This. Sheed should fit nicely with them as a player for a season or two but they still aren't thinking long-term. That said, he's getting older so I don't expect his attitude to be much of a problem there, although it could create an interesting situation if it does flare up.

Next thing you know they're going to trade Rondo for Steve Nash or Jason Kidd or something ridiculous.

Good to see him go. He's done some wonderful things, but he's past it and his brain snaps were only hurting the Swans. It'll be interesting to see where he goes after this though.

I know he's the manager but Joe Girardi doesn't have the clout yet to call out Derek Jeter for getting thrown out trying to steal third. Derek no doubt did get greedy with no outs and no one on first but until you've skippered that team to a ring in that town, you give a player of Jeter's calibur the benefit of the doubt.

The Phils are close to signing Pedro meaning they're more than likely out of the Halladay sweepstakes.

That sucks.

I have quite a lot of experience in basketball. I played it for 7 years. (I'm 15 so that's about half my life) My brother played baseball for only 1 year and then just quit because it wasn't fun to him anymore. I recently quit basketball though because it was finally getting boring. I guess part of the reason I quit was because I felt like people were trying to make me do good and telling me how to do stuff. It got to where it was like I was listening to some coach rather than playing a sport. I didn't quit because of what the coach said though. Basically there are 2 reasons of why I quit. 01. Basketball gets old when you play it for 3 hours a day for 7 years. 02. I had to change schools and there was no basketball team. I still love sports a lot. Every once in a while I'll play some basketball every now and then. I doubt I'll ever actually go back and try to get my skill back. Sports were fun while I played them but after a while they became more of a burden than a sport to me.

I used to play basketball and I practiced religiously growing up. Of course being the deluded thirteen year old that I was I actually thought I had a chance to make it to the NBA when I was all growed up.

I thought the exact same thing. When I was 13 I though I could beat the pros... NO WAY!!. I was really good but I was nowhere to being in the NBA. How old are you now?

34 so obviously that was quite a long time ago.

The reverse is somewhat true for me. I come from a baseball family and my brother currently plays in the majors. I myself was fortunate to have played a couple seasons of minor league ball. I enjoyed pitching and baseball came naturally for me but it actually was not my life ambition nor my top interest. Music was. I don't regret a thing and I had no expectations and while I was talented enough to play at a higher level, I knew I would never be good enough to be called up by the Blue Jays. An injury derailed my career anyway.

Who is your brother?

Elmer Dessens.

43 point loss to the Lions up in Queensland, our second after 13 straight wins, but I'm not too worried. We were nearly without half our starting 18 through injuries, and that's not including Matthew Egan and Josh Hunt, who are on the long term injury list. Once we get back at least a couple of players, especially Gary Ablett and Brad Ottens, we'll have plenty to play with. If that wasn't enough though with Ling, Ablett, Ottens, Scarlett, Milburn, Varcoe, Egan and Hunt out, now Jim Bartel gets on fucking report for rough play. Even the deepest AFL squad, with that many of their starters out, couldn't beat a quality side like the Lions at their home ground.

On the topic of the other game played tonight, god the Fremantle Dockers are a joke. 13 points, one of the all time lowest scores. It's games like this that lead me to believe the AFL needs to have two tiers to punish the shit teams like Fremantle, who continue to suck year in, year out.

I've been laughing so hard about this (no surprise as to which perth team I support). At one point it was 69 to 1.. Incompetence on a whole new level. It's a good feeling; we'll probably get hammered by the saints tomorrow but we'll definitely (hopefully) score more then 13 points.

On another note: the ashes are going great! Hopefully there's not too much rain, if that holds off there's no reason why we won't be 1 up come close of play tomorrow.

How can your lot and the Dockers have relatively equal market share? The ONLY reason I can see the Dockers appealing to anybody is that "they're anybody other than West Coast", I read some Perth people don't like WC for "killing the WAFL." But, really man... how do the Dockers retain any support at all?

Clearly you don't know docker fans. let me describe them to you via a metaphor:

An eagles/collingwood/carlton/etc fan go to a restaurant. The food is shit, the service slow. It's overpriced. The setting isn't great. This person would go "well, this sucks", and won't return to the restaurant. Perhaps they'll ask for their money back.

A fan of the dockers will go to the same restaurant. The food is shit, the service slow. It's overpriced. The setting isn't great. The dockers fan go "well, maybe the chef had an off day", "perhaps I was being rude" and most importantly, "it'll be better next time". The dockers fan resolves to go back to that restaurant every week.

Also, it's not really equal market share. The Eagles are more popular then the dockers; I'd say it's closer to 60-40 then 50-50. Docker fans are just more rabid, and yeah, really illogical. It's fine though, they're always good for a laugh. "we beat you guys in most recent derbies" "you keep your derby victories, we'll keep our 3 premierships" etc etc.

The Dockers make me think of Woodville, a club in the SANFL who sucked so badly that in the 27 years they existed, they lost 71% of their games, and only made the finals three times (never a grand final). With the Dockers making the finals twice just twice in their 14 year history, and presumably a quite similar loss-win ratio, they may end up becoming the worst club in the history of the three main Australian Rules competitions (AFL, WAFL, SANFL).

Shit, Geelong lost again. Wow, hopefully they'll get back in the winners circle soon.

We're still two games ahead of the third-placed Bulldogs, Collingwood and Adelaide, and like I said, I'm not too worried. We haven't had our entire starting 18 once this year... so we're only just beginning.

Yeah, but after so many wins, the law of averages would say that once you've lost one, you'll lose many. This would be the same for the Dragons, too...they've won their last 6 or 7, so once they lose one, they'll lose a few, which'll suck.

EDIT: Just realised Fremantle kicked one goal the entire match. Wow, they really suck.

No such law mate

I hope not.

Another 3 or so weeks until American Football training camp starts. Right now it's been pretty much dead in terms of NFL news...

Pun intended?

what the fuck, i just heard that my favourite boxer arturo gatti was found dead in brazil today.

Heh, actually it wasn't. But nice catch.

Geelong loosing two in a row could possibly be interesting. Regardless of their outs against the lions two losses in a row may dent their confidence and give the oppisition some hope. The mental side of sport can be a big factor imo. I'll be interested to see how it pans out between now and the finals.

I still think it will be a Geelong, St. Kilda grand final though.

West Coast were right in the match against St. Kilda, too, until the very end where the Saints pulled away. This indicates to me that they're fairly close to a loss themselves. This is nothing but good news to teams such as Collingwood, Western Bulldogs, and AFL fans in general.

You're right, though. Two Geelong losses after 13 straight wins may hurt them mentally, so it'll be interesting if they can come back from this.

is anyone watching sunday night baseball? reed johnson just made an insane catch (what else is new). youll be seeing it all year.

There was a suggestion that Geelong may be reverse-tanking. Tanking is of course when a shit team deliberately loses games to finish lower, in order to get the best draft picks. Well, during the St. Kilda v Eagles game, the commentators were hinting that Geelong may be resting their best players in order to keep them fit for the finals. There weren't any explanations for the new injuries (Gary Ablett and Travis Varcoe), just that James Kelly had a calf (didn't say whether it was a strain or a tear). On top of this, it gives St. Kilda the mental edge, as they've now won 15 straight and are getting a bit a head of themselves. St. Kilda's players were looking tired, Geelong's shouldn't after the rest we gave 12 of our starting 18.

I was barracking hard for West Coast yesterday, so close! While we have lowly opponents, the Saints come up against the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide in their next too games, two other genuine premiership contenders certainly of the next few years, even this year. I see the Saints streak coming to an end.

Cats, however, have got a game at Skilled Stadium against the very lowly Demons this week before we take on the Hawks, so that one won't be a problem and we'll have a big win and get some confidence back

Cats should beat the Demons, but they'll be smarting after their win, and getting off the bottom of the ladder. I mean, come on, a team that scores just one goal in an entire match deserves to be at the bottom of the ladder, anyway!

Good ol' Dragons are outright first in the NRL. They're playing like champions this year...maybe they could erase some broken hearts of 1999? Who knows.

You Aussies are making me feel both envious and jealous, this isn't good. Pre-season is too fucking long and too fucking boring over here. What am I meant to do without the beautiful game occupying my weekends, and reading time during the week? WATCH CRICKET? Fuck off! God, at least next year will be better with the World Cup in South Africa. Please, someone, anyone, bring on August!

You could always watch Baseball?

Well the only thing keeping me sane is watching those 32 teams in 32 days videos on nfl.com!

St. Kilda have also had a dream run with injuries so far this season. A horror game with a few injuries could bring them back to the pack. I wouldn,t mind seeing their depth tested.



I must admit I thought that sounded silly at first but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Geelong are unlikley to move north or south between now and the finals so they can afford to do it. Also I saw no mention of all the injuries leading up to the game. Ablett Jnr. alone would make headlines if he even had a one week injury.

If the Bombers can beat the Bulldogs on friday night (and I'm by no means confident, although we have a chance) then I think we will make the finals, which would be great for us next season.

I'd love to see the Bombers do well, they're always my second team and I see it happening this season, even if you don't beat the Bulldogs. Your main rivals are Carlton for a finals spot, and they're still yet to play Geelong and yet to play the Saints, so they can expect a couple of big losses there.

We've got several players coming back this week including Ablett and Scarlett, the match against the Demons should be a walk in the park.

Upsets can occur.

Several years ago, the Dragons had the best playing roster in the league, boasting star players all over the park. They missed the eight. Every week, they were favourites to beat their opponents, but somehow, they just couldn't get it together.

My point is, the Demons could win. Unlikely, but possible.

EDIT

I hate you.

State Of Origin 3 will be on in under two hours. Queensland have already wrapped up the series, so this is a dead rubber. NSW are now just playing for pride, since we have absolutely nothing else to offer. This Queensland side is just about unstoppable, and I predict that nothing will change tonight. If Queensland win by 12 points or less, they weren't trying. I am, of course, a NSW supporter, but I'm being realistic.

It's so good to see Geelong losing, all those Cats supporters with their big heads have been pissing me off lately.