Mongrel

Handed a Champions League group of Seongnam, Urawa and Guangzhou. Rigged.

Well considering the inability to buy players from other A-League clubs, I feel the only option is to make everyone hate me!

Is there any benefit to engaging in pre-match banter with the other manager? Can a relationship go beyond "has a fairly poor opinion of you"?

Quite enjoying playing with a salary cap in the A-League. There's still a few little glitches here and there that need to be ironed out (for some reason Lloyd Dyer refused to accept a Marquee contract for the same wage as a Full Time contract), but it is a pretty fun experience. With Adelaide, we won the league by something like 23 points, but lost the Grand Final to Melbourne Victory on penalties which was a bummer. My key strikers Sergio van Dijk and Bruce Djite both left at the end of the season, which makes things tough. I've also elected to go into 2013-14 without a Marquee player to assist with our financials, but whether or not I can I resist having a shot at Tim Cahill I don't know. Interestingly, the following were recommended as Marquee players: Lucas Neill, Phil Neville and Ricardo Fuller. Not quite Del Piero and Beckham...

Do salary caps change over time or with the league's reputation?

Boardwalk Empire

Interested to know this, too, as I'd imagine the MLS and A-League experiences would be quite similar in the sense that they both have limitations that other leagues don't have. I'm about to try a game with Sydney FC on classic to ease my way into the game after struggling to get into a Swedish lower division game with a team that had about fifteen central midfielders.

In fairness, while I loved FFX, its final boss was as shitty as they come.

Boardwalk Empire

Boardwalk

Actually, Darth Maul is indirectly responsible for a Star Wars argument I had that really annoyed me. Now, I love Star Wars. Barely a week goes by without me and at least one of my friends reciting at least part of the "My friend doesn't like you..." bit from A New Hope, or at the very least cutting off anyone saying "I'll be careful" (or "I'll be" anything, really) with "you'll be dead!". The thing is, I can accept that the original movies are silly. They're just as riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies as the prequels, and have just as many un-necessary characters and stupid comic relief. But I loved them so much as a kid that I can't not enjoy them, even if half of that enjoyment comes from making fun of them. But anyway, despite all their flaws, there's actually some pretty solid storytelling there, albeit of a very basic story. But you know who the important characters are, and what their relations are to one another. But in Phantom Menace, you know nothing about Darth Maul. Maybe that's the point. But then, when he comes to fight Obi-Wan in a big Lightsaber duel, it's staged as if that's the logical point the whole movie's been working towards. But I didn't give a shit, because I don't know who this guy is, and why we should be scared of him, or why we should care that this fight is happening. I put this suggestion to a friend of mine, an obsessive Star Wars fan, and he's like "ah no, man, Darth Maul's awesome! He killed a million Jedi in the Battle of Plinkyploo and he's feared throughout the Yogabbagabba system" or somesuch shit. Literally every reason he could come up with to care about this character came from the expanded universe; novels, spin-offs, whatever. Most, if not all, of which will have been written after the movie anyway. But he saw no problem in this. Personally, I shouldn't have to do months of reading and research to get enjoyment out of my silly escapist fantasy movie. Also, replace Darth Maul with "Boba Fett" for much the same argument, a million times. And while we're pulling directors names out of our asses, I want to see the David Lynch directed Star Wars movie we never got with Empire So you want him back so they can expand on his backstory this time? I think we can agree on that, Skummy!

I only ever saw the one with Darth Maul, so I hope Darth Maul returns.

Well there were no troubles beating Lt. Surge, but tragically we lost a trooper on our way to Celadon City. Against some no name Biker's Grimer, sweet Aida the Butterfree perished to a critical hit Sludge. May she rest in peace. Active Team: - CH'DING ♀ (Farfetch'd), Lvl 24 Peck, Sand-Attack, Knock Off, Fury Attack - JÜRGEN ♀ (Gloom), Lvl 26 Absorb, Sweet Scent, Acid, Sleep Powder - JENS ♂ (Wartortle), Lvl 34 Bite, Rapid Spin, Water Gun, Withdraw - DOMINIK ♂ (Raticate), Lvl 23 Cut, Focus Energy, Quick Attack, Hyper Fang - ANDERS ♂ (Mankey), Lvl 19 Leer, Low Kick, Karate Chop, Fury Swipes Hall of Pain: - AIDA ♀ (Butterfree), Lvl 19 Met in VIRIDIAN FOREST, Lvl 3

Decided to play FireRed with one of those Nuzlocke Challenges. Never done that before. Active Team: - Cristin ♀ (Spearow), Lvl 14 Peck, Growl, Leer, Fury Attack - Jürgen ♀ (Gloom), Lvl 22 Absorb, Sweet Scent, Poisonpowder, Sleep Powder - Aida ♀ (Butterfree), Lvl 19 Tackle, Poisonpowder, Sleep Powder, Confusion - Jens ♂ (Wartortle), Lvl 23 Bite, Tail Whip,Water Gun, Withdraw - Dominik ♂ (Raticate), Lvl 21 Tackle, Focus Energy, Quick Attack, Hyper Fang Yeah, I named Jürgen before I realised he was a she... I'm just about to board the Ship in Vermillion City. Unfortunately the Diglett I met in Diglett's Cave decided to die from a tackle from Dominik, so that's the team I'm left with to face Lt. Surge. No fucking idea how it will work, and I'm fearing some casualties along the way.

Yeah that fight should never have happened.

Can't wait to hear more about SI's newest release Canine Manager 2013!

She's certainly the most promising young Australian tennis player.

So what you say is that you plan on chickening out? I just lost two matches to Northern Ireland. I'm not sure I'll have a choice.

Considering I plan on resigning after the Euros (if we make it), I'm sure the new Belgium manager will have fun navigating a World Cup qualification group including Italy and Germany.

Season 5 is still a massive blemish on basically my favourite show ever, but maybe one day I'll have to go back to see if it deserves the disappointment. It wasn't that it was bad TV, I just thought it was of clearly lower quality than the other seasons - particularly four.

I think it is probably because they alternate between Toronto and Montreal each year.

So, um, Tony Mowbray has basically resigned as one of England's most successful managers after taking them to a World Cup final and winning Euro 2020. After winning the Bundesliga with Stuttgart, I resigned to accept a job with Belgium. They are so old!

Bullshit. They should be made to start from outside the arena as punishment.

ffs can China stop dominating every sport?

I'm not sure I quite get that decision.