Champions League - Olympiakos HOME

Once again, another mid-week feature goes by and I sit at my desk steadily typing, reviewing, being all work minded and whatever else you want to call it. I won't complain about work. At least I won't complain about my work, because I'm pretty satisfied with the type of work I do. Now if they can get my pay rate correct and put me into the permanent position I might even be quite happy with the work I do.

Tuesday began with me waking up and suffering from this miserable cold. At least I am led to believe it was a cold.. wait, I still have it. It actually interfered with my Monday night hanging out with Jonfromnextdoor and ChelskiGirl. Someone thought it would be funny to text me random words at midnight.

Back to Tuesday...
I start getting a few text from a variety of the usuals:

A Certain Scouser. (yah it's going to stick now) Firstly trying to find out where exactly I was. Doing the good work was my response or something to that effect.

ChelskiGirl was keeping an eye on the Arsenal game and sending me information on that. Then a brilliant text about how Liverpool were already down by TWO!

I quietly sipped my chai while giggling with giddy glee about the possibility of Scousers losing to some Italians. I know it's not really fair but the cold medicine was catching up to my delirious mode.

I think the best one came from ACMilan, which I should explain he has an issue about losing to the Scousers some time ago on a pitch far far away. It simply said.

Pooor scousers. BWAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I have to admit having mates keeping you in the loop while you are on interweb lock-down at work is top notch. Much respect to all of you.

I did send a consolation text to A Certain Scouser.

Later that night I got another message from DJM about how Liverpool looked like a bunch of high schoolers playing football. I haven't had time to catch the highlights but it is hard to believe a team with that much class talent could crumble under the pressure of the Italians.

I spent a good part of the evening downing massive amounts of tea with honey. Hopefully by this weekend I am better. Planning on DCUnited - Chivas game Saturday night and it would be a royale pain in the Arse if I don't feel well enough to go. I'm not a super huge fan of MLS to begin with but hey the tickets were free.

In sore throat agony, yours truly,

~Le Chat

OH OH OH Breaking News Kroneke (USA)has 28.7% of Arsenal shares, just 1.2% more and he gets to do the takeover. This is getting interesting.
OH other Breaking News MARADONA is asking god to lend him a hand!
Yah, REALLY.

Fulham Away

It was a bright and sunny day.

Bloody hell I can barely remember the day. And now I have this sore throat and headache plus other symptoms that I believe someone infected me with swine flu.

I have to admit this was one of those weekends where there was not much happening as far as happenings which can happen. I did pick up my friend SkyBlue so she could work on her research paper for some class that she has. I am still unsure, all I know is that she said she wanted to go to the pub and observe soccer fans in their element.

I am always happy to oblige anyone who wants to come to the pub, of course. If downing a couple of pints and having a good time is your thing, even better. If you can pass it off as research for a paper... then much respect to you.

As I was saying, we take a seat at Irish's bar watching the last half of the first game. Some of the Chelski usuals come in and a few Scousers, not bad but my thought was that it was going to be slow.

All of the sudden the sky went dark, a tide of red began washing upon the shores of the Thames. SOMEONE please tell me how many bloody Scousers are in this city?

I departed upstairs along with the Chelski crew. I figured it would be much more tolerable to listen to them yammer along about how many millions they have to spend, then deal with the incessant GERRARD - TORRES love fest.

I thought it would have been a much closer affair, but it was not. The Chelski game did offer a nice surprise and the crew did what they do best, drown their sorrows in many pints and shots of liquid resolve.

After those games, headed back down stairs to watch the proper game for the afternoon. SkyBlue took up a corner and observed. Chelski lot gathered at one end of the bar and harassed. Mini-Murinho was doing a tour and kept up the hilarity. GrumpyGooner took a spot right in front. St.Nick had arrived prior to me getting down and was a little bit better off then the previous week.

LilBlondieGooner shows up with her usual jovialness (I know it's not a word). There was a discussion of a certain Italian born keeper. Bad impressions were made. I think Tony Spaghetti even came out of some one's mouth. When LilBlondie had to say something about herself being Italian.

The fireworks began to fly for about 20 minutes. We all know that 2006 World Cup was stolen by the cheating Italians. We all know that those cheating bastards conspired to get Zizou thrown off the pitch. We all know this. So why defend?

Personally, I believe I won the "Italy cheated FRANCE out of the World Cup" argument. I practice it all the time. I am sure LilBlondieGooner will disagree. The only good thing is we're both Arsenal at the end of the day. Cheating Italians.

I am sure ACMilan is going to jump all over this. He's been after me today about getting the blog up at a reasonable hour. I have a cold, I'm under the influence.

Towards the end of the match CrystalPalaceUS Manager comes in holding a cup. So I had to inquire since the boys did not do well during the season... I guess I should have been a little less blunt...

"What's the cup for?" I ask.
"It's the Maryland Cup." comes the reply.
"Ooh, how'd you get that, you did fuck-all during the season."
Dirty look from CrystalPalaceUS Manager.

He gave me some guff for breaking his balls so to speak. They were having a benefit that I couldn't quite afford but I do hope that it went well. So after the game we had to all leave for the boroughs from whence we came.

I had to drop SkyBlue off at the train. On my way back to the southside I got some rather interesting text from a certain Scouser.

Why don't any of us scousers get specific nicknames? we all get lumped together

Well I thought long and hard on it, actually I shot off a quick reply about not hanging out with the Scousers enough to come up with good nicknames. To which I received a less friendly reply, which I'm not going to quote but the final verdict was it is a 38 week season. So we will see.

Actually think it's funny, since Scouse is a sort of thrown together soup like thing. Just like everything goes in there that was leftover from the meals of the week. Or so that is my understanding of it... I don't think I would like it either.

I did have nicknames for a couple of the Scousers though. Oh mentioning Scousers, congrats to GingerScouse. I was wondering what these weirdos walking around in pink ties and sambas were doing.

Sunday-Funday ended up being not really exciting. I spent a great deal of the morning hanging next door with Jonfromnextdoor on the second floor. Try the pulled pork breakfast burrito. I did stick my head in to speak to Irish and see who was around. Sunderland Wolves attracted a whole 4 people from what I saw and I don't believe any of them were there for the match.

ChelskiGirl joined up with us next door and we sat around making fun of each other for a few bits, while American Football was being played. Local team was stomping the other team so I pretended to care.

That game is just too slow and time consuming for me. There is never a flow.. start... stop... start... stop... worst then being on a broken roller coaster or an elevator where someone hits the button for every floor.

I guess it is something that most people grow up on. I never was a big fan. There was not a local team during my formative years and I had caught the bug for proper football during that time. I believe this is probably one of the better things that ever happened in my life. That and knowing who the hell Pele was before the age of 5.

I am making less sense as the cold medicine begins kicking in.

~LeChat

Carling cup West Brom at HOME!

I was of course at work. I understand that someone scored, someone got slapped, someone else scored and the ref is still a bastard. So in order to not bore you with my boring day of not being able to watch midweek matches here are a couple of videos.

Explanation: Nike did an advert.. video 1...


Someone did a parody.. video 2


And one of the true Mancs sent me this Evra ad.. tres cool!


~LeChat

WIGAN PIER

Yes apparently The Arsenal know the way. However, it was a home game. DAMN!

Please excuse me, I am having a hard time remembering things right now. Jonfromnextdoor decided to invite me out to have some beers, which led us around the corner to Murphy's and running into P himself. Many shots were had but that is today and I'm not going to write about today.

Saturday was an ok day. I started they day out early, as usual and ran into Shane who shall remain nicknameless, simply because Shane is cool and has a bad ass name, for a scouse loving Irishman.

About halfway through Burnley Sunderland, ArseSaintNick and one of the Manc loving African contingent come in. They were a little loopy to begin with and started on the Heineken. A few after that, Floss and one of the other guys come in. I must admit, those guys are all major funny.

The story goes, 3 of them (minus Floss) were up watching Kenyan rugby all night long and it was someone's birthday as well or something like that. ArseSaintNick explained that a lot of the songs they were singing the other week were actually rugby songs. Then he broke into the chorus of -

I'm in love with the girl next door..... SMELL MY FINGERS!

I still don't know why I find that funny but it just is. ArseSaintNick and I had quite a long conversation about Tanzania and Kenya which was pretty interesting in itself. But his shining moment was when a replay was being played about 10 minutes after the original Burnley goal was scored.

ArseSaintNick jumps up all excited and is screaming about it. Shane keeps repeating the words "Replay, Replay, Replay." And poor HalfArseDean, who was sitting on the other side of Shane had this look of pure confusion. I couldn't help but just to silently laugh about the whole scene.

It took ArseSaintNick about 5 minutes to realize that it wasn't another goal that looked just like the one before. Of course I get blamed for not telling him it was a replay and Shane sits silently chuckling. Good times.

The Arsenal game came on and the pub started to fill up a bit more. Loudmouth showed up but for once, I WILL ADMIT, as well ArseSaintNick attest to, he was actually not too bad this week. He actually made sense. It was a miracle.

LilBlondieGooner made sure she pointed it out that I actually agreed with something that LoudMouthGooner said. She also pointed out that I still haven't come up with a good name for her boyfriend, which I really do need to do. He's a good guy with a broken hand. Apparently he tripped over the cat. HAHA ONE FOR CAT KIND!

Saturday Night

Texting about crappy bands at shows is funny.
Sending facebook messages with Jonfromnextdoor to ChelskiGirl, since she is in London is even funnier.
Getting text from ChelskiGirl about how homesick she is makes me feel bad.
Receiving comments back on facebook about ChelskiGirl wanting to kick Jonfromnextdoor's ass... PRICELESS!

Sunday.... Scum-Shitty

This is was an all time classic game. I really enjoyed it. Sheffield came down and met me, so we sang You Fill Up My Senses at least once. I decided to adjourn to upstairs next door, Jonfromnextdoor was working the bar and the pub was actually crowded with Shitty and Scum supporters.

I will admit. I did have one of the greatest breakfast burritos I have ever had. It was nice to sit next door. It was like having a private VIP view of one of the best matches that I have seen in a long time. I am still trying to get one of those Old Trafford Watches.

Poor, poor ACMilan. He got stuck in a small corner of the pub with a tiny television. It does stink when there is a big derby playing and the pub is sardined but he did get a telly after a bit of bribery, coercion and promises only an Italian football supporter would give.

We all hung around for the true Scum to be dismantled by the BlueScum. The Chelski boys didn't have as great of a showing...they usually do.

Overall Sheffield and I were our usual selves.

Saying all the wrong things at all the right times.

~LeChat

(addendum)
2010WC plans are being made. Barca stopped by, which is always good to see her, and made promises to coordinate. I really do need to be a better at staying in contact with people.

Standard what?

Yah, I'm still confused. These teams... where do they come from?

Belgium?

Midweek- I don't see the games mid-week unless I start bribing someone. Mentioning Italian league football/calcio.. whatever the hell they call it. This evening was an evening to hear not 1... not 2 but 4 bloody people speaking Italian words at the pub.

What goes?

So the night starts off with picking up Sheffield from Hopkins. He was a bottle of champagne into his night already. We had a quick one together... he tried singing some songs but we couldn't think of anything that wasn't offensive.

We also discovered that Duvel is actually good.

Sheffield leaves so I take a tour around the point for some Hot Tomato. Delicious I must say. Nothing better than a greasy pizza.

While sitting on a curb down by the park I get a text from ACMilan saying he was coming up from DC, which I figure, I should just head back to the pub. I look up across the park and see a dog named Chelsea and Mini-Mourhinho. I have a few words with him before heading down the street.

ACMilan finally shows up, an hour later. During that time I think I had like half of one of the staff's steaks and some asparagus. I must admit, hanging out at the pub at night does have it's benefits. Jonfromnextdoor came over as well.

ACMilan recounted the story of his alleged food poisoning. He figured it was a good idea to eat at a 7-11 and then go for the 7 - 10 mile run. Did I ever say that ACMilan is actually an ACMilan fan? Goes a long way to explaining it, doesn't it.

Anyways our conversation with Jonfromnextdoor quickly divulged into the politics and corruption in modern day football officiating versus American sports officiating. Not your normal bar conversation which B-Dawg repeatedly told us.

It was a good night though for a mid-week, well day after mid-week. I even got to run into one of my favorite Gooners in the middle of Thames. Mind you his woman decided to park in the middle of the street with flashers, Baltimore-style.

Looking forward to this weekend and 3 points in the league.

A very tired and sleepy... ~LeChat

ManCity - Away

Another Monday, another 3 points dropped by the Arsenal. I am guessing some will be expecting my usual litany of froth and venom about the game but I don't even know if that would be worth it at this point in time.

Where should I begin?

The day began well enough, the usual suspects in their places when I walked in to the pub. Mr.ManShitty himself actually greeted me with smiles, should have expected that would be trouble to begin with.

A few moments later, one of the original ManShitty supporters popped in. I will admit it was good to see Brighty, since it had been at least 2 years or so since he had shown up for a regular match. Brighty bought a few of his friends along with him which pre-game put ManShitty up to a whole 3 or 4 supporters.

Let's say by the end of the first half there was at least 7 or 8. It was a good showing by them supporter wise and did they let their voices be heard at 1-nil.

How about that Kanye West? What a tool!

As you know I don't really give play by play or deep analysis of the games to begin with. There are so many other blogs out there for that tripe. If you didn't watch it, catch the highlights on 101greatgoals or ole ole.

I will say, that a certain person has now earned more than honorary C**T status on my top five, maybe even superceding the 2006 Italian National team. I am not going to dwell on this. No reason. At the end of the day, he will get his.

On and by the way - from the Guardian

Eduardo da Silva's European ban has been rescinded on appeal after Uefa accepted the appeal lodged by Arsenal.

and....

"Following examination of all the evidence, notably the declarations of both the referee and the referees' assessor, as well as the various video footage, it was not established to the panel's satisfaction that the referee had been deceived in taking his decision on the penalty," said Uefa.

"Therefore, the decision of the Uefa Control and Disciplinary Body of 1 September, in which the player was suspended for two Uefa club competition matches, is annulled."

So stupid they are.

So the back room of the pub now is my favorite spot to watch matches, if the sound is working. It's almost like a VIP section. Some may disagree but since the put up the new small television it feels like watching with my mates at home. Still waiting on that big screen for the back.

The Scousers were on the main since Irish is Scouse and I expect my beers to be served on time. He can have it. The man works harder than... (careful now don't want to offend anyone) Anyways, I can allow him that pleasure of dibs on the telly.

Chelski boys were in full effect but got a bit of a fright from Stoke. Someone said there was a Stoke supporter but later it was found to be a Sunderland supporter supporting Stoke. Nice tongue twister is that one, right?

There were no major highlights with the exception of LoudmouthGooner and Mr.ManShitty going back and forth for a bit. I think I chimed in with Loudmouth being a bit of nub and somehow I got a few little jokes on ManShitty.

He had also mentioned that I should say something nice about him. Let's see....

You ever see the movie Shrek? The Ogre, Shrek, says that Ogres are like onions, lots of layers. I will give ManShitty that, he's definitely an Ogre! Nah, seriously he's not a bad fellow, once you dig through the crap. He knows his team, supported them when they were, wait, still are rubbish.

I know this is not in any kind of chronological order, prefer to call myself more of a free-writer with no set agenda, just coming off the top of my head. My mind was so fried on Saturday after the loss.

I do remember at 3-1, GrumpyGooner and I both walked away and sat at the outdoor tables for a bit, just to let it set in. There was no way back and the consolation second goal was just that, nothing more.

We both headed back in because no matter what, neither one of us has ever left before the final whistle. That's a true supporter, even through blood, sweat and tears. I may walk away for a few moments, just to gather my mind but I'm always there for the final whistle.

Now I'm not saying anyone is less true than anyone else but there is something to be said for it. True supporters are there in bad times and good times. Whether you are watching it through the crack screen of a 14 inch tube television with no sound or on a cold rainy London night for a boring nil-nil draw. That is what sets you apart.

No scarf. No kit. Just pure Heart!
Passion for your club. Passion for the sport.

It disgusts me how some self-entitled over-paid wanker can say that such and such club never gave him support. That the fans never liked him. That those fans aren't true supporters, when you sell your ass to the next highest bidder.

You know who sells their ass to the next highest bidders?

I'm sure Ashley Cole can tell you. I have no respect for people like that.

I know I will get a wrath of whatever from whomever about my minor little vent but you know, seriously think about why footballers, or any other sports star, changes clubs. Yes you are right about them looking for the better deal but when the money is the only thing on their mind, and not the game, not bettering themselves or putting themselves in a better position to win more trophies... then you are nothing more than a high-society whore.

Alright enough said on that subject.

Funny moment on Saturday.
Characters - Black Spy (My shrilled voiced arch-nemesis),
White Spy (aka LeChat aka ME)
Meatheaded Gentleman (some meathead)

Setting: The bar next door!

Black Spy: You going to watch football tomorrow?
White Spy: You talking to me?
Black Spy: Yes! Well are you?
White Spy: Proper football or American football?

Meatheaded Gentleman gives strange looks towards the interloper speaking about other kinds of football besides American because that is Un-American. (Don't forget to make your dumbfounded face, just like you usually look)

Meatheaded Gentleman: Huuuh?

Black Spy: American, duh?
White Spy: Uh, No!

White Spy laughs maniacally and walks out.

End Scene

~LeChat

Internationals/WC2010 Qualifiers

Always, these things, mucking up the beginning of the season. Don't get me wrong, when June/July comes around I'll be all about some internationals. Right now, it's club not country. Actually, in reality, it's always club before country.

Alas, my brilliant plan for the weekend was to stay in, maybe catch a match or two on GolTV and do stuff around the homestead. However, other people and their random plans seem to do me in. Which now has made me an associate member of some Lithuanian society. I wonder if I can put that on my CV?

Saturday was the only real day for any football. I wake up with a splitting headache from the Lithuanian porters or maybe it was the weather. I can't really tell anymore. I decided I was hungry and headed down to the pub. The weather wasn't really that bad and I knew the Scotland game was on and the England game would shortly follow. Did I say breakfast sounded good at this point?

I headed towards the pub when I found out ChelskiGirl was doing her farmer's market thing. In my mind, it was a good idea to walk over and say hello, grab a coffee and head back to the pub afterwords for a box-tie.

I poked my head in while walking by, nothing exciting was happening, said hello to Irish and B-Dawg then took the long journey to Harbor East. I wish I knew the mileage but lets just say I wasn't really prepared for the walk. It became hot and annoying real quick, but I knew there would be an ice coffee at the end.

There are some things you do for your mates, walking across the waterfront to say "Hi" should be one of them. It wasn't as bad as I am making it out to be. I got to the market, sat around and people gawked while sipping on some icy coffee goodness before finally deciding it was too hot for me.

When I got back to the pub, there was a weird assortment of people. The bar was full but not crowded. I ended up grabbing a table in the back, since most of the normals were outside sipping their mimosas and the Scots were well involved in their game of chance.

For Scotland, I think it's always a game of chance. It wasn't a bad match but nothing to get too excited about either. However, my breakfast box-tie was delicious. There is something to be said about potatoes, eggs, bangers and cheese, all together now. I'm getting hungry thinking about it.

Now I remember what had the day being kind of odd. The Scousers were nicking pints of blood with the Red Cross outside. A couple of the ones I know kept asking me to give but I politely declined. I am not a giving blood sort of person.

ChelskiGirl and DJM, one of the Chelskiboys, decide to show up for the England friendly. We all end up at the far end of the bar next to some weird guy, whom I assume was a Chelski supporter of some kind as well. He kept asking random questions about the ban, not in a way where he was going to spout forth knowledge, but in a way where it was something he just read in the paper this morning.

Basically, it was a mellow, have a few and call it a day type of day. The pub had a strange crowd, almost as strange as the Scotland match. It wasn't busy but there were people around. The three of us basically joked around about how powerful Kazakhstan was going to be this year and that there is a shirt that say "I'd rather walk alone." This is a must buy, just to annoy the Scouser friends.

The blood drive did provide some entertainment. The Scousers, I should say RedScousers, who did give would come in looking like death warmed over and asking why aren't you guys giving blood. There was usually a laugh, a look at you, and some other funny remark coming from the three of us.

I guess all in all it wasn't too bad.

I did learn something though. ROONEY now dives on the International level as well. He is a cheating little bastard. I don't ever want to hear that guy call any one out for diving again.

I also learned that putting up a facebook post calling Maradona a fat c**t will get you in trouble with some people. I guess they didn't find me saying "Ok I won't call him fat anymore," as the apology they were looking for.

Til something interesting happens.

~Le Chat

P.S. For your viewing pleasure - Maradona is still a fat c**t