Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Sunday, October 2nd was just another one of those days that makes you wonder why you follow sports at all. You love your teams so much that losses can basically ruin your entire day. Of course you always go back, but when those wounds are first inflicted it leaves you gutted. (I stole that word from the Brits, it sounds more dramatic than depressed or bummed).

First up was the encounter between Arsenal and Chelsea (Chelski) at Stamford Bridge in the posh section of London. When I first began following Arsenal, Chelsea were a tough opponent but Arsenal always had their number. Unfortunately, things have changed since Roman Abramovich came along and pumped his oil money in to Chelsea. These days, Arsenal play the role of whipping boys and sadly this day turned out to be the same.

Arsenal looked solid, played well had a lot of possession but in the end we all had to sit there and take it when the
egotistical Didier Drogba scored. Still it was 1-0 so there was hope. But, that was dashed as a free kick resulted in an amazing strike from Alex and it was done and dusted. The only solace Arsenal fans had was that at least we looked good while losing.

As for the Mets? As I sit here writing this I am watching the Yankees in the playoffs (rooting for the Twins of course) and still laughing at the way the Mets finished their horrible season. While meaningless in terms of making the playoffs, it would have been nice to see the Mets put in an amazing effort to close out the year. No, instead they wasted an excellent pitching performance by Mike Pelfrey by scoring one measley run and allowing the game to go in to extra innings. Just losing the game would have been enough, but not our Mets. They had to do it in true pathetic fashion. Who should come in to the game in the 14th inning, but the human disaster that is Oliver Perez. Scorned and shunned all season, Ollie had the chance for redemption. But remember, this is the Mets. Instead Ollie hit one batter and walked three allowing the winning run to score! (Keep in mind this guy is making 12 million dollars a year). Game over, season over. The next day the GM and Manager were dismissed. Just another day in Metsland. I'm actually happy that the Mets' season is over. I couldn't take any more.

On the bright side, the Jets actually look good this year!