Weekly Round-Up

In a shocking turn of events, I am actually going to write a post that is actually about sports this week!

Source: bbc.co.uk via Rachel on Pinterest

Last week England's cricket team became the number one test team in the world, after destroying the previous top team India. Alastair Cook was the star man with an amazing 294 runs. It's always great to see an English sports team succeed, especially when you consider that in 1999, England were sitting shamefaced at the bottom of the rankings. Here's to many more years at the top!

On to football, and the start of a brand new Premier League season. It came as much of a surprise to most that Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea all failed to win on the opening day - with all three teams drawing with underwhelming opposition (although we must give at least some credit to Newcastle, Sunderland and Stoke respectively). For your information, here were the results from that opening weekend:

Blackburn 1-2 Wolves

Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa

Liverpool 1-1 Sunderland

Newcastle 0-0 Arsenal

QPR 0-4 Bolton

Wigan 1-1 Norwich

Man City 4-0 Swansea

Stoke 0-0 Chelsea

West Brom 1-2 Man Utd

I guess you could look at this and predict an easy win for Manchester United this season (not that I would ever automatically rule out Man City...except I do), but I don't really believe that there's too much that you can learn from one round of matches, and I still believe anyone could win it.


Over in the United States, Robbie Keane has become the latest player to join the ranks of the MLS, by signing for L.A. Galaxy. Here's what he had to say about it: "I have always wanted to come and play in MLS so it's the perfect combination for me and a dream come true." Now as much as I love the MLS, I find it really hard to believe this statement. If it was indeed a "dream come true," then why on Earth didn't he come over earlier - some time before he turned 31? Come to think of it, why didn't he join Real Salt Lake or any other team here? I suspect that the "dream" lies in living in Los Angeles, rather than playing for their team...

It's Not So Good To Be Green

So the other day I read this article about Robert Green. Apparently he is considering international retirement. This would make him the third English goalkeeper (that is still playing) to make this move, after Paul Robinson and Ben Foster did the same. Other players such as Jamie Carragher and Paul Scholes have also taken similar steps away from international football, and this latest one has got me thinking - what has happened to good, lionhearted patriotism?

I'm beginning to realise just how much I refer to David Beckham in this blog, but to quote the great man's agent, "he will always be available for his country, when fit and if needed, he will be there." Now that's what I call duty to a cause. Now 36, he is no spring chicken, but if he were to be called up, he would be there in a heart beat.

From what I understand, most of the aforementioned players announced their international retirement due to a lack of opportunities...so really international retirement is the new way to save the embarrassment of not being picked for the first team. This is also being cited as Robert Green's excuse.

So not enough opportunities, eh Rob? O.K. then, let's take a look at the last time an English manager let you play...




I know, I know, it was just one mistake - in the opening game of the World Cup - perhaps we should just forgive and forget. So let's take a look at his club form for West Ham...who just got relegated...this is awkward...

Maybe he's right, he should definitely be England's first choice goalkeeper.

The faces say it all...

:(

:(

And on an extremely windy, chilly night in Sandy...

:)

Ode to David Beckham

I have a fabulous internship with Real Salt Lake. It's pretty much the best thing that's ever happened to me. Yesterday we were visited by one David Beckham - who, incidently, could not prevent L.A. Galaxy from losing horribly, in front of "the fortress" at the Rio Tinto Stadium. However, having now seen him up close, I can establish that he is still a beautiful man, and I would say quite handy with a football too. So in honour of this occasion, I have decided to post this hilarious video of him performing a prank on The Ellen Degeneres Show. Enjoy!

Best Goal Ever?

Now every time a great player scores a great goal I'm quite the skeptic, "but would people still be saying this if he played for Notts County," I ask? Well friends, we have a rare occasion where I definitely believe that they would...which is irrelevant because I struggle to think of a player on Notts County's current roster that could manage this...



Amazing. Now let's see that for England.


In other news, anyone who is aware of BYU Athletics' student ticket policies will not be surprised when they see this picture I took at the BYU v. Utah men's basketball game.
For those of you who do not understand what they are looking at, this is the Marriott Center, two hours before the game. As is usual, the student section is completely full, with no one else there. Some of those seats will not even be full by tip off. Students have to come this early or risk being turned away without getting in...trust me, it's happened a few times (despite claims made by an email sent from BYU Athletics).



On the plus side, I got in, BYU won, Charles Abouo had a killer game, and Jimmer was alright...just the 23 points this week then.

The Utes knew what was coming. They couldn't handle the fear.

Do You Hear the Drums?

Anyone who hasn't been living under a metaphorical, Ihatefootball/thenews/anythingtopical/Idon'thatethemIjustliveinAmerica rock for the past few days will have heard about the transfer of Fernando Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea.

At the risk of revealing too much about myself, I am a Chelsea fan... so for me, this was pretty good news...

Excited as I was, it was only natural that I should share my feelings with those closest and dearest to me...so naturally I posted a link on Facebook. The results, however, were somewhat surprising. My Facebook friends definitely know more about soccer than I gave them credit for...and it wasn't the English ones. Football is definitely a growing sport in the States, and a large part that growth is happening here in Utah; I would say that this is partly down to the number of immigrants from Central and South America, and largely because of the number of people who move to all parts of the world (serving an LDS mission) for two years and then return with a new-found passion for the game of football.

For those of you who were under the previously mentioned rock, here is the brief version of the events of the past week:

Fernando Torres is one of the best strikers in the world. Part of Spain's World Cup winning team this summer, he is a true goal-machine and was a crucial part of Liverpool's first team. However, during the World Cup and even after, he suffered something of a prolonged post-injury slump in form. This transfer window, Chelsea pounced and shelled out £50million for him. Rip off? I don't think so. Despite his drop in form, Torres remains a quality forward and will continue to be so - you can't get rid of skill of that kind. At 26 years old, he is also relatively young for a footballer today, and far younger than most of his Chelsea team mates!

I for one, cannot wait to see what Torres can achieve with this Chelsea team and I will be watching eagerly on Sunday, along with the rest of the footballing world, to see what will happen when Chelsea showdown against Liverpool.

It's football... isn't it?

September 2007; having been out of England for a month now, I was eager for the match to start. I had already come to terms with the fact that "soccer" was considered a girls' sport in the United States and I knew I would be just as happy to watch women play as men - as long as there were two goals and a pitch, it is all the same to me. The referee blew the whistle, and the match began. Only, it wasn't a "match," it was a "game;" and why were the clocks counting down from 45 minutes instead of up to 90? Who was this mysterious man with the power to stop the clock all together? And where on earth did that buzzer come from? From this moment, I had realized my worst fear... sport in England is not the same as sport in America, even football is not football anymore... it is "soccer."

This then, is a record of my experiences and thoughts on the world of sport, particularly football (as I will now refer to it as). And you may find in here some experiences that have broadened my horizons, and caused me to consider a realm outside of those few "main" English sports, and allowed me to make room for American football, basketball... and perhaps even soccer.