My favorites were Nasri’s vs Porto and Cesc’s vs Tottenham. Hope he hasn’t scored his last Arsenal goal.
via Arsenal goal of the season
Popularity: 1% [?]
May 18, 2010
January 12, 2010
Goodbye Setanta. Hello Fox Soccer Plus (via @epltalk)
Fox Soccer Plus will begin showing Premier League games on the weekend of March 6, as well as FA Cup quarter-finals and Serie A. The Premier League has yet to finalize the TV schedule, so it’s not known at press time which matches will be televised. Also, Fox Soccer Plus will be broadcast in HD.
Fox Soccer Plus will be offered to video providers across the country and be available to viewers as a premium service. No price has been specified but I wouldn’t be surprised if the monthly fee would be $15.
via epltalk.com
I still want to see how games are partitioned (I would hope that FSP isn’t just like Setanta) but it seems like I will upgrade to HD around March 1!
Popularity: unranked [?]
April 5, 2009
Why I’m glad that FSC won the UEFA Champions League rights away from ESPN
Details of FOX Sports/ Setanta UEFA Champions League Packages | Major League Soccer Talk
# Fox Sports Net will air 16 Tuesday matches from the qualifying rounds in August until the semifinal. Areas without an FSN owned station will probably see the matches on an FSN affiliate like CSN or Sun Sports, for example.
# Fox Soccer Channel will show two live games per week and three games on tape delay during the group stages.
# Setanta will have two live games each week during the group stages.
# FOX is looking into the possibility of using on site commentators from the international feed.
# FSC will have live pre and post game shows as well as a daily 30 minute wrap up show.
# The final for each of the three seasons of this package will be shown on Fx in HD. Fx is in as many homes nationally than ESPN 2
# Setanta will be re-launching its broadband product next month with enhanced video quality.
Despite the fact that ESPN2 is in more households, is on the analog/lower tier of most cable offerings, and is in more hotels, The detail overlooked here is that as an overall broadcasting strategy we need to look at this more as ESPN, ESPN Classic, and ESPN Deportes vs FX, FSN, Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Espanol. FSN will be used much like ESPN2 is used now – to show the first choice live game and is available is just as many homes as ESPN2, though not as many hotels. And FSC’s distribution is comparable to ESPN Classic, and better than ESPN Deportes – which has to be purchased with a Spanish Pack on most systems. Plus FX (where the CL Final will be shown) and some of the regional FSNs have HD channels – and FSC is supposed to be accelerating their HD timetable to the end of this year, not next.
I think this is a net positive for soccer fans. It’s yet to be determined whether or not it helps the popularity of the sport. But I do know that all those people who bought ESPN Deportes for Champions League coverage will soon be cancelling. After all the talk about ESPN raising their profile in the sport and even chasing the European market, they ended up lowbidding on the UK Prem rights and apparently on the US and Latin American CL rights. I expect similar with the US Prem rights. Which means they’d be out of the soccer business in the US with the exception of the World Cup and USMNT. ESPN Deportes suddenly becomes worthless for footy-crazy english-speaking viewers.
If Fox Sports as a collective does this right, they could do something for the sport which ESPN couldn’t because of all their other commitments. Given the fact that there are not a lot of competing live programming at 19:45 GMT on weekdays across the FSN network, there’ll be no danger of losing games because of the World Baseball Classic or the Masters or some other sport this demographic cares about. FSN has a lot of pre-produced content that can be moved around easily. The same goes for FX – so no worries about other programming running over and interfering with the start – esp for that Saturday CL final. Can you imagine if there’s a college baseball game that pinches the start of the CL final!?!?
Also, I doubt the Fox brains will homogenize and ruin production (or that UEFA will let them) with overly NFL/MLB-ized graphics and features and crap – something ESPN seemed ready and willing to do (remember the Beckham cam?). If indeed they take the CL International feeds instead of having Max Bretos call the games then we would only have to suffer through a pregame show – which I doubt will be that bad. The other good thing is that Derek Rae would be a spectacular get for FSC to call games wherever games need to be called. No more distracting ticker with Brett Favre and Alex Rodriguez nonsense. No more ruining the upcoming taped game with ill-timed highlights. And no more chopping off time from tape-delayed airings.
On top of it, who’s to say that grabbing these rights wouldn’t mean that FSC/Fox Sports Intl. couldn’t be an exporter of content to other countries (Caribbean, Australia, South Africa) in the future? Who says that Presspass-type show couldn’t be “acquired” and produced by Fox and run given exposure in one of those various timeslots on the FSN networks – like before Best Damned and after The [insert college football coach name here] Show? I’m sure Bobby McMahon and Fox Football Fone-in segments could be packaged together into something creative.
Of course Rae could also go to GolTV and improve their rag tag bunch. And he could still work for ESPN for the World Cup. What else is he going to do in Bristol? I bet he won’t even broadcast the CL Final on-site like he did last year. OK – I understand he has other work for ESPN Intl, but still.
But the thing I’m most salivating over is possibly being able to, in the group stages and round of 16, going 4-wide with the TVs in the man-cave with different simultaneous LIVE matches on FSE (w/SAP), FSC, FSN and Setanta!! IN ENGLISH!!!
THAT would not suck.
Popularity: 1% [?]
January 14, 2009
The Roundup from 2009-01-14
- ESPN Insider Confirms UK Premier League TV Bid http://tr.im/6uxz “Out goes HO-LY SHIT! [FSC]. In comes ESPN for U.S. TV rights” #
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Popularity: unranked [?]
September 2, 2008
Foreigners Killing The Premier League
I used to think people were crazy to complain that foreigners in the Premier League were killing the England national team. But now I think they’re right – only it’s not the foreign players, it’s the foreign owners that are to blame. The massive influx in money (highlighted by the recent madness at Manchester City) has created a culture in the Premier League where winning and staying in all competitions is important not just for the fans and players, but also to the long-term financial health of the club. Meaning that trivial things like World Cup qualifiers and even cup games are given second-class status to Premier League weekend games and European competition.
Take the example of Steven Gerrard’s latest injury. It seems that Gerrard has been playing on a groin injury for a while, even after further aggravating it in a midweek Champion’s League qualifier that Liverpool had to win. So what does Manager Rafa Benitez do? Asks him to gut it out for the weekend Premier League game and then schedule surgery for the international break – which, as you can imagine, did not initially sit well with England Manager Fabio Capello.
Rafa Benitez insisted he had made his peace with England coach Fabio Capello yesterday and dismissed claims of a breakdown in communication over Steven Gerrard’s latest injury absence.
Gerrard will have the second of two minor groin operations today and will miss Capello’s first two competitive games in charge, as England begin their World Cup campaign against Andorra next Saturday and Croatia four days later.
Capello was reportedly unhappy at being kept in the dark over Liverpool’s decision to arrange surgery for their skipper in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday night’s Champions League qualifying round win over Standard Liege.
Now it seems that captain John Terry, Frank Lampard, Owen Hargreaves, Wes Brown, and Ashley Cole will also miss one or both international games – which leaves me wondering how England is expected to get a result against Croatia – the team that will most likely be their toughest competition in the group – in a competition where, unlike Euro 2008 qualifying, winning the group is paramount to qualification. I know it happens on-and-off already, but is this going to get to the point where clubs will start to come up with all kinds of excuses to keep their best players out of all international games?
I suppose the good thing is that some non-regulars like Fulham’s Jimmy Bullard will get a chance to impress Capello. But without some kind of continuity in Capello’s system, how can the team be expected to play as a unit? Some would say Capello should drop the overpaid regulars and give the young England stars more consideration. But Capello seems to have a fondness for a more grizzled England team (see:David Beckham) with Michael Owen the only notable exception.
I say instead of picking an England All-Star team, just send Aston Villa. They seem to be the only Premier League team stockpiling young England talent (Ashley Young, Gabby Agbonlahor, Gareth Barry, Steve Sidwell, Luke Young, Curtis Davies, etc.) and there’ll be no worries about not playing together. I suppose they need to find someone to replace Carew, Laursen, Friedel and a few others, but it would certainly have saved them from paying both Shteve McClaren and Fabio Capello all that money when they could get the guy (Martin O’Neill) they probably should have hired after Sven left. Of course we’ll look past the fact that Villa’s owners are American and their manager is Irish!
Popularity: unranked [?]
May 21, 2008
They Must Be Punished
It’s the Cold War Final. An English team with a Russian owner and an English team with an American owner playing in Moscow a week after a Russian fan was stabbed in Manchester and 18 months after a Russian defector at odds with Vladimir Putin was poisoned (allegedly) in London … with Polonium. Throw in an Israeli coach, a distant cousin of Mariah Carey, the no-tolerance police, rat infested jails, traditionally binge-drinking English fans and Russian hooligans bent on revenge and you have all the makings of a grand spectacle!
Sie sind die besten, indeed!
Popularity: unranked [?]
April 8, 2008
Wenger’s Done
If you don’t believe me – look at his body language. He’s been increasingly visibly upset in recent games as Arsenal’s Premier League season has unraveled, and once again in Liverpool as their Champions League campaign fizzled. Even before Adebayor’s supposed away-goal winner went in and especially after the Toure penalty on Babel, Wenger looked like he wanted to wrestle anyone in his immediate path. Why would he be behaving like this?
My only answer is that he knows this is his last year in North London. Even before this past off-season started, David Dien left the club. Dein was Wenger’s biggest supporter and the one that brought him to Arsenal 10+ years ago. And the ensuing few months were filled with wild speculation over takeovers from Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov. And even though Wenger signed an extension earlier this season, one wonders that there isn’t an easily triggered out clause.
With many apparent openings in top European sides this summer (Madrid, Barcelona, the Milans, etc.) no doubt they’d love to have Wenger’s coaching talents and his beautiful free-flowing style of football. And without an uncertain transfer budget to worry about, he could build a team with the depth that he couldn’t afford at Arsenal.
Of course, I could be reading way too much into this. Maybe he was just upset that a 5 point lead in the Premiership evaporated just as soon as Eduardo’s broke his leg and now with the domestic cups gone and the European Cup run teetering, the only thing to look forward to was a slim chance of passing both Manchester United and Chelsea in the league.
But I don’t have a good feeling about this.
Popularity: unranked [?]
March 26, 2008
REDACTED: Paul Jewel and News Of The World
A juicy tabloid story about Paul Jewel’s sex scandal appeared on News Of The World yesterday, complete with photos and tasty descriptions and punny turns of phrases, like:
Prem boss in sex video shame
A MARRIED Premier League manager has filmed himself bedding a blonde lover in a shocking hour-long video.
Soccer boss Paul Jewell is today filmed scoring a shameful OWN GOAL—as he romps with a married blonde lover behind his devoted wife’s back.
The Derby County manager hits the net more times than his relegation-haunted team have managed all season in a sleazy HOUR-LONG home-made BONDAGE PORN VIDEO.
Dad-of-two Jewell likes to portray himself as a staunch family man. And he has even bragged that he gives his players marriage guidance counselling.
But all that is as forgotten as Derby’s last victory as the portly Scouser—whose club is aptly nicknamed the Rams—pounds away at his mystery busty blonde in a series of sessions filmed in living rooms and a bedroom.
He also videos her sprawled near-naked in graphic poses over a Mercedes.
And before the match kick-off excited Jewell can be seen painstakingly setting up his camcorder on the sidelines, hopping to and fro as he laboriously works out his TACTICS, ANGLES and POSITIONS.
Today the club’s chairman and fans might think it’s a pity Jewell didn’t show the same passion for detail in his job this season.
Unfortunately, as tends to happen, the story was pulled – probably for legal reasons. It’s a good thing I still had a copy in my browser cache. Amazing what managing Derby leads you to do.
Popularity: unranked [?]
February 13, 2008
Arsenal: The Soul Of English Football
You know – I see a lot written and said about how Arsenal with their foreign manager and lack of English talent are ruining the Premier League and the soul of English football. Similar comments were made when Fabio Capello was hired as England manager – xenophobic, to be sure. Then when the Premier League unveiled their plan to go International, the same complaints came up yet again. But why? Sue Mott wrote an interesting article in the Telegraph proclaiming that while Premier League boss Richard Scudamore was a blight on the soul of the game for the average fan, he was no idiot, and that there must be something afoot. Something on the order of stemming a breakaway league or an individual TV rights:
There is no doubt that Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool would find a lucrative market abroad. With their glossy foreign players and three out of four foreign managers, the next logical step would be to have training bases and matches abroad, perhaps one day soon? in a global Super League which invites the likes of Real Madrid, Inter Milan and, if money is the only language, LA Galaxy to join in.
Perhaps this is the vision that terrifies the Premier League stragglers, all 16 of them. They fear the day that the supreme artists of domestic football, the money-makers and rakers of the Premier League, move on to a more natural habitat on the French Riviera or a purposely-bought Caribbean Island. Anything to cling on to the coattails of that little goldmine. Anything is better than languishing in the remnants of decapitated, land-locked English football.
Look at it. Manchester United have record revenues but profits only enough to cover their enormous debt. Chelsea is seemingly never going to balance the books and keep winning titles. Liverpool is as mortgaged as the entire west coast of California. Then you have Alex Ferguson ducking out after his city came to a standstill to honor their fallen so he could promote a tour in South Africa or wherever it was … only a few weeks after taking his team to play a testimonial in Saudi Arabia in the middle of a week of a busy season. These new foreign owners are not about breaking even. They’re about making a profit, and doing it in whatever way possible. Including an integrity-compromised 39th fixture.
As an Arsenal supporter, it would be nice to have more access to my team here in the US, but I understand. However, it should be noted that of the Big 4, Arsenal are the only ones with majority English ownership and direction, a solid business and operating structure, and with an Academy producing English talent that aren’t hemorrhaging cash and chasing dollars 4 and 5 timezones away. As Obi Wan in Star Wars would say, “These are not the droids you are looking for.”
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Popularity: unranked [?]
December 28, 2007
Barton arrested. Which one? BOTH!
The question is – which one do you hate more. I hate Joey more. I never really watched the OC, or even knew anything about it other than geographic location. But I suppose Mischa is hate-able too. DUI and drugs ain’t like beating someone up.
| Mischa Barton Arrested For DUI, Drug Possession
According to an arrest report obtained by MTV News, Barton was stopped just before 3 a.m. after police noticed her car had been weaving back and forth, crossing the traffic line that runs down the middle of North La Cienega Boulevard. Police further noticed the car’s driver failed to signal before making a turn. Barton was taken into custody and transported to the sheriff’s West Hollywood station, where she was booked and processed. It was at that time that police learned the 21-year-old actress was an unlicensed driver, and that she was intoxicated, the sheriff’s department said. According to Reuters, Barton was also suspected to be in possession of marijuana and an unidentified controlled substance. No further information on the arrest was available at press time. |
Joey Barton arrested in assault probe
A Merseyside Police spokesman said: “Two males aged 25 and 19 and a women aged 27 were arrested at 5.30am today on Church Street in Liverpool City Centre following an allegation of assault. “All three remain in custody for interview and processing and I expect a decision on charges or release will be made later.” Barton missed Newcastle’s game on Boxing Day due to an ankle injury and is believed to have travelled to Liverpool for a night out in the city. According to reports, a complaint was made by two men who said they had been attacked by Barton and his companions. |
Perhaps some other Bartons should also be arrested pre-emptively: Dick Barton. Reid Barton. Clara Barton?
Popularity: 1% [?]
