Remembering Rovert

A person I've known online for at least twenty years passed away last week. His service is today, so I thought I would share some words now before he sends me a spiritual late slip.

We weren't friends. In fact, at one point early on, we had a heated discussion on a message board which used up a lot of useless energy for both of us. In those twenty years of knowing Rovert (Trevor backwards), I learned it wasn't abnormal for him to fight his point to exhaustion.

So, yes - we weren't buddies. However, a year or so after that initial squabble, we both found ourselves chatting in a private as we both waited on delivery of the special edition High Spots DVD of a Ric Flair shoot interview. 

I'd like to think our similar experiences of waiting for our respective parcels to arrive at our homes, his in Ireland and mine in Wales, settled any beef that lingered. I came away thinking along the lines of 'he's okay when you're one-on-one with him'.

We never argued about anything after that. Granted, we never spoke in private message ever again, but we did so occasionally in front of the social media world to see.

Most of it wasn't even about wrestling.  Of the few I can think of, I recall talking about Spar supermarkets (Ireland's one in Dublin looks so posh compared to the ones I've been in), Lenovo laptops and... Morrissey and or The Smiths!

Rovert (Trevor Woodhouse) leaves behind a controversial history. A lot have glowing memories of their experiences with him. Others not so much. 

From now on, I'll look back and think of my encounters as a coin. On one side there was that sole squabble. Then, on the other, there are the intelligent - positive - communications I had with him.

I'm sure that, if I were to toss this figurative coin hundreds of times, the better side will win out the most often.

Best wishes to Rovert's friends and family members.

An Experimental Wager On Today's Premier League Games

I have placed an experimental wager on today's trio of Premier League games.

You'll soon realise exactly why I used the term 'experimental'.

Instead of going with my gut instinct, or proper research for that matter, I asked three AI assistants for their predicted scores. I then compared and contrasted the results in order to decide what to bet on.

AI predictions for Brighton .vs Aston Villa

Microsoft Copilot has forecasted a score 2-1 to Villa for their trip to the seaside. However, both ChatGPT and Grok are calling for a 1-1 draw.

My pick: Both Teams to Score

AI Predictions for Manchester City .vs. Bournemouth

All three AI services are predicting a victory for The Citizens. Copilot has the home side winning 3-0 while the other two expect the visitors to get at least one goal with ChatGPT guessing a scoreline of 3-1 and Grok going 2-1.

My pick: Over 2.5 Goals

AI Predictions for Newcastle .vs. Liverpool

2-1 to Liverpool was the consensus score selected by all three programs with Copilot offering that 'Liverpool have the higher win probability (50.3% vs Newcastle's 25.3%). Newcastle at home will make it competitive, but Liverpool's attacking depth should edge it.'

My pick: Liverpool 2-1 Correct Score

How I'm Betting

I've placed the three selections in a Patent bet. This way, I get to have three singles, three doubles and one treble.

How It Went

Rubbish.

The only winner, of the three, came in Manchester City's 2-1 winner over Bournemouth. The game needed an injury time goal, for the home team, to send the score Over 2.5.

Brighton shutout Villa 4-0, ruining the both teams to score bet while Newcastle and Liverpool drew 2-2. The latter didn't come close to being a 2-1 away winner for the Reds. Newcastle went 1-0 up, then Liverpool equalised. The home team made it 2-1 up before their guests tied things up with a late penalty.

Infantino's Bald Banter

There is a somewhat hysterical exchange between FIFA President - Gianni Infantino - and Sky News correspondent, James Matthews, doing the rounds on social media today.

The reporter caught up with the controversial Infantino in the Dominican Republic. Matthews initially asked 'have you betrayed the game of football?' relating to a plot to sell stakes in the World Cup to big businesses.

Infantino's response went like this:

You have a nice haircut

Matthews continued to seek a reasonable response to his questions, as Infantino headed towards his getaway car. Infantino's parting words:

See you at the hairdressers

By the looks of both men's pates, it'll be a long time before that happens.

NCAA Football Coming To Disney Plus In The UK?

At the risk of jumping the gun - it looks like American college football will stream on Disney Plus, here in the UK, this season.

Here's what comes up if you type 'NCAA' in the search box on the platform.

Great news for yours truly. I'll get to continue watching the Texas Longhorns led by Arch Manning in what could be his final season before declaring for the 2027 NFL Draft.

Last year, I consumed college football on DAZN. As of the time of writing, there are two Boston College games listed on its 'Live and Coming Up' menu. The first is for their trip to Cincinnati, scheduled for September 5th. Then there's a visit from Rutgers, which will stream live at 12:30am on September 12th. 

I hope College GameDay is part of the DAZN or Disney+ overage for 2026.  Searching for the programme on the former leads to previous editions from earlier this year. Typing it into Disney's platform leads to a 'No results' message.

Mr T's Netflix Documentary Premiere Date Set

I'm excited to see the Mr. T documentary that's coming to Netflix in a few weeks.

Even though I was born in the late 70s, I grew up in the 1980s. Therefore, I was there during Mr. T's boom period. It was obviously gigantic in the US, but us here - in the UK - got to experience it on a smaller scale. However, it was a scale nonetheless.

One of the things I'll always recall is having to go to a hospital appointment because I had allergic reactions to certain colours in food and drink. The person carrying out the test on me had to write letters on my arm and would prick my skin with a needle to see if it caused a reaction. 

As the person wrote the letters on my arm, they said I was going to 'look like Mr. T with his tattoos'. Even to my young self at the time, that didn't make sense for many reasons. They also did the 'you'll be brave like Mr. T' schtick as they punctured me.

By the end of the 'experiment' I thought I was a brave Mr. T (upon reflection, considering my surname, I legitimately was a brave Mr. T!) and begged my mother to keep the ink on my arm for as long as possible.

Ironically, my allergic reaction to food and drink colourings wasn't triggered by Mr. T's Knockout Punch - a bright blue drink my parents bought me for the Soda Stream machine we had in our kitchen.

I loved that drink. I mentioned it ten years ago, when I revisited Soda Stream machines.

Those are two random examples of Mr. T having a somewhat significant part of my childhood memories. I haven't even covered The A-Team, Mr T's cartoon, Rocky III, a yellow Mr T watch my dad bought me from the Sunday market.

I could go on. Especially considering how Mr. T was a significant factor in the WWF's early rise. 

So - yes, I will absolutely tune in to see the documentary once it hits Netflix in a few weeks.

When is the Mr. T documentary coming out?

Mr T: I Pity the Fool, a documentary which is part of Netflix's Untold series, will premiere on Tuesday September 8th 2026.

Netflix claims the feature will reveal 'the full story behind the mohawk, chains and catchphrases from the man himself'.

Goodell Does It Again

One of the NFL's old chestnuts has reappeared ahead of the new season.

I came across a quote by NFL Commissioner - Roger Goodell - yesterday. He was once again hyping up the possibility of the NFL having a fulltime franchise outside of the US.

The American football head claimed that he is in 'no doubt' about such a prospect happening in the future.

With that said, let's look at a quote from the past.

The above image is of a headline from the Sky Sports website. It was published on 21st July 2014. Back then,  Goodell claimed that London had a good chance of having its own NFL team 'within 10 years'.

It is now twelve years since that assumption was made. London still doesn't have its own NFL team. I'll be fair, though. There was a pandemic sandwiched in-between that period which might have added more time to Goodell's plan.

This sort of lip service pops up every single year, in the days leading into an International Series game. That's all it is. 

Take it with a pinch punch of salt. It'll never happen.  

It gets people talking. 

And - as you can see here - bloggers blogging.

Watching The Keffe D Trial

Thanks to the Internet, I've been able to catch a lot of livestreams of big US trials over the years. I now get to watch one that I've, if you think about it, been waiting almost thirty years for.

I'm, of course, referring to the Keffe D trial. He's being charged with the murder of Tupac Shakur.

Even though I'm following along, I cannot shake off the suspicion that this is a trial of convenience.

The alleged shooter - Orlando Anderson - denied doing so when 2Pac's murder was being investigated. Anderson was killed two years later. So, even if he did murder Shakur, Anderson obviously cannot be charged with the crime.

Four other people were in the car with Anderson that night. Only one remains alive - Duane 'Keffe D' Davis - who was Orlando Anderson's uncle.

He's the one and only person who can be brought to justice here. Even if he didn't pull the trigger.

In Keffe D's 2019 autobiography, Compton Street Legend, the author took credit for orchestrating the hit on Shakur. I surmise it was that chutzpah which led to his 2023 arrest.

Davis' defence is arguing that the content of the book was exaggerated. I suspect the team will do enough to argue that point resulting in a 'not guilty' outcome.