Match Report: Chelsea 3 - Liverpool 2 (Extra Time)

It appeared to be raining quite hard.

All the goals were scored at the same end of the field.

There were more goals in the 30+ minutes of extra time than during the 90+ minutes of regular time.

In the Doctor Who episode "Smith and Jones" - the one where the Doctor first meets Martha - there are creatures called the Judoon who are basically some sort of inter-galatic rhinoceros police officers. These creatures are clearly patterned on the likeness of Chelsea manager Avram Grant.

Liverpool's Mascherano still looks like my cat.

The game was actually quite exciting and would have been satisfying except for the fact that Liverpool lost.

Liverpool's fans (and normal people from Liverpool as well) are known as Scousers.

My favorite moment was when Michael Essien's goal was dis-allowed due to Drogba being offside and interfering with the keeper.

Chelsea better beat Man Utd.

It wasn't all bad (4-29-08)

Ok, so Manchester United beat Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg and the Red Wings beat the Avalanche in the NHL playoffs to go up 3-0 in the series, but there were, at least, a few positive developments:

• Manchester United keeper Edwin Van Der Sar was kneed in the head not once, but twice, by his own defender, the much-maligned Wes Brown. After the second blow to the head, Van Der Sar was so dizzy he was standing in goal looking all wobbly and raising his hand for help like a school kid who needs to go to the bathroom. The referee finally had to stop the match and the medics came out to check him for a concussion, etc. "Have some water...How many fingers am I holding up?" Van Der Sar did get to stay in, though. (In the picture: the one in red is Wes Brown - if you don't recognize a United jersey, it's pretty hopeless. The player kneeling is Gianluca Zambrotta - that's a great name! And the one in green, with his head almost touching the ground, is Van Der Sar.)

• The Red Wings got two too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties within three minutes in the third period. (The Av's got one earlier in the game.) How does this happen to trained professionals? I have no idea.

Manchester United v. Barcelona

GAAARGH!

How, I ask you, does a team with such SUPERstars as Thierry Henry, Deco, and Lionel Messi (the supposed 2nd best player in the world), not score a goal in 3hrs (180 minutes over the two legs) of playing time! That is staggering!

Manchester United, delievered a goal, by way of Paul Scholes, so they're on the way to the finals. Not the way you would expect, I know.

The final result was 1-0 Manchester United, the same on aggregate.

"This was a make or break time for Barca. If they had won, they would have my respect, but now I can only think 'What a lousy, useless sack of UGH!'" said one enraged Man. Untd. hater.

The Flyers are winning

Like I've predicted previously, the Philadelphia Flyers are beating the Montreal Canadiens. (Up in the series 2-1). More importantly, here is a happy photo of East German hockey players resting on the bench. It appears to come from the mid-1980s. East German hockey players get to play their hockey outside.

NHL Playoffs - Hopes and Dreams

In response to a reader's request, I have listed the teams left in the NHL playoffs according to how much I am rooting for them. In parenthesis, you will find my reasons...

1. Flyers (Best logo in the NHL, perhaps all of sports)
2. Canadiens (Only Canadian team left)
3. Sharks (Cheechoo, Setuguchi, Grier, Nabokov)
4. Avalanche (Nothing horribly offensive about them)
5. Stars (I liked that commercial Turco made a few years ago)
6. Penguins (They're not the Red Wings or Rangers)
7. Red Wings (They're not the Rangers)
8. Rangers (They are the Rangers)

There is a poll at the bottom of this page for you to vote for your favorite, as well. (And feel free to send us more reader's requests!)

Roller Derby (4-26-08)

Last night my family and another family (that makes two families in all, for those of you who are keeping track) went to see the Jet City Rollergirls up at Edmonds Community College. Both of the bouts were lopsided affairs - the Pink Pistols trounced the Hula Honeys and Camaro Harem badly beat Carnevil. We have a friend on Camaro Harem, so we were very happy. Below is a video I took. There is a minor wipe out at the end:

What I have been reading lately #1 (4-26-08)

I've been reading Mark Hodkinson's Blue Moon: Down Among the Dead Men with Manchester City. Hodkinson spent the 1998-99 season covering Manchester City for the The Times (London). In case you don't remember, this was the year after City had been relegated to English football's third flight - not a happy time, obviously. The book collects all Hodkinson's columns and he adds in a few notes and reports to round everything out. Not the best book I've ever read, (it's actually a bit disjointed reading a series of columns) but certainly it ought to be required reading for anyone who thinks football in Manchester starts and ends with Ronaldo, Rooney, and Sir Alex Ferguson. For more about Mr. Hodkinson:

http://markhodkinson.com/

And one more thing- Manchester City is known as the Blues. Go figure.

What I saw tonight (4-24-08)

Everybody wins 4-3; Habs over Flyers in OT and Wings over Avalanche in regulation. I watched the last 8 second of the Red Wings game on Versus and that made me miss the Montreal goal on CBC. Oh well.

Jonathan Cheechoo

Here comes Cheechoo. There doesn't seem to be anybody else on the ice. Click on that link down below to find out about exciting items that children need to know.

http://www.nhl.com/kids/youngstar/cheechoo.html

Here's a useful link to help you find Moose Factory, Ontario, Canada:

http://www.moosecree.com/community-profile/geography.html

AC Milan (You're gonna hafta get used to these)

I'd like to now just give you a brief introduction to my favorite team, AC Milan, so that in the future you're not confused when I discuss the Rossoneri (that would be their nickname, Red- Blacks).

Overview: Some might describe this team as "arrogant, petulant, and loathsome" (my dad!), but as they are one of the best teams in the world (historically) not everyone thinks that. Ok, I'm kind of tired of writing in paragraph form, so I'll make some lists:

Rivals: Inter (fellow Milan team) and Juventus (evillllll, they're everyone's rivals, but Milan has the honor of being one of the teams hated back!)

Stadium: The San Siro

Colors: Black and Red (a little bit of white)

Some Players (the ones worth mentioning): Kaka, Pato, Maldini, Inzaghi, Pirlo, Gilardino, Nesta, Kaladze, Kalac, Ronaldo, Oddo, Favalli, Bonera, Cafu, Brocci, Simic, Ambrosini, Seedorf, etc!

more later...

New Contributor!

On my cat Tuli:

Tuli, my cat, looks like the Argentinian footballer, Javier Mascherano. Yes, she is a bit fatter, but she and this Liverpool midfielder could be confused at a glance.

What I saw tonight (4-23-08)

Barcelona 0 - Manchester United 0

Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty kick in the first five minutes - then Barca held the ball the rest of the game but didn't score. If you watched the game, that's what you saw, too.

Two zambonis cleaning a dimly-lit ice rink

Watch as two zambonis clean the ice between periods at the ice arena in St. Louis. What do they call the arena - the Savis Center, ScottTrade Arena, Kiel Auditorium, the Checkerdome? What periods was it between? I have no idea - the Blues were playing Nashville on April 1, 2008. They went up 3-0 early, but lost 4-3 in overtime. That's just what happened.

Elk meat!

My co-worker Don has given me a moderate amount of elk meat - sausages, ground meat, and some steaks. His son-in-law from Idaho shot the elk and now some of it's in my freezer, just waiting to be eaten.

What I'd like to see tonight (4-23-08)

Barcelona beat Manchester United badly - not gonna happen, though...

What I saw last night (4-22-08)

Champions League: For those of you who missed it, it was actually a rather boring game. Liverpool were leading 1-0 in the dying minutes of injury time when their midfielder John Arne Riise scored on a beautiful diving header that he nailed past the goalie and into the top of the net. Unfortunately, it was his into his own goal.

Liverpool 1 - Chelsea 1

Flyers 3 - Caps 2 (OT): I hate having to work - makes me miss all the best hockey games.

Sharks 5 - Flames 3: San Jose scored four goals in a little over eight minutes in the 2nd period, and that was pretty much it. On to the next round!

More about zamboni drivers

This news item is a couple of years old, but still very important. Please make sure to read it.

http://www.boiseguardian.com/2006/11/21/zamboni_joy_riders_fired.html

What I'd like to see tonight (4-22-08)

Liverpool over Chelsea

Flyers over Caps

Flames vs. Sharks (hmmm - this is a hard one.) All logic and political sense says go for Calgary - small Canadian city in the middle of god-forsaken nowhere against San Jose (?!?!) But San Jose has some players I really like - Mike Grier, Jonathan Cheechoo (the pride of Moose Factory, Ontario and a religious fanatic to boot), and Devin Setoguchi (pictured above). Plus, the Sharks arena reminds me of some sort of community college field house I probably visited in an alternate universe, and I really like the color blue lately. So I think I'm rooting for San Jose. Maybe.

What else is going on (4-22-08)

For all of you who are interested in the Detroit Red Wings, zamboni drivers, or the many uses of the octopus, investigate the link below. Notice that your friendly editor (arrussell) is right in the middle of a minor controversy in the comments section. Ed even refers to me as a "genius".

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/the-morning-skate-no-octopus-for-you/

What I have been listening to lately #1 (4-22-08)

"Long, Long Time" by Linda Ronstadt
Check it out:


Also Wolf Parade, the Kitchen Syncopators, and Sly and the Family Stone

What I saw tonight (4-21-08)

Habs 5 - Bruins 0 (happy)

Caps 4 - Flyers 2 (not happy, but I didn't see it either. Both CBC and Versus were showing the Canadiens-Bruins game.)

Tomorrow we get two game sevens (Calgary-San Jose and Flyers-Caps). How am I supposed to watch all that and a UEFA Champions League match between Chelsea and Liverpool and also go to an evening event at work? I'll have to stay up all night perfecting the cloning technology.

What I'd like to see tonight (NHL - 4-21-08)

Canadiens beat Bruins

Flyers beat Caps

Tune in tomorrow to see how happy (or not) I am.