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.
/ 
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 | 
5 Comments
It was 12 points. You may not be able to get hot at the right time, but Newcastle have proven time and again that it is entirely possible to go stone cold at the wrong time.
For some reason I thought it was 11, but browsing Wikipedia I somehow got 10. What I find amazing about that is that it wasn’t a “final day of the season” capitulation either. But that I remember the days when Newcastle was challenging for titles says something about how long I’ve been following the game…
Going stone cold at the wrong time explains how a lot of clubs get relegated. Reading is a case in point.
What strikes me is that the ’96 collapse was a shambles, the same term now used to describe the pathetic iteration of football provided weekly at Newcastle in ’08. I guess all shambles are equal but some shambles are more equal than others.
I’m glad you got to see the Golden Vomit’s complete capitulation, I’m glad I didn’t (after the loss vs. NU a few weeks prior on a 50 yd. interception return with 10 seconds to go I wrote the season off). Like the old George Strait song, “I’ve come to expect it from you.” (both the Hergenrader enjoyment and the GV capitulation when something is on the line). I enjoyed the Fire losing their umpteenth straight MLS semi, but not nearly as much as I enjoyed watching the Revs lose. I don’t have any interest in world soccer except for the World Cup, I’m too damn busy and too damn American to care.
I wrote off Wisconsin’s season after Penn State absolutely demolished them at home. The Michigan loss hurt, the Ohio State loss hurt worse, but that Penn State game actually had me laughing at them.
When I watched that Fire versus Columbus game, I thought the better team won. In a two-legged series maybe Chicago would have had a chance, but the Crew were too much for them.