season opener ... Mike & Tony on PTI devote nearly the whole of the following episode discussing the matter ... Pardon the Interruption 3/9/15

Here's a free book that is out in the public domain ... Mark Twain ... 'Following the Equator - A Journey Around the World.' Mark Twain visited Australia as part of his travels around the world in the late 19th century and wrote about & visited many towns, cities & places (including Melbourne, Sydney, Wagga Wagga, Horsham, Bendigo, Ballarat, Tasmania et al) He was engaged in his own speaking circuit per se because of the financial difficulties that he was facing at the time (he'd lost most of his money in a failed business venture) ... all the same, it must have been quite a treat for the locals (especially in the country towns) In the book he also made many observations about our history, culture and somewhat chequered past up until that point .. the Australian part of the book is from chapters 9 through to chapter 29 but the whole book is a thoroughly enjoyable read (and he absolutely pulls no punches too) Anyway, here's the book in text form and also, here's the book in audio form (read by John Greenman) .

New England Baltimore Indianapolis Denver (?) Dallas Packers Carolina Seattle Reckon I'll get at least 3 wrong and the Colts & Pats are my only lead-pipe locks.

I'll have go as well in time JV7 but I reckon you're close to the mark ... not sure on my Packers but not just because of the Nelson injury (we should be able to cover for him to a reasonable extent) ...much will depend on how hungry the group is after bombing out the way we did against the Seahawks. There's always a few teams that come out of nowhere and this year will probably be no different ... other fancied teams drop away inexplicably. I'm intrigued with what Rex will do with Buffalo whilst the Panthers and your team in your division will make it tough for the Saints. The Ravens are another team to watch and who knows what will happen with Denver & Peyton. As usual, the NFC East will an interesting division to watch as will the NFC West. Depending on how much the Vikings improve, the NFC North could be a real bunfight between all 4 teams.

Harper Lee's long lost manuscript of "Go Set a Watchman" was discovered in 2011 and the book form was finally published just last month (July, 2015) The book was a follow on about the events of "To Kill a Mockingbird" twenty years on except Harper Lee wrote 'Go Set a Watchman' before she ever wrote 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' Upon reviewing 'Go Set a Watchman', Harper was commissioned to re-write the book by her publishers ... it was retitled 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and of course, the rest is history. Anyway, here's the first chapter (in text form) of 'Go Set a Watchman' and on this same link you can listen to the first chapter (read by Reese Witherspoon) .

Your team payed way overs for Jennings for instance but I'm not sure he was ever that good anyway. Every team gets injuries but unless it's an out and out game breaker like AP or Rodgers, those teams just have to get on with it. To my way of thinking, it all evens itself out when it comes to injuries. Footy is the same - we're not the only team who gets a rash of injuries. Nelson going down gives more opportunities to the other WR's & TE's but a lot still rests with Rodgers anyway - same as the Pats with Brady etc etc. Cobb probably becomes the main man exclusively and he's very capable. Devante Adams shows a lot of promise also. .

Hammers lose at home to Bournemouth, Demons smashed and I'm greeted with the Nelson news first thing this morning. Ugh ugh ugh!

We're losing a lot of experience in one hit (Rogers, Clarke, Watson & Haddin) so I reckon there's room for someone like Voges or perhaps Voges himself - he or Shaun Marsh might be retained but I doubt whether it would be both. The issue is that we need to find another opener, the no.3 or 4 spot is up for grabs whilst the all rounders spot needs to be consolidated - Mitch Marsh looks the most likely ... I reckon they'll continue with Nevill. Khawaja or Burns will possibly get another run at it whilst Bancroft is now being talked about as the possible opener to partner Warner. Interesting that Bancroft's fielding position is listed as a wicketkeeper so he's obviously got a bit of talent ... not sure he keeps for WA though - he may have filled in occasionally.

I've got Starc in - I reckon he'll have a big summer. On our hard, fast tracks, all our young fast bowlers will be a handful (especially against the Windies) Jackson Bird and Coulter-Nile are another couple who could play that 3rd seamers role. The batting remains the concern but we might consolidate and recover a lot more quickly than people think. The upcoming 11 tests (which includes the tours to Bangladesh in October and the tour of New Zealand in February next year) offer lots of opportunities for the would-be batsmen that will come into the side. As it happens, it's an ideal time to re-build the team.

I see you finally got Siddle into the side TD - Warne wasn't too happy about it though. Shane wanted him in for the 4th test but I'm not sure whether he said as much "at the time" ... I hope he does well all the same and Hazlewood did need a spell - Josh will be back though, he's got loads of potential. And you're right, that session was a bit of a throwback. A good, solid start.

The 2 point conversion and the probable extra use of it may well bring Tebow back into the sport ... as you said cfh, he should be able to get a gig when there's approximately 100 QB's in the sport (when including all the rostered back-ups) And he may well be suited to Kelly's fast pace offense at the Eagles - I'd like to see him make his way back. Hayne is doing everything right so far as well. As for Dunn as a punter JV7, I can't see why not but the punters all seem to have that 3 or 4 step walk up style - he'd need to learn it. Good coin too considering it's a 2nd sporting career that an Aussie rules player wouldn't ordinarily have. Both Sav and Ben Graham played a number of games. McBriar eked out 12 seasons and is now retired.

Tebow did ok in yesterday's game for the Eagles vs the Colts - ran in a TD and threw 6/12 for 69 yards. He's probably 4th in line behind Bradford, Barkley and Sanchez but you never know. The way Kelly uses his players, I wouldn't be surprised to see Tebow at least remain on Philadelphia's roster.

Speaking of which, here's the Super Bowl in 2 parts ... unlike the other highlights, the players and coaches are miked up in these 2 clips ... it would be great if we could hear this sort of stuff when watching "live" games ... 11 of 11 ... Super Bowl - Patriots/Seahawks .

Ha! ... very good Earl. It's actually Rami Malek who stars in a new drama called ... Mr Robot There's some iconic avatars attached to certain posters here aren't there? Name changes are hard to get used to as well - like anything else, we just don't like change sometimes

Would you believe it's him wearing a "hoodie?" (when he was in his early 20's) ... thought not! ... he'll be back, sometime soon.

Clarke set to retire after Ashes Pup has had a wonderful career - a sad way to go out but he did captain a world cup winning side just a few months ago. An outstanding batsman and let's hope he makes some runs at the oval - he deserves a good send off.

9 of 11 ... NFC Championship - Packers @ Seattle (ugh) 10 of 11 ... AFC Championship - Colts @ Patriots

A couple from 'Max Sedgley' His music is described as Electronica/Funk but there are heavy shades of acid jazz and a bit of nu-jazz in there as well - to my ears anyway! Anyway, here's "Something Special" (with Tasita D'mour on lead vocals) followed by the more mellow "Slowly" (featuring Z-Star on lead vocals) .

You're perhaps expecting too much, too early. Hazlewood and Starc can only get better and we shouldn't be blaming the younger bowling members of the side when the obvious issue is the batsmen. It's hard for a bowling unit to protect scores such as "60" ... ordinarily, Harris might have been expected to play in most or all of the tests over there which could have meant that Starc & Hazlewood were rotated in and out of the team. Our bowling unit might be inexperienced but at least there's an upside. Re the batting, oddly enough, our best current batsman is Rogers - but he's retiring. Even if he did go on for another year we still need to try someone else in the openers spot eventually... another opener "type" may well be needed for the no.3 spot too - a good no.3 also needs to have the capacity to open the innings as well as set up a teams score. Smith looks more suited to no.4 but he may be persevered with at no.3. We'll also be needing a no.5 soon enough as well (unless Clarke can turn things around) The all-rounders spot isn't absolutely secure either - or the keepers spot. Re Maxwell - let's not confuse technique with playing risky shots/temperament. Watch Maxwell closely - he has a sound defence and has all the shots - he's an ideal no.6 but his issues are that he's in too much of a hurry when he gets to the crease. Maxwell needs to tone down the way he plays - again, his issues can be fixed but that's up to Maxwell. I'm certainly not predicting greatness for him but I won't rule a line through him the same as I don't like ruling a line through young players as a general rule. I have the same philosophy in footy. Warner has been "unorthodox" for most of his test career and we're going to see more and more batsmen take more risks as the game progresses - the shorter forms of the game will create the new breed of batsmen - get used to it. Even Rogers gets on with it these days. Re Burns - don't be looking for instant results. He was a spec pick and like footy, not all spec picks will give you instant results. Patience and proper development are the keys ... at least Burns now knows what to do to make it as a test batsman - well, at least he should know. Many young players such as Hayden, Martyn et al fought their way back after extended absences. As for the old boys ... first Hilditch and now Lehmann have fallen for the trap of filling gaps with older batsmen instead of building a team for the future. We kept picking older players and now we probably need a major re-build. I'm not against picking older players per se but we need to get the right mix. The squad over in England right now has far too many players who are at or near the end. And I disagree on the next "real test" ... for me it's probably New Zealand (twice), then India, then England here with South Africa twice before we go back to England again. These are all "big" to "biggish" series that we need to win. The aim should be to be a powerhouse again - a team capable of winning 16 tests in a row - which we did twice in the not too distant past. Anything less than that is not living up to the high standards that have been set. .