Are You Ready For Some Football?!

So here we are with September fast approaching and the upcoming fall sports season on the horizon.

NFL preview?

No.

NCAA?

Nope.

The desktop football with the triangle shaped paper that you used to play back in grammar school?

Not even close.

All of the above sports are considered mainstream sports in the United States yet I'm not talking about any of them. Today, I write about the English Premiership! (Waiting for reaction......waiting....waiting....oh never mind I'm going to write it anyway)

If you've read this blog before you may recall that I've developed an affinity for soccer over the past few years, specifically the English Premier League (EPL). Even though it's outside of my favorite sports, I find it very easy to watch and write about soccer. I attribute this to my lack of emotional investment in both the game and the league/teams that I follow. (The flip side of this is that even though the Mets/baseball are my favorite team/sport I have almost never written about them. I think living as a Mets fans is bad enough, I don't really want to re-live it through my writing.)

Anyway.

Soccer has made some strides on this side of the Atlantic recently and I'm not looking your way David Beckham. Many people seemed genuinely enthused about Team USA during the World Cup and with the exposure the English League is getting on ESPN now (2-3 televised matches per week) maybe soccer is about to make the jump from total obscurity to kind of total obscurity. The EPL just finished it's second full week of the '10/'11 season and it's time to take a look at what has happened so far.

The summer brought a lot of action. Benitez is out at Liverpool, Man City spent nearly $200 million on the transfer market, Chelsea remained relatively quiet after winning the Double and Man United is in the midst of a youth movement.

Week Two ended with a match up of the new hot shots on the block and the weary, beat up veteran as Man City hosted Liverpool. Plainly stated, City showed the dominance that a billion dollars should buy, but very often does not. They dominated possession, Adam Johnson shined and Joe Hart was sharp once again in net. Liverpool on the other hand had glimpses of the team that was once mainstay in the Top 4 but were undone by sound defense and some great saves by the aforementioned Joe Hart. You knew it wasn't the Reds' day when their best span of play at the beginning of the second half ended with a goal by City.

While the "Other Guys" (SUMMER MOVIE PUN!) of Manchester looked amazing today, I think we need to wait and see what the rest of the year hold for City. A victory at home against a Top 4 team was seen last year (Chelsea and Arsenal). The real test will be what they do on the road as well as if they can turn some of those draws from last year (13 in all) to wins that will help secure them the Top 4 or better.

Liverpool on the other hand have to be on notice. After a rough 2009/2010 campaign which ended with them finishing out of the Top 4 for the first time since '04/'05, they sacked their manager and started this season by giving away two points to Arsenal in the first game and being dismantled by City in the second. Either way, the next three games are crucial with two against West Bromwich and Birmingham City followed by a trip to Old Trafford and Manchester United.

Other random thoughts about the Premiership so far:

-Chelsea looked dominant in their first two matches with back to back 6-0 wins. Although the opposition may not have been the best (newly promoted West Bromwich Albion and bottom dwellers Wigan) it's never a bad thing to have your coach compare your play to that of a video game.

-I adopted Man City over the past few years as my team (and will continue to support them) but they've lost many of the players that made me a fan of the team in the first place specifically Richard Dunne, Craig Bellamy, Stephen Ireland and now possible Shay Given. For this season I will also be following Fulham. They have American favorite Clint Dempsey, pesky Irishman Damien Duff and a possible transfer of Shay Given from City.

-Nice to see Newcastle back in the Premiership. When I first learned of English football in the mid 90's, Newcastle was one of the top teams lead by Alan Shearer. They crushed Aston Villa 6-0 on Sunday after an opening loss to United. Speaking of Aston Villa....

-They're season might have ended before it started when their manager, Martin O'Neill, resigned. After a few top 6 finishes in a row, '10/'11 might be one to forget for Villa. Rumors of US national coach Bob Bradley taking over could add some excitement to a (possibly) tough season)

So that's about it for now. If you made it all the way to the end then you must really like me or really like soccer. The EPL is the perfect way to start a weekend with matches on Saturday mornings on ESPN and Fox Soccer (check your local listings!) I'm sure I'll write about the league a few more times before the end of the year.

Next blog up: The summer wrap up with the Best and Worst of the summer of '10.