Don’t know if you’d call it an under-strength NZ team, but last year Japan came within 2 points of the New Zealand Maori All Blacks. YouTube highlights here.

I think the only way rugby would get more than an occasional sensational blip here every month or so is if the sport had its own sub-blog. Not sure why no one has attempted that, there’s more than enough content on offer — three main European competitions with some added lower divisions, a chief southern hemisphere…

Pocock is back for the Wallabies, but Folau is still a question, and their scrum has been weakened through injuries — the Pumas will look to take advantage of that. Plus, if Argentina’s forwards can keep the ball in play like they did against Ireland, they won’t give Australia’s flankers much time to work their magic.

Heh — was going to say this sounds pretty much like an Upper Midwest cookout, except with spades instead of euchre, and a few different musical choices. (But they like their old school R&B and hip hop.)

And give Japan some credit beyond this, because they’ve been steadily improving over the past few years. In the Pacific Nations tournament and some of their other Test matches this year, their scrum became potent. They’re in sync, they’re coordinated, they work as a group, and they’ll splinter any other scrum that…

That was Bobby's job.

Huh. Some of the questions are a little absolutist — would I always choose a party over a monastery? Maybe not always; is it a Trappist monastery with a brewery? That makes a difference. Do I balance my checkbook at the end of each week? If you just take two minutes to manage that after each transaction, there’s not…

Unfortunately, spinach still tastes like spinach, sardines still taste like sardines, and Brussels sprouts still taste like Brussels sprouts...

I’ll be rooting for better American-to-Aussie translations in the future.

Pro rugby, next year’s European Champions Cup — they seeded the draw based on where teams finished in their domestic competition instead of where they finished in the previous year’s European Champions Cup. This meant two of last year’s semifinalists and one of the finalists were seeded into the same group of four…

No, not on this show. There'll be at least three incomprehensible tweeests before anything like that happens.

Julia: "The egg, the dome, these cocoons — there's got to be a connection!"

One of the problems with a chart like that is Qatar is reporting all migrant worker deaths since 2010. They’re not differentiating between migrant working on FIFA sites, or a road, or a hotel, or whatever — probably so they can say the stats aren’t accurate with regard to Qatar’s World Cup construction.

Jeez, do we really need to do this? I'm not the only one who's noticed this with some shows with British actors. Go through the comments threads on past Elementary episodes and you'll find others who noticed the same thing. I'm not in the minority, you're the one with super-hearing.

That's your problem, not mine. I honestly wish I had super-ears too.

Omigod — I think that's Brits in general. It tends to sway between Shouty British Acting and Whispery British Acting. I love Elementary, but sometimes need headphones to make out what Holmes is saying. Gillian Anderson did the same thing when she played a British detective in Belfast on The Fall.

I once knocked Bono on his ass. It's Salman Rushdie's fault.

I've had a similar experience, being around combat sports most of my life. There are always some knuckleheads who get involved because they think they're the toughest guy on the block, but the majority are people who learn a great deal of self-control, discipline, and calm under stress — because that's what wrestling,…

Let's be clear here — the dog's obviously a Packers fan. Can you blame the dog?

Heh — nah, that's cool I guess. Thought you meant the raccoon story at first. I've been on an Oscar Wilde kick for a few days, and feel like that statement was more him than me.