Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Red Sox - Yankees - The prequel

Think of the greatest rivalries in sport. Duke-UNC, Celtic-Rangers, India and Pakistan. Along with the greatest rivalries, a place must be set aside for baseball’s greatest rivalry, and maybe the biggest rivalry in sport across the pond. The “Yankees” and the “Red Sox”.

This week (Tuesday –Thursday) the two teams square off in a three game series, with just 1.5 games separating the two sides in the “AL East” standings. However, with both teams almost guaranteed, bar a minor miracle to achieve a postseason spot, it begs the question, does this series matter? The answer, truthfully, from a baseball viewpoint, no, it doesn’t matter, especially for the Red Sox who hold a 10-2 advantage in the season series thus far.

For the Yankees, from a psychological stance, their maybe something residing over this series for the “Bronx Bombers”. The aforementioned losing record against Boston, staff ace C.C Sabathia having astronomically inflated numbers against the Red Sox in comparison to the rest of the league, and as has been the case for months now, the rest of the Yankees starters audition for the role of number 2 starter, behind Sabathia.

For Sabathia, his numbers against Boston read 0-4, 7.20 ERA in 4 starts. Compare these numbers to his 17-3, 2.80 he’s surrendering to the rest of the teams combined. With Sabathia’s abysmal postseason numbers (prior to his move to New York in 2009) in addition to these numbers against Boston, it would appear he may have a small case of “Lee Westwood syndrome”. A syndrome known to deteriorate your sporting skills on the biggest stage, or a bigger stage. The Inability to perform, or a consistent stumbling block in the way of a specific goal. For Westwood it’s “Golfing majors”. For Sabathia, it’s Boston.

The Yankee ace will pitch game 1 of the series, where he takes on John Lackey, whose season has been a replica of Sabathia’s 4 starts against the Sox. Lackey’s 5.98 era, is indicative of how poor Lackey has been. Lackey, who signed a lucrative 5 year $82million in the winter of 2009 is in his second year, still finding it difficult to settle into a park, where he failed to have much success as an Angel.

Game two, sees the complete paradigm shift, with Josh Beckett (10 wins 2.58 era) taking the mound for Boston. Beckett whose overwhelmed the loaded Yankee lineup on 4 separate occasions, the first meeting providing the stepping stone to kick-start the Red Sox season back in April. Beckett’s 8 inning, 4 hit shutout of the Yankees gave the Sox their 2nd win of the season, propelling them to 2-7 on the year.

A sub-plot for the series is the race for American League MVP, with Yankees Curtis Granderson (leads the league in Home runs, RBI, runs), and the Boston duo of Jacoby Ellsbury (and Adrian Gonzalez (leads the league in Batting average, 2nd in RBI) all squaring off in a bid to cement their position as the frontrunner for the award.

To many, especially Sox manager Terry Francona, winning the division isn’t imperative in a division where you’re all but assured of the wildcard. For the Red Sox, who won the World Series from the wild card in ’04 and the won it again in ’07, this time after winning the division. For Francona, creating your rotations for your pitchers, and keeping players fresh for the postseason is the more important in this seasons’ final weeks.



With all that being said. It’s always fun to beat the Yankees.



* Apologies for the lack of advanced statistics, due to limited internet connectivity, could only use statistics from memory.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Have the people Cena nuff?

At any WWE event, whether it be a house show in Louisiana, or Wrestlemania in front of 93,000 people, you can almost guarantee that bar injury, the biggest reaction of the night will be for one man. John Cena. Never in wrestling history has one man provoked such emotion from crowds. Cena, who always engages the camera with a wry smile everytime he hears the reactions, he then salutes the crowd, and like a maniac sprints to the ring before enticing the crowd a little bit more by performing his signature gesture. (Pinky, middle and ring finger up whilst thumb and fore finger make an O shape).

Cena's matches often, if not always will consist will see the crowd engage in dual chants. With all the children, sporting there replica t-shirts, wristbands, headbands, title belts etc will begin the chant with a high-pitched, yet somehow very vociferous "Lets' go Cena". Instantaneously after, all the adults (specifically men) over the age of about 15 will respond with a deeper, somewhat angrier "Cena sucks". "Lets go Cena"... "Cena sucks". Rinse...lather...repeat.

For the International wrestling community (IWC) Cena has often displayed wrestling skills, very unorthadox, but to many subpar to great performers of the past like Eddie GuererroKurt Angle and more recently Chris Jericho. Many also believe younger wrestler like The Miz, Wade Barret and the new superstar of the business CM Punk all display superior wrestling skills to Cena. The "five moves of doom" that Cena quoted this Monday on Raw are a criticism of his lack of versatility, yet in his defence, Cena has been involved in matches with Triple H, Shawn Michaels and the aforementioned CM Punk, that have left many, myself included marvelling at some of the abilities we don't always see.

Other criticisms of Cena are that he is never booked to lose cleanly, and a defeat of his will always be subject to disqualification, cheating or interference. Again, how often do you read a comic book and see Superman, Spiderman or Captain America lose fights. If Cena is to be booked as the superhero to the youngsters in the audience, WWE must surely know that kids won't thorw all there support to a superhero that loses. Children are fickle, so Cena's invincibility is a must to keep him atop the metaphorical tree.

This leads us into the notion that he's the poster boy of the "PG era", and in turn takes the brunt of the venom elder fans have that they get overlooked in favour of a friendlier, less brutal product, seen as being more beneficial and less harmful to kids. WIth no ECW anymore and TNA's product becoming worse and worse every given week, the monopoly on the market for the "E" gives wrestling fans no where else to turn.

Outside the ring Cena, in my opinion receives unfair criticism and abuse for lack of a better word, a prime example being the wrestlemania press conference where every time he tried to talk, he would be loudly booed , to the extent where nothing he said could be comprehended or understood. For a man whose good-ature and friendly personality on-screen more than reciprocates it away from camera aswell. Cena to this day still has granted more wishes to the "Make a wish" foundation than any single person on the planet, helping kids make there biggest dream come through.

Back inside the squared circle, Cena's gimmick is heavily scrutinised, having started out as a Vanilla Ice meets 8 mile freestyle rapper, cutting strong heel promos garnering heavy heat from audiences he performed a "face" turn, (wrestling speak for becoming a good guy). He kept the rapping gimmick up until he was in the movie "The Marine", where he then went on to be a marine on screen for a period of time. Since then his promos have got more cliched and corny, his t-shirts get brighter and more eye-popping, but still he generates obscene amounts of money for the company. Now in his super-hero, cant-be-defeated gimmick, one which has existed for nearly 4 years, to many has become very stale, and in need of change.

The future for Cena looks to be more of the same, yet the thought of him taking the heat he receives from the crowd and turning into a full-on villain similar to the "Hollywood Hogan" heel turn back when he was in the NwO is a mouthwatering prospect, it seems incredibly unlikely, especially has Cena adressed all this in his contract signing with CM Punk this past Monday on raw. He spoke on the "Five moves of doom", "heel turns" amongst other things, and it seems clear that we will see alot more of the same from Cena, who if we similar performances to last months "Money in the bank" pay-per-view, may not necessarily be a bad thing.


<>
"We hate Cena guy"

For many, especially the "We hate Cena" guy, John Cena is a stale, stagnant character who is in dire need of dramatic change to maintain interest and any kind of support from the older wrestling fan. However, the question of people having enough of him, the reaction speak for themselves. Whether people love him or hate him, they let him know.

Im wrestling the old saying is "the day to quit is the day you get a reaction from the crowd". If that;s the case, John Cena isn;t going away anytime soon.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Carling cup has us hungover.

Whilst looters and mobsters and various "Grand Theft Auto" impersonators entrench this week into British lore, most football clubs are preparing for the 1st round of the "carling cup" (West Ham, Bristol CIty, Charlton and Crystal Palace have all had games postpones). A cup competition, which over the years has provided football fans with joyous, life-affirming moments, for my club (Oxford) up until last year, the "Milk Cup" win of '86 was far and away the pride and joy of the football club.

I beg the question though, is the Carling Cup dead? Or if not dead, is it on life support?

Last season, we saw a thoroughly entertaining final, a final in which Arsenal tried to break their 5 year duck of trophyless seasons. For Arsenal, only winning a pre-season cup which they host is all the trophy cabinet has had added to it since 2005, so against Birmingham, as odds-on favourites, it seemed a formality.

What ensued was a well fought, even encounter where Birmingham's Serbian giant Nikola Zigic opened the scoring only for that to be cancelled out by Robin Van Persie, who squared things up just before the half. A nervy second half, where every pass was met with a bouquet of jitters frome ach set of supporters before like every great, the dramatic late twist stunned the audience to there core. In this case, it was a piece of calamitous defending from Laurent Koscielney which led to former Newcastle striker Obefami Martins the simplest of finishes, as he stroked the ball into the open, gaping net, where the ripples of said net was met with a pure, euphoric roar from 35,000 screaming "Brummies". The final will always have magic!

Whilst the latter stages, and the final will always be special, as winning is always special, what about the prize, the place in the Europa League. A tournament with dwindling attendances, lots of games, and an excuse to play fringe players and youngsters, yet still charge the same, astronomical prices. Similar to the carling cup.

My biggest problem with the competition is the new rule the football league implemented to seed and regionalise the draw. I understand, and wholeheartedly agree with regionalising the first two rounds, due to the games being mid-week and trips to Carlisle, Newcastle, Middlesbrough probably aren;t sought after by Torquay, Exeter and Plymouth, to name a few. So, dividing the draw into regions is understandable, smart and a very clever way to try increase said dwindling attendances.

However, the seeding of the draw is what, to me, is killing this cup. In what must be the worst change since "Saved by the bell" brough Tori in at the end of the fourth series, the football league have attempted to protect the bigger clubs in the draw. Once again, the smaller clubs in the draw, wildly overlooked are being forced into playing the better teams in the draw, which in turn, costs alot of them a shot at a real "glamour tie" in the 3rd round. For Oxford, we face Cardiff at home. Cardiff, a pretty standard championship club, decent support, very good squad and will be in the top 10 in the championship judging by previous seasons. For Oxford, bar an upset, the chance of defeat seems very likely, meaning we would be out of the cup, without making any serious money, and no chance of a Tottenham, Chelsea or Arsenal in round 3.

The carling cup isn't dead, but does anyone know CPR, because it definately needs new life.

Monday, August 1, 2011

A view from the Emirates

This past Sunday, the second day of the aptly named "Emirates Cup", 60,000 football fans all packed the Emirates stadium, all back to see one man, Thierrey Henry! The French striker, arguably the greatest player in Premier League history was back after 3years. After leaving Arsenal to join Barcelona, Henry completed his cycle of accolades winning the Champions league (the final trophy after the World Cup, Premier League and the F.A Cup). Now in New York, plying his trade for the Red Bulls, becoming third memeber of the trio (Beckham and Donovan) as the three big names to help to promote the game of "Soccer" across the pond.

Arriving at the Emirates after the patented crowded London tube system where oxygen and space are seldom to say the least, and passing the street vendors and fanzine sellers, the concourse of the marvellously constructed stadium lies in front. A spacious, state-of-the-art arena, more than an upgrade visually on the decrepid, yet somehow charming surroundings of Highbury was entering it's 6th season as the home of Arsenal.

Onto the games themselves, the first of which pitted the Argentine giants Boca Juniors, the 23 time champions of Argentina matched wits with Paris-St Germain, who with there new middle-eastern investors find themelves as a Machester City type figure in French football. The game itself, not much of a contest, as when i got too my luxurious, padded seat (wasn't in a executive seat, just the norm) 2 minutes into the second half, the side from the Fremch capital were 2-0 ahead, and cruising to a comfortable victory.

With the match almost a non-entity, which with all truth, these two teams were in regards to this tournament, it was the small troop of Boca Juniors fans wildly cheering and celebrating there team with a consistent 45 minute chant partnered with the twirling and bopping of umbrella's creating a lively, colourful atmosphere doused in blue and yellow. For the Arsenal fan's unsure of how to react, they stared at these fans like they were a crying child, as if they were the outcast of the supporters at the ground.

As the match drew to it's conclusion, and PSG notched a 3rd goal to complete the dominant outing against there South American counterparts. Then onto the main event, Arsenal against the favourite son, the son garnering a monumental ovation as he ran onto the pitch for his pre-match warmups. The warmups ran there course, the player exited stage left to the tunnel and the crowd prepared for the two teams retake the field.

Before the players could enter the field, I underwent a wave of shock, met with embarassment and comedy as the Emirates announcer started announcing the Arsenal 11. When announcing the players starting, the PA would call the first name, then leave the crowd to shout the surname of the specific player, a intricacy questionable on it's own, let alone when they got to new Ivorian attacker "Gervinho" and the hilarity of splitting his name into two. The speaker roaring a "number 22..GER-VEEN" met with a shameful "YOOOOO" from the gooner faithful,

As the game started and the pre match love-in with King Thierrey ran it's course, the Arsenal fans, not notrious for their atmospheric, decibel-smashing ways tried to start there inventine chants of a montonous "Arsenal", followed up with "Come on Arsenal" before stealing the show with the totally unique " Stand 'ap if you 'ate Tottnum",  in my best attempt to write a cockney accent.

Arsenal scored just before half time, Dutch talisman Robin Van Persie (who then got a chant of his own) found the net with a header, although, without heaping too much praise, it should be noted the Red Bulls' goalie was so out of position, he may aswell have been in Scotland with his pathetic jusdgement cllecting the cross.

In the blaring sunshine, the Arsenal stewards surpassed any before them, and soared to the top of the pantheon of "idiotic set/mind-numbingly stupid" as three men were jettisoned from the stadium for removing there shirts in the intense London heat. Rather than asking the gentleman to put their shirts back, the stewards, two of them, strolled down with a unnecessary sense of importance and removed all 3 for an offence, that if Van Persie committed after his goal, would've seen him cautioned, not sent-off.

After a quiet game, Thierrey Henry who with an array of intelligence and skill put a through ball on a plate for tricky, pacy winger Dane Richards whose cross was converted by Kyle Bartley into his own net, to give Red Bulls' an equaliser, and what turned out to be the tournament-winning goal. Undoubtedly a bittersweet moment for Henry, was met with fans in two minds of wheter to celebrate or voice there frustration on what was unfolding before them, they did both!

The whistle went on the game, and the Arsenal fans further embarassed themselves with a chorus of boo's, a sign of discontent on the goings-on at Arsenal. Arsenal fans, depreived of any real trophies, as a friendly tournament they host against a clusterfuck of average teams doesn't count in any shape or form as success.

On the whole, a magnificent stadium, with astronomical pricing, being occupied by a teamand a set of fans who don't seem up to the task of doing justice to what came before it...sounds a bit like the national team, doesn't it?