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Friday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale No More NCAAffeine Needed I'll admit, I'm a bit of a Luddite. I spend my days working on computers, and my nights relying on them for football statistics and breaking developments, but as regards the silver and white technoboxes that clutter my desk, my geek credentials are pathetic. When it comes to my car, I drive a Ford and if anything goes wrong, I let a man in an overall tinker under the 'bonnet'. When it comes to my computer, I drive a Mac which, as is often said, 'simply works', so I've never had to endure the learning curve that regular PC owners undergo – I've never really understood why people think automatic transmission represents progress over using a gear stick, yet the manual shift of Windows is favored over the select–and–go of the Mac OS. See, I just said 'OS' as if I know anything about operating systems. I don't. My car is pretty, so is my computer, and when I sit in the seat, I feel comfortable. And that's as technical as it gets for me. In theory, then, I should have upgraded from Sky to Sky+ some time ago. The gadgetry doesn't really require me to understand the technology, and it just makes my life easier, allowing me to watch shows whenever I have the time (assuming I've remembered to register my interest in the first place). So why, now that I've finally succumbed to another expensive technobox, do I feel slightly flat about the fact that watching my beloved football doesn't require my heart to pump a high–octane mix of blood and caffeine just to make it through the late games? The answer: I like living on Eastern Time. I've got used to it. For my entire working life I've arranged my Fall evenings around kickoff, time–shifting my working days when possible, foregoing sleep when not possible, and yes, falling asleep during the middle game when failing to do either. Mrs Football green–lit the purchase of the Sky+ box on the basis that I might not stay up until 5am most days of the week. You see, I'm not entirely sure I want to live in the same time zone as the rest of the Brits. For as long as I can remember, I've had one foot in the States, either through relatives or vacations or my parents' second home, but most of all through football, through knowing that somewhere, five time zones from here, a game was kicking off and if I worked really really hard at it, I could catch a waft of it between the crackles of the radio. Now this: college football, once the holy grail of dedication, is available any time I want it, kickoff when it suits me. No caffeine required. Is that a good thing? Wasn't staying up past my bedtime the reason I latched onto this 'obscure foreign' sport in the first place? So this weekend, Ohio State visits USC in the dead of night, kickoff in the small hours with unbeaten records and possibly contention for the national championship on the line in the first maximum–hype action of the year. I shall record it, of course, store it up for leisurely perusal on a lazy Sunday afternoon while I wait for the NFL to come on. I certainly won't stay up all night and then stagger into action Sunday lunchtime. Ah heck, who am I kidding? THE WEEKEND AHEAD Couch–worthy: NCAAF: Georgia vs South Carolina (NASN, Saturday 8.30pm BST) If this one gets out of shape early, I'll be watching the highlights of Cal vs Maryland, but wow, is there a Gamecocks fan at NASN this year? That's their first three games covered live. NCAAF: Ohio State vs USC (NASN, Sunday 1am BST) The big one. A few weeks ago I picked Ohio State to beat USC, but with Chris Wells less than 100%, not a hope. One voter in each of the polls still gave the Buckeyes a first–place vote. Wow, what game were they watching last week? NFL: Green Bay at Detroit (red button: Indianapolis at Minnesota) (SkySports 2, Sunday 6pm BST) If Detroit are as inept this week as in their opener, I'll be flipping to Indie and the Vikes pretty quickly – one of those two will be going 0–2, and that's going to create some ripples. NFL: New England at NY Jets (red button: San Diego at Denver) (SkySports 2, Sunday 9pm BST) This would have been a huge deal with the 'Brady vs Favre' match–up we so nearly saw for the Superbowl. Instead, we're cheated again, with Cassel vs Favre. And I still think Cassel will come out on top. NFL: Pittsburgh at Cleveland (SkySports 2, Monday 1.30am BST) There's no going to bed early for this one. The Steelers looked much smoother than I expected last weekend, and the Browns didn't rise to the occasion against the Cowboys, making this a huge divisional match–up already. Plus button for later: NCAAF: California vs Maryland (NASN, Saturday 5pm BST) NCAAF: North Carolina vs Rutgers (NASN 2, Friday 12.30am BST) NCAAF: Kansas vs South Florida (NASN, Saturday 1am BST) NCAAF: Arkansas vs Texas (NASN Sunday 7am BST, As Live) NFL: Philadelphia at Dallas (SkySports 1, Tuesday 1.30am BST) This last one really deserves to be a couch–worthy game, but as Mrs Football is a Philly fan, I'll save it for the day after. I don't see Dallas being knocked off this early by the Eagles, though. |
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