Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Ace's False Predictions!!!

3 Critical Miscues of My Predictions...

OK, so I made a few miscalculations in my pre-season BPL predictions. However, of all those mistakes (Steak? No I said "mistake") I believe that 3 of them have surpassed your basic incorrectness and sprang directly into what I would like to call the most gigantic, Godzilla-sized, dumber than hell, top 10 major f*%&ed-up predictions of all time.

1.Hull City. Really? Along with the rest of the world and beyond, I am dumbfounded about their success. Furthermore, I hope it lasts for awhile longer too. Then, like Dorothy "waking up" back in Kansas, I hope their dream dies along with their hopes of staying up. Injuries have yet to affect this squad. Plus, they will hit a wall in February like pretty much every other promoted team. Plus (again), they are HULL CITY.
2.Spurs and Ramos. What a joke. I don't think I'm alone when I say that I expected Spurs to perform much better under Ramos. Wasn't he supposed to be this guru of European soccer? I honestly don't believe it was all his fault. Let's be honest... Spurs lack the type of talent and depth to challenge for a "Big 4" spot like they've been saying for years. Yes, let's get rid of Berbatov and Keane, our two best players, and bring in a total stroke in Bentley and an unproven striker in Pavluychenko. That will take us to the top! I've got news for you: that just "ain't gonna" happen Tottenhamites. This team is maybe a top 12 squad by season's end.
3.Young Gunners. Who could have honestly seen this coming? I know a lot of people say it each year that Arsenal are just too young, but no one really believes that because they continue to produce each season. However, they were already one of (if not the youngest?) teams in the BPL last season with a 3rd place finish after collapsing in the final 2 months. Knowing that youth and inexperience (and Eduardo's injury) were a major factor in that collapse, Wenger decided to go and do what? He replaced a couple experienced players with 16 year olds and Carling Cup darlings. Hmmm. My 2nd place prediction was obviously wrong. They will finish 4th unless they turn it around now and bring in more players in January.

-Ace

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Why I am a FORMER Fan of the NFL

Yes you read that right. I no longer count myself a fan of the NFL. In years past I would watch every game on Sunday, Monday and the occasional Thursday night game. but I can honestly say I have not watched a complete game this season and probably have not watched, combined, two full games. It just is not fun anymore.
Here is a sidebar that will help drive my point home. About 10 years ago i started to watch NASCAR. I will wait until the laughter dies down. OK, are we ready to continue. Anyways i watched NASCAR because it was fun. On any given race day anybody could have won. Guys could get pissed off at each other and smash their cars into each other. It was fun to listen to drivers bash each other after the race on live television. But then something happened. And i believe if I am not mistaken that "something" was the introduction of Nextel into the equation. Now I am not blaming Nextel specifically but the idea of Nextel and that idea is the over sponsorship of NASCAR. And it has now happened to the NFL.
See sponsors need a nice package to deliver their message to the masses. Sponsorship dollars demand that the rough edges be taken off a product before they will sign the checks. See the NFL has long been the "NoFunLeague" for several reasons: no TD celebrations, the uniform police, and the idea that parity is a good thing.
First of all we pay offensive players millions of dollars a year to score but when they actually do what their paid to do their supposed to ignore what they have just done. It's kind of like paying porn stars to have sex but then having them ignore the, ummm, end of their scene. The uniform police just create clones out of every player. In a league where "faces" are almost entirely never shown because of the helmet the uniforms become the players viable option at becoming individuals again and not just one of hundreds of players dressed just a like. The players can't have crazy hairstyles to distinguish them from other players, the individual player can not have different shoes or socks or towels or arm bands or anything that would say who they were without the name on the back.
But I personally feel like the thing that has made the NFL boring to watch is parity. Parity mandates that all teams have an equal chance at succeeding. Now this does not mean that all teams have the same talent (Just look at the Detroit Lions). But it does mean that teams get equal shares of money, equal air time, equal schedules, and equal draft chances. I was watching part of game on opening weekend. The winning team was up by 7 with 4 and a half minutes to go. They ran the clock out and won the game. All they had to do was get two first downs and let the play clock do the rest. How shitty is that? It's horrible. The NFL has decided that parity is the best because of TV ratings and keeping money in the fat wallets of their owners. Home teams win 85% of the time, no underdog ever wins, and you can always county on one or two dominate teams (Giants and Titans this year) and a few piss poor teams (Lions, Chiefs, and Bengals this year) but every other team has a chance at the playoffs. Are you kidding me? This only dilutes the product and makes it so hard to watch.

Ladies and Gentlemen Welcome to Mr. Redknapp's World

We are just pawns in that world. Last week I stated that I would wait until the weekend to decide if this Tottenham team is worthy of respect and if Harry could bring them back from the brink of relegation, for which they were surely headed to with Mr. Juande Ramos leading the charge. Well this team, and more specifically Mr. Redknapp, did the almost impossible. They beat a good, might be very good, Liverpool team. Even though Liverpool controlled the game Redknapp kept his side in it till the end where a manager's substitute won the game for Spurs. What i thought was so great about that game was the way Harry changed the teams strategy and tactics at the half to really give his team a chance to win the game and not play for the draw. After the game it did come out that Harry did impart some wise football knowledge and tatics to young Roman Pavlyuchenko. Harry, and i'm quoting here, told Mr. Pavlyuchenko to ""Go on and run about if you please. There were no great tactics coming from me!" Wow I don't quite think Tottenham's owners knew they were going to get that type of manager's knowledge when they forked out over $10 million dollars for Mr. HOuidini's services. But in the end Harry Redknapp just might be the best man for the job. it won't be this year but maybe next year Tottenham can become a "big club" like they have always wanted to become.