Friday, November 30, 2007

Joey Being Joey? NUFC Fans Are "Vicious".

They may sing when they're winning, but the viciousness of Newcastle United football fans when they're losing has taken recent signing Joey Barton aback. Even if the northeast of England is a place where "young talent has traditionally been spotted, encouraged and nutured" (from the second edition of the Rough Guide To English Football), the long simmering (and suffering) passion of the fans for real success in the terms of Man United, Liverpool, and Arsenal was bound to express itself in displeasing ways when those high expectations had proven exceedingly lofty.



Now Barton, in his first season at Newcastle after being with Manchester City last season, has been quoted, in the aftermath of last week's 3-0 loss to Liverpool, as using words such as "vicious" and being "shocked" at what he heard from the crowd at St. James' Park. Doubtless Hugh and Micheal, two Boro fans I've become friends with, would not be shocked, they've bandied terms about those "unrealistic expectations of the delusional fans" as good reasons to never, ever cheer for the barcodes. Those comments, seen in the context of only losing to a very good Liverpool team, may seem somewhat harsh, but when combined with the previous home thrashing, 4-1 to an fairly ordinary Portsmouth squad, then it certainly appears that a crisis of sorts has arrived. Of course, the arrival of a new manager (Sam Allardyce) has compounded matters a bit, but he must be given a chance to prove his mettle, and certainly Sam has proven that if he can do good work at a club such as Bolton, then similar success can hoped to be achieved at a bigger club. Ah, but as a Spurs fan, I can attest all too well of the sword of lofty expectations, and how painful it is to come up way too short of them.




VICIOUS

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Tottenham 3 Aalborg 2: Tale Of Two Halves

Just because Spurs fans rarely have known little else as of late, other than the "completely sucking in all aspects of the game" feeling. However, the good news is that Spurs overcame a dreadful start, and a 0-2 halftime deficit, to storm back and tally three goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half to claim a 3-2 victory over Danish side Aalborg at White Hart Lane earlier today.



The relative lack of Spurs posts so far this season is a combination of not being able to catch them on television (or at least following the match online) with some rather depressing results from most of the matches. This one was on FSC, so I was able to catch the replay at 5 p.m. PST without having known the result.



For the first half, about all I'll say is that the referees let the boys play, though the sideline assistants seemed to have missed some offsides calls as well as a Spur tackle on an opponent that I thought for sure would've netted them a penalty kick.



It was a lively, energetic match throughout, but Spurs fans got that familiar sickening feeling just two minutes in when a relatively unchallenged Tomas Enevoldsen dribbled between three Spurs and drilled a shot in from the top of the boxed area. The Danes scored near the end of the first half when Kasper Risgaard took advantage of some sloppy clearance passes and defending to toe his chance into the net, with Robinson having left the area to challenge the first advance on goal.



Spurs were able to move the ball fairly effectively and catch some good looks at the goal, but were unable to finish with the correct passes, I recall one pass from Dimitar Berbatov on the right side to the top of the penalty area that wound up between three Aalborg defenders.




Not sure exactly what Spurs coach Juande Ramos might've said at the half, but Spurs came out with much more determination on the offensive end, with a quick dividend being paid 50 seconds in with Berbatov sliding his shot from the left to the corner of the right side of the goal.



The second Spurs goal came just five minutes later, the result of some beautiful team work. This one began with Berbatov leaving his Aalborg defender Martin Pedersen on his backside, flicking the ball to the left where Jermain Jenas (I think) quickly knocked the ball to Robbie Keane, who was then able to take a second and correctly guess that Steed Malbranque had the best shot on goal. The speed with which these passes occurred left the Danes a bit flat-footed, one of those moments where everything comes together.


Darren Bent then netted the winning goal in the 66th minute on a rebound from a missed Gareth Bale free kick, taking advantage of a scrum inside the penalty box to knock the shot in. At first it appeared that Bent might've been offside, but the replay showed he was indeed onside.



There was one shot that Aalborg took in the second half that barely missed the mark, around the 60th minute, but in general, the Spurs defense played better, further emphasizing the lackluster effort from that side of the pitch in the first half. As most Spurs fans know, the offense is there (aside from picking which of the strikers to use; Jermaine Defoe did not play in this game), it's just the defense that needs some work, which Ramos has already ADMITTED. Nice to have some good news to report (and to have actually seen a match again), so the usual Come On You Spurs!!! battle cry will have to tide me over until Sunday, when Spurs host Birmingham on FSC.




ESPN STORY

Monday, November 26, 2007

The Byrds: I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better (When You're Gone)

One of my fave 60's groups with a classic song that I dedicate to the recent woes of the offense of the Oregon Ducks. Miming on Hullaballo with go-go girls, no less. Thanks Gene! Come to think about it, if I wanted to feel a whole lot worse about everything, I'd just wear orange and black.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

UCLA 16 Oregon 0: The Ducks' Offense Stops To A Grinding Halt.

Well, this game, with the amount of injuries on both teams, unfolded about as I had expected, a punt-filled extravaganza as the defenses keyed on the other teams shaky offense.


The final statistical numbers are staggering, in absolute reverse from the near-record numbers that Oregon had put up earlier in the year: 12 first downs, 41 yards net rushing, 105 yards passing (for 146 yards total in the game, there had been quarters earlier in the year where Oregon had surpassed that total), 12 punts (22 in the game). The Ducks had four turnovers for the game, which led to the first three field goals for the Bruins, one in each quarter.



The Ducks defense played very well, limiting the Bruins to 216 yards of total offense for the game, but UCLA took slight control of the game when quarterback Ben Olson returned from injury to pace the UCLA offense (hey, at least he completed a pass, in contrast to starter Osaar Rasshan, a fourth-string walk on who normally plays wide receiver, who went 0 for 7).



The Ducks incredible run of bad luck to injuries took a turn for the worse when starter Brady Leaf tweaked his right ankle (the one he didn't hurt last week against Arizona) toward the end of the first quarter, not to return to the game. This left the Ducks with their fourth and fifth string quarterbacks to finish the game, and even that looked shaky for a series when Cody Kempt got the wind knocked out of him and Justin Roper was forced into action. Patrick Chung was also victim to an injury, as was linebacker Casey Matthews, himself filling in for John Bacon. The turf toe that Jonathan Stewart had seemed to affect him a bit as well, but with the inexperience that the Ducks were showing in the passing game, the Bruins could well afford to stack the line and limit the damage that the Oregon running game could produce.





This scenario reminds me a bit of 1988, when Bill Musgrave took a hit and broke his collarbone against Arizona State, and the Ducks lost their last five games to finish the season at 6-6. The loss of Musgrave was a critical aspect of the Duck offense back then, but at least Oregon managed to score some points after he went down; the lengthy drive that Leaf led them on in the fourth quarter last week has been the high point offensively since Dennis Dixon went down for the season.






The OFFENSIVE numbers.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

England 2 Croatia 3: Still Laughing At England

Mostly for the people I know who wanted manager Steve McClaren out a bloody long time ago. Utterly shocking defeat, which meant that England failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament next summer. This news wasn't made totally official until another result came down just a few minutes later, to see if Andorra could've drawn with Russia, but they lost 1-0 to eke out the last qualifying spot from their group.




Spurs goalie Paul Robinson had rightly been criticized for some of his misadventures and blunders in front of the net, but his replacement Scott Carson, installed on a gamble by McClaren, gave up a couple of howlers tht made Robbo's seem slight. Both happened in the first 15 minutes, with Nico Kranjcar getting off a shot that found the right side of the net, seemingly in plenty of time for Carson to get there, but alas he did not. The second goal caught the players on the back line of England flat-footed, as they expected an off-sides call (there was none, it was the correct call) and Ivica Olic cooly stepped past Carson to find the back of the net. 2-0 to the visitors on a rainy night in London, and McClaren's worst possible start had arrived.



McClaren's other starting line-up change, Shaun Wright-Phillips, playing in the stead of David Beckham, had a good look at the goal between the two that the visitors managed, but failed to find a deft enough touch on his shot and was turned back by the Croat defense.



Beckham and Jermaine Defoe were the English subs to start the second half, and both played a role in helping the home side to equalize. Defoe was pulled down in the box and England was awarded a penalty kick, which Frank Lampard delivered 11 minutes in the second half, and ten minutes later, a famed kick in from Beckham on the right side found Peter Crouch in front of the goal, and Crouch controlled the ball nicely and scored the tying goal, and all of the aggravation that the despondent crowd had shown all evening was swept away in a moment of euphoria.




Actually, change that moment to about 12 minutes, for that's when Mladen Petric delivered a 25 yard blast past the hapless Carson for the inevitable winner, a goal in which there were at leaast three white shirts around the man, and none made a move to defend him, apparently not believing that one could make a shot from that area. Wrong move, boyo.



I'm not going to play the guessing game and say that Robbo should have been in goal, but when England can't even manage a draw at home against a team that's not going anywhere (just like themselves), or even throw away a tie late in the game that was hardly an indication of how badly Englad was outplayed, well maybe I should change my mind. In actuality, it all comes together as symbolic of McClaren's tactics that what was seemingly so simple and within their grasp should prove as elusive as a slow-moving ball into the back of the net: one step behind.





BBC REPORT



THE PUNDITS

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Shed No Tears: Tom Glavine Back To The Braves

(lyrical cue from Flipper!) To the surprise of no one, former Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine has gone back to the organization that signed him, leaving Mets fans everywhere to ponder his five year stay in New York. The bottom line: thanks for basically nothing Tom, you really pitched tough this year when the chips were on the line. The stats for his last three starts, as the Mets September lead dwindled to nothing, was 10.1 innings pitched, 25 hits allowed, 17 runs allowed, all of them earned, for an ERA of just under 15.00! Not even the Red Sox could overcome those kinds of bad starts.


The overtures between Glavine and the Braves, when Tom was between contracts, was enough to infuriate many, many Mets fans, while there were some, like me, who stupidly hoped that a lot of fans had finally embraced him, especially around the time he notched his 300th career victory. It was just an illusion folks, a memory that doesn't need to be hangin' around any more.



ESPN STORY

Friday, November 16, 2007

Arizona 34 Oregon 24: Ouch! Ow Ow Ouch!

Thank you to the Rutles for the line that went through my mind last night as Dennis Dixon's knee buckled and hit the Arizona turf.



The Arizona Wildcats overcame a typical hot Oregon start to defeat the Ducks and end the hopes of Oregon to play in the BCS national championship game. Things went extremely well on the first possession of the game as Oregon took the ball 69 yards for a touchdown, the last 39 yards coming on a run by Dixon that showed, apparently, that the knee that Dixon had hurt against Arizona State on November 3rd was fully recovered. The Ducks then intercepted a poorly thrown pass by Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama, on their second play from scrimmage, to spark its second drive. That drive ended with a first and goal at the four yard line, but a Dixon pass to reinstated wide receiver Derrick Jones was bobbled in the end zone, and a sure touchdown instead became an interception that was returned 45 yards, and three plays later the Wildcats scored on a 34 yard touchdown reception that cut the Duck lead to 8-7.


The last two minutes of Dixon's Oregon career was a typical drive that would end up in a touchdown, 65 yards on 5 plays, 32 of those yards on three running plays. Then the buckle felt around the country happened, catching the rest of the Oregon time totally off-guard and energizing the Wildcats. The Ducks managed a field goal off of that drive, but their potent offense pretty much ground to a halt, picking up just six first downs in the next three quarters of play, resulting in only two field goals, one of which was started by a Duck recovery of a Wildcat fumble deep in Arizona territory. Backup quarterback Brady Leaf tweaked his ankle in his relief role, limiting his mobility and the effectiveness of the plays that the Ducks were running.




The Wildcats scored their 31 first half points in a total of about 18 minutes, on two touchdown passes from Tuitama, plus returns on an interception and a punt, as they clearly took advantage of the shellshocked Ducks to grab a 31-14 halftime lead. A combination of better Duck defense and more conservative play calling by Arizona left a chance for the Ducks to get back in the game, but as a lengthy 17-play fourth quarter drive showed, the yards were being picked up in mostly three to eight yard chunks at a time, not exactly conducive to rallying from a three-score deficit.



The "if only" aspects could drive one crazy if one let them: IF only Jones hadn't bobbled that pass in the end zone, a 15 to 0 lead might have set a different tone for the game; IF only Kwame Agyeman hadn't fumbled the ball, on a perfectly executed fake punt, at Arizona's 22 yard line; IF only Tuitama's knee was an inch higher on the overturned fumble call. BUT, they DID happen, and the Ducks couldn't overcome all of those mistakes ( they had four turnovers lost in the game) to salvage a victory.



Still holding my head up high today, it was a lovely run this season, and it all goes to show how important Dennis Dixon was to the team, now that the news had come out today that he is done for the year with a torn ACL. His calm maturity that he showed this season after a rough ending to last year was truly one of the more gratifying things I've seen in all of my experiences. Thank you Dennis for your wonderful leadership skills, and for some of the most exciting football that this nation has seen this year; you will be missed!




ESPN RECAP

Saturday, November 10, 2007

1 Possession, 3 Plays 1:14 Total Time In One Quarter: Ohio State Vs. Illinois

Hope my ex-roommate Don is happy now that his Illini have taken down the previously unbeaten and top-ranked Buckeyes in a game at Columbus today. This post is to recall the critical fourth quarter, which began with Illinois leading 28-21. The Illini then showcased an incredible ball-control offense, achieved mostly on the ground, along with an interception from the defense that abbreviated the sole Buckeye possession of the fourth quarter, to seal the victory. The decision for Illinois to go for it on a fourth and inches call fairly deep in their own territory showed a certain amount of moxie, even if Rashard Mendenhall had been running the ball effectively. Quarterback Juice Williams then picked up four rushing first downs to keep the chains and the clock moving in a display that was reminiscent of what Dennis Dixon has been doing all year.


One more step that might allow the Ducks to get into the National Championship game, though there is still way too much football left to be played for anybody to take anything for granted, however I'll leave the postulating on the various scenarios to the bitter-Beav "nation", I had to stifle a laugh today in town at a guy wearing an OSU tee-shirt along with an Arizona hat. Better tilt your lance at other windmills, dude.




ILLINOIS/OHIO STATE 4TH QUARTER PLAY BY PLAY

Friday, November 09, 2007

Oregon O-Line Clones

Some more karma and jungle love toward Oregon from Rome today, when the radio man made good on his word and had three of the members of the engine that drives the high-powered Duck offense on to share their thoughts on the season so far.


Geoff Schwartz is apparently the original clone amongst that group that also included Max Unger and Jeff Kendall, and while Kendall may not have listened to Rome's show as long as Schwartz had, he certainly knew what to do when the interview ended and went ahead with a classic rant that brought a smile to many who heard it, and I'm not just speaking about Duck fans either.


For the record, the interview started around 10:35 a.m. PST, I listening en route to my next stop for work, and by the time that Kendall's rant was going, I had arrived and was preparing for the segment to end so that I could continue with my work. Smoothly, Kendall went from one issue to the next (great to hear that he mentioned the butt-kicking that Arizona laid down on the Ducks last season, an indication that the highly-ranked Ducks have not forgotten that loss at all), while Rome gasped at one point "There's more?!?", before Kendall addressed another topic. Kendall's rant made the huge-call-of-the-day, at which point we got to hear it in its entirety again. Way to go guys, this interview helped to turn around a lousy Friday, and you will be repaid in kind come December 1st again, when we will fill Autzen for the beat down of the bark rats. Not sure how long this clip will last, so enjoy it while you can.





Sunday, November 04, 2007

Oregon 35 Arizona State 23: The Devils Did Go Down In Autzen.

(post title slight modification of the Bi-Mart button for the game). Another exciting game at Autzen ends with the good guys holding the visitors at arm's length after a clinical start gave the Ducks a 21-3 lead just after the start of the second quarter. The Sun Devils, notorious this season for slow starts and for recovering from large early deficits to win ball games, wound up on the short side of the scoreboard as they failed to take substantial advantage of scoring opportunities throughout the game. This included settling for four field goal attempts, with one attempt one missed, as the stout Sun Devil defense began to make plays on the Ducks offense.




The Ducks scored on their first three possessions of the game to grab that early lead that proved to be insurmountable. The first Sun Devil field goal, amidst the early Duck onslaught, was the result, once again, of the "bend but don't break" policy that drives the fans in the stands absolutely nuts, still an excellent result given that it was a first and goal from the three yard line at one point.


Part of the problem, as it were, was that the Ducks took about six minutes in total time to score those three touchdowns, leaving a lot of time for Rudy Carpenter to drive down the field and chew up large chunks of time, leaving the Duck defense to play a lot of snaps (I do believe the half time possession was over 20 minutes to Arizona State, to just under 10 for the Ducks).



With the talk that the Sun Devils had given up close to 30 quarterback sacks going into the game, the hope that the Ducks could disrupt the Sun Devils offense by rushing him wasn't much of a reality, especially in the first half, as the Ducks got to Carpenter only twice. However, those sacks did help end a couple of sets of downs for Arizona State quickly, allowing the Ducks to maintain its lead, which was 21-13 at half time.



Quarterback Dennis Dixon had a great game on national television (thank you ESPN!) by tossing four beautiful touchdown passes, with game stats ending up at 13 for 22 for 189 yards, which might've been even more impressive were it not for the befuddling case of the "dropsies" exhibited by wide receiver Jaison Williams, who still managed five catches for 106 yards. Tailback Jonathan Stewart had another strong game, with 21 carries for 99 yards, including a twisting 33 yard touchdown run that came across the flow of the play, a highlight run to be sure. Punter Josh Syria also had a very strong game in terms of field position, with two punts that wound up being downed inside the five yard line, the first of which, in the game of field position, helped set up Stewart's touchdown run.



The bad news is that lineback John Bacon tore an ACL and is done for the year, but freshman Casey Matthews stepped in and did very well. And of course, one could hear the entire breath of Autzen being held as Dixon wrenched his knee on a tackle at the end of a run early in the fourth quarter, but as the Ducks had a 35-16 lead at that point, there was no need to rush him back unnecessarily as Brady Leaf did a good job running a couple of drives that ate up some more precious time.




At the end, the talk in our section is One game at a time!, which means that nobody I know is ready to even tentatively sketch in plans for New Orleans just yet; too many crazy things have happened (and need to continue to happen elsewhere) in this college football season to take anything for granted. Besides, we all know what happened the last time that Arizona and Oregon played LAST NOVEMBER, so payback will be on the minds of the Oregon team. That game with Arizona is to be televised on ESPN on Thursday November thee 15th, which will give the Ducks, including Dixon, a chance to heal their various wounds.



Bear Down On Arizona Ducks.............one game at a time!






ESPN RECAP

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Dennis Dixon On Rome Is Burning

Same story as with what happened when COACH BELOTTI appeared last week; the internet once again is a boon to those not able to shift time (or work schedules) for appearances such as these. Good job Dennis, up and at those Sun Devils on Saturday!