Macca

With about 20 games to go its looking like Washington , Cincinnati and San Francisco should get through in the National League . There are still 7 or 8 wild-card chances in the NL though , including last years World Series winner , St Louis . Philadelphia are also making a late run . Other teams with chances of advancing are Atlanta , Pittsburgh , Milwaukee , the LA Dodgers , Arizona and San Diego . Over in the American League it's a lottery . There are still 8 teams with realistic chances to advance . The Yankees and Baltimore are having a great battle with Tampa Bay close behind . The White Sox have a narrow lead over Detroit and Texas are locked in a tussle with Oakland and the LA Angels are not far off . Remembering there are an extra 2 wild-card spots this season . Both wild-card teams in each league will play a 'One off' elimination game . The date for both these elimination games is Fri, Oct 5 (Sat, Oct 6 AEST) . Here are the standings ... http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings

This weeks games and here's the weekly podcast from Bill Simmons and Cousin Sal (their tips and prognostications!) http://espn.go.com/e...play?id=8366836 FRI, SEP 14 10.20 AM Chicago 10 at Green Bay 23 MON, SEP 17 3.00 AM Kansas City at Buffalo 3.00 AM Cleveland at Cincinnati 3.00 AM Minnesota at Indianapolis 3.00 AM New Orleans at Carolina 3.00 AM Houston at Jacksonville 3.00 AM Oakland at Miami 3.00 AM Arizona at New England Fox 3 3.00 AM Tampa Bay at NY Giants 3.00 AM Baltimore at Philadelphia OneHD 6.05 AM Washington at St. Louis 6.05 AM Dallas at Seattle 6.25 AM NY Jets at Pittsburgh OneHD 6.25 AM Tennessee at San Diego 10.20 AM Detroit at San Francisco ESPN & OneHD TUES, SEP 18 10.30 AM Denver at Atlanta ESPN

Highlights of the round for me were the following ... RG3's debut in New Orleans . To go into the Superdome and get a win was a mighty achievement . The Redskins could create some havoc in that division . Manning and Denver's win over Pittsburgh . Peyton just looked like the Peyton of old . They'll be hard to beat if he stays healthy . San Francisco's win at Green Bay . The score flattered the Packers in all reality . The all round strength of the 49ers is what makes them such a good team . Well coached as well . The Ravens were excellent , coached by the other Harbaugh . Flacco continues to get better and better . Baltimore could not have started the season more impressively . How 'bout those Cowboys ? A good win in NY . Houston and New England did it easy and the Jets were very good , racking up 48 points against the Bills . Tebow took a backseat for now but I wonder what Rex has got in store for us with Tim !? Sanchez was terrific . The Eagles got up in a close one . They ran the ball 30 times and Vick threw it 56 times - phew ! I think I tipped 'em to get to the Championship game (along with Green Bay) . Both teams need to get better (esp the Packers) . Like to be able to revise that tip and include San Francisco right now !! Those Rams had a real chance but Detroit were too good . Atlanta and Chicago had good wins and KC need to get some players back from injury . Really good 1st week .

He might have a few more chances as well now . Roger is getting on , Rafa has some injury issues and Novak might be coming back to the field a bit . He could go 2 ways now , win 1 or 2 more slams or use this win as a spur to win as many as he can . Great win today by Andy .

Just finished watching SNF . Peyton is back ! A great performance against that Steelers defence . Denver could be a real chance after that win . Elway would be well pleased . Luck had a reasonable debut against the Bears so the Vikes will want to be on their game again . The Colts don't appear to have much of a running game though . Doesn't get any easier for my Packers - we've got Chicago on Friday (our time) . Double header tomorrow with the Ravens at Cinci followed by the Chargers at Oakland . Couple of fierce divisional rivals there . Looks like we're getting at least 6 televised games a week (all up) . The only downer is that Foxtel haven't got a 'Late' game again next week . That will hopefully change going forward .

Nice O/T win to your blokes 'cfh' . Peterson had a good game with 2 TD's . Whilst he's firing you've always got a chance . Saw the Gabbert TD throw with 27 seconds remaining but the Vikings must have done well to draw level with a field goal .(in regulation) . At Indianapolis next for the Vikings . Chance to go 2 and 0 .

Packers go down as well . Those 49ers came to play . Great defence , too good . Some interesting results this morning - not the least being Washington's win over the Saints . Haven't seen any highlights but RG3 looks like he had an impressive debut .

Bill Simmons writes a weekly sports column for ESPN in the 'Grantland' pages . Here's this weeks column with his predictions further down the page in this link ... http://www.grantland...terbacks-league Here are some of his quotes ...

'Volbeat' are a Danish band from Copenhagen . This is their latest single ... Macca 10.1 [media=]

Well , I've been wondering why I've been seeing ads for the following ... Transcendental meditation , astral traveling , crystals , tarot cards , essential oils , yoga , mind reading , tai chi . hypnosis , books on 'fingers crossed' and 'The worth of the rabbits foot' It all makes sense now

Great song JJ ...like it ... Found about 10 nu-jazz tracks that are worth posting . I'll kick off my selection with a track from a German band called 'Micatone' . Lisa Bassenge is on lead vocals . Macca's nu-jazz 4.4

Well it all kicks off tomorrow . You can click on any team for further news , information and fixtures . Apart from tomorrow's game , other good match-ups are the 49ers @ Green Bay and Pittsburgh @ Denver . The Colts @ Chicago and Washington @ New Orleans will have great interest as well with Luck and RG3 unveiled . Bring it on ! Week one ... THURS, SEPT 6 10.30 AM Dallas 28 at NY Giants 21 (OneHD and ESPN) MON, SEPT 10 3.00 AM Indianapolis 21 at Chicago 41 (OneHD) 3.00 AM Philadelphia 17 at Cleveland 16 3.00 AM New England 34 at Tennessee 13 3.00 AM Atlanta 40 at Kansas City 24 3.00 AM Jacksonville 23 at Minnesota 26 3.00 AM Washington 40 at New Orleans 32 (Fox 2) 3.00 AM Buffalo 28 at NY Jets 48 3.00 AM St. Louis 23 at Detroit 27 3.00 AM Miami 10 at Houston 30 6.25 AM San Francisco 30 at Green Bay 22 (OneHD) 6.25 AM Seattle 16 at Arizona 20 6.25 AM Carolina 10 at Tampa Bay 16 10.20 AM Pittsburgh 19 at Denver 31 (OneHD and ESPN) TUES, SEPT 11 9.00 AM Cincinnati 13 at Baltimore 44 (ESPN) 12.15 PM San Diego 22 at Oakland 14 (ESPN)

Here's a couple of podcasts by Bill Simmons and his Cousin Sal of ESPN . They usually do a weekly podcast during the season where they do a preview for the weeks upcoming games . In these 2 podcasts they do their season predictions . Although their podcasts are mainly lighthearted and quite often funny , they are also quite informative ... B.S.Report part 1 ... http://espn.go.com/e...play?id=8313963 B.S.Report part 2 ... http://espn.go.com/e...play?id=8317602 Season kicks off on Thurs (10am AEST) . Dallas @ NY Giants .

New single from 'The Offspring' Macca 10.0

Latest hit from 'Garbage' Macca 9.9

Yeah , no good , but my tips were a bit of 'Hit and hope' Jack . Trouble is , they're always hit and hope ! I'm a lot more confident with the Australian Test side . 2nd part of 'Kerry Packers War' was terrific . I thought they nailed it really . Awfully difficult to get the authenticity spot on , but the makers of the show did a fine job . Great viewing .

Good point Jack, Chelsea have 2 wins already . We'll have to win 4-0 then ! Watched part 1 of 'Howzat ! Kerry Packer's War' and agree with HT and Stinga . Memories of that time are still quite vivid . Essential viewing tomorrow night .

Aussies will beat South Africa - a 2-1 series win . Won't be easy and we'll need Cummins , Pattinson and Starc firing to achieve this . I do have my optimistic hat on though ! The reason we're so close to the top of the Test rankings is that we've started winning again since 'that' Ashes defeat . And England have struggled since attaining no.1 status . And ......we've got a series win and a tie in our last 2 series against South Africa . In fact , if we win this series against South Africa there's a reasonable chance we'll go to no.1 in the World . This time last year we were no.5 . That 'Ashes' defeat in 2010/11 was a bad one but we've played some good cricket since then , including a 4 - 0 thrashing over India last summer . Here's the 'Test Championship Table Predictor' .......this upcoming Australia/South Africa series is effectively for no.1 status . Pity it's only a 3 Test series . http://www.icc-crick...t_predictor.php Test matches in Australia this summer ... vs South Africa 1st Test 9–13 November Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane 2nd Test 22–26 November Adelaide Oval, Adelaide 3rd Test 30 November–4 December Western Australia Cricket Association Ground, Perth vs Sri Lanka 1st Test 14–18 December Bellerive Oval, Hobart 2nd Test 26–30 December Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne 3rd Test 3–7 January Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Btw Jack , if 'our' Hammers win the early game at Swansea tonight we'll go to the top of the table (temporarily of course !)

Yeah , it's good news and OneHD usually cover different games to Foxtel (except of course , SNF) . Nice having a choice of games to view . One of the great things about the sport is that a number of other games are played at the same time . It's a very busy few hours on a Monday morning - trying to keep up with everything soon wakes you up ! Had a bit of a look at the schedule and this season there is a Thursday night game (Friday 10.20 am / 12.20 pm AEST time ) EVERY week until week 16 . Some great match-ups too - many of them divisional games . Ditto for SNF and MNF . The best bit is that there is rarely a let down with regards to the anticipated start to the season . There's always upsets , controversies and shocks . Here's my tips for the season ... NFC East : Philadelphia NFC North : Green Bay NFC South : Atlanta NFC West : San Francisco AFC East : New England AFC North : Baltimore AFC South : Houston AFC West : Denver 4 Wild cards : NY Giants , New Orleans , Pittsburgh and San Diego NFC Championship : Green Bay / Philadelphia AFC Championship : Baltimore / Houston Super Bowl : Green Bay / Baltimore - winner Green Bay (who else!) Improvers - Kansas City , Washington , Indianapolis , Arizona , Carolina and St Louis . Anyone else care to have a go ? Here's last year's standings ... http://espn.go.com/nfl/standings/_/year/2011/seasontype/2

The Rams were 30th in passing yards last season so with the expected improvement in Bradford you should get much better in that area . My team (the Packers) were ranked 32nd (300 yards) in opposition passing yards (last season) yet we only lost 1 regular season game . It's just as well we've got Rodgers who does so well on the other side of the ledger ! St Louis were ranked 7th with 206 opposition passing yards so if you keep up your defence ............ Of course , there's rushing yards to consider as well . I'm usually not big on stats but this sport (NFL) is way different and the stats can't be ignored . Had a bit of a gander at your schedule and reckon much will depend on how St Louis go in their first 6 games . Get 3 or 4 wins in that period and ya just never know ! There's nearly always a couple/few teams that rise into contention . And other , more fancied teams can fall away .

Just a sneak peak at week 1 of the season . You can click on any team for more news , information and fixtures . THURS, SEPT 6 10.30 AM Dallas at NY Giants MON, SEPT 10 3.00 AM Indianapolis at Chicago 3.00 AM Philadelphia at Cleveland 3.00 AM New England at Tennessee 3.00 AM Atlanta at Kansas City 3.00 AM Jacksonville at Minnesota 3.00 AM Washington at New Orleans 3.00 AM Buffalo at NY Jets 3.00 AM St. Louis at Detroit 3.00 AM Miami at Houston 6.25 AM San Francisco at Green Bay 6.25 AM Seattle at Arizona 6.25 AM Carolina at Tampa Bay 10.20 AM Pittsburgh at Denver TUES, SEPT 11 9.00 AM Cincinnati at Baltimore 12.15 PM San Diego at Oakland

I'll post some nu-jazz soon JJ , but in the meantime here's a track from jazz guitarist Henry Johnson . It's an old 'Earth , Wind and Fire' song called 'Shining Star' . Couldn't find it on youtube but grooveshark had it .... Macca 4.3 http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Shining+Star/3pztc4?src=5

So much depends on the QB in this sport . Sam Bradford may well step it up this season (assuming he's injury free and is the 1st choice starter) . Former overall no.1 pick so you'd hope he's got the goods . I see Chad Johnson (Ochocinco) has been cut by Miami . With 32 teams all trying to contend he'll probably get another chance . Might have to sit it out for a little while though .

We didn't get to see many of the 49ers games last season (Foxtel or OneHD) so it was a bit hard to judge Alex Smith unsighted . His numbers weren't ground breaking though and because there's quite a few 'Elite' QB's running around , the comparisons will come . You've got a very good coach who had a decent career as a QB himself , therefore Smith may get better under his tutelage . I'm a Packers fan but there's quite a few other teams that I like to see do well . San Francisco is one of them - Joe Montana remains one of my all time favourite players . Can't wait for the season to start .

Not sure if you've posted this JJ but it deserves a another go anyways ... Macca 9.7