Monday, April 28, 2014

Celebrating St. Totteringham's Day 2014


April 28, 2014 will go in the books as St. Totteringham's Day. Arsenal's comfortable 3-0 victory over Newcastle made it official that Arsenal will yet again finish above Spurs.

St. Totteringham's Day as defined by the Urban Dictionary is the day when Arsenal have secured enough points to mathematically finish ahead of Tottenham in the league table.


Despite Tottenham splashing out 100 million during last summer's transfer window and articles such as these............


Tottenham give Arsenal a lesson in transfers -they've lost Gareth Bale, but built a squad

Spurs' magnificent seven! New signings bought with Bale money ready to make fans forget about Gareth

........it's happened again. In fact, it's the 19th straight year that Arsenal fans are celebrating this yearly holiday. Arsene Wenger has been at Arsenal's helm for the last 18 celebrations which have occurred on the following days:
  • April 5, 1997 after 33 matches
  • March 28, 1998 after 29 matches
  • April 6, 1999 after 32 matches
  • April 16, 2000 after 32 matches
  • April 17, 2001 after 33 matches
  • March 18, 2002 after 30 matches
  • March 24, 2003 after 31 matches
  • March 13, 2004 after 28 matches
  • April 2, 2005 after 31 matches
  • May 7, 2006 after 38 matches
  • April 21, 2007 after 35 matches
  • March 9, 2008 after 29 matches
  • April 11, 2009 after 32 matches
  • May 9, 2010 after 38 matches
  • May 7, 2011 after 35 matches
  • May 13, 2012 after 38 matches
  • May 19, 2013 after 38 matches
  • April 28, 2014 after 36 matches

Here's what's even sweeter about this year's date. Despite the predictions of Spuds overtaking Arsenal, this year's St. Totteringham's Day occurred 2 games sooner than last year's.

All season long I had been preparing my 2014 Countdown to St. Totterhingham's Day Pinterest board and it is now complete. For those that like to reminisce, here is the link to my 2013 Countdown to St. Totteringham's Day Pinterest board.


Gooners have been busy tweeting out St. Totteringham's Day wishes. Here's a collection of just some of them:














Enjoy the celebration Gooners and let's get ready for another one on May 17th! #COYG


Sunday, April 20, 2014

Ike Davis For MVP: Yet Another Bad Trade By The Mets

(Photo by Vincent Pugliese/Getty Images)
The Ike Davis era in New York is now officially over. It's sad because when Davis came up in 2010 he was an instant fan favorite. Even through his never ending struggles, the fans were pretty much on his side. Unfortunately, Davis seemed to have a black cloud over him. When Lucas Duda was awarded the first base job this spring, it was obvious that Davis' time with the Mets was done.

I'll be the first to say that he has under achieved and been one of the most frustrating Mets players in recent history (and there have been many). The most frustrating aspect of all, however, is that Davis actually has talent. His pinch hit walk-off grand slam versus the Reds earlier this month was proof of that. 

(Photo by Brian Garfinkel/Getty Images)
Now Davis is off to the Pirates and us Mets fans are stuck with Lucas Duda as our first baseman. While neither Davis or Duda would have been anybody's top choice, I believe that the Mets have once again made the wrong one. As I've stated many times before, I do not think that Duda is an everyday Major League Player. He is slower than rush hour traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike and constantly costs the Mets runs on the base paths. Duda doesn't hit for average, isn't clutch and strikes out a ton. The only saving grace, is that he will be less of a liability at first than in the outfield, as he no longer will allow outs to turn in to singles due to being unable to catch up with a fly ball. Go Mets.

As for Davis....I predict his new lease on life will allow him to thrive. Free of the Mets' circus and the media onslaught, he'll be able to play baseball without the extra baggage. He's off to a good start, having gone 2 for 3 in his first game in Pittsburgh.

Jonathan Daniel /Allsport
So as we bid adieu to Ike Davis, let's take a trip down memory lane and add his name to the list of most notable New York Mets bad trades and signings:
  • Jason Bay 
  • Kaz Matsui
  • Bobby Bonilla (From Wikipedia: Bonilla is currently being paid approximately $1.19 million by the New York Mets each year, a deal made when the Mets released Bonilla before the 2000 baseball season and still owed him $5.9 million for the final year of his contract. The deal expires in 2035, at which point Bonilla will have been paid $29.8 million for a season in which he did not even play for the Mets.) 
  • Mo Vaughan 
  • Roberto Alomar 
  • Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano 
  • Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi
  • Tom Seaver for Pat Zachry, Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, Dan Norman 
  • ***Ike Davis (Time will tell) 
Knowing the Mets' luck and their uncanny ability to make the wrong choice, I now predict that Ike Davis will be the 2014 National League MVP.
(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)