You Want me to Stick What in my Mouth?

The blog updating is a bit overdue this week I know but I am only now recovering from the kid’s birthday party. The kid’s portion of it wasn’t too bad, we had some cheap carnival type games (they are all only 3 and can’t tell the difference between quality and shoddy) and the kids were gone by 5pm. It was the adult version afterwards, which included half of Napa Valley’s yearly output that did me in. Whew. I am pretty sure I had a good time and behaved myself solely based on the fact that I didn’t get a stern talking to by my wife on Sunday.

So, after some Advil and a giant glass of water I settled in to watch the Arsenal take on Liverpool at Ashburton Grove. This was a tricky fixture, even though ‘pool have been crap away from Anfield recently. Arsenal really needed the win to keep pace with the Mancs and Chavs, and so did the Scousers. The match started off fairly even, but soon you could see that it was Arsenal’s day as the Gunners started to press and had a few chances slip by. Then, in the waning minutes of the first half, Hleb collected the ball on the right wing, drove towards the corner, then doubled back to avoid a defender. The Belarusian then slipped in towards the middle and laid a perfectly paced pass into the 6-yard box to Cesc who tapped it back across the mouth of the goal to an oncoming Flamini who, though he had to hold up a bit, got enough on it to put into the back of the net. It was a wonderful goal for the Frenchman who got his first start in quite some time and he immediately ran to the stands to celebrate with the supporters. Class in my opinion.

The second goal was another cracker as well and came about 10 minutes into the second half. On a fast break, the ball was passed up to Robin van Persie who collected the ball about 35 yards out from goal. He had a poor first touch and as the defenders were beginning to storm after him, he laid in a perfect pass to Toure who was screaming forward and sprung the offside trap. Normally you don’t expect a center back to a) be sprinting toward goal and 2) to be who you’d want in a 1v1 with the keeper, but King Kolo easily put the ball past Reina to put the Gunners up 2-0. Great shot by Kolo and wonderful vision by van Persie. Adebayor came about midway through the second half and also had a great 1v1 with Reina, but he never seemed to have the ball where he wanted it and shot it right at Pepe. But the Gunners weren’t done and in the 80th minute, Bill Gallas nodded in a header (yes a header) off a RvP corner (yes a corner) for the final goal. These header off corner jokes are starting to get a bit stale with all the scoring from set pieces, but I am happy to let the jokes die under these conditions. Anyway, the corner was perfectly placed and Gallas, who was completely unmarked nodded it in easily. The Scousers were playing a ‘zone’ defense on the corner and nobody picked up Gallas. After the goal Stevie “Me” Gerrard and Riise were yelling at each other over who was supposed to mark who. It was just that kind of day for ‘pool.

This week is another ridiculous international week where the players are heading out for worthless friendlies that only ever seem to result in injuries. Theo Walcott picked up a hand injury for the under-21 England side yesterday. Hopefully the rest of the squad can stay out of harms way. The Gunners will be in action on Saturday though against Newcastle who are currently loitering around the bottom of the table. Also, a pre-congrats are in order to Robin van Persie as he is missing the Dutch friendly to be with his wife who is about to give birth any day now!

Plymouth had a last minute equalizer on Saturday to draw 2-2 against Leicester. Gaffer Holloway felt that Leicester shouldn’t have been awarded one of their goals as a player was offsides while the other scored. I didn’t see the match, but Holloway isn’t one to make up stories or excuses. So they may have been hard done by, but at least they got a point and remain in 7th place. As long as they can stay near the top of the tables they’ll have a chance at promotion at the end of the season. The Argyle play Manc-killers Southend on Saturday.

Finally, are you looking for the perfect gift for your golf loving father? Well then look no further than Tasty Tees. Yes, that is right. Some knuckleheads have ‘flavored’ wood tees that you can put in your mouth. There are a few different flavors and they also have a really strong mint flavor that supposedly will knock out beer or cigar breath instantly. Now, if they could just come up with a tee that got rid of that stripper perfume smell then guys weekends in Vegas would be even sweeter!!!

Adios.