In other news (September)

• College Football and NFL seasons kicked off-this means that primetime gambling is here again, and I won't be tempted so much by football and other random bets (over the course of the summer it's been rugby, tennis, golf and who knows what else).
  

• I spent 4 amazing days in Cleveland. What did I do? Went to watch sports. Friday night-Progressive Field, where we watched 7 or so innings of a meaningless game between the bad Indians and the equally bad Royals. Still, hard to beat watching live sports with your friends on a beautiful Friday evening while drinking overpriced light beer. Saturday was the real deal-I was at the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio along with over 106,000 other people (Vince Vaughan and Will Farrell among them) to watch Ohio State slug it out with USC. The atmosphere, pagentry and noise was simply amazing. It was a pity that the home team lost late in the game, but it couldn't take away from a great experience. On Sunday, opening day at Cleveland Browns Stadium, and my first taste of tailgating. What a great idea-pubs before games are fun, but this is even better. Shame the Browns couldn't keep the party going on the field, but I did see Adrian Peterson score 3 touchdowns and LeBron James was not more than 100 feet away from where I sat. A great trip.
  

• An American Football player at Oregon University was suspended by his own college for the rest of the year (after their first game) for throwing one punch at an opponent who was taunting him after a Boise State beat Oregon last week. LeGarrette (yes, Garret just wasn't enough apparently) Blount was Oregon's star player and a potential NFL star. I can't believe that his actions warranted such a discretionary suspension and that his coach was so tearful about the whole thing. Add to this the fact that many analysts/writers are now discounting his chances of being drafted by a NFL team, and I just can't help but wonder if the sometime shambolic disciplinary procedures we have in GAA and rugby are better than US style sports discipline.

• I really felt for Tipperary after their All-Ireland final defeat to Kilkenny. Tipp had managed to turn a 2 point half-time deficit into a 3 point lead over The Cats with around 10 minutes to go. And then, a moment of madness (Benny Dunne's wild strike on Tommy Walsh-how ironic that Walsh would find himself on the end of a foul blow), and a moment of incompetence (referee Diarmuid Kirwan's decision to award a penalty to Kilkenny) ultimately turned the tie back in Kilkenny's favour. Not since Limerick's stunning collapse against Offaly in 1994 can I remember a hurling final where a team do deserving of victory were denied the Liam McCarthy Cup. However, it has to be said that Kilkenny are indeed a great team and they have rarely relied in fortune to win them games. They had the rub of the green on Sunday for sure, but great teams always stick around, and their never say die attitude along with some outstanding saves from PJ Ryan kept them in it to win it.

• Chelsea score a late, late winner at Stoke, while Man City win a heated game against Arsenal. Man Utd put Spurs in their place. This weekend Man Utd play Man City at Old Trafford, while Spurs travel to Stamford Bridge. A big weekend then, with both local pride and Premier League momentum at stake.

• The Champions League kicked off-with all 4 English teams winning, but only Arsenal providing any drama after coming from 2 goals down after 5 minutes to snatch a win at Liege.