Gordon Brown, the United Kingdome's Prime Minister, is on television right now. No, he is not speaking about the waning global recession or reducing carbon emissions. He is giving his take on the recent news that England's soccer captain has been stripped of his armband due to transgressions that would even put Tiger Woods to shame. Chelsea defender, John Terry, has been the center of controversy since earlier this week when an injunction was lifted in English court revealing personal transgressions in his recent past. Due to these transgressions (which include massive infidelity, family drug solicitation, taunting of US citizens about 9/11 and more), Terry was skipped of his captaincy just 125 days before England enters the 2010 World Cup finals.
England manager, Fabio Capello, had been faced with a difficult decision in the light of this controversy. Terry is a tremendously accomplished player and has been a stellar captain for his country on the pitch. However, when you consider the role of captain and what it means to a club, especially in the World Cup, Capello needed to make this move. Among the Terry revelations was a bit of news stating that Terry had been involved in an affair with his former teammate, Wayne Bridge's, wife. Bridge is a well thought of English national as well and if Terry were to continue as captain it would have surely caused locker room unrest. Capello made a swift and firm decision to sack Terry (who refused to give up the role voluntarily earlier in the week). It also is not a case of what is necessarily popular in England, but certainly what was the right and classy thing to do.
Tomorrow Liverpool and Everton will clash in the 213th Merseyside derby. It would be safe to say that a typical casual soccer fan in the U.S. would not usually care too much about this clash. However, Americans actually have been playing a huge role for both teams recently. Liverpool is owned by a set of American millionaires, Tom Hicks and George Gillette. They are in dire financial straits and have recently been given an ultimatum of sorts from their banks to come up with nearly $140 million in the next six months or be forced to sell the team. Couple this with Liverpool's disappointing campaign up to this point (5th in the standings and early exits from all other major knockout competitions) and you have a VERY unhappy supporter base. To put just how passionate Scouse Liverpoolians are about their football club in American terms- think about the reaction in Boston if the Red Sox were out of the playoff picture late in the season and had enough debt that it may force them to trade away many of their best players. Not good, huh?
Everton supporters think quite the opposite about us Yanks though. They are riding an 8 match unbeaten streak which has been aided by superb form of a couple of U.S. national team stars, Landon Donavon and Tim Howard. Donavon joined the team on loan last month and has showed great form in his Premier League debut. Furthermore, Howard has continued his stellar play in goal as one of the best keepers in the world. All in all, it should be a heated derby, but certainly unique in terms of how Americans are playing a role in it all.
Finally, on Sunday the Indianapolis Colts will meet the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV. The Colts are a slight favorite in the betting books, but I wanted to offer a more decisive take on the matchup. I feel Colin Cowherd summed this game up best. He stated on his morning radio show earlier this week that he felt 90% of the country would really like to see the Saints win this game. It would be an upset and a tremendous feel-good story in the wake of the city that is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. However, he also felt that 90% of the country knows in their hearts that Peyton Manning and the Colts will win this game. I completely agree with Colin and can only see the Saints winning if the Colts are forced to play a sloppy game while turning the ball over numerous times. And how often does Peyton Manning play a sloppy game? Until next time, DTRT...
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