Lost

photo by dev null	via PhotoRee

I watched some footie this weekend, but to tell the truth I felt somewhat adrift without a United game to serve as an anchor on the weekend's action. With apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, there was football, football everywhere, but not a United game from which to drink. It was a bizarre EPL weekend, seemingly normal to fans of other teams with eight matches in total being played, but the one game I wanted to see above all others during Week 16 wasn't contested due to a pitch frozen as hard as if Snow Miser himself had been Blackpool's Head Groundskeeper.

I further undermined my own cause with some poor DVR programming. I don't know whether to blame it on one of the beer reviews that make up a certain part of this blog, or just plain old bad luck, but because I was tied up for large portions of both Saturday and Sunday I was reduced to staying away from my Twitter account and recording the games I wanted to watch on my DVR.  In order to make my task easier, I programmed my selections Friday night, and therein lies the root cause of my misfortune.

When I finally sat down on Saturday afternoon, cold beer in hand, I was surprised and disappointed by the fact that I had chosen to record City vs. Bolton rather than Chelsea vs. Everton, or even Spurs vs. Birmingham.  I would have heartily enjoyed Beckford's late equalizer at Stamford Bridge, although in retrospect I'm glad I didn't suffer through Spurs dour 1-1 draw away at St. Andrew's.

City - Bolton wasn't the end of the world, though, as the match featured the League's fourth place side hosting the team in sixth place, but Bolton played listless, uninspired football, and while seeing City frutrated repeatedly by the goal post was funny at first, it happened so often it soon got old.

I don't know quite what caused Bolton's weak play yesterday, whether the side was distracted by rumors about star striker Johan Elmander's potential sale next month, or maybe it's just a reversion to the mean, and the side's quick start has finally begun to catch up to them. As for City, they're boring even when they try to attack, and the highlight of the game for me was seeing Tevez and Mancini go at it when the Italian yanked the Argentine off the pitch three minutes from time. It's amazing but true: the most exciting thing about City's games is the team's continual discord, and watching and waiting for the blowup has become their best and most reliable form of entertainment.

I figured I'd make up for my momentary lapse in judgment on Sunday, though, and looked forward to sitting down to watch West Brom host Newcastle. When I finally did so, this time sans cold beer in hand, I was rudely surprised to find that my DVR had other thoughts: namely, Sunderland vs. West Ham.

I somewhat remember why I had chosen that game on Friday night -- Welbeck's been hot, he's on my fantasy team, and I figured there's be lots of scoring -- but my enthusiasm for the contest had somehow fizzled out by late Sunday afternoon. Sadly, my initial lack of enthusiasm for the match was not misplaced, as the teams played to an uneventful 1-nil Sunderland victory, with a late first half Jordan Henderson strike enough to hold off the same Hammer side that dismantled a certain Manchester United only a few days earlier.

Certainly, West Brom vs. Newcastle would have been a more entertaining choice with its four goals and somewhat dominating performance by the Baggies.  To which I guess I should say, you win some, you lose some.  Certainly, I lost this weekend, although United didn't.  The unbeaten streak in the League continues, at the very least for eight more days, and next weekend I have more of the same to look forward to: another United-less Saturday and Sunday.  Can't wait until Monday, when United host the Gunners in a battle for the top spot.


It's a lost but hopeful farlieonfootie signing off for December 6th.