JackFrost

I was with Mick McCarthy last year and in total agreement with Holloway on this. Why the hell are the rule-makers interfering with a manager's team selection. Absolutely ridiculous. I'd have loved to see them trying to fine Brian Clough for this.

From the Burma Campaign itself http://www.burmacampaign.co.uk/index.php/news-and-reports/news-stories/Burmese-Exiles-Protest-over-Frances-Collaboration-with-Dictatorship/8

LOL you reckon it's just the Chinese? The French are openly vetoing any effective sanctions against the regime because of their commercial interests involving oil deals with the junta.

Er, this is the 3rd time she's been released. Give it a few years and she'll be back under house arrest as soon as the junta decides she has too much influence.

Western countries show her as a 'martyr of democracy', a small voice fighting against the military junta, which is all well and good Unfortunately the irony is, it's the same western countries that freely do trade deals, prop up and finance the junta that she is so inherently opposed to.

Unfortunately the French got there years before us

Can we please avoid the debate of whether darts is a sport or not, there wasn't a "general pub game" section on here so. . . It's starting tomorrow and here's the draw Daily Mirror Grand Slam of Darts GROUP A Simon Whitlock (3) Colin Osborne Robert Thornton Dave Chisnall GROUP B Gary Anderson (6) Wayne Jones Mark Webster Mark Hylton GROUP C Mervyn King (7) Terry Jenkins John Henderson Stacy Bromberg GROUP D James Wade (2) Vincent van der Voort Tony O'Shea Justin Pipe GROUP E Adrian Lewis (5) Co Stompe Scott Waites Martin Phillips GROUP F Raymond van Barneveld (4) Colin Lloyd Darryl Fitton Tricia Wright GROUP G Paul Nicholson ( Ronnie Baxter Steve Beaton Arron Monk GROUP H Phil Taylor (1) Wes Newton Ted Hankey Michael van Gerwen Everyone is talking about Group H obviously, The Taylor-Hankey match will have the big build up but descend into car crash TV when the crowd start getting on Hankey's back I suspect. We all know how he loves noisy crowds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsqYcKrz3lw http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/darts/9142332.stm Anyway it's a darts tournament without Tony Green or Sid Waddell commentating! One more interesting point, this is the first tournament where Phil Taylor has to wear glasses on stage

Agree also. I don't want to get into the whole debate again but it's why I thought Pearson did a better job than Burley here considering the respective circumstances they were in, even though Pearson's win percentage was lower.

Looks like Mandaric was never going back to Pompey after all http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/leicester_city/9183098.stm

Personally I think Webber will win the title, I think the Red Bulls will have too much pace and Webber will lead home a Red Bull 1-2. Ferrari sandbagging no doubt but if the McLarens are looking strong Alonso will find it difficult to finish in the top 2. If Alonso's engine doesn't blow up, we're in for a cracker this weekend

am getting my copy today, sounds good from what I've read on here. Hope they've done away with those bloody attack dogs from MW2, they irritated the hell out of me

But their all still team orders, which aren't allowed. And all done through subtle coded messages to get round the FIA's official ban. The difference is Massa wouldn't play ball and it became so blatant the standardised coded messages weren't enough to avoid the FIA's and the public's wrath (Especially with Ferrari's history on this). They are all as guilty as each other, the only difference is Ferrari messed it up and did it far too blatantly. So for one team or driver to criticise another team/driver when they are all at it. . . .

The title depends on whether the Abu Dhabi track favours the Red Bulls or not. If it does then they usually dominate and (if they don't do an Istanbul) Webber should bring home a 1-2 and win it. The other factor is whether Alonso's engine lasts. I think I remember reading something during one of the Interlagos practise sessions that out of his 3 least worn engines, 2 of them had done 3 GPs each and the other had only done 1 but it was Monza, where it's full throttle for like 80% of the lap.

Yeah it's not EU wide, I know it was still legal in the Netherlands not long ago, it might still be

Sure, http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/21/formulaone.motorsports LOL The very first bit of the second paragraph sounds familiar. . . Ferrari never told Massa to move over, they only told Massa "Alonso was faster than him, did he understand", which is precisely a coded message that could have been used by any team. Course Kovalainen moved over on his accord and didn't fancy maximising the chance to beat his team mate LOL. Besides considering how much slower Kovalainen was than Hamilton I think McLaren made sure before and throughout the season that Heikki being in front of Lewis would have been an unlikely situation. This season however I genuinely do believe Lewis and Jenson have the same spec car and the team are letting them race and Lewis has just about outperformed Button. The above link is the example of how to do it and get away with it. Ferrari got it wrong because Massa didn't want to play ball. Just because McLaren have been more subtle about it doesn't make them any less tainted than Ferrari. Hamilton won that race in 2008 and was significantly helped by the fact his team mate let him through.

I know the 'new' body scanners have been in Russian airports since 2004. Domodedovo airport has definitely had them since then and I'm pretty sure others have as well. They don't mess around over there and don't really give a damn if it invades anyone's privacy. As for the US, I remember Andy Parsons saying something like 'The self-declared beacon of democracy's last president was the son of a former president and their current president could easily have been the wife of another former president'. Sums it up. The Yanks don't tend to get the concept of, if they spend years making one thing completely impenetrable it will be tried somewhere else.

Unfortunately I forgot the sarcastic smiley thing I completely agree with you What Ferrari did at Hockenheim was pretty much exactly the same as almost all teams have done and have been doing for years and years, and continually since '98 when team orders were supposedly 'banned'. The mistake Ferrari made was that they were far too blatant about it. What I don't get is Button pointing the finger at Alonso at Hockenheim, whilst conveniently forgetting his own team have done almost the same thing for Hamilton many times. The difference is McLaren have just been more subtle about it. And it isn't just McLaren and Ferrari, it's pretty much every team down the grid. Team orders have gone on regularly since '98 and Alonso at Hockenheim was a long way away from being the first example since Coulthard let Hakkinen through at Melbourne in a er McLaren funnily enough

If it had been declared illegal there's no way Button would have won the title that year. It was a very dubious interpretation of the rules which was only declared legal just before the third race of the season. Brawn gained a massive advantage due to the law courts. So in answer to your question, IMO even though it was declared legal, yes. I don't really get Button's comment, either he's jumping on a bandwagon or he thinks banned F1 team orders have only been going on under the radar since the German GP this season.

The thread title looks like a text message written by someone very ****ed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/9176083.stm

Good grief I can't think of any other drivers, Ferrari or otherwise who have done that in recent history

Like his wasn't tainted by the double diffuser debacle does he mean?

I think Adkins will be too wise for that.

Only remembered this today from the days of when Chorley used to start his OPEN LETTERS on here. Someone invented a game on here on a couple of these threads. Anyone remember Chorley's bull**** bingo?

There are people on here who'll say it's all Cortese's fault when their car doesn't start, or when it pours with rain next. Personally I think Cortese has done a good job, he's made strong decisions and he isn't afraid upset some people. One or two things I haven't agreed with but overall I have been impressed. I shall never forget the widespread condemnation and the amount of Cortese bashing on here when Pardew was sacked. It was only me and few others who called for the bigger picture to be seen and for us to wait until who was brought in and judge Cortese on how well the replacement has done. It's still early days yet but the widely condemned decision to sack Pardew and hire Adkins is beginning to look like a masterstroke.