Previewing the 2011-12 English Premier League season

By Robert Lawson, International Sports Reporter



(Ed. note: What's past is prologue, as the good bard said. For Robert's recap of the 2010-11 season, see here. As for his preview, it's tough not to see Arsenal near the top, as I've been a life-long Gunners supporter, but, then, I suspect he's right that they'll prove to be something of a disappointment this year, not least because they're just now retooling for the post-Fabregas era. -- MJWS) 



Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. With the exception of matches cancelled in the aftermath of riots that spread throughout England over the last week, the 2011-12 English Premier League is set to begin on Saturday and, though it pains me severely to admit it, it is a near certainty that Manchester United will be champions once again. 



Manchester United to Repeat as Champions

Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, and Paul Scholes have retired, and Wes Brown and John O'Shea, deemed surplus to requirements, were sold on to Sunderland, but United surely look even better coming into this season. Ashley Young will provide added depth on the wing and youngsters such as Tom Cleverly (who looked terrific in the second half of last weekend's Community Shield) and Danny Welbeck could force their way into the reckoning for places. The possibility of adding Wesley Sneijder into an attack that already includes the likes of Rooney, Berbatov, Nani, Young, and Javier Hernandez is a terrifying prospect for any back line in England.

The only possible concern for Sir Alex Ferguson is the distraction of winning in Europe but, truthfully, it's never been much of a bother before and it won't be now. Indeed, I fully expect United to make it to the semi-finals of the Champions League, at least, while coasting their way to a twentieth English title. 



Champions League Places

To be sure, Manchester City are building a squad capable of challenging their local rivals for the title. After picking up the F.A. Cup and finally qualifying for the Champions League with a third place finish last season, City went out and bought Sergio Agüero from Atlético Madrid for £38m and Gaël Clichy from Arsenal for £7m to strengthen an already formidable squad. While the future of want-away Argentine Carlos Tevez remains uncertain, it is hard to imagine Roberto Mancini not getting City into second place this season. But there's still some distance to go before they're champions.

Chelsea should finally see some return on the investment made last season in Fernando Torres. The hiring of former Porto boss André Villas-Boas is an unusually smart managerial decision by owner Roman Abramovich but this is for all intents and purposes the same team from last year. While I would expect Villas-Boas to extract more from this squad than Carlo Ancelotti did, third seems the limit and the likely destination.

Liverpool owner John W. Henry has sanctioned a massive outlay on players since Kenny Dalglish was appointed manager mid-way through last season with the expectation that it will result in a return to the Champions League this season. Fortunately for him and Liverpool's increasingly anxious supporters, I think King Kenny has done enough to satisfy the yearning at Anfield to be back among the top four. Adding Luis Suárez (recently named player of the tournament at the Copa América) and Andy Carroll in the January transfer window and then Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson this summer into a midfield already bursting at the seams with Raul Meireles, Lucas Leiva, Alberto Aquilani, Maxi Rodriguez, Jay Spearing, and Steven Gerrard (still recovering from injury) is not enough to propel Liverpool into genuine contention for the title but it should see them to a reasonably comfortable fourth place finish. The back four has been a glaring weakness but adding left back José Enrique from Newcastle will help considerably. For what it's worth, Liverpool's competition this year will be much weakened Arsenal and Spurs, not the likes of United, City, and Chelsea. 



The Comfortable Middle



Spurs look to continue their drift out of the "big four" this season having brought in no new players. Indeed, manager Harry Redknapp is likely to spend most of his time and effort this season coddling want-away midfielder Luka Modric, whose head has been turned by neighbours Chelsea, and warding off would-be suitors from around Europe for Gareth Bale.

There seems to be no signs of Arsenal's dreadful finish in the second half of last season abating anytime soon. With Clichy already out the door, Niklas Bendtner half-way out and players already resigned to losing two of the club's best players, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas, the prospects of improvement seem grim. The signing of highly touted 17-year-old Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton may help down the road but seems unlikely to yield immediate dividends.

After the top six the quality in the English top flight drops off markedly. The likes of Everton and Aston Villa have once again failed to make the necessary investments to improve their squads.



Everton have once again merely consolidated but Villa's loss of Downing and Young, in particular, will limit the effectiveness of striker Darren Bent. Indeed, Villa seems headed for another frustrating season where goals are hard to come by. The purchase of Charles N'Zogbia from Wigan will help but it's difficult to imagine anything but a mid-table slog this season.

Sunderland, Fulham Stoke, and Bolton will once again provide a few hiccups for the Premier League's big boys but appear no closer to moving beyond their comfortably established mid-table status. 



The Relegation Candidates



Blackburn, Wigan, Newcastle, Wolves, and all three of the Premiership's promoted clubs (Queens Park Rangers (QPR), Norwich, and Swansea) will vie for survival this season.



Newcastle looks set to plummet into the relegation zone with a mass exodus of players over the last six months. Manager Alan Pardew has already lost Andy Carroll, captain Kevin Nolan, and José Enrique, and now has to figure out whether he can keep Joey Barton around. One wonders what he'll have left to work with when the season begins on Saturday.



Blackburn and Wigan, in particular, appear to be sinking like a stone and I could easily see one, if not both, relegated.



Wigan survived by the skin of their teeth last season but I can't fathom manager Roberto Martínez achieving the same outcome this time without N'Zogbia around any longer.



Blackburn are a total shambles on and off the pitch and survival for another season looks impossible to me.



All three promoted clubs have done little to nothing to improve the sides that got them out of the Championship (second division). Fortunately for them, with Blackburn and Wigan looking so abject in comparison, there's a golden opportunity for two of these clubs to avoid the immediate dispatch back down.



In the end, I think it will be Blackburn, Wigan, and Swansea relegated to the Championship when all is said and done. 



Summary of Predictions 



Champions: Manchester United.



Champions League: Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool.



Relegation: Blackburn, Wigan, and Swansea.



F.A. Cup: Liverpool



League Cup: Manchester City



First Sacking: Steve Kean (Blackburn)



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Photo 1: Wayne Rooney et al. celebrate for Manchester United. 



Photo 2: Manchester rivals Nemanja Vidić (United) and Mario Balotelli (City).

Photo 3: Three new Liverpool players -- Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson, and Stewart Downing.

Photo 4: A displeased Arsène Wenger, Arsenal's manager.



Photo 5: Luka Modrić and Gareth Bale in happier times at Spurs.

Recapping the 2010-11 English Premier League season

By Robert Lawson, International Sports Reporter

Ed. note: As I noted in my introduction to Robert's introductory post last week, we'll be doing a bit more sports here at The Reaction -- some baseball and football in particular, but also international sports. (But without losing our focus on U.S. politics, which will only get more intense as we enter the crazy primary season this fall, with the votes in Iowa and New Hampshire soon upon us in the new year.)

Well, Robert knows his international sports, and here's his recap of the 2010-11 English Premier League season. His preview of the 2011-12 season, which starts on Saturday, will appear over the next few days. Stay tuned for that -- and then for posts throughout the season. I'm sure you'll like his stuff, on "football" and on so much else.

-- MJWS 

********** 

English football fans rejoice! In my first full post as International Sports Reporter, I'm going to recap last year's English Premier League season. This will help set the stage for my preview of the upcoming 2011-12 Premiership set to begin this weekend.

Last season, much to the chagrin of Liverpool supporters, Manchester United finally fulfilled Sir Alex Ferguson's long-standing vow to "[knock] Liverpool right off their fucking perch" by winning their nineteenth league title (Liverpool have won eighteen). Fortunately for the red half of Merseyside, United weren't able to move closer to the club's English record five European Cups, having lost in the Champions League final at Wembley to Barcelona in May (leaving them stuck on three).  

After a few years of exorbitant spending by Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi United Group, Manchester City finally won a trophy (the F.A. Cup) and qualified for the Champions League, a benchmark that even the richest clubs must meet to attract the world's top players. Although talisman Carlos Tevez appears to be no longer willing to stomach another season in Manchester away from his family in Argentina, the Sheikh's seemingly bottomless bank vaults should ensure City's quest for the title will continue.

Much to the satisfaction of those of us who've grown weary of the English media's incessant fawning over Arsene Wenger's commitment to developing players from within and his insistence on playing "beautiful" football at all costs, Arsenal's continued to win nothing. Trophy-less though they may be, the Gunners did secure a Champions League place again (albeit in the play-off round), so I suppose that's some solace for the supporters.

Meanwhile, 2009-10 champions Chelsea, despite buying Fernando Torres for £50 million from Liverpool in January, surprisingly failed to win a trophy for the first time since 2007-08, though they, too, secured a Champions League place with a second-place finish.

Tottenham's time in the Champions League places proved ephemeral, though Spurs did manage to pip Liverpool for a spot in this year's Europa League competition. Last-minute addition Rafael van der Vaart, bought for £8 million at the end of the 2010 summer transfer window, was an immediate success and seems to have resurrected his once-promising career at White Hart Lane. (I suppose these two sentences point in the direction of an imminent departure.)

As for the club close to my heart, Liverpool withstood a tumult of turmoil over the course of the first half of the season (during which they were, at times, barely above the relegation zone) and managed to finish sixth. While perhaps disappointed with the lack of a European place and the mid-season departure of Torres, the second half of the season offered ample evidence for supporters to feel optimistic going forward. Off the pitch, the club's longstanding ownership difficulties were finally settled with the purchase of the club by Fenway Sports Group, led by Boston Red Sox owner John W. Henry. On the pitch, legendary player/manager "King" Kenny Dalglish returned to manage the club after Roy Hodgson was sacked in early January and forwards Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll were brought in to fill the void left by Torres. (Suarez, in particular, was one of the best players in England over the last half of the season.)

Fellow Merseysiders Everton once again managed to be a thorn in the side of many top clubs yet still failed to find their way out of the mid-table mire, finishing seventh. As difficult as it is to admit for a Liverpool supporter, David Moyes has done an outstanding job during his tenure as manager of the self-proclaimed "People's Club" given the paltry level of investment in the squad. One does wonder though how much longer he's willing to put up with the empty pockets routine before he gets fed up and chases a bigger opportunity.

Fellow mid-tablers Aston Villa finished... you guessed it, mid-table (ninth). They did break the bank though for striker Darren Bent from Sunderland with a successful £18 million bid in January. Bent scored nine goals during the second half of the season with Villa but it's hard to imagine him continuing that torrid pace now that he won't have Ashley Young or Stewart Downing putting balls into the box for him any longer.

2009-10 Football League Championship (second division) winners Newcastle and runners-up West Bromwich Albion both managed to stay up despite sacking managers mid-season, finishing twelfth and eleventh respectively.

Birmingham City followed up the euphoria of a League Cup win at Wembley in February with the ignominy of relegation in April. Joining the Brummies in the Championship this year will be Blackpool and West Ham.

Down in the The Championship, Queens Park Rangers and Norwich both won automatic promotion to the Premier League while Swansea returned to English football's top flight for the first time since 1983 with a play-off victory over Reading at Wembley. The Swans will be the first Welsh club to play in the Premier League since it was formed in 1992.

Will any of the Premier League's new clubs avoid the drop this season? Will Manchester United repeat as champions? Will Liverpool make it back into the top four? Will Arsene Wenger finally have to admit that Arsenal are failing not because of unfair refereeing but because they're simply not good enough? Will Everton win a match before Christmas? Will Newcastle have any players when the season starts? I'll let you know what I think later this week.

Introducing our new... International Sports Reporter!

By Robert Lawson, International Sports Reporter

Ed. note: As you may have noticed, we've been blogging a bit more than usual about sports recently. While I have no intention of shifting our focus away from U.S. politics, I think it's good to branch out and cover other topics well beyond the world of politics -- art, music, film, television, philosophy, etc. And that includes sports -- because, well, many of here are serious sports fans. In the coming weeks, Richard and I will be starting up a weekly football post on Sunday mornings, complete with our picks. As well, we'll continue to write every now and again about baseball, hockey, and whatever else gets us going.

I'm pleased to introduce our new International Sports Reporter, Robert Lawson. He's a good friend of mine and I can think of no one better to cover the world of soccer (he'll call it football -- just humour him), hockey, rugby, and so on. The guy knows his sports. If you're already a fan, I think you'll really like his engaging takes on the English Premiership, and on whatever else he decides to cover. If not, I encourage you to give him a chance. He's a great writer, and I'm sure you'll find his posts entertaining. 

(And if you're an audiophile, audio tech nerd, or vinyl enthusiast, or some combination thereof, or if you just love great music, check out his blog Analogue Adventures.)

With that, let me turn it over to Robert for his introductory post...

-- MJWS

**********

Hello, everyone. I'm happy to introduce myself to you as the new International Sports Reporter here at The Reaction.

In the main, I'll be writing (well, ranting in prose, to be precise) here about the beautiful game. While my focus will be English football, I'll also keep tabs on some of the other top European leagues (especially Spain, Italy, and Germany) and club competitions (Champions League and Europa League). With Euro 2012 on the horizon and the early stages of World Cup qualifying set to begin here in North America, I also intend to write a bit about international football.

In addition to the football, there will be a few posts here and there about rugby (union), cricket, and many other types of sport typically overlooked, ignored, and even ridiculed in this part of the world.

That said, I'll admit my bias right away. My primary interest is and will be the English Premier League.

This is, in large part, a product of Scouse heritage. I'm an ardent supporter of Liverpool with little time for Everton, little love for Manchester United, and unyielding fealty to King Kenny Dalglish. Indeed, I've been following Liverpool and English top flight football since the late-1980s, when I used to wake up early every Saturday morning to watch Soccer Saturday on TSN (Canada's main sports network) with Graham Leggat. I've also been to Anfield on multiple occasions.

For what it's worth, I typically spend the entirety of Saturday and Sunday morning watching matches. Much to our good fortune up here in Canada, we get at least six matches a week on TV and often more. And I do try to keep up with the football news at The Guardian, the BBC, Sky Sports, and ESPN Soccernet, among others, during the week. In other words, I'm keenly aware of what's happening each week in English football.

With that said, I hope you enjoy my contributions here a The Reaction and I look forward to your contributions in the comments section.

Keep your eyes peeled for my next two posts: a recap of the 2010-11 Premiership and a preview of the 2011-12 season, set to begin on Saturday, August 13.

This day in history - July 31, 1981: A 42-day Major League Baseball strike ends

By Richard K. Barry

Now that the football lockout is over, I was just thinking about other memorable labor issues, past and present, in professional sports.

In fact, the 1981 baseball strike was the fifth work stoppage in Major League Baseball (MLB) since the 1972 baseball strike. The 1981 strike forced the cancellation of 713 games, which accounted for 38 percent of the MLB schedule.

And who could forget the 1994-95 baseball strike, which was the eighth stoppage in MLB history. This one was a 232-day strike, which lasted from August 12, 1994 to April 2, 1995, and led to the cancellation of between 931 and 948 games, including the entire 1994 postseason and World Series.

I was going to list all strikes and lockouts for MLB, the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL), but I counted 17 and just don't have the patience. If you're interested, you can find the info here.

And if you follow round ball you know that the NBA is currently in a lockout situation, which is now going into Day 28, and guess what else? The Collective Bargaining Agreements for MLB and the NHL expire on Dec. 11, 2011 and Sept. 15, 2012, respectively.

As I have said elsewhere, I don't begrudge players fighting for better deals, but, as a fan, I hate to see the games get damaged.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

Reveries of football past and future: Thoughts on the Giants, the Steelers, and the return of the NFL

By Richard K. Barry and Michael J.W. Stickings 

RKB:

I was clicking around the channels yesterday afternoon and came upon an NFL Network segment about the New York Giants win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII on February 3, 2008.

In one of the more famous games in Super Bowl history, my beloved Giants, huge underdogs, beat the previously undefeated Patriots 17-14 -- but you probably knew that.

It will always be one of the most exciting days of my life.

It looks like the lockout is expected to end next week, which pleases me. I never really paid much attention to the relative merits of the positions of management vs. the players. On principle, I always side with the union and hope these guys can get as much out of their careers before the inevitable sixth concussion or blown knee sends them back home for good.

Referring to a long-forgotten sports strike of years past, some wag once said, "no one ever showed up to watch the owners play." Quite so.

But I do love my football, and watching the rehash of how the Giants beat the Pats reminded me how much.

For me, it's all about the cycle of life. My year doesn't begin on January 1st. It begins with that first kick-off of the first game of the regular season.

Yes, I'm a Giants fan. The first superstar for the team I recall was quarterback Y.A. Tittle. There's even a family story about me at about 5 years old being angry with my dad about something and, knowing that he was a big Giants fan too, blurting out, as if to sting him in some way, that "Y.A. Tittle's not very good, either, so there."

And even suffering through some really bad Giants' football in the 60s and 70s doesn't matter. I've loved it all.

It is an amazing thing that grown men and women can obsess about their favorite sports team and have a lousy day or week because their beloved franchise lost a game - not necessarily a big game, just a game. But, I'm one of those. My wife even knows that if the Giants lose she should offer sincere condolences as if something really bad happened.

Crazy, I know.

As I said, I'm glad the league looks like it's getting back to business. When the weather starts to turn, and the leaves along with it, with the fireplace raging in the living room and the game on the big screen television, I am a happy man.

Let's get to it.

**********

MJWS:

I was happy the Giants defeated the Patriots that day, but of course my focus is on my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers. (The Giants? Whatever. I prefer to ignore them. As long as they beat the Cowboys, I'm fine.)

(Yes, that's Terry Bradshaw over there, their great QB of the '70s, one of my favourite players when I was a kid and fell in love with them.)

Now, it's been a rough stretch for the Steelers of late. Hines Ward -- arrested on a DUI. James Harrison -- saying some not-so-nice things about Commissioner Goodell and his own teammates. And, of course, Big Ben -- that whole saga last year. Not to mention Rashard Mendenhall's controversial tweets, though I'll still defend him.

But this is still the best and classiest franchise in the NFL, starting with the Rooney family, right on down through Coach Mike Tomlin and the players themselves. Ultimately, I trust they'll get their act together when it matters. Coming off a Super Bowl defeat earlier this year, I worry they'll collapse into mediocrity this year, as they have after recent Super Bowl victories, but, if they play up to their potential, they should compete for a playoff spot and could just make another run at the Super Bowl.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now, I'm just happy the league -- owners, players -- seems to have come to its senses. There are billions of dollars to be made. Surely sacrifices can be made on both sides. Surely they can come to a deal that benefits everyone. And it looks like they have. This means we football fans can start focusing again on what we love. Well, we never didn't, but it's official again -- almost.

Honestly, what was I supposed to do without the Steelers? So much of my time, especially in the fall, is spent obsessing about them. And what was I supposed to do without fantasy football? I already have tickets for a game in Pittsburgh, and now I can look forward to that knowing it won't be cancelled. And, to me, there's nothing like going to Pittsburgh, a wonderful city with wonderful people, for a Steelers game. And I can also get my fantasy league going. That's serious business. I hardly wanted to face the emptiness of no season and -- gasp! -- no fantasy season.

So it's back. The NFL. Football. Football!!!!!

There is order to the universe again, a purpose.

Happiness indeed.

The Stanley Cup finals, the Vancouver Canucks, and hockey in Canada

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I grew up in Montreal and, as you might imagine (if you know anything about hockey), am a Habs fan, but when it comes to this year's Stanley Cup finals between Boston and Vancouver, the choice for me is clear. It's the Canucks all the way. Partly it's ABB -- Anyone But Boston. I despise the Bruins. But it would also be nice for a Canadian team to win the Cup. It hasn't happened since the Canadiens won for the 24th time in 1993.

As you may have heard, if you didn't see the game, Vancouver won the series opener 1-0 last night with the deciding goal scored late in the third period -- actually, with just 18.5 second left.

Actually, these are extremely good times for hockey in Canada. (And it's about time.) We won the men's and women's Olympic gold medals in Vancouver last year. We have the Canucks. And now we also have a new team, the Winnipeg somethings (Jets?), with the announcement just this week that the Atlanta Thrashers, struggling in a virtually non-existent hockey market, had been sold and would move to Manitoba.

The NHL's -- and specifically commissioner Gary Bettman's -- ridiculous expansion plan into non-hockey markets in the U.S., all to secure revenue (mostly from a TV deal) that hasn't come, has been, for the most part, an embarrassing failure. While some franchises have done fairly well, like Dallas, others have struggled badly, like Atlanta, Phoenix, Nashville, and the two Florida teams. (To be fair, other franchises even in major markets have struggled as well, like the Islanders, on Long Island.)

Instead of trying to make it where hockey barely registers, it would be far better for the NHL to focus on traditional hockey markets with committed fan bases. Winnipeg is a start, but Quebec City should have a team again (the Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche, just as the Winnipeg Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes) and the Toronto area, the most important hockey market in the world, should have a second team, either in Hamilton, a city roughly halfway between Toronto and Buffalo, or somewhere even closer to Toronto. We could certainly sustain both the Maple Leafs and another team.

Other than Toronto/Hamilton, these Canadian cities, like Winnipeg and Quebec City, may be smaller than Atlanta and Phoenix, but it's not the size of the city or metropolitan area, it's the commitment to hockey. And we have it. Oh, do we have it.

But back to the game...

I have one team and one team only: the Montreal Canadiens. I grew up with them, I idolized Lafleur and Robinson and Dryden and the rest of the players on those great teams of the '70s, and I was there with my dad, at the old Forum, when they won the Cup against the Rangers in 1979. We've won the Cup twice since then, but it's been a challenging time in recent years for the greatest, most glorious franchise in the history of hockey.

I don't always root for the Canadian teams next -- I also despise the Maple Leafs, for example, and I wouldn't always go for the Canadian team over the American -- but this year I really do hope we get the Cup back. Go Canucks!

(photo)

The guilty pleasure of watching professional football

By R.K. Barry

Last week I stumbled on an article about the long-term health impacts on those who play professional football. The article referenced a University of North Carolina study that indicated that:

[r]epeatedly concussed National Football League players had five times the rate of mild cognitive impairment (pre-Alzheimer) than the average population [and that] retired NFL players suffer from Alzheimer's disease at a 37 per cent higher rate than average.

But the really chilling finding of the study was that "the average life expectancy of all pro football players, including all positions and backgrounds, is 55. Several insurance carriers say it is 51."

The article citing the study went on to quote many people associated with professional football, as they all agreed that this was concerning and that they would continue to do things like modifying rules and improving equipment to better protect players.

Okay. All good.

Who knows how accurate these projections are. But I don't think it is particularly controversial to suggest that the game is ending lives prematurely -- and apparently by a lot.

I write this as a football fan. I love my New York Giants and go back so far as to have vague recollections of Y.A. Tittle playing at Yankee Stadium. But I wouldn't have much of a moral compass if I wasn't a little worried by all of this.

To a degree, I comfort myself with the thought that I am more a fan of the finesse part of the game, the strategy, the athleticism, rather than the brute violence -- but the game is violent. When played as designed, very large, very fast men hit each other hard enough to cause permanent damage, leading to significantly shortened lifespans.

There are all sorts of ways to rationalize this. Many of the players are making obscene amounts of money, likely more than they would ever make in any other occupation. The decision to play belongs to them. Other jobs are dangerous and the payoff not as rich. All true, but we don't cheer on cops and fireman doing their jobs in the hope that something violent and exciting might happen (unless we are really sick).

In truth, I don't know where this discussion goes in my own mind. I'm still going to watch football should there be a season come September.

But I can't help thinking that we haven't progressed all that far from the days of the gladiators who might be taken away dead immediately after competition. The only difference now is that athletes have to wait 15 or 20 years before the ravages of the game take their final toll -- decades before a natural life expectancy would demand.

Something to think about. 

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

Wishing Blue Jays Major League prospect Darin Mastroianni good luck

By R.K. Barry and Michael J.W. Stickings 

RKB:

I've been a baseball fan for a long time. My first team was the New York Mets and I'm just old enough to have really enjoyed watching the Miracle Mets win the 1969 World Series. I remember it well. Having moved to Toronto many years ago, I've become a serious Blue Jays fan and recall fondly the '92 and '93 Series wins.

A special treat for me this year is that the son of a grade-school friend is competing for a spot with the Blue Jays. His name is Darin Mastroianni and, according to his bio, he's a speedy outfielder who played Double A ball last year and was called up to join the 40-man roster last fall and is now in Florida trying to make the team.

The truth is that his father, Paul, and I knew each other when we were between 5 and 10 years old, then went to different junior high schools before going to the same high school. But by then we didn't know each other anymore and never really reconnected. No matter. I remember Paul well and am very excited for him that his son has a real shot at making it with a major league team -- my team, in fact.

If Darin is half as decent a fellow as his dad, he is fully deserving of whatever success comes his way.

Obviously all of these young men playing in a major league setting have family histories and usually fairly conventional life stories -- with the exception of their prodigious athletic talent. It just seems interesting to have had brief contact with the bloodline of a prospective major leaguer more than 20 years before he was born. Maybe that just means I'm getting old.

Anyway, I'm pulling for Darin and wish him well. It would be a blast to watch him play at the SkyDome this season. 

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

**********

 

MJWS:

Forget politics. Baseball's back! Spring Training is in full swing, fantasy fanatics such as myself are preparing for upcoming drafts, and, well, it means better weather is coming. And with the full sports package, I can see pretty much every game this year, every game of every team. Awesome. For all the problems with Major League baseball -- revenue and salary inequality between big and small markets, the steroid era, being a Jays fan and having to play in the same division as the Yanks and Sox -- I just love the game.

Like R.K., I was not a Jays fan at first. I grew up in Montreal and loved the Expos. Even after living in New Jersey, near Boston, and then in Toronto, I remained loyal. I went to all the Jays-Expos games here in Toronto whey they played interleague. But when the Expos moved to Washington, that was it. There was no way I was staying with them. And so it made sense to switch to the Jays, and while it's been a tough stretch these past several years since the switch, I'm really excited going into this year.

No, they're not a playoff team, not yet, but they seem to be on the right track under the leadership of GM Alex Anthopoulos. They have a few key veterans, including big-time slugger Jose Bautista, but they're a team of young hopefully-soon-to-be stars, and I have high hopes that they'll make a huge leap in the right direction this year. I'm not sure if Mastroianni will make the team out of Spring Training, but he's one of the bright young players in the system, and, like R.K., I wish him well.

I would just note, sadly, that it's not SkyDome anymore, it's the Rogers Centre. I do wish it were otherwise. And we really do need an old-fashioned baseball-only stadium in this city, preferably down by the water. As for Rogers, one of Canada's main communications companies, owning the team, well, let's just way I do wish that were otherwise too. But we have to take what we can get, and, for now, Rogers does seem willing to let the baseball people run the show. What we need is some salary cap sanity in the league, and that, combined with the strength of the Canadian dollar, would go a long way towards equalizing the playing field with the big spenders.

Now can we play ball already?! I've been waiting all winter for this. 

Duke Snider (1926-2011)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I'm much too young to remember the playing days of Duke Snider, the great Hall-of-Fame outfielder for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers (1947-62) whose career ended in 1964, but I remember well his many days as one of the voices of the Montreal Expos, from 1973-86.

As a huge Expos fan growing up in Montreal, his was one of the key voices of my childhood. I was still much too young in 1973, but by 1978 and '79 I was listening regularly to Snider and partner Dave Van Horne (the latest winner of the prestigious Ford C. Frick award), and they were wonderful together, at a time when the Expos were a competitive and successful franchise.

Not showy, not flashy, not sensationalist, they were true baseball men, and they knew their stuff. The fact that I'm still such an enormous baseball fan today owes a great deal to them both.

As for Snider, what can I say? He played on some pretty great Dodgers teams, including some memorable Brooklyn ones in the '50s that would have won more World Series than the one they did win (in 1955) had it not been for the damn Yankees, to whom they lost in 1947 (with Snider mostly in the minors and not playing in the World Series), 1949, 1952, 1953, and 1956. (They moved to L.A. in 1958 and won again, with Snider, in 1959.) He didn't put up incredible numbers by Hall standards (.295, 407 HRs, 1,333 RBI), but he made eight all-star teams (1950-56, 1963) and was a superb player.

Here, watch this:

Mark Buehrle vs. Michael Vick

By Michael J.W. Stickings

ESPN:

Chicago White Sox pitcher and animal rights activist Mark Buehrle told MLB.com recently that there were times this season he wished Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick would get hurt.

In 2007, Vick was convicted of a felony related to a dogfighting ring and served 19 months in prison.

"He had a great year and a great comeback, but there were times where we watched the game, and I know it's bad to say, but there were times where we hope he gets hurt," Buehrle told MLB.com. "Everything you've done to these dogs, something bad needs to happen to these guys."

One doesn't necessarily wish injury upon an athlete, even Vick, but it's hard not to appreciate the sentiment.

Yet while I admire Buehrle's and his wife's efforts on behalf of dogs, he's not exactly against animal suffering altogether. You know, because he's a regular dude who loves hunting -- so much so that he even goes bear hunting with a bow and arrow:

The kill was made from about 20 yards away, and the bear ran about another 30 yards before going down. Buehrle plans to have the head stuffed and have a necklace made out of a bear claw.

I know it's bad to say, but there are times I wish he'd gotten mauled by a bear and experienced a bit of suffering himself. It would have served him right.

What a fucking hypocrite. To say the least.

The Packers win Super Bowl XLV. And yet we Steelers fans can still be proud of our team.

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I don't really have all that much to say about the Super Bowl. (I tweeted a lot during the game, so check out my feed and, if you so desire, follow me.)

I was emotionally invested in the Steelers to an incredibly deep degree and it was a tough loss. And yet I'm not terribly disappointed.

I didn't think they'd make it this far, what with Big Ben's suspension and the injuries to key members of the offensive line, and they lost to a really good team on Sunday, a Packers team that was much better than its regular-season record and low playoff seed, a Packers team that is really quite likeable, much more so than the Ravens and the Jets and Steelers's main rivals in the AFC.

Okay, I'm disappointed. But I'm not bitter. And I'm disappointed because they didn't play nearly as well as they could have, and should have. They got off to a terrible start, turned the ball over three times, and didn't come through when it mattered. But they had a chance to win, long before the final drive. They just didn't do it. And while a Super Bowl loss is hard to take, it's still a Super Bowl loss, meaning the Steelers made it further than 30 other teams in the NFL.

I became a Steelers fan back in the '70s, when I was a kid growing up in Montreal. We didn't have an NFL team, obviously, and so everyone just sort of picked one. There were older Giants and Packers fans, newer Dolphins and Vikings fans, and of course, Steelers and Cowboys fans. I don't remember how it happened. I was four or five. I liked the Steelers even before I liked the Canadiens, who are a religion in Montreal. And I got to see them win a couple of Super Bowls, their third and fourth. And then it was a long stretch through some lean years until they got back on top, and I've seen them win two more Super Bowls in just the past several years. And, really, they've been one of the league's top teams for a decade. So why should I be all that disappointed?

I love the Steelers, and I take ever loss hard. After the game I wasn't angry or bitter. I just felt bummed out. I didn't say much. I had most of the game to anticipate a Packers victory, but that second half was intense, and it looked like the Steelers might just pull it off, an improbable comeback after a miserable first half. But it was not to be.

But I'm proud of what they accomplished this year, and I feel good about their prospects -- assuming there's even an NFL season this year.

And so we move on. It's the agony and ecstasy of sports fandom. The lows, even taken in perspective, are hard to take, but the Steelers have given us many highs over the years, and we Steelers fans, even in defeat, can find not just solace but a certain joy in being fans of such a magnificent franchise.

Congrats to the Packers. They deserved it. But congrats also to our beloved Steelers for a great year.

Steelers 24, Jets 19

By Michael J.W. Stickings

J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets!

Ah, go %@#& yourselves.

My beloved Steelers pulled it out, 24-19 over Rex Ryan and the Jets, and now it's on to Super Bowl XLV in two weeks in Texas.

I'm terrified of the Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, who beat the Bears 21-14 in a game that wasn't even that close, but I take great pleasure in the fact that the Steelers and the Packers, two of the NFL's oldest and most respected franchises, will be playing for it all in Cowboys Stadium, given how much I despise Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys and everything about that wretched franchise.

Jones thought this was his year, of course, and that the Cowboys would be playing for a championship right at home in his new mega-monstrosity. They stunk, and they won't be, and now it's time for Pittsburgh and Green Bay to get it on.

But that Jets game...

What a first half. The Steelers were simply dominant, going up 24-0 and then taking a 24-3 lead into halftime. But I was worried. As good as the running game was, behind Mendenhall, the passing game wasn't there, and I was sure the Jets would pull it together and make a game of it. And on their first drive of the second half, the Jets rolled for a TD, a 45-yard pass from Sanchez to ex-Steeler (and MVP of the Steelers Super Bowl win a couple of years ago) Holmes after cornerback Taylor slipped.

Uh-oh.

While the Steelers couldn't do a think on offence, with Roethlisberger having a bad game (and the team's Pro Bowl rookie center, Maurkice Pouncey going down to injury in the first half, yet another blow to an already-depleted o-line), the Jets were moving the ball. They didn't have much of a running game, but Sanchez wasn't buckling under the pressure and recovered from a bad first half to lead the Jets down the field. The Steelers' D, which wasn't getting much pressure on Sanchez, held firm inside the five, stuffing Tomlinson on fourth down, but a bad snap led to a safety. 24-12.

Uh-oh.

And then the Jets marched down the field again, and, on a nice play that saw Holmes set a pick to free up Cotchery, made it 24-19 with just over three minutes to go.

I was a wreck already. Now I was on the verge of completely falling apart. I was completely overwhelmed. Resignation was already setting in. I couldn't even muster much anger.

But the Steelers held on.

To run the clock out, they just needed to make a few first downs. Roethlisberger kept the drive going with a pass to Miller, their sure-handed tight end; it was behind him, but he caught it. Later, on a crucial third down, Roethlisberger, facing pressure, rolled out and found Brown, one of the Steelers' promising young receivers, the guy who made the huge 58-yard catch against the Ravens last week, holding the ball against his helmet as he ran down inside the five, setting up the Steelers' winning TD, for the first down that sealed it.

No, he didn't have a great game, but, when he needed to Big Ben did what he does so often, making a play seemingly out of nothing.

And that was it. Ryan threw his headset to the ground, Big Ben took a few kneels, and now the Steelers are off to their record eighth Super Bowl, having won a record six.

With all the injuries this year, with all the issues they've had on the o-line, with Big Ben's four-game suspension and a young group of up-and-coming receivers, it's amazing they've made it.

Just amazing. I thought they were a pretty weak 12-4 team, and it looked the Patriots were the best team in the AFC, and I wasn't exactly confident they'd get past the Ravens and Jets, but here we are.

They did it.

The Packers are peaking right now and will likely be the clear favourites to win the Super Bowl, but I'll start worrying about that game tomorrow. For now, I just want to enjoy this.

I love the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I've watched pretty much every minute of every game this year, and I read as much as I can about them. I was at the first game of the regular season, in September, an OT win at home over Atlanta. The whole year has been incredibly intense.

And now it's on the Super Bowl! How awesome is that?

Steelers 31, Ravens 24

By Michael J.W. Stickings 

Some of you know that I'm a rather huge fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was terrified going into today's game against the Baltimore Ravens, perhaps our biggest rival. It's not that I thought the Steelers would lose, just that Steelers-Ravens games are always tense affairs, and this was no exception. I'm not sure I have any nerves left.

What a game, though. After getting up 7-0, the Steelers fumbled twice inside their own 20 and ended up down 21-7 at the half. My mood, needless to say, was not good. It was anger and frustration mixed with resignation, and I just didn't see how they'd ever come back against a tough Ravens D with an o-line that has been weak all season, in part because of injury, and just didn't seem to be able to afford Ben Roethlisberger enough protection for the offence to move the ball consistently. And it didn't help that their first drive of the second half ended with a punt.

But then... then it was time for the Ravens to turn the ball over. The Steelers great D stepped up and made things happen, forcing three turnovers and going up 24-21. Then the Ravens tied it with a FG after the Steelers made a huge stop (and after a Ravens TD on a punt return was called back).

And then, on 3rd and 19, with just a couple of minutes left, Roethlisberger found one of the Steelers' speedy young receivers, Antonio Brown, for a 58-yard bomb down inside the Ravens' 5. And after being stopped twice, Mendenhall rushed it in for the winning score.

Awesome. Simply, utterly, amazingly awesome. Wow.

**********

And now I suppose I have to root for the Jets over the Patriots tomorrow -- because the Steelers have a much better shot of beating the former than the later, and would host the Jets instead of having to travel to New England.

But I'm trying not to think too much about that now.

I'm ecstatic, I'm on a major sports high, and now I'm just going to sit back and watch the Packers-Falcons game (go Pack!) without being anxious about the Steelers.

**********

Oh, speaking of Steelers fans...

I have quite a bit of Steelers gear and periphernalia that I've accumulated over the years, and my kids often wear their Steelers shirts (my older daughter has earrings, too), but I've got nothing on a guy named George Danesky:

Danesky, a 62-year old semi-retired transplant from South Fayette has created nothing short of a Steelers sanctuary in the basement of his Blue Ridge, Ga., home, about 100 miles from Atlanta, near the borders of North Carolina and Tennessee.

Literally one-half of his home is completely devoted to the Steelers.

"We live in a 5000 sq.ft. house. The basement is 2500 sq. ft Every inch of that 2500 sq. ft. is painted in official NFL Steeler gold and all trim is black. The entire basement is dedicated to, used for games, partying, and display of our thousands of Steeler items," which includes jerseys, helmets, footballs, framed prints, pennants -- many of them autographed -- as well as figurines, bobbleheads, Iron City cans, banners, posters, and all manner of novelty items.

The basement is wired with 16 methodically placed 16 speakers, so that the effect is like being in the stadium. The speakers are attached to a 72 inch H.D. television.

There is a full kitchen and a 30 foot bar equipped with its own television mounted on the wall. The entire area is heated with a double sided fireplace in the very center of the room, both sides have firescreens adorned with the Steeler emblem.

A full bath and a guest bedroom, are also all Steeler decorated, including sheets, comforter and curtains and there is an area he refers to as, "the locker room" which houses all of his family's Steeler jerseys, coats, t-shirts and other clothing.  His Chrysler PT  Cruiser is decked out too, in a black and gold paint job and "GOSTLRS" vanity plates.

You might think this is lame. (It might be if it were for, say, the Jets.) If you think that, you clearly know nothing of sports fandom, which is about passion and loyalty and pride. Personally, I think it's pretty cool. And while I'll never match Danesky -- who will? -- his example certainly gives us Steelers fans something to admire. Here are some photos (the post at the Post-Gazette's Blog 'n' Gold has more):