Day -417 WorldCup2018
You know it's been a crazy odd day when you get to sit down in the evening to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs try and prolong their season and you realise that you don't even know who won the FA Cup semi final today, and if Liverpool and Manchester United won their league matches. Well, it doesn't constitute a crazy day for you, just me.
And just earlier today I was thinking to when I first came to Canada and the struggle to find out European football results. It was not on TV much, there was very little Internet (and I didn't really have either) and I wasn't interested in buying Canadian newspapers. What did I want with Canadian news? So I would either go into the newspaper shop and discreetly open the sports page, or I would call the talking yellow pages. No, not the talking yellow pages. What was it called? There was a number to call for sports, another one for the news, the weather, to listen to recorded updates. The sports dude was a happy guy with a Caribbean accent. Unfortunately, sometimes he must have been too busy with his other job as the updates were not updated for a few days.
By the time English football started I was already exhausted from arguing about Maltese politics in the early morning. My post about the subject generated more interest than my indirect reference to football and politics in Azerbaijan, Panama and Malta yesterday. Later in the morning I was off to see art in Buffalo. Refusing as I do to pay for Internet on the other side of the border I was completely in the dark. All I knew before I set off on the road was that Aston Villa had beaten Birmingham 1-0, in the derby that I couldn't care much about. Villa are strolling and daydreaming their way to the end of the season, but still Harry Redknapp's new team couldn't get the result they needed to move away from the relegation zone.
With my head still reeling from the day it struck me with almost a sense of embarrassment that I dint know what happened today. It was time for a quick check. Man United beat Burnley, Liverpool lost again to a bottom half team, this time Crystal Palace, Arsenal beat Man City after extra time in the FA Cup and Messi scored a last second winner against Real Madrid. What a day.
And in Greece, Olympiakos celebrated winning the league except, hold on, they might not have actually won it. They are six points ahead of PAOK with one game to go but Olympiakos may get a six point deduction for the fans' behaviour in their recent defeat to AEK Athens in the Greek Cup. Imagine they do lose the six points. This could get worse.
Finally, I wanted to mention Leyton Orient yesterday but got distracted by fantasies of a three team tournament between Malta, Panama and Azerbaijan. Leyton Orient were relegated out of the league after 112 years. They were never hugely spectacular or significant in my lifetime but they were always a fixture in my head with their unique sounding name. Three years ago they were within a penalty shoot out of winning promotion to the Championship. Today they are looking at re-building as a semi-professional non-league team. Like many other teams in English football they are victims of selfish, greedy owners who didn't care much about the the tradition of the club, or the football side of it. The club is severely in debt and may not even exist next year. It's sad for the supporters who invest so much emotional energy in the team, and money, and they get rewarded with owners who don't give a toss about them. At least it's more straightforward to get back into the league these days, with promotion between the Conference and League 2. Gone are the days of teams being elected into the league, by the league.
Tomorrow Newcastle play Preston looking to not get sucked into an end of season slump of massive proportions. They were looking like dead certainties for promotion. Now they are nervously looking over the shoulder at Reading and Huddersfield. And I will know the result before the day ends.
You know it's been a crazy odd day when you get to sit down in the evening to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs try and prolong their season and you realise that you don't even know who won the FA Cup semi final today, and if Liverpool and Manchester United won their league matches. Well, it doesn't constitute a crazy day for you, just me.
And just earlier today I was thinking to when I first came to Canada and the struggle to find out European football results. It was not on TV much, there was very little Internet (and I didn't really have either) and I wasn't interested in buying Canadian newspapers. What did I want with Canadian news? So I would either go into the newspaper shop and discreetly open the sports page, or I would call the talking yellow pages. No, not the talking yellow pages. What was it called? There was a number to call for sports, another one for the news, the weather, to listen to recorded updates. The sports dude was a happy guy with a Caribbean accent. Unfortunately, sometimes he must have been too busy with his other job as the updates were not updated for a few days.
By the time English football started I was already exhausted from arguing about Maltese politics in the early morning. My post about the subject generated more interest than my indirect reference to football and politics in Azerbaijan, Panama and Malta yesterday. Later in the morning I was off to see art in Buffalo. Refusing as I do to pay for Internet on the other side of the border I was completely in the dark. All I knew before I set off on the road was that Aston Villa had beaten Birmingham 1-0, in the derby that I couldn't care much about. Villa are strolling and daydreaming their way to the end of the season, but still Harry Redknapp's new team couldn't get the result they needed to move away from the relegation zone.
With my head still reeling from the day it struck me with almost a sense of embarrassment that I dint know what happened today. It was time for a quick check. Man United beat Burnley, Liverpool lost again to a bottom half team, this time Crystal Palace, Arsenal beat Man City after extra time in the FA Cup and Messi scored a last second winner against Real Madrid. What a day.
And in Greece, Olympiakos celebrated winning the league except, hold on, they might not have actually won it. They are six points ahead of PAOK with one game to go but Olympiakos may get a six point deduction for the fans' behaviour in their recent defeat to AEK Athens in the Greek Cup. Imagine they do lose the six points. This could get worse.
Finally, I wanted to mention Leyton Orient yesterday but got distracted by fantasies of a three team tournament between Malta, Panama and Azerbaijan. Leyton Orient were relegated out of the league after 112 years. They were never hugely spectacular or significant in my lifetime but they were always a fixture in my head with their unique sounding name. Three years ago they were within a penalty shoot out of winning promotion to the Championship. Today they are looking at re-building as a semi-professional non-league team. Like many other teams in English football they are victims of selfish, greedy owners who didn't care much about the the tradition of the club, or the football side of it. The club is severely in debt and may not even exist next year. It's sad for the supporters who invest so much emotional energy in the team, and money, and they get rewarded with owners who don't give a toss about them. At least it's more straightforward to get back into the league these days, with promotion between the Conference and League 2. Gone are the days of teams being elected into the league, by the league.
Tomorrow Newcastle play Preston looking to not get sucked into an end of season slump of massive proportions. They were looking like dead certainties for promotion. Now they are nervously looking over the shoulder at Reading and Huddersfield. And I will know the result before the day ends.
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