How long can a good thing last?

[Sean]

Tchah!

Looks like I'm surrounded by ABUs...

[MajGenl.Meade]

I see your point Daisy - this is a vast improvement

[Gob]

How a dramatic final day unfolded in the title race

20 mins: Wayne Rooney sends Man Utd two points clear at the top by giving his side a 1-0 lead at Sunderland.

39 mins: Silence turns to bedlam at Etihad Stadium as Pablo Zabaleta puts Man City ahead against QPR back on top on goal difference.

48 mins: Advantage United. Djibril Cisse stuns City with an equaliser and it is all change at the top again. Sir Alex Ferguson's side are two points clear with 42 minutes of normal time to go in the season.

66 mins: City are capitulating. After Joey Barton is sent off for QPR, Jamie Mackie puts the Londoners ahead against all the odds. United, now three points clear with 24 minutes of normal time remaining, dare to dream.

90 + 2 mins: Lifeline for City. Edin Dzeko levels for City but United are still leading and remain two points clear with just moments left.

90 + 5 mins: Man Utd win at Sunderland but City are still playing. And City despair turns to delirium as Sergio Aguero scores a last-gasp winner. It is utter heartbreak for Man Utd's fans at the Stadium of Light, though, as news filters through of the late drama. Game over. City win title.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17973148

[Sean]

Absolutely gutting!

Now I know how Bayern Munich felt in '99...

[Lord Jim]

You know, that sounds like that might actually have been exciting....

At least by soccer standards....

[loCAtek]

Ya mean, they got nekkid!????

[MajGenl.Meade]

What a sick sick day.

Don't care about Man City / Man Utd - although 2 goals in injury time to beat QPR proves that Elvis ain't in Swansea.

But Arsenal - bugger! Down 2-1 to WBA and then winning - jammy cows

So now Spurs are 4th and we are all lighting candles, sacrificing goats and becoming temporary Germans in the hope that Chelsea gets a royal shafting on the 19th

Otherwise it's Europa League for Spurs and who cares (OK I'll admit they probably are Europa class and not Champion's League)

Spit Spit Spit

Meade

[Daisy]

Absolutely gutting!

Now I know how Bayern Munich felt in '99...

Sorry Sean. It was bloody exciting though!

[Gob]

Noel Gallagher has opened up about his reaction to his beloved Manchester City winning the Premier League title yesterday (May 13), revealing he "cried like a baby".

The club won the title with two last-gasp goals in a 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers and pipped their great rivals Manchester United to the prize. Gallagher, whose brother Liam was at the game, revealed he saw it all happen from a bar in Santiago, Chile.

Speaking to the BBC, Gallagher described his feelings when his team went from being 1-0 up to 2-1 down, a scoreline which held right up until the dying minutes.

He said: "We arrived in Santiago and a friend of ours opened his bar early so we could watch it. It started off tense, then it went from tense into elation and then back to tension. It seemed like QPR were in the lead for a lifetime and it was very dark."

He then spoke about his elation when City striker Edin Dzeko equalised, adding: "Right before we scored, I thought 'We need it now, if we're going to do it, we need to do it now'. And then when Dzeko scored, I don't know what happened after that, there was a lot of swearing."

Then asked how he reacted when Sergio Aguero won the game and title for his team, Gallagher said: "My mate tried to pull the TV off the wall. I swore a lot and then I cried like a baby because I've never seen anything like that before. It was mindblowing."

Big soft get!

[dales]

You know, that sounds like that might actually have been exciting....

At least by soccer standards....

I've been watching the paint dry.

edited to add: HERE'S A BIT OF SOCCER EXCITEMENT!

Dad late to boys’ soccer game tops 100 mph


A Petaluma [CA] man has been arrested for allegedly driving at speeds of up to 104 mph with his son and another boy because they were late for a youth soccer game.

Juan Carlos Gallegos, 41, had his 9-year-old son and his son’s 9-year-old friend with him as he sped on eastbound Highway 116 near Pine View Way about 10 a.m. Saturday, Petaluma police said.

Officer Ron Klein said he saw the Nissan Altima cross the double yellow line and and pass vehicles while on the wrong side of the road, police said. His radar gun clocked the Nissan at 104 mph. It took Klein almost three miles to catch up to the car on his motorcycle and stop it, authorities said.

Gallegos told Klein they were late getting to a soccer game in Davis, police said. One of the boys told the officer, “I knew he was going fast because I could hear the engine and we were passing other cars,” according to police.

Gallegos was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving and child endangerment. Police said his driving record shows prior offenses for both violations.

The boys were driven to the Petaluma Police Department, where Gallegos’ son was picked up his mother. The other boy’s parents came to pick him up.

Gallegos’ Nissan was impounded for 30 days.

[Sean]

That's right Dales, your idea of an exciting sport is grown men in pyjamas standing around for hours and occasionally trying to hit a ball with a stick,

[dales]

Now that you mention it Sean............................why, yes

[Lord Jim]

That's right Dales, your idea of an exciting sport is grown men in pyjamas standing around for hours and occasionally trying to hit a ball with a stick,

Hah!

Brave words from a man who's idea of an exciting sport is grown men in jogging suits standing around for days occasionally trying to hit a ball with a stick....

right back at ya...

Oh and by the way, for you Limeys who like to sneer about the protective gear worn in American sports:



The guy's decked out like a hockey goalie to swing at a softball with flat, broom sized bat...



No baseball batter would ever walk up to the plate with all the protective armor that dude's carting around....

[Gob]

Hey Sean, don't for get the four hours of adverts in a 2 hour match, the half time show, the cheerleaders and the fucking marching sousaphone band! Or is that the other game?

[Sean]

I believe Strop, that you're thinking of the game which is basically rugby played by two teams of motorcycle messengers .

LMAO @ your softball/cricket comparison Jim...

Cricket balls are notoriously hard and potentially lethal, hence today's batsmen and close fielders often wear protective headgear.

Indian cricketer Raman Lamba died when a cricket ball hit his head in a club match in Dhaka. Lamba was fielding at forward short-leg without wearing a helmet when a ball struck by batsman Mehrab Hossain hit him hard on the head and rebounded to wicket-keeper Khaled Mashud.

Other cricketers known to have died as a result of on-field injuries in a first-class fixture after being hit while batting: George Summers of Nottinghamshire on the head at Lord's in 1870, Abdul Aziz, the Karachi wicket-keeper, over the heart in the 1958-59 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final, and Ian Folley of Lancashire (playing for Whitehaven), in the face in 1993.
Source

It's also worth noting that the fastest softball pitches (around 85mph) would be considered to be at the slow end of a fast-bowlers range (typically 85-95mph).

So there! Definitive proof that Americans play girly sports.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Not only that but they took girlie netball and called it basketball in the hope no-one would notice

[Sean]

Not to mention rounders...

[Gob]

[Lord Jim]

Not to mention all the broken nails....

Looks like cricket pitchers have some serious control problems....that must be why the batters have to gear up like hockey goalies....

Maybe the should hire some American baseball pitching coaches to help them with that problem....

[Sean]

Bowlers Jim, they're called bowlers.

Pitchers are what Irish people hang on their walls.