*****. :D

I don't know what to think of Robben...he can win a game for you, but the way he goes down sometimes, and crawls to the ref like a little crying ***** makes me really sick. I don't know where he picked that habit up, but i sure wish he'd drop it before the WC starts. That's just not how we Dutch behave. We used to point and laugh at guys like Jurgen Klinnsmann, but now we have one of our own. Any chance he learned that in the Prmiership ? :shake:

Martin O'Neill for Liverpool manager! :banana:

I see Yeovil had a good win yesterday, BA. :D :p

That was the worst performance I have witnessed in my time as a Chesterfield fan.
Absolutely dreadful. Fancy playing like that after winning 4-0 last week!

That's any hope of the play-offs gone. Woeful performance.

I hope Real Madrid will get it's ass kicked today :D

Real Madrid won't win anything this year either! :banana:

Have you guys been watching the WBC? It is baseball's attempt at a world cup type thing, to try and raise a worldwide fanbase. But, it will always be the Dominicans, Venezuelans, and Americans who will win, because they have the most experience...

Has anyone been keeping up with it?


WBC= World Baseball Classic

Insane cricket from Australia and South Africa! The highest once day total ever posted by Australia (433 runs) is successully chased down by South Africa, to break the record twice in one match. Incredible!

UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE!!

That's twice in the last couple of months that Australia has failed to defend a world record total. New Zealand managed to chase what was a world record 325 against them last month. I thought that was astonishing enough at the time, but this is crazy stuff.

The Leafs won by Shoot out over the Boston Bruins tonight. Mikael Tellqvist was in net again instead of Ed Belfour. Could the Eagle be landing in a back up role to end his carreer?

Liverpool 5, Fulham 1 , finalfreakeninly!

Yeah but Fulham have been nothign short of terrible lately!

The Leafs won by Shoot out over the Boston Bruins tonight. Mikael Tellqvist was in net again instead of Ed Belfour. Could the Eagle be landing in a back up role to end his carreer?That could also have something to do with the fact that Tellqvist was a very important figure in the Olympics Gold Team that Sweden got this year.

Bah. Stephen Fleming got for 97. Another potential test century squandered.

Rutkowski: I'd believe it. That and Belfour will likely be bought out at the end of the season, so the Leafs will have 3 million in Cap room. They've lost 2 in a row now, and I think some major housecleaning will be in order in the off season...

Newcastle 1-3 Liverpool
we are back!

Terrell Owens goes to Dallas :lol:

@Maurolava:
:jawdrop: You're kidding me. The Cowboys are getting TO? :shake:

No kidding...

The receiver who has proven he can wreak havoc on or off the field signed a three-year, $25 million contract with Dallas on Saturday. The deal includes a $5 million bonus and $5 million salary this season

Fulham 1, Chelsea 0. Brilliant! :banana:

Sometimes - just sometimes - I may be willing to concede that God both exists and possesses a sense of humour. :shake:

It's just a shame Yeovil couldn't buy a goal at the moment. :bad:

you think it takes a god to defeat chelsea? you think too highly of chelsea .

[ March 20, 2006, 16:24: Message edited by: teekc ]

Ah, I'm really enjoying watching the Commonwealth Games, even though NZ is not really winning as many medals as we hoped.

Birmingham 0, Liverpool 7
eat that!

LIVERPOOL 3 - 1 EVERTON
she bangs :banana: she bangs

Watching this (http://www.equiman.com/Royal/Video/Freestyle05.htm) makes me practically swoon. now THERE is some equestrian skill! :love:

My poor T-Wolves... poor Kevin... having a 20 point lead against the Knicks at half-time and ending up beating the Knicks by 2 at the end of regulation... We need a coach who knows what he's doing, we need Eddie to get lasik and we need Rashad to start passing the ball...

*Sigh* It's been a long, long season.

Arsenal flying the flag for the Premiership nicely. Absolutely destroyed Juventus just then! I think they might 'do a Liverpool' this year.

If that was sexual intercourse, Arsenal would be done for rape, they were that dominant.

I don't see why everyone gets so excited about the March Madness thingy. The NBA is one thing, but college basketball doesn't intrest me in the slightest. :nuts:

Maybe it's just because the college I'll be going to doesn't have any type of sports teams. Or maybe it's because the 3 main colleges here (Utah State 'Aggies', University of Utah 'Utes', and the BYU 'Cougars' all suck. :doh: :rolling:

I reckon it's of the sudden death nature of the whole thing in that one lucky game can see an unfancied team through to the finals. That makes things more exciting, especially for betting and sweepstakes.

i reckon it's the once in a life time thingy for the player. There is no coming back, you lose, you lose everything, you don't get to retain your multi million contract regardless you play good or bad, like to pros.

West Brom :smash: 0-2 Liverpool

Baseball has started! Yay! Go Red Sox! We should win this year!!! Oh wait, no, we aren't, because we suck. Bleargh.

**** me! Middlesborough 4-1 Basle :eek: (4-3 aggregate)! I thought they were out after the first leg, tbh. When the first goal went in, I expected a rout. Shows what I know! :lol:

Good to see another team flying the flag for the Premiership in Europe... and one with some English players, too! Bonus. :shake:

Good going Boro!

I just hope this doesn't mean that McClaren is any closer to getting the England job. I think I'd cry if that tool got in charge.

Good achievement though this, for sure

*Sigh* And the injuries begin... Coco Crisp with a broken finger (now on the DL), Trot Nixon with a strained groin... our plague beings... on a better note, we've won 6 of our first 7 games! Yay!

Oh my, the Toronto Maple Leafs are really dragging things out to the wire. They just scraped out a 6-5 overtime win to keep their playoff hopes marginally alive. It is pretty much inevitable that they will not make the playoffs but it has been a valiant effort over the last couple weeks. It is just a shame that they didn't play like this during January.

Matts Sundin managed four goals and two assists in the game - I can't remember the last time he put up those kind of numbers. If he had played the entire season like he has been playing lately the Leafs wouldn't be on the brink of an early summer vacation.

Well, better to surge in the end and challenge for a playoff spot than to slump down the stretch and struggle for a playoff spot... like the Vancouver Canucks. I get the feeling that even if they squeak in, they will lose quickly in the first round.

Bleah, David Wells sucks. He is awful, and deserves every Boo he got. Pah, why we haven't traded him (even a highschool chess player would be better), I'll never know.

JSBB: Yeah, it's really sweet. Matt Stajan had 2 goals tonight against the Islanders to win another one. If the Thrashers blow one game, and the Lightning continue there collapse, the Leafs may end up in the playoffs. How many Senator's fans are dreading that?

Given that the Senators have completely demolished the Leafs this season they may want the Leafs to make the playoffs. Tonights game between the Leafs and Senators should be interesting to watch.

5-1 leafs, and yes, what I did get to watch was great. Unfortunately, the Lightning won, eliminating the Leafs. I need a new Bandwagon to jump on. I'll probably look at the matchups on Wednesday to decide...

I suppose it was to be expected that there would be a let down after they were eliminated but the Leafs were absolutely terrible today. Given the back to back blow out losses to Montreal and this 6-0 fiasco I think that Tellqvist's days in Toronto are numbered.

Personally I would place a fair sized portion of the blame for those three games on the rest of the team but unfortunately for Tellqvist all people are going to remember is that he blew the two big games, Aubin came in and with him in net the Leafs took 18/20 points and then Tellqvist lost big time when he was put back in for another game.

ARGH! I hate Barry Bonds! Jeezus! We all know he took steroids (his trainer admitted to giving him them, Bonds admitted to recieving them, but claims he didn't know what they were :rolleyes: ), and yet he is still allowed to play... if he breaks the homerun record, or even gets to second, it will be a shame to all of baseball. How dare that ****er break a record made by talent? I have absolutly no respect for him or any of his supporters. He is a cheater and deserves to be kicked out of the game, banned from the Hall of Fame, and have all of his records erased. **** that dickhead.

Barca will win :D

I think that Tellqvist will likely be a backup to Aubin next year. I say Aubin has earned a serious shot at the number 1 job, and Tellqvist would be a decent backup, playing 25 to 30 games over the year.

I read one Sun article that suggested that if the Leafs got a front line Sniper and a number 3 defenceman (after re-signing McCabe), they could be back in the playoff next year. And they could have some big money to shop at the deadline if they want a rental...

Yay! Barca won :D

Just.
I can't believe Gilardinho didn't manage to get at least one.

Good goal by Julie though. Ronaldinho is really something else, what a pass that was.

He is one of those players that are in a class of their own. I hope that no one will foul him so bad that his days are over.

(for the americans: If he played in the NBA it would be a Micheal Jordan)

Jason Gillespie 201 n/o wtf :lol:

Madness! I didn't even realise he had made it back in the team.

They only sent him in as night watchman!
Why can't Hoggy hit a double hundred when we send him in?? :lol:

Woohoo, Norwegian football season started!

The regular season has only just ended and the Leafs have already started to clean house.

I think firing Pat Quinn was a good move - he has had a fair bit of success during his career but for the last three seasons he has seemed to do less and less coaching and more and more standing around with a glazed look on his face.

Leading Team Canada to crushing defeat in the Olympics and having the Leafs miss the playoffs is a pretty bad year for Quinn and it was time to make a change.

I don't think the changes should stop there. I've heard that Ferguson, Peddie and Tannenbaum didn't necessarily get along. Maybe the purge would need to continue until one united vision could come to pass. It would be less of a distraction in the background...

I'm hearing that Paul Maurice may be the next coach. If they do that, then they'd need a good coach for the Marlies. Part of the success for the call ups this year can be accredited to Maurice, and that would leave a big hole in the organization if he is promoted...

die chelsea DIE DIE DIE!!!!!


last year, liverpool kiiled chelsea in championship league.
this year, liverpool killed chelsea in fa cup.

[ April 23, 2006, 18:52: Message edited by: teekc ]

Where will Martin O'Neill end up going? I wish he'd make his mind up. Still, looks like he's not going to Newcastle anyway :grin: Woohoo!

425 Feyenoord fans arrested after Feyenoord-Ajax. Just your average Dutch football sunday afternoon. :shake:

I have deicided that I will start watching F3 from now on if possible. because daaamn, those drivers are CUTE!

But you only get to see them a minute or so, after the match. During the race they wear a helmet. :D

Still. :D

... I am relaly in it for the sport. REALLY!

I like watching the crashes...

The crashes are BAD. *shudders* they kill people.

RRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGHH!!! ************************************************** ***********************!!! With the draft upcoming I finally made my way back to the Packers' website to see what changes they made to the team, and I couldn't believe my eyes. Craig Nall, the QB who actually looked (to me, anyway) like he would be the next Favre, is gone to the Bills, but they kept that worthless piece of **** Rodgers, who can't throw a pass to save a puppy. And they let go of Longwell, whose leg has been f***ing carrying the team because the offense can't do sh!t with its weakened offensive line. They've also cut yet more of the offensive line, meaning that the Packers will probably go 0-16.5 this season (the extra half is for just how f***ing badly they'll get beaten). Ted Thompson had better f***ing hope I don't find out where he lives, or he's not going to for much longer. :flaming: :flaming: I know every team goes through cycles of good and bad, but deliberately hurrying to the bad part is NOT helping.

Does anybody here actually watch the MLB? I am not asking whether or not you think baseball is boring (yes, I'm talking to you European skeptics ;) ), but whether anyone watches it.

Ara: The lethal ones suck, but most of them are pretty impressive. But give me a good solid Bodycheck in Hockey any day.

Saber: I used to watch Baseball, but it got boring when the Yankees and Redsox started overspending and buried my Blue Jays. They need a stiffer luxury tax or a Hard Cap like the NHL got forced into...

Barca will beat Milan again :D

Gnarff, the Jays are going to do well this year. They have a good team, and when A.J. Burnett comes back, he'll help boost them. It won't be a RedSox/Yankees finish this year, I think the Jays will be in second (not saying who is first, though).

There was nothing wrong with that goal from Sheva. But at least Milan have finally realised they need to win this match. They haven't seemed bothered up till now.

Saber, i used to follow as much of the MLB as possible, but i don't have that particular channel anymore. It was a paychannel, and i had to make a few amendments when i moved to my new much more expensive appartment. But when i still had that channel, i watched every game that came along, with special attention for every Yankees game.

Baseball is not that bad. it is only not a sport to watch at the edge of your seat. It is more for background.

Maybe there was only 0:0 but such results makes Barca play in the final :D

Well, i definitely recall some baseballgames that had me sitting on the edge of my seat, game 7 of the Worldseries between the Yankees and the Diamondbacks for instance, or the latest clash between the Redsox and the Yanks in the playoffs. Or the worldseries between the Yanks and the Braves where NY came back from a 2-0 series deficit. Plenty of nailbiting moments. That is if you care for the game of course.

Oh yes, there are certainly some exciting moments. Close games against good teams, especially when there are two outs with men on base. Damn, that can get exciting.

The most exciting parts to watch are innings 1 and 2 if you have a good pitching matchup, and 7,8 and 9 when the game is close.

Plus, being a Red Sox fan, all of the 2004 postseason was nerve wracking... coming from 0-3 to win the series 4-3. Fracking fun to watch! I almost went streaking after we won the world series (almost, it was a bit chilly out;))

Argh! I swear I could bat better then my Twins. Its been like 4 1-2-3 innings for them in 7 innings. That's just ugly.

At least Johan Santana got his first win tonight.


Red Sox lost 15-3. Holy crap.

Who'd have though the Twin's pitching would suck so much this far?

I caught the highlights of the Sox vs. the Tribe on sportscenter... brutal...

Go Stephen Fleming! He got 262 against South Africa yesterday. What an innings! NZ are 535-8 with 3 days left to play. Hope the weather holds out.

Radke gave up 6 ER in 2 1/3 innings today... ouch...

Yeah, in the last 3 games, the Sox have let in 27 runs... we lost 7-1, 15-3, and 5-2. Blah.

I'd say Franklins innings was a better achievement than Flemings. Fancy a bowler coming in at number 8 hitting a century n/o! Where did that come from, Jimmy??

Kallis' wicket is going to be important. We all know how he can be if he gets his eye on.

Today is NFL Draft :rolling:

-Texans select Williams with No. 1 pick, Williams signed a deal worth $26.5 million guaranteed Friday night.

Yes! Yeovil up to 16th & safety after a 2-1 victory over 4th place Huddersfield. GET IN! :banana:

Fancy a bowler coming in at number 8 hitting a century n/o! Number 9, in fact! You've got to love it when tail enders score runs. Except Jason Gillespie, because that was only against silly Bangladesh. Franklin did it against Makhaya Ntini who had the top order in all sorts of strife.

This game will be a draw though. The wicket looks pretty flat.

my Twins lost 18-1 today... ONE run away from tying the worst lost in franchise history...

Well, the NHL playoffs have their first casualties.

The New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning are booking their tee times as I write this.

My pick is the Dallas Stars for the next to fall.

How Most Americans View Cricket (http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/)

Johnny Damon... you traitor! How dare you expect we will cheer for you?! You left us, a fanbase who worshipped you, for our most hated rivals for more money and a chance to win the World Series. We have a better team than last year, and we most certainly have a chance to win. The only reason you would go to the Yankees and become just another Yankee is for money. Don't expect us to cheer you when you come back (most booed him when he came back last night), because you betrayed us. Going to any other team with a chance for the same amount of money as we offered is fine - not our rival team, and not to secure your future! You are a multimillionaire, who cares about a few extra million here and there? Obviously you, you greedy bastard. Have fun with the Evil Empire. Don't expect any respect from us here in Boston.

Typical Redsoxfan reaction, you're really missing the bigger picture, don't you ? He's probably not doing it for the money, you may be spot on there, but he's probably realising his childhood dream. As far as i know, every kid dreams of being a star wit the Yankees someday, simply because they are the summit of baseball. You can't go any higher than playing for the Yankees, even when they don't have the best team at that particular moment.

It's no different than in football. No matter how much a player claims he loves to play for his current employer, when Real Madrid, or AC Milan, or Manchester United offer you a contract, you go. It's as simple as that. everybody wants to play for the biggest club on the planet, and that is exactly what the Yankees are. Hard to swallow ? Get used to it then, because over the years you'll be seeing many more players heading towards the Bronx, to go live their dream.

Oh, we've seen it before (Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs), but he has spoken and says that he expected respect from us... how about, no? Childhood dream or not, he turned down us for them for a few extra million.

In any case, I feel betrayed. I don't like him anymore, and it will be years before I can respect him as a player (once I get over this feeling).

It always hurts when your teams best players leave.

But players come and go, fans are forever and the club will go on.

Barmy, its not just that he left... that I could deal with. its that he left us for our biggest rivals (like Barcelona-Madrid in football) for more money... he acted liked he loved it here and he loved our team and fans (he said so many times), and then takes off? *Sigh* Maybe I'm overreacting... it would help if you were Sox fans.

Although, you guys have had your share of traitors, I'm sure.

Go Barcelona!!!

Every club has players who do that. We've had about 4 in the last 3 years ('we' being Chesterfield FC).

We had one who left our club saying that the only reason he was leaving was that he wanted to win medals. A week later he joined one of our local rivals who are a league below us, because they pay bigger wages.

That went down like a sack of bricks, let me tell you.

So next round of the NHL playoffs it's Ottawa vs Buffalo and Carolina vs New Jersey. I'm calling Buffalo and NewJersey in the conference final.

In the wester conference, Edmonton, Colorado and San Jose have advanced. Calgary and Anaheim still have game 7 left to play. If Calgary wins, then we have the Battle of Alberta in the second round...

@Saber: the same happened when Figo left Barça to go to Real Madrid. Fans can't understand when the star of the club leaves to go to the 'opposite' team; if Figo should signed with Celta, Espanyol, Villareal or any another team, he wouldn't had so many negative response. Same as in any other rivalry like River - Boca Jr, etc.

New Zealand lose the 3rd test against South Africa. So that's that series, as well as the one day series (after being 3-0 in front), is it?

What to do with you guys, what to do? :shake:

Red Sox beat the Yankees 14-3 last night... so far this year, Johnny Damonis 0-7 with 3 strikeouts against us :p

Whoopie :)

Twins, by some mircle of God managed 15 runs last night. Even against the lowly Kansas City Royals that's a bloody mircle.

Contragulations to Morneau and his 2 HRs last night.

Go Swizerland! that Rafaelle Somethingorother guy is my new hero. Too bad he didnpt make it a hat trick, but great going for Swizerland for making that game a tie :)

Pietersen smashing the Sri Lankan's all around Lord's :) . Good lad!

This is after young Alastair Cook made 89, and Tresco made 106. Going well.

England back on home soil = winning again :) .

The Ottawa Senators have been eliminated. In Toronto, there is much rejoicing.

God damn, Carlos Silva needs to be demoted to the AAA. 7 runs and he still can't win the ball game, gave up 8 runs, 6 of them earned runs in 3.1 innings pitched, upping Silva's ERA to 8.80. How do you stay in the majors pitching like that? It's utterly pitiful. Worst ERA of any pitcher eligable for end of the season awards... and guess who's second? Brad Radke... though somehow Brad is managing to be in a tie for 12th place for the most wins so far this season.

What sport are you talking about?? Baseball?

What sport are you talking about?? Baseball? Baseball and my seemingly hard luck Twins.

Go Sri Lanka! You've got to love a rearguard defence against the odds. I thought defensive 'save the test' efforts didn't happen any more in this helter skelter modern age of cricket. Great stuff!

Go Sri Lanka! You've got to love a rearguard defence against the odds. I thought defensive 'save the test' efforts didn't happen any more in this helter skelter modern age of cricket. Great stuff! 9 dropped catches, what's happening...

Still missing our injured players, big time.

Also, we're always **** at Lords anyway for some reason.

Yeah, I think touring teams think playing at Lords is such a big deal (sometimes a once in a lifetime thing) that they get inspired. I know NZ always seems to play reasonably well there (even when we lose).

Don't talk to me about injured players (bloody Shane Bond......)

It was an interesting week-end. Ottawa eliminated and Edmonton coming back from being down two games to none to take a three to two series lead.

I know many Torontonians who were happy that Ottawa was eliminated - but I am not one of them. Given the choice between a Canadian or an American hockey team winning a playoff series I will cheer for the Canadian team everytime.

In baseball it was good to see that Halladay is continuing to pitch so well for the Blue Jays and it was a great relief to see Towers finally get a win. It is kind of scary that the team basically had no choice but to continue sending out a pitcher who had lost seven straight games with an ERA over 10 but at least he pitched well and hopefully he will continue to do so.

I think the problem that Ottawa had is that they are perceived as a one line team. Their opponents put their best checkers against that one line, then the rest of the team has tio pick up the slack. Until they have a line that can do that, the Grail will evade them.

Getting Heatley for Hossa was a great move for them, and the emergence of Spezza was another great thing, but with losing Hasek to injury, and likely having to choose between Chara and Redden if they are lucky, they will have a long year next year. But if Tyler Aarnason doesn't emerge as a second line centre, and Bochenski stick as a second line forward, then next year will be more of the same for the Senators.

Does anybody from 'the land down under' knows about Australian football? AFL? The circled field?
I used to watch some games and now I've found that a new season just started and it's been showed on TV, really good sport, I like way more than rugby. So I'm hooked up watching the games (they show 4 games at a week!).
Well, I wonder about some guys dressed all in green running around the field; who are they? what they do? it looks like they aren't referees because they don't have the same look like the officials and they don't seem to be paying attention to the plays, they just wander around. Couldn't find anything in the rules related to them.

Also, I miss the guys who used to do the signs whenever a behind or a goal was scored, they look like British police or something, dressed all in white and big hats, now they look like kids with the hat and casual clothes.

I knew Barca would win :D And I was not disappointed

@Undertaker:
You see where I from? You have to really love el Barça, if not, you'll be sick about Barça by now: since they beat Milan, you hear, see, everything about them, on top of that, they were the champions of La Liga 3 games before it finished; they are the only news for about a month already...

Wait, Syndax, aren't you excited about Barca? They won the European Cup (or some name similar)... thats huge!

No, I'm sick of them, besides, I'm not natural born Spanish, and since I'm just here for the last two years, I am not devoted to them. The media take too serious any sport achievement, so, if Nadal (tennis player) is about to get into some championship, the media starts to cover the news 2 weeks before the games starts, and then, if he wins, we have 3 days of 'him'. Anything with Alonso, etc. So, we've been 'eating' Barça for about a month, all day, people in the streets, stores talk about them, and now that they are champions, is the 'thing' to talk about EVERYWHERE...

God damn you Gardy... do you even understand pitching changes? I still remember the time in 2004 when you left Nathan in for 4 innings against the Yankees in game 6, first round of the playoffs. He's a freaking closer, he doesn't pitch 4 innings!

My poor Twins...

Good thing about the Twins: You can become a Chi-Sox fan, and no one will notice :D


Sox aren't doing too shabby, they just beat the Yanks 9-5 (was 9-1, but Foulke let in some runs in the 9th). Now, if only we can get Roger Clemens, we can win this thing.

And where the hell did the Yankees get Terrence Long from?

Anyone beating the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox will get a Cheer from me.

Yay Chi Sox!

Meanwhile, Edmonton won again, and are leading series, I forget whether it's 2-1 or 3-0 though. I get out votes for the remote...

Oilers are 3 to 0, what a series...
Let's see finaly a Canadian team win the Stanley.

I'd love it. I'm old enough to remember the Oiler's cup wins in the 1980's with Gretzky, Messier, Coffey and the gang...

Maybe next year, my Leafs can get the cup...

I just need to get this out of my system....STUPID FRICKIN' PITTSBURGH PIRATES!!!! Looks like we're up for another abysmal season....14 - 33... :mad:

Anyone beating the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox will get a Cheer from meWhats wrong with the Sox? Grrr...


Yeah, Pittsburgh hasn't been good in... forever! ;)

Nothing personal Saber, but I'm a Jays fan, and we have to compete with the Red Sox for the division title. I guess that we can agree that it's cool when the Yankees lose...

Haha, yeah, Yanks suck. No, but I have respect for the Jays, because I seriously thought that they would win division or wild card this year. Unfortunately for them, the Yanks can still hit, and for some weird reason, we have been able to keep winning...


I feel bad for the D-Rays... if they were in the National League, they would have a chance for wildcard.

I just hate how the Yanks think they can buy the World Series. I like to point and laugh when they get eliminated every year. If the Jays and Sox both make the playoffs, then the Yanks are on the outside looking in...

I hope we pick up Roger Clemens, because David Wells just got hurt again, and Clement sucks, and Wakefield is having a bad year. If we had the Rocket, our top three could carry us into the playoffs.


Who are your starting five, Gnarff?

Well things are starting to look better in Twins land. Between Santana and Lirano, my Twinkes could have the best 1, 2 starting rotation in baseball in the coming years, add Boof Bonzer and Joe Nathan and that's damn solid 1-3 with an excellent closer.

Thanks AJ, we all love you hear in Minnesota for what you did for us.

Looks like Mauer might be finding his power too. Now if Morneau could only learn some discipline at the plate... oh well he is still leading the team in HRs and RBIs.

I know there's AJ Burnett that's been hurt more than he's played, Roy Halladay, and I think we have Josh Towers. I get outvoted for the Remote all the time...

I've been catching more of the NHL playoffs lately too.

Our starting five are currently Roy Halladay (6-1 2.87 era) , Gustavo Chacin (also 6-1 but with a 5.11 era), Ted Lilly (5-4 4.00 era), Casey Janssen (rookie, 3-3 3.24 era), and Ty Taubenheim (0-2 7.56 era).

So we basically have one ace, three decent pitchers, and the number five spot in the rotation is a serious problem.

Towers (1-8 8.99 era) was sent down to the minors - I suspect he will regain his form and return eventually but we will see. AJ Burnett isn't expected back for another month or so.

Our middle relief has been somewhat inconsistent but BJ Ryan has been pretty much a sure thing in the closer role.

You guys slaughtered us the last two nights... I was hoping better from Beckett, but Glaus and Wells each had 2 homers off of him (Wells got a third later)...

We can't lose to division members. Bah!

Well, you did salvage one game of the series. And we division Rivals need to beat your ass regularly if we want to win the division...

Interesting, Lilly pitched last night but Ty Taubenheim was in for the ninth. I wonder who the Jays are planning on putting into the number five spot in the rotation this time? The Jays have today off so maybe they are planning on skipping the five slot and going to Halladay instead.

Edit: I checked the Jay's website and I was right. That is welcome news.

Buffalo and Carolina Game 7 tonight! Should be a good one.

Bargh! The Yankees might sweep the Tigers in 4 games... that would suck majorly. The Tigers have the best record in the game, they can't lose to an injury-riddled Yankee team...


We have injury problems: Wily Mo Pena is out for 2+ months with a broken hand bone that needs surgery, Mike Timlin is out for a week with a shoulder strain (our best middle reliever), Mike Lowell (deserves to go the the All Star Game, hes been great!) is out for a day or two with Hamstring, and Manny Ramirez is hurting. Not to mention that David Wells might be out forever. Blah. And Clemens signed with the Astros (22 million for a half year :rolleyes: ), so we are out of luck for help.

Oilers vs Hurricanes for the Stanley Cup. I call Oilers in 6, and the Cup comes back to Canada.

Great batting by England....... Go Chaminda Vaas!

We've played like idiots in this last test.

We could do with Vaughny back, I'm not keen on Freddie's captaincy. He should have Monty on by now into that rough to the left-handers... The pitch looks 5 days old already.

Should be a good finish. Wouldn't want to be chasing more than 300 on that pitch with MM strolling in.

New ball now, Hoggy should clear them up with the shiny one. Panesar has done his job with the old ball. We'll end up chasing 250, which is a large 2nd inning total when you've got Muralitharan spinning you into next week. Bit nervous.

Novembers Ashes series is going to be hilarious. We're in for one hell of a beating.

The target is already over 250. Don't forget how many runs the Sri Lanka tail got in the first innings. Plus, you know nothing about this Capugedera bloke as he is so new. He might be a legend.

We miss Harmy and Jonah in the bowling attack. Big time. A year or so ago, you could rely on our big 4 fast bowlers of Harmy, Freddie, Jonah and Hoggy clearing things up no problem. Teams rarely got above 200-250 in any innings. No longer.

Even Pietersen bowled a few overs earlier. Shocking.

300 is approaching slowly....

Muralitharan - 8 for 70 from 30 overs. The guy is a freak.

What a thrashing. You were cruising at 104-1!

Yeah, then the Murali show kicked into action ;) .

Our batting line-up is terrible, has been for the last 3 or 4 years but we've had the bowlers to bail us out. Injuries are costing us dear I'm afraid.

One day, somebody will invent a way to stop fast bowlers getting injured all the time. Surely, it can't be that hard.

Bad news for the Edmonton Oilers. First they lost Game 1 by a score of 5-4, and in the third period, goaltender Dwayne Roloson left the game with an apparent knee injury.

To have Roloson be injured and have his replacement misplay the puck behind his net and practically give Carolina the winning goal was a terrible ending to what had been up to that point a great game.

If Roloson is not able to play then Edmonton is probably finished. Conklin played one game on April 17th but has not played regularly since the beginning of March and Markannen has not played at all since March 1st. The odds of either of the two of them stepping up to the level needed to win the cup after having not played for so long is mind bogglingly small.

Poor Edmonton... such a great start to the game, recovered from the collapse to tie the game, looked like things were looking alright, and then the goalie goes down and the back up goofs up.

I wonder what the Edmonton newspapers are saying about Conklin.

wwe.com reported that John Tenta, aka the Earthquake has passed away. I'd heard that he had cancer a few years ago, but nothing more about him...

Ouch! Djibril Cissé broke his leg (http://www.eurosports.com/football/worldcup/2006/sport_sto901157.shtml) (shinbone and fibula) in the 'friendly' match against China last night; I can't remember but he broke his leg playing against Blackburn in 2004, right? Man that's gotta hurt...

Oh, almost a great win for Ireland over the All Blacks, but luckily the All Blacks came through with the points in the last quarter of an hour. All Blacks looked pretty rusty without Dan Carter though.

I can't believe the difference in the All Blacks when they don't have Dan Carter. It's almost as bad as when Wilko is missing for England...!

It's Carter and Umaga as well (although the Umaga loss is permanent). The pack was a bit green as well. Reinforces the whole point that you have to win up front first before you can be all flashy.

22-3 now.
Yep, we're ****.
No cohesion, crap defensively and no execution.

I just don't get Robinson at all, he's gone from playing the same losing side and making no changes, to making far too many changes and the team loses it's shape.

Robinson out!!

England just seem to keep getting worse ever since the World Cup. Maybe you have too many foreigners in your domestic competition!

The team he played today was so random. OK, blood a few new players to see how they do, but don't change the whole team! And especially don't play with a forward pack that has been doing alright (compared to the rest of the team).

A&E just showed the Rock, Paper, Scissors World Championship (http://www.rpschamps.com/) tonight. NO, this isn't a joke. o_0

My boys beat your boys tonight Saber.

My hat's off to you tonight Johan. :happy:

Bad night for Joe though. :aww:

With the Blue Jays' pitching starting to crumble it is always nice to see Roy Halladay step up to the mound. He pitched a complete game and only let up one run to end the Jays' three game slide. He is definitely The Man when it comes to ending losing streaks.

Well, Edmonton managed to stay alive for at least a couple more days. I thought they would be crushed in game five but they managed to win on a shorthanded overtime goal. It was a pretty entertaining game too.

England playing Sri Lanka at Twenty 20 tonight. I wonder if anybody in England will actually be watching, given that there is some other sporting event on at the moment that seems to be quite popular.

I'm watching. Back from the pub after footy just in time for the Twenty20. Be-a-yootiful.

Go Sri Lanka!

Dropped the footy on now, couldn't be arsed watching it ! :lol:

You turned it off a minute too early!

Dropped it back on now because Sweden look like they;ve won that game with a late goal.

98 from 66 needed with Tresco and Big Kev in, no problem! We'll clear them off!

Unless they get out!

Jamie Dalrymple in now :lol:
God, we're struggling for good young players.

Dalryymple out now :lol:

Tresco and Big Kev in, no problem! We'll clear them off! If by 'clear them off', you mean 'lose', then you were 100% right!

Who on earth is Dalrymple?

That 2nd to last over did us. We were laughing with Tres in there, once he got out that was it.

Dalrymple plays in county cricket, and he's no great shakes. Same for Bresnan.

It is amazing how fast people jump on and off the bandwagon around here - the Blue Jays lose three in a row and everyone seems to think that the team is going to completely collapse and drop out of playoff contention - but then they turn around and win the next three and everyone is back on the bandwagon again.

Oh well, it was nice to see Lilly get a quality start. Baltimore managed to get a lot of men on base but he managed to keep them all from scoring.

Tonked in the rugby again. It's embarassing.

Robinson out!

I still can't believe the Twins got both Liriano and Nathan for AJ Perzinksy.

2 runs in 7 ip was an off night by Liriano's standards, but those 11 ks last night were quite impressive.

Game 7 in the Stanley Cup final goes Monday night in Raleigh, NC. The Holy Grail of Hockey boils down to one game. All bets are off, but The Hurricanes can't like their chances going into the game, being embarrassed like they were tonight in Edmonton.

In other news, for the injuried to the Blue Jay's Pitching staff, the fact that they are so close to the top of the toughest division in the league is nothing short of amazing.

England were completely hopeless against Australia. Where were your loose forwards? Do you have any?

We did have. Robinson has bowed to pressue and made changes, but made far too many and fixed things that were not broken. He's gone from playing a slow solidish but uninventive forwards game to trying to play running game players and leaking points like nobodies business. The man is clueless and needs turfing out.

We need Woodward back in to bring some stability back before the World Cup. We've go absolutely no chance of keeping out cup if we play like this. We'll get smashed every game.

Yeah, you're not even in the top 5 teams in the world at the moment.

da - vid ---- ha - sel - hof
da - vid ---- ha - sel - hof
da - vid ---- ha - sel - hof
da - vid ---- ha - sel - hof

Woah, what a finish to the US Open. Both Mickelson and Montgomerie drop two shots in the home strait!

The big shock was Tiger missing the cut...

Not really, given that he hasn't played much golf in the last few months.

2006 NBA most boneheaded play - Josh Howard calls the last timeout before the winning free throw instead of after it, depriving his team of the ability to take the ball out at half court. Smooth move.

i tell you. this is drama, this is not real sport. they are faking it. there is an undertable deal going on with dallas and miami. they wanted to take the it to game seven.

2006 NBA most boneheaded play - Josh Howard calls the last timeout before the winning free throw instead of after it, depriving his team of the ability to take the ball out at half court. Smooth move. Maybe Chris Webber is his idol.

I wonder if anybody in Argentina will actually be watching the All Blacks v Argentina test this weekend. I would guess there is only sport that matters in that country this week.

There is only one sport that matters in that country at any time. RU is pretty much a minority sport in all but 3 countries. Australia and New Zealand and Wales.

Rugby Union is probably a number two sport in Argentina. Those crowds go nuts, which is part of what mnakes it so hard to play over there.

Maybe you're right, but no sport will ever get close to the popularity of football over there. It's more a way of life than a sport. The same goes for most South American countries.

Rugby does has lots of fans in Argentina; when Los Pumas started to get into the elite of world rugby, fans started to show all over; but is more 'centralized' in Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Cordoba (provinces). Few years back, ESPN started to show regular league games almost every day (I hated to have to watch 'local' sports on an internaciona sports channel) so popularity of rugby rised a lot; but can't match football popularity, which these days is at the top because of the good games Argentina played at the World Cup. But be sure that lots of people will be very interested when team like All Blacks come down there.


By the way, congratulation to all Carolina Hurricanes fans out there; I wanted that a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup, but it's ok that a team that never won the cup get to rise the Stanley.

England lose to Sri Lanka again. How did you manage to concede 319? That Mahmood guy got smashed!

We're ****. The Ashes was a flash in the pan and will we get crucified in November.

Back to cricketing mediocrity for England, ah well, it was good whilst it lasted.

A bit like your rugby team then. Luckily, your soccer team is winning.

For now, but I'm predicting a quarter final exit, but don't tell anyone I have to keep an optimistic exterior...

But you've got Mahmood and Darymple. How can you lose?

Well, the Carolina Hurricanes have won the Stanley cup. Yet another year that Canada doesn't bring home the cup...

Congratulations to the Miami Heat. Wade looked awesome. Can't wait for all the "next MJ" columns tomorrow.

At least Canada was represented in the last two Stanley Cup finals.... too bad both times they went down to a hockey franchise in the southern states. Bleh

I think Ottawa or Montreal will represent Canada next NHL finals. Toronto is rebuilding, Calgary and Edmonton will be around but need some luck to get past the Detriots and Dallas's in the west. Depending on what Vancouver does this summer with resigning their entire first line (Sedins and Carter), Jovo, and how their new coach performs... they'll be at either the rebuilding stage, or at the same luck-dependent stage as their western counterparts.

[ June 23, 2006, 00:42: Message edited by: Blog ]

Personally I would not care to make any predictions about who will do well next year - the level of parity in the NHL these days is high enough that just about any team could win the cup. Heck, a team that barely made it into the playoffs managed to come within one win of the Stanley Cup this year.

Well the kid in #47 just beat the old man in #22.

Hmm, the All Blacks v Argentina test will be screened at 11:30am. Feels like an odd time to be watching sport.

And Edmonton and Carolina both have 9 UFA's on them. Both could be very different come September...

Both teams missed the playoff in 2004...

Another new player in the England team for the Sri Lanka game. Who is this Loudon character?

Our Cricket team is ****ed. :bang: :coffee:

Loudon is a so-called spinning all-rounder. The problem is, he can't bat or bowl to a high level.

He's played for England before. We're just a bit thin on the ground with the injuries at the minute.

We need another World Cup thread...

The NHL had their entry draft today (finishes tomorrow). I'm surprised that St. Louis tool Eric Johnson. I thought they'd take the flashy Phil Kessel, the Messier like Johnathan Toews (pronounced Taves), or Jordan Staal (brother of Hurricanes Eric Staal).

Meanwhile, John Fergusson Jr. should be fired, horsewhipped or shot. He traded off one of our top prospects for a guy that had one good year then couldn't keep a number one job on a team that was 26th in the league.

Argentina played pretty well against the All Blacks today and could have won if they'd managed to convert any of the last minute possession into points. Plenty for the ABs to ponder ahead of the first Tri-Nations clash with the Wallabies.

Where is Argentina in 'rankings' compared to All Blacks, Wallabies and the others?
A year or two ago I remember that they were considered about 5 or 6 behind them...

England's cricket team would lose to New Zealand right now - we are that bad!

I would love to know the England players batting and bowling averages since the Ashes...
I would be very much surprised if one English batsman has averaged over 40 since then.

Not sure where Argentina is on the world rankings. They have definitely beaten most of the big teams at home in the last couple of years (except the ABs, who hardly ever lose, except at the World Cup) but I would say they rank behind NZ, Australia, South Africa, France, and Ireland at least. They'd probably give the current England team a good run for their money.

@ Gnarfflinger - Well, I was not surprised about Eric Johnson being picked first (he was pretty much unanimously agreed to be the best out there in this draft) but I most certainly agree about Raycroft. I would have been happy to see the Leafs get Gerber or Giguere but getting Raycroft does not inspire me with confidence.

JSBB, I'd have been comfortable with Aubin and Telqvist myself. The priority should have been a front line forward to play with Sundin, and Defence (McCabe or a replacement, a three defenceman to play with Coliacovo, a five man to play with Kronwall).

After the way them dumped on Telqvist down the stretch I think his days in Toronto are pretty much over. Aubin played very well down the stretch but I don't think we can count on him to play so well next year.

We have McCabe signed now - I would have rather we used that money to pick up someone who can actually play defence instead of being a fourth forward.

I agree that they need to get some good wingers to work with Sundin. Gary Roberts is definitely NOT the way they should go regardless of whether or not he wants to be traded to Toronto.

dude, you just involved in match fixing, why the hell you need to kill youself? got secret?

If Ferguson does trade anything of consequence for Roberts, I'll try on a Senators hat...

Not saying I'd actually pay money for one...

Only a week to go before the first Tri Nations test of 2006. Go the All Blacks!

The Leafs added Size to the Blue line, landing Pavel Kubina and Hal Gill today. Now just get a scoring Forward to play with Sundin and we may be all set...

The Sri Lankans are on fire!

A 5-0 whitewash at home, how embarassing...

You've got to almost feel sorry for English sports gurus at the moment.

Soccer team - out of the World Cup one the basis of a couple of kicks

Rugby team - World champs three years ago, but can't win anything at the moment

Cricket team - won the Ashes last year, but getting smashed by Sri Lanka at home

Tennis - Henman eliminated at Wimbledon again.

At least your rugby league team beat a Kiwi 2nd XIII last week.

Tell me about it, it's enough to drive me to drink *hic*

What you think about the Bertuzzi trade (and Bryan Allen and Alex Auld) for Roberto Luongo?

I don't like it. Vancouver needed to ship Bertuzzi away, but not along with two overachieving, young CHEAP players. Sure they got a great goalie in return... his salary seems too much when Cloutier/Auld could have made most of the standard saves for 4-5 million dollars less.

Getting the Sedins signed for three years was a good move though ;) As was getting Willie Mitchell... good solid defensive player for a few million.

I shed no tears for the Canucks. They get Luongo, arguably the best goalie in the game today for a player that drastically needed a change of scenery. The other two players were the price of a deal they felt safe taking to the fans...

Ozzie Guillen is a ****ing idiot. I really some angry Tigers fan does harm to CWS' ridiculous manager. 6 Sox in the All-Star game and not one of them starting... Thome, it doesn't represent the strength of your club, the Tigers are a better team and only have 2 guys going, no Thome, it represents just how poor of an All-Star manager Guillen is. Ozzie, the All-Star manager is suppose to pick the best players to go the the All-Star game (cuz God knows the fans can't), not to pick the best White Sox players to go to the All-Star game.

Cool. The Warriors have won 4 in a row. Unheard of!

Fred Trueman has passed away recently, the game of cricket has lost a legend. He was the first player from any country to reach 300 wickets. Quite a few have beat that total now, but not many can get close to his astonishing strike rate and average.

RIP, Freddie.

Yeah, what a legend. RIP. Wasn't he from up your part of the country, Barmy?

Nearby, he was a Yorkshire born and bred. I'm a Derbyshire born and bred. Supposed to be enemies, but I'll let it go in his case :) .

Legend.

2006 NBA draft, last pick of all, will blalock from :banana: ISU! :banana:

Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman announced his retirement today. It's really no surprise, but he will be missed. 22 years, all with the Detroit Red Wings, 198 of them as team captain. Yeah, I bleed Blue and white, but my hat is off to Stevie Y...

Robert 'fat boy' Key is knocking the Pakistani's around a bit in the 1st warm up match! Go KFC boy!

Shame that warm-up matches count for zip.

you've singed everyone from Valencia, why not Aimar!!!!!!!!!!!!

All Blacks beat Wallabies by 32 - 12. Fascinating game. Scoreline flatters the All Blacks a bit, as they scored 14 points during 10 minutes while Australia were a man down. Wallabies spent the rest of the game playing catch up. I'm sure it won't be that close when we next meet in Brisbane. But it's damn good to have some real test match rugby to watch again.

Red Sox lost after 19 innings... for those who don't know baseball, a normal game lasts 9 innings. This game lasted 6 hours and 19 minutes (as opposed to the normal 3 hours).

How come, when the Leafs have only about 4 million left in cap space, Michael Peca and Anson Carter both talk about how they'd like to play for the Leafs. What the team needs to do is sit down with the players in question, their agents, and tell them how much money is available between the two contracts. Then we'll see some competition...

My boys Cooky and Belly both clobbered centuries in the first innings. Goodo :) .

Well, English sports fans have something to cheer about again. They certainly can't lose this test now.

Oh. My. God. Lazio, Juventus and Fiorentina have been relegated to Serie B, and Juventus will have to start with a 30 point penalty! That's gonna be a hell of a league next season. :shake:

Full story here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/5164194.stm).

[ July 15, 2006, 11:42: Message edited by: The Magpie ]

Nothing for Milan?

And I'm gonna miss three out of my four favorite teams. With Fiorentina and Juventus being relegated for this, and Brecia being relegated normally, only AC Milan is left. :(

EDIT: Just saw AC Milan. Stays in Serie A, but gets a 15 point penalty.

Inter, Roma, Chievo and Palermo, who finished third, fifth, seventh and eighth, are in line to take the places of the penalised clubs in next season's Champions League. Forza Palermo :banana:

Bowling is allover the place again. Harmison probably bowling the worst balls he's bowled in 3 years. But hey, he's still got three wickets I 'spose.

Ah NHL Offseason in Toronto Maple Leafs region. Lots of speculation to read, but littile actually happenning...

If I put a team together of all the players rumoured to be coming to Toronto, I'd have blown the salary cap three times over...

Must be a great batting wicket. Although Pietersen did get a wicket.

It looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs really did land Mike Peca. I like the signing. Sure he won't score 25 goals in a season like he did years ago, but he's not there to add offence, he's there to offend. He'll offend the Senators, Canadiens, Sabres, Ruins--er Bruins...

That puts the Leafs at $43 million, about 1 million below the cap. Barring a really sweet deal, that's about the end of the tinkering that JFJ will be doing...

Does anyone know when we are having our revenge on the handbag swinging Kiwis's? I havent seen any ads for it yet.

@ Gnarfflinger - yes the Leafs are out of salary cap room and they have not found a way to get a top line scoring winger to play with Sundin. The Leafs have bolstered their defence but they have added a goalie who is coming off a terrible season and they have done nothing to bolster their offence. All in all I am not looking forward to next season.

Awesome. The NZ basketball team beat the Australian Boomers 79 - 71. This is the Tall Blacks's fisrt ever win in Australia. Bring on the World Championships!

And TrueBlueAussie - assuming you are talking about the next Tri-Nations test, the All Blacks take on the Wallabies in Brisbane on 29 July.

JSBB: I thought JFJ should have been horse whipped for the Rask for Raycroft deal. I'd have been confident running with Aubin and Telqvist then having 3 mil to try to land Anson Carter...

It's seems that Berlusconi still has some influences, can't understand why the other teams went to Serie B but his team doesn't; Milan just got monetary punishment and they have to start the championship with -15 points.

Personally I would have said to hell with McCabe and forget Raycroft and used the money to sign Anson Carter and Martin Gerber.

The defence is good enough with McCabe (who isn't nearly as good as people seem to think), Gerber has a better track record than Raycroft, they would still have Rask for the future, and Carter would give them the scoring winger that they need.