Macca

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

Here are the opening weeks fixtures along with an interesting season preview from Gabriele Marcotti ... http://www.theage.co...0817-24dyu.html The first week serves up an interesting encounter with Newcastle hosting Tottenham . 5th vs 4th from last year You can click on any team for all the latest news and fixtures . Saturday, August 18, 2012 00:00 EST Arsenal v Sunderland 00:00 EST Fulham v Norwich City 00:00 EST Queens Park Rangers v Swansea City 00:00 EST Reading v Stoke City 00:00 EST West Bromwich Albion v Liverpool 00:00 EST West Ham United v Aston Villa 02:30 EST Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur Sunday, August 19, 2012 22:30 EST Wigan Athletic v Chelsea 01:00 EST Manchester City v Southampton Tuesday, August 21, 2012 05:00 EST Everton v Manchester United Thursday, August 23, 2012 05.00 EST Chelsea v Reading

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

In the end the Robin van Persie transfer fee was worth nearly $36 million (AUD) . He's getting paid $298,000 per week in an overall deal worth just under $60 million (AUD) . Nice coin ! Javier Hernandez ('Chicharito') could end up at the Gunners (according to the 'Mirror' online...) http://www.mirror.co...chester-1263074

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 .

It's not done yet unless I've missed the latest .......possibly a decision by October ?

They will be looking at the $'s . Might attract a big benefactor as well . There's 2 league's within the one league and getting into the top echelon requires big bucks . West Ham could only get bigger if they got that stadium . Might upset the hard core fans for a time but the alternative is to often try to avoid relegation or play in the championship . It's worth a punt . Big upside .

Ha ! Wasn't aware of that although obviously knew about Sam Allardyce and his years at Bolton . Your blokes punched well above their weight for quite some time but it's awfully difficult to sustain it when it's not a level playing field . The 'Money' clubs are nearly always going to dominate and now there's about 7 or 8 of them (if you count Spurs and Newcastle) . I'm more a fan of the EPL rather than being a fanatical Hammers fan . Watch the big games and hope that West Ham can finish mid table or slightly better . Be interesting to see how West Ham fare if they snag the Olympic stadium . The Championship is terrific to watch as well . Bolton should bounce back well , but there's no guarantees .

The EPL kicks off this weekend . Nice to see my 'Hammers' back in the top flight . Fingers crossed we can have a good season . This link will give a list of all transfers and signings ... http://www.soccernew...ague-transfers/ And here are this weeks fixtures . You can click on your team for all the latest news and fixtures . Saturday, August 18, 2012 00:00 EST Arsenal v Sunderland 00:00 EST Fulham v Norwich City 00:00 EST Queens Park Rangers v Swansea City 00:00 EST Reading v Stoke City 00:00 EST West Bromwich Albion v Liverpool 00:00 EST West Ham United v Aston Villa 02:30 EST Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur Sunday, August 19, 2012 22:30 EST Wigan Athletic v Chelsea 01:00 EST Manchester City v Southampton Tuesday, August 21, 2012 05:00 EST Everton v Manchester United Thursday, August 23, 2012 05.00 EST Chelsea v Reading

Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda wins the Men's Marathon . Running 3rd for a long time , he surged and went straight past the 2 other eventual medalists (Kenya's Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich) . Great win ...

Well that went quick ! Tonight we're represented in the following events ... 5.00pm . Modern Pentathlon for Women , final 7.20pm . Men's Water Polo (vs USA for 7th/8th place) 8.00pm . Men's Marathon 10.30pm . Men's Cycling cross country mountain bike final Wonder what the organizers have got in store for us in the closing ceremony ? For today's full schedule ... http://www.london201...ugust/list.html

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 .

World record for the Jamaican men in the 4 x 100m relay . Fantastic race ...

Kookaburras win Bronze by defeating Great Britain 3 - 1 . Well done and well fought out . Interesting slant taken by Ric Charlesworth on our funding levels in this article (below link) Makes you wonder about our funding levels in many other sports . There doesn't seem to be much doubt that many other Counties are 'Out-funding' us . Our total of 35 medals could well be quite an achievement (all things considered) ... http://www.heraldsun...6448408055 (if this link doesn't work it's in the 'little paper') Opals win Bronze with an excellent win over Russia (83 - 74) Kristi Harrower played a great game in her final appearance for Australia . Lauren Jackson and Suzy Batkovic were prominent as well ...

Good point ! But nice to see Rockin' Rod all the same... Anyways... [media=]

3 Gold and a Silver to our sailing team . That's a top effort and deserves a song ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ooq7WPqd5s

Good racing wasn't it ? We've been able to look at a lot of 'Other' sports this time around . Really liked the Archery and the BMX stuff was good too . Never watched these sports before . All good .......well not quite 'All'

Silver medal to Jared Tallent in the 50km Walk . Great performance . And Silver to our Sailing Women's Elliott 6m class . Just edged out of Gold . Well done to Olivia Price , Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty .

Re Cloke , my comment was more along the lines of how the club may views things . I've a strong feeling that Neeld wants Cloke and it's my belief he will move heaven and earth to get him . Just a gut feel mind you . Doesn't mean we will land him though . But we do have connections . So ......if we snag him then what other pieces of the puzzle do we need ? 2 or 3 'Ready to go' topline midfielders with great kicking skills - that bit is a big ask . Might have to wait till our existing midfielders improve or the wait for the 18yo's that we obtain out of this year's National Draft to mature . Or we might trade for a couple . The club's gonna be busy come October . We have to be .

Another loss though it's nice to know that we've started to run out games and are not getting run over (as much) . Our 2nd and 3rd efforts have improved a lot and our defensive pressure is much better as well . However , our use of the corridor is still far too infrequent and we need to show a lot more daring and dash - this remains a concern . It's worth noting that we've got a lot of players out injured and many of us were expecting a mauling today . So .........it's either a big cull (9-11 to go?) or Neeld goes around with much the same list again . The latter won't happen . Our immediate future will depend on whether we can entice some experienced talent to the club . Otherwise it's a partial re-build with a whole bunch of 18yo's . And as we all know , that pathway is fraught with danger . Given that it's assumed we've got lots of room in our Salary cap , we may be better off trying to obtain 4 reasonably priced 'Free Agents' rather than throw big money at Cloke and/or Goddard . We are possibly/probably in a good position to 'Front end' our offers as added inducements . The trade/free agent period can't come quick enough . We landed Clark from nowhere last year so we can do it again . But we need more than one big(ish) fish . I'd still be very happy if we could land Cloke though . If anything can straighten a team up it's having two big dominant forwards . If we get Cloke then we may only be able to obtain one other free agent (because of salary cap space) .

Wasn't aware of all that . Just saw some highlights this morning . The Pole vault can take an age to complete , so much so that ch7 didn't show Steve's gold medal winning jump 'Live' (in '08) . Some events just take too long . I'm flicking over to the 50km Walk - imagine commentating for 4 hours ! Edit : We're doing ok at the moment in the 'Walk' - I could be a convert !

Curling ? The 'Athletes' with their fast action brooms - that's a skill I reckon if you're gonna walk that far you might as well hit a golf ball for small amusements . Though Mark Twain once described golf as a good walk 'Spoiled' . Edit : Take any sort of medal though , in any sport !

Aussies in medal events tonight ... 6.00pm . Men's 50km Walk . 7.00pm/4.30am . Diving . Men's 10m Platform . SF and Final . 7.35pm . Canoe Sprint . Men's K2 200m 9.30pm . Cycling . Women's Cross Country . 10.00pm . Sailing . Women's Elliott 6m Match race (best of 5). Australia / Spain . Gold/Silver event . 12.30am . Men's Hockey . Australia / Great Britain . Bronze playoff match . 2.00am . Women's Basketball . Australia / Russia . Bronze playoff match . 2.00am . Women's 20km Walk 5.55am . Track and Field . Men's 4 x 100m relay . For all other 'Aussies in Action' ... http://www.london201...scomptoday.html And for today's full schedule ... http://www.london201...ugust/list.html

Yeah it's the same discussion every Olympics . 'To each his own' sorta thing . Golf is in the Rio Olympics but just like the Tennis and the Soccer , it's not for everyone . Basketball has it's place IMO , but I can see the argument against it . Money talks , and the big broadcasting networks have a huge say in things . There's a lot of other great sport to watch and if you've got the 8 foxtel channels you're spoilt for choice . If you're just getting the ch9 feed then it's a completely different argument . ps Steve Hooker wasn't expected to medal and wasn't in very good form going into the Olympics . But many Aussies wouldn't have known this or chose to ignore the realities .

See this is where you've gotta have alternatives - like cable But you've reminded me of how some sports seem to get bigger (in the Olympics) and some struggle to get a look in . Money driven though Biffen . Softball should be in there (ulterior motive though !) Tennis and Synchronised Swimming are 2 sports that sell out earlier than more traditional Olympic sports . TV audience demographics sway things as well (big time) I'm not sure I would have had the patience to go with just Ch9's coverage . Though I have heard they've gone 'live' to an Aussie involvement most times (if not all) . But leave me outa the 'Greco-Roman' wrestling and the 'Sword fighting' :-)