The Glorious Return of Football. No, Not That Football
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by Rawbeezeitz
The Beautiful Game returned to England this weekend. I found myself eating up as much Premier League football as I could. I even watched Derby County play Portsmouth. I had no interest in the match whatsoever. I got very into the Aston Villa-Liverpool fixture, yelling when Villa scored, and moaning when Liverpool retook the lead. I don’t like Aston Villa, and although I hate Liverpool, they’re only my 5 th most hated team in England.
It’s just so nice to watch the best in the world playing one of the greatest games ever devised. Some claim it is boring, but it is one of the few sports with a clock that never stops. The ball almost never stops moving. There are no TV timeouts (no timeouts of any kind), and the game can irrevocably change in the blink of an eye.
Anyway, I’m an Arsenal supporter, and although my hopes for the Gunners this season are minimal (no trophies, and a 3 rd place League finish at best), I’m still excited to see the matches. Arsenal hosted cross-town “rival” Fulham. I overslept and missed the live broadcast of the match, and when trying to find the rebroadcast time, inadvertently also found out the score.
Even though I knew Arsenal would come from 1-0 down to win 2-1, I still watched the match with great interest, cheering with as much vigor when Arsenal scored as I would if the game were live. Yes, I do yell and cheer, and occasionally sing along with the crowd when watching Arsenal games on TV. I don’t usually do this for any other sport, except maybe playoff football or baseball.
To me, English football is like watching the NFL, only twice as many regular season matches, plus a few tournaments, and a competition against other top leagues in the world. Every match is intense, and every match counts. The lack of playoffs in the EPL, to me, is great, because every match is like a playoff game.
Anyway, Arsenal fell behind 0-1 51 seconds into the season as keeper Jens Lehman had an atrocious attempted pass that allowed Fulham to score with ease. After several series of missed chances, they finally tied the game up, and eventually won. A 2-1 win is good, a 2-1 win over Fulham at home is hardly remarkable. But it’s the first week of the season, and Arsenal are undefeated and untied.
Just how bad is Fulham? They have three American players!
Around the League, Man United drew 0-0 with Reading, and the overrated Wayne Rooney went down with a hairline fracture, which will keep him sidelines for some time. United didn’t really suffer any major injuries last year. No such luck this year for the Mancs.
Tottenham, the team all the “experts” have proclaimed to be Arsenal’s replacement in the Big Four, fell 1-0 to recently promoted Sunderland.
In a clash of relegation candidates, Manchester City beat West Ham 2-0 at Upton Park. Villa fell to Liverpool (who played very poorly, just like Arsenal) 2-1 in a thrilling match at Villa Park. Chelsea tied a record with their 3-2 win over Birmingham. They have not lost a League game at home in 63 matches.
It’s good to have football back. I missed hating so many teams.
