Tag: Premier League

  • ODDS and ENDS: Lit Awards Are RIGGED, Oh Tottenham, and My Nose is Stuffed Up

    (Got to Be Real…)

    This might not come as a shock to you, nor me, and maybe someone out there doesn’t know this, but Lit Awards are Rigged. I know how hard that is the believe, but I read this article by Dan Sinykin which says just that; The Lit Prize World is fixed so that a majority of certain people can win. Sinykin is reporting on the research that Juliana Spahr Stephanie Young, Claire Grossman did on the major lit prize winners, going back to 1918. To quote the article, “They (the authors of the research) found that half of the prize-winners with an MFA “went to just four schools: [University of] Iowa, Columbia, NYU, or UC Irvine.” Iowa has special clout: its alumni “are 49 times more likely to win compared to writers who earned their MFA at any other program since 2000.” Also, “…writers “with an elite degree (Ivy League, Stanford, University of Chicago) are nine times more likely to win than those without one. And more specifically, those who attended Harvard are 17 times more likely to win.” I know, I know – It’s hard to believe that people who go to elite schools keep the majority of prizes, money and contracts within their own group. You should read the article as it goes deeper into a few other aspects, but this pretty much confirmed what I knew when I was 18; if you don’t get into the right school, the likelihood of having a writing career is stacked against you.

    What a shitty week to be a Tottenham fan. Not only did they lose to Arsenal on Sunday, but they had the added fun of going down in flames to Man City on Thursday night. They were up two goals at half, and then the wheels came off the truck at the start of the second, and Spurs just looked out classed. Like they don’t deserve to be in the top four of the Premier League. Ung… At least I have the Cowboys to root for on Sunday.

    I think I have another cold. That two in the span of three months. Yuck…

  • A Quick Tottenham Blog

    Well, I don’t like telling myself that I told you so, but I did tell myself that I told you so. Yup. Spurs gave up an early goal to Arsenal, then another goal, and they were never able to recover. If Tottenham plays a not so good team, they can dig themselves out of a hole, but not when they are playing a high caliber team. Arsenal made them look bad. Spurs looked like they were out there fighting for it, while Arsenal was playing and having fun. The confidence coming off of Arsenal was deafening. I mean, just the ease and relaxed play that Saka had when he scored that first goal just shook Tottenham to the core. Lloris looked like he had been bonked on his head and didn’t know where he was when that goal was scored.

    Something has got to change on the defensive end of Tottenham if they have any hopes of staying in the top four of the Premier League, and, I hate to say this, but as of now, I don’t see them advancing in the Champions League. That backline needs to be strengthened, and they have to start winning in the middle of the field.

    My fear now is that Conte, Lloris and Kane will all be gone by the end of this season if they don’t finish in the top four. The owners have proven in the past that they have no issue with sacking managers, no matter if the team is building and moving in the right direction. As for Lloris, he’s still a top tier keeper but he is now moving towards the end of his career. What that means is that he cannot BE Tottenham’s defense; he needs a solid supporting cast, and it’s got to be more than Dier back there. Which leaves Kane. He’s a superstar, and he is not going to settle for a career without any major trophies. He was talking about this exact thing two years ago when he flirted with going to Man City. If moves aren’t made soon, Kane is off to one of the other big clubs.

    The ship needs to be righted, and time’s running out.

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  • ODDS and ENDS: Not a Tottenham Blog, Sweaters, and Call Your Mother

    (Don’t Believe the Hype)

    I lied. I will talk about Tottenham, because they beat Frankfurt in their Champions League Group match. It didn’t start off well, with Dier giving up a stupid pass in their own box which allowed Frankfurt to score a pretty easy and embarrassing goal. But, Spurs rallied and didn’t go down the rabbit hole of self-destruction. Finally, the Kane/Son Rainbow connection of goal scoring showed up, and Son looked back to true form with a goal in the 19’ and 35’ minute. Harry Kane scored on a penalty shot, but uncharacteristically missed a second penalty kick by sailing the ball over the goal. On the Conte front, I appreciated the amount of substituting he did, getting Gil and Lucas on the pitch. (I do have a soft spot for these two players and hope to see more of them, as they are aggressive and tenacious players that I think Conte would want out there more.) Now, Spurs did give up a late goal in the 86’ minute which did put the fear of God in me, as I started having flashbacks to their Sporting CP match earlier in the group stage, when they blew that game in the last few minutes. This time around, they held it together to get the three points. Tottenham is currently sitting on top of the stage with 7 points, but Sporting CP and Marseille are right behind them with 6 points apiece. I didn’t think this would be an easy group, and with two matches to go, any of these teams could still take this.

    As for Spurs in the Premier League this weekend, Everton comes to play at Tottenham Stadium. Being that Everton is middle of the table, and Spurs are playing good football, I expect Tottenham to win. AND, NBC is showing the match on NBC, so I might actually be able to watch this one live.

    *

    The majority of the sweaters I own are pilly. You know, the sweater material in certain spots has bunched up forming little spots, or balls. This is caused by too much wear or cheap fabrics, and when I looked it up on the internet, the word “unsightly” was used often. Funny, but in my dynamic vision, I see a pilly sweater as one that is well worn and loved. Not a thing of unsightliness, but a badge of many a survived Fall and Winters. Instead of calling these sweaters unsightly, I think they should be referred to as “active vintage.”

    *

    Don’t forget to call your mom. She’d love to hear from you.

    (It’s Friday, which means this will be my last blog post for the week. If you’d like to give me a good send off, please take a moment to like, share comment, or even follow this blog. If you do, I promise I will redesign it to look really cool and engaging.)

  • ODDS and ENDS: Apple Picking, I Like Teams that Frustrate Me, and Halloween Costumes

    (By Mennen!)

    It’s Fall, which means apple picking. This is the one stupid Autumn tradition we have that I cannot quit. It’s… it’s just dumb. We go to a farm and pay the farmer to go out and harvest his crop for him. It feels like such a con, but damn do I love doing it. And we do take it too seriously. We’ll get up at the crack of dawn and drive way out to a farm in upstate New York, so we can be the first people there. And we’re gun’na buy a pumpkin too, maybe pickles as well, because I think we did that last time. The dog will be with us, and we’ll wander around the orchard, picking, then sampling apples, and if they don’t meet our standards, we’ll toss the half-eaten fruit on the ground, like some inconsiderate Patrician. Then for a week afterward, we’ll find a way to work apples into every meal. But the wife will make a really great apple pie, so that does make it worth it. It is a little bit of a cliché thing to do, but aren’t stupid traditions the ones we love the most?

    Oh, I sure know how to pick sports teams that end up confounding and frustrating me. I will say this, Tottenham accomplished the bare minimum in their Champions League Group match against Frankfurt – They didn’t lose. At the half way point in the group stage matches, Spurs are in second place with four points, so they are not out of the woods, and could still blow this. And that is the thing with this team – they still don’t seem to have found their groove. The Kane/Son duo still hasn’t shown up this season, and I think without that threat up front, it gives opponents the confidence to try added pressure against Tottenham’s back line, especially in the final ten minutes. And this Saturday will be another test against upstart Brighton, who is in fourth place behind Tottenham in the Premiere League. With only a month left to go before the World Cup break in November, Conte has to get this club into some cohesive championship form. The goal this season wasn’t to just be good, it was to win trophies.

    And, I spent two hours this morning searching and ordering a Hermione Granger costume for my daughter. Not that tie and robes boarding school stuff, no sir! She wants a very specific version of Hermione from a certain scene from a movie. I didn’t mean to, but I think I am teaching my daughter how to Cosplay.

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  • It’s a Tottenham Blog Post

    I don’t know a whole lot about Premiere League football, but I am learning. And as a burgeoning Tottenham Hotspur fan, I am still taking in as much lore and history about the team as possible. One of the things I have down is that Arsenal is the chief rival, and when these two teams play, it’s a very big deal, and it even has a name; North London Derby. I got that much down.

    It does seem like every time that these two teams play, there is something very important on the line. Last year, the second match between them pretty much determined who was going to qualify for the Champions League. This year, it was to see who would lead the top of the table, as Arsenal was in first and Spurs were in third.

    The match didn’t go Tottenham’s way, and though Kulusevski was out with an injury, he wouldn’t have helped. Arsenal was clearly the better team and they were determined to prove it. And this is the part that makes me nervous about Spurs; they are a fragile team. When things start going bad in a match, it’s hard for them to right the ship. The second goal that Arsenal scored should have been stopped by Lloris. It was a fluke mistake, or accident depending how you look at it, but the end of the day, he shouldn’t have let that ball squeak by him. Which leads me to Royal’s foul. Did he deserve a red card for it? I don’t think so. But it was a stupid foul, done out of frustration. And Arsenal made they pay for it, scoring four minutes later. At the end of the day, Arsenal is still in first and Spurs are third, but instead of a one point difference, it’s now four.

    Tottenham have now suffered two losses in three matches, and in both cases a lack of focus has done them in. Sure, I understand the argument that Conte is putting too much emphasis on scoring, and the defense is lacking. Maybe that will get solved later in the season. Maybe.

    As for now, they face Frankfurt, in Frankfurt, for a Champions League Group match. I haven’t heard if Kulusevski will be back, but just as with the Arsenal match, I’m not sure he will be the key to their success. The team needs to come out swinging, and be that aggressive group that Conte keeps talking about. That’s what I will be looking for.

    Here’s the obligatory: #COYS

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