Here We Go Again...
So friends, here we are. 6 months. Whew, that was way too fast. Guess I have been a bit behind on the old blog, eh? Now, after some serious berating by friends, I’m back. Or at least I plan to be. So why the long layoff? Well, things have been a bit crazy and here is my last 6 months in a nutshell:
Really, it is mostly because I got lazy, but my official excuse is the birth of my son. Liam came on January 8th and started causing trouble from the outset. Not only did he arrive 3 weeks early, but he decided to come ass first. Result was an emergency c-section. More money. Hurray. But really, he is a great boy and is growing up fast. My daughter loves him too, but we’ll see how she feels when she gets a bit closer to the teen years!!
On to the show. What has happened between post? I’ll summarize some, ignore other stuff, and perform my usual ramshackle reporting.
Arsenal. The last 6 months have been a true definition of highs and lows. The club came through the holiday period still on top of the table and they even took a sizeable lead over all the other contenders. Then came the match versus Birmingham. Up until this match, Ade was on a scoring streak and Eduardo was finally finding his place in the squad. Then, in one horrible moment, a tackle by Martin Taylor crushed Eduardo’s ankle and the team’s spirit. Eduardo had to be rushed to hospital and the break required major surgery. He is now out until sometime next season and who knows if he’ll be the same. I sure hope so as he is a great footballer and seems to be a good man.
Now, this match wasn’t really the reason for the bad season, but it is when the wheels came off in my opinion. The rest of the match was kind of a blur and Birmingham equalized on a late penalty (that was pretty dodgy). After this Arsenal couldn’t win games. Adebayor cut his hair and the goals stopped. Arsenal were drawing with clubs they should have stuffed. Then losses to Man U and Chavski in the league and crap decisions by refs against Liverpool in the Champions League saw Arsenal on a track to end without any silverware. It seemed like there was a black
hole, drawing in Arsenal supporter’s early season high emotions as we watched the slow and steady decline at the end of the season. But this is football. Crap happens. The season ended with 4 successive wins (and a new funky dance by Ade!!) and it looks like there will be some good players coming in (we’ll deal with this later). I can’t wait for August!!
So what do we (or I) do with ourselves (or myself) until the Premier League season starts? Well, we watch the summer extravaganza known as Euro 2008!!! Hurray!! Well,
it is something to do and it is football. Anyway, seeing as I’m late to update the blog, the tournament is almost over. The group stages had some good matches with Portugal (boo!!) and the Dutch playing good football. Italy semi-stuck it up and France were just absent. Not that they weren’t in the tournament, it’s just that the team didn’t really do much of anything. The quarterfinals saw Portugal lose to Germany (HAH!!), Croatia lose a 2-0 to the Turks who won 3-2 to a series of late goals, and Holland did eff all against the high flyin Ruskies. The final quarterfinal was a snoozefest as Italy played typical crappy defensive football and prayed for a set play goal or a PK. They are such a bore to watch. But Spain kept trying and had some good chances, though they didn’t get the goal they wanted and went to PK’s. Luckily, Iker Casillas was on his game (or more likely lucky!!) and Spain won the match. And who scored the final PK for Spain, why Arsenal’s own wunder-kid, Cesc Fabregas!!! He has played well off the bench so far this tournament and I hope to see him get a start over Xavi in the semifinals.
The next matches are German v. Turkey tomorrow and Russia v. Spain on Thursday. Of course I’ll be traveling on Thursday, but I’ll be taping the match for sure. The final will be on Sunday so tune in and pray Andy Gray is the color commentator for ESPN though it’ll likely be the annoying little Irishman Tommy Smyth.
Well, my lunch is almost over and I’ve written enough for a just-back-blog. More on other summer happenings soon. I’m also taking a photography course at the junior college so maybe I’ll fill some space and force my crappy photos on my unlucky reader.
Adios.
Really, it is mostly because I got lazy, but my official excuse is the birth of my son. Liam came on January 8th and started causing trouble from the outset. Not only did he arrive 3 weeks early, but he decided to come ass first. Result was an emergency c-section. More money. Hurray. But really, he is a great boy and is growing up fast. My daughter loves him too, but we’ll see how she feels when she gets a bit closer to the teen years!!
On to the show. What has happened between post? I’ll summarize some, ignore other stuff, and perform my usual ramshackle reporting.
Arsenal. The last 6 months have been a true definition of highs and lows. The club came through the holiday period still on top of the table and they even took a sizeable lead over all the other contenders. Then came the match versus Birmingham. Up until this match, Ade was on a scoring streak and Eduardo was finally finding his place in the squad. Then, in one horrible moment, a tackle by Martin Taylor crushed Eduardo’s ankle and the team’s spirit. Eduardo had to be rushed to hospital and the break required major surgery. He is now out until sometime next season and who knows if he’ll be the same. I sure hope so as he is a great footballer and seems to be a good man.
Now, this match wasn’t really the reason for the bad season, but it is when the wheels came off in my opinion. The rest of the match was kind of a blur and Birmingham equalized on a late penalty (that was pretty dodgy). After this Arsenal couldn’t win games. Adebayor cut his hair and the goals stopped. Arsenal were drawing with clubs they should have stuffed. Then losses to Man U and Chavski in the league and crap decisions by refs against Liverpool in the Champions League saw Arsenal on a track to end without any silverware. It seemed like there was a black
hole, drawing in Arsenal supporter’s early season high emotions as we watched the slow and steady decline at the end of the season. But this is football. Crap happens. The season ended with 4 successive wins (and a new funky dance by Ade!!) and it looks like there will be some good players coming in (we’ll deal with this later). I can’t wait for August!!So what do we (or I) do with ourselves (or myself) until the Premier League season starts? Well, we watch the summer extravaganza known as Euro 2008!!! Hurray!! Well,
it is something to do and it is football. Anyway, seeing as I’m late to update the blog, the tournament is almost over. The group stages had some good matches with Portugal (boo!!) and the Dutch playing good football. Italy semi-stuck it up and France were just absent. Not that they weren’t in the tournament, it’s just that the team didn’t really do much of anything. The quarterfinals saw Portugal lose to Germany (HAH!!), Croatia lose a 2-0 to the Turks who won 3-2 to a series of late goals, and Holland did eff all against the high flyin Ruskies. The final quarterfinal was a snoozefest as Italy played typical crappy defensive football and prayed for a set play goal or a PK. They are such a bore to watch. But Spain kept trying and had some good chances, though they didn’t get the goal they wanted and went to PK’s. Luckily, Iker Casillas was on his game (or more likely lucky!!) and Spain won the match. And who scored the final PK for Spain, why Arsenal’s own wunder-kid, Cesc Fabregas!!! He has played well off the bench so far this tournament and I hope to see him get a start over Xavi in the semifinals.
The next matches are German v. Turkey tomorrow and Russia v. Spain on Thursday. Of course I’ll be traveling on Thursday, but I’ll be taping the match for sure. The final will be on Sunday so tune in and pray Andy Gray is the color commentator for ESPN though it’ll likely be the annoying little Irishman Tommy Smyth.
Well, my lunch is almost over and I’ve written enough for a just-back-blog. More on other summer happenings soon. I’m also taking a photography course at the junior college so maybe I’ll fill some space and force my crappy photos on my unlucky reader.
Adios.
posted by Cameron at 10:57 AM
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