2010: Year in Review

When I sat down at my computer, the idea was to write two columns: the best things in 2010 and the worst. I thought I’d start with the good things, just to prove to myself that I’m not a cynical wet blanket. After staring at the wall for a couple of minutes, I couldn’t really think of anything from the previous year in sport that really stood out to me. It was a year of scandals and disappointments, sports icons fell down to earth at an alarming rate and the ‘best’ stories of the year were good in the worst kind of way, the way that a car accident in interesting. Maybe I am just too cynical, but take a look back with me and reminisce about the year that was.

The year began with conclusion of the 2010 NFL season. What problem could I possibly have with the beleaguered city of New Orleans winning its first Super Bowl, having a much needed day of happiness and celebration after the struggles of Katrina? No problem. But what stood out to me from those playoffs was not how good they were, but how much better they should have been. As I wrote at the time, the NFL had to change the overtime rules because football is just not a sudden death kind of sport, especially if you allow field goals. Playing that way changes the whole dynamic of the sport and makes for anti-climactic endings to great games. In this case it was in the NFC Championship game between the Saints and Vikings that ended with a whimper. A true classic saw two great teams go back and forth for four quarters. At the end of regulation, Bret Favre, enjoying what wasn’t even really a renaissance season, since it was his best ever, threw an interception to cost the Vikings a field goal attempt to win it. As we moved into overtime, we should have been treated to more of the same: two great offences, two great defences, two great quarterbacks slugging it out for the chance to go the Super Bowl. What did we get? The Saints win a coin toss, get a good kick return, make two first downs, get a pass interference call, then kick a field goal. I’m sure fans in New Orleans were going crazy, I’m sure fans in Minnesota were heartbroken, fans everywhere else couldn’t help but feel pretty letdown by a limp ending to a great game. You don’t want to see the Saints try and score a touchdown, see if Bret Favre can redeem himself? Of course you do, but that’s not what you get. Thankfully the rules have been changed and I really like how they’ve structured the format. The new rules will keep teams playing real football until the end which will give these great games the endings they deserve.

From the Super Bowl we moved on to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The Olympics are good right? Peoples from different cultures coming together, beautiful moments of life-long dreams coming true, it’s all good stuff. But then a Georgian luger dies before the games had even started. Not only a tragedy in its own right, the accident also turned every event on the altered track into a joke since the course was too short to mean anything. The games themselves moved on and we as sports fans, and Canadians or Americans or whatever had all those good moments we were expecting, but does any of that make up for some poor guy dying at the Olympics?

Winter turned to spring and then summer and before we knew it, the FIFA World Cup was upon us. I’m a football fan first and foremost, so the World Cup really is heaven for me…a full month of great entertainment almost every day, and a reasonable excuse for drinking by before noon regularly and showing up late for just about anything. “Sorry I’m late boss, I was just watching the Brazil game.” No problem at all? Excellent. So it’s summer and I’m watching the World Cup with a big smile on my face, but then the group games are a little disappointing, not really a good one out of all of them. That’s fine, I think to myself, it’ll heat up in the elimination rounds. But then…it doesn’t. Brazil v. Netherlands was quite good, not great, but good. Ghana v. Uruguay was incredibly exciting, but I was still waiting for that really quality World Cup experience of watching two sides that are a really good match for each other playing quality football. It never came. The final was one of the worst I have ever seen. The Netherlands looked like they didn’t belong on the same field as the Spanish. The tactics were an embarrassment to Dutch football…Total Football? More like Mixed Martial Arts.

While I’m on football, let’s not forget the 2010 African Cup of Nations, memorable for the machine gun attack that the Togolese team was subjected to. The Togolese withdrew from the tournament, completely reasonable…and were banned from the next two for it! Really? Yes, really.

Was absolutely everything bad? No. Some sports carried on their way, but nothing happened that stood out at all. The Lakers predictably won the NBA title, Chelsea, Barca and Inter Milan predictably won their respective leagues. Yawn.

Even when the competitions themselves aren’t that great there are always great individual performances to savour. Let me think…what individual performances stood out in 2010? I’m not going to expand on any of these because, quite frankly, I’m sick of talking and reading about them. Ben Roethlisberger sexually assaulted a college girl in a dirty bar, Michael Vick played good, after being in jail for torturing and killing dogs, Bret Favre proved he is completely selfish and over-dramatic, obliterating what shreds of good will he had left with NFL fans, then we found out he sent pictures of his penis to some girl while he was with the Jets, while his wife fought cancer, Tiger Woods turned out to not be the straightest arrow ever, but a sex-addict adulterer, whose numerous spotlight-hungry bimbo girlfriends we then had to put up with for far too long, Bret Favre’s consecutive starts streak ended, resulting in the ESPN football analysts engaging in one of the most nauseating displays of jock-riding ever seen on TV, Gilbert Arenas threatened his teammate with a gun, every baseball player took steroids, Lance Armstrong might have actually taken steroids. I almost forgot, Lebron James’ Decision 2010.

There’s a theme somewhere to found in this article, and I promise you it is not contrived at all. I’m not remembering things in a negative light to make for a consistent argument. This is absolutely how I feel about everything mentioned here. Here's hoping 2010 was better for you than it was for me. Here’s hoping 2011 is a new year.

Gunners are done firing blanks

Jumping to conclusions far too soon, based on one game, or one moment, is just one of the proud traditions of the sports writer. David Beckham was solely responsible for England’s exit from the 1998 World Cup and wasn’t fit to wear the jersey, the Miami Heat would waltz into the finals after signing Lebron and Bosh, then they were totally unsuited to each other and would only win if they traded one of their superstars, you can’t win anything with kids…

So after watching Arsenal beat Chelsea handily on Monday, there was no doubt that the pundits would be quick to declare Chelsea in crisis and Arsenal as genuine title contenders. And as much as I would love to be the voice of reason, urging composure with a knowing smile, I have no choice but to agree. Chelsea’s poor form is more than just a blip; the Gunners have come of age and are a genuine threat to claim silverware for the first time since the demise of the Invincibles.

The match itself was unsurprisingly one sided. The surprise was that it was Arsenal who were that side. This fixture has run like clockwork for the last couple of seasons. Chelsea dominate, Drogba scores, Arsenal folds like a house of cards and we all talk about Arsene Wenger’s delusions that this group of Arsenal players will ever be for real.

This will have been such a satisfying victory for Wenger and the perfect response to his critics. The manner of the Arsenal victory is what was so impressive regardless of the score-line. Each game has its own unique character and leaves the viewer with a certain impression of what has just happened. Every match has a ‘feel’ to it. There are games where one team comes flying out of the traps. Before you know it, they’re up a goal or two and the whole complexion of the game is tilted in their favour. Think of some of Liverpool’s performances against Manchester United, a superior team, in recent times. There’s the smash-and-grab, where one side somehow pulls a result out of nowhere, despite being second best for much of the game; the kind of win that shows character and fortitude, if not quality.

What I saw on Monday was a third kind of win, the most satisfying kind for a supporter and I’m sure a coach and player as well. That’s the game where one side steadily and methodically puts its collective foot on the throat of the opposition and pushes down until it’s over. There was no luck, no element of surprise. Arsenal was just better. They took advantage of their opportunities and no one could argue that justice wasn’t done.

That Arsenal won a game like that against Chelsea, even a Chelsea in turmoil, is so impressive and an indication that this team of very talented boys has become a team of very talented men. The difference is noticeable and its importance cannot be overstated. There’s a snap in the Arsenal challenges that used to be absent. The pretty passing patterns that were always there for the Gunners have real cut and thrust to them, real danger, real pressure for the opposition. There are still some questions with the centre of defence and the goalkeeper, but the Arsenal midfield and attack is top class, Samir Nasri has become a top-5 player in the Premier League. This Arsenal side has finally come of age and the rest of the Premiership has been put on notice.

As good as Arsenal was, Chelsea were equally poor. They never really created anything of note, only scoring from a set-piece already down 3-0. The can’t have been lacking in motivation, playing a London rival after having not won a Premier League game since November 10, a run which saw them slide to 5^th. Needing no extra motivation, the question becomes: Are this Chelsea side lacking in ability? I think when you take a good look at the squad it becomes apparent that they are.

We have gotten used to Chelsea buying top class talent at every opportunity, stacking the bench with internationals; this is no longer the case. A couple of quieter summers has left Chelsea’s cupboard relatively bare. They are now just one or two key injuries away from becoming quite ordinary and that is exactly what has happened. Frank Lampard’s injury has coincided with Chelsea’s poor run. With Lampard out there is no attacking element in the midfield. Michael Essien is a fantastic player, but he has never been the focal point of a Chelsea midfield. In years past Lampard would have been replaced with a Ballack and the Blue machine would rumble on. This season they can only turn to Ramires, who has yet to settle into the Premier League.

With the January sales more clearance sale than quality product, Chelsea are looking at more than just their first trophy-less season since 2008. In that year they finished runners-up in the Premiership and lost the Champions League after a John Terry penalty miss to win it. If this set of players can’t find something extra, Chelsea will be facing their first truly unsuccessful season since the pre-Mourinho era. This was not a flash in the pan. A glance at the Chelsea results shows that they have only one win against a truly good side. Before the loss to Arsenal they had beaten West Brom, Wigan, Stoke, West Ham, Blackpool, Wolves, Blackburn and Fulham; a who’s who…of bottom half clubs. Their best result? A 2-0 home win against, yes, Arsenal.