Sporting Sensations

[VAisForEagleLovers]

My Buccos are going to turn it around just any time now!! I can feel it! Perhaps this weekend...

[Brooke]

My Buccos are going to turn it around just any time now!! I can feel it! Perhaps this weekend...

[Houston Baby]

WOO HOO! ROCKETS are going to the Western Conference Finals. First game is tomorrow night so I have a decision to make - EAGLES or Rockets.

I LOVE my Rockets but this decision is NOT even close!

GO RED NATION!!!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

This is good news for you, HB!!! Congrats!! I hope they win!

[thelastresort]

For what it's worth, I felt the same way about Chelsea vs Manchester United on Saturday night (although Man Utd will always be 'the enemy' as far as I'm concerned). Is it just me or has Jose Mourinho been worse than ever this season? Extremely negative men behind the ball tactics (even against struggling teams), leading citing conspiracies when they've been top of the league all season and bizarre rants like his 'minute 30, 33, 43, 69' interview after drawing at home to Burnley. I hope Arsenal beat them next weekend, although I fully expect yet another 1-0 win.

tlr, do you pay much attention to Birmingham City or West Bromwich Albion? Just noticing that your location is in Birmingham and you say you dislike Villa. As for Rangers, I must admit I warmed to Celtic when I was a child - one of the first games I remember was Liverpool vs Celtic in the UEFA Cup (around March 2003) and I liked players such as Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and Stiliyan Petrov, although nowadays I'd rather anyone else won the SPL. Just gets boring seeing the same team walk to the title every year. After your woes in the last few years I think you were unlucky to come up to the Championship at the same time as Hearts who were relegated by their own financial troubles which left them with a points deduction and a skeleton team of youngsters in last year's SPL (Hibs by contrast were rubbish and nothing to be afraid of when they came down, they've done better than I though TBH).

I am quite fond of Mourinho, what a lot of people forget is that as dull as he is he legitimately wins football matches, their 2-0 win at Anfield last year being a testament to that, you'd have thought by the way people went on that they'd performed some kind of illegal witchcraft or something. The amount of effort they put in before Christmas is what has allowed them to clear up this year, again that's something else Jose does well, when he's within touching distance of the winning line he can afford to go for 1-0 jobs, knowing that their exuberance in the early months has given them such a boost. As Claude the ArsenalTV legend says, it's better than doing what Arsenal do: play very sexy football but get absolutely **** all as a result.

As for the second bit, I don't so much as follow City or West Brom in as much as that I detest Villa (rather ironically I attend the uni that bears their name ). I will probably get a Birmingham City season ticket next year to give me something to do on weekends (and the odd Tuesday), which will be odd because I also double up as a Blackburn fan (my hometown team, I went to Cardiff to watch them lift 2002 League Cup and everything), and everyone knows the unwritten rule of football is you support two teams in the same league.

[thelastresort]

I will add it shows how much I know about American sport when I don't even know what sport the Rockets play! I'll guess baseball?

[Jonny Come Lately]

I am quite fond of Mourinho, what a lot of people forget is that as dull as he is he legitimately wins football matches, their 2-0 win at Anfield last year being a testament to that, you'd have thought by the way people went on that they'd performed some kind of illegal witchcraft or something. The amount of effort they put in before Christmas is what has allowed them to clear up this year, again that's something else Jose does well, when he's within touching distance of the winning line he can afford to go for 1-0 jobs, knowing that their exuberance in the early months has given them such a boost. As Claude the ArsenalTV legend says, it's better than doing what Arsenal do: play very sexy football but get absolutely **** all as a result.

As for the second bit, I don't so much as follow City or West Brom in as much as that I detest Villa (rather ironically I attend the uni that bears their name ). I will probably get a Birmingham City season ticket next year to give me something to do on weekends (and the odd Tuesday), which will be odd because I also double up as a Blackburn fan (my hometown team, I went to Cardiff to watch them lift 2002 League Cup and everything), and everyone knows the unwritten rule of football is you support two teams in the same league.

I will begrudgingly admit you are right about Mourinho. Another good example of him getting the end result was in the 2010 Champions League when he masterminded Inter Milan's triumph over the all-conquering Barcelona team in the semi-final, en route to winning trophy. His Real Madrid tenure has to be considered a mild disappointment though, he really needed to win the Champions League there to be considered a success I think.

I had to laugh though last night when I watched the Chelsea game when I saw that Cesc Fabregas was sent off for deliberately kicking the ball at an opposing player - what made it so funny was that he perfectly placed the ball on Chris Brunt's ear! I suspect that Mario Balotelli/Rickie Lambert/Raheem Sterling would have missed by miles...

Birmingham aren't a team I've paid all that much attention to in the last couple of years but their new manager seems to know what he's doing, Gary Rowett took them from being in seemingly deep relegation trouble when he took over to comfortable mid-table. It's only four years since they won the League Cup, but last season they only a last minute equaliser preserved their status in the second tier.

Blackburn have fallen from grace in recent years but I think they managed to punch above their weight for a good few years, the League Cup triumph and a number of top-half finishes in the Premier League being clear evidence of that. They used to have some real quality in their ranks come to think of it - when I first got into football around 2003 or so, their side included the likes of Andy Cole, Damien Duff and Brad Friedel, and the 2005-2008 Mark Hughes teams were pretty decent. It all went wrong IMO when Sam Allardyce was sacked, I certainly don't think they'd have been relegated under his management. From the current team Jordan Rhodes and Rudy Gestede are good strikers but I think at least one of them will leave this summer, probably Gestede.

[thelastresort]

Blackburn have fallen from grace in recent years but I think they managed to punch above their weight for a good few years, the League Cup triumph and a number of top-half finishes in the Premier League being clear evidence of that. They used to have some real quality in their ranks come to think of it - when I first got into football around 2003 or so, their side included the likes of Andy Cole, Damien Duff and Brad Friedel, and the 2005-2008 Mark Hughes teams were pretty decent. It all went wrong IMO when Sam Allardyce was sacked, I certainly don't think they'd have been relegated under his management. From the current team Jordan Rhodes and Rudy Gestede are good strikers but I think at least one of them will leave this summer, probably Gestede.

I wouldn't say as much punch above their weight: they had the structure and the players to comfortably be a mid-table Premier League team, it did help that Ewood Park was a bit of a fortress and on many an occasion the likes of Arsenal and Man United would leave with just a point (or none), and nothing ever really rocked the boat, I'd probably say much in the same way that Everton or, of late, Swansea and Stoke are.

The turning point was indeed Allardyce's sacking (or more generally the chicken enthusiasts taking over), he doesn't play pretty football but he comes with a 100% guarantee not to get you relegated; however I think the more pressing matter was the inept moron who replaced him, we were absolutely dead certs to go down as soon as Kean arrived.

2003-2006 really was Rovers's zenith (this century at least): Duff, Neill, Nelson, Dunn, Pedersen, Emerton, first season Santa Cruz and McCarthy, and Todd are all players I'd love to have back now. The real key to any of that though were Brad Friedel and Tugay, easily the best two players I've ever seen in a Rovers shirt. They never found replacements for them. That is crucial in what happened.

[Freypower]

I will add it shows how much I know about American sport when I don't even know what sport the Rockets play! I'll guess baseball?

The Houston Rockets are basketball, I think. The Astros are baseball unless I'm horribly out of date.

http://www.nba.com/rockets/?hp=1

As well as Liverpool I have a soft spot for Crystal Palace because they were my 'local' team in 1972-73 (we lived in Penge). I am also very happy that Watford will be in the Premier League next season as they are Elton John's team.

My husband supports Newcastle but I get the impression that many people from South Shields, including his mother & brother, support Sunderland. Somehow Sunderland got passed on to my daughter.

TLR, what did you think of David Cameron's alleged support of Villa & the fact that he 'forgot' them when asked?!

[thelastresort]

The Houston Rockets are basketball, I think. The Astros are baseball unless I'm horribly out of date.

http://www.nba.com/rockets/?hp=1

As well as Liverpool I have a soft spot for Crystal Palace because they were my 'local' team in 1972-73 (we lived in Penge). I am also very happy that Watford will be in the Premier League next season as they are Elton John's team.

My husband supports Newcastle but I get the impression that many people from South Shields, including his mother & brother, support Sunderland. Somehow Sunderland got passed on to my daughter.

TLR, what did you think of David Cameron's alleged support of Villa & the fact that he 'forgot' them when asked?!

And of course Crystal Palace are nicknamed after some bird, I forget which

Mr. Cameron is one of the few things I have less regard for than Aston Villa. I'll let you draw the conclusions from that

Edit - Also, I'm pretty sure you're the only Liverpool fan with any love left for Palace, what with them providing the downfall last season, and ruining Gerrard's send off at the weekend!