Plenty of Nothing

Recycled Paper Cranes

Source.

Snow at Hie Shrine

By Kawase Hasui, 1931.

Fox and Badger Sketches

Cromwellian Ayr Revisited

Here's a drawing of Ayr's Cromwellian citadel. Source. You can still pick out the citadel's location in the modern street plan.

Morton visit Ayr United.

The situation: Morton are third in the division, well within the Premiership playoff zone. Ayr are ninth with 20 points, but they would be eighth under a different scoring system (see below). So far this season Morton and Ayr have beaten each other once.

What was Morton's best ever result against Ayr United? 7 - 0, Dec 10, 1949, at Cappielow. What was Ayr United's best result against Morton? 0 - 6, Jan 2, 2001, at Cappielow.

The top four Championship clubs are Visitors today, so there could be some upsets.

Thomas Orr has been loaned out to BSC Glasgow.

Today's game is on BBC Alba.

How many games have Ayr United played against the other 2016-17 Championship clubs in Scottish League play?

Raith Rovers                 140

Morton                         139

Falkirk                           122

Dumbarton                    121

St Mirren                         98

Dunfermline                    96

Hibs                                81

QoS                                70

Dundee United               68

The rivalry between Ayr United (1910 - ) and the old Airdrieonians (1878-2002) is now a closed book. Who won?

League. In 125 matches Airdrieonians won 62, Ayr United 34, with 29 draws.

Scottish Cup. Airdrieonians knocked Ayr United out 4 times, Ayr knocked Airdrieonians out twice.

League Cup. In group stage action, Airdrieonians won 3 of 4. In the 1954-55 quarterfinal Airdrieonians knocked Ayr out.

Challenge Cup. Airdrieonians knocked Ayr out in their one meeting in 1994-95.

Buchan Cup. One win and a draw for Airdrie.

Conclusion: Airdrieonians owned Ayr United.

(What was the Buchan Cup? It was a pre-season cup competition played at Peterhead's Recreation Park at least twice -- 1990-91 and 1991-92 -- with at least Ayr United, Airdrieonians and Fraserburgh participating. That's all I know.)

[Morton win 1 - 4. Morton goals by Forbes (2) and Oliver (2). Morton are three points out of second place, with a game in hand.]

Current away winless streaks.

0            Hibs, Dunfermline, Falkirk, QoS

2            St Mirren, Morton

3            Dumbarton, Dundee United

5            Raith Rovers

6            Ayr United

The current Championship standings if a win = 1, a draw = 0, and a loss = -1:

Hibs                         11

Dundee United         7

Morton                      5

Falkirk                       2

QoS                         -1

Raith Rovers            -1

Dunfermline             -2

Ayr United                -5

Dumbarton               -6

St Mirren                 -10

What does it take to finish third in the Championship? Let's look at through the past ten years:

2015-16        21W    7D    8L    +25gd    70pts        Hibs

2014-15        19W   10D   7L    +30gd    67pts        Rangers

2013-14        19W    9D    8L    +26gd    66pts        Falkirk

2010-11        17W    7D   12L   +16gd    58pts        Falkirk

2007-08        15W   13D   8L    +15gd    58pts        St Johnstone

2009-10        17W    7D   12L   +10gd    58pts        Dunfermline

2006-07        16W    5D   15L    +6gd     53pts        Dundee

2012-13        15W    8D   13L    +4gd     53pts        Falkirk

2011-12        13W   13D   10L    +5gd    52pts        Falkirk

2008-09        14W    9D    13L    +8gd    51pts        Dunfermline

Morton's projected final totals:

2Q16-17       16.2W  12.6D  7.2L  +16.2gd  61.2pts

Morton's projected points total is better than seven and worse than three of the third place teams of the past decade.

So, the question was: Which Swiss Challenge League club is most like Greenock Morton?

Criteria:

1) If a club has won the Swiss Cup once and only once, the club receives a point. 2) If a club's stadium overlooks the water, the club receives a point. 3) If a club has had a brush with insolvency in the 21st Century, the club receives a point. 4) If a club has a cantonal rival in the Challenge League this year, the club receives a point. 5) If a club's stadium is beside the train tracks, the club receives a point.

6) If a club has spent at least 40 years in the second tier since 1931, the club receives a point. 7) If a club has not played in the top tier in the 21st Century, the club receives a point. 8) If a club has been in UEFA competition once and only once, the club receives a point. 9) If a club has a blue and white colour scheme, it gets a point.

10) The club whose stadium capacity is closest to Cappielow's receives a point. 11) The club whose date of foundation makes it the second oldest club in the Challenge League receives a point. (This one was a three-way tie.) 12) The club whose town population is 8th largest in the Challenge League gets a point. 13) The club whose last major honour is closest in date to Morton's gets a point.

Results:

Aarau                        1) 3) 4) 6)

Chiasso                     5) 6) 7)

Geneve Servette       3) 5)

Le Mont                     5) 7)

Neuchâtel Xamax      2) 3) 10)

Schaffhausen            6) 11)

Wil                             1) 8)

Winterthur                 4) 6) 7) 11) 13)

Wohlen                      4) 7) 9) 12)

Zürich                        4) 9) 11)

Conclusion:  Winterthur is most Mortonlike. In recognition of this, let's follow Winterthur (pronounced Vintertur) for the rest of the season. The Challenge League takes a January break, so their next game is on February 4th against Chiasso.

Copa Libertadores, first stage, second leg:

Montevideo Wanderers 5 - 2 Universitario de Sucre

Independiente del Valle 2 - 2 Deportivo Municipal

Deportivo Táchira 0 - 0 Deportivo Capiatá

Wanderers, Independiente and Capiatá advance.

OFC Champions League. FIFA divides the soccer world into six domains. The Oceania Football Confederation, the smallest, is made up of Pacific island nations. But like the much larger European and Asian federations it too has a champions league. Today is the first day of play in the qualification round of the 2017 OFC Champions League. Today's matches are:

Utulei Youth (American Samoa) [3 - 4] Lupe o le Soaga (Samoa)

Veitongo (Tonga) [0 - 4] Puaikura (Cook Islands)

The AFC Champions League began midweek with a single match between Global of Manila and Tampines Rovers of Singapore. Last year's winner Jeonbuk has been excluded from the 2017 competition due to their role in a referee-bribing scandal in Korea. [Global won 2 - 0.]

It's the part of the pre-season when Japanese squads go to a Shinto shrine to pray for victory.

Early Tezuka Rakugo Illustrations

In 1945 seventeen-year-old Osamu Tezuka did a series of advertising illustrations for rakugo artist Katsura Harudanji II, already showing some of his mature style. Source.

Snowy Aomori

Aomori Prefecture is one of the snowiest places in the world. Source.

The Vače Situla

The Vače Situla is an ornamented bronze bucket from the 5th Century BC found in 1882 near Vače, in central Slovenia. Figures from the situla's bas relief appear on the Slovenian passport. Source.

Thousand Cranes (1969)

Kawabata on the set of the 1969 film version of his novel Thousand Cranes. He's with Yōko Namikawa, Ayako Wakao, and Eiko Azusa. Source.

Ottawa Snowshoers

Bytown Museum. Source.

About J-Ice North

The Japan Ice Hockey League, or J-Ice, is the second tier of hockey competition in Japan, below the multinational professional Asia League in which four Japanese clubs compete, and is about on a par with the university leagues. It's made up of six regional divisions: North, Northwest, East, Central, West, and South. The North and West divisions were established in 2005, the others in this decade.

J-ICE North Division is the strongest of the six divisions. There are six teams in five Hokkaido cities:

Kushiro Kousei-sya IHC. They play at Nippon Paper Ice Arena, capacity 3,000, which is also the home rink for Kushiro Tobu Blaze, and the Asia League's Nippon Paper Cranes. They wear red, black and white. Team owner Kushiro Kousei-sya is a waste management company. Kushiro is on Hokkaido's east coast, not far from Obihiro.

Tadano IHC. Founded in 1992, they are the company team for Tadano Corporation, manufacturers of industrial cranes. Their home rink, Obihiro no Mori Ice Arena in Obihiro, in eastern Hokkaido, can accommodate 2,500 spectators. Blue, white and black.

Skate House Sapporo IHC. They play at Sapporo's Tsukisamu Gymnasium, a facility built for the 1972 Olympics, which includes a rink with room for 3,371 spectators. Black, gray, white and blue.

Nippon Steel Sumikin Muroran. Muroran is a city in southern Hokkaido, and the location of the Japan Steel Works. Blue uniform. Their home rink is Muroran City Nakajima Sports Center.

Kushiro Tobu Blaze. Yellow and red. Nippon Paper Ice Arena.

Toyota Motor Hokkaido. Blue, gold and white. Their home rink is Tomakomai Shiratori Oyuko Ice Arena. The Asia League's Oji Eagles are also from Tomakomai, in southern Hokkaido.

2016-17 schedule.

Japanese hockey rinks.