Good day to you dear readers! You’ll notice that I have a new link in my blogroll — every time I say “blogroll” it reminds me of “bog roll” which as some of you may know is what Brits call toilet paper. One day I’ll get around to changing that from “blogroll” to something else. Anyway, welcome to our new friends from EPL Talk. He seems like a nice enough guy and his blog has a lot of good stuff on the transfer market.
And on that note: the first bit of transfer news is in and Matt Connolly is off to QPR. He will be dearly missed. Actually, he’ll probably be off to a great career like so many other young men who have come through the Arsenal youth system. Or maybe he’ll just be a tremendous dick like David Bentley.
Barcelona are blowing hot air about Hleb, or maybe Alonso,but certainly Cesc, but they have their eye on Hleb. Yes, Hleb. At the end of the season they will definitely have their eye on him.
So far, that’s it. If something huge happens you can sleep soundly knowing that I will be on it…
I guess I could talk a minute about “Prawn sandwich gate II.” I guess Sir Whiskey Face got mad at the Old Trafford fans for not being behind their team enough during their 1-0 win. Uhhh. OK. So, naturally, the fans are hitting back and comparing Old Trafford to a police state. Now, I find the fan’s reaction particularly offensive. I mean I LIVE in a police state; illegal wire taps, torture, indefinite internment, spying on our citizens. If anyone has a right to over react and accuse their authorities of fostering a police state it’s America — God Bless it. Old Trafford is more like a weekend at one of those all-inclusive places in Mexico. You know, the places where Americans go so they can simultaneously escape America yet not be confronted with anything un-American like poverty, dirt, or Mexicans. So enjoy your prawn sandwich and quit yer bitchin. You get what you pay for and Glazer paid a lot to have a sunny vacation spot in Manchester and he doesn’t want it ruined by hooligans.
OK, to be serious for a minute. I’ve only been to two EPL matches: one at Highbury and one at Emirates and yes, the crowd noise is different in the new stadium. And yes, it does say plainly on the ticket that people who are caught standing will be ejected. Even given these police state limitations on my right to obstruct the view of some 10 year old, both crowds managed to make quite a bit of noise. Far more than I’ve heard at most American sporting venues. Hell, if you want a funereal atmosphere, go watch the Seattle Supersonics play the New York Knicks. I think that game might legally require one of those “may cause drowsiness/do not operate heavy machinery” warning labels. I’m fairly certain that what’s going on here is pining for the olde days of terraces. But you can’t have both a team that buys every expensive player in the world and a working class team, pal. Sorry.
It could be worse. You could be forced to attend a Chicago Fire match in which the incessant beating of kettle drums and spine chilling drone of those stupid horns is what amounts to “crowd noise.” I can’t even stand to listen to those matches on television because the boom boom boom and bruuuuuuuu bruuuuuuu bruuuuuu is grating on my very last nerve. I guess what I’m saying is, Man U fans should enjoy your prawn sandwiches, inflated ticket prices, and solemn atmosphere. You made a bargain with the devil and now it’s time to pay the price.
Which is yet another reason the Arsenal is so special.
Ok, that’s about it for today. I’ll let you know just as soon as Lehmann is moved on to Dortmund or whatever gulag archipelago he is to be confined to for the rest of his natural life. The nut.