One more day...

So tomorrow is our last day of semester one CreComm. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone in our class from helping me out whenever I needed and for being so rad in general. Cheers guys. Have a good break!

England lose on penalties! again...

Came across this interesting article today. Matt Le Tissier, is an retired former big time player from England who was notoriously awesome at Penalty Kicks. He took 48 in his career as a pro and only missed one. Maybe he can help England stave off more hilarious heartbreak.

The draw.

So the big World Cup draw happened today and it was pretty interesting.

The first group features France, SA, Mexico and Uruguay. France and Mexico should come through this pretty easily. South Africa are hosts, but also suck so I don't expect much. Uruguay have good strikes in Forlan and Suarez but not much else. France have drawn and easy group again. Cheats.

Group B should be a cake walk for Argentina who are clearly the best team. Nigeria should go through with them if all this talk of African teams being inspired by playing at home is really true. I don't see it though. I actually think Greece will go through as runners up. They play really boring but effective soccer which should work well in the scorching heat. South Korea to bring up the rear.

Group C is England's and they should cruise. They really could not have hoped for a better draw but then again, neither could the USA who should join them in progressing. Algeria are an unknown quantity as are Slovenia. Both teams pulled impressive upsets in getting to the tournament, but the clock should strike midnight on these cinderellas.

Group D is really tough to call. The obvious favorites are Germany because it's Germany and they always do well. That said, the other three teams are all solid as well. Australia are growing in stature and may have been favoured to go through in an easier group. Serbia are a tough as nails defensive type team who are tough to beat because they don't concede many goals. While both those teams have a case, I think Ghana, my pick as the best African side, will go through as group winners ahead of Germany. They have tons of talent and should carry the load for Africa.

Group E features The Netherlands. The "clockwork oranje" should win this group pretty comfortable but we all know things are never simple for them. They'll be pushed by a surprisingly very strong Danish team and by Cameroon. I'll plump for the Africans to go through. Japan are woeful and I expect them to lose every match.

Group F is an example of why everyone hates Italy. They struggle through qualifying and everyone is thinking they are vulnerable and then they get the easiest group. I don't even want to mention the other teams, Italy go through.

The Group of Death is without a doubt Group G. Big time ancestral rivals Brazil and Portugal are drawn together and joined by The Ivory Coast who many people have picked as a dark horse to win the tournament. Brazil should have enough to come through joined by Drogba and the boys. Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo will have to join North Korea in going home early and hoping for a luckier draw in four years.

Anything less than winning every game would be disappointing for Spain in group H. Switzerland are a decent side but nothing special. Honduras are a good story, but resemble Trinidad and Tobago from four years ago. Chile are an emerging South American power and should go through as runners up here.

So this is it.

So the draw for the World Cup is tomorrow. The groups will finally be announced. Some 200 million people are supposed to check it out. Should be good.

Check back tomorrow for my early look and preview of the groups.

Fever Pitch

I've been re-reading the book Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby and I'm reminded why it's one of my all time favs.

The book is a look at one man, Hornby's, attachment and love affair with Arsenal Football Club. Its hilarious and heartbreaking all in one. If you like soccer or Arsenal ( I love both) then you should read it. It's way better than the Jimmy Fallon movie. Trust me.

Keith.

Get over it France.

The 8 seeded teams for the World Cup were announced today. France was not one of them. France should not even be at The World Cup for their cheating, scum ways.

Get over it France. At least your there.

Carlos and Murphy's

Winnipeg has a shortage of good bars to go and watch soccer. For years, Carlos and Murphy's was one of my favorite places to go drink, eat wings and watch some sports. I went there last week expecting the same. Unfortunately, I was left super dissapointed. Here's a review I did of the restaurant for my Journalism class. Hope you dig it.


In May of this year, Carlos and Murphy’s was shut down for health violations. My first visit since the reopening, I was eager to see if changes had been made. Stepping into the men’s room made it seem like the lessons had not been learned. The sink had hair in it, the floor was dirty and the toilet had not been flushed.
Cleanliness aside, the restaurant has long been a cheap and reliable option for Winnipeggers searching for good Mexican food. I have fond memories of their patio and even fonder ones of their food. Unfortunately, my most recent visit caused many of those memories to turn sour.
Walking into the dining room, the decor seemed to have taken a turn for the worse since my last visit a few years prior. Designed to look like a traditional Mexican roadhouse, it was a bit too authentic and looked badly in need of some repairs. The wood planks that formed most of the walls were visibly worn down and water damaged. Even some of the sombreros on display were frayed.
Despite with these initial turn offs, I was confident that the deciding factor would be the delicious Mexican food on offer. It had never let me down before. Upon biting into my “world infamous” nachos, I learned that there was a first time for everything.
The Carlos Nachos ($10.50), loaded with salsa; veggies and Jack cheese, are the restaurant’s signature item. While the portion size was impressive for the reasonable price of, the plate lacked real flavour. Good nachos should bring all of the different tastes together as one, this plate just tasted bland. Too many of the chips were bare, too many of the veggies cold and too little of the cheese melted.
The wings ($6.50) were not much better. There was so much sauce on the plate that I commented it was “like eating wing soup” as you dipped your hand into the pit of liquid and hoped it came out with some meat. When I asked for some wet naps or a finger bowl, I was told that those were not offered at the restaurant. Thankfully, the restaurant offers a half-price deal on weeknights for wings so the plate of eight cost only $3.25
While these two dishes were disappointing, the worst item of the night was undoubtedly the lime margarita ordered by my friend Laura ($4.91). My sip tasted like nothing other than a triple shot of tequila with a bit of ice mixed in. The lime flavor was impossible to taste and the presentation was non- existent.
A bright spot from the meal was the burritos ($14.95). Moist, and with warm, tender shredded chicken inside, they hit the spot, as did the rice and beans served alongside. One should note however that dishes like this are pre-made. When I asked if they could hold the sour-cream, we were told there was no way to change from what the menu listed.
One positive from the evening was the service. Drinks were served promptly and extra cutlery was provided quickly and on request. Our server must have stopped by ten times to ask whether everything was satisfactory, which, while a bit annoying, is certainly better than the alarming trend of servers not caring at all.

To tweet or not to tweet...

So in PR class this week, we were told to set up an account on Twitter. I was apprehensive about this and I sort of still am.

I had a Twitter account earlier this year but ended up not really using it because I found it added nothing beneficial to my life. I am more of a facebook person where you can more directly interact with people. Twitter seemed kind of pointless and creepy to just leave little updates about what your doing or whatever. I did not see why people used it and felt like they should just pick up the phone and call or text a friend instead of being all weird and using Twitter.

Once our instructor Melanie ran through the benefits that communicators like her find from Twitter, I am beginning to see how it could be more beneficial. The key is to realize that Twitter is about more than just following celebrities. It can be used to communicate and network with lots of beneficial people in fields that we may want to enter in the future. For example, we could follow a journalist like Bartley Kives and learn what it is like to be covering City Hall directly from its tweets. I have to admit thats kind of cool.

With that said, I still sort of use Twitter mainly to learn about what Lil Wayne, Shaq and Bob Saget are up to. I want to make this blog post sound good and say I now see the light and think Twitter is an amazing tool but I don't know. I think that maybe I'm too much of a traditionalist but all of these Web 2.0 forms of media kind of weird me out. I don't feel any need to tweet that I am "eating 4 chicken fingers for lunch" or even update how my school is going like some people do. I would rather call, text or talk to someone in person about this. Maybe thats just me.

I am sure that as I use Twitter more, I will begin to see more of its benefits and learn how it can be a super useful tool for us as CreComm students. With that said, I am proud to say that I never plan to let Twitter replace the value of real people talking to eachother. I agree with my classmate Jon Braun in his saying that it kind of takes away the realness and rawness of people. I don't want that to happen to me, or my friends.

Either way, I am stoked to see what John Stamos will be up to next. Until next time...tweet tweet.

I don't like being nervous.

The playoff between Ireland and France for a spot in The World Cup is just says away now. Much has been said in the media from both teams and the general consensus is that it will be close. I personally, don't have a good feeling.

I should be more optimistic, but I am not. The French are just so good and I have a horrible feeling the will rip the Irish apart.

It's a shame because this is such an important game for Ireland in general. The country is in a major economic fall, a depression of sorts and a win here would do absolute wonders. They need something to feel good about.

I hope I'm wrong but, I wouldn't bet on it. I see a French whitewash on Saturday.

My Irish eyes are not smiling...

Farewell Henrik

Henrik Larsson, retired from football this week.

Larsson, the famed Swedish striker, who played for a number of clubs but most notably Celtic, is hanging up his boots at the age of 38.

As a fan of soccer, but also of forward play because I am a forward myself, Larsson was one of the players who I always modeled my play after. His time at Celtic was magic. As someone who was just becoming a big  fan  that time, he inspired me a lot. 

He was never the biggest guy, or the most naturally talented but he could score goals as well as anyone who I have ever seen play. Still a legend at Celtic, Larsson is a massive hero in Scotland and will be forever.

The game will be lessened without him but we can always remember the great moments he provided 

Thanks for the memories, Hank.

We can do this...

So the draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup playoffs in the European region happened earlier this week in Zurich. As explained in an earlier post, there were eight groups, the winners have all booked their tickets already. The runners up, are in these playoffs. The eight teams were:

Seeded Teams Unseeded Teams

Portugal Ireland

France Slovenia

Russia Bosnia and Herzegovina

Greece Ukraine

The draw shook down like this:

France v. Ireland

Portugal v. Bosnia and Herzegovina

Russia v. Slovenia

Greece v. Ukraine

Portgual and Russia should get through easily. Greece and the Ukraine will be ridiculously boring, but I see Greece pulling it out.

The really interesting match up is Ireland vs. France. 

On paper, us Irish are screwed. France have a team full of world stars and should win. The good thing is, the game isn't played on paper. 

France hate their manager. Ireland's players treat theirs like he is their father.

France have discontent within their team. Ireland are united.

French fans are fickle and likely to boo their own team if things don't go well. Irish supporters will back them forever.

This is a classic matchup of glitz vs. grit. The French have flair, flash and skill. The Irish have heart, guts and determination. Which one will win out? Well we will have to wait and see.

But the Irish should go in with confidence. It's not impossible. They can do this.

BUYER BEWARE - The Vending Machine Business? No Thanks.

Our first major assignment for our semester one advertising class was called Buyer Beware. For the assignment, we got together in groups of four and were asked to come up with a product or consumer issue that we felt was worth investigating and maybe digging up some information on to inform our fellow consumers. Obviously, this idea is most beneficial for products or companies that seem a bit “fishy”.

As the project started up, lots of the other groups had some really solid ideas and we were sort of stumped. Panic began to set in. Then my group member, John, remembered an idea that our instructor Kent had brought up briefly in class. He had been mailed a little information packet for something called “Wealth Builders” and felt it seemed somewhat strange. It had all the makings of one of those “get rich quick” schemes and looked more than a little bit sketchy. We decided it was definitely worth checking out.

We were right.

Wealth Builders is a name chosen for this particular venture by a company known as Planet Antares. Even the name sounds suspicious! Like are they those crazy looking dudes from Star Wars or what's the deal here?  Anyways, the company put on a seminar at a hotel in the city and John volunteered to go and check it out. His findings were very interesting, to say the least.

It turned out that the company was marketing this as a “franchise opportunity” in the vending machine business. Basically, the company asks for a minimum level investment of $23 000 (for two machines) and over $80 000 as a ceiling (for eight machines). The company then boasts about how the rest is entirely up to you and they wont be around to nag or bother you when you run your own business. All the while they say you will make boatloads of money while working at your own pace whenever you want.

In reality, this is just corporate speak for saying that the company will take your money, snicker, and then abandon you entirely.

Right away the amount you are required to invest seemed ridiculous. Earning this sort of money back simply by selling chips and Coke from a machine seemed incredibly hard to picture.  Our research would prove that it simply was not possible and there were a number of reasons as to why this is just not a worthwhile investment for anyone.

First off, the seminar itself was like some sort of bizarre brainwashing exercise. Everything was very fake and glossy, almost overwhelmingly so. You could tell that it was not Planet Antares first rodeo at trying to rope (that’s a bad pun) people into investing in this little scheme. They had hired very professional and polished speakers and all of the promotional material had countless references to success stories and how much money could be made. In addition, the people there were mostly elderly and/or recent immigrants who did not seem to speak much English. This is a perfect group to try and take advantage of with a “The Canadian Dream” type of promise.

The promotional materials make use of a great deal of generic rhetoric and information that is at best misleading, at worst false. They play on stereotypical ideals such as wealth, happiness and freedom to tug at the potential investors emotions as well as their wallets. This is furthered by the fact that images of money are shown on nearly every single page.

There are a number of biographies of people who have been successful with the products and not until you read to the bottom of a totally different page is there a tiny little section indicating that these types of results are not ordinary and cannot be expected. This theme is also evident in the fact that generic slogans about making money and being successful are bolded and in huge type at the top of the page to draw in the eye, while the actual information is hidden in much smaller writing as if the company doesn’t want you to really read it. Well let’s be honest with each other, they don’t.

If the evil aliens from Planet Antares actually did get some poor people to move past this initial seminar and invest in their vending machines, these people would run into countless problems.

For starters, the fact that the company leaves you completely on your own, while initially seeming like a positive, quickly becomes a major problem.

Finding a location for the machine is, possibly, the most difficult aspect of the entire ordeal. We discovered from simply calling around that pretty much all of the best locations in the city already have contracts with major companies like Coke or Pepsi for their vending machines. The company does make brief mention of this and suggests “small businesses” as the best place to put the machines. While it may be possible to convince these places to allow you to put your vending machine there, the fact is that there just is not enough traffic at places like these to generate the income needed to break even. It’s a common sense principle. A small amount of money is going to equal a small profit in your machine.

While doing our field research, we found that at places where you could put the machines such as community hockey arenas, swimming pools and small office buildings, people simply don’t use the machines all that often. In interviews I conducted, people said they would only spend one or two bucks on anything at the machines when they came out and would only use them if there was absolutely no other alternative available. They said they spent only about five bucks a month on the machines at a maximum and many seemed to feel that vending machines were a “dying breed” and wouldn’t use them at all.

At peak hours on a weekend at the Cindy Klassen Recreation Complex, less than $10 was put into the machines over a two-hour period. There just isn’t any money in this business. Period.

As if the fact that you making hardly any money weren’t enough, the investor is also left with a number of other things they must pay for out of their own pocket. These include transportation of goods, fuel costs, business licenses storage space, postage for distributing any sort of promotional materials, cost of buying the products for your machine etc. In addition, while a warranty is offered, you are asked to pay an outrageous amount to ship your machine away to be repaired. This renders the warranty useless.

All of these things amount to a tremendous amount of stress on the machine owners and it becomes clear that while Planet Antares intimates that you can just sit on your hands and watch the cash come in, a tonne of time and energy is required. For example, buying all of the food and beverages for your machine is a massive undertaking, especially when you consider that you have to locate your own providers and no pricing guarantees are provided. This is important to note because, while the company seem to imply a connection with major brands such as Hostess from all the images on their promotional materials, they have absolutely no affiliation with these brands and the owner has to pick and choose there own products. Our researched showed that it would cost a tonne to fill our machine; certainly as much if not more than you can expect to get back.

The same is true for maintaining the machines. The machine owner is completely left to fend for him or herself regardless as to whether they have any degree of mechanical expertise because there is no one to turn to for assistance.

Does all of this seem like a good enough reason NOT to invest in this company to you? If not and you want to do some research of your own, good luck. The company has bought out so many web domains that the entire first two pages of a Google search on them will bring up results painting the company as a bunch of saints who everyone should love and give all of there money to because they are just so reliable. This shocking over-saturation of the Internet has made it virtual impossible for the average person to find an accurate reports on the companies shady dealings without setting aside their whole day.

As the icing on the cake, I made contact with a man on Kijiji.com who was trying to sell two of these machines. When I asked why, he was very vague and clearly lying through his teeth about how they had worked well for him. It was clear that they had been a nightmare and he was desperate to get them off of his hands. Luckily, Red River College students are both too bright and too poor to fall for something like this! Clearly she doesn't have the greatest GPA...

Overall, our group found that this Wealth Builders scheme was a complete SCAM and something that no one should ever consider investing in for the following key reasons:

They ask for a huge amount of money up front and then abandon you.

They trick you into investing using persuasive rhetoric and misleading information in their promotional materials.

It is impossible to find a location where you can generate any kind of sufficient income.

The warranty is a joke.

You have to fill and maintain your own machines, which costs a bundle and takes even more of your own time.

They have highjacked the Internet so you can’t find out any real information about them.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY…

No one uses vending machines nearly enough for you to make the money to offset all of this.

 

But How? And Why?

Overall, through a combination of primary and secondary research from all group members, we have found Wealth Builders to be something that all consumers should BEWARE of.

Plain and simply, we did this because it is important that we as young consumers, who are fairly inexperienced, understand how to see past the glitz and glam of operations like this and look deeper. The number one thing that we hoped to pass on, and that we learned was to always do your homework. A little bit of time spent on research can save you a whole whack of cash at the end of the day. We should all know by now as CreCommers, cash is hard to come by...

I sincerely hope that my classmates learned as much from our group and our presentation as I did from all of theirs. I know things now that I can take and put into practice in the future and for that I am really thankful. This project has been a super fun experience and a great way to help each other out on something that is relevant not only for our advertising class but for our lives in general as we move forward.

Until next time, all you buyers out there…

BEWARE.

The Death of Football

We are witnessing the death of the great game of football (soccer if your still not tuned in) at the hands of its own governing body FIFA.

Qualification for FIFA's and the sport's flagship competition The FIFA World Cup for 2010 is almost completed. In Europe, where most fans attention is focused, every country is entered into qualifying. This makes for ninr groups of six teams. Every team in the group plays eachother home and away. The top team in each group automatically makes it into the World Cup. The top 8 runners up (the worst runner up team gets left out in the cold) are thrown into a pot and matched up in pairs to play a home and away series against eachother for the last four spots.

Or so we were told...

FIFA have now officially changed these rules so that the runners up are still paired against eachother but now the eight teams are seeded based no ranking and prestige. This is clearly a ploy by FIFA to try and make sure any of the really big name teams that did not win their group will have an easier run through the playoff. For example, France and Portugal are two massive teams who were expected to contend for the World Cup crown but both have struggled in qualifying and will almost surely be in the playoffs. FIFA are eliminating the chance of them meeting and thus one of them not getting in. They only care about profits.

This disgusts me because The World Cup should be about any team who qualifies getting a fair shot no matter what their past record or fame is. My country, Ireland will be in the playoffs but instead of having a random shot at drawing another relatively small team, will now be drawn against a bigger team giving them a very slim chance of qualifying.

This disgusts me.

It is one thing if FIFA want to do this but if you are going to, at least set that as the rules at the BEGINNING! You cannot change it half way through because some popular teams aren't doing so well. If thos huge teams dont make it, c'est la vie.

Lets give every team in the WORLD, a chance to compete at the WORLD CUP...

Im not saying, im just saying.

Old Rivalries...

I mentioned earlier that I was going to try and stay away from talking about the Scottish League because it is brutal. I meant that. It is of really poor quality. The stadiums are run-down and tiny. The weather is always bleary. etc.

There is one exception to this rule. The one time when people around the football world actually care, at least a little bit, about Scotland.

That's right friends. It is Old Firm Derby time. Celtic Football Club v. Rangers Football Club.

The two biggest clubs in Scotland by far. They have won literally every league championship for the past like twenty years. They have dominated Scottish football forever.

They HATE eachother.

It is a basic sectarian divide that goes back to the history of the country.

Celtic always has an always will be supported by Catholics and people with Irish roots. In fact, many of Celtic's fans come over from Ireland for the games. If you go to Celtic Park, you will see far more Irish flags then Scottish ones. The club have long been associated with the IRA.

Rangers on the other hand, are associated with the Unionist movement in Britain. Their supports are entirely Protestant. Their jerseys are blue, white and red to represent the Union Jack. Chants like "Rule Brittania" are incredibly common at Ibrox where they play.

Whenever religion comes into play, people get heated. These games need to be seen to be believed. The passion is unheard of. The opposing fans are seperated by throngs of police to keep them from killing eachother. Through the years there have been countless shocking and disgraceful acts committed by both sets of fans. This rivalry goes so much deeper than the on field product. It conjures up images of the neverending battles in Ireland between the south and the north. Protestant midfielder Neil Lennon has been recieving death threats for years simply because he played and coaches now for Celtic. It is intense. Period.

As for the game itself, as if it really matters, Celtic come in playing very well in the league but really poorly in Europe. Rangers come in playing poorly in both. Celtic are the better side and should win the match. The game is at Ibrox however and the Rangers fans will give their side a massive boost.

I see this one ending 2-1 to the Celts' and hopefully, for everyones sake, nothing too crazy happens in the stands. Although it would make for a good blog post...

Premier League Weekend Preview.

Here we go again with another weekend of games in The Premiership. The fixtures are as follows:

Portsmouth 0 - 2 Everton - Portsmouth are absolutely the worst team in the league and have picked up ZERO points so far this season. Everton seem to be back on track and should win this.

Birmingham 1 - 1 Bolton - This is a matchup that is hard to get excited about. It won't be pretty but it will be scrappy. The two sides will share the spoils.

Blackburn 1 - 3 Aston Villa - Villa seem to be starting to find their feet after a stunningly poor start to the year. Their pace and verve will be too much for a slow Blackburn team.

Liverpool 4 - 1 Hull - If Liverpool are going to have any chance to win the league this year, this is a game they flat out have to win and win decisively. Hull are still terrible.

Stoke 1 -  2 Manchester United - Stoke are very stubborn and difficult to beat at home and will put up a strong fight as always with their physical play. United are just too good though and are playing flying high.

Tottenham 2 - 1 Burnley - Spurs have fallen from grace in their last couple of games but I still just don't believe in Burnley.

Wigan 0 - 3 - Chelsea - Wigan suck. Roberto Martinez keeps trying to get them to play a fancy style but they don't have the players to do it. Chelsea keep rolling along at the top.

Fulham 1- 2 Arsenal - A London derby that always produces good matches and occasionally, an upset. I don't think that will be the case this time though as Fulham do not look the same team as last year.

Sunderland 1 - 2 Wolves - Everyone should know by now that I pick Wolves to win every game. Wolves manager Mick McCarthy is going back to his old club and his players will want to win it for him. Should be close but my bias determines this pick.

Man City 3 - 2 West Ham - This should be a really good game actually. I love watching West Ham play for some reason. They don't usually win but there is something about it. Man City are a joke in my opinion but they are the better team so I guess I will pick them...

Game of the Week!

Ipswich 2 - 2 Newcastle

This is a special game of the week. Frankly, there aren't really any stand-out games in The Premier League so we turn to this matchup from its little brother The Championship. This is the league right below the top one. 

This game is important because features the two teams who are most closely associated to English Football legend Sir Bobby Robson who tragically passed away earlier this week after a long and incredibly hard fought battle with Cancer. Robson had a long and distinguished career as a manager in England and around Europe with some very big clubs but these were his two most famous jobs aside from his stint as manager of the English national team. He was truly one of the "good guys" in the game and the rare someone who was universally loved. No one had a bad word to say about him as seen from the turn out at his funeral which was basically like a who's who of legendary football figures coming to pay their respects.

This game will be special simply because it is an amazing coincidence that these two clubs play each other right after his death. The actual on field product probably won't be special but this would have warmed the great man's heart to see and for that reason, everyone should take the time to watch and pay their respects. I know I will. 

RIP Bobby.

Adebayor is scum!

Just a disclaimer, this post is going to be a rant...

Emmanuel Adebayor is a complete joke of a footballer. The former Arsenal and now Manchester City striker was cited today for two counts of misconduct by the Football Association. You can read about it here on the BBC website. Frankly, thats the least that should happen to him for his pathetic display on Saturday afternoon. 

First off, lets get a few things straight. He is a very good player. He was a very good player last year at Arsenal as well. He knows how to score goals. That is something I cannot argue with. What I can argue, is the fact that his attitude is appalling. "Ade-scum", angered Arsenal supporters greatly last season by comparing himself to legendary gunner Thierry Henry. Adebayor stated that he was just as good as Henry and should be paid at least as much as he was. This was seen by most as absolutely ridiculous considering Adebayor is not half the player the Henry was in his prime. This was just the first of many odd comments made by the striker that lead to his relationship with Arsenal fans completely falling apart and seeing him booed by his own fans during home games. Everything came to a head with Adebayor leaving the club this summer to join big spending Man City. 

When Arsenal and Man City met in last weekends game of the week, the preverbal you-know-what hit the fan. Adebayor was running around like a chicken with his head cut off flying in with dangerous tackles on various Arsenal players who were his teammates less than a year ago. The worst of which was a disgraceful stamp on Arsenal forward Robin van Persie's head which left him bloodied and was clearly intentional. Stamping in soccer is like spitting someone in American Football or throwing a sucker punch in Hockey. You just don't do it. The move showed a complete lack of class by Adebayor and left me, an Arsenal fan, screaming at the television in a fit of rage.

If this wasn't enough, Adebayor went on to break Arsenal hearts by scoring the eventual winning goal in the 4-2 City win. He then proceeded to reveal his true colours as an absolute tool by running the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of and taunt the Arsenal supporters packed in the far corner. The Football Association has strict rules against taunting fans in celebrations and Adebayor has, quite rightly, had the book thrown at him for both this act of idiocy and his vicious stamp on a defenseless player.

Maybe this will teach him a lesson, but I wouldn't hold my breath. You see, like our good friend Kanye West, Adebayor seems to get a kick out of doing outrageous and controversial things to put his name out there, disregarding the consequences. He also has never struck me as the smartest guy. In fact, he has proven time and time again that he is a grade A moron. So congratulations Mr. Adebayor. You have made the whole footballing world hate you and can now enjoy some time on the sidelines. 

Mark your calendars for the 24th of April, 2010 when Adebayor truly gets what he deserves as his Man City tea has to go to the North End of London and into the lion's den to play at Arsenal. The Arsenal fans will be waiting for him with a punishment far worse than The FA could ever give.

Saturday Review

Ok, so my first round of predictions here on JFK didn't go so well. Give me a break.

That said, we did see some really good games today and some very interesting results. League leaders Chelsea were forced to wait until deep into injury time to finally get a winning goal from whiny Frenchman Florent Malouda and sneak past a very determined Stoke team. It seems like that's kind of going to be the pattern for Chelsea this year. They aren't blowing anyone away as they settle into the new style they're playing under Carlo Ancelotti but they are certainly getting results and that is really the only thing that counts. As much as I hate to say it, they look like the real-deal right now.

Sadly, speaking of the real-deal, Manchester United look like they are the definite front runners for the title again this year. Despite falling behind early to an unreal bicycle kick goal from the white hot Jermaine Defoe, they didn't panic and found their way back into the game to win 3-1. I still don't think their midfield offers enough of a goal scoring threat but they seem to be proving me wrong as Giggs and, of all people, Anderson!? scored today for them. I am still not convinced that guys like Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher should be playing regularly for a team wanting to win a title but we'll see. By the way, Paul Scholes still can't tackle to save his life and was sent off AGAIN today for a couple of awful challenges. Why does he even try? 

Before we get to looking at the game of the week, lets do a quick run-down of the less marquee matchups. Hull are worse than I thought and got crushed by a bad Sunderland team. This just confirms my belief that Hull are definitely going down this year. Liverpool, as predicted, thrashed Burnley who look set to come back down to earth after a couple of impressive wins. Special mention to the totally underrated Yossi Benayoun who scored a hat-trick for Liverpool and maybe thats finally enough to earn him some playing time for once. Wigan came out on top in a really awful game against West Ham which no one saw because it put everyone to sleep, Bolton and Portsmouth played out a stunningly exciting game with Bolton getting a late winner from Gary "don't call me Tim" Cahill and Blackburn crushed my beloved Wolves. I cried. Whatever.

I need some more time to gather myself before tearing a strip off the scum that is Emmanuel Adebayor when I analyze exactly what happened in the Arsenal v. Man City game of the week so check back in a bit. That's right, leave them wanting more. I am a blogging pro already.

Just to wet your appetite...

This is an awesome video of the 10 best goals in EPL history as voted on by fans over in England. This wouldn't quite be my list but there are some amazing ones in here. Hopefully this video can inspire any of you who aren't hardcore soccer fans to wake up and get into it!

Premier League Weekend Preview

After a week off for international play where England somehow managed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup of Soccer 2010, we are back to league play tomorrow with some pretty juicy match-ups coming our way.

By the way, I should probably clarify that I hate the English national team with a fiery passion and even though this is a site that deals almost entirely with English soccer, they will not get my respect... I am of Irish heritage and will forever dream that they will one day actually be as good as those dicks in white and red. For the record though, England looked super solid in absolutely thrashing a very good Croatia team on Wednesday and it appears they may actually be a contender in South Africa. *shudders* Let's be honest though, it's England. They WILL choke. You know it and I know it. Anyways back on topic...

Here are the fixtures for this weekends games in The Premiership along with my predicted scores:

Wolves (YES GO WOLVES! They are in fact my favourite team and I am deeply biased...) 2 - 1 Blackburn - I just really like Wolves...
Liverpool 3- 0 Burnley - Liverpool prove to be way too much for little Burnley to handle.
Portsmouth 0 - 1 Bolton - Bolton are awful but Portsmouth are even worse.
Stoke 1 - 3 Chelsea - Stoke are tough at home but they just don't have the talent to win this.
Sunderland 0 - 0 Hull - This is two bad teams playing each other. Bet on a draw.
Wigan 1 - 2 West Ham - Wigan have been really poor lately and West Ham are on the up.
Birmingham 1 - 2 Villa - Villa to win a closely contested match between arch-rivals.
Fulham 1 - 2 - Everton pull it out to get their season back on track.
Spurs 2 - 2 Manchester United - This should be a great one. It is a chance to see if Spurs are legitimate contenders or merely early season pretenders...

GAME OF THE WEEK:

Arsenal vs. Man City

This is a very interesting game because it will be City striker Emmanuel Adebayor's return to face his former club Arsenal. I expect him to get booed viciously by the Arsenal supporters but I also expect him to take his revenge and score.

The real test will be to see if Man City's struggling defence can handle the Arsenal forwards. If they can, I think City could win this game and stake a claim for that all important fourth place spot. If they can't, well I can see Arsenal, who will be missing key player Arshavin, winning this one comfortabley.

To be honest, I have yet to buy into all of the hype surrounding Manchester City and I expect the Gunners to win this match. Arsenal have been counted out way to early by a lot of pundits and this is a chance to really shut them up.

Verdict : Arsenal 2 - 1 Manchester City

So there you have it, those are my predictions for this week. You can check out Mark Lawrenson's picks here. He is the guy who does the predictions every week for BBC. He is almost always totally wrong though so uh, goodluck if you want to trust him.

NOW GO WATCH SOME SOCCER!

Welcome to JUST FOR KICKS!

Hey Everybody,

So this is the ceremonial first post of JUST FOR KICKS. Just to shorten things up, lets use the acronym JFK. That hasn't already been taken by anyone has it? Oh...right... well I am claiming it now.

I've created this blog as an outlet for me to express my love of soccer in Britain. For obvious reasons, special attention will be focused on The Premier League which is the top division in English Football (I am going to refer to soccer as "football" so deal with it). Hopefully the blog will also touch on the lower divisions of English football as well and maybe if I am really bored move into the Scottish leagues but, quite frankly, the Scottish leagues are terrible so lets hope we don't have to venture down that dark path.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy that blog as much as I am sure I will and your feedback is totally welcome.

Let's talk some soccer homies!

Keith