Flying Karamazov Brothers don’t like Catholics and Conservatives

I took my wife and mother for our annual Christmas season show.  This year was The Flying Karamazov Brothers.  Of course they threw in two gratuitous Catholic jokes, a pope joke, a Rush Limbaugh dig and several digs that, you know, haha, Gerald Ford is clumsy.  There were absolutely no jokes going “the other way”, I was careful to note.

I’m soooo tired of the Liberal bias just everywhere you turn.  You can’t get away from it, even when you go to see JUGGLERS!

Look, the guys are jugglers–they’re in entertainment.  That means that it’s about a 1000-to-1 shot that they aren’t Liberal.  I know that going in, and you know what?  I don’t care!  Be Liberal.  It’s a free country.  Hate Limbaugh even though you most likely don’t know what he says.  Hate Gerald Ford, our most athletic president–a guy who played football for Michigan!  But go ahead and hate him because of that “R” in front of his name.  Brilliant.  Only don’t ambush my mother and I when we pay money to see you juggle and do some schtick.  Put a cork in your personal, political views that have nothing to do with the show.

If you are Catholic, or Conservative, please don’t go see The Flying Karamazov Brothers.  I wish I had not.

EPL becoming a joke

I saw the last half of Chosee – ManU.  Alex has every right to be hacked off.  The reffing was horrendous.  It’s to the point where, if they are going to allow Chosee to play like that and do nothing about it, I won’t waste my time watching it.

WHAT IN THE WORLD do the refs see?  HOW do they let them get away with all the violence and nonsense and then flagrant diving.  Drogba should have gotten an Oscar for his dive and then 4 minute, look-at-me-I’m-so-hurt act (that, funny enough, resulted in a yellow card for himself!).

I thought that Liverpool was the only team that got robbed against them but United was just as aggreived.  They came to play football.  Chosee comes to play a combo of football and violence and acting.  It’s not entertaining.  And the United players eventually get so mad at the calls and non-calls, that they go off and get to hacking and then THEY are drawing the whistles!  How many times do you have to see this act?

I pay money and time to watch the skills.  The football.  I do NOT pay to watch a**holes like Drogba dive and carry on.  I don’t watch to see the dirty physical play.  That’s not the beautiful game.  That’s nonsense.

The refs need to start sending guys off and standing up to them.  The EPL is over, folks, Chosee will win by 8 clear points or more.

And today, I actually felt sorry for ManU.  Now what would it take to make me say THAT?  –Fog

Assist

My nephew had 2 soccer games yesterday.  I could only attend the first one.  It was, I think, the best game he ever played.  He scored a goal and set up another one in a 3-1 win.  I wasn’t as happy about his goal as his assist.  Goals are fine and they are what people remember, but his ball to set up his teammate was just outrageous!

He was coming up the left in some space and I know he wanted to shoot it if possible, but he realized that he had defenders to deal with and he saw two of his mates in perfect position– making runs at goal and free of defenders.  He pulled up a bit and with the ball on his left foot, he flipped over a defender who was near him and it was perfectly timed and his mate ran onto to it and easily put it in.  It was the best goal I’ve ever seen at that age.  You usually don’t see planned, deliberate teamwork at that distance and of that quality, at his age.

Besides that, he was aggressive.  He went in hard on 50-50 balls and got knocked around a lot in the game, but yet stayed with it.  My biggest beef with him is when he gets tenative, and this day, he was not.  He was a linchpin on both offense and defense.

***

The second game I only heard about.  They trailed 2-0 with 10 minutes to go. Max had missed a PK–clanged off the upright, so he was feeling goatish.  He then scored a goal to make it 2-1.  Quickly thereafter, he hit a corner that was high and deep and it deflected off a defender and went in!  OG.  But give credit to Max as last man to touch it.

Then, according to my father who was there, he set up the 3rd goal as nice as his earlier set up.  He deked a defender to get into a little space and flicked a ball up and over a guy and onto the goal scorer, who had little trouble netting it!  3-2 in about 5 mins.  Then, he hit another corner that fell to a striker and was slotted in.  4-2.  All the damage was done in about 7 or 8 minutes.  Amazing!

I’m very proud of and happy for, my little buddy.  I wish I was at the 2nd game as well. –Fog

Lincoln Loved Fox News Apparently

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

–Abraham Lincoln

Rafa halluziniert!

Liverpool drew at Lyon 1-1.  Babbel came on late and scored a goal and should have had another one from in close.  Those goals, once again, demonstrate what I have been saying about the Liverpool offense.  And it’s something that I can see plainly but that Rafa and the players do not, in my opinion.  And yes, I have no way of knowing, but I can surmise because of what I see, week after week.

They score the majority of their goals when they play up the middle, on the ground, with short passes. Wingplay, as in the traditional, English sense of deep wing penetration with long air crosses, are not effective for them.  I mean, just look at the personnel!  Kuyt?  Benayoun?  Torres?  They will not win 50-50 head balls with EPL and Champ’s League center backs!  It’s never going to happen!

They score when they take the ball into the defense and make the defense come out to meet the threat and then they move the ball around with short, high-percentage passes that eventually disrupt the defensive structure.  It’s movement and footspeed and short, quick passes that eventually get a man into space and in range enough to shoot.

Who, on the squad, has this game?  Well, Benayoun and Babbel have it in spades, as does Kuyt, Gerrard and Torres.  But that’s not the whole story.

Have a look at Benayoun and Babbel.  Late last year, it seemed every week, those two would be summoned from the bench to come on late and then, as if by magic, they would net and Liverpool would produce another, heart-stopping, Houdini-esque, escape.  It happened so many times that it made you wonder, “why don’t they START these two players?”  And so on occasion, they did.  But the two players played maddeningly ordinary.  It was as if they were two different players: one as a starter and a different sort as a sub.  Why? You must ask.

I think the answer is that when you start the game in first 11, you are much more hesitant to be a swashbuckler.  You stay within the system.  You don’t take the same chances.  You tend to defer to Torres, who is, let’s face it, the “feature” striker of this offense. If you take a chance and lose the ball without attempting to get it to Fernando, then that is verboten.  It’s systematic limitations on the lads that take them out of that late, hard-charging mindset.

For the non-Babbel and Benayoun players, “the system” means playing a more “English” game, what with deeper corner penetration and wingplay and offensive threats that culminated in crosses thrown up in Torres’ general vicinity; crosses that were headed out of danger time and time again because: They don’t work with this team!  How many times do you have to see the wingbacks or midfielders run out of ideas and run out of steam and then just fling up a cross that is easily dealt with?  It’s maddening, but it KEEPS HAPPENING!

Why are guys like Benayoun and Babbel different when they come on late in need of a quick goal?  Because then, they do not care about formulating the “perfect system attack”.  They take matters into their own hands then and take risks and take the ball up the middle themselves!   THIS, is exactly what kind of play that they excel at, but are afraid to engage in when they come on as starters.  The late-game desperation gives them the freedom to chuck convention and system play and create the best way they know how–the South American type of game.

Don’t believe me?  Just watch the next matches with this in mind and see how their goals and near-missed-goal chances are created.  Ask yourself: was that a cross from the side?  Are our attackers out-jumping the backs and winning these balls?

I think they could turn their season around if they just abandoned what doesn’t work and stressed what does work!  Benayoun and Babble need to start every game from now on and play this way.  If Torres is out, we want N’gog or El-Zhar and NOT Voronin.

Voronin’s performance against Lyon was one of the worst I have ever seen from an EPL forward.  He should never be in the first team dressing room again.  Where is El-Zhar?  What happened to him?  When Voronin came off for Babbel, Babbel’s pace was immediately a welcome change and it wasn’t long before he showed his quality.  I know he can be inconsistent.  I know that.  But there is so much upside with this guy’s game that he has to be cultivated.  And then, maybe he won’t want to leave!  And Riera’s not fast enough for the toughest backs in the league. He does his best work against the 2nd tier men, who lack the pace.  He’s not the answer.

Watch.  Think.  See what you think.  –Fog

Last Gasp?

The New York Supporters club won a 6-a-side tourny and helped raise $5,000 for the Downtown United Soccer Club.  Oh, how things have changed.  I remember playing footy at the annual club picnic in Prospect Park, just a few days before the original 911, and being one of the better players there!  I’m sure I couldn’t even dream of cracking the starting 6, or 11 even, for the club now.  I recall thinking it was weird that all these football-mad Scousers and really no one could play the game!  Anyway, I’m retired.  I would cough up my spleen if I tried this now.

Here’s the link to the club: Click here to open the LFNCY dot org in a new window.

The tie in?  Well, today, at 2:30pm ET, Liverpool kicks it off with Lyon in the Champ’s League.  Word is that Torres will start.  No Gerrard of course.  No Aquilani (I think he had a bad dream or something) and no Johnson, Skrtel, Aurelio and have I missed anyone else?

Dream outcome?  A Liverpool win and a Debrechen win over Fiorentina.  That puts Liverpool 2-0-2 with Fiorentina.

What do I think?  Well, er…ahh, I think that they will likely go out, but I also realize that since Basil in 2002, you count them out of the Champ’s League at your own risk.  It’s remote.  But not un-doable.  So I will be taping the game.  Please, no results by email today.  Thx. –Fog

Shanks n Fog

At this dark time, when the league is gone and in a few days, the c-league might be as well, I am reminded of Liverpool greatness, thus, the photo of Shanks from 1998.

Max’s team beat the 2nd place team and are now all alone in 2nd.  It was 5-1.  Max scored a goal and set up one more.  He should have set up a second but a kid was sleeping while Max’s ball rolled the goaline waiting for the tap in which never came.  It was a waste of a beautiful ball.

Max played tough.  He got a few knocks and just carried on, so, you like to see that.  We are planning on working on his left-to-right, cutback move.  He needs to do that a beat quicker, because fast backs, are picking his pocket when he cuts now, sometimes.  We’ll fix it.

***

My sons went trick-or-treating for the first time today.  3 houses.  It was neat.  We have pictures.  Son1 was a zebra (his favorite letter and animal) and son2 was an elephant (he rode in the wagon).

I dug a 60 foot trench for a 4″ drainage pipe today and right about now, I’m basically paralyzed.  Naproxin, anyone?  The world series is on, but I’m not watching it as has been documented, ad-nauseum.  Take that, Bud Selig.

The Jackie Robinson statue talk at the Christian Healthcare Center in Wyckoff NJ, went down very well last Monday.  Good attendance and super feedback.  It was a pleasure.  Contacting Dwight Gooden is next.  Stay tuned.

–Fog

Utley DP on 5-1 pitch

I got suckered in to watching the game last night and what do I see?  2 on, 1 out, Phils down 3-1.  Rivera on in the 8th.  After a ball one pitch, Rivera throws a ball off the outside of the plate–strike.  And then one quite low.  Strike 2.

So instead of Utley having 2 cookies to hit, he’s in a 1-2 hole.  Gamechanger.  This is THE at-bat of the game, and the ump has given the piggy Yankees just 2 eggregious calls.  Even if you give him the first one, you know it was close so you don’t give the low ball as well!

Utley then hit into a double play on what I consider to be a 5-1 pitch.

Before the series I predicted that a plate-ump would subtly, but surely, give a game to the Yankees with balls and strikes calls–this was it.  It is soooo easy to throw a ballgame with a few key calls from the ump.  Last night you saw it.  The plate ump bailed Mariano out–NO QUESTION IN MY MIND.  And I’m sure Yankee fans are all lathered up today about how great Mariano is;  having no idea of what really happened in the game.

The set went off and it will stay off.  The outcome is being “managed” slightly, probably to extend the series to 6 or 7 games with the big NY audience (remember, 1 in 9.7 MLB fans is a Yank fan) for the TV contract money.  Because there was tacit understanding last night that if Utley hits one off the wall and the Yankees go down 2-nill and head to Philly, they ain’t coming back and you have a sweep or 5 game series.  Baaad for MLB and TV dollars.  And I say “tacit” because it’s so bloody obvious, that there is no need for meetings or any cloak-and-dagger stuff.  It’s first semester, first grade: Mariano gets those balls, tough luch Phillies.

The TV goes off.  Buh-bye.

1 in 9.7 MLB fans is Yank fan

Click here to read the story in a new window

There are, what? 30 teams?  So if all metro areas were the same size, you would expect that figure to be 1 in 30.

Club history counts too, as the Yankees are 110 years old and the Rays only a decade or so.

But with all that said, I’d say there is another bias at work to bring that number down from 1 in 30 to 1 in 9.7 and that’s FRONTRUNNING.  Yup!  People just like to associate with a “winner”, so more join and fewer leave.

With that metric said, that 1 in 9.7, would you think that more than a few dollars are at stake with the TV contract and which team makes it into the world series?  I’d say a lot of cash is at stake and if I see a bad call go FOR the Yankees, then I think, hmm…

This is Anfield

This is a picture of a print from 1998.  The orb is a reflection and not some dopey ghost like they try and show on that Travel channel show.  My goodness, some people are gullible.

I remember slipping this photo into my slides when I was doing a talk in Derby in 2003.  At that very moment, a bigwig came in and said, “…what’s with the Scouser?”

And they set him straight, “…oh, no, that’s Fog, from America he’s with the blahblah corporation…”

We got along great.  A Forrest supporter, a Sunderland supporter, a Derby supporter and me.  They took me to Forrest for a friendly against Ajax.  Great fun.

But owing to our triumph this weekend, which, I feel, is harbringer of things to come, I thought I’d dig up the old photo.  There I am at ground zero.  Down 7 or 8 steps and then back up.  That’s what get’s you under the lowest rows of seats.  That daylight you see is perhaps only 6 or 8 yards from the touchline.  Can’t you just see Sammy Lee stomping around?  And I’m being liberal with the word “daylight”.  We were there in November circa the 20th or so.  I don’t think the sun cleared The Kop from midfield–seriously.  That’s as high as it got.  And for a kid from New York, that was goofy (and a little depressing–no wonder they pound the Guiness over there).  New York is at 41 degrees North?  And Liverpool is, what? 54? Crikey.  It makes a huge difference.

***
World Series: Because people expect me to, that’s why.  I’m tempted to watch Mythbusters and Antiques Roadshow.  I may not tune in at all.  I’ve gone over the salary thing too many times to count and won’t do it again.  I just honestly have no interest in watching people go gaga over what is essentially NOT a surprising outcome.

And if the Phillies do win, it will not invalidate the spending theory.  It doesn’t invalidate the sledgehammer of cash.  If they spent even remotely normally, you might have another ballclub in that slot.  You might have the Twins or even the Rays.  Who knows?  But we’re never going to know because of the piggy spending.  And Phillies, who are laughably being called a “big-spending team” at 113 million, while the Yankees spend 201M, have to beat them!

Even Mike Francesa admitted that it was not truly competetive this summer when the talk was Roy Hallady.  Even that blowhard gets it.  But that won’t stop him from running down the NL and getting all laquered up over it.

Didja ever check what it costs to take your boy out to the game these days?  Do you want to take a guess at how much of that has been directly caused by George Steinbrenner?  Is THAT what you want?  Sadly, for most, the answer is a resounding “YES!”.

So I’ll make my predictions.  Here goes:

(1) At least one long game will end on a good pitch that fools a batter yet gets hit 320 feet into the front row (possibly aided by a fan)  for a home run.  They’ll call it a walkoff.  They’ll call it “historic”.  They’ll talk about “ghosts”.  I’ll call it idiotic.

(2) The announcers will GUSH about Jeter

(3) Jeter, Rivera, Pettite and Posada will get more close up camera time than Walter Cronkite in his heyday.

(4) At least one game will be gifted to the Yankees by fielding errors–the “yips”; made by the previously unflappable Philles.  This will take place at NY.

(5) At least one game will be subtly gifted to the Yankees by shoddy home-plate umpiring.  Most will miss this fact, but it will happen.

See if I’m not right

.–Fog