Macca

Playoff Schedule ... it looks like all the playoff games will be shown live on 7mate & ESPN Sunday Jan 4 8.25am Arizona (5) @ Carolina (4) 12.15pm Baltimore (6) @ Pittsburgh (3) Monday Jan 5 5.00am Cincinnati (5) @ Indianapolis (4) 8.30am Detroit (6) @ Dallas (3) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday Jan 11 8.30am Indi/Cin/Balt @ New England 12.15pm Car/Ari/Det @ Seattle Monday Jan 12 5.00am Dal/Car/Ari @ Green Bay 8.30am Pit/Indi/Cin @ Denver

Rodgers came back on and though he looked a little restricted, he ended up doing quite well ... a cloud remains over that calf of his however so we'll have to wait and see. It looks like Carolina (the 4 seed) will host the Cardinals (5) whilst Detroit (6) will visit Dallas (3) and ... the lowest seeded winner of those 2 games will then go to Seattle in week 2 - unless Detroit can upset Dallas then that team will be Carolina or Arizona (otherwise, if Detroit win next week, the Lions will go to Seattle) I agree though, it's all set up for the Seahawks if we're being brutally honest. In the AFC it's all set up for the Patriots but their home field advantage isn't as strong as Seattle's. There's always upsets and a team or 2 can still get hot at the right time. If I had to pick a team from each conference to get hot it would be Dallas & Pittsburgh. If Flacco can find his range then the Ravens could surprise - a lot is going to have to be on him though. I'm obviously hoping the Packers can do well but Rodgers will need to be ready to go if we're to have any chance.

... and Rodgers has made a miraculous recovery There's no truth in the rumour that the Packers have a supply of Dank's "calf" blood

Rodgers down and possibly out Could be season over despite making the playoffs ugh

We have a winner in the tipping comp ... Dappa Dan is triumphant - well played! Thanks to all for participating ... we might fine tune the comp a bit next year ... I've got an idea or 2 to add to the competition to make it a bit more interesting but we'll leave that for another time. Final tally 8 - Dappa Dan 7 - Georgiou R. R. Martin 4 - Gorgoroth 3 - JV7, Go the Biff, Macca 2 - pantaloons 1 - cowboy_from_hell Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2013 cowboy_from_hell/ pantaloons/ Gorgoroth Strafford Macca 2014 Dappa Dan Georgiou R.R Martin Gorgoroth

The odd bit is that Haddin let that one go to Watson's left which Watto dropped but went after the other 2 (and caught them brilliantly) when both those 2 other edges were going comfortably to Watson's midriff (or thereabouts) One of the 2 might have even been going to Watson's right. Again, it's the keepers call but the keeper has to be consistent otherwise the 1st slip can become hesitant or move late (which may have been the issue with the Watson dropped catch) I mainly stood at 2nd slip but one thing's for sure, an understanding needs to be adhered to in the slips. Like the catcher in baseball, the keeper in cricket has more to do than some might think. Again, 1 or 2 errors doesn't mean Haddin didn't have a terrific day behind the stumps. Agree with you generally on the drop in wickets ... the wickets around the country used to have far more distinct characteristics ... the Gabba was more of a green top, Perth had ridiculous bounce, the Adelaide track used to turn a lot more, Sydney would turn as well but often really helped the quicks on days 1 and 2. Are all the tracks drop ins these days? For years, the MCG wicket was a low, slow, deadish wicket ... this current one is so much better to bat on but you're right, the tracks have a neutral (ish) feel about them these days. I reckon the drop in wickets have improved a bit though - the MCG wicket drop in wickets had "trampoline" bounce there for a few years. I can remember the Aussies being 4/92 at tea on day 1 against South Africa at the MCG about 15 or so years ago - the ball just wasn't coming on to the bat. Here's the match I'm talking about Cards (note the scoring rates)

Well I played a lot of cricket and often fielded in the slips and it's up to the keeper to get the stagger right (both in the spacing and the depth) ... if Watson was "loose" as you say, it's up to Haddin to pull him into line (so to speak) I think it's just another reason for the knockers to slag off at Watson again. It shouldn't have been his catch. Agree with you on the batting/bowling bit with Watson though - he's a no.6 who has batted too high in the test team ... the ODI's confuses the issue because he opens up in that form of the game ... let's not forget that Mark Waugh and Gilly used to open in the ODI's as well ... you wouldn't have either of those 2 open the batting in test matches.

It's generally up to the keeper to set the slips up ... also, if the first slip has to go too far to his left to take the catch it's either the keepers catch or the 1st slip is too wide. Again, more so the keeper was at fault for not setting up the slips properly. The captain should be on top of things as well - it was a bush league error. Mind you, Haddin had a great day all the same. I suppose the good outweighs the bad.

Aussies end the day on top ... any sort of half decent lead on the 1st innings when batting first is generally an advantage considering the other mob usually have to bat last (and often on the 5th day and often on a wearing pitch) Even a lead of 50 can be very handy especially if we can knock up 280-350+ when we bat for a 2nd time. Anyway, I now expect us to go on and win the match and take a 3 nil lead in the series. 2 great catches jazza - the earlier one was almost a carbon copy of that last one. He's had another terrific day behind the stumps ... we just need him to start making more runs with the bat. His knock in the 1st innings was a step in the right direction.

hello ... we picked up a wicket! Edit: ... and we've dropped another one. Edit (II) ... and we've finally caught one ... 5 down now. ... the match is nicely poised

Indianapolis San Diego New Orleans

I think that "liking" of other teams in other sports comes down to 'manic' support vs normal type support. I obviously support Green Bay but I also have no real connection to Wisconsin or the USA at all. There are a number of NFL teams that I have a soft spot for - there's only a few teams that I have a genuine dislike for (and even that opinion is changeable) Joe Montana was the first player that I ever became aware of - the niners remain one of the teams that I can't dislike because of Montana. He was a genuine superstar.

The new ball may well sort them out ... if they're 5/430 odd at stumps I might start to get a little concerned. Even if that happened I still believe we'd hold the whip hand. They have to try and win the game whereas we've still got the option of the draw. In other words ... relax, we've got this Edit: How did Lyon drop that? I guess we've all dropped one of a similar nature but you don't often see one dropped like that at test level - crikey!

To be fair, the catch Brad took this morning was an absolute ripper and that catch may end up swinging things back our way. India are marching on though (2/116 off 29 overs in that morning session) At this rate, the match could be at a very interesting stage by lunchtime tomorrow. Edit: ... and Haddin takes another fantastic catch to finish off the day. He's more than made up for the one he dropped.

Still a good get all the same TD ... I'd completely blocked that result from my memory somehow (much like once our Demons start winning then all those putrid results from 2012/13 will be forgotten) ... it really was a remarkable scoreline. It's funny how we can easily remember England scoring 500+ in their first innings a few years later in Adelaide and subsequently losing ... Aust vs Eng 2006/07 (2nd test)

Bloody hell ... trust you to pull that result out! Now you've got me worried ... thanks!

We're 2 nil up in a 4 game series and we're in no danger of losing this test ... What the hell are you worried about TD? I swear you must worry about getting worried

Yep, unless Mitch can crank it up to 150km plus ... he's likely to have one 5/6 over ferocious spell in him all the same - that's all it will take to push home our advantage. ... and you were right about the 500 target - I thought it was out of reach to be perfectly honest. As Nasher said, Smith has been and is phenomenal. Nice return to form for Haddin too.

There's a bit of life in this track Cards and it might even quicken up tomorrow ... I can see our bowlers creating a bit of havoc if we can get it in the right areas. In fact, the wicket is a beaut - coming on to the bat nicely. As you said, India did bowl well but so too can we. Watch for Johnno to get amongst them ... Harris & Hazlewood the same. If we can get an 80+ lead on the 1st innings the match should be ours.

7mate have changed their line-up of games ... Carolina @ Atlanta is now on live at 8.30am Monday Monday 5.00am - 11.30am RedZone (ESPN) 5.00am San Diego at Kansas City (7mate) 8.30am Carolina at Atlanta (7mate) 12.30pm Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (7mate & ESPN) All the week 17 games & BS Report Week 17 Elo Ratings & Playoff Odds

3 points if all 3 get up for you ... I think I'll end up doing something similar with my tips. The pattern that has emerged (and that pattern probably emerged last season) is that the conservative route doesn't really work when trying to find 3 road winners ... anyway, 6 of the 8 participants can still win it so at least it's all gone down to the wire.

On an overall basis, we do quite well in terms of live games ... Foxtel hasn't done any games this season but that might have something to do with the broadcast rights ... the quality of the games on 7mate has been excellent. Unfortunately, they picked the wrong week to do a late arvo game with not much riding on it - unless the Rams win of course and then Arizona would have everything to play for. My wish would be if the NFL had a Saturday night game every week (as well as the Thursday night game) I see the NFL have flexed a couple more games to the late arvo this week - Packers/Lions game included. So much to play for with both your team and mine. Raiola out for the Lions helps us - I'll take any sort of advantage

I'm lucky enough to have redzone so I'll get to see a fair bit of the Packers game against the Lions. I'd like to see every snap though so I may have to be a bit resourceful I think it was you who asked whether 7mate are covering all the playoff games ... it looks like they are if this article rings true ... ... Seven snares Super Bowl, NFL.

Some here have taken to putting in their tips really early ... I put mine in straight after I post the TV games. A few have missed the odd week. Here are the three 7mate games for next Monday ... (ESPN are doing the regular Redzone & SNF) 5.00am - San Diego @ KC 8.25am - Arizona @ San Francisco 12.30pm - Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh All the week 17 games By the way, 'GtB', which team do you support?

Who is going to add their name alongside the "illustrious" list of podium finishers in the tipping comp from years gone by? (well ... there's actually just been the one previous year where we've had a tipping comp but who's counting?) A few of us picked up a point in the comp last week ... 3 points on offer for the final week. I'm supposing we're going to see some left field picks for the last week - whatever it takes hey? Last year we had joint winners but I reckon we'll probably have a clear winner this time. There's sure to be some road winners but the key might be picking those teams who have a real incentive to win and also, identifying those teams who have an incentive to lose and therefore picking against them ... Tampa is an obvious one who would be much better off losing but there's a few others. ... Week 17 games ... playoff machine Leaderboard in the comp 5 - Dappa Dan 4 - Georgiou R. R. Martin 3 - JV7, Go the Biff, Macca 2 - pantaloons 1 - cowboy_from_hell, Gorgoroth Year Winner Runners up 3rd place 2013 cowboy_from_hell/ pantaloons/ Gorgoroth Strafford Macca 2014 ???????? ???????? ???????? .