Based on the ratings, odds are you've avoided television's best comedy this year -- "Parks and Recreation" like most people avoid albums recorded by Heidi Montag.
Your loss. You'll never know to order a "Swanson" this summer at assorted county fairs, beach trips and amusement park runs.
Anyway, in a late plot development the fictional town of Pawnee, Ind., ran out of money and the government went bankrupt. In came a pair of auditors from the state to clean up the morass, played by Rob Lowe and Adam Scott.* Lowe's character is uber-positive (think making it a point to repeat your name), runs 10-miles per day, takes an insane level of pills (for your health) and is generally likable, albeit in a strange, vacant off-putting way. On the other hand, Scott's character is a by-the-numbers bureaucrat, forced to play "bad cop" in this situation.
* Watch "Party Down", before it's too late.
With Pawnee forced to cut almost all non-essential services -- including the parks department -- Lowe's character seems to catch none of the flak, while Scott is the heavy and blamed for canceling Freddy Spaghetti's children's summer concert series.
Still with me?
This week in the European soccer arena, Barcelona -- a club nearly universally loved -- started taking on some very Chelsea/Manchester City-like transfers.
However, like Lowe's character on "Parks and Rec" nobody seems to mind that Barca subtly became heels in the span of a week.
First Barca inked David Villa from Valencia for roughly $50 million, adding a 22-goal scorer to a team that posted 98 in 38 league matches. In essence wrapping bacon around one of those delicious giant roast turkey legs.
From a footballing standpoint, Villa's move is somewhat defensible. His lethal finishing ability does seem to fit into Barca's tic-toc passing game more than Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
And don't forget, Valencia is massively in debt and could use the money. Perhaps the windfall from selling Villa, plus the Champions League money allows the club to turn the corner. They do still have 6-foot-7 Serbian Nikola Žigić they could unleash on La Liga next year.
Villa to Barcelona is football business as usual, even if both Manchester clubs are probably cursing Barca for beating them to spot on Villa's signature.
Now where Barca seem to come off like heels is the open pursuit of Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas, a would-be move that exhibits everything that's annoying about European soccer. It's a rare display from a club that for so long thought it was above selling shirt sponsorship rights, eventually opting to promote the noble cause of UNICEF across its chest.
In was only two months ago that Fabregas was being hailed as "captain fantastic" for taking a penalty kick in Arsenal's loss to Barcelona in the Champions League with a broken leg.
Now, the ex-Barca youth player is being linked to a return to his Catalan home.
In a situation like this, nobody's exactly right or wrong. It's one of those Robert Evans, "three-sided" stories.
Can you blame Fabregas for wanting to go back home and play with Xavi and Andres Ineista?
The guy, still only 23, has basically laid his life on the line in the blood-and-guts English style of play. It's not like Arsenal has made a full commitment to winning one way or the other, surrounding Fabregas with "potential" as opposed to full blown proven professionals. How are the Gunners going to be able to leapfrog Chelsea in the Premier League or Barcelona, et al, in the Champions League? If you're Fabregas, you'd like to win more than, say, a League Cup every year or two, right?
Then again, wouldn't you like to see Fabregas take on the challenge of leading Arsenal to glory, as opposed to riding the coattails of Messi, Xavi, etc.? Wouldn't that be more satisfying for a professional? Or has Fabregas read the situation at Arsenal and deduced Wenger's commitment to young players isn't going to work, that he is forcing his way out?**
** Are contracts worth anything in European soccer? Fabregas is signed through 2014. He signed the deal. Shouldn't he honor it. It amazes me how Europeans seem to just accept great players hold all the power and can dictate where they want to play. Shouldn't Arsenal just simply say, thanks but no thanks Barcelona, end of story? Christ, if Fabregas is unhappy at Arsenal -- still a Top 10 destination in the world -- he'll never be happy.
At the same time, shouldn't Arsenal expect a little loyalty from it's team captain, a player they've nurtured since 2003? And with Fabregas a consensus top five talent in the Premier League, whatever money Barcelona throws at the team, it's not like they'll be able to bring in players to replace him.*** In the long term, yeah, Barcelona's millions might pay off, but next season would almost already be ruined for Arsenal.
*** Does such a replacement exist? Mikel Arteta? As it stands 23-year-old two-way midfield engines don't quite grow on trees.
Make no mistake, letting Fabregas go to Barcelona would be ripping the heart right out of Arsenal.
Gunners fans have taken the fast five trophy-less seasons with relative calm. To head into 2010-11 without the team's best player and leader? No amount of goodwill built up by Arsene Wenger might be enough to withstand the impending fan vitriol. Most fans, I'm guessing, would rather have shiny trophies as opposed to a sparkling new stadium, which was supposed to generate tons of new money for the club.
And Barcelona isn't innocent here, either, but can you blame them for wanting to bring back one of its former youth players who's since blossomed into a star?
Sure it's the simple Darwinist nature of European football. The big clubs eat the little ones. But what happens with two equal fish and one cannibalizes the other?
Barcelona sporting director Txiki Begiristain has been overt about the club's pursuit of Fabregas, hiding absolutely nothing, being quoted as saying, "It's great news that Cesc wants to come."
But through it all, nobody seems to find anything wrong with Barcelona trying to poach Fabregas away from Arsenal. The club seems to have built up so much goodwill that these tactics are basically shrugged off, even if they resemble the worst traits of Barcelona's biggest rival -- Real Madrid and its Galactico policy.
The thing is, nobody is calling shenanigans on Barcelona, who maintain about as much global goodwill as Barack Obama circa November 2008.
Like many politicians have found in the ensuing two years, you can say no. Arsenal ought to hold firm and doing everything it can to retain its best player.
Your loss. You'll never know to order a "Swanson" this summer at assorted county fairs, beach trips and amusement park runs.
Anyway, in a late plot development the fictional town of Pawnee, Ind., ran out of money and the government went bankrupt. In came a pair of auditors from the state to clean up the morass, played by Rob Lowe and Adam Scott.* Lowe's character is uber-positive (think making it a point to repeat your name), runs 10-miles per day, takes an insane level of pills (for your health) and is generally likable, albeit in a strange, vacant off-putting way. On the other hand, Scott's character is a by-the-numbers bureaucrat, forced to play "bad cop" in this situation.
* Watch "Party Down", before it's too late.
With Pawnee forced to cut almost all non-essential services -- including the parks department -- Lowe's character seems to catch none of the flak, while Scott is the heavy and blamed for canceling Freddy Spaghetti's children's summer concert series.
Still with me?
This week in the European soccer arena, Barcelona -- a club nearly universally loved -- started taking on some very Chelsea/Manchester City-like transfers.
However, like Lowe's character on "Parks and Rec" nobody seems to mind that Barca subtly became heels in the span of a week.
First Barca inked David Villa from Valencia for roughly $50 million, adding a 22-goal scorer to a team that posted 98 in 38 league matches. In essence wrapping bacon around one of those delicious giant roast turkey legs.
From a footballing standpoint, Villa's move is somewhat defensible. His lethal finishing ability does seem to fit into Barca's tic-toc passing game more than Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
And don't forget, Valencia is massively in debt and could use the money. Perhaps the windfall from selling Villa, plus the Champions League money allows the club to turn the corner. They do still have 6-foot-7 Serbian Nikola Žigić they could unleash on La Liga next year.
Villa to Barcelona is football business as usual, even if both Manchester clubs are probably cursing Barca for beating them to spot on Villa's signature.
Now where Barca seem to come off like heels is the open pursuit of Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas, a would-be move that exhibits everything that's annoying about European soccer. It's a rare display from a club that for so long thought it was above selling shirt sponsorship rights, eventually opting to promote the noble cause of UNICEF across its chest.
In was only two months ago that Fabregas was being hailed as "captain fantastic" for taking a penalty kick in Arsenal's loss to Barcelona in the Champions League with a broken leg.
Now, the ex-Barca youth player is being linked to a return to his Catalan home.
In a situation like this, nobody's exactly right or wrong. It's one of those Robert Evans, "three-sided" stories.
Can you blame Fabregas for wanting to go back home and play with Xavi and Andres Ineista?
The guy, still only 23, has basically laid his life on the line in the blood-and-guts English style of play. It's not like Arsenal has made a full commitment to winning one way or the other, surrounding Fabregas with "potential" as opposed to full blown proven professionals. How are the Gunners going to be able to leapfrog Chelsea in the Premier League or Barcelona, et al, in the Champions League? If you're Fabregas, you'd like to win more than, say, a League Cup every year or two, right?
Then again, wouldn't you like to see Fabregas take on the challenge of leading Arsenal to glory, as opposed to riding the coattails of Messi, Xavi, etc.? Wouldn't that be more satisfying for a professional? Or has Fabregas read the situation at Arsenal and deduced Wenger's commitment to young players isn't going to work, that he is forcing his way out?**
** Are contracts worth anything in European soccer? Fabregas is signed through 2014. He signed the deal. Shouldn't he honor it. It amazes me how Europeans seem to just accept great players hold all the power and can dictate where they want to play. Shouldn't Arsenal just simply say, thanks but no thanks Barcelona, end of story? Christ, if Fabregas is unhappy at Arsenal -- still a Top 10 destination in the world -- he'll never be happy.
At the same time, shouldn't Arsenal expect a little loyalty from it's team captain, a player they've nurtured since 2003? And with Fabregas a consensus top five talent in the Premier League, whatever money Barcelona throws at the team, it's not like they'll be able to bring in players to replace him.*** In the long term, yeah, Barcelona's millions might pay off, but next season would almost already be ruined for Arsenal.
*** Does such a replacement exist? Mikel Arteta? As it stands 23-year-old two-way midfield engines don't quite grow on trees.
Make no mistake, letting Fabregas go to Barcelona would be ripping the heart right out of Arsenal.
Gunners fans have taken the fast five trophy-less seasons with relative calm. To head into 2010-11 without the team's best player and leader? No amount of goodwill built up by Arsene Wenger might be enough to withstand the impending fan vitriol. Most fans, I'm guessing, would rather have shiny trophies as opposed to a sparkling new stadium, which was supposed to generate tons of new money for the club.
And Barcelona isn't innocent here, either, but can you blame them for wanting to bring back one of its former youth players who's since blossomed into a star?
Sure it's the simple Darwinist nature of European football. The big clubs eat the little ones. But what happens with two equal fish and one cannibalizes the other?
Barcelona sporting director Txiki Begiristain has been overt about the club's pursuit of Fabregas, hiding absolutely nothing, being quoted as saying, "It's great news that Cesc wants to come."
But through it all, nobody seems to find anything wrong with Barcelona trying to poach Fabregas away from Arsenal. The club seems to have built up so much goodwill that these tactics are basically shrugged off, even if they resemble the worst traits of Barcelona's biggest rival -- Real Madrid and its Galactico policy.
The thing is, nobody is calling shenanigans on Barcelona, who maintain about as much global goodwill as Barack Obama circa November 2008.
Like many politicians have found in the ensuing two years, you can say no. Arsenal ought to hold firm and doing everything it can to retain its best player.
Labels: Arsenal, barcelona, cesc fabregas, English Premier League, Premier League, Soccer
The only mitigating factor for me is that Cesc is from the region himself. Gives him some credence for the "I wanna go home and win at home" argument. He tried the Arsenal thing, but the guy just refuses to sign anyone with pubes. I doubt he plans to change that Get In My Van/Here's Some Candy approach. If Cesc wants to go, it kinda makes sense.
[HAVING SAID THAT ALERT]
Having said that, I'd love to see Cesc stay there. I like watching him play, and I watch much more Prem than La Liga. Selfishly, I say stay.
[/HAVING SAID THAT ALERT]
Also, Andy is the best character on P&R. Guy cracks me up every time he's on screen.
"with Fabregas a consensus top five talent in the Premier League"
Consensus? The top three is pretty clear in my mind (though you could argue about order: Rooney, Drogba, Torres. After that, though, I'd rather have Lampard and Gerrard than Cesc, and a case could be made for someone like Aaron Lennon or James Milner.
Is Fabregas world-class? Sure, but he's also overrated, a success of the Arsenal marketing machine and a tactical system that highlights his skills and hides his weaknesses. He can't tackle and is weak physically (unlike the two CMs mentioned above).
Or maybe I just have a bad case of shoeshine head.
Well played there Simon. Well played.