Not to jinx it...

As I watched Aston Villa upset Liverpool, in a match that I'd imagine many believed to be somewhat of a formality, I'm left pondering if things are demonstrably different now. I've long been one to somewhat dismiss the Premier League, as a predictable league where somewhat boring football (in comparison to Spain, at least (for me))was played. And I've not completely turned on that second point; I still prefer the style of play in Spain and many other leagues to that found in England. But, could it be that we're entering a brave new era of a genuinely interesting Premiership? Sure, the gap between the top and the very bottom has never been wider, but it seems as if recent events (cash injection into City, strong teams in Tottenham, Villa, and possibly a couple others, as well as the weakening of Liverpool and Man United) may just leave us with a genuinely exciting league with more contenders than we're used to. If nothing else, the top 4's strangle hold seems to be weaker than any other time any recent memory. Until Spurs inevitably lose 12 in a row and Roque Santa Cruz stabs Adebayor in an effort to get playing time, at least.

(also, basketball)

Belgium have a chance to clinch a place in the Eurobasket qualification final today, if they can manage to beat 0-3 Portugal. A big win against Bosnia guaranteed that they would finish first on GD with any sort of victory today. France will be the favorite, no matter the opponent, but anything can happen in a two game "series".

Elsewhere, lots of preparation matches for Eurobasket and FIBA Americas, and the Asian and African championships have just wrapped up. So, things are almost sort of happening. Plus, the Jason Williams signing! Okay, maybe not so much.

And Now For My Next Number...

9.58. 19.19. Fucking hell. I'm not sure which record is more impressive...Johnson's 19.32 almost seemed unbeatable, and now he's beaten it in two straight "seasons". There...are no words.

Games You Should Watch While Not Watching Usain Bolt

(IAAF World Championships start tomorrow. Check that out. I'll probably write something after Bolt runs an 8.4 in the 100 Sunday, or whatever).

Saturday, August 15

An 8:30 (my time) Bundesliga match
Seriously, why did they put three awesome matches at the same time? Bayern-Werder, Hamburg-Dortmund, and Leverkusen-Hoffenheim all ought to be pretty good. So, do a complicated series of coinflips to decide on what match to watch, and then switch while one of the others is 4-4 after 30 minutes. Assuming that doesn't just happen to me.

Everton-Arsenal
Pretty nice, for an opening match. Arsenal may or not get relegated, apparently, and Everton are pretty good when not telling Man City to fuck off. Anyway, it should be interesting.

LA-Seattle
...because you've always wanted to see how someone with swine flu would play?

Sunday, August 16

PSV-Ajax
Does anyone have any idea if either of these teams are any good? Me neither. This will be interesting, in a weird sort of way. Both of these teams are expected to challenge for the title, but last season sort of changed shit in the Eredivisie. I now have no clue what's going to happen.

Tottenham-Liverpool
(may or not actually be a good match. I..don't know)

France-Italy (again)

They met about 63 times within a few years in football, and now twice in a couple weeks in basketball. This may not be the World Cup final, but it's pretty fucking big. A win for France puts them into the qualifying final, probably against Bosnia & Herzegovina. An Italy win makes things a lot more interesting, and would probably send it down to point differential (assuming they both beat Finland). This time it's in France, and they have Parker. So they've got to be favorites, but the Italians' shooting ability makes them a scary opponent. Should be a fun one tomorrow.

The Asian and African basketball championships are also nearing their conclusion, so you might want to try and take a look at that, too. Fun stuff. At early-ass times, mostly. But still.

Wonce Again (Azteca)

Tomorrow, there is an important football match. And, for once, it is happening in North America. And this isn't important in the way I'd say the MLS Cup is important, and perhaps someone reading in Europe would laugh and mutter "those crazy Americans" (or whatever that is in Finnish) ((yea, I see you Finnish guy that reads this shit)). This is some genuinely important shit. Mexico desperately needs a win to avoid some disastrous shit in their quest for World Cup qualification, the US needs some sort of a result as a benchmark for their growth as a team. Basically? Stakes is high.

Both sides enter the match happy with recent developments, in an odd sort of way. Clearly, the Americans' run at the Confederations Cup is seen as a potential turning point in their quest for...relevance. Mexico sees their 5-0 victory against the US as a huge confidence boost after a difficult year or two. So these are two teams that ought to be playing at something near their best after a summer where they both tinkered with things quite a bit, and seemed to somewhat find what the hell worked.

Of course, actual results from this qualifying cycle haven't left us with any real reason to believe this match will be much different than normal. Mexico's won their matches at home, and the US has been mediocre at best away. Pretty much same as always. So why think this match will be any different? Well, I don't know, really. It probably won't be. But, you know...huzzah for false hope.

Kleiza and Wafer to Olympiakos

And, in related news, Nate Robinson is now pondering an offer from the Slovakian second division.

Obviously, the main point here is that NBA role players heading overseas seems to almost becoming a trend. There aren't very many clubs that can actually afford these guys, so it won't become terribly widespread, but three of Olympiakos' starting five are now guys they "took" from the NBA during their prime. Of course, Olympiakos will have to actually win something for other teams to consider this a viable model. Last season they failed to take home any trophies, despite having a payroll that dwarfed most of their competitors.

Kurt Rambis to Minnesota

There are two basic things which will ultimately determine how good of a hire Rambis was for Wolves.

A) Is he cool with playing two point guards and two power forwards? This would be the start of referring to basketball lineups in similar terms to football formations. "The Wolves will be playing their innovative 2-1-0-2-0 tonight..." and shit like that. Hopefully it works out for them.

B) Will he wear the glasses on the sideline?


Other than that, Rambis is coming into a situation where he won't be expected to win much right away, very different from when he interimed as the Lakers' coach in 1999. Basically, he has to avoid colossal losing streaks and making Al Jefferson angry. He won't be expected to make the playoffs for a few seasons, but he will have to make progress with a young, talented team.

Football! This weekend! No, really.

The Bundesliga and Ligue 1 open play this weekend, and so this will be the first weekend of the season with a meaningful number of games in leagues that don't suck. So, you know what that means! Oh, wait, you don't know that means. Well, anyway, here are some games from the next three days that ought to be pretty interesting. Possibly.

Friday, August 7

Wolfsburg v Stuttgart Two of the teams involved in last season's quite epic race for the title, which Wolfsburg ultimately won. Both teams have undergone considerable changes over the break, with Wolfsburg manager Felix Magath leaving for Schalke. His replacement? Armin Veh, whose last manager job was at...wait for it...Stuttgart. Ooh.

Both teams have made significant additions on the field, with Karim Ziani and Obafemi Martins (among others) joining Wolfsburg, while the arrivals of Pavel Pogrebnyak and Alexander Hleb have given Stuttgart a very happy ending (in the least sexual of ways. probably.) to their mercato. Basically, these are two sides that have added to what were already very good sides, and they should make the first match of this Bundesliga season a good one.

Saturday, August 8


Inter v Lazio Alright, this doesn't really count, but...it will be interesting to see how all those new signings work for Inter, right? I mean, it would be, if it weren't at 7AM here. It may be interesting for anyone in a different time zone, or incredible powers of...waking up. I guess.

Hoffenheim v Bayern Come on. Hoffenheim, who did so well in the first half of their first Bundesliga season against...motherfucking Bayern. Hoffenheim have made some nice additions, such as Franco Zucalini, and they'll have star player Vedad Ibisevic as he returns from the injury that really killed them during the second half of the season. Bayern? Well, they've had a few changes. This match really ought to be pretty fucking good. No, seriously.

WBA v Newcastle Alright, so it's a second division match. But, fucking hell, it's a really intriguing one. Who knows what's going to happen? Newcastle have been awful during preseason, but their squad is still relatively impressive, even after some recent sales. If nothing else, this is watchable for the train wreck possibilities.


Grenoble v Marseille An admission: I'm a Marseille fan. But that's not why I'm bringing this match up. Well, it probably at least sort of is, but it's not the only reason. We...er, they've made some big additions (and sales) this summer, as the philosophy of Didier Deschamps has proven completely different than that of ex-manager Eric Gerets. Stephane Mbia, Lucho Gonzales, Fernando Morientes...wait, none of those people are likely to play in this match. Oh. Well, Fabrice Abriel and Souley Diawara, then. Fuck it, I'm leaving this here. It will still be interesting how this one turns out, for the side many are tipping as Ligue 1 favorites (in a sure bid to jinx the whole goddamn thing). Lyon play, too. But fuck them. Alright, I shouldn't say that. Their match could be interesting too. If you worship Satan. But moving on.


New England v Los Angeles Alright, I'll probably regret suggesting that people watch an MLS match, but this one has potential. Landon Donovan, in his last match before the biggest match in the history of the universe (which we'll touch on closer to Wednesday), David Beckham...David Beckhaming. And those pesky Revolution, who are somehow in the playoff hunt. A-fucking-gain. Christ. Anyway, both these teams will be fighting for their playoff spot in the packed-as-always MLS. And neither team is the New York Red Bulls. And, after watching their CCL debacle last night, that's all I'm really asking of from this match. That it not involve the New York Red Bulls.

Sunday, August 9

Twente v PSV Two of the top Eredivisie sides in a pretty tasty early season match. PSV's season got off to an awful start when they drew lowly VVVVVVVVVVVVVV (er, VVV Venlo) 3-3 at home, and Twente recently lost their hopes of advancing in the Champions League on a last-gasp own goal. So, both sides will be looking to get back on their feet.

Bordeaux v Lens Lens' first match on their return to the top flight. The first match for Bordeaux since...something. I think they won some sort of competition, but the details are hazy.


Flamengo v Corinthians Ronaldo visits the Maracana to find the fans of the club he spurned....oh. Ronaldo's hurt, andnot playing. Well, then we'll just have to settle for the clash of Brazil's two most popular teams. Fair enough. They'll both be looking to bounce back from midweek losses as they try and fight back to the top of the table.

France-Italy (and Portugal-Bosnia, too)

Meaningful basketball! Yay!

You can theoretically watch the France-Italy game, live from Cagliari, here.

The starting 5 for France: Batum, Diaw, Jeanneau, Florent Pietrus, and Turiaf.

And for Italy: Amoroso, Bargnani, Belinelli, Poeto, Soragna

Update after first quarter: 21-15 lead for France. France completely dominated the early going, playing a far better brand of basketball and looking much more like a team than the Italians. But Italy managed to make a bit of a run at the end to get themselves back into a half decent position. Florent Pietrus is the game's leading scorer, with 10 points.

Update at half time: 35-29 lead for France, after an up and down second quarter. Italy maintained their momentum from the end of the first quarter at the beginning of the second, managing to at one point take the lead after a short period of dominance. But France were able to come back and go on a bit of a run of their own, getting the lead up to 8 before taking their present 6 point advantage into the half. The athleticism of the French squad seems to be their main advantage of the Italians, and it's an advantage which they've been able to use repeatedly.

Update after three quarters: 51-51 tie. Exciting stuff. Some of the crazy-ass shots the Italians have been throwing up started going in, and this game's gotten really exciting. The crowd in Cagliari has gotten loud. Should be a great fourth quarter.

After Regulation: 66-66, and going to overtime. Nicholas Batum missed a chance to win it at the end as he shot an air ball on France's last possession.

After Overtime: France win 80-77! A huge away result for France, without Tony Parker. This makes them the clear favorite to get out of this group, and Italy will likely have to beat France away to have a chance. Batum and Pietrus led France with 20 points a piece, both on over 50% shooting. Belinelli led Italy with 24 points, but he looked for his shot very often and was only 7/16 from the field.

PS: Alright, who the fuck won the Portugal game? There are conflicting reports on the eurobasket site (like, on the same page), and everywhere I look has a different result. This is ridiculous. Did this game happen? Do they even play basketball in Portugal? Bastardo!

PPS, a long time after this shit ended: I can confirm with relative certainty that B&H beat Portugal 62-56. You can now return to your daily lives.

NBA Schedules released

Yay?

The season starts October 27th (isn't that earlier than normal?) and ends April 14th. During that time? Stuff. Lots of stuff. Now? Not so much.

PS: Here is the national television schedule, for those that haven't yet discovered the life-ruining powers of League Pass. You may notice that the Rockets don't have a single nationally televised game. Apparently, Luis Scola doesn't bring in the viewers. Who knew?

Parker Out For Euro Qualifying Opener

Tony Parker will miss France's first match in the upcoming Eurobasket qualifiers, when they face Italy on August 5th. After getting hurt in one of the preliminary matches, Parker was called back to San Antonio by the Spurs for observation. In the end, their doctors saw the same thing that France's did, and determined that the injury was minor and nothing to worry about. So he'll be allowed to return to Les Bleus next week, and will have have missed the Italy game for nothing. In a four game group stage, this could prove vital for a French team that struggled mightily without Parker in a 70-69 win against Hungary.