Man U V. Everton in New York or LA?

Again drawing parallels with US sports, the Premier League is considering staging games "overseas"... all for the good of the game of course and nothing to do with money specifically.

How does Fulham V. Wigan sound as a nice day out in Miami?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7232390.stm

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7772364/PL-set-to-go-global-with-overseas-matches

Hillisco or Mildo?

As we all know, soccer explains everything in the world including it would seem the upcoming US Election.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/01/30/how_football_can_explain_the_u.html

Even the vaunted NY Times is in on the act

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/politics-and-soccer-strange-bedfellows/

First ever West Ham fan to be US President?

The Sun has broken the story of the year- Senator Obama is a West Ham fan, no news yet on how the polls have reacted- I do know of at least one West Ham fan in LA who is registered to vote and could impact Super Tuesday...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article732401.ece

Was Roosevelt a Villa fan?

What's best for news- BBC, SKY, Foxsports, Guardian etc.

Whichever side of the pond you are on- what is best for EPL news?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/default.stm

http://www.skysports.com/

http://football.guardian.co.uk/

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer

others..?

Thanks Liverpool...

For conceding 2 goals to "lowly" (why always lowly) Havant & Waterloovilee in the FA Cup- so full disclosure- I have decided to blog about the Premier League as I am... a Swansea City supporter... yes, yes, I know..., and can therefore be objective regarding ... well.. eveything. When Swansea get to the top level, and some will know they are going well in League 1, I will stop blogging... but intil then.

To the point... Havant had knocked Swansea out of the cup in the last round with a humilating 4-2 replay defeat- how exactly do you conceed 4 our of 5 shots? and score 2 out of 24?- Anyway seeing them throughly embarras Liverpool in Round 4, by taking the lead twice before losing 5-2, sort of eases the memory......

Headline in Texas "Spurs Pounds Arsenal"

Traveling this week, imagine my surprise at a whole paragraph (!) in the Austin American Statesman regarding Tottenham's 5-1 win over Arsenal (or Arsenal's second team, depending on your point of view).

Then by coincidence on the Austin-Dallas flight I took, I sit next to a Texas based technical sales rep. who worked for an English parent company based North of London- "full of Arsenal and Tottenham fans" as he put it- this kind spoke in glowing and revered terms of a trip he made to the Emirates Stadium with his colleagues to see.... an Arsenal-Tottenham game. He is still trying to understand why eveyone was standing and loved the "language of the crowd"

Northern Rocks....

Newcastle and Liverpool- two of the great names of English soccer- and to different degrees lost or losing "the plot". For US readers, Newcastle United might be compared to the Chicago Cubs or The Red Sox (up until recently), fanatical support that would travel to the moon to watch them play, sometimes threatening that "this is their year", more coaches and managers come and go than most people can remember, but last time they were Champions? 1927.... enough said. So they hire Kevin Keegan to bring back the "glory days" of the 90's- (did they actually win anything?) and off we go again.. new players to come no doubt.

How long before the fans get wrestless again and then Alan Shearer (playing "legend"- did he win anything with them?) takes the job? Their sponsors... ailing bank Northern Rock- how appropriate- maybe they should approach viagara.

And Liverpool.... well, at least their European success has been recent and other triumphs are within living memory- but what's going on? 15 points behin Arsenal and Manchester United- surely not acceptable? Liverpool should be challenging every year- one bright spot- the signing of Fernando Torres from Spain- he alone is worth the admittance money/sky/setanta subscription.

How long before either one of these clubs is "back"?

Only 4 winners... why is interest growing

An interesting situation in English soccer is that although 40 clubs have participated in the Prem. league since its' inceptio in 1992, only 4 have won the competition. Yet the interest of fans, players, coaches from all over the world grows and grows.

It all seems a long way from the 1980's crumbling stadia, hooliganism rife etc. What happened?

Is the game that much better? better marketed? TV has brought the money and exposure?

How is it that when it comes to sport the US and England have reversed cultural roles? In the US, salary caps, greater control over player movement, a desire for a "level playing field", so that anyone can beat anyone any given weekend- almost a socialist system?

And English soccer- unrestrained, unadulterated market forces- whoever has the most money signs the best players, pays them whatever they want, builds the best stadia and maybe 3 or 4 teams out of 20 have any realistic shot at the big prize. Capitalism at its' finest.