Dan McG

Mogwai worth a shout?

Congratulations England, you thoroughly deserve the number 1 spot. You've got the best opener in world cricket in Cook, the best bowler in Anderson, the best spinner in Swann and the biggest c*** in Broad. As an Australian, it does make me feel slightly better than we lost the Ashes more due to English brilliance than our own incompetence, but only very slightly. 294 and 7/710 against the (former) World Number 1 side is incredible. What a line-up.

Didn't the Tendulkar one have something to do with him carrying the injury/illness into the match, versus Trott sustaining it during play? Still don't understand that rule... Oh yeah, why is it that whenever I brand someone as shit they end up taking a hat trick and scoring runs? Fuck you Stuart Broad, fuck you.

I've found it a little bit slow thus far, we're 3 hours in over here and nothing really has been explained. Also don't like the fact that its set in the US. I understand they want to crack the market, but Doctor Who should always be British, spin-offs included. However, it has been a good series, and when stuff starts happening the set up will be worth it.

Why do I always have to be so wrong? Broady just had to channel his inner Flintoff and have the game of his (and several other's) life. Order to be restored by him being shit at Trent Bridge though, even though those conditions should actually suit him. BTW, Jimmy is a God amongst men, Swann's better than Harbhajan, Mishra and every other Indian spinner not named Pragyan Ojha combined, and KP, whilst a massive douche, can't be faulted on that double. And all this England praise is coming from an Australian. Something's gone terribly wrong.

And it starts with Praveen swinging the ball around corners and Khan doing what he does. Going to be very, very tough for Cook and Strauss here.

Swann, Tremmers and Jimmy are the strongest bowling attack in the world (apart from maybe South Africa). Third seamer is the only real problem, and even then they have stacks of depth. Bresnan, Woakes, Shazad, Finn. Broad's still shit though.

This is going to be an absolutely huge series. Flat our battle for the #1 spot with the most in-form unit, England, up against an Indian side filled with legends of the game. I think the loss of Virender Sehwag will prove to be huge for India. Mukund wasn't overly impressive on the bowler-friendly WI pitches, and English greentops are sure to expose any technical flaw he has. Similarly, Suresh Raina, who has looked pretty good thus far in his career, will have to overcome conditions completely alien to what he is used to. So far though, this is reading like a Hollywood script Tendulkar's on 99 international centuries, its the 100th test between the two sides, its the 2000th test overall and its at the home of cricket - Lord's. Would love to see him get the century (or fall LBW to Graeme Swann on 99, when UDRS would have overturned it). I'm thinking 2-1 England or 2-all. Depends on the weather. Would love to see England become #1. Oh yeah, and Stuart Broad is shit.

I found a demo and started a game as Barcelona, and I'm absolutely dire. So far I've beaten Freiburg 3-1, drawn with Rangers 0-0, lost to Al-Ittihad (KSA) 1-0, then beat Roma and Reus 4-3 and 4-0 respectively. Then I managed to lose the Spanish Cup to Sevilla 2-1 on aggregate, but bounced back to thrash Racing 6-1 in the opening La Liga game of the season. The inconsistency probably comes down to my non-existent knowledge of players. I have no idea who I should be signing. I brought in a couple of Australians (Schwarzer and Culina) because they came cheap and work as back-up players, signed Vaclav Kadlec for a ridiculous sum, and then picked up a few 16 and 17 year olds who looked decent to pad out the U/19 squad and build for the future. Signed Michael Owen cheap too, no idea why. Will probably prove to be a mistake... Oh yeah, Andres Iniesta picked up some broken ribs in a friendly and was out for 6 weeks, that's why he's on the bench ATM. My formation at the moment has: Bojan (STCL) - Advanced Forward (Attack) David Villa (STCR) - Complete Forward (Attack) [4 goals in his first La Liga outing] Leo Messi (AMCR) - Attacking Midfielder (Support) Adriano (ML) - Wide Midfielder (Support) Javier Mascherano (MCL) - Defensive Midfielder (Defense) Xavi (MCR) - Advanced Playmaker (Attack) Eric Abidal (DL) - Full Back (Automatic) Gerard Pique (DCL) - Central Defender (Stopper) Carles Puyol (DCL) - Central Defender (Defend) Dani Alves (DR) - Wing Back (Automatic) Victor Valdes (GK) - Goalkeeper (Defend) Subs are Vaclav Kadlec, Andres Iniesta, Maxwell, Mark Schwarzer, Gabriel Milito, Pedro, Seydou Keita. So yeah, I'm probably making billions of mistakes every day, but yeah, its a fun game. EDIT: Just played the next game, Home vs Hercules. 5-0, David Villa (1), Mascherano (39), Pedro (61), Messi (70), Iniesta (86). Iniesta scores with his first touch back from injury, a 35+ yard strike that defected in off the post, Adriano was injured in the 25th minute, and 4 yellows and a red were given in the match.

Just saw the second half of the ganger episode. Mind is fucked.

Dire, dire stuff from Sri Lanka. How do you manage to be bowled out for 82 in 25 overs when both first innings had passed 400 and England had lost their best pace bowler?

Has anyone played the iPhone/iPad version? Would it be worthwhile buying, given I don't have a PC?

You could argue that the Van Jaarsveld catch shouldn't have been given. He made a significant movement as the ball was bowled and the umpire would have been well within the laws of the game to call 'dead ball'. Can't go past this AB de Villers run out

1. Inception 2. Paranormal Activity 2 3. The A-Team That's all I've seen that wasn't complete and utter shit

Excited for Bon Jovi in December Not too happy about missing Alexisonfire by a few days, Parkway, Amity, Paramore, Amy Meredith and whatnot as well. Actually, cross Parkway off from that. Could possibly get myself Metallica tickets, but not liking my chances given I'd be going alone. Fozzy tour in December, probably gonna miss out on that one as well. Doesn't quite count as 2010, but I'm considering the $160 to go to Soundwave, the rock music festival over here. Iron Maiden headlining, 30 Seconds to Mars, Gaslight Anthem, Sevendust, Queens of the Stone Age, BMTH, Amity, Silverstein, All That Remains. Holy shit that looks better than I remember.

This. And stuff from Glee. All of the girls in our group sing their stuff repeatedly...

30 Seconds to Mars Amity Affliction, The Bon Jovi Cold Chisel Day to Remember, A Eminem Foo Fighters Getaway Plan, The Heaven's Basement I Killed the Prom Queen JET Kisschasy Limp Bizkit Million Dollar Reload Nirvana Oasis Parkway Drive Queen Red Hot Chili Peppers (or Rev Theory) Seether (or Shinedown) Trust Company Usher Veer Union, The Wolfmother X??? Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup ZZ Top I fail on X as well...

Warne's got 138 wickets LBW, 116 bowled, 73 caught by the 'keeper and 36 stumped. Can't find caught-and-bowled stats, but I think those are the dismissals you can put down purely to the bowler. Murali has 150 wickets leg before, 167 bowled, 47 caught by the wicketkeeper and 47 stumped. Warne - 363 wickets Murali - 411 wickets I'm not convinced that its a fair argument though, as this doesn't take into account planned dismissals that are caught, things like bat pads and edges to slip, or even planning a boundary catch. I think the better way to compare is dismissals by batting position during a time period that is common to both player's careers. Closed it off to both men between 1993 and 2007. This takes out both men's first few matches and Murali's matches against opposition Warne never bowled at. Then, I'm going to discount wickets of bowlers (8, 9, 10, 11). Murali took 454 of his wickets (56.75) from 'specialist batsmen' (1-7), at an average of 32.63. Warne took 440 of his wickets (62.14%) from the same positions, at an average of 32.72. Interestingly, both men took significantly more wickets against right handers, with Murali averaging a touch OVER 30 against lefties. Warne's average against LHB's was 28. If I were some kind of statsguru master, I'd remove matches against Australia, Sri Lanka, World XI, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh to even things up a bit. But then comes the quality of pitches. Cricket, despite there being so many different statistics out there, is such a hard game to compare players in. My vote goes to Warne for his impact on the game. He was a celebrity everywhere he went, and he marketed cricket better, if you understand what I mean.

Yeah, my taste in music is terrible. I knew that already.

1. Bon Jovi 2. Eminem 3. A Day to Remember 4. Seether 5. Getaway Plan 6. Amity Affliction 7. Parkway Drive 8. Limp Bizkit 9. Amy Meredith 10. Story of the Year 11. Lifehouse 12. I Killed the Prom Queen 13. Pendulum 14. Trust Company 15. Vengaboys

Pakistan's 4 down now. They needed the Umar/Umar partnership to last longer. Pretty brittle 6-11 here, Afridi's gotta stick around, Kamran and the bowlers won't. Australia by 70-100.

The Getaway Plan Hide Your Children! Streetlight Where the City Meets the Sea Shadows Red Flag Sleep Spindles Parkway Drive Boneyards Carrion Sleepwalker Romance is Dead It's Hard to Speak Without a Tongue Horizons JET She's a Genius Are You Gonna Be My Girl? Black Hearts (On Fire) Cold Hard Bitch Shine On Seventeen AC/DC Back in Black Thunderstruck Dirty Deeds Done DIrt Cheap It's a Long Way to the Top Highway to Hell Money Talks Powderfinger Lost and Running All of the Dreamers (Baby I've Got You) On My Mind Burn Your Name My Happiness Sunsets The Amity Affliction Love is a Battlefield I Hate Hartley 15 Pieces of Flair Youngbloods Anchors Fruity Lexia

Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! - Vengaboys Highly recommend The Getaway Plan, especially their songs Shadows, Where the City Meets the Sea and Streetlight. Small Aussie band that broke up a while ago, kinda similar to A Day to Remember, although the songs I just mentioned don't involve the screamo. Jessica Mauboy - Running Back, Up/Down and Burn The Calling - Wherever You WIll Go Bon Jovi - Its My Life, We Weren't Born to Follow, One Wild Night, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. Miami Horror - Sometimes Good Charlotte - Dance Floor Anthem, Misery, Keep Your Hands Off My Girl, Lifestyles of the RIch and Famous Eminem - Not Afraid JET - She's a Genius Amy Meredith - Lying Quite a bit of that is Aussie stuff, but given the success of Kylie over there, it should catch on.

So, did any of you Americans watch it on Spike? The commentators seemed to think it was a big deal, being televised live for the first time in the US. And really, did any Australian not watch it? I mean, Channel 7 was competing by screening 'The Sound of Music', so it shouldn't have been to hard a choice on what to watch... For those who missed it, Melbourne beat Paramatta 23-16, with Greg Inglis kicking the ugliest field goal in recent memory to seal the win. Throughout the whole game Parra looked outclassed, and their kicking game was sub-par, but the individual brilliance and will to win almost got them over the line at the end. It throws up all sorts of questions. What if Moimoi wasn't penalized? What if Cayless didn't tear his hammy 2 tackles in? What if they didn't keep kicking to Steve Turner and gave Eric Grothe a better chance to score? Is the Melbourne Storm (2006-2009 Grand Finalists) one of the greatest groups of players of all time? Up there with St. George's 11 premierships in the 70's and 80's?