Taylor Bets, Taylor Scores

It's 17:15 on Sunday evening, as I begin writing this post. The Colts versus Vikings is one of the four games on my NFL GamePass Multiview screen. It's the only fixture I'm focused on right now.

I'm sitting here with a smile on my face.

To tell this story, I have to go back a bunch of seasons. It was a Sunday following our clocks having to be moved back and I was sat at my computer a little after 5pm. I received a message from my friend, Vicki, with something along the lines of 'TAYLOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' 

My first thought was 'what have I done?' so I asked 'yeah?' but - before Vick could reply - I realised my error: the games had kicked off at 5pm instead of 6pm. 

I had missed Jonathan Taylor scoring the first touchdown in the Colts' game.

We reminded each other of that mess up a few times over the years. I recalled it once more on Sunday morning realising there likely won't be another chance for Taylor to score one of those early Sunday touchdowns for the Colts. There's a strong chance he could end up moving to a new team ahead of the trade deadline in a few weeks.

As I thought more about it, over my KFC lunch, I decided I would have a punt on Taylor to score the first TD once I returned to my room.

I fired the laptop up, and headed over to Bet365 to check out the odds. An opening touchdown for Taylor was 17/4. I initially thought I'd gamble a fiver, but - noticing the odds - I had to put £8 on. Why? Well, because that meant £34 profit - the exact amount of our KFC Sunday lunch.

The game started off with the Vikings on offense. The Colts held them. Taylor eventually ran in a thirty-eight yarder in the visitors' opening drive.

What a result. Potentially the last time I'll ever bet on Jonathan Taylor as a Colt. A wager which was many years in the making.

The Vikings went on to win the game 16-10. Taylor was the only touchdown scorer for the Colts.

5 Down

I have just finished reading the fifth novel, in my six-book run through the entire 2026 Booker Prize shortlist.

The Booker Prize Marathon post will go live within the next week. If I keep to my current pace, that is.

(I will keep to that pace)

The winner will be announced a fortnight from tomorrow evening. 

Ole Miss' Trip To Texas Is On Disney Plus Tomorrow Morning

Some good and bad news from today's visit to Disney Plus' menu of college American football games.

The good: the streaming platform is showing the Ole Miss versus Texas game. 

The bad: it kicks off in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

I'm unsure if I'm going to watch it live. The clocks go back at 2:00am tonight, though.

Ole Miss versus Texas has a narrative to it. Texas' starting quarterback - Arch Manning - has a lot of family who played there.

His grandfather, Archie, and father - Cooper - attended the university. The former played quarterback for three years before the New Orleans Saints selected him with the second overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft . Arch's uncle - Eli Manning - is also a former quarterback for the Rebels.

Ole Miss @ Texas Line and Total

The Longhorns are -3.5 favourites to win this game. Terrible results, over the past fortnight, have seen the 4-2 Texas team fall from number one down to nineteenth in the college football rankings. This truly is a must win game for the home side.

Ole Miss have a 5-1 record and are ranked 7th in the country.

53.5 is the current totals line.

No Longer Willing To Watch Beat Luke Littler

I've kept seeing a Luke Littler darts event advertised on Netflix and it initially had me intrigued. Unfortunately, I no longer am.

The commercials for Beat Luke Littler teased the prospected of '20 amateurs' going up against the professional live a week from tonight.

Netflix revealed the cast of opponents last night.

Not what was written on the tin. At all.

The line-up includes  players who are far off from being amateurs.

Going by the ad, I expected the most random of players attempting to beat Littler and secure a life-changing amount of money. Similar, in ways to how famous darts players from back in the day would tour boozers across the country and square off against locals. 

Is that still a thing?!

I may have been suckered in from the advertising, but I feel more empathy for those people who jetted into the UK to try out for this show and the chance of winning £501,000.

I urge you to look for the advert and see it for yourself. It's a blatant example of a bait-and-switch if ever I saw one.

It should go without saying my interest level has evaporated.

'Stone Cold' Storm Austen

I received the following text from the National Grid yesterday.

The message warned of potential severe weather from today, through to Saturday, caused by Storm Austen.

I genuinely thought we've already had a storm named Austen before this week. Quick research has led me to realise I was incorrect.

The threat of power cuts is worrying. I have always stated that it would take an Act of God to end my twenty-plus year run of continuous blog posts. If it ends because of 'Stone Cold' Storm Austen then so be it.

As for the text? I suppose it's better use of a message system. Especially after the controversial use of the Government's alerts for the wildfires over the summer.

'That's Funny'

I had one of those 'that's funny' moments last night.

To get to the point, in as quick a way as I can take, I have to tell you something quickly. 

The other day, I was browsing through Disney Plus, to see which college American football games are set for this weekend, and I came across the fact that the streaming service has episodes of ESPN Jeopardy for us here in the UK.

I was actually quite stunned at that. I watched an episode immediately and planned to catch additional episodes across the week. I made it to episode two last night.

Here's one of the answers which came up:

With this being a sports version of Jeopardy, the contestant has to 'answer' in the form of a question. ESPN reporter and presenter - Peter Schrager - correctly asked 'Who is Carlie Irsay?' (okay, it's Carlie Irsay-Gordon, but let's not get too pedantic right now!).

I thought 'that's funny,' because - of all days - it was the one when I had written a post about Carlie Irsay-Gordon yesterday after she made the decision to fire Chris Ballard as general manager of the Indianapolis Colts.

ESPN Jeopardy is hosted by sports commentator Joe Buck. I've written many times in the past about Jeopardy, especially the short-lived UK versions, as being one of my favourite game shows. With this being all sport, then I am in a nirvana.

Also found, during my browse through the ESPN content on Disney Plus, is College Gameday (I thought DAZN had the exclusive rights to that show, so haven't watched any of it at all this season!) and Pardon The Interruption (airs at 11:05pm each weeknight. I used to watch it a lot when it was on the cable channels over here).

So good to see the ESPN content available to Disney Plus users. Fair play.

Colts Sever Ties With Chris Ballard

The Indianapolis Colts called time on Chris Ballard's ten-year stint as general manager yesterday.

In my opinion, the decision was long overdue. I suspected he would end up canned following the Colts' 8-9 2025 season. To highlight how bad that record looks, consider this: they were 8-2 going into a bye.

Daniel Jones' Achilles injury was a cause for the reversal of results last season. However, he currently captains a 2026 season with two wins out of six.

Chris Ballard manning the Colts' phone

Sunday's 20-26 loss to the then winless Tennessee Titans - at home, I should add - was the straw which broke Ballard's back.

Colts owner, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, thanked the ousted GM in yesterday's statement. She reiterated that the urgency in the chase of Championships has 'never been higher'. I question that notion. If ever there was a perfect time to cut bait, it would have been at the conclusion of the 2025 regular season. 

2026 is now a wasted campaign. As could 2027

Ballard and the Colts traded away 2026 and 2027 first round draft picks in acquiring Sauce Gardner from the New York Jets. Thus giving a successor a bad playing field from day one.

I hate to think it, but I believe one way to remedy the situation - to entice top level prospective GMs - is to trade the Colts best player: Jonathan Taylor. He's worth a first round pick. And then some.

It makes sense. 

The Virgin Media Email Situation

I came across some annoying news yesterday afternoon, while searching TAFKA Twitter.

It concerns Virgin Media and email. According to reports, the Internet Service Provider is transferring its active and legacy email services to a third party. 

That would have been okay for me. I would have accepted the move. However, there are costs involved.

There is a 99p transfer fee to shift over to Junara. Following that, Virgin Media broadband, landline or TV customers will get 12 months service for free. However, once that period expires, Junara will charge annual service costs. Those same reports suggest it'll be around £65 a year.

Upon reading the news, I immediately accessed some of my main online accounts and changed my email address.

As an NTL World customer since the early 2000s, I had used my @ntlworld.com email for some important accounts. For example - two separate banks, eBay and one betting firm I opened to place my first-ever online wager.

Fortunately, I used Hotmail for almost everything else. I didn't have much to change yesterday. With that said, I have sympathy for those who might have more online accounts with their Virgin Media (or legacy) email addresses as their first point of contact.

I am even late to the 'OMG, what is Virgin Media doing?' party. It looks like this story is at least one month old. Virgin Media must have emailed me about it on my NTL World account. Thus proving why I cannot justify putting down ££65 a year for an email service.

I rarely use it nowadays.

Survivor Consensus Plays (And Non Play) For Week 6 2026

As I usually do on a Sunday morning, I checked in to see what the consensus has opted for in Circa Sports' NFL Survivor contests.

Today's browse resulted in a couple of surprises. I'll save the best (WORST!) for last.

To start, I noticed that the majority of selections have gone for the Los Angeles Rams to beat the Cardinals later today.

L.A. Rams are Week 6 Consensus Play in Circa Sports' Survivor 

901 people are on the Rams. I know this is a straight up contest, so all the Los Angeles team has to do is win, but they are coming off a Monday night game. I would have avoided it just by that alone. Add in the fixture went to overtime as well, I would have double faded them. 

As I mentioned on Friday, I'm opposing the Rams in the spread contest. The Cardinals are +12.5 road dogs. 

There are eight hundred and twenty-one players looking for the second-best picked side in Circa's contest: The New England Patriots. They're also at home. The Jets are their opposition. 

For what it's worth, my 'Survivor Leans' play - which appears in Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual - was Baltimore.  The Lamar Jackson-less Ravens are three-point road favourites to Cleveland. 

Grandissimo 'No Pick' in Week 6

The second surprising story, from this morning's observation of the Las Vegas sportsbook's contests, occurred when I checked in with Circa's Grandissimo consensus.

For those unaware, the Grandissimo is a survivor contest which demands a $100,000 entry fee. One heavy-hitter didn't make a pick.

I looked further into the story and it appears that the player's proxy - a person paid to make picks for absent entrants - didn't hand the selection in in time.

That's stunning. The baddest of bad beats if ever I saw one.

Double Gaffes

Today's Wordle word is 'GAFFE'. I couldn't figure it out, when I played in the early hours of this morning, but - upon realising what the answer was - I rolled my eyes.

Typical. The word 'Gaffe' popped up mere hours after I found out I had made a couple of gaffes of my own.

My friend reached out yesterday evening and alerted to me to some mess ups I made in Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual.

Coincidentally, they both appeared in one section of the the chapter for this week's fixtures.

While writing about tomorrow's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons, I wrote that the Ravens 'parted ways with Jim Harbaugh after eighteen seasons'.

Those who follow the NFL are sure to know exactly where the screw up is in that line. Jim Harbaugh was not a head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. That job was his brother's. Yep, I typed 'Jim' instead of 'John'.

There's no excuse. However, I think there could be a mild reason why Jim Harbaugh came out instead of his sibling. The new Ravens head coach - Jesse Minter - had worked under Jim at the University of Michigan and the Los Angeles Chargers between 2022 and 2025. It must have been a subconscious 'don't mention Jim' thing... which led to me mentioning Jim.

Either way, that was one big:

The second mess up was a simple typo. I can back it up. I wrote the Atlanta Falcons' head coach's name as 'Kevin Stevanski' when it's actually 'Kevin Stefanski'. I know that. I've written it the correct way at least two other times in the book. 

My friend suggested it was likely because the V and F are close to each other on the keyboard. That's a fair excuse. Still, it's an embarrassing:

At least I haven't written 'San Francisco ho' as I did last year. 

Denver's Ugly OT Win And Picks For Rest Of Week 6

'That was an ugly win,' was the first thing I thought when the Denver Broncos scored an overtime field goal last night. As if to punctuate my opinion, Kirk Herbstreit said something along the lines of 'that wasn't pretty.'

Either way, it was a win. A win is a win is a win. And all that.

Playing Denver in football contest

I was happy with the result because I opted to take the Broncos +2.5 as one of the five selections in the spread contests I play in. I went against my rule of not taking a side in Thursday night games.

The reason why I opposed my self-appointed ruling is because of some of the things I liked about the game, when I researched it earlier this year.

Was Denver the correct play?

While writing Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual 2026, I found the Broncos had gone 14-9 overall and 7-4 at home against the spread whenever they've faced current Super Bowl Champions.

As well as that, I liked the fact that the bookies had cast Denver as home underdogs in a situation where they had a straight up home record of 8-2 (80%) against Seattle between 1995 and 2024.

Seahawks .vs. Broncos head-to-heads since 1995 (before last night's game)

Those home stats now obviously improve to 9-2 (90%) straight up at home against the Seahawks. Denver will now have a 1-0 (100%) record in the home underdogs section.

All of the information for that game, and every other fixture of the NFL's 2026 regular season, can be found in the latest edition of Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual.

The Remaining Week 6 NFL Contest Picks

For those interested to know, the other four selections in this week's entry are:

• New York Giants +1: The Giants are 7-4 SU at home against the Saints
• Arizona +12.5: Mainly a play on the double digits but also factoring in the Rams are coming off a Monday night overtime game and are facing a head coach who knows them well in Mike LaFleur. The Cardinals are also 15-10 (60%) ATS at the Rams. Eighteen of those games were as underdogs. They own an 11-7 (61%) record in covering from those meetings.
• Las Vegas +5.5: Just like with the Cardinals, I'm fading the other team in Monday's OT game (Bills). 
• Dallas +1.5: Another situational play. This time, I'm backing the Cowboys because they are returning to action following a Week 5 Thursday game. The Packers, on the other hand, beat their rivals - the Bears - on Sunday. The head-to-head history doesn't paint a good picture for the Cowboys, so this sure is a troublesome pick and one I wouldn't put real money on.

Buy Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual

A Ghostbusters Christmas

A little over a week ago, I came across a story - doing the rounds - which indicated that a new Ghostbusters movie was in the early stages of development.

Ohh, I thought. Especially after I saw its rumoured title.

Ghostbusters: Nightmare on 34th Street

I might be jumping to conclusions, but the subtitle teases the movie is set around Christmastime. To speculate further, that would make it eligible for A Diet of Christmas Films should the project progress 

It won't be the first Ghostbusters movie to have that time of the year as a setting. Kind of. The first sequel of the franchise was set during New Year's Eve celebrations with the team having to stop New York City from being overcome by slime with the help of.. the Statue of Liberty.

If it goes ahead, Ghostbusters: Nightmare on 34th Street will be the sixth movie in the franchise. That number includes the female reboot from 2016. The most recent instalment - 2024's Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - was not received well by many.

'What's In The Tin?'

Take a look at this.

I'd like you to guess what it is in the tin.

I'll tell you further on down this post. No cheating!

Almost there!

If you had guessed cat food, you'd be VERY WRONG.

If your prediction happened to be tuna with mango and chilli, you are correct.

I had this intriguing food item yesterday evening after finding it whilst doing my online shop at Asda last week.

Mango is one of my favourite fruits. Tinned tuna is my favourite kind of 'fish food' as funny as that may come across. 

It was a perfect match. Throwing in chilli - one of my least liked food items - had the potential to ruin the experience. However, it didn't, In fact, I thought the kick - brought on by the chilli - was one of the most enjoyable parts of my evening meal.

I'm definitely going to buy another tin when I next order from Asda. There are other flavours in the range. They are:

• Lemon and Thyme
• Chilli and Garlic
• Sun-dried Tomato

I might give the rest a test drive sometime in the near future.

These tuna cans might not be a new thing. I rarely venture further down the Asda page, when looking for tinned tuna. I often find what I want in the early results. These products are, as of the time of writing, on the sixth row. Hence why I have only become acquainted with their existence.

Halfway

As of right now, I am halfway through the 2026 Booker Prize shortlist. 

I finished reading the third novel last night. The next one will be randomly selected sometime today.

The 'Booker Prize Marathon' post for this year will go live as soon as I've completed all six of the titles. However, I have a feeling I've read what will be the winner.

No spoilers.  Not yet, anyway.

We'll know for sure in twenty-seven days.

The Incident At Yorkshire Wildlife Park

I was stunned early on Saturday evening when I came across the footage of a man inside the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

I sensed it wasn't going to end well. For obvious reasons. My fears became a reality shortly after that when I caught the news an hour or so later.

Over the past couple of days, I've read some horrific takes by people on social media. Some claim the tiger should be put down. Then there are others calling the man names. 

In my opinion, the tiger did what is natural. It attacked what it considered to be its prey. As for the comments about the victim, the reasonable conclusion to make is he wouldn't have placed himself in a situation like that had they the capacity to judge the danger he was creating for himself. Empathy should be conveyed here. Not ridicule. 

It's a terrible situation for all involved.

Eagles @ Jacksonville In London (Again!)

The Eagles versus Jaguars has just kicked off.

Jacksonville are the designated home team, but have been booed by the seemingly heavy Philadelphia fan contingent at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Looks like it's going to be one of those games. (I wrote that sentence before the fight thirteen seconds in).

I have Philadelphia to win straight up in the ESPN contest I play in each week. I've also selected them in ESPN's against the spread contest. They're +6.5 in that.

The Eagles are 5-3 (63%) straight up from all eight times they've played the Jags.

Philly are also 1-0 (100%) straight up and against the spread from their previous visit to London. Their opponents on that 2018 day? None other than this week's opponents.

The tables appear in my NFL handicapping book - Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual 2026. You can read more about it by following THIS LINK.

Mike Ditka

I realised something yesterday.

Upon hearing that legendary NFL head coach - Mike Ditka - had passed away, I thought about what I would write about him in today's post.

It struck me - Mike Ditka is the first coach that I ever see win a Super Bowl. In fact, I would go so far as to say, Mike Ditka must be the first 'manager' I've ever seen win any sporting award.

I was very young when the 1985 Chicago Bears were doing the business. I didn't follow football (soccer!) much back then. I was still a few months away from from obsessing over the Mexico 1986 World Cup. Before that, the Bears won the Super Bowl.

As I was quite young, I obviously didn't 'watch' the Super Bowl XX win live. But, I kept up on the news thanks to frequently keeping up with the NFL through the Channel 4 coverage. 

I didn't really root much for a team back then. I enjoyed following the Bears' run to the Super Bowl thanks mainly to how much of an iconic star William 'The Refrigerator' Perry was back during my childhood. 

The Fridge scored a surprising touchdown during the Bears' Vince Lombardi Trophy win over the New England Patriots in that game. It was a shocking call because Perry's main position was in defence. He came in as fullback to add to what resulted in a 46-10 score.

The one-yard play was called by Ditka. 

Yet Another McDonald's World Menu Heist Post

On September 23rd, I wrote a post about the return of McDonald's World Menu Heist promotion and mentioned the global restaurant brand had introduced a couple of new burgers. In the post, I wrote about trying out Canada's Maple and Cheddar Chicken and noted I would try the Big Rosti when I next ordered.

Well, it's time to deliver the promise...

McDonald's Big Rosti (Germany)

The Big Rosti burger is inspired by Germany. It contains a British and Irish beef patty layered with a potato rosti (obviously!), streaky bacon, a cheese slice, creamy bacconnaise and cheese sauces inside a glazed bun.

I had asked a friend from Germany if one of these burgers is available on the menus in his country. I was told it might be a special item which appears around Oktoberfest. 

As for the UK rendition - it was okay. I found mine to be a bit messy (as you'll be able to see below). Not that that's a complaint. I enjoyed it. But that's all. The potato rosti sure did make it stand out from other limited edition burgers from McDonald's but it isn't enough to make me want to go out of my way to buy should it appear again in future.

McDonald's Guava X Sprite Zero (India)

I didn't feel compelled to try the Guava X Sprite Zero drink with September's order. 

I don't find guava to be an enjoyable flavour of fruit and I'm not keen on Sprite Zero. Having both in a collaboration made me doubly disinterested in trying the drink. However, I thought 'I may as well' while choosing the refreshment part of the Big Rosti meal.

The Guava Sprite is meant to represent McDonald's restaurants from India. I initially surmised that the reason why may be because guavas originated from that part of the world. They, in fact, don't. According to my research, the fruit comes from the Americas.

My instincts turned out correct. I didn't enjoy the drink. It teased refreshment at first, but I was then struck by the sandpaper-like scratch down the back of my throat. This is the sensation I always get from drinking Ginger Beer. If you know, you know.

McDonald's Szechuan Dip (China)

Another item I had close to zero interest in last month was the Szechuan dip which represents McDonald's China.

I suspected it would be somewhat spicy so passed. However, just like with the Sprite, I concluded 'I may as well' and added the dip to the order.

The sauce was initially used to dip my fries and mac & cheese triangles in. I am pleased to confirm it wasn't spicy at all. It was more like soy sauce.

Off all the items I ordered for this post, I found the Szechuan dip to be the most pleasing. I suppose that's because I had the lowest of expectations. It sure did surprise me.

I ended up dipping the burger into the sauce. That's how much I wanted to experience it.

So, to close, I urge you to simply buy whatever you want for yourself. What ever you do - you must try the dip!

Goodreads Upgrades Its Ratings System

I received an email from Goodreads yesterday with some brilliant news.

The social media website for bookworms has upgraded the way people can rate books once they've finished reading them.

Before now, the way to grade a title is to give them between one and five stars. There was no option which allowed readers to, for example, give a book three-and-a-half stars. That's no longer an issue. We can now do that.

It's not just halves that can be given out. It's also possible to give quarters.

Here's a clip showing how it's possible.

This obviously makes it easier for me when it comes to sorting out the books on the Booker Prize shortlist. In the past, I had to point out which - of at least two novels with identical star ratings - was superior. 

I faced a similar situation earlier this week reading the 2026 shortlisted titles.

I Try Surreal's KFCereal

I've just had KFC for breakfast.

Yes, you read that right. I've just had KFC for breakfast. Not in the way you're imagining it, though.

First, I should back track.

A few weeks ago, I came across a post on TAFKA Twitter which showed a box of breakfast cereal with the KFC logo. 

'Okay,' I thought. 'You have my attention.'

A Surreal purchase and delivery

The cereal is made by a UK company named Surreal. It produces healthy breakfast products made with high protein and low sugar content. I browsed the website and found the KFC cereal for £6. It was an instant purchase.

A few days later, the parcel arrived at my door. Inside was the box of cereal (obviously!) but also a cool bit of marketing - a chicken themed newspaper named The Breakfast Times.

Looks brilliant, doesn't it?

It took me a few days to actually open the cereal itself because I had a plan.

To have the authentic KFCereal experience, I had to try the cereal with real KFC gravy. I ordered a small tub, with yesterday's lunch and kept it until this morning.

Tasting Surreal's KFCereal for the first time

Upon opening the cereal bag, I took a sniff. The first thing I thought was 'it smells a bit like the Walkers crisps from the KFC promotion' 

As you can see above, the cereal looks just like.. well, just like regular breakfast cereal. It didn't with my next act:

After heating the gravy for a minute (with a thirty second stir session in-between!), I poured it on top of my breakfast.

It felt peculiar to have a breakfast cereal with a chicken flavouring. On top of that, it was also off-putting to have the cereal with gravy instead of milk.

Double Discombobulation.

I didn't count how many spoonfuls I had. I suppose I had enough to forget how many. However, I reached a point of realisation where I noticed the gravy had made the breakfast too seasoned for my liking. The spiciness forced me to tap out earlier than anticipated.

Plan B is to try this cereal the old fashioned way.

Would I buy KFCereal again?

To be frank, I consider KFCereal for what it is: a gimmick. It is a brilliant one at that. However, I don't believe I'll ever go out of my way to buy it in the future. I certainly won't try original KFC gravy with it again. On a plus side, the Surreal-KFC collaboration introduced me to Surreal's products. I notice one of their cereals is peanut butter flavoured. Regular visitors will know how much I love both Reese's and Aldi's peanut butter breakfast offerings, so I plan to at least give Surreal's version a try.

Until then, I'm going to battle away at this box of KFCereal. 

With milk.