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.

Strip Club—Pole Work Edition

On September 4^th, 1994, Croatia kicked off against Estonia and started an amazing four year run for The Blazers in continental and international football. Their first competitive games as a new nation were for qualification to Euro 96, in which they won their group, only losing one match, including a draw and victory against 1994 World Cup Runners-Up Italy. At the Finals, they finished second to Portugal (if you haven’t seen Suker’s goal against Denmark . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2ut4AwrLso )and qualified for the knockout stage, where they lost to Germany despite a sick goal by Suker (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhN0bITB_ZA).

Two years on, they took the world by storm as they made it all the way to the semi-finals of the World Cup, which included a 3-0 demolition of Germany, before they lost to two unlikely and amazing goals from Lillian Thuram of the host country France. They responded by defeating Holland in the third place game to complete a journey from non-existence to the heights of international competition. However, things didn't go as well for the next decade as Suker, Boban, Prosinečki and Bilic retired, and the next generation couldn't match their achievements.

Croatia appears to be in the midst of a new cycle of success. In Euro 08, a team coached by Bilic played some very attractive football and introduced some new stars to the European scene, namely Modric, with Kranjcar, Pranjić and Olic featuring. If you have a chance, check some of the Croatian highlights from that tournament. After crashing out in qualifying for World Cup 2010, they look to be in prime position for Euro 2012, with a game against Greece probably deciding their fate.

On June 3^rd, the Blazers defeated Georgia 2-1. Their remaining fixtures are as follows:

Sep 2 Malta v Croatia

Sep 6 Croatia v Israel

Oct 7 Greece v Croatia

Oct 11 Croatia v Latvia

Ivo Andov (@ivoandov), who has a little more insight on Croatia, had this to share on twitter:

Hard to gauge really. Plenty of young, talented players are coming through the ranks but little experience. Being in such an easy qualifying group isn't helping them at all imo. Bilic is an excellent coach, so that would be a plus. I think the only chance for them to progress is if Luka & Vedran & Darijo step up and lead the team. With such a young squad, it's possible for them to be a surprise, but I would err on the side of underachievement

Visit Ivo at www.ivolves.com or http://twitter.com/#!/ivoandov

When I first saw the Croatia football national team at Euro 96, I was instantly taken by their uniforms, which looked like the Big Boy outfit down the street (insert pic).

I admit I was strangely gutted when they lost to Germany in the quarterfinals of Euro 96 despite knowing almost nothing about them.

The summer after Euro 96, I was at my local soccer shop and came across the Croatian jersey. I couldn't believe it . I immediately took it up to the counter and swiped my credit card. The jersey is one of the few I have that is made by Lotto, but it is lightweight and great to play in. Of course I get mocked due to the large checked pattern (either something about Big Boy or wearing a picnic blanket) but that's because people don't get it.

Assuming they make Euro 2012, they will probably be my second team, behind Spain. Another clash with Germany would be epic.

Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia_national_football_team