The weekly football post comes as the final one before the Super Bowl. Of course, I'm on record for picking a team I hate (the Pittsburgh Steelers) to win the whole damn thing, but I don't really think most of us care about it anyway. So, with no American football news to speak of for this long suffering fan, let's jump quickly to what the rest of the world calls football.
As Jon starts getting people pumped up about Orange County's high school soccer scene, I thought I would give some love to my Mighty Mighty Barons on the pitch in the FTV. A battle against Newport Harbor yesterday ended in a 0-1 loss. It was a second half golden goal by Newport's Evan Walker that cancelled out a solid start by the Blue & Gold on the road. The loss has dropped my alma matter to a 5-5-3 (3-2-0 in the Sunset) with just four games remaining in the regular season. Will super stud Jordan Gorman (7 goals in just 2 games played this year) be able to get back out on the field to dominate the competition?
The Hoops came out big this weekend, with a nicely done 3-1 win against the Hibs in SPL play. Just three minutes into the match, Aussie Bubba Scott McDonald netted the game opening goal. It was a nice way to start, but it would get better. Six easy minutes later, Celtic Youth Academy standout Stephen McManus came up with a double your lead kind of goal. Boruc was on shutout status until the 17th minute, when Hibs' start Rob "Tom" Jones halved the lead. Luckily, it was a pull away goal 15 minutes away from the final whistle that would seal the deal. Of course, Scotty Mac earned his second goal of the game to show Hibernian who the boss is around the SPL. A Rangers draw with Aberdeen allowed the Green & White to get four points clear of the Protestants in the SPL table. The Kangaroo Mick has 9 goals in SPL play and 11 total goals this season with the Hoops, second only to the Gorgeous Greek Georgios Samaras (12 in the SPL, 14 overall). Wednesday, Celtic gets a match against Dundee United in CIS Cup play, before going back to an SPL match against bottom of the table Inverness CT. Things are looking up around Glasgow compared to last week, eh?
No game around Newcastle may be a good thing this week, but a middle of the week battle against Manchester City on Wednesday may make things a tad more gloomy. At 5-9-8 in their EPL campaign so far, the Black & White haven't given Magpie Nation much to smile about, but wouldn't a win against Man C really turn that frown upside down? Can anyone help to do anything about the -9 goal differential? Can anyone besides Michael Owen (8) and Oba Oba (6) get some goals? By the way, the team leading scorer only has 8 goals! Compare that to Chelsea's leader Nicolas Anelka (14), Everton's Mikel Areta (5- which actually makes me feel good; thanks Jon), and Manchester's Ronaldo (8- which actually makes me feel better as well; thanks Andrew). I guess only comparing to Chelsea makes me sad. Of course, the difference is that the other squads have low scoring leaders because they spread the wealth, where Newcastle just doesn't have anyone else scoring. Ah well, all hail #14 Newcastle!
One of my weekly predictions that actually came true was the nice 1-0 win for Guadalajara over Tecos this weekend. Thanks to my DVR, I was able to see the golden goal from Alberto Medina at just 13 minutes into the home game. The Culiacan, Mexico native earned his first goal of the Clausura campaign, despite nabbing 2 assists in the opening season draw. Despite having 9 shots in the match, Medina's was the lone shot on goal, and it was all we needed to beat up on the Tecos squad that got straight stopped by Guada native Luis Michel and his big white gloves. By the way, 4 Tecos yellow cards to just 1 by Chivas? What a team full of cheap shooters. At 1-0-1, Chivas trails the UNAM Pumas (2-0-0), and is tied with Cruz Azul and the bastards from Club America in the Clausura table. Next weekend we get a battle against Monterrery (1-0-1) in the next step toward a huge winter season.
As we step into the "second half" of the NHL season, here are the power rankings according to "The Hockey News." Really? You're going to drop the Canucks to #25 out of 30? You have to travel all the way up to #12 Buffalo to find a team with more points than my B.C. Boys. So, "THN", how could you possibly justify the Canucks being #25? Your comment, "OK Mats, anytime now...", does not get the job done. Just more proof that LSF is the only legitimate source of sports news in the Nation.
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