Breaking news from the BBC that Gareth Bale wants to talk to Real Madrid. This comes after yet another completely unbiased article from Marca saying - wait for it - he wants to talk to Madrid. It would be more convincing if they hadn't used the exact same quotes that Luka Modric supposedly gave last year.
Tuesday
The draw for the 2015 Cricket World Cup has opening fixtures of England v. Australia (again) and India v. Pakistan. It's a shame it will only go downhill from there.
According to Sky, Madrid have put in a bid for Bale worth £85m. I'm sure it was mere coincidence that Iker Casillas was quoted on the same day praising Bale. Now if there was anyone who was glad to see Jose Mourinho leave Madrid...
Wednesday
Robert Lewandowski says he feels 'cheated' by his club Borussia Dortmund. Maybe he should consider the fans who supported him only to hear he is desperate to join their biggest rivals.
Joey Barton says he would like to join boyhood club Everton. And, even better, he would be willing to take a pay cut to do so. Maybe he should remember that he's not even wanted at QPR at the moment. I'm still struggling to realise why someone would write that up as a story.
In response, Neville Southall compared him to Forrest Gump. At least Joey took that well.
Forest announced they had new sponsors today. From now on they will have 'Fawaz International Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Company' on the front of the shirt. This season's shirt has had record sales and I don't see many going back to get the new sponsors added to it.
Also, it would be wrong not to pay tribute to an old friend who had the plug pulled on him today. So goodbye to ESPN Classic which has been disbanded. I paid my respects by watching the West Indian 'blackwash' of 1984 and the Rumble in the Jungle. Both worthy of this fine channel whose absence will be felt greatly.
Thursday
So ESPN Classic is gone but BT Sport has arrived, with its array of European football and... Caribbean Premier League cricket. Yes, a team of well hung West Indians and Ricky Ponting doing battle is excellent entertainment in the early hours of the morning.
In a complete coincidence I'm sure, Sky chose BT Sport's launch day to undertake their mission to visit every Premier League and Football League club. I turned on this morning to see Jim White in a helicopter and Forest captain Chris Cohen being interviewed on a boat going up the River Trent. So clearly not gimmicky at all. Or massively over-hyped.
After a painful break, the Ashes resumed at Old Trafford. In 2009 Phil Hughes was dropped for the third Test, in 2010 he was brought back for the third Test and this year he was once more dropped for the third Test. So you know what to expect at Perth this winter. David Warner was his replacement and Nathan Lyon also returned. This was a man who took a career best 7/94 in his last Test and then got dropped for a 19-year-old who has played 13 first-class matches.
The biggest loser today was the DRS system. Quite how the third umpire thought Usman Khawaja was out is incredible. Somehow Steve Smith was there at the end despite being out three times. And as expected, Michael Clarke scored big.
Better than the disappointment of the cricket, BT Sport's live launch generally had me drooling at the prospect of non-stop live sport. With a free day to begin with, I was able to watch Swansea play Malmo on ITV4, the World Golf Championship and Bayern Munich v. Manchester City at the same time. A few thoughts on each: Swansea have improved again with the signing of Wilfried Bony, who was a goal machine in Holland and made a promising start with a brace. Alongside Michu it was clear to see the aerial threat Swansea will be ready to unleash this season.
Also, City fans should be encouraged by their attacking threat after scoring five against AC Milan and creating plenty of good chances against Bayern Munich. I've tipped them for the title but I'm slightly concerned by their defence. As for Bayern, they should be walking the Bundesliga like Celtic with the SPL but their defence looked very disorganised having been rock solid last season. They conceded four against Dortmund as well. Looks like Pep has a bit of work to do.
Speaking about the golf, it was good to see Rory McIlroy on the charge at Bridgestone, a course which Tiger Woods pretty much owns. It was this time last year he made his move after a slump and maybe it will be the start of an improved showing once again having hit rock bottom at The Open. Maybe an each way bet wouldn't be the worst idea with the odds continuing to lengthen, although putting four good rounds together is difficult when you're out of form.
Friday
The most interesting aspect of watching Australia rack up a big score was seeing David Warner get booed as he walked on to the pitch and laughed off not long later having used up his side's last review despite pretty much smashing the ball. As Lord Gower put it - selling it slightly short - he got 'a rather unfriendly welcome.'
Annoyingly I missed it, but Tiger Woods equalled his career best round with a 61, giving himself a massive lead going into the weekend. Things are hotting up nicely for next week's PGA Championship.
Saturday
The opening weekend of the Football League, which is akin to Ian Bell on top form in that it is as close to sporting pleasure as can be achieved. And we were not to be disappointed, mainly because Forest won 1-0 and I don't really care about the other results this early on, although seeing wins for Leeds and Leicester was disappointing. Top wins for Wigan - 4-0 at Barnsley - and Yeovil who snatched a late win at Millwall. Special mention should go out to Newport who stuffed Accrington Stanley (never heard of them either) 4-1 on their return to the Football League. Role on the new season.
Things don't get any better in the cricket, despite Kevin Pietersen making a big score for the first and - if history is anything to go by - only time of the series. As it stands, though, it will count for little unless the England tail wag.
Sunday
Probably the biggest ant-climatic day of the series so far with the weather basically meaning the destination of the urn is settled until the winter. Still, there was time for some lower order hitting for England, some top order hitting for Australia, a DRS controversy and - best of all - Joe Root having a hand in Warner's dismissal.
Despite not wanting to see Australia win a Test, the rain and going off for bad light has ruined the mood a little. I would have liked to see England bat out the final draw and claim their prize in style, but if they win at Durham next week then I will be more than satisfied.
A good line from Brentan Rodgers who suggested Arsenal were not showing class in their pursuit of Suarez. If anyone is not showing class it is Suarez. And maybe the Liverpool manager should be careful what he says about class when he is trying to pair Suarez with Diego Costa.
Also, why are there still rumours about Barcelona spending £40m on David Luiz? Having made arguably the worst transfer in recent history (Zlatan Ibrahimovic for £40m and Samuel Eto'o) why would they spend this amount of money on a player who was not even trusted to play centre-back for Chelsea last season?
Meanwhile...
Tweet of the week: @SkySportsNews - 'Gareth Bale arrives at Tottenham training ground - more on the developing story on #SSN' Yes, Bale turning up to training was a big news story
A baseball player in America showed that there are not so classy ways to react be given out - http://mlb.si.com/2013/07/27/watch-dugout-phone-suffers-david-ortizs-wrath/
The Football League celebrating it's 125th anniversary released this video before the season began. If you haven't seen it already I fully recommend a watch. The ending especially is inspiring - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_tYbFdbzz4&feature=youtu.be
Leeds begin the season by cheating to win a match. Some things never change
Another good effort from British swimming with just one bronze medal at the World Championships
Sport this week
Hard to top an Ashes Test and a golf major. On top of that the League Cup starts again and there are the Twenty20 quarter-finals to look forward to.
Season Predictions
After dominating last year, the challenge between me and my three (now former) house-mates recommences this season. Being such fountains of knowledge, you are sure to find some great bets here.*
Also, in a father-son battle, we have a special guest who has made some interesting selections.
* I cannot be held responsible for anyone inevitably losing money on account of these predictions
**Sam Travell has already been docked a point for incompetent predictions which he later had to correct.
*** Premier League predictions can be changed until the day before the season starts
Premier League winners:
Richard Ayling – Chelsea
Fraser Kesteven - Chelsea
Joel Lamy - Manchester City
Sam Travell – Arsenal
Nigel Kesteven - Manchester City
Relegated teams:
RA – Crystal Palace, Hull, Cardiff*
FK – Hull, Crystal Palace , Stoke
JL - Hull, Crystal Palace, Stoke
ST – Crystal Palace, West Ham
NK - Hull, Crystal Palace, Fulham
NK - Hull, Crystal Palace, Fulham
*Rayling added that if Hull don't go down he will drink a dirty pint
Most red cards:
RA - Cardiff
FK - Stoke
JL - Stoke
ST - Stoke
NK - Sunderland
Top scorer:
RA – Aguero
FK - Van Persie
JL - Van Persie
ST – Van Persie
NK - Luis Suarez
NK - Luis Suarez
First managerial casualty:
RA - Jol
FK- Pardew
JL - Hughes
ST- Jol
NK - Jol
NK - Jol
Championship top two:
RA – Wigan, Reading
FK – Reading, QPR
JL - Reading, Bolton
ST – Wigan, Forest
NK - QPR, Forest
Teams who make play-offs:
RA – QPR, Watford, Forest, Bolton
FK – Brighton, Watford, Forest , Wigan
JL - QPR, Forest, Leicester, Brighton
ST – Reading, QPR, Leicester, Brighton
NK - Ipswich, Watford, Bolton, Wigan
NK - Ipswich, Watford, Bolton, Wigan
Top scorer:
RA – Chris Wood
FK - Jordan Rhodes
JL – Adam le Fondre
ST – Jamie Mackie
NK - Loic Remy
NK - Loic Remy
Relegated teams:
RA – Doncaster, Barnsley, Yeovil
FK – Doncaster, Barnsley , Yeovil
JL - Birmingham, Barnsley, Yeovil
ST – Huddersfield, Barnsley, Millwall
NK - Bournemouth, Barnsley, Yeovil
RA – 6th
FK – 4th
JL - 4th
ST – 2nd
NK - 2nd
NK - 2nd
RA – Mackie
FK - Cox
JL - Paterson
ST – Mackie
NK - Blackstock
NK - Blackstock
League One top two:
RA – Wolves, Sheffield United
FK – Wolves, Sheffield United
JL - Wolves, Peterborough
ST – Notts County , Wolves
NK - Bradford, MK Dons
League Two top three:
RA – Scunthorpe , Fleetwood, Bristol Rovers
FK – Hartlepool, Chesterfield, Cheltenham
JL - Oxford, Chesterfield, Cheltenham
ST – Fleetwood, Burton, Portsmouth
NK - Cheltenham, Plymouth, Burton
Blue Square winner:
RA – Kidderminster
FK - Luton
JL - Wrexham
ST – Wrexham
NK - Grimsby
NK - Grimsby
FA Cup winner:
RA – Liverpool
FK - Chelsea
JL - Manchester City
ST – Chelsea
NK - Arsenal
NK - Arsenal
League Cup winner:
RA – Manchester City
FK - West Ham
JL - Manchester United
ST – Manchester City
NK - Sunderland
NK - Sunderland
Johnstone’s Paint Trophy winner:
RA – MK Dons
FK - Gillingham
JL - Swindon
ST - Carlisle
NK - Wolves
Champions League winner:
RA – Bayern Munich
FK – Real Madrid
JL - Real Madrid
ST – Bayern Munich
NK - Bayern Munich
Europa League winner:
RA – Lazio
FK - Valencia
JL - Atletico Madrid (will finish third in their CL group)
ST – Tottenham
NK - Swansea
NK - Swansea
La Liga winner:
RA – Barcelona
FK - Barcelona
JL - Real Madrid
ST – Barcelona
NK - Barcelona
NK - Barcelona
Serie A winner:
RA – Juventus
FK – Juventus
JL - Juventus
ST – Napoli
NK - Napoli
In case points are level, whoever picked the Premier League winners is the champion. If the same teams have been picked, it goes to a tiebreak which is: What will be the goal difference of the winning team?
RA - 54
FK - 40
JL - 45
ST - 48
NK - 31
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