Worth a Gamble?

With all eyes fixed on a Phoenix courtroom today, we thought why not write about something completely unrelated. Sure we’d be overjoyed to see the Coyotes move to Hamilton or anywhere else in Canada. Its just that this saga won’t end today and we’re tired of it. Once the courts get involved, the wheels turn slowly… oh so slowly…and the draggin’ is getting to us. Today will be a big day in the history of the franchise no doubt but a final solution will be far from decided today.
So we thought we’d share a story about one of our pastimes. Something that we use as a diversion.Online poker.

We started playing a year or so ago.  Got the hang of the rules etc.  Then we put it aside for awhile.  But since we got the netbook with the internet stick, its back with a vengeance.  Its a great time killer at our job and when waiting for everyday stuff to happen.  The internet stick is great so far.  Sure Canada’s “most reliable network” has its flaws and it drops its connection every so often but its a lot better than what South Africa has.  We wonder how the news of the upcoming World Cup will be delivered if a pigeon (wtg Winston!) is faster than the country’s number internet service.  The beautiful game will sure become a lot slower!

But we digress, the internet stick has made online poker very portable and convenient for us and the interaction with other players, and the drama of Hold ‘Em keeps us lightly interested/amused. We are far from experts at it and you can play for free.  The challenge to win is there and when you do win, its great.  When you lose, there’s always another hand. Not a bad game if we do say so ourselves.  If we ever get stuck somewhere with nothing to do, at least there is always poker.

If we were in a certain Phoenix courtroom today, we’d be playing it for sure.

Soccer Struggle?

On a somewhat personal note, we really struggled this past month with whether or not to play competitive soccer once again.  If you’ve been following our twitter feed, you might already have known that.

Its been a few years since we last played and last summer we almost got involved again.  This past month has revisited the trials and tribulations of what soccer means to us as the same opportunity to play has arose.  We are passionate about the game.  We have the time to play.  But this summer doesn’t seem in the cards either.  First off, the price of $200 to join is about $100 too much for what we think its worth.  Also, the fear of the unknown is also a bit of the problem here since we’ll be joining a crew that we know nothing about and if you knew why we left the game in the first place, you’d understand our apprehension.

We were playing in a “fun” league that was getting borderline serious ofver the course of the season.  The teams and play was getting more and more intense as the season went along.  This was hampering the “fun” factor for us as we were simply involved for some competitive good times on the pitch while trying to stay in shape.  The final straw involved a match with a fist fight on the field that had some serious blows.  Then another incident involving players spitting at each other.  Where had the “fun”gone?  Woodpeck left after that match and hasn’t looked back yet. 

The itch to play is still there.  Our fitness is top notch though our skill set understandably is getting rusty.  If there’s a fit out there that doesn’t cost us an arm and a leg, we’ll hopefully find it.  Close to getting us back into the beautiful game. Close.

Close? U Want Close? Try the EPL!

Often we hear about how the NHL and other major North American leagues have close races in the standings as the playoffs near.  Just read our previous post and take note that at the time we wrote that, the NHL Western Conference’s 6-10th spots were only separated by a couple of points.

But if you want a close race, tune into the standings for the English Premier League!

Now the top of the table is starting to take shape as the top 5 is getting more solid as the games go by.  Just what where the teams involved will end up at is the big question.  THE EVEN BIGGER QUESTION is the rest of the standings.  7th-20th (last spot) are only separated by 11 points.  That is less than 3 wins between 13 teams.  ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN.  The free spending Manchester City could fall into the relegation zone as well as the recently injury prone Newcastle.  Now wouldn’t both of those “storied” teams being sent down be a massive event!  This is nuts! We don’t know where to begin with so many teams in the mix so we’re gonna wait to see what unfolds this weekend b4 we make any bold predictions.  But for starters, the Bolton Wanderers are going to need to start playing some D in order to stay up.  The recent poor 2nd half display that ended up giving up a 2 goal lead to the Blackburn Rovers was pathetic!  There’s sitting on a lead and then there’s just letting the other team play while you watch…

Lesson #1 Four Two Day

Just a quick post to give mad props to this post:

How To Be a Canadian Premiership Fan

FANTASTIC! Woodpeck returns to write more in 10 hours!

Snow Job

We are snowed in.  What does that mean?  More posts of course! 

Here’s an update on what we found curious of late:

• TFC has Sold OUT its allotment of season seats (16,000) for 2009.
• We were excited about the De Rosario deal to TFC.  Here’s the Dynamo take.
• Ernie Whitt gets to take the Team Canada helm.
• VanOC is already dropping the ball for 2010.
• Sigi is the man in Seattle.  Talk about starting with the top coach on the market!
• One man’s journey at the Bills in Toronto game!  Check out the Hilites and Lo-lites!

We welcome Beer, Beats and Bites to our linkages!  Eat, drink and be merry!  Who could you ask for more in a blog?

This Team is Showing Flashes of Brilliance

We were late arriving to the EPL scene but once there, it was love at first sight. Once upon a time, the BLUES were the team of choice.  Always in the title hunt but never the bride.  But the Russian era changed all that in a heartbeat. Zola-era Chelsea were something we’ll always remember fondly of.  The cash-inspired and seemly heartless Blues of today are not something we ever could get behind so we went our separate ways.

Nowadays the gloryhunting has gone the way of the Gunners. It seems by chance that it has gone that way personally. From meeting fellow fans in the oddest places to seeing numerous games on the telly and finding jerseys on sale, it just came to us one day that we’d become an Arsenal fans. Arsenal seems to follow what we like best in football and therein lies the reason to join the gloryhunting fray for better or worse.  Its just worked out that way.  One day recently we woke up to realize that we’d become part of the Arsenal family as unlikely and crazy as it may have one time seemed.

With that said, the Arsenal victory over the aforementioned Chelsea last weekend marked the start of a special season.  No one could have predicted this team with so few changes during the last transfer window would have been in the title mix.  Last weekend marked the end of the up and down season for the team and now is the time to come out and finally admit….

WE ARE FANS! GO GUNNERS GO!

and now onto victory against Wigan.

This Win is 4 All the Fans

Time to wrap what we’ve taken notice of the past few days:

• Today is American Thanksgiving.  Think football is number one on the menu?  Not a chance!  This “game” is number one without a doubt!
• Robert Müller’s tale is far from over but is already inspirational!
• Congrats to Kid Poker for winning the BC championships!
• Also coming out on top was the Columbus Crew, who won the MLS cup!  Now if the MLS could only fix how the cup is won and bring it more in tune with what happens overseas.  No matter, a win is a win!
• and lastly, congrats to the Calgary Stampeders for winning the Grey Cup.   It doesn’t matter if the main event was lack luster.  A win is still a win!  Is there an echo in here?

A 20 Second Timeout 2 Boast

Awhile back we predicted the Canucks would be 11-6 by mid November.  Now they sit at 14-6.  Can’t complain about that! 

Tip of the hat to Some Canadian guys writing about Soccer who have added us to their links!  Much appreciated!  Check out their site often!

Note 2 Pinheads, Create a 2nd Divison 4 the MLS!

Seriously, with so many bids for MLS expansion on the plate the time couldn’t be better to create a 2nd division for the MLS.  The current 7 bids all look solid and we’d be sad to see any of ‘em fail.  So why not create a 2nd division?  Seize the moment pinheads!  The time is now!  Hold the current crap teams accountable!  Can you imagine Becks playing for a 2nd divsion team?  Or Montreal moving to the top divison while Toronto falls to the 2nd?  Great stuff that could only add to the current setup and rivalries.  The cup play would be a fantastic bonus!  We can’t think of a good reason whyknot and only reasons whyfour!

• Kudos to Triple Dead Heat and  Sports and the City for being the first blogs to link us all “proper like” in their blogroll.  Mucho thanks!

It’s Easy to be a Tuesday Morning Quarterback

Nothing beats a good cliche to start the day:

• A good varied roundup of takes on Freddie Ljungberg’s signing with Major League Soccer & Seattle Sounders FC.
• Beckham could leave the MLS after 09 due to an opt out clause and he also has an option to buy a MLS team when he leaves?  Whoa!  His deal just keeps getting better! 
• A good midwest US take on what is wrong with hockey and what can be done to fix it.  We thought it to be ESSENTIAL READING. 
• Attention MLB teams!  K-Rod will be an overpaid five year flop if you pay him what is rumoured to be his asking price.  5 years for 75 million?  We realized he is only 26 but he’s logged a lot of innings and critical work during his tenure with the Angels.  Anything beyond half of his asking price/terms is taking a massive risk.  We give K-Rod 2 more good years until he sputters.  Of course, ppl said the same thing about Yankee Closer Mariano Rivera and he’s proven us wrong to date.  We think he’s one of a kind and the exception to the rule. 
• Kudos to the NBA for still doing trades involving stars.  In a cap ridden professional sports world these types of trades are too few and far between.  Good on both teams for taking a risk, shaking things up and making things interesting for the fans.  If only more teams would do this… (insert your fave team here).  This blog predicted and gave decent reasons for an IA trade way back in May!
• The Pressures of Youth Football (soccer) is a good post but the comments are what we found to be most interesting.  You can substitute “football” to any sport/arts/performance your child is enrolled in and make it applicable.  Parents take note!