Over The Line

“Hey, hey, cheer up John. Missing a penalty doesn’t make you a bad person, mate. Now if you were, let’s say, to sleep with a good friend’s girlfriend, get her pregnant and pay for an abortion, that’d make you a bad person, but you wouldn’t do that of course. Ho, ho…the very thought.”
 
“Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me!”
 
John Terry’s world – just like his left leg in the 2008 Champions League Final – is collapsing. And, like that night in Moscow, only people at Chelsea and maybe David Beckham will support him.
 
As most sit on their moral butter box Blogs and cry foul, it seems you can tackle the England captain after all. Good news for Roy Keane and the rest of us. People who believe in the myth of monogamy have been waving their arms and stamping their feet at John Terry’s “transgressions”. They’re right to, if they abide by those ideals, but if Bradley can forgive Max and Stacey in EastEnders, perhaps this will blow over eventually. For England’s World Cup hopes, it will have to.
 
Everyone has a right to lambaste Terry for his indefensible actions and being a sly, arrogant plonker who tried to conceal his deeds with his wealth in a court of law, but is he any less an England captain than he was last Monday? The Chelsea leopard still has the same spots he had before. He admitted to affairs prior to this most recent problem and Capello knew he was no saint when he reappointed him as their leader on the field. Heck, national treasure and the only man to lead England to World Cup glory Bobby Moore lacked moral fibre. He liked his booze and, according to his wife Tina, had a wandering eye which he acted upon at least once. What’s different and wrong with Terry now?
 
He’s slept with a team-mate’s, and worse still, a good friend’s ex missus. He’s broken a golden and unwritten rule among friends. A “normal” affair with a page 3 model is fair game, presumably. A highly unlikely reconciliation between the two players would probably repair some of the damage done to squad morale, but the England captaincy issue would persist.
 
Based purely on his ability as a centre-half and as a leader, John Terry should retain the captaincy. However, his inability to keep his trousers on means some of his international team-mates will have lost all respect for him. Respect cannot be learned, purchased or acquired - it can only be earned. Terry will have to do that all over again. He will, and has to, lose that precious and coveted armband.
 
So who’ll replace the England captain? Which morally sound players can England rely on to lead their side in South Africa? Rooney - the man who slept with a geriatric prostitute. Nightclub brawler Gerrard. Rio - the man who organises spit roasts and misses drug tests or Rebecca Loos’s David Beckham.
 
Would you adhere to the “public’s” criteria of a good England captain? Who would, in some of our moralising commentators eyes, be the right man for the job? Let us know what you think below!

Back by popular demand, it’s everyone’s favourite opportunity to look clever in front of the class - and pocket a cool £/€200 free bet in the process!

It couldn’t be simpler. Simply comment on this blog post giving us the winners of the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, World Hurdle and Gold Cup. Then, in case there is a tie-breaker, we’d like to know the winning distance in the Supreme Novices Hurdle. That’s all you have to do - but if you fancy giving us some reasons for your choice - or having a pop at someone elses -  be our guest.

The winner is the person who gets all four right. That never happens. If two people  are tied on 3 winners, or 2, we’ll split them by SP (ie the longer combined SP, the better). If there is still a tie, we’ll look at the tie-breaker. Simple.

Just a few important things to remember:
1) Closing date for entries is Friday 12th February
2) You can only enter once. And don’t try anything smart - we’re not stupid you know.
3) Please include your email when asked - it’s how we tell you you’ve won!

Lastly, to get the ball rolling, here’s my own selection:
Go Native, Twist Magic, Big Bucks, Kauto Star. 9 lengths. How original!

Andy Murray Payout
So Rafa Nadal did his ‘It’s my ball and I’m going home’ bit. It still didn’t take away from the fact he was given a sound trashing by Britain’s Andy Murray. And while other bookies use Nadal’s withdrawal as an excuse to void bets on Britain’s Andy Murray that were minutes from being victorious, we’re taking our beating the way we should – the way Nadal didn’t. We’re paying out on all bets – both pre-match and Betting In Running - for Britain’s Andy Murray to win as well as all bets on him to hand Nadal his own ass – or 3-0 in set betting to give it it’s official title.
 
Now Marian Cilic awaits in the semi-final of the Australian Open. And don’t let the fact it sounds like a mix between a girl’s name and Cillit Bang fool you, it’ll be a tough as Scotland’s Andy Murray found out at last year’s US Open. Still though, Britain’s Andy Murray has beaten him thrice in their four meetings so far, so he could well be Britain’s Andy Murray right up to the final where he’ll meet Roger Federer, lose and revert to being Scotland’s Andy Murray.
 
Could this be the year Britain’s Andy Murray goes all the way? Is the idea of nationhood slightly outdated in an increasingly globalised world? And considering the witty repartee he had with Jim Courier after the match, could they be a ginger alternative to Ant and Dec? We’ll know some of the answers to these questions in the not too distant future.
 
Australian Open Bettting
 

Things Are Looking Cup?

The FA Cup: “Pick a card, any card.”
*Picks card*
The FA Cup: “Now – look at it, don’t tell me what it is, but show it to me. Let me see it.”
*Shows card*
The FA Cup: “Right, your card was the four of clubs. Ta-da!!”
*Looks unimpressed*
The FA Cup: “Ok, tough crowd. Em … try this one on for size. Now, as you can see I have a rabbit in my hat. Abracadabra, hey presto, open sesame – ta-da - I’ve transformed into a slightly dizzy and nauseous rabbit.”
 
The magic of the FA Cup hasn’t been up to a high standard for much of the last decade. The fact that Man Utd gave it a miss in pursuit of FIFA brownie points may be cited as the straw that broke the camel’s attention span, but in the era of the Champions League and mushrooming TV revenues, the competition had started on it’s increasingly irrelevant trajectory long before.
 
But the fact that most neutrals were cheering on Dirty Leeds on Saturday night sums up what a remarkable edition of competition we’re having this season. Not too many tears were shed outside Yorkshire when the club reached for the stars and ended up with Dominic Matteo and tank full of tropical fish, but after their superb display at Old Trafford, the rehabilitation of the club’s image continued with another gutsy performance against Premier League opposition. Elland Road on a cold winter’s night will look about as appealing as a party devoid of glamour models for the Tottenham players.
 
Stoke put in a good display to comprehensively beat Arsenal and reduce the representation of the Big 4 to one. Comments about the Gunners fielding a weakened team only slightly tarnished the achievement. There’s no doubt that Arsene Wenger included a handful of players still far from being genuine first team players, but the reality – whether he chooses to see it or not – is the bulk of the team he fielded were Premier League regulars and should have put in a better performance.
 
So where does all this romance leave us? Well, precisely the mixed feelings we had about it at the start of the season. There’s a chance that the winners of the FA Cup will be the best team in the country, but there’s also a chance that they’ll be Notts County. Whatever team eventually lifts the trophy will have merited it, but that merit is largely down to the random numbers drawn by the various ex-pros who happen to have a couple of anecdotes about the FA Cup. It’s not perfect, it may not be as important as it used to be, but as long as the FA Cup keeps throwing up giant killings and the possibility of gaudy white suits, it’s still worth watching.

FA Cup Betting

This week we climbed a mountain just for yoU!

In this episode Paddy needs to make a video for the casino team in a hurry:

This week Tom’s off on a whirlwind tour of Africa, Bolton and Stoke!

At least Kieren Fallon had the smarts to wait till after the race before pulling Stewart Webster off his horse in 1994 – I think I recall one of the tabloids running with the headline “Fallon Pulls Off Webster”. He got a six month ban for that paticular incident (Unfortunately no one has uploaded it to YouTube).
 
Anyway, two jockeys in the US, as you’ll see from the video below, came to blows during a race after some seemingly innocuous in-race bumping at Philadelphia Park on Friday night. I’ve seen worse in a point-to-point race, but it’s funny nonetheless, albeit extremely dangerous. I can’t imagine Ruby giving AP a slap mid-race for a bit of bumping.
 

 
[Shameless Marketing bit] Ehem… this is what you’re missing when not watching US Racing live on At The Races every night with Paddy Power. *read this very fast* Past performance is no guarantee of future results and jockeys punching each other may not happen every night.

To brazenly rehash something we’ve used before for the last few years and because we need a winner post-haste, Paddy Power Chase Day at Leopardstown is one of those great things that’s associated with Christmas - like turkey and ham, mulled wine, terrible films and tolerating the company of relatives you can’t stand - relatives you can avoid if you win this wonderful prize!
 
We’ve got a spectacular VIP trip to Leopardstown on Sunday 27th December up for grabs. This fabulous prize includes:
 
• Four course meal & FREE BAR
• Celebrity Tipster – (Not Paddy, so don’t let it put you off)
• A €200 bet
• €200 travel expenses for the winner
• Overnight accommodation in Bewley’s Hotel, Leopardstown
• Paddy Power Goody Bag 
 
Name the family movie commonly associated with and shown on Christmas Day;
 
(a) The Great Bookmaker
(b) The Great Escape
(c) The Great Competition

 
That’s all there is to it – username and correct answer to competitions@paddypower.com
 

 
Closing date is midday on Tuesday 22nd December. Winner will be drawn at random. Answers left in comments section don’t count as proper entries, but you can tell us how great we are if you want.