Morning Thoughts This Hot Dog Day

I loved last night's game between Argentina and Cape Verde.

The round of 32 clash saw the Argies win 3-2 in extra time after the game was tied 1-1 after regular play.

The only drawback, other than not seeing a giant slaying, was the fact that Argentina were never behind at all in the game. They went 1-0 up before the equaliser. Then, in extra time, they were 2-1 up before Sidny Cabral's stunner. 

So, yes, I was rooting for the underdogs last night. As for today, I'll hopefully find a way to cheer on a favourite.

Seeing as it's July 4th, I'll be looking out for streams of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. 

I'm keen to see if Joey Chestnut wins his 18th title. 

The bookies have him at 1/40 to do so. Crazy.. but fair.

I Try Walkers' 2026 FIFA World Cup Crisps

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup in full swing, I thought I'd write some words about the four crisps Walkers have brought out to celebrate the tournament.

As you can see in the photograph, there are four varieties out there. I'll go through each one in the order they appear above.

English Bangers and Mash

These are regular Walkers crisps with an 'English Bangers and Mash' flavour. I've tried sausage flavour crisps before. Sausage and Tomato, by Golden Wonder, has no competition with this offering.

They're okay. But just that. Nothing more.

Mexican Beef Taco Doritos

I chose the right time to write about these crisps, didn't I? What with England set to meet Mexico on Sunday (Monday for us). 

I enjoy Doritos. There have only been rare occasions when I've disliked new flavours of these tortilla chips. With that said - I loved this flavour. It's actually a rare occasion when the flavour suits the product because of the 'Mexicaness' of beef tacos being the flavour of a chip.

Definitely worth looking out for.

Wavy Spanish Queso

I was unaware of the Walkers 'Wavy' range until I sampled these crisps.  I don't even know if there are any other 'wavy' varieties out there. Anyway, these crinkled crisps represent Spain by having a 'queso' flavour. 

I studied Spanish at high school, I know that 'Queso' means 'Cheese'. But, I also want to add something else - Estas patatas fritas son las mejores de las cuatro.

What I wrote in Spanish was 'these crisps are the best of the four'. They truly are. 

As I munched away, I kept nodding to myself. 'Yes,' I concluded. 'This flavour absolutely represents the taste of Spanish cheese'. 

They're legitimately one of the best cheese flavour crisps I've ever had. Trust me, that is a strong statement.

Walkers Max Portuguese Chorizo and Onion

This packet was in the 'Max' range. I think these crisps are suited to that variety of crisps because Walkers Max tend to deal with strong flavours on the ridge potato chip. So, they got that spot on.

As for whether I liked eating them, I'd have to go with the negative. I didn't enjoy them even though I felt everything else about the branding and option to go with this flavour as a 'Max' crisp was spot on.

The ranking of flavours is as follows:

1. Spanish Queso

2. Mexican Beef Taco

3. English Bangers and Mash

4. Portuguese Chorizo and Onion

I'd recommend trying all four, to be fair. Make sure you try the top two, though.

Lucky

I cannot believe how lucky England were yesterday, in their World Cup game against DR Congo.

Congo led for the majority of the game following a seventh-minute shot by Brian Cipenga.

It wasn't until the seventy-fifth when Harry Kane levelled things up. He went on to score a second to lead his team to victory.

Lucky.

I'm interested to see how things fare for them in Mexico City on Sunday night. That's going to be a challenge considering how much of a fortress Estadio Azteca is for the co-hosts.

Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual 2026: Week-By-Week Angles, Stats & Trends For The 2026 NFL Season

The 2026 edition of Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual was published earlier this week. 

If you've followed this blog for at least the past year and a bit, you'll know how much releasing these yearbooks has been a wish fulfilled.

I spent a long time hoping for a book to come along, which broke down each game of the NFL regular season allowing me to use historic stats for my sides and totals plays. The best example I can use is I wanted something similar to the annuals published by the Racing Post/Racing and Football Outlook ahead of the Premier League season in football (soccer!). I would use those guides religiously for my football wagering throughout each season.

With an American football version of those guides nowhere on the horizon, I made the decision to create them myself. I found myself in a perfect spot to do so thanks to the database I've written about here many times in the past.

I want Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual to be something handicappers refer to each week ahead of placing their NFL wagers. 

As well as week-by-week breakdowns, I've also written chapters on other betting angles that have become an integral part of my NFL betting seasons.

'Beat the Champs', 'Played Monday', 'Played Thursday' and 'Off a Bye' were all  covered in the book for the 2025 NFL season. However, I have dedicated more coverage to those angles for this year and - hopefully - further editions.

New to the 2026 edition of Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual are weekly NFL Survivor leans. Each weekly pick has been sieved out of a combination of historic head-to-head data and angles working in favour of that particular option.

You can find copies on the following links:

Amazon UK

Other Bookstores

Stella Added To The List

I cannot recall the last time I ever drank a bottle, can or even pint of Stella Artois. That could change soon, however.

I recently found out that the Belgian beermakers have released a limited edition to celebrate Wimbledon.

Yes, there is a strawberries and cream flavoured lager out there in supermarkets as I write this.

I enjoy the occasional fruit lager, so - upon hearing about this edition - I immediately added the product to my 'To Find' list.

With that said, I'm not completely keen on strawberry-flavoured things. This could turn out to be a fail. However, I have to try them.

That's the goal. If I do come across them over the next fortnight or so (or longer!), you'll be one of the first to know.

So, I've Bought A Ninja Combi

The Ninja Speedi I have been using for many years began to quit on me earlier this year. I ended up losing the ability anything that used the heating element at the bottom of the machine. That meant I couldn't steam food or, one of the main things I loved about the Speedi - use the slow cooker.

I carried on using everything else but knew I would eventually have to move on. Like I already said, the Speedi is possibly the best cooking machine I've ever had. However, I started to look for an upgrade in the form of the Ninja Combi.

To cut a long story short, I have had the Ninja Combi for almost a week. I thought I'd spend today's post sharing a few words about it.

The first thing I'd like to draw your attention to is the build.

My friend - Vicki - had an amazing air fryer which had a window and the ability to use a rotisserie with chickens. I joked with her that her fryer looked like it had Metal Mickey's body. 

That was the first thing I thought of, when I unpacked the Combi. 

The first thing I made in it was rice and pork using the Combi Meals function (similar to the Speedi Meals option on the Speedi which allows for full meals to be made in fifteen minutes or so). 

I wasn't happy with the result of the meal. It was my fault, though. I didn't use enough water with the rice.

A day later I made up for the previous mess up and cooked some fish with baby potatoes. 

That turned out well. Very well, in fact. Everyone here at home gave the dish high praise.

Sandwiched in-between those meals were a few air fryer meals. I was particularly surprised at how well the skin-on fries came out of it. The best fries I've ever air-fried. I cannot wait to get hold of a couple of other chips I have used in my other air fryers just to see if they come out better in the Combi.

Today's dinner were  New York City Beef Brisket Burgers, from the TGI Friday's range at Iceland. I made them with curly fries using the 'Combi Crisp' setting.

The burger patties came out nice and juicy. As were the fries, because they were steamed. 

I still have yet to try the slow cooker on this appliance. I will get there eventually. I have some amazing ideas for that (Well, I hope they turn out amazing!).

The final take (for now) goes like this: I still very much miss the Ninja Speedi. However, I believe I've made the correct decision by opting to upgrade to a Combi.

Expect more posts about my Ninja Combi experience.

Sami Does It

The conclusion of last night's WWE Night of Champions event was very newsworthy.

In the main event, Sami Zayn defeated Cody Rhodes (and Gunther) in a triple threat match to become Undisputed WWE Champion.

It's such a brill underdog story both in fiction and reality. I am very happy for him.

With that said, I feel the moment would have been a tad better had it happened a few years ago when the Sami Zayn iron was hot. 

Still, this win was in front of a Saudi audience that has taken to Zayn due to his Arab roots.