Bye, bye Jol

I promised I would write a little bit about soccer and I was able to do it by varying one of my last post titles by one letter. Unfortunately, it's for the same reason. Martin Jol, coach of the Tottenham Hotspur (of the English Premier League) has resigned as manager of the team. It was a move many had been anticipating for days as the Spurs have been downright pathetic and embarrassing so far this year. To date in the EPL, the Spurs have had only 1 win in ten games, putting them at 18th out of 20. A far cry from the top 4 finish that many people were predicting this year. For those that don't know, a top 4 finish would put a team in the UEFA Champions League for the following year while a finish anywhere from 18th-20th puts you in the league below. A good analogy would be the Pirates would probably be a AAA team right now if the MLB used this system. Anyways, this past summer, the team from North London went out and spent a pretty penny on plenty of new, young talent. So far, it hasn't really worked out. Their defense has been shaky at the worst possible times and they just can't put together a full game. They've almost had some impressive wins (particularly against Liverpool) only to choke them away to draws in the closing minutes. While Jol had some success in London, his time was unfortunately up. His players just weren't responding to him and a change was needed. He was a great guy and I wish him success in the future but here's to hoping my Spurs can put together a nice string of wins. They certainly have the talent to do it.

Football Sidebar: Penn State 16 Ohio State 7 ... Go Kevin Kelly ... write it down