4.28.2004
Arsenal Sign Robin van Persie
It's now official. The final price is thought to be around £3m (Arsenal's practice is not to release the financial details of their transfer dealings), and he'll officially register as an Arsenal player May 17, when the transfer window re-opens for the summer.
Arsenal have a short news release here on their website, along with a video interview with Wenger available to ArsenalPLUS members(there's also a longer release here). The news releases quotes him as saying some interesting stuff:
Wenger's description of van Persie lends weight to the theory that he's being groomed as Bergkamp's long-term replacement as the deep-sitting creative striker, but learning that he's mainly played on the left wing makes me think he's also likely to be used as cover for Robert Pires in the near-term.
I just watched the video interview and I think the only thing that wasn't already mentioned in the various releases is that the club's been watching him closely for a year & a half now, so he's a player they should know well. And going on Wenger's outstanding transfer track record, he should be a good one.
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Arsenal have a short news release here on their website, along with a video interview with Wenger available to ArsenalPLUS members(there's also a longer release here). The news releases quotes him as saying some interesting stuff:
"We have been interested in him since December," said Wenger..."But we have completed it now because we feel there is something really interesting there. He has great potential. He can play on the left side of midfield, as a creative player behind the main strikers or as a target man. His main assets are his vision of the game and his technical quality. He is tall too and uses his body well. He is quite good in the air and that is something new for us."Aerial ability certainly is something new for Arsenal, and it's about time I think. Wenger's preferred method of rapid-fire passes along the ground is simply beautiful to watch, and obviously highly successful too. However, there are those times--say, a rainy February night in Bolton, or the final minutes of a big European/Cup match--when you just need to pump long balls into the box & hope for something to come out of nothing. The last 5 or 10 minutes against Utd in our Cup semi-final loss showed our utter inability to do this.
Wenger's description of van Persie lends weight to the theory that he's being groomed as Bergkamp's long-term replacement as the deep-sitting creative striker, but learning that he's mainly played on the left wing makes me think he's also likely to be used as cover for Robert Pires in the near-term.
I just watched the video interview and I think the only thing that wasn't already mentioned in the various releases is that the club's been watching him closely for a year & a half now, so he's a player they should know well. And going on Wenger's outstanding transfer track record, he should be a good one.
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4.27.2004
Blogging Status
I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be doing this week, as my girlfriend & I are flying to Michigan Wednesday night to find an apartment for this fall. We've got a number of appointments already, and I'm pretty excited by some of the prospects. It looks like we should be able to find a reasonably priced 1 or 2 bedroom apartment in a building within 1/2 mile of the Law School fairly easily.
Tonight, we're heading over to the Kennedy Center to catch this performance of 5 one-act Tennessee Williams plays, four of which are newly discovered & never before published or produced. The production is in conjunction with the Shakespeare Theatre, which I've enjoyed pretty well the two or three times I've been there (although of course I'm utterly spoiled from having watched close to a dozen RSC productions when I was in England).
I'll want to post about this in much greater detail later, but Arsenal were indeed crowned Premiership Champions Sunday afternoon, despite blowing a 2-goal lead & letting Tottenham squeak out a 2-2 draw courtesy a 94th minute penalty (which was rather controversial, but whatever). We're champions, still undefeated, and it's been an amazing season. Here's a quick round-up of Arsenal links:
--Here's a story which provides the info on which players still need to make appearances to qualify for a Championship Medal (need 10; Reyes & Kanu have 9, Aliadiere 7 & Keown 6. Four matches remain).
--Here's a story suggesting 34 year-old Dennis Bergkamp is close to agreeing another 1-year contract extension. Let's hope we wrap that up quicker than we did last year, which saw all kinds of drama & the very real spectre of DB10 retiring or leaving for another club until the board finally reached an agreement with him well into the summer.
--Lastly, here's a story claiming that Arsenal are closing in on signing highly acclaimed 20 year-old Dutch talent Robin van Persie from Feyenoord for £2.3m (other reports suggest more like 4-point something million). We tried signing him back in the January transfer window, but negotiations fell through & we splashed out considerably more cash for Jose Antonio Reyes instead. Apparently van Persie is considered Bergkamp's long-term replacement--that is, as more of a creative striker sitting back closer to the midfield. We'll likely need him next year, with Wiltord, Kanu & Jeffers all set to leave the club.
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Tonight, we're heading over to the Kennedy Center to catch this performance of 5 one-act Tennessee Williams plays, four of which are newly discovered & never before published or produced. The production is in conjunction with the Shakespeare Theatre, which I've enjoyed pretty well the two or three times I've been there (although of course I'm utterly spoiled from having watched close to a dozen RSC productions when I was in England).
I'll want to post about this in much greater detail later, but Arsenal were indeed crowned Premiership Champions Sunday afternoon, despite blowing a 2-goal lead & letting Tottenham squeak out a 2-2 draw courtesy a 94th minute penalty (which was rather controversial, but whatever). We're champions, still undefeated, and it's been an amazing season. Here's a quick round-up of Arsenal links:
--Here's a story which provides the info on which players still need to make appearances to qualify for a Championship Medal (need 10; Reyes & Kanu have 9, Aliadiere 7 & Keown 6. Four matches remain).
--Here's a story suggesting 34 year-old Dennis Bergkamp is close to agreeing another 1-year contract extension. Let's hope we wrap that up quicker than we did last year, which saw all kinds of drama & the very real spectre of DB10 retiring or leaving for another club until the board finally reached an agreement with him well into the summer.
--Lastly, here's a story claiming that Arsenal are closing in on signing highly acclaimed 20 year-old Dutch talent Robin van Persie from Feyenoord for £2.3m (other reports suggest more like 4-point something million). We tried signing him back in the January transfer window, but negotiations fell through & we splashed out considerably more cash for Jose Antonio Reyes instead. Apparently van Persie is considered Bergkamp's long-term replacement--that is, as more of a creative striker sitting back closer to the midfield. We'll likely need him next year, with Wiltord, Kanu & Jeffers all set to leave the club.
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4.26.2004
Supreme Court Oral Argument Round-up
Today I attended my second Supreme Court oral argument, hearing F. Hoffmann-LaRoche, Ltd., et al., v. Empagran S.A., et al., (03-724). Here is a quick summary of the case's history along with the question presented:
The links are for those who are really inclined to read up on the background, but here is the gist of the case.
There was a global cartel fixing the price of bulk vitamins in the mid to late 1990s. One member eventually fessed up to the DOJ Antitrust Division's Amnesty program, securing protection from criminal prosecution, but guaranteeing it (and the other cartel participants) would be hit with numerous treble-damage Sherman act suits from its purchasers (whereby purchasers--say Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, etc--could recover three times the amount of the alleged overcharge).
The parties in this case are various foreign vitamin purchasers (one's a pig farm in Australia), who want to sue various other foreign participants in the vitamin catel. For transactions that took place abroad. In countries with their own antitrust laws. But suing in a US court.
They're only trying to get into the US because of the spiffy Treble Damage component to the Sherman Act, which is more or less unique among the world's competition & antitrust laws. Now, just because everything happened abroad doesn't mean the suit should necessarily be laughed out of a US court. There's long been a common law standard that the Sherman Act can apply to foreign conduct that has a "direct, substantial & reasonably foreseeable" effect on US commerce--and that 3-prong test was codified into law with the passage of the FTAIA in 1982 (Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvement Act).
Thus the question here is whether an Australian pig farm purchasing some vitamins from an Franco-German drug company which has engaged in price-fixing has a direct, substantial and reasonably foreseeable effect on US commerce.
You might think no, and that's kind of what the DC Court of Appeals thought too. But then it went & did something really stupid. The language in the FTAIA says if the conduct at issue meets the 3-part test, then "such effect gives rise to a claim" which can be litigated in a US court. The DC Court of Appeals decided that, well, the question really isn't whether the particular parties in front of us have a claim, but whether somewhere, somehow, somebody else might have a valid claim. In other words--well, there would have been a valid claim for an American company trying to buy vitamins, so, uh, sure, this Australian company can go ahead & sue this European drug company, here, in the US.
That's not normally how the law works. Normally, courts determine whether a party has standing & therefore is able to pursue a claim in court by actually looking at the party before them, and not deciding whether some other imaginary party not in court might have a valid claim.
But that's what the DC Circuit decided to do (see US brief at 8-10). And the Bush Justice Department decided that was pretty dumb--and for once I agree with them. Not only that, but so did a whole bunch of other countries--the Governments of Britain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan & Canada, all of them annoyed that the DC Court of Appeals basically decided to transform US courts into the world's International Antitrust Forum.
From the argument, it was fairly clear the big drug companies & the US are going to win. Justice Breyer--who served in the Antitrust Division--hounded Goldstein (representing the foreign plaintiffs), basically calling their position outrageous & arguing it amounted to judicial imperialism, and that the US should butt out of other countries' business & let them enforce their own antitrust laws (100 counties have such laws, as Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Hew Pate pointed out in his portion of the argument). Scalia & Rehnquist gave him a pretty hard time too.
Thomas was napping, as usual, and O'Connor was recused, as always seems to happen in big corporate cases, because she owns stock in some drug companies (she also never hears any telecommunications cases, as I understand she owns AT&T stock). Ginsburg seemed supportive of Goldstein's side, Stevens & Souter hardly asked any questions, & Kennedy seemed slightly more favorable to the drug companies & the US. My guess is a Breyer-Scalia-Thomas-Rehnquist-Kennedy(+Souter?) majority, with Ginsburg & Stevens dissenting (+ Souter?), or, even possibly a unanimous decision.
The other interesting thing was that the justices essentially allowed Hew Pate to speak almost uninterrupted for the entirety of his time--something, I think, that is almost unheard of. By the end, he was clearly well beyond his prepared remarks & surprised to have exhausted his material. It was his first argument before the Supreme Court, and he did a very good job reading his speech & handling the two or three softballs lobbed at him.
Goldstein did pretty well, but I think he had a loser of a client to begin with. It was also apparent that he's a regular before the Court, as his give-and-take with Justices had a rather familiar feel. Rehnquist admonished him several times rather amusingly, drawing laughs throughout the room. One exchange went about like this:
I'd been planning also to discuss the argument in the DC Court of Appeals I heard a week or two ago, but I think I've rambled on more than enough already, so I'll leave that to another day (plus it wasn't nearly as interesting or important).
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Whether plaintiffs may pursue Sherman Act claims seeking recovery for injuries sustained in transactions occurring entirely outside U.S. commerce.Here is another summary of the case from Goldstein & Howe's SCOTUSBlog (who were representing the Respondents), although its presentation is obviously heavily slanted toward its clients. The US filed a brief as amicus curiae, available here (supporting the petitioners).
The links are for those who are really inclined to read up on the background, but here is the gist of the case.
There was a global cartel fixing the price of bulk vitamins in the mid to late 1990s. One member eventually fessed up to the DOJ Antitrust Division's Amnesty program, securing protection from criminal prosecution, but guaranteeing it (and the other cartel participants) would be hit with numerous treble-damage Sherman act suits from its purchasers (whereby purchasers--say Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, etc--could recover three times the amount of the alleged overcharge).
The parties in this case are various foreign vitamin purchasers (one's a pig farm in Australia), who want to sue various other foreign participants in the vitamin catel. For transactions that took place abroad. In countries with their own antitrust laws. But suing in a US court.
They're only trying to get into the US because of the spiffy Treble Damage component to the Sherman Act, which is more or less unique among the world's competition & antitrust laws. Now, just because everything happened abroad doesn't mean the suit should necessarily be laughed out of a US court. There's long been a common law standard that the Sherman Act can apply to foreign conduct that has a "direct, substantial & reasonably foreseeable" effect on US commerce--and that 3-prong test was codified into law with the passage of the FTAIA in 1982 (Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvement Act).
Thus the question here is whether an Australian pig farm purchasing some vitamins from an Franco-German drug company which has engaged in price-fixing has a direct, substantial and reasonably foreseeable effect on US commerce.
You might think no, and that's kind of what the DC Court of Appeals thought too. But then it went & did something really stupid. The language in the FTAIA says if the conduct at issue meets the 3-part test, then "such effect gives rise to a claim" which can be litigated in a US court. The DC Court of Appeals decided that, well, the question really isn't whether the particular parties in front of us have a claim, but whether somewhere, somehow, somebody else might have a valid claim. In other words--well, there would have been a valid claim for an American company trying to buy vitamins, so, uh, sure, this Australian company can go ahead & sue this European drug company, here, in the US.
That's not normally how the law works. Normally, courts determine whether a party has standing & therefore is able to pursue a claim in court by actually looking at the party before them, and not deciding whether some other imaginary party not in court might have a valid claim.
But that's what the DC Circuit decided to do (see US brief at 8-10). And the Bush Justice Department decided that was pretty dumb--and for once I agree with them. Not only that, but so did a whole bunch of other countries--the Governments of Britain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan & Canada, all of them annoyed that the DC Court of Appeals basically decided to transform US courts into the world's International Antitrust Forum.
From the argument, it was fairly clear the big drug companies & the US are going to win. Justice Breyer--who served in the Antitrust Division--hounded Goldstein (representing the foreign plaintiffs), basically calling their position outrageous & arguing it amounted to judicial imperialism, and that the US should butt out of other countries' business & let them enforce their own antitrust laws (100 counties have such laws, as Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Hew Pate pointed out in his portion of the argument). Scalia & Rehnquist gave him a pretty hard time too.
Thomas was napping, as usual, and O'Connor was recused, as always seems to happen in big corporate cases, because she owns stock in some drug companies (she also never hears any telecommunications cases, as I understand she owns AT&T stock). Ginsburg seemed supportive of Goldstein's side, Stevens & Souter hardly asked any questions, & Kennedy seemed slightly more favorable to the drug companies & the US. My guess is a Breyer-Scalia-Thomas-Rehnquist-Kennedy(+Souter?) majority, with Ginsburg & Stevens dissenting (+ Souter?), or, even possibly a unanimous decision.
The other interesting thing was that the justices essentially allowed Hew Pate to speak almost uninterrupted for the entirety of his time--something, I think, that is almost unheard of. By the end, he was clearly well beyond his prepared remarks & surprised to have exhausted his material. It was his first argument before the Supreme Court, and he did a very good job reading his speech & handling the two or three softballs lobbed at him.
Goldstein did pretty well, but I think he had a loser of a client to begin with. It was also apparent that he's a regular before the Court, as his give-and-take with Justices had a rather familiar feel. Rehnquist admonished him several times rather amusingly, drawing laughs throughout the room. One exchange went about like this:
Goldstein: But in Case X, that plaintiff was--I actually don't recall what exactly they were really discussing, but the end of the dialogue is pretty much accurate.
Rehnquist: That's a wholly different situation. That case dealt with domestic conduct.
Goldstein: I accept that, but--
Rehnquist: That's nice, but that's a fact. Whether you accept it or not, it's a fact.
I'd been planning also to discuss the argument in the DC Court of Appeals I heard a week or two ago, but I think I've rambled on more than enough already, so I'll leave that to another day (plus it wasn't nearly as interesting or important).
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4.25.2004
Champions
Tottenham Hotspur 0 - 2 Arsenal. At the half, that is.
I have to leave late in the second half to go play in a soccer game myself, but with Chelsea losing 2-1 at Newcastle earlier today, a draw's all Arsenal need to secure their 2nd title in the past 3 years.
It's been a glorious first half, Arsenal completely dominating their sorry North London rivals. We scored in the 3rd minute. Spurs had a corner, which was headed away. Thierry Henry picked up the ball inside our penalty area & immediately sped out left, carrying the ball about 3/5ths of the length of the pitch, just zooming past Spurs defenders as tho they were moving in slow motion. He then pushed a beautifully weighted ball ahead into the path of Dennis Bergkamp, whose first touch stroked the ball across the middle. Patrick Vieira, charging down the center of the box, slid in to meet it, his outstretched foot just connecting & directing the ball past Kasey Keller & into the corner of the net. A beautiful flowing attacking move, the length of the pitch. Typical Arsenal, and typically gorgeous.
We had several more chances, with Spurs backline playing awfully high up the pitch & very flat--a sure recipe for danger & disaster when facing the blistering pace of Henry. A couple narrow offside calls & a couple just mistimed through balls were all that kept Arsenal from scoring 3 or 4 more.
Nonetheless, we did score a second in the 35th minute after a prolonged spell of possession where Arsenal worked the ball back & forth their back four, almost taunting Spurs by the ease with which we maintained possession. Eventually, Robert Pires carried it forward up the middle, playing a plass up to Bergkamp, who held the ball up & turned to see Vieira streaking into the box. He threaded a lovely ball into him, and Vieira cut it back to the now-arriving Pires, whose first touch was to smack it into the back of the net via his left foot.
Fantastic football, and hopefully the second half will add another goal or two for the Gunners. More later I'm sure.
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I have to leave late in the second half to go play in a soccer game myself, but with Chelsea losing 2-1 at Newcastle earlier today, a draw's all Arsenal need to secure their 2nd title in the past 3 years.
It's been a glorious first half, Arsenal completely dominating their sorry North London rivals. We scored in the 3rd minute. Spurs had a corner, which was headed away. Thierry Henry picked up the ball inside our penalty area & immediately sped out left, carrying the ball about 3/5ths of the length of the pitch, just zooming past Spurs defenders as tho they were moving in slow motion. He then pushed a beautifully weighted ball ahead into the path of Dennis Bergkamp, whose first touch stroked the ball across the middle. Patrick Vieira, charging down the center of the box, slid in to meet it, his outstretched foot just connecting & directing the ball past Kasey Keller & into the corner of the net. A beautiful flowing attacking move, the length of the pitch. Typical Arsenal, and typically gorgeous.
We had several more chances, with Spurs backline playing awfully high up the pitch & very flat--a sure recipe for danger & disaster when facing the blistering pace of Henry. A couple narrow offside calls & a couple just mistimed through balls were all that kept Arsenal from scoring 3 or 4 more.
Nonetheless, we did score a second in the 35th minute after a prolonged spell of possession where Arsenal worked the ball back & forth their back four, almost taunting Spurs by the ease with which we maintained possession. Eventually, Robert Pires carried it forward up the middle, playing a plass up to Bergkamp, who held the ball up & turned to see Vieira streaking into the box. He threaded a lovely ball into him, and Vieira cut it back to the now-arriving Pires, whose first touch was to smack it into the back of the net via his left foot.
Fantastic football, and hopefully the second half will add another goal or two for the Gunners. More later I'm sure.
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4.24.2004
I Become a Liverpool Fan for a Day
So, it's official--Manchester United have relinquished their title. Losing to Liverpool 1-0 at home leaves Utd 10 pts behind Arsenal with just 3 remaining matches. Tomorrow Chelsea play an early match at Newcastle, and if Arsenal achieve a better result at Tottenham (ie Chelsea lose & Arse draw/win, or Chelsea draw & Arse win), they will clinch the title with four games left. Beautiful.
Sadly, this Utd-'Pool encounter was not so beautiful. It was a tense, cagey affair with few outright chances--save 3 excellent opportunities that Utd managed to squander in a 90 second sequence. Liverpool's goal came in the 63rd minute from a Danny Murphy penalty--the first league penalty scored against Man Utd at Old Trafford since Norwich City scored one in 1993 [and Ferguson whines about FA bias against his club! Ha!]. Steven Gerrard won it after skinning Gary Neville on a run through the box & the Neviller slid in very, very late. A stone-cold penalty, and even the automatic ritual of Utd's surrounding the referee & protesting seemed a little half-hearted in partial recognition of the obviousness of the foul.
Liverpool's penalty troubles have been well documented this season--Michael Owen's missed several (indeed, I think his success rate is now below %50), and captain Steven Gerrard missed 'Pool's last penalty in their 0-0 draw with Fulham. So up stepped Danny Murphy and he coolly placed the ball into the upper right corner, beyond the reach of a diving Tim Howard. Great penalty.
For the rest of the match 'Pool sat back, content to defend & didn't even bother with pretending to try anything offensive. For the most part it worked, with Utd only breaching their defense three times in rapid succession minutes after the penalty. The first chance was probably the best, with Cristiano Ronaldo getting in behind the 'Pool defense down the right & sending in a dangerous cross to the far post. Ryan Giggs arrived just in time to meet it with a swerving volley which beat Jerzy Dudek & actually hit both goal posts as it rolled across the goalline. Truly amazing that it didn't get in.
I believe that's the 3rd 0-1 victory for 'Pool at Old Trafford in the last 4 years (they lost last year 4-0), with all 3 goals scored by Danny Murphy. Impressive stuff, and I do have to say Liverpool rightly earned their win today. They may not have been too sparkling going forward, but they almost always looked confident & in command and easily contained Utd--who were, to be fair, missing perhaps their two best offensive players, Ruud van Nistelrooy & Paul Scholes, to injury & suspension, respectively.
Lastly, for all those folks still coming to this blog via Google searches for Ron + Atkinson + Marcel + Desailly + audio + clip, here in fact is a link to an audio clip which purports to contain the evidence of Big Ron's racist potty mouth (it's a little tough to make out, but I think it's there). Thanks to Arseblog for spotting it.
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Sadly, this Utd-'Pool encounter was not so beautiful. It was a tense, cagey affair with few outright chances--save 3 excellent opportunities that Utd managed to squander in a 90 second sequence. Liverpool's goal came in the 63rd minute from a Danny Murphy penalty--the first league penalty scored against Man Utd at Old Trafford since Norwich City scored one in 1993 [and Ferguson whines about FA bias against his club! Ha!]. Steven Gerrard won it after skinning Gary Neville on a run through the box & the Neviller slid in very, very late. A stone-cold penalty, and even the automatic ritual of Utd's surrounding the referee & protesting seemed a little half-hearted in partial recognition of the obviousness of the foul.
Liverpool's penalty troubles have been well documented this season--Michael Owen's missed several (indeed, I think his success rate is now below %50), and captain Steven Gerrard missed 'Pool's last penalty in their 0-0 draw with Fulham. So up stepped Danny Murphy and he coolly placed the ball into the upper right corner, beyond the reach of a diving Tim Howard. Great penalty.
For the rest of the match 'Pool sat back, content to defend & didn't even bother with pretending to try anything offensive. For the most part it worked, with Utd only breaching their defense three times in rapid succession minutes after the penalty. The first chance was probably the best, with Cristiano Ronaldo getting in behind the 'Pool defense down the right & sending in a dangerous cross to the far post. Ryan Giggs arrived just in time to meet it with a swerving volley which beat Jerzy Dudek & actually hit both goal posts as it rolled across the goalline. Truly amazing that it didn't get in.
I believe that's the 3rd 0-1 victory for 'Pool at Old Trafford in the last 4 years (they lost last year 4-0), with all 3 goals scored by Danny Murphy. Impressive stuff, and I do have to say Liverpool rightly earned their win today. They may not have been too sparkling going forward, but they almost always looked confident & in command and easily contained Utd--who were, to be fair, missing perhaps their two best offensive players, Ruud van Nistelrooy & Paul Scholes, to injury & suspension, respectively.
Lastly, for all those folks still coming to this blog via Google searches for Ron + Atkinson + Marcel + Desailly + audio + clip, here in fact is a link to an audio clip which purports to contain the evidence of Big Ron's racist potty mouth (it's a little tough to make out, but I think it's there). Thanks to Arseblog for spotting it.
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4.21.2004
Adios Big Ron--Atkinson Resigns From ITV After Racist Comment
Ron Atkinson, one of European football's most annoying/beloved announcers whose various [non-sensical] catch-phrases have given his commentating the nickname of Ronglish, resigned yesterday, having used the n-word to describe Chelsea & France centre-back Marcel Desailly after Chelsea's 3-1 loss to Monaco in the Champions League semi-final Tuesday.
I didn't actually watch the match (and even if I had, here in the States I wouldn't have seen ITV's feed), but I've noticed a stream of visitors to my site coming via google searches for Ron+Atkinson+Marcel+Desailly (all of which do appear throughout the site, given my many entries on football). So I decided to see what was up, and found this story, which pretty much lays it all out. Here's the key graf:
Nonetheless, I normally enjoy his columns in the Guardian, and for being a former ManYoo manager he isn't half as annoying as his on-air partner, Clive Tyldesley, who, no matter what match he's watching in the Champions League, will find occasion to reference Manchester United's thrilling come-from-behind last minute Final win in 1999 at least half a dozen times throughout the course of the match. I mean totally ridiculous stuff too, like--"the air in the ground is electric right now, just like that magical night in Barcelona in 1999 when United scored two late goals to come back and win it all," or maybe even "Of course, Milan are wearing red, the same color Manchester United wore that magical night in Barcelona when they scored two late goals....you get the idea.
Anyhow, the first article linked to, from the Independent, does note that as a manager Atkinson was one of the first managers in Britain to really integrate his team. Regardless, his comment was obviously an idiotic one & his time had come.
Good riddance Big Ron.
Update: Now he's been canned by the Guardian as well.
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I didn't actually watch the match (and even if I had, here in the States I wouldn't have seen ITV's feed), but I've noticed a stream of visitors to my site coming via google searches for Ron+Atkinson+Marcel+Desailly (all of which do appear throughout the site, given my many entries on football). So I decided to see what was up, and found this story, which pretty much lays it all out. Here's the key graf:
Atkinson is understood to have referred to Chelsea's Marcel Desailly as a "f*cking lazy n*gger" [edits mine] in an off-air conversation with commentator Clive Tyldesley after the end of the game, which Chelsea lost 3-1. The conversation was thought to have been heard on Middle East channels which continued to broadcast the live feed after the final whistle.This isn't the first time 'Big Ron' has gotten into trouble for shooting his mouth off while the mic remained on. Last year, commentating during Arsenal's 3-1 win against Roma in Italy, ITV's German broadcast accidentally failed to switch off the commentators' mics & did not show any commercials during halftime. Thus, the German audience was treated to the following remark:
Viewers heard the Guardian columnist and former Manchester United and Aston Villa manager say: "Are there any sandwiches? I'm starving." Unimpressed with [Francesco] Totti's performance in a first half during which he had repeatedly dived, looking for free-kicks and a penalty, Big Ron reportedly said: "He's a little twat, that Totti. I can't see what all the fuss is about."Class. What's more, you'd think he'd have learned his lesson after that.
Nonetheless, I normally enjoy his columns in the Guardian, and for being a former ManYoo manager he isn't half as annoying as his on-air partner, Clive Tyldesley, who, no matter what match he's watching in the Champions League, will find occasion to reference Manchester United's thrilling come-from-behind last minute Final win in 1999 at least half a dozen times throughout the course of the match. I mean totally ridiculous stuff too, like--"the air in the ground is electric right now, just like that magical night in Barcelona in 1999 when United scored two late goals to come back and win it all," or maybe even "Of course, Milan are wearing red, the same color Manchester United wore that magical night in Barcelona when they scored two late goals....you get the idea.
Anyhow, the first article linked to, from the Independent, does note that as a manager Atkinson was one of the first managers in Britain to really integrate his team. Regardless, his comment was obviously an idiotic one & his time had come.
Good riddance Big Ron.
Update: Now he's been canned by the Guardian as well.
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4.20.2004
A Rant on Representation
Over at Crescat Sententia, I saw a rather strange post arguing that Andrew Sullivan doesn't understand how to use the word "overrepresentation."
Sullivan is quoted in his piece in Time (arguing for a gas tax), as claiming that:
Remember that Sullivan is writing for a popular magazine, so let's cut him a little slack in terms of holding him to an ultra-rigorous standard of prose accuracy & acknowledge that he's got to contend with a word limit while keeping a lively style.
Here's how I would rephrase Sullivan (to get at what I presume he actually intended to say):
"Very few taxes are perfect, and our electoral system--with its overrepresentation in the Senate of citizens from big agricultural states--already pampers the rural."
That is clumsier, but I think expresses the same basic point. Plus, it's true, in perfect accord with the definition ("having representatives in a proportion higher than the average").
First, let's just think about in terms of the Senate (following figures from this Census site). I'm from Nebraska (pop. roughly 1.5m), so we have 1 Senator per 750,000 citizens; California (33m roughly) has 1 Senator per 16.5m citizens. Obviously the big rural _states_ themselves cannot be said to be "overrepresented," given that's precisely how the system was set up. But citizens of those states, compared to the average & citizens of other states, _are_ overrepresented (ie having representatives in a proportion higher than the average).
Also note that this remains true Congress-wide. Nebraska sends 3 representatives to Congress, add in our 2 Senators, and that means we enjoy 1 federal representative per 300,000 (1.5m/5). Folks from California send 53 reps + 2 senators, which works out to 1 federal rep
per 600,000. Any way you slice it, I am overrepresented--that is, I enjoy representation in Congress & in the Senate "in a proportion higher than the average" citizen.
All this is something of a prelude to saying that I often think the Senate is little more than a silly anachronism & should be done away with. It simply allows we citizens of the big ol' geometric [and largely empty] midwestern & western states to have a much stronger influence on national politics than we really ought to enjoy. At other times, given how fractured the House has become & how increasingly automatic reelection is for House Reps, the Senate seems like a really good thing to have around, acting as something of a moderating force. Indeed, it's practically only place one finds even mildly interesting or independent members of either party (stemming, of course, from many things--the longer terms, the less predictable/gerrymanderable elections, the bigger stage, etc etc).
Anyhow, until there's some large scale reforms (addressing some of the issues Publius discussed here) the Senate's drawbacks (ridiculously overrepresenting empty & often bass-ackwards Middle America) matter little in comparison to its good points.
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Sullivan is quoted in his piece in Time (arguing for a gas tax), as claiming that:
"Very few taxes are perfect, and our electoral system — with its over-representation of big agricultural states in the Senate — already pampers the rural."This definition of overrepresentation is then given:
"represented excessively; especially: having representatives in a proportion higher than the average"From this comes the conclusion that
So long as these big agricultural states refrain from sending three or more Senators, they will not be over-represented; they are particularly not over-represented with regards to the 'principle' or 'system' at hand (the Constitutional apportionment of Senators). They do not have representatives in a higher proportion than the average if the proper units of measurement are used: two senators per state. Find a new term to complain that Wyoming has two senators. "Overrepresented" doesn't fit.This seems maybe a bit hyper-critical to me.
Remember that Sullivan is writing for a popular magazine, so let's cut him a little slack in terms of holding him to an ultra-rigorous standard of prose accuracy & acknowledge that he's got to contend with a word limit while keeping a lively style.
Here's how I would rephrase Sullivan (to get at what I presume he actually intended to say):
"Very few taxes are perfect, and our electoral system--with its overrepresentation in the Senate of citizens from big agricultural states--already pampers the rural."
That is clumsier, but I think expresses the same basic point. Plus, it's true, in perfect accord with the definition ("having representatives in a proportion higher than the average").
First, let's just think about in terms of the Senate (following figures from this Census site). I'm from Nebraska (pop. roughly 1.5m), so we have 1 Senator per 750,000 citizens; California (33m roughly) has 1 Senator per 16.5m citizens. Obviously the big rural _states_ themselves cannot be said to be "overrepresented," given that's precisely how the system was set up. But citizens of those states, compared to the average & citizens of other states, _are_ overrepresented (ie having representatives in a proportion higher than the average).
Also note that this remains true Congress-wide. Nebraska sends 3 representatives to Congress, add in our 2 Senators, and that means we enjoy 1 federal representative per 300,000 (1.5m/5). Folks from California send 53 reps + 2 senators, which works out to 1 federal rep
per 600,000. Any way you slice it, I am overrepresented--that is, I enjoy representation in Congress & in the Senate "in a proportion higher than the average" citizen.
All this is something of a prelude to saying that I often think the Senate is little more than a silly anachronism & should be done away with. It simply allows we citizens of the big ol' geometric [and largely empty] midwestern & western states to have a much stronger influence on national politics than we really ought to enjoy. At other times, given how fractured the House has become & how increasingly automatic reelection is for House Reps, the Senate seems like a really good thing to have around, acting as something of a moderating force. Indeed, it's practically only place one finds even mildly interesting or independent members of either party (stemming, of course, from many things--the longer terms, the less predictable/gerrymanderable elections, the bigger stage, etc etc).
Anyhow, until there's some large scale reforms (addressing some of the issues Publius discussed here) the Senate's drawbacks (ridiculously overrepresenting empty & often bass-ackwards Middle America) matter little in comparison to its good points.
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4.19.2004
2nd Circuit Sides with NFL; Clarett To Miss Draft
The 2nd Circuit held oral argument today in the case involving former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett & his attempts to enter the NFL draft. Howard Bashman posted an email from a reader with his brief observations here. The NFL is appealing a ruling from the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.) that scrapped the league's eligibility rule that had barred college freshmen & sophomore players from entering its draft. The draft is this weekend, and the NFL was seeking a stay of the district court's order forcing them to include Clarett; the 2nd Circuit granted it (news stories: AP report here, in the NYTimes here, and the Washington Post here). I've blogged about this previously (here, here and here), and my opinion remains the same.
The NFL's position sounds pretty rotten to me. It does have a nice claim that its eligibility rule is part of a labor collective bargaining agreement, and therefore is exempt from antitrust laws. But, of course, that's not really true--at least the part about it being in the CBA--see Slip Op. at 12 (it doesn't actually appear in the text of the 2003 edition).
Anyhow, apparently the NFL's willingness to hold a later, supplemental draft should Clarett eventually prevail seemed to sway the appellate panel & motivated their decision to grant the stay, while they examine the case more closely & prepare their final decision. According to Howard's emailer & the news reports, the Court certainly seemed to indicate that the NFL had demonstrated "likelihood of success on the merits."
The other intriguing twist now is that USC's star sophomore receiver Mike Williams is facing a potentially sticky situation--after the SDNY ruling in February, he decided to hire an agent & go pro (I also believe he had been specifically invited to enter by the NFL/they'd waived the eligibility requirement). His status as an "amateur" athlete & eligibility to compete in the NCAA is now compromised, although he could petition them to regain it (and one would hope that'd be the likely outcome). He had been projected as a very high first round draft pick, while Clarett had been speculated to go late first round, or possibly more likely in the 2nd or 3rd rounds.
Regardless of how this turns out legally, the NFL is completely morally bankrupt here. Mike Williams is obviously ready to compete in the NFL--the league's teams are chomping at the bit to draft him in the top 10. Their rule is supposedly crafted to ensure impressionable young men are not enticed into forgoing their college educations by slick-talking agents feeding them pipe dreams of fat pro contracts & NFL superstardom. Oh yes, it's all about protecting those poor meek young "amateur" athletes from big scary NFL players until they're 3 years out of high school (meanwhile, we send 18 year olds off to fight & die in Iraq--as discussed in the NYTimes here).
No, it's clearly not. It's all about the NFL making sure its feeder minor/developmental league system says free & state-subsidized (these are, after all, often public universities). Drafting younger players is definitely risky for the NFL & individual NFL teams--but remember, often the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Sure, this or that youngster may not develop into anything special & an early draft pick will have been wasted, but a smart/lucky team which snatches up an overlooked young prospect who goes on to super stardom clearly benefits. And certainly there are teams more than willing to take that chance with Mike Williams or Maurice Clarett--and that the NFL, as a whole, is restraining its individual member teams from competing against one another in scouting out & drafting these potential gems is clearly rotten.
It'll be interesting to see the legal conclusion the 2nd Circuit reaches however.
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The NFL's position sounds pretty rotten to me. It does have a nice claim that its eligibility rule is part of a labor collective bargaining agreement, and therefore is exempt from antitrust laws. But, of course, that's not really true--at least the part about it being in the CBA--see Slip Op. at 12 (it doesn't actually appear in the text of the 2003 edition).
Anyhow, apparently the NFL's willingness to hold a later, supplemental draft should Clarett eventually prevail seemed to sway the appellate panel & motivated their decision to grant the stay, while they examine the case more closely & prepare their final decision. According to Howard's emailer & the news reports, the Court certainly seemed to indicate that the NFL had demonstrated "likelihood of success on the merits."
The other intriguing twist now is that USC's star sophomore receiver Mike Williams is facing a potentially sticky situation--after the SDNY ruling in February, he decided to hire an agent & go pro (I also believe he had been specifically invited to enter by the NFL/they'd waived the eligibility requirement). His status as an "amateur" athlete & eligibility to compete in the NCAA is now compromised, although he could petition them to regain it (and one would hope that'd be the likely outcome). He had been projected as a very high first round draft pick, while Clarett had been speculated to go late first round, or possibly more likely in the 2nd or 3rd rounds.
Regardless of how this turns out legally, the NFL is completely morally bankrupt here. Mike Williams is obviously ready to compete in the NFL--the league's teams are chomping at the bit to draft him in the top 10. Their rule is supposedly crafted to ensure impressionable young men are not enticed into forgoing their college educations by slick-talking agents feeding them pipe dreams of fat pro contracts & NFL superstardom. Oh yes, it's all about protecting those poor meek young "amateur" athletes from big scary NFL players until they're 3 years out of high school (meanwhile, we send 18 year olds off to fight & die in Iraq--as discussed in the NYTimes here).
No, it's clearly not. It's all about the NFL making sure its feeder minor/developmental league system says free & state-subsidized (these are, after all, often public universities). Drafting younger players is definitely risky for the NFL & individual NFL teams--but remember, often the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Sure, this or that youngster may not develop into anything special & an early draft pick will have been wasted, but a smart/lucky team which snatches up an overlooked young prospect who goes on to super stardom clearly benefits. And certainly there are teams more than willing to take that chance with Mike Williams or Maurice Clarett--and that the NFL, as a whole, is restraining its individual member teams from competing against one another in scouting out & drafting these potential gems is clearly rotten.
It'll be interesting to see the legal conclusion the 2nd Circuit reaches however.
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More Law School Thoughts
Although I spent a good portion of this weekend enjoying the absolutely beautiful weather, sitting down on the Mall Saturday afternoon with my girlfriend & a good book, I also did a [small] portion of the cleaning/organizing/trashing that needs doing as my departure from DC nears. Part of that included sending my regrets to those law schools whose offers I'd been sitting on as I approached my final decision.
One offer that my girlfriend & I had been seriously considering at one time was to the University of Iowa, on full-ride scholarships. It's a top 20 school, close to home (NE & KC), and for me at least, is excellent in one of my strongest areas of interest, antitrust. After Michigan admitted both of us in December (well, she applied earlier, so she was accepted in November), we thought long & hard about it and decided Michigan would be the better choice.
Nonetheless, we didn't send Iowa any regrets, thinking we'd still leave that option open until the end. Or so we thought. Because when we looked at our materials this weekend, it turned out those offers expired April 1.
Which ended up being a good thing, I think. We're both sure Michigan is the right choice, and now there's no possibility of last minute second-guessing, worries about massive loans or "what-if?" Iowa daydreams. Because truly, as Austin Powers once said, "that train has sailed."
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One offer that my girlfriend & I had been seriously considering at one time was to the University of Iowa, on full-ride scholarships. It's a top 20 school, close to home (NE & KC), and for me at least, is excellent in one of my strongest areas of interest, antitrust. After Michigan admitted both of us in December (well, she applied earlier, so she was accepted in November), we thought long & hard about it and decided Michigan would be the better choice.
Nonetheless, we didn't send Iowa any regrets, thinking we'd still leave that option open until the end. Or so we thought. Because when we looked at our materials this weekend, it turned out those offers expired April 1.
Which ended up being a good thing, I think. We're both sure Michigan is the right choice, and now there's no possibility of last minute second-guessing, worries about massive loans or "what-if?" Iowa daydreams. Because truly, as Austin Powers once said, "that train has sailed."
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4.16.2004
A DC Delicacy I Won't Be Trying
The 17-year cicadas are set to invade DC (along with much of the Eastern US) later this spring, and today the Washington Post ran a page 1 article all about eating them, titled "Cicada: The Other, Other White Meat." Apparently, a restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Georgetown nearly put cicadas on the menu as an appetizer this year:
OK, sure, whatever, good points all. But I'm still not eating any bugs.
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"The soft-shelled cicada, it's done just like a soft-shelled crab," says executive chef Frank Belosic, describing how freshly molted cicadas should be rolled in flour, pan-fried in olive oil, and finished with a sauce of white wine, butter and shallots. Served as an appetizer, the dish would have cost diners $10 or so. "Higher-ups," Belosic adds, crushed the idea, in order not "to scare people away."The rest of the article details how many other cultures around the world eat all kinds of bugs, and even claims they may become a new & valuable source of protein given all the scary news coming out regarding beef & salmon.
OK, sure, whatever, good points all. But I'm still not eating any bugs.
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4.15.2004
A Law School Decision
Has been made. My girlfriend & I have chosen to spend the next three years in the freezing cold of Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan Law School.
I attended a reception for admitted Michigan students the other day at Williams & Connolly, which was actually a lot of fun. I'd attended a similar reception for Penn admitted students last month at Arnold & Porter, and based on that experience, I almost didn't go to this one. The Penn reception consisted of approximately 3 or 4 graduates, 2 or 3 people from admissions, and 2 or 3 current students (who showed up rather late), and something like 20 or 25 of us admitted students. So there wasn't that much to learn about, although it was fun to enjoy the firm's exceptionally posh digs.
The Michigan reception was quite different. I'm pretty sure the alumni actually outnumbered the admitted students--again about 20 or 25. The alumni were all extremely friendly & I really enjoyed talking to several of them. At the Penn reception, we students encircled one or two alumni and took turns hurling questions at them, while at the Michigan reception, I often had three or four alumni encircling me, and providing different answers & perspectives to my questions, and just having good conversations. Plus, there were free pens at the Michigan reception.
Not that this illustrates any larger or significant thing about either school, I just found it interesting. Anyhow, we haven't sent off our checks just yet, but we did book tickets today to Ann Arbor to pick out an apartment two weeks from now.
In other legal news, I attended another oral argument at the DC Court of Appeals today, which was pretty interesting and hopefully something I'll blog about in another post soon.
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I attended a reception for admitted Michigan students the other day at Williams & Connolly, which was actually a lot of fun. I'd attended a similar reception for Penn admitted students last month at Arnold & Porter, and based on that experience, I almost didn't go to this one. The Penn reception consisted of approximately 3 or 4 graduates, 2 or 3 people from admissions, and 2 or 3 current students (who showed up rather late), and something like 20 or 25 of us admitted students. So there wasn't that much to learn about, although it was fun to enjoy the firm's exceptionally posh digs.
The Michigan reception was quite different. I'm pretty sure the alumni actually outnumbered the admitted students--again about 20 or 25. The alumni were all extremely friendly & I really enjoyed talking to several of them. At the Penn reception, we students encircled one or two alumni and took turns hurling questions at them, while at the Michigan reception, I often had three or four alumni encircling me, and providing different answers & perspectives to my questions, and just having good conversations. Plus, there were free pens at the Michigan reception.
Not that this illustrates any larger or significant thing about either school, I just found it interesting. Anyhow, we haven't sent off our checks just yet, but we did book tickets today to Ann Arbor to pick out an apartment two weeks from now.
In other legal news, I attended another oral argument at the DC Court of Appeals today, which was pretty interesting and hopefully something I'll blog about in another post soon.
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Back to Blogging
So, after a one-week-plus break from blogging, due to heavy work, travel & sickness, I'm back. I had a nice trip back to Kansas City & Lincoln, NE. I saw a pretty good baseball game, but Cleveland's pathetic bullpen (I'm talking about you, David Riske--which, by the way, is a horrible name for a Closer) blew a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the ninth, meaning C.C. Sabathia's solid 8 innings of work did not result in a win, dealing a heavy blow to my fantasy baseball team. And unfortunately, I did miss what seems to have been Arsenal's game of the season (although I did get to see the highlights).
When last I blogged, Arsenal had lost 2 huge matches in the span of 4 days, exiting from both the FA Cup & the Champions League. Chelsea were even just 4 pts back in the Premiership, although Arsenal did have a game in hand. To make matters even worse, news emerged that Thierry had been substituted against Chelsea due to a hamstring injury, which would force him to miss both big games at the weekend, against Liverpool on Friday & Newcastle on Sunday. The next day, then, the breaking news was that Henry's injury was actually to his back, not his hamstring, and that he had a decent chance of recovering/playing through pain.
So, thus the stage was set for a massive game on Good Friday, with Arsenal hosting Liverpool. Thierry Henry is passed fit & starts. But after just 5 minutes, Sami Hyppia heads Liverpool ahead; suddenly, the stage is set for Arsenal to repeat their Premiership collapse from last season.
Only Henry equalizes after 31 minutes, and Arsenal appear to be dominating play. Maybe things will turn out for the best. Then Michael Owen strikes just before half-time, and the score at the break is 2-1 to Liverpool. Had I been watching, I'm sure I would have been pulling my hair out, struck dumb in disbelief at how a season seemingly destined to break records & to be on course for 3 trophies could disintegrate so quickly & so spectacularly.
And that's when Thierry Henry would turn in perhaps the most important performance of our season. Three minutes into the second half, he sent a nice little pass to Freddie in the middle, whose first touch directed the ball into Pires' path as he charged into the box. Pires just beat the Liverpool defender to the ball & cracked the ball past Jerzy Dudek in goal. 2-2.
Literally a minute or two later, Henry picked up the ball just inside the Liverpool half. He begins a run upfield, tracking by Didi Hamann, whom he quickly speeds past as he nears the box. He then proceeds to dribble past what seems like the entire Liverpool team, although I think it was maybe just 4 or 5 players. It's simply amazing to see--defenders being turned around, running into one another, looking almost like the Washington Generals playing the Harlem Globetrotters. So, after slaloming through half of Liverpool's team, Henry enters the box & faces an onrushing Dudek, cutting down his angle. Despite having just run something like 50 yards & using all manner of feints & acceleration & twists & turns to slice through Liverpool's defense, Henry quickly shapes to shoot & sends his shot perfectly past Dudek and just inside the farpost. 3-2 Arsenal, and a truly amazing goal.
He'd add a 3rd goal later, completing his hat trick in rather sloppy fashion actually. Sent clear by a long ball over the top, his initial shot would rebound off Dudek & hit him in the side before going into the net.
In any event, the 4-2 win was precisely what we needed. The season was back on track, we are still undefeated in the league with a healthy gap at the top. It helped that Chelsea drew 0-0 with Boro the next day.
I did get to see the game at Newcastle, which ended 0-0, and not a bad result considering Newcastle'd won their last 8 at home. It was a bit disappointing as we clearly had the better chances, and just couldn't quite convert them. Regardless, Chelsea's 3-2 loss to Aston Villa the next day made it look like a great result. So, after our weekend of hell, facing 'Pool & Newcastle in 2 days, we actually extended our lead on Chelsea. We're now 7 pts ahead, with a game in hand. We play Leeds tomorrow, and I doubt I'll be able to watch it live, although I'll have my VCR set up.
All told, it was a fantastic weekend for Arsenal, and a truly great performance from Henry on Friday. I see he's been put on the Players' Player of the Year shortlist for the 4th year in a row. He won it last year, and could become the first (I believe) to win it back-to-back. Kolo Toure also made it among the six finalists for Young Player of the Year. It'd be great to see both Gunners take home the awards, and I think they'd thoroughly deserve it. We'll see though.
That's enough soccer pontificating for now, though. I have plenty more to blog about in a bit.
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When last I blogged, Arsenal had lost 2 huge matches in the span of 4 days, exiting from both the FA Cup & the Champions League. Chelsea were even just 4 pts back in the Premiership, although Arsenal did have a game in hand. To make matters even worse, news emerged that Thierry had been substituted against Chelsea due to a hamstring injury, which would force him to miss both big games at the weekend, against Liverpool on Friday & Newcastle on Sunday. The next day, then, the breaking news was that Henry's injury was actually to his back, not his hamstring, and that he had a decent chance of recovering/playing through pain.
So, thus the stage was set for a massive game on Good Friday, with Arsenal hosting Liverpool. Thierry Henry is passed fit & starts. But after just 5 minutes, Sami Hyppia heads Liverpool ahead; suddenly, the stage is set for Arsenal to repeat their Premiership collapse from last season.
Only Henry equalizes after 31 minutes, and Arsenal appear to be dominating play. Maybe things will turn out for the best. Then Michael Owen strikes just before half-time, and the score at the break is 2-1 to Liverpool. Had I been watching, I'm sure I would have been pulling my hair out, struck dumb in disbelief at how a season seemingly destined to break records & to be on course for 3 trophies could disintegrate so quickly & so spectacularly.
And that's when Thierry Henry would turn in perhaps the most important performance of our season. Three minutes into the second half, he sent a nice little pass to Freddie in the middle, whose first touch directed the ball into Pires' path as he charged into the box. Pires just beat the Liverpool defender to the ball & cracked the ball past Jerzy Dudek in goal. 2-2.
Literally a minute or two later, Henry picked up the ball just inside the Liverpool half. He begins a run upfield, tracking by Didi Hamann, whom he quickly speeds past as he nears the box. He then proceeds to dribble past what seems like the entire Liverpool team, although I think it was maybe just 4 or 5 players. It's simply amazing to see--defenders being turned around, running into one another, looking almost like the Washington Generals playing the Harlem Globetrotters. So, after slaloming through half of Liverpool's team, Henry enters the box & faces an onrushing Dudek, cutting down his angle. Despite having just run something like 50 yards & using all manner of feints & acceleration & twists & turns to slice through Liverpool's defense, Henry quickly shapes to shoot & sends his shot perfectly past Dudek and just inside the farpost. 3-2 Arsenal, and a truly amazing goal.
He'd add a 3rd goal later, completing his hat trick in rather sloppy fashion actually. Sent clear by a long ball over the top, his initial shot would rebound off Dudek & hit him in the side before going into the net.
In any event, the 4-2 win was precisely what we needed. The season was back on track, we are still undefeated in the league with a healthy gap at the top. It helped that Chelsea drew 0-0 with Boro the next day.
I did get to see the game at Newcastle, which ended 0-0, and not a bad result considering Newcastle'd won their last 8 at home. It was a bit disappointing as we clearly had the better chances, and just couldn't quite convert them. Regardless, Chelsea's 3-2 loss to Aston Villa the next day made it look like a great result. So, after our weekend of hell, facing 'Pool & Newcastle in 2 days, we actually extended our lead on Chelsea. We're now 7 pts ahead, with a game in hand. We play Leeds tomorrow, and I doubt I'll be able to watch it live, although I'll have my VCR set up.
All told, it was a fantastic weekend for Arsenal, and a truly great performance from Henry on Friday. I see he's been put on the Players' Player of the Year shortlist for the 4th year in a row. He won it last year, and could become the first (I believe) to win it back-to-back. Kolo Toure also made it among the six finalists for Young Player of the Year. It'd be great to see both Gunners take home the awards, and I think they'd thoroughly deserve it. We'll see though.
That's enough soccer pontificating for now, though. I have plenty more to blog about in a bit.
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4.06.2004
Out of Europe (with a bit of non-soccer news at the end)
2-1 to Chelsea. After going 3,474 games without losing to them (I think it's actually 17, but whatever), you just knew it had to happen sometime, and of course it happened at the worse possible moment. It was a very poor second half performance from the Gunners. In some ways, it was a mirror image of the League & Cup games back in February, where we fell behind early, only to come back & just trample them.
Jose Reyes put us ahead in stoppage time with literally the last kick of the first half. It was a beautiful move, Robert Pires stroking a 60 yard diagonal pass that Lauren ran onto down the right. He sent in a good cross, Thierry headed it back across goal, Freddie just touched it back and Reyes beat John Terry to the ball, blasting it home from 6 yards through the keeper's legs.
You'd think that would've knocked the stuffing out of Chelsea. Especially since we should have scored 3 or so more goals in that first half, which we utterly dominated. Pires could have scored a headed goal identical to the one he got in the first leg, but he hit the side netting. Thierry wasted a couple of very nice chances. We certainly looked superior, as we did the 3 other times we stuffed Chelsea this year. Ashley Cole returned to the side after injury, and seeing the interplay between him & Pires down the left was breathtaking. Those two seem to have a telepathic understanding, and their attacking play was simply lethal. Our finishing just let their fine build-up work down.
The second half was a different story. Maybe the players were tired, nervous or who knows what. But Chelsea were running us ragged, beating us to every 50-50 ball, and generally bossing things. It was sick to see.
The first goal came down to two mistakes. Edu cocked up a simple clearance, knocking it merely to the edge of the box. Claude Makelele sent a powerful shot back in, but one Lehmann should have easily dealt with. Instead, he parried it directly into Frank Lampard's path, presenting him the goal on a plate. He duly scored.
The crowd--which had been fantastic & noisy all night--were instantly shocked. And suddenly the 3,000 strong contingent of Burberry-clad Chelsea hooligans were singing over the 35,000 'Highbury Library' patrons. I think it rattled our team, and Chelsea powered on.
Thierry fell off the face of the earth, hardly involved at all, and when he was substituted I just had a feeling the match was over, even though at 1-1 it was just looking like extra-time, and possibly penalties. Turns out he'd picked up a hamstring injury and will miss the two upcoming huge Premiership matches (home v Liverpool on Friday, and away to Newcastle Sunday).
Anyhow, I just had a feeling we were done for. And sure enough, with 5 minutes left, Chelsea grabbed their winner. Again, the individual culpable was Edu. Wayne Bridge made a run with the ball down the left, and Edu was tracking him, backing up & keeping him in front of him. So far, so good. Then Bridge passed the ball toward the center to Eidur Gudjohnsen. Edu stopped, and followed the ball with his eyes, instead of sticking with his man. While Edu ball-watched, Bridge ran past him. Edu turned, but it was too late; he could only watch as Eidur played the 1-2 return pass back to Bridge, who coolly slotted his shot home.
It was a gutting game to watch. The fact is, however, that while the last 4 days have been horrible for Arsenal, our season remains a very successful & exciting one. After losing 3-0 at home to Inter Milan in the Champions League, everybody had written us off. Yet we reeled off 5 straight wins and made it as far as we ever have--indeed, we went further than Man Utd. And we're in good company today; Real Madrid were the other defeated Quarterfinalist, losing 3-1 to Monaco (going out 5-5 on aggregate, losing on the away goals rule). Our youth team made it to the semi-finals of the League Cup, a very impressive feat & one that bodes well for the future. We made it to the Semis of the FA Cup, knocking out Chelsea along the way. And we're 4 pts clear in the league with a game in hand, and still undefeated.
The League's all we've got left now, and if the boys buckle down & keep this streak going & manage to finish the season undefeated, this year will still go down in history as an amazingly successful one. Their play in the Premiership has been absolutely stunning, and although getting knocked out of Europe hurts--especially by those mercenary, glory-hunting hooligans from Chelsea--it's been a fantastic year. Furthemore, I have no doubt we're a better team than Chelsea, despite Roman Abramovich's $100m+ shopping spree. We played them five times this year; we won the first three meetings 2-1, drew the fourth 1-1, and lost the fifth 2-1.
In the end, we just ran out of gas on the final stretch in these two competitions. And of course there's the danger of a collapse in the league, mostly because we have two ridiculously tough matches straight ahead. But I think the team'll survive, and while having collapsed at a similar stage with a similar lead last year isn't heartening, I do think we've learned & will avoid slipping up this year.
And hopefully, in the summer, Arsene Wenger will buy a new goalkeeper. Jens Lehmann just isn't cutting it. He was wholly 100% responsible for gifting Eidur Gudjohnsen a goal in the first leg, and he really should have held Makelele's shot today (of course, Edu should have cleared the ball out of danger in the first place, but Lehmann's mistake was nonetheless damning). He's shown a hot head, picking up a couple stupid yellow cards & his showboating errors have directly led to goals in other matches too (in our 4-1 win v Leeds in the FA Cup, and in the loss to Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League).
In the mean time, it's all about beating the stuffing out of Liverpool on Friday. A good performance in that match, and our season remains on track, and the team stands a good chance of going down in the record books as one of the best. I'll be out of town, but hopefully I'll still be able to catch the match.
And in non-soccer news
Blogging will likely be rather light this week, owing mainly to three factors: 1) I picked up a cold sitting in the freezing, windy weather to watch the Baltimore Orioles' home opener against the Red Sox Sunday 2) Work has suddenly become very busy, and I'm learning far, far more about Oracle than I'd ever wanted, and 3) As I mentioned, I'll be out of town, from Thursday through Monday.
I'm also reading an excellent book, Eric Schlosser's Reefer Madness, which I'm sure I'll blog about in more detail later. His first book, Fast Food Nation, was an excellent read as well, and I highly recommend both.
Law school decision time is fast approaching, and I'll be attending a reception for Michigan admitted students next Tuesday, which should be fun. That's looking more & more likely to be my final choice, and I'm excited to think this whole process is nearly over.
Well, that's all the news for now.
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Jose Reyes put us ahead in stoppage time with literally the last kick of the first half. It was a beautiful move, Robert Pires stroking a 60 yard diagonal pass that Lauren ran onto down the right. He sent in a good cross, Thierry headed it back across goal, Freddie just touched it back and Reyes beat John Terry to the ball, blasting it home from 6 yards through the keeper's legs.
You'd think that would've knocked the stuffing out of Chelsea. Especially since we should have scored 3 or so more goals in that first half, which we utterly dominated. Pires could have scored a headed goal identical to the one he got in the first leg, but he hit the side netting. Thierry wasted a couple of very nice chances. We certainly looked superior, as we did the 3 other times we stuffed Chelsea this year. Ashley Cole returned to the side after injury, and seeing the interplay between him & Pires down the left was breathtaking. Those two seem to have a telepathic understanding, and their attacking play was simply lethal. Our finishing just let their fine build-up work down.
The second half was a different story. Maybe the players were tired, nervous or who knows what. But Chelsea were running us ragged, beating us to every 50-50 ball, and generally bossing things. It was sick to see.
The first goal came down to two mistakes. Edu cocked up a simple clearance, knocking it merely to the edge of the box. Claude Makelele sent a powerful shot back in, but one Lehmann should have easily dealt with. Instead, he parried it directly into Frank Lampard's path, presenting him the goal on a plate. He duly scored.
The crowd--which had been fantastic & noisy all night--were instantly shocked. And suddenly the 3,000 strong contingent of Burberry-clad Chelsea hooligans were singing over the 35,000 'Highbury Library' patrons. I think it rattled our team, and Chelsea powered on.
Thierry fell off the face of the earth, hardly involved at all, and when he was substituted I just had a feeling the match was over, even though at 1-1 it was just looking like extra-time, and possibly penalties. Turns out he'd picked up a hamstring injury and will miss the two upcoming huge Premiership matches (home v Liverpool on Friday, and away to Newcastle Sunday).
Anyhow, I just had a feeling we were done for. And sure enough, with 5 minutes left, Chelsea grabbed their winner. Again, the individual culpable was Edu. Wayne Bridge made a run with the ball down the left, and Edu was tracking him, backing up & keeping him in front of him. So far, so good. Then Bridge passed the ball toward the center to Eidur Gudjohnsen. Edu stopped, and followed the ball with his eyes, instead of sticking with his man. While Edu ball-watched, Bridge ran past him. Edu turned, but it was too late; he could only watch as Eidur played the 1-2 return pass back to Bridge, who coolly slotted his shot home.
It was a gutting game to watch. The fact is, however, that while the last 4 days have been horrible for Arsenal, our season remains a very successful & exciting one. After losing 3-0 at home to Inter Milan in the Champions League, everybody had written us off. Yet we reeled off 5 straight wins and made it as far as we ever have--indeed, we went further than Man Utd. And we're in good company today; Real Madrid were the other defeated Quarterfinalist, losing 3-1 to Monaco (going out 5-5 on aggregate, losing on the away goals rule). Our youth team made it to the semi-finals of the League Cup, a very impressive feat & one that bodes well for the future. We made it to the Semis of the FA Cup, knocking out Chelsea along the way. And we're 4 pts clear in the league with a game in hand, and still undefeated.
The League's all we've got left now, and if the boys buckle down & keep this streak going & manage to finish the season undefeated, this year will still go down in history as an amazingly successful one. Their play in the Premiership has been absolutely stunning, and although getting knocked out of Europe hurts--especially by those mercenary, glory-hunting hooligans from Chelsea--it's been a fantastic year. Furthemore, I have no doubt we're a better team than Chelsea, despite Roman Abramovich's $100m+ shopping spree. We played them five times this year; we won the first three meetings 2-1, drew the fourth 1-1, and lost the fifth 2-1.
In the end, we just ran out of gas on the final stretch in these two competitions. And of course there's the danger of a collapse in the league, mostly because we have two ridiculously tough matches straight ahead. But I think the team'll survive, and while having collapsed at a similar stage with a similar lead last year isn't heartening, I do think we've learned & will avoid slipping up this year.
And hopefully, in the summer, Arsene Wenger will buy a new goalkeeper. Jens Lehmann just isn't cutting it. He was wholly 100% responsible for gifting Eidur Gudjohnsen a goal in the first leg, and he really should have held Makelele's shot today (of course, Edu should have cleared the ball out of danger in the first place, but Lehmann's mistake was nonetheless damning). He's shown a hot head, picking up a couple stupid yellow cards & his showboating errors have directly led to goals in other matches too (in our 4-1 win v Leeds in the FA Cup, and in the loss to Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League).
In the mean time, it's all about beating the stuffing out of Liverpool on Friday. A good performance in that match, and our season remains on track, and the team stands a good chance of going down in the record books as one of the best. I'll be out of town, but hopefully I'll still be able to catch the match.
And in non-soccer news
Blogging will likely be rather light this week, owing mainly to three factors: 1) I picked up a cold sitting in the freezing, windy weather to watch the Baltimore Orioles' home opener against the Red Sox Sunday 2) Work has suddenly become very busy, and I'm learning far, far more about Oracle than I'd ever wanted, and 3) As I mentioned, I'll be out of town, from Thursday through Monday.
I'm also reading an excellent book, Eric Schlosser's Reefer Madness, which I'm sure I'll blog about in more detail later. His first book, Fast Food Nation, was an excellent read as well, and I highly recommend both.
Law school decision time is fast approaching, and I'll be attending a reception for Michigan admitted students next Tuesday, which should be fun. That's looking more & more likely to be my final choice, and I'm excited to think this whole process is nearly over.
Well, that's all the news for now.
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4.03.2004
We Finally Lose
It's Utd in the Cup final then. 1-0 loss, the goal from Paul Scholes.
It was a hellishly entertaining match, up & down the pitch, tense as all hell, very physical. At times the play & passing were a little sloppy, but that just made it more madcap & end-to-end. It ended our 18 game unbeaten run in the Cup, our first defeat since losing the final to Liverpool back in 2001.
Ruud wasn't fit, so United were fielding a rather weakened side. Wenger elected to leave Thierry on the bench, along with Reyes, and it was Dennis Bergkamp & Jeremie Aliadiere up front. Dennis had a fantastic chance to score inside the first couple minutes, but Edu came even closer after a poor corner kick clearance. He struck a beautiful chip from just beyond the box, beat Carroll only for it to clip to crossbar, altho the keeper did just get a touch. From the rebound, the ball skied high in the area, above the six yard box. Kolo & Freddie were underneath it, and Carroll was on the ground. Freddie was probably better positioned, but Kolo was in his way. As the ball dropped, Carroll just had time to get up, and Kolo's header was weak, but still very much looking goal-bound, but somehow Carroll managed to leap high & palm it away. Incredible save.
Minutes later, Sol Campbell went on a crashing run, starting in his own half, going past 4 United players, side-stepping a Roy Keane challenge, to lay the ball off to Dennis to the right. He picked out Pires making an unmarked run to the far post & lofted a cross over to him. It looked like a carbon copy of Pires' goal against Chelsea in the first leg of the Chamions League. Only this time he came charging into the box, leaped maybe a bit early, and was under the ball & sent his header over the bar. Best chance of the game, for either side.
Scholes scored around half an hour in, Vieira giving the ball away & Gary Neville of all people playing Ryan Giggs in very well. Giggs cut the ball back to Scholes who thumped a shot in.
We still looked likely to get one, and we had a very good shout for a penalty when Mikael Silvestre clearly used his hand to control a bouncing ball in the box, but the referee had a horrible view & couldn't see it. That was just minutes before their goal, & there'd be another similar appeal in the second half, again denied.
In the second half, Utd were content to sit back, never posed anything resembling a threat, but for all our possession in their end we couldn't make it tell. Jose Reyes did look very sharp & caused all kinds of trouble after he & Thierry came on in the 57th minute. We just never quite created a really good chance in that second half, although a goal always felt just seconds away.
If we didn't have that 2nd leg Champions League match against Chelsea on Tuesday I'd be crushed right now, but Europe is a very nice tonic. In the end, it was another very balanced, intense, scrappy & just pulsating match between the two. I sure hope they go on & lose now to Sunderland [or Millwal] in the Final.
Lastly, a couple of words about the commentating. I normally rather like old John Motson, but he was a bit batty today. Meanwhile, Mark "Lawro" Lawrensen was totally nuts, just outright rooting for Utd with every little comment you could hear it. Perhaps the weirdest moment, tho, came after a missile thrown from the stands nearly hit Arsene Wenger & did strike Arsenal's physio. Lawro then wondered, "now, I don't know what set of fans is behind them." Uh huh, as tho any Arsenal fan would ever throw a missile at Le Boss.
The referee had a middling to poor match, calling an awful lot of weak fouls, and he missed a very, very deliberate & nasty kick on Robert Pires by Roy Keane. Did call a foul, but that he didn't get a yellow is just outrageous. Especially after he'd just carded Pires for a very weak tussle between Bob & Gary Neville, which saw Neville rolling around the pitch in his simulated agony after an errant forearm barely crazed the side of his head (altho, of course, he was clutching his face).
Even more insane was Alan Hansen & Peter Schmeichel claiming at half that Pires should've seen red for that. Ridiculous. The BBC did have Arsenal legend Ian Wright on, and it was the first time I'd ever heard him. He was hilarious, and obviously super passionate. After Alan had said his piece, Gary Lineker asked Ian what he thought. Wright started saying, "We looked sharp to start, we look like we can get a goal, we" and Lineker interrupted, chuckling, "Heh, 'we' would be Arsenal here, right?" Wright had a good laugh at that, and then tried correcting himself & saying Arsenal.
He couldn't help it tho, and was right back at "we" after a couple sentences. Great stuff.
All right, so it's Chelsea at home in Europe on Tuesday, Liverpool at home in the League on Friday, & up at Newcastle on Sunday. Going to be a wicked week, and if Chelsea win their league match today they'll draw within 4 pts of us (altho we'll have a game in hand). We'd better knock the crap out of them in the Champions League, or they might start to get ideas about the league.
Update: I hadn't mentioned two things. One, we'd better not hear any garbage in the press about how Arsenal are a one-man team, dependent on Henry. We could have scored 3 or 4 goals in that first half without him, and never had a clear cut chance in the second.
Two, Paul Scholes is the worst tackler I've ever seen. And his horrid, late & malicious tackles are rarely punished. He did pick up a yellow for a truly nasty & ridiculously late tackle (not to mention it was from behind) on Jose Reyes, but the real damage is that, apparently, Reyes could be out for 3 weeks with an ankle injury as a result. Worse, Freddie probably fractured his hand & is also unlikely to play Tuesday.
Not good news, but at least Sylvain Wiltord is finally returning to fitness. He's had some very good spells on the right wing, and hopefullly he'll have another now. It also seems like he's always among the goals when we play Chelsea, and there couldn't be a bigger game to get another one.
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It was a hellishly entertaining match, up & down the pitch, tense as all hell, very physical. At times the play & passing were a little sloppy, but that just made it more madcap & end-to-end. It ended our 18 game unbeaten run in the Cup, our first defeat since losing the final to Liverpool back in 2001.
Ruud wasn't fit, so United were fielding a rather weakened side. Wenger elected to leave Thierry on the bench, along with Reyes, and it was Dennis Bergkamp & Jeremie Aliadiere up front. Dennis had a fantastic chance to score inside the first couple minutes, but Edu came even closer after a poor corner kick clearance. He struck a beautiful chip from just beyond the box, beat Carroll only for it to clip to crossbar, altho the keeper did just get a touch. From the rebound, the ball skied high in the area, above the six yard box. Kolo & Freddie were underneath it, and Carroll was on the ground. Freddie was probably better positioned, but Kolo was in his way. As the ball dropped, Carroll just had time to get up, and Kolo's header was weak, but still very much looking goal-bound, but somehow Carroll managed to leap high & palm it away. Incredible save.
Minutes later, Sol Campbell went on a crashing run, starting in his own half, going past 4 United players, side-stepping a Roy Keane challenge, to lay the ball off to Dennis to the right. He picked out Pires making an unmarked run to the far post & lofted a cross over to him. It looked like a carbon copy of Pires' goal against Chelsea in the first leg of the Chamions League. Only this time he came charging into the box, leaped maybe a bit early, and was under the ball & sent his header over the bar. Best chance of the game, for either side.
Scholes scored around half an hour in, Vieira giving the ball away & Gary Neville of all people playing Ryan Giggs in very well. Giggs cut the ball back to Scholes who thumped a shot in.
We still looked likely to get one, and we had a very good shout for a penalty when Mikael Silvestre clearly used his hand to control a bouncing ball in the box, but the referee had a horrible view & couldn't see it. That was just minutes before their goal, & there'd be another similar appeal in the second half, again denied.
In the second half, Utd were content to sit back, never posed anything resembling a threat, but for all our possession in their end we couldn't make it tell. Jose Reyes did look very sharp & caused all kinds of trouble after he & Thierry came on in the 57th minute. We just never quite created a really good chance in that second half, although a goal always felt just seconds away.
If we didn't have that 2nd leg Champions League match against Chelsea on Tuesday I'd be crushed right now, but Europe is a very nice tonic. In the end, it was another very balanced, intense, scrappy & just pulsating match between the two. I sure hope they go on & lose now to Sunderland [or Millwal] in the Final.
Lastly, a couple of words about the commentating. I normally rather like old John Motson, but he was a bit batty today. Meanwhile, Mark "Lawro" Lawrensen was totally nuts, just outright rooting for Utd with every little comment you could hear it. Perhaps the weirdest moment, tho, came after a missile thrown from the stands nearly hit Arsene Wenger & did strike Arsenal's physio. Lawro then wondered, "now, I don't know what set of fans is behind them." Uh huh, as tho any Arsenal fan would ever throw a missile at Le Boss.
The referee had a middling to poor match, calling an awful lot of weak fouls, and he missed a very, very deliberate & nasty kick on Robert Pires by Roy Keane. Did call a foul, but that he didn't get a yellow is just outrageous. Especially after he'd just carded Pires for a very weak tussle between Bob & Gary Neville, which saw Neville rolling around the pitch in his simulated agony after an errant forearm barely crazed the side of his head (altho, of course, he was clutching his face).
Even more insane was Alan Hansen & Peter Schmeichel claiming at half that Pires should've seen red for that. Ridiculous. The BBC did have Arsenal legend Ian Wright on, and it was the first time I'd ever heard him. He was hilarious, and obviously super passionate. After Alan had said his piece, Gary Lineker asked Ian what he thought. Wright started saying, "We looked sharp to start, we look like we can get a goal, we" and Lineker interrupted, chuckling, "Heh, 'we' would be Arsenal here, right?" Wright had a good laugh at that, and then tried correcting himself & saying Arsenal.
He couldn't help it tho, and was right back at "we" after a couple sentences. Great stuff.
All right, so it's Chelsea at home in Europe on Tuesday, Liverpool at home in the League on Friday, & up at Newcastle on Sunday. Going to be a wicked week, and if Chelsea win their league match today they'll draw within 4 pts of us (altho we'll have a game in hand). We'd better knock the crap out of them in the Champions League, or they might start to get ideas about the league.
Update: I hadn't mentioned two things. One, we'd better not hear any garbage in the press about how Arsenal are a one-man team, dependent on Henry. We could have scored 3 or 4 goals in that first half without him, and never had a clear cut chance in the second.
Two, Paul Scholes is the worst tackler I've ever seen. And his horrid, late & malicious tackles are rarely punished. He did pick up a yellow for a truly nasty & ridiculously late tackle (not to mention it was from behind) on Jose Reyes, but the real damage is that, apparently, Reyes could be out for 3 weeks with an ankle injury as a result. Worse, Freddie probably fractured his hand & is also unlikely to play Tuesday.
Not good news, but at least Sylvain Wiltord is finally returning to fitness. He's had some very good spells on the right wing, and hopefullly he'll have another now. It also seems like he's always among the goals when we play Chelsea, and there couldn't be a bigger game to get another one.
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4.02.2004
DC United Suck
For various reasons. Chief among them is that after spending 4 years in Central Ohio I am a die-hard Columbus Crew fan. I've also never liked Marco Etcheverry, but he's gone now. So maybe they're not so bad. After all, they also have 14 year-old sensation Freddy Adu. And it'd be cool to see him play, wouldn't it?
I thought so, and judging by my past experiences, finding a ticket at RFK wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, I didn't account for DC United sucking. You see, they have decided to limit RFK's 52,000 seat capacity to just 24,603 for league matches. And they've actually managed to sell out Saturday's season opener.
Now, I understand the reasons behind the decision to limit the capacity generally. It sucks watching a team play in a cavernous & half empty NFL stadium, especially if the fans are somewhat scattered around. So sure, it makes sense to pack the 24,000 fans into the very lower levels & create a better atmosphere.
Nonetheless, you'd think maybe when they achieved their sell-out they might open up a few more seats. But no, they're not. So, having waited until yesterday to my buy ticket, I guess I'll be watching the match at home on TV. And I'll be hoping they lose.
PS Here's an article in the Post detailing the League's plans to put more of its teams in stadia of their own, to maximise both the atmosphere & revenue (as their lease agreements give them paltry portions of the $$$ generated by parking & concessions). United are hoping to build a 25,000-seater of their own by 2007, either next to RFK or in the Anacostia waterfront area. Good luck to 'em, but I still hope they lose.
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I thought so, and judging by my past experiences, finding a ticket at RFK wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, I didn't account for DC United sucking. You see, they have decided to limit RFK's 52,000 seat capacity to just 24,603 for league matches. And they've actually managed to sell out Saturday's season opener.
Now, I understand the reasons behind the decision to limit the capacity generally. It sucks watching a team play in a cavernous & half empty NFL stadium, especially if the fans are somewhat scattered around. So sure, it makes sense to pack the 24,000 fans into the very lower levels & create a better atmosphere.
Nonetheless, you'd think maybe when they achieved their sell-out they might open up a few more seats. But no, they're not. So, having waited until yesterday to my buy ticket, I guess I'll be watching the match at home on TV. And I'll be hoping they lose.
PS Here's an article in the Post detailing the League's plans to put more of its teams in stadia of their own, to maximise both the atmosphere & revenue (as their lease agreements give them paltry portions of the $$$ generated by parking & concessions). United are hoping to build a 25,000-seater of their own by 2007, either next to RFK or in the Anacostia waterfront area. Good luck to 'em, but I still hope they lose.
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