Friday, February 10, 2012

James McClean left out of Irish squad: Here we go again...


Okay first things first, let’s get the disclaimer out of the way. We are all suitably delighted the Irish soccer team have qualified for the European Championships. The qualification for same harkens back to the glory days of the Charlton era and no doubt will give Ireland a much needed national boost when the tournament comes around. The inevitable hard fought 0-0 group round draws, the feisty performances and the lovable underdog tag will undoubtedly be a blast. The heart breaking tournament exit after a penalty shoot-out will give us all a reason to knock back a few brews. Fabulous.

The problem is, you can pretty much write the script months ahead of the event itself. How come? Because the Irish manager, Gio Trapaphoney, is a stubborn old man.

To continue the disclaimer before we head into the rant, whilst it is a fantastic achievement to qualify for the Euros, and whilst we will all put our reservations to one side and get behind the boys in green when it starts, this doesn’t mean we have to agree with the method and style in which we achieved said qualification.

James McClean - good enough for the Premiership, not good enough for Trapaphoney

Trapaphoney has announced the Irish squad to face the Czech Republic in a friendly, and amongst several other notable absentees, he has perhaps most glaringly omitted one of the hottest, most energetic and most exciting prospects in one of the if not the biggest leagues in the world. Leaving Sunderland’s hard working, enterprising young winger James McClean out of the squad should be a shock to anyone who has seen McClean literally change the fortunes of the team that has finally given him his chance.

However, it is no shock to anyone who is used to Trapaphoney’s tired old schtick. He has his trusted few and he is going to stick with them, the future of Irish soccer be damned. The style and development of Irish soccer be damned. The ability for the Irish team to do something special, be damned.




Mark my words, this team is a fantastic, gritty bunch of over achievers, however we all know they lack that something special. They will inevitably play some hard working, tough tackling soccer and we will all be proud of them, but there is no way they will be doing anything special.

We need someone with a creative spark.

Enter James McClean. Buried by Steve Bruce, McClean got his chance when Martin O’Neill became Sunderland boss and had the Cajónes to play the young starlet in the making. The rewards have been plentiful. McClean has goals and assists to beat the band, and Sunderland are a completely different team since his inclusion. He has a few tricks as a winger, delivers a great cross, has an eye for goal and, most impressively perhaps, tackles back. He protects the fullbacks and works very hard both in and without possession.

Finally, he has youthful energy, gallons of it. He rampages around the park looking for something to to.

Watching Sunderland beat Stoke recently, watching Glenn Whelan, one of Trapaphoney’s most trusted soldiers, fight his personal battle against falling down while walking, it was painful to think, no doubt Whelan will be in the team ahead of McClean. Worse news would follow of course, now that we know Trapaphoney doesn’t even deem a place in the squad necessary for one of the most exciting prospects in Irish soccer, nay, Irish sports.

You know what, one giant **** you to Trapaphoney. Seriously, it can’t be said strongly enough. This is like some kind of Brugellian nightmare, one you can’t wake up from. The Irish team are on the cusp of a once in a lifetime opportunity, and yet ‘the man who got us there’ is determined to scupper our chances of actually doing anything when we do begin play. **** you Trapahoney, you stubborn old fart. **** you for screwing with our hopes and dreams of shock wins and a surprise run into the latter stages of the tournament.

It cannot be said strongly enough, we are not going anywhere with the likes of Glenn bloody Whelan, as he stumbles about the pitch like a disabled baby deer, falling over himself and swiveling around to play the ball backwards at every opportunity. McClean offered a wonderful opportunity to bring some pace, some attacking energy and some youth into a tired, limited old squad.

Instead we’re going to go ahead and ignore the chance to be progressive.

One more time, with feeling, **** you Trapaphoney. **** you because I love the Irish team, and I hate to see it held hostage like this.

We can only hope for the future of the Irish National team that young, gifted, up and coming players like McClean are strong enough of mind and character to wait Trapaphoney out, and eventually get their chance to shine when a more enlightened manager takes over.

That time can’t come soon enough.




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Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Look not, ye, into the black pit of despair. Superbowl Sunday is well behind us.


Patriots fans, gather round. Everyone else go here (You aren’t going to enjoy a piece about Patriots fans recovering from Last Sunday Night). New England fans, ever notice how when something goes wrong, or in similar time of issue and or disaster, everything else seems clearer?

Look, there is simply zero point in re-hashing the experience that was Last Sunday Night. As a Patriots fan, I have spent hours pining over the game like a lovelorn teen who just got a particularly brutal ‘Dear John’ letter (or email, or tweet or woof, or whatever the hell medium those crazy kids are dumping each other with these days). At the end of the day, it is what it is. The Patriots failed to make a handful of plays (take your pick from Brady, Welker, Hernandez and Branch) and the Giants simply refused to make a mistake. There is no great mystery. They lost.



Sometimes it is tough being from New England, however sometimes it is actually easier handling disappointment because of your place of birth. The whole stifled, stoic, Calvinist outlook steadies the mind for disaster, disappointment and downfall. If anything, dare we say it, the traditional Calvinistic, introspective New Englander possibly enjoys disappointment more than victory. Don’t shake your head at me, you know there is at the very least at shadow of truth in that seemingly paradoxical statement.

Back to the opening paragraph, and how things seem clearer against a backdrop of dramatic failure. It is said in times of great stress and disappointment that the human mind sees clearest. Because it has to, or some more scientific explanation similar to that. A good beating, loss and or disaster sharpens the senses. A crushing Superbowl loss need not result solely in weeping and gnashing of teeth, instead it can be turned into a cathartic experience like few other. Embrace the icy-water emptied over you, revel in the sensation of newly awoken feelings and emotions!

If all else fails, five pursuits of happiness that might curtail the blow

  • Lock yourself in your living room with nothing on but the nature channels. Probably safest option, unless your name is Harold Crick. Little inside, I know.
  • Take a trip to Connemara. There is no ESPN in Connemara. Just lots of this.
  • Pretend you are a Giants fan. This may require forgetting a whole heap of stuff you have learnt, for example, most of your education, and any dignity you might have, and may end up in you shouting infantile remarks at three time Superbowl ring winning QBs wives, however it may also give you a few fleeting seconds of feeling like a winner.
  • Punch a Dolphins fan in the face. This always makes me feel better.
  • Break out the box sets. Obviously the staples here would be The Wire, The Sopranos, Eastbound and Down, 30 Rock, The US Office, Band of Brothers, The Pacific and Mad Men. Add in whatever tickles your fancy, and away you go.


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Monday, February 06, 2012

So let's get this straight, Miami fans, really?


Goodness me, really? Miami Dolphin fans are going to talk trash the day after the Superbowl? Really? Unbelievably, after the Patriots loss to the Giants on Sunday night, I received only two emails teasing me about my allegiance to all things Patriot.

I say unbelievable as I normally generate more hate mail. There's something about my face that some people just don't like. Perhaps even more shocking though than the small number of correspondence, both of the mails were from Dolphins fans. I know, I am as shocked as you are, apparently Dolphins fans have figured out how to use a keyboard.

I mean first of all, Dolphins fans? Really? The Dolphins are about as relevant to the zeitgeist as Matt LeBlanc. The Fish Out Of Water have been an entirely pathetic sporting organisation for some time now, and even when they were decent, their star QB Dan Marino never won a Superbowl ring. So, who exactly is casting the first stone here? What is a Miami fan doing bleating like a learning disabled sheep about the Superbowl for? The closest most Dolphin fans will get to same in the next five years is if they buy a Lions jersey and start rooting for them (The Lions are winning it all next year, you heard it here first!).

You know what, we all run our own sporting paths. We root for whoever, we rise and fall emotionally with their fortunes. Generally, when someone we know suffers a sporting loss, we support them or we give them space to go through their own process to recover from same. Anything else is completely lacking in intelligence and or dignity. So let's talk about the actual physical action of some moronic gimp sitting down at a computer screen, and actually opening up a brand new fresh email and taking the time and effort to write to a Patriots fan teasing them about last night.

I mean, why? What's the point? What exactly are you proving in doing that? How infantile and idiotic do you have to be, how pathetic and pointless does your existence have to be to have time to waste to do that? You know what, I guess what it says most of all is, just how completely and utterly pathetic the Dolphins are. Yes, that's right, you Miami fans. Your team is so irrelevant that you are forced to comment mainly on the progress and results of other NFL teams.

Your team isn't even worth talking about.


Now, to delete some Facebook 'friends'....





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Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Superbowl 46 Giants @ Patriots: Betting preview


Here it comes. One of the World’s greatest sporting events is just around the corner. The Superbowl will be exploding on to your big screen TVs this coming Sunday night February 5th around 11 pm Irish time. Superbowl 46 (or Superbowl XLVI for you Latin lovers out there) is absolutely dripping with intrigue and drama. It is a repeat of Superbowl 42 where the 10-1 underdog Giants caused a major upset by shocking New England 17-14.



This current Giants team is riding a Tsunami wave of momentum, whilst the Patriots appear angry and itching for revenge. It is a heavyweight bout with a truckload of side stories. Will Tom Coughlin crack a smile if the Giants win? Just how high can Tom Brady squeal ‘We’re baaaack!’ if the Patriots win? What colour hoody is Bill Belichick going to go with?

The most important question for you, the punter, is naturally, ‘Where is my $ going?!”.
For the vanilla lovers in the audience there is match, handicap and total points betting. For the more adventurous tastes there is everything from winning margin to first coach’s challenge to first team to call a timeout (and back!).

The game itself is a tough one to call, and that is reflected in the relatively even match and handicap betting. The Giants are available at 23/20 while the Patriots can be lumped into at 8/11, should the mood take you. The handicap is one of the smallest, shortest margins in recent Superbowl history, the Patriots slightly favoured by the odds-makers at -2.5. If none of those options appeals, or if you are a neutral and you just fancy a high scoring shoot-out, then the total points market currently set at Over +55 points might appeal. You can nibble away at that at 10/11.

For the passionate, dedicated Giants fans (and those Jets fans that feel left out) there are plenty of appealing markets. You can grab Mario Manningham to score a touchdown anytime at 10/11 or you can get on Victor Cruz to pull in Over +83.5 passing yards at even money (not a bad option when you consider the Patriots young, inexperienced secondary).

If you believe that afore mentioned secondary is ready to break at any second, if you are a big Eli Manning fan, or if you are just a big fan of Quarterbacks who look permanently terrified, you will love the Player A Total Passing Yards market, with Eli Manning facing a hurdle of Over +315.5 at odds of 5/6.

Perhaps the most appealing action available to Giants fans, apart from match and handicap betting, is the 1st Half Away Team Total Points market. If you think the Giants are good for two first half touchdowns, or a first half touchdown combined with two field goals, or any other wacky combination adding up to 14 points or more, then get stuck into Over +13.5 at 5/6. Even most Patriot fans would consider that one.

Patriot Nation eagerly awaits this historic rematch. For some reason the odds-makers have Tom Brady at Over +307.5 in the Player B Total Passing Yards market. Maybe they mixed Eli and Brady up, or maybe they are Giants fans. Either way, if you think Brady is coming out firing, that could be the market for you. Brady has to hook up with a target for that to happen, and veteran Deion Branch looks tasty at 13/10 to score a touchdown anytime. Branch was a Superbowl MVP once, and knows his way into an endzone.

Betting on the Patriots running game is a risky venture however BenJarvus Green-Ellis looks decidedly underrated at Over +52.5 rushing yards. All he would need is one or two big rumbles and that yards total would crumble. If you are an extremely confident Patriots fan, and there are plenty of those about, New England can be taken on the Alternative Handicap market -7.5 points at an attractive 7/4.

For the more deluded of Patriots fans out there, or those who remember that stretch of wipe-out, lopsided score Superbowls, how about New England to win by 43 points or more, available at a juicy 200/1?

For me, the two most appealing markets of the night are slightly unusual. Chances are this game could come down to a field goal. If that’s the case, the Last Score of Match market should appeal. It is currently at Touchdown on 1/2 versus Field Goal/Safety at 6/4. Then there is the gem amongst the coal, in my opinion. Check out the Player B Total Rushing + Receiving Yds market, bearing in mind Rob Gronkowski, the part of the ‘HernandeGronk’ double act attracting most attention, is likely either to play hobbled, or not play at all, and Aaron Hernandez looks extremely appetizing at Over +82.5.

Good luck, and most of all, enjoy the big game.

Recommended bets:
  • Player B Total Rushing + Receiving Yds: Aaron Hernandez Over +82.5 5/6
  • Last Score of Match: Field Goal/Safety 6/4.
  • Player B Total Passing Yards market: Tom Brady Over +307.5 5/6
  • Anytime touchdown: Deion Branch 13/10



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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

What's that Tim Thomas, you hate the Troops? Really?


There is a great moment in the seminal mini-series ‘Band of brothers’ where Captain Sobel attempts to march past Captain Winters without acknowledgement due to his personal distaste for the latter. Winters stops him and says, with authority;


‘Captain Sobel, we salute the rank, not the man’.


Apparently Tim Thomas has never seen ‘Band of brothers’.

The Boston Bruins were bestowed the great honour yesterday of meeting the President of the United States at the White House yesterday, to celebrate their fine Stanley Cup victory last season. Tim Thomas, Bruins goalie extraordinaire, chose not to attend due to his political beliefs. Every single other Bruin attended, no matter what their beliefs.

This was a day to celebrate with his team mates. This was a day to enjoy the camaraderie that anyone who has had the luck of being on a team for any protracted length feels.

Instead Tim Thomas made a woeful decision and selfishly turned it into a day about him. Those same team mates had their day in the sun hijacked by someone ignorantly putting themselves first ahead of their band of brothers. That’s the worst thing you can do in team sports, put yourself ahead of your team mates. Not only did Thomas choose not to celebrate this fine achievement with his brothers, he stole the moment from them with his poorly thought out, selfish and ill conceived decision. He has insulted his team mates and he has insulted hockey. He has come out and said, 'My archaic, angry and divisive beliefs are bigger than my team mates and the game of hockey'.

Thomas made an enormous mistake in not attending, and he did so on a fundamentally simple principle. Respect is respect, respect shouldn’t be a variable in any situation. No matter who is sitting in the Oval Office, one should respect them. Choosing not to attend shows a simple lack of respect by Thomas. Lack of respect for the station of the President of the United States, lack of respect for his team mates, lack of respect for the game of hockey and lack of respect for the United States.

It should be noted that Thomas was a silver medal winner with the United States hockey team. If he wants to make a statement, well then give the medal back. If you disrespect the President of the United States, you are disrespecting the country as a whole, no matter what turgid, redundant political ‘spin’ you try to put on it.

There will be plenty of clowns who ignorantly blather ‘But hasn’t he got the freedom to do that, freedom of speech and so forth’ yes of course he does, but do so in a respectful and dignified manner.

Make no mistake, Thomas’s action is a despicable course.

One would assume Thomas is a big part of the ‘respect the troops’ ideology that is currently sweeping the States. If that’s the case, Tim Thomas has directly spat in the eye of all the armed forces of the United States. The President is the overall commander of those same troops, and Thomas has gravely disrespected the Office of the President.

To use the dangerous, vitriolic rhetoric of the right wing goons Thomas has now forever associated himself with, apparently Tim Thomas hates the soldiers of the United States. Those same ‘freedom fighters’ he would so quickly have you believe he worships. Well, it turns out he hates them. Hate the commander, hate the troops.

Tim Thomas has tried to pull a Captain Sobel. He has tried to march past The President of the United States without saluting. It is every single United States citizens duty to their country to take him to task on that. No matter what your particulat political beliefs, salute the rank, not the man.

Massachusetts is the home, the birth place, the origin of so much that is good in the United States 'set up'. Brilliant men and minds originated from there. Sadly today it is the home to a selfish, disrespectful, backward thinking goalkeeper who cares more about his stagnant political beliefs than camaraderie, honour, team and respect.

And we're not talking about Tuukka Rask.



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Monday, January 23, 2012

The thing about Marco: The Scutaro trade; maybe leave it to the professionals


As baseball fans, we tend to react first, and think later. If at all. The Red Sox trade of Marco Scutaro to the Rockies, announced on Friday, is a case in point. Within moments of the announcement, Facebook, twitter, and that dark murky place otherwise known as ‘the comments section of all sports media sites’ were awash with a tide of negative commenting that made the tide at Omaha beach look virgin pure.

‘This is a horrible trade!’ we screamed as a fan base.

The knee jerk reaction was full of bravado and hyperbole. Within ten minutes of reading the collected masses opinion, it was abundantly clear that; Cherrington is in over his head. The Sox are panicking. The Sox don’t know what they are doing and so forth.

People get so angry, so riled up, don’t they? The Internet may be a valuable source of information, however it seems to encourage people to, well, to say really stupid, angry things.

On calmer reflection it looks as if the Red Sox know exactly what they are doing. Scutaro, much as many of us Sox fans love him, is 36 and earning a relatively large slice of change, $6 million approximately per season. He is a nice guy, a good clubhouse presence and a decent bat. He is not the second coming of Ozzie Smith nor is he the second incarnation of Hanley Ramirez.

The Sox saw an opportunity to use any of a number of in-house options at short (Iglesias\Avilez\Punto) while putting the $6 million saved towards bidding on the services of one Roy Oswalt.

So first things first, if you are perhaps still angry at the trade, would you trade Marco Scutaro for Roy Oswalt?

Look, here’s the thing. The Red Sox front office are doing due diligence. They spend hours upon hours, days, breaking down all possible moves, with all the best information at their fingertips. With all due respect, ‘Bob’ in Framingham, commenting angrily on the ESPN website, probably isn’t the absolute best judge of whether the Scutaro trade is for the best of the Boston Red Sox or not.

To quote the great Keith Foulke, Johnny from Burger King may feel like it is important that he (or indeed she) rains down a carpet bombing campaign of negative feedback on this trade, but at the end of the day the only people who have actually put the hours in to researching and analyzing all possible permutations involved are the Red Sox front office.

Now I say this to myself as much as anyone else, because at first glimpse I wasn’t wildly enamored with the idea of the trade, but maybe people should sit back and think about the reasoning behind a big trade or other move before plonking themselves down in front of the keyboard and banging out a poorly written, scrambled, angry reaction.

Maybe think for two seconds.

There is generally a method to the madness.




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