Tag: English Football

  • ODDS and ENDS: Premier League Begins, Commuting to School, and Change is Coming

    (You can have yours, just gimme mine…)

    Later today, the Premier League starts up for the season. Clearly, and no one can dissuade me from this, Tottenham Hotspur will win the whole League. Yup, they will sit atop the table and lord it over Man City, and the forever a league-bridesmaid; Arsenal. Sure, Spurs qualified for the Europa League, just falling short of the Champions League goal, but hey! We’ll take whatever hardware that is offered. Am I over confidant? You Bet’cha! (I am a Cowboys fan, after all.)  I have paid for all the services, against my better judgement, so I will be able to watch every match. Not sure if I can get myself to go to the local Spurs bar and start drinking at 7am on game day, but we’ll see – that still feels like a goal to aim for in the next year or two. Either way, I’m ready for English football. (An Aside: I will still keep my eye on Brentford, as I still like the scrappiness of that team. They’re fun to root for.) I do feel that a new Tottenham scarf could be in my future, maybe even a sweater. Putting it out there, see if it manifests itself. You know. #COYS

    I had a moment this morning, when I was taking the kid to school, I started to ponder how different the way my kid goes to school is compared to how I went to school when I was her age. The kid takes the subway to school, and is accompanied by me. Sometimes a friend from school will be on the train with us, but most mornings, it’s just us. Sometimes we chat, sometimes she reads. It is the subway, so every now and then, an incident has happened; crazy guy, someone begging for change, homeless guy sleeping on a bench, or people yelling at each other. On the whole, most mornings the people on the train are tired, not in the mood to interact with anyone, and just want to be left alone. At her age, my family lived in a generic suburb, and I walked down the block in the neighborhood and caught the school bus with about five or so other kids. No one escorted me; I would say bye to my mom, and walk out the door. The bus stop could be dicey on certain mornings. This was grade school, kindergarten to 6th grade, so you could have 5 to 12-year-olds out there. Some mornings it was “Lord of the Flies” with kids being shitty to each other, but most days it was just a conversation about cartoons. Getting on the bus had its own perils; social order, and ostracization could be on full display. Would you get a seat? Who would you sit with? Would it be an older kid who would bully you the whole way to school? The anxiety, drama and fear! When I think about it, the subway isn’t so bad.

    And as school has started and Autumn is on its way, I have started to think that this is the time to begin the process of change. Or at least evaluation to determine if change is needed. I do know that if I am thinking about change, I should change. I need a better work schedule, and a more rigorous regime at the gym, as pants are getting tight. (I might have mentioned that.) I should get better sleep, and possibly change up my wardrobe – more sportscoats? Maybe this is a moustache year? Not that something needs to give, but it would be nice to change things up. I don’t think I ever want to be set in my ways. Roots are good, but being unable to bend with the wind sounds detrimental.

  • ODDS and ENDS: I Felt the Earth Move, Tottenham Home Stretch, and the Dog Got a Haircut

    ODDS and ENDS: I Felt the Earth Move, Tottenham Home Stretch, and the Dog Got a Haircut

    (She blinded me with science…)

    NYC and the surrounding area got hit with a 4.8 magnitude earthquake which lasted for about 20 seconds. The epicenter was about 50 miles west of Manhattan. I was at home with the wife when it hit, and for the first few seconds of the quake, I thought it was come from the construction site behind our building. You know, like they were drilling or something. Then I thought that a truck had hit our building. But my wife was the first one to say, or I guess ask, “Is this an earthquake?!” In fact, it was. Thank God for social media, because within three seconds, people were posting. Funny enough, this is the second NYC earthquake I have been through. Back in August of 2011, a 5.8 quake hit northern Virginia, which was felt all the way up here. I was on the 12th floor of a building in midtown at that time, and all I felt was the building swaying, which was a very strange sensation. But in both occurrences, the overwhelming feeling I had was disbelief. You don’t think about NYC having earthquakes.

    We are down to the final nine matches of the season, and I hate to admit it, but it looks like Tottenham is playing for a place in the Champions League next season. Of those nine matches, three of them are against the teams ahead of Spurs on the table (Man City, Arsenal, and Liverpool), then there is Newcastle twice and Chelsea who both are hanging around in the middle, followed by three matches against teams fighting against relegation. The way I see it, Tottenham will walk away with three wins, three draws, and three losses, concluding the season with 69 points. Will that be enough to get past Aston Villa? I don’t think so as Aston does have the easier schedule compared to Spurs. This will be an interesting two months. Interesting in the sense that it will be infuriating, and gut wrenching.

    My dog got groomed yesterday. She’s very happy about it. She looks like a puppy.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Thanksgiving is Sneaking Up, I am the Old Man Yelling at a Cloud, and 12,000 Steps

    (This jacket will outlive me…)

    I wrote about receiving our BBQ smoked turkey yesterday, and it still smells amazing in our freezer. Looking at the calendar, we don’t have much time left until Thanksgiving. I still have one batch of chicken stock to make, and then I need to knock out some mushroom and turkey stock next week. This weekend, we will start formalizing the menu as well as making the first round of shopping for non-perishable food. Every family has their “holiday,” you know, the big one that gets all the attention. Most people it’s Christmas, but in our house, it’s Thanksgiving. Everyone likes to eat, but we do love the prep and the cooking. From the breakfast, to the nosh-y lunch, to the final meal at dinner time; it’s a production. And then the day after, we make the turkey stew out of the leftovers, as well as some savory pies. We try to make Thanksgiving as relaxed as possible, and not stressful. We hang around in our pajamas, we have a few drinks, watch some football, do some dishes, and enjoy a day together.

    Hey NBC/Universal! If I’m paying for Peacock so I can watch the Premier League, why is it that you keep showing matches on USA which I can’t watch through Peacock? And I know why you do this; You want me to go out and pay for USA, because it’s a marketing trick, and it clearly work because you keep doing it. But honestly… I want to see the market research that says that it is a good idea to antagonize your customers. I say all of this because I cannot watch Tottenham play live this weekend because I don’t have cable. And yes, I hate clouds, too.

    You know what I did yesterday? I walked 12,000+ steps. You know what else? My hips and knees really hurt this morning. I know that I am getting old, and things don’t work the way they used to; that’s just life. But I was a bit taken aback by how much they hurt. I run at the gym two to three times a week, and I’m trying to be more active. According to my phone, my daily average of steps this year is 8,000+ as compared to last year’s 6,500+ average. So, I’m moving more, which is good, right? Right, yeah, and the more you move, the more your body should get used to it… But, it really just makes me want to sit on the couch and drink coffee and read. Hey, self-care is just as important as exercise. Right? Yeah… I’m going with that.

  • WTF Tottenham!?!?!

    Did anyone else see the Newcastle v Tottenham match on Sunday? If you did, you must be a Newcastle fan. If you are a Spurs fan, you probably stopped watching after twenty minutes. It was a slaughter, a complete dismantlement of Tottenham. Newcastle scored five goals in twenty-one minutes, which isn’t a record, but should be. Sunday is where Spurs’ season died. It had a good life; lots of hope and promise, but it was not long for this world.

    It is one of the biggest sports clichés, but Newcastle wanted it more. They can see an open spot in the Champions League just sitting out there for anyone to take. Arsenal and Man City have run away with the season, and that will be an interesting finish to see who will win the Premier League.

    BUT! The race to secure the last two qualifying spots for the Champions League could be an exciting race!

    But it won’t.

    If Spurs played like a team with a little fire in their guts, then those last two slots would turn into this epic race between Spurs, Newcastle and Man United…

    But it won’t…

    It is so completely frustrating that Tottenham has all the pieces for a high caliber, trophy winning team. You look at the line up, and you’d think they’d be sitting at the top of the table. Even a few years ago, they had a weaker and banged up squad, but they still made it to the Champion League final.

    Where is that team? Where is that drive? That desire to win?

    I don’t know… I grew up a Cubs fan, so I am used to a sports team sucking all the time. I guess I need to start bringing my Cubs mentality to Tottenham matches.

  • A Tottenham Hotspur Blog: Conte Edition

    Welp! It happened. Conte and Tottenham have gone their separate ways. I don’t think anyone is surprised by this. The season was not working out as expected, and when the “most terrible/awfulness week ever” occurred where Spurs got knocked out of the FA Cup, lost in the Premiere League, and then got bounced out of the Champions League, everyone knew Conte was about to lose his job. I think the Conte press conference, the one after the Southampton 3-3 draw, was just Conte acknowledging that he’s about to get fired, so I might as well speak  my mind.

    So, where does this leave Tottenham with ten games left to go in the Premiere League season?

    Currently, Cristian Stellini has been named the interim head coach, which makes sense as he was Conte’s assistant coach at Spurs. Right now, as Tottenham is in fourth place, it would appear that his mission is to keep the team in fourth, which qualifies them for next seasons Champions League, if not move up the table.

    But, with this team, that seems like rather tall order. I don’t think they have a chance in hell of catching Man City, let alone Arsenal. And though Man United is one point ahead of Spurs, and Newcastle is two points behind, both of those clubs have two more games left to play on their schedule as compared to Tottenham. And, Spurs have both of those clubs left on their schedule, which means they are now must wins. In fact, Tottenham cannot afford to come out of any of these ten matches with no points.

    Then there is the biggest issue that is looming over the Summer; Harry Kane. Will he be back? It felt like Conte was brought in specifically to help this team win trophies, which at this point in Kane’s career, that’s the boxes he wants to tick. And I know I have been saying this for the past three seasons, but this Summer just might be the one where Harry goes to another club that is in a better position to win.

    It’s all too bad. I did like Conte. I thought he brought a passion to the club that Tottenham had been missing. But his passion did not translate onto the pitch. Under Conte this season, the team was always slow to start, and got behind early. They never looked like they wanted to win so much as they were trying not to lose.

    So long, Antonio Conte. I appreciated your effort.