Monthly Archives: January 2014

01.30.14
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No way, Jose

Oh goodie, West Ham had an away midweek fixture to Chelsea. Those always end well </sarcasm>.

Thank you West Ham for finally proving me wrong. We came away from Stamford Bridge (which after this morning I’m convinced must be the most boring place for players to play, as there is no atmosphere) with a 0-0 despite having one shot on goal as opposed to Chelsea’s total of 9 on target from their 39 shots in the fixture.

_72612540_465777887I could write about the comings and goings from the fixture, but the biggest story comes after the whistle goes signalling scenes of ecstasy from West Ham fans, and confusion from Chelsea fans, who as they’ve only known about the club since 2003, still struggle to comprehend what happens when the final whistle goes.

I make no bones about the fact that Sam Allardyce is neither the right man to take West Ham into the future, or the man I want doing it, but for once Allardyce showed something that has been lacking for most of his time in the hot seat – passion.

After the game, Jose Mourinho wasn’t about to mince his words when discussing what he thought of the effort from the Hammers.

“This is not the best league in the world, this is football from the 19th century,” said Mourinho.

“The only [other] thing I could bring was a Black and Decker [tool] to destroy the wall.”

“A football match is about two teams playing and this match was only one team playing and another team not playing.”

Big Fat Sam, often short of useful words of wisdom, who usually likes to focus on downplaying the problems we face, was happy to fire straight back at the man who is in his second stint at Chelsea and WAS widely hated by those who now forgive and forget (Proof of their forget element can be seen if you ask them about anything prior 2003, as I’ve mentioned above).

“He can’t take it, can he? He can’t take it because we’ve outwitted him – he just can’t cope,” said the Hammers boss.

“He can tell me all he wants, I don’t care.

“I love to see Chelsea players moaning at the referee, trying to intimidate him, Jose jumping up and down saying we play rubbish football.

“It’s brilliant when you get a result against him. Hard luck, Jose.”

Thank you Sam for finally standing by your club and backing up the decisions you make.

As Sam so rightly said, Jose has the right to say whatever pleases him. Should that include being in the face of the fourth official for the last 15 minutes and making sure his players do the same with the referee, then sure, do that. You won’t make friends in that league or any other league by doing it, and it gives people who aren’t blinded by the blinkers of your club another opportunity to see what you are really about.

If you’re a Chelsea fan reading this, say and think what you want. Oh you’ve won trophies? Money will do that, but money will never by you the passion you’ll find in the East End, and newsflash, as boring as Chelsea are, watching them isn’t a funeral and you are allowed to sing, maybe something to consider now that some of West Ham’s finest have shown you the way to do it?

Jose hasn’t changed in the slightest, but that’s why he fits at Chelsea. The god complex is funny, and made much funnier by the fact that the fans buy into it. You don’t have a right to win the league, you don’t have a right to get every decision, and the Premier League doesn’t need you to survive.

The money will run out one day, and when it Chelsea fans are going to run quicker than Defoe did when we went down in 2002-03, when we hadn’t been relegated for five minutes before he announced on an international broadcast that he wanted nothing further to do with the club.

The facts are simple – Chelsea weren’t good today and we were. We played to our plan and the one that they tried to play to didn’t work. They were given seven minutes of stoppage time when there were four signaled – AND THEY STILL COULDN’T SCORE!

What’s that Jose? We parked the bus? When you did it against Arsenal, you said this.

“I think boring is a team that plays at home and cannot score a goal, that’s boring.”

There we have it, by his standards his own team are boring and after today, I have to agree.

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01.20.14
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Richard Sherman and media honesty

We’ve all heard how Richard Sherman likes the sound of his own voice, but his post game interview after the Seahawks beat the Niners to make to Superbowl? That takes the entire proverbial bakery.

indexshermanIt’s not new information that Richard Sherman isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. He speaks his mind, often thinks he is bigger than the game, and is in no way going to let someone get the better of him. But you know what? He’s earned the right, so let us all enjoy what I’m thinking is going to be the best interview of 2014.

He was in the crucial spot with 22 seconds left and was able to tip a pass away from Crabtree leading to an interception that clinched the game for the Seahawks, leading to their first Superbowl appearance in eight years.

Sports fans are a horribly fickle bunch at the best of times, and are often torn between athletes who are going to toe the company line, and are willing to let it all out because they’ve done something that then backs up what they are about to say, and you know what? He did just that when he dominated Michael Crabtree, who had previously discussed his belief that Sherman wasn’t as good as he was cracked up to be.

Naturally, when Sherman was given the chance to discuss this after the game, he made sure he mentioned what he thought of what Crabtree had to say about him.

Say what you want about it, but Sherman did what I like. Told it as he saw it and at the end of the day he is playing in two weeks time while Crabtree and his buddies are playing golf. That win gives him bragging rights over an opponent who directly stated how much better he was than him but couldn’t come up with the goods when it mattered. More of the same thanks.

01.20.14
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Lakers beat the Celtics? Life could be worse

Long before I was a Celtics fan, I was anti Lakers.

kg-celtics-2008The reasoning was simple enough. My dad was a Celtics fan and I was taught that under no circumstances was it ok to align with the Lakers, so I didn’t.

This was the mid 1990’s in a small country town in Australia, so the access to the NBA isn’t what I could have if I was living in the same situation today. I had no reason to support a particular team, and to be honest, with the lack of coverage, my interest in the NBA never really spiked beyond video games, where I always found myself drifting towards the Warriors, Celtics or T-Wolves.

I can’t remember exactly when it happened, but the decision to become a Celtics fan was easy. The franchise have a great history, play in a wonderful city (which I already loved because of my love for the Red Sox) and the rivalry with the Lakers was something which captivated me.

The Friday night game against the Lakers was exciting for a number of reasons – Rondo was coming back, the team have shown positive signs despite not getting the results to go with it, and it’s the Lakers visiting the Garden, which is always special.

Simply put, we should have won on Friday – The game was ours for the taking and we blew it with some terrible decisions in the final quarter (not the first or the last time that will happen this year, that’s for sure). For once I don’t see a loss to the Lakers as the most frustrating thing we could suffer through.

Simply put the Lakers aren’t going to win a banner this year, which means the Celtics still have the most banners in the history of the NBA. Narrow-minded view? You know it. But having the most titles in the history of the league is something we should be proud of. While banner 18 might be a few years away we should celebrate the fact that the men from the West Coast won’t be raising their seventeenth any time soon.