Patrick posted this in the comments section but I wanted to put on the main page b/c its so damn good..
Here ya go..
Beckham pretty much reveals the problem with the DP rule in that if you lose the DP player you built your team around, you're pretty much screwed. And with AC Milan screwing the Galaxy over on Becks and Bayern screwing over THEIR loan agreement on Donovan (who was being paid DP money but not counted because he was grandfathered in), Galaxy loses two DP level players and are stuck with draft prospects and players that were meant to fill holes with the limited cap space they got. Bruce Arena says he has a back up, but he's got SHIT.
Galaxy changed their whole uniform to fit Beckham's image, raised tix to the ROOF and now they are stuck with crap. Fans are already asking for their money back or season tickets are super reduced prices and with the recession, MLS really can't afford to lose their cash cow (since the MLS is a socialist system).
Basically, unless Beckham gives up 16.4 million, the MLS and Galaxy will be out of business in 2 years unless Ronaldinho or someone like him takes Beckham's place.
Lesson: Never loan out to big clubs because they don't respect you anyway.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
1. Liverpool is gone from the FA Cup. Liverpool's other team, Everton, knocked them out with a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from 19 year old in the 118th minute of the match. Liverpool had been down to 10 men for some time after Lucas (yup, just Lucas) got sent off in the 79th minute. Liverpool also was without their captain, Steven Gerrard, for much of the match after he left with a hamstring injury. Up until last week, Robbie Keane would have taken his place in such a situation. However, Robbie Keane is back with Tottenham now, so that option wasn't there.
So by my count, the teams left in the FA Cup are these 17, the ones not in the Premiership are in bold, because they are so plucky:
Everton
Burnley
Derby County
Aston Villa
Blackburn
Swansea City
Fulham
Coventry City
Sheffield United
Hull
West Ham
Middlesbrough
Watford
Chelsea
Man U
Arsenal
Cardiff City
2. Spain's domestic tournament is a little farther along. The Copa del Rey is in the semifinals, and it looks like Barcelona will be advancing to the finals as they attempt to win this tournament for the first time since 1998. They beat Mallorca 2-0 in the first leg of their semis matchup. Thierry Henry scored for Barca in that match but despite that comes word that he is going to be sold back to a Premiership team this summer. Barca paid Arsenal 16M pounds for him in 2007, and he's been a pretty good investment, scoring 24 goals in 48 matches and being a contributing member of what I think is the best team in the world right now. Expect Man City to offer him most of Scotland to come play for them next season.
3. David Beckham has let it be known he wants to stay with AC Milan for good, meaning he won't be willingly coming back to MLS. He has said that he has "rediscovered himself as a football player" in his short time with Milan. The best thing about this story is a raging debate on ESPN's soccernet about whether America is good or bad, with the best post being,
"Most american sports, with the exception of Basketball are tailored for fat people. Baseball and football, are sports where FAT people can actually play because you dont have to run that much"
I guess they've got us there.
So by my count, the teams left in the FA Cup are these 17, the ones not in the Premiership are in bold, because they are so plucky:
Everton
Burnley
Derby County
Aston Villa
Blackburn
Swansea City
Fulham
Coventry City
Sheffield United
Hull
West Ham
Middlesbrough
Watford
Chelsea
Man U
Arsenal
Cardiff City
2. Spain's domestic tournament is a little farther along. The Copa del Rey is in the semifinals, and it looks like Barcelona will be advancing to the finals as they attempt to win this tournament for the first time since 1998. They beat Mallorca 2-0 in the first leg of their semis matchup. Thierry Henry scored for Barca in that match but despite that comes word that he is going to be sold back to a Premiership team this summer. Barca paid Arsenal 16M pounds for him in 2007, and he's been a pretty good investment, scoring 24 goals in 48 matches and being a contributing member of what I think is the best team in the world right now. Expect Man City to offer him most of Scotland to come play for them next season.
3. David Beckham has let it be known he wants to stay with AC Milan for good, meaning he won't be willingly coming back to MLS. He has said that he has "rediscovered himself as a football player" in his short time with Milan. The best thing about this story is a raging debate on ESPN's soccernet about whether America is good or bad, with the best post being,
"Most american sports, with the exception of Basketball are tailored for fat people. Baseball and football, are sports where FAT people can actually play because you dont have to run that much"
I guess they've got us there.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Super Bowl Requiem
Last weekend the Steelers became the new NFL Champs by giving the Arizona Cardinals their 8th loss of the season..yaaaaaay.
Seriously, anybody who says this was the Greatest Super Bowl ever is either a Steelers fan or has the memory of a goldfish. The greatest SB ever was the one last year. It was pretty much the same ending as this year's if you can remember back that far. The Patriots scored and it looked like it was over, then the Giants came back and scored, then the Patriots got the ball one last time and couldn't make magic happen in the last minute.
It was the same thing this year. The Cardinals finally stopped getting personal fouls called on them long enough to actually give their offense the ball, and finally said oh the hell with this Anquan Boldin bullshit, we're throwing the ball to that dreadlocked freakazoid if youve got 5 guys on him..try and stop him. Once they made up their minds to do that, it was comeback time. A 20-7 deficit quickly became a 23-20 Cards lead, capped off by a really picturesque play where Fitzgerald caught a pass over the middle and just left everyone in the dust to break a long TD.
That's where the Steeler fan whose house I was at started throwing stuff and yelling F-bombs with 2 year olds around, and I'm like, "Dude it's not over yet, there's plenty of time left, this is the Cardinals, they gave up 426 points this year...I think the Steelers can at least manage a field goal out of their 2 minute drill." So, predictably, the Steelers went right down the field and capped off the drive with a beautiful catch by San Antonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone to give them the lead.
It was a great catch, although the cover of the new SI clearly shows that he only got one foot on the ground in the end zone:
Thats one toe on the ground and the other foot tucked behind it. Not two feet in.
Then there's the Kurt Warner fumble that ended the game. The fumble that ended the Super Bowl that I guess they said they reviewed only they didn't have the ref announce the play was under review or announce that the ruling on the field stood. Shit, it's only the Super Bowl, could they at least rubber stamp that with some due process? I mean, they already flagged Arizona for 106 yards in penalties, including 3 personal fouls on one drive. That's almost twice what the Steelers managed to stumble for in rushing yards. I'm not going to sit here and say "Oh the game is fixed", but my God, this is two Super Bowls in the last 4 years I have seen the Steelers barely beat a mediocre team and get a lot of help from the refs. So I don't know what's up with that.
So, no, this was not the Greatest Super Bowl ever, and if it wasn't for the last 5 minutes it would have been a very bad Super Bowl. The Steelers made it look like a monumental task to beat a team that went 9-7 this year and outscored its opposition by a grand total of 1 point in the regular season.
But, they did win the Super Bowl, for the second time in 4 years. They are the Champions of an NFL season that will probably best be remembered for having a team that went 0-16, a team that went 1-15 in 2007 making the playoffs in 2008, and an NFC Champion that almost gave up more points than they scored during the regular season.
It was a really, really bad NFL season. The "On any given Sunday.." parity trap has given us a league that is worse than mediocre. There is such a thing as too much competitive balance.
Of course, this was the most watched Super Bowl ever, with a record in advertising fees paid even though we are in the throes of economic meltdown. So what do I know.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
1. It looked for a while like the deal was off, but it's confirmed that Russian star Andrei Arshavin is headed to Arsenal. Arshavin had some big goals for Russia in Euro 08, but had only 6 goals in 27 matches for Zenit St. Petersburg this season. Arsenal is in 5th place in the Prem, 5 points out of a qualifying spot in the Champions League.
2. If you haven't seen the Lampard red card tackle yet, here it is.
What a load of boolcrap. Notice how Lampard actually gets to the ball well before the guy he is tackling does. I dont know wtf Moby was thinking giving him a red card here. Chelsea can take some solace though, in the fact that he won't be getting a 3 match suspension, as the appeal to revoke this ridiculous call has been upheld.
3. That red card looks even more ridiculous when you consider that Jose Boswinga didn't even get a FOUL called on him for this play later in the match:
2. If you haven't seen the Lampard red card tackle yet, here it is.
What a load of boolcrap. Notice how Lampard actually gets to the ball well before the guy he is tackling does. I dont know wtf Moby was thinking giving him a red card here. Chelsea can take some solace though, in the fact that he won't be getting a 3 match suspension, as the appeal to revoke this ridiculous call has been upheld.
3. That red card looks even more ridiculous when you consider that Jose Boswinga didn't even get a FOUL called on him for this play later in the match:
Monday, February 2, 2009
Super Bowl, Chelsea Experience, UFC Hax
Alright, many of you are going to be pretty pissed off with my analysis because you're a pussy. At least I don't piss on your back and tell you it's rain.
UFC 94
The judging was much better than in Ireland. Quick thoughts: I told you Machida was the bomb. He's a career killer though so you can't have him go for the title. UFC President Dana White is pretty smart. Just know, Machida has not lost a round in the UFC and has the least hits inflicted on him than any other UFC fighter.
BJ Penn got his ASS BEAT DOWN by GSP. I'm a big fan of the rubber guard, which BJ uses. If you don't know, go on youtube and check it out. Basically in the rubber guard you hold your opposite leg while in the conventional guard so a ground-n-pound guy can't just sit in your guard and smash your face. GSP explained that his strategy was to wrestle BJ early so he'd have no punching power and then stand up later. The strategy worked, but something weird happened during the fight. Every time BJ applied the rubber guard, it slipped off. I just though BJ was tired, but BJ's camp is filing a formal complain to the Nevada Athletic Commission that GSP put Vaseline on his back between rounds. OOPS. Fast forward this video to 9:30
You see UFC President Dana White saying to Rashad Evans (from the same camp as GSP) that GSP was in trouble because he got caught putting Vaseline rubbed on his back.
One thing about White, he cares about the sport a lot. He once kicked off two dipshits on the Ultimate Fighter show for fighting "like street thugs" because they were ruining the professional fighter image he's worked so hard to get for the UFC fighters. White will support BJ's claim to 1) keep the sport clean and 2) get another rematch. Take the money; put it in his pocket.
Alright, enough non-football.
Liverpool vs. Chelsea
Nick said the red card on Lampard was bullshit. Well, funny thing. I was watching the game with my newly befriended Chelsea fan friends of about 40 strong in the bar. There were about 10 Liverpool fans in there. Chelsea fans were in full song and shit, so it was fun. I go to the restroom, come back, and WHAT THE FUCK LAMPARD GOT SENT OFF. I got to see the replay and Lampard did come in stud first, but got all ball and the player he tackled actually kicked Lampard. Ha?
To be fair, Chelsea Coach Scolari said Chelsea back Bosingwa should have gotten sent off, so he agreed it would have evened out. Chelsea really played like shit too, and Liverpool honestly was the more deserving side. I know this is a bad season for Chelsea but I hope Chelsea fans don't act all stupid and want to get rid of Scolari. I still like him.
But the fun wasn't in all this. The fun was the songs. When Liverpool scored, the ten Liverpool fans cheered and jeered us. ALL FUCKING 40 OF US turned to them, stared at them, and sung this (to the tune of the Addams Family theme):
After 3 rounds of this, Liverpool fans stopped jeering. Then when the other goal scored, Liverpool fans cheered again, but didn't jeer because they learned what happens. So we instead sung this song:
It's pretty cool to lose and still feel like you won. Oli, your team deserved the win. Eat shit.
Super Bowl
Everyone and their mom LOVED Super Bowl XLIII with many saying it was the greatest Superbowl ever. Hey, fuck you dipshit. I think I am the ONLY FUCKING ONE to notice how shitty the refereeing was on the Cardinals. It was like a bukake of yellow flags. It seemed like every time the Card D stopped the Steelers, a Card barely touches Rothlesbitch right after he throws the ball and gets a roughing the passer call. Meanwhile, Harrison and Ward throw punches at players and don't get ejected. Even Mr. Obvious John Madden said Harrison should be ejected.
I thought the Cards should have won easily, but they didn't want Fitzgerald to get MVP and decided to pass to Bitchtit Boldin and Overthehill James. Then in the fourth they just passed to Fitz in triple coverage and he scores two touchdowns in 5 minutes. Fuck you, Warner.
So to all those who thought this was the BEST SUPER BOWL EVER (c), go watch Super Bowl XL because that was the BEST SUPER BOWL EVER (c) too.
Fuck you.
UFC 94
The judging was much better than in Ireland. Quick thoughts: I told you Machida was the bomb. He's a career killer though so you can't have him go for the title. UFC President Dana White is pretty smart. Just know, Machida has not lost a round in the UFC and has the least hits inflicted on him than any other UFC fighter.
BJ Penn got his ASS BEAT DOWN by GSP. I'm a big fan of the rubber guard, which BJ uses. If you don't know, go on youtube and check it out. Basically in the rubber guard you hold your opposite leg while in the conventional guard so a ground-n-pound guy can't just sit in your guard and smash your face. GSP explained that his strategy was to wrestle BJ early so he'd have no punching power and then stand up later. The strategy worked, but something weird happened during the fight. Every time BJ applied the rubber guard, it slipped off. I just though BJ was tired, but BJ's camp is filing a formal complain to the Nevada Athletic Commission that GSP put Vaseline on his back between rounds. OOPS. Fast forward this video to 9:30
You see UFC President Dana White saying to Rashad Evans (from the same camp as GSP) that GSP was in trouble because he got caught putting Vaseline rubbed on his back.
"George is in trouble too...George is in trouble by the Commission. The corner got caught rubbing vaseline all over his back... why would you fucking do that...?"
One thing about White, he cares about the sport a lot. He once kicked off two dipshits on the Ultimate Fighter show for fighting "like street thugs" because they were ruining the professional fighter image he's worked so hard to get for the UFC fighters. White will support BJ's claim to 1) keep the sport clean and 2) get another rematch. Take the money; put it in his pocket.
Alright, enough non-football.
Liverpool vs. Chelsea
Nick said the red card on Lampard was bullshit. Well, funny thing. I was watching the game with my newly befriended Chelsea fan friends of about 40 strong in the bar. There were about 10 Liverpool fans in there. Chelsea fans were in full song and shit, so it was fun. I go to the restroom, come back, and WHAT THE FUCK LAMPARD GOT SENT OFF. I got to see the replay and Lampard did come in stud first, but got all ball and the player he tackled actually kicked Lampard. Ha?
To be fair, Chelsea Coach Scolari said Chelsea back Bosingwa should have gotten sent off, so he agreed it would have evened out. Chelsea really played like shit too, and Liverpool honestly was the more deserving side. I know this is a bad season for Chelsea but I hope Chelsea fans don't act all stupid and want to get rid of Scolari. I still like him.
But the fun wasn't in all this. The fun was the songs. When Liverpool scored, the ten Liverpool fans cheered and jeered us. ALL FUCKING 40 OF US turned to them, stared at them, and sung this (to the tune of the Addams Family theme):
You like to fuck each other
Your sister is your mother
Your father fucked your sister
The Scouser family
da da da dum *clap* *clap*
After 3 rounds of this, Liverpool fans stopped jeering. Then when the other goal scored, Liverpool fans cheered again, but didn't jeer because they learned what happens. So we instead sung this song:
The wheels on the house go round and round, round and round, round and round
The wheels on the house go round and round, all the Scouser day.
It's pretty cool to lose and still feel like you won. Oli, your team deserved the win. Eat shit.
Super Bowl
Everyone and their mom LOVED Super Bowl XLIII with many saying it was the greatest Superbowl ever. Hey, fuck you dipshit. I think I am the ONLY FUCKING ONE to notice how shitty the refereeing was on the Cardinals. It was like a bukake of yellow flags. It seemed like every time the Card D stopped the Steelers, a Card barely touches Rothlesbitch right after he throws the ball and gets a roughing the passer call. Meanwhile, Harrison and Ward throw punches at players and don't get ejected. Even Mr. Obvious John Madden said Harrison should be ejected.
I thought the Cards should have won easily, but they didn't want Fitzgerald to get MVP and decided to pass to Bitchtit Boldin and Overthehill James. Then in the fourth they just passed to Fitz in triple coverage and he scores two touchdowns in 5 minutes. Fuck you, Warner.
So to all those who thought this was the BEST SUPER BOWL EVER (c), go watch Super Bowl XL because that was the BEST SUPER BOWL EVER (c) too.
You put your Steelers in, you put your Steelers out
You put your Steelers in, and you shake it all about
Rosthlesberger's on a motorcycle riding out
Landing to the pavement on his snout!
Fuck you.
3 Points- Even More Referee Hijinks Than The Super Bowl
1. If you're a football/futbol fan, the Super Bowl wasn't the only reason to be excited yesterday. As an opening act, you had the Premiership's second and third place sides, Liverpool and Chelsea squaring off. Just like the Super Bowl, officiating played a huge role (more on that in my Super Bowl 8 In the Box which will be up later this week). About 3/4 through the match, Chelsea's Frank Lampard got a bullshit red card for a challenge that was pretty much all ball. Chelsea hung in there for a while down a man, but in the final minutes Liverpool got a goal on a header from Fernando Torres to go up 1-0, then Torres scored again to make it 2-0 Liverpool. Adding to the fact that they may have lost the match and any chance at catching Man U because of that, Lampard now faces a 3 match ban that Chelsea is going to have to appeal.
2. The man who for 6 seasons scored double digit goals for Tottenham is heading back to Spurs after a six month sojourn with Liverpool. Robbie Keane, Ireland's captain, who had much difficulty cracking Rafael Benitez' lineup this year, heads back as Harry Redknapp continues the process of getting Tottenham's band back together in an effort to avoid relegation. Former Spurs scorer Jermain Defoe returned after a similarly abbreviated stint at Portsmouth.
3. Real Madrid got their sixth straight victory this weekend, 2-1 over Numancia. Still not good enough for "Honorary President" Alfredo di Stefano (pictured above) who says they "lack sparkle". You know who can help them with that right?
Other big matches this weekend-
- The Prem's 4th and 5th place teams, Villa and Arsenal, both stumbled to scoreless draws at home, missing an opportunity to pick up 3 points on Chelsea. Arsenal's zip zip against West Ham is particularly painful, because they are 5 points out of a Champions League berth right now.
- Barca continues to roll, getting a pair of goals from Lionel Messi to come from behind for a 2-1 victory at Racing. Barca got a pair of guys ejected in the last 2 minutes of the match.
- With the Kaka saga behind them, AC Milan is on a roll and Inter should start being nervous. While the Serie A leaders struggled to a 1-1 draw at home against 18th place Torino, Milan pasted Lazio in Rome 3-0. AC passed Juventus, who lost at home to Cagliari 3-2, and is now just 6 points out of first place.
- It's still really early in the Mexican season, but we had a big match this weekend as defending champs Toluca beat Pumas 1-0. Patrick's Club America continues to sleepwalk thru the beginning of this season, losing to Morelia 1-0.
WEEKEND SCOREBOARD
EPL
17 Stoke 1, 10 Man City 0
12 Bolton 3, 14 Spurs 2
19 Boro 0, 18 Rovers 0
5 Arsenal 0, 8 West Ham 0
9 Fulham 3, 16 Portsmouth 1
4 Villa 0, 7 Wigan 0
11 Hull 2, 20 West Brom 2
1 Man U 1, 6 Everton 0
15 Newcastle 1, 13 Sunderland 1
2 Liverpool 2, 3 Chelsea 0
LA LIGA
9 Athletic Bilbao 3, 8 Malaga 2
17 Numancia 0, 2 Real Madrid 2
10 Racing 1, 1 Barca 2
19 Espanyol 1, 15 Recreativo 1
6 Deportivo 3, 5 Villarreal 0
7 Atletico 1, 11 Valladolid 2
18 Osasuna 1, 20 Mallorca 0
4 Valencia 3, 14 Almeria 2
16 Real Betis 2, 13 Getafe 2
12 Sporting Gijon 1, 3 Sevilla 0
SERIE A
8 Napoli 2, 12 Udinese 2
3 Juventus 2, 7 Cagliari 3
11 Atalanta 1, 13 Catania 0
19 Chievo 1, 15 Sampdoria 1
14 Siena 1, 16 Lecce 2
1 Inter 1, 18 Torino 1
4 Genoa 1, 9 Palermo 0
10 Lazio 0, 2 AC Milan 3
20 Reggina 2, 6 AS Roma 2
17 Bologna 1, 5 Fiorentina 3
PDM
6 Tecos 1, 3 Cruz Azul 0
5 Morelia 1, 4 America 0
4 Monterrey 1, 1 Chivas 2
5 Atlas 1, 6 Tigres 1
1 Jaguares 1, 3 San Luis 2
4 Necaxa 2, 3 Indios 2
1 Pachuca 1, 2 Atlante 1
6 Santos 0, 5 Puebla 0
2 Toluca 1, 2 Pumas 0
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Mr. Football Picks Steelers by 4, Steelers win by 4
From last week's 8 In the Box.
"In these playoffs though, the Steelers have taken excellent care of the ball, turning it over only once in two wins. So they should continue to do that. I will issue a very sissified pick, if Pittsburgh turns it over less than 3 times, which I think they can do, they will win. If not, all bets are off.
Call it 24-20 Steelers."
Football is pretty boring when you already know what is going to happen.
"In these playoffs though, the Steelers have taken excellent care of the ball, turning it over only once in two wins. So they should continue to do that. I will issue a very sissified pick, if Pittsburgh turns it over less than 3 times, which I think they can do, they will win. If not, all bets are off.
Call it 24-20 Steelers."
Football is pretty boring when you already know what is going to happen.
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