Astros like Sweeps

In the last week, my Astros, who I've had an embattled relationship with this season, warmed my heart with back-to-back butt whoopins of our most hated division rivals. First, we took 3 straight from the Cardinals, then we went to Wrigley, home of the 1st place, best-record-in-the-NL Cubs, and swept them 3 straight. Damn it feels good. I don't know how they're doing it, but they've won 8 in a row now, and are only 1 game back of the Cardinals, and only 6 or so games back of the Wild Card in the NL. It's still a longshot to make the playoffs, but it feels good to see them playing so well at the end of the year after struggling through the middle of the season.

In other news, my favorite football player, Dimitar Berbatov, went to the dark side and signed w/ Manchester United. That's like Lance Berkman signing w/ the Yankees, or Chase Daniel transferring to KU - basically, a betrayal. I don't want to talk about it. Dimitar, you're dead to me now. I started liking Tottenham partly because I so liked watching you play, and now I'm committed - I'm not gonna abandon them now like you did. Freakin' traitor. Go Spurs!!

Who else can't wait for Football Season to start?????

Nope, this isn't the same as the last post I made - don't you see the extra question marks in the title?

But I'm talking about another type of football - I'm talking FUTBOL!!!! (Ok, I'm talking soccer...)



The English Premier League kicks off the season this weekend w/ a full slate of matches. I love watching soccer. Well, I love watching quality soccer, i.e., no MLS. If you have a chance, and you get the Fox Soccer Channel or Setanta Sports, flip on over this weekend and take in the first weekend of matches. Here's the lineup. No real great matchups, but Liverpool is always fun to watch. Same with the always powerful Manchester United. Along w/ Chelsea, they're basically the Yankees and RedSox of the EPL (obscene spending, constant attention), and I've grown to hate them as much...

My squad, Tottenham Hotspur, if coming off of a fairly disappointing season, but there were glimmers of hope in the 2nd half of the year, after they canned their manager and brought in Juande Ramos (the savior!) to salvage the season and get it back on track. We actually won the Carling Cup (a somewhat prestigious in-season tournament involving other English League teams). While they got rid of their top scorer from last year, Robbie Keane, they still have my boy, the electric and silky-smooth Dimitar Berbatov. Rumor has it that he wanted to go to ManU in the offseason, which pisses me off, but I'm gonna enjoy him playing for us while he's still here. Although I can't blame him for wanting to experience some more success with his level of talent. If Tottenham (I'll call them the "Spurs" on occasion) get off to a bad start, I wouldn't hate him (too much) if he pushes for a move to ManU in the January transfer window (aside from the offseason, the January transfer window is the only time teams can make moves during the season). But we've got a solid sqaud overall, great forwards in Berbatov and Darren Bent (even though some people think he's overrated, Bent's still got skillz - with a "z"), a plethora of exciting and talented midfielders, and a decent back line of defense. Defense is what killed us last year. We scored as many goals as the top clubs, but gave up just as many, thus the 1tth place finish (out of 20 teams).

As far as predictions go, you have to first understand something about the Premier League. Over the past several years, there's been the big four, and then everybody else. The big four - ManU, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal - have finished in the top 4 of the league for several years running. They all have a bunch of talent, and they all spend a bunch of money. To say that another team will finish in the top 4 of the league is pretty much a long shot. Before Tottenham's 11th place finish last year, they finished just outside the top 4 for two straight years (5th in 2005 and 2006). Now I'm not saying that Tottenham will break into the top 4 this year, but if Berbatov stays and the defense get a bit better, with the plethora of new talent we brought in at the end of last year and in the offseason, and w/ Juande Ramos having a full season for his team to gel, I like the Spurs chances. At least they'll be one of the most exciting teams to watch, as they have been for the past 3 years (which is why I started liking them in the first place).

So if you've got some extra time this weekend, flip on over to Fox Soccer Channel and take in a bit of a match. It's not like there's anything else on between 9am and 2pm on Saturdays, so give it a shot. Maybe you'll grow to love it like I have over the past several seasons. But if not, I won't hate ya for it....

Mmmmm, Beer....

Do you like beer? How would you like to have free beer for life? Well then, if you have any soccer skill whatsoever, I'd suggest you take a quick jaunt over to Austria and see if you can walk onto the national squad for their last 2 games.

You talk about motivation. I predict a 10 goal outburst from the Austrians during their remaining games. Acutally, the Austrian team isn't that good, but hell, now the players have absolutely NO excuse not to score in the next two games.

Euro 2008

I'm not sure how many people actually care about Euro 2008 here in the US (or even know what it is), but I'm lovin' it. For the first time ever, all the games are going to be broadcast on ESPN, in glorious high-def, so we here in the US can see it.

The Euro championship is basically a tournament just like the World Cup, except only national teams from Europe are eligible to participate. That covers just about every elite team in international soccer, save for Brazil & Argentina. It is basically the most prestigious tournament outside of the World Cup, and it only happens once every 4 years. Only 16 teams (4 groups of 4 teams) qualify for the group stage, which is what started on Saturday. I'm watching the Croatia-Austria match as I'm typing this, but I'm really looking forward to the next game involving the always powerful Germans vs. the team I'll be pulling for, the team of my motherland, Poland.

The favorites in this tournament are the usual suspects - Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. I'm not gonna pretend to be an expert as to all of the teams in the tournament, though I've been following both club and international soccer pretty seriously for going on 4 years now. It's tough to follow it too closely here in the states, as none of the mainstream sports media really covers it, so you have to seek it out most of the time, through subscribing to Fox Soccer Channel, and GolTV, which show English and Spanish club soccer during the year. It's just nice to have all the games on ESPN this time around. Anyways, if you wanna read more about Euro 2008 itself, inlcuding an analysis of all the teams, I found a good summary here.

Unlike most of my friends and people I know, I love watching soccer. My dad loved playing and watching soccer, and always tried to get me interested in it. I would oblige and watch the World Cup here and there, but really, it didn't hold my interest. I first really started following it after I got a soccer game for my PS2 (Winning Eleven 7), and I got to know the names of all the teams and players. After that, I really liked watching the games on TV, because I was just more familiar with the game itself, and I knew the players and teams. Now I'm addicted to watching the English Premier League on Saturdays, and try to get in as much International soccer as I can. I do not watch the MLS. I guess it has gotten better over the years and I want it to succeed, but really the difference between watching the MLS and watching a class league like the EPL or Spain's La Liga, is like the difference between watching a high school football game and the NFL. No comparison.

Unlike most US soccer fans, I have no delusions of soccer becoming the "next big thing" here in the US. Sure the MLS has gotten bigger, but its still a 2nd or 3rd class sports league (yes, even with Beckham...). But I do think soccer is slowly and incrementally inching its way into America, and is slowly getting more and more exposure here. It will never be as big as the NFL, MLB, NBA, or even the NHL here in the US, but that's fine. It doesn't really make any difference to me if it does, b/c I'll enjoy watching it and following it either way. I'm also not trying to convert anybody into a soccer fan, but don't be surprised if you come over ot my house and I'm watching it, and then force you to watch a highlight of an awesome finish or an awesome goal from a game I have saved on my DVR....

Anyways, I hope you guys just give it a chance and watch some Euro 2008 on ESPN this month. It should be pretty good.

I will end this soccer-themed entry with a compilation of goals from my favorite player, Dimitar Berbatov, from my favorite club team, Tottenham Hotspur (located in North London). He's right below Berkman in my pecking order of man-crushes. The guy is just silky smooth on the field (the "pitch") and is just a cold-blooded finisher. Note: unless you really like techno dance music, just go ahead and mute it. I don't know why, but it seems like every goal compilation on YouTube is accompanied by some terrible techno music. I don't get it. Must be a European thing.