Hello-o-o-o-o-o!

Well... as hiatuses (hiatii?) go, this was one hell of a long one. But we can explain! I promise. I was doing a summer school program at Queen's castle in Herstmonceux (would recommend it to anyone who was pondering doing it), Phil's doing something important and Milway's extremely lazy.


But, I'm done my summer program, Phil remembered that he has opinions on things and Milway's still lazy, but also watching baseball, so this blog should get up and at 'em in short order.

On the docket for the near future:

I'll be talking about The Ashes cricket series between England and Australia (and will go on an Amrit-vs-CBC style rant... except about the BBC!!! DRAMA!), and who knows, maybe I'll delve into the Heatley thing... because that hasn't been done to death. Phil will be writing about the ridiculousness of the transfer window in football lately (non-Premier League too), and Milway might write something too. Who knows.

Anyways, once again - sorry for the extended break. I know all three of our readers have been pulling their hair out for months wondering where we went... well... we went to SchoolTown. Don't hate.

Expect new stuff tomorrow!

PS -- the picture. I typed "back from vacation" into Google Images and that popped up... it was so awesome I couldn't help but use it.

Football's moral high ground

Chelsea were eliminated by awful refereeing, but for them to have gone through would have been an insult to football.

Chelsea are a disgrace. They didn't try and score at the Camp Nou, and eased off too much after scoring at home. Barcelona may only have had one shot on goal last night but it's all about taking the chances you're given. There's an away goals rule for a reason, and in this respect Barcelona handily win the "moral tie" because they tried and tried and tried to play their game, and it worked. For such an expensively-assembled Chelsea team to 'park the bus' is reprehensible and ignores the fact that football is a spectator sport where enjoyment and artistic expression matter almost as much as winning.

To be fair, the referee, Tom Henning Ovrebo, robbed Chelsea of an appearance in the final, despite Abidal's red card after Anelka's clear dive. Drogba, unlike his partner in attack, was on his feet for most of the game, and earned at least two clear penalties. When he's serious and focused he is an amazing player and an asset to any team, and he was for both legs. Then he squandered all the goodwill in a few crazed minutes.

Let's give credit where credit is due: Guus Hiddink had every reason to be frustrated yesterday, but he expressed it in a civilised, gentlemanly and respectful way. Despite his attempts to control his players failing, he is still one of few to emerge with any dignity after that shambles.

John Terry gets an even greater deal of respect from me for comporting himself in a civilised way after the game. He acknowledged that Alex was booked for a foul he himself had committed, which is remarkably forthright from any footballer. After the game, did he don flip-flops and scream at the ref? No, he went to the Barcelona dressing room, shook hands with the manager and his players, congratulated them and left quietly. Drogba and Ballack can learn a thing or two from their captain and their manager.

There are a number of things that are great about football: attack, fluidity, artistry, pride. The list goes on. Two teams from the four semi-finalists showed these characteristics, and it's proof that there is a God that they are both in the final.

I hate to gloat...

...but I'm pretty happy that although my prediction for the CL Semi-Final at Old Trafford was horribly wrong, the old tactical brain is still working.

In my last post, I suggested that

you may see a strange combination of United midfielders (Anderson + Fletcher, maybe)

to counter Arsenal's relatively new tactical approach. Well, it turned out to be the case. After the match, BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty had this to say:

Anderson and Darren Fletcher were outstanding in midfield. The recent heavy-legged look had gone from United as they played at the high-tempo that suits them best.

Perhaps Sir Alex reads TINONFTSB?

Champions League Semi-Final Previews

My apologies for the long hiatus...it's been a very busy time. I felt I should share some of my thoughts on the upcoming Champions League semi-finals.

After some of the great football from the last round, there is abundant optimism for the next stage. Being used to rubbish (or in Jorge Valdano's words, "shit on a stick") from any Liverpool-Chelsea encounter, we were instead treated to a 7-5 aggregate tie between the two. Bayern Munich, the great Teutonic hope, were victims to a 45min flurry of goals in Barcelona which the Catalan club's president Joan Laporta deemed to be the best in the club's history.

Tuesday, 28 April
Barcelona v Chelsea

This one will be a treat. We should consider ourselves privileged to see this 2009 Barcelona side under Pep Guardiola the same way contemporaries were privileged to see the great Brazil side of 1970. I fell in love with Barca under the Dutchman Louis van Gaal (who, incidentally, won the Eredivisie with AZ Alkmaar last week) and Pep Guardiola's side has made me renew my vows. Daniel Alves may be less adventurous as against Almeria and Valladolid, for example, so expect Iniesta and Xavi to be more decisive, trying to find space just in front of Chelsea's makeshift back four.

Guus Hiddink, both a gentleman and master tactician (van Gaal is only one of these) threatens to rain on the Barca parade. Master of upsetting the bookies, you have to imagine that Chelsea will find some way of getting through a weak Catalan central defence. Watch out for the central midfield battle - it's all about how Essien and Lampard gel, and how Barcelona position their midfield trio to contain them. Will they play Keita? Busquets? Either way, Hiddink has plenty of answers.

Barcelona have been rampant but chased by a Real Madrid side who have won 18 of their last 19 games (in rather ugly fashion, too), and all eyes are on the decisive Clasico derby this weekend. At least one of Pep's eyes too, one would imagine. "We haven't won anything yet", is the weekly line from Guardiola, but the problem lies in deciding what to win and how.

Prediction: I think a 1-1 draw is on the cards, and don't be surprised if Chelsea make it to the final.


Wednesday, 29 April
Manchester United v Arsenal

This one has 'classic' written all over it. Keane, Vieira, van Nistelrooy and Keown may be gone, but the hunger remains.

For a neutral, to see the sensational Andriy Arshavin cup-tied for this game is a major turn-off, but this game should be a very entertaining affair. Arsenal are unbeaten in the league for over half the season and there is an aura of solidity around the side. Still, consistency has been hard to acheive and a blip is always a distinct possibility. One would favour United in the midfield battle but Fabregas's new advanced role could be tactically problematic for United. Alexandre Song, lying deep in midfield, has been a revelation this season. Watch for a tense first half dominated by the battle in the middle of the park.

United's lineups this season have been rather erratic, so who knows whether Berbatov or Tevez will get the nod? Cristiano Ronaldo is hitting form and Ryan Giggs is fresh off a PFA award win. Sir Alex Ferguson will undoubtedly have an eye on the weekend derby with Manchester City, but watch for a full-strength side. Sorry Nani, no action for you. Fabregas will exploit the space between the back four and midfield, so you may see a strange combination of United midfielders (Anderson + Fletcher, maybe) deployed to counter this threat.

Prediction: I have this one down as a 2-1 win for Arsenal against the old enemy. The game at Old Trafford the following week is probably the most unpredictable game of the season. Another Chelsea-United final may be on the cards, but don't be surprised to see Arsenal knock the prospective English champions out.

Why does the CBC insist on sucking?

I'm sorry that this is the first post we've had up in over a month. Late March and April are busy here in Kingston, we've got papers and exams coming out the wazoo.

That said, this last annoyance by the CBC is too much for me to bear. I know I seem to have it out for the CBC, and jump on every dumb thing they do to make my argument more cogent... and that's mostly because I do.

Last year, the CBC did something called "Test the Nation: Sports". It was this wonderful little trivia thing where people printed off an answer sheet and watched the show and circled the correct answer on their answer sheet. Such fun! CBC win! Look at those smiling faces of Ron McLean and Wendy Mesley, they know they're doing a good thing!


For the past few weeks they've been advertising doing it again, and I was pretty excited. It was scheduled to be Sunday, April 11 at 7pm. So last night rolled around and a buddy of mine came over and we printed off the sheets again and plopped down in front of the TV.

It seemed a little suspicious that I remembered a lot of the celebrity guests from last year, but figured they just got the same people back, no big deal. Then I felt like I remembered some of the jokes at the start, but decided that I'd watched enough Hockey Night in Canada that I've come to predict Ron McLean's jokes. Then the questions started... and things started to feel a little fishy, like I'd done this before.

Then I looked at the bottom of the answer sheet, and it said "May 25th at 8pm!". Then the commercial break ended and, for 2 seconds, the words "Pre-Aired Programming" popped up on the screen. And my heart immediately sunk.

Don't tell me you couldn't come up with FIFTY more questions!!! Don't tell me you were so lazy you couldn't even be bothered to change the daggum date on the answer sheet! What is wrong with the CBC!? Why are they so set on losing all their sports viewers?

Other than Don Cherry and Ron McLean, Hockey Night in Canada took a nosedive this year. They're dropping all baseball coverage. They're dropping their CONCACAF Champion's League coverage, and knocking back (if not dropping altogether) figure skating, skiing, aquatics and world athletics.

I've put up the CBC's mandate multiple times, so I'm not going to do it again. Refer back to here if you want to read it again.

I understand the economic times are tough, and the CBC's been forced to cut back heavily. But it seems sports are shouldering most of the burden. While they spend the money to bring in Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and keep making that rubbish Little Mosque on the Prairie, we're losing the chance to see real Canadians compete in sports that, as Greg put so well over at Out of Left Field, "may not be sexy to beer companies or generate the same kind of knee-jerk lunacy that infects Canada like a sickness every four years during Winter Olympics hockey games".

The fact that the CBC couldn't even be bothered to come up with 50 more questions was pathetic, and really rubbed in the point that they couldn't care less about the sports-watching Canadian public.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the CBC isn't accountable for the programming decisions they make and, as such, can cut and pay for whatever they please. This while Canadians are forced to pay for it through their taxes. Make the CBC opt-outable, and I tell you what they'll figure it out really quickly.

As for right now, I'm still stewing about the lack of Test the Nation. Thanks CBC, you ruined my celebration of Jesus coming back.

Let's Pop Some Popcorn!

It looks like my Buffalo Bills have signed notorious malcontent Terrell Owens. I am not sure how I feel about this one. The more I think about, though, the more I am liking it.

It's a one year contract for $6.5MM. This means cutting him will not be a huge problem if he steps out of line. He would be the #2 receiver behind Lee Evans. The new depth chart would be Evans and Owens, followed by Roscoe Parrish and Josh Reed in the slot, with James Hardy (if he recovers from a torn ACL) and Steve Johnson as short yardage possession receivers. It automatically makes the Bills offense much scarier. Trent Edwards needs another target, that was clear last season. Especially when teams would double Evans, he had to throw to Josh Reed quite a bit. So now the Bills can roll out Marshawn Lynch early to pound the line and bring the safeties closer to the line of scrimmage, have Evans as a threat over the top, throw in Owens somewhere in the middle, and then Roscoe and Josh hitting the seam. That is a lot for a defense to watch. If the Bills draft a pass-catching TE (probably in the 2nd round with Cook out of Southern Miss) then this offense looks downright frightening.

In my memory, this is the biggest name that the Bills have added via trade or free agency. Maybe Drew Bledsoe is up there, and maybe Doug Flutie, just because of his ties to Toronto. This is a move that the Bills do not make EVER. They do not add the potential clubhouse cancer. But if you look at this team now, it is much improved. Russ Brandon has a done a heck of a job adding pieces like Drayton Florence to replace Jabari Greer and add depth for when (not if) injuries hit and adding Geoff Hangartner to fill that hole at Center.

The AFC East (Buffalo, Miami, NYJ and New England) must be considered the toughest division in football, top to bottom. Last year, the Bills went 0-6 in divisional play, making them an afterthought in this division. Not anymore. Miami is due to regress after overachieving last year. The Jets don't have a QB anymore, unless Kellen Clemens or Brett Ratliff really steps up. The Patriots are the Patriots and will continue to be the presumptive favorites until they are not, if that makes sense. The Bills were stuck in purgatory, but decided to take a shot.

I'm excited as can be and cannot wait for training camp in Rochester, NY this year.

Naptime

Hi there folks,

Sorry for the non-posts in the past few weeks. Phil, Milway and I have all been disturbingly busy since the end of Reading Week (for Americans: Reading Week = Spring Break in February).

At any rate, Phil and I (with the exception of the last one) are still doing Premier League Punditry at Sporting Madness every Sunday with Andrew.

I'll put up a "what happened in the past few weeks" post soon enough, stay posted.

Cheers.