This site gets severely neglected in crunch times, and it’s crunch time. I was freaking out earlier about how I was going to get everything done by the end of the semester (Dec. 12 or so) but after mapping it all out I think I’ll be good to go. I realized today that a slow, steady approach is not what’s called for. I have about three major projects that I need to care of, and it makes way more sense to dedicate about a week to each while abandoning nearly everything else. This plan should keep me sane.

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I love my Packers, I really do, and to see them mercilessly whip up on the Bears was a joy to behold. They looked like world-beaters, even though I’m convinced that the NFC North has three average teams that aren’t going to the Super Bowl.

The Badgers have been so god-awful this season that I can hardly stand to watch. The only consolation this weekend was that you can always count on the Golden Vomit to botch things up worse than Wisconsin. Their complete capitulation inspired much laughter in my house.

Speaking of the corridors of Hergenrader echoing with laughter, how great was Aston Villa’s Arse smacking on Saturday? A fairer score probably would have been 4-0 as Villa played their hosts off the park. Seriously, to put in such a limp performance at home…why are there still headlines saying “Ars*nal Title Chances Dented”? I suspected that their win against Man Ure last weekend did more damage to the champions’ hopes of retaining the title than it did about Ars*nal’s credentials for staying in the race, and this result suggests I was right.

For the yutzes who haven’t yet come to grips with how these European leagues work—it doesn’t matter how pretty you play or the big teams you beat, it all comes down to the season-long table. If you’re like the Arse and you’re nine points off the pace with a third of the season gone, not only do you need to basically be flawless from here on out, you need to have the three teams ahead of you all drop more points than you do. For a side that’s already lost four (two at home), that doesn’t seem too likely, does it?

The major misconception is that unlike baseball, basketball, or American football, there is no “peaking at the right time” in regards to the regular season. Mediocre teams like the NY Giants managed to get hot in December and that paved the way to the Super Bowl. Not so in the league for footie. That holds true for the cup competitions, but it’s quite often that teams are mortally wounded by November and December and there is no coming back. The only recent exception is Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle blowing a ten-point lead in the ‘95-’96 season, but I can’t see Benitez’s Liverpool or Scolari’s Chelski wobbling that badly. Nor can I see this Ars*nal crop making up the ground.

Still awfully tight, tight, tight though.

Current Mood: Sure |

The secret to watching the United States play some good attacking soccer? Have them face a tiny Caribbean nation playing with one man down. The US whipped up on Cuba to the tune of 6-1 last night and featured some pretty decent attack play. I was really happy to see DaMarcus Beasley bang in two well-taken goals and Heath Pearce, who I have been moaning about for the last several months, had a really good game, serving in great balls from the wing.

Still, I can’t be all positive. The US started with essentially the same lineup that’s been boring us to tears since qualification began. I was excited to see Altidore, Adu, and Torres in the squad, disappointed that none of them got the start. I thought Altidore and Adu played quite well in the minutes they did get, scoring and getting an assist respectively, and Torres looks like he could be handy too. But I don’t want to draw too many conclusions as Cuba was well-beaten and exhausted at that point. My sincere hope is that these fellas don’t step off the field for the next two irrelevant games and force their way into the starting lineup for the final round of qualifiers.

I watched portions of England’s win over Kazakhstan and was fairly unimpressed. The first couple goals game off set pieces and the team looked awfully plodding until the goals finally started dropping in late in the second half. So a big scoreline, yes, but watching England reminds me a lot of the current US squad and I find myself asking this question: what happens when these teams play somebody good?

Like Spain. 3-0 against Estonia might not have been a devastating performance by the Spaniards, but they sure do look tasty all the same. Iniesta and Xavi are ridiculous in the midfield. During the Euros I said you couldn’t get the ball off them if you had a pool cue to help trip them up; I’m raising that to a shotgun. If you want to criticize (and I don’t) you could accuse them of trying to walk the ball in the net, but it’s still fun to watch, and they still won handily—away, on a rain-slicked pitch. I wish the World Cup was this summer…

The less said the better. My prediction was that it would be ugly so I watched the US national team instead. It turned out to be uglier than I ever would have dreamed. Pure awful. After the Michigan loss I said that this team tends to lose in streaks, and boy, have I been proven right.

Mad City FC won again yesterday, 5-1, and I had nothing to do with it since I wasn’t in town. I should make the next two games though and hopefully close out the season with a pair of wins.

Current Mood: Fine |
Currently Listening To - Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - “Global A Go-Go”

Mad City United won again, this time 5-2. I again opened the scoring early in the first half, and again it had to be one of the most god-awful goals in league history. I shot from about 20 yards out (again, almost the same exact circumstance) but didn’t hit it all that well. The ball dipped at the goal line and the keeper, expecting it to bounce up into his arms, had to be mortified when it nutmegged him for a goal. Oops.

MCU played really well today with lots of fluid passing but we were a bit profligate in front of goal. We passed instead of shooting, and shot instead of passing. The opposition got only a handful of shots on goal and they were awarded two penalties (one pretty clear-cut, the other not so much). From the run of play they had made a shot or two, and scored on a corner with the last kick of the game to make the score seem somewhat closer than it was. On that same play, a dickhead on their team who was routinely going in with perhaps too much gusto decided it would be a good idea to shove me from behind as hard as he could to get open, and now my neck and back are out of whack. Had the game gone on another two minutes I likely would have found reason to return the favor. So it’s probably better it ended when it did. And I need to do more physical therapy on my right leg—it seems noticeably weaker in the last few weeks and I am having the occasional twinge of pain walking up and down stairs. Not good, not good.

Speaking of profligate strikers, can you believe Ars*nal surrendered their perfect home record at the Emirates to Hull City today? Hilarious. I was just starting to think that maybe, just maybe, they could actually be title contenders this year, but today offered a good dose of reality—they did not address their defensive problems on set pieces, they don’t deal well in general with physical teams, and as the season wears on and injuries come into play. They still play some pretty stuff when they’re on their game, but I honestly don’t see them being able to keep pace with Man Ure and Chelski.

This article on Spurs suggests why the club is always in a state of crisis, but Hubbard misses the real point: business has always taken precedence over the squad for at least the last decade. They have bought up every young player in England (and increasingly the continent) they could get their hands on with the intent of selling them. The Berbatov bit was a good piece of business, and the bottom line is that for all the talk of going fourth, Spurs have not bought any of the big-time, world-renowned players who would help them get there. The reason? It’s too much of a risk and doesn’t make enough business sense.

I skipped through most of Wisconsin’s loss to Michigan today. In truth, Michigan tried handing them the game about a half-dozen times but the anemic offense couldn’t seal the deal. Blowing a 19 point lead is ridiculous, and it’s this same ultra-conservative play calling that the Packers do to protect a lead that allows teams to get back in the game. Stupid, stupid, stupid and what’s worse is that losses tend to beget losses for Wisconsin, and that doesn’t bode well for next week’s game versus Ohio State.

Current Mood: Okay |

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You know you’re getting old when you have to force yourself to stay up to watch a 9:30 kickoff. I watched the Badgers play at Fresno State in a bar and it was all I could do to keep from falling asleep in the second half. There were a lot of similarities between that game and the one today between the Packers and the Lions.

One, both Wisconsin teams had near-catastrophic collapses in the second half. The Packers’ was much more alarming, and in fairness, much of Wisconsin’s problem stemmed from a badly blown call. But their porous D didn’t help, nor did the questionable WAC officiating. Instant replay had a big hand in both games. In the Badger game, the referees somehow overruled a catch/fumble decision in favor of an incomplete pass, even though the replay seemed to be crystal clear. In the Packers game, Aaron Rodgers surely stepped out of bounds when scrambling for a first down. It’s these kind of situations that make me rethink the use of replay in soccer.

Both offenses were incredible when on song, and abysmal when out of sorts. The highs and lows are somewhat alarming, as is the fact that both defenses completely fell apart for a quarter of each game. Still, wins are good. We’ll take wins.

I’ve gotten around to watching most of US vs. Trinidad & Tobago and I still refuse to be impressed. T&T looked so god awful that I think most pub teams could have turned them over. While the US never looked rattled, they never looked silky smooth either. They should be better than this.

Brian Ching showed once again that he’s up to par unless the team is playing hoof and hope, and Heath Pearce has got to be one of the most frighteningly average defenders in recent memory. He offers virtually nothing going forward and has not looked all that comfortable against these tiny CONCACAF opponents. God help us whenever we play strong, fast teams. If I was a manager facing the US, I would tell my team to attack that flank every time down the field. Worse, DaMarcus Beasley put in another pretty rotten performance, although he did get a (lucky) assist. Still, why is he straying offsides so much?

Thus far, Bradley has been more Sampson than Arena. By that I mean he’s sticking with tried (and tired) US stalwarts rather than turning the roster over. Lest we forget, Sampson qualified the US very early for the 1998 World Cup and went on to a shockingly bad tournament performance. In contrast, Arena’s squad struggled mightily before 2002 and then went on to one of the most successful World Cups in American history. It’s still early days, but I wouldn’t be reserving my tickets for South Africa just yet. The US will be there—that’s practically guaranteed—but that’s a long way to travel for disappointment.

Current Mood: To Continue a Theme, Tired |

I have to say, DVR makes watching a full football game a joy. Critics can say what they want about soccer, but for me a major knock on American football is that the time between plays is about four times longer than the plays themselves.

Anyway, what can be learned from Wisconsin’s demolition of Akron? Not much. They moved the ball at will on the ground (PJ Hill had 100 yards with five minutes to go in the first quarter) and only a couple of botched plays on the 1 yard line from the Badgers kept the Zips (yes, Zips) in the game. I don’t know what this says about the season to come, but it’s better than struggling, that’s for sure.

Well, unless Spurs absolutely tonk Chelski tomorrow (which is highly unlikely), the Ars* will win the week three award for most improved team. They ran poor Newcastle ragged today but (surprise surprise) I am not among those who think they’re right back in the title chase. At best, this squad will do what they did last year and leap out to a quick lead but fade in the end. Still, they looked pretty damn smooth.

Elsewhere, the league is entirely unpredictable. West Ham’s 4-1 win over Blackburn do the visitors a disservice since it could have easily ended 1-1, and Everton’s season is already in shambles after getting bombed 3-0 by Pompey, their second home loss. And Hull’s confidence must be cracked—nay, shattered—after suffering a 5-0 pounding at home to Wigan of all teams. This is not that unusual for this time of year where teams are still settling in and finding their feet, and there’s also the small matter of the transfer window closing tomorrow night at midnight. Still, I wouldn’t want to be betting large sums of money on any of these games right now.

Speaking of transfers, I’ll tell you what Tottenham need sharpish—two strikers and a holding midfielder. I’m not all that excited about Pavlyuchenko (nor am I that excited about Arshavin) because I thought these guys ran far too hot and cold. If the Berbatov transfer doesn’t go through—although I’m betting it will—then I hope he can man-up and give it his all.

I haven’t heard anyone saying this (although I haven’t been listening too hard) but I think Tottenham’s next biggest void is in the center of the park. For my money, the defensive midfielder role is probably the hardest to fill since so few players really excel at this position. Didier Zokora was supposed to be this box-to-box enforcer but it really hasn’t worked out that way. He’s useful but not dominant, and Spurs need a big-time heavy to put some steel in their speedy but lightweight midfield.

And of course a striker who could hit an elephant’s ass with a banjo would help too.

There’s still a good chance that we’re switching to DirecTV in order to get GolTV so I can watch the Spanish league, but I’m still going to follow it the best I can in the meantime.

I’ve decided that I’m really pulling for Valencia this year. Although Tottenham is my team in England, I also root for Liverpool and Newcastle whenever they’re not playing Spurs. In La Liga, I have always been a Real Madrid fan mostly because I love Madrid (and Spurs currently occupy the room in my heart for a perennially underachieving team in my heart, Atlético) but after that it’s always been Valencia and whoever is playing Barcelona. (Interesting fact: I have noticed that fans of Ars*nal in England also tend to be fans of Barca in Spain.)

Anyway, my feeling for Valencia became clear last year when they were within touching distance of relegation, yet rebounded to win the Copa del Rey. I was fearful and ecstatic for them, and I find myself relieved that striker extraordinaire David Villa has re-upped his contract. They’ve got Morientes, Joaquín, Silva, Albiol, Marchena, Albelda, Helguera, del Horno…the list of players I admire goes on and on. Not all of these guys are firing on all cylinders anymore, but still. This is a good club that’s given me many happy footie-watching memories, so I’m pulling for them big time this term—even though I’ve never been to Valencia.

Current Mood: Bushed |

First things first, woo-hoo to the US Men’s Olympic team who have posted a 1-0 win against Japan and a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands in a very tough group. This is actually a perfect scenario to test these players. A draw against Nigeria and they’re through to the next round. A loss would likely mean they go home. Teams need to learn how to get the result they need. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this group has learned this lesson.

News out of LA reveals that Ruud Gullit is gone, as is Alexi Lalas. You probably don’t remember, but awhile back I said I wasn’t sure Gullit’s appointment would work out. As the linked article says, Gullit’s “coaching stint with the Galaxy mirrors his previous coaching gigs, with English clubs Chelsea and Newcastle and Dutch side Feyenoord, all of which he left under controversial circumstances.” My read on Gullit’s career is that he wants his teams to play sexy football, but he doesn’t really know how to make that happen. Which doesn’t help much if you’re a manager.

I’m not sure who at LA has been making the bad decisions but it’s annoying. I mean, maybe I should charge $25,000 as a consulting fee in order to explain things to the Galaxy brass that A) Abel Xavier would be at best (and I do mean best) an average defender and at worst a complete nutter who would alternate between going completely AWOL, to losing the plot and start fouling with impunity; and that B) Ruud Gullit really hasn’t done much as a manager, has an enormous ego, and has jumped ship on struggling clubs faster than Kevin Keegan. I would have suggested that neither would be a good investment, and I would have been right.

The funny thing? This isn’t super-secret insider information. It’s pretty much common knowledge for anyone who has followed the game for the last 10-15 years or so. There are players and managers who have a lot of baggage that comes with them. Some are surprising—I thought Lothar Matthäus could have been an impact player in MLS instead of a bust, and I thought Denilson was well worth a gamble—but Gullit and Xavier were ones I would have passed on, for any team in any market.

Waiting for the next twist and turn, and waiting for Fox Football Fone-In to start back up…

Regarding Brett Favre going to the Jets, I think Jason Whitlock sums up my opinion pretty well. McCarthy and Thompson wanted him to pipe down and were more than ready to see the back of #4.

While I don’t think Favre has draped himself in glory with this whole sordid ordeal, I wish him the best with the Jets. I don’t think the honeymoon is going to last long.

Current Mood: Tired |
Currently Listening To - The Hold Steady - “Separation Sunday”

Because John asked for it, here’s my take on the Brett Favre saga. It’s pretty simple.

I don’t think Favre likes coach McCarthy or GM Ted Thompson. Favre thinks he is the Packers; they think the Packers are bigger than one person. I think Favre has certain ideas about plays, players, and strategies that don’t always match up with McCarthy’s and Thompson’s, and for the last few seasons Favre has been wondering what’s worse, working for people you don’t like, or whether it’s not worth it and simply retiring.

This year, I think the Packers front office told Favre to shit or get off the pot regarding retiring and, because he wasn’t being cuddled, he decided to call their bluff and retire even though he didn’t really want to. When they didn’t back down, he’s had nothing but time to stew over whether maybe they would have released him or traded him instead, so he could keep playing but not be the bad guy. Everyone and their brother has been saying all Miniscrota needs is a quarterback and his old buddy Darrell Bevel works there…

From that point, I think stupidity has erupted and has only been fueled by the worst our society can offer, the lowly sports journalist. From a business sense, there was no way in hell Favre was going to be released to Minnesota or Chicago—the GM would have been burned at the stake had Favre ever come back to GB in either of those uniforms. Anyone who thought anything different was just jacking off. I think trades have dried up because most savvy GMs have figured out that the Packers aren’t going to let the man who has defined their franchise go for a song, and he’s one clean sack away from having his career ended. And then there’s the whole “wild Favre” aspect that Packers fans have learned to deal with over the last decade-plus that announcers like Madden and Bradshaw conveniently forget while they’re slobbing Brett’s knob. He can be an infuriating quarterback at times, and it goes without saying that with any new team he has to learn a new offense, new players, etc. Time is not on his side.

Having been in GB a few weeks ago, I would have to say—regardless of what sports writers would have you believe—that the locals I talked to are on the side of the organization, not the player. Those same folks, like me, believe that Brett is probably a better quarterback than Aaron Rodgers, but they also feel, like me, that you should stick to your word. The whole “I’m retiring, no I’m not” grows old instantly and seriously hinders the organization’s ability to plan for the future. Had Favre not retired, I don’t think there’s a soul in Wisconsin who would have said the team was better off without him. As things stand however, I have yet to meet a staunch “Bring Brett Back!” supporter, either here in Madison, in Green Bay, or Milwaukee.

I still believe that when Aaron Rodgers has his spine crushed in Game 2 and Brett trots out onto the field, the crowd will welcome him with open arms. That’s the scenario I’m betting on, but honestly the whole thing makes me want to puke. Here in Wisconsin, the coverage has been 24-7 for weeks and it’s gotten really, really old. I think the Packers are going to be fair-to-middlin’ this year, regardless of who the quarterback is.

And the final caveat: I don’t hang around sports bars and only casually follow off-season football, so all of the above is based on my limited surveillance of the situation and a healthy dose of armchair psychology.

Current Mood: Tired of Favre Talk |

Brett Favre retiring. Gack. The day I thought would never come. But if anything, Favre has spoiled us Packers fans and the only thing really left to say is, “Thank you.”

Perhaps the best news headline of all time: D&D Creator Gary Gygax Fails Final Saving Throw: Dead at 69. This is a bummer too, only because D&D made up such an important part of my youth and it’s sad to think its creator has passed on.

I listened to an archived interview of Gygax on NPR tonight, and it really struck me how the game really spurred my imagination as a kid. So thanks for that, Gary.

Current Mood: Fine |

Right, so up to this point I haven’t been a very big Mike McCarthy fan. I thought the Packers were eeking out games they had no business winning and I put their one home loss squarely at McCarthy’s feet.

Turns out, this team has gotten progressively better and better. They kicked the ever lovin’ out of Oakland today and have won a series of impressive game. Even the loss in Dallas was done with heads held high. I’m not a complete convert, but I do have to say that McCarthy deserves a lot of the credit for the team’s change in fortunes.

Right, so the finals of The Ultimate Fighter were last night and it turned out to be pretty anticlimactic. Most of the fights between the show’s various losers were pretty good, especially between War Machine and Squeaky Voice. The final? Not so much.

Though I was pretty sure of this going in, the season really made me dislike Matt Hughes even more. I like how he’s managed to shoulder none of the blame for the six fights his guys lost yet likes to take credit for getting two guys in the final. What a jerk. You could see the mediocre guys from Serra’s team jump up a notch so you know he’s a great coach.

A couple things on MMA. One thing I don’t like is how slips and illegal hits usually end up helping the perpetrator quite a bit. Last season, a fighter got clobbered with an illegal elbow in the back of the head. After the restart, he got whipped. In the semifinal between Tommy Speer and George, Tommy poked George in the eye; to me it looked like a convenient accident. And Tommy’s big shot KO’d George because he never saw it coming—probably because it hit him on the left side, the same eye that had been poked. I don’t quite know how this gets fixed.

Also, I’m noticing that I like The Ultimate Fighter show less and less, primarily because these guys are still learning. I stopped watching the WEC and some other MMA fights because the fighters weren’t as well rounded. I prefer to see the real deal, like the Guerrera vs. Huerta fight where both guys are really good. TUF obviously produces a lot of good talent but a lot of the fights aren’t so great and the last two championship fights have more or less sucked.

Right, a good day in English football. Spurs won 2-1 over Man City, and the Ars* finally lost. And to Boro? Why is it that Gareth Southgate manged to beat Chelski last year and the Ars* this year, yet still contrives to lose against Wigan?

What I find remarkable about this season is how it seemed like Man Ure and Chelski’s stuttering starts was such a major deal, as was the Ars*’s undefeated streak. Now they’ve played the same number of games and a whopping three points separates the three teams with over half the season yet to play.

And even though Liverpool is another four points back of Chelski with a game in hand I’ve already written them off. Rafa’s team selection often mystifies me and the Reds looked downright bad against Reading. I still have a man-crush on Nando Torres though. It’s those boyish good looks and Spanish charm.

Current Mood: Grody |

That’s about what I feel for the Cowb*ys. Really, as far as hatred goes for football teams, they rank right up top there with the Be*rs.

Let me know if you see a pattern in the teams’ last ten meetings:

So yes, there was an air of inevitability about last night’s game and probably for the rest of the season since the Packers will more than likely need to travel south once again in the play-offs. What a difference it could have made had the Packers had those jerks in below-freezing Lambeau last night.

Anybody want to finish the semester off for me? Please?

In good news, I got the classes I wanted for the spring semester: contemporary Native American novels, visual narratives (not entirely sure what this one’s about but the professor is an interesting guy who moved over from the art school to the English department), and a fiction workshop.

The bad news is that I go to class three days a week, which means two nights away from home and more driving than I want as the spring semester is always worse weather-wise. And one of the classes serves up the double-whammy of being twice a week (gack) and beginning at 12:30 pm (gack gack). And the only other course I was really excited to take, one on American pragmatism, runs concurrently with the fiction workshop which I more or less need to take in order to work with this professor before I run out of coursework. The department has a way of scheduling the best lit classes at the same time as the fiction workshops which is highly annoying.

I have my last Spanish lesson today. There’s a final exam that I probably won’t take until January, but after that I’m done. Which is sad. It’s so much harder to stay self-motivated. The strength of this program is that you needed to be ready for your weekly tutoring session, which meant you couldn’t slack off. Without that reinforcement it’s going to be tough, but thanks to Skype Brother Todd and I are planning to keep up our Spanish speaking sessions while he’s overseas.

Current Mood: Bleck |