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

Hotspur suffer frustrating loss to Man U

When I umpired little league baseball a few years back, I felt that my main objective was to not affect who wins the game. Today's Premiership match certainly made me think of those days as the officials in the Tottenham v. Manchester United matchup blew 2 major calls. After losing both matches to Man U last year by a combined score of 5-0, my hopes weren't entirely high, especially since Tottenham hasn't won at Old Trafford (Man U's home field for those that don't know) since 1989. However, after watching today's game, I just have that feeling that my Spurs were robbed of at least a draw. The ref failed to call 2 hand balls in the penalty area, one of which was blatant and a certain goal if Man U defender Wes Brown didn't get his arm in the way. After that missed call, the momentum shifted dramatically as the Red Devils scored their only goal moments later on an incredible long shot from Nani. Nani by the way was incredibly frustrating to watch as he acted like he tore his ACL, MCL and lost 2 limbs at least twice (the game annoyed me so much I took a laundry break so he might have done it more) only to get up and trot around the pitch like nothing had ever happened. Later on in the second half, the second missed call happened off of a free kick. I will admit, it was a difficult call to make/see but hey, that's what those guys get paid to do.

At least the announcer on FSC felt that Manchester United lucked out for their first victory of the season concluding his broadcast by stating, "It's not about how you win the game, it's about whether or not you win the game."

Yankees continue to roll

First and foremost, I would like to thank the person that has clicked reload 100+ times on our blog page. Definitely makes me feel good that someone wants me to feel like there are many others out there that care about what I have to say about sports. Also, I would like to thank Tottenham for choking 1-0 on the road in their EPL opener Saturday morning.

Now to the main point. Back at the All-Star Break, the Yankees were 43-43, 9.5 back of Boston and 8.5 games away from the Wild Card lead. Fast forward a month and the Yankees are now 66-51, tied for the Wild Card lead and only 4 games behind Boston. Until this weekend, a lot of people were still a little bit skeptical about the Yankees, and rightfully so. Before traveling to Cleveland this weekend, they had only played 3 games since the break against teams above .500. However, after this weekend, it is safe to say that the Yanks are back and here to stay. While Cleveland has been slumping a bit, sweeping a division rival on the road (well, they were leading the Central at the beginning of the series) is no small task and the Yankees did it with ease. The even more impressive part is that they were only trailing in this series for 1 inning. If you are a Yankee fan, you especially have to love this series because of the solid outings you got from Phil Hughes, Mussina and Pettitte along with Joba Chamberlain pitching strong in relief.

Following this successful 5-1 road trip, the Bombers head home to take on Baltimore and Detroit. Maybe it is just me but I feel like this Yankee team could take it all. In the past, the Yankees have dominated from wire to wire before collapsing in the post-season (Florida, Anaheim, Boston, etc.) but this year, things just feel different. They have not dominated all year (being wrote off as dead by some as early as May) and seem to have a chip on their shoulders, something that I feel they have lacked in the past. It seems like they want to prove all the doubters out there. I sure hope they can.

English Premier League Kicks Off

The English Premier League will be kicking off in a mere 5 hours with my Tottenham Hotspur traveling to Sunderland for the season opener. This looks to be an exciting season at White Hart Lane as Tottenham made plenty of significant transfers over the summer, most notably bringing in Darren Bent from Charlton for a club record transfer fee of £16.5 million.

The one drawback to following the EPL sometimes is getting up to watch the games. While the game starts at 12:45pm in England, that means kickoff is at 7:45am here in Pennsylvania. Though I am what I consider a loyal fan, 7:45am might be a little rough for a Saturday, especially against a team that wasn't even in the EPL last year. At least I don't live out west...