We may be in second place...

But at least we don't have a bunch of criminals on our team:
Liverpool captain Gerrard arrested over assault

Despicable. I would be ashamed to associate myself with that kind of tom-foolery. I knew the whole boy scout thing was all a big cover up.

Ugly Babies Play Good Football

Welp. I think I found pretty much the best thing on the internet. A set of baby pictures of famous footballers. I have to say that with Rooney, his parents must have thought "We better train this kid to be a good footballer, because otherwise his looks certainly won't get him anywhere."

Also note the awesomeness of Henry's fro and imagine if he grew it out now.

And no wonder Jose is such a sexy beast now. Look at that stache from the 80's. Glorious.

If you want to see more: http://metric-march.livejournal.com/3807.html?page=3#comments

and: http://metric-march.livejournal.com/4061.html

Let the Smack Talk Begin.......

Jose is back at it again, this time a few months ahead of the Inter vs. Man U. champs league match, already letting out the rips on Cristiano Ronaldo. I guess it's probably only awesome when he is the coach of your team, but dispite Ronaldo's epic 42 goal run last season, not to metion his team winning both the league AND the Champions League, he has stated that Ibra is a better player than Ronaldo. Love it. I do agree with him on one thing: I think Messi should be considered the best at the moment. But last year he was out for most of the season on injury so I understand why he wasn't picked for Ballon D'Or.

So Sim..... I'd think twice before dropping the best player in the World (according to Jose).

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=604536&sec=europe&cc=5901

Proof that Josh is a gay lover of Didier...

LOOK WHAT I FOUND HIDDEN UNDER JOSH'S MATTRESS!!!

Proof positive. He loves men....especially men who are named Didier.

Dideayyyyyyyyyyy....Dideeeeeayyyyy

Evil Worldwide Conspiracy

Now, some of you know that I typically don't buy into conspiracies even though I find them extremely interesting (as some of us discussed a few at the Brown Palace the other night.) But this I cannot ignore, and am most fearful of. I have found evidence that there is an international network of Terror and Evil, and it is signified by this image of Phil Scolari sitting in front of an AC Milan seal on the background!!!!! I even scanned the article to see if he was at some sort of champions league thing or something and it doesn't mention this!!!! Maybe this is from some sort of evil summit where all of the axis of footballing evil come together and decide how they are going to manipulate other teams, purchase irritating players, and in general be gay. I can already hear what Scolari is saying in this scene "ah ha ha thank you Galliani (AC Milan coach) your 'efforts' in Italy have proven well, it is unfortunate you were caught paying refs to call games for you....... it was a brilliant plan!!!!" or maybe he's saying "ah ha ha, yes, that is a good question Mr. Robben, I do enjoy loving mens butts, especially Mr. Lampards....."

I'm telling you guys..... there is a conspiracy. A conspiracy of EVIL (and maybe gayness).......

Relegate Ariaga 2

In an effort to make the Fantasyship more competitive, I believe it is in our best interests to relegate Danial and Kaci's club Ariaga 2 midseason. Three points after nine games is the stuff of legend, and there is no way that either of them will be devoting time to improving their rank on the table knowing what just happened. I doubt that Daniel will even read this.

Cole, can you just take them off the table and see if anyone notices?

The Fantasyship's most devoted

So, clearly I am the most devoted member of our little guild. I mean, I played footy in the Indian jungle with a small Indian boy today, and am now the first and only person to post on here since before I left for India. Did I mention I'm checking this blog from India?
You guys had better get off your butts and start talking some smack. It's sad that I have to stir the pot from here.

So, Chelsea, missing over HALF of our regular starters, beat the living crap out of Middlesborough 5-0, while Liverpool had to benefit from a late red card to eek out a win against Wiggan? Dude. Maybe Liverpool should start playing here in India, where the biggest sport is Cricket. They may actually be good here?

Pot Stirred.... :p

O.k...... one more video.

Ibracadabra!

For all the doubters out there......

Desperation

So I think some desparation, and a little overly forward thinking are going on over at AC Milan, where apparently the club as signed a 9-year old from Guadalajara.

He might actually get on the score sheet faster than Schevchenko!

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/sep25q.html

Liverpool Man vs. United Fanzone

Now this my friends is true passion. This is what it means to be a REAL supporter of a team. This Liverpool fan shows how it is done. I don't see any Chelsea supporters doing this crap. They are too busy singing about celery.


Here's the link if incase I didn't embed the video correctly:

http://www.skysports.com/video/clips/0,23791,12606_4139898,00.html?ssvTab=2&ssvSelectedTab=12600&ssvBasket=12606&ssvPage=11

Yep, definitely title contenders...

Liverpool 0 - 0 Stoke

Joshy keeps telling me it's a 2 horse race this season between Chelsea and Liverpool for the title. Guess he must have meant it's a 1 horse race.

If I were a Liverpool fan, I would feel pretty good about having secured a point from today's match. I mean, Stoke's players have like, 3 Premiership games under their belt. That's a lot of veteran level experience to have to overcome.

It's too bad though, cause now no one on Liverpool's squad could buy a shirt that says "I scored on Stoke". That's a shame. A darn shame.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood?

It appears Mr. Lampard might be leaving the closet once and for all, attending a recent party in, yes, that's right... makeup. The evidence.

Yet another reason to support the great Chelsea FC

Anyone who supports Chelsea supports local business! As you can see in the picture, Chelsea FC used to be sponsored Coors! If you don't support Chelsea, you must be a fascist that doesn't support local business. Why don't you just move to North Korea!

I like Coors, because I support Colorado business. Therefore, I like Chelsea.

:p

Heh heh...comics are an underappreciated form of literature.

This speaks to my soul....not sure why. :)

First move of the year...

CS United drop the deposed Schalke and add Zenit St. Petersburg as their bonus team.
----------------
as discussed... anyone whose bonus team didn't make qualifying for the CL this time around is free to swap it out (one time only) for an active team. that means you too J.O.! [grin]

in other news, the stupid early year international break is upon us, meaning now that action has begun, it abruptly stops for a week. lame. back at it saturday the 13th.

also, congrats to nate + brandi who walloped former co-owner james 4-nil to take the early lead in the league. welcome to ownership!

That echo you hear...

...it's the sound of a lampard field goal crashing into the now-empty seats in the shed end of stamford bridge.

http://soccerlens.com/chelsea-fans-defect-to-man-city/11240/

craziness. and more than a little disturbing.

Addition by subtraction!

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=567015&sec=england&cc=5901

Oh man, Chelsea has gotten SO MUCH BETTER this week.....and they have not even signed anyone!

Addios Shevstinko and Shaun-I-make-Gary-Coleman-look-like-a-Giant-Wright-Phillips! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

BTW, whoever owns AC Milan and Man City, I strongly urge you to find new teams, ASAP.

:)

I think I've found his secret...

So Gerrard scored the late game winner today, and it was pretty impressive stuff. What training, what dedication....wait, actually no, I think I have found his secret. It turns out, if you want to be able to score game winners like today, all you need to do is get lots of homo-handjobs on the practice pitch!

I'm pretty sure the gayness involved here erases any glory from the aforementioned game-winner.

:p

DB

Thank the LORD this D-Bag did NOT join Inter. Sim...... if you thought that picture of Crouchy was bad this one is WAY worse.

Frank: The 70s are over. Disco is not cool anymore. People don't want to see your chest hair (or lack thereof).

Winning so many trophies we can't even hold all of them...

So Inter just played a friendly against Bayern Munich in which they won (go Inter)...... which was actually some sort of 'cup' they play every couple of years or something like that. Anywho, our new signing Mancini (who ended up scoring the game winner) was holding the trophy at the end and dropped it in a comical fashion. Hilarious. Check it out:

http://101greatgoals.magnify.net/item/697031H5ZD13HJDQ

This is unexpected

In an unexpected move, Liverpool has parted with the mediocrity of Crouch to add a striker that actually scores. And he's Irish. I could almost like this club...almost.

Think about this: Keane, Torres, Gerrard and possibly Barry. That would be the most formidable center of the pitch around.

How you know american soccer is gaining respectability...

we're apparently worth the attention of english hooligans:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/soccer/wires/07/20/2080.ap.na.soc.crew.west.ham.brawl.0314/index.html

awesome. columbus is my new favorite MLS team.

Interesting Arsenal read

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=555120&sec=england&root=england&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1&cc=5901

Didn't realize that there were english teams with profiteering spending habits. I could almost like Arsenal....almost.

Wow...what a handsome devil

if I were a gay guy...i would sure be excited about this picture....

Dude...just having someone on your team who is that ugly must make the team lose morale....either that or want to play harder so they can get off the field quicker.

LOL

My new favorite web site of all time

Behold.....SPORNO!

http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/wpg2

Greatest. Site. Ever.

Offseason transactions/hype

Deco to Chelsea.

Life has purpose again...

We might actually get to see some scoring now that Italy has been disposed of.

Croatia vs Turkey

Holy crap. That was a sweet game. That was the greatest ending I have seen in a long time. Go Turkey!

If only that's how the Champs League final ended....

Portugal v. Germany

If you want to avoid spoilers, don't read this thread. if you do... i'd love to discuss things as they happen in the comments.

I just saw this in a gamecast

Pogatetz gives away a foul then BITES the ball in frustration. Told you he was double nuts.

Scolari in at Chelsea

Regardless of your disdain for Chelsea, they probably made the best move possible getting this guy.

Is there any word on the Benetiz watch? Or are Liverpool content with fourth place?

Any respect i had for Ronaldo is now gone...

"I want to play for Real Madrid, but only if it is true they are eager to pay me and Manchester United what they have been saying they will"

money-grubbing wanker. rumor has it he'll be on 300k euros A WEEK.

that sure shakes things up, doesn't it?

now in a perfect world, liverpool swoop in for villa before manU, arsenal and chelsea get loaded with cash for ronaldo, adebayor and their entire squad respectively. not gonna happen, but THAT would be a good summer...

I never thought I would ever see this picture.......

Altogether now!

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=541773&cc=5901

Sing it with me now!

Did-eeeee-ayyyyy.....Diiiiiiid-ee-ayyyyyyyy!

Woohoo!

Mancini has left Inter

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=539720&cc=5901

This means nothing regarding Mourinho, but it is on in Milan.

Mourinho+Drogba+Materazzi. Bring it!

It's confirmed... mourinho to inter!

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=713413

[in portugese accent] "iz fantasTIK!"

i'm stoked about this, for no reason except that now i can root for mourinho (and sim's loyalties will be divided between becoming an inter fan or sticking to his contratrian roots).

my joy will turn to black sorrow for josh however, if...



...[singing] Did-ee-ay! Did-ee-ay!

How can you not like this guy?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=538795&cc=5901

Some snippets:

'Almost is nothing' says Mourinho

'After two titles per season for the last three years there were zero titles this season, which in my philosophy means a really bad season. Maybe in the philosophy of a loser this was a great season, which I respect.'

Oh my goodness, how can anyone not like this guy. This is amazing! He really did essentially call Grant a loser, and he did it with logical thought! Unbelievable! I would dance in the street in they would just hire him back again.

I suppose some people just dont like him; in the philosophy of a loser, that makes sense, so I can respect that. :)

Grant sacked as Chelsea manager

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=538621&cc=5901

I can't say I'm sad about this. I just hope we can find someone worth his salt to come in a restore us to our proper glory. Preferably someone who has not committed himself to the darkside of the force.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Deserved....

Here's a great (and not too long) opinion article off of Channel 4's site about how Inter deserved the Scudetto, despite what any of you say about it. I like that he points out that the media are continually bashing Inter...... and truth be told Roma couldn't even get the result they needed at the end of the day, drawing the Catania game which they absolutely needed to win to take the title.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/blogs/al32.html

I guess we can all start ripping on the pudlians now, too...

Gerrard: "We must spend big"

So fanboy favorite Stevie Gerrard says that Liverpool needs to start spending some serious cash in order to be competitive. I'm going to get my sneering face and jeering tone warmed up right now so that next time I hear about Chelsea buying success I can respond in kind. Heh...

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=536397&cc=5901

At the other end of the table...

i knew fulham's escape from relegation was an improbable comeback, but i didn't quite realize how crazy it was... good stuff here:


and that's why footy rules. and why mcbride is badass.

The Beginning

Here is the beginning of my predictions for the summer transfer window. The ultimate axis of evil is about to be formed. Jose, Drogba....... hell they might as well throw Robin and Morientes in there. All at GAY AC Milan.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/may14d.html

WINTERFELL WOLVES WIN THE LEAGUE

guess those four away goals were too much to overcome after all. despite sim closing up shop and scoring ZERO times in the second leg, wolves have claimed the league.

well played.

good lord, that picture makes me want to gouge my eyes out...

Lament

Leave it to gay Inter, which did absolutely nothing for me down the stretch, to again fold the final week.

Hats off to Sim.

Spectacular Nike Soccer Spot

jefinho pointed this one out last week, and here's the full version.

must've cost a small fortune:


as a bonus, we no longer need to look at drogba's retarded mug at the top of the page. ahhhh....

I find myself strangely desirous of gay felatio right now....I think it must be the pure masculine power this picture exudes.

Just wait until the champions league and premiership silverware pics show up. Man oh man....I had better get some anti-gay counseling or something.

You Never Know......

Crazier things have happened in football and, although I doubt this would go through, you never know.

I think he even looks good in an Inter jersey, don't you guys?

Regardless....... Once we have Hleb, Aguero, and we drop the Matrix, the piece of silverware to the left will be in Nerazzuri colors next year baby.

Dinho Art

Footy and Art. Both Beautiful.

Apparently he is back in form

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=530157&cc=5901

Score!

Did anyone else hear the coughing at Anfield yesterday?

That was really weird.

Ariaga 2 wins the regular season title

The regular season wrapped up today, and daniel grabbed the second piece of silverware on offer this season, edging out james + kim on goals scored. well played.

(oh, and enjoy the photo of arsenal players lifting a trophy, since they won't be lifting anything this season - sorry, couldn't resist...)

ON TO THE BIG ONE... the playoffs start tomorrow, with daniel taking on sim and james + kim facing ryan. couple notes:

1. the league page is updated and i'll try to stay on top of that throughout the playoffs. check the "playoffs page" to see the (nearly) live scoreboard and playoff tree.

2. check the rules page if you have any questions about tiebreakers or whatever. one clarification: the trade deadline has passed, but that only means you can't trade for a team/player on someone else's roster. you are free to do any pickups/drops or IR related moves as usual. all roster moves for the first game of the playoffs must be done by midnight tonight.

GOOD LUCK!

ZZZZZZZZZZ....

And now for the worst brand of football ever:

Liverpool vs. Chelsea

This promises to have upwards of 1 or 2 goals total in the aggregate. Awesome and count me in to watch!

INTER STOUT WIN THE FF CUP!

with fenerbahce's surprise win over chelsea yesterday, inter stout sealed the win in an extremely tight cup final with sim. a furious fightback from sim brought the game to 6-6 with one game left to play, but ultimately j+k's 4 away goals proved too much for Wolves to overcome.

well played, inter stout. congratulations on collecting the first hardware of the season.

and just cause it was sick... here's the goal that sealed the deciding loss for chelsea:

Mancini for Sale

just in time for april fools day: apparently, (soon to be former) inter coach roberto mancini has put himself up for sale to the highest bidder on ebay.

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=643051

check it out.

More fatal fandom in Italy (and its resulting scheduling wierdness)

the ff cup final second leg has been hit by the postponement of the juventus-parma game due to another fan death in italy.

apparently a parma fan was run over by a bus carrying juve fans to the game. classy.

my initial inclination is to simply count this game when it gets played (and count it for this week only). sim and j+k, let's talk it over.

meanwhile, james + kim still maintain a 6-5 lead (and hold 4 away goals...). but sim still has 3 chances to j+k's 2... so all to play for.

Attention

AC Stout are entertaining offers for Inter Milan.

Drama! Intrigue! Conspiracy?

check this out:

we know uefa wants to avoid an all english final as much as possible (and got 3/4 of the way there (all the way would've been too obvious)... but would they really do this?

btw, the draw is:
manU vs. roma (SPICY!)
liverpool vs. arse
chelsea v. fenerbache
schalke v. barca

BRING IT, DANIEL NICE!

Liverpool v. Inter - Part 2

viewing at the dojo tonight post-tnl if you're interested (and you are). Should be a good one...

Here's a little preview of what probably will happen:

FANTASYSHIP: NOTE

last second heads-up: if you have a player on your roster at 12:45 today and they get knocked out of the CL... you will no longer be able to count any CL goals for that roster spot (no matter who's in there).

example: if you have adebayor and arsenal get knocked out today, you may no longer receive champions league goals for that spot... even if you pick up ronaldinho (assuming barca go through) at a later date.

got it? get those changes in if it's important to ya.

in good news, enjoy this sweetness: top 5 goals of last week (includes the aforementioned 'dinho)

I Wouldn't Want to Go Back Either Hernan......

"Chelsea are thinking about the Champions League and, with their league commitments as well, maybe they will forget about me." He also said: "I know that they would like me to return but it is a question of what motivates me the most." - Crespo

Definitely one of my favorite footballers.

http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=80956

Don't mess with the Ref

Who said soccer was a weak sport?! Even the Refs will kick your A!!!

The Italians RULE!

AND THE ITALIANS RULE AND YOU JUST NEED TO GET OVER IT!
(this is only a test blog)

God and sports

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=510070&cc=5901

It's interesting that this is news at all and maybe there are alterior motives, but good for him.

A true sign your career may be over...

"Zidane gave his backing to Ronaldo after struggling to get his call connected at the Paris hospital because the telephone operator did not know who the three times World Player of the Year was."

At least my team doesn't have any cartoon characters on it...

I mean, seriously....

How ashamed would you be to root for a team like that?

Inter v. Liverpool TODAY

it's about freeking time.

clearly it's tough these days to be confident in any way in my beloved reds, but i've seen them rise to the occasion in europe too many times to write them off completely. my prediction? 1-1.

and there is the small matter of three words that can't help but give me some hope:
torres versus materazzi. that should be good for at least one penalty...

Freakin Chicks.

This is kind of hilarious....... Especially the corner kick debacle.....

FA Cup: Benitez eyes chance of silverware

A quote from the wannabe evil villian:

"Your aim is to win every trophy but sometimes you have to be realistic and sometimes you cannot. "

Yeah, sometimes.....or EVER.

What's funny is I believe I heard some pretty disparaging remarks last year about how the FA Cup is worthless...I guess it's not as worthless as everyone wants to believe. Or maybe it's only worthless when you are one of those teams who isn't going to get ANY silverware at all? *Shrug*

Well, here's to Frankie and Terry drinking from the FA cup again thsi year! may it be filled with Rafa's sweet, sweet tears.

Inter > Liverpool

I guess this is the added level of clarity I needed to bring to the table.

I'm finished!

FANTASYSHIP - transaction

c+c made a bid for eto'o from ryan, which was rejected in favor of keeping him and dropping david villa outright.

c+c then claim david villa and drop roque santa cruz.
-------------------------
since villa was only just dropped, waiver priority would rule should any of you wankers want to put in a claim in the next 24 hours.

though you'll notice that our priority is #2... second only to ryan himself, so it wouldn't do you much good - except to push us to the end of the line for the future - hmm. maybe i shouldn't have mentioned that.

scruples suck.

Are there dangers like this on the pitch

Last night's Panthers/Sabres game. enjoy the graphic content.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3240117

AMALA!!!!!

This is why Inter is the best team ever. Brace yourself with performances by Cannavaro, Zanetti, Martins, Recoba, and maybe Vieri. I would say some of my favorite moments might be Recoba's solo, or maybe Zanetti and Martins almost kissing near the end........

The best observation of the day

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=500928&cc=5901

Cleary he is a bright one.

Cup ties coming down to the wire...

with one game to go this afternoon, c+c vs. sim is still up for grabs... if liverpool win (by no means a given these days), c+c edge this defensive struggle by one. If not, sim goes on to the final on away goals.

and more amazingly, johnny still has a shot of overturning a 0-4 first leg deficit. he leads the second leg 4-2 with two chances remaining. some combination of two goals from torres today and ac milan on wednesday and he'd win on away goals.

in both cases, juventus' surprising 0-0 draw played a big part in keeping games alive for the first leg underdog. bring on liverpool-villa...

The end of another empire, albeit a very chubby empire.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=497734&root=england&cc=5901

Good riddance.

Best Goals

in honor of jefe's previous contribution, i'm curious what are the best goals you guys have seen.

couple of my nominees:
gerrard v. middlesborough


henry v birmingham
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_p0UEA04-A

Still the Dinho......

For all his critics......

Mathematical Mastery

Welp..... Looks like I can finally silence all of Inter's critics. Here's Eurosports official rankings of the best teams in Europe. So for all of you that were talking crap saying, "they're only doing well cause their in the Italian League" or whatever can go ahead and sit down. Apparently everybody else thinks Italy is just as difficult a league as England and Spain. This rating system takes in to account all factors and it is mathematical. Read it and weep bitches.

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/08012008/58/champions-league-european-power-rankings.html

The Fall of Rome (Rome lasted a bit Longer)

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=496402&cc=5901

Sad for Sim. Chelsea seems to have started the downward spiral of it's short career. Kind of makes me think Chelsea is a lot like Britney Spears...... Both rise to glory in a short amount of time, neither from thier own natural talents but richly funded and marketed well, and before you know it, both are on the downward spiral....... the makings of a great VH1 'Behind the Music'...... or 'Behind the Football Club'.

fantasyship - transaction

fresh of another underwhelming loss, c+c's striker carousel continues:
---------------------------------
gerrard off... luis fabiano back on.
---------------------------------