The Man with No Time

Earlier today I got back from my second holiday in three weeks, and my third trip to the Le Mans 24 hours. Now that I've recovered (I really needed a nap when I got back to the flat), I wanted to talk about it a bit. There was a new logo for the race this year. But the on-track action was definitely classic. (Credit: David Brown)

Last weekend saw the third race of the 2014 Formula 1 season, and I thought it was about time I put finger to keyboard and articulated some of my thoughts on the direction that the series is going. 2014 is a year of massive changes, many of which will take some getting used to, and most of which have caused a lot of controversy. I don't have much new to add to the discussion, but want to get my thoughts out there. It's becoming a familiar sight at the front of the field - the silver arrows way out in front. They've only been this close to each other in Bahrain though, and it was spectacular. (Credit: telegraph.co.uk)

The final week of the 2014 6 Nations tournament was incredibly tense. Not necessarily because of close games it has to be said. Two of the three were blowouts, but the finale really made up for it as the momentum swung back and forth between the sides, and the final standings correspondingly went in favour of one team or another. I'll get to that eventually, but as usual I'll start with Scotland's performance.

The penultimate week of the 6 Nations is when the shape of the table starts to become clearer, and is often where championship hopes are dashed. After all, not everyone can win. This year there were four teams (England, France, Ireland, and Wales) on four points, and potentially in with a chance. By the end of the weekend at least one of them would be behind the others, possibly two, or even three.  Scotland were playing France at home. They haven't beaten les Bleus since 2006 (a match I remember well), but after the events of week 3 this wasn't just going to be a French benefit.

The middle week of the 6 Nations has been and gone. It's always a bit of an odd one, week 3. There's a week's break either side of it, so the players are generally well rested and the matches are high quality. Plus it gives the managers a chance to step back, assess the progress that they may or may not have made, evaluate their performances, and maybe mess around with the squad lineups a bit. This year it was all that and even more; there were the two matches on Saturday, as is normal, but the third match was played on the Friday night, on prime time television, which I think is a great thing for the sport of rugby union.

After what seemed like an interminable length of time with no lifesaving to do, the BULSCA calendar restarted at the weekend with the second official St Andrews league competition. Which meant that it was road trip time - yay!

The second weekend of the 2014 6 nations has been and gone. How did Scotland get on this week against 'the auld enemy' in the Calcutta cup? What about Wales after last week's shaky start? Could France keep their form against Italy? Would I get to watch any of it live?

After watching Scotland lose  their first match of the 6 nations yesterday afternoon, I was hopeful that the second sporting event of my day would provide a closer, and more entertaining contest. Superbowl 48 featured the two top seeds, and arguably a classic match up. The Denver Bronco's record setting offensive unit, helmed by one of my favourite quarterbacks to watch, going up against the tough, hard-hitting, take no prisoners defensive force of the Seattle Seahawks, led by the 'Legion of Boom'. It had all the makings of a great game, and was certainly hyped up to the nth degree before the actual game. But was it actually any good? Spoiler alert - no. This should have been a great game. Instead it was incredibly one-sided. (Credit: news.sportslogos.net)

The 6 Nations is back! It's about time too; with all of the hype surrounding this year's Superbowl (more on that later), my favourite sporting tournament snuck up on me this year. I feel rather ashamed, as I have basically no idea about what's been going on in international rugby union in the run up to the 2014 6 Nations, but now that it's here I'm certainly going to enjoy it. Or try to at least...although it's a new year, it's more of the same it seems as far as my favourite team is concerned.

As of this morning it’s Christmas break for the BULSCA lifesavers. In year’s gone by this would have marked the halfway point in the season, but some calendar shuffling at the last AGM means that we’re not quite there yet (this is a good thing, as it’s spread the events out a little more than has traditionally been the case). It’s been my first season as a judge rather than a competitor, and it’s been a slightly odd experience to be honest. I missed one competition whilst at playing in a concert with my new orchestra, but the rest have really opened my eyes to a completely different side of lifesaving events.

Part three of  my motorcycling season review will cover the top flight category: MotoGP. I've already written brief reviews of the intermediate categories,  Moto2  and  Moto3 , but these are the big bikes. (Credit: motogp.com) I used to enjoy watching MotoGP, but the 125cc category was always my favourite. When I lost interest in motorcycling as a sport for a while it was the top flight that really killed it for me. About mid way through the 2000s it sort of got a bit dull. Rossi was still great, and there was Stoner to challenge him. Then Lorenzo turned up, and between the three of them (plus Dani Pedrosa) the racing was decent every now and then. But on the whole it was turning into Formula 1 a little; the bikes quickly spread out along the track, and actual overtaking was often quite rare. Not to mention the fact that numbers were quickly dropping, with first Kawasaki and then Suzuki leaving the sport. So I stopped watching.

Part two of my motorcycling season review covers the Moto2 category. I've already covered Moto3 , and now it's time for the middle brother. (Credit: motogp.com) Moto2 replaced the 250cc category in 2010, and for the first few years provided the shot in the arm that the middle rung on the ladder desperately needed. The racing was close, unpredictable, and incredibly exciting. But over the last couple of seasons it's dropped off a little as the gap between the different chassis widens. This year was better than last, for a couple of notable reasons.

One of the forms of motorsport that has captured my interest in recent years has been MotoGP, not to mention its two support series Moto2 and Moto3. I used to watch MotoGP years ago, but in the early 2000s I lost interest. The top category became pretty dull, and the lower divisions were hard to find (although the racing in 125cc was epic). But over the last four or five years the BBC have started showing all three classes live, either on TV or on their website, so I've been able to start watching again . The quality of racing has also increased with new riders coming through, and some rules changes that have made a huge difference: the introduction of CRT bikes to MotoGP, and the replacement of 125cc and 250cc by Moto3 and Moto2 respectively. (Credit: motogp.com) This year I've managed to watch most of the races live, and I wanted to get some thoughts down on the page about the three seasons. I'll start with Moto3, and with Moto2 and MotoGP following in short o...

I've just got back to St Andrews after a quick mid-summer family holiday. We didn't go anywhere particularly exciting, just to Center Parcs like we did last year. It was really enjoyable, and very relaxing all in all, although my brother and Mum might disagree! We're in the middle of a bit of a heat wave here in the UK at the moment, and so we didn't cram as much in to our visit as we have done in the past. A quick game of bowling on the Friday night, some Badminton Saturday and Monday, a quick go on the driving simulator for Dad, my brother and I, a pedalo on the lake, some American pool, and quick swim (it was really, really nice to get back in the pool and swim some lengths) were pretty much it. We did get in a few boardgames though, and I finally got to try out Battlestar Galactica, which is everything I was led to believe and more. The big event of the weekend was the spa evening that my brother, myself, and our girlfriends went to. I'd never been...

[I'm trying out something new for my NHL playoffs series this year. Since there are so many games, I'm going to watch the highlights each day and jot down some thoughts on each one. I'll add a summary of each series once it's decided, and put up the post when the round is complete.] Round 1 of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs has finally been completed. There's been some great ice hockey being played, so how did the series go for the teams that participated? My apologies in advance - Blogger ate some of the game summaries, so there are a few missing.

It's that time of the year again - the Stanley Cup playoffs are here! I'm going to do a round by round review again this year, but I'll probably vary the format a bit from last year. My rough plan is to give short comments on each game of every series, every round. These will almost certainly be based purely off the highlights from the NHL's Youtube channel ; with my thesis writing in progress, I can't really afford to be staying up to odd hours watching ice hockey! But that's to come. Today I wanted to get down some brief thoughts about the 16 teams that have made the playoffs.

After a week off to rest their weary bodies, the rugby players of the home nations, Italy, and France were back in action this weekend for round 3 of the 2013 Six Nations. And what a weekend it was! (Credit: rbs6nations.com) (Warning - this is going to be a long post!)

Week 2 of the 2013 6 nations is done! This won’t be a long post, as I didn’t see any of the games live. I did, however, watch the Scotland-Italy match on iPlayer, so I’ll focus on that. The team captains for this year's 6 nations. (Credit: rbs6nations.com)

This weekend is a big one for sport for me. Yesterday I competing at the Scottish Short Course Championships(link), and tonight I’ll be watching the climax of the NFL, the Superbowl. But this weekend has also been the opening weekend for the Rugby Union 6 Nations, a tournament that I look forward to every year. I love watching rugby union. I was forced to play it whilst at school, which I didn’t enjoy, but I have fond memories of sitting down to watch the odd match here and there on television during my teenage years. Watching any rugby on TV meant the 5 nations (as it was at the time), and I remember watching some of the great players and wishing that rugby was as fun to play as it was to watch. Being a Scotland fan recent years have been lean ones, and watching the national team play has often been a painful experience. But I still wouldn’t miss the 6 nations for anything. I can’t catch every match, but fortunately they’re all live on the BBC, which these days mean...

The final round of the NFL playoffs before the Superbowl is over. After the rollercoaster that was the divisional round there were questions over whether this weekend's games could match the drama. With hindsight they probably didn't, but the two games that we had were still very good to watch. And unlike the divisional rounds, I did actually watch these games!