I Love Soccer

So my boy Mike said I forgot to talk about the EPL since this was "squeaky bum" time. Well, little did he know, I actually was planning to write a little something. I don't have any in depth analysis of the EPL race or Champions League Quarterfinals, but I do know that I love soccer. It's not just that I love playing and watching the sport - on top of all of that, the sport has the best stories. I cannot make some of these up.

1. First, let's talk Wayne Rooney. His formed dipped at the end of last season and he was totally ineffective at the World Cup. Why? Well, he was having some off the field problems in that he was caught with a lady of the night. Like all English controversies it eventually blew over, but he just wasn't himself at the start of this season. Slowly he worked himself back into the squad. He scored a wonder-goal against Man City and on Saturday scored a hat trick to help United come back for a 4-2 victory against West Ham. Then after celebrating his third goal, he looked into a camera and dropped the F bomb. He has since been suspended for 2 league games. I mean, where does this happen besides England?
2. Next came the story that Arsenal, unhappy with their current keeper situation, decided to bring retired 41-year old keeper Jans Lehmann back to the team. After one week with the team it was reported that Lehmann is suing a German keeper 17k pounds (sorry, don't know how to get the English pound symbol) for saying that he belonged on the Muppet Show. I don't know what is crazier...that he is suing him for calling him a name on tv or the fact that it is for 17k pounds . I know that it is more appropraite than some of the million dollar libel suits you here about, but it just seems like a joke.
3. Back to sex scandals, I'm sure you have all heard the story of how England captain and all around good guy, John Terry was stripped of the armband because he had sex with teammate Wayne Bridge's girlfriend. You simply don't do that to teammates - there is no way to ever gain their trust again. England skipper Fabio Capello did the corret thing in stripping him of the captaincy, but when Reo Ferdinand went down with an injury Capello gave Terry the armband back. He could have gone Wayne Rooney or maybe Lampard, but no. He went back to Terry. How does that?
4. In news that is not scandalous, I looked at the EPL table yesterday and was mildly surpirsed that Liverpool and Everton were in 6th and 7th. I mean, Liverpool was down and out at the beginning of the year. Some talked about them being relegated (which at the time I said was flat out ridiculous and still feel that way) and yet here they are, one spot out of Europe. Everton has also struggled mightily this year, yet they are also in the top half of the table. I can't remember more than 4 wins for them and yet they here they are again. It goes to show that even in down years, experienced teams know how to stay afloat when times are bad. Where is Blackpool now? Yeah, it hasn't been going well after there hot start.
   
5. In another bizarre story, Fulham FC (aka - America's team) recently unveiled a Michael Jackson statue outside of Craven Cottage. It's kind of hideous and a real head-scratcher. I mean, Jackson had nothing to do with soccer, Fulham especially. He just happened to be a good friend of Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed. Now Al Fayed is allowed to do whatever he wants, but thinking that this status is going to be a tourist attraction is definitely short sighted. People go to Craven Cottage to watch a match...not to look at Michael Jackson. Could you imagine if the Mets unveiled a statue of Elton John? Ok, maybe not the best example a I could see the Wilpon's doing something like this...how about the Orioles? Could you imagine the Orioles embracing an Elton John statue? Ummm....no.
6. Finally, how about a story from a few months ago? In October a group of footballers pretended to be the Togo national team in a game against Bahrain. In a world where information is at the push of a button they somehow got away with it. Neither the officials nor the Bahrain sqaud noticed that something was fishy. It wasn't until afterwards that we realized what the story was - the Chairman of the Togo soccer federation stated that they couldn't travel without FIFA approval...of which they had not received. So somehow they got into the country, faked their identity, played without jerseys and lost 3-0 with no suspicision. Again, only in the soccer world.
   

So yeah, always a lot of good stories...it's part of the reason why the sport continues to be the most popular in the world.