Score Update:

International Rugby Union: Scotland 18 England 12 Six Nations Championship

International Cricket: England beat the Cricket Club of India by 238 runs Tour Match
England lost to India A by 8 wickets Tour Match

International Football: USA 4 Guatamala 0 Friendly

Football: Hartlepool United 1 Doncaster Rovers 1 League one. Hartlepool stay in 19th place.

Rugby League: Bradford Bulls 18 Harlequins 18 Superleague
Bradford Bulls 34 Salford Reds 4 Superleague. Bradford move up to 2nd place

Basketball: Houston Rockets 106 Los Angeles Clippers 102
Houston Rockets 91 Golden State Warriers 88 The Rockets are still bottom of the South West Conference 20 games behind leaders Dallas Mavericks

-Richard

Score Update:

Winter Olympics: Britain gain a silver medal in the Womans Skeleton.

Rugby Union: Sandal 8 West Hartlepool 63 League North 2 East
21 Signal Regiment 63 Raleigh 36 Tour Match in England
Barnstaple 34 Raleigh 5 Tour match in England

Football: Tranmere Rovers 0 Hartlepool United 0 League 1. Pools drop down to 16th

Rugby League: Wakefield Widcats 14 Bradford Bulls 20 Superleague. Bradford are 5th

Ice Hockey: Carolina Hurricanes 4 Buffalo Sabres 3 Canes still 14 points ahead of Tampa Bay in the South East Division

Basketball: Houston Rockets 102 Utah Jazz 88
Houston Rockets 90 New York Knicks 83
La Clippers 97 Houston Rockets 128
Phoenix Suns 109 Houston Rockets 75 Rockets are now 19 1/2 games behind Dallas Mavericks in the South West Division.

-Richard

I was thinking this morning about how many Rugby Teams I've actually seen play live. Not counting County games, regional games and international games it nearly 100 club teams. Many have been numerous times. Here are the ones that I can remember. When I was in London I went to a lot of lower league games that I cannot remember now. For the English teams with the League they are currently in.

Premiership: Sale Sharks (as Sale), London Wasps, Gloucester, London Irish, Newcastle Falcons, Northampton, Saracens, Bath, Bristol and Leeds (not as Leeds, but as Headingley and Roundhay before they merged) (12)

National League 1: Harlequins, Bedford, Plymouth Albion, Exeter, Coventry, Nottingham, Otley, London Welsh and Birmingham & Solihull (as Birmingham and Solihull before they merged) (10)

National League 2: Moseley, Waterloo, Manchester, Blackheath, Halifax, Harrogate, Orrell (7)

National League 3 North: Nuneaton, Bradford & Bingley (and Bradford before they merged), Blaydon, Preston Grasshopers, Tynedale, Hull Ionians, Fylde, Darlington Mowden Park (as Mowden Park), New Brighton and Kendal (12)

National League 3 South: Lydney and Rosslyn Park (2)

London 1: Ealing, London Scottish and Richmond (3)

London 4 North West: Hammersmith & Fulham (1)

North 1: Huddersfield, Birkenhead Park, Middlesbrough, Morley, Westoe and Hull (6)

North 2 East: Durham City, Morpeth, Hartlepool Rovers, West Hartlepool, Sheffield, Percy Park, Alnwick and Stockton (8)

North 2 West: Aspatria, Vale of Lune and Liverpool-St.Helens (and Liverpool before the merge) (4)

South Lancs/Cheshire 1: Broughton Park and Wilmslow (2)

Durham/Northumberland 1: Horden, Northern, Billingham, Redcar, West Hartlepool TDSOB and Acklam (6)

Durham/Northumberland 2: Sunderland, Gosforth and Hartlepool (3)

Midlands 1: Rugby Lions (1)

Midlands 2 East: Loughborough Students (1)

Midlands 2 West (South): Bedwoth (1)

South West 1: Maidenhead and Clifton (2)

South West 2 West: Camborne (1)

Scotland: Watsonians, Heriots, Hawick, Melrose, Boroughmuir, Stewarts-Melville, Jed-Forest, Gala, Kelso and West of Scotland (10)

USA: Raleigh, Baltimore/Chesapeake, Cape Fear, NOVA, Doylsetown, Lancaster and Richmond (7)


-Richard

Finished reading "A Case of Need" by Michael Crichton written under the pen name of Jeffery Hudson.

-Richard

Finished reading The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.

-Richard

Score Update:

International Rugby Union: Italy 16 England 31 Six Nations Championship
International Football: USA 3 Japan 2 Friendly

Rugby Union: West Hartlepool 7 Darlington 16 Durham Senior Cup
West Hartlepool 48 Stockton 8 League North 2 East

Football: Hartlepool United 1 Chesterfield 0 League 1. Pools move up to 17th

Ice Hockey: Boston Bruins 3 Carolina Hurricanes 4
Tanpa Bay Lightening 5 Carolina Hurricanes 3
Carolina Hurricanes 3 Pittsburgh Penguins 4 The Canes lead falls to 14 points in the South East Division

Basketball: New York Knicks 89 Houston Rockets 93
Philadelphia 76'ers 81 Houston Rockets 89
Houston Rockets 78 Los Angeles Lakers 89. Rockets are now 20 games behind San Antonio in the South West Division.

-Richard

Finished reading "Great Soviet Short Stories". Not one of my favourite reads. This was not because of the style. Far from it. Russian literature takes me back to my "roots". I became a reading addict whilst getting hooked on Tolstoty, Turgenev, Solzynitsyn etc.. This coupled with my fascination of Russion history and music. Discovering Stravinsky turned my music world upside down with the departure from the Classical era and started my love with "modern" classical music. Infact as I am writing I am watching a documentary on John Adams (the great American modern composer, not the former President). The reason it wasn't one of my favourite reads is because I am not a fan of short stories. When I read I like something I can get into, not, something that I just get started into and then it's finished. Over!

-Richard

Football, soccer has been awful the last few months. Last year was a ride of emotion. The Quakes storming to the supporters Shield has the best regular Season in MLS. Hartlepool getting to the play-off final being less than 10 minutes from glory. England and the US win their World Cup qualifying groups. All was good.

Then. Along come the MLS play-offs. The Quakes forgot their brilliant Season to be dumped out in the first round by the evil Empire. Then the team is taken away, moved, to Houston as Houston 1836. Hartlepool start to freefall down the Division where relegation almost seems an inevitibility. The manager is suspended. All is bad.

My passion for the sport has difinately dwindled. More by the MLS's stupidity taking the Quakes away. I've only watched a handful of games since then. However, if the announcement that we're getting a professional team here in Cary, stating in the USL Division 1 (the second tier of US football) starting next ywar as re-kindled my passion. They will not replace the Quakes. That pain will stay until they return, but, it gives me a team to get behind and live by.

-Richard

Today is one of my favourite days in the sporting calendar. The start of the Rugby six nations championships. Unfortunatly I now cannot watch the games live, but, due to the wonders of the internet I can listen to it on the web. I cannot express the emotion of hearing the Twickenham crowd in unison singing "Swing Low". I don't think any atmosphere can beat the pure singing of the rugby crowd.

In the end it was a superb result with England destroying Wales 47-13

-Richard

Score Update:

Rugby Union: England 47 Wales 13 First game of the 2006 Six Nations Tournament

Beverley 24 West Hartlepool 14 League Game, North 2 East. West fall to 7th
Hartlepool United 0 Blackpool 3 League 1
Rotherham United 0 Hartlepool United 0 League 1, Pools fall to 22nd

Bradford Bulls 30 Wests Tigers 10. Bradford win the World Club Challenge Championship
Florida Panthers 3 Carolina Hurricanes 4
Atlanta Thrashers 1 Carolina Hurricanes 5
Carolina Hurricanes 4 Atlanta Thrashers 1
Montreal Canadiens 2 Carolina Hurricanes 8
New Jersey Devils 3 Carolins Hurricanes 0 The Canes are now 18 points clear of Tampa Bay in the Division
Houston Rockets 102 Charlotte Bobcats 78
Houston Rockets 92 Minnesota Timberwolves 96
Houston Rockets 95 Miami Heat 101
Memphis Grizzlies 86 Houston Rockets 77
Houston Rockets 86 Milwaukee Bucks 84
Houston Rockets 100 Seattle Supersonics 77 The Rockets are now 19 1/2 games behind San Antonio

-Richard