V has introduced me to the world of podcasts. I wasn't sold on listening to audio blogs by bit characters in mediocre TV shows, or worse listening to ten minute ads (Flight of the Conchords, i'm looking disappointedly in your direction). But after V persuaded me to poke around the iTunes store podcast section, i subscribed to a few, including the Ricky Gervais show, the official Chelsea FC podcast, and a couple of weekly discussions on the Xbox 360 and the PS3. I've listened to the Chelsea ones, and have found that Gavin Peacock perfectly crystallized many of my feelings of disappointment with the Blues' current mess. Factor in that i can listen to them on my iPod via my ever-impressive new Alpine car stereo, and i'm increasingly keen on podcasts. Despite the stupid name.

Although i preordered it and fetched it on release day, i haven't played more than 15 minutes of Halo 3 so far. My attentions were drawn back to finishing a Liga Primera season with Barcelona on Winning Eleven. I did so earlier today, finishing 38 matches on 100 points, 11 ahead of rivals Real Madrid, with Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho leading the scoring table. Now that i've garnered my Xbox Live achievement points for this accomplishment, i'll pop Halo back in and see what i can do with Master Chief. I did play a brief online match and did reasonably well (largely because my opponents were as bad as or worse than i am), but it's just not the same without my old deathmatch partner. For some reason i'm just not as juiced about Halo as every other gamer in the known universe. It's a great game, to be sure, but it just doesn't hold that wow factor for me. I guess it does everything well, but it doesn't do any one thing mind-blowingly amazingly. Take Bioshock ... everything is solid, but the art is god damn fabulous and elevates the entire game to an addiction. I can't really point at anything like that in Halo, despite it also being rock solid. Perhaps next month's Assassin's Creed will provide my next video obsession.

I've seen the 49ers twice now, and they've scored a total of 10 points in those 8 quarters. In their most recent defeat, a 9-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens that wasn't nearly as close as the scoreline suggests, the Niners' 7 came courtesy of two back-to-back pass plays from QB Trent Dilfer. Oddly, that spurt comprised about 95% of the day's offensive output. The defense is playing well, but the offense reminds me of my high school's team. And they stunk even when compared to other high schools. The game was memorable if only because i got to see Gary in his Vernon Davis jersey and throwback leather helmet. Getting to and from Candlestick Park is a bit of a chore. I tried taking Caltrain last time, which worked well enough, except that the closest station is a good 20 minute walk from the stadium gates. Oh well. Hooray exercise.

I'm a bit shocked that England blew their chance to book a place at Euro 2008 today, losing 2-1 to Russia on a much-debated artificial pitch in Moscow. Despite the surface concerns, England apparently enacted a scene from the Sven Goran-Eriksson era, going ahead early then reverting to eleven men behind the ball and hoping to close out the match. Thanks to a controversial penalty and a tap-in winner in the span of five second half minutes, those hopes were dashed. Shades of England-France from Euro 2004. England went from booking their hotels in Austria to praying that Russia drops one of their final two matches against Israel and Andorra and they can defeat group leaders Croatia at Wembley. No blaming this one on underperforming Chelsea players as JT was out injured and Lamps only played the last fifteen minutes. It's almost a whole culture of underperformance in the England camp. As opposed to team like Brazil, made up of individual superstars who everyone expects to bring home all the trophies and are often proven right, England have comparable talent (yes, i do believe that) but have some black cloud hanging over them and tend to validate the doubters rather than the believers. Can they pull off an improbably comeback and sneak into the Euro 2008 finals? Maybe ... they could beat Croatia and Russia isn't so stable that you'd bet the mortgage on them winning two in a row. But will they make any noise in the competition if they do? Are they ready to knock off a Portugal, France, or Italy in the final?

Is there anything Gordon Ramsay can't do? If you take his litany of television programs at face value, he's a world-renowned chef, über-conquering entrepreneur, family and marriage counselor, and professional footballer. Perhaps in the episodes to come he'll add brain surgeon and rock star to the list.