Tomorrow's match is one of the biggest ever to be held at this stadium. If Town are to have a hope of getting out of the lower leagues for the first time since 2001, we simply must beat a resolute Swindon team who have only lost 4 games all season. We're currently 7th, after the disappointing 0-0 draw at relegation-threatened Brighton, and can't afford to keep dropping silly points like that. Swindon are 5th, 5 points ahead of Town in the play-offs. Defeat for Town would mean we're well out of the play-off picture with a third of the season to go; victory would peg Swindon back and provide a springboard from which Town could go all-out for promotion. In fact, it's imperative for Town to win at least the next six, a run which would include victory over second-placed local rivals L**ds and away wins at Carlisle, Hartlepool (I'm off to that), Tranmere and big-spending Southampton. Winning those would lift us above Millwall into the play-offs and give us a real shot at getting out of League One. I'm slighly nervous, but optimistic. Town being Town, we're rubbish against struggling sides and absolutely irresistible against sides fighting it out with us. We've outplayed L**ds at their place and done the double over MK Dons already, so why can't we go out there and beat Swindon?
I've been told that Vancouver has imported a mixture of real and manmade snow, which is something they're getting a bit of flack for apparently. But what can you do? My only question is will manmade snow have a different texture that might affect competitors? I'm very, very excited for the Games.
Here we go..... watching the Games opening ceremony right now. Very exciting. Go USA! The Olympics are a time to cheer for your own country, but they are also a time to be proud of the world. To stand shoulder to shoulder, each country's athletes and people and leaders can all take pride in the friendship, sportsmanship and respect between their nations, it's something that just makes you proud to be a part of this world and reassures you that there's still good people in this world. I can't wait!!!!!
To be fair, Vancouver is quite warm by Canadian standards. Now, that there's snow on the ground in Texas but virtually none in the Greater Toronto Area is just awesome. It feels like Spring here.
I love the Olympics. It is ultimate. Peace, communication, good spirits, and a little friendly jabbing (for everyone except the athletes, that is ). These times are just wonderful. I feel proud to be a person. My goal one day is to attend the Olympics, the Superbowl, or the World Cup. Possibly all three. I will get there. xx Rest in peace, Nodar Kumaritashvili. You are a true Olympian.
Terrible news to start the Olympics I'm happy the Georgian team have decided to participate in the opening ceremony and the rest of the Games in Kumaritashvili's honour. Edit: What have they done to our anthem? That was terrible. Edit 2: Well, that was... something. The best part of the opening ceremony was the canoe floating in space.
We played ever so well today. At half-time and 2-1 down after dominating the first half we could have buckled, and yet we came back and should have won. Town went a goal up after just 8 minutes. After a corner, Town skipper and centre-half Peter Clarke found himself shepherded into the left-wing position. Showing incredible feet for a 6'2" central defender, Clarke went past his man, got to the dead-ball line and then fired home from a stupid angle - a quite wonderful goal that no centre-half on the planet has the right to score. Of course, our entire right hand side switched off to allow their lad to get a cross in inside a minute and Charlie Austin equalised. Town then proceeded to dominate the game some more before Swindon took the lead with only their second shot. Town were rocked at this point, and didn't look dangerous. Then the half-time whistle went and, come the second half, Town were a different side. Despite the domination in the first half, we weren't the fluent, dangerous side of early season. After the break, we were. We created chance after chance after chance. Roberts and Pilkington were getting wide and getting the ball in the box, and the leveller arrived after 50 minutes - Kay rose highest to a Roberts corner to power home a header, his fifth goal of the season, resulting in the usual celebration! For the next 25 minutes, Town pegged Swindon back in their own half. Keeper Lucas made no fewer than four saves of real quality as Novak (twice), Pilkington and Collins all tested the ex-L**ds stopper's reflexes. By contrast, Smithies at the other end could pretty much have taken a holiday. Swindon did briefly rally, but Town's domination continued to the final whistle. A draw flattered Swindon something shocking, as Town were by far the better team and played the Robins off the park. There's no way a team like that will be above Town at the end of the season.
And now the "boring" (IMO) sports start. I have no interest in baseball, basketball or NASCAR least of all (I HATE NASCAR! ), and the only good sports are the Olympics, which have their own thread. Can't wait until the draft, though. And I'm uneasy (as is everyone else, I think) about the uncapped year. Hopefully they reach a new CBA and get another salary cap and don't have a lockout. I don't want the NFL to become the MLB--no salary cap, so the richest teams can basically buy the good players and the championships (see: Yankees). To see the Cowboysgirls become the NFL version of the Yankees would be horrible.
I love NASCAR and NHRA...whoopee...watching the Daytona 500 right now. Officials loosened the rules a bit this year, making for some more aggressive racing. I also like seeing young women breaking into raving. Got some talented ladies, especially in Top Fuel drag racing...goooo Ashley Force! I share Gigi's distaste for pro basketball, and I stopped watching pro baseball after the last time those super rich players went on strike.
I could never get into NASCAR, or really any type of racing except some track and field. And Gigi, the most important sport in the world is still running. It's too bad the most important team in the world or at least Cana... Toronto... is a miserable failure. Also, I think my parents are finally getting humour, and it's awesome. They handed me a card today that begins 'Nothing is more important to me than my team...' It had an Ottawa Senators logo.
I have no interest in baseball because to me, it's rather boring. If we had a good (see: rich) team, I may have developed a liking for it. The Brewers haven't ever won a championship. However, I could care less because football makes up for it here. And basketball is really an easier sport than football or baseball.
Same here. I'm sure some moments can be exciting, like someone hitting a homer to win the world series or something, but I couldn't imagine watching an entire baseball game. Then again, Maryland's team, the Orioles aren't much better than the Brewers.
Having viewed the highlights, I can safely say that their second goal should have been ruled out after their lad blocked Smithies' view from an offside position. I don't care if he didn't touch the ball, he was interfering with play in an offside position and the goal should have been ruled out. Do officials have something personal against us?
At least C.C. Sabathia got a ring this year. :/ I hate it when players are bought out like that from other teams. Going from the okay (in terms of money and by extension talent) Brewers to the (rich and by extension good) Yankees was probably a no-brainer for him when they're shoving money down his throat. Of course, I'm not saying he's a bad person for taking the deal. But getting bought out will not make you look like a favorable person. I don't want the NFL to become like the MLB. When you have money in the MLB, by extension, you have talent. If you're rich, people can substitute in the word "talented" and it will still fit. That's why the Yankees win, and that's why rich teams like the Red Sox win as well. The NFL is the one sport that if you have money, that does not mean you have talent. The Cowboys are the richest team in the NFL and yet only won their first playoff game in a while this year, while the Saints aren't as rich and won the Superbowl. What makes the NFL in part so awesome is that money does not rule the sport and extend teams' talent levels. If that is taken away, money loss will be off the charts, not to mention all the furious football fans. The NFL is not money-controlled, and an uncapped year is practically certain, which could hurt the sport. Hopefully a new cap is in place soon--ideally by March 5, but that won't happen. So after this season ends, I would love to have another salary cap back.
A couple uncapped seasons won't be that bad. Many of the teams aren't going to overspend, because they believe the cap is returning. Heck, the Steelers have publically stated that they are going to work within what their cap was going to be.
The effect of the uncapped season is going to be blunted by the restrictions the league's put in place on signing free agents. UFA status is moved back a year, so many of the best potential free agents will either have to be traded, or the signing team will need to surrender draft picks. I believe teams are also given one additional franchise tag. Beyond that, there are harsh restrictions placed on the top eight playoff teams (top in terms of rounds reached), so the Saints and Colts will only be able to replace players that sign elsewhere. Longterm, I think the loss of revenue sharing will have a more significant effect on the league. The Jaguars will be gone. Small market teams will struggle. It could dramatically reshape the face of the league- if it happens, I wouldn't be surprised to see numerous teams relocate or fold. Also, the Raiders are getting in on the uncapped season, resigning Janikowski. At 4 years, $16 million total. Both our kickers are making over 3 million a season, it is the Raiders!
I heard about that--that's an excellent idea from the Steelers. And I'm glad teams won't overspend, but the thought that they are now ABLE to, and that it could potentially force a lockout, has me (and everyone else) on edge. I'm just hoping that the cap won't really have that much of an effect, and I hope a new one is back so UFA status can return to 4 years again.
When it comes to free agency, I heard something on the NFL network that I didn't consider before. During this offseason, there won't be any cap penalties for realising players, since well, there won't be a cap. So, any teams looking to get rid of some under achievers or older veterans, now would be the time to do it.
Yeah... as I think I said before, I'd love to see the Raiders take advantage of the uncapped year to dump at least Russell, possibly McFadden and DHB if they don't show any sign of progress. Better than letting them be just as useless while killing the salary cap. There was a similar grace period when the NHL's CBA switched over to the cap, and one of the main reasons the Leafs have become such a mess was their failure to take advantage and dump some aging and underachieving players.
Hm, the Ravens have signed Donte Stallworth. This could be a good deal if he hasn't lost his speed. Before his DUI incident, he was one of the fastest recievers in the league and teams had to respect the deep ball possibility when he was in there. Also it seems the Browns have taken advantage of the this uncapped offseason to release Jamal Lewis. It's a shame he's been worn down in the last few seasons, but at least he has a superbowl ring.
Countdown to the draft has started. I'm really hoping for a 2005 scenario for the Pack here--have some top picks fall down the board so we can snatch them up--we got Rodgers that way and it worked out magnificently.
There's no risk to it anyway, it's only a one year contract. Stallworth is a receiver with so much physical talent I keep expecting him to have a breakthrough season. At this point, it's getting less and less likely that season will ever come, but at least he gives Flacco a good, fast target. I wouldn't have been surprised to see Lewis cut even if there was a cap. Unfortunately, years of wear have really added up for him, but he's had some remarkable seasons. Someone might still give him a chance as an extra back.
I'd love to know, who's idea was it to come up with the biathlon? Seriously, putting skiiing and shooting together?
Off to Hartlepool away tomorrow. Just 984 tickets were available and they all went, so I'm pleased I got one. I reckon there'll be a few Town fans dotted around the home end as well. The Rhovak partnership will hopefully get a couple and send me home happy.
