Day: January 10, 2011

Soccer Spectating Report 2-9 January

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

For the new year, I’m giving up coming up with a new, clever title each week for my soccer-blogging. With that said, let’s dive into the game reports:

Fulham 3:0 West Bromwich Albion (4 January 2011)

An entertaining match at Craven Cottage saw Fulham earn their first win at home since October and may be the best game thus far in the season.  Goals included a scorching long-range shot off the keeper’s hands by Simon Davies and very similar headers from a corner kick by the USA’s Clint Dempsey and Brede Hangeland.

Everton 2:1 Tottenham Hotspur (5 January 2011)

Speaking of best games of the seasons, Everton earned a very satisfying win at Goodison Park (first home win since October) against the 4th-place Spurs.  With Tim Cahill on international duty, Everton played two men up top with great success.  Louis Saha scored on a brilliant strike early in the first minutes of the match.  Van der Vaart equalized for Tottenham a few minutes later.  Things went back and forth with good chances for both sides until the 74th minute when a Saha shot rebounded off the keeper and Seamus Coleman headed it into the net.  Perhaps one of the most exciting moments of the EPL season for me thus far.

Palermo 3:0 Sampdoria (6 January 2011)

The flamingo-pink Sicilians dominated their Genoan guests with goals from captain Fabrizio Miccoli, Giulio Migliaccio, and Massimo Maccarone.  Not bad when facing one of Serie A’s strongest defenses.  And all that offense kept the ball from finding the back of their own net as well.

Scunthorpe United 1:5 Everton (8 January 2011)

I’ve never watched a FA Cup match before but I’d heard a lot of the lore.  I only caught a small portion of this game so if you went by what I saw (end of first half, beginning of second half) it was a 1-1  draw.  I like that the game was played in a tiny old-fashioned stadium that held a little more than 9,000 spectators (although it’s not as old as I thought as it was built in 1988).  It must be a real treat for fans in lower divisions to have Premier League teams come to visit, especially when the home side scores as Scunthorpe United did in the opening moments of the second half.  The rest of the match was all Everton and the Blues advance to the 4th round with a match at home against (gulp) Chelsea.

It was a good week for the teams I follow.  I’m beginning to see how football sets one up for false hopes and heartbreak.  After a big win against Tottenham Hotspur, I look at the table and see that Everton are only 10 points out of a spot in European competition.  A strong second half of the season and maybe just maybe.  Of course, Everton are also just five points above relegation.  I guess I didn’t realize that even if the same 3-4 teams always win that the rest of the pack stays pretty close together.

Previous posts:

Benjamin Franklin’s 305th Birthday

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

This coming Monday is the holiday where we observe the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.  I encourage one and all to celebrate the life of Dr. King and put in some volunteer service time.

But, Monday is also the birthday of another great American leader, Benjamin Franklin, who was born in Boston on January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705].  Come learn more about this Son of Boston on a Boston By Foot tour lead by knowledgeable Boston By Foot guides (including yours truly).  The tour visits sites associated with Ben Franklin’s life in Boston from his birth in a house on Milk Street until the age of 17 when he ran away from his home town after a falling-out with his older brother.  This tour is unique in that since Franklin spent much of his long life elsewhere – Philadelphia, London, and Paris for starters – the sites often offer a launch point for talking about Franklin’s varied careers in printing, science, invention, postal services, public service and as a founding father.

The tour meets in the public park at the corner of Washington and School Streets by the Irish Famine Memorial and Borders Book Store.  The cost is $15 per person ($5 for Boston By Foot members) and the 90-minute walking tour departs at 2 pm on Monday, January 17th, 2011.  More information is available on the Boston By Foot Meetup Group web page.

Click photo to see more images of sites visited on this tour.

Official tour description:

Celebrate and learn the life of Benjamin Franklin by walking among the sites of his homes and haunts in Colonial Boston. In his day, Benjamin Franklin was America’s greatest scientist, inventor, diplomat, humorist, statesman, and entrepreneur. Ben was born in Boston, came of age in Philadelphia, and was the darling of Paris. From his many inventions, creation of civic, philanthropic, and educational institutions, to his his roles in the founding of America, his legacy is immeasurable.