Me Neither

photo by Nesster	via PhotoRee

Not much to say tonight, as I made the mistake of visiting a city where the wind chill is measured in the single digits, ice and snow cover the ground, and my fingers are basically too numb to type.  I'm not entirely sure why people, some of whom I even respect, would choose to live here....  But enough complaining, and to each his own.  Now, on with the show:

Pienaar to Spurs: It was a busy day in the transfer market, with Steven Pienaar shunning Chelsea to join cross-town rivals Tottenham Hotspur.  A year or two this story would have been unthinkable: who would dare join Spurs in the face of interest from Chelsea?  The fact that Pienaar did so tells the tale of how much things have changed between the two London sides in the past eighteen months.  Uncle Harry now holds the whip hand in London town, and there's nothing the Dapper Don can do about it.  Frankly, I can't figure out why Spurs want Pienaar -- a decent player, mind you, but aren't they already covered in midfield, and shouldn't they be more focused on bolstering their defense?  In any event, it'll make Correspondent Ed laugh, so we'll go with it and move onto the next piece of news, which also comes from the transfer market.

Bent to Villa: Another confusing one for me.  Not confusing in the sense of why Villa would want Darren Bent -- after all, their front line currently consists of Gaby Agbonlahor, John Carew and Emile Hesky....  Enough said.  But why in the world would Bent want to leave a resurgent Sunderland side to join the sinking ship that is Aston Villa?  I'll give you 6 million reasons why, as he'll see his current pay rise from £18 million to £24 million per season.  And who said footballers didn't pay attention during school?  It's clear that Bent is adept at math.

Babel to Hoffenheim: Do you care?  Me neither.

Rafael to the FA: Rafael effectively pleaded "No Contest" today to the Football Association's charge of improper conduct.  To which I say: "Whadda joke."  The fact that jackasses such as John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Carlos Tevez and other "big name" players get away with transgressions, dissent and more, while Rafael gets unjustly thrown out of a game and charged with improper conduct for expressing his feelings toward the ILTIMD (Incompetent Loser That Is Mike Dean) illustrates what a joke the football organizing bodies have become.  FIFA is endlessly corrupt, and the FA is just as much of a joke, if not more.  Bring on relegation and report cards for referees and I'll begin to take your charges more seriously.

City to the 4th Round: Another joke.  City keep on scoring, and keep on conceding goals, too, this time in front of a whopping 27,000 fans at home (6,000 of whom were supporting the opposition). So it's another game at Fortress Wastelands, and another two golazos conceded, and these to a Leicester City side that is currently striving to move up to12th place in the Championship.... 

Not very impressive, Roberto.  That makes five goals concedede at home against Wolves and Leicester in your last two games.  Do you seriously think you can win the EPL title playing like this?  Yeah -- me neither.

And what was with Carlos Tevez's little biotch slap at the opponent today?  Not that the referee seemed to mind....  Tevez swings his little arm at an opponent and gets away with just a stern speech (which it's unlikely he understood, given the paucity of English he is able to speak), but Rafael inadvertently trips a player at the midfield line and gets the hook.  There is no justice in this world.

This is an aggravated -- and cold -- farlieonfootie on January 20.