One Thousand Miles Away

By noon (here anyways!) everyone was celebrating this goal:


(1:00 mark)

2hrs later, an 18-year old in Spain celebrates beating Sevilla with this goal:



Good story on it here.

From Triumph to Tragedy

With the new work routine still taking some getting used to, this might sound crazy, but there is one reason why I miss the 1+ hour commute.

Well ... it's the commute. Because there is nothing better to do on a long streetcar/subway ride than listening to podcasts and reading books. I was in a really solid routine for over a year of listening to three/four different pods (WSD, Football Weekly, The Game, Footy Show) and getting through books like it was nothing.

This past week I realized that I haven't downed a football book since November. Well that is just unacceptable. So when I thought about it, the only place that seems to have a somewhat reliable section is the World's Biggest Bookstore. Not a huge fan of Chapters/Indigo, but you gotta do what you gotta do. When you don't have the patience to wait two weeks for an ebay victory to arrive, this will do.

So today was only -4 and sunny so I hopped on my bike and rode out to the other side of town to check out the selection.



Well wtf, they had it all ... that I already owned! So if you want some of the good stuff: Brilliant Orange, Fever Pitch, Soccer in Sun and Shadow, The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro - it's there right now. So this is great if you need these but I'm looking through the rest and I don't really care about Graham Poll's book or biographies of players still playing (Michael Owen?! Who cares!?!). This was tough. But there are quite a few books and finally I stumbled across one that I wanted:



This is right. I am going to try and commit myself to reading up on Brazil as well as World Cup 'centric' books for 2010. I'm feeling the Verde e Amarelo, which is weird because I look horrible in both colours but what can you do? Fabiano, Diego, Kaka, Melo, Maicon, Alves ... I don't know man, I'm just feeling these players and can't wait to watch their games.

So the edumacation begins. 2010 is going to be an awesome year.

Where to begin

Everything, at least on the Canada front, circles around the likes of Montreal and Vancouver, who will officially (and by officially I mean it literally!) will be playing next ... errr I mean this year. I'm not really qualified to make any bold commentary on this, as I casually followed this drama. By casually I mean I can make some awesome sweeping statements (USL loses big time!) but this is great news for Vancouver and Montreal. Bare minimum they will be in an organized, North American, league this season and everything looks to be in order.

Six teams in USL, Six teams in NASL and they will meet for a super finals!!



Not to mention Marcus Haber won't be playing in said league (NASL) as he has just been sold to West Bromwich Albion. He had an interesting 2009 where after failing to sign on with Leeds United, he then missed out on Hartlepool and linking up with Simeon Jackson at Gillingham. There seems to be many throwing around how if he couldn't get in at Leeds, how is he going to find a place at West Brom? The only thing I can think of is momentum is carrying him through as he was a key player down the stretch for Vancouver and into the USL-1 finals and he clearly improved by leaps and bounds over the last ten months.

I for one am hopeful this pans out and he sees the pitch. Bare minimum, West Brom could gain promotion and even if he isn't in the starting XI, to get a season in for the reserves in the EPL and possibly even some time on the field for the first team (even if it's in the Championship) is a good place to be at 20 years old.

Year of the Tiger

Pretty symbolic. We'll see who takes it to heart. It was a crazy 2009 and I'm sure '10 will be no different. We laid back at RNO in terms of content for the last week or so, but focused primarily on R&D for the next phase of the site. I don't feel like I'm compromising anything talking about it here because there are about 10 people who read this!

It was nice to sit back and work on other things for a bit, thinking about layout, balance, legibility etc ... instead of only content. So we missed out on posting Top 10s ... oh well everyone read those all over the place. We'll get to it next year no doubt. Which as I think and ponder should be a time to upgrade the old blog. I know blogger rules but at the end of the day I'm not 100% sure it fits the bill.

Anyway, change is good. Winning is sweet but change is good, right guys?

At my desk

At home! Yessir, Last night I was more than a few sheets to the wind when I stopped everything and thought to myself, "Holy shit do I have to work tomorrow?!?" Well after few frantic text messages and emails I was informed that I in fact have the whole week off. Success! Which means about five days of non-stop football nerdery. Nerdery? Well I said it, can't go back on it now.

I've laid out my various sources of entertainment from where I watch games online to what podcasts are IMO the best to listen to. The Guardian, Times, 606, EPL Talk and even the now free thirty minutes of World Football Daily are staples, but with this extra time on my hands I've had to scour around a bit and see what else is out there.

So I'm trying to open up to more VCasts, and as I download the one from Al Jazzera, I noticed that UEFA puts out a VCast and it's not half-bad! Obviously nothing groundbreaking but still pretty cool to see well produced interviews and shots of players and teams that are at the forefront of European Football.



And as I'm watching this I'm thinking to myself, do they use the same guy for every voice-over of a European athlete into English? Don't know about you but I definitely grew up (well I was about 10 or so) watching Trans-World Sport and I swear to god it's the same guy. And I definitely remember watching this wondering when the hell are they going to show some baseball or hockey highlights?!!?! Well once a year we saw the Super Bowl highlights but it was always a week late and by that point I'd seen it one hundred times. But at least there was always Rally-Car footage and I always wished my parents would buy a decaled-out Toyota Celica.



Getting back to the topic at hand, the UEFA Vcast is pretty sweet and the last one up there is on Genoa, which works because Serie A has definitely grown on me over the last few years. Berlusconi getting punched in the face literally and figuratively with AC Milan has definitely had something to do with it.

The day of the boxe

Clearly the craziest time of the year. On the roads, in the malls, and in the EPL. Maybe they could squeeze in a few more games? I mean only TWO games on Tuesday and Wednesday? Unacceptable. Surely there are a few clubs that have had a days rest that could suit up.

Good to see the Reds get it together for the holiday season. Strange coincidence that the poster below was made by none other than Wolverhampton. Not a bad game at all for the reds, although you can clearly see something is still off. You gotta take it when you can though. It will be interesting to see what 2010 will bring. I do not anticipate any signings, and if there are they would be on the cheap. Hard times for scousers that is for sure. But it is soon January and things always begin to take shape. This time last year Liverpool began the string of draws (Stoke) and losses (Middlesbrough in Feb) that cost them the title. Now is the time to get it straight because as we saw, by March it will be too late.

So here's hoping Yossi stays in the starting XI and Hicks can sell the Rangers!!

And to all a good night

Simpson in the inflatable blue boat?

I have to say, over the last year one of the CMNT players that I've really taken notice of is Josh Simpson. His attitude, determination, desire ... is everything we need in a player to go over and above to get us to qualify. I am really excited to see how his career continues to develop considering he has looked really good an Manisaspor.

Speaking of the team that I always have to spell check over and over. We run the Across the Pond, which may seem repetitive week in and out, but checking game stats every week of CMNT players in Europe has actually given me what I'd like to think is a pretty good handle of what's up with about 10-15 starters at their respective clubs and their current form.

Which is why I was somewhat surprised to see that Simpson hadn't played this past week. So with the magic Google search (the same one I used to find out about frozen pitches in England and did Simeon Jackson actually as a defender this weekend?) I was somewhat surprised to see that there are some transfer rumours attached to Simpson. Ok well not surprised but surprised that through the usual channels no one's picked this up yet.

1860 Munich? Linking up with Kenny Cooper? Or Fenerbahe!? Besiktas!? Galatasaray!? Could he be getting coached by Frank Rijkaard in 2010?!

Well it's nice to see that a somewhat ridiculous fantasy line-up actually wasn't that far off in Simpson making a move within Turkey.

Well here's Josh scoring on his potential future club, and Harry Kewell gets the opener to once again keep the blog 100% Reds!

Where do we go from here?

Wow. Out of Champions League. An "easy" draw in Europa League. Then the Reds lose to last place Portsmouth. A terrible run, some terrible signings over the years. Rafa is still in (for now).

And I can't help but throw in a contrast - Man City. Heaps of cash, incredible players, exciting games, they beat Sunderland, a club Liverpool didn't beat, and the sack Mark Hughes.

Embarrassing.

How can anyone seriously support this team? I am one turn away from any club that is built on a open wallet with endless funds (Yankees, Rangers, Chelsea, Madrid), but over the last two years Man City takes the cake. From trying to sign Kaka for a disgusting fee - for ditching Dunne for LESCOTT for a disgusting fee, to going through Sven and now Hughes - what is there to look forward to? Mancini? What player IS Man City? Please.

I guess I should sympathize - because two teams who are really passing each other in opposite directions are at the mercy of their ownership who clearly have their heads up their asses.

Again, can't help but throw out the Blues are nothing more than a poor man's Real Madrid. And it's too bad because they don't have to be. Hughes, I am certain of it, could have gotten the results. But when you are buying the hot shit players and coaches, for 2-5X their worth, you don't have the balance to have truly long-term greatness. Chelsea, who I hate, are essentially the same team as the last year and you can see why they are doing well because there is legitimate chemistry and stability.

Such a messed up era in sports. I think back not even that long ago, within my lifetime anyway, where coaches/managers are brought in and you can look back over a long span of their career with a certain team (especially baseball - Sparky Anderson, Tony LaRussa, Tommy LaSorda etc ...) and see seasons with success and failure - but the teams stuck with them. You can even look at Shankly who wins the First Division in '63/'64 but finish seventh the next year. If this was today, he would be canned and we all know what happens after this.

I shake my head and as much as I flip flop on Benitez I have to say I'd rather be a Red (in their current state) than a Blue any day of the week.

Pizza Day

Well it's Friday at my new(ish) job. Which means PIZZA. I could eat it ever day, but then I would be fat. Don't want to be a fat guuuuyyyyy.

After the first month was down at my new place of employment, my blogging was almost at a record high. But alas, my obsessive ways once again ruin a good thing. The above photo is a slight exaggeration ... in fact it would be 100X cooler if I was spending my lunch hours playing NASL Soccer. After finishing dead last in a MarioKart Tournament I am now in serious training to at least finish in the top 10 next time.

Actually if I was playing Football Manager like I used to (I'm sure many can share this experience) of every morning before work, during my lunch break, as soon as I came home and all through the night (I did this for no joke at least a year solid ... maybe two), then it would be a more appropriate to make posts about video games.

But once again in the wake of missing the week's most exciting stories (Liverpool WINS, Hutchinson AND Klukowski through to the 32 in Europa League!) I am left with writing about ... what I do on my lunch break? Agh. Get it together Spark.

This is mostly a joke as weeknight have been used plotting 2010 and writing for RNO, but there was a good run going on here and I have to refocus.

Stay tuned!

Dalglish for Manager!

Of the Tampa Bay Rowdies?!


That's right. You better watch out. When you come down to play in Tampa Bay shit's gonna get Rowdy. Noogies, wedgies, knocking things over, lots of yelling, not givin' a care, the whole lot. No parents allowed.

Normally you'd be thinking of Kenny as a possible manager, and with the Reds in absolute shambles his name has been bandied about as a possible replacement for Rafa or at least buffer until someone else can be sought out.

But the OTHER Dalglish, the Son of Dalglish (nobody steal my movie title!) the one who played for the Houston Dynamo in MLS is now the manager of the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Hmmmm unless my blog roll's information is off point, is he aware the state of the "league". As in there might not be one?

These are all debates for another day because there is a more important question to ask:

Which logo is more brutal? Tampa Bay circa 1984


ORRRRRRRR Tampa Bay 2009?


Wow. I'd have to say 2009. At least the 1984 one doesn't look like it was done in Microsoft Word. Although their website would have you think differently - mix of traditional and contemporary ... yikes. On a sidenote, did anyone else ever notice there are some very terrible crests in the former USL?

These are the kind of things I'm thinking of this Tuesday night ...

It's a juggling act

Well with this amazing weather it makes it harder to come home at lunch to blog. I guess we can't complain considering it was warm up until about a week ago. I actually tried to ride my bike out in this mess this morning but pretty much got to the curb and said F#$& it! Within thirty seconds my pants were soaked as were my shoes. As a result, no Blondie's and I had to drink Druxy's coffee and walk to work wearing rain pants and jacket. Trust me I looked cool. In case you are wondering, that is me on the right juggling and beside me tearing it up on the vielle is my good friend Augustine Aldous that old scamp, and the lovely lady playing the harp is his girlfriend (who I hate!) Florence Margaret.

Once again you blink and everything happens all at once. After last friday's World Cup draw it was all quiet until the email came through on Sunday (I think) saying Canada would be announcing their next head coach. Hmmm hmmm who could it be? Well there was never any doubt and the CSA all but admitted it wasn't like they were actually 'looking' for a new head coach. Per usual it just takes them about 6 months to make any kind of decision on anything. Ah the perks of associations.

Part of me is fine with Hart being named the head coach, however, there is a part that looks at it and thinks ... nothing has changed at all, we're just lucky that on the shortlist of ONE he happens to be a decent coach. I shudder to think who would have been picked had he not been up for it, or who will be his successor one day.

To round off an interesting week (well by hump day anyhow) the good ol' Reds lose at home to Fiorentina!! Now like many out there I have a soft spot in my heart for cities I've actually been to so I do think that it is a good story that they have gotten out of the group stages, and considering all the hoop-la with Italian football (which in the last year I've actually begun to really like) I think it is a good think overall. But Liverpool ... oh my ... through failure comes success? Jeez I hope so because this is getting too much to bear. I mean ... no offense to Blackburn supporters but they are not quite Europa League quality so I'm honestly not sure how Liverpool, in their current form, will handle the likes of Juventus, Wolfsburg, Rubin Kazan or Marseille.

A moment out of the day

Just riding around today. Thought I'd cross over from the West side (WHAT!?) to the East side and stop by some spots I might not get to see now that it is getting FREEZING outside. First stop was Mercury Coffee just before Carlaw for a much needed coffee at 1:30pm, then it was on to check out some badass posters at none other than Telegramme.


This place is dope and has an amazing selection of prints from Charly Harper to Tavis Coburn, Music to Nature to old Cuban movie posters. I've been in there a bunch of times and asked if they have access to any football posters. I could eBay it but would rather buy it locally and after trolling around I forgot how cool some of the old ones were.

These are so sweet. Uruguay 1930, Switzerland 1954, and Spain 1982 by Joan Miro:

The big draw!

Well what can you say? I felt like I was watching a cross between the Grammy's and Bumper Stumpers. Here's your beauuuuuuuutiful host ... Charlize!!! Not sure if you can say the actual event is exciting but the results and now anticipation to the opening kick off is. I was going to sit at work on lunch watching this on the FIFA site (you know just the results building the groups on a web page) and then realized I can snag it somewhere on TV. Presto! And this was the first thing I saw:


YIKES!!!!
And then this:


YEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWW!!
I wonder if anyone told her what a sausage-fest this was going to be.


I have no idea what the hell Beckham is thinking with this hair style. Seriously who actually maintains their faux-faux-hawk? Not punk.

Some big results and it's times like these where I sit back and wonder what the footballing landscape would be like if Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were still countries. But not for long because then I look at Brazil and think holy shit this team is insane and you still have the likes of Grafite and Nilmar (or Robinho) on the bench.


All in all I have to say I can't wait for June!!

50 years ago

SIGH

Too slow

Well geez you get tied up for two days and miss the window for a perfectly timed post!! Trying to not always be second place (ok fifth) I went down to BMO Sunday morning to scope out the turf getting all ripped up and shed a single tear. But alas it wasn't the idle machinery and concrete pitch I took note of, it was the missing beer garden and the first time I'd seen the north end completely cleared out. Well, I thought to myself, this really would be a perfect spot to fit a pretty decent permanent stand. The RM Game a good start - hell tear down those stupid VIP bunkers and we'd have a badass south and north end! As noted ... well, everywhere, looks like MLSE (or the Globe and Mail) have set up some futuristic mind reading device around BMO Field. Much like a force field, anyone who breaks it's plain their thoughts will be transmitted to MLSE IN THE FUTURE where they can make it look like they had been planning the whole thing for weeks.

No clue what that was all about.
Either way, here's hoping the north end is for supporters, but knowing those suits it'll probably seats that are $40 a pop and scalpers will now have even more real estate to keep empty.


And not to mention the bubble is where is always should have been.

Lights, camera ...

Heading into uncharted territory ...
Back from a 4+hr excursion as RNO begins it's foray into video! Wellll we'll see. We had been talking back and forth with David Monsalves, Rick has a camera, why not? Let's see how this goes.

Per usual (well in my experience across different mediums and subject matters) the best stuff comes out AFTER the red light goes off. But that's ok, it was cool to just hear stories, especially those pertaining to Canada and TFC.

It's sorta funny because I'm sure as with anything, as it grows more and more, ideas sprout in your head and especially where we are from in the time that we live, your time always has $$$ tied into it. It was awesome last night to put something out and feel good about sticking to the mandate of why we launched RNO, which was to give exposure to the teams and players in Canada who deserve it. That's it. If we play even the most minute fraction of helping that happen, if the profile of the players and sport here goes up just enough so some 10yr old thinks "I want to play football in or for Canada" - amazing.

I guess what the point is amoungst so much else out there, it's easy to get lost, but we don't seem to worry about it because we're not trying to BE something, we're trying to DO something.

We were standing on the balcony overlooking the indoor pitch and I thought to myself (and said it) - those kids down there should know who David Monsalves is. The guy is one of a small handful of Canadians who have lifted a European trophy. The dude doing laps on the balcony knew who he was (but said nothing to me wtf?) and that was pretty cool.

Come marching in ...

It's pretty rare to actually get excited about receiving mail. Even when something good arrives like an ebay purchase, it's more like "jeez, finally". But not yesterday! I was about to send an email of inquiry when I got home for lunch, opened the front door and saw this:


WOOT!
That is correct, delivered right to my front door. Now the story (yes, story. Get yourself a drink, snack and get comfy) as you may recall from the beginning of the month was that I just switched jobs, from way the hell up in North York to literally 2 minutes from my house in Liberty Village. The best part about this as will also notice on the right hand side, is I am able to blog almost every day! In fact, the conversation went something like this:

Spark: I'm giving my notice.
Old Boss: What?!
Spark: Yeah. This place is cutting into my blogging big time.
Old Boss: I had no idea.
Spark: It's true. I was hardly getting in one a week.
Old Boss: That is unacceptable.
Spark: I know!
Old Boss: People need to know what the Spark-dog thinks about football!
Spark: I'm glad we are on the same page.

And would you believe that in order to help foster my passion for blogging about all things football (in my mind anyway) my going away gift was a year's subscription to the writers I jock so hard - When Saturday Comes!!

And who was on the cover of my very first issue!? Gerrad and Torres! Yesterday was going to be great! Liverpool on the cover, a Champion's League match, it's all coming up roses. Except Fiorentina wins and gives the Reds the boot. So I am super bummed because Europa League is LAAAAMMMMEEEE. Oh well, at least I have WSC and their Liverpool feature to go home and read. So I pour myself a bourbon (you read that right, Christopher Hitchens here likes a stiff drink when he reads his footy mags) and get comfortable. 32 pages later and there's no Liverpool feature!? Is this some joke?? It is! Sonofabitch.

No Champions League. No feature stories. Is this all we have to look forward to?

Who will stay and who will go?

I did this exact title and record cover last year!!! Think of it as a yearly feature. Spark's Annual MLS Expansion Draft Protection List TFC Debate. Also known as SAMLSEDPLTFCD. Say it again. SAMLSEDPLTFCD. There you have it. The list came out and some eye-brow raising protected and unprotected players. The most notable for Toronto FC are Guevara and Robinson left unprotected, while some are seriously questioning why Barrett stays. There are legitimate arguments both ways as to why Barrett should remain in the line-up for 2010, same goes for Robinson who bare-minimum has a wealth of experience he can give to the likes of Sanyang, Cronin, even Gomez or De Guzman to an extent.

Guevara on the other hand seems to be a name bandied about as very likely to be making his exit. Whether or not it's directly related to Preki, well go ahead and speculate. I will say I was greatly disappointed with his play in 2010 and I'm pretty sure I pinned the success of the team on him finding his 2005 form and bagging somewhere around 10 goals. Well World Cup Qualifying hangovers don't help the domestic club cause. And with the actual World Cup this summer, I would think his head will be in South Africa for most of the season.

I think if TFC sort out the defence and find a true finishing striker, this will more than make up for him leaving. De Guz slides into his position, case closed. The only thing that still is in the back of my mind was the DC United game where in the first half both Sanyang and Robinson were horrible paired together. At half time, cue a substitution Robinson out, Guevara in, and now Sanyang is the second coming and TFC win 2-0.

Great talent, but for me the cons outweigh the pros and at 34 it's about time to cut the cord.

The East Wins!!

Yessir! Real Salt Lake - Eastern Division Champs take the Cup. I gotta say I'm feeling a lot of pride as a supporter of a club in the East right now. EAST RULES!

I can't help but think of a bunch of issues that need to be addressed with MLS that, to me, are pretty whack. Yes I said "whack" - as in wiggity whack.

Number one is listed above. I can understand why many things in this league were/are set up the way they are in the beginning, but at some point it needs to change. Eight teams in the playoffs to me makes no sense. And if there is going to be eight teams, then cross over makes no sense. One table makes sense so you don't have something so obviously stupid as a team on the West coast as your Eastern champs.

So last night I had to watch the game at home as it was my RNO responsibility to write up the post game. Issue number two - Rogers Cable sucks! That's right I lost my connection after about thirty minutes. WTF!? Ok I'll whinge some more in a minute but here is Spark's office play by play of the evening:

#1 - Real Salt Lake fans come out in force. Will this championship increase season tickets sales and overall attendance? See: Columbus.


#2 - SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH


#3 - WORST! CAN IT! NOW!!!


#4 - YOUR 2009 MLS CUP CHAMPS!!!


Well my last point to lament about is I'm hoping Garber took note of the red flag NYRB was waving last year. Eighth seed into finals, shit imagine if they had won!? I'm going to start trumpeting that parity is bullshit and something needs to give in order to ensure we see the best match-ups possible. If I'm an MLS club I'm not going to sweat trying to finish first. "Hey guys just chill, just finish sixth or seventh, hell even eighth! Don't expend all your energy, we just need to be able to turn it on for four games and we are set!" Is there really incentive to finish top of the league? Other than a trophy are there good bonuses handed out?

Sure it was a good game, but will RSL repeat? Part of being champs is walking around with a target on your backs because you are the best. If any team was set up to do it, it was Columbus who actually had a great season.

Anyway, whinging over! RSL wins! Will Johnson pukes his way to Canadian content on the 2009 trophy!!