Is the game getting more dangerous?

I was checking the scores in the Premier League this past weekend when the headline of Petr Cech being seriously injured caught my attention. I used the usual venues to try to find a video replay of the incident to no avail. It wasn’t until a few days later that I was able to see what exactly happened when Cech came out for the ball against Reading’s Stephen Hunt.

It brought back memories of a young man I use to coach. I coach goalkeepers and have done so for many years. I’ve played the position in both semi-pro indoor situations as well as the amateur ranks. I started playing in high school due to the fact that no one else from the team wanted to play. We were a first year program during my junior year and all of the players were teammates from the local club. Unfortunately, the GK from that team went to a rival high school.
I jumped in head-first, literally. I was a pretty serious skateboarder at the time and I think that this was helpful for me as I’m not exactly the tallest person in the world. I taught myself the angles and positioning. To this day, I use this thought process to coach players. I was told early on by one of my coaches (who happened to be English) that as long as I keep the ball out of the back of the net, I’ve done my job. It doesn’t have to be pretty or elegant.

Protecting myself came later when I tried out and made the semi-pro indoor team. Having shots blasted at you point-blank at 50-60 MPH tends to teach you how to be safe; especially on artificial surfaces.

Of course, the game has evolved since then and GKs are more protected in 50/50 or fast break situations. But as the game has changed, so has the personnel playing it. The players nowadays average six foot or so and are usually built in what is perceived as the “Athletic” build.

GKs are bigger now also. Look across the EPL and you’ll see GKs are 6’4” on average. But they’re not of the old stock, well, Paul Robinson tends to be, where the girth is a little larger than usual. They, like the field players, are built like swimmers. Wiry, muscular, etc.

Watching the incident with Cech and Hunt is no proof that GKs need more protection from the officials. It’s proof that the game overall needs to be looked at. In games I’ve played, whenever a GK calls for the ball, more times than not, field players will lay off and allow the keeper the ball. It shows respect to the GK. But I’ve seen two incidents personally where this didn’t happen.

One was with the young man I mentioned previously. It was during an intense high school match; a one-on-one in which the player pushed the ball too far ahead of himself allowing the GK to rush out and slide thru the ball, just as I’d taught. Well, the forward proceeded to do a two-footed, studs up, tackle at the ball….or was it meant to be the ball?

The GK took the full brunt of the challenge; he broke 3 ribs, collapsed a lung and eventually lost 6 feet of intestine.

Was it a fair challenge? No. Fortunately, the GK recovered from the injuries and went on to be an All-American in college and is now the assistant coach at this same college and is in line to take over when the head coach retires.

The other incident happened during an amateur game; same sort of situation. Fast break, player pushes the ball too far, keeper comes out, player attempts to play the ball. In this incident, the player kicked at the ball and the keeper didn’t slide through the ball, it was bouncing so he stayed on his feet, as he went to scoop the ball into his chest, the player kicked and missed the ball. What he did get though was the keeper’s crotch; severing part of the GK’s penis. Luckily, there was a doctor on the team and he was able to get the GK straight into surgery. (Yeah, I still wince when I think about it)

But on the other side of things, I watched this same keeper come out on a one-on-one and slide through the ball only to snap a player’s leg in two places. So this brings one to think; who needs the protection?

Hunt’s attempt to “play the ball” was a bit much. Was it an accident that he tried to make that last minute attempt to get the ball just as Cech went down to get the ball? Or was it deliberate? Just as Ben Thatcher’s elbow on Pedro Mendes last month was or just as Brazil’s Edmundo elbow on the US’s Tab Ramos was, etc.

I personally believe that all soccer/football organizations need to start looking the violence that is occurring more and more in the game. Due to the nature of this game, it’s bad enough that we blow knees, ankles, etc. We don’t need any help by an opponent.

Officials need to step up and take control of a game early on by issuing cards as necessary to ensure the safety of ALL players at ALL levels. Hunt should be banned for a few games and be forced to attend some sort of class where he sees the damage that he has done. Just as Thatcher should and for that matter, any other player who sees fit to do damage to another player.

Finally, I’d like to make a recommendation that is as old and golden as time itself.

Do onto others as you’d have them do onto you.

Cheers!

Hoodie

Does he really know?

I really, for the life of me, don't understand the transfer policy at my beloved Arsenal. We've brought in ONE player, Tomas Rosicky. Granted, I think he's a great player that will eventually make his mark on the league. BUT, we've got no defensive cover, no GK coming in to replace Mad Jens, who's stated his desire to go back to Germany. WTF!?!?!

Juventus has a fire-sale of sorts after being relegated, several players were snatched up to bolster their squad...what did we do? Not a feckin' thing!

I wouldn't even minded if we brought back Vieira so that Gil-"I never make a forward pass"-berto could sit the pine. Now we're looking at losing quite possible one of the best defenders in the world in Ashley Cole to the Chelscum. Then to mark all of this off, Reyes looks set to be leaving also...to somewhere in Spain. He's homesick, can't settle in London, etc.

Hey Sissy Boy, suck it up! You're a professional soccer player. You get paid more money in ONE WEEK then a lot of us make in a year. You were hired to do a job, so stop diving everytime an opposing player looks at you and start contributing, like you do to your national team.

Who would I buy if I was in charge, you may ask. Well, we need cover in the back; starting in the GK position. There's a ton of keepers out there that we could land; Buffon, Hildebrand, Coupet, Butt, Curci from Roma, etc. Then we need a defender or an utility man; Mexes, Chivu, Kompany, Gallas(trade for Cole plus cash from the Chavs), Lahm, Sagnol, etc.

Moving on to the attack, we need at least one more striker and another utility man such as Van Persie is; someone who can either support Henry or play out in the wings. Lucas Podalski is a good start, Bastian Schweinsteiger, we got Rosicky, Ribery, Vincente, Joaquin...

You get the point. As they say in Gooner circles, "Arsene knows..."

But does he really?

Hi...I'm A Mac....

I broke down and got a Mac Book Pro over the weekend. I got the 13". As all I really use a computer for at home is to get online and occasionally do some things with the pix I take of my kids, etc. I figured it was big enough. Plus, I'm kinda tired of hauling around nearly 10/15 lbs of widescreen PC laptops.

I gotta tell ya, this thing is amazing!

It's just as they say in the commercials comparing a Mac to a PC, straight outta the box, I was up and running in nearly no time. It boots up almost immediately, finds wireless networks, looks good, is lightweight, etc., etc., etc.....

The side of me that used to play in a band is intrigued with Garage Band...I'll get into that this weekend...

The only thing is learning all the little nuances and commands...but that'll come with time...

BWAAAHAHHAAAHAHAHAHHAAA!!!

OK, back to "work"

Aston Villa....American Owned & Operated!

Aston Villa, a mid-table team that has seen its share of turmoil lately, seems to be have been taken over by American Randy Lerner. Villa fans, known as Villans, have been trying to get Doug Ellis out of the club for a few years now after lack-luster seasons.

Lerner was just one of four investors interested in buying out Ellis to take over the midlands-based club. The Cleveland Browns owner struck a deal with Ellis, which values the club at £62.6 million or about $118.24 million.

He seems to be willing to endear himself to the Villans; affirming his intention to bring the glory days back to Aston Villa, who won the European Cup in 1982.

"It is my belief and the basis for my bid to acquire Aston Villa Football Club that it can compete at the highest level within The Premiership and in Europe," said Lerner.

Former Celtic gaffer, Martin O'Neill, has been brought in to do that. Unless Lerner pulls a Chelski, O'Neill will have a rough road ahead of him considering their current roster. While they have a strong squad, they will have to be consistent this season to finish outside of their usual mid-table slot....But if anyone can do it, it would be O'Neill.

Well Done to the 'Poo

Liverpool started off their season by adding the Community Shield to their rack of silverware. I usually wouldn't be too happy about this as I'm an Arsenal fan, but since they beat the evil empire known as Chelsea....Hell yeah!

Taking a cue out of EA Sports FIFA game, Liverpool defender John Arne Riise took the ball from 'Pool's box and proceeded to make a 60-70 yard run, making the Chelski players look like a pub team and finishing off the run with one of his trademark left-footed cannon shots that blew past Carlos Cudicini and I think the goal shifted a bit. 1-0 to the Reds.

The rest of the game was back and forth. Chelscum new boy, Michael Ballack, pulled up lame after getting schooled by one of Liverpool's players. As he turned to sprint afte the player, he started hobblining. Of course, Chelsea manager, Jose Mourniho, said after the game that he got kicked. I think he got his pride hurt. Welcome to the Premier League, Michael.

Chelski's other big signing this season, Andriy Shevchenko, scored a great goal to equalize. English international, Frank Lampard, put the ball in the air, about 40 yards worth, Sheva(as he was known in Italy, while with AC Milan), brought the ball down and finished quite nicely past Pool's keeper, Jose Reina. I'll have to say, it was a nice goal. IF Chelski have a decent season, it'll be because of Sheva. He's a great player who can impact any league.

Robot dancer expert, Peter Crouch finished a well-placed header in the second half with Chelscum defender and newly appointed England captain, John Terry, watching as the ball crossed the line to bring the scoreline up to 2-1.

Liverpool's Momo Sissoko won man-of-the-match by bossing the midfield. He's got a future ahead of him, looking reminscent of ex-Arsenal holding midfielder, Patrick Vieira, who's now at Internazionale in Italy.

Sissoko ran constantly and seemed to be able to continue for at least another 2 or 4 weeks. He wasn't as "hard" as Vieira is, but he did put in some nice tackles on Ballack and a couple of others wearing blue.

Again, well done to the Scousers. You deserve it!

Customer Service, Airports, Etc

So this'll be the "do-over" for my rant blog....One of the bands of my youth, Slayer has a new album out and in my quest to find some new performance video, I came across a listing of their recent appearance on a talk show. But this is isn't any typical talk show, it's hosted by Henry Rollins

Rollins, as some of you may know, is an icon of the punk movement from the 80s, that has evolved into a spoken word/actor/cultural commentator. He's pissed off half the damn time, like I am, and as I'm an old school punk/skater. Henry speaks the gospel in my opinion.

Today's terror plot involved an Ipod, a sports drink bottle and some other everyday items that were concealing explosive materials and the means to detonate these items. Supposedly, up to 10 airplanes were in line to be blown out of the sky by these feckin' idiots. Personally, I'm for carpet-bombing the whole lot of them and let the Big Guy upstairs sort 'em out...but I digress.

Rollins has brought up a perfectly good point in the means of customer service, automated systems, etc. But there's a counter point to this. I, like Henry, get tired of receiving attitude with my food purchase everytime I go into an eating establishment. It doesn't matter if it's the Golden Arches, BK, Subway or Joe's Diner....It never fails that there is a person there that is pissed off at the world,wants to be somewhere else and in return, gives crappy service. Hey, guess what? I'm not the man trying to keep you down. Hell, I had family members that were far more persecuted than you would ever think about being. And I personally didn't make the decision for you to be there and I sure as hell didn't keep you from getting an education or bettering yourself so that you don't have to work for minimum wage plus tips!

I'm just there to get my fill of food that's bad for me. I don't want someone to kiss my ass or repeatedly act like they're a long-lost family member, I just want someone not to sigh, ignore me or be an asshole whenever I place my order. But that counters the point I'm going to bring up. You all can talk amongst yourselves afterwards...

What the effin hell is is with automated systems? Sure they're great whenever there's a line at the movies. Why people are still standing in line, I never understand. But what's the sense of having an automated system at places like the airport when you're still going to have to go to the counter to check baggage? After today's incident, I bet that those automated kiosks mysteriously are "out of service."

I'm talking in circles because it's a point-counterpoint. I don't want crappy customer service, I don't want attitude with my Quarter Pounder w/cheese. But I'm like every other American in that I hate to wait. Mix in my ADHD, my Irish heritage and my patience is about a tenth of the average person.

Therefore, I like some automated systems. But for feck's sake, can someone do a study and re-configure them so that whenever someone does want to talk to a real live person and no, not Abu in India, who's going by the name of Ethan or George or whatever, I want an American. I want someone who knows my culture, someone who can relate to me being pissed off.....Someone who's capable of their own thoughts, who doesn't have to refer to a script to answer a question....

But I also don't like it when I get behind Granny or some dumb-ass soccer mom, at the self-checkout at the grocery store....It's simple, follow the online instructions...and please know how to use your debit card or have your money out, ready to pay....

AAARGGGHHHH!!! I could go on forever....