Is about as polite a way of putting it as I can come up with. I fully expect that I’m not in possession of the full facts, this being the usual state of affairs, but both of the things that are concerning me seem to show a significant disconnect between sports administrators and the punters. The first one is a bit of an old chestnut that has raised it’s ugly head again. It seems that, following a meeting of GMs, the NHL, if it can’t find a way of making changes to the goalie’s equipment, it talking about changing the size of the goal. How can people so close to the game not realise what it is that attracts the paying public, and here’s a clue, it’s not the goal count. The powers that be in the NHL seem to think that every game should finish 6-5 and will trash the history of the game to get there. I watched a game between the Canucks and the Oilers the weekend before last and it had everything you could ask from a regular season game, commitment, speed, skill, line match ups and changes, great goal tending from Luongo, passion, hitting and until 46 seconds from the end, when all hell broke loose after an empty netter, it was 3-2 to the Canucks. But it didn’t matter whether the score at that point was 1-0 or 7-6. If they mess with the size of the goal then you have to draw a line under just about every record in the book and start again, and for what? People who just want to see the goals can watch highlights packages such as NHL On The Fly because arbitrarily changing a fundamental of the game is still not going to impact significantly on the revenue and the records of the greats of the past will have less and less relevance.

The other is something I have touched on before; Ducati and WSB. Just what sort of a lash up is WSB nowadays, control tyres (Italian), bending over backwards, so far that the only people who usually have such a view are proctologists, to accommodate one team Ducati (Italian) that all appearance equitable racing climbed out the window, ran down the road screaming and is now busy getting shit faced in the pub. I understand that there are the possibilities of technical changes to the Ducati such as limiting the diameter of the inlet tract and rev limiters and weight penalties, albeit up to only a max 6kg, which can be used to ‘handicap’ Ducati. And these ‘handicaps’ will be applied, presumably, by the promoters of the series FGSport (Italian). I haven’t been able to find out how these are to be applied but I don’t think it’s too outlandish to suggest that it will be somewhat arbitrary, how can it be otherwise? Will handicapping apply equally to the RS08 bikes as well as the factory F08 bikes, in race 2 RS08 bikes finished ahead of the F08? Three of the top four in race one and five of the top six in race two were Ducatis, is now the time to act with the handicapping? If so will all 1098 Ducatis be handicapped to finish 3rd, 9th, 17th? Which of the Ducatis gets penalised if, say, Reuben Xaus is feeling it at one meeting and gets a double victory by 8 and then 15 seconds but the next highest placed Ducati is 5th, will just Xaus be penalised for just being ‘on it’ that weekend, clearly not fair, this sort of thing happens reasonably regularly, or are all RS08s to be penalised or all 1098 Ducatis-equally inequitable. FGSport have cooked themselves up quite a dogs dinner and will inevitably choke on it. With the likes of Aprilia, BMW, KTM and Bimota looking to get into the championship in the next couple of seasons, two with fours and two with twins, this rules shit fest needs to be sorted now. Good luck with that, roll on the start of Moto GP and some real racing.

Just a quick heads up for anyone running Vista on their machine, particularly those with automatic updating selected, I’m seeing a couple of reports that SP1, which it would appear is starting to roll out via Automatic Update, has rendered some machines unbootable, leaving them in a loop at the ‘Configuring Updates’ screen, this also happens when trying to boot into ‘Safe Mode’. Whilst this was a problem with beta test versions of SP1, as yet, there still seems to be no solution forthcoming from Microsoft. Anyone using Vista and has updates install automatically may wish to change the setting to ‘Download updates but let me decide whether to install them’.

Pitchers and catchers report today for a number of teams and Spring Training should start in another couple of weeks. Hallelujah; perhaps we can put Clemens and McNamee back in their box and drown their murmurings with the sound of bat on ball. McNamee’s credibility diminishes by the day, keeping syringes and blood samples for years, what’s that all about? He’s an ex-copper and must know that such trinkets are worth less than squat as evidence and speak only to his reliability as a witness, and not favourably. Yet this is not a zero sum game, highlighting the fundamental flaw of many of the claims made in the Mitchell Report, as McNamee’s credibility wanes, Clemens’ fails to wax. So what of the others named in the report? If Clemens with all his pricey shysters, a platform before a Congressional committee and fabled chutzpah can’t even start to restore his reputation whilst his principle antagonist’s credibility visibly crumbles then what are the prospects for those who have retired from the game or are just starting on their way in the Majors? Mitchell’s recommendation that no action be taken against the players named I imagine to be a pipe dream that they would all just suck it up and get on with their careers, and maybe if Clemens hadn’t been named he might have got away with it but with Clemens owning about 85% Cy Youngs named he can do no other than squeal and shout as Cooperstown would assume that his silence was giving assent. The toothpaste is well and truly out the tube and the squidgy sound of Clemens trying to shove it back in mustn’t become a distraction and a reason for delaying the course of action that should have been followed at the outset; implementation of robust and effective testing.
It’s going to be a crap season for the A’s, I heard a forecast of 20 games below .500 today, but I still want the season to start as soon as possible.

Not wildly exciting, not unmissable, not a new way of playing football, but interesting. Which is not a ringing endorsement but neither is it meant to be damning with faint praise. I don’t believe there has ever been a time when a 2:1 home victory over Switzerland has been a cause for a rash of street parties but this was an acceptable start and didn’t dampen expectations for the future of Capello’s stewardship. I only remember James having to make one save and pick the ball out the net the once and on that occasion, no matter how good the players or how well coached, sometimes you just have to tip your cap and get on with it; which is what they did and restored the lead inside five minutes. The Swiss player couldn’t have timed the run any better or got the shot off any earlier.
The biggest surprise was the complete absence of anything resembling a decent fullback in a red shirt, Cole looked a little short of pace and was out of position too often for comfort, fortunately against little by way of a wide threat, and early on Brown looked out of his depth but turned it around as time went on. But he never seemed to link that well with Bentley, who had a good game in general but his delivery into the box did not carry anything like the threat that Beckham’s did.
By whatever method Capello achieved a much improved performance in the second half and cuts a far more imposing figure on the sideline than Steve Minardi and more passionate than Sven but it will take more than a menacing prowl around the technical area to produce a result away against France.

Is that I seem to be about a week to ten days behind with life, but I do catch up eventually. So I would like to send my best wishes to Michael Wilbon, my best mate, well OK he’s someone from the telly who I find entertaining. He will be well known to NASN subscribers as the co-host of PTI and it seems that he suffered a minor heart attack last week and had to undergo an angioplasty procedure. I look forward to him returning to health and to PTI.

Something else I missed from last week was the culmination of the blockbuster MLB trade; Johan Santana going to the Mets in exchange for, wait for it, a bag of nuts, more specifically a light hitting outfielder with limited time in the Majors, a pitcher coming back from Tommy John who put up a 4+ ERA in Triple A and two teenage prospects. The Phillies and the Braves have got to be steaming, this trade has cost the Mets precisely nothing from their likely roster all through 08 and they have added one of the best three pitchers in the game. It seems that the Bedard to Seattle deal is yet to be finalised so the Braves and Phillies really need to be making the phone ring in Baltimore to see what’s cooking. Santana has to have slight pause for thought, just what has happened for his stock to drop so low? Just where all the John Lesters, Jacobi Elsburys, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedys and Melky Cabrerras in this deal? And what of the Twins in this deal, have they done a hell of a scouting job and seen significant talent amongst this group that hasn’t been apparent to others or have they just pissed it up the wall? At this stage I’m decidedly inclined towards the latter. What was the worst case scenario at the end of last year, maybe Ian Kennedy plus a bag of bits from the Yankee’s farm system? Wouldn’t that have been a better deal than this? Surely there would have been a team at the trade deadline, maybe many more than one, absolutely gagging for Santana and ready to give up the farm if they could sign him to an extension or even as a rental they would have offered more than has gone across to Minnesota in this deal. Even if this works out for the Twins it’s fruition won’t be apparent until 2010, will the Twins GM still have a job at that point?

Wow, that was some game, but I think the greatest achievement was me managing not to hear the score today before watching the game on video. Unfortunately the recording ended before the MVP was announced but I suspect it will have been Manning as the NFL has a fetish for quarterbacks and he certainly had a strong game, 2 TDs and one interception which really ought to be on the receiver, Smith. The MVP should really go to the Giant’s D, players and coaches, because I don’t think anyone would have expected the Patriots to have been turned over by a team only putting up 17 points. It will be interesting to see who has the stronger season 08/09, it looks like the Patriots need to get younger as this looked like a game too far for the present squad and it’s hard to imagine that the rookies on the Giants can be quite as effective second time around. I wonder if Jeremy Shockey has his house on the market yet?