A Spur Of The Moment 'Both Teams, Both Halves' Gamble

For a bit of fun, I've placed a 'Both Teams, Both Halves' goal scoring bet for this weekend.

I've selected one game from five different leagues starting with a game from Japan that starts at 9AM BST today.

It was a spur of the moment idea that came to me, so there's zero method to it. The games were picked by a friend. 

I asked her to give me a number for each league and I chose which game to bet on that way.

Like I said - there's not much method to this madness.

Here's what I've bet on. They're in a Lucky 31 at 17p a line. So, I've spent £5.27 in total. If I'm lucky - and I am sure going to need it! - getting every game right will net me a return of over £99,000.

Doing A Kriss Kross 3

Over the past fortnight, I've published a couple of posts in which I've had a go at criss cross puzzles. I've decided to do a harder one this week.

The following puzzle comes from last month's issue of the Take A Break Criss Cross Collection. It has the same concept as a criss cross. However, instead of trying to fit words into the squares in the spots where they should be, you have to put a selection of digits in.

I am dreadful when it comes to numbers, so this is even more of a challenge than a regular criss cross would be.

As per usual, I'll time myself to see how I do. If I screw up, that will be noted below. Here's what the puzzle looked like before. 

And below is an image of the puzzle after I attempted it.

It took me eighteen minutes and twenty-five seconds to fill. 

Completing the puzzle was just as enjoyable as a regular criss cross. With that said, it felt a little bit better considering how hard I found it!

Predicting The TNF Week 2 Winner

My spreadsheet went 0-1-1 in predicting the pointspread and total sides in last week's Thursday Night Football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans.

The system I use had the Texans to lose, but cover the nine-point spread. This was what lost. 

It also had the game to go over the total of fifty-four points. With the final score being 34-20 to the Super Bowl Champions, the totals bet would have been voided.

Now, onto this week's game. 

The system has the road team - Cincinnati - beating Cleveland by a point. The total number of points it has projected is forty-three.

Therefore, the system is recommending the following plays:

Cincinnati +6

Under 43.5

It's another tight one when it comes to the total. 

As per usual, this system is only being done for fun. I highly doubt I'll bet on the total, but I'm considering a punt on the Bengals.

Not Buying GP For Another Season

One of the things I did on Sunday night - while watching the NFL on Sky Sports - was check Twitter to see how NFL GamePass was doing on the first weekend of the regular season.

Once again, it did not look good at all.

There appeared to have been a lot of people who were having trouble with the streaming service. 

Customers were allegedly unable to watch the start of RedZone - the programme that follows all the action throughout the night. 

It looks like another season in which I'm going to pass after quitting a few years ago after the GamePass contract was given to another company that did not seem, in my opinion, equipped to deal with the demand.

What bothers me is a lot of people on Twitter were saying things like 'it has been like this for three years' or 'every year this happens' and it makes me shake my head. 

If they're unhappy after all these years, why don't they do what I did and not spend money on it? 

It's the only way to send the message.

Regionally Restricted

They say nothing lasts forever. 

You can add the TuneIn Radio app to that sentiment. 

No, the TuneIn app hasn't gone. It's just that - as of this week - is no longer capable of doing what I want it to use it for.

And that's be an Internet radio.

I have used TuneIn for a very long time. It has, or rather had, allowed me to listen to American radio stations for years.

Hour-upon-hour was spent listening to channels like ESPN and, my favourite sports broadcaster, Sports Byline USA - a station I've listened to online since as far back as 2002.

On Sunday night, I did what I usually do after watching American football games and turned the app on in order to listen to Sports Byline shows while I laid back ready to drop off to sleep. Only, this time I couldn't.

I was met with 'Regional Restrictions: This station is not available in your region'.

'Damn', I thought. I checked another station. Same thing. And another. Yet another regional restriction.

After looking into it, it would appear that TuneIn lost a UK court case against Sony and Warner. The court ruled that, to run in our country, the app would need a music licence. 

This ruling was a giant blow to yours truly. As I've already stated, listening to US radio stations is something I've been doing since almost as far back as the first day I started using the Internet regularly. 

It's a gigantic beating to Internet radio as a whole.

There are obviously other ways to listen to the stations in question. And I'll be doing that. It's just going to be a pain in the behind considering how easy it was.

Walkers Taste Icons: Nando's Peri-Peri Chicken Flavour Crisps

I didn't think I was going to bother trying them, but I thought I had to.

Within the past few months, I've written about the new Walkers crisps range called 'Taste Icons'. In this promotion, the company has teamed up with well-known British restaurants to create flavours based on some of their popular menu items.

For example, they have two Pizza Express flavours. One is for the company's Margherita Pizza and the other is for the spicier American Hot Pizza.

I decided that there were two flavours I didn't have much interest in trying. They were the Nando's Peri-Peri Chicken and Las Iguana's Chilli Con Carne flavours,

Well, I have gone against my initial stance and - seeing as they had a multipack of the Nando's version in my local shop - I decided I would give them a go.

And I was right.

They weren't my kind of thing. They weren't extremely spicy, but they were spicy enough for me to know I made a bad decision going against my initial plan of avoiding the flavour.

What the tasting did do, however, was remind me of a certain McCoy's crisp that I had about six or so years ago. It was a double - or triple - cooked or flavoured crisp that was chicken flavour. I really liked those, but they were short-lived.

After eating the crisps and writing the few paragraphs above, I have a lemony aftertaste. It isn't an unwelcome feeling. Still, I am not a complete fan of these.

Anyway, back to the present. Here's the new ranking:

1. Gourmet Burger Kitchen Cheeseburger
2. Pizza Express Margherita Pizza
3. Yo! Katsu Curry
4. Nando's Peri-Peri Chicken
5. Pizza Express American Hot

Nando's ranked better than the spicy Pizza Express version, but that isn't stating much.

I suppose I should now try and find the Las Iguana's flavour to complete this series of posts.

My Week 1 Fantasy Team (2020)

Here is the team I've entered into the fantasy football for this week.

It was £4 to enter and has a £3.3Million prize pool. 

The winner gets one million.