Odds and Sods

This goal came from the Manchester United-Blackburn match last weekend.  In the 61st minute, Paul Scholes gets the ball on the edge of the box and weaves his way past three defenders before putting the ball into the back of the net.  His goal tied the match at 1, in what would eventually be a 4-1 win for United.  The win kept the Red Devils with a 6 point lead on top of the table.  Who needs healthy strikers when you have midfielders who can do that?

Liverpool FC

As any Liverpool fan will not be hesitant to tell you, historically they have been a dominant club in English football.  They have won 18 league titles, though none since 1990.  They have also won 5 European titles, the last coming in dramatic fashion with a victory over AC Milan in 2005.

The season has been somewhat of a disappointment for Liverpool domestically.  They were expected by many to compete for the title, though their campaign was scuttled early in the season by piss poor away form.  They currently sit in 3rd place on 57 pts, 21 behind leaders Manchester United.  Arsenal dismantled their Carling and FA Cup campaigns in back to back matches at Anfield.

Though “the greatest club in the world” is well on its way toward its 2nd full decade without a domestic title,  there is much reason for optimism.  They reached the quarterfinals with a “legendary” win over Barcelona 2-2 on aggregate with an edge in away goals.  Liverpool also beat Arsenal soundly 4-1 at Anfield in their last league match.

PSV Eindhoven

PSV Eindhoven are one of the three traditionally big clubs in the Dutch Eredivisie, along with Ajax and Feyenoord.  They have won 19 Dutch titles, including 4 since 2000.  They have won one European Champions Cup, in 1988.

They currently lead the Dutch league by three points over Ajax, with 68 points from 30 matches.  However, they have been on a poor run of form recently, including a 5-1 defeat at home against Ajax.

They finished 2nd in their qualifying group behind Liverpool and ahead of Bordeaux and Galatasaray.  They qualified for the quarterfinals by defeating Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate, though they were criticized for playing a highly negative style, uncharacteristic of a Dutch side, and many feel they are the weakest of the eight clubs remaining in the competition.

Prediction

These two sides played eachother twice in the group stages.  The first was a horribly boring 0-0 draw at PSV and the second was a 2-0 Liverpool win at Anfield.  PSV are on an awful run of form domestically and without talented defender Alex do not look to be able to put up much of a fight.  Look for them to throw 10 men behind the ball and hold on for dear life.

That said, players not named Peter Crouch for Liverpool have scored just 1 goal in their last 4 matches.  Despite Crouchy’s hat-trick against Arsenal and his penchant for scoring goals, Rafa Benitez will most likely pair Kuyt and Bellamy up front.   They have also had problems dictating play when they are obviously the better side.  Liverpool should win this, but it will be ugly.

Opening Day is finally upon us.  Here are some things that I missed during the offseason in no particular order of importance.

1. The Joe Morgan and Jon Miller announcing combo on Sunday Night Baseball is by far the best in the game.  They are entertaining, informative, and complement each other perfectly.  They make the game the spectacle and let it breathe, rather than choking it to death like Fox.  I pray every day that ABC will buy out Fox for the World Series rights so I don’t have to listen to those two buffoons ever again.

2. Joe Morgan’s wardrobe.  He is by far the sharpest dresser of any baseball announcer.  He rocks the velvet suits, fedoras, and unbuttoned dress shirts with authority.

3. Peter Gammons.  Obviously, he is the greatest baseball writer ever and a genius.  His addition to the Sunday Night crew is absolutely brilliant.  He also provides gratuitious rock n’ roll references and the uninentional comedy of his transition lenses that are always caught halfway between.

4. Tim Kurkjian’s voice.  It has more ups and downs than a ride at Cedar Point and is good for 2 or 3 cracks during any interview.  He is always excited, even if it is a dreary Devil Rays-Royals matchup in mid-July.  He has a random statistic for any eventuality.  He usually ends up completely wrong, but god love him.

In an interesting article, Paul Duggan, a writer for the Washington Post, examines why President Bush has declined to attend Washington’s opening day for the 2nd straight year.

Throwing out the first pitch for the Washington franchise has been a Presdiential tradition since 1910, when President Taft through out the first pitch. (He was also the originator of the 7th inning stretch) In the 65 years (that Washington has had a franchise) since, only two presidents (except during World Wars) have missed two years in a row, Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon. Wilson missed because he had had stroke.

Where is this President, who has spent an astounding amount of time on vacation? “He’s got various meetings during the day” and “a meeting earlier in the morning.” When asked whether he was afraid of being booed, his spokeswoman stated “No…certainly not.”

There are few greater American traditions than taking a sickie on Opening Day. Hundreds of thousands of people adjust their work and scholastic schedules to attend. It would be understandable if the President was off brokering a Middle East peace deal, garnering support for the “War on Terror,” or even having one of his officially staged and carefully multicultural Town Meetings. But no, he is at a meeting.

We here at Odds and Sods would never dream of displaying any semblance of political bias in our glorious webspace. I mean the president obviously has a great relationship with the city of Washington D.C. It’s not as though he ever, dispensed with the traiditional walk to the White House during the inauguration for fear of protestors, or tried to shirk the $40 million bill for his 2004 inauguration security on the city taxpayers.

And, of course, this could have nothing to do with the city having a 90% African-American population that would potentially boo him, because, of course, George Bush cares about black people. Look how responsive he was after Katrina!