All star

I made it to the game on Wednesday.

That's the good news but the bad news is we're still waiting for the baby to show her face.

Here I am at the game.

Manchester United beat the MLS All Stars 5-2.

United! United!

It's the day of the big game and still no sign of the baby yet.

There's still a few hours to go though so stay tuned...

Now then youg lady...

We're now 24 days from the due date, which is August 4th incase you've forgotten.

My wife is about ready to go now so we're just waiting for the baby to agree.

The worrying thing is Manchester United are coming to Houston on July 28th and every one keeps telling me that that is the day the baby will arrive.

They say it so often that I'm now resigned to it actually happening.

It would be a shame if it did happen. I'd hate to miss the birth of my first child.

Just kidding!

I did tell my wife that there would be other kids, but Manchester United might not come back to Houston but I just got one of those looks that told me to stop talking.

Born a red..

After reviewing our latest ultrasound picture, I have decided that the baby actually looks more like a devil than an alien. A red devil (if it wasn't a black and white picture). Manchester United through and through.

See for yourself:

The baby is towards the left about half way up.

You can see it's eye sockets, chin, arms and rib cage.

This might be a better view:

United!

Ryan Giggs

Ryan Giggs was crowned Sports Personality of the Year away on Sunday.

You can't argue with Giggsy, he's been there and done it all. He's the most decorated footballer in British history with 11 premier league titles, 2 champions league, 2 world club cups, many FA Cups & League Cups so far.

He'll be 36 soon as has just been offered a one year contract taking him to the end of the 2010-11 season.

I remember Giggsy's debut back in 1991 and the guy is a United legend. Not only that, but I think you'll be hard pushed to find supporters of other clubs who dislike the guy and that can't be said for many players.

He was crowned the PFA footballer of the year last season too and it was probably a surprise to see him voted Sports Personality of the Year ahead of Jensen Button who came second, despite winning the Formula 1 championship this year.

Ryan Giggs made his 800th appearance for Manchester United last season and also broke the club's record for number of games played which is especially impressive these days when so few players stay at one club for their entire career.

The only downside to the Ryan Giggs story, for me at least, is that he wasn't English.

Derby Day Thriller

It was the Manchester derby today so I was hoping for a happy birthday present from the reds.


It was probably the best game I've seen in a long time and when Craig Bellamy scored for City to make it 3-3 with seconds left on the clock, it looked like it was going to be a disappointing finish.


Rio Ferdinand carelessly gave the ball away and Bellamy easily out paced him to score from a tight angle. But the drama wasn't finished there.


On 95 minutes and 28 seconds, Michael Owen got free in the City box and scored a dramatic winner for United in his first taste of a Manchester derby.


City were their usual bitter selves complaining that the referee had indicated there would be four minutes of injury time and were fuming that the referee hadn't blown sooner.


If they actually knew the rules they would save themselves some anger, not to mention embarrassment.


As we approached 90 minutes on the clock, the fourth official signalled there would be a minimum of four minutes added time. The important word there is a minimum.


If they're still not sure of the rules, let's break it down even further for them. City scored on 89 minutes and 58 seconds. There were over 91 minutes on the clock when the game restarted, which means that there is still the four minutes of added time left.


United then made a substitution, bringing on Michael Carrick for Anderson. Substitutions mean an additional thirty seconds added on.


If you're still following, that means the referee should not blow his whistle before 95 minutes and 30 seconds are on the clock. Michael Owen scored on 90:28. Perfectly reasonable I think you will admit.


By the way, is it just me or is City's new kit one of the worst there's ever been? I don't know how grown men can actually choose to wear a shirt that resembles a baby grow. Especially when Craig Bellamy is wearing it.

One year on

Today is the one year anniversary of a shocking event.

An event that was as unexpected as it was devastating, one which happened so fast, caused so much damage and yet left us all stronger for the experience.

That's right. It was one year ago today when Manchester United were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool. Obviously United went on to win their third title in a row, and record equalling 19th title ever, while Liverpool finished the season empty handed, again.

Also, today is the first anniversary of hurricane Ike but we won't go into that just now.

Strachan does it again

Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-1 at Old Trafford last weekend.

Surprisingly after recent battles between the two clubs the match wasn't a particularly dirty or aggressive one, but one man did get sent off.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was sent to the stands with 30 seconds remaining in injury time for kicking a plastic bottle in frustration as Arsenal had what they thought was an equaliser correctly ruled out for offside.

Farcical scenes followed as Wenger didn't know where he was supposed to go but this Match of the day clip makes an already funny incident even better.

Gordon Strachan certainly has a way of adding a bit of colour to the game.

This is the guy who, as Celtic manager was asked for a quick word by a reporter after a game to which he replied "velocity" before walking away. Brilliant.

New Season

The new football season starts today so it is very exciting. Well, the Premier League kicks off today, the rest of the English leagues started last week.

It's always a long summer in an odd numbered year as there is no world cup or European Championship to fill the void.

This summer was fairly quiet on the transfer front. Ronaldo left Manchester United early and with the minimum of fuss which suggests a deal had been in place long before anyone actually admitted it. United can't complain about the service he;s given them over the last six years and the world record fee received will soften the blow further.

While still having a good season helping United clinch a third championship in a row and reaching the Champions league final, Ronaldo failed to reach the heights of the previous season and it was clear his heart wasn't always in it.

So the big four haven't really strengthed their squads during the summer and it coule be argued they are weaker. United also lost Carlos Tevez, Liverpool lost Xabi Alonso and Arsenal lost Emmanuel Adebayor.

Chelsea have made a couple of low profile signings and have retained their squad from last season so I think they have to be favourites this year.

Having said that, I definitely think it will be a lot closer this year. Manchester City have spent a lot of money and have assembled a good squad so it will be interesting to see how they fit together. This year may be too soon for them but they could be a threat over the next few years.

So there you have it, Chelsea are my tip for the championship, United and Liverpool will battle it out for 2nd and Arsenal and Manchester City will take 4th and 5th, although which finishes 4th will probably come down to the slightest margin.

Enjoy!

Going Home

My Wife and I have just booked flights to England.

I haven't been back home since I moved to Houston just over 4 years ago. I don't think it's really settled in yet. It's been so long since I was there that I haven't started thinking about what I want to do when we get there.

We'll be in England for our first anniversary. I thought we should do something special so I'll be taking my Wife on a tour of Old Trafford. Ok, so I'm just kidding about that, we don't have to go on our actual anniversary..

We'll be there for 12 days and we have to make stops in at least three different cities, maybe four so we'll spend a lot of time running around getting to visit everyone.

My Wife hasn't been home to Ireland since 1999 so we're planning on going there for a couple of days. Flights from Manchester are only £10 per person (including taxes) so there's really no excuse not to. Maybe some of my friends can meet us there for a night out so we can kill two birds with one stone.

The first thing we've thought about is all of the goodies we can bring back with us. Obviously I will be stocking up on Cadbury's Dairy Milk and my Dad has already placed an order for some Mince Pies so we'll have to take a couple of extra suitcases. Times certainly have changed. We used to visit the US with a spare case for all of the clothes we could buy here, these days the spare case is for food you can only get in England (or Ireland).

Ever since we met, my Wife has been telling me about something called a Spice Burger. This is something you can only get in Ireland and apparently isn't actually spicy but I'm sure we'll get to try one on our trip.

I'm hoping to show my Wife where I grew up. I think she will be surprised at the part of Manchester we used to live. It wasn't any worse than most areas in Manchester but it is a world away from the life we have today. I think after the visit she will put any thoughts of moving back there one day right out of her mind!

It will be November when we're there so we can do some Christmas shopping, but the weather is going to be quite a shock after four and a half years in Houston. My Wife doesn't even own a coat so no doubt there will be a shopping trip to stock up on winter woollies.

It will be good to see friends and family we haven't seen for a while, especially those who couldn't make it over for the wedding and I'll finally get to meet the rest of Jennifer's family that I've heard so much about.

I did joke that I would have to check United's fixtures before we booked the flights to make sure I got to go to at least one game but we'll be so busy that there is plenty more I'd actually rather do. That statement alone shows you how much my life has changed since I left England!

Anyway, I'm sure the excitement will only grow between now and then as one of the best parts of travelling is planning all the places you're going to see.

United bomb on Indonesian tour

Manchester United are spending the summer, as they always do, whoring themselves on corporate junkets to the other side of the world. This year, once more it is the turn of the far east including Indonesia & Malaysia.

The stop in Indonesia has been cancelled however after the Jakarta hotel the team were due to stay at was bombed, resulting in the death of nine people and injuring 50.

The incident had nothing to do with United's tour but it's not the first time the team have been mentioned in reports on terrorist attacks.

I remember a few years ago when I was working in Manchester, they used to hand out free copies of the Manchester Evening News at the bus station some Fridays so I grabbed one to read on the journey home.

The front page story was about a raid on a house in Manchester where suspected terrorists lived and the police had found tickets to Manchester United's game that weekend. United get over 76,000 people at every home game so it's not hard to imagine the chaos such an attack would cause.

Being a season ticket holder, I was attending the game, I think it was against Arsenal and I spent most of the time before, during and after the game looking for bearded men acting suspiciously.

Luckily, the game passed without incident but due to the coverage English football gets there is a very real chance that a game or team could be targeted.

United have cancelled a stop on the tour and are considering playing the game at another location but that still leaves 100,000 people who had tickets to the original game who will lose out seeing their heroes.

On the bright side, Michael Owen played his first game for United and scored the winner in a 3-2 win over Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

Not a bad record after being written off by so many. An average of a goal a game is better than most!

Next Season..Update

A quick update on the newly released Premier league fixtures and my predictions.

Manchester United do indeed start the season at home to a newly promoted team (Birmingham City) followed by another (Burnley) away in the second game.

The Manchester derby takes place in the last four games, with the Chelsea game two weeks earlier.

The final game of the season is against Stoke City who struggled this season, their first in the Premier league.

Stoke are expected to struggle again so the only prediction I got wrong is that the game is at Old Trafford and not in Stoke.

Random indeed.

Next season

Next season's Premier League fixture are released this morning. This is a very exciting day for football fans, especially fans of the newly promoted clubs. Wolves and Birmingham have been there before but Burnley have made it the Premier League for the first time.

I was glad to see Burnley win the play off final against Sheffield United, mainly because I like seeing new teams come up and we've all seen Sheffield United yo-yoing up and down over the last 20 years.

The fixtures are created by a computer and are supposedly random but I've begun to doubt just how random they are over the last few years.

Funny how Manchester United seem to play one of the other so-called 'Big Four' in one of the last few games. This would happen occasionally if the fixtures really were random but when Chelsea were the main title challengers, it was Manchester United against Chelsea in an end of season 'title decider'.

The satisfying thing as a United fan is that even though the TV companies may put pressure on the Premier League to have a big game at the end of the season to decide who wins the championship, it never quite turned out that way and the title was usually sewn up before that game making it a meaning tie with lots of reserve and youth team players given a run out instead.

So my predictions for United's fixtures next season are one of the newly promoted teams in the first couple of games, probably the first game, and one of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and/or Manchester City in the last 4 games of the season finishing up away to a team likely to be relegated guaranteeing them a big crowd and some lovely TV money.

Friday night

When I lived in England, Friday night was a great night for TV. The advent of Sky + (DVR) meant that even if you had a life and went out, you could still catch up on your shows.

One show in particular that I used to enjoy, although rarely actually watch on Friday nights was BBC 1's Friday night with Jonathan Ross. I've talked about Jonathan Ross before as I regularly listen to his Radio 2 podcast.

The BBC makes quality television. It is funded in a unique way with the licence fee so it is commercial free.

However, BBC America is a different story. For starters, it is a commercial station. It carries advertising. It also shows mostly crap. Cooking shows, cleaning shows, attic antiques shows, shows that show you hot to clean up after cooking in your attic. It's pretty much a reality TV twilight zone with the same shows repeated a couple of times a day, and the unbelievably lazy 'marathons' which are basically just an excuse to show the same show constantly for three days.

To be fair, there are a lot of good shows on BBC America, but they take the easy option and mostly show dumb, mind numbing tv that the general public loves. Notable exceptions include the excellent Gavin & Stacey, Torchwood, Primeval etc although I maybe wouldn't watch the latter two if I still lived in England and had access to other shows.

I often wondered why the BBC didn't show more of the quality television that it is renowned for. Where are the David Attenborough documentaries? The funny and informative QI with Stephen Fry? Friday night with Jonathan Ross?

And now we finally get to the point of this post. The BBC have finally seen the error of their ways and are going to start airing Friday night with Jonathan Ross on BBC America. The starts on June 12th at 8pm (7pm central). Jonathan Ross is the BBC's highest earner by far so it makes sense to exploit his popularity and get more for their money.

Friday night with Jonathan Ross could be described as the UK's version of The Tonight Show, except it's only on once a week. It is a talk show and even has it's own house band "Four poofs and piano" who add a little gaiety to the proceedings.

The first show will feature Dustin Hoffman, Hugh Laurie (House) and a certain Eric Cantona, Manchester United legend turned actor.

Sweet FA

Happy FA Cup Final day!

Whether my team is in the FA Cup final or not, it is always an exciting day for a football fan. No matter what the riches in the Premier League or Champions League, the FA Cup final is still the showpiece event of the season.

I always loved the build up the week of the cup final, interviews with the players, fans with their crazy superstitions and omens. Living in the US now it's not quite the same. Usually the game is in pay per view and you maybe get a little build up an hour before the game but not a lot else.

However, this year Setanta are airing the game so there is no extra cost for subscribers. Their coverage even started at 3am Houston time with reporters inside the stadium, outside the stadium with the fans, at the team hotels, pretty anywhere around Wembley Stadium.

The thing I like about the FA Cup final is that it's still a very British occasion. Thus year is the 128th FA Cup final so we know what we're doing by now. The Superbowl in the US is less about the actual game as the years go on and more about the occasion but despite all of the pageantry surrounding the FA Cup final, it is the game itself that is the reason we're all here.

So it's Everton v Chelsea. Everton are in their first final since 1995. Chelsea won the cup two years ago.

I hope Everton win it, mainly because I like different teams to win the cup and not have the same teams winning it as has happened in recent years with Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea winning it too often.

Portsmouth's win last year was a welcome surprise so hopefully Everton can overcome the underdog tag and claim the trophy.

Short week

After the Memorial Day weekend last week week I thought this would be a short week in work but it hasn't really turned out like that.

We had Monday off and I finished early on Wednesday to watch the footy but Tuesday and Thursday both involved being caught up in the office until past 7pm despite planning on leaving around 4pm both days.

I plan on leaving a little bit early on Friday as my Wife and I are continuing our attempts at regaining our social life by going to see Jerry Seinfeld on Friday, and then a party on Saturday night. Another long weekend would be nice so we have an extra day to do the odd jobs you always seem to end up doing at the weekend.

There's also the small matter of the FA Cup final on Saturday which will be the last football game until August (possibly). I'm not a particular fan of either Everton or Chelsea but I'll be hoping Everton get the win, if only to see a new name on the trophy after the same names over the last few years (with the exception of Portsmouth's victory last year). Everton's last FA Cup win came against Manchester United in 1995 so it is long overdue.

As a United fan, if we can't win everything then I like new teams to at least win the cup so that things continue to be interesting.

Game over

Oh well, so it wasn't to be this time. After riding their luck for a lot of the season and not playing as well as they could, the Champions League final was a step too far for Manchester United.

Other than the first 10 minutes, they were never really in the game. Barcelona scored with their first chance and never looked back.

I actually don't feel as bad as I thought I would. It would've been much worse had it been a late winner but United didn't deserve it and were totally outplayed on the night. Barcelona are worthy champions and it's still surprising that this was only their third European Cup/Champions League title (the same as Manchester United).

This season has still been a great success. English League Champions for the third season running and a record equalling eighteenth time in total, the league Cup, World Club Cup and Charity Shield.

It will be an interesting summer but I can't see United buying too many players. It will depend on the departures with Carlos Tevez seemingly on his way, and we're sure to endure another will he won't he saga over Ronaldo and Real Madrid.

Next season might be the last we see of some of the senior players, with Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Edwin Van Der Sar all likely to retire sooner rather than later so the next few years could well be a transition period, especially if Fergie decides to retire.

Pre-match nerves

I'm just about to head out to watch the Champions League Final between Manchester United and Barcelona.

This is a huge game and my pre-match nerves have been getting gradually worse throughout the day. The last hour at work was pretty much spent pacing around the office counting down until it was time to leave!

I can't think of anything else to say I'm so excited so I'm going to sign off, even though it's such a big game that I know I'm not going to actually enjoy watching it.

See you on the other side.

Final Day Drama

It was the final day of the English Premier League season today.

I always look forward to the final day as all games start at the same time to ensure there is no funny business and this only adds to the drama.

The TV companies keep you updated with all of the scores and show how each goal affects the final table with the various teams being safe from relegation one minute and then all of a sudden sucked back into danger.

With West Brom already relegated it left two more places left to be decided with four teams still in danger of the drop. Middlesbrough are a nothing team who are pretty much just a minor irritation twice a season. Sunderland looked the least likely to go down and I wasn't that bothered either way really.

Hull City and Newcastle were the other two in danger. Hull only came up last season so I was hoping they'd stay up, mainly because it can get pretty boring when the teams that get promoted to the Premier League go straight back down. Manchester United stood in the way of Hull today and there were rumours of a weakened United side ahead of Wednesday's Champions League final but the result worked out just as I'd hoped. United played a lot of youngsters with only Darren Fletcher, who is suspended for the final, appearing regularly for the first team. Just to make sure that the relegated clubs could have no complaints, United's "3rd team" came away with a victory while results elsewhere meant Hull survived.

Newcastle are a big club with a lot of big name players who just haven't performed. Although I despise Alan Shearer, I actually prefer to see the bigger clubs in the Premier League.

In the end, all four teams were beaten which meant Middlesbrough and Newcastle were relegated.

As the title of this post suggests, there was lots of drama today, only it wasn't in the football as I'd expected.

We've had our eyes on an old rustic style beer cooler for the back garden for a while now and went to a couple of places yesterday to try and find one but to no avail. This morning we decided we'd try another store and with one eye on the clock, I decided we'd have enough time to make it there and back in time for the big kick off.

An impromptu big shop delayed us slightly but we missed only part of the first half of the games and with the magic of the DVR we were caught up by half time.

Looking forward to a frenetic second half in all of the games, this is when the drama started. My Wife noticed that something wasn't quite right with Busby's stomach. It actually appeared to be drooping on one side, almost as if he has suddenly lost a lot of weight and had too much skin.

A quick google search failed to put her mind at rest as she dissected all of the worst case scenario's convincing herself, and me that this was something serious.

To save ourselves from a possible lifetime of regrets, we decided a trip to the animal emergency clinic was in order. Luckily, there was one not too far from the house but we were advised there was a 2-3 hour wait. While we were waiting my Wife also noticed a lump just above his hind left leg.

When we finally did see the vet, he knew right away what it was. He said that it was likely that Busby had been bitten by something, or maybe stung by a bee and this has caused an edema. Basically, gravity had pulled the infected area away from the body, making it appear to be drooping, which is the only way we knew something was wrong.

They shaved his newly groomed fur to find the puncture wound and luckily it was just a bee sting. Busby had a couple of shots of pain killers and currently wouldn't look out of place in a Cheech & Chong movie or The Pineapple Express.

He should be ok in a couple of days and his stomach should return to it's normal state soon.

To his credit, Busby was really well behaved throughout his ordeal. In fact you wouldn't have guessed there was anything wrong with him if he wasn't dragging his little belly along the floor when he walked.

Number 18

It's all over. Manchester United are Premier League Champions for the 3rd year running, and a record equalling 18th time!

They weren't on particularly good form today against Arsenal but all they had to do was avoid defeat. With the game finishing goalless the title was wrapped up and the celebrations could start.

The party will be short lived though as the players start to concentrate on the Champions League final, with the small matter of wrapping up the domestic season next week at Hull City.

In eleven days time United will come up against Barcelona, and yesterday was the 18th anniversary of the European Cup Winners Cup final between the two clubs.

I still remember that campaign really well. It was the first season English clubs were allowed back into European competition after the Heysel disaster led to a five year ban, although Liverpool were banned for an additional year. United qualified thanks to winning the FA Cup the previous year, a win widely believed to have saved Alex Ferguson's job. I remember calling for Fergie's head in the late 80's, the 12 year old me convinced the guy would never bring the glory days back to Old Trafford!

We were all looking forward to a European adventure and some glamorous games against the big boys but we had to wait as the early rounds took us to Hungary, Poland as well as a quick trip over to Wrexham.

Was it a sign of things to come as United got to the final in that first year? Probably not really as it took the club a few years to finally get it right but on May 15th 1991 a 2-1 victory against Barcelona gave the club only their second ever European trophy.

This was a few years before the European Cup was revamped into the monster that is now the Champions League so there were some big names in the competition. It's a sad sign of how things have developed since then that the Cup Winners Cup no longer exists.

I had pre-match nerves before the Arsenal game today but it is nothing compared to how I'll feel on the 27th.