BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Monday, December 22, 2008

I'm a Scouser but I like the Gunners too!

Liverpool drew once more with Arsenal at Emirates 1-1. It was nice to see Robbie Keane score the equalizer for Liverpool after Rob Van Persie put the home side on top.

So that you know, Keane once played for Tottenham which is Arsenal's true rival. So after a poor first season with the Anfield club, he was roundly serenaded with boos at the Emirates.

At the risk of sounding like a heretic, outside of Liverpool, the one other English club that I like is Arsenal. That's partly because they featured a number of players for the French Football National Team. But in 2003-04, they were simply fun to watch. Has there been any football club that has played entertaining football since?

Maybe last year's Arsenal team when they played great in stretches until Cesc Fabregas and Eduardo went down.

I kinda like their kits too... the one with the Dreamcast, O2, and Emirates looks real cool. Jeez. Now the LFC fans will burn me at the stake.

But that 2003-04 team with Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Freddie Ljungberg, Patrick Viera, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Jose Antonio Reyes, Kolo Toure, Jens Lehmann, Gael Clichy, Nwanku Kanu, and Gilberto was real special.

There were a lot of great goals that year but there are three I will remember:
Well, this one's a supposed goal but was called off by the referee. It was in Ewood Park against the Blackburn Rovers (March 13, 2004) and the home team's American keeper Brad Friedel inexplicably tried to boot the long ball with Henry lurking real close. As Friedel let go of the ball for a kick, Henry tapped it away and a few paces away, slotted in the goal. It should be a legal play since the keeper let go of the ball already.

In a similar situation towards the end of the season, Jose Antonio Reyes (who a lot of people know in the Luis Aragones incident where he making racial slurs against Henry and in his super sub role for Real Madrid two years ago when they reclaimed the La Liga from Barcelona.) stole the ball from Fulham keeper Edwin Van Der Sar who tried to dribble the ball but had his pocket picked for an embarrassing easy goal.

And there was the back heel goal by Henry against Middlesbrough for a 4-1 win. I'm not sure if this is on youtube, but try looking for it. Amazing amazing goal.

Now, Liverpool. It's time to make that move on the Premiership.

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