Dave’s Football Blog

He’s big! He’s red!
He’s 15 million quid!
Peter Crouch! Peter Crouch!

Have you ever had days when even the most ordinary things seem to drive you completely batshit for no apparent reason? As you can see from this picture, Carlito knows exactly how you feel.

It has been a crazy week for football around the world, though, what with the Champions League knockout stage and the Super 14 starting, the NAB Cup well under way, and in America… the scouting combine. Oh, yes, the NFL scouting combine. There’s nothing creepy at all about young men in T-shirts and shorts being ogled by geezers with clipboards. Nothing at all.

It’s a sign that we take the NFL a little too seriously — some guys more than others — but really, where don’t they take football seriously on this planet?

Here’s a look around at some football stories around our planet this week:

• Michael David Smith has the combine covered. [NFL FanHouse]
• The Gladiator helmet has your brain covered. [Mighty MJD @ Yahoo]
• The Dolphins want to bring the Premier League to Miami. [Pitch Invasion]
• Just who is this Richard Scudamore character? [BBC Football]
• The troubled life of Gazza. [Goal]
• Trouble ahead for MLS? [ESPN Soccernet]
• Red cards ahead for swearing footballers? [The Offside]
• Is FIFA looking to rugby to help beleaguered refs? [Reuters Soccer Blog]
• Not everyone digs those ELVs. [The Rugby Blog]
• A lesson in drop punting. [Kick2Kick]
• AFL rejects plan to plunder Ireland. [Fox Sports Australia]
• Fantasy football is everywhere. [AFL Football Blog]
• Matt Walsh is watching you. [Deadspin]
• Troy Vincent may be full of shit. [Mighty MJD @ Yahoo]
• Everton waits for Michael Bradley. [Liverpool Echo]
• A primer on football in Argentina. [Pitch Invasion]
• Those UEFA Cup knockout ties look pretty good. [Reuters Soccer Blog]
• Some useful soccer news web sites. [The Offside]

That ought to hold you for a little while. In the meantime, I’ll be straightening up the house this weekend, as some fellow Carolina Railhawks supporters are coming over to watch the Carling Cup Final. Meanwhile, the Premier League, Super 14 and 6 Nations are on, while Australia will witness the A-League Grand Final and more NAB Cup preseason footy. Set your DVRs accordingly. I did.

Enjoy your football, everyone!

My girlfriend likes to knit. Sometimes when we’re watching a movie, she’ll pull out her giant bag o’ yarn and make a scarf or five, either for herself or for friends. Of course, this only happens when she doesn’t have her hands all over me, but I digress…

A couple of months ago, she asked me if I would like a scarf, too, and I took her up on it. She then asked what color the scarf should be. I told her I wanted one in my alma mater’s colors, the cream and crimson of Indiana University, because I have so few articles of clothing left with those colors. The scarf she made is pictured here, and it served me well for the month or two when it was cold here in North Carolina.

Every time I look at it, though, it doesn’t really remind me of Indiana. It reminds me of a completely different team…
Continue Reading »

Yes, into everyone’s life, a little rain must fall — and if you live in North Carolina these days, the rain is not nearly as annoying as it used to be. Rain has become a symbol of hope for those yuppies in Cary who are terrified that their lawn won’t be nearly as green as their neighbors.

Meanwhile, our man Carlito stands there and wishes he could give the rain falling on him to North Carolina — or anyone else, for that matter. It’s all just a matter of perspective, really, and hopefully some of these stories from the last week or so will provide some extra perspective into your own football experience.

On with the show!

• Why Arlen Specter may not be wasting his time (or ours) with this whole Spygate investigation. (Mighty MJD)
• Canadian soccer needs an enema. (Pitch Invasion)
• So do the West Coast Eagles. (AFL Footy Blog)
• Your Super 14 preview. (SA Rugby)
• Botswana football’s “Golden Lady.” (The Offside)
• New York Giants fans better hope their team doesn’t get dynastic. (Deadspin)
• Is this the end for Ronaldo at AC Milan? (Soccer by Ives)
• Is it the start for Mourinho at Barcelona? (Reuters Soccer Blog)
• Kevin Sheedy wants to give exchange students free footy. (Fox Sports Australia)
• Is International Rules worth it for the GAA? (Setanta Sports)
• Congress to NFL: Stay out of the churches! (Techdirt)
• Philip Rivers hates Horny Werewolf Day, too. (Kissing Suzy Kolber)
• Being in a strong NFL division is important. I wonder if this applies to Champions League groups, too… (NFL FanHouse)
• Real Madrid is richer than you. (Yahoo Eurosport)
• This TJ Simers column about David Beckham got people talking this week. (LA Times)
• Becks, however, has other impacts on American soccer that we don’t see. (The Offside)
• Mike Carey talks about “The Giant Snatch.” (NFL FanHouse)
• FA to female footballers: Sorry about the ban! (Guardian Unlimited)
• Those wacky Chris Berman videos aren’t on YouTube anymore, but they’re still online. (Deadspin)

It’s an FA Cup weekend in England. Show of hands: who’s paying $16 to watch Man U v. Arsenal? Not me. I’m going to take a good look at Super 14’s opening weekend and see if these new rules really do make rugby union more fun to watch. I’ll report my discoveries on Monday. Oh, and the Champions League knockout stage begins next Tuesday. Expect a lot of coverage of that on FanHouse.

Enjoy your football, everyone!

Videos like this featuring Chris Berman behind the scenes have been everywhere in the last few days. Someone at ESPN must have gotten fired recently.

More vulgar fun with Boomer at Sports by Brooks.

Before we take our wide scan of the football world, our pal Carlito would like to talk to you about the importance of stretching. Even if you watch football rather than play it, the last thing you want to be is tight and inflexible. After all, you’re going to be jumping up out of your seat and raising your fists in celebration a lot*. How embarassed would you be if you pulled a hammy or felt a twinge in your knee or ankle while cheering your team’s success?

Carlito wants you to make a habit of stretching every morning when you get up — especially on game days. You’ll feel better every day for it.

* - Does not apply to Manchester United fans at Old Trafford.

And now, on with the links!

• The Eli Manning-to-David Tyree pass has a name. (Kissing Suzy Kolber)
• One lucky Giants fan sneaks in. (Deadspin)
• Tom Hicks is an idiot in two countries now. (Dallas Observer)
• Football in Colonial Africa. (Pitch Invasion)
• Footballer trafficking in modern Africa. (Guardian Unlimited)
• Is FIFA boss Sepp Blatter a racist? (The Offside)
• One last look back by a Havant & Waterlooville fan. (Hobo Tread)
• The Rochester Raging Rhinos are in real trouble. (Triangle Soccer Fanatics)
• Revenue sharing works in America, but what about England? (Pitch Invasion)
• Mankinis work for Borat, but what about New Zealand rugby fans? (We Are the Postmen)
• AFL attempts to put lipstick on pig. (Fox Sports Australia)
• Hey, did someone say pig? (Friday Metro)
• What we would have seen if the Patriots had won. (FanHouse)
• The Pats’ season ended perfectly — for the rest of America. (The Onion)
• And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of fans. (With Leather)
• Of course, there’s just as much class in Manchester. (Guardian Unlimited)
• Remembering the Munich Air Disaster. (200%)
• An awesome Fulhamerica photoshop. (Oz City)
• The sad tale of Kevin Hart. (Deadspin)
• Chiefs running back Larry Johnson was just joking. Really. (The Sporting Blog)
• But drugs are no joke for retired NFL players. (Tampa Bay Online)
• Say, is Tiki Barber on drugs? (NFL Experts Blog)
• HBO pulls the plug on Inside the NFL. (Sports by Brooks)
• What is zone blocking? (FanHouse)
• International Rules is the new General Franco. (Setanta Sports)
• A closer look at World Footy News. (AFL Footy Blog)
• Are the Buffalo Bills cheating on their hometown? (NFL Experts Blog)
• Fabio Capello will make you an offer you can’t refuse. (Pitch Invasion)
• Those damn Sepak Takraw prima donnas. (With Leather)
• It’s just easier to be a football fan. (Deadspin)

That ought to hold you for now. It’s a quiet weekend for football in America, with only the sad little exhibition that is the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. There’s a full card in Europe, though, including a Chelsea v. Liverpool match on Sunday and some Six Nations rugby action around the continent. Oh, and there’s also some Aussie Rules in Dubai, though we’re still more than a month away from the start of the AFL season. (I need to find some way to get the rest of the blogosphere talking about Aussie Rules again. The West Coast Eagles’ drug problems won’t be enough this year.)

One more thing: the Carolina Railhawks are holding tryouts this weekend. So if you’ve got some serious soccer skills and are looking for work, get yourself to the Triangle by tomorrow morning. Here’s a little something to inspire you to play…

Enjoy your football, folks.

Some random thoughts from the past weekend’s football action:

- Fox Soccer Channel was showing the one FA Cup game nobody really cared about at 10:00 AM, and Setanta Sports had no rights to the FA Cup and showed the lone Premier League game of the week — an Aston Villa-Blackburn tie that probably would have been entertaining had I paid attention to it. Thus, I was forced to use less-than-legal means to watch the game I really wanted to watch — Liverpool v. Havant & Waterlooville — and I missed Richard Pacquette’s goal in the 8th minute. Seeing their second goal, though, was a truly uplifting moment. Here’s a pub team playing in a once-in-a-lifetime (if that) game on one of English football’s biggest stages, and they’re winning. It makes you feel good about sports again, and it reminds you why the FA Cup is still the most romantic competition in sports this side of the NCAA basketball tournament. (BTW, I wrote more about that game here.)

- Speaking of romance, lots of folks will look at the lack of Premier League clubs still in the FA Cup and start suggesting that the top-flight clubs really don’t care about this competition anymore. This ignores the fact that a good number of Premier League clubs were eliminated by other Premier League clubs. Man U knocked off Villa, then knocked off Spurs, who beat Reading earlier. Chelsea beat Wigan, who knocked off Sunderland previously. Arsenal beat Newcastle. Sure, we’ve had our share of giant-killers so far, but the biggest of them so far may have been the one that got relegated out of the Premier League last year — Sheffield United, who have beaten Bolton and Man City so far.

- It just occurred to me yesterday that this is the first year in about eight years that I’m not throwing some kind of Super Bowl party. I’m not sure why. Perhaps I’ve been distracted by the fact that I have a girlfriend now. Perhaps I have this subconscious urge to reject everything involving the New England Patriots and that jackass safety of theirs. Perhaps I’m just looking forward to other things — the start of the AFL season, the start of the Carolina Railhawks’ season, an interesting free agency period, etc.

- Speaking of free agency, the Jacksonville Jaguars are one of the teams I cover for FanHouse, and they have more than $32 million in salary cap space. Given the season they just had, they might have a very good shot at a linebacker like Lance Briggs or Terrell Suggs. The problem they have, though, is that they need more help at receiver and cornerback, and it’s fairly slim pickings in the free agent market for those positions.

- BTW, I neglected to mention that Australia Day rugby league test match in Jacksonville on Saturday, which turned out to be a sellout. Leeds Rhinos beat Russell Crowe’s South Sydney Rabbitohs, 26-24. I considered traveling down there to that game, but I couldn’t really justify the expense, and besides, I had a date on Saturday night. There appears to be video of this, though, which I’ll post later.

- Finally, I’d like to pay more attention to the African Cup of Nations, but the organizers of that event are making it really, really hard for us. Max Bretos told everyone he campaigned to get the competition on Fox Soccer Channel, but the competition’s organizers priced it out of everyone’s range. Someone needs to help CAF understand that less money than you want is still better than no money at all. Obscurity is the enemy of competitions like this.

You may have noticed that I haven’t talked much about Super Bowl XLII this week.

There’s a simple and obvious reason for that — there’s nothing to talk about. The big game isn’t until a week from Sunday, and until then, we’ve got nothing but hype and bluster and journalists desperately looking for stories (and lots and lots of fluff) so they can look like they’re actually earning their money. There’s no real reason for the NFL to make us wait two weeks, but they do it anyway, so that we all get a chance to meet to the real Ahmad Bradshaw and have big giant parties in the desert and such.

Simply put, this is the week that made me glad that I learned to appreciate other forms of football. There are a hundred stories in England alone right now — Tottenham Hotspur finally beating Arsenal (and starting a Gooner dust-up), another American moving to Fulham, Havant & Waterlooville getting ready for their FA Cup match against Liverpool, whose new American owners pissing off fans, and transfers, transfers galore. The universe wants you to know who Havant & Waterlooville are — look here and here — and that’s a beautiful thing.

If that’s not enough for you, Six Nations rugby starts in two weeks, as does Super 14 rugby down in the Southern Hemisphere. The Australian Football League preseason starts in 3 weeks, and there’s already controversy about new NAB Cup test rules, not to mention a strong desire to dump the NAB Cup for good. Plus, they’re already playing Gaelic Football in Ireland this month.

And what are we doing in America? Going a whole week without football and yammering on about Tom Brady’s bogus walking boot and Jessica Simpson getting dumped by Tony Romo.

Y’know, I’d take Havant & Waterlooville over that pretty much any day of the week. At least they’re actually going to play this weekend.

Some random thoughts from the past weekend’s football action:

- About a year ago, I offered up this defense of Tom Coughlin after New York Giants fans, bloggers and columnists were calling for his head following an ugly 8-8 season. Right now, I’m guessing most of those folks are glad they didn’t get what they wanted a year ago.

- Say what you will about the San Diego Chargers, but their defense kept them in it against New England. The problem, though, is that you simply can’t beat the Patriots by kicking field goals. You have to get in the end zone, because so will they.

- Y’know, had I known that Pats-Giants game in Week 17 was going to be a Super Bowl preview, I might have paid a little more attention to the second half.

- I’m going to get into this later on FanHouse, but does it seem like this Aston Villa v. Liverpool game this afternoon could determine the future of Liverpool as a football club? If they lose that game, will Royal Bank of Scotland reject the loan deal that Tom Hicks and George Gillett are trying to secure for fear of creating another Leeds United?

- Titus, Titus, Titus. How do you manage to keep a job in the top flight?

- Interesting read over at With Malice: “How Rugby Saved My Life and My Sanity.” I wonder how many similar stories are out there for soccer and Aussie rules.

- CFL fans, beware. That NFL game in Toronto looks like it’s going to happen, and all the Lenny Kravitz halftime shows in the world aren’t going to stop it.

- There’s a part of me that wishes that Mike Carey becoming the first black man to referee the Super Bowl wasn’t so big a story. The bottom line is that he’s one of the best refs in the game right now, and that’s why he’s getting the gig.

- The Hawthorn Hawks are promising us a bigger, badder Buddy Franklin in 2008. Be afraid, footy fans. Be very, very afraid.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go bug some friends of mine about this year’s Super Bowl party…

We haven’t gotten a fresh batch of football links from our man Carlito in a while, so it’s high time we spotlighted the new “silliest goal celebration ever” — though really, was it any worse than Steve Smith’s change-the-diaper touchdown celebration? — and looked around for interesting stories that I missed in the last week.

After all, trying to follow every football code on the planet is hard. Posting a load of links to other sites makes it a little easier:

• The genius of basketball and the genius of soccer. [The Run of Play]
• Ten things you should know about non-league football in England. [Pitch Invasion]
• NFL games in England could be here to stay. [Reuters]
• Speaking of Reuters, when did there bloggers morph into hookers from Leeds? [Reuters Soccer Blog (twice)]
• Could St. Louis beat Philadelphia to win the 16th MLS franchise? [Goal]
• Are Australian punters more mentally stable than the American ones? [UWire via Deadspin]
• Aussie-style kicking is definitely helping NFL punters. [World Footy News]
• Speaking of Australia, it just dropped domestic rugby union. [Scrumbag]
• One Super 14 club is using Aussie Rules for training. [World Footy News]
• Gary Ablett would be great at rugby league. [Fox Sports Australia]
• Watching soccer is different when you play it… [SoccerLens]
• …and more fun when you’re drinking. [Center Holds It]
• Medieval mob football isn’t dead yet. [Washington Post]
• An open letter to the NFL from a frustrated fan. [Joe Sports Fan]
• Tecmo Bowl predicts this Sunday’s conference championships. [ArmchairGM]
• Would computers ever replace NFL coaches? [NFL FanHouse]
• The scandal of African player trafficking in soccer. [Guardian]
• Your African Cup of Nations preview. [That's On Point]

In addition to the African Cup of Nations kicking off this weekend, the two participants in Super Bowl XLII will be determined on Sunday, the Pool Stage of the Heineken Cup finishes up, and on Monday, we’ll find out if Liverpool still has what it takes to remain in the Top 4 when they head to Birmingham to face Aston Villa.

Enjoy your football, everyone!