Diamond_Jim

Ignoring GWS and GCS we are heading for the lowest membership figures in the comp after North and Brisbane. Line ball with Saints and Dogs. Disappointing given the "potential" of this team.

Is this the end of Mourinho at Manchester U after this morning's performance against Sevilla The comments section of the Guardian is on fire: Here's a sample: "Just woeful. The away leg was the worst United performance I have seen in years, this evening’s nonsense struggled to reach the dizzy lows of that debacle. If ever proof were needed that The Joyless Twatknuckle (TM) is in no way a United manager, then the first half of this evening’s farrago. It was anti-football, which is what TJT (TM) is. He is the antithesis of United and he must go." "Don't care whether United win or lose, but that was just bad football. There isn't room in any eleven for Lukaku, Sanchez, Rashford and Lingard, particularly if you then tell your full-backs (both wingers of yore) not to cross the half-way line. A collection of talented players can only be so dysfunctional, but Mourinho's personality is writ large on this team and no good will come of it." https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/mar/13/manchester-united-sevilla-champions-league-match-report

350 in front with 6 wickets in hand. Touch wood but I think we have this one ....... about two mins after I post this we lose a wicket so I will shut up !!

They have just finished a test series at home against India which was a very exciting series. If you think about it a Test series played at this time in Australia would not rate that well either. Not sure how you solve the problem that other than England most of the Test teams are in the Southern hemisphere and in India they like to play in their winter when it is a little cooler. Was in Kolkata last week ... 33 degrees every day at the end of winter !!

Is Winx still heading to Ascot later in the year? Good luck with your selections guys

Thought it might be time for a World Cup logistics update for those who are interested. I planned to drop into Moscow for three nights before heading onto my base in Kazan. Booked a hotel through Agoda in the normal way with attendance guaranteed by credit card and then started hearing all these horror stories about hotels in Moscow cancelling bookings for the WC. Emailed the hotel twice but no reply. Did a dummy booking at the hotel and was told 4 nights minimum stay (I had booked for 3 nights) and the rate had increased.I got in touch with Agoda and they had their Russian speaking consultant phone the hotel and supposedly my booking is good. Who knows... so if you guys know of a couch that I can share in Moscow it could be good back up. Now onto Kazan where I have booked an Air bnb. Have used airbnb all around the world for the last few years and they are great. The big plus is the payment system. Airbnb act as the broker and no probs with false sites etc and payment is so simple. Russia however has a twist for foreign visitors. Usually if you are in any city for more than 7 days you need to formally register your presence with the authorities. For the WC the requirement to register has been reduced to 24 hours if you are in a WC host city. Registration requires a personal visit by you and the host to the authorities. Nobody knows how this mass registration is going to work in practice. My Kazan airbnb host with whom I communicate by means of google translate has no idea either. Such joys ... but all part of the adventure.... PS Is Timmy ever going to get onto the park with Milwall??

Interesting I assume he got a raise for 2018 and then a good amount for 2019 and 2020. Must have meant that they had some salary cap movement left for this season which is no surprise given the renewals we are facing at end of season. Well executed by the club and would love to see one or two others signed in the next few months.

I agree Dr D...that is the point .. we should be on an upward trend at this time of the year. Have a look at Essendon for example with their push for 70,000 members. There is no doubt that the Collingwood game not to mention a few others put a spoke in the wheels of our sputtering bandwagon. Win the first three games and we might still be able to trend upwards but to stand still in this game is to go backwards.

some useless info for you guys as you watch the match... From the Guardian live report: It might surprise you to learn that going to the Superbowl is incredibly expensive. Tickets aside, once at the stadium a bottle of water costs $6 and a slice of pizza with a soda is $21. ESPN sent their writers into the bowels of the US Bank Stadium to check out the prices. Here are their findings results. Personal favorite: the Justin Timberlake inspired J-Tea cocktail. $35.

a $600 million valuation on a "revenue" flow of $500K... now that is what I call a seriously unbalanced P/E ratio. Ok guys I'm sure that between us we can come up with the next best version of sliced bread and we'll all be in clover

What did you guys think of Halt and Catch Fire? I thought the first three seasons were great but perhaps the last season could have been a little tighter in its scripting and plot line. For those who liked the Good Wife, the cable version now just about to start of its spin off (second season), the "Good Fight" is a very watchable show. The new British dramas, the Girlfriends and MacMafia are okay also, without being up there with some of the more recent British shows. And of course there is a new season of Spiral (Engrenage).... one of my long time favourites. Glad you are enjoying Ozark Macca...wonder how many seasons it will run And I'll also vote for Maigret !

What did you guys think of Halt and Catch Fire? I thought the first three seasons were great but perhaps the last season could have been a little tighter in its scripting and plot line. For those who liked the Good Wife, the cable version now just about to start of its spin off (second season), the "Good Fight" is a very watchable show. The new British dramas, the Girlfriends and MacMafia are okay also, without being up there with some of the more recent British shows. And of course there is a new season of Spiral (Engrenage).... one of my long time favourites. Glad you are enjoying Ozark Macca...wonder how many seasons it will run And I'll also vote for Maigret !

When the market starts shorting your stock watch out. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Profits though are over rated it seems... just look at Facebook, Uber etc and the other darlings that lose money hand over fist. Facebook will probably come good simply because marketers cannot ignore the platform (unfortunately)but Uber will always be an easy target for competition. In Asia it is Grab for example. Good Luck Macca .. if someone's going to make the money it may as well be an ex Demon

Don't blink... you may miss it https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/10/slow-train-coming-sbs-to-air-17-hour-ghan-train-on-sunday Following the success/controversy of airing a three-hour extract of a train trip through the Australian outback, SBS has decided to air a 17-hour version of the journey on Sunday. Could be interesting... trying to remember but didn't SBS have a test pattern or similar years ago that rated quite well?

Starting to get a little concerned about how long it is taking Timmy Cahill to find a new club. At his time of leaving Melbourne City, Muscat opined that Timmy had already lined somewhere up but it is now one month later and nothing. Hard to think of a club that will give him good service and also be prepared to take on a stop gap striker that wants guaranteed game time. A genuine conundrum which I hope is quickly settled. Of course he may take the view that as the A league is ending in around a month he really has little to lose by not playing in that league. Perhaps a third level European club might be an answer (assuming he can't get a second level club)

Makes one think the AFL has an agenda.... and guess what.. MFC is not part of it

Could be right there LdC.... Had a look at their membership site and they sell a special package to ACT members. Strangely enough the ACT could turn into a better market long term for GWS than Western Sydney. Manuka stadium is very well located and the ACT population of 400k (mostly middle income) is a reasonable base to work with as a one team city (Brumbies and Raiders aside). Also offers the possibility of road trips for Victorian based fans thus avoiding high priced air fares etc.

Vale the Zephyr for 2017 ... may he come back and sweep all before him in 2018. In the "old" days there would perhaps be talk of putting him over the jumps but alas no longer

Interesting figures for GWS membership. It shows a membership of over 20k for 2017 but I cannot remember them attracting crowds of much more than 13k for any of their home games not to mention their 15k for the final against West Coast. Must be some arbitrage system on GF tickets at play methinks.

Interesting Dr G... I very much agree Geelong is a god case in point. Would not be surprised if they play some of their bigger games down at Karidinia Park and make it a high priced ticket affair. I suspect that they would do better with 35k ticketed game as compared to 65k at the MCG where 20k or so are MCC and AFL members

In a country that carries the death sentence for drug trafficking this has to rate as a way out means of marriage proposal: IPOH: This Christmas Eve would be unforgettable for 20-year-old administrator Yew Kar Yee after she saw the love of her life hauled away by auxiliary police personnel for the possession of an illegal substance at the Sultan Azlan Shah airport. But that is not the reason why it is particularly memorable. She was overwhelmed with relief and happiness when she learned that it was all just a staged act, planned by her sweetheart Cheung Chan Choon, 30, who popped the big question to her. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/12/24/boyfriend-arrested-for-drugs-turns-out-to-be-an-act-for-proposal/ Merry Christmas guys from the Equator

Minneapolis StPaul has a population of around 3.3 million according to Wikipedia and the stadium capacity is 67k for the 8 or so games of NFL. Many years ago I lived in Washington DC. Even then tickets to a Redskins game were impossible to obtain. People literally left their entitlements by will to family members. I managed to get to a practice game two rounds before the start of the regular season. The stadium was full even for that. In the year before I went to live in DC, Congress passed a law requiring the NFL to broadcast matches into cities where they were played if no tickets were available. This was almost 15 years or so before the AFL allowed live broadcasts of the Grand Final when they were sell outs. We are very lucky with our ability to attend games and the price while not insubstantial is low by comparison to followers overseas. I often wonder how traditional supporters of the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool ever afford to follow their teams.

Another run for the Zephyr .... fantastic news.... excuse the pun but I hope the jockey can "boot him home" for all of us !

Like the Dees "The Zephyr" will come good but I am not sure we can say he is young and inexperienced .... perhaps a run in Darwin next winter might be good for our horse

Go the Zephyr !! Pakenham Park.... remember when it was just Pakenham and a country race meeting at that. Now it's the major Saturday venue ... Melbourne is growing ... very appropriate venue for our horse given the Casey connection. Love the form guide.... "not the worst"