Tangential Ramblings

They only took one official photo of me during the Bupa 10km run. Here it is. Not my best side, I don't think.

Bupa has published the unofficial results from today's race. Here's how I fared.

Overall, I came 511th out of 6,079 (8.4%), I was the 468th male out of 3,266 (14.3%) and came 86th out of 1,135 (7.6%) in my 30-34 age group. (That means 43 women beat me, btw.) My official time was 45m 39s, with 5km splits of 22m 32s and 23m 7s respectively, making my second half 2.6% slower than the first. I certainly felt that.

This morning marked the culmination of the rather lacklustre training of the last few weeks. This morning was the Bupa 10,000.

And my was it wet? It rained solidly for the vast majority of last night, hard rain that continued up to and throughout the race. My trainers and socks were soaked through, long before the race even started.

I headed to the start line quite early, and being in the first wave I was three rows from the very front of the amateurs, watching the pros and celebs warming up just in front. (The only two I recognised were Liz Yelling and the chubby guy that Jack and Vera looked after for a while on Corrie.)

The occasion got the better of me, as I completed the first km in a stupidly fast (for me at least) 4m 13s. I then settled down to a more reasonable pace of around 4m 30s per km as we headed down the Embankment, urged on by the throngs of spectators, their enthusiasm not dampened by the weather. I completely missed seeing the 4km and 6km time checks, but passed the halfway point at 22m 35s. Then the homeward leg, across the slippery cobbles of Leadenhall Market before passing St. Paul's Cathedral as it chimed for 10:30am. Then on to the Embankment again. I was starting to slow just before 8km, but was picked up (not literally) by a guy running for the Children's Charity (huge thank you!), and we spurred each other on (he did most of the spurring) until he dropped me (again, not literally) with a hand-slap at 9km. Then a steady last km, neither the 400m nor 200m to go markers instilling any form of energy burst from me.

The skies were noticably clearing as we walked up past Buckingham Palace to collect our bags and twelve-packs of Raspberry Lucozade Sport, a little late for my liking.

My time: 45m 40s. Better than I'd expected given both my inadequate training and the lousy conditions. And I was home and the rain had stopped by 11.45am. Overall: happy and wet. Roll on next year!

I thought I'd tipped 10km in Monday's run with the additional leg up to the Common. But I was 100m short. So I extended the end of tonight's run by a trivial amount to ensure that I could interpolate my time—and to claim that I'd run 10km in training. The distance was 10.09km; time: 47m 5s. That interpolates to a 10km of 46m 40s.

So I achieved my recently-set personal target of 10km in under 47m, which I'm happy about. I didn't expect it, expecting the time to be significantly slower than Monday's. It's pleasing to notice the times coming down while the effort seems to stay pretty much constant.

I'll head out for a light 5km jog on Friday morning and take the weekend off in preparation for the run Monday morning.

In terms of time of day, I think I prefer running in the evening than in the morning, although the glorious smells of food that waft from the restaurants and houses of Clapham on the balmy evenings certainly makes me want to stop running in favour of eating.

Last night's run felt like a proper run. Partly because it was a decent distance; partly because I felt pretty good in myself while doing it, even deciding at around 7km (on exiting Battersea Park) to extend the loop a little beyond the 9km of the previous outing to take me close to the 10km, if not beyond.

The distance ended up being 9.89km, rounded off with a haul up Cedars Road (quite a hill) before the gentle downhill round the side of the Common and all the way home.

The day hadn't started well. After my 1.37am mid-night bathroom stop (they seem to become more prevalent the older I get), I decided to can my 5.35am alarm call in favour of an extra hour in bed. The evening, however, offered ideal running conditions: cooler than of late, with a little wind, perhaps a little too breezy if anything.

The time was 47m 30s, a tiny bit of extrapolation taking this to a 48m 2s 10km. And despite this relatively quick run, I experienced a first for this training preparation: an overtaker. Some guy lumbered past me on the north side of Battersea Park wearing a Pray I'm Not Your Doctor Number 5 rugby shirt. The awkwardness of his running suggested I should be outpacing him, but his taller stature (it's not that hard after all) meant his legs were working about half as much as mine. Nevertheless, he provided a target to hunt down before he turned out of the park and I headed for the river.

Lastly, apologies to the guy crossing Albert Bridge carrying what I think might have been a biscuit tin in a bag. I thought he was being an awkward bastard by standing stock still next to his partner. In retrospect (and after a sarcastic thank you from me), he may have been creating a diagonal gap between the two of them—not the most intelligent move on such a narrow path, but my bad nonetheless. Fortunately, the biscuit tin seemed to be empty, as my leg clattered into it while passing him.

Oh, and lastly (really this time), for some reason when I stop running, my knees start itching. Very strange.

The longest training run to date this evening. 9.02km in 43m 5s. That extrapolates to 47m 45s for the 10km. I have to say I'm surprised. All in all, it was OK, but there were a few moments when I just wanted it to stop. Eventually, it did, when I heaved myself up our front steps and staggered through our front door, and I fully expected a rubbish time. But the longest distance to date brought about my quickest extrapolated 10km to date. (By the way, I don't take any form of timepiece with me. Instead I look at the analogue clock in the lounge before my run and again after it. In my sorry medical state, I then take an age to calculate the difference between the two.)

So the profile of extrapolated times to date are:

• 5 November: 51m 0s
• 18 November: 50m 6s
• 10 February: 50m 32s
• 9 April: 51m 25s
• 27 April: 48m 27s
• 10 May: 51m 6s
• 12 May: 48m 48s
• 14 May: 48m 54s
• 16 May: 47m 46s

Shit. That's only nine training runs so far. Three more before the race will make twelve. Making the race run 13. Hm. Double figures at least.

Today was the first run over 9km, and the first under 48m for the extrapolation. Today's best run was 7% faster than my worst. It would be good to get another 2% to bring it under 47m as part of my training.

As for the race itself, let's see. Whether adrenaline will kick in sufficiently to get me closer to my predicted time of 45m is doubtful.

Last night I inquired of my brother whether away goals counted, during Leeds' crucial tie away at Carlisle. (The scores were poised at 2-2 on aggregate; Leeds had lost the home leg 2-1.)

His trite response was that away goals did count, my not having asked my question correctly. I wanted to know whether they carried any extra weight.

The concept of increasing the value of goals scored away is usually referred to as 'away goals count double'. In reality, this is wrong, as if taken literally, a team losing 4-3 on aggregate with all seven goals having been scored at the winners' home ground would be deemed victors, having won '6-4' because of the away goals' double value. In reality, away goals count for 1 + epsilon, where epsilon is a tiny number any multiple of which is never greater than 1 in the context of the game. Maybe epsilon could be set as 1/(total goals scored + 1) to avoid any possibility of this adversely affecting the outcome of the game.

(For completeness, Leeds went on to win 3-2 (or 5-4 if you'd prefer.)

This morning's run was good. I extended it a little, with a minor inroad back into Battersea Park, plus a return route up Queenstown Road instead of Silverthorne, forcing me back down Wandsworth Road home. All in all, an extra 1.16km, taking me up to 8.35km in total. Time: 40m 50s, extrapolating to a 48m 54s 10km.

Friday, I intend to do the Queenstown Road route there and back, which should take me up to 9km. Then 9km runs on Monday and Wednesday followed by an easy jog Friday ready for the big race the following Monday. Training has been slap-dash, but I now know I'm able to run the distance, and should get a semi-respectable time.

A much better run this morning. I repeated Friday's 7.19km circuit, taking in the glorious morning along the Embankment stretch, the Thames glistening beautifully. Today's time was a much more respectable 35m 5s, extrapolating to a 48m 48s 10km. (BTW, what is the opposite of extrapolating, for example calculating a 10km time from a 12km run?) Setting off at 5.45am, the first and only other runner I saw was at 4km, when I passed a girl on the stretch opposite the pagoda. It was a nice cool morning for it, but the run only started to feel enjoyable, like I was meant to be doing this, at 3km. On Wednesday, I need to up the distance a little.

We're now on a severe countdown to the 10km run. It's two weeks on Monday. Or 16 days from now. Eeek.

I went for a run last night, 7.19km in total, a loop of Battersea Park with Albert and Chelsea bridges included for the extra distance and wonderful views on what was a beautiful night, even if it was a little warm for running. 36m 45s in total, extrapolating to a 51m 6s 10km. It wasn't the best of runs, but I'm headed in the right direction. I'm now aiming to do a decent run every other day (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday), then doing a couple of easy runs on the Tuesday and Thursday before the big day.

The other worrying part is that I've been allocated the number 303, and they've been handed out numerically based on estimated completion time, mine being 45m. Shit it!

Route: a slightly extended loop of Battersea Park plus the outward and homeward legs
Distance: 6.45km
Time: 31m 15s
Extrapolated 10km: 48m 27s

Geez. Tonight saw training run 3, despite runs 1 and 2 being far in the distant past. It hurt, and wasn't at all impressive. Below are the vitals:

• Distance: 6.32km
• Time: 32 minutes and 30 seconds
• Extrapolated 10km: 51minutes and 25 seconds

That's assuming I could have continued for another 3.68km.

More training needed. But right now, my calves hurt.

Tonight I sat in a rib bar in Clapham, drinking a Sam Adams and watching March Madness on ESPN. It's moments like these that bring it home how much I miss America sometimes.

There was an article surfaced on the BBC News site recently with the following title and surfaced summary:

F1: Prost backs Hamilton
Fernando Alonso tells the BBC that his former McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton could win the title in 2008.

I read the article twice to confirm that Alonso wasn't bigging up (a phrase used purely to prompt comment from Rob) the chances of his bitter rival for the 2008 Championship. Very odd to read, and a strange mistake to make.

When the board of a football team says that it is 100% behind its manager, I'm keen to understand whether the question was asked of them, or whether the information was volunteered. Surely the latter scenario is more worrying for the manager in question.

I'd also like to know the average length of time between a board proferring this support and the manager's subsequent departure date.

...if we beat them tonight. I would luv it!

We are a massive club and what Sam did was a disgrace - the mess our team in is due to Big Sam, I hope he never gets a job in football again. Keegan is no better. We deserve the best because we are in the top three biggest clubs in this country if we get it right.

This was a comment from Newcastle_best112 on 606 during Sunday afternoon's web coverage of Newcastle's draw against Middlesbrough.

Idiocy or delusion: you decide.

In circumstances where a football team only needs to secure a draw, I've often thought about a scenario in which, immediately after the kick-off, the eleven players rush back to their own goal and arrange themselves on the plane of the goalmouth ready to defend the pounding that the opposing team will administer to them for the next 45 minutes. After a brief respite for oranges and to ice the bruising caused by the ball's (and indeed balls') battering, they'd be back out for 45 further minutes of the same.

I nervously aired this idea in the office the other day, given the impending such fixture that England faces against Croatia tomorrow. It turns out that a colleague had often shared these very thoughts. He probably hasn't analysed it to the extend detailed below.

The goalmouth is 7.32m wide and 2.44m high. There would be seven players lined up on the goal line, each responsible for defending a goal width of 1.05 metres. With 42 inch waists, and assuming they're rotund enough for their depth (fatness) to be equal to their width, then they would be 0.34cm wide, so they'd have to shuffle left and right to defend the ball from going through the gaps in between them. This wouldn't be as difficult as it might sound, as with the ball being 70cm 22cm wide, the defenders (as this is what they would all be deemed) would only have to shuffle 18cm 41cm either way to close the gap sufficiently to prevent the ball from going through.

Ah, I hear you say, why doesn't the opposition score by lifting the ball over the seven defenders' heads? This is where the other four players come in. These four players would lie atop the heads of their seven colleagues, two on the left atop one another and two on the right, again atop one another.

===== =====
| | | | | | |

Like so.

Assuming their seven floor-standing colleagues were 1.85 metres tall (6'1"), then the four airborne players would only need to be 29cm wide, or 36" round to cover the area up to the cross-bar. All of Peter Crouch's height, there would be a 3.3 metre gap between the heads of the left and right airborne players, which would be defended in each of three ways:

• By one of these players being a goalkeeper
• By having an extra tall player in the middle of the seven floorstanders
• By the aforementioned lateral shifting.of the seven floorstanders.

The alternative would be to place the goalkeeper in the middle of the seven, using his height and hands to defend that middle area.

So tomorrow, England will be playing in the 11 formation (as opposed to their regular 4-4-2) to secure the draw they need to qualify for Euro 2008. I'd be surprised if McLaren risked any other strategy.

I've entered the BUPA London 10,000, a 10km run through the streets of London on 26 May, 2008. Although I'm not training specifically for it just yet, I thought I'd give my trainers an airing yesterday, and undertook the following run.

It was hard. I completed the 6.32km in around 32 minutes. If I'd carried on at the same pace, I would have managed a 51 minute 10km, or else a three hour 34 minute marathon. Neither would have been possible, as my wife and daughter would no doubt testify, both witnesses of my distressing breathing and general fatigue on returning home.

I'm hoping that by the time May comes around, I'm sub-45 for 10km, ideally sub-42. Let's see.

It seems the Sox have done it again: from a seemingly hopeless
situation in the championship series, they've gone on to clinch a berth
in the World Series. In 2004, they were 3-0 down to the Yankees
before rattling off the next four games. The seventh game of this
series was played the night we landed in New York furnished with
visas: 21 October. I went down to Penang on Columbus to order
takeaway beef rendang and pancakes, where I caught the start of the
game and was filled in on the first six games by the barman over a
beer. Then back home to catch the rest of the game, managing to fend
off the jetlagged eyelids that seemed intent on closing. Fabulous to
see the Yankees lose in such dramatic style.

This year, the Red Sox have turned around a 3-1 deficit to the
Cleveland Indians, winning the final game in style 11–2 and scoring six runs at the bottom of the eighth, to set up a World Series against Colorado (one of only two rectangular states, the other being Wyoming). This must all be particularly hard on Johnny Damon, who defected from the Red Sox to the Yankees after their 2004 glory. Poor Johnny.

I wouldn't ever want to face the Sox in a championship series. Not
likely that I will, but still.

I thank you.

[Dan bows, then send his CV to the Sun in response to their advert for Chief Headline Writer.]

A little harsh of the Wikipedia contributor to consign Argentina to defeat with 19 minutes left on the clock, trailing 24–13.

Not sure why, but the antipodean accent is resonating particularly sweetly this morning. This morning, two girls and a guy on the bus, all Kiwis, discussed their weekend's beer-drinking exploits, and the "empty" feeling they felt after Saturday night's game.

It's a shame I don't have any meetings with any Australians or Kiwis today. Maybe I'll arrange a couple.

This was put together following the Texas Rangers' 30–3 thrashing of the Baltimore Orioles, the highest single team run total in 110 years.

Here it is. Funny how they don't mention America's 18½–9½ battering at the hands of Europe in the 2005 Ryder Cup. Although they did include the Boston Tea Party at number 96.

After last night's games, Newcastle are still top of the table (average points 3, average goals 3, average difference 2), followed by Everton (3, 2.5, 1.5) and Chelsea (3, 2.5, 1), Arsenal (3, 2, 1), Blackburn (3, 2, 1) and Liverpool (3, 2, 1) taking the remaining European spots. I was wrong in suggesting that Spurs (0, 0.5, -1.5) were bottom of the Premiership under this new sorting algorithm—West Ham (0, 0, -2) prop up the division, with Spurs and Middlesbrough (0, 0.5, -1) joining them in the relegation zone.

The biggest beneficiaries from the revised sorting are Newcastle, jumping four places, while Man. City are crying with a five place demotion from second to seventh.

The Premier League, along with every other British footballing league (and indeed all foreign ones, I think), is ordered by points scored, with other measures (goal difference and goals scored) kicking in to rank teams with equal points. Under this method, it's always struck me as unfair, particularly early in the season, that teams that have played fewer games are penalised.

Surely a more equitable initial measure would be average points per game played, with average goal difference and average points scored kicking in as the secondary and tertiary differentiators.

I've thought this since childhood, yet I was only prompted to put it into words on seeing Everton leapfrog Newcastle last night as a result of beating Spurs.

So far, Everton has 2-1 and 3-1 wins under its belt, giving an average points per game of 3, an average goal difference of 1.5 and an average goals scored of 2.5. Newcastle's sole 3-1 win gives us figures of 3, 2 and 3 respectively, putting us top, no? For completeness, under either scenario, Spurs are bottom.

So Newcastle top the Premier League table after the opening weekend. (When did it cease to be called the Premiership, btw?)

In the last seven seasons, the league's winning team has always won its first game. (As an aside, only one team winning its first game has gone down in the same period.) Assuming the same will be true this season, we'll be fighting it out against Man. City, Chelsea, Arsenal (only just), Blackburn, Everton, Liverpool and Sunderland.

So we've got an 8–1 chance of winning the Premier League, right? Odds that must be shortened given that we're already leading the rest of the bunch.

Let's see how it pans out.

Pádraig Harrington's Wikipedia page has been updated 332 times in total since its creation at 3pm on 11 November, 2004. 141 of those updates were made today, 133 of which have been made since he won the play-off against Sergio García in The Open this evening. One such update corrected someone's assertion that Carnoustie was in Augusta., which was live for one minute.

Each version is stored and can be compared with any other version.

Wikipedia's top ten languages account for a total of over five million articles. It's mind-boggling when you think about it.

My very good friend Elise is coming to London town in the not too distant, which I'm very excited about. (I've only met her once, but what with the wonders of the internet, I consider her very highly.) However I'm torn.

She has expressed enthusiasm at the coincidence of her trip and the Tour de France's kick-off in London, and would like to go see it. Now most years, I would have bitten someone's arm off to join her, given my thorough enjoyment of the Tour, and the particularly mathematical nature of the prologue stage.

But Floyd Landis won the tour last year, thereafter failing a dope test. (Apparently, he's still the official winner, which surprised me.) And meanwhile Bjarne Riis has just been asked to return his 1996 yellow jersey, having admitted four days ago to taking banned drugs between 1993 and 1998. Rumours are rife, as are positive tests and counter-claims.

Given the state that the sport's in, I'm not sure I want to honour it with my support.

"I'm so busy over a weekend I don't even notice the grid girls."

Lewis Hamilton before last weekend's race weekend. Is this him coming out?

So, the Irish beat Pakistan at cricket, sending them home. Surely that's the equivalent of Pakistan knocking Ireland out of the World Gaelic football championships.

I think that the BBC has introduced some new static copy on its News homepage. Just under the Sport Headlines title on the right-hand side, it reads:

Cricket: Dismal England collapse

I'm pretty sure it's static. I think it's been there ever since the Australia tour began on 10 November. I can't imagine there's a need for it to be content manageable.

I've not watched any of this year's darts for a bunch of reasons. But I did catch the last half of the final, which I was surprised about, tuning into a match at 6–0, first to seven.

Martin Adams had won the first six sets before the interval. He and a seemingly dejected Phil Nixon walked out for what looked like a formality.

One by one, Nixon clawed his way back into the match. After winning the seventh, and even the eighth, you didn't think much of it. When he got to 6–4, alarm bells started ringing, both for Mr. and Mrs. Adams, the latter leaving the arena as the pressure became too much. Her husband had no such option.

And Nixon continued his remarkable comeback, taking sets eleven and twelve, tying the match at 6–6 to set up a final, deciding set.

Unfortunately, Nixon crumbled, wayward darts spattering the 5 and 1 beds to allow Adams to hold his nerve for a double-top finish. 7–6 to Adams.

Fantastic TV.

My wife keeps seeing the results from England's 20Twenty matches against Australia on the news. This after our 5–0 drubbing in the Test.

Each time, she implores them (via the interactive medium of shouting at the TV) to "just come home", given the futile plight that they are engaged in.

I have to say that I agree. They should really have come home for Christmas to save some despair and eat some turkey

The 36.7% probability came true. Kansas City and the New York Jets won, and Denver just lost in overtime to San Francisco.

The Broncos' season ends with 2006.

Ho hum.

Last night, the New York Giants hailed in Washington in their last game of the regular season. After losing six of their previous seven games, a win was far from certain. It seems that Tiki Barber did quite a bit of damage with 234 rushing yards, more than either he or indeed any Giant in history has ever rushed for previously.

The Giants are now guaranteed a wildcard playoff berth if all of the following nine teams win: Green Bay, Arizona, Detroit, Miami, Minnesota, San Francisco, Cleveland, New Orleans, Seattle.

If you ignore the teams' respective opponents and simply use their season's winning record to date as their probability of winning today, then the probability of all of the above teams winning is 0.0126%. Or 1 in 7,945. In the above scenario, Green Bay would snatch the NFC's sixth playoff berth.

So I guess the Giants will be playing in January. I'm quite confident that they won't be playing in February, though.

With all division titles sealed in the AFC, the race is on between six teams for the two wildcards. Denver is leading the charge, with the New York Jets on the same winning record (9–6). Four further teams are hot on their heels on 8–7: Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Tennessee and Kansas City.

With Jacksonville playing at Kansas City, one of them is almost certain to end the season with a 9–7 record, so the pressure is on for Denver to beat San Francisco (6–9) and for the Jets to beat Oakland (2–13). Both are at home, although Denver's home record (4–3) is far from convincing. It's gonna be a big day.

Focusing on Denver, only Kansas City, Tennessee and the New York Jets can finish above them. If Jacksonville win and Denver lose, then they have no head-to-heads, their division records would be identical, as would be their record against teams that they have both played. Which means it would go down to their conference record, which would favour Denver. As for Cincinnati, Denver's 24–23 win over them on Christmas Eve would put them in the driving seat.

If you apply the same "record to date" logic as was applied to the Giants above, there's a 36.7% chance of Denver losing and at least two of these three winning. Those odds are a little too high for my liking.

While we were in the US at the weekend, Andy Pettitte signed for the Yankees for $16m, and Barry Bonds extended his contract with the San Francisco Giants for another year, presumably in a bid to pass Hank Aaron's milestone of 755 career home runs, also for $16m. He needs 22 allegedly-drug-fuelled homers next season to take the record.

Pettitte, previously with the Astros, marks seven straight off-seasons in which the Yankees have bought big, last season's signing being the scrubbed-up Johnny Damon from Boston.

It seems $16m is the magic number.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! My only Thanksgiving reference last year was in relation to the Broncos going 9-2 amidst the plethora of football (American) that accompanies the celebrations (this year we're trailing to San Diego in the AFC West (7-3) after losing 35-27 to them last weekend), and here's my post from two years ago, focused on lashings of rain and Martha's prison-bound turkey-day.

Tonight, we're celebrating!

Free-range chicken, with an onion, lemon, butter and olive oil mix stuffed under the skin. Stuffed with sage, onion and lemon stuffing, wrapped in bacon rashers.

Side orders of mashed potatoes (with milk, cream and butter), broccoli and sweetcorn, topped with a rich shallot gravy.

Crème brûlée for dessert, all washed down with Sainsbury's alcohol-free white wine.

Delish!

I strained my left calf muscle slightly while running in my new trainers a couple of weeks ago. I think it was down to lack of stretching beforehand, as opposed to the nu shooz. Anyway, my first time back on the road was up in Telford in driving rain on Thursday morning while on a business trip. I followed this with runs on Friday morning and this morning; I'm definitely a morning runner.

On Friday, I did the 6.32km Round Battersea Park run seen here in 28 minutes. I did the 7.28km Short loop across the river run this morning in 33 minutes. I don't take any technology with me (iPod, heart-rate monitor, watch etc.), so rely on the start and end times according to our analogue clock in the living room; not overly accurate, but it does the job.

I'm aiming to go out three times a week for the next three weeks until the Nike 10km run on 8 October, doing the 9.82km 10km loop across the river run once a week, which I'm currently taking around 47 minutes to complete. (Not sure why, but my maps are not working showing on Firefox; they're working in IE though. Frustrating!)

If you've not yet sponsored me, you can do so from here, all proceeds going to the NSPCC.

Today, my friend Rob from work asked me to draw comparisons between teams in American sports and their closest footballing equivalents in the UK. For the sake of clarity, this request (and my subsequent action) should not constitute active comparison of life in the UK to that in the US, a condition imposed by 'Mario' as part of his generous sponsorship for my Nike 10k run.

First of all, in the world of baseball, we have the New York Mets (Man. City) and the New York Yankees (Man. Utd.). The former will likely never win anything, while the latter will always be there or thereabouts. You could also compare the Yankees (Bombers) to Chelsea, given their relentless obsession for signing the big names, although Chelsea don't really have a hapless rival.

Just up the coast, we have the Boston Red Sox, who share a fierce rivalry with the Yankees. Fenway Park, the Sox' ancient and quaint stadium, is a nightmare to play in, with its quirks around the perimeter of the outfield, along with the deafening sound created by its oft partisan crowd. Maybe this is your Liverpool (with its century-old Kop) although 70-plus years without a win may put it more in Newcastle's bracket. Their (the Sox') drought came to an end in 2004, after they overcame a three game deficit to win the series against the Yankees 4-3 (a moment of joy on my first visa-legal day back in the US, 20 October, 2004) on their way to destroying St. Louis in the 'World' Series itself. Newcastle's drought continues.

Last year's winners, the Chicago White Sox, never seriously threatened in their 80-year drought, so maybe they'd be an Everton, or a Spurs.

On the American Football front, it's a little more difficult, with the draft designed to even the teams out from one year to the next. I suppose I liken the Pittsburgh Steelers to Charlton Athletic. I'm not sure why; maybe there's the underdog factor coming into play. Hopefully Newcastle will write the Denver Broncos' story, with so many almosts (Shearer playing Elway) making way for a spate of wins. Alternatively, you could argue that the Buffalo Bills, who have never bounced back from their series of Super Bowl defeats, are more representative of the Toon. A few teams have had their day: San Francisco was the team of the early 90s, so maybe there's a Man. Utd. comparison to be drawn.

As for basketball, I'm not entirely sure. Although I followed the Celtics in the Bird/Johnson era back in the 80s, I've never since taken an interest, so can't make any parallels.

Thoughts? (BTW, the title of this post was inspired by an inspired banner being waved by an opponent supporter during United's take-over by Malcolm 'cock-sucker' Glazer.)

I've been out playing pool tonight. A few points worthy of note.

First of all, my best pool is played after two pints and before three pints have been consumed. If I were to enter a competition, the evidence would compel me to lager-up beforehand. During this period of this evening, I won ten frames on the bounce.

Next, we played with numbered balls, as opposed to reds and yellows. (I'm a traditionalist, and reds and yellows are just wrong.) When racking the balls, however, I mentally think of the spots (solids) as red and the stripes as yellow. So I sequence through the balls such: red | yellow, red | yellow, black, red | yellow, red, yellow, red | yellow, yellow, red, yellow, red. (Or vice versa if I start with a yellow/stripe.) My brain processes a red as a spot and a yellow as a stripe. Odd.

Finally, the odds of randomly throwing the 15 balls into the triangle and having them land perfectly formed in the official pool layout are one in 12,870. I just worked it out. (Actually, I originally had this at 25,740, but Gavin worked through the numbers with more rigour than I did in my drunkenness, and I've had to halve this due to my only allowing for two of the four possible arrangements. These can be described as "Red at the front, red behind on the left", "red at the front, red behind on the right", "yellow at the front, yellow behind on the left", "yellow at the front, yellow behind on the right".)

I've categorised this as sport. Argue amongst yourselves, if you will.

It's not often that you think of an idea, and find that exact same idea implemented. Thanks to Rob at work, I've found exactly that.

Basically, while out running, I've been thinking how useful it would be if you could plot your run on Google Maps and find out the distance. Map my run does exactly that. Here's the 3.77 mile run (6 kilometres) that I've done a few times now to get me back into the training regime. It's taking me about 28 minutes, which equates to around 46 minutes for the 10km. I need to build my stamina, and quicken the pace a little over the next few weeks.

I didn't follow the Tour de France this year, largely due to the drugs scandal that preceded it. Among others, Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich, both billed as strong contenders to win this year's Tour following Lance Armstrong's retirement, were dropped by their respective teams on 30 June following a doping probe.

I tuned in to the latter stages of stage 19 (the time-trial) and watched the parade up and down the Champs-Elysees the following day, but otherwise wasn't bothered; it didn't matter.

And now the Tour's provisional winner (for that must be what he is now) Floyd Landis has himself failed a drugs test. He was hailed by Armstrong after his win, who himself has been under the spotlight on the drugs front for many a year.

Cycling is in crisis. It needs to get harder on its testing and harder on its sanctions. Only then can it rise to the majesty that it enjoyed during the reign of Miguel Indurain.

It also needs some new characters. Laurent Jalabert, Marco Pantani, Viatcheslav Ekimov, Mario Cipollini, Claudio Chiappucci, Laurent Fignon, Eric Zabel, Djamolodine Abdoujaparov (spelt right first time, btw): all great and memorable characters of the sport. We need more like that, to take the sport out of the mess it's currently in, and into an exciting new future.

I quite enjoyed this article highlighted by my friend Gilbert. It's by ESPN's Bill Simmons, and talks through the seemingly logical, yet also illogical process that an American goes through to select an EPL team to support. Not sure if the EPL acronym (English Premier League) has made it over to the UK, but the Americans obviously needed a TLA to go alongside those of their other sports: MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL.

The whittling down to the chosen team is somewhat bizarre, as are some of the 'facts' throughout the article, but still it makes for enjoyable reading. Dubious facts include Theo Walcott being dubbed the 'LeBron of the EPL'; but my favourite was Liverpool being 'an English city that everyone compares to Boston' (maybe among people who haven't been to Boston; or Liverpool) and with a 'rivalry with London that mirrors Boston/New York'. Hm. And comparing Mourinho to Bill Belichick is somewhat off-mark.

Bill's (Simmons, no Belichick) glorified view of Liverpool is at odds with that of his compatriot Washington Times reporter. In his short article about Liverpool written while covering the Open, there's a likely more accurate view of the city (and the Adelphi hotel), culminating in this gem: 'a stunningly dirty port town that should be renamed Cesspool'. Among other things, I remember Boston for its incredible cleanliness.

I don't think the jury ever deliberated on whether or not Mark Lawrenson was indeed a cock. Some comments tonight certainly justify this stance, while one comment, about Barthez, was quite amusing. Some excerpts from the first 90 minutes of the BBC's World Cup final commentary.

Motson: it's sweltering in here
Cameraman zooms to semi-attractive French girl in the crowd
Lawrenson: it's getting hotter

Lawrenson: Totti's optimistic looking to score from a 40-yard free kick; even against Barthez

Lawrenson (to Motson): this match is just like your living room: nothing in it.

Below are the key highlights from last night's Switzerland vs. Ukraine match, for those who missed it.

[This section left blank intentionally.]

Another somewhat lacklustre performance by England yesterday afternoon against Ecuador, but three wins and a draw mean that we're only three wins away from winning the World Cup.

The highlight of the game from the commentary side was Mark Lawrenson's hysterical background laughter when Motson pointed out that a replay of Beckham looking somewhat ill in the middle of the pitch was edited highlights. (Beckham had earlier been seen throwing up on the pitch.)

The most annoying thing about the commentary is Lawrenson's indecision as to whether he's a northerner or a southerner. When saying Cole, in reference to either Ashley or Joe, his effort is tortuous. It almost sounds like curl. Make your mind up, Mark!

It's been quite a week of football. England were dismal in the second half against Paraguay, but as Ben said, it was as if Paraguay wanted to lose. And we were less than convincing against Trinidad & Tobago on Thursday, which is when the World Cup started to come alive for me.

Last night, though, saw a cracking game between the US and Italy. The USA dominated the first period, before Italy's impressive goal from a free-kick against the run of play. The USA's equaliser came from a bizarre attempted clearance from Italy's Zaccardo, before Daniele de Rossi's heinous mid-air elbow in the face of Brian McBride resulted in his sending off. There is no place in football for such mindless acts, and in my view, he should have been ejected from the entire competition there and then.

The other two sending off incidents were not particularly malicious, but the decisions were probably justified, leaving the US facing ten-man Italy with only nine men of their own for the last 45 minutes. It was a cracking game, and the US held on to secure a well-deserved point.

Earlier in the day, Ghana were hugely impressive against the Czech Republic, and more than justified their 2-0 win. It would be great to see them in the last 16.

Roll on Tuesday at 8pm: hopefully England can up their game to get a result out of their match against Sweden, giving them top spot in the group. Whether top spot is the best place for England to be may be determined by the Germany vs. Ecuador match earlier that afternoon. Either way, we have at least two matches left in this World Cup; Italy can't say the same just yet.

Hootie Johnson always scared the crap out of me when administering the proceedings involving the famous green jacket after the US Masters. He is one of the most backward people I've ever seen in such a seemingly important position; I suppose that's what generations of in-breeding does to a man.

It seems that his successor, Billy Payne, who takes over the role on 21 May, is a chip off Hootie's block. Today, he ruled out even talking about the possibility of women joining the Augusta National. He's a Georgia native, btw.

Here's the breakdown of the provisional England squad by club team.

• Chelsea, Spurs: four each
• Arsenal, Liverpool, Man. Utd.: three each
• Bayern Munich, Man. City, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Norwich City, Real Madrid: one each

I wonder when Spurs last fielded four representatives.

Sven Goran Eriksson today named his provisional squad for the World Cup, which kicks off a month today:

Paul Robinson, David James, Robert Green, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Jamie Carragher, Wayne Bridge, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves, Jermaine Jenas, Stewart Downing, Joe Cole, Aaron Lennon, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Peter Crouch, Theo Walcott

Apparently there was some last-minute, schoolboy error-prone Excel sorting of the first name and last name columns of the name sheet, and the following people have actually been selected.

Aaron Neville, Paul Robinson (of Neighbours fame), Gary Owen (the loser to John Spencer in the 1969 World Snooker final), the late John Lennon, the late David Cole (of Clivillés and Cole, aka C&C Music Factory), David Sol (assumed to be a typo, he of Starsky and Hutch, and Little Britain fame), Frank Ferdinand (another typo - the entire band has been selected, a loophole meaning they only count as one player), the late Jimmy Stewart, Eastenders' Steve Owen (Martin Kemp will be required to be in-character for the entire month), Michael 'Mickey' Rooney and Robert Downing Junior.

We're a force not to be reckoned with.

Copy in the BBC's live coverage of sporting events probably doesn't undergo the same level of internal scrutiny as does the site's less dynamic content. I'm not sure whether there is a simple two-step create/approve workflow, or whether it's simply a one-step creation.

Anyway, judging by the pace at which the 2006 World Snooker Championship final is being contested, it could probably go through a far more rigorous workflow and still be up to date.

Last week, a squirrel's arrival on the pitch during the north London derby resulted in some amusing comments about the referee looking to show it the red card. Unfortunately, I think the BBC regards these pages as throw-away, to be replaced by a more comprehensive article once the event is over; they certainly don't appear in search results. Often, the live updates make for comedic reading.

Today, there is the gem below taken from coverage of the Dott/Ebdon final:

Like a couple of chimps in London Zoo, Ebdon and Dott continue to scratch about as the match approaches the mid-session interval.

It reminded me of the worst metaphors found in High School papers, which makes for great reading. I expect that Karl Pilkington has interpreted this simile literally, and that it will be gracing Monkey News before too long.

The NFL draft is taking place today in New York City's Radio City Music Hall. Officially, it's called the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting, and it's the occasion when college players are chosen by NFL teams for the upcoming season.

In the past, there have been up to 30 rounds of draft picks; this year, there will be seven. In each round, each of the 32 teams picks a player based on their own squad's needs. In the first round, each team gets 15 minutes to choose, a nice round eight hours if everyone uses all of their allotted time. This drops to ten minutes in the second round, and five minutes in the five subsequent rounds.

In each round, the team with the worst record the previous season is up first, and the Steelers take the last pick, being last season's Super Bowl winners. However, teams can trade draft picks: for example, the Steelers have traded with the Giants in Round One, meaning that the Steelers took the 25th pick, while the Giants will take the final 32nd pick.

Similarly, Denver traded up to eleventh pick, even though they reached the AFC final. Interestingly, they selected a Quarterback (Jay Cutler from Vanderbilt), presumably to bolster Plummer who was sketchy last season.

The whole thing is broadcast live on ESPN. I survived three picks before I had to turn off.

There was some discussion in tonight's football game about offside. I was accused of being offside for a glorious left-footed goal. In reality, I was level with the passer, so the goal stood. Rightly so.

Some of the discussion centred around what happens if the passer is already beyond the last line of defence (although still with the goal-keeper to beat). Is their team-mate allowed to be in front of them when they pass?

I argued quite vehemently that they're not, and I'm confident that I'm right. Below is the full transcript of the offside rule courtesy of the FA's website.

Offside position

It is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position.

A player is in an offside position if:

- he is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent.

A player is not in an offside position if:

- he is in his own half of the field of play, or
- he is level with the second last opponent, or
- he is level with the last two opponents.

Offence

A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by:

- interfering with play, or
- interfering with an opponent, or
- gaining an advantage by being in that position.

No offence

There is no offside situation if a player receives the ball directly from:

- a goal kick, or
- a throw-in, or
- a corner kick.

Infringements/sanctions

For any offside offence, the referee awards an indirect free-kick to the opposing team to be taken from the place where the infringement occurred.

New International FA Board Decision 1

In the definition of offside position, "nearer to his opponents’ goal line" means that any part of his head, body or feet is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent. The arms are not included in this definition.

New International FA Board Decision 2

The definitions of elements of involvement in active play are as follows:

- Interfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team mate
- Interfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent
- Gaining an advantage by being in that position means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position.

As an amusing aside, here's an explanation of the offside rule for the female audience.

So, Chelsea can only muster a goal-less draw at Birmingham (Liverpool managed 7-0 against the Blues in the FA Cup only eleven days ago), while Man. Utd. earn a 2-1 win at Bolton. These two results close the gap at the top of the Premiership to seven points, with six games remaining.

It's still a tall order, but Mourinho's prediction of securing the league on 9 April (made on 8 February) has proven optimistic. If Man. Utd. fail to win moving forward (unlikely), and Chelsea keep a 100% record, then the earliest Mourinho can see his first silverware of the year would be 15 April, with an away win over Bolton.

More interestingly (and more likely), if they were to both keep 100% records in the short-term moving forward, then when they meet on 29 April, United would be four points behind, Chelsea having two further games to play, United one. One slip by Chelsea in the meantime would mean that United could come out of that game at the top of the Premiership.

Watch this space.

There's been lots of hype in the US over the American figure skater Sasha Cohen, who earned a silver medal behind Shizuka Arakawa today. All week, I've wondered why I knew the name, despite being far from an avid follower of the sport, and tonight it finally clicked. Although I made the mistake, she is not to be confused with Sacha Baron Cohen, the talent behind Ali G.

I'd like to see S. B. Cohen interviewing S. Cohen along with the accompanying confusion.

In the press conference following Arsenal's 1-0 win against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, Arsene Wenger was seen to be smiling for the first time since joining Arsenal in 1996.

In this clip, there is a 30-second clip, beginning at 1:33 and ending around 2:03 during which Wenger's face can certainly be construed as smiling, at times even breaking out into a weak grin. Certainly over the last ten years, Wenger has never been seen smiling in public; many argue that the drought lasts much longer, so much so that his face frowns in steady-state.

Yesterday saw the two Conference finals. The NFC showdown saw the Seahawks host the Panthers, while in the AFC, the Broncos hosted the Steelers.

The Seahawks used their home field advantage to good effect, sealing a clinical 34-14 win, removing them from the list of six teams not to have been to the Super Bowl.

The Steelers became the first ever team to beat the first, second and third seeds, all on the road, to secure their own berth in the Super Bowl in two weeks' time. The Broncos put up little resistance, led in their mediocrity by Jake Plummer. They turned the ball over four times (two lost fumbles and two interceptions), having turned it over only eight times in the 16 games of the regular season. The frustrating part was that Plummer's two interceptions were both thrown on the first play of their respective drives. Maybe that's the best way to do it - if you're going to throw an interception, why bother waiting until there's false hope?

Maybe not. The first of these interceptions was made with less than two minutes left in the first half, allowing the Steelers to extend their 14 point lead by seven.

The Steelers were impressive, on both offense and defense, and they are currently favourites to beat the Seahawks.

The Steelers almost threw it away at the last. Leading 21-18 with 1:20 left in the fourth, the Steelers were forced to play the ball, as Indianapolis still had all three time-outs in their pocket. Jerome Bettis fumbled at the 2 (his first fumble of the season), leaving the Colts to run it back to their own 42. They then pushed on down the field to set up Mike Vanderjagt for a 46-yard game-tying field goal attempt, which he missed, wide right - very wide.

So the golden boys of the AFC (New England and Indianapolis) have both fallen by the way-side. The good thing about Pittsburgh's win is that Denver will host them. (They would have had to travel to Indianapolis had they won.) The Broncos crowd was a big factor in unsettling the Patriots, and hopefully, they'll be just as vocal next week. However, the Steelers look strong on both offense and defense.

Meanwhile, Jelle Klaasen gave a strong performance in the all-Dutch BDO World Darts final against Raymond van Barneveld, beating him 7-5. It was a gripping final, although I had to keep score off to the side in Excel, such was the graininess of the BBC's streaming. However the highlight may have been the commentary from Tony Green, with two gems in particular below.

- Clean as a whistle, and as fast. It's like the Tour de France
- How cool can you get? [Pause] Cucumbers. [Pause] Even cooler.

The game between the Broncos and Patriots has just finished, with the Broncos winning 27-13. And what a game it was!

The Broncos' offense (including Jake Plummer) was less than convincing, but when your defense forces five turnovers, the strength of your offense is not so much an issue. Denver's three touchdowns came from drives of one, one and three plays respectively, as the turnovers always left them in prime position. The most impressive turnover was an interception return of 101 yards by Champ Bailey, being forced out of bounds at the 1. The offense will need to shine much brighter next week against either the Steelers or Colts to secure their Super Bowl ticket.

Brady has seen better games, but at times he flourished. The Patriots caused some nervousness for Broncos fans late in the game, when they threatened to steal the game in the fourth quarter, before the Broncos hit back with another touchdown-earning turnover. The Broncos also benefited from a slightly iffy pass interference decision in the end zone during the first half, leaving them sitting pretty at the one yard line.

The last turnover came via an interception, courtesy of John Lynch, sealing the game. His early dominance continued throughout; he's a phenomenal force to lead the defense.

For whatever reason, the Broncos have not been heralded during the regular season, the AFC limelight being shared by Indianapolis and New England. I predicted a Broncos/Seahawks final before the weekend began (obviously with the Broncos winning), a game that is still on the cards.

This afternoon, Seattle looked less than impressive, but managed to secure a 20-10 win over Washington. Maybe this was their "off-week", and they'll bounce back next week to earn their rightful Super Bowl berth.

The show-down between New England and Denver at Invesco Field is ten minutes old, and it's fierce. John Lynch has already been an inspiration for the Broncos, helping to stop the offense in its tracks on both of New England's possessions. No score so far.

It's without doubt the match-up of the play-offs to date. The Broncos are unbeaten at home this season; Brady has a career 10-0 play-off record. Let's see which of these gives tonight.

The darts this week has already been a great spectacle, and we're still only in the quarterfinals. The star of the show has been Dutchman Jelle Klaasen, who began playing darts 4.5 years ago, and is only 21 years old. He's the polar opposite of the archetypal British darts player, as highlighted by this self-analysis that he gave: "I'm young, I'm fit and I don't have a belly".

In the second round, he saw off Mervyn King, and after going 4-1 up in the quarterfinals tonight, he was given a scare by Paul Hogan (who, after a stroke of inspired genius, is nicknamed Crocodile Dundee) before clinching it 5-4.

If he beats Shaun Greatbatch in Saturday's semi, then it could set up a final against his compatriot and four-times world champion (and no doubt Klaasen's inspiration), Raymond van Barneveld (nicknamed Barney Rubble), which would be fantastic to see.

The tackiness of the nicknames, the dry-ice machines and lights signalling the players' arrival on stage and the pun-tastic commentary matched only by that of Wogan three hours into Eurovision, all help to make this event unmissable. I only hope that the semifinal doesn't clash with the Broncos' match against New England.

Lakeside is hosting the annual World Darts Championship, one of the paragons of the sporting calendar. It's great to see that BBC Sport is streaming live coverage of the event, albeit in a slightly blurred fashion.

For those not in the know, this is the pinnacle of the darts season. Every January, great darts players and beer-swilling enthusiasts primarily from the UK, Scandanavia and the Netherlands (both the players and the drinkers) descend on Lakeside, Essex for nine days of fun and thrilling sporting action.

The most prized features of the event have to be the crazy head-gear worn by many of the fans (many under the assumption that if you're from Scandinavia, you're a viking) along with the fact that the whole family, kids and all, are brought along to the raucous drinkathon that takes place in the arena behind the oche. A great family atmosphere.

If you're not already a fan, check it out. This is the true sport of kings, and you'll be hooked before you know it!

Another great weekend of American Football, with the four wildcard games accounting for much of Saturday and Sunday.

Yesterday saw a great game in which the Redskins saw off the Buccaneers 17-10, despite the 'skins notching up fewer offensive yards than any winning team in play-off history (120). This was followed by a dominant performance by the Patriots as they destroyed the Jaguars 28-3, thanks largely to an oppressive defense [sic].

Today began with the Giants going down to the Carolina Panthers 23-0 leaving only one member of the Manning family with Super Bowl hopes. This was the first time a home team has been shut out in the play-offs since 1979. As Eli's dad Archie Manning said after the game, it was "a good old-fashioned ass-kicking".

Later this afternoon, Cincinnati lost Quarterback Carson Palmer (not Carlton) to injury in his second play of the game, leaving the Steelers to win 31-17, despite a valiant performance from back-up QB Jon Kitna.

The net result of all this for Denver is that they will face the in-form Patriots at Mile High (Invesco Field) on Saturday. Generally, the AFC has a mighty set of four remaining (Denver, Indianapolis, New England, Pittsburgh), while the NFC could be considered much weaker (Carolina, Chicago, Seattle, Washington), with Seattle being the main exception.

As well as this weekend marking the introduction of a fresh new year, it also marks the culmination of what has been an exciting regular season in the NFL.

Although having secured a play-off berth, the New York Giants could do with winning in Oakland tomorrow night to ensure that they win their division, giving them third or fourth seeding out of the six NFC qualifiers. A loss would open the door for Washington to win the division, giving the Giants a more difficult ride in the play-offs. To complete the New York side of the picture, the Jets' season was over long ago: they are now propping up the AFC East with a 3-12 record.

Denver (12-3) have clinched the AFC West, and their conference record of 9-2 means that they are guaranteed second seeding in the AFC play-offs behind Indianapolis, both of whom will have a weekend off on 7/8 January as a result. A win for Cincinnati would ensure that they pip New England to third. However, with Cincinnati travelling to Kansas and New England hosting Miami, I think that neither result will favour Cincinnati, and New England will claim third spot.

Currently, the New York Giants, Chicago and Seattle have secured play-off berths in the NFC, with Washington, Dallas, Tampa Bay and Carolina chasing the other three. In the AFC, New England, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Denver are secure. The final place is being chased by Pittsburgh, San Diego and Kansas City.

In the event of any ties in records, here are the rules for determining the relative positions of any two or more teams. It's good to see that if all else fails, a coin toss is the answer.

I always thought that the festive coverage of the World's Strongest Man competition was a uniquely British thing. It seems I was wrong, as ESPN has dedicated the next two hours to covering the event, being hosted this year by China. Unfortunately, John Inverdale is not on hand with any emotionless commentary.

In other sport, Johnny Damon has rubbed salt in the wound of the most bitter rivalry in baseball by signing for the New York Yankees, having been with the World Series-winning Boston Red Sox for the last four seasons. I found it slightly odd that he had to shave off his beard and trim his locks to conform with George Steinbrenner's code, particularly given that Jason Giambi always looks like he's just been out on an all-nighter whenever he plays.

And in the NFL, it's a big week, the penultimate of the regular season. Many thanks to the Buffalo Bills for causing an upset in their afternoon game against the Cincinnati Bengals (37-27). This loss for the Bengals means that the Broncos only need to win one of their last two games (at home to the Raiders, currently underway, and away to the Chiefs on New Year's Eve) to clinch second spot in the AFC play-offs behind the Colts. Next week's game at Arrowhead will be tough, particularly now that Kansas are back in the play-off race thanks to their win against the Chargers. Denver have started well against Oakland, notching up an unanswered 16 points with two minutes remaining in the second quarter.

Meanwhile as I predicted, the Colts are having a hard time in Seattle, finding themselves 14-3 down with four minutes remaining in the second. The Colts have little to play for except their own pride, given that they've already clinched the division and secured home field advantage, and that they're no longer chasing a 100% record.

Last night saw the last game of the regular football (soccer) season. There was a good show of people. Coming in at half-time tied at 7-7, the game finished 14-13 when the floodlights went out at 11.15pm. More like American Football scores, some might say. Unfortunately, I was on the 13 team, although I did score our first and last goals.

The expiry of the permit may not mean the end though, as by all accounts the floodlights will continue shining of a Saturday night, and the keys are still available. So the only things to prevent play over the winter will be snow and people's willingness to show up in unseemly conditions.

It happened a few years back, but having four divisions in each conference, each with four teams, is quite a new concept for me. I remember a time when Denver were accompanied in the AFC Central by the L.A. Raiders (who have now moved to Oakland), the Seattle Seahawks (now heading up the NFC West) along with the Chiefs and the Chargers. Their division is now called the AFC West.

The old structure had a West, Central and East division in each of the conferences, each with either four or five teams. The introduction of expansion teams means that we now have more symmetry: a North, South, East and West in each of the conferences, each with four teams.

The transitory nature of the NFL franchises, along with the uneven distribution of teams across the country, makes the geographical definition somewhat bizarre. Indianapolis are in the AFC South, St. Louis in the NFC West and Dallas in the NFC East.

The good part about this is that Seattle no longer accompany Denver. Thanks to Jay Feely missing all three would-be game-winning field goals (from 40 yards in regulation, and 54 and 45 yards in overtime), Seattle were able to pull off a 24-21 win against the Giants, matching Denver's similar OT win against Dallas, taking them to 9-2. During their time in the AFC Central, it was almost unheard of for Seattle to achieve a positive record at the end of the season, something that tonight's win guarantees.

After four weeks of the regular season, Stephen questioned my enthusiasm for the Broncos' then 3-1 record, arguing that they would not be able to maintain that form to end the season 12-4.

They went into tonight's Thanksgiving game against Dallas 8-2, and came out of it 9-2 a few moments ago. In regulation, they traded touchdowns - three each. In overtime, Jason Elam converted a 24-yard field goal following an impressive 55-yard run from Ron Dayne to set it up. 24-21 Broncos.

Jake Plummer's franchise record of unintercepted passes came to an end at 229, short only of Bernie Kosar's 308 for the Browns.

Last week, we achieved our first shut-out (albeit against the Jets) since 1997.

We have three relatively tough away games remaining, against the Chiefs next week (Arrowhead is always a daunting place to go), Buffalo and at San Diego on New Year's Eve. I would hope that the two home games, against Baltimore and Oakland, will be more straightforward.

The music that closed the match was the Verve's Bitter Sweet Symphony. Not sure why, but it was nice to hear.

A somewhat nervous watching experience, but the result came in the end. England 3-2 Argentina. I genuinely thought we were the better team in a thrilling match, with over 30 shots on goal, by all accounts. Seven of them went in, five of which were allowed, with England getting the (three) lion's share (sorry!!!). Although this was a friendly, the passion of the players and the crowd meant that it was everything but, which makes the result all the more satisfying. Roll on World Cup 2006!

I'm afraid to say, however, that the moment was dampened, both at half time and full time. Alan Shearer, accompanied by Lineker and Hanson, was an in-the-studio pundit, sharing his views on England's performance and the like. Unfortunately, his trousers were a little too tight. I use the phrase "a little" in its loosest sense: they were very tight.

At half-time, it was difficult to concentrate on anything but his groinal area, with all contours fully visible through his distressingly shiny and tight suit trousers. At full time, the contours had changed slightly, not for the better, I hasten to add. All that could be seen was what can only be described as a camel-toe. Apologies for those for whom this reference has no meaning; further apologies to those who take offence at the comment. In true Catchphrase style, I merely said what I saw. And it wasn't pleasant.

Newcastle's win yesterday failed to elevate them from their position of tenth in the Premiership, although a loss would have sent them sliding towards the relegation battle. Interestingly, they're now only three points away from third - there are only six points separating third from 13th.

Meanwhile, Wigan Athletic continue to amaze. Their impressive win against Portsmouth yesterday combined with Chelsea's defeat at the hands of Man. Utd. means that they keep their second spot, four points clear of Man. Utd. in third, and six points behind Chelsea with a game in hand.

I watched the Wigan match yesterday, and their performance was impressive, against a lacklustre Pompey. I also watched Tony Blair's appearance on Football Focus, which was less so.

Wigan continue to defy the odds with their astonishing performance in the Premiership. Today, they scraped a win over Fulham, their sixth win in the last seven games. Now they sit in second place, only nine points behind Chelsea, with a game in hand over both Chelsea and Spurs and Bolton, lying in third and fourth respectively.

Newcastle have drawn them in the fourth round of the Carling Cup. In other circumstances, this would be a good draw, although at the moment, I'm not so sure.

I enjoy my 'blog. Maybe it's not prophetic, but it's a place where I can jot random stuff, about life, things that I see/do etc. I rarely get into personal stuff on it, particularly about family, emotion etc. Suffice to say, things aren't too great right now. Hopefully things will pick up over the coming months.

Great stuff! The course for the 2006 Tour de France has been revealed, with Alpe d'Huez returning the day before my birthday. Should be fun!

I quite enjoy the team trial though, which has been removed from next year's calendar.

It doesn't seem that long since Boston won the World Series, but the end of the baseball season is again upon us. In the divisional championships last season (a.k.a. the semi-finals), the Red Sox came back from 0-3 against the Yankees to win the series 4-3 on 20 October 2004, the day of our visa-equipped arrival back in the US.

At the end of this year's regular season, they face each other again for the final three games, before which, New York topped the American League East with a 94-65 record with Boston a game behind on 93-66.

Last night, Boston won the first of the three games 5-3 to form a tie at the top. The next two games (today at 13.15 EDT and tomorrow at 14.05 EDT) will decide who will progress as of right. I believe that winning a game apiece will set up a play-off game to determine the victors - run difference is not a factor.

Whoever ends up in second place will need to have a better record than Cleveland (currently 93-67) in the American League Central to secure the wildcard spot. Should be a fascinating end to the regular season.