pantaloons

Now that you mention it, the Colts have a knack of conveniently stinking it up in epic fashion just when a very special #1 pick QB comes around. LA - will take a couple months to get warmed up. Could be ugly early but should be ok come playoffs. Chiefs - unbelievable. Just shows the importance of the QB position. We seriously need this fixed in a massive hurry. Bring on the draft. Our turnover differential is the NFL's worst to this point in the season for over 30 years. Confidence is shot. Today's game was hilarious - we found the wackiest ways to turn the ball over and lose the game. Its like watching Melbourne but without the ability to go to games or friends to share the angst with.

You're spot on, Macca, and it's just a pity that so many journos creating this storm in a teacup don't see it for what it is. Youre right on the tanking perception in the States, though there was an anti-tanking article on ESPN NBA a couple of months ago. While a lottery takes the certainty out of the early draft order, yes, it doesn't eliminate teams putting the cue in the rack early for future benefit. The Boston Celtics of 2006-07 were a good example of a team doing this well. They were an ordinary side then anyway, put put players out for the season early and ended up with a top 5 pick which was essentially traded for Ray Allen, and starting to look a bit more attractive with Allen and Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett signed as a free agent shortly after. The very next season they finished 66-16 and won the championship. While I detest them and they defeated my beloved Lakers for the title, I applaud them for their approach the season prior. Its been proven time and time again a myth that tanking breeds poor culture and further failure when in fact often the opposite occurs.

If we win more than two games this season and fail to land an elite QB with the #1 pick, I will be furious. Roll out the tank. Just don't tell Caro.

Thanks cowboy. Very well said. I'm not in any way condoning the fans, this booing and frustration is misplaced. It should be directed at the front office, but pent-up frustration found its way out in that moment because you can't get the people who have consistently failed to get even a very good QB in since Trent Green left. This is a very good all-round KC team this season that is now 1-4 and totally stuffed. Yes, there have been injuries consistently, but Cassel has to shoulder much of the blame as his turnovers are a key reason we lost the last two games. I wouldn't boo him. You just have to understand that he's doing his bestbut he's not good enough. He didn't force the club to make him starting QB.

KC, Denver and San Diego are all in the same bracket - contenders for a playoff spot and maybe one win in the playoffs, but not contenders to win or make the Superbowl. If one of these three teams can dominate against their divisional opponents, they will almost guarantee themselves the division title. The AFC West will be a bit of a lottery and often teams will split their games against each other. Even Oakland could bob up and beat any of these teams on their day. It's shaping as one of the more entertaining divisional races again.

What an exciting game - so glad it was one OneHD! That was a really important win for us. Understatement of the year perhaps, but at 0-3 it's season over, which would have been a disaster given there's expectation for KC this year for the first time in a long time. 1-2 puts us one game behind the division lead! We still have a few things to iron out (red zone offence was terrible today) and hopefully the injuries we had today weren't too serious, but there were some good signs. Jamaal Charles was back to his old self, which is a huge relief after the NFL's #2 RB in 2010 missed last season with an ACL. Cassel has some legitimate weapons to throw to, I just hope he can be competent enough to take advantage of them. The D was very good today after the Saints opening TD drive. Their other two TD scores came from very good field position. So yep, I'll take the win and hope we've turned the corner. We just need to bring our best every week. The only teams we play for the duration of the season who are clearly better than us are Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Great day's action today - so many exciting finishes and crazy results.

No apology necessary. Even if Nic Naitanui was our QB, Kevin Bartlett would still not squeeze us in. Even accounting for the injuries on D, it's a disgraceful start to the season. At least we're on tv this week so I get to have a good look at what's going on.

Memo KC: please fold. I can only take one pathetic skidmark of a football team at once.

And so another lockout begins. Pathetic leadership, greedy filth bags all around - once again the biggest losers are the fans. Bettman needs to fall on his sword.

Good Call from Simmons. I picked Atlanta too - Hali, Flowers, Lewis out. We weren't going to stop them, but 40-24 is pathetic. My main concern is Cassel, he's just not good enough in an increasingly QB-driven league.

The CBS coverage is actually my favourite. As a KC fan, I love the AFC coverage on CBS. I also find the commentary more insightful, and usually as soon as a flag is thrown their commentators are right onto it and know what it's for, whereas flags squally take the Fox commentary team by complete surprise and if it's against a lineman or someone out of picture you're left waiting for the call. Small thing, I know, but I like the coverage on CBS. Oh, and their music s awesome! I set the recorder for all the games, and wake up around 5am so I can watch a couple hours and fast forward through the ads and some stoppages. Works a treat.

You can't get excited about the preseason. KC won convincingly the week before but that matters not. These four warmup games for KC are about getting previously injured players up to speed and through unscathed. KC was without a good chunk of its secondary in Flowers and Lewis on the weekend, and will particularly need Flowers back soon. Last season, the Chiefs suffered an injury apocalypse and missed the playoffs by a blown FG. Including the returns of Charles, Berry, Moeaki and Cassel (who despite his obvious limitations is a below average but not disgraceful QB), the Chiefs have made some other significant additions to the youngest team in the NFL, and the team that won the division in 2010 before last season's farce. Believe me when I say I am one of the most pessimistic Chiefs fans around. I understand we have had an ordinary history since SB IV and have historically had cheapskate ownership hinder our progress, but this Chiefs team looks good. Not Super Bowl good, but good enough to win a playoff game and well and truly good enough to win the West. ESPN's AFC West writer Bill Williamson has picked KC and I'd say he will be in the majority. Denver faces a tougher schedule, with games against new England and Houston instead of the Chiefs' games against Cleveland and Indy. With all this said, this is not the NBA where you can pretty much predict the champion before each season starts. One or two injuries or close losses and it changes everything. We could finish 12-4 or 6-16 with a few factors tipping it either way. Bring it on.

Macca, I'll take 5 of those division winners - Green Bay, San Francisco, New England, Baltimore and Houston. I'll also have Kansas City winning the West. The NFC east is always a bit of a coin toss, but I'll take the G-Men. I'd normally have the Saints in the South, but after their offseason I might join you and take Atlanta. Wildcards: AFC - I'm trying to squeeze three teams into two spots, but I'll be boring and pick Denver and Pittsburgh. Buffalo was the other, I think they've made some great moves. NFC - I'll say Dallas and Detroit. There's not a great deal of expertise to my NFC picks though.

Very happy to see that OneHD is still covering the NFL this season. Three games a week again. Bring it on. I thoroughly enjoy getting up a couple hours early on a Monday morning for some NFL. Good times. http://nfldownunder.com/read/news/one-hdten-sport-tv-announces-coverage-of-2012-nfl-season

I love that we put random stuff like 'slam dunk champion' and 'prep player of the year' on his bio. Might as well put 'Disneyworld annual pass holder' on there. Jodie Meeks was another good signing, which followed a day after Howard. $3M 2 year deal, so he's come for less than offered elsewhere and provides the good long-range shooting we've lacked off the bench and a capable backup for Kobe, who pretty much had to take all the SG minutes because he had no backup last year. Phoenix picked up J O'Neal on the weekend. Hopefully for their sake he can resurrect his game.

Hahahaha! Seriously, where do people find these memes? Classic. Yes, absolutely thrilled with the trade. It's been an incredible offseason from lakers GM Mitch Kupchak. Well over the cap and with next to no wiggle room, to get Howard and Nash for three first round picks and Bynum, as well as Jamison for less than 10% of what he earned last season and re-signing Hill for well under minnesota's offer, is insane. Yes, they all chose to play for the Lakers, but it's still got to be pulled off, so kudos to him. Massive stuff.

Ha! Look, I don't see a Howard to LA trade happening, and while it could be great for us, I think right now our bench is a more pressing need. We've probably got the league's best starting lineup and worst bench right now. Need to re-sign Hill and add another couple of quality role players if we're going to go anywhere. It was reported Antawn Jamison was signed by LA today but that proved premature. Could be imminent though. OJ Mayo is off to Dallas. The Mavs have recovered reasonably well when it looked like they were about to fall off the face of the planet.

Houston going all out for Dwight. Smart thinking. Mediocrity is death in the NBA, and while they've been very honest for years, the Rockets are never going to win another championship until they get some superstar talent on the roster. They've gutted the roster in preparation for Howard. If he goes there, then it's mission accomplished and they build around him. If he doesn't go there, then they stink it up for a season and wind up with a top 3 pick and plenty of salary cap space.

NASH A LAKER!! Very excited about this. We've used the Odom traded player exception to absorb his $27M contract and sent Phoenix our 2013 and 2015 first round picks and 2013 and 2014 second round picks. We won't attempt to re-sign Sessions now. Attention turns to Howard.

Thanks Jack. I don't have the time or inclination to sift through Brooklyn's salary details, but I'd be utterly stunned to the point of heart attack if they could fit Howard, Williams, Johnson, Wallace and Turkoglu under the cap. They'd be up for close to $100M a year right there on those 5 players.

The Johnson deal today is a good example of the changing face of trading and list management in the NBA and in sport over the past few years. Traditionally, you don't want to give up a dollar coin for bits of shrapnel totalling $1, but what Danny Ferry has done here is take on a bunch of mediocre guys with contracts that expire after the 2012/13 season. They'll no doubt be hoping that with a stack of money available at that time they'll be able to land one or both of Dwight Howard and Chris Paul. From what I've read, the Nets must have been sure they had no chance of landing Howard before making the deal, because this eliminates them from Howard contention, given Johnson's huge contract. Interesting times.

Just got back from 3 weeks in the US, the last week at Disneyland. I think I saw more people wearing LA Kings gear in that week than I did at a Kings game a few years ago. They love a winner! Oh, and Quick -amazing performance. When isn't the cup won by a team with a red hot goaltender? Seems to happen every year.

Thanks mate! Look I'll say a few things: 1. While the Thunder are certainly the better team, and I predicted us to go down 4-1, we were the better team in 3 of the 5 games, so at least we didn't disgrace ourselves. 2. That flagrant against Artest was a disgrace. Purely based on reputation - no way Durant gets that treatment. 3. Really hope the Spurs win it all now. Pacers or Sixers would be fine but unrealistic. 4. Bring on the offseason and some bg decisions for LA. 5. Disappointed it ended today. I leave for a week in LA on Tuesday so was dead keen to get to the WCF if we were still alive!

You cannot lose games in the playoffs when you are the better team on the day, and the Lakers have done this twice this series, as we did against Dallas last year. Aargh!!!!!!!! Season ends tomorrow, that much is absolutely guaranteed.

Thanks Macca. Phew. A generally poor performance from LA this series, but our reward for being ordinary is to have Artest back for OKC and tuned up in today's Game 7. I doubt we'll get over the top of them, but losing to OKC won't be the historic disgrace that losing today would have been. This will be the first series we enter as underdogs since the 2008 Finals against Boston. Memphis/Clippers tomorrow. Should be fantastic - two success-starved clubs going at it in a Game 7.