I recently wrote about
how fun it is to follow professional football in the UK.  Last Sunday
was the culmination of the Premier League season.  Every team played at
the same time and there was lots as stake including the title (between
Manchester United & Chelsea), Uefa Cup places and relegation.
Relegation was the most exciting for me.  Fulham finished off a near
miraculous escape from relegation by beating Portsmouth away.  This is
the scene at the end of the game, after Fulham stay up for another
season.  Yes, we are celebrating the team having placed 17th
out of 20!

Following English professional football is a lot of fun.  It is much different than professional sports in the U.S., which are on the franchise model.  Here’s what I like:

1. Every game counts.  There are no playoffs to win the Premier League.  The team that has the most points at the end of the season wins the League. 
2. There is action up and down the league table.  For instance, there is a battle for 4th place since the top 4 teams get a place in the Champions League tournament.  And there is a battle for 2nd since the top two teams bypass the group qualifying stages of the tournament.  5th place automatically qualifies for the less prestigious UEFA Cup. 
3. Even more exciting is that the bottom 3 teams in the Premier League get relegated to the lower league, whereas 3 teams from that league get promoted.  That would be un-heard of in the franchise model.  Relegation out of the Premier league can be devastating for a club both financially and in prestige, and so it can make games by bottom-ranked teams just as exciting to follow.
4. Nothing is guaranteed.  A club’s fortunes can rise and fall.  For instance, there are clubs that used to be great in the 80s and 90s, like Leeds United or Nottingham Forrest, that aren’t even in the top division.   
5. The FA Cup.  It’s a tournament for UK clubs with hundreds entering.  It’s like the NCAA tournament, full of upsets.  This year, Barnsley, who are fighting for relegation in the Football League Championship (2nd to the Premier League), beat both Chelsea and Liverpool to reach the semis.

We knew Barry and Mark were into the ‘roids.  But Roger Clemens?   Andy Pettite?   Sheez.  Shame on MLB and the Players Union for letting this fester so long.  There will certainly be asterisks next to the records set over the past decade.

England played (and lost to) South Africa on Saturday night in the final of the Rugby World Cup.  Like the Fifa World Cup, this is played every 4 years and it’s a big deal in most countries.  The US was in the tournament and almost pulled off an upset, even though it gets scant coverage in the US.  But in the UK, it was a national obsession as the whole country cheered on the ‘rugby boys’ to glory. 

My friend Cameron was kind enough to invite me to watch it with a bunch of his mates…I was the lone American amongst a bunch of Kiwis, Canucks, Aussies and, yes, even Brits, which made me feel special.  I got a crash course on the rules of the game and a primer on strategy.  It was great to watch in such an atmosphere but I must say that I’m not completely sold:  All of the points in the game were scored on penalties, which I had a hard time identifying, and most of the game’s strategy involved kicking the ball out of bounds…what kind of a game is that??!!  I was told to expect a defensive, strategic game that’s all about field position so at least expectations were set.  Apparently the All Blacks and the Aussies play a much less defensive style that can make it a beautiful game…I think I’ll stick to football/soccer as the ‘beautiful game’ and try to acquire the taste of rugby.

As I settle in to watch the SuperBowl, the pomp and spectacle brings home to me that the NFL is the #1 major sports league.  I watched a game nearly every Sunday this past season.   The sport is probably the most widely watched by people of all races and places and has the most passionate fans (think fans of the Packers, Raiders, Eagles, I could go on…).

Compare that to the NBA:  It just seems kind of stale to me.  My friend Ricky asked me to name any player on the Seattle Sonics and I couldn’t.  We determined that the only things we knew were that the Suns and Mavs are doing well this season.  Maybe it’s because I live in a town whose team isn’t doing so well. 

MLB: Has done a good job retaining viewer interest with the influx of international players and rivalries, and I love watching baseball but usually do so in earnest towards the tail end of the season when the games "matter". 

Tennis:  My wife and I enjoy watching the majors.  Roger Federer’s dominance is something to watch and I look forward to tracking him on his quest for both a Grand Slam and to beat Pete Sampras’ major wins record. 

Golf:  The intrigue of Tiger chasing Jack’s major wins record along
with the other big name players (Phil, Vijay, Ernie and others) holds
lots of interest for viewers.  When the big names aren’t in a tourney,
interest level goes down.  I know that the remaining players are still
unbelievable talents and players but there really is less interest in
viewing.

NHL:  NHWho?

Nascar:  I know it’s super popular in the US (#2 in viewership I think)…If I were more into the drivers, that’d be one thing, but watching cars go ’round a circle for a few hours holds zero interest for me.

The US Open squash tournament is played in Boston around this time of year.  Tonight was the semi-finals and I caught the action. Great match between two Egyptians, world #1 Amr Shabana, and up-and-comer Ramy Ashour (19 yrs old).  Amr won in 4 but that was only after Ramy saved 10 match points.  Amr admitted to having lost his concentration after going up 10-1 in the 4th and taking it a bit easier and playfully kicked himself in the butt during the post-match interview.

The second match, between David Palmer and Gregory Gaultier, wasn’t as exciting.  Different brand of squash.  It was cool, however, to see fellow Frenchman Thierry Lincou go over and coach Gregory in between games.  Gregory had just beaten Thierry the night before and here he was getting coached by him (see picture below). 

While
I like them both, can you imagine Andy Roddick giving James Blake pointers after having lost to him the previous night? And yet it is a common occurrence in pro squash and why I love the game — there’s a certain camaraderie among players even though they may be fierce competitors on the court.

Watching pro squash is inspiring and I can’t wait to get back on the court.