[theo_luddite]

No pints or even points (I left the typo in on porpoise, hic) were awarded (as previous) in the RL as the Red, Red, Robins went Bob, Bob, Bobbing Along to another title. The first set of Super League play-off games were determined however and Leigh Leopards will play Wakey's Trinity and Leeds Rhinos will play St. Helens. These games take place next Friday and Saturday with The Championship games (see above somewhere) being played Saturday and Sunday.



The Ladies RU semi's coughed up an upset of sorts as Canada defeated New Zealand, who hadn't previously lost in the World Cup since Noah's wife was checking their 2 by 2 boarding passes and Noah was giving his shit shovelling muscles a final warm up. England beat the Froggies to set up next weekend's final at Twickers. The Canadian RU apparently didn't have the funds to pay for their Ladies trip over here so the Ladies set up a Crowd Funding (like JustGiving or similar) web page so they could come here. If that doesn't mean they deserve their place in the Final I don't know what does.

In the F1 in Baku, McLaren could have sewn up the Constructors Championship but in a weekend of mayhem, it all went Pete Tong. 6 crashes in Saturday's Qualifying, along with on and off rain, played havoc with the "normal", if anything in F1 is "normal", order of things. (Are you sure they weren't racing round the streets of Huddersfield?) With his head apparently still in Qualy mode, current Championship leader Oscar Piastri forgot to turn left somewhere on a track full of left turns on the first lap and ploughed into a barrier in the opening lap of the race.

Crash had come out of Final Qualy in pole, somewhat "normal", but had the unusual sight of a Williams driven by Carlos Sainz along side him and Racing Bull driven by Liam Lawson in his mirrors behind him on the grid. Crash led from lights out to flag (pretty "normal" for F1) but despite having been handed one of the snookers (punctures, crashes, engine failures, shirley? - Ed) that Lando Norris needs to catch his team mate, he managed to turn his 5th place start into a 7th place finish, so only took a nibble out of Piastri's lead. In the end, Crash won from George Russell and Carlos Sainz. Lawson finished a credible, if difficult to overtake down the narrow lanes and one-way streets of Baku, 5th. They could have been racing in Huddersfield and called it Baku. Who knew, really?

Across The Pond, the Boys of Summer have a week to go before they start their World (sic) Series Play-off's. That translates to about 6 or 7 games to finally shuffle everything out.

In the American League, The Blow Jays are the only team to have secured a Play-Off Spot so far, though the fast finishing Seattle Mariners (won 9 of last 10 games) and the Noo Yark Yankees (won 7 of last 10) aren't far behind them. The Detroit Tigers appear to be running out of steam having lost 9 of their last 10. Apart from that, the Rangers, Royals and Rays are going to need a lot of wins and luck on their side to overhaul the Red Sox, Guardians and Astros. The Tigers and The Guardians are both in the Central Division.



In the National League, Milwaukee Brewers and the Phillies have already clinched their Divisional Titles and The Dodgers and The Cubbies are both guaranteed a Play-Off berth. Below them, The Padres aren't too far of clinching the same, but Cincinnati, Noo Yark Mets, Arizonza, Frisco Giants and even Miami and St. Louis are still in with a sniff of Wild Card berths.



WARNING
Between us we've picked Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, LA Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, LA Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox. Under the rules of this competition, if any of you are suffering from buyers remorse, (I might be looking at you, Snoots and AmcChaff in particular but it applies to all of us) you have about a week to change your mind, but once the first pitch of the Play-Off's has been chucked, you're stuck with your current pick, whether they are in the Play-Off's or not. Occassionally they need a one-off game or two to decide the final Play-Off Clubs, those games count as the first game of the play-off's. It's my party and I make the rules up as I want to.

So, let's a have a look at the Canadian Boys of Autumn. In the CFL so far only Saskatchewan (where's that? you ask. It's A Little House on the Prairies, I reply) have secured a Play-Off berth. Still plenty to play for here though "Toronno" ain't looking too good though, eh? You're stuck with buyers remorse on this one though, as the last chance saloon was when the season started back in June.



Crossover you may ask? - well to be honest so did I.
https://www.cfl.ca/game-rule-crossover/

The small egg chasers in 'merca are 3 weeks into their season, with a bit of a change as they've now got East, North, South and West Divisions. Maybe they had them for a while and I've been taking no bloody notice. Does it matter? The guys that bounce balls into Peach Baskets or get involved in no holds barred All-In Ice Wrestling for Lord Stanley's Shaving Mug don't get started until next month at the earliest, and as they go on forever, they'll be in next years version.

In other sports that you can't score points in, GB & NI athletes continued to disappoint over all in Japan despite another couple of medals in the Ladies 800m. They were beaten by a Kenyan lady that suddenly ran 2 seconds faster than she's ever run before. Even in the 800 metres that's er, astonishing. As said before, come back later to see how the medals are finally handed out in about 5 years time. Meanwhile our relay teams failed to get the batons round for a medal for the first time in ages while splashing through the puddles. Are you sure these were held in Japan, they could have been in Huddersfield too this weekend. My trainers and me have just about dried out.

No changes to the points shown on Friday, so SHEP is still a nervous ninny in 1st place but we've got The Ryder Cup next weekend so some of us will have a point to make (or prove).