Tickle v. Tackle 25

Tickle

Sheffield Wednesday come from behind again to dispatch Blackpool 2-1 and crawl out of the Fizzy Soda Pop League drop zone. Just a bit more consistency should see the Owls move into the relative comfort of midtable, though it sure would be nice to be challenging for something other than safety from relagation--again . . . In other 2-1 come from behind home wins--Freddy strikes again, netting a late winner after coming on as a sub for 10-man Benfica, continuing to state his case for regular inclusion for both club and country . . . But he's nowhere near as indespensible as Cesc Fabregas is to Arsenal. The kid is flat out fantastic. It's hard to believe that he's still just 20 and constantly adding new facets to his game. It's also quite a good thing that Lehmann is no longer in the Arsenal net, as I love watching the Gunners play, but Jens makes me physically ill with his play-acting and whining . . . Ah, ye gods, as if I needed coffee coming out of my nose this badly. Thank you, thank you, Hudsonia for gift of Ray. Truly the gift that keeps on giving till it hurts. Magic, bloody magic indeed . . . And look who else is getting all fired up. Jaime isn't pulling any punches when it comes to the massed ranks of punditry and the negative, negative Fire.

Tackle

Big Red to stay? Word around the ever-reliable web has Lalas still clinging to his job in LA. How? Why? If I'm Yallop, I'm bolting for greener pastures, even if they decide to try and keep me. Do you know the way to San Jose? . . . This week wasn't a particularly strong one for referees around the world, though that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. My Sunday revolved around Milan-Roma and Liverpool-Arsenal, and both matches were marred by officials intent on spoiling the futbol party . . . While we're at it, anybody think that Liverpool's Jamie Carragher is sending a portion of his paycheck the way of the referees? That makes it two weeks in a row that he's dragged down an oppenent in the box at a critical point in the match, only to have the man with the whistle ignore the infraction. To be fair, the affair in the derby last week was a much more egregious example of the Greco-Roman stuff than this weeks "handling" of Fabregas.