On Your Bike

Wonderful bicycle kick by Edinson Cavani in a friendly against Barcelona. Pity it was disallowed. For other great disallowed goals check this Guardian page.

The Finest Cut

George Pelecanos's new book 'The Cut' is available in the UK on the 25th August. The book introduces a new character called Spero Lucas. I am sure we can expect another classic from one of The Wire's top writers. Pelecanos's last book, The Way Home,  was brilliant.  In the video below, Pelecanos reads from his latest book. When will one of his books be made into a film?

Soccer Sequence No.31

Your goal is to work out the link between these numbers. The figures are correct as the 1 July 2011.

148, 137, 123, 122, 116, 109, 105, 102, 100, 96.

The link to 102 is a clue. But I'm sure you don't need the help.

Forever 21

Great to read Will Dean's article in the Independent about the healthy state of table tennis. However, could we please return to the old scoring system of winning with 21 points rather than 11?

On the Real Street

Pop Pilgrims, a travel show based on pop culture, has produced two interesting videos looking at the real Baltimore locations of 'The Wire'. The Wire's location manager, Eric Bannat is interviewed.


Baltimore: The Wire locations, part one


Baltimore: The Wire locations, part two

Soccer Sequence No.30

This is linked to Soccer Sequence No.29. Please note it only includes numbers of two and above.

9, 7, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2

Your Cruyff Turn

Try this quick quiz on  Johan Cruyff in the Guardian. And enjoy his brilliance in the video below. He had balance, swiftness and a football brain. A proper player.

Soccer-Spain still Reigns

A small plug for the reliable and always informative Spanish football site, http://www.soccer-spain.com/. If you are looking for news on transfers or fixtures, this is a good place to start.

Payback

Sir Geoff Hurst will feature as a football agent in  'Payback Season'. The film's writer and director Danny Donnelly is a West Ham supporter.   

Now if Jimmy replaces Geoff in the film at the last moment, and wins an Oscar, that would be payback.

Hip Hop by the Wire

Idris Elba is presenting a documentary on street culture over the last 35 years. The documentary is called 'How Hip Hop Changed the World'  and will be broadcast on Friday 12th August at 10.25pm on  Channel 4 in the UK. I hope we will see The Baltimore Flash meeting the Grandmaster Flash. 


"Don't push me 'cuz I'm close to the edge"

Super Depor

Excellent article on Deportivo team of six years ago on Jamie Lindsay's blog. Wonderful team. Valeron was a wonderful player and the team was full of great characters. Would there still be a Special One if Jorge Andrade had not been sent off for joking with his friend?

Let's hope that they get promoted this year.

Season Predictions for 2011-12

Below are my predictions for the four leagues:-

Premier League     -    Manchester City

Championship       -    Leeds United

League One           -   Sheffield Wednesday

League Two          -   Bristol Rovers

If you look at my predictions from last year, you will see that I'm no Notradamus. But then again he was not that good either. 

Premier League     -    Manchester City  (3rd)

Championship       -    Burnley                (8th) 

League One           -   Southampton        (2nd) 

League Two          -   Wycombe             (3rd) 

Is It Time Yet?

The Premier League starts on the 13th.  Too long to wait.

Lionel Messi - Best Runs 2010/2011 - More free videos are here