Whether it's the way we here in the United States define it (with the oblong shaped ball) or the way the rest of the world does (where you can only play the ball with the foot), football is dominating my sports world right now.
A quick blurb about soccer before we get to the big story. Liverpool's terrible 09/10 campaign has finally hit a nadir after being bounced out of the FA Cup by Reading in the 3rd round at Anfield. So to recap, the Reds have now been knocked out of the Champions League, the FA Cup and currently sit 7th in the league. Prediction? The slide continues and ends with one or both of Benitez and Torres departing at the end of the year. On the opposite end we have Manchester City (my adopted English team) who have a new manager, are on a four match winning streak and are now fourth in the League. Although they haven't beaten any teams of quality over the last four, they seem to have a new spark under Mancini. When you throw in the play of Carlos Tevez (recently named Premier League player of the month) and the transfer addition of Patrick Vieria things are looking good for the other Manchurian team. Prediction? The Citizens win the Carling Cup and finish 3rd in the League ahead of Arsenal.
Now, onto the big stuff.
How about those Jets. Dominating offensive performance on Saturday, especially since they left 10 points on the field thanks to penalties and Braylon Edwards, the man who can't catch a cold (I made that one up myself.....like it????). The defense was good but not great -almost 200 yards rushing- but they got the job done when they needed to. Now, as we move our sights west to San Diego, we as Jets fans are like the kid standing with his toes curling off the edge of the high dive. We want to believe that we can jump but we just can't commit ourselves to doing it. We don't want to admit that there's a tiny piece of us that believes we might be on the verge of a magical run ala the '07 Giants. This is the beauty of Jets fans. To paraphrase my buddy (and Jets season ticketholder) George, Jets fans are idiots because they get insanely overly optimistic after one win and then complain that the team let them down when they eventually lose. Would I be surprised if the Jets go down on Sunday? Absolutely not. The Chargers are a first class offensive team, playing at home, that hasn't lost since October. However, with the running game working the way it is and Norv Turner on the other sideline I'm going to be the aformentioned idiot Jets fan and predict a Jets victory and a trip to the AFC Championship game. This victory will allow Jets fans to take that plunge and make us believe that this is truly our year, which will inevitably lead to the crushing, heartbreaking loss that defines out existence as Jets fans .
Can't wait for Sunday.
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