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Friday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale Two Thanksgiving thoughts To fill the gap between press week for The American's print version and the next occasion when I get to write a full-length column, here's two Thanksgiving thoughts to tide you over. 1. Give thanks for thanksgiving football Those that struggle to get a turkey meal on the table and arrange a family around it may be a little less enthusiastic about wall–to–wall sports, but here in the UK we are spoilt rotten for football this weekend: Thursday: Green Bay v Detroit, NY Jets v Dallas, Indianapolis v Atlanta. Unlike in the US, where they're shared between Fox, CBS and the elusive NFL Network, you don't even have to change channel over here. If you're still awake at 1am, and you have access, you can ever switch over to the Pac-10 battle of USC v Arizona State. Friday: College football all the way if you have NASN: Nebraska v Colorado (worth a laugh, as Bill Callahan does his Steve McLaren impression), Texas vs Texas A&M, and Boise State v Hawaii, as long as you've plenty of caffeine around to get you to the 2am kickoff ...thereafter, the sheer pace of score should be stimulating enough. Saturday: Arkansas v LSU on replay starts the day off at 8.30am (perhaps not an hour compatible with any Hawaii hangover), before Chris, Kirk and Lee lead us into Virginia Tech v Virginia, UConn v West Virginia (a nice evening of football for your Virginians out there), while Setanta Ireland will be carrying Missouri v Kansas. Sunday morning brings replays of Florida State v Florida and Alabama v Auburn on NASN (plus a rerun of Missouri v Kansas), and in the evening Sky includes coverage of Carolina v New Orleans, Chicago v Denver and New England v Philadelphia. With a Monday morning as–live of Arkansas v LSU, and Pittsburgh v Miami on MNF, it's safe to say we have the best football TV coverage in the world right now. 2. Be thankful you don't have to be an England soccer fan. Well, I thought it was hilarious. There's probably only so long that my fellow Englishmen are going to tolerate me before they ship me over the northern border, but I've always found the English attitude towards their soccer expectations just the tiniest, weeniest bit arrogant. It seems that England lives in a neverland where their soccer team is the greatest in the world (despite not winning a major tournament since 1966). Well, here's a shock: turns out being English isn't enough to qualify. Seems some decent soccer needs to be played as well. Aside from the madness of changing your goalie just before the final crucial match (not that the USA would EVER do such a thing, of course), England just didn't look like a TEAM up and down the field. And afterwards? Discussion of broken dreams, images of distraught fans, and a call for an 'emergency meeting' the following morning (what's the emergency? it's not as if the national team has any imminent commitments). And, of course, almost no mention of how well the opponents played, how driven they were toward winning what they didn't need to win, how focused they were, how effective they were on the break. Nope, can't credit the opponents with playing better football. (It couldn't have been better football – not English, you see). I haven't laughed so hard since Alexi Lalas nutted that second ball into the back of England's net that evening in Foxboro. Aaah ...I should have been a Scot. |
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