Macca

Colombian Rigoberto Uran holds a 37 second lead over 2nd placed Cadel ... Uran gained the lead after picking up 1'34" over Evans in the time trial on Thursday. However, Evans was hampered by heavy rain early in his time trial - he's now going from the hunted to the hunter but he might prefer it that way. Nairo Quintana is 3'29" behind the leader but he's likely to make a move at any time. We'll soon find out as tonight and tomorrow night we hit the Alps ... with the Dolomites to come next Tuesday, Thursday. Friday and Saturday. 6 days of grueling climbs in 8 days will sort out the field. Apart from 5 of the 8 stages involving about a dozen climbs, next Friday's individual time trial is 26.8 kilometres long but it involves a climb of 1589 metres to the summit in the town of "Crespano del grappa" ... the business end of proceedings has arrived. Once again, a reminder that SBS and SBSOne HD are covering every day of the Giro d'Italia live from about 11pm nightly. The coverage has been superb (as usual) Sunday's stage features a 20 kilometre long category 1 climb to the finish (Plan di Montecampione) Stage 14 (Saturday night) ... preview, map and profile Stage 15 (Sunday night) ... preview, map and profile .

Watched Montreal get up in OT today ... Tokarski had an excellent game standing in for Price but can he keep it going? At this stage of the playoffs I'm just tossing a coin but your call on the likely finalists is probably on the money. Hoping both these series go to 7 games. The Kings have the next 2 games at home and if those games are split, we could have a classic series. Rangers are at home in a couple of days and if they can win and attain a 3-1 series lead, it'll be hard for Montreal from there. But you never know in this sport.

... Cadel Evans takes Giro d'Italia lead from Michael Matthews, Diego Ulissi wins eighth stage In tonight's stage, the riders mainly climb for the final 60 kilometers. The final 20 kilometres involves a category 2 climb to the finish ... preview, map and profile ... stage 9 .

Aussies 1 and 2 in the Giro! ... Cadel is in a great position and Michael Matthews has done superbly well. First of the mountain stages happens tonight ... here's a preview (which includes the "profile") ... stage 8 .

Good start for the Aussies and Cadel is only 7 seconds off the pace after his BMC team came third in the team time trial ... Orica-GreenEDGE wins opening stage of Giro d’Italia Stage 2 (Belfast - Belfast) Live coverage every day from about 10.30pm - SBS & SBS HD.

Yeah, I'm happy to for us to draft another player from the Crimson Tide - Lacy is working out really well. Ha'Sean (his real name) looks a likely type and we certainly need to strengthen our secondary. As predicted, the Packers went for a WR in the 2nd round (Devante Adams) I see the Texans might have been looking at Bridgewater and they had their next pick after your Vikes picked Teddy at 32. Houston still haven't grabbed a QB after today's picks and that's a bit of a surprise (or maybe it isn't*) Garoppolo was drafted by the Patriots so it could be assumed that they're looking at life after Tom. Bryan Fischer from NFL.com has given the Rams, *Texans, Vikings, Ravens, Raiders and the Packers some high praise after the completion of their 3rd round picks. However, like all drafts, you need to keep your fingers crossed! 2014 NFL Draft: Second day quick-snap grades for all 32 teams

I'm not entirely up with things but have heard a number of good reports re Bridgewater. What happens to Ponder and Cassell now? Is Freeman off your roster? The Packers picked up a free safety with their 1st pick. "Interesting" name ... Ha Ha Clinton-Dix ... he might be able to play well and make us Green Bay fans smile at the same time! (ha ha) Johnny Football ended up at Browns - I hope he goes well after all the hype. 5 WR's went in the 1st round but not one RB (again) I heard Bill Parcells the other day talking about how the College system can often shape the direction of the NFL (in relation to the type of player that is produced)

Yeah Cards, I suppose they'll do a quick catch-up of the first couple/few hours when the coverage begins. The SBS website might have the event live from the get-go but I'm happy to just watch the last few hours (or until I fall asleep on the couch!) Most of the mountain stages fall on Fri/Sat/Sun so that's a plus. I guess the "le tour" coverage doesn't usually get rolling until about 10pm so it's on a par in some ways. Wonder if we'll have an Italian chef like Gabriel Gaté to introduce us to the culinary delights of mediterranean? Excited that Cadel is still in the running to win a big tour. Even a podium finish would be an achievement. The last week will sort them out though - some big climbs. Nairo Quintana is the favourite whilst Joaquim Rodrigues is 2nd favourite. Evans is 3rd favourite. I've not tuned into this event previously (to a great extent) so I'm looking forward to it. Apart from the racing, the lure of these big tours is the fantastic scenery, historic buildings, towns, cities and such like.

Great news for cycling fans ... SBS and SBS HD are showing "live" every stage of the Giro d'Italia. Coverage starts on May 9 (in Belfast) and continues right through until June 1. Coverage will normally begin at about 10.30pm - 11.00pm. Cadel could well be a real threat to win it if the following article rings true ... Cadel Evans lauds "best ever" team for Giro d'Italia tilt ... Official site (there are a dozen or so grueling climbs in 5 of the last 8 stages)

Avs out, Sharks out, that's it, we're all done now - can't take a trick. I was almost certain that one of those 2 teams would get through after the way both teams started their series'. Semi final match-ups look interesting, all the same. Reckon Boston, Pittsburgh, LA and Chicago might get through to the conference finals but with my tipping history, all 4 could go out.

2 new comedies well worth a look ... Silicon Valley and Broad City. Both are original and cleverly done. Broad City is quite edgy and offbeat whilst Silicon Valley is a little more mainstream with a good dose of sarcasm thrown in.

"Two years ago, Yasiel Puig fled Cuba in the hands of black-market smugglers. This is the story of how the cost of the defection journey - in money and human lives - shadows him still." ... No one walks off the island

Here are the playoff match-ups ... tips in dark italics (I'm really only confident with a couple of tips although both 1 and 2 seeds from each conference should get through) East No. 1 Indiana Pacers (56-26) vs. No. 8 Atlanta Hawks (38-44) No. 2 Miami Heat (54-28) vs. No. 7 Charlotte Bobcats (43-39) No. 3 Toronto Raptors (48-34) vs. No. 6 Brooklyn Nets (44-38) No. 4 Chicago Bulls (48-34) vs. No. 5 Washington Wizards (44-38) West No. 1 San Antonio Spurs (62-20) vs. No. 8 Dallas Mavericks (49-33) No. 2 Oklahoma City Thunder (59-23) vs. No. 7 Memphis Grizzlies (50-32) No. 3 L.A. Clippers (57-25) vs. No. 6 Golden State Warriors (51-31) No. 4 Houston Rockets (54-28) vs. No. 5 Portland Trail Blazers (54-28) All 4 West match-ups look interesting and the Rockets/Blazers series could be a beauty. In the East, it looks a bit more straightforward although the Wizards and Raptors can win their series. ESPN are kicking off their coverage with the game between the Grizzlies and OKC this Sunday morning (11.30am AEST) Edit: After Sunday's game, the next live cable match doesn't seem to be until next Wednesday (although that could change) .

Classic opening game in Tampa ... highlights Canadiens @ Lightning

On cable, over here in Oz, I'm fairly sure we get game 1 of the Rangers/Flyers game on "Good Friday" morning (9am) Always great to watch these games live and I'll certainly be tuning in. It's quite haphazard with the scheduling by Foxtel though ... they are apt to only listing the live games at the last moment (say a day or 2 beforehand) Still, here's hoping they show plenty of the matches. I'd neglected to remember the rivalry between those 2 aforementioned teams - as Barry Melrose would say ... "These 2 teams hate each other!" Your tips are interesting ... agree for the most part with regards to the length of each series. Just differ on a few winners. Regardless, we've got 2 months of great hockey coming up.

Here are the playoff match-ups after today's final games in the regular season ... for what it's worth, my tips are in dark italics. The playoffs start on Thursday AEST (Montreal @ Tampa Bay, Columbus @ Pittsburgh and Dallas @ Anaheim kick things off) Eastern Conference Metropolitan Division No. 1 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. WC1 Columbus Blue Jackets No. 2 New York Rangers vs. No. 3 Philadelphia Flyers Atlantic Division No. 1 Boston Bruins vs. WC2 Detroit Red Wings No. 2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. No. 3 Montreal Canadiens Western Conference Pacific Division No. 1 Anaheim Ducks vs. WC2 Dallas Stars No. 2 San Jose Sharks vs. No. 3 Los Angeles Kings Central Division No. 1 Colorado Avalanche vs. WC1 Minnesota Wild No. 2 St. Louis Blues vs. No. 3 Chicago Blackhawks It's fairly wide open as usual with a lot of the big guns in there again. Boston/Detroit looks a good match-up along with San Jose/L.A and St Louis/Chicago. Colorado/Minnesota is another interesting duel. Montreal are in with a shot.

And the Canucks are like St Kilda (although the Saints have at least won a premiership) All the same, I'm looking forward to the playoffs. What are your thoughts on St Louis and who is your team to win the whole thing? I reckon there's any number of teams who could win the Stanley cup but maybe Boston? Minnesota could cause a few headaches and they've finished the season off well ... however, at this stage, it looks like they might be matched up against the Avs or the Blues in the first round (unless Anaheim lose the overall 1 seed in the West) As for our teams, there's always next year!

Keep an eye out for "Fargo" ... I believe the first season is in 10 parts (1 hour each) It's based on the Coen brother's 1996 film of the same name. This time around, the Coen Brothers are Executive producers. Looks the goods with a decent cast ... starts airing in mid April (in the States) and on SBS in Australia, 2 weeks later. Orphan Black is back for a 2nd series as well. Also on SBS around about the 20th of April. The first season was excellent. Tatiana Maslany plays the lead and does a superb job.

So there's no crossover between divisions in the 1st round of the playoffs unless the wild-card with the least points is in a different division to the division winner with the most points. (in each conference) I've re-read the above back a few times and it's about as clear as mud. Anyway, this link explains it a bit better. The way I read it, the 2nd and 3rd seeds in each division play each other in the 1st round of the playoffs. And the other match-ups are dependent on the least and most points gained by the division winners and wild-card teams. In that situation, there can be crossover games. As an example, as it stands right now, the Avs would be up against Chicago in the 1st round of the playoffs.

We're getting to the pointy end of the season and it's not looking good for my Canucks. We'd probably have to win at least 7 of our remaining 9 games to have any chance. Some tough games in there as well Meanwhile, the Sharks look safe whilst the Avs should make it. The Leafs are in the wild-card spot right now but it's a tight tussle for spots. Boston, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Chicago and Anaheim are all well placed. Playoffs are about 3 weeks away. ... Standings ... and here's some highlights from the game held today between the Red Wings and Minnesota .

Yep, I agree on the timeline 'od'. ... and if he plays well if he gets into the side, they'll then have to monitor how many games they want him to play or how much game time he may get. In principle, I agree with Roos' stance on young players so he may well be held back for a lot longer. He could start off as the sub for a while and then as a loose man off half back. Maybe as the final link player when considering his kicking skills. He is an excellent kick and hopefully, he can bring that skill to the team. We could do with a few players who can kick the footy well to position However, decision making at the top level can sort a few out and of course, he'll need to win his own ball as well if he's going to be a good player for us. Time will tell.

I voted for Salem but I've been a bit liberal with the interpretation of the thread title. In 3 or 4 years time, we may look back at 2014 and say that Salem was the find of that year. I don't expect him to play a lot this year but he might force his way in if others picked before him aren't doing much. Christian may get in the team and then stay in. The same applies for JKH although he may get into the side earlier than Salem. Hogan is another who is a first year player and should be on the list I believe. I would have voted for Hogan if he was on the list as I believe his value in years to come could be immense. I guess we might be treating him as if he's already "arrived" but Jesse still needs to do it.

I was genuinely surprised with the Trott stuff (if true) Not sure what to make of it to be perfectly honest. There may be more to come out for all we know. With Clarke, no surprises there. The value he puts on his wicket once he's set, is Steve Waugh/Allan Border like. Opposition teams know they have to get him early. Just hope his back can hold up. Yep, spot on. All the players seem to know their roles and they just get on with the business. Most people that I speak to comment that Clarke often seems to be ahead of the game. Bowling changes and field placements are done with a minimum of fuss and the opposition batsmen seem to be constantly faced with a fresh challenge. Lehmann needs to take a fair bit of credit of course and I reckon he and Clarke compliment each other very well. They are different characters but that might be a good thing. Where they come together is their knowledge of the game.

Couple of items of interest ... Clarke played Test with fractured shoulder ... from Michael Vaughan Players will look at Trott and think he did a runner

Couple from guitarist Jeff Beck (with Jan Hammer on Synthesizer) ... the 2nd track is actually called "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat"