Happy Fleet Week Friday

Work has been beyond insane lately, y tengo un clase de Espanol en universidad CCSF esta otono {and I'm taking a Spanish class at City College SF this fall}. That, and a few other things have brought about the radio silence recently.

It's Fleet Week, the centerpiece of which is the airshow over the city & the bay featuring the Blue Angels both tomorrow and Sunday. As we speak they Blue Angels are practicing, as they did yesterday, and I'm looking out a 4th floor window watching them do their thing {yesterday was better - 12th story sky terrace in another building}. It is a trippy and surreal experience to witness this from downtown, both the sights- looking up in the sky and seeing them fly over the city at ridiculously low altitudes {not more than a couple hundred feet over the rooftops at some points}- and the sounds- sonic booms galore. I wonder if they have any other shows that are over cities- it seems most all airshows are at Air Force bases out in the middle of nowhere. It's a little freakier to watch this year knowing that this spring Blue Angel #6 crashed in South Carolina at an airshow and the pilot was killed. If that ever happened here over the city I think they might shut down the whole Blue Angel airshow thing for good. It also gives you a bit of an idea of what it would be like sensually to be in a city that was under attack from fighter jets. Namely, scary as fuck.


Tomorrow will be a brief run up to the roof to check it out during a lull in the college football slate, and then Sunday my sister and her family are coming down to check it out, so we'll take in the whole show. One of the coolest things I've seen out here for sure.

Speaking of college football, last week the slate of games looked like shit, but then it turned in to an amazing day of upsets and exciting games. This week the slate looks incredible on paper- hopefully it will be half as good as last week. More likely that it will be a bit of an anticlimatic disappointment, as the super hyped weekend of amazing games on paper often are.

Arsenal: unbeaten in 11 matches this season, including 9 wins in a row/on the trot/on the spin, which put them firmly at the top of the table. Twice.

Gotta run. Hope to get to write a little more next week; I have some thoughts on the Arse and a long standing rant on CFB that I am bit amazed none of the several way-better-CFB bloggers-than-me have ranted on in the last year.

Let's hobnail boot those fuckers tomorrow.

Happy Weekend, whatever you get into.

"One And Done, Baby!"

With all the hype and attention {and deservedly so} given to the fact that Larry Munson missed calling his 2nd Georgia game in 42 years on Saturday because he will no longer do road games, I just wanted to point out that Scott Howard, in his very first game moving over from the co-pilot seat to drive the Bulldog Radio Network jumbo jet all by himself, came up with a great call on Georgia's amazing game winning play.


As first days on the job go, this was pretty impressive.

Not a bad way to start your play by play career in the shadow of one of the most legendary announcers in the history of football. It must have been difficult and intimidating as hell for him to do this first game, and not just any game but a high profile night road game against a good ranked team and historic program. Probably akin to taking over the CBS news anchor the day after Walter Cronkite's last broadcast and having some major news happen that day, and not only holding up well but even nailing the news Veronica Corningstone style.

Well done, Good Sir, well done.

Georgia's Not Man Enough To Beat Alabama

Reverse jinx in the house.

Hell, it worked last time.

Fucking Embarrassing

The game? No. The game was shit on so many levels, but we'll get to that in due time.

The embarrassment was the fans that booed the team off the field at halftime, and at other times as well. It was loud and clear on my television from 2,500 miles away, so I am certain that it was several orders of magnitude louder inside the stadium. I know not all of you did, but to the ones that did, you are a fucking embarrassment to the University of Georgia, and if you are going to boo 18-22 year old kids, then please stay home. And don't come with that weak shit "I was just booing the coaching staff, or the playcalling. Not the kids." Fuck you for thinking that anyone could selectively distinguish the narrow and specific philosophical nature of your booing. If this was the first time this has happened then I wouldn't be so pissed about it. But it's not. I remember writing about it at least 2 times last year, and can remember other instances of it beyond that. Shit Terrance Edwards was what, six, seven years ago? To repeatedly do this is a totally embarrassing representation of our fanbase and school.

If I was a recruit at one of the games when this happened, then I would have serious, serious reservations about committing my future to UGA. When things are down the team need you to be as encouraging as ever, and we have all seen that crowds can be a motivational 12th man. When things are shit, in sports or in life, it's positive encouragement and belief in you from others that spur you out of it and onto better things, not turncoat negativity and abandonment. What the team needed was an encouraging and rousing standing ovation from all 83,000 UGA fans that said "Come on! We're behind you and we believe in you! We both know that you have fucked up and can do much better, so let's do just that- you can do this! "

Moan. Groan. Throw shit. Break something. Curse like a motherfucking sailor at that God damn shitty playcall on 4th and 2 or the missed tackles or the poor throws or the drops and on and on. Whatever. But do not give up and turn on your team when things are not going well. It is a horrible and insulting message to send to the young men who represent our school, and it speaks volumes to your level of so-called fandom. You are a fairweather bandwagoner who only cheers for a winner, and I do not appreciate you. You are chickenshits.

If you are a true fan of UGA, or any other team for that matter, then root for, cheer, and encourage that team when things are going great and when things are going shitty. In fact, the more you stand by your team when they perform poorly, the more you show yourself to be a real fan of the team.

The next time something shitty happens in your life, or you completely fuck up, be it relationship, job, or otherwise related, and you are down and out, and a friend or family member gives you positive words of encouragement that makes you feel better, believe in yourself, and helps you get out of the bad situation and out of the rain and back in to the sunshine, and you think about how much you appreciate that person and their words which were so helpful, think about how you would have felt if instead of offering words of encouragement and support, those same people booed you and told you that you were shit when you needed a boost. Then think about the fact that, as an alleged diehard loyal Bulldog, you booed the shit out of 20 year old kids when things weren't going well but there was still all to play for, and what a shitbird wanker that makes you look like.

And triple everything I just said for anyone who is an alumnus of the University Of Georgia and not just a "fan" in general.


If you want to see how it should be done, then check out Portsmouth of the EPL sometime. Down 0-4 after 35 minutes at home to an absolutely rampant Arsenal in an FA Cup match back in 2003, they sang in support of their team, 28,000 strong at the top of their lungs, for the entire 90 minutes en route to an absolute 5-1 assbeating. It was completely astounding and beyond impressive to anyone who witnessed it, and was commented on far and wide, even by the Arsenal players and manager. Their fans are widely regarded as the best in the land for just this reason, and are respected far and wide even though they are not a great team.

11 College Football Predictions For Aught Seven

1. At the end of the year, Brandon Coutu will have been the Bulldogs most important player, and he will walk off into the sunset {and NFL} with the Lou Groza award. I've mentioned it before, but if he doesn't go down injured a few games into the season it is very likely that the close losses to Vandy & Kentucky, where multiple field goals/extra points were missed, are close wins, and UGA finishes last year reg season 10-2 and ranked in the top 10 instead of a somewhat disappointing 8-4. Anyway, dude is beyond money {platinum? gold?} and has plenty of length to boot {pun intended}: multiple 50+ yarders on the resume already. Basically he doesn't miss, unless there is a fuckup with the snap, hold, or blocking, none of which have much to do with his abilities as a kicker. As long as there are no lingering effects of his leg injury last year, he is going to be the man this season.


{to the Davy Crockett theme}
"Bran-donnn, Brannn-don Coutu!
King Of The Long Field Goal!"

2. Two teams in the top 10 as of today will finish unranked. Now if only I knew which 2 they were, then I'd be onto something...

3. Mid majors trying to get into the BCS discussion will try to shoot par whenever possible. "Par? What do you mean Kanu?" I mean holy shit, did you see Louisville shoot 1 over par last night {Louisville 73-10 Murray State}? Prime candidates for this are Boise and Hawaii, but as it develops anyone with the wherewithal and opportunity will do it, rather than pack it in and take knees, in an effort to grab attention from the "look: shiny!!!" types in the mainstream media who tend to determine such things as "the narrative", rankings, and who the alleged best player in the land is {read: getting all worked up about an overhyped popularity contest that is the Heisman trophy}.

4. Speaking of the narrative... Boise State was such a media darling of a cinderella story last year when they got into the Fiesta Bowl and beat Oklahoma in Hollywood movie fashion, that I GUARANTEE that ESPN will start out fellating Boise and Hawaii, but after 4-5 weeks they will latch on to whatever team looks like they will have the best shot at sitting at the big boy table this year {be it Boise, Hawaii, or someone else, meaning they will drop Boise and/or Hawaii like a hot rock if they lose}, and they will latch onto them and shove them down our collective throats so much that by mid November everyone will hate that team and want them to lose just so we can stop seeing endless special reports from Shelley Smith or whomever they send out to set up shop on campus and overexpose that team to everyone's annoyance {see: ESPN 2005, creating a nation of haters against SC when in reality it wasn't SC they hated but they way they were covered by big media, in this case ESPN. For further reading see: Tiger Woods, and his legion of haters who don't even really hate him but rather the media over-coverage of him}.

5. Speaking of the "WorldWide Leader", they will exploit the Virginia Tech tradgedy for ratings early and often. Don't think this is a one off, where they changed the site of GameDay and their focus for the 1st weekend from Cal-Tennessee to Blacksburg and then it's business as usual. Rather, this will go on and on throughout the season, and the better they do, the more it will intensify. Now that Bonds has surpassed Aaron, we might be getting Pedro Gomez special reports from Blacksburg on the regular. No disrespect at all to the VT family, but the exploitation of this by ESPN {and surely others will follow to a lesser extent} for ratings and getting casual sports non hardcore football fans to tune in, is sad. Not quite Faux News sad, but certainly in that same neighborhood. Someone on a comment thread over at I think PWD's house back when the GameDay switch was announced said it best, and I'm paraphrasing: "this is like your mom dying of cancer, and then a year later after you have started to heal and try to move on with your life some asshole coming up and rehashing the whole thing by saying 'hey, man, remember last year when your mom died? That sucked.' "

6. A coach will lose his job this season because of off the field impropriety caught on camera and published on Youtube or a similar site. In other words, someone is going to do something really stupid and get busted, a shitstorm will ensue, and he will either be fired or resign: the college football version of macaca if you will. Hell, Gary Moeller getting canned at Michigan for a drunken outburst in a public restaurant was in 1990, and ISU hoops coach Larry Eustachy's drunken reveling at a frat party after an AWAY game was in the internet era but pre Youtube, so it's only a matter of time. Might not be at a big time school, might be DII or DIII, but it will happen.

7. There will be some sort of legal incident arising from the mass of people behind the College GameDay set this season. You're already starting out with a mass of very intoxicated and amped up people with contrarian allegiances crammed into a relatively small space, which is always a recipe for interesting things to happen. The last few years have seen the pushing of the envelope, and each time this just encourages people to push a little further. Most famous was the Georgia fan with the "Lee Corso Is A Penis" cocktail party accoutrement sign. I'm not sure exactly what form this will take, whether it will be an FCC shitstorm a la Janet's SuperBowl titty over something seen in the background {nakedness\sex\obscene signage\other}, or whether someone will get seriously injured from falling or a drunken brawl or whatnot and sue the other parties, ESPN, the host school, Home Depot, and the company that makes Fowler's hair product. I really don't give much of a shit, since I don't even watch the botched abortion that the show has become much anymore; I'm much more informed and entertained by the weekly writeups by the great LD.

8. Speaking of great writeups, Phil Steele's News & Notes column will once again be the best weekly column in all of college football, JAMPACKED WITH INFORMATION that you won't find anywhere else.


The awesomeness of Phil Steele is beyond words.
The awesomeness of Phile Steele rocking Georgia gear
is beyond words to the power of beyond words.

9. Arkansas will be the most entertaining team to watch, both on {Wildcat formation rulzz!!1!1!!} and off the field. I'm just bummed that the sun-saluter of a yogini punter they had last year has graduated.


Gone but not forgotten.

10. The BCS Championship will cause mondo controversy, as the odds of two and only two unbeatens from major conferences is so remote when compared to all of the other scenarios. Duh. I am aware that this is the shortest little twig of a limb that one could ever go out on {I suppose saying Orson Swindle will be funny or that The Mayor will be verbose is even less daring}, but it's still worth mentioning.

11. Both Doug and myself will make it through the season without smashing the fuck out of something.

On second thought, scratch that last one. Some random household item in Birmingham or San Francisco is likely getting fucking destroyed this year.

Feel Good Friday: Closer To My Dreams Edition

Since I'll be in Berkeley tomorrow for the Cal-Tennessee game, today we're going with Berkelely native Goapele, a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice who helps the Bay Area music scene show that it has more to offer than the beyond horrible "hyphy movement".

"Closer" is my favorite song of hers- inspiring, hopeful, and uplifting lyrics, a supertight and smooth beat that will get you nodding your head in approval, and a video featuring muy tranquilo scenes from the California coast.



I hope you all have a great holiday weekend, and that you get closer to your own dreams while doing so.

Lightning Tragically Strikes 3.5 Times in 10 days

By now everyone, soccer fans and general sports fans alike are aware of the shocking death of 22 year old professional athlete Antonio Puerta three days after collapsing on the field in front of a worldwide live TV audience. Tragic is a cliche word, but this was truly tragic, especially when you factor in that he leaves behind his girlfriend, who is pregnant with his son who will be born in October.

A little more under the radar was the abandonment of Carling Cup match between Leicester City and Nottingham Forest on Tuesday when Leicester City's 26 year old Clive Clarke collapsed in the dressing room at halftime and had to be revived with a defibrillator. He is in the hospital and still being observed and tested; we can only hope that he recovers and lives out a long and happy life.

Is that not eerie, tragic, ans scary-as-hell enough for you?

Just yesterday yet another player collapsed, this time 27 year old Zambian international Chaswe Nsofwa who plays in the second division in Israel. He collapsed during practice and was rushed to the hospital, where sadly he died.

If that's not enough, last week 16 year old Anton Reid, a Walsall trainee, collapsed and died in a training session. I kid you not.

That's four collapses and three deaths in the span of 10 days. I don't remember any majorly covered soccer collapse deaths since Cameroon's Marc Vivien Foe collapsed and died in a Confederations Cup match against France back in 2003. I have a feeling more have happened since then but are a bit more under the radar, but surely nothing like 4 in 10 days. I'm going to do a little research on this...

So sad. My thoughts and sincere condolences go out to all persons directly affected by these horrible incidents.

"Don't Look No Further, Baby I'm Back, Yeah, I'm Here To Cater To Yoouuu"

College football is Baby Bash/Akon, and we are the beautiful women to whom they croon.


"I was gone for a minute, but now I'm home..."

Between this and futbol being back in full swing, life is good. CL draw today, LSU-MSU tonight, going to the national game of interest on Saturday {Cal-Tenessee} and watching my team play in the other {Georgia-Oklahoma State}, then Kanu & The Former Arsenal All Stars against The Arse on Sunday, it's beautiful.

Happy football boys and girls, y feliz futbol mundial chicas y chicos!

Or as ESPN would say: let the exploitation of the Virginia Tech tragedy for ratings begin!!!

On The Road To Moscow...

The Champions League Group Stage draw was done this morning, and we're officially off and running with the CL proper: six match days of round robin group play to cut the field from 32 to 16, who then play a knockout stage which will culminate on May 17 in Moscow for the Champions League Final.

Group A
Liverpool {England}
Porto {Portugal}
Marseille {France}
Besiktas {Turkey}

Group B
Chel$ea {England}
Valencia {Spain}
Shalke 04 {Germany}
Rosenborg {Norway}

Group C
Real Madrid {Spain}
Werder Bremen {Germany}
Lazio {Italy}
Olympiakos {Greece}

Group D
AC Milan {Italy}
Benfica {Portugal}
Celtic {Scotland}
Shakhtar Donetsk {Ukraine}

Group E
Barcelona {Spain}
Lyon {France}
Stuttgart {Germany}
Rangers {Scotland}

Group F
Manchester United {England}
Roma {Italy}
Sporting Lisbon {Portugal}
Dynamo Kiev {Ukraine}

Group G
Inter Milan {Italy}
PSV Eindhoven {Holland}
CSKA Moscow {Russia}
Fenerbache {Turkey}

Group H
Arsenal {England}
Sevilla/AEK Athens {Spain/Greece}
Steaua Bucharest {Romania}
Slavia Prague {Czech. Republic}

So there it is.

My first reaction to Arsenal's draw was "hell yes" and that we got a fairly soft draw. Most important we avoided the always tricky trips to insane Turkey as well as insanely cold Russia and Ukraine. On paper Steaua Bucharest are the weakest of the 3 seeds, and Slavia Prague are a weak 4 seed {we just rolled the Czech champions 5-0 in qualifying, so their crosstown rivals should be easy fodder} on paper. But as we all know, the matches are not played on paper, and Slavia Prague did pull the shocker of qualifying by knocking out Dutch longtime Dutch giants Ajax. As far as Sevilla/AEK Athens, if AEK come back to win then they will be the weakest of the 2 seeds, and Sevilla are obviously team turmoil right now with Puerta's death and the fact that their best player, Dani Alves, wants out of Sevilla and apparently is not happy there. That being said, they are a damn good team and it's just as likely that they will play lights out this year feeding off the emotion of playing for their fallen teammate. Either way, I'm ready to see how it all plays out.

Top two in each group make the knockout stage. Third place gets you the nice parting gift of a spot in the 3rd round of the lesser UEFA Cup, and 4th place gets you a one way ticket to the couch where you can watch with the rest of us.

The first group stage matches are Sept. 18/19.

Bring it...

Arsenal Joga Bonito Wednesday: Cesc Appeal

It's been quite a week for Cesc Fabragas, now a grizzled veteran of 20 years and rapidly becoming the iconic talisman of the new {and improved???} Arsenal. Last week he scored a massive 1st goal away to Sparta Prague in the 1st leg of the Champions League qualifying match, putting Arsenal in a great position to qualify. Saturday he scored the only goal in Arsenal's 1-0 win over Man Citeh in the last 10 minutes. Today he came on as a late sub and scored again against Sparta Prauge and Arsenal indeed did qualify for the Champions League. Oh, and he was also rated as the #2 hottie in all of world soccer by Kickette.


The best is saved for last: the humiliation of one Robbie Savage {0:37}

But forget all that. I want to highlight again how mature and classy Cesc is, especially for his age, and how he not only always seems to do the right thing on the field when he has the ball, but he always seems to say the right thing in interviews, which is pretty remarkable considering his age, and the fact that he has been doing it since he was 16.

Cesc is Spanish, and played on the Spanish Under 21 national team with Antonio Puerta. In today's match Cesc wore a black armband in honor of his tragically lost former teammate, which was a pretty nice gesture, both by him and the club {the reports made it sound like he alone wore an armband, but I did not see the match today so i'm not 100% that this is accurate}.

After the match he dedicated his goal to Puerta and said the following:

"I was really sad when I heard Antonio hadn't made it. He was a special guy, although not particularly a special friend. But I played with him for one year in the under-21s and we made our international debut together. I knew he was really ill and then I heard he hadn't made it and that's why I wore the armband. The goal is for him, everything is for him - he was a special guy. It just shows you may know where you are today but in life you don't where you'll be tomorrow. He was a talented player and what's happened is a terrible shame."

That is pretty classy stuff from such a young kid, both the gesture and the words.

Fab4, C4, Cescy Beast, whatever the hell you choose to call him, I freaking love that kid, and I continue to be impressed with him as a person, especially one of such a young age.

"It's Like Lotto: You Gotta Be In It To Win It."

{tying an obscure Beastie Boys sample to the Champions League qualifiers is one of the things that makes this blogging shit fun...}

And now Arsenal are officially in the 2007-2008 Champions League, after a 2nd leg 3-0 win over Sparta Prague which gave them a 5-0 win on aggregate. Tomas Rosicky Harry Potter scored against his former and hometown club, and then Cesc and Eduardo added 2 more late on. So for the 10th year in a row they will be playing for the biggest ball of wax {and money} in European club football.

Most of the other qualifying matches went as expected, with the exception of Dutch giants Ajax, who were unceremoniously dumped out by Slavia Prague.

The draw for the Champions League Group Stage is tomorrow and can be followed live here.

Results of final qualifying round for Champions League 07-08 {winners in bold}:
Arsenal 3-0 Sparta Prague.
Arsenal win 5-0 on aggregate

Liverpool 4-0 Toulouse.
Liverpool win 5-0 on aggregate

AEK Athens ppd. Sevilla.
Sevilla* lead 2-0 on aggregate

Elfsborg 1-2 Valencia.
Valencia win 5-1 on aggregate

Dinamo Bucharest 1-3 Lazio.
Lazio win 4-2 on aggregate

Dinamo Zagreb 2-3 Werder Bremen.
Werder Bremen win 5-3 on aggregate

Celtic 1-1 Spartak Moscow.
2-2 on aggregate; Celtic win penalty shootout 4-3

Crvena Zvedza 0-0 Rangers.
Rangers win 1-0 on aggregate

FC Copenhagen 0-1 Benfica.
Benfica win 3-1 on aggregate

Dynamo Kiev 3-0 FK Sarajevo.
Dymano Kiev win 4-0 on aggregate

Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 Salzburg.
Shakthar Donetsk win 3-2 on aggregate

Anderlecht 0-2 Fenerbache.
Fenerbache win 3-0 on aggregate

Besiktas 2-0 FC Zurich.
Besiktas win 3-1 on aggregate

Steaua Bucharest 2-0 BATE Borisov.
Steaua Bucharest win 4-2 on aggregate

Slavia Prague 2-1 Ajax.
Slavia Prague win 3-1 on aggregate

Rosenborg 2-0 Tampere United.
Rosenborg win 5-0 on aggregate

*AEK Athens-Sevilla match postponed due to the death of Antonio Puerta yesterday.

These 16 teams will be joined by the 16 who qualified automatically based on their league finishes last season:

AC Milan
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Real Madrid
Chelsea
Manchester United
Olympique Lyon
FC Porto
PSV Eindhoven
AS Roma
FC Shalke 04
VfB Stuttgart
CSKA Moscow
Sporting Lisbon
Olympique Marseille
Olympiakos

Surreal and Sad

Saturday after watching Arsenal beat Citeh I watched the Sevilla-Getafe match, in which Getafe took a 1-0 lead in the first 5 minutes but then had not one but 2 dudes sent off in the first half. In the second half Sevilla came back and eventually won 4-1, but that's not what this is about.

Midway through the 1st half, a Sevilla defender, Antonio Puerta, collapsed under no contact as a goal kick was about to be taken. The Spanish TV cameras got a close up of his teammate and then trainer pulling his tounge out from down his throat- it was obvious that he was unconscious and choking on it. a few minutes later he got up and walked off on his own, and as scary as it was the match went on and he went I presume to the hospital.

Well apparently he had another collapse in the dressing room, was rushed to the hospital, and passed away this morning. It was revealed that in laymans terms he suffered a heart attack on the field, and then another series of heart attacks afterwards.

He was only 22 years old.

So surreal and sad. I'm sure there are videos of the on field collapse out there, but I don't feel right finding and posting it here. I can't explain why but I feel differently about this having seen it live then if I hadn't seen the match live- maybe because the images were pretty stark and scary.

Thoughts are with his family and Sevilla FC, who understandably have postponed tomorrow's Champions League qualifier and may or may not play their SuperCup match on Friday against AC Milan. Another sad reminder of how unimportant sports are, or as a friend of mine wisely said years ago, that "sports are the toy department of life".

*Update: Swindle has more specific medical info and the video if you choose to see it.

Is The Best Team In Europe Not In the Champions League?

Yes, that is a foolish thing to say after only a few matches, but ever since I saw a Bayern Munich preseason match and my reaction was "damn!", I have been pondering the possibility that come next April everyone may be talking about how the best team in Europe isn't one of the Champions League semifinalists but rather Bayern, who have improved their squad beyond belief with the additions of Franck Ribery, Luca Toni, and Miroslav Klose. Last year they were uncharacteristically bad enough that they did not qualify for the Champions League, but early returns look like they will be one of the very best, and most pleasing to watch, teams in Europe this year. They are expected to win the Bundesliga at a trot and the UEFA Cup at a canter. Certainly anything can happen, and a handful of matches does not a season make, but again I wonder if come April the best footy in Europe will be on display by a non CL team.

Check them out if you can- they are playing some serious joga bonito and scoring in bunches- they are a pleasure to watch in their current iteration.

No Defenders? No Problem.

Arsenal 1-0 Man Citeh

With Gallas going out last week, Djourou on loan, and Senderos getting injured in warmup, Gilberto was a last minute deputy centreback. Then early on right back Sagna went off injured, so Flamini, a midfielder, was forced to play right back for the first time {he did play deputy left back 2 years ago on the magical run to the Champions League final}.

So with only 2 defenders and 6 midfielders on the field, as well as the backup goalkeeper, Arsenal still managed to not only keep a clean sheet but also beat Citeh 1-0 on a late winner from Cesc Fabregas. A game that Arsenal would not have won last year, plain and simple. They didn't play especially well, and Citeh were dangerous, but in the end Arsenal didn't play well but still won, always a good sign for a good team. Interestingly this was the first 1-0 to the Arsenal at their new Emirates Stadium.

6th with 7 points from 3 matches, and a game in hand that if won would launch them to the top of the table.

Most importantly, Arsenal's defense have yet to truly concede a goal, as both goals thusfar were the result of you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it howlers from Mad Jens of North London, who may not be getting his job back for a while.

Sparta Prague tomorrow and then the return of Kanu on Sunday, as well as the rest of the Arsenal-turned-Portsmouth crew: Sol Campbell, Lauren, asst. manager Tony Adams.

No more injuries please...

"I Prefer The Whore That Is Your Sister."

So after all this time, it comes out today that this is exactly what Marco Materazzi said to Zinedine Zidane in last year's World Cup final which resulted in the most famous headbutt in the history of the Western World {at least according to Materazzi}.


In case you suffer amnesia or live under a rock

We knew the first part of the conversation, in which Zidane turned to Materazzi after in irritation after MM was grabbing his jersey and said "if you want my shirt that badly, I'll give it to you after the match", but although generalizations were later released we never learned exactly what Materazzi's response was. Until now.

Why now?

Why else? Because Materazzi's autobiography is being released on August 30th and it's on page 21, that's why.

I wonder if he was always planning on writing an autobiography and then decided that including this juicy nugget might drive book sales, or if he decided that the incident and this nugget of information might sell and that is why he decided to write an autobiography.

Either way, like everything else in the modern information age, it's been leaked.

So there it is.

Feel Good Friday: Bizarre Ride To The Pharcyde Edition

Today we celebrate those wacky-ass boys from Cali, The Pharcyde, who made two really good, original, and creative hip hop albums in the 1990s.

First up, the classic "Passing Me By". As hip hop beats go, this is up there on the all time list.



On the very next song on the album, they switch from being twisted to being over it with a nearly equally smooth tune called "Otha Fish"



And finally, from their second CD, "Drop" a great upbeat tune with a trippy filmed backwards video in which one dude rocks the UGA #88 jersey which at the time repped Brice Hunter and is now re-born as a Kenneth Harris kit. I still have mine, which of course is size XXXL since I got it in 1994 when such things were en vogue.



Enjoy, and have a great weekend.

La Liga May Very Well Be The Most Entertaining League Again This Season

If the SuperCup is any indication, then La Liga will be picking up right where it left off last season.

Played over 2 legs, Sevilla took a 1-0 lead into the return leg yesterday in Madrid. I didn't even know it was happening let alone on TV, but it came on Telemundo right after the Blackburn-Arsenal replay on FSC, so I watched. What a great game for the neutral observer. Back and forth, Sevilla going up 3-1 only for RM to peg it back to 3-3, and then in the last 10 minutes Sevilla scored the quintessential Sevilla goal, with Kanoute finishing well from a perfect Dani Avles cross after a bombing overlapping run from right back. Real Madrid had their chances to equalize again, but then Kanoute scored again at the death making it 5-3 and 6-3 on aggregate. After watching the wrestling match/rugby scrum that was Blackburn-Arsenal it was great to see two teams playing proper, and very entertaining, footy.

I for one hope that Sevilla can hold onto Alves, as they should once again challenge the Big two of Real Madrid and Barceona. Hopefully Valencia or Villarreal or someone else can make it a 4 or even 5 way battle. Either way, I'm looking forward to following another season of La Liga footy on GolTV and Telemundo.

Buenas noches y hasta luego mi amigos...

Rugby 1-1 Football

Blackburn 1-1 Arsenal.

You knew going in the Blackburn were going to be rough and dirty hackers, but damn. Led by Robbie Savage, the biggest cunt in world football (Sorry Ruud, we have some nice parting gifts for you), Blackburn played some serious rugby with bits and pieces of football mixed in. They went to the tried and true "how to beat the fragile, fairy, finesse Arsenal by kicking them around, bullying them, and getting them out of rhythm and off their game" playbook. That's the bad news. The good news is that like the Sparta Prague match last week, Arsenal 07-08 showed that they will not go easily into that goodnight this year and teams that think they can rough them up and break them to beat them will find out that this year's bunch is more capable of giving as good as they get and grinding out wins. Which is exactly what Arsenal did yesterday, except that Mad Jens Of North London decided it would be cool to have another "you had to see it to believe it" howler to gift Blackburn 2 points. That being said a draw was probably a fair result given how both teams played, and that Fridel didn't do so well himself on Arsenal's goal, but utterly frustrating nonetheless. If you're scoring at home that's- Arsenal's defense: 0 goals conceded in 3 matches, Mad Jens: 2 schoolboy howler goals conceded in 3 matches.



I guess I'd rather the fuckups in the first 2 EPL matches than the crucial Champions League qualifiers, though.

Still, Arsenal would have lost that match last year, no doubt. They were able to adapt to the overly physical style of play, scored a scrappy goal of their own, weren't intimidated, and tied ugly when they easily could have won ugly. They showed toughness and that they will not be bullied into submission this year. Let's just hope that Arsenal don't finish 1 or 2 points out of something big at the end of the season. ManUtd are off to their worst start since 1992 thanks to a stunning strike from some Brasilian dude for Citeh which defeated United 1-0, leaving ManUtd with only 2 points from their 1st three matches, while Citeh are top of the table with 9 points from 3 matches. Arsenal play Citeh on Saturday and hopefully can hand them their first defeat. Chel$ea and the Pool split the points after a 1-1 draw which saw Rob Stiles give one of the worst penalty decisions you will ever see in your life.

Oh, and back to the biggest cunt in world football, Robbie Savage. To see him yesterday was to see performance art on the most absurd of levels- it was really over the top even for him, which is really saying something. On Sky after the match he of all people on planet Earth had the audacity to say that Blackburn came out and tried to play football while Arsenal tried to slow them up and kick them at every chance. That puts him firmly into the beyond insane and seriously living in an alternate reality group of people with the likes of Ann Coulter. The incomparable Arseblogger summed it up best this morning:

As for Robbie Savage (labelled a histrionic disgrace by The Times), if he could translate 1% of his cuntiness into footballing ability he’d be better than Maradona.

You can't say it any better than that.

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas Footy Highlights

I have no idea who "NetResults" is exactly, or whom they represent. What I do know is that any video showing any video clip of Arsenal/EPL matches are all but gone from YouTube, along with the vast majority of player compilation videos that contain said video clips.

Bollocks. Total bollocks.

How the hell am I supposed to convey in words just how bad each of Mats' fuckups in his 1st two EPL matches have been?

Feel Good Friday: And Now For Something Completely Different Edition

For no other reason than the somewhat inexplicable fact that I absolutely love this song, I give you "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes. The old skool, real-deal legit version, too, not that whack tweaked out house remix for the ecstasy/glow stick/pacifier set. Best {only?} use of the word "spaz" in a song, evah.


No, "Queen Of Hearts" by Juice Newton will not be next week's selection.
Snarky bastard...

Enjoy, and have a great weekend whatever you get into.

More Arsenal winning, Spurs losing horribly, and ManUtd dropping points please.

Oh, and a FC Red Stripes win to keep the new season start unbeaten (3-0 win, 2-2 draw thusfar).

Laters.