Archive for April 27th, 2009

It’s another one of those glorious Monday mornings. I can hear the singing, “Oh how I hate to get up in the morning. Oh, how I hate to get out of bed.”

I can dig it.

The birds are singing their songs of praise to God.

The sun is shinning brightly and all of that good stuff.

Let’s start with my Brasilian heart in an American body.

My team Flamengo tied with Botafogo 2-2 in the first leg of The Carioca Championship played at Maracana.

Flamengo was down 2-1 late in the match when Williams did a whirly bird just outside the box. This cat was nearly tackled but Williams kept the play alive. Williams broke free and fired a salvo right into the box. The ball bounced off of Botafogo player Emerson and went straight into the net.

Can you say Deja VO all over again.

Next Sunday Botafogo and Flamengo go at it again to determine The Carioca Championship.

This will be a fun match to watch.

Both of these teams and their fans hate each other.

So, you better watch out for the fireworks on the pitch as well as in the stands.

Katie bar the door on this one for this will be a battle royal.

In the Paulista Championship, Corinthians cleaned Santos’s clock 3-1 in the first leg of the series.

Corinthians made Santos look silly.

The aging Brasilian and World-class futebol hero Ronaldo is making a comeback. Ronaldo scored twice.

Both goals were artistic and showed once again the flair that made Ronaldo the three time FIFA player of the year.

The first was flick that slipped right past the Santos keeper.

The second made the Santos keeper Fabio Costa look really silly.

Ronaldo flipped the ball right over the charging Santos keeper and into the net.

Corinthians has a three –one edge.

The final leg is set for next Sunday.

Stay tuned for more.

Now to The EPL.

Arsenal had its way with Middlesbrough in a 2-0 win on Sunday.

This loss puts another nail in Middlesbrough’s coffin.

Can you say hello English Championship League.

Or hey, hey goodbye Premier League.

Blackburn may have saved their season with a 2-0 blanking of Wigan.

The win moves Blackburn to 15^th spot in the table.

The Rovers are six points clear of the drop zone.

Way to go guys.

In Brasil, England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy there is a race to avoid the bottom three spots.

The last three teams get the heave hoe or they are 86^th outta the joint to the lower division.

Imagine this in the NFL, NHL, and MLB.

If this happened, where would the bottom three teams go?

Nowhere.

Now you see that’s what separates American sports from the rest of the world.

Many times, we revel in our teams having record setting losing seasons.

Think of the loveable New York Mets of the 1960’s or The Philadelphia 76ers record for most losses in an NBA season is 73.

The 76ers went 9-73 in the 1972-73 season.

What do you think our baseball history would be without Marvelous Marv Thornberry and his merry band of losers, the 1960, The New York Mets?

We wear these accomplishments with pride.

Only in the American sports world can this happen.

We love to celebrate losers as well as winners.

Oh, what a country.