Maybe you know this, maybe you don't but 95 percent of the time I have to work Friday nights. This makes getting up for that early Saturday morning match a chore, well, so much as getting up to watching a sporting event in your pajamas can actually be a chore.
Saturday, after rising to my alarm with sand in my eyes and truding down the stairs of my condo to fire up Chelsea/Hull City, this paradigm has been changed, not just changed but shattered by two letters -- H & D.
The Premier League in High Def? I was like my cat after giving her a whiff of catnip -- thoroughly memorized. Who cares if it was a place as loathsome as Stamford Bridge, I couldn't take my eyes off it.
Frank Lampard face never looked so pale.
Didier Droga's frizzy mane never looked greasier.
Roman Abramovich never looked more indifferent.
And Hull City never looked more mustardy.
Let's face it, we've all be leery of ESPN sinking its claws on the Premier League. Part of the attraction to the Premier League is that the actual game presentation is the anti-ESPN -- no sideline reporters, no inane banter about other shows in the booth, no Stuart Scott. Living in England, I can imagine it would just as tedious, but in the States it's been a welcome breath of fresh air to our sports and sports media lives.
HD alone does a lot to brush over any of those fears. 720p resolution does a lot to dull out the "boo-yahs." Tommy Smyth, on the other hand? That might not even mask his reek of four day old onions.
Let's simply pray that as the season progresses ESPN leaves well enough alone. That means the normal Premier League graphics and announcers. Nothing added to make it more ESPN-y. I fear, though, this is too naive and it'll only be a matter of time before the Worldwide sullies yet another sports entity.
At the utter least, it'll look pretty in HD.
Rising:
* Arsenal -- Six goals on the road, thoroughly chumpatizing Everton in the process? Yeah, I'd say, like Larry David, that's pretty good, pretty, pretty good. Is that enough? Am I required to go ga-ga over Arsenal? A season isn't won on opening day, no matter what signals of intent were fired. It's not always going to be that easy.
* Roberto Martinez -- Well, if we only count one week Fernando Torres may have been replaced on the top of England's 'Spanish Idol' charts. Joking aside, Martinez did instill an attacking style with Wigan. How long it holds up as the weather gets poor is another story.
* Tottenham -- Kept up its is nice record vs. Liverpool with an opening day win at White Hart Lane. Spurs even survived Gomes conceding a penalty. Biggest positive for Spurs was that they didn't wilt in the final 10 minutes. When Sebestien Bassong nets the winner, you know it's your day.
Falling:
* Aston Villa -- Thumped 2-0 at home and dissed by Bill Simmons for ugly uniforms in the process. Not good.
* Dmitar Berbatov -- Its only a matter of time before the commentators will stop using the word "languid" to describe and instead start saying things like "Diego Forlan" and "Eric Djemba-Djemba". (Forlan is obviously a great player, but flopped at Old Trafford. Djemba-Djemba? He does play at Odense, who was linked with Freddy Adu last week.)
* Setanta Sports -- More later, but no new episode of Special 1 TV in Week 1? Did you have to sell the puppets to pay off the creditors? Even the usually biting Pat Dolan seemed a little lacking Saturday morning, except for his digs at Martin O'Neill.
(Overall, it's one week. Perspective, folks, perspective.)
What we learned:
* The middle class, like the real world, is dying. Aston Villa and Everton were each embarrassed at home after summers that saw them do little to improve their clubs. At least Tottenham posted a 2-1 home upset of Liverpool, to shake things up a bit.
In the past two or three seasons we've seen these teams do everything they can to try to crack the 'Big Four' on comparative shoestring budgets. Perhaps this season will be the breaking point since neither club has been able to make the Champions League and bank the money it generates to further improve the club.
Of the two, Everton and Aston Villa, the Toffees loss looks worse since it was afterall six goals at home. At least it came against a rampant Arsenal team, though the lack of marking on set pieces would be troubling and the Jolean Lescott-to-City saga is taking a toll. A one-goal loss and a five-goal loss net the same amount of points -- zero.
You know what, though, Everton we've come to expect a lot more from you guys. Hey, didn't Phil Neville lift the MLS All-Star-O-Rama trophy a couple weeks ago?
Aston Villa, at home to Wigan and losing 2-0? This team might have reached its peak and when it needed the reinforcements, it didn't get any. Sometimes you reach a point and it you're not able to crack into the next level you simply fall back and have to regroup with a new plan. Maybe Randy Lerner can hire Romeo Crennel to teach the Villa defense the 3-4 scheme.
In my preview I mentioned a lot of lousy, indistinguishable teams. Maybe I'm wrong about this. There's probably about a dozen or so, "meh-worthy" teams. They're not out-and-out horrible, but they're not that thrilling either. On any week they'll just beat up on each other.
If we want to lump teams together, it's still 'The Big Four', Man City as an outlier near the top and Spurs looking frisky. At the other end, Burnley until further notice is adrift of everyone else and possibly Portsmouth due to its utter lack of direction.
The majority of the mid-to-bottom table seemed to have realized, let's play it safe and conservative. Let's not spend $20 million on a suspect foreign striker when we can dole the money around to three or four other players in the midfield and defense to consolidate things. It might not to fun to watch, but it'll keep the team alive in the league and more importantly financially.
About that television scenario:
* This is going to get confusing. Looks like ESPN2 will have the early morning Saturday matches and select Monday afternooners. Fox Soccer will continue its 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. Sundays, while wheezing corpse of Setanta chips in at 10 a.m. Saturday and early Sunday.
Best goal I saw:
* Hugo Rolladega's beautiful half-volley for Wigan's opening goal vs. Aston Villa was a Werner von Braun approved rocket. Yet for my money, Stephen Ireland's nifty bit of individual skill inside the box in injury time to finish off Blackburn takes it for me, simply because he was so composed and collected and make sure to get the job done from an acute angle.
Fantasy-o-rama:
* Jake Green of the aptly named "Green Street Hooligans" takes top honors thanks to 44 points from captain Cesc Fabregas. Guess Arsenal might want to keep him around this season, maybe?
Other stuff:
* Manchester City got off to a flier, with a great goal by Emmanuel Adebayor set up on a break by Shaun Wright-Phillips inside of two minutes at Blackburn. Then for about the next 88 minutes Rovers took it to City, I mean really took it to them, and if not for a better scoring touch around goal should have leveled the game. Instead, City got a stoppage time goal and won 2-0.
Consider City a work in progress with limitless potential.
* Good, insightful read from David James about Pompey's finances.
* Good stuff over the weekend, right here if you missed it from some damned good previews of Liverpool and Tottenham.
* Via his Twitter, Jozy Altidore's work permit hit some type of snag.
* Charlie Davies scored twice over the weekend as a sub for Sochaux.
* Great, albeit weird, goal from Didier Drogba in the waning moments vs. Hull City. It was probably lofted in for a cross, but it went in from such a sheer angle that it was truly dazzling, even from an unrepentant jerk.
* At one point during Spurs/Liverpool Jon Champion referred to Tom Huddlestone having fire in his boots. Does it make his feet taste like timber in a crackling fire?
* Birmingham's Gary O'Connor might now me the king of the forearm tattoos in the Premier League. The guy could give the Nuggets J.R. Smith a run for his money, though I doubt O'Connor has any hardcore gang affiliations. (This pic doesn't do O'Connor justice, but it's the best I could find. Guess that's what happens when you spend part of your career in Moscow. We've all seen 'Eastern Promises.')
* Speaking of Birmingham, they have this dude Christian BenÃtez that goes by Chucho from Ecuador (the new Ivory Coast?). Beside the funny nickname, he came off the bench in the second half vs. Manchester United and nearly scored right on his debut.
* At one point in the second half, Micah Ricards pulled his best Javier Aguirre on Morten Gamst Pederson. Perhaps Gamst can call Adrian Beltre for some advice. (How can you play third base in the Majors without a cup?! It's called the hot corner for Christ sakes!)
* Benoit Assou-Ekotto scored a cracker in the first half for Spurs vs. Liverpool. His best play might have been trucking over Andriy Voronin in the penalty box late in the second half and magically avoided a penalty. Spurs spend all this money on strikers and Sunday both goals are from defenders ... howdayalikethat?
* In case you missed it, Wes Brown is actually alive and played this season. Still no word on Gary Neville.
* Consider me happy to see Stephen Hunt back in the Premier League. Not sure Petr Cech would feel the same way.
* One trend to follow, six away wins this weekend and zero draws.
* Heading into the weekend I was a little less pumped up for the return of the Premier League, but then I saw Chris Kirkland wearing his baseball cap and all was forgiven.
* Simmons column on U.S./Mexico, better than expected.
Midweek Predictions:
This never makes sense, no games for a couple months then two back-to-back, which inevitably get rescheduled due to European commitments, i.e. Arsenal/Celtic. Oh, and since FSC has Champions League matches, it won't air any matches live. Fantastic.
Tuesday:
* Sunderland v. Chelsea -- (Live, Setanta, 2:45 p.m.) Maybe I was wrong about Sunderland. Steve Bruce might actually give the team some kind of identity. Don't think that'll actually matter -- even at home -- against Chelsea. ... Sunderland 0, Chelsea 2
* Wigan Athletic v. Wolves -- Will Saturday's start and the possibility of six points from two matches make fans turn out at the JJB? ... Wigan 2, Wolves 1
Wednesday:
* Birmingham City v. Portsmouth -- If Birmingham only had to play defense, they'd be okay. I hope the 4-5-1 was a product of playing at Old Trafford in the opener. Let's face it for Brum to stick around, it has to get three points vs. a nearly dead Pompey. ... Birmingham 1, Portsmouth 0
* Hull City v. Tottenham -- Spurs under Redknapp seem to have a system and style finally figured out. Can it translate to results on the road? ... Hull City 1, Spurs 1
* Burnley v. Manchester United -- Maybe the league really is afraid of Sir Alex. Back-to-back matches vs. promoted teams is a nice way to open a season. ... Burnley 0, Manchester United 2
* Liverpool v. Stoke City -- Liverpool can exorcise a demon early. ... Liverpool 3, Stoke City 0
Last round: 4-6
Season: 4-6
Saturday, after rising to my alarm with sand in my eyes and truding down the stairs of my condo to fire up Chelsea/Hull City, this paradigm has been changed, not just changed but shattered by two letters -- H & D.
The Premier League in High Def? I was like my cat after giving her a whiff of catnip -- thoroughly memorized. Who cares if it was a place as loathsome as Stamford Bridge, I couldn't take my eyes off it.
Frank Lampard face never looked so pale.
Didier Droga's frizzy mane never looked greasier.
Roman Abramovich never looked more indifferent.
And Hull City never looked more mustardy.
Let's face it, we've all be leery of ESPN sinking its claws on the Premier League. Part of the attraction to the Premier League is that the actual game presentation is the anti-ESPN -- no sideline reporters, no inane banter about other shows in the booth, no Stuart Scott. Living in England, I can imagine it would just as tedious, but in the States it's been a welcome breath of fresh air to our sports and sports media lives.
HD alone does a lot to brush over any of those fears. 720p resolution does a lot to dull out the "boo-yahs." Tommy Smyth, on the other hand? That might not even mask his reek of four day old onions.
Let's simply pray that as the season progresses ESPN leaves well enough alone. That means the normal Premier League graphics and announcers. Nothing added to make it more ESPN-y. I fear, though, this is too naive and it'll only be a matter of time before the Worldwide sullies yet another sports entity.
At the utter least, it'll look pretty in HD.
Rising:
* Arsenal -- Six goals on the road, thoroughly chumpatizing Everton in the process? Yeah, I'd say, like Larry David, that's pretty good, pretty, pretty good. Is that enough? Am I required to go ga-ga over Arsenal? A season isn't won on opening day, no matter what signals of intent were fired. It's not always going to be that easy.
* Roberto Martinez -- Well, if we only count one week Fernando Torres may have been replaced on the top of England's 'Spanish Idol' charts. Joking aside, Martinez did instill an attacking style with Wigan. How long it holds up as the weather gets poor is another story.
* Tottenham -- Kept up its is nice record vs. Liverpool with an opening day win at White Hart Lane. Spurs even survived Gomes conceding a penalty. Biggest positive for Spurs was that they didn't wilt in the final 10 minutes. When Sebestien Bassong nets the winner, you know it's your day.
Falling:
* Aston Villa -- Thumped 2-0 at home and dissed by Bill Simmons for ugly uniforms in the process. Not good.
* Dmitar Berbatov -- Its only a matter of time before the commentators will stop using the word "languid" to describe and instead start saying things like "Diego Forlan" and "Eric Djemba-Djemba". (Forlan is obviously a great player, but flopped at Old Trafford. Djemba-Djemba? He does play at Odense, who was linked with Freddy Adu last week.)
* Setanta Sports -- More later, but no new episode of Special 1 TV in Week 1? Did you have to sell the puppets to pay off the creditors? Even the usually biting Pat Dolan seemed a little lacking Saturday morning, except for his digs at Martin O'Neill.
(Overall, it's one week. Perspective, folks, perspective.)
What we learned:
* The middle class, like the real world, is dying. Aston Villa and Everton were each embarrassed at home after summers that saw them do little to improve their clubs. At least Tottenham posted a 2-1 home upset of Liverpool, to shake things up a bit.
In the past two or three seasons we've seen these teams do everything they can to try to crack the 'Big Four' on comparative shoestring budgets. Perhaps this season will be the breaking point since neither club has been able to make the Champions League and bank the money it generates to further improve the club.
Of the two, Everton and Aston Villa, the Toffees loss looks worse since it was afterall six goals at home. At least it came against a rampant Arsenal team, though the lack of marking on set pieces would be troubling and the Jolean Lescott-to-City saga is taking a toll. A one-goal loss and a five-goal loss net the same amount of points -- zero.
You know what, though, Everton we've come to expect a lot more from you guys. Hey, didn't Phil Neville lift the MLS All-Star-O-Rama trophy a couple weeks ago?
Aston Villa, at home to Wigan and losing 2-0? This team might have reached its peak and when it needed the reinforcements, it didn't get any. Sometimes you reach a point and it you're not able to crack into the next level you simply fall back and have to regroup with a new plan. Maybe Randy Lerner can hire Romeo Crennel to teach the Villa defense the 3-4 scheme.
In my preview I mentioned a lot of lousy, indistinguishable teams. Maybe I'm wrong about this. There's probably about a dozen or so, "meh-worthy" teams. They're not out-and-out horrible, but they're not that thrilling either. On any week they'll just beat up on each other.
If we want to lump teams together, it's still 'The Big Four', Man City as an outlier near the top and Spurs looking frisky. At the other end, Burnley until further notice is adrift of everyone else and possibly Portsmouth due to its utter lack of direction.
The majority of the mid-to-bottom table seemed to have realized, let's play it safe and conservative. Let's not spend $20 million on a suspect foreign striker when we can dole the money around to three or four other players in the midfield and defense to consolidate things. It might not to fun to watch, but it'll keep the team alive in the league and more importantly financially.
About that television scenario:
* This is going to get confusing. Looks like ESPN2 will have the early morning Saturday matches and select Monday afternooners. Fox Soccer will continue its 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. Sundays, while wheezing corpse of Setanta chips in at 10 a.m. Saturday and early Sunday.
Best goal I saw:
* Hugo Rolladega's beautiful half-volley for Wigan's opening goal vs. Aston Villa was a Werner von Braun approved rocket. Yet for my money, Stephen Ireland's nifty bit of individual skill inside the box in injury time to finish off Blackburn takes it for me, simply because he was so composed and collected and make sure to get the job done from an acute angle.
Fantasy-o-rama:
* Jake Green of the aptly named "Green Street Hooligans" takes top honors thanks to 44 points from captain Cesc Fabregas. Guess Arsenal might want to keep him around this season, maybe?
Other stuff:
* Manchester City got off to a flier, with a great goal by Emmanuel Adebayor set up on a break by Shaun Wright-Phillips inside of two minutes at Blackburn. Then for about the next 88 minutes Rovers took it to City, I mean really took it to them, and if not for a better scoring touch around goal should have leveled the game. Instead, City got a stoppage time goal and won 2-0.
Consider City a work in progress with limitless potential.
* Good, insightful read from David James about Pompey's finances.
* Good stuff over the weekend, right here if you missed it from some damned good previews of Liverpool and Tottenham.
* Via his Twitter, Jozy Altidore's work permit hit some type of snag.
* Charlie Davies scored twice over the weekend as a sub for Sochaux.
* Great, albeit weird, goal from Didier Drogba in the waning moments vs. Hull City. It was probably lofted in for a cross, but it went in from such a sheer angle that it was truly dazzling, even from an unrepentant jerk.
* At one point during Spurs/Liverpool Jon Champion referred to Tom Huddlestone having fire in his boots. Does it make his feet taste like timber in a crackling fire?
* Birmingham's Gary O'Connor might now me the king of the forearm tattoos in the Premier League. The guy could give the Nuggets J.R. Smith a run for his money, though I doubt O'Connor has any hardcore gang affiliations. (This pic doesn't do O'Connor justice, but it's the best I could find. Guess that's what happens when you spend part of your career in Moscow. We've all seen 'Eastern Promises.')
* Speaking of Birmingham, they have this dude Christian BenÃtez that goes by Chucho from Ecuador (the new Ivory Coast?). Beside the funny nickname, he came off the bench in the second half vs. Manchester United and nearly scored right on his debut.
* At one point in the second half, Micah Ricards pulled his best Javier Aguirre on Morten Gamst Pederson. Perhaps Gamst can call Adrian Beltre for some advice. (How can you play third base in the Majors without a cup?! It's called the hot corner for Christ sakes!)
* Benoit Assou-Ekotto scored a cracker in the first half for Spurs vs. Liverpool. His best play might have been trucking over Andriy Voronin in the penalty box late in the second half and magically avoided a penalty. Spurs spend all this money on strikers and Sunday both goals are from defenders ... howdayalikethat?
* In case you missed it, Wes Brown is actually alive and played this season. Still no word on Gary Neville.
* Consider me happy to see Stephen Hunt back in the Premier League. Not sure Petr Cech would feel the same way.
* One trend to follow, six away wins this weekend and zero draws.
* Heading into the weekend I was a little less pumped up for the return of the Premier League, but then I saw Chris Kirkland wearing his baseball cap and all was forgiven.
* Simmons column on U.S./Mexico, better than expected.
Midweek Predictions:
This never makes sense, no games for a couple months then two back-to-back, which inevitably get rescheduled due to European commitments, i.e. Arsenal/Celtic. Oh, and since FSC has Champions League matches, it won't air any matches live. Fantastic.
Tuesday:
* Sunderland v. Chelsea -- (Live, Setanta, 2:45 p.m.) Maybe I was wrong about Sunderland. Steve Bruce might actually give the team some kind of identity. Don't think that'll actually matter -- even at home -- against Chelsea. ... Sunderland 0, Chelsea 2
* Wigan Athletic v. Wolves -- Will Saturday's start and the possibility of six points from two matches make fans turn out at the JJB? ... Wigan 2, Wolves 1
Wednesday:
* Birmingham City v. Portsmouth -- If Birmingham only had to play defense, they'd be okay. I hope the 4-5-1 was a product of playing at Old Trafford in the opener. Let's face it for Brum to stick around, it has to get three points vs. a nearly dead Pompey. ... Birmingham 1, Portsmouth 0
* Hull City v. Tottenham -- Spurs under Redknapp seem to have a system and style finally figured out. Can it translate to results on the road? ... Hull City 1, Spurs 1
* Burnley v. Manchester United -- Maybe the league really is afraid of Sir Alex. Back-to-back matches vs. promoted teams is a nice way to open a season. ... Burnley 0, Manchester United 2
* Liverpool v. Stoke City -- Liverpool can exorcise a demon early. ... Liverpool 3, Stoke City 0
Last round: 4-6
Season: 4-6
Labels: Arsenal, English Premier League, ESPN, Monday recaps, Premier League, Premier League on ESPN, Soccer, tottenham hotspur
Anyone know how much money Burnley saved by buying old West Ham replica shirts?
Due to a DVR error on my part I missed the last 10 mins of Chelsea-Hull. I thought, no problem, I'm sure the highlights will be on SportsCenter later in the evening since the game was on ESPN2. Not true. The only clip of the game came at the end of the show when Drogba's game winner was #1 on the top 10 plays. I guess since the game didn't involve dog fighters or had anyone hit in the head by a baseball it didn't warrent a 30 second highlight clip.
Oh well, the HD was pretty cool.
berbatov was pretty good, he hasn't justified his price yet, maybe does not fit with the traditional manu style, but his movement, touch and hold up play (often detrimental on the counter) is wonderful, he should have finished the one, rooney got hacked down on another that would have left him 1 v. 1, and his header was brilliant. I don't like to mention a certain player but your critique of him specifically after that game was with out warrant. Poor to compare Forlan with the double named one as well, even with the condition.
Arsenal shouldn't celebrate, Liverpool has no reason to despair, and as a fan I'm excited for a season where everything goes bonkers.
Also, for the record, Stephen Hunt is a twat who took Reading for money and never gave quality in the Championship, Tie Domi is in your guard Hull.
I don't get the criticism of Berbatov now that he is at United. His statistics last season were pretty good and way better than the numbers put up by Tevez. Saying he is a transfer bust after one game this season where he doesn't score seems premature. Also not scoring - Lampard and Gerard- OH NOES!
Let's not get sucked in by the UK media that loves two things - endeavor and British-ness. The Continental lacks one (Limey-osity) and the other is often disguised. I am not suggesting that Berbs runs around like Kuyt on cocaine, but does United really WANT him to? In the past (I didn't see the United game yesterday - 4:45am west coast time) Rooney has, at times, HURT United with all of his running after the ball and then ending up NOT in his assigned forward position. Something the Continental never does - but yet the BBC and game announcers seem to enjoy piling on Berbatov.
The argument that a player like Berbatov doesn't fit in with United's running style is a legitimate one, but Sir Rednose certainly was aware what he was buying when he picked the Bulgarian up from the Airport.
I was higher on Arsenal's chances this year than most people. Obviously, that is easy to say after the weekend, but how many teams made themselves better in the off-season? Obviously, the Manclacticos improved but who else? Aston Villa and Everton both just got older and I think they will both 'fall back' off the pace. United and Chelsea didn't have to get better, and I don't think City has enough to catch them (at least this year). The other team that might have gotten better, is Arsenal - because some of their players are still improving. I know that 'youth' is a boring trope at the Emirates and Arsenal might not be any better, but who else even COULD be better than last season?
30...bottom line, last year Berbatov was a surplus...a classic tabloid created hysteria that the SAF "needed" to sign the sanguine one. Now, a year later, United really does actually need him to be an every-other-match scorer to have any sniff of four straight titles.
According to my FIOS schedule, the Arsenal/Celtic match will be live on CSN-New England at 2:30. FSC will be showing FC Sheriff vs. Olympiakos at 2:30. Not sure what Setanta might be showing, but I think they have one as well live.
Not sure if these are ALL the CL matches, and it seems that some might be avail only if you have DirecTV. I am getting Arsenal-Celtic on my local FoxSports outlet and Sherrif-Olympiakos on FoxSoccer channel.
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/championsleague/tv
Cardillo - I agree that Berbatov has to step up, but if I was a United fan I would be way more enthusiastic about that possibility than I would be about Adebayor and Hulk Hair staying happy and productive the full season across town.
BTW - All Fulham's problems are solved. Why? We signed Damien Duff. Yee-f&%king-haw!