Two games, two protests.
Another weekend watching the Premier League from afar. Another reason why the English top flight is so fascinating, especially from an uncultured, ignorant American.
In American pro sports, from time-to-time fans try to stage protests of some sort, mainly about money. Remember when A-Rod was pelted with Monopoly money when he first returned to Seattle after signing with Texas for $252 million? Distraught Packers fans musted a hundred or so souls outside Lambeau Field in that whole Brett Favre drama this summer.
Currently in New York, many fans are in a tizzy over increased ticket prices for the new Mets, Yankees and Giants stadiums. People are mad and might not renew their season tickets. Perhaps a couple literate fans will write letters, but no one is exactly stage marches in mid-town Manhattan with a Cesar Chavez approved megaphone (rolled up short shirtsleeves, encouraged but optional).
Though it's probably pointless, you have to respect the fans of both Liverpool and Newcastled United for trying to make a point and voice their displeasure over their club ownership. Unfortunately, despite the "FC" in both their names, neither of these clubs are really clubs anymore, becoming franchises, therefore rendering their voice next to moot. Magpies faithful can at least take solace that Mike Ashley has made his intentions to sell Newcastle, but as the Who sang, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
Right now, from what I can tell, Scousers and Geordies are in the same boat as upset New Yorkers -- they have no recourse. It's not Spain, where clubs actually have members that vote for the board members, or Germany where clubs retain most of their traditional rights. In England, the lure of money and the glitz and glamor of the Premier League have turned the national pastime of a country into something else entirely. The preceived ownership of the league's heart and sold has drifted away from Bristol so that locales like Beijing carry more weight. Hell, the largess of the Prem has spawned countless blogs, including this one, so I feel a tinge guilty writing this.
Look at the whole Manchester City scenario. How could a pure-and-simple "sporting club" compete with the financial backing of an entire Arab emirate? And on top of that, what's to stop the current board of these smaller clubs from selling out to the highest foreign bidder, since investing in the Premier League is so easy right now? Everyone sees what Roman Abramovich did to Chelsea, so the goal appears to be to sell to the highest bidder, maybe with good intentions -- mainly with tidy cash profits for the out-going board. At best you get a rich guy trying to bring attention to himself -- the beer-drinking Ashley. At worst, you're stuck with Hicks and Gilette who only see a multi-billion pound stadium pot of gold.
The thing is, in America we're mostly apathetic to the whims of pro sports owners. Pro sports in America have pretty much always been a business, run by men always counting the bottom line. Long ago we gave up our spirit of fight. Every now and then guys like Bob Costas or Will Leitch will try to fire up the fans and awaken them to what's happened, but the cat is too far out of the bag. When we can barely elect a President, it's unlikely any fans have the wherewithal to fight for their "rights."
It's sort of fitting that I'm writing this watching the Cleveland Browns play, who suffered probably the worst indignity of any American team thanks to owner Art Modell's pocketbook. Even more recent, the NBA Shang-hying the Seattle Sonics to Oklahoma City is one of the most disgraceful events in major American sporting history, but it happened without so much as anyone batting an eye or giving a hard look at what sports franchises truly mean to cities.
Apparently we realize that protesting a team is pointless. We know that whatever us fans want or envision for our favorite teams, no matter what the decisions will be out our hands and left to the moneymen. So why even bother at this point?
It's sad, but when decisions are made by professional sports owners, nobody really wins except the owners because they know we're hooked, that we'll be back for $10 beers and $25 parking spots. They know our only real option is to boycott games, but there's always another sucker right behind the principled. Cities are always going to be ready to cut sweatheart deals to lure teams away, long-standing and suffering fans be damned.
England really ought to protest their Parliament and sports ministers, because telling Tom Hicks to go stuff it and that LFC belongs to you isn't changing his mind. He's in it for one reason -- money -- and you're fruitless protests aren't going to increase his Grinch-sized heart.
Unless something is changed and the current system goes unchecked, things will only get worse across the pond. Eventually, to quote Ray Liotta's Henry Hill in 'Goodfellas' it'll totally degenerate into -- "Fuck you, pay me."
So, onto brighter things...
* Team of the week -- Liverpool. The Reds took it to Manchester United, with Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano running shop in the stead of Steven Gerrard. Dirk Kuyt, despite a close-range miss also gets high marks. Maybe Liverpool is for real, and can perhaps move ahead of Chelsea next weekend when they play Stoke, whereas the Blues get a smarting Manchester United side.
* Goal of the week -- Nothing really stood out especially, but Bobby Zamora's nice little turn and shoot for the Fulham 2-1 winner against Bolton was nice.
* Scorer of the week -- Emmanuel Adebayor did the hat trick for Arsenal, but one was a penalty and the other a 94th minute semi-gimme against Blackburn. Instead, let's praise Jermaine Defoe, who single handily got Portsmouth a 2-1 win at Fratton Park over Middlesbrough. He could have had four goals, easy.
* Duds of the week -- Edwin Van Der Saar's clearance for the Wes Brown own-goal was a rare gaffe for the Dutch legend. ("The goal is red, but the color is Brown." Long live Martin Tyler.) ... Danny Guthrie for Newcastle -- insult to injury. ... My Friday picks. Brutal. Hope nobody lost money.
* Save of the week -- Hull City's Boaz Myhill's one-hand tip away on a Michael Owen header.
* So much for City -- Peace of a start with Robinho's nice freekick, thanks to John Mikel Obi Mikel's head. Too bad Chelsea sucked the life out of the City of Manchester Stadium as time wore on. The question for City is does have enough talent to compete for a place in the top six in the Prem, while fighting a UEFA Cup campaign. The Abu Dhabi dreams don't really get materialized unless they make the Champions League, which still seems a long way off, but there is talent at Middle Eastlands, for sure.
* Call me colour blind -- Did anyone else find it impossible to watch Hull City/Newcastle? No, not for the game, but for the color of the shirts. Why was Hull in gray? Shouldn't they have had some kind of orange? It was like a bad game of "FIFA."
* Lookalikes -- Bolton manager Gary Megson and Toby, the H.R. rep from "The Office." ... Hull City manager Phil Brown and actor Tim Currie (mainly via the goatee).
* Partying like 1979 -- Open question to anyone out there in the Inter-tubes. Was Saturday's West Brom/West Ham game the first in the English flight to feature two teams without shirt sponsors since the early 1980s? It happens time-to-time in the Champions League when two foes have the same sponsor, but in the Premier League? Weird. Since West Ham's sponsor went broke and West Brom doesn't have one, why not go the MLS route and plaster the name across the front in the interim. (That's a joke.)
* Warranted, for once -- Titus Bramble is an easy punchline in England. Saturday for Wigan Athletic he showed why, with a form header into his own net in Wigan vs. Sunderland.
* Dutch delight -- Maybe I have to rethink my whole Arsenal scenario. Perhaps the true key to the Gunners season is Robin Van Persie. The guy is simply dangerous anywhere around the area and makes it nearly impossible on the defense if Adebayor is also on his game. Arsene Wegner just needs to keep him away from any questionably aged girls.
* Hair item of the week -- Hopefully Rooney Tunes saved the beard shavings, since he could use it on his dome. I think he bought his Saturday doo from Arjen Robben's prematurely balding yard sale. Get these guys to Guiseppe Franco stat!
* FSC paid-ad of the week -- It goes to FSC itself, for its "Live it here" spot featuring the Christian Miles and Co. On the topic of FSC, an article moved on the AP wire Sunday that the channel is now going to be tracked by Neilsen. It also mentions how ESPN will probably bid for a Premier League package for the 2010-11 season. This is a scary thought for a lot of people, myself included. My best guess is that between now and then Setanta is bought by somebody and the PL North American package is split between FSC and ESPN in some form. Again, this is a guess.
* File away for next weekend -- Chelsea and Manchester United play next weekend and both will be missing center backs with Nemanja Vidic and John Terry each collecting red cards this weekend. Chelsea is appealing Terry's. It'll be rescinded over Sir Alex Ferguson's dead body.
* Fantasy team of the week -- David Cullen's Rivah City wins out the week with 64 points -- 34 from Adebayor.
Another weekend watching the Premier League from afar. Another reason why the English top flight is so fascinating, especially from an uncultured, ignorant American.
In American pro sports, from time-to-time fans try to stage protests of some sort, mainly about money. Remember when A-Rod was pelted with Monopoly money when he first returned to Seattle after signing with Texas for $252 million? Distraught Packers fans musted a hundred or so souls outside Lambeau Field in that whole Brett Favre drama this summer.
Currently in New York, many fans are in a tizzy over increased ticket prices for the new Mets, Yankees and Giants stadiums. People are mad and might not renew their season tickets. Perhaps a couple literate fans will write letters, but no one is exactly stage marches in mid-town Manhattan with a Cesar Chavez approved megaphone (rolled up short shirtsleeves, encouraged but optional).
Though it's probably pointless, you have to respect the fans of both Liverpool and Newcastled United for trying to make a point and voice their displeasure over their club ownership. Unfortunately, despite the "FC" in both their names, neither of these clubs are really clubs anymore, becoming franchises, therefore rendering their voice next to moot. Magpies faithful can at least take solace that Mike Ashley has made his intentions to sell Newcastle, but as the Who sang, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
Right now, from what I can tell, Scousers and Geordies are in the same boat as upset New Yorkers -- they have no recourse. It's not Spain, where clubs actually have members that vote for the board members, or Germany where clubs retain most of their traditional rights. In England, the lure of money and the glitz and glamor of the Premier League have turned the national pastime of a country into something else entirely. The preceived ownership of the league's heart and sold has drifted away from Bristol so that locales like Beijing carry more weight. Hell, the largess of the Prem has spawned countless blogs, including this one, so I feel a tinge guilty writing this.
Look at the whole Manchester City scenario. How could a pure-and-simple "sporting club" compete with the financial backing of an entire Arab emirate? And on top of that, what's to stop the current board of these smaller clubs from selling out to the highest foreign bidder, since investing in the Premier League is so easy right now? Everyone sees what Roman Abramovich did to Chelsea, so the goal appears to be to sell to the highest bidder, maybe with good intentions -- mainly with tidy cash profits for the out-going board. At best you get a rich guy trying to bring attention to himself -- the beer-drinking Ashley. At worst, you're stuck with Hicks and Gilette who only see a multi-billion pound stadium pot of gold.
The thing is, in America we're mostly apathetic to the whims of pro sports owners. Pro sports in America have pretty much always been a business, run by men always counting the bottom line. Long ago we gave up our spirit of fight. Every now and then guys like Bob Costas or Will Leitch will try to fire up the fans and awaken them to what's happened, but the cat is too far out of the bag. When we can barely elect a President, it's unlikely any fans have the wherewithal to fight for their "rights."
It's sort of fitting that I'm writing this watching the Cleveland Browns play, who suffered probably the worst indignity of any American team thanks to owner Art Modell's pocketbook. Even more recent, the NBA Shang-hying the Seattle Sonics to Oklahoma City is one of the most disgraceful events in major American sporting history, but it happened without so much as anyone batting an eye or giving a hard look at what sports franchises truly mean to cities.
Apparently we realize that protesting a team is pointless. We know that whatever us fans want or envision for our favorite teams, no matter what the decisions will be out our hands and left to the moneymen. So why even bother at this point?
It's sad, but when decisions are made by professional sports owners, nobody really wins except the owners because they know we're hooked, that we'll be back for $10 beers and $25 parking spots. They know our only real option is to boycott games, but there's always another sucker right behind the principled. Cities are always going to be ready to cut sweatheart deals to lure teams away, long-standing and suffering fans be damned.
England really ought to protest their Parliament and sports ministers, because telling Tom Hicks to go stuff it and that LFC belongs to you isn't changing his mind. He's in it for one reason -- money -- and you're fruitless protests aren't going to increase his Grinch-sized heart.
Unless something is changed and the current system goes unchecked, things will only get worse across the pond. Eventually, to quote Ray Liotta's Henry Hill in 'Goodfellas' it'll totally degenerate into -- "Fuck you, pay me."
So, onto brighter things...
* Team of the week -- Liverpool. The Reds took it to Manchester United, with Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano running shop in the stead of Steven Gerrard. Dirk Kuyt, despite a close-range miss also gets high marks. Maybe Liverpool is for real, and can perhaps move ahead of Chelsea next weekend when they play Stoke, whereas the Blues get a smarting Manchester United side.
* Goal of the week -- Nothing really stood out especially, but Bobby Zamora's nice little turn and shoot for the Fulham 2-1 winner against Bolton was nice.
* Scorer of the week -- Emmanuel Adebayor did the hat trick for Arsenal, but one was a penalty and the other a 94th minute semi-gimme against Blackburn. Instead, let's praise Jermaine Defoe, who single handily got Portsmouth a 2-1 win at Fratton Park over Middlesbrough. He could have had four goals, easy.
* Duds of the week -- Edwin Van Der Saar's clearance for the Wes Brown own-goal was a rare gaffe for the Dutch legend. ("The goal is red, but the color is Brown." Long live Martin Tyler.) ... Danny Guthrie for Newcastle -- insult to injury. ... My Friday picks. Brutal. Hope nobody lost money.
* Save of the week -- Hull City's Boaz Myhill's one-hand tip away on a Michael Owen header.
* So much for City -- Peace of a start with Robinho's nice freekick, thanks to John Mikel Obi Mikel's head. Too bad Chelsea sucked the life out of the City of Manchester Stadium as time wore on. The question for City is does have enough talent to compete for a place in the top six in the Prem, while fighting a UEFA Cup campaign. The Abu Dhabi dreams don't really get materialized unless they make the Champions League, which still seems a long way off, but there is talent at Middle Eastlands, for sure.
* Call me colour blind -- Did anyone else find it impossible to watch Hull City/Newcastle? No, not for the game, but for the color of the shirts. Why was Hull in gray? Shouldn't they have had some kind of orange? It was like a bad game of "FIFA."
* Lookalikes -- Bolton manager Gary Megson and Toby, the H.R. rep from "The Office." ... Hull City manager Phil Brown and actor Tim Currie (mainly via the goatee).
* Partying like 1979 -- Open question to anyone out there in the Inter-tubes. Was Saturday's West Brom/West Ham game the first in the English flight to feature two teams without shirt sponsors since the early 1980s? It happens time-to-time in the Champions League when two foes have the same sponsor, but in the Premier League? Weird. Since West Ham's sponsor went broke and West Brom doesn't have one, why not go the MLS route and plaster the name across the front in the interim. (That's a joke.)
* Warranted, for once -- Titus Bramble is an easy punchline in England. Saturday for Wigan Athletic he showed why, with a form header into his own net in Wigan vs. Sunderland.
* Dutch delight -- Maybe I have to rethink my whole Arsenal scenario. Perhaps the true key to the Gunners season is Robin Van Persie. The guy is simply dangerous anywhere around the area and makes it nearly impossible on the defense if Adebayor is also on his game. Arsene Wegner just needs to keep him away from any questionably aged girls.
* Hair item of the week -- Hopefully Rooney Tunes saved the beard shavings, since he could use it on his dome. I think he bought his Saturday doo from Arjen Robben's prematurely balding yard sale. Get these guys to Guiseppe Franco stat!
* FSC paid-ad of the week -- It goes to FSC itself, for its "Live it here" spot featuring the Christian Miles and Co. On the topic of FSC, an article moved on the AP wire Sunday that the channel is now going to be tracked by Neilsen. It also mentions how ESPN will probably bid for a Premier League package for the 2010-11 season. This is a scary thought for a lot of people, myself included. My best guess is that between now and then Setanta is bought by somebody and the PL North American package is split between FSC and ESPN in some form. Again, this is a guess.
* File away for next weekend -- Chelsea and Manchester United play next weekend and both will be missing center backs with Nemanja Vidic and John Terry each collecting red cards this weekend. Chelsea is appealing Terry's. It'll be rescinded over Sir Alex Ferguson's dead body.
* Fantasy team of the week -- David Cullen's Rivah City wins out the week with 64 points -- 34 from Adebayor.
Labels: English Premier League, Soccer
Thoughts on Jozy's debut?
The highlights I saw looked good... maybe Bob made the right choice letting him settle in and it looks like he may have earned some more minutes.