Gunnerrific

The fine folks at FIFA have turned a wary eye towards neck scarves. Also known as Snoods, these light circular pieces of fabric keep players necks warm during the chilly winter months of the premiership. They’ve become much more popular nowadays after being first used by Tevez. Now a number of players, Gunners included, sport the snood. The warmth also helps those who may suffer from neck pains, which sounds just fine.

I suspect that aside from keeping a players neck warm that the snood is also very effective as a sort of sweatband which could of course be replaced at halftime. I’m not sure of that by any means, but it seems like a side benefit.

Here’s the kicker. FIFA is now going to have some meetings to determine if they should still be used. What. A bunch. Of Dolts. This is the sort of news piece that I would expect to come out of The Onion, but unfortunately it’s true.

“We want a debate on the snood and whether it could be dangerous,” said a FIFA spokesman. “There may be a safety issue – if, for example, a player was running through on goal and an opponent grabbed his snood, that could pose a potential danger to his neck.”

Hilarious. If a snood were grabbed like that, it would sooner tear than cause any long lasting neck injuries. I hope they look into glove use, since accidentally grabbing the edge of a glove would rip a players hand off.

Have these jokers not seen what sort of leg snaps can take place on a soccer pitch? That’s a far more frequent and legitimate area of concern. Why not try to buckle down on that by using video replays to enact stricter punishments on offending, careless players and tackles?

I’m just flabbergasted that FIFA would go after something like this. We still need video replays to verify goals/near-goals, which I still strongly believe can be done in a quick and efficient way that won’t affect the pace of the game. FIFA also need to reduce the number of terrible ref decisions in matches. This could potentially be handled with more ref’s on the field or on-the-fly video review. Oftentimes when a serious or important call is made, us TV viewers at home know the validity of the call well before play has even resumed. Imagine how quickly a trained ref could know with all the camera replays at his command. But no. FIFA is worried about neck scarves.

Enough about the well-known ridiculousness of FIFA. It’s like beating a dead horse with those guys. Or beating a dead walrus with a dead horse.

We face a Carroll-less Newcastle in Saturday’s big match-up. With Nasri and Song injured, we’ll be fielding a less-than-perfect squad, but we are certainly still expected to win. Hopefully Fabregas can get out there and show some flashes of brilliance to silence all his haters.

Come on Arsenal!

There are 11 reasons that football is better than football. Or, football is better than American football. Or, even still, Soccer is better than American football. Why 11? Well, that’s an odd, obscure, uneven number. And there are 11 men on a soccer pitch.

1. The Name Makes Sense

In football, they actually use their foot to kick a ball.

By now you’ve all seen the ‘football – Handegg’ picture (and if you haven’t, I’ve included it reference). There isn’t really much more that needs to be said is there? Why call something ‘football’ if you rarely kick it and the ball is not even spherical? Frankly, the name of ‘football’ to describe soccer is just more correct. Thus, it’s wayyyy better.

I think HandEgg is a great alternative name for American football. First step, rename the NFL to the NHL. Wait, that’s taken by another sport that is equally better than American football… damn. I guess ThrowEgg could work, and then the organization would be the NTL. Yeah!

Football’s origins are found in the term ‘Association football’, meaning an association of groups of teams that play football. The popular sport of the 1800′s was an Americanized version of rugby and association football, what we know today as American Football. Thus the American association football players came up with the term ‘soccer’, using the ‘soc’ part of association. It’s a stretch, I know.

2. Length of a Game

In football, the game is composed of two halves of 45 minutes with a 15 minute halftime break. Depending on injuries and other downtime, there can be a couple of minutes here and there added to the end of the halves at the referee’s discretion. In rare situations like single elimination cup tournaments, extra time can also be added in the result of a tie game. Thus, far more often than not, the length of a football game is clear from the outset.

In American football, there is absolutely no way to predict how long a game is going to last! Although it’s very clearly stated there there are four 15 minute quarters with a 12 minute halftime, the game never actually lasts that long. There are far too many occasions in which the clock stops, thus adding on to the total length of the game. In fact, the average broadcast of an NFL game is 174 minutes! Yeah, that’s right, almost 3 hours long for a regulation 75 minute game.

A sport that has a clearly set length of play that is adhered to is surely more accessible and fun to watch than one that is not. Hooray football! And that also brings us to the fact that there is also more actual playtime in football…

3. Actual Play Time

American football is notorious for its small quantity of actual playtime. A Wall Street Journal study from January of 2010 summarized that American football only has on average 11 minutes of actual playtime. 11 minutes! In a 3 hour broadcast there are 11 minutes of actual playtime? What sort of a sport is this! There is probably more playtime in a round of bowling. In fact, on average 59% of an NFL broadcast is footage of the players standing around and 15% of the footage is just replays.

Although there are throw-ins and free kicks and injuries in football, there is far, far more playtime. Actually, it’s approximately 90 minutes worth since the game length and continuous nature of play makes sense! So not only is the length of the game slightly less, but there is actually more playtime.

Why watch a 3 hour game with 11 minutes of playtime when you could watch a 2 hour game with 90 minutes of playtime? WHYYYY!?

4. Continuous Play

Every time something happens in American Football, the game stops. Then something happens again, and then it stops again. There’s this little notion of a ‘down’ in which the teams and players regroup and formulate a plan to start the play again. This causes a start-stop, start-stop play style. There is just no way around it: there is a lot of downtime in American football (hey check out that pun).

In football the play is continuous. Like I already mentioned, throw-ins, free kicks, and injuries do happen and they do require a stoppage in play. However, play always resumes quickly and the frequency of these stops pales in comparison to the stoppages in American football. IT PALES!

Part of the reason for all the stoppages in American football is to allow for the league to air advertisements. The league is a business and as a result it has taken steps to alter the rules of the game to allow for proper time for advertising. Us American audiences have very short attention spans so the NFL has taken all the steps it can to show us all the advertisements, replays, flashy graphics, and commentary possible.

Football wins again, because it isn’t plagued with constant interruptions, speculation, advertising, and standing around.

5. Better Strategy

The strategy of both games is complex. And in all honesty, it’s pretty difficult to compare the strategies of these two games, but guess what? I still think football’s is deeper.

Football is a non-stop fluid game that requires quick thinking and strategy from every player on the field at all times. The manager acts as an orchestra director by choosing the right players for the right games over the entirety of the season, making choice substitutions where appropriate, and simultaneously juggling the recruitment of new players and the training of the existing ones.

There are set plays but generally speaking the game requires the players to adjust and react to any situation that may arise at any time. A left back may see a good opportunity and charge down the left side of the pitch, which will require a shift from the other defenders and perhaps a midfielder to cover when the play shifts back towards them. Football players must be capable at all aspects of the game.

American football is more like a live human version of chess. Generally speaking, it is the coach, his staff, and the quarterback that discuss and choose plays for the rest of the team to execute. At that point, the players typically act like pawns as each one must perform his own actions as best he can. Granted, there are often situations in which players must think on their feet within the frame of the play, but more often than not they are carrying out a task as best they can. Then the play ends.

Although chess is as strategic a game as you can get, imagine playing a variant of it where there are no turns. Although there is a player (coach), the individual pieces must also act together out of their own accord, swapping roles and responsibilities on the fly. Football requires in depth strategy and skill from the managers and the players, more-so than American Football.

6. More Competition

Simply put, football is the world’s game. As of right now there are 208 countries in FIFA, the governing organization of football. That’s a lot of different leagues, players, and teams. As best I can find, there are only about 40 countries that have American football leagues. Since football (soccer) has a bigger worldwide presence, the competition is more intense. Every country, every league, every team, and every player must compete against each other to be the best they can be.

Let’s take the UEFA Champion’s League for example. This league, the height of club football, features the best teams from the best leagues within Europe. They play against each other in international battles over the period of several months while they play within their own domestic leagues. At the end of it all, you have a winner who is crowned the best team in all of Europe. One year it may be Inter Milan, while the next it could be Barcelona. Hell, there is even a league ‘below’ the Champion’s League called the Europa League, which follows the same format.

The recent introduction of the FIFA Club World Cup now means that the winners of the different world region’s “Champion’s Leagues” all play against each other to be the best club in the world. Even the LA Galaxy has reason to compete at a top level… they could face a club like Arsenal or Chelsea in the Club World Cup someday.

American Football doesn’t have the same worldwide scale that football does. This means that the cream of the crop resides firmly in the United States. Although there are an increasing number of foreign players in the NFL, an overwhelming percentage of its players are American. Foreign leagues are still in their infancy and have fewer teams.

You simply can’t argue against the worldwide competition that football has. Worldwide competition ultimately means that there is more competition. That’s another reason football is better than American football.

7. Season Schedule & Structure

FIFA, a global organization, has been around since 1904, a 16 year head start on the NFL, which is a national organization. FIFA has promoted a very structured system for the way in which football is organized. Countries have leagues, or even ladders of leagues, and in those leagues the teams play each other in a calculated manner. Generally speaking, such as in the English Premier League, each team plays each other twice, once home and once away. Each team is awarded points based upon the result of the games they play. At the end of the season one team is at the top of the table. This means every game matters. Every game matters. Simple, right?

In the NFL, there is a bizarre system of play in which teams may or may not even play each other, and some teams may end up playing each other twice. Just check out these scheduling rules courtesy of Wikipedia:

• Each team plays the other three teams in its division twice: once at home, and once on the road (six games).
• Each team plays the four teams from another division within its own conference once on a rotating three-year cycle: two at home, and two on the road (four games).
• Each team plays the four teams from a division in the other conference once on a rotating four-year cycle: two at home, and two on the road (four games).
• Each team plays once against the other teams in its conference that finished in the same place in their own divisions as themselves the previous season, not counting the division they were already scheduled to play: one at home, one on the road (two games).

WHAT?! THAT IS RIDICULOUS. There is no consistency season to season AT ALL!

In addition, in countries like England, rich in football culture, that have a ladder system of several leagues atop each other. At the end of each season, the top teams from one league can be promoted to the league above it, and likewise the teams at the bottom can go down! This makes for an extremely competitive league system in which money, glory, and fame are all constantly at stake.

Although there are several different American football leagues in the United States, there is not a promotion/relegation system like other countries, and the US is the only country with multiple leagues.

8. Scoring Systems

American football has a straightforward system of scoring… if you’ve been watching and playing it all your life. Simply put, the way in which teams accrue points in American football is bewildering. Here’s a reference for those of you that aren’t in the know.

• 6 – Touchdown
• 3 – Field Goal
• 2 – Two-point conversion
• 1 – Field Goal
• 2 – Safety

And let’s not forget that there are special circumstances as to when you can get actually score certain points…

In football, there is a goal. When the ball goes into the opposing team’s goal, the scoring team get’s a goal. Done.

9. Skill

Don’t get me wrong, I do think that American football players are skilled. Quarterbacks can throw a perfectly timed pass at the right trajectory so that a wide receiver can make a leaping dive, dragging his foot along the turf just before he falls out of bounds. The way defensive players must pace themselves and apply coverage is equally impressive. That’s skill all around.

In football (soccer) though, I believe players have to be more versatile and practice their skill over longer periods of time. Thus, they are more skilled.

A football (soccer) player, regardless of his position on the field, must be capable of playing offensively and defensively, he must be able to pass and shoot, and he must be able to cover and play off the ball. In addition, he must do all of those things consecutively for the entire game with rapid changes taking place at all times.

In American football, a player typically has one task that he must do for one down, and then repeat. Granted, the way in which a player acts changes from down to down depending on the play and the circumstances that come up. But, for example, a quarterback doesn’t have to fend off multiple rushes for 10 minutes straight while throwing a ball, catching a ball, and then switch gears to then play defense. For that matter, no player in any position has to do anything like that. The game just isn’t set up like that.

The skill involved in soccer is broader, requires more study and practice, and is more impressive to watch.

10. Frequency of Play

Most football leagues play more games more frequently than American football leagues. In Spain for example, a team could be playing in the domestic league (La Liga), the league cup (Copa del Rey), and the regional cup (Champion’s League/Europa League) all at the same time. It’s possible for the total game count for a team to reach upwards of 50 games in a good season, often requiring the team to play two games in one week. This isn’t possible in every football league, but it is possible and does frequently occur in the most popular and successful leagues.

In the NFL, games are spaced out so that there is only one game a week over the period of 17 weeks. Then after that there are 4 more weeks of playoffs, spaced out over 2 months… 2 months! Then the season is over. That’s it! Although the games are big, they are not frequent.

More games, longer season, better sport.

11. Viewership

For the first time in the history of the competition the Champion’s League Final viewership eclipsed the Superbowl viewership in 2009, 206 million to 162 million. And don’t even get me started on the World Cup final, which I think is actually an unfair comparison since it occurs every 4 years. Simply put, football is better because there are more people watching it than there are people watching American football. If put to a vote, the world would agree. It’s unanimous!

Reasons Why American Football is Better

There’s less diving (or feigning of injury), there are video replays, and they have cheerleaders. I won’t bother to elaborate more because it just isn’t enough.

(Real) Football Wins!

Some Sources:

Wikipedia – American Football
Wikipedia – Association Football
WSJ – 11 Minutes of Action
Wikipedia – List of FIFA Members
Wikipedia – List of Countries with American Football Leagues
Wikipedia – NFL on Television
NYTimes – Superbowl vs the Champion’s League
Wikipedia – NFL
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nestorgalina/3707322819/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoutedrop/2317065892/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artwork_rebel/2547734803/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dok1/3901589403/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/virtualsugar/2055676442/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnbeagle/2839829019/
Personal – I was Raised on American Football
Personal – I started watching Football (Soccer) in ’97

There isn’t too much to say about this.

Come on Arsenal!

Three ex-Gunners, yes three (or four if you count Sylvinho, like you should), are playing for Manchester City and it would seem as though at least two of them actually respect their former club. It should be no surprise that it was Toure and Vieira that had a little talk with Adebayor about ‘keeping calm’ in this weekend’s match against Arsenal. We wouldn’t want a repeat of Adebayor’s behavior from the match earlier this season, so it’s good that more respectable ex-Gunners are stepping up to the plate. Thank god for the classy ones.

I have mixed feelings when former gunners play against us. Only in so much as I want us to make them ashamed to have left, to be honest. In Vieira’s case, it will be fun to watch him playing at the Emirates. Let’s not forget that Vieira played at the Emirates on July 22, 2006 at Bergkamp’s testimonial. I certainly expect to hear the Vieira chant from the stands as I watch the broadcast on Saturday. Woa-oh-oh-oh.

Manchester City is in danger of becoming Formerly Arsenal Football Club if they get any more ex-gunners. Just wait, over the summer they’ll pick up Flamini, Hleb, and even make an offer for Henry. If you can’t find success on your own, why not go buy a bunch of good players from other teams? If only we’d thought of that.

Hopefully the rift between manager and players that Carlos Tevez has exposed will grow between now and the match. We could really use every advantage possible. Our youngsters will need it.

The Daily Mail has a new article up in which 6 ‘stark’ questions are posed that could Wenger should answer. Then, Jamie Redknapp and Andy Townsend wax philosophic about the possible answers. I don’t really know what makes these questions ‘stark’ other than that it sounds like a nice headline. No, Tony Stark doesn’t answer them. The questions are:

1. It’s five years without a trophy for Arsenal. How has that happened?
2. What should Wenger have done differently this season?
3. Do we still admire Wenger’s football philosophies?
4. And anyone who questions if he is the right man for the job should be locked up, right?
5. In which areas does he need to strengthen the side?
6. Liverpool have been caught and overtaken by Manchester City and Spurs. Are Arsenal vulnerable next season?

Some of these questions are silly and can be answered rather quickly. So I will.

1. It’s been more than 5 years for every other club in the premiership except Chelsea and Manchester United as well. Go ask those clubs first, since we’re consistently in the top 4.
2. He should have found a way to prevent such a big number of significant injuries (which may be impossible) and he should have bought players that have more experience to the squad.
3. Yes.
4. Pretty much.
5. That was the same as question 2 but asked differently.
6. As long as its mathematically possible, yes.

I have some questions for Jamie Redknapp, but I don’t know that they are fit for print.

Ian Wright for The Sun (WTF?) has come out and said that Arsene should step up and admit he has been stubborn about the money situation. I agree, if this has been the case. I’ve always read stories that say Arsenal has no money… and then other stories that say they do and Wenger just doesn’t want to spend… and like usual with these news sources it’s one day this and one day that.

If it is true that Wenger has opted to not spend money on more experienced players, he should fess up. In the long run, these last two losses, which is the main source of all this controversy, are down to the fact that our uninjured players don’t have the fortitude, mental strength, and discipline that they should.

Oh and don’t forget to check out that new Fabregas wallpaper.

I don’t really know where to start. Everything seemed to be going so well for our makeshift squad as we were 2-0 up against a woeful Wigan in the 80th minute. That should really be the end of the story. Unfortunately, the B team we had on the pitch forgot to finish the game and allowed Wigan to score 3 goals in 11 minutes. Our title hopes were ruined yet again.

The first half was frustrating and full of the typical ‘Arsenal problem’ in which we pass the ball around a lot without taking a shot. At one point one of Walcott’s crosses was handled and it was an obvious penalty. This was missed, but it was clear at this point that we had an advantage. Later, while running down the right side, Walcott then chose to cross a ball that he obviously should’ve taken the shot on. He still seems gun shy at times.

Fortunately Walcott’s goal in the 41st relieved all the tension. A perfectly placed shot buried in the back of net and we were on top. This is the type of goal we need Walcott to score. He was on the run, receiving a well placed pass from Bendtner, and confronted with defenders all around. He still managed to pull his way through and muscle a shot off.

There was a brief moment of tension when Watson went down in the box. Anyone that is claiming that Nasri’s pull on Watson was a penalty is an idiot. Nasri barely tugged on him and he fell down like a huge sack of pitiful potatoes. It was embarrassing, and I’m glad the ref made the right call.

In the second half, Silvestre managed to find himself completely unmarked to receive a corner perfectly on the head. 2-0 and Arsenal was just having a walk in the park.

At the 80th minute everything fell apart.

The first Wigan goal was a fluke. We had men all over the box and the pull back from Moses seemed completely accidentally placed. Watson happened to be in the right place at the right time and drilled it into the back of the net. You could say that our defenders were misplaced, but in looking at the replay it seems like we were just unlucky. We had every passing lane covered except for the unlikely pull back, which wasn’t even intended. If anything, it was the play leading up to this goal in which we allowed far too much space for Wigan to move up the pitch.

The second Wigan goal was a fluke. Fabianksi was a nightmare. There’s no way around it. Despite it being his birthday he was completely unsure of himself. Throughout the whole match he appeared to be questioning himself and lacking confidence. When the mistake came, it was a bad one. He had both hands on the ball but just didn’t hold onto it. Of course Bramble was right there to nod it into the back of the net.

The third Wigan goal was a fluke. N’Zogbia manhandled his way across the outside of the box while Clichy, Silvestre, and Campbell all tried to prevent any sort of shot on target. The strike was perfect, curling inward and off the post.

Fluke fluke fluke. We are very susceptible them.

Here’s the deal.

We are missing Fabregas, Arshavin, Gallas, Vermaelen, and Song, and Van Persie is still not fit for a full 90 minutes. That is 6 players out of our starting 11! At the end of the day, with those sorts of injuries, we are just not going to win as much. Someone really needs to do some investigating to find out why we are susceptible to so many injuries that last for so long. I’m less worried about Wenger’s choice of Eastmond over Eboue or Traore than I am over the fact that we keep getting destroyed by these injuries.

Given the number of injuries we’ve had to deal with as of late, it could be worse. Given how long Van Persie has been out, it could be worse. As of this point, it seems as though our 3rd place spot is guaranteed, and it could be worse.

In other news, Torres is out for 6 weeks, making Liverpool’s attempt to take the 4th spot all the more difficult. It appears as though for the first time, in a long time, the traditional top 4′s reign will be over. Fortunately Arsenal isn’t the odd team out.