Feature Presentation: Looking Back

EPL Goals 1992-2007

This is one of the many I items I treated myself to for my birthday.  Got the three disc set pretty cheap, but no price can be put on the memories I had from the early days of the Premier League.

I started following (very distantly) Manchester United during the first season of the Premier League when they ended their 26 year drought of winning the title.  Robson, Bruce, Hughes and company led the Red Devils to glory in those early years, followed by Keane, Cantona, and the kids before Cole, Yorke, Solskjaer and Stam took over. 

Going through the seasons, I picked up new information, like Nicky Barmby played for Spurs?  Had no idea.  Plus there were all the clubs that have fallen away like Crystal Palace and Norwich and Swindon and Charlton and QPR.

Great goals and great memories.

Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop

I picked this up at the library because I had just finished The War for Late Night.   The tour looked brutal and showed Conan’s struggle between the rush of performing and the need to always be “on”.  Loved the fly on the wall nature of the documentary and feel that I may have missed out a comedic voice.

Community Season 2

Love this show because almost everything is in my wheel house: sense of community amongst the study group, pop culture references throughout, the yearning for the days of college, and just a hint of awkwardness. 

Not every episode is a winner but the season as a whole is thoroughly enjoyable, especially the trampoline episode and the epic two part, Fistful of Dollars/Star Wars inspired, paintball finale.  Even the Zombie episode wasn’t too bad and that’s not really my thing. 

Is the show the most amazing thing ever?  No but it’s a fun, non-nutritious snack that I can’t get enough of. 

Once Brothers

ESPN, to celebrate their 30^th anniversary, released a series called 30 for 30, which covered a wide range of sports and topics.  One of the first ones I heard about was Once Brothers, the story of the Yugoslavian Basketball Team from the late 80’s, early 90’s.  This was particularly interesting to me because of my love of the Croatian Sensation, the Waiter, Toni Kukoc.  I knew of their success—silver in 1988 Olympics and 1990 World Champions—but I didn’t know their story.

The film is Vlade Divac’s account of his rise from small town to Yugoslavian basketball club star to world champion to NBA players and the relationships with his teammates, which became more and more strained as the former Soviet Republic broke apart.  It was heart wrenching to see him and Drazen Petrovic drift apart after a moment of nationalistic pride from Vlade.  The whole film had me on the verge of tears, as the glory and drama and tragedy of that team was retold.  I highly recommend this movie.  This is bigger than basketball and is story of friendship and hard work and redemption.

Old Futbol Buffet--All You Can Eat

Editor’s Note: after weekends I gorge myself on footy, I plan to post on what I saw, heard, thought. This is a little late because I lost my flash drive (momentarily) and then was on the road for work.

Saturday

The rest of the family was away, so I was given free reign over the weekend to watch footy and basketball. I missed the Manchester United game (BERBA BABY!!) but got some work down around the house and headed out for the afternoon matches.

Ran into a couple of Arsenal fans who were drowning their sorrows after the Gunners dropped more points in a 2-2 draw with West Brom. They mentioned that Alumnia had a poor game, which is usual. I watched the hilites later and his contribution to a calamitous second goal. Looks like his fine performance against FCB in the second leg really is the anomaly.

The couple conceded the league to United, but there is still a ways to go. However, the loss in the Carling Cup Final has really put the pressure on them. No trophy from a match which they were heavily favored, and now the club out of Champions League and FA Cup. Everything is tied up in the league or it’s another season of “Wait til next year”.

I watched the end of Lazio and Cesena. Not too much happened. Lazio had a point blank header saved but picked up all three points in 1-0 win.

FCB v Getafe

FCB got off to a nervy start due several factors: Real Madrid playing after so the Blaugrana had to put three points on the board; Puyol out still; and the drama around Abidal. A goal by Alves on 16’ seemed to settle the team. Messi was dangerous but not sharp enough; Villa was looking for PK’s instead of finishing his chances. Bojan was lively but still not up to Pedro’s high standards. The midfield was solid, with Masch winning several challenges. Milito was shaky, but with his injuries and lack of playing time, what do you expect? Felt Adriano could have played better.

Getafe had a great chance to equalize, but Valdes came up huge. FCB continued to create chances but the HT whistle blew with only one goal being scored. Last week Sevilla came out of the blocks in the second half and surely that was part of Pep’s comments during the interval.

Bojan, who has been marginalized over the last two seasons, scored a vital goal early in the second half. It took a slight deflection but will probably do wonders for his confidence. The third goal never came and Getafe set up an interesting finish with a fine finish by Manu. FCB saw out the match and put pressure on Los Merengues heading into the Madrid Derby (which of course they against the choking dogs know as Atletico Madrid).

Sunday

Athletic Bilbao v Villarreal

Watched the last half an hour of this match while watching the Duke/Michigan game. Looked like a tense, hard fought game but I didn’t see much action. The Yellow Submarine picked up three vital points with the 1-0 victory to solidify their spot in the top four and keep the pressure on Valencia. This followed an impressive victory in the Europa League. They continue to fight on both fronts, with very little chance of losing their Champions League position, because, skimming results, Espanyol have lost 7 of their last 9 to fall away from the Champions League places. They are now 1^st for the rest of the table, holding a one point edge over Bilbao.

At the bottom, Malaga have finally caught fire and now have the momentum in the relegation fight. Hercules have hit rock bottom and look to go down despite being the only team to beat FCB this season. The relegation battles in Spain and England should be nail-biting right to the last minute of the season.

Marseille v PSG

I usually have not been impressed by French games, but the first half was very open and entertaining. OM really took it to PSG, which looked very average. Lots of turnovers and too much hesitation when they finally got into the final third.

Heinze opened the scoring 15’ with a fantastic free kick. Coupet didn’t even move. Who knew he could take free kicks? However PSG took advantage of poor clearance, and scored when a shot off the post from Nene was fired home by Chantome. OM responded quickly and Ayew scored with a relatively free header from Gignac to put the Champions in front on 35’.

The exciting first half caused two thoughts: Where was this against United? And I had made the right choice as Valencia v Sevilla was 0-0 at HT.

The second half was a little more disciplined. PSG really didn’t create enough chances, even though Marseille looked to have settled for the lead and invited PSG on to them.

Ayew had a great chance after a fine individual run turned away by Coupet, then Mandanda kept PSG out with a nice save 10’ into the half. Lucho and Abriel came on with half an hour to try to maintain OM’s grip on the game.

Guily best chance came with 10’ to go with interplay creating a real chance on goal as opposed to the half chances for most of the half. PSG threw bodies forward in an effort to equalize and OM squandered two gilt edged chances to kill off the game, with Lucho and Remy at fault.

After that result, this what the top of Ligue 1 looks like. With OM out of the Champions League, they could still make a final push to retain their title.

Lille	28	15	10	3	22	55
Marseille	28	14	9	5	17	51
Rennes	28	14	8	6	11	50
Lyon	28	13	10	5	21	49
PSG	28	12	9	7	12	45

La Liga Lowdown - Round 22

Boring, Boring Barcelona edition

How great is it that 20 years ago, you couldn’t see a soccer game on TV, and now you can’t keep up. Between ESPN3.com, golTV and FSC, plus all of the internet streams legal or otherwise, there are games on all the time. I am constantly figuring out which games I can watch live or on replay, trying to hit my biggies (FCB, Manchester United, and Juventus) while getting a smattering of other teams and leagues. Focusing on FCB, here are the results of the last couple of matches I’ve been able to watch live or on replay since November’s El Clasico:

Espanyol 5-1 2-0 at HT

Athletic Bilbao 0-0 0-0 at HT

Athletic Bilbao 1-1 0-0 at HT

Malaga 4-1 3-0 at HT

Almeria 5-0 4-0 at HT

Atletico Madrid 3-0 2-0 at HT

If you take away the cup tie against Bilbao, which was tense and physical, FCB have taken several opponents out to the woodshed. I actually turned the Almeria Copa del Rey game off at halftime because I had to get back to work. Well let's be honest here. I was bored. Can I say that? FCB are so good right now that watching them has become tedious. Yes, an effort. The Blaugrana possess the ball anywhere from 65 to 75 percent of the time, poking at and stretching out the opponent until they finally carve them up to create a scoring opportunity. Then they score and do it again and again. During Satruday’s game against Atletico Madrid, I found myself constantly checking the Juventus/Caligari game, and, when that was over, checking email and Facebook and twitter, all the while lamenting the fact that I missed the greatest day in EPL history.

How can I witness one of the great club sides in recent memory, quite possibly ever, and yet be more concerned with my Facebook status and twitter timeline? Several reasons. Xavi to Iniesta to Xavi to Alves to Messi to Xavi and so on is mesmerizing but, once the result is secured, can be a little repetitive. I have some form of ADD and need to be constantly entertained. The opponents. Most teams park the proverbial bus right away. BORING. Some teams are great on the counter so that can be exciting. Still others try to out Barcelona Barcelona with high pressure and these tend to be the best encounters. The last two categories account for about five clubs, so there are 14 barricades or white flags thrown up. Yawn. Finally, let's face it, barring injury, the league is all but over already. Real Madrid have gone seven points down, which is essentially eight due to head to head goal difference. Barcelona have now won 16 league games in a row which means the league is over in February. It's not even a two horse race anymore.

However, all is not lost. Here are the upcoming fixtures:

Sporting Gijon v Barcelona

Arsenal v Barcelona

Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao

Mallorca v Barcelona

Valencia v Barcelona

Barcelona v Real Zaragoza

Barcelona v Arsenal

Sevilla FC v Barcelona

My guess is that once the Champions League starts up again, the thrill of watching the Blaugrana will return. Playing Arsenal in games that mean something should install a spark of intensity that will get the fire going again. Plus Bilbao and Valencia usually give FCB a tough game. More games means more rotation, so different players will be used in the league fixtures, which means the gap between Barcelona and their opponents will close, providing a more competitive environment. All of this leads to mid-April and two Clasicos in four days. First at the Bernabeu in the league (4/17) and then the Copa del Rey final on 4/20 as FCB will go for their second domestic double in three years.

I should continue to broaden my horizons in La Liga anyway. I think I've seen every team at least once, but I need to focus more on the bottom end of the table, as there is very compelling relegation battle forming.

R Zaragoza	22	5	8	9	-13	23
Sporting	22	5	7	10	-8	22
Osasuna	22	5	7	10	-8	22
Hercules	22	6	4	12	-14	22
Racing	22	5	7	10	-14	22
Deportivo	22	5	7	10	-15	22
Levante	22	6	3	13	-11	21
Almeria	22	4	8	10	-15	20
Málaga	22	5	3	14	-19	18

Malaga may go down despite their Qatari money; Hercules may go down despite their great start; Deportivo was a big name just 5 years ago and will be fighting for their spot to the bitter end this season. A nine team Battle Royale is on the cards and should provide some wonderful entertainment, while, at the top, FCB tries to win everything again.