Congrats to Man City. I wanted Liverpool to do it but happy that it's City even if the fact they seemed to do it at 75% of what their squad suggested they're capable of made the title feel like a bit of an anti-climax. But yeah, a great season. Possibly the most exciting I can remember.

Bad season for West Ham. Hopefully the board will see sense and replace Allardyce with a manager who doesn't think the only way to survive in the prem is with 9 defenders and a giant.

Who would you get?

A lot of WH fans disagree but I'd take Pardew back

I think that was the strategy behind all 1991-1992 cross colors and geometric pattern themed clothing ;)


Really?? Outside of England it didn't seem that sports media much gave a shit about the English League this year, I kind of figured maybe it was a down or boring year? Usually EPL gets a sizable portion of Americans sports coverage, even if just casually. I don't recall more than a handful of articles or stories crossing the front page.

It was maybe more low key than previous seasons in terms of big stories but it was definitely intriguing all the way through, mainly due to big management changes at a lot of the big teams, especially Man Us collapse under Moyes. But the whole division was great, with almost every team playing for something almost to the very end. And there were times when Liverpool and Man City were playing as well as anything you'd find in Spain or Germany.

And times where the entire bottom half were a point or so away from a relegation battle

bonkers season

It really was. I was convinced West Ham were going down about a months ago and we were never really safe until a couple of games till the end. Palace's turnaround was incredible. Pulis for manager of the season?

WDIT: Apparently so

Does the NBA even pretend to be a sport anymore, or has it come to accept its chief role now as a source for TMZ headlines?

Lebron scored 49 points in that game and had TWELVE DUNKS? That moment was him walking up to Jay-Z is a part-owner of the opposing team to trash talk albeit in nice way right after Lebron had just dunked on his arch rival Paul Pierce who plays for Jay-Z's team... It was the Lebron James equivalent of that bloke football coach Big Sam who shit talks against all the other teams that we loved and applauded so much on this thread last year ;)

IS THAT NOT SPORT ENOUGH FOR YOU??

Big Sam isn't impressed

Probably after seeing Kevin Nolan having a little moment with Phil Bardsley

speaking of homoeroticism in football..

Celebrity and show-business is part of every major sport now but none have capitulated to it so thoroughly as the NBA - besides maybe boxing (another sport I used to love but can now barely watch).

that was before he met aleister crowley, changed his identity, moved to america, and started bathing in the blood of virgins to stay young.

It needs fuppeting, for sure.

I can't deny that, but also note that the sport of basketball itself in regards to talent and skill has also increased exponentially in tandem with its celebrity rise.

Also note, the World Cup starts in a month, I will be back to contributing more productively rather than blatantly trolling this thread.

What
The
Fuck
Is
Jurgen
Thinking
Cutting
Landon
Fucking
Donovan
From
The
World
Cup
?
?
?
?
?

I was surprised, too, but, give Klinsmann his due, he's obviously committed to promoting youth and evolving the side tactically in a way that may not involve what an ageing Donovan can bring. His experience is invaluable though and, if you end up having a poor tournament. his omission will inevitably be used by the media as a reason. We shall see.

I LOVE what Jurgen has done for the USMNT, we look like we have something resembling an actual system to our style of play now, we do a lot more attacking, our offense is exponentially improved in its approach and Jurgen has also managed himself to readjust to the CONCACAF style of defense which was something that was always questionable for him. His first year with USMNT he looked like a fish out of water defensively against CONCACAF opponents because he simply didn't understand or have experience with that kind of play. He readjusted and thrived hence the entirety of 2013 with the Gold Cup and some convincing WC Qualifiers. BUT, BUT, BUT....

LANDON WAS ALSO A FUCKING HUGE PART OF 2013, PERIOD.




Mark my words, the US WILL falter in this Group of Death without the veteran, cerebral play that Donovan brings at the tournament level. True, the guy was more than a step slow, and readjusting to Jurgen's system at practices was not going smoothly even after 3 years BUT Lando stepped up in tournament play, and that is what counts. He clearly is at the stage of his career where he uses the "on/off" switch and I think everybody in the fucking WORLD knew Landon would turn the switch "on" in a Group of Death in his 4th World Cup. Also, Landon has experience directly with these teams in our group, they are classic US rivals, how are you NOT going to bring your most talented veteran against those teams? We had a matchup advantage, and in 2010 Ghana got LUCKY to beat us, so we smelled blood this time around. Now? Fuck it. Jurgen threw in the towel when he got that contract extension for 2018 cycle, and he also feels a bit entitled like "Hey, I'm Jurgen fucking Klinsman I'd like to see the USMNT have the balls to fire me."

If the team gets swept out of the group stage I PROMISE the fan base will revolt, blame the losses on Landon (right or wrong btw), and call for Jurgen's head!

He was out of his league in this one, he didn't understand the celebrity culture of US sports, and Landon is probably the ONLY true American superstar footballer, period, end of discussion. Even if we lost with him, US fans would have felt more comfortable with that, knowing we were in a hopeless group... Now? I wouldn't be surprised if one of either these two scenarios happen, (a) Jurgen sends out the mia culpa before June 2 and activates Donovan for the bench squad or (b) he doesn't, USMNT gets slaughtered, and Jurgen can honestly get fired.

When USMNT got put in that group of death, in all honesty, I didn't even flinch, I liked the challenge of it, it was our opportunity to show the world that USMNT isn't quite what it used to be, that we can hang and compete with anybody in the world at least one match at a time, and we weren't scared of those teams.. But without Landon Donovan I am actually now scared of those teams, because NOBODY on that roster has the spark offensively to get a clutch goal or set up a game winning assist like Landon, even at 32. Sighs. Its going to be a looooooooong and disappointing World Cup :(




See this play where Lance Stephenson busts a Jurgen and underestimates Dwyane Wade and leaves him wide open in the corner there D-Wade is 32, he missed 1/3 of the season, he looked 3 steps slower than "The Flash" Wade of old, and yet in the playoffs he is having the most efficient scoring run since Michael Jordan in 1988 AND has scored 23, 28, and 25 points over the last three crucial games. THAT is what hardened vets with superstar talent bring to a team in tournaments. THAT is what Landon was going to bring to us, I refuse to believe otherwise until Jurgen posts some videos online of Landon looking THAT bad, because I was watching the Gold Cup just last year, and I saw some great WC Qualifiers and friendlies late 2013/early 2014 where Landon looked like a beast. I was getting very excited because of. I'm totally deflated now, and beyond consolation. Sorry, those 18 year old scrubs and the sneaky good play of Wondolowski can't make up for Landon :(