It has been a long time since my last sports-related post. I've never yet posted on Premier League football (soccer), and I thought the somewhat recent conclusions of their season (yes, it's been at least 2 weeks or so) made a good time.
I was happy to note that Fulham Football Club avoided relegation. For those who are unfamiliar, one of the basic themes of Premiership soccer is that only about four clubs really contend for the league title (vastly superior talent) and there is no post-season tournament (playoffs as we Americans call them). Twenty clubs play in the Premier League each season. The three worst teams are "demoted" (relegated) to the next-lower league, while the three best lower teams are "promoted". For much of the season, Fulham was firmly among the bottom three. A late-season charge appeared to save them, capped off by a last-match victory that kept them even with Reading Football Club in the standings. Fulham's goal differential bested Reading's by three, so Reading was sent down.
It's a bittersweet feeling for me, though I am not a strong supporter of any English football club. Fulham employs some of the finest American soccer players, including Brian McBride (though I just read that he will return to America for next season), Kasey Keller, and up-and comer Clint Dempsey (who actually led the team in goals scored this year). Perhaps I'm a bit of a homer, but I do want the Americans to succeed at the highest level overseas. It's very similar to the people of Japan wishing Ichiro, Matsui, and Matsuzaka well in Major League Baseball.
Still, I felt a bond with Reading, as the county seat of my childhood home was named after this English city (Reading, PA). Alas, not every team can do well, and the top half of the league's clubs are firmly entrenched.
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hmm... well the good thing about the Championship (if it is a willfully bad and confusing name for the 2nd tier) is that there are 2 leagues below it still (and then even smaller local leagues below that!) what annoys me slightly, is that the two lowest national leagues are called League 1 and League 2 (a recent change, i think Premiership and Championship used to have numbers not too long ago)
and the Championship is more competitive than the Premiership anyhow. The only major surprise with the top league has been the success of Portsmouth over the past two seasons. (winning the FA Cup against a Championship opponent this year). Missing out on that title, Man U "only" got a "double" (the regular season/league title, and the all-Europe Champions League playoff/cup). 2nd place in both cases to Man U was "Chelski", although Arsenal lead the league for most of the first half of the season. for the 4-5 years i have paid attention to UK soccer, it has been a fight between Chelsea's new Russian money, and the past decade's dominance of Manchester United, with the other two Boring 4 fighting for 3 and 4. (although Liverpool has been rather good at the Champions League/European level)
curiously, for promotion back up the next year, Reading will need either to be one of the top two, or win a playoff played amongst teams finishing 3-6. Hull, a Yorkshire team, won this year's Championship playoff at Wembley and will be fighting for their lives in the Premiership next season. Doncaster Rovers will join Reading after winning promotion to the Championship in the League 1 playoff (also at Wembley). the Sheffield United Blades and Sheffield Wednesday Owls will see them there, too, so Reading will need to watch out for Yorkshire when the season starts again in a blink of an eye.
Aside from maybe Track & Field, can anyone think of any sports that the U.K. and U.S. have a real competitive rivalry in? We just don't seem to compete in the same sports...
That fact probably makes living in England safer for me than if I were Australian or South African...
I got a good deal of ribbing in my office (in Sheffield) last Wednesday evening before the US-England game. Several colleagues made joke comments on the lines of "don't bother coming in tomorrow if your guys win tonight". doing some quick research, i noticed that "we" were actually in pretty good form in recent games, but in the end the U.S.-England game was rather disappointing. There are "sour grapes" to be had in the fact that, astonishingly, the England team didn't make it into Euro 2008 starting very shortly.
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