Tag: Nottingham Forest

  • ODDS and ENDS: Who Are These People?, I Have Hope Again, and NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament

    ODDS and ENDS: Who Are These People?, I Have Hope Again, and NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament

    (Of course you’re not shy…)

    I don’t spend much time on Facebook anymore, ever since my nieces and nephews told me that only old people go on that site. As I am clearly not an old person, I have stayed away from Facebook. Except for the daily check in I do, because I need to check in and see what the other old people are up to. There is a section on Facebook I generally skip over and it’s the “People You May Know” part. Today, I decided to flip though it to see if I might know any of them. And I get what the algorithm is trying to do, which is connect people to me that my other “friends” know, so inherently, most of these people I won’t know. But, going through the list, I started to play the game of “Do I know this person, because they look familiar?” I would see a face, then ask myself, did I take a class with this person in college? Or, did I do a show with this person? Or, did I work with this person? Honestly, I can’t remember anymore, which made me feel old. Which is fitting as only old people go on Facebook.

    Stupid Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday went on beat Atlético Madrid at Tottenham. Sure, they did lose the on aggregate and are out of the Champions League now, but they won a match at home. And the whole team looked like they gave a shit. Which now means that they went out and gave all of us supports the feeling that hope was alive. That on Sunday when they face off against Nottingham Forest, another team fighting not to be relegated, that we have a Spurs team to root for. A team that doesn’t want to be embarrassed. A team that is willing to dig deep and fight to the final whistle. And just when I had written the club off, now I have to go back to caring again.

    Oh, my bracket is shot to hell. Not awful, but I did make some really bad picks. My problem with making a bracket for the tournament is that I will always pick the underdog. Sometimes it works out really well, making it look like I knew something that everyone else didn’t. Like how I picked TCU, VCU, Texas A&M, Texas, and Saint Louis. Of the first 16 games, I had picked 7 upsets. Maybe not the most logical system for picking winners, but I can’t deny who I am. I like giant killers.

  • Okay, So I’m Going to Talk About Tottenham

    I know what I said on Friday, and I don’t care. I need to talk to someone about Tottenham Hotspur after their match with Liverpool, and it looks like it’ll be the four of you who read this.

    So, I had written off the team as of Friday, being that Tottenham had a bit of a meltdown in their Champions League match (I don’t think they will make it past this round) and looking ahead, I saw that they were playing Liverpool on Sunday. And though Liverpool isn’t the same team they were last year and they have they issues of their own, Liverpool is still sitting at the top of the table while Spurs are swimming around the bottom. AND the match was going to be IN Liverpool also lead to my feeling of dread.

    But who knew that a couple of guys on Tottenham actually gave a shit? I’m talking about Richarlison, Tel, and Porro. From my perspective, Richarlison threw himself into this match, and had at least three solid scoring chances in front of the goal, all headers that were either blocked or were just outside. Tel also seemed to be digging and working for it. His play was improved and created several scoring chances. And the last was Pedro Porro, who was severally tested by Rio. I do have to admit that Rio might be someone to keep your eye on, as that guy looked like he was fearless out there. BUT, Porro kept up with him and stopped him, though it was close.

    I know that the one point they received from this draw didn’t change anything in the standings; it’s still a fight between Spurs, Nottingham Forrest, West Ham, and Leeds to see who will be relegated. Yet, getting a point for a team who hasn’t won anything in 2026 was like a weight being taken off their backs. (Mine too.) Also, Spurs got that point against a way better team on that team’s home pitch. So yes, going to Liverpool and getting a point does feel like a win.

    I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. Spurs still have a ton of injuries, and time is running out on the season. Lots of things can and will go wrong from now to the end of May. Yet, on that 90th minute on Sunday, just for a second, all did not seem lost. Hope showed up. Stupid and unfair Hope.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Student Loans, Champions League, and This Site

    (I haven’t done the tag line thing in awhile…)

    I am sure you all know this; if you have a Federally backed student loan, the government is forgiving $10,000 of it, and up to $20,000 if you received a Pell Grant. This does personally affect me, as I have student loans, and when I was in college, I received Pell Grants. (Full disclosure: I did refinance and consolidate my loans fifteen years ago, so I’m in a limbo right now because I’m not sure the action I took so long ago now disqualifies me from the forgiveness. I’m still waiting to hear from the DOE as to what the status of my loans are.) What I do want to talk about is the debate about this action taken by Biden. Conservatives have an emotional response to it (It’s not FAIR!) while Liberals seem to be mucking up their response – veering between emotional (The right thing to do) and logical (It will help people economically) which makes the progressive message not very clear and easy to explain. The one argument I find funny is the Conservative accusation that Biden is just doing this to please his base, which Democrats dance around. Personally, I think that Biden should just lean into it and say, “Yes, I am doing this for my base.” Republicans have been cutting wealthy peoples taxes for years, and the only reason they do it is to make their donors happy, and no one is surprised by it. Biden has sort of said it, claiming that he’s fulfilling his campaign promise. But, really, I just want to see a Democrat put it like this, “You vote for us, you get your loan forgiven. You vote for them, you get nothing.” At the end of the day, that is politics. No one votes for a party to only help the other side. People vote for a party because they will get something first, and then hopefully the rest of the country next.

    CHAMPIONS LEAGUE is COMING! Which means I will be writing about Tottenham matches even more! And the Spurs play Nottingham Forrest this weekend in the Premier League, which I am expecting Tottenham to win. No offense to Nottingham.

    So, I paid the money and have my own site now, and no longer am I under the yoke of Word Press. I really haven’t had a chance to try out all the bells and whistles that I now have access to being that I am a paid site. Most likely, I’ll start working on some updates after Labor Day, when the kid is back in school. The one thing I have noticed is that my page views are WAY UP! While my blog views are exactly the same. Not sure if this means anything, but my gut tells me that my site is being poked by bots. The four of you who continue to come by and read this blog, again, I thank you for your dedication. I am looking into monetizing this site. Not sure how to do that, nor am I sure how I’m going to spend the $0.15 cents I will make annually. But, I think some changes might be coming.

    (Yo! Please take a moment to give tis post a like, or a share. No comments though. Seriously, I don’t know if I can handle to contact.)