Fall of the King

HHH’s Promotion is What All Haters Should Want

It was recently announced that HHH was officially put in charge of WWE Creative along with Talent Relations.  Many hardcore fans have felt he has been influencing both departments to his benefit for many years, but now this officially anoints him as the man.  It also means he will likely be the guy to replace Vince when he finally steps away, or let’s face it, and not be harsh, passes away.  Many fans who follow the sport closely might view this as a bad thing, but I think in the end this is “Best for Business.”

Once HHH was found to be dating Stephanie McMahon his career was always going to be questioned.  It’s hard for a guy to date the daughter of the boss and not take heat from fans about getting things pushed his way.  The early part of his career seemed to indicate that he was getting a little favoritism.  If the WWE didn’t give him special treatment then their writing certainly didn’t do his perception with the fans any favors.

HHH took a loss to the Undertaker at WM17.  This is right around when the streak starting gathering legs.  He joined forces with a recently turned heel Stone Cold Steve Austin post Mania and formed the two man power trip.  They were the top heels in the company, but HHH was largely perceived to be second fiddle.  At that point I viewed HHH’s major run as over.  I just didn’t think he could create a compelling face or heel character after what he had previously been through and I largely thought he had run his course as a top guy in the company.

He had Steve Austin nearly killed by a car, so how much more hated can you make yourself?  That view seems small minded now as character runs have lasted a lot longer and stars often reinvent themselves as things progress.  HHH was then injured and missed major time.  What I didn’t expect was for the WWE to book HHH as a face and crown him the Undisputed Champion at WM18.  I think it justified it as a reward for his work during the attitude era.

Sure the crowd seemed behind it at the time and his return was well received, but hey anytime anyone comes back they get a great pop.  We love the long awaited comeback return.  Yet, HHH was turned back heel not to long after.  Why, because he couldn’t draw as a face.   

This would begin an era where HHH was often one of the two major champions.  It also started bothering me that it seemed he was after Ric Flair’s record of most titles held.  That’s not a distinction a guy with HHH’s backstage position should seek considering his marriage to Stephanie at this point.  Remember he was once given the title by Eric Bischoff on Raw.  Yes, he was given the title, no tournament, or #1 contender match.  That incident coupled with him being pushed over and over started to wear thin on me as the 2000’s pressed on. 

Many have pointed to HHH appeared to sabotage the careers of many rising stars.  Randy Orton who seemed cut out to be one of the biggest Superstars of all time has had HHH intersect with him three times where it really hasn’t benefited damaged the Orton character.  After Orton upset Chris Benoit for his first title HHH turned on him and quickly won the title away from him.  Yet, Orton wasn’t given the angle where he battles to get his belt back and eventually does with a big payoff.  He was beaten and relegated to the side.

Orton took time to recover and rebuilt himself into an angle where he was attacking members of the McMahon family including HHH’s wife Stephanie.  It was the build up to WM25.  Orton became the ultimate heel attacking old people and women.  He had a track record of concussing many major super stars with his punt.  He was squarely positioned to take the mantle as top heel in the company.

The only problem was that Orton was strapless going into WM25 and he won the Royal Rumble.  The tradition is for the major heel to gain the title and heat around Survivor Series and then lose the strap at Mania to his major foil.  It almost looked like the 25^th anniversary of the company’s biggest event was going to see them crown a heel champion who attacked the owner and his daughter.

I can’t blame the WWE for not wanting that to be the end of their centerpiece event, but what they did do was far worse in the end.  HHH injected himself into the angle, but the only way Orton would take him on at WM25 was if he was the champion, so WWE booked HHH to pick up the strap at elimination chamber the month before.  Now remember HHH had not been around as much going into this, so he had very little heat or fanfare other than he was facing the top heel and his wife had been attacked.

HHH took on Orton in what was one of the worst WM mains of all time.  The match had such a poor ending I think many in attendance missed what happened.  Orton was climbing back into the ring and HHH gave him a punt.  He poorly executed that.  He grabbed the sledgehammer with the referee down and attacked Orton with it.  Because that’s what faces do they use Sledgehammers to beat guys they are twice the size of.  Then a slow sequence occurs where HHH lands some punches while the referee recovers.  Suddenly HHH lands the pedigree and Orton is covered for the 1-2-3. 

You couldn’t have booked it worse.  I think the sudden ending shocked everyone.  Orton’s moment in the sun was gone and the WWE was left with HHH who was at best a lukewarm face as their champion.  So a month later they had HHH drop the belt in a six man tag to Orton.  Yes that’s right a six man tag.  It didn’t make sense to me either.  Why not just give Orton the belt at WM25 and drive home a huge push.

Orton hasn’t recovered since despite the fact that he had the belt after that and the other World title a bunch of times.  It was a major blow to his career of when he should have been really over.  It took until just recently when WWE created a crafty way to flip HHH and Orton heel at Summerslam.  It would have appeared that WWE had revived Orton once again and he would be the heel face of the company for the next few months.

Yet, they were able to botch that too with the confusing relationship between HHH and him.  His loses to Daniel Bryan and his new found desire to whine all the time.  I’m not sure Orton can recover from the damage that has been done to him at this point.  Although HHH ruined the 2011 run of CM Punk for no apparent reason I view the toppling of Orton has his career highlight for sabotaging another talents run.  You could probably point to the damage he is doing to Daniel Bryan as career threatening as well.

Can you fully blame HHH for the Orton situation?  I would say he deserves a blunt of the blame and here’s why.  If HHH does have influence with Vince McMahon then he probably can convince Vince of things that probably aren’t good for other guys.  After the mid 2000’s and the back to back WM losses to John Cena and Batista, HHH could and should have become more of a part time.  Injecting him into a massive storyline angle with Orton where he holds the belt was going to do very little for WWE.  The WM25 didn’t create a hallmark moment for HHH or the company.  HHH being a student of the business had to know that it was bad business.  In the new age of wrestling with smarter more informed fans it’s very difficult to build heat.  Orton had massive heat on him three times and all three times HHH has been the on screen character to choke it away.

What benefit has that brought the WWE?  Little if none.  The Authority angle is a failure right now because WWE is constantly shifting the focus to HHH and Stephanie, as they quickly brushed aside Bryan and Big Show.  CM Punk has finally entered the angle, which seems a perfect fit for him, but the initial promo with him and Stephanie was awful and if WWE plans to draw out an angle with him and the Shield they are way off target on hoping this will work out well.

HHH and Stephanie have major influence over the Authority angle.  If they can’t see why it’s failing then they are more to blame then the superstars they are blaming for the bad ratings.  The angle could have worked in many different ways.  First Orton has to appear to be dominant.  He can’t take loses or be made to look foolish.  WWE has done plenty of that.  Second Daniel Bryan can’t get over by making Orton look bad.  The WWE needed to focus on keeping the two apart for as long as possible.  The roadblocks should have been the shield and then maybe Big Show. 

The angle was so easy to write, but WWE got too creative making the Superstars look bad and having the Authority deflect any fault doesn’t work.  Then having the locker room out on the stage week after week to be embarrassed didn’t help the situation as well.  What value did that serve the ratings?  Remember when HHH gave his state of the Union the night after Summerslam?  A few months later the Locker Room finally stood up to the Authority regime for the biggest pop the company hasn’t gotten in a while.

The next week HHH and Stephanie came out to say that they were no longer going to be nice.  Wait wasn’t that what they were expounding to everyone the night after Summerslam?  The logic took major heat off of them and frankly they have simply just been annoying ever since.  What’s worse was the promo HHH cut on Paul Heyman at a PPV a few weeks back.  I don’t know how HHH could have thought him pandering to the crowd and making Heyman look bad helped anything.  Heyman already has heat with CM Punk.  He didn’t need HHH to interject, but maybe a good rule to follow is the massive heel of the company should never be seeking fan approval during his run in that spot.  This was so poorly contrived and confused to the audience.  Wait aren’t we supposed to hate this guy worse they manager Paul Heyman?

It’s a major gaff by HHH and yet another demonstration of how Paul Heyman is the best character in the company these days.  Heyman manages 2 or 3 talents for the company, one who makes periodic appearances.  He has not stroke, he lost control of the Shield, but the crowd eats him up and he continues to be can’t miss TV.  HHH needs to take a lesson from Heyman it’s all about telling great story.

Yet, HHH has always been telling bad story.  Remember when HHH challenged the Undertaker before WM27?  It appeared that HHH was concerned that in order to make people believe that he could finally be the guy to beat Taker he would have to kind of forget a key detail about the past.  He cut a promo where the fact that HHH had lost to the Undertaker at WM17 was kind of glossed over.  He presented it as if they had never met before.  Huh?  How could you do that?  Well that’s HHH for you.  He also could have played the role heel, but decided to stay face.  Probably because Shawn Michaels chose to do it the same way the previous two WM’s and he needed to prove he could do that too.  It didn’t really seem to work out when he went for a sledgehammer during the match because that’s what a face does right?

It was a terrible match with many low points and the next night after losing HHH cut a promo as if he had won.   This was a terribly misbooked match and could have been done so much better.  First just have HHH out for revenge for his friend Shawn Michaels and his previous loss at WM17.  Have HHH go full heel, a role that suits him best, and attack Taker in the weeks leading up to the match.  Also, have HHH put the idea out there that the Taker is slowing down.  People would eat that up and start to maybe believe it was time to lose.  It makes interjecting the sledgehammer ok, but no that didn’t happen.  Shawn Michaels made a mistake by coming right back for a rematch.  HHH was smart and waited ten years.  Is that better?

So the next year they repeated the match, but to try to improve it they added the Hell in a Cell, which unless you are going on top of is never all that good anymore and Shawn Michaels as the ref.  If Michaels super kicked Undertaker and cost him the match in doing so that would have shit on the entire streak.  So, because we knew they wouldn’t do that he didn’t really serve a purpose unless you have him turn on HHH, which would have really set up for something good down the road.  In the end HHH is 0-3 versus the Undertaker at WM’s. 

So looking back on all that, why in the world would it be a good thing that HHH is new head of creative and talent for WWE?  Well because it finally puts him in a position of accountability.  If HHH ascends to the head of the WWE and replaces Vince then we are probably never going to see a really good WWE because clearly HHH is a guy who can’t separate what’s good for him from what’s good for business.  He truly doesn’t live up to the moniker what’s best for business.

If HHH stays in this role then ratings will drop.  He clearly can’t tell what the right thing to do is.  If ratings drop and buyrates drop then the stock price will drop.  This will cause the REAL executive board to take action against Vince putting pressure on him to make changes.  They are not going to want Vince to step aside, but be more involved.  At that point Vince is going to realize the product has slipped and he’s going to turn to people that he has used in the past during better times to get things going in the right direction.

I would expect Mic Foley, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bruce Pritchard, and Michael Hayes to again have major creative influence.  Also expect to see Good Ole’ JR back in a meaningful behind the scenes role.  HHH and Stephanie will be pushed into corporate positions where they have less impact on the creative side of the product.  I don’t’ think it’s actually wishful thinking.  HHH has lost the underlying confidence of the locker room.  Who could ever trust him looking at his above listed track record? 

Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Edge, Jericho, and Randy Orton are just a few guys that have had bad experiences with HHH.  That’s just to name a few and the ones we know about.  Most guys will not talk bad about HHH and they have good reason not too.  He doesn’t appear to be as savvy as Vince and know how to forgive.  Also most guys are getting legends checks from WWE.  Where will they land if not with WWE?  So why spoil a good thing and vent on HHH for what he really is. 

Remember back to the CM Punk promo that made him in WWE.  He was told to go out there and speak truthfully.  He had some issues with the way Vince handled a few things, but he specifically named Stephanie and HHH as major problems.  Why would he do that if there wasn’t some truth in what he was saying?  There was major truth in what he was saying.  In the end money runs thicker than blood.  WWE is public traded and if at some point the company starts really losing money you will have major problems.  The axe will fall and Vince has never struggled to make tough decisions.

So having HHH in charge is a good thing.  He will either reverse the habits he has developed over the years by producing a good product or people will execute the right to change the channel.  The bottom line is he can’t continue with the behavior of the past.  He will either change or be pushed aside, which are both good things for WWE fans in the long run.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the WWE.  If the rumors of Shane leaving because of a rift between he and Vince over Stephanie and HHH’s roles then it will likely be Shane who seeks to come in and save the day.  I think this would be a very positive thing for the WWE.  I’ve often wondered if Shane wouldn’t be a bad guy to take over TNA though.  Now wouldn’t that be interesting.

The TLC PPV is fast approaching and a very strangely booked unification bout has been scheduled.  This looks cleverly like a chance for HHH to cash in on the much lauded heel turn for John Cena.  Orton is failing as the major heel and the weird way the build up to this has occurred makes total sense.  It would shoot some life into the company and setup a match between CM Punk and Cena at WM30 that would be very fitting. 

A John Cena heel turn can either be the major step in the right direction the WWE needs or a massive nail in the coffin.  If Cena is booked properly he could be huge and turning him back might actually get him over with the crowd as a face.  If booking him blows up and they lose him as a major draw then the WWE is sunk.  I think HHH will look to do this because right now something big needs to happen.  Look for this to be the defining early decision of HHH’s hopefully short tenure.   

Breaking End: A look back at the Breaking Bad Finale and the Claims against it

Breaking Bad is over and so ends one of the greatest TV dramas of all time.  Like anything in the day of blogs and social media many have chimed in with their opinion.  For the most part the show got great reviews and I think most casual and hardcore fans were satisfied with the ending.  Yet, there are still those who like to poke holes.  I found many of the arguments to be weak and I decided to share my reasons why.

One of the first complaints I heard was that it was a bad idea to start both premieres with a reveal into the future, the first being the scene where Walt purchases the machine gun and the second where Walt retrieves the Ricin.  Some people felt that this gave away too much of the ending to the finale.  Bill Hader appeared on Talking Bad and stated he felt the Ricin was meant for Lydia’s tea and he was dead on.  It was clear going into the final episode that the gun was likely intended to be used on the Nazi’s.  Hader opened the door on Lydia, but I think to some it was clear it might be used on her.

Many have argued if they would have saved those things for the final episode they would have been more mysterious.  There are two schools of thought.  The first school is that they should have skipped the scenes altogether.  That would meant that the gun would randomly pop out of the trunk and Walt would simply revealed to Lydia that he poisoned her. 

If the writers would have gone that way then you would have many people up in arms as to how Walt got the Ricin and how did he have time to rig up that gun and where did he buy it.  Instantly people would have jumped on those holes as too farfetched and felt he didn’t have the opportunity to excute them.  The second belief was that maybe these things should have happened in the finale in sequence. 

This argument bares some weight.  If we just take off from the end of Season 4 and build to the season 5B finale in total order with no future details then the finale might have been even more surprising, but wouldn’t everything that happens simply fall into place the same way.  We would know once Walt grabs the Ricin that he plans to use it and most likely it’s for Lydia.  The scenes would happen in sequence and we all knew that the gun would be used against the Nazis.  What’s so surprising about all that?

What many missed was that the writers decided to use these peeks into the future to create even more interest and misdirection.  The entire first season we are left wondering who will Walt use the gun on?  I think at first we assume that it somehow ties back to overseas buyers, or the other dealer that he trades with.  At no point in the first season did I believe it was intended for the Nazi’s.  I thought it was intended to be used on Hank near the end or the DEA, but that never made sense to me. 

The whole purpose was to get your mind racing and misdirect you to overthinking the whole situation.  By episode 7B I had figured out it was likely going to be used by Walt to rescue his money, not Jessie, from the Nazis.  It was just a brilliant rib and later the Ricin at the start of the 5B gave us that same misdirection situation.  I think most had to believe he was going to try to poison Jessie.  If Hader had not stated his belief I likely don’t think it’s for Lydia until that coffee shop scene starts.

So what I think happened was some people were upset because you figure these things out right before they happen and maybe they wanted it to be a secret, but did anyone really believe Walt was going to Rambo with that gun in his health condition?  So I think this gripe bears little weight.  The two items came mysterious because he grabbed them early on.

Tying back into this point some people were confused as to why Walt would kill Lydia.  That maybe her death was unnecessary and Walt didn’t have a strong reason to kill her.  Now the easy answer to this is that Walt finds out that Todd threatened Sklyar and the family if they ever talked.  In that scene Todd tells Sklyer to forget he ever met Lydia at the carwash.  So naturally that’s why Walt offed her, but the events happen out of sequence.  He poisons her then gets the information from Skylar.

Many then might argue that he did it because of what they did to Jessie, but again he doesn’t even know Jessie is alive and assumes he is dead after they take him away.  So maybe everyone is right.  Why kill Lydia?  The answer is quiet simple.  Walt is a genius.  He realizes in the shootout scene that his value to the Nazi’s is diminished and they no longer respect or fear him.  This is likely because they have 60 million of his money and Lydia has got them into the meth business. 

So yes Walt’s ego takes a hit, but when the facts starting getting fully uncovered eventually things will tie back to Lydia.  When she gets busted that will put heat on Walt’s family, which is what he’s trying to avoid.  Killing Lydia assures that all the connecting important pieces are gone and the police won’t pursue things much further.  No loose ends.

A big complaint, and one I saw coming after watching the finale, was that the episode put everything to rest in a too convenient manner.  The reason I saw this as a complaint was that the episode was banging out resolutions in scene after scene.  This also went in the most contrast to the Soprano’s Finale, which we all knew this would get compared heavily too.  The Soprano’s left a lot of open ended questions while Breaking Bad seemed to answer them in a very orderly sequence. 

Walt took care of his family with the money he gave the Schwartz’s, killed the Nazi’s, freed Jessie, came clean to Sklyar, saw his daughter for the last time, accepted his failure in Flynn’s eyes, and offed Lydia, just to name a few.  All these things were accomplished in one episode.  So, yes maybe that is too a litte to tighty and a lot to happen, but in reality the brilliant writing set everything in to place.  In reality Walt was not on a timeline.  He devised a plan in the time it took him to drive all the way home and executed it.  We just saw it in order and the chances things like saving Jessie and getting the call from Lydia just happened. 

We have become so conditioned for there to be questions and loose ends that we felt upset that there were so few questions, but especially no major ones. There was no Russian in the forest and fade to black.  In reality the Soprano’s was ended the way it was because of a possible movie spinoff.  The fade to black gave an excuse to either say Tony was killed there or there was more to come depending how the company decided to move forward.  Breaking Bad could have pressed on for a few more seasons, but it always risked become too much like Dexter with the central character constantly surviving miraculous situations until it became too unbelievable.

Breaking Bad gave an ended that respected the fans by leaving very little up in the air.  For those who thought they did too much and wrapped it up tiddy I say you are simply overthinking it.  For once the writers and creators respected the fans and gave them great tv.

Another argument that received some criticism and I thought very unjustly, was that the Schwartz’s would go to the DEA.  I won’t even give that argument the time of day.  After Walt admitted to Sklyer what he had done on the phone the DEA was able to start connecting the dots and he apparently became a celebrity criminal and was known to the national media.  The Schwartz had every reason to fear Walt as a legitimate threat. 

He casually snuck into their house and had them gather his money for them.  They had every reason to fear him and what he was capable of.  If someone has that much money, and clearly he did as he gave it to them physically, you have every reason to believe that the he could have hired hit-men to get rid of you.

I think that his death sequence would only reaffirm to me that he was not to be trifled with once that hit the news.  So, I don’t think they go to the DEA especially considering they had nothing to gain by doing it except living in fear that Walt was serious.  He could have also had Badger and Skinny Pete leave reminders that this needed be done, but that may be a bit of stretch.  Still it was great that they were included in the episode.

This was the weakest gripe I heard and I was surprised I heard it so much.  I think this was derived from those who wanted to see Walt fail.  There was a large group of those people and it was understandable.  Still I think if I was in reality in the shoes of the Schwartz’s living the high life there would be no reason to gamble on Walt having really hired hit-men.  That’s what the point of the red dots was.  To really drive the point that they were under threat, pardon the pun.

The last argument I heard was one that surprised me during the finale, but made sense to me almost instantly after.  I foresaw that Walt would rescue Jessie, but then Walt would allow Jessie to exact revenge by killing him.  Many were flustered when Jessie did not kill Walt and no one was buying that Jessie wouldn’t pull the trigger considering what Walt had done.

Walt allowed Jessie’s girlfriend to die in season 2, poisoned Brock, told the Nazi’s to kill Jessie, indirectly caused his capture and murder of his latest girlfriend leaving Brock motherless.  So yes Jessie had a bunch of reasons to kill Walt, but he didn’t.  Does that make sense?

In the end to me yes it totally does.  When Jessie told Walt to admit that he wanted this I thought for sure he would pull the trigger, but he didn’t.  That shocked me, but then it all aligned. Jessie was a punk kid who came almost full circle in the end realizing the value of life.  He changed in the end into somebody who wanted to do the right thing.  He realized that decisions have consequences.  He realized that killing Walt made him no better than what Walt had become.  That was not who Jessie had become and that’s why he left it there.  He may have also realized Walt was shot and would likely not survive, but regardless of that fact he made the right decision. 

The trailer for the finale started with the scene where Walt talks about chemistry being the science of change.  That shows out in the final scene with Jessie.  Walt had changed into someone he thought he wanted to be, but Jessie had changed into someone who he refused to become.  Through the entire series we were always hoping that Jessie would stop being a punk who used drugs and become responsible.  He time and time again had the chance to do it, but it wasn’t until the final season that he made the transformation completely. 

No show was without faults.  Breaking Bad was no exception, but the writers did very well to keep things as believable as possible and they often times surprised us with logical twists that we rarely ever saw coming.  That’s what made the show great.  Maybe some people were let off a bit because some things were predictable.  Yet, that was necessary so the writers could have an ending that made sense.  What I think a lot of people missed and what I realized a few hours after completing the finale was the ultimate trick played on us by the writers.

Throughout season 5 Walt does things that make you really despise who he is.  I rooted for him and Jessie for the first 4 seasons, but in the end I was rooting for Walt to get taken down and Jessie to get out because he had become a good person.  After Hank is killed I thought Walt might come back to the pack, but he still wants Jessie kills and he goes wild on his family taking the baby away.  At that point I think many Walt supporters realized the evil person he had become.  That maybe Walt had gone too far.

In second to last episode Walt becomes extremely selfish in his meeting with Saul.  You start to root against even more.  It’s at that point I was just hoping that he ended up on the wrong end of things.  Often in the show Walt does thing that make your skin crawl.  He makes really stubborn decisions that as a viewer you openly disagree with.  He of course does not follow the direction of his handler and leaves the cabin.  He contact his son Flynn who refuses the money he wants to the family and then he makes a call to get himself caught and you realize that in a way Walt has given up.  Then he sees the Schwartz’s on TV and becomes motivated.  I thought he was motivated in the wrong light.  I thought he wanted to prove who Hisenberg truly was and leave his stamp on everything and everybody. 

What they did in the final episode was transform Walt back into the hero that we all wanted him to be at some point or another, or at least most of us.  They did it in such a crafty way I didn’t even realize they had done it.  By the end of the episode I’m hoping that he dies so the police don’t arrest him.  I think part of me was maybe hoping he even got away.  How did they do this?  With great writing they turned a modest man into a villain and once he reached the apex of evil they brilliantly turned him into a great hero.  It was a master stroke. 

When the gun took out all the Nazi’s I am sure I wasn’t the only one that screamed hell yeah.  When the leader of the Nazi’s thought Walt still wanted the money, but Walt instantly shot him I realized he had changed.  They somehow made Walt into the hero again and many soaked it in.  It was extremely fitting that he could die in the lab where he was truly at his best.  A much better ending than I could have dreamed up and a fitting end to the greatest television character ever written and perhaps greatest show too.  Time will tell all things.

True Blood the Season that Wasn't

I like True Blood.  It has had a some good seasons, but after last season I felt like we had covered all the ground we could and maybe the show needed to wind down.  I will say I was looking forward to this season after the cliffhanger ending, but after just a few episodes I was a little confused and before the end ready to stop watching.

True Blood is good because the characters are strong.  I'm not a Sookie fan, or a Tara fan, but their are some many great characters to choose from if you don't like them.  I hated Eric, but he slowly became the best character out of the regulars.  Then Bill became kind of cool too and Russell Edginton stole the show.  Russell was so good that I think they rushed him back way sooner than necessary to appease fans of his.  I thought it should have all ended with him in the final season, but they went for the ratings grab.

So here we were after a pretty decent season where the Vampire Authority had been all but obliterated.  Bill had turned into a super vampire and it looked like he had embraced evil with Eric becoming the hero.  Warlow loomed as a mystery.  Eric was finally the hero and now maybe he would fulfill his destiny with Sookie.

Here is how I thought the season would go. Jason would struggle with his complete hatred of vampires.  Eric and the crew would battle Bill and some vampires would be forced to pick sides.  I wasn't sure if Warlow would be a major story line or an arch that would play out in the next season.  You could make the case that it could with the slow story telling they were using on that angle.  

These were common assumptions, but in the end they played out much differently than I thought.  Logic seemed to have escaped the cast of True Blood in this last season.  While in a fantasy world that is understandable, I think the writers got very lazy in their story telling and it showed.  When you confuse the audience and have people screaming at their TV's for the characters to make logical decisions a show can lose interest quickly.  

The season was marred by confusing situations that just weren't logical even with the history of things that have happened in the past.  Take the case of Bill.  He becomes a super vampire and at first we assume that he is evil, but immediately it is determined that he is not evil.  So forget about the Bill versus the world story line.  Instead he has a vision of a handful of vampires, some he knows, dying in a room.  Bill had become a semi jerk, but after seeing this he becomes obsessed with stopping this vision from coming to life.  

He believes that he must be able to walk in the day in order to do this, something he assumed with his new powers he could do, but he actually cannot.  So he sends Jessica to kidnap a scientist that can synthesize fairy blood so that he can.  Why was this so important for Bill to do?  I believe the angle was for Bill to give all the vampires the blood so they could survive the sun.  Ok, but was all that really necessary?  Wouldn't it have made more sense if the blood really could have cured the hep V virus the humans created?  

Why kill the Governor so early in the season?  He was a great new evil character.  Why would Jessica not be arrested for killing three fairies that also happened to be the Sheriffs daughters?  Andy is really just ok with that?  Why did Eric need to be able to walk in the day to save the vampires?  Couldn't he just have done this at night.  Also, couldn't he have just organized everyone in prison to escape.  How hard was it to do that?  All he did was open the doors and they all went on a killing spree.

The season was cut 2 episodes short because Sookie was pregnant in real life.  You could tell that they had planned for 12 episodes and did a really poor job scaling back to 10.  Everything seemed rushed and out of place half the time.  The entire Warlow thing was such a train wreck and a major let down for us much as they had hyped it.  One second Sookie has sex with him, then she is concerned about marrying him, and then after waiting all this time he has no patience left to try to win her over even though she had sex with him already.  So Warlow goes evil and must be killed, which in turn maybe kills Eric, but probably not.

The last 15 minutes of the season did a lot to spark some interest in next year and get us away from the misgivings of the prior episodes.  Advancing into the future was a good idea.  Yet, they did a very poor job explaining with the Hep V was not just killing all the infected vampires.  Also, the Eric situation was poorly written because if he started on fire he would have immediately buried himself in the snow.  If they are trying to tease his death I think zero percent of people were buying that as real or a just ending to the show's best character.

Hopefully True Blood can right the wrongs of this past season and give us an end we can all be happy with.  They did not set the bar high in this past season so that should not be very difficult, but I would hope they keep it simple and just bring back a few old faces.  What we always want in shows that end is the loose ends to be tied up and with this show there are quite a few.  Let's hope they get to them all. 

Blog Update

I have been away for a short time.  Work has been nuts and I haven't been inspired consistently to write.  I have start stopped so many pieces lately it's not even funny.  I began writing for bornoffside.net and now I feel a level of pressure to put even better work and I think it has made me over think things a bit lately.

Any way a little time away was much needed.  I'm going to keep all the football stuff on their and all my other musing on here.  I think I just need to start putting out thoughts and not focus on how pretty it reads for a while.

So in any event here are some thoughts for you all to ponder on;

I'm happy that the football season has kicked off.  Baseball has been uninspiring this year.  There were a few stories, but honestly the Arod thing put a bad taste in my mouth.  Here's a guy that's guilty as sin, but doesn't have the sense to cut a deal and accept it.  I will be let down if he doesn't get at least a year suspension.  Very tired of the guy and I think I'm not in the minority on that opinion.

Regarding football you can honestly say it's a become a league of major parody.  You get the impression like any team that plays well down the stretch could win the Superbowl.  I thought Baltimore was a good team last year, but not the best.  I thought the SF was good, but not the best either.  That's what you get when you have one game playoffs.

Football entertains for other reasons.  With Fantasy getting so huge the sport has an entirely different dimension to it.  Did my first two drafts in about ten years online the other night and I have to say it was a blast.  I don't have a lot invested in the whole situation, but I look forward to it adding a little more interest for me.

I'm really looking forward to the NHL season more than usual.  Maybe because I want to see if the Hawks can get back to back.  That would be great for the NHL and the city.  I'm biased, but a back to back would be a good thing.  Disdain causes as many people to watch as love.

I watched Tinker Tailer Solider Spy about 5 times this week.  That movie is sneaky good.  It's actually better when you watch it a few times because the plot is very complex, but once you get it then you start enjoy it even more.  These days I can't watch movies more than once so that's saying something.  Django was one of the best movies I have ever seen, but I have only seen it once.

I watched Iron Man 3 the other day.  It had it moments, but the pacing was too quick and they didn't make you really hate the villains.  Once you realized the plot he was beaten and it was just all too quick.  SPOILER ALERT  Ben Kingsley plays the Mandarin, but it is later revealed that he is just an actor and the real Mandarin is someone else.  Problem is the Kingsley plays the villian way better, and the Guy Pearce character is very predictable.  Overall they focused on action and did that great, but took what could have been a great story and sped though it.

Smackdown was so frustrating.  HHH is really over doing it, but more on that later.

Ok folks.  That's all for now.

Summerslam Recap

Wow what a show.  WWE really delivered from top to bottom for Summerslam 2013.  WWE will be hard pressed to have a better PPV this year.  The company was red hot going into the night, but now they are blue flame on fire.  Raw has been setup to be huge tomorrow.  Here are my thoughts on the matches.

The pre-show Ambrose RVD match was a let down.  I would have thought we get more from these two.  RVD has been great since coming back.  He didn't need a win here, but he just needed to put on a good match.  Sadly we were robbed of that to help setup the inevitable six man tag down the road with Big Show and suddenly friendly Mark Henry.

The Ring of Fire match is a way of putting some mystery around two guys that would be hard pressed to put on a good match straight up.  I think Bray Wyatt can go from what I have seen of him in NXT, but Kane is not a good match for him.  The match was short for safety reasons.  Bray seemed to have pant issues and it was also a bit hard to believe that he would wear his own shirt.  Remember he is a back woods nut.

The scripting was not very good at all.  Bray has to look stronger.  We didn't need the family getting in the ring.  Defeats the whole purpose of the match.  I know this is needed to line Bray up against Taker, but he has to look more dominate.  Good after match stuff, but I'm not happy WWE couldn't do this better.

Cody and Sandow under delivered.  I realize you don't want to have a lot of false finishes considering what happened later, but you have to have a more dramatic ending.  Cody gets over and Sandow will rebuild.  The right ending all things considered.

The Divas match was ok.  Brie is really good in the ring.  The ending was a bit anti climatic, but the whole match had no real purpose other than to push their show.  I think they need to do more with Brie.

Del Rio won a great match against Christian.  I thought this one was going to steal the show.  It was awkward interviewing Del Rio post match with so much hype on Christian's last chance.  I don't know where they are going to go with this, but maybe a Christian heel turn is in order.

CM Punk and Lesnar should have been match of the night.  Really well done considering we all kind of new Punk had to lose.  Give Lesnar a lot of credit.  He can put on a great match.  CM Punk moved up to a new level.  I don't exactly know where they will go with Punk now, but I would imagine Lesnar drops off the scene for a while.

Bad move having AJ and Big E lose to Ziggler and that is all there is to say about that.  Although I do not know if Ziggler could take another lose.

The main event with Cena and Bryan was one of the best Cena matches I've ever scene.  Bryan actually didn't have his best match messing up a few spots and nearly knocking out Cena with that kick from the ground.  The whole thing really works because your expecting HHH to screw somebody or Vince to interject himself.  Yet, that never happened.  You also couldn't figure on Cena losing clean.  Yet, the WWE pulled it off because they knew they could play out the post match so well.

Cena could be viewed as hurt, but not use it as an excuse.  Now he can go off for surgery.  Bryan looks like the ultimate nice guy and Cena shares a moment of respect with him.  HHH gets over with Orton in a crazy way.  That was very well done.  Raw will be must see.

Here's the one thing that I would say.  This was almost revisionist history.  Remember two years ago when CM Punk was the guy the company was against and kind of Cena too?  HHH was the special guest referee when they met at Summerslam?  WWE could have executed the same exact ending, but they went fancy with Kevin Nash and HHH staying face.  This was a major mistake and would quickly kill of Punk's heat with HHH bumbling up the whole thing.

I think Orton and HHH will play this right and make the most of it, but it's crazy how the WWE got a chance to do it right.  I don't necessarily know if Evolution is back and I'm sure we will find out tomorrow.  I think they could just have the McMahon's back Orton as the corporate champion and rub it in Bryan's face.  This is really good heat and the WWE can cash in for months on this.  I need a few days to think on where the piece may fall.  Until then, follow the buzzards.

WWE's Great Summer 180

So, pre-WM29 I was really down on the WWE.  The WWE had again gone to the well for big matches that would do little to push superstars post Mania.  The Undertaker, HHH, the Rock, and Brock Lesnar are at best part time stars, but where all involved in the pivotal matches at Mania.  That's how you build a buyrate, but it does nothing for the long term as evidenced by the ratings post mania and the need to bring CM Punk back sooner than planned.

The Post Mania world seemed like an even worse place to be.  Lesnar and HHH re-matched with very little fan fare and it appeared the WWE was going with a concussion angle.  That angle seemed like it was really in really poor taste and it seems like have steered away from it.  That seemed like their first good decision in months.

Going into Extreme Rules I thought the WWE was in major hot water, but then it happened.  Things started falling into place just one week out.  The Punk match took on a life of it's own.  Heyman carried the buildup.  Curtis Axel got introduced and although that wasn't earth shattering news it was interesting.  I think we all want to believe he's special because he's with Heyman.  Let's face it Heyman is the WWE's best character.  I hope they realize it.  He's working on putting his face up their with Heenan on the Mt. Rushmore of great managers.

The Shield who I felt like were being force feed won titles and looked impressive doing it.  While I feel they could stand to lose the army tack gear and just come down to the ring from the entrance, I'm starting to think the over push is paying off.  I really look at them as invincible to a degree.  The angle still has mileage.

The I COULD SEE IT FROM A MILE AWAY team Hell No break up went better than I thought.  Why, because they didn't really break up.  They kind of just melted down in and interesting way, and Daniel Bryan got a huge push out of the deal.  Suddenly Bryan was the hottest thing going.  Also, the continued mileage out of Kane's career just keeps going.  He's really an unsong hero for the WWE.  He's not great in the ring or on the mic, but he just keeps staying relevant.  I think he's so underrated or better yet under appreciated.  People can rip him all they want he's had a great career.

Cena and Henry had a great build up to their MITB match.  The retirement speech was a master work by Henry.  It was a little weird that Cena stuck around and gave him the belt, but I think it fooled a mass majority of people.  Henry was suddenly the WWE's top heel, again.  It was just another time we all wanted to watch a John Cena match.  You know that guy who can't wrestle, but is still the must see guy.  Longer than Hogan!  Longer than Stone Cold!  How does he do it?  I don't seem him not being in the title picture anytime soon and frankly why wouldn't he be.  Say what you want about Cena he puts asses in seats and works his ass off in the ring.

Del Rio pulled off a pretty solid turn heel turn.  One that many probably didn't expect and it was done with vicious force.  A sudden turn that really deserves a lot of credit.  Dolph was the victim.  I haven't been happy with the handling of Dolph's face turn, but the crowd seems to have taken with him a bit, in some but not all instances.

The Wyatts cut some great promos.  Sometimes the promo's don't do guys justice unless it's a really big star, but in this case I was intrigued.  The promo's they cut the night of their first appearance were top notch, but the entrance was even better.  I liked it up until the Kane attack.  I know it served a purpose, but I think you could make a case for having them jump the main event with Punk and Orton.  That's how big I think they have gotten over already.

AJ Lee has done a great job getting over as champion and making Kaitlyn look really bad and good at the same time.  I was actually interested in the outcome of her title match and the promos she has cut since.  Wait, I'm interested in the Divas?!?!  What's going on here?  A year ago I hated AJ and was annoyed with her whole concept.  What changed?  She got a little more of an edge and stopped being totally mental.  Think about it.  The angle where she created the fake admirer for Kaitlyn was savvy.  I can't believe I wrote this much about it!

There have been a few fumbles here and there.  Fandango is probably the biggest.  He was a layup and at least had a good six month run of singing crowds and fanfare, but the WWE botched it up because they didn't know how to handle it.  Having him come out the next week after his big get over show with Lawler was a huge flop.  WWE needed to turn him face and play up the crowd interaction.  He didn't even need to talk.  Just point at the sky and dance.  He could have gone a little further.

In the end these situations come down to the character.  If he's got talent he will make it no matter what, but in this case it seems like gimmick is stronger than the performer and that doesn't bode well for the future of Fandango.  Look at Stone Cold, given a bad gimmick and he survived it.  Had a chance interview where he blew up and never looked back.  In the end it's always the performer and never the gimmick.

So here we sit.  Another eventful PPV by the boards.  Interesting angles abound and for once instead of thinking the show is an hour too long I'm wondering if the show will be long enough.  Kudos to you Vinny Mac.  Just when I thought I was over you and ready to walk away you pulled me back in.

Random Thoughts on Football 7-6-13

Some times I get a random thought on Football and then try to blog the whole thing into a piece.  Most of these don't get published.  Instead of doing that I've decided to just start blogging some minor thoughts in one blog.  Here is my first attempt at it.  Enjoy;

• Does Barcelona give Messi, Xavi, Inesta, Pedro and Pique off for until mid August?  They had a lot international duty and could use the time.  Don't know how much value they will get from playing those guys in the early friendlies, but I also don't know what they are committed too.
• When I think about Bayern I think what scares me the most is the lack of a best player.  I mean that in a positive way.  Robben was a backup most of the season and ended up being their best player in the UCL final.  Mazduric was not in the first leg of the semi against Barca. They won that 4-0.  Gomez was a back up, but lead them in scoring the previous season and some considering him top 5 in the world.  This is truly a team.  Next year winning the treble or at least a UCL/League double puts them in some rare air and you have to start talking greatest of all time after a season like that.  Still feel nobody is really paying attention though.
• I thought Gonzalo was a done deal at Arsenal on Thursday and would be announced Friday, but instead Real released a statement that they wanted more money.  Then I heard nothing for the rest of the day.  Doing business with Real sucks.  
• Read an article that Isco was the future of Real Madrid and then another article that the signing came too soon as he wouldn't see the pitch much.  I kind of thought Real needed a holding mid more than an attacking mid.  I also thought a back up striker to replace Gonzalo was in order, but there is still time for this.  I'm surprised they haven't been linked to Gomez from Bayern.  In the end Real has too many high quality attacking mids.  Why keep Modric now?  
• I might have to apologize to the Dortmund fans of the world.  There has not been a mass exodus as originally thought.  I had them written off for this season.  I wonder now if they can be as good.  I wasn't a big Gotze fan and getting off to that awkward start in his press conference maybe is a sign of things to come.
• Barcelona are yet to sign a center back.  I'm more conservative in my thoughts on this topic. Mats Hummels would have been a good signing, but rumors of that disappeared weeks ago. I think they just need a B quality guy to work into that rotation would suffice.  Neymar adds defense because teams will have to respect him more, which will draw back the attack of many teams.  Still think the biggest issue with Barca will be trust from the coaching staff in other players.
• I guess Gerrad Delfeou is either not as good as Barca thought or they want to get him some experience.  I would have thought he was quality enough to sit behind the many strikers on the team with Pedro and Tello, but I guess Barca is going a different direction for now.  Gives me a reason to watch Everton if it happens officially.
• Is Man U getting Thiago or not?  I would have thought this saga would have ended this week.  It kind of happened in slow motion, but it's a problem when you have such a great three piece midfield.  I can't blame him for leaving or staying.  I hope he stays.  I think it's the toughest decision a player could have.  
• The International Champions Cup is a great tournament on paper.  Fully realizing that these are just glorified preseason matches I still think the final will be contested especially if Chelsea and Real meet.  That's really the pay off for this tournament.  I think both sides would go full speed in that case.  I would love to see it, but don't hold your breathe.
• You have to wonder with PSG.  Will they be the next Man City or the next Malaga?  Leonardo acted like a jackass and got himself suspended.  The suspension was harsh, but his behavior was so goofy you have to say maybe it was justified.  Extending it now to 13 months is crazy.  Losing their coach after just a season has to hurt.  Monaco jumping into the frey also has to hurt.  I sort of want to watch Ligue 1 this year.

That's all for now.

The Chair

So every now and again you have to depart from the goofy world of sports and July is probably the best month to do that.  So I give you the story of the chair.  It wasn't just any old chair.  It was a chair given to me and my roommate Nick Meo during our senior year of college in the fall of 2000.

Yeah remember 2000?  Seems like just yesterday.  Everybody had just got rich off of that Y2K stuff.  I still to this day couldn't figure out why my alarm clock was supposed to stop working?  It didn't even keep track of that date.  Yep 2000, the year the world didn't stop, or slow down.  It was the year of the famous chair.

In a standard Carthage College dorm (For those of you who don't know it's a small school right on Lake Michigan in Kenosha Wisconsin and trust me that's all you need to know.) you get two beds two wooden desk and two dressers.  All these things are wooden and highly uncomfortable.  During my entire stay at Camp Carthage myself and my 5 different roommates had come up with all kinds of ways to improve on this small space and the furniture that came with it.

During our senior year Nick and I decided we needed a chair to replace the one I had had in my room the prior year.  A recliner that was key to the whole room setup.  Pressed to not spend any money Nick remembered his sister had such a chair that she no longer needed.  His sister lived in western Milwaukee or in the Suburbs to the west of it.  So we headed up to her place to grab this chair, which we thought would improve our dorm experience greatly.

We got there to find that the chair outwardly didn't look like the recliner Nick had described.  It was more of a classical styled chair.  Four wooden legs and I didn't believe that it would recline.  Yet, to my surprise it did recline and we loaded into my truck and returned to school

The chair was a touch awkward and did not break into two pieces.  This proved to be a problem because it would not fit through the doorway of our room.  We tried for what seemed like an hour to get the chair in twisting it every possible direction with little or no luck.  We sought advice from many of our floor mates and friends, but they were little help.

We asked the two Joe's who had lived together for over a 2 years what they thought.  One Joe, Joe B, refused to be involved.  He did not want to be responsible for breaking the chair and having to ask his Father, a carpenter by trade, to fix it if that were to happen.  He dismissed himself from the situation as he often did to go....well we never knew what he did, but that's a story for another day.

The other Joe, Joe B 2 (yes both roommates had the initials JB, there were also both diabetic, crazy right?) was a martial arts expert.  He tried to use his green belt skills to get the chair through the doorway, but no amount of karate kicks and right had thrusts would work.  He suddenly felt a lack of sugar in his body and excused himself to have a class of orange juice.

A third friend named Peter entered the fray.  He was a large kid who thought he knew his own strength.  Kind of like knowing the incredible Hulk, but without the muscles.  He tried with all his might to get the chair in, but his lack of muscle and strength was not helping.  He grew tired and headed off to get something to eat.

We then set out the advice of a man who had previously lived in the dorms for many years, Chip.  Chip had to have seen this situation many times, but he had graduated so we had to contact him via phone.  We gave him the dimensions of the chair, and the things we had previously tried.  The situation intrigued him, but he was also of no help.  We let him off the phone so he could go back to doing whatever it is he did.

It should be noted that we could have taking the door off the hinge, but Nick was insistent that the chair would go without having to do that despite my many protests to stop and do so.  Nick grew frustrated like an old man trying to return soup at a deli.  He mustered up his new found strength he had gained from his summer weight loss program, where he had lost 100 lbs. in less than three months, and smashed the chair into the room.

With the chair now in the room we celebrated, but something was amiss.  The chair seemed to have been damaged because when you sat in it swayed, but Nick not willing to admit that he had broken it, climbed into the chair.  There he stayed for almost 5 hours eventually passing out in the chair that he was so proud of.  Then suddenly during the night, despite caring a much lighter frame than the previous year, the chair gave way crashing into pieces.

Nick finally was willing to admit defeat, and the chair was going to have to be sent to the garbage, but we both agreed that the comedy could not end there.  We rigged the chair up for our fellow floor mates to try out and crash over in.  The hilarity of it all was endless, but as large groups gathered to watch the latest victim the charm wore off and the chair ended up in the dumpster.  Sad end to a great chair.

Del Boggled It

Let me start by saying that Brazil played really well.  Fred was superb.  Neymar was special.  David Luiz was mature.  Alves and Marcello were leaders.  Julio Caesar was a wall.  I take nothing away from their win, but this match should have been way closer and probably a Spanish win because they are the more polished side.  Spain's coach put out a starting 11 that gave Brazil a big chance and they took advantage of it and exploited Spain at every turn.

I took some heat on Twitter today because I stepped up and pretty much call Del Bosque's lineup unacceptable and flat wrong.  I don't feel like Del Bosque can pick out the best 11 anymore.  I have felt this since Euro 2012 where he used David Silva and Alonso in the starting lineup too much.  Both are great players, but there was no reason to have either of them in when you have the Barca central three and a need for more pure attacking options.  Spain struggled to score goals and ended up in PKs with Portugal.

Yet, Spain prevailed and rolled in the Final.  I wrote after that final win to a friend that sometimes you just win, but you have to make sure you don't confuse right from wrong just because you got a result.  You have to look at the bigger picture and be critical of where you could have done better.  A draw against Italy to open Euro 2013 should have woken Spain up to the importance of attacking options, but it didn't.

In reality Spain is Barcelona-lite.  Some people may not like that, but when you utilize the style and so many of the players from Barcelona it is what it is.  It also doesn't hurt that it has worked.  The results have been astonishing, but at times Del Bosque tries to ram square pegs in round holes.

Many have lauded Del Bosque with praise for what he has done and he deserves it.  He's a great coach in the golden era of Spanish football.  Still I think that he's gotten into a bad place with many of the players on his Spanish side.  The problem in Spain is like the reverse problem of Argentina.  Argentina is loaded with strikers, but lack great midfielders.  Spain is loaded with midfielders, but few fresh striking options.  Del Bosque has a hard time not starting Xavi, Busquets and Inesta together.  Maybe Xavi is not the same player he was three years ago, but when you start him with those two Spain gets a huge advantage because they have a midfield that players together all year.  Oh yeah and they are perhaps the great midfield trio of all time.  See the 2010-11 Barca stats to back that up.

This is a huge edge for Spain, but it comes at the price of not being able to use Fabregas, Silva, Mata, and Cozolla just to name a few.  Del Bosque has chosen to play a 4-4-2 or use Inesta as a forward to get Xabi Alonso on the pitch.  Why?  Because he's a legendary player and he has too.  Del Bosque has become a man that refuses to accept that he cannot play certain players even if he doesn't need him and they weaken his offensive options.

In Euro 2012 he insisted on starting Alonso and Silva around the Barca midfielders.  Spain struggled to score goals when he did this.  To me it was a huge mistake, but as I stated earlier he survived it.  This year I thought he had it figured out.  In match one he started Soldado (a player he didn't even pick over an injured Lorente in 2012) and Cesc with Pedro.  Cesc is not a true forward, but he has been in good scoring form towards the end of the season.  He scored far more goals than David Silva the last two seasons.  Soldado is a brazen attacker and this lineup works because it basically allows Soldado to be tip of the spear striker while the others work to get him into great positions.

Spain spanked Uruguay pretty good.  Then they played Thaiti who for all intents were a walk over.  The result was a rest for their key players.  Against Nigeria he went back to this lineup and Spain dominated again, but Soldado squandered some easy chances.  Also note that Valdes started in net and was solid.  This will be important later.  Torres came on and got on the end of a great cross.  I knew right there that Del Bosque was going to go away from the lineup that worked and favor Torres.

He has a love affair with Torres who has lacked confidence since returning from injury 3 years ago.  He was a once great player who lost his shadow and it is what it is.  Del Bosque even picking him for the side was a surprise to many, but now it seemed he would go forward with him as starter in the knock out stage.  His starting lineup for the next match made my skin crawl.  For some reason he went back to David Silva upfront with Torres.  I guess because there link up play was so good over the years?!?!  I understand that Cesc had picked up a knock and probably was not well, but that's why you pick David Villa.  That fresh guy who scored bags of goals in the past for you, remember him?

Del Bosque killed the trust of his team when he did this.  If David Villa had any self confidence it was gone.  Fernando Torres and David Silva, who's not a true forward, were picked over him.  The net result was Italy taking them to Pks and zero goals.  That's right zero goals.  When Spain needed a goal in this match he went to Jesus Navas a true forward, but why not give Navas the start then?  I think it's because Del Bosque was hoping Torres and Silva would spring his offense to life and Navas isn't as big of a name player.  Apparently no one shared Silva's goal total with him and he doesn't watch Chelsea play...ever!

Many people praised Italy for taking Spain to PKs and shutting them down.  I give them the credit they deserve, but who did they stop?  Torres with no confidence in big games, Pedro who had a low goal total this year and David Silva who has 5 goals in all comps for Man City all season.  The commentators tend to really lose touch with the quality of the forwards Spain started.  It wasn't Messi and Ronaldo fronting for Spain in either of the last two match by a wide margin.  Italy took advantage of team that was not as dangerous upfront just in the midfield.  So they attacked up higher and more aggressively in the midfield where Spain are dangerous.

There was also the matter of Iker.  He had looked ok in his first two matches, but in PKs he looked lost.  He only came close to stopping one and he was slow to get close to that one.  I would never criticize a goalie in PKs because they so favor the shooter, but he was noticeably bad.  I thought he had no legs or confidence.

After the Italy debacle I thought Del Bosque would go back to what had worked in his two group matches that mattered.  If no Cesc then it's time to go with the super fresh legged David Villa who is Spain's all time leading goal scorer who did not see the pitch against Italy and was fresh.  My line up was easy.

Goalie

Valdes

Iker looked bad against Italy and in a game where Brazil are sure to press up high Valdes will be better to start because HE IS USED TO PLAYING THE BALL TO BARCELONA PLAYERS OUT OF THE BACK.

Arebeloa Pique Ramos Alba

Xavi, Inesta, Busquets

Cesc(Villa if hurt) Soldado Pedro

Soldado would be fresh legs again with either Cesc or Villa who would have fresh legs and both of those players with Pedro are USED TO PLAYING IN THE BARCA SYSTEM AND KNOW HOW TO PLAY OFF THE MIDFIELDERS BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE ON THE BENCH.

(Sorry for the caps, but I'm trying to drive home some points here)

Navas could come on and if necessary Mata or Cozolla.

So what happened.  He started Torres.  That was bad, really bad.  Torres was barely picked for the competition and off a goal against Nigeria and no goals against Italy he gets the start in the final against Brazil?  On what basis?  He wasn't even relevant in Euro 2012.  I could write a novel about how bad this decision was, but I will leave you with what I think is the best point.  Brazil was probably elated seeing Torres over Soldada and knew they could play a little more aggressive for it and attack the midfield and backline with more pressure.

Then he started Juan Mata.  This one actually upset me more.  Mata had no business being out there and did nothing to deserve it.  Del Bosque might have been using this line of thinking.  Cesc would have been in if he wasn't hurt and he is an attacking midfielder.  Silva had failed the prior match to fill that role, so he decided to opt for another attacking mid in Mata who was more of a threat to score than Silva, but one problem.  MATA IS NOT USED TO PLAYING IN THE BARCA SYSTEM AND WAS OFTEN TIMES IN THIS MATCH CAUGHT OUT OF POSITION OR MADE THE WRONG PASS.  Villa was the right choice here hands down.  He had the experience and would draw defenders because of his range and HE WAS USED TO PLAYING IN THE BARCELONA SYSTEM WITH THE MIDFIELDERS AND PEDRO.

So what happened.  Brazil came out and pressed the ball all over the pitch.  They decided to play aggressive and pressed Spain making it hard to play out of the back.  They forced Iker to play long balls.  A strategy that worked against Barcelona a lot this year and decreased the potency of their attack at times by forcing Valdes to lob it down the pitch and made Barca work for possession.  They grabbed an early goal when Iker fell asleep staring at the ball one foot in front of him.  The bottom line is he's the best keeper in the world, but he's not 100% fit and his confidence is down.  Del Bosque ignored all the warning signs and it cost him a goal.  Also this whole possession should have been stopped before Hulk crossed it.  He turned it over, but Juan Mata gave the ball right back to him.  Watch how Mata behaves during this sequence.  He looks like a guy who is out of place and unsure of what he is supposed to be doing.

Spain were playing frantic the rest of the first half never able to settle the ball.  They were very aggressive with their tackles.  If Spain has a beef it would be the referee allowed Brazil to get away with too much, pulling zero yellow cards on Brazil.  Brazil earned at least 2 first half cards for their tactics and this did have a big effect on the game.  It's like in NBA basketball when officials don't call fouls on players when they drive to the basket.  They get beat up enough times without a call and start settling for jump shots.  Spain reacted to the no calls in two ways.  They got loose with their passing thinking they suddenly had to do too much with the ball and second they mentally started feeling hard done.  You could see it in their body language.

Another factor that played a roll was the condition of the pitch.  It looked heavy and clumpy.  If you have ever read anything I have written in the past you will know that most teams allow their pitch to be this way against Barcelona because it slows the passing game down and decreases passing accuracy.  It was a non factor for Brazil because they played long balls in the air.  I would expect this type of pitch in a European match, but not in a FIFA event.  The pitch at the most glorious stadium in the world was in that bad of shape?  I think not.  It was done on purpose.  More home cooking.

Credit David Luiz for his huge save on the Pedro shot, but does it surprise you that Pedro missed yet another huge chance in a big game?  He did it all year for Barcelona.  Still a great defensive play and it changed the game because that was for sure going in and it would have put a massive amount of pressure on Brazil.

Instead poor defending lead to a Neymar shot, which Iker didn't seem to have the legs to get too.  I think at that point Spain were all done.  They had let a sure goal get away and they had no one that could bring them to life offensively on the pitch.  Once Del Bosque opened with the same front three I felt the game was up.

The third goal was a sin.  First Spain came out in the second half and got outworked.  How does that happen?  Aren't you supposed to come out fired up and all energy?  Didn't Del Bosque give them a big time pep talk?  Didn't he remind them that who they were?

Two minutes into the second half I wasn't feeling like he gave a speech at all.  Brazil won a ball back they shouldn't have, completed passes they shouldn't have, and put one by Iker that they shouldn't have.  If Iker allowed soft goals like this so frequently in the past Barcelona would have a few more Liga titles to talk about.  Again though I'll defend him because it's not his ability or age, but just the lack of playing time he was granted after his recovery.  Being thrust into this type of match was a mistake and his manager needed to step up and realize that.  He needed to stop trying to prove a point about Iker.  Iker could do that at Real Madrid next season on his own.

Navas came on for Mata, but why?  What did Mata do wrong?  Oh I know.  He was ineffective with the ball.  Caused the first goal to happen, bungled a few key sequences, and provided little threat to Brazil's back line.  Probably because he's an attacking midfielder and HE'S NOT USED TO PLAYING IN THE BARCELONA SYSTEM AND HAS RARELY BEEN USED IN THIS TYPE OF SPOT.  That could have something to do with it, but I don't know for sure.

Navas gave Spain some life and caused the penalty shot.  AND THEN THE DUMBEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN HAPPENED WHEN RAMOS RAN UP AND TOOK THE PENALTY WITHOUT DISCUSSION.  (Ok I've seen dumber things, but at the time this seemed pretty dumb.)  How in the world does Ramos take that penalty of Xavi?  Remember the huge penalty that Ramos, a defender, missed against Bayern two years ago?  It was the reason that he shook his finger and pointed at his back when he scored against Italy because everyone thought he would miss and he knew it.  (Jackass) There seemed to be no discussion about this and with this missed penalty the match was over, this time for sure.  Can you second guess this decision, absolutely!  DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB.  I digress.

The Pique red was the icing on the worst officiated match I've seen in a while.  A for sure yellow, but it was not a red.  In context he should have given Spain a break here because he had cut Brazil so much slack.  It didn't matter since the game was out of reach after the missed PK, but the officiating should not be forgotten about.  How Brazil got no yellows was shameful and it allowed them to get away with murder in the first half.  In the second they slowed down with the game in hand.

David Villa was brought on, but this was too little too late.  It mirrored the second leg of the Copa semi for Barca against Madrid where Barca fell 3 behind and brought on Villa too late.  Poor David Villa.  It's like everyone quit on him this year.  I think maybe a year too soon.

Now many people will point out that I probably was very Barca biased in this piece, but that's what Spain has become.  Barca-lite and I don't blame Del Bosque for that.  If I could play Barcelona, even without Messi, against International sides I would be a favorite every time.  The team comes in prepared to play together and it doesn't hurt that they have been the best team in the world over the past five years bar none.  That's why I say it is what it is.

The issue I have with Del Bosque is he seems to make decision based on one of two things.

1.  I have to play certain players because they are big names and it will come at the expense of the lesser names.  Soldado, Lorente, and Navas are not as big of names as Mata, Silva, and Torres.  I think he believes that he can't take criticism when he plays those guys because that's what any other coach would do.  The problem I have with this line of thinking is that it's a team game.  Play the team that gives you the best chance.

2. I have to play other players because I don't want to look like I'm just taking advantage of the Barcelona team and that I'm actually improving on them.  The problem I have with there is no team that plays quite like Barcelona so when you insert key pieces into the team, and that style, they struggle to adjust and can actually get neutralized by their own side.  Just like Juan Mata today.  He was out of his element and Torres over the last few years.

In either case I think a little bit of both is true.  Del Bosque's ego wants to believe that more of Spain's success is what he has done rather than being a byproduct of the Barcelona era where so many players are playing for one side and playing a style that has changed world football.  He has done a lot, but just as in the case with Bayern and Germany the players train all year together for the most part.  The best international sides will always be the ones where the core of the team play together year round.  It's such a massive advantage.  Just ask Mexico and Uruguay.  Two teams loaded with stars who have both suddenly begun to struggle in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup (Although I think they both get in).  Why, because their players are scattered throughout the globe.  Brazil suffered with this same problem, but overcame it due to playing together a lot in the last two months and getting the home cooking I pointed out in an earlier post.

I tweeted earlier that Del Bosque needs to step aside.  I was half joking, but I think he does in a way.  Not for a new coach, but from the coach he has become.  He needs to realize that in order to raise the Cup in Brazil next season he needs to play the best available players at each position and be less concerned with how many Barcelona players he starts and who's feelings he hurts.  To be the greatest team of all time you have to hold yourself to the lofty standards.  The Confed Cup is a small prize and they lost it last time too.  I can see past this, but I hope lessons have been learned.

Spain Vs. Nigeria Dairy Confed Cup 2013 Group stage Match 3

Same lineup for Spain as match up with the exception of Valdes.  8 Barcelona players now.  Let's now kid ourselves this team is basically Barcelona with no Messi.  If Soldado were to do bad today would it be a surprise if Villa got start on the wing with Cesc in the middle in the next round?  It's just crazy to think about.  On to the match.

What's at stake?  For Nigeria an outside chance at the next round for Spain it determines whether they play Italy or Brazil first.  Yes they have not clinched, but the scenario for not advancing is pretty extreme.

It's the Denver snow ref.  All Americans should like this guy.  Although I think going forward with that match was the right decision.

Only one Barca player on the bench in David Villa.

Spoiler alert this recap will focus mainly on Spain because of the way the rain falls there and the fact that Nigerian soccer knowledge is not very high in my house hold.

Great play by Inesta in the first minute to get into a dangerous position.  He seems to thrive in these big international tournaments.

Nigerian comes right back with a quality chance.  Probably a bad idea to opt for the short corner.  

Amazing passing by Spain to cut from the back all the way to the front with no contact by Nigeria. Pedro's pass was incredible.  Credit to Alba for not fumbling that up and scoring in a tough spot.  Scary good play by Spain.  There was like 8 assists on the play.

Great ball into Fabregas.  Nigeria lucky to still only be down 1.

Spain's uniforms would be cool if not for the gold v around the neck.  

Great chance for Nigeria as Spain fell asleep having a man advantage.  Ramos made a good play to stop the chance.  Pedro bumbled up yet another break.  He's been doing it for a year why would he stop now.

Xavi was a bad giveaway.  Nigeria worked too fast with an advantage and lacked the quality to take advantage.

Ramos takes the free kick over Xavi in a very dangerous spot.  I think that was a mistake as he kicks it into the way.

After 15 Spain started brilliant, but have given up chances and maybe are a little overconfident.  They need to work harder.  Nigeria needs to take advantage of their chances and at least get better shots on goal.

Spain are not playing with a sense of urgency since scoring the first goal.  As a group they don't seem determined to win the ball back.  Another dangerous chance by Nigeria.  There best so far.

Dangerous corner for Nigeria, but they don't score and follow it up by messing up another decent chance.

Maybe Xavi was right about not starting the last game.  Spain look rusty.  Valdes took out Pique.  Didn't look that bad on the replay, but the stretcher is out.  I notice that in FIFA matches it comes out faster than in a club match.  Pique looks like he will be ok though.

Ramos fires a ball over the top and Soldado is on, but can't finish.  Scary good pass by Ramos and good play by Soldado to stay on.

Nigeria drive back with another good run and force a corner.  A few moments later they get another big chance.  Spain are asleep out there.  Nigeria then gets another break into the box.  Time for Del Bosque to do some coaching.  If he remembers how.

Soldado gets sprung again.  No reason to not score there.  I think he's botching his chance to keep his spot.  

The announcers remind us that this keeper stopped Messi from scoring at the World Cup.  It seems crazy that Messi didn't have a single goal considering his form since the WC.  I'd bet against that happening again.  

Nigeria would be tied at worst if they had a quality striker.  

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....Fabregas hits the post and should have scored.....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Another dangerous Nigeria chance.  I'm having trouble pin pointing why these are happening so frequently.  It really seems like a lack of energy on Spain's part.  Too much time ball watching and waiting for something to happen.

Bad cross by Alba, but good play to get into position to make the cross.  

Ramos makes an unssucessful attempt to hit Pedro for a pass.  He's been the most willing player to chance.  Everyone else is playing more conservative with their passing.  Good ball from Xavi, but Soldado is well covered.

Great Xavi free kick to Ramos's head.  Good save by the Nigerian keeper.  B- effort by Spain in that first half.  They should have scored at least one more.  Nigeria had some good chances, but couldn't find the quality to finish one off.  Spain must do better in the second half to open up Nigeria on the counter attack.  They also need to play with more energy.  

It's probably popular to take out Soldado, but I'd take out Cesc and see if Villa gives you anything on the wing first.  Then try Torres down the middle for the last 20 minutes or so and see if those two play well together.  

Nigeria springs a good chance out of ball possession.  I'm not sure how they didn't score there.  

Spain earn a big free kick at the top of the box.  I hope Xavi takes it.  Xavi does well to almost bury it.  Making me remember the wasted one by Ramos in the first half.

Del Confuse me is bringing on Silva for Fabregas.  Looks like Cesc is hurt.  Still not sure why you don't bring on a true striker there.  I think he just likes trying to win 1-0.

Torres is coming on.  I think he will excel in this type of game.  

Xavi with a shot he maybe didn't need to take.  

Soldado is off.  I don't like it.  Del Bosque is constantly choosing lineups that are not as attacking.  Why not sub Torres in for Pedro, but really the mistake was bringing on David Silva, which I believe he does to stroke Silva's ego.

Great cross by Pedro into to Torres.  I think that just earned him the start against Italy.  

There are huge gaps in this match where zero is happening.  Actually kind of annoying.  

Silva botches up a pretty easy chance.  All the more reason to question why he is brought in ever for this team.  

Great play to prevent Torres from scoring his second.  I think he needed to be sharper there and finish it.

Pedro and Torres are playing well together.  I would have loved to see Pedro, Torres, and Villa upfront.

Even Juan Mata should play ahead of Silva.  The theme I don't like Silva is being misrepresented.  I like his game, but he's not a forward and shouldn't be in there.  After the Euro I came to the conclusion that Del Bosque was playing him to stroke his ego and I believe I'm correct.

Pedro squanders an easy chance.  This is become a theme for both teams.  This match should have yielded more goals.

Arebeloa botches up a cross and runs back to commit the foul.  Can you say the weak link?

Nigeria will rue all these chances as they miss another one.

Villa is in for Pedro.  So I beg the question is Juan Mata better than David Silva?  Yes by a wide margin.  So why is Silva playing?  I have no idea.

Silva messes up a touch and then botches a pass.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Villa takes advantage of a good play by Alba and he scores his second.

This match was uninspired.  I would have thought a rested Spain side with something to play for would have done better.  The effort will need to improve against Italy.

Time to Do Away with the Away Goals Rule

Too often we are forced to watch football matches that are effected by a rule that denies us seeing two great sides play great football.  We instead watch boring tactics designed to benefit from having scored away goals.  To me it's taking this beautiful game and editing it so you can avoid PK's or extra time at all costs.  The cost is denying us the end to end excitement we all crave, especially in the KO stage of the UCL.

This season the UCL Champions, and best team in the world, benefited greatly from this rule.  Bayern beat Arsenal in the round of 16 3-1 on the road and then lost 2-0 at home, but they advanced on away goals.  That result really bothered me.  Imagine if the game would have continued after the final whistle because they were tied.  Imagine the drama?  Instead Bayern who lost at home without scoring walked off the pitch winners because of where there goals were scored.  Does that make any sense?

I don't think it does and the Barcelona PSG result put us all in the same position, but even worse.  Barcelona earned an away draw to PSG 2-2.  In the return leg PSG struck a goal and took a 3-2 lead overall, but Barca tied the game minutes later at 1-1.  The match finished that way.  So neither team won a match, but Barcelona advanced.  Wait now you can advance without even winning.  Barcelona was deemed better because they scored more on the road.  Huh?

To make matters worse even when the rule is not directly enforced it can have an affect on an outcome because it might be enforced.  You need not look any further than the 2012 UCL Semis to see how the rule can effect pivotal legacy defining matches.  Real Madrid lost it's away leg to Bayern 2-1.  In the home leg Real scored early and made it 1-0 and then again to go up 2-0.  Bayern equalized 2-1 on a PK.  So there we sat deadlocked, but in reality we weren't deadlocked.  Real knew that they had to be extra careful because if they allowed a Bayern goal they would have to then score two.  Every Bayern goal for the remainder of the game counted for more.  Real became more defensive, but it didn't end there.

In extra time the rule still applied.  This is baffling to me.  Real were being punished for playing at home.  If Bayern scored they still had to score twice to avoid elimination.  The logic here is baffling.  To me it was a apparent that Real became very conservative and the rule was effecting their play.  Bayern advanced on PK's.  In this case the rule indirectly effected the outcome, but it didn't end there.

Barcelona lost to Chelsea in their semi 1-0 on the road.  In the return leg Barca got up 2-0, but Chelsea got a late second half goal making the tie level, but Chelsea were threw if the result didn't change.  With Chelsea down to 10 men the game became a struggle for them to lose only 2-1.  Barcelona through the kitchen sink at them and eventually Fernando Torres benefited and added a late goal to seal the tie with Barca committed to forward. Sure the tie was not decided by the rule, but indirectly it was.  Had the tie been even Barcelona would have had a different strategy to get another goal and the game would have been more exciting.  Perhaps Chelsea, who no one thought was the best team in Europe last year wouldn't have hoisted the trophy that said they were.  To me that's kind of a big deal.

This match seemed like revenge for Chelsea who lost a heart breaker in the UCL Semis in 2009 when they drew Barca at home 1-1 and were eliminated.  There were no goals in the first leg.  To me this loss changed the landscape of football.  Barca's big tie started their dynasty, but they only advanced because they tied better.  How often does a tie start a dynasty in the NFL?

The rule also can effect the outlook of a match and make the mountain seem higher should you lose the first leg.  Lyon dropped the first leg of their 2010 semi final tie with Bayern Munich 1-0.  On the road one would think that is a good result, but look at the position that Lyon was in.  They had to be nearly perfect to advance from that position.  They needed to win by two goals to have any chance of going through.  All because they lost 1-0.  That seems a bit harsh, but that's the reality the rule creates.  Certainly Bayern's strategy had to be let's just score one goal and defend like mad, while Lyon had to be thinking about how aggressive do we need to be.  The strategy going into the second leg was overly effected by a minimal result.  So Lyon had to play different from how they normally would and Bayern could be more defensive and less exposed.  The end result was a match that was not the best of how either side plays.  Eventually ending in a blow out by Bayern.

I believe this rule needs to be done away with.  At least in the KO portion of the UCL.  Fans contribute all the revenue to the UCL and they deserve better than to watch boring grinding football that is decided by location of goals rather than quantity.  There are three key benefits to doing away with the rule that would greatly elevate the quality of play in the KO stage and deliver more satisfying results.

The first benefit, and I can't underscore this enough, is that you would always have a winner.  Someone would either score more than someone else or win in PKs.  While I don't think PK's are the greatest thing ever it still gives you a winner and a loser.  Chelsea won because they scored more PK's than Real Madrid is better than Chelsea won because they scored one more away goal than Real Madrid.  You would eliminate ties and that has a ton of value.  

Think about how this rule would have effected the 2012 semi final in Madrid.  There is no way Real would have been as passive when the result was leveled and probably would have pressed either resulting in a goal for them or something for Bayern or to my next point.

More goals would be scored if this rule was abolished.  You would likely eliminate the tactical defensive strategies that go into place when a team is trying to protect their away goal lead.  It then becomes 180 minutes of two teams trying to out score each other and not out wit each other, which in turn leads to my final point.

More drama equals more interest and more memories.  Image if Arsenal and Bayern had to keep playing in this seasons round of 16.  Imagine if they went to penalties.  Wouldn't that have been more exciting?  It certainly would have been more exciting in the case of PSG/Barca where neither team won a match for their to be extra time.  Creating more deadlocked situations, creates more drama and you can't put a price on that.  The tactics can be draining and very anti-climactic, but with the rule change the matches would seem to have more life for the entire duration.

Image this scenario.  Man U play AC Milan into a 1-1 draw in Milan.  In the return leg Milan get up 2-0 in the first half.  Now with the current rule in place this match is basically over because Man U would have to score 3 times to win and have no chance of forcing extra time.  It's very easy for Milan to sit in for an entire half and prevent three goals, but without the rule if Man U were to score one goal in the 2nd half then the match would be on pins and needles until the final whistle.  I think this would be the case in regards to many matches.

I don't think the powers that be at UEFA are likely to do anything anytime to soon.  I get that impression by the fact that they have not even adopted the disappearing salt for free kicks like other federations have.  It's one of the biggest no brainers there could be and when you add to the fact that it wouldn't stir up controversy at all you just have to scratch your head.  World Football is too often protected by authorities that are out of touch with what really matters, but I think they are missing out on the bigger picture.  Ratings are a driving force in sports.  The changing of this rule and the extra drama, goals, and decisions it will bring only create more interest and more reason to watch.  That equals more money and in the end unfortunately that's what they are all about.  So, let's hope they wake up soon.