arab_joe

In week 12, I beat Mackieboz by resignation - I was only 2 points up, surprised you resigned then (as I have lost from far more dominant positions). In week 13, I beat Markf268 by resignation - one blunder allowed me to trap your Queen. Up until that point you were stronger on points and position. In week 16, I beat Kendeans by resignation - winning a rook swung it my way. In week 18, I beat N5_Spur by checkmate - you were in a winning position after 12 or 13 moves, until I won a bishop. From then I managed to turn the knife. After a slow start to the season, that was a good way to finish up!

Since my insightful post 8 days ago, we have gone gone 7-1 on the road... including a 10-0 win over the Orioles, a 9-0 win over the Royals, an 11-0 win over the Diamondbacks and have had our first 5-win stretch of the season. Such an odd team. Blake Snell has confirmed that he is opting out - he is about to get paid. In past couple of years we have had Kevin Gausman go (5 years $110m), Carlos Rodon go (6 years $162m) and now Blake Snell...

The misuse of challenges by the Giants is almost as inexcusable as our refusal to try to steal bases and our complete inability to catch fly balls (granted the stadium is in a windy part of the world, but it seems only to impact the home team). Another really odd thing is that we seem to let bad calls affect us way more than any other team - I've gone about it before, but the first base umpire physically stopping a Brett Wisely double in a game against the (absolutely terrible) Rockies cost us two wins. We absolutely folded, losing that game from a 3-0 lead and then collapsed the next day - seemed like we just couldn't get past the "injustice". And a similar thing happened the other day when Tyler Fitzgerald was wrongly penalised for obstruction on a runner into 2nd base against the (absolutely terrible) Marlins - we lost that game, then lost the next day too. I'm not sure if there is a league table anywhere showing it, but the Giants must be up there with the worst in the MLB for converting with runners on base. Our whole team is on its holidays, likely planning their next moves (Snell has seriously upped his game of late and is going to get paid by someone this off-season... quite possibly the Padres if they can find room for him) and who can really blame them. We seem to be treating the final few weeks of this season as a means of getting a proper look at some of our fringe players - but thus far I'm not convinced that any of them have a bright future at the big league level... We live in hope...

The run of 3 games without scoring a run was the first such run since 1992. Hard to fully understand what is going on with the Giants, right now... the signings of Matt Chapman, Jorge Soler, Blake Snell, Robbie Ray etc. in the off-season made me pretty hopeful that we would make a real run at the playoffs - but this has been worse than any season in recent memory. We are closer to the Rockies than we are to the Dodgers. Our once all-star Camilo Duval has the yips, we are so bad at stealing bases that we don't even try anymore (De La Cruz alone has 64 steals - as an organisation we have 63 in total...), and some of the fielding is so bad it looks like a comedy skit.

One of my earliest ever football memories was when England were knocked out of World Cup 1994 qualification - I remember my dad showing me the Ronald Koeman tackle on David Platt and explaining that, whilst he may have found it absolutely hilarious, it was a truly dreadful refereeing decision. I watched it again recently, as part of a documentary on David Taylor, and it must be one of the worst/most impactful decisions I have ever seen... On Portugal, what is incredible is that World Cup 2002 was only their third World Cup. 1966 (when they had Eusebio) and 1986 were their only other appearances. Guardian article This sent me down a rabbit hole. Great drama, as you say. And I tell you what, that is some finish from the Bulgarian chap (the article has a link to some extremely grainy footage) - no keeper is saving that. Seems like Gerard Houllier wasn't a huge fan of Ginola's choice to cross the ball... and ultimately Ginola sued him for defamation for, amongst other things, describing it as a "crime against the team". How very French. Another Guardian article

Sicily is an absolutely fabulous place - that time of year is great as it will still be warm, but not too busy. Have stayed in Taormina when I've been, is a lovely little town with great restaurants and quite possibly the best ice cream place I've been to (the name escapes me). Would recommend renting a car (or taking the coastal train, which looks amazing but as I have always rented a car I have never actually used) and taking a drive over to Palermo, up Mount Etna (snowplough rides are quite fun, but may be too early in the year for snow), to Cefalu, Syracuse etc. and to some of the ancient ruins that are pretty well spread throughout the island. There is a lot to see. The food is sublime. If you like the look of the city then you should definitely check out season two of White Lotus - which is set in Taormina and filmed all over Sicily.

For me, Kevin Holt has been the biggest surprise of the season so far - he hasn't looked out of place in any game, even when pushed into midfield. He was really solid before he went off. In your defence (and mine, and no doubt countless others...) he really was horrific in that first half against County. I was shocked he even made it back out for the second half. He has got up to speed remarkably quickly. His tackle on Simon Murray aside, he has had a great start to the season. When that (absolutely blatant) penalty went to VAR, I thought he was getting sent off... He didn't have much to do today, but it must give the defence a lot of confidence to have Jack Walton behind them and not Mark "I refuse to save shots" Birighitti. I still feel sorry for Scott McMann, who looked shell-shocked at the end of half of those games. To be quite honest, I didn't think many of our team were really "at it" today - we just stayed in the game, were really competitive in the tackle, then took our chance. A very good sign when we're below par and winning away from home. Last season he scored 30 goals - this season looks doubtful if he'll take 30 shots. I thought Craig Sibbald was good today - nothing got through the middle of midfield the whole game.

If you have a third day then I would personally try and somehow fit in the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island tour (in place of the Staten Island Ferry) which I think is an absolute bargain and hugely informative (about NYC but also about the USA in general).

The only issue I have with your itinerary is the bit in bold - spending two days in NYC and several days in Vegas should be a crime... In all seriousness, if you've got very limited time then you're ticking off a lot of really great spots - High Line, Central Park, Word Trade Centre, Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, Broadway etc. - and with a subway pass they are all very easily/quickly connected (I wouldn't recommend taxis in NYC - they're hideously expensive and very slow in the traffic). Go for a rooftop cocktail before your show - you'll catch sunset (I'm a big fan of 230 Fifth and recommended it above - but I am sure there are better ones) that covers for the Empire State/Rockafeller Centre which are absent from your list. Enjoy your trip. I haven't been to NYC since Christmas '21, having previously been in '13, '14, '16, '17 and '19 (twice) - really missing the place and can't wait to go back!

I actually have a fair amount of sympathy for Tony Watt - after his loan stint at St Mirren, he really hasn't done a lot wrong (on the park, at least). After becoming vice captain he had a good season (and I feel the same about Middleton - regardless of opposition, he had the most assists in the Championship...) and was a big part in us getting up at the first time of asking. I know his pre-season performances were a bit lacklustre, but he was hardly alone in that - if anything, Sibbald looked far worse and seems to have got away without any real criticism at all. Hard to argue with any of that - there was no way he was ever going to improve on the purple patch he was on when we signed him. Our thread from that time was full of Arabs saying the same, just a pity the club's management were looking to "make a statement". If my 25 years of watching United has taught me anything, it is that when we "make a statement" it rarely has a good outcome... Motherwell have played an absolute blinder here - somehow convinced us to shell out for him mid-season, then got him back for a year in which they will only pay a fraction of his wages. They bought low, sold high, then re-bought low... how I wish he could learn a thing or two from them. At least Tilson could tackle - I've seen absolutely nothing from Obada to suggest he can do anything. It is still very early days for them both, but I have some real concerns about them both - shocked Adegboyega even made it past half-time on Saturday. His first half was dreadful.

But if I stay with HSBC and neither want to increase my mortgage nor extend the time, are they going to ask for all of this stuff to simply get another 2-year fixed term? With a lot of my documentation coming from the Middle East, it requires verification, translation, supporting letters etc. it took them about 3 or 4 months to even allow me a mortgage in the first place...

Quick query for those with more experience than me... When one's fixed period comes to an end (which for me is August 2025) do you again have to supply pay slips, salary proof etc. - or are you automatically offered terms on whatever rates are available? And you only have to supply pay slips, salary proof etc. if you are wanting to either borrow more or extend the term?

Glad to read this - I know exactly the sort of feelings that you both must have had in that intervening period, having been through it a couple of times... My wife maintains that first trimester is by far the worst - so fingers crossed for you both!

There are indeed. The one I posted above was, at least, a little unlucky - it clipped the bag so sent it off at a slight angle. But the umpire is hugely overweight, was incredibly slow to move, and the play seemed to really rattle us... we lost that game and then lost the one the next lunchtime. Two losses in a row to the Rockies is pretty much unheard of for any team - and I am 100% certain we don't lose both if that run is scored. I'm still bitter about this, the call that literally ended our 2021 season (the only half-decent season we have had since I started following the Giants in 2018) against the bloody Dodgers: The use of technology in some areas of the game is great - in other areas, the lack of use is completely unjustified. There was a Giants game a few weeks back in which the umpire missed 27 balls/strikes - I think it is only a matter of time before it becomes automated.

His 15K game was absolutely sensational... And the no-hitter even better. They were saying in commentary that up until that day, he'd only ever thrown 5 pitches in any 8th inning... and 0 in the 9th. So quite something to get a full-game, a shut-out and a no-hitter all in one! His curve ball is unhittable at the moment. Very. I was really looking forward to seeing him when he joined the Giants, but honestly in that first 4 or 5 starts I thought we'd got his twin brother or something... he was absolutely terrible. Looked so, so far off a Cy Young winner it was unbelievable. Just had a look and his ERA for April was 12, for May was 9 and for June was 6... so he was definitely trending in the right direction. Just a pity that his form has coincided with Logan Webb going very cold (to be fair he has been carrying the Giants since Rodon went to the Yankees) - otherwise we might be a bit closer to the pack than we are. I'm not sure if anyone saw this slice of bad luck from a couple of weeks back, but I'm still absolutely livid that the umpire couldn't move a bit quicker - at the time we were 3-0 up with two runners on, this hit would have given us a 4 or 5 run lead in the 4th with outs to spare - instead they get the out and we completely lost focus and conspired to lose the game: