RabidAl

Made all the better by watching it in the cage. Happy days!

Horns

Thought JJ was out of order with his handling of Jimmy Nicholl and also the BBC at the time of the play-offs last year. Never forgave him for that. Would love to see Jimmy Nic back at the club.

Gourmand

Parmesan

Japes

Succeed

Mixer taps that don't move so you bash your pus off them when having a wash

Redoubt

Gnaw

Glory

I agree with that. We have the Scottish Cup which - if you take away replays and continue to add in all of the senior clubs - is the ideal cup competition. Then we have the League Cup which will always look like a poor relation - because it doesn't have the number of teams or the history, and also because seeding makes it biased towards the more successful clubs with some teams also only having to play 4 matches to win the thing. These factors devalue it. The League Cup needs to remove the seeding or offset it with home ties for the lower-ranked clubs. It could do with being a short, sharp competition that is finished by the end of November, and some variety in the format (perhaps changing every other year) such as regional groups. Then we have the Challenge Cup which is the League Cup minus the most successful clubs and with a final that is half a season away from the other rounds. The Challenge Cup would be more interesting if it brought in many more teams from outwith the SPFL and would be more of a 'challenge' than just being League Cup lite. It could be a shorter competition, as you say, but i'd probably save that for the League Cup and instead spread the rounds out over international weekends.

"Deadline kick-offs." That is all I have to say about Sportsound.

As it is, the Challenge Cup is just League Cup lite - it could do with some identity other than simply being the League Cup but with the most successful teams removed. Add in a dozen teams from the senior regional leagues and you get a much more vibrant tournament with more of its own identity. I agree about the irregular scheduling of rounds; i'd use the Saturdays of international breaks and maybe a date in early February for the rounds.

P.S. - my source for the above was commentary by Pitchside Media on highlights of the Lowland League. It was mentioned in a couple of the recent games, as in 'second place in the Lowland League qualifies for the Challenge Cup' - although the commentator could have meant 'challenge cup' in the sense that the juniors do in the following: 3. The names of clubs entered for the competition by virtue of membership, shall be placed in a receptacle and except that a club may be balloted as having a ‘bye’ into the Second Round of the competition, the clubs shall be balloted in couples to compete with each other in the First Round of the competition. Those clubs who have qualified to participate in the Scottish Senior Challenge Cup will receive a bye in the first round of the Junior Cup. {SJFA Constitution, Rules and Cup Competition Rules; Cup Competition Rules, p.15} Which I take it is just an old-fashioned way of saying the senior Scottish Cup. Or can we expect juniors in the Challenge Cup sometime soon? Or, indeed, he could have meant the South Challenge Cup... --------- EDIT: Found this in the Scottish FA Handbook 2014/15, which will no doubt be what the commentator from Pitchside Media was going on about: “the Challenge Cup Competition” means “The Scottish Cup”; {p.68} Round One The clubs which, in the current season, are members of The Scottish Professional Football League, shall be exempt from playing in Round One of the Competition. The clubs which, in the previous season, have won the Scottish Highland Football League Championship or the Scottish Lowland Football League Championship shall also be exempt from playing in Round One, as shall the runners up in the Scottish Highland Football League Championship or the Scottish Lowland Football League Championship. {p.173}

Heard that it might be the top two from the Lowland League who will qualify for the Challenge Cup next season. Presumably it'll be the same for the top two of the Highland League. Not sure what format they're intending to use - just a preliminary round for the HL/LL clubs maybe? I'd rather see them in the main draw, and more clubs qualifying automatically from tier 5 in the first place. ------ EDIT: potential format for 34-team Challenge Cup Round 1: (2) Highland League, (2) Lowland League, (10) League Two, (4) League One (18 teams; 9 qualify). Round 2: (9) from Round One, (6) League One, (3) Championship (18 teams; 9 qualify). Round 3: (9) from Round Two, (7) Championship (16 teams; 8 qualify). Quarters, Semis, Final as normal. But if we're having 6 rounds we might as well get more than just 4 teams from the HL & LL involved. ------ EDIT II For example: Round 1: (6) Highland League, (6) Lowland League, (8 League Two (20 teams; 10 qualify). Round 2: (10) from Round 1, (2) League Two, (10) League One, (10) Championship (32 teams; 16 qualify). And so on as normal. Much more interesting, loads of new fixtures each year, supports development of the pyramid with more seniors involved each season, keeps relegated clubs in touch with the SPFL, spreads money down with full-timers/big supports for small clubs to be drawn against in all-in second round, etc.

Haven't read the report, but heard David Millar's reaction to it on the radio. He seemed to be fuming at what he saw as unsubstantiated allegations from an un-named source. Micro-dosing of EPO - any significant advantage in that?

That's where it gets really dull - one team pushing a high tempo on the front all the time on the climbs, taking the legs out of the true climbers. Such an anglo-saxon approach. Long live the mercurial climbers who make the races interesting! And strong cross-winds. Love to watch echelons!

When your one-night stand gives you a Chinese burn. On your cock. With her teeth. It happened to my mate. Hell hath no fury...

No contest today. Back in the 2012 Tour, with all the time-trialling, if they were both leaders of different teams - not so sure. Although Froome did have to sit up and wait for Wiggo on at least one of the big climbs...

Yeah, I wanted Wiggins to leave Sky after his superb 2012 as it was clear that Froome was going to be #1 for the following season. It's a shame he's never gone up against Froome at the Tour with both as team leaders. But Wiggins has always been a bit mercurial with his motivation and I doubt whether he'd really be up for it after his win in 2012. Need to see more of the Classics this year - always seem to miss them!

Tears

Is it Paris-Nice that Wiggo signed on for a bit longer at Sky to try to win? Or another of the Classics?

Nope, I'm not French. A asylum is where I bide.

When journalists, who should know better, use the phrases 'an historic...', 'an horrendous...', etc. It should be 'an' before a word that begins with a vowel sound/soft sound: 'an honest...', 'an umbrella...', 'an excellent...', and so on. And should be 'a' before words that begin with a consonant sound/hard sound: 'a history', 'a horror...', 'a university...', 'a euphoric...', blah, blah, blah. Yawn.