Tonight is the NFL Conference Championship Games, with

• San Diego Chargers vs New England Patriots for the AFC Championship
• New York Giants vs Green Bay Packers for the NFC Championship

As you may gather from reading previous posts, I am an NFL fan and the team I follow most of all is the New England Patriots. This years playoffs have been really entertaining and interesting, numerous ‘upsets’, brilliant drama, and some amazing plays.

Speaking from the heart I expect tonights games to go the way of the hosts, meaning a New England vs Green Bay Superbowl. Speaking from the head I still expect the hosts to win, any team going into Foxborogh and Lambeau Feild will have problems, but add the weather conditions in January along with the playoffs and the possibility of a trip to the Superbowl I think will be a step too far for the visiting teams.

I am amazed at both of them though. I remember how badly the Giants started the season and the discussion among some elements of the UK that the first London regular season game would have the two worst teams in the NFL. They have come along way and Eli Manning and the Giants defense have grown up and come of age through the season.

The Chargers’ season almost slipped under the radar on this side of the Atlantic. They were really a shadow of the team that dominated on offense last year, but seem to have developed that winning mentality, shown especially with their win in Indianapolis over the Colts with both Philip Rivers and Ladainian Tomlinson both out with injuries.

So in light of this reflection do I think that the coming of age of the Giants or the winning mentality of the Chargers to be enough to turn the tide. No, homefield advantage will be too much of an advantage, and what could be better in two weeks time to have the romance of Brett Farve going after his second Superbowl ring in possibly his last match against the record breaking New England Patriots trying to finish off the perfect season.

Over the course of the last few weeks my socks have become the source of much interest and amusement. As has become tradition I was given socks for Christmas from my Hazel’s parents, Hazel also bought me a pair of very loud stripy socks from Marks and Spencer, and I have a pair which Hazel hand knitted for me.

In the first week back in school after Christmas, I did the usual thing of wearing my new socks. The pair I had gotten from Hazel’s parents, a lovely green pair with subbuteo players on the, were worn on the Monday, sadly they were not noticed by anyone, although this is not a reflection of the quality of socks. The next day, Tuesday, I wore the red stripy ones I had gotten from Hazel, these were noticed, by numerous staff and loads of pupils. The general comments were that although they were loud, they were very cool.

So the next day I wore the pair Hazel had knitted for me, these are variagated colours of reds and browns. The pupils were now on the look out and spotted these socks, which I had worn numerous times before, but now they were extra cool. So much so one of them wanted to know where I had got them from, I told him that my wife had made them for me as a gift. He was awestruck, I am so lucky, he proclaimed, he wishes he had a wife that would make him socks like that.

At first I took this to be him being polite and kinda inquisitive, but in every lesson since he has been begging me to get Hazel to knit him socks like that, and has been singing the praises of my socks to other pupils. For the last two weeks all my lessons with his year group have begun with pupils asking what socks I am wearing! Ah, I have always wanted to be a man in demand … I just never thought I would get that quality for my socks!

As I mentioned in a previous post, we moved house in the summer and we now live about 35 minutes away from my school. The journey is not too bad, and I have now found a quiet route that doesn’t get effected by traffic too much. The upside of this is that I am now listening to my iPod Nano a lot more, Hazel got me an iTrip to start the school year, and I now listen to podcasts and playlists on the journey. These make the journey go really fast and are entertaining as well.

I have recently discovered a website that will help with this. Podiobook is a website which takes audiobooks and serialises them in an RSS feed for you to read/listen to at your pace. It is free to sign up but there is space and room to donate to the authors. This seems to be a really great tool for listening to audiobooks and discovering new and interesting books.

Some of my favourite podcasts are:

Battlestar Gallactica Podcast - Great podcast by the executive producer of the show with a commentary on each episode.

Beyond Belief - A BBC Radio 4 podcast of issues and topics surrounding religion.

The Daily Madden - A KCBS Dailly Interview with John Madden on issues surrounding the NFL.

A Different Spin - A podcast by some pupils from my school with an alternative take on the weekly news.

Football Weekly - Guardian Unlimited weekly podcast on football issues.

Godpod - A theological podcast discussing topics surrounding the Christian Faith.

Mark Kermode’s Film Reviews - A BBC Radio 5 Weekly review of the latest cinema releases.

New Scientist - A infrequently updated but really informative podcast about scientific issues.

Intelligence Squared - An NPR Podcast of Oxford Style debates on intellectual topics.

Science Weekly - A Guardian Unlimited weekly podcast on the latest scientific issues.

Stuff.tv - Weekly podcast looking at Technology and Gadgets

The Virtual Staffroom - A regular podcast by Chris about education and teaching issues.

I’m back! and it’s now 2008.

I am setting my self a new resolution for this new term and new year, to blog at least twice a week from now on. This is for my own good and also at the request of a couple of my students who have also asked me when I will be starting again.

Term started today, the teachers look bleary eyed and the pupils are keen and eager. It seems to be a general mixture of excitement of seeing friends again and tiredness of having to get up early.

At the school Christmas service I was down one reader due to the Sixth Form being dismissed early, and it was proving difficult for me to get another one. During one breaktime I approached a few pupils in the playground to find someone to read, most said no. Then whilst I was asking a “good” pupil to read, one of his friends, a less reputable friend at that, said he wanted to read. I explained that he would have to read in front of the whole school and that he had to read well but none of this put him off. I, however, was still rather apprehensive about giving the reading of Jesus’ birth to this unreputable disorganised pupil at the school Christmas Service. So I told him that the first practice would be in my room at 8.15am the next morning, then again after school. I fully expected him to forgot and not bother, so I then proceeded to try and find another reader.

Low and behold, 8.15am arrives and he come running through the door to my classroom. He apparently had forgotten but had sprinted from home to get here on time. I was still unconvinced about giving him a reading. So I gave him a practice sheet and told him we would practice properly after school. Thinking that that would put him off. But once again I was proved wrong, he turned up prompt and practiced, having apparently practiced by himself through lunch.

The penny finally dropped for me at this point, I decided I would give him a try, he was obviously dedicated and keen. The service came on, and he did really well, he read clearly and meaningfully, so much so that he was even praised by his friends, he was beaming ear to ear as he left school.

I realise now that I was really slow to grasp his potential, but in my defence, before the service started he was actually asked to move from the reader’s seat by two different teachers who were certain he was sitting in the wrong place or trying to cause trouble.

This morning I processed is commendation certificate on the school computer system and noticed that it was the first positive entry on his record for two years, I was feeling warm inside, I felt even better when he came and saw me later on to thank me for letting him read.

I had hoped to use the weekend to catch up with some marking and housework, however, I spent most of Saturday and what looks to be Sunday sick. It feels like a bad cold, but it has got to my asthma and I have a temperature. So the marking has taken a back seat to sleep and rest. I think I slept about 18 hours yesterday, which I guess makes me a cat

The plus side is that I got to watch the Rugby and Football guilt free. I was resting after all, and wasn’t well enough to do much else. They were both entertaining games, but despite the wins they gave me plenty of concern for the next games.

With the Rugby I felt that England were not able to control possession or territory at all, and were kept on the defensive all game by France going through phases of possession. It felt like France lost the game by not being able to break down the English defence, more than England won the game.

With the Football, England played some good attacking football in the first half, but seemed to loose their impetus in the second half. They seem to lack motivation and enthusiasm to play, and the substitutions that McClaren made me worried about upcoming Russia game. I felt Nicky Shorey was a better choice at Left Back than Lescott, and felt the lone striker was a move back to previous failed experiments as Rooney can’t play that role effectively. To win on Wednesday England will need to have at least two upfront and at least one advanced wide man, but I think that McClaren will not do either of these to try and accomodate Lampard, Gerrard and Barry in the midfield.

I hope Wednesday and Saturday prove my concerns wrong.