Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Thursday, September 03, 2009
From the archives ...
Lots of videos of football dives doing the rounds. Here's a nice compilation from the last World Cup. Can you beat these?
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Random video of the day!
I'd rather think about cricket at the moment than fantasy football ...
Geoff, any comments on the accent of Trott, hero of the last Ashes test (that England won)?
Geoff, any comments on the accent of Trott, hero of the last Ashes test (that England won)?
Monday, August 17, 2009
Introductions!
We've got some newcomers and out-of-towners, so some introductions are in order. Here are brief bios:
Me - Miracle of Istabul
Team: Liverpool
FACTS!: CT says "Doggedly living the dream of 2005!". Bruised after the weekend's results, but defiant!
CT - FC Naivety
Team: Liverpool and the All Whites (NZ midget-football world champions of NZ)
FACTS!: Not only is she married to me, but CT is also an inveterate chooser of injured and/or out-of-form players. Can the season get any harder for the plucky kiwi?
Jon - Reds in America
Team: Liverpool (see the theme here?)
FACTS!: My brother, recently relocated to NYC. Smug if he gets in the lead, so somebody please do the hono(u)rable thing.
Simon - Derin Town
Team: Bristol Rovers
FACTS!: My brother-in-law, an air-guitar hero, and dark horse for this season's Boot Room. I still don't know this man's email address.
Geoff - Guus Bumps
Team: Liverpool and the Soccerettes (I think that's the name)
FACTS!: Avid PREDICTor, blogger, Bundesliga watcher, and former-CT-roommate, Goodwin is desperate to triumph this year. But, let's face it, he's not going to win, is he?
Dena - Corner Kicks
Team: ? Dena? Anyone? Anyone?
FACTS!: Has just moved to Santa Barbara, yet ignores the attractions of sea, surf, and sychology because of her Boot Room obsession. Fierce rivalry with Geoff should spice up the season!
Rich - Dog's breakfast
Team: Liverpool (again!)
FACTS!: We were at school together! A long time ago! His season's aim is to avoid humiliating defeat at the hands of his infant son Joe, whose team is restricted to players whose name begins with "J". Loser eats with a plastic spoon for the next 4 years.
Joe - J-league
Team: Undeclared, Rich?
FACTS!: The youngest, cutest player in the league. But, as the old saying goes, if you're good enough, you're old enough.
Gethin - Tinman's Thunderbolt
Team: Bristol City
FACTS!: A former colleague of mine, Gethin is now livin it up in Paris, having regretfully given up his City season ticket. Now playing for local pride against the league's Rovers fan. Should be interesting.
Ian - Damn the Tharpedos
Team: ? Ian?
FACTS!: Another psychologist in the league and an old friend of Gethin's. Gethin, any juicy stories?
Alan - Mavericks
Team: Man Utd. Alan, still? Really?
FACTS!: Another former colleague, Alan is described as follows on ratemyprofessor.com "Very thorough, covered every square inch.". Of course he did.
Tom - Boondock Saints
Team: ? Tom?
FACTS!: A dedicated Boot Room blogger, even though I've never met Tom in person I feel a strong blog-based kinship. So much so that I'm unashamed to ask him to introduce our remaining players, Danielle and Mike. Tom, over to you ...
What a line up! Looking forward to the season. Thanks for playing!!!
Me - Miracle of Istabul
Team: Liverpool
FACTS!: CT says "Doggedly living the dream of 2005!". Bruised after the weekend's results, but defiant!
CT - FC Naivety
Team: Liverpool and the All Whites (NZ midget-football world champions of NZ)
FACTS!: Not only is she married to me, but CT is also an inveterate chooser of injured and/or out-of-form players. Can the season get any harder for the plucky kiwi?
Jon - Reds in America
Team: Liverpool (see the theme here?)
FACTS!: My brother, recently relocated to NYC. Smug if he gets in the lead, so somebody please do the hono(u)rable thing.
Simon - Derin Town
Team: Bristol Rovers
FACTS!: My brother-in-law, an air-guitar hero, and dark horse for this season's Boot Room. I still don't know this man's email address.
Geoff - Guus Bumps
Team: Liverpool and the Soccerettes (I think that's the name)
FACTS!: Avid PREDICTor, blogger, Bundesliga watcher, and former-CT-roommate, Goodwin is desperate to triumph this year. But, let's face it, he's not going to win, is he?
Dena - Corner Kicks
Team: ? Dena? Anyone? Anyone?
FACTS!: Has just moved to Santa Barbara, yet ignores the attractions of sea, surf, and sychology because of her Boot Room obsession. Fierce rivalry with Geoff should spice up the season!
Rich - Dog's breakfast
Team: Liverpool (again!)
FACTS!: We were at school together! A long time ago! His season's aim is to avoid humiliating defeat at the hands of his infant son Joe, whose team is restricted to players whose name begins with "J". Loser eats with a plastic spoon for the next 4 years.
Joe - J-league
Team: Undeclared, Rich?
FACTS!: The youngest, cutest player in the league. But, as the old saying goes, if you're good enough, you're old enough.
Gethin - Tinman's Thunderbolt
Team: Bristol City
FACTS!: A former colleague of mine, Gethin is now livin it up in Paris, having regretfully given up his City season ticket. Now playing for local pride against the league's Rovers fan. Should be interesting.
Ian - Damn the Tharpedos
Team: ? Ian?
FACTS!: Another psychologist in the league and an old friend of Gethin's. Gethin, any juicy stories?
Alan - Mavericks
Team: Man Utd. Alan, still? Really?
FACTS!: Another former colleague, Alan is described as follows on ratemyprofessor.com "Very thorough, covered every square inch.". Of course he did.
Tom - Boondock Saints
Team: ? Tom?
FACTS!: A dedicated Boot Room blogger, even though I've never met Tom in person I feel a strong blog-based kinship. So much so that I'm unashamed to ask him to introduce our remaining players, Danielle and Mike. Tom, over to you ...
What a line up! Looking forward to the season. Thanks for playing!!!
Sunday, August 09, 2009
The Boot Room - Season 3
Welcome!!!
In it's first season, the Boot Room had to adjust to the pace of the premier league, with its unique demands on technique and fitness. Last season we began to see the true quality that the Boot Room has to offer, with flashes of brilliance from Tom and Riis but also some of the tactical naivety (yes, CT, I'm talking about you) that gets punished in this, the toughest of leagues. This season the Boot Room returns as a seasoned pro, but still feels a shiver of excitement at the thought of the season to come ...
So do you want a piece of the exciting Boot Room action?
If so, then sign up now at:
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/
The Guardian site we used last year isn't running again this year, so I've shopped around a bit and this one seems pretty good: it's simple, free, and has an exciting head-to-head league option, more on which below. First games are NEXT WEEK, so sign up soon if you don't want to fall behind. (You can join later, though.)
It's easy to sign up. A couple of notes on the site:
1) The username is not the same as the team name, so it doesn't have to be annoyingly long and difficult to type in, unlike mine.
2) There's a pointless pick-your-team-colo(u)rs boondoggle!
3) There are free unlimited transfers until the first game of the season next week.
And there are two leagues for the price of one! It isn't any more work in picking players etc., but I've set up two leagues. "The Boot Room" is the classic points accumulation league like last year. In the head-to-head league, teams in the league are matched up against each other each week and compete according to the week's scores, getting 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw -- JUST LIKE THE REAL THING!!! (No idea what happens if we have an odd number of teams in the league.)
In it's first season, the Boot Room had to adjust to the pace of the premier league, with its unique demands on technique and fitness. Last season we began to see the true quality that the Boot Room has to offer, with flashes of brilliance from Tom and Riis but also some of the tactical naivety (yes, CT, I'm talking about you) that gets punished in this, the toughest of leagues. This season the Boot Room returns as a seasoned pro, but still feels a shiver of excitement at the thought of the season to come ...
So do you want a piece of the exciting Boot Room action?
If so, then sign up now at:
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/
The Guardian site we used last year isn't running again this year, so I've shopped around a bit and this one seems pretty good: it's simple, free, and has an exciting head-to-head league option, more on which below. First games are NEXT WEEK, so sign up soon if you don't want to fall behind. (You can join later, though.)
It's easy to sign up. A couple of notes on the site:
1) The username is not the same as the team name, so it doesn't have to be annoyingly long and difficult to type in, unlike mine.
2) There's a pointless pick-your-team-colo(u)rs boondoggle!
3) There are free unlimited transfers until the first game of the season next week.
And there are two leagues for the price of one! It isn't any more work in picking players etc., but I've set up two leagues. "The Boot Room" is the classic points accumulation league like last year. In the head-to-head league, teams in the league are matched up against each other each week and compete according to the week's scores, getting 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw -- JUST LIKE THE REAL THING!!! (No idea what happens if we have an odd number of teams in the league.)
Monday, June 01, 2009
Final league table!
Here are the final standings. At the end of a gruelling season, in which injuries, tactical blunders, and indifference all took their toll on our points totals, but in which we still found the inspiration, enlightened substitutions, and blind luck to carry us through, we can all look back and be proud of our sporting (prediction) achievements. Particular congratulations to FC Business, who took care of it, and the the Boondock Saints for making the pace for so much of the season. Grudging congrats to Guus Bumps for clinging on the 3rd place. Commiserations to The Stubbies and The Ravens for having been put in their (lowly) place by an infant constrained to choose players with names beginning with "J". Maybe see you all again next year ...
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
League update -- bloody hell, it's May!
Thanks for the kick up the backside, Tom, I've been predictably slack towards the end of the season. Here's the current status, and it looks to be all over with two more rounds of games to go, with FC Business looking scornfully down at our feeble attempts to catch up. But there's still a bit of life in the table: Maybe there'll be a couple of late changes to the Miracle of Istanbul that will see me overhaul plucky little Geoff Goodwin? Maybe CT's Stubbies will endure some last-day jitters to allow Joe's Ravens to sneak past, in the all important battle of 7V-or-is-it-Spring-St-not-including-Geoff? Maybe someone other than Tom will read this post? Stranger things have happened ...
Monday, March 02, 2009
League update -- 2nd March
In case anyone's still out there looking, here's the league table. I've been a bit distracted recently, but I'm glad to see that this hasn't lost me too much ground. Who knows what could happen if I transferred Joseph Yobo and other deadwood from my team?
Monday, February 02, 2009
Hull City or Liverpool?
The question is, ,which team is a better symbol for the year the Boondock Saints are having? Are they the plucky upstart with a good first part of the season, but dropping steadily due to a lack of depth and experience in the big show? Or are we liverpool, a real contender that lead the league for most of the season but will likely end up where they belong, in 2nd or 3rd place. Still respectable and in it until the end, but at the last outmatched by the stronger teams.
We pose this question as for the first time this year, the Boondock Saints are not in 1st place. We had a rough go of it the last few weeks and these next few weeks will hopefully answer the question. But for now, feel free to take your best guess. Will this be the year of "well, they gave it a go and you couldn't expect much more" or "they had everything it takes to win it all, but just couldn't pull it out in the end".
Tom "Second place is someplace" Lorusso
We pose this question as for the first time this year, the Boondock Saints are not in 1st place. We had a rough go of it the last few weeks and these next few weeks will hopefully answer the question. But for now, feel free to take your best guess. Will this be the year of "well, they gave it a go and you couldn't expect much more" or "they had everything it takes to win it all, but just couldn't pull it out in the end".
Tom "Second place is someplace" Lorusso
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
League update -- 13th January
A belated happy new year!! Here are the current standings, with FC Business making strides. Can Tom be knocked of his perch, Steven Ireland and Mikel Arteta notwithstanding? Will Derin Town move out of mid-table obscurity? Will Geoff's teaching commitments harm his Boot Room challenge? Will the Beldowell challenge be revived as Joe learns to speak and take proper charge? 2009 promises to be an exciting year!!!
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