NFL Week 6
This is the week where teams start to pull away and seasons start to be defined. The ‘early’ game features the Detroit Lions, who need to start playing to their potential, at the Philadelphia Eagles, with their ‘fumble-y QB’ Mike Vick (1800 – Sky Sports). Up second are 2 NFC-Championship contenders when then New York Giants play the San Francisco 49ers (2115 – Sky Sports). The late-ko has the Houston Texans hosting the Green Bay Packers (0120 Mon am – C4); where Aaron Rogers will probably be looking to abandon the run in an attempt to overturn the yet-undefeated Texans. Monday night sees an all-AFC West showdown with the San Diego Chargers travelling to the Denver Broncos (0130 Tues am – BBC), and should be an offensive slug-fest, regardless of the strengths of either defence.
NFL Week 5
With the first quarter of the regular season in the books, teams should be all-warmed-up by now. First up on Sunday, the Battle of Pennsylvania enters another chapter, with the Philadelphia Eagles playing at the Pittsburgh Steelers (ko 1800 – Sky Sports); watch out for the Steelers, they should be fresh after their bye-week. Next is a quarterback-battle for the ages; Tom Brady faces his old nemesis Peyton Manning as the Denver Broncos travel to the New England Patriots (2125 – Sky Sports). The late kick-off sees the New Orleans Saints host the San Diego Chargers (0120 Mon am – C4); finally, with the Bolts on TV, I won’t be watching a different game to everyone else! Our late game on Monday has the Houston Texans at the NY Jets (0130 Tues am – BBC); key injuries to the Jet’s defence, and the standard of their QB play, suggests they are in for a hiding.
NFL Week 4
First up on the NFL-Sunday we have the New England Patriots travelling the short distance to play the Buffalo Bills (1800 – Sky Sports). Pats will want a win – this is the first time in years they’ve had more losses that wins – currently at 1-2. The second kickoff will see Drew Brees try to prevent his New Orleans Saints going 0-4 when playing at the Green Bay Packers (2115 – Sky Sports). Sunday’s late kickoff sees the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the New York Giants (0055 Monday am – C4)– where Eagles QB Vick has something to prove. The ‘Monday night’ game has the Chicago Bears at the Dallas Cowboys (0130 Tuesday am – BBC) – should be a matchup worth ruining your Tuesday for.
Doctor Who - The Angels take Manhattan
This is what we've been building towards, since this series started and before - the apparent farewell of Amy and Rory. I say apparent because we've been tricked before, but it really is meant to be the end of an era. The official blurb: "The Doctor's heart-breaking farewell to Amy and Rory - a race against time through the streets of Manhattan, as New York's statues come to life around them..." Saying goodbye to "the first face that this face saw" is going to be hard... but hopefully brilliant at the same time.
NFL Week 3
Another NFL-weekend is upon us – one that should be full of action. First up on Sunday we have the New York Jets at the Miami Dolphins (1800 – Sky Sports). Next the Houston Texans travel to play the Denver Broncos in the thin air at Mile-High (2115 – Sky Sports). Peyton Manning will need to start the game better, rather than gifting turnovers in the first quarter, if he wants a win. Later still we have the Baltimore Ravens hosting the New England Patriots (0120 – C4). Our last matchup of the weekend is on Monday night (Tuesday morning); the Green Bay Packers play at the Seattle Seahawks (0130 – BBC red button / online) – which could look ‘easy’ for the Packers, but as one NFL-pundit put it, is a ‘tough game in disguise’.
Doctor Who - The Power of Three
We have seen three fabulous episodes of this short burst of Doctor Who already, and we're moving on to the fourth and penultimate one. This time, it looks like the Doctor is heading back to modern day Earth to team up with the Ponds on their turf to solve an intriguing mystery. The official blurb: "The Doctor and the Ponds puzzle over an unlikely invasion of Earth, as millions of sinister black cubes arrive overnight..." What could it all be? And will, as Lukeh so diligently spotted, there be a mention of Christmas?
NFL Week 2
After an action-packed first weekend, we should expect nothing less from the second. First up we see the Carolina Panthers hosting the New Orleans Saints (1800 – Sky Sports) – can the interim to the interim head-coach of the Saints get a handle on nuances of running an offence? Then (2105 – Sky Sports) Washington Redskins at the St Louis Rams – will rookie QB RG3 start 2-0? Finally for the Sunday, we have the San Francisco 49ers playing the Detroit Lions (0120 – C4) – can Calvin Johnson overcome the ‘Madden-Curse’? Our last game of the weekend is on Monday night / Tuesday morning, and sees Atlanta Falcons against the Denver Broncos (0130 BBC (red-button / online) – if you want to watch Peyton Manning to turn gridiron into a game of chess, then this is the game for you.
Doctor Who - A Town Called Mercy
Mr Moffat's dream of making each episode it's own little film has so far been working out. Today looks suspiciously like Cowboys and Aliens, but here's the BBC's blurb: "The Doctor gets a Stetson (and a gun!), and finds himself the reluctant sheriff of a Western town under siege by a relentless cyborg." Stetsons are cool, I guess! I am a little wary of this episode, but as the middle of only five precious outings for the Doctor, I'm willing to embrace it wholeheartedly!
Apple iPhone Keynote
The invite proclaims: "It's almost here" and depicts a shadow of the number 5 that many assume will be for the announcement of the iPhone 5. But the next iPhone, which is almost certain to be revealed today, will actually be the sixth generation of the ubiquitous thumb magnet. It's Apple Keynote time! What do you think we'll see? 4G support, a taller screen, a 30 pin dock connector and iOS 6? Join us in the comments to tell us of the craziest speculation you've seen or which blog you're following.
NFL Week 1
Monday night / Tuesday morning sees the final two matches of the opening weekend of the 2012 NFL season. Both matches of this double-header are big inter-divisional rivalries in the AFC. First up is a matchup from the AFC North: Baltimore Ravens host the Cincinnati Bengals. The Ravens will want to make up for not making the Superbowl last season, after missing out so cruelly in the AFC Championship game last season. Our second matchup sees the AFC West’s San Diego Chargers travelling up the west coast of California to face the Oakland Raiders. The scheduling has picked us two great games for the first Monday Night Football, and the BBC are kindly showing them for us online / on the red-button.
Indianapolis Colts at the Chicago Bears
This is the first Sunday of the new NFL season and our first chance to judge which teams will contest Superbowl 47 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans in February. The Colts started last season as one of the top teams but an injury to star quarterback Peyton Manning turned their season into a disaster. The one benefit of this is that they got first pick in the NFL draft of new players and chose Andrew Luck who is a young QB with a big reputation and becomes Manning's replacement. The Bears have not made the playoffs in the last two seasons and have shuffled some of their management and signed Pro Bowl receiver Brandon Marshall from the Miami Dolphins. It will be interesting to see if either of these teams are serious contenders or face a longer recovery process.
London 2012 Paralympics
The Olympic Ceremony is complete, the athletes are ready to go and the 2012 Paralympics is about to get underway. With early medals available in swimming, cycling, shooting and powerlifting, we'll start seeing gold handed out almost immediately. Team GB have a lot to live up to after the success of the previous few weeks, but equally the momentum in the team hasn't had time to wane just yet. Good luck one and all!
London 2012, Day 16 and Closing Ceremony
And so, the end is near, but there is still time to squeeze in a few more medal opportunities before the Closing Ceremony hands things over to Rio. Finishing up today: the Men's Marathon, Men's Basketball, lots of Men's Boxing, Men's Cross-Country Mountain Biking, Group All-Around Rhythmic Gymnastics, Men's Handball, Women's Modern Pentathlon, Men's Volleyball, Men's Water Polo and Men's Wrestling. Seems like the men are dominating today but no matter. There's meant to be a smattering of Girl Power in the Closing Ceremony.
London 2012, Day 15
With Tom Daley just scraping through to the semi-finals of the diving, all eyes will be on him as that competition gets going in the morning. However, there is plenty else to watch out for during the day, including medals for: Men's 50km Walk (!?), Javelin, High Jump and a couple more Relays, Women's Basketball, Men's Boxing, Canoe and Kayak sprints, Cross-Country Mountain Biking, All-Around Rhythmic Gymnastics, Women's Handball and Men's Hockey, Taekwondo, Women's Volleyball and Men's Wrestling. Also the Modern Pentathlon takes place today. Exciting stuff!
London 2012, Day 14
To steal a phrase from John Inverdale, we're into the pre-penultimate day of Olympics action. Time has flown, but we still have three glorious days to enjoy so let's not get maudlin yet! Medals up for grabs today include: Relay and longer distance finals in the Athletics, tons of Men's Boxing, BMXing, Men's Football and Women's Hockey, Men's and Women's 470 sailing, the 10k swimming marathon for the men, Synchronised Swimming, Taekwondo, and Men's freestyle wrestling.
London 2012, Day 13
You can gradually sense things beginning to wind up in London, as we head into the last few days of competition. However, that just leaves room for more surprises - like how cool the BMX racing is, and how exciting the relays are going to be in the athletics. Medals up for grabs today include: Men's Beach Volleyball, Women's Boxing, Canoe and Kayak Sprinting, Women's 10m diving, Women's Football, Men's 470 Sailing, Men's and Women's Taekwondo, Women's Water Polo and Women's Wrestling.
London 2012, Day 12
We saw some great hurdling yesterday and there's more on the cards today. The athletics continues this morning and evening, with medals up for grabs towards the end. The Beach Volleyball also comes to a conclusion this evening with the gold medal match deciding the podium order. Also today: Boxing, Canoeing, Women's 10m diving, Individual Showjumping, Sailing, Men's Teams Table Tennis, Taekwondo, and some Women's wrestling. However, I am mostly intrigued by the BMX racing which begins today.
London 2012, Day 11
The pole vault was incredibly captivating yesterday, so I'm intrigued to see whether the high jump can live up to it today. There are also a couple of track finals today too, so the athletics continues unabated. Medals are also available in the velodrome and off the diving board with the Men's 3m Springboard. The Team Dressage awards will be decided, whilst there are also Gymnastics Finals in Men's Parallel and Horizontal Bars, plus Women's Floor and Beam. There's more sailing, some synchronised swimming, the Men's Triathlon and some more epic weightlifting.
London 2012, Day 10
Another exciting day on track yesterday leads us nicely into the second week of Olympic sports. Coming up today Beth Tweddle hopes for an uneven bars medal, there are more medals up for grabs in the velodrome plus the great track action continues. Also today: Team show jumping final, Sailing and Shooting finals, Weightlifting and Greco-Roman wrestling. The synchronised swimming also continues, if that's your thing.
London 2012, Day 9
After what was an incredible and exciting Saturday, it's time for another day of medal possibilities. Coming up today, there is athletics action, particularly the marathon. We have the Men's Omnium in the velodrome, as well as some springboard action at the Acquatic Centre. Other finals include the fencing, individual events at the gymnastics, sailing, shooting, weightlifting, Greco-Roman wrestling, and there are tons of tennis medals up for grabs too!