Wow. What a crazy 16 hours. I drove to James T’s house, found out that Liverpool won, watched Manchester United lose, hung out with James and his awesome family, then drove home and edited this little podcast right before we find out that Osama bin Laden is dead.
Not exactly a boring Sunday.
While we all chat about the death of one evil sonofabitch, let’s take a moment to talk about the important business of soccer.
After a few beers each, James T and I sat on his front porch and discussed Liverpool being atop of Spurs, Man United losing to Arsenal, Chelsea’s DICK-ish fans, some other stuff, and than in a bonus, James T speaks in an American accent.
Angry Man United fan.
It’s totally going to be my ring tone.
Enjoy, and let me just say Team America F*CK YEAH!
Unprofessional Foulcast 33: The Front Porch Episode [ 25:28 ] Play Now| Play in Popup | Download (209)
Honestly, I’d like to remain below ‘Pool. Let them deal with wearying Thursday night EL matches. As massive a setback as 6th would be, I’d rather be free to focus our energies on the league.
Sorry, Phil. My “RATIONALIZATION ALARM” went off when I read your comment, and it took a good hour to reset the damn thing.
@JT – Mine actually broke. Running out to buy a new one right now.
Best part of this was TSE’s use of bumfuck, never knew anyone else used such a wonderful adjective.
@JamesT, I’m disappointed, I expect Arsenal fans to choke when they have a chance to harass other fans in person, you should have risen to the occassion
@Brian
It would have made me a bad host. And as an Englishman, I care far more about my hosting panache than I do spouting off some half-hearted mockery.
@JT
I actually said in the bootroom when Spurs lost to Chelsea that I wanted ‘Pool to leapfrog us.
@JT
Ricky Gervais has no idea what you’re talking about.
@JT: Take it however you please. It’s my settled position. We certainly don’t deserve 4th, given the callous disregard with which we’ve treated league matches, and the EL holds no joy for me, given the timing of the matches and the relative lack of glory in the winning of it–which given our current form is an impossibility anyway. I’d honestly rather win the FA Cup than EL. It’s not rationalizing. We don’t deserve 4th place, and we don’t deserve Europe. Period. What is more, it’s a needed shock to Levy that tells him you cannot stand pat in this league, patting yourself on the back about your balanced roster and tight wage structure. And Liverpool are the very proof of that.
@Tno
Sure, you said it after Spurs lost, because it somehow made sense then. Come on, Spurs fans; can’t have it both ways. Can’t be so eager to fight for European footy, then suddenly acquiesce and make it seem like it’s been the preferred plan all along.
@ JT: Not the biggest fan of Thursday EL matches and Sunday league matches (mainly b/c I end up missing both due to my schedule) and wanted to rant about not wanting Europa anyway. Then I recalled I’ve said in the past anytime you play in Europe it should be seen as a good thing, so I’m up for Spurs getting 5th back from Liverpool and finishing as high up the table as they can.
BTW: That was a nifty little podcast. There must be one at the wedding, with WAG on the sidelines commentating about the fashion and the silly hats being worn and who’s ending up with who at the reception.
@JT, there is a part of you that really wanted to right
You lot are really making this less enjoyable. I can’t even relish the fact that from the embers of a rotten season, we’ve leapt up to 5th, and now you’re all saying you didn’t care about 5th anyway. Pfft.
@JT: I’m sure you’ll assuage the pain of unrequited schadenfreude by admiring your hubcap collection.
@Phil
It’s not even schadenfreude, Phil. It’s just the fact that suddenly, fans of teams that aren’t currently in a Europe spot don’t even care. If this weekend had worked out in the opposite way (aka Spuds winning and LFC losing), I bet the tune would be vastly different.
I’m not a Spurs fan, and I have nothing to rationalize, and I was making some of the same arguments on Saturday.
Also, I don’t think Spurs fans saying they don’t want to be in Europe diminishes what LFC has done. Don’t necessarily have to go hand in hand.
@JT
No, but seriously I have always been very anti-Europa league. You play a bunch of teams from bongo bongo land, and it’s not even on proper television.
Liars, the lot of you. Some Europe is better than no Europe. Just from a financial point of view. You’re lying to yourselves to salve the wounds.
.
And Brian, thanks for the bumfuck compliment. It really is bumfuck, PA.
.
Finally, James T was a gracious and kind host. As was The Likely Lad when my side lost and we were drinking together in NYC. These guys are nicer than they let on. Except Autoglass.
@JT: While ruminating on counterfactuals is fun, it wouldn’t be any different for me. I’ve been beating this drum for a bit now. I’d have been happy for derby win, but we shat away 4th place when we drew at home to WBA, so I’d probably be in here getting ripped by OM and TNO for bemoaning the fact that we’d won just in time to screw ourselves withe EL footy. Hahahahaha. See, I told you ruminating on counterfactuals can be fun.
@TSE: Okay, I’m at the risk over over-protesting here, but I’m being totally honest when I say that I have no desire to play EL footy. The money is the only positive, and I’d wager that money would come at the expense of yet more shoddy league play and injuries brought on by those Thursday night fixtures. If you think I’m lying to myself to releive that pain of a poor finish, then I’d say that thought only stems from the fact that you don’t understand how truly cruel and stubborn I am. Hahahahaha.
Do you have any numbers to back that up TSE? I’ve heard the first rounds lose money if you don’t fill the stadium. Plus, what’s the financial gain worth if it results in a financial loss from finishing down the league table?
We’re a squad in trouble, truth to be told, and the distraction of European footy won’t help. The squad’s got no identity. One of our best players–VdV–doesn’t seem to fit our manager’s tactics. Our forwards are horrific at every aspect of the game. Our two best players–Modric and Bale–are neutered in their impact by poor forward play, and their own shortcomings, which despite being coachable (Modric can’t shoot, and Bale can’t beat a double team) areas, are apparently beyond the poor power of our coaches to address. Our defense is a combination of injured (Ledders and Woodgate), aging (Ledders, Woodgate, Charlie, and Gallas), and terrifically inconsistent (Dawson, Kaboul, BAE). Our keeper has gone from being arguably the best player in the team to a flappy-handed horror show. We’ve ignored the paucity of forwards with real skill for three straight windows, and now find ourselves facing a summer window where we need to buy now not only a forward, but a CB and a GK as well. I’m sorry but adding concerns about building a squad deep enough to play EL footy to that already volatile mix is not something I envision as a positive.
@Ryan: Precisely so.
I’d like to know the actual numbers on how much money you make from the EL. I’m guessing it’s lower than people think.
From Wiki:
# Playoffs: €90,000
# Group stage: €1,000,000
# Group match victory: €120,000
# Group match draw: €60,000
# 1st knock out round: €180,000
# 2nd knock out round: €270,000
# Quarter-finals: €360,000
# Semi-finals: €630,000
# Qualifying for Final: €2,000,000
# Winning the Final: €2,000,000 + €1,000,000
–
That’s just the payouts obviously, doesn’t take into account tickets, concessions, etc.
James T: You totally killed that Owen call…I cackled to the high heavens…
@Ryan
Yeah, but what is that in Bebes?
Approximately one Bebe. I can’t believe Spurs would want to miss out on such a windfall.
My earlier comment didn’t take, but I’d be up for Spurs in Europe even if its Europa League. Let some of the players not in the regular XI get some minutes against EL competition. If they perform well but there’s no place for them at the Lane, maybe earn some transfer pounds out of it. In the end, if they do well, there’s a cup at the end.
@phil – didn’t Vdv say he liked playing for spurs b/c ‘arry didn’t bother with all those “TACTICS” in an interview a while back? If it makes you feel any better (since it always IS a competition), we’re in the same boat.
Our half our forwards are useless (Loaned Vela, Jury is out on what to do with Nicky, and Marouane is too exhausted to play. Maybe he has malaria?). Injured Defense? I need not mention Verma and Djourou. As for aging, Well, we bought Squillici, but sold our senior citizen to you and let go of Campbell…but Clichy and Eboue have our “inconsistent” wrapped up pat. We actually had a keeper with “flappy” in his nickname. We need a forward, a CB, and some say a GK as well. My point is our teams have the same frailties, (and we’ve had those for some time now), but still manage European footy year in and year out. Take heart, it can be done.
Oh, BTW, I’ve heard from some girlfriends that Bale CAN definitely beat a double team…but apparently he just doesn’t like it when he’s being watched. Trade you for Rosicky? He’s got European and NT experience….!
Full credit to Pool though. I have enjoey watchig their comeback this year.
wait a minute, JT – you have 800 Twitter followers? How impressive!
Not sure where else to put this, so — the dude from Terriers was on House tonight. Figured I’d share.
At least Stretford End and JamesT got their own room for their love fest.
This episode was fabulous, even if TSE was still in it. Well done and thoroughly enjoyed it!
@NYK – when did you learn what a Twitter was?
@Moonshine
A room could not contain us, hence why we did it outside.
@Wacman
Ha! I did too, mate!
@Dan
Fuck! I missed that! My specially-calibrated Donal Logue alert on DirecTV failed me, big time.