KingsX

All this bla-blah about the Jays - a useless entity this season. Let’s talk about the overachievers. How about the smallest payroll team in MLB (less than a third of Toronto’s) simply refusing to lose in September for the third year in a row.

Meanwhile, in a world we used to inhabit ... comms: "I don't think Leicester were singing 'We're gonna win the league' this early, were they?"

100,000 people at a 10 am game for a sport most have never seen live Why is an entire Commonwealth rushing to bow down before its new billionaire NFL overlords? (while moaning about the Americanization of everything else) I truly don’t understand it.

Recency bias!!

Illinois Fighting Illini 2025 record: 9-4 (5-4 Big Ten) Odds to make the CFP: 6.7% Odds to win the Big Ten: 0.6% The Athletic 138 ranking: 30th Will they be better, worse or the same this year? Worse (barely), but they have a favorable schedule. Pedigree: Illinois has recorded consecutive nine-win seasons for the first time in program history and consecutive winning Big Ten records for the first time since 1992-93. It’s not a historical power (just nine seasons of nine-plus wins, no top-10 finishes since 1989), but the Illini are enjoying a good recent run. Why they’re interesting: The Illini are moving up the Big Ten food chain. After 10 consecutive sub-.500 seasons from 2012-21, they’ve had three eight-plus-win seasons in the last four years. Also, the retooled defense under new defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck (former Montana head coach) will be worth watching. Plus, there’s the biggest scoreboard in college football. Who is the coach? Bret Bielema, 56, is 37-26 in five years at Illinois. He has won in the Big Ten before, going 68-24 in seven years at Wisconsin and taking the Badgers to two Rose Bowls. Bielema’s five-year stint at Arkansas (29-34 from 2013-17) wasn’t great, but he has a long enough track record over 17 years (134-84) that you know what you’re getting. Who is the QB? Katin Houser (No. 41 in QB Tiers) is an East Carolina transfer who threw for 5,306 combined yards and 37 touchdowns in 19 starts the past two seasons. He offers some Big Ten experience, having started seven games at Michigan State in 2023. Last season, Houser had the 20th-best off-target rate in the FBS, per PFF. Key player: Fifth-year defensive back Matthew Bailey (27 career starts) leads an experienced secondary that will be the strength of the Illini defense (that position group was a reason Bielema wanted to tweak the defensive scheme). Bailey led Illinois in tackles in 2024 and 2025. Nobody on the team has taken as many snaps in an Illini uniform (2,123). Game to circle: Oct. 24 vs. Oregon. The Illini have notched home wins over ranked teams each of the past two years. The home date against the Ducks will likely be their first such opportunity this year. Oklahoma Sooners 2025 record: 10-3 (6-2 SEC) Odds to make the CFP: 27.4% Odds to win the SEC: 8.6% The Athletic 138 ranking: 10th Will they be better, worse or the same this year? Better. Little stands in the way of a return to the Playoff. Pedigree: Blue blood all the way through. Oklahoma’s 960 wins rank sixth in college football history, and the Sooners are rarely irrelevant. Their two losing seasons under fifth-year coach Brent Venables sit among eight seasons in the past 11 years with 10 wins or more. Why they’re interesting: Last year’s CFP appearance was the Sooners’ first since 2019 and fifth overall. Does it mean 2024’s disastrous 6-7 finish was an aberration? The Sooners beat five ranked opponents, including three by one score, and their schedule is again brutal, including three CFP teams from a year ago plus Michigan and Texas. Who is the coach? Venables, who is 32-20 at OU, has found more solid footing by leaning into his strength as a defensive mastermind. The Sooners were ultra-disruptive on defense last year under the 55-year-old former OU and Clemson defensive coordinator. Who is the QB? John Mateer (No. 16 in QB Tiers and No. 70 in the Freaks List) came with offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle from Washington State last year and had a promising debut season disrupted by a September hand injury. Healthy and hulking out in offseason workouts, he is set up for stardom in his final season of college football. Key player: Senior safety Peyton Bowen anchors a loaded secondary that aims to create more chaos after the Sooners recorded nine interceptions a year ago. Game to circle: Who are we kidding? It’s Texas in Dallas on Oct. 10. The Longhorns have won the past two meetings. The Red River Rivalry needs no extra spice, but Sooners wide receiver Parker Livingstone may provide it this year. He was Arch Manning’s roommate at Texas and posted 29 receptions for 516 yards last season before being shown the door as the Longhorns made room for top transfer Cam Coleman.

Major college action now kicked off in Dublin (where the rain has caught the North Carolina traveling support by surprise). Off the field, disaster after disaster caused by greedy, meddling billionaires and their enablers in the courts and college administrations. At least the players are finally getting paid. On the field, looks like an interesting season without a clear cut favorite. You have to be impressed by the depth of talent at Notre Dame, Oregon, Indiana and Texas. My Buckeyes there or thereabouts if a few things come together. Who y'all got?

WTF? Danny Ward in goal for Chelsea?

Brighton up 4-0 over the Europa League holders, in front of their fans. Must be nice.

If Cov and Wednesday can come back, this club can come back. It has to start with a change of ownership. Until that happens, nothing will improve, and you can either ignore the club or choose guaranteed frustration.

I cancelled Paramount+ which will probably stream 2 or 3 games a month. Might get it back because it’s $59/year (after cancellation) and includes programs my wife watches. The better part of $200 just for LCFC is a non-starter for me. The club have a ways to go to win me back.

Speaking of a culture reset It’s good to see a topic in this forum full of piss takes, with a few good laughs. After two years and 1000s of the same infuriated posts … venting the frustration of seeing the most inexcusably mismanaged club in football burn itself to the ground, with nothing to lighten the mood. A little bit of optimism and positive energy is still there to be tapped At this point I still expect the worst. But I want to hope for something better -- without having to scold myself for being an idiot -- or being vilified by saddos from the self appointed Anti-Happy-Camper Police.

Arsene Wenger holds the post of FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. If he doesn’t resign over this, his reputation should never recover.

It means someone asked chatGPT for a mashup of Jay Shetty and Winston Churchill on acid.

Never have I been so happy to have been proved wrong. Well done, UEFA. Stick to your guns and actively organize 2027 and 2030 WC boycotts. No other response will flex enough muscle. This will be an everlasting fight even if Infantino can be forced out.