Thats On Point: The Web Site

Watch this space

2012-05-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

Sorry gang for lack of soccer related updates in this space, especially in light of how the English Premier League 2011-12 season was decided by Manchester City. At the time the title was decided, well, my head wasn't in it. Without getting too personal or anything, took a body-blow in my personal life a couple weeks ago and it's taken me more time than it should have to recover from it and get

The end is nigh

2012-05-04T11:55:00.000-04:00

GOAT Another one of those weeks for me. Not a lot of time -- or focus -- beyond pithy tweets on the EPL. Hopefully I'll muster the energy for some year-end wrap next week. Saturday: * Arsenal v. Norwich City -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:30 a.m.) The summer vacation for Arsenal is on hold for another two weekends, at least. The grasp on third place is down to a mere point over Tottenham and Newcastle

This is Meh-chester

2012-04-30T18:00:00.001-04:00

Heads up, yo. Suppose, it's fitting, isn't it, that Manchester City celebrated its historic 1-0(*) victory over Manchester United by playing the ever-popular and evergreen singalong, "Hey Jude" as pure jubilation poured over the Eithad Stadium. (*) SEISMIC SHIFT IN ENGLISH SOCCER!!! -- every writer on the planet. Na na na, na-na na na Na-na na na, hey Jude. I'll be honest, although at

Goals-o-rama

2012-04-30T11:20:00.000-04:00

Don't fuck with the Moses. It's safe to say Saturday's EPL goal-eruption (via Eddie van Halen) further drove home the point that the marathon English soccer season, which begins in the heat of August, runs through the bleakness of winter and concludes, once again, in the ginger-baking heat of May is like eight or nine different mini-seasons in one. This is only further emphasized since there

It's a man man man man Manchester world

2012-04-27T12:30:00.000-04:00

The iconic skyline of Manchester, Great Britain. "And now I know how Joan of Arc felt." -- Bigmouth Strikes Again, The Smiths. Bear with me for, let's hope, one or two paragraphs of junk that just need to expose from my system and then we can talk about the 2011-12 Premier League deciding match on Monday between Manchester City and Manchester United. Maybe this is a pot-kettle-black

Oopsy doopsy

2012-04-23T11:30:00.000-04:00

Oopsy doopsy. "That's not too crazy," -- Caucasian Crackhead, "Observe & Report." So ... Here we are, Manchester City vs. Manchester United Monday at the Eithad for all the 2011-12 Premier League marbles. All-in-all, isn't this about what we expected? As shocking as Manchester United's 4-4 draw with Everton at Old Trafford was Sunday morning, cutting United's advantage over City to three

The worst of the worst

2012-04-20T11:30:00.000-04:00

Mama mia! This week the powers that be in the Premier League announced their finalists for the PFA player of the year award: * Joe Hart * Sergio 'Kun' Aguero * Robin van Persie * David Silva * Scott Parker * Wayne Rooney. It's a massively uncreative, predictable list. Then again, bear in mind, English soccer can barely get anything right these days from an official standpoint so it's not

Holding Pattern

2012-04-16T11:30:00.000-04:00

First time in years I just can't write anything about the weekend in soccer, and it's not just the nefarious John Terry's fault. Hopefully I'll be back by Friday, but Barcelona/Chelsea might turn me off the game entirely. Apologies, --Mike

Sprint to the finish

2012-04-13T11:30:00.000-04:00

We left Kevin home -- alone -- again!?!?!?! Well, well, well. With barely a month and five (or six) matches remaining nothing is exactly settled in this wacky, wild sporting event we know as the English Premier League, or in American terms -- EPL. After a crazy set of midweek results, two things are certain: 1. Arsenal is going to finish third, with ease. 2. Wolves are going to the

See ya City

2012-04-09T10:47:00.000-04:00

Hair vs. Hair match: EPL style. Another classic Premier League scheduling madness is upon us, with a series of midweek games seemed in on the season winds down. With that in mind, basically everything written will be rendered partially moot by the time you're probably reading this so ... Let's just take a quick run through the weekend matches -- which saw Manchester City's title pursuit go

Troll Hard

2012-04-06T11:36:00.000-04:00

(I must file a strongly-worded letter to the maker of this graphic, post haste!) "Crawl. Walk and then run." -- Clay Davis "I'm just a troll who's intentions aren't good, oh lord please let me be misunderstood." -- Anonymous Where are we as soccer fans in America? Certainly past infancy and the terrible twos. Perhaps we're now, in the petulant teen mode. We want everything --

Madness

2012-04-02T11:30:00.000-04:00

BFFs forever. Did it make a lick of sense for the Premier League to randomly schedule seven of its 10 weekend fixtures to all kick off at the same time Saturday? No. Somehow, though, the stars aligned on the last day in March for a truly crazy 45 minutes of action across the League, which reminded me of the days when only CBS aired the NCAA Tournament so you'd get, sometimes, three or four

See ya later alligators

2012-03-30T11:30:00.000-04:00

The DW Stadium: The Theater of Dreams Lite. You have to think, in part, that some of the curiosity and fascination with the English Premier League brought to you by Barclay's (remember to tweet the hashtag: #BPLonFox) for American audiences is the concept of promotion and relegation. Soccer might be gaining more and more traction in the States, yet the idea of a flexible, fluid pyramid of

Revivals

2012-03-26T11:30:00.000-04:00

If you've checked this space the last couple weeks you could easily infer the waning interest by your humble author in the comings-and-goings of the Premier League in England. This weekend was a nice return to form for the league, in earnest. Chalk some of that up to the nice scene at the Reebok Stadium, where Bolton beat fellow struggler Blackburn 2-1 to move out of the relegation zone in

Mailing in it (again)

2012-03-23T12:00:00.000-04:00

Not going to lie or sugarcoat it. We're in the part of the season where my enthusiasm for soccer and the Premier League hits its low ebb. It's a regular old swallows returning to Capistrano scenario. Games blending into one. Stories and controversies falling on deaf ears.Trying to come up with something new or insightful to say almost becomes impossible. Bad job by me, yes. Sorry for the

Sad Saturday

2012-03-19T12:00:00.000-04:00

By now, even if you have a tangential interest in soccer, you've heard what happened to Fabrice Muamba during Bolton's game against Tottenham at White Hart Lane in London Saturday in the FA Cup quarterfinals. It's hard to think of a eerier sight in all of sports than a 23-year-old man dropping to the ground, writhing around as he suffers a heart attack in front of forty odd thousand stunned

Mailing it in

2012-03-16T12:00:00.000-04:00

Junior 2: starring the King of the Scousers. It's an FA Cup quarterfinal weekend. Couple that with the NCAA tournament, a super busy week for me at my actual job covering the Connecticut high school basketball state finals, and yeah, taking a mulligan this weekend vis-a-vis the Premier League. Don't all start weeping at once. Then again, there's only four Premier League matches on Saturday

Bubble burst

2012-03-12T11:30:00.000-04:00

Next opponent: Zangief "This is shit ... AND I ATE IT!!!!!!" -- Gordon Ramsay Somehow my brother has gotten me to start watching "Kitchen Nightmares" on BBC America. I'm not proud of it, yet it's dumb, don't think, entertainment that doesn't tax the brain at odd hours of the night. Sort of like the Premier League the last couple weeks, except in the early morning and midday. It's possible

Know your enemy

2012-03-09T11:50:00.000-05:00

Ugh, scarves at soccer games is SO OVER. Let me establish this up front first: the following internal argument has never caused me to lose any sleep. We need to make this readily, abundantly clear. Sometimes though, I feel like an enemy in my own land. No, I'm not a Russian sleeper agent preparing for a clandestine "Red Dawn" real life scenario. Instead, I'm an American soccer fan, who

Shirt sizes

2012-03-05T11:30:00.000-05:00

That's so Carrick. "You know why the Yankee always win, Frank?" "'Cause they have Mickey Mantle?" "No, it's 'cause the other teams can't stop staring at those damn pinstripes." -- Frank Abagnale, Sr. ("Catch Me If You Can") In soccer, like all sports we spend our free time obsessing about, the shirts matter. Yes, the actual shirts. Sunday at White Hart Lane we learned something

Pick pack

2012-03-02T11:45:00.000-05:00

Why can't I get a Gillette endorsement? Just picks this weekend, no meandering essay. Try to contain your disappointment. Nothing worse, too, than the fact the Premier League weekend -- again -- is bracketed by the two best matches, meanwhile we get both Manchester City and Chelsea against lower half of the table opposition Saturday morning. Harumph. Saturday: * Liverpool v. Arsenal --

Red, white and Azzurri

2012-02-29T17:55:00.000-05:00

"The catcher hits for .318 and catches every day// The pitcher puts religion first and rests on holidays." -- Piazza New York Catcher, Belle and Sebastian. Maybe it was business as usual inside the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa, Italy for the U.S./Italy Leap Day friendly. On couches across America, things were slightly ... weird. Call it the repeated airings of "Leap Dave Williams" on USA

My blue heaven

2012-02-28T15:02:00.000-05:00

Kaiserslautern ... not just a jersey Darrell Sheets found in a storage locker. "Ich habe Durchfall." -- Lonley Planet's Guide to Germany Sometimes you really have to hand it to Germany, no, not for their efficient railway system, luxury sports cars and 7-foot sweet-shooting power forwards named Dirk. Perhaps the highest compliment you can pay any Teuton is their undying commitment to

Rivised role reversal

2012-02-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

'The Artist' won Best Picture, too? "Does Marcellus Wallace look like a bitch?" -- Jules Winfield. Sometimes, in the course of human events, you just have to admit you're wrong. Arsenal's 5-2 win over Tottenham Sunday morning is one of those occasions. The Gunners, fully, completely, 100 percent chumpatized Spurs in the North London Derby making this quite difficult to type out after

Siege Towers

2012-02-24T11:45:00.000-05:00

Never gonna tell a lie ... and hurt you. "You cannot drag this negative energy in to the tournament!" -- Walter Sobchek From best anyone can tell, the nonstop reports filed from about the nearly minute-by-minute status about Andre Villas-Boas are almost the perfect storm for English journalists. 1. High profile club owned by a mysterious, patchy-bearded Russian oligarch. 2. Foreign