AC Milan 2008-2009 Season Statistical Highlights

Here are the statistical leaders for AC Milan this season:

Most games played: Pato (36)

Most games started: Gianluca Zambrotta (33)

Most minutes played: Gianluca Zambrotta (2971)

Most minutes played without scoring a goal (goalies excluded): Marek Jankulovski (2681)

Most goals scored: Kaka (16)

Most yellow cards: Massimo Ambrosini & Marek Jankulovski (10)

Most red cards: Giuseppi Favalli, Massimo Ambrosini, & Marek Jankulovski (1)

Fewest minutes played (of players who appeared at all): Tabare Viudez (1)

Below: Tabare Viudez

Source for statistics: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/ac-milan/squad.html

Match Report: Fiorentina 0 - Milan 2

In the final game of the season, Milan beat Fiorentina 2-0 (goals by Kaka and Pato).  It was Paolo Maldini's final game (number 902, to be exact).  (See picture below).  Now the way is clear for manager Carlo Ancelotti to leave - probably to go to Chelsea - to probably be replaced by Leonardo.  (See picture above - Ancelotti is on the left; Leonardo, on the right.)  If this is true, we here at Ape Canyon News Service wish Carlo all the best, even if we don't like Chelsea.  He has done a wonderful job for Milan over the years.

Champions League Final: Barcelona 2 - Manchester United 0

Above: Lionel Messi scores Barcelona's second goal.

Below: Thierry Henry shows off his new trophy.

Above: Barcelona players celebrate their success by tossing rookie manager Josep Guardiola into the air.  In his first season, Guardiola won La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League.

Below: Sir Alex Ferguson walks off the pitch after the game.

Picture of the Day

What I have been reading lately #27

I just finished reading Dave Roberts' book The Bromley Boys: The True Story of Supporting the Worst Football Team in Britain.  This book is a fine example of a genre that they don't really publish here in the United States-- fan memoirs.  Roberts writes all about the 1969-70 season for Bromley, a time when he was 14 years old and completely obsessed with the local amateur squad.  

Checking back through my records, I count five separate books that I have read that fall into the category of football fan memoirs.  Here is my ranking of these five books.

1.  Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby.  I know that this book is quite well-known (even here in the USA), is all about Arsenal, and was even made into a movie about the Red Sox!  But it's still a fantastic book-- any fan of any sport could relate to Hornby's account of the completely ridiculous interconnection between his own personal life and the success (or not) of his team.

2.  My Favourite Year, edited by Nick Hornby.  This collection was published by When Saturday Comes a number of years ago and consists of short essays by a number of writers about their favorite seasons of their favorite teams.  I picked this up for a few dollars in a remainder bin at the University of Washington bookstore a few years back, and it has gone on to be one of my favorite books.  Because of this, I now spend way to much time scouring through remainder bins at bookstores hoping that lightning will strike twice.

3.  The Bromley Boys by Dave Roberts.  He makes my sports obsessions seem mild in comparison.

4.  Manchester United Ruined My Life by Colin Shindler.  A great title, obviously, but it was hard to have a lot of empathy for a Manchester City fan (and a whiny one, at that).

5.  Believe in the Sign by Mark Hodkinson.  This book is about a young man obsessed with Rochdale, his local, hapless Division 4 team.  I actually really liked this book when I first read it.  In fact, I liked it so much I contacted the author via email.  But when I pointed out an inconsistency involving the television mini-series Roots, Mr. Hodkinson claimed that it was part of a "fantasy sequence."  I'm not really interested in reading fantasy sequences in fan memoirs.

Movie Preview: Looking for Eric

Fun at work: bears and crawdads

From this week's parent bulletin--  BEAR UPDATE:...Please talk with your children and let them know, if they ever do see a bear, to walk quietly away.  Don't run, and don't make noise.  If they think the bear has seen them, they should walk slowly backward, keeping their eye on the bear as they move away.  Running will encourage the bear to chase, so remind them never to run...

On another animal-related note--  One of my students spent this week bringing his pet crawdads (aka crawfish, aka crayfish, aka "clawfish") to school...over and over again despite my instructions to stop.  Finally I gave up and had the students do some crawdad-related activities.  A different student has now threatened to start bringing in chickens.  Stay tuned.

Picture of the Day

Source: Futbolita

What I have been reading lately #26

This book covers in great depth all that is corrupt, dishonest, scandalous, and wrong in Italian football.  This would include the clubs, fans, owners, journalists, referees, league officials, politicians, financiers, players, and others as well.  Kind of depressing, actually.  

Happy Birthday Wishes!

Happy birthday wishes to Vujadin Boskov - born on May 16, 1931. Boskov played professionally in Yugoslavia, Italy, and Switzerland, as well as for the Yugoslav national team. He is more famous as a coach - he has coached in many European countries, including Italy, the Netherlands, Spain (at Real Madrid), and as the manager of the Yugoslav national team. His greatest success came during the 1990-1991 season when he led Sampdoria to their only Scudetto.

Boskov is famous for his many quotations, including:

• "The game ends when the referee blows his whistle."
• "The team that wins the championship is the one with the most points."
• "It is better to lose 3-0 once than 1-0 three times."

Once again, from all of us here at Ape Canyon News Service, happy birthday, Vujadin!

Ancelotti Sings!

AC Milan - the four best goals of the year

Seedorf plays the ball through to himself in the penalty area off a defender's chest...Zambrotta shoots and scores from about seven miles out...Pato dives to connect with a header...Kaka scores from maybe even farther out than Zambrotta...These are possibly the greatest AC Milan goals of the 2008-2009 season. The most amazing part, however, is that they were all scored in the same game! (against Lazio on September 21, 2008). The other amazing part is that Zambrotta's goal is the only one he has scored all year.

Milan 1 - Juventus 1

Milan tied Juventus 1-1 today, pretty much ending whatever incredibly remote chance there was that they could catch Inter and win this year's Scudetto.  The tie also means that Juventus still have their own (remote) chance of catching Milan for second place in Serie A.  Seedorf scored for Milan early in the second half, but then Iaquinta tied it up only a couple of minutes later.  The most important statistics are these, however:

• Number of loud explosions set off by the fans during the match: 6.
• Numbers of times Inzaghi was whistled for being offside: 4

Photo above: Paolo Maldini, right, playing his last match against Juventus before his retirement, chases Juventus' Amauri.

In case you missed it - Iniesta's goal

Picture(s) of the Day

Above: Champions League semi-final (second leg): Iniesta has just scored for Barcelona in stoppage time. Clearly the Chelsea players can't believe what has just happened. (For a larger, and better, view, click on the photo.)

Below: Minutes later, Chelsea's Michael Ballack is sure the referee just missed a hand ball in the box by Samuel Eto'o.

Barcelona will face Manchester United in Rome on May 27 in the Champions League final. For a complete report on yesterday's semi-final match, click here.

What I have been listening to lately #19