BBC's Strictly dilemma

The media have been getting in a tizz this week, about the illicit activities of Strictly contestants Seann Walsh and Katya Jones. The pair were photographed kissing on a night out, despite the fact that they both have significant others. Walsh's girlfriend, Rebecca Humphries announced that she is leaving him, and penned an open letter telling her side of the story, which received wide support. Some have even called for Walsh and Jones to be kicked off the show as punishment.

This is where the BBC could have seen itself as facing a dilemma. The extra drama from this incident has given Strictly a huge shot of publicity, and it's likely that the next episode to air featuring Walsh and Jones will receive a boost in ratings, if only from people tuning in wanting to see what the fallout will be. However, on the other side will be those who say the BBC should have kicked them off, and that's where the damage could be done reputationally.

In my opinion the BBC would have gone too far if they had kicked the pair off. Strictly (ha) speaking, they haven't done anything illegal, or that it seems would be against the show's rules, and it's not the BBC's role to be a moral arbiter. Couples on the show have ended up together so often that it's even been called the 'Strictly curse'. No one has previously been kicked out for it, and there's no reason to set a precedent now.

It remains to be seen what action the BBC will take, if any. There has been talk of producers deciding to make sure the dance Walsh and Jones do next time is 'made less sexy'. It seems that they will also appear on the 'It Takes Two' programme tonight to explain their side of the story, which producers will be hoping will take some of the heat out of the situation, and allow some of the drama to dissipate before the weekend's show. This could be good for everyone and take some of the pressure off not just the pair themselves, but everyone else working on the show and the other contestants.

Juventus running away again?

We're five rounds into the Serie A season and the top of the table is already starting to take on a familiar look. Juventus are out in front with a maximum 15 points, ahead of nearest rivals Napoli, who have 12 points. After winning the past seven titles, are Juventus already on the way to an eighth?

This season it was hoped that some of the other traditional big clubs could make a challenge to them. Inter were tipped to by some, having made new signings such as Radja Nainggolan, but have only two wins out of the first five. They've lost against Parma and Torino, sides they would expect to beat if they want to challenge Juventus' dominance, and are now already eight points back. 

Roma are another team who would have had high expectations for this season, but they've only won one of their opening games, losing twice, and have only five points so far. AC Milan also only have five points, although they may not be expected to be contending for the title yet after all the upheaval with their ownership situation over the past few seasons. Fiorentina and Lazio are doing slightly better, with ten and nine points respectively, but barring them having a spectacular season, they'll probably drop off the pace as the season goes on.

Juventus are definitely the strongest team in the league, with probably the largest budget and the best setup in the boardroom and off the pitch. This is why they've hoovered up the last seven titles. Even more worryingly for the rest of the league is that now Cristiano Ronaldo seems to be finding his groove, with a goal and an assist in their last game against Frosinone and two more goals in the game before that against Sassuolo. If he's getting on song then there really will not be any stopping them.

Midweek matches take place from tonight, we may have a better idea of how the season might work out after them. However, barring a spectacular collapse or a superhuman effort by one of the other teams, probably Napoli, it looks like we can already safely say that Juventus will be crowned again come next summer.

Nike and Colin Kaepernick

Nike have released their full 'Just Do It' 30th anniversary video featuring Colin Kaepernick. All week there's been outrage from certain sides about their use of the former quarterback, who's been at the centre of a storm since he started kneeling down to protest during the national anthem before NFL games he played in.

His protest started back in 2016, and many labelled him unpatriotic, including Donald Trump, who called for team owners to fire players who protested in that way. The owners seemingly listened, with Kaepernick apparently blackballed from being signed to a team, even though it appears he could still be a good option for many teams.

Those who are upset have vowed to boycott Nike, stop buying its products, and have been taking to social media to show off their defaced Nike products. In many situations, this could be damaging for an organisation, with potential reputational damage and negative effects to sales. Having the President of the United States and his supporters against you is not something most businesses would want.

However, Nike didn't become a multi-billion dollar company for no reason. Before launching the campaign they would have done their research and analysis, and would have figured out that offending Donald Trump and others like him would be outweighed by the people they could attract. They decided that their audience who support Kaepernick are more significant for now than those who don't.

From a public relations point of view, this shows that sometimes its OK to do something one audience doesn't like, if it's something which your key audience will get behind. It's not always possible to please all audiences all the time. 

This can also be an important lesson when dealing with crisis communications. Many companies, especially in this age of outrage where people are often forced to apologise for causing offence, might have apologised and changed the video or the campaign. Nike haven't done so, and have kept the campaign on track.

It seems to be paying off, with reports that Nike's online sales jumped 31% after they unveiled the campaign, and if nothing else, they got people talking about them. Take a look at the full video below.

Good marketing

Last week the Guardian highlighted a restaurant in York which has begun attracting different customers to its previous clientele. Scotts Fish and Chips has seen an influx of Chinese tourists wanting to go there for a meal during their holiday. How did a relatively small restaurant on an 'A' road on the outskirts of York become such a hotspot for tourists? Some excellent marketing and seemingly knowing how to reach potential customers in the right way.

Scotts capitalised on Xi Jinping's visit to the UK in 2015, where the Chinese President shared some fish and chips and a pint with David Cameron. The restaurant launched a website in Mandarin and also started promoting itself on Weibo and WeChat, two of the biggest social media networks in China.

This goes to show the importance of using the right channels to connect with the right audience. Scotts realised the strengths of their location and cuisine, tailored some of their communications to the Chinese market and are reaping the benefits. Staff are even learning Mandarin to help communicate better with their new customers. They've gotten some good PR out of it, with the Guardian and others such as the BBC and the Telegraph covering the story.

Scotts have taken advantage of their convenient location for Chinese tourists visiting York, and the business seems to be booming as a result. Credit to whoever is in charge of their marketing.

Serie A returns

Serie A kicked off again this past weekend. All eyes were on Juventus for Cristiano Ronaldo's competitive debut in the league. He didn't manage to score a goal, and time will tell how much of a success he will be. He is 33 now, so is not at the peak of his powers, and Serie A is traditionally known for having some of the toughest defending in the world, but who would write him off? Once he scores one it would not be a surprise to see him go on a scoring spree. His progress will be one of the most interesting things to watch this season.

Inter started off their season with a defeat. Sassuolo are a bit of a bogey team, having won five of the last seven matches they've played against us. They are a good side, with players like Domenico Berardi and recently signed Kevin Prince Boateng, the flamboyent Ghanaian, who has recently released a rap song.

Following a very active transfer window which included intriguing signings such as Radja Nainggolan, Keita Balde Diao and Lautaro Martinez (although unfortunately not Luka Modric or Arturo Vidal), many expect Inter to make a title challenge this year. However, having been a fan for over 20 years I've seen us sign many world-class players and still under-perform greatly, so I've not raised my expectations too high. It will also take time for the new signings to gel. Perhaps the best we can hope for is to get through the group stage of the Champions League and finish in the top four in the league again. Either way, welcome back Serie A. Let's hope for a fun ride.

So long Iker

Iker Casillas has left Real Madrid. 25 years after joining them as a nine year old he’s moving on to join Porto in the Portuguese Primeira Liga. Having come up through Real’s youth system, won a total of 18 trophies including five league titles and three Champions Leagues, and been club captain since 2010, Casillas’ departure shows a ruthlessness from the club which probably shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has watched Real’s dealings for any period of time.

Casillas is widely agreed to be one of the best goalkeepers of the past 25 years. As well as the trophies he’s won with Real Madrid, he has also won multiple goalkeeping awards including the International Federation of Football History and Statistics World’s Best Goalkeeper award a record five times, been named in the UEFA Team of the Year every year between 2007 and 2012, and the FIFA FIFPro World XI every year from 2008 to 20012. He was also the captain of Spain as they began their domination of world football, winning their first European Championship for 44 years in 2008, then their first ever World Cup in 2010, and another European Championship in 2012. He has been a natural leader on the pitch for years.

However, the past couple of seasons have been rocky ones for Casillas. After winning the World’s Best Goalkeeper award again during the 2011-2012 season, Jose Mourinho did the seemingly unthinkable in December 2012 and dropped Casillas to the bench. This was the beginning of a series of reported disagreements between Mourinho and Casillas that marked the first stage on the road to the once untouchable Casillas’ exit from Real. The disagreements behind the scenes continued, even after Mourinho left the club to return to Chelsea, culminating in one of the club’s greatest ever servants now leaving.

Real are perhaps the biggest football club in the world. Rated the most valuable team in the world by Forbes magazine, ten times winners of the European Cup/Champions League, and constantly fighting for dominance over their hated rivals Barcelona. For the board, perfection is everything, and once anything seems to be getting in the way of that, it gets removed. Football fans have given up trying to guess what’s happening with the constant revolving door of managers arriving and departing just as quickly. Carlo Ancelotti, a world class coach who has won league titles in Italy, England and France was hired in 2013 and fired in 2015, despite leading Real to the tenth Champions League trophy the club had been desperate for.

Players are also moved on swiftly, even after years of service; Casillas is not the first of Real’s heroes to have left the club in less than happy circumstances. The striker Raul also came through as a youngster and spent 16 years as a club figurehead. One of my favourite ever players, he is still the club’s top scorer with 323, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. Raul is also still Real’s most capped player, and was captain from 2003 until he left in 2010. Like Casillas, Raul also began to suffer criticism from the fans and the board, and decided to leave a club where he had seemed part of the furniture. Fernando Hierro was a rock in defence for them from 1989 until 2003, when he was released on a free transfer with barely any fanfare, although he has now returned as part of the coaching staff.

Iker Casillas is still only 34, relatively middle-aged for a goalkeeper; with enough luck he could continue playing for the next six years. He and many others, including me, may have thought that he would be at Real until the end of his career, but somehow it never seems to end that way with this team. Real’s search for perfection will go on, leaving many football fans to ask, what will it take to satisfy a club that has won a record number of European Cups, a record 32 league titles and become the richest in the world?

The tribulations of being an Inter supporter

Sometimes its hard being an Inter fan. I still remember some of the wilderness years between 1990  and 2004, when we failed to win much of note, and the heartbreak of the loss to Lazio on the final day of the 2002 season when a win would have won us the league and we had been 2-1 up. Then came Calciopoli, and we won five straight Serie A titles, culminating in the league, Coppa Italia and Champions League treble in 2010. The Champions League win came on my birthday, and is something I never thought I'd see.

Since those heady days though, Inter have been on a big downward curve. Going back to the ways of not winning anything, and not qualifying for the Champions League since 2011. We've been struggling to get back amongst the big time for four years now, and this season seems like we'll miss out again.

On Sunday Inter lost to 1-0 to Torino, leaving us 10 points back from third place, and probably ending our chances of qualifying for the Champions League through the league for another season. I watched the Torino game with a sense of resignation; Inter controlled the match, but as I've seen a thousand times, couldn't capitalise and then conceded in the 94th minute.

Although it looks like third place, which was our objective at the start of the season, is already out of reach this early in the year, I'm not too disappointed. Roberto Mancini's return has me feeling optimistic for next season, even though I wanted Walter Mazzari to succeed, and I'm sorry he had to be fired. We've made some interesting signings this January in Lukas Podolski and Xherdan Shaqiri and I'm eager to see how they perform given some more time, and see how the whole team does under Mancini's tactics. The loss to Torino was our first in five games and there's been a new sense of positivity around the club and from the players.

So, I'm going to look at this season as a rebuilding season. The average age of the team  has been lowered and I'm hoping for good things from a team that can learn and grow. We went so long without winning anything until 2004 and winning the Champions League in 2010 was such an unexpected joy that I can wait a little longer to get back to the heights.

Tomorrow we play Sassuolo away, a match that I would hope Inter can win, but with Inter, who knows? Whatever happens though, I just want to see a good performance, and signs that things might improve next season. Forza Inter!

Do football fans resent the international break?

If you've spoken to many football fans this week, you may have found them drifting aimlessly, seemingly without direction. It’s the football international week, and there are many fans who are not happy about it.

It seems like in the past few years, each international week has been greeted with less and less enthusiasm by some fans, who see it as a disruption to the ‘proper’ football; football with club teams. There are a few reasons this might be the case.

Firstly, in many international weeks there aren't always big matches; matches with two top teams playing each other with a lot on the line. With the European Championships being expanded from having 16 teams to 24 teams for Euro 2016, more teams will qualify. This means that qualifying is not that exciting, particularly at the early stage of the process where we are now. England for example, in a qualifying group with Lithuania, Estonia, San Marino, Slovenia, and Switzerland, don’t exactly have a mountain to climb to qualify. With the first and second placed teams qualifying automatically from each group, plus the best third placed team, plus the rest of the third placed teams going into a playoff, not many of Europe’s top teams will be in danger of not making it to the finals. 

Another possible reason for the lack of enthusiasm is because international week breaks up the hustle and bustle of the season. Fans used to having several league matches to watch on the weekend, then Champions League and Europa League matches during the week, have to make do with just one or two televised international matches. In addition, Match of the Day, which is usually something to look forward to on Saturday and Sunday nights, is absent from the schedules.

UEFA, trying to freshen up the format, devised a new ‘Week of football’ idea, with qualifying matches taking place over several days over the international week from Thursday to Tuesday. To me however, so far this has just made it more confusing knowing when teams are playing. England played on Thursday and today, Sunday, whereas international matches used to be played on Fridays and Tuesdays.

International week can often seem like an inconvenience. It brings the league calendar, with its weekly drama, to a juddering stop. It is a necessary thing though in the end, to set up the big international tournaments every few years.  I'm a big fan of international games; I'm like a kid at Christmas when the World Cup or the European Championships are on. I guess, as with so many things, you just have to get through the boring parts to get to the good stuff.

Great Hip Hop Samples: Volume One

Hip Hop is built on sampling. Starting with the first DJs in the 1970s who took two records and mixed them together before getting a friend to rap over the beat, and continuing until today, hip hop beat makers have always looked at songs from other genres and thought, yeah, I'm going to take that and create something new with it.

Here are a few hip hop songs, and the songs they sampled.

Dr Carter/ Holy Thursday

Dr Carter is the sixth track from Lil’ Wayne’s 2008 ‘Tha Carter III’ album. It samples Holy Thursday, a song by composer David Axelrod, from his 1968 album ‘Song of Innocence’.

Holy Thursday sounds like Axelrod has brought a jazz orchestra together for a jam session, with several of the instruments getting an opportunity to do their own thing. Periods of richness and volume blended with more calm periods, and instruments come to the forefront, take some time in the spotlight, then recede into the background again. The song is very playful, and I can imagine how much fun the musicians would have had riffing off each other.

In Dr Carter Lil’ Wayne raps about the state of Hip Hop, seeing himself as the doctor who can cure what he thinks is wrong with the genre. 

The song strips Holy Thursday, taking out a large amount of the instruments to leave a skeleton for Lil’ Wayne’s lyrics. What remains is piano, the bass and drum beat, and the crescendo of strings and horns. Wayne builds his verses up through the calm parts, before using the crescendo to as his cue to end each verse. I really enjoy how he matched the playful beat with a playful, bouncy flow. I also like how he uses the calm parts of the song to talk to the ‘nurse’, before the drum beat kicks in again.

Through the Wire/Through the Fire

Through the Wire was Kanye West’s breakthrough single, and the song that introduced the world to him as a rapper. Released in 2003, it was the first single from his debut album ‘The College Dropout’. It samples Through the Fire by Chaka Khan, which was released in 1985, and is on her ‘I Feel For You’ album.

Through the Fire is a slow R&B power ballad. It’s very 80’s sounding, with big drums and synths showcasing Khan’s big voice. It also has a very 80’s guitar solo at 3.03.

The title of Through the Wire is a play on the fact that Kanye recorded his vocals for the song while his jaw was wired shut after he was in a serious car crash in 2002. The song is about the accident and its aftermath, when Kanye was in recovery.

The song takes Khan’s vocals from the chorus of Through the Fire and makes them higher pitched. Her vocals appear sporadically in the background of the verses at first, then get more regular towards the end of the verses, before turning into the chorus. 

I think Chaka Khan’s soaring vocals really fit well with Through the Wire, helping to add emotion to what is a song about triumphing over adversity. Kanye uses Chaka Khan's song about fighting through adversity for love to tell his story of fighting through adversity for success.

Machine Gun Funk/Chief Rocka

Machine Gun Funk is the fourth track from The Notorious B.I.G.’s debut album ‘Ready to Die’, which was released in September 1994. Machine Gun Funk samples Chief Rocka, a song by Lords of the Underground, a hip hop trio who had some success in the early nineties. Chief Rocka was released in June 1993, from the album ‘Here Come the Lords’.

Chief Rocka was Lord of the Underground’s most successful single, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a fun song, with an excellent beat which showcases the Lord’s excellent flow and lyricism.

At 3.19 in Chief Rocka is the part of the song Machine Gun Funk samples. 

Machine Gun Funk builds its whole chorus out of just two lines from the Lord’s of the Underground’s song, lines which were no more important or significant than any others in the original song, showing how sampling can turn the smallest part of a song or a part you'd never think of into something new. 

Most Interesting Serie A Transfers of January 2013

The January transfer window closed last Thursday night with the usual fanfare. In Italy most teams have been pretty strapped for cash for a while, leaving them playing second fiddle to the English and Spanish top divisions, and now the new money upstarts of Eastern Europe. However, Italian teams still found enough money to make some intriguing moves in the transfer window, and here are some of the most interesting.

Mario Ballotelli to AC Milan

With Roberto Mancini finally giving up on trying to rein in the player he first discovered at Internazionale, Ballotelli has returned to Italy, to what is probably the club where he will have the best chance of finally achieving his potential. Ballotelli has always been a Milan fan, even when he was at Inter, and this should give him added motivation to want to do well. A potential front line of Ballotelli, El-Sharaawy, and the developing Mbaye Niang could be devastating, and I wouldn't bet against Ballotelli coming back to haunt Manchester City in the Champions League in the coming seasons.

Guiseppe Rossi to Fiorentina

Perhaps a gamble of a signing, Rossi has been out injured since October 2011, and isn't expected to be fit to play until the end of this season, or maybe even the beginning of next. In spite of this, if Fiorentina can get him fit again, they will have a very exciting player on their hands. In his last full season at Villareal in 2010-11, Rossi scored 32 goals in 56 appearances. He was also becoming first choice for Italy, whose manager, Cesare Prandelli had seen Rossi and Ballotelli as his front pairing. Fiorentina's gamble could pay off hugely if they can get him back to that kind of form, especially if they keep Stevan Jovetic, and manage to get them playing well together.

Mateo Kovacic to Internazionale

After finally ending the Wesley Sneijder saga with his transfer to Galatasaray, Inter have moved to replace him with a player who has been described as the new Luka Modric. Only 18 years old, so maybe one more for the future, Kovacic became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Croatian top division at the age of 16 years and 198 days, was the youngest player ever to wear the Dinamo Zagreb captain's armband, and in scoring against Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League group stage, became the second youngest ever scorer in the competition. It will be very interesting to see how he develops. 

Nicholas Anelka to Juventus

Juve have been searching for a striker for long time now. Despite their continuing dominance in the league, the one thing the team could be said to be missing is a 20+ goal a season striker. They were expected to make a big move in the summer but ended up having to settle for loaning Nicklas Bendtner, who now mostly warms their bench. With Fernando Llorente on his way on a free transfer in the summer, signing Anelka can possibly be seen as another attempt at a short term fix, although he will be out to prove he can still cut it at the top level.

Sickle Cell and Me

I was sick a couple of days ago, and I wanted to write about it because I've never really talked about it, but I've got an illness called Sickle Cell. Its not something I talk to people about much and I try not to think about it until I have to, when I get sick. Its not something you would notice about me if I didn't tell you, because most of the time its not an issue, but I've had it all my life.

Most people would never even have heard of it but Sickle Cell is a genetic illness that some people from certain regions of the world get. I'm not going to explain completely what it is here to save time, and because to be honest I'm not sure I understand it properly myself. There's a charity called the Sickle Cell Society that can explain it better than I ever could.

What it means for me is sometimes I get sick; maybe every few months I might start feeling a lot of pain (I mean a lot, it really, really hurts). A lot of the time this starts in the afternoon or evening, small at first, with only a bit of pain that I try to ignore and hope will go away. Sometimes it does go away, which is great! Sometimes it doesn't though and steadily just gets worse. When I was a kid, these episodes would lead to me having to go to hospital and stay there for anything from a few days to several weeks. Luckily I seem to be doing better now I'm older and a hospital visit hasn't happened for a long time.

It usually gets worse for me in the night when I'm trying to get to sleep. Because it hurts so much though, its really hard to get any sleep, and sometimes I end up not being able to sleep until the afternoon or evening of the next day. During those hours sleep is pretty much all I want, because I'm so tired and because it offers an escape from the pain.

Having Sickle Cell I get prescribed some pretty powerful pain pills for times like this and I find myself necking them to try and stop the pain. Sometimes they work first time, and sometimes I have to take a few doses over some hours. I can tell you there's nothing worse than having to wait another six hours to take more pills because the ones you just took haven't worked and you're still in a huge amount of pain. Luckily, one side effect of these pills is they make me feel sleepy, so that sometimes helps me get to sleep before the Sun comes up.

Getting sick usually means I have to stay in bed, and all I want to do is sleep. A lot of the time I can't even bring myself to eat, and I'll pretty much sleep all day and then all night as well, helped by the pain pills, or morphine if I'm in hospital. 

One thing about getting sick is it does give me some clarity, things that I would have been stressing over a couple of hours before don't seem that important when I just want to not be in pain any more. Also, perhaps because of all the pain pills, or maybe because of the euphoria of feeling better, I do feel amazingly zen when the pain starts to go away, like nothing that I've been stressing about could be that bad, which is one good side to the whole Sickle Cell thing.

So that's my relationship with Sickle Cell, its a part of me and my life, and its made me who I am today, but I don't let it define me.

6 Star Albums

Part 4: The Recession – Young Jeezy

The Recession is an album many British people would never have heard of before. Young Jeezy is a rapper who rarely appears in the British charts; at best many people might know him from collaborations with artists such as Usher on 'Love in This Club', and 'Hard' with Rihanna. However, this just means that many people are missing out on one of the best rappers around, and this album is his masterpiece.

The first song, the title track 'The Recession', captures the essence of the album. An intro of voices speak about the financial crisis then drop into one of the huge beats that is Young Jeezy's trademark. Using this beat Jeezy paints a portrait of the difficulties of trying to make ends meet, and as in much of his best work, blends dopeboy swagger with discussion of the worries of trying to make it from day to day. 

The next two songs 'Welcome Back' and 'By the Way' are standard street bangers, with Jeezy in thug mode talking about money and guns. However, track four, 'Crazy World', is where the album truly starts to get going. Another song that fits with the theme of struggling, it has a sense of frustration seen in the refrain "God damn another trap, I think Bush is trying to punish us", and lines such as "I want a new Bentley, my auntie need a kidney, and if I let her pass her children never will forgive me" mix rap aspiration with worries recognisable to anyone who's ever felt the weight of responsibility on their shoulders, in a bouncy, fast-paced song. The next track 'What They Want' is another bouncy track that I dare you to be able to stop yourself from moving to, as Jeezy slickly uses sport metaphors to describe his hustle game. Track six, 'Amazin', is another street anthem, with Jeezy flowing over a beat with awesome, almost subsonic bass. Things then slow down slightly with Track seven, 'Hustlaz Ambition', a more introspective song that again ties into the theme of the struggle, and sees Jeezy express his determination to be able to provide for his family and be a success.

The best songs on The Recession can be divided into two categories. In the first category are the fast paced street anthems such as 'Crazy World', 'What They Want', and 'Amazin'. The second category includes slower songs such as 'Hustlaz Ambition', track nine 'Don't Know You', track 12 'Vacation', and track 15 'Don't Do It'. These are songs where Young Jeezy is more thoughtful, and talks more about the darker side of hustling.

Other notable tracks on The Recession are 'Circulate', a song suited to these times of austerity and government cuts, sampling a Billy Paul song of the same name that is also well worth a listen. Also great are 'My President' featuring Nas, an ode to Barack Obama, who was to be elected soon after the album was released, and 'Put On', an anthem that was adopted by several sports teams to warm up crowds before games because of its riotous and infectious nature.

The Recession is a relatively unknown gem; an album that passed many people by, but that has all the things I love about hip-hop. It manages to be both fun and thoughtful,  and as a package of songs, works as well as any album I've ever heard, with its consistent themes, and flow from one track to the next. That's why its a 6 star album and one of my favourite albums ever.

5 Entertainment Highlights in 2013

Its almost 2013! A new year, a new start, etcetera etcetera. Another year of stuff happening and things to experience. To help you start planning for a new year of activities, here are 5 entertainment highlights in 2013 that you should know about.

5. Detox

The long awaited third album from Dr Dre was originally scheduled to be released in 2005, but it has been put back continually since then. As Dr Dre is an artist who has only ever released two solo albums, 'The Chronic' and '2001'; two albums which are widely recognised as classics, Detox is highly anticipated and has taken on almost a mythical status. Tentative whispers have put a release date of April 2013 for it, but it remains to be seen whether that will be put back again.

4. Man of Steel
A dark-looking film reboot of the Superman franchise scheduled to be released in June 2013, 'Man of Steel' stars Henry Cavill, aka the Duke of Buckingham from the television drama series 'The Tudors'. The film will portray Superman's origin story, and try to recover the franchise after the disappointing 'Superman Returns' with a darker tone that would have been encouraged by Kevin Nolan's Dark Knight film trilogy. The film's producers will be hoping that Man of Steel can imitate the success and critical acclaim enjoyed by 'Batman Begins', 'The Dark Knight', and the 'Dark Knight Rises', and trailers released so far do look intriguing.  

3. Game of Thrones

The epic fantasy drama returns for its third series in March. This gives anyone who hasn't caught this show yet time to catch up on the first two seasons, which have some of the best plots and characters of any show on television ever. Many people may be put off by the swords and sandals fantasy genre, but give Game of Thrones a chance and you will not regret it.

2. Arrested Development

One of the funniest comedies on television and a cult classic, the show was cancelled after three series in 2006, but a fourth season will be released on Netflix early in 2013, to much rejoicing from fans. Arrested Development focuses on the formerly wealthy and hugely dysfunctional Bluth family, in a comedy that rewards viewers with long-running jokes, amazing characters, and surreal storylines. A film adaptation is also said to be in the works.

1. The final series of Breaking Bad

After five fantastic seasons, Breaking Bad comes to a conclusion in 2013. The evolution of Walter White from meek high school chemistry teacher to crystal meth kingpin will come to an end with what will hopefully be a suitably dramatic climax. The best show most people have probably never seen, due to it criminally not being shown on English TV, Breaking Bad is a show that deserves to be seen by more people because of its unflinching realism, great characters, and excellent acting performances from former bumbling dad on 'Malcolm in the Middle', Bryan Cranston as Walter, and Aaron Paul as his assistant Jesse Pinkman. Following the cliffhanger ending of part one of series five earlier this year, it seems as if there are only a few ways it can end for Walter, and none of them look good. Do not miss it.

An open letter to my game collection

Dear pile of games on my living room table,

As I look at you, stacked up all pretty with your beautiful box art, its saddens me to think how little time I get to spend with you now. Since I was a little boy you have been one of my biggest passions; from the moment mum first brought home that NES and I fired up Super Mario Bros, I fell hopelessly for you.

Since then we've had a beautiful relationship, I've watched you grow through generations, from NES to SNES, to Playstation 2 to N64 to Gamecube and beyond. Even when I couldn't afford you, I'd throw longing glances at you through game shop windows, game magazines and the internet. Early this year I rejoiced when I became a gamer again with the purchase of a PS3. My list of games to play is long, and I set to it with gusto.

Whole days were spent with you, playing FIFA, and God of War III, and Burnout Paradise. I picked up gems like Red Dead Redemption and Arkham Asylum second hand for bargain prices, and built up a wonderfully genre-spanning collection.

Then one day LIFE happened. Work got real, social life intervened, and things changed. Now I barely have time for you, I come in at the end of the day, tired and unable to dedicate myself to you like I used to. If I'm lucky I can snatch half an hour with you if I get home early enough. I ask myself, when did I grow up? 

I made a promise to myself not to buy any more games until I complete the ones I have, and so I've been watching triple A releases pass me by. SSX, FIFA 13, Need For Speed, and more have gone by while I try to complete the God of War Trilogy, Red Dead Redemption, Arkham City and Borderlands 2 half an hour at a time. 

That's the irony of it all; now I can afford you, I have no time for you. If I want to eat, if I want to do things like buy more of you, this is the way it has to be and I guess I'll just have to keep sneaking time with you when I can. Whatever happens though, know that I love you.

Jude

P.S. Don't even get me started on trying to find time to play Football Manager

The Derby of Italy

Tonight possibly the biggest game in the entire Serie A calendar takes place as Juventus and Inter go head to head in the Derby d'Italia.  Although both teams have a strong rivalry with their city cousins, Torino and AC Milan, there is no doubt that Juve and Inter are each other's bitterest rivals. 

The match gained its grand name in 1967, when Inter were the Italian team with the most international titles, and Juve had the most league wins. These two teams are also the first and second most supported in Italy. In addition, before the Calciopoli scandal in 2006 when Juventus were demoted, both teams were the only ones in Italy never to have been relegated from Serie A. This has added to the rivalry even more, with Juventus outraged at the awarding of the 2005/06 Scudetto to Inter after it was stripped from them.

Even without the historical rivalry, tonight's match is highly important, as it is a top of the table clash between a seemingly unstoppable Juventus team, and an Inter team that has hit an excellent run of form and emerged as Juve's most likely title contenders. While Juve are on an unbeaten run which now stands at 49 matches, Inter have also begun rolling and have won eight straight matches in all competitions. Inter are four points behind Juve in second place, and are now looking like the only realistic challengers with a chance of stopping the Juventus juggernaut claiming another league title.

After a summer of big changes and player departures, Inter were not expected to be in this position, and did have a slow start to the season. Since a 2-0 loss to Siena in September however, they have been surprising everyone, with a new-found strength showing in their eight match winning streak. Credit for Inter's play goes to Andrea Stramaccioni, the young former youth team coach who took over as manager towards the end of last season. Stramaccioni has been managing to get the best out of his players, and switching to a three man defence after the Siena match has seemed to suit the team. Players like Esteban Cambiasso, defender Juan Jesus, Diego Milito, and Antonio Cassano are also in great form. Cassano, a boyhood Inter fan, has flourished since moving from AC Milan in the summer, and has five goals and several assists already.

Juventus are a formidable side, the only criticism that possibly be leveled at them is a lack of a 20 goal a season striker. This hasn't seemed to affect them too much though; along with Roma they are the joint top scorers in the league with 22 in 10 games, with goals coming from all over the team. Players like Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, and even Paul Pogba have been chipping in with goals, relieving the pressure from their strikers. Definitely the strongest side in Italy at the moment, and with home advantage, Juve will be Inter's biggest challenge so far.

Both these teams will come into this Derby d'Italia relishing the chance to break each other's streaks, and inflict a potentially morale-destroying loss. With two teams with such a fiery history now fighting for the championship, although this match will probably not be decisive this early in the season, it should be a hugely interesting spectacle.

Best Moments in Football Manager

Football Manager is one of the biggest selling games around. Since it began life as Championship Manager back in 1992 the series has sold over 7 million copies, won several awards and been named in at least 35 divorce cases. A game that started out as a glorified spreadsheet with flashing commentary, and that even today still sees the player spending much of their time looking at screens filled with numbers; many people wonder what the attraction is and how it can steal so many hours of time from seemingly normal people. With this in mind, and with the release of Football Manager 2013 in a couple of weeks, here are some of the best moments that keep me coming back every year.

1. Managing the club you support
One obvious reason to buy the game every year is the updated squad lists for each team. The game usually doesn't comes out before at least October, giving the developers time to see what moves are made in the summer transfer window and update the squads. It also means they can see how players and teams perform at the start of the season and adjust their stats accordingly. Knowing this, as soon as I've installed and loaded the game for the first time, I can't do anything other than start a save with my team, to see how good (or otherwise) the squad is, and how far I can take them.

Top tip. For added realism, turn off transfer budgets in the first window so that no team can buy players before January and squads stay similar to real life.

2. Watching your star striker score 20+ goals a season
I'll take goals wherever I can get them; if all members of my squad can chip in with a few then I'm happy. However, there are few better feelings than watching your strikers scoring prolifically. At the moment I'm playing a save as Napoli, and Edinson Cavani is riding high at the top of the league scoring charts. It is truly a joy watching him put away chances, grabbing hat-tricks, and scoring important goals that pull out results for the team.

3. Finding out about the stars of the future before anyone else
I've been playing Football Manager since about 1999 and the amount of players I heard about before they make it in real life is ridiculous. Having scouts find players like Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Arturo Vidal, Hatem Ben Arfa, Gonzalo Higuain, Eden Hazard, the list goes on. Signing them as youngsters, watching them develop into stars in the game, and then seeing the same thing happen in real life is a nice feeling, and you feel like you know a player a little bit when you see them in real life for the first time.

4. Watching a youth player you've trained become world-class
Its great signing big stars, bringing in a marquee players that excite the fans and boost shirt sales. Even better though, is bringing youth players through. Watching a player you've developed carefully from the age of 17 or 18, over several seasons turn into one of the best and most valuable players in the game is time well spent.

5. It never has to end
Won everything there is with your team? Made it into the manager's hall of fame? Do it again with a different team. Manage a big team and make them the best in the world, or bring a small team up from the lower leagues, or manage an international team to the World Cup. One of the absolute best moments in the game is winning everything with a team, doing a Jose Mourinho and resigning, ready to move onto a new team, where it all begins again...

So those are my best moments in Football Manager. Agree? Disagree? Maybe I've missed something out? FM fans let me know.

A hard season ahead for Internazionale?

I viewed the result of Inter's match with Siena yesterday with a feeling of resignation. A 2-0 loss at home at San Siro to a team Inter would normally expect to beat, with all due respect to Siena, doesn't signal a great season ahead. After an extremely poor last season, where we scraped into 6^th place, there were high hopes for a return to winning ways. However, results so far haven't been great.

Way back at the start of August, things looked rosy with a 3-0 win away to Hajduk Split in the Europa League 3^rd Qualifying Round first leg, but that was followed up with a 2-0 loss at home in the second leg. Two more promising wins followed away to FC Vaslui and Pescara, but things have seemingly gone downhill since then. This month has seen a 3-1 loss at home to Roma, and although we won 2-0 at Torino in the next match, this was followed with a scraped 2-2 draw with Rubin Kazan and Sunday's 2-0 loss to Siena, both at San Siro.


During the summer the notoriously poor pitch was relaid at San Siro, in an effort to improve the playing surface. Some in Italy have said that this has caused a curse on the stadium, as both Inter and AC are yet to win a single game there in all competitions. I'm not so superstitious though, as I can understand that a period of rebuilding is happening with several former leaders of our team such as Maicon, Lucio, and Julio Cesar having left, and several young players now stepping up to try and fill their shoes; a few bumps in the road are to be expected.

On paper the team put out against Siena looked relatively strong: Samir Handanovic, a good goalkeeper who replaced Julio Cesar. Nagatomo, Rannochia, Juan, and Alvaro Pereira in defence, Cambiasso, Gargano, Guarin and Wesley Sneijder in midfield behind Diego Milito and Antonio Cassano. Nagatomo is a hard-working fullback who likes to get forward, and who scored the last minute equaliser against Rubin. Rannochia and Juan are young centrebacks with a lot of promise, who until yesterday's game were receiving praise as a centreback pairing. The midfield seems solid, with the ever-reliable Esteban Cambiasso, Walter Gargano, a tough midfielder, and Guarin supporting Wesley Sneijder and allowing him to go create for two top strikers, Diego Milito and Antonio Cassano. The match was also notable for being the first time 39 year old Javier Zanetti, or Captain Fantastic as I like to call him, was rested since December 2008.

Despite the strong team, we were caught on the break twice, with Siena scoring two counter attacks in what was an exciting and pretty open match. I was most disappointed about how disorganised the defence was for the goals, with our defenders seemingly panicking as the Siena players ran at them. Again, these players haven't played together many times, and they are young, so hopefully this will improve as the season goes on.

Inter have the chance to bounce back away at Chievo on Wednesday and despite how much they frustrate me sometimes, I'll be supporting them as usual. I remember the 90s and early 2000s, with the long period of failing to win the league, and especially the gut-wrenching Sunday afternoon in 2002 where we lost the Scudetto to Juventus on the last day of the season with a 4-2 loss to Lazio. Since 2004 it's been better days, with league wins, and the treble-winning season of 2010 where we won the Champions League again after 45 years, on my birthday. After all that success I can handle a couple of less than perfect seasons. Forza Inter.

Does football need a salary cap?

The Guardian's website reported last Thursday that the Premier League is thinking about trying to put a salary cap into place before the money from the next televison deals for 2013-2016 comes in. Footballer wages have been climbing for years, and led to a lot of discussion about whether players deserve so much money for kicking a ball on a field. As football, and the Premier League continue to expand and with TV deals getting bigger, it seems the trend will be for wages to get even higher in the future if left unchecked. With this in mind, I think a salary cap has got to be seen as a good idea.

Salary caps are used pretty successfully in North American sports, including Major League Soccer, and in rugby in England, France and Australia, with teams having a maximum amount they are allowed to pay out for player contracts each season. In 2011, the NFL salary cap was $120 million, while the NBA's 2010-11 cap was $58 million. Caps are agreed before each season, and take into account team revenues, so the cap is at a reasonable level for every team and it's level of income for that year.

Benefits of a salary cap are that, in theory, it prevents rich teams from signing a large number of highly-paid stars and dominating because they perhaps have a wealthy owner. It should also level the playing field so that leagues stay competitive, and you don't have the same teams winning everything every year. European football could probably benefit from being more competitive, with most of the top leagues now being won by the same teams that spend the most each season. The second main benefit of a salary cap is to guard against teams signing high contracts to try to gain success, then ending up with financial problems down the line; aka Leeds United syndrome. Because a cap has already been worked out based on the team's income, it can't live beyond its means and so should be relatively protected financially.

The drawbacks to bringing in a salary cap seem to mostly centre around how to go about implementing it. For the Premier League to be able to bring one in, 14 out of the 20 teams would have to agree, and as the Guardian article mentions, the teams have not seemed too interested so far. Another drawback is whether there would be any player related problems. In 2011 the NBA experienced a lockout where the start of the season was delayed from November 1 to December 25 because of a disagreement between owners and players about the salary cap. Could we see a similar thing in football?

The next drawback is deciding how salaries should be capped. Should teams have a total amount they have to be under with their entire squad like the NFL and NBA, should they have a maximum amount they can give a player, £180,000 a week for example, or should they be restricted to spending a percentage of their turnover from the previous few seasons?

The final potential drawback I can see is whether a salary cap would need to be applied by every league in Europe at once to be effective. Like governments always warn when asked to tax high earners more, there could be an exodus from England and the Premier League to other leagues without salary caps. However, even if European leagues managed to get together and agree a cap we could see players following Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o to places like China and Russia on huge contracts, or anywhere teams didn't have to worry about a cap. I could argue though that this could be a good thing, with talented footballers bringing up the levels of developing leagues, and adding another factor that could increase competition.

All in all, a salary cap could bring seismic changes to football, changing the game for the better in my opinion. In the NFL, the New Orleans Saints went from finishing their 2008 season with a record of 8 wins and 8 losses, not even making the playoffs, to winning the Superbowl in 2009. That sort of unpredictability would make football even more exciting, and I think a salary cap could help do it. It seems as if a cap would be extremely hard to bring in, with a lot of parties in football possibly not seeing it in their interest, but I think it would do the game a world of good.

Serie A Returns

Calcio lovers rejoice, Serie A is back today! The Italian league usually starts after most of the other big European leagues have kicked off, which is quite annoying for those of us eager to get underway. However, it always feels like the football season has started properly once Serie A is off and running.

This term Serie A feels quite strange. Firstly there's the matchfixing scandal that has been running all summer, with a large amount of players and teams charged and punished. These charges have led to points deductions, player bans, and the strange sight of champions Juventus having their coach Antonio Conte suspended for pretty much the whole of this season, although bizarrely he will be training the team on a day to day basis, he just won't be allowed to sit on the bench or give instructions during matches. For that a member of his coaching staff, Massimo Carrera, is standing in.

The second reason Serie A feels strange this season is because of the global economic situation. A lack of money has meant that there have been no big transfer signings by Italian clubs, with many having to sell their stars, the best example being Milan with Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva. Italian clubs have been forced to make signings on the cheap, mostly using loans and co-ownership agreements. Milan fans expecting a big name to replace Ibrahimovic have so far had to make do only with Giampaolo Pazzini, gained by swapping Antonio Cassano and 7m with Inter, although Kaka has been linked with a return all summer. This transfer drought means that many clubs will start with no recognised world class players, a shocking development for a league that used to be graced with the best players in the world.

This financial situation has contributed to make this look like what will be the most open and unpredictable season for a long time. Juventus start as favourites for the title, as current champions, and also with probably the strongest team as a whole. The Old Lady will still have to deal with their coaching situation though, as well as juggling European football commitments in their return to the Champions League. Behind Juventus, there's a wide field of several teams that could challenge; Milan may not have had the best transfer window ever, but they are still a big team. Inter had a poor last season and have reacted by trying to rebuild, with several new signings, and attempts to move on players like Maicon, Julio Cesar, and Lucio. As an Inter fan I believe this season could go either way, with either a title challenge, or another poor season as the new signings fail to gel. A lot will also depend on how rookie coach Andrea Stramaccioni does in his first full Serie A season. Another possible challenger is Roma, who hired coach Zdenek Zeman, known for wanting nothing less than spectacular attacking football, that can be beautiful but which also sometimes leads to his sides being stung in defence. Possible outsiders for a title challenge are probably Udinese, who qualified for the Champions League for the second season in a row, but who sell some of their best players every summer, and Lazio, who had a surprisingly good last season behind the goals of Miroslav Klose.

Serie A has had a difficult summer, with all the scandal and its financial situation, but this season promises to be exciting and open in a way not seen for a while. I can't wait to see what happens.

Take a look at the first few fixtures of the season here

London Olympics Love-in

After years of build up and 17 sport-filled days the world's athletes are on their way home, and the 2012 London Olympics are over. I must confess to feeling a twinge of sadness, which has entirely caught me by surprise, because like many people I started out as a cynic. For a long time I felt no connection with the games, they were just an event I had nothing to do with, going on in another part of town. Also, with all the money spent on them, the gloomy economic situation, and the typically British pre-event media pessimism, I expected a spectacular cock-up or at the very least to be extremely bored. Then, I sat down to watch the opening ceremony and cynicism died and I became a believer.

I hurried back from the pub with a group of friends to catch the opening ceremony. I think we were expecting nothing more than a slightly scaled up school disco, with some coloured lights and a couple of the sort of fireworks you could find in the back of a corner shop; nothing to compete with the growing financial muscle of China. Salute to Mr Boyle though, he amazed the world and exceeded all expectations, leading to a scene where a group of lads in their 20s gathered in our living room cheering Mr Bean, the Queen's skydiving skills, and the good old NHS. It was beautiful.

From then I felt the stirrings of pride in London, the city I grew up in and have lived for most of my life, and an eagerness to watch as much of the games as possible, best expressed as the thought "Might as well, its the Olympics".

If nothing else, the Olympics are an opportunity to watch sports that never usually would get the time of day on mainstream channels. Handball, water polo, archery, fencing, the list goes on. I tried to dip in and out to see what was going on in different parts of the games and really experience it all. Luckily, the BBC's coverage was formidably comprehensive, with all of its channels including BBC Three and Four putting in overtime. Most of my watching however was done through the amazingly efficient BBC Olympic schedule website. A website laid out for users to choose any sport to watch live, or to catch up if you missed things, that marked each stream with highlights so you could rewind and find them easily; this brought it home to me that we are truly living in the future. Much congratulations to the BBC; this is why it needs to be defended at all costs, so we don't end up with an #NBCfail situation where we have advert breaks in the middle of events and broadcasters making us wait till primetime to see things, instead of watching live.

I also have to comment on the 100m final, aka the most electric 9.63 seconds I can remember. It is amazing how much you can enjoy something that is just so basic and natural as running; enjoying seeing a person go as fast as they can is just human nature, even from childhood seeing who can run fastest in the playground or down the street. Watching the race was my undoubted sporting highlight of the games, with all the anticipation, the absolute silence in the stadium before the starting gun, and then seeing the athletes powering up and going, with Usain Bolt pulling away in the end. Amazing.

So that was the Olympics. I was so proud; seeing how excited everyone was about which big events were scheduled each day, seeing Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park and Big Ben and countless other historic landmarks as the backdrop of events, reading media reports by journalists from other countries on how welcoming the city and the country were and how impressed they were. The only dip was probably the closing ceremony, although could it ever have lived up to our newly raised expectations? Besides, getting absolutely everything perfect is not the British way. Regardless; well done London, you did it.