Monday, October 18, 2010

Merseyside Derby, NFL, Jazz vs Lakers, and the Rooney Transfer Rumors

Yesterday, I started off my day waking up at 6:30 am to watch the Merseyside Derby. For those of you who aren't that well versed in soccer terminology, the Merseyside Derby is one of the biggest games in all of the world. It is between Everton and Liverpool. Both teams are in the same town and their stadiums are only 5 miles apart. Think of BYU vs Utah, times about 100. There was a lot of pregame hype heading into Sunday's match, whether it was about the John Henry and New England Sports Ventures' purchase of Liverpool last week, or that both teams were in the bottom 4 and desperately needed a win. The game was at Goodison Park (Everton's home stadium) and was great from the start. There are very few games in the world that demonstrates the passion in both the players, and the fans, than this derby match typically does. In the end, the talisman pair of Cahill and Arteta each got a goal for Everton and they won 2-0. This left Liverpool tied for bottom of the table, and on goal differential they stand second from the bottom. It moved Everton up to 11th on goal differential and they will to push forward in hopes of challenging for a spot in Europe. Personally, I loved this result because I really do appreciate when Liverpool do poorly (as does my good friend Steve, who is a dedicated Everton fan).



The NFL had all but one of their weekly matchups, and there were some pretty good games. I am competing in a fantasy football league this year, for the first time in my life, so I am watching NFL a lot more than I normally would in a season. I typically don't have a "favorite" team, but I do like Peyton Manning and I will follow the former BYU players as well. I do, however, dislike the Broncos and the Cowboys, so I obviously hope for both of them to lose. So, as a result, I followed my fantasy players more than watching any game in particular during the day, but I did closely watch the Colts vs Redskins game on Sunday Night Football. The Colts got out to an early lead with some absolutely clinical work by Peyton and his receivers. Austin Collie, former BYU receiver, caught one of Manning's early TD passes. After three lost fumbles, a couple missed FGs and some poor tackling by the Colts, the Redskins were right back in the game. They had the ball with a minute left and about 80 yards to go. They needed a FG to tie. Donovan McNabb, QB of the Redskins, threw a bomb to Santana Moss but it was intercepted by Aaron Francisco, also a former Cougar, on an acrobatic catch. The game ended 27-24, in favor of the Colts. I have one side note about my fantasy team, and the Cowboys game this week that must be mentioned. My fantasy team didn't have a great week, but did alright and I felt like I was in pretty good shape to get the win after Roy Williams only caught two balls all day for the Cowboys, both for touchdowns. I sat on 96 points as the Cowboys game wound down. The Cowboys trailed by 3 and relied up a "hail mary" play with lots of laterals to make their way up the field. In this play, Williams caught one of the laterals, ran back a few yards (8 to be exact) and then lateraled to another player. This negative yardage got me -1 points for the play. For some reason, I had a feeling that point would hurt me. Oh yes, it did. I ended up tying my match, which I didn't think was possible in fantasy leagues. Frustrating, but I guess it is what it is. As a friend of mine says, "You win some, you lose some", and I guess you tie some too.







Late Sunday, the Jazz played the Lakers in some sort of preseason tournament championship. We had beaten the Clippers the day before, and the Lakers had beaten the Nuggets, so we faced off in the final. I didn't know the NBA had this sort of thing, but it added a little to another Lakers/Jazz showdown, even though it is only preseason. Deron Williams was still nursing a calf injury and so he didn't play. I was a little worried we would get thrashed but we actually did pretty well. We started out well, played a great second quarter and led by 5 going into halftime. Then Kobe, who had 0 points at the half, scored 19 in the third quarter. I was literally terrified. Luckily for us, our bench is better than theirs and the fourth quarter was essentially bench vs bench, with the exception of Millsap and Miles for the Jazz and Gasol and Odom for the Lakers. The Lakers at one point of the third quarter led by 11, after Kobe went off, and I thought it was over. However, we fought back and took the lead about midway through the fourth quarter, and held on for a victory. Gordon Hayward, the rookie from Butler, had 26 points to lead the Jazz to their 6th win in six games. I know this is only preseason, but I will celebrate any victory of the Lakers.



The last thing I want to talk about from yesterday are the rumors surrounding Wayne Rooney and his apparent bust up with Sir Alex, and the possible sale of Rooney in the January transfer window. I know there was no game to talk about with this one, but personally, this was the biggest news that came out yesterday. Last season, Rooney was scoring at will against whoever he wanted. He had about 2 years left on his contract, which is typically the time United will begin negotiations for a players' new contract. There were talks about setting up a contract for Rooney to be at United "for life". However, with the World Cup looming, United said they would let Rooney focus on that and then once he returned to Manchester they would get his new deal set up. He went to the World Cup, and did poorly and so far, he has been awful this season. It is almost embarrassing the way he has been playing. Add to that the story that came out about Rooney getting with a prostitute while Colleen, his wife, was pregnant with their first child. Ferguson, in the last couple weeks, has come out in defense of Rooney's personal issues and said that the media needs to lay off of him. He has also come out and said that Rooney has an ankle injury and that is why he isn't playing as much as normal. The media then questioned Rooney about the injury and he denied it, saying Ferguson was lying about the injury because he had nothing wrong. The latest news is that Rooney has essentially quit United, saying he will not sign a new contract and wants out in the January transfer window. This brings up the next issue about where he will land. The teams that I see in the running are City, Madrid and Barcelona, and a longshot is Chelsea. Of all of those teams, I think the favorite to get Rooney would be Madrid, based on his friendship with Ronaldo, and also his desire to get away from England and their tough media. However, Madrid's officials have come out this morning and said they do not really have a place in the team for Rooney, so they do not know if now is a good time to make a move for Rooney.

That's all news, now for what I think on it. He cannot go to City. They do have the money, but I have loved Rooney for so long and there is no way I could respect him if he left to the blue side of Manchester. Also, no one is bigger than Manchester United. We have let Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Carlos Tevez all walk from United. We have survived and done fine without them. If Rooney does in fact leave, which I think all the problems can still be sorted out, I will still love my club. And with exception of one league title between Beckham and Ruud at Real Madrid, none of those players have won anything once they left United, and United continue to win trophies. Also, Ferguson knows best. He has been around for 24 years and has seen it all. He essentially brought United out of the dust back in '86 and his credibility is more than any player or coach in the entire world. I trust him and if he benches Rooney, its what is best for the team. Anyways, its time to let this story take its course. We'll never die, we'll keep the red flag flying high.

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