| are you ready for some futbol? no, probably not but.... some quality matchups today. first up tottenham v. chelsea at 11am on fsc. they are two of the top six teams in the english premier league. and no, i have no idea where tottenham is. chelsea won the premier league last year. at 230 from italy, lazio faces juventus pitting two of the top four team in serie a also on fsc. and goltv has two la liga games the better of the two has barcelona playing real sociedad. that would be one vs eight starting at 250.
today at noon knick fans will greet carmelo anthony with a basket of kisses as the denver nuggets play at the garden. melo is another top player flirting with new york fans hearts. his contract is up soon and he has expressed an interest to be traded here. denver has said he will either resign or be traded by the deadline in february. the knicks are suddenly relevant again as their consolation prize in the lebron sweepstakes, amare stoudemire has the team winning consistently against the lesser teams putting them in the playoff picture for the first time in a decade. amare has also come out as a jew which must make him a popular figure on the nyc bar mitzvah circuit.
and finally on a rainy day in secaucus, the jets hope to wash away the execrable taste in their mouth from their thrashing on monday night by the patriots. it was really the kind of beat down that can only be forgotten by avenging the lost should they meet again in the playoffs. it was that ugly.
tottenham like chelsea are based in london though their biggest rivalry is with fellow north londoners, arsenal.
real sociedad is based in san sebastian and their closest rivals are athletico bilbao also in the basque region.
i still know next to nothing about most of european soccer. though i do know that many of the leagues are struggling with debt issues due to profligacy though the german bundesliga is in the best shape because it has salary caps and i think the teams are owned by the fans (to an extent) much like the green bay packers. just this week owing to their debts, barcelona perhaps the last holdout to succumb to branding signed a deal with some nebulous qatary organization to put their name on the uniforms. qatar, of course, just beat out the us for rights to the 2022 world cup so know doubt they are trying to raise their profile in the soccer world by associating themselves with barcelona.
anyway, this was prompted by a paragraph lifted from the epl wiki about the big four. one of the big four, liverpool have slipped from contention though the owner of the boston redsox, john henry, bought them a few months ago so they may rise again soon. meanwhile manchester city has stepped up to join chelsea, arsenal and manchester united as the big spenders in contention for the title.
"Big Four" dominance
"Big Four" since the start of the Premier League[67]
Season A C L MU
1992–93 10 11 6 1
1993–94 4 14 8 1
1994–95 12 11 4 2
1995–96 5 11 3 1
1996–97 3 6 4 1
1997–98 1 4 3 2
1998–99 2 3 7 1
1999–2000 2 5 4 1
2000–01 2 6 3 1
2001–02 1 6 2 3
2002–03 2 4 5 1
2003–04 1 2 4 3
2004–05 2 1 5 3
2005–06 4 1 3 2
2006–07 4 2 3 1
2007–08 3 2 4 1
2008–09 4 3 2 1
2009–10 3 1 7 2
A major criticism of the Premier League is the development of the so-called "Big Four" clubs.[68] Since Blackburn Rovers lifted the trophy in 1994–95, only three clubs have won the Premier League title – Manchester United (nine of the club's eleven titles), Arsenal and Chelsea (three times each). In addition, Manchester United have not finished outside the top three since the formation of the Premier League. From the 1996–97 season onwards, the "Big Four" (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United) have dominated the top four spots, and thus places in the UEFA Champions League (qualification was one club for the first four seasons, increased to two clubs in 1997, three in 1999 and four since 2002). The benefits of qualification, especially increased revenue, are believed to have widened the gap between the "Big Four" clubs and the rest of the Premier League.[68]
In May 2008, the then Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan said the Big Four's dominance threatened the division, saying, "This league is in danger of becoming one of the most boring but great leagues in the world."[69] Following Keegan's comments, Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore defended the league, saying, "There are a lot of different tussles that go on in the Premier League depending on whether you're at the top, in the middle or at the bottom that make it interesting."[70] The dominance of Chelsea and Manchester United has lead some to believe that the "Big Four" has contracted to a "Big Two"; no club other than these two has won the Premier League since 2004 and that, as of August 2010, 19 out of the last 24 major domestic trophies have gone to either Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford.[67]
Source: Melo pushing trade to Knicks
another top flight premier league match up this afternoon at 3 pitting two of the top four teams, manchester united and arsenal. no excuses not to watch since its on espn 2. well, other than you dont have cable, you hate soccer or you have a life.
the knicks finally traded for carmelo anthony but gutted the team in the process. they now have two of the top fifteenish players in the league but little else to surround them with. the awful ownership of the knicks demanded the trade and continued to sweeten the pot rather than walk away from the table. it will look good in two years if they can land one of the superstar point guards that will be available but thats just kicking the can down the road again. at this point they still seem like the fifth best team in the east as opposed to the sixth and even that is questionable. also, none of this would have been necessary if carmelo would have been willing to take a paycut by signing with the knicks at the end of the year had he seriously yearned to play for new york. as it is his demand to get payed the max will seriously hamstring the knicks ability to sign the necessary supporting cast to compete for championships. even lebron james and co were willing to take less to facilitate other signings. though james makes much more with endorsements than anthony ever will. stupid all around.
|
no, probably not but.... some quality matchups today. first up tottenham v. chelsea at 11am on fsc. they are two of the top six teams in the english premier league. and no, i have no idea where tottenham is. chelsea won the premier league last year. at 230 from italy, lazio faces juventus pitting two of the top four team in serie a also on fsc. and goltv has two la liga games the better of the two has barcelona playing real sociedad. that would be one vs eight starting at 250.
today at noon knick fans will greet carmelo anthony with a basket of kisses as the denver nuggets play at the garden. melo is another top player flirting with new york fans hearts. his contract is up soon and he has expressed an interest to be traded here. denver has said he will either resign or be traded by the deadline in february. the knicks are suddenly relevant again as their consolation prize in the lebron sweepstakes, amare stoudemire has the team winning consistently against the lesser teams putting them in the playoff picture for the first time in a decade. amare has also come out as a jew which must make him a popular figure on the nyc bar mitzvah circuit.
and finally on a rainy day in secaucus, the jets hope to wash away the execrable taste in their mouth from their thrashing on monday night by the patriots. it was really the kind of beat down that can only be forgotten by avenging the lost should they meet again in the playoffs. it was that ugly.
- dave 12-12-2010 4:22 pm
tottenham like chelsea are based in london though their biggest rivalry is with fellow north londoners, arsenal.
- dave 12-12-2010 4:32 pm [add a comment]
real sociedad is based in san sebastian and their closest rivals are athletico bilbao also in the basque region.
- dave 12-12-2010 4:39 pm [add a comment]
i still know next to nothing about most of european soccer. though i do know that many of the leagues are struggling with debt issues due to profligacy though the german bundesliga is in the best shape because it has salary caps and i think the teams are owned by the fans (to an extent) much like the green bay packers. just this week owing to their debts, barcelona perhaps the last holdout to succumb to branding signed a deal with some nebulous qatary organization to put their name on the uniforms. qatar, of course, just beat out the us for rights to the 2022 world cup so know doubt they are trying to raise their profile in the soccer world by associating themselves with barcelona.
anyway, this was prompted by a paragraph lifted from the epl wiki about the big four. one of the big four, liverpool have slipped from contention though the owner of the boston redsox, john henry, bought them a few months ago so they may rise again soon. meanwhile manchester city has stepped up to join chelsea, arsenal and manchester united as the big spenders in contention for the title.
"Big Four" dominance
"Big Four" since the start of the Premier League[67]
Season A C L MU
1992–93 10 11 6 1
1993–94 4 14 8 1
1994–95 12 11 4 2
1995–96 5 11 3 1
1996–97 3 6 4 1
1997–98 1 4 3 2
1998–99 2 3 7 1
1999–2000 2 5 4 1
2000–01 2 6 3 1
2001–02 1 6 2 3
2002–03 2 4 5 1
2003–04 1 2 4 3
2004–05 2 1 5 3
2005–06 4 1 3 2
2006–07 4 2 3 1
2007–08 3 2 4 1
2008–09 4 3 2 1
2009–10 3 1 7 2
A major criticism of the Premier League is the development of the so-called "Big Four" clubs.[68] Since Blackburn Rovers lifted the trophy in 1994–95, only three clubs have won the Premier League title – Manchester United (nine of the club's eleven titles), Arsenal and Chelsea (three times each). In addition, Manchester United have not finished outside the top three since the formation of the Premier League. From the 1996–97 season onwards, the "Big Four" (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United) have dominated the top four spots, and thus places in the UEFA Champions League (qualification was one club for the first four seasons, increased to two clubs in 1997, three in 1999 and four since 2002). The benefits of qualification, especially increased revenue, are believed to have widened the gap between the "Big Four" clubs and the rest of the Premier League.[68]
In May 2008, the then Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan said the Big Four's dominance threatened the division, saying, "This league is in danger of becoming one of the most boring but great leagues in the world."[69] Following Keegan's comments, Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore defended the league, saying, "There are a lot of different tussles that go on in the Premier League depending on whether you're at the top, in the middle or at the bottom that make it interesting."[70] The dominance of Chelsea and Manchester United has lead some to believe that the "Big Four" has contracted to a "Big Two"; no club other than these two has won the Premier League since 2004 and that, as of August 2010, 19 out of the last 24 major domestic trophies have gone to either Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford.[67]
- dave 12-12-2010 5:01 pm [add a comment]
Source: Melo pushing trade to Knicks
- dave 12-12-2010 10:25 pm [add a comment]
another top flight premier league match up this afternoon at 3 pitting two of the top four teams, manchester united and arsenal. no excuses not to watch since its on espn 2. well, other than you dont have cable, you hate soccer or you have a life.
- dave 12-13-2010 7:51 pm [add a comment]
the knicks finally traded for carmelo anthony but gutted the team in the process. they now have two of the top fifteenish players in the league but little else to surround them with. the awful ownership of the knicks demanded the trade and continued to sweeten the pot rather than walk away from the table. it will look good in two years if they can land one of the superstar point guards that will be available but thats just kicking the can down the road again. at this point they still seem like the fifth best team in the east as opposed to the sixth and even that is questionable.
also, none of this would have been necessary if carmelo would have been willing to take a paycut by signing with the knicks at the end of the year had he seriously yearned to play for new york. as it is his demand to get payed the max will seriously hamstring the knicks ability to sign the necessary supporting cast to compete for championships. even lebron james and co were willing to take less to facilitate other signings. though james makes much more with endorsements than anthony ever will. stupid all around.
- dave 2-22-2011 5:02 am [add a comment]