Great Football League Teams 17: West Bromwich Albion, 2001-02

BROKER.......

Booker Prize winner: True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
John Peel Festive 50 Number 1: Melys: Chinese Whispers
Poet Laureate: Andrew Motion
President of Libya: Muammar al-Gaddafi

They may not have been a team for the purists.

But the West Bromwich Albion of 2001/02 knew how to do drama.

With only eight games of the season left, they stood 11 points behind bitter local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers, who occupied the second automatic promotion spot – but turned things around in a barnstorming finish to the campaign.
It was a wet dream for Albion fans, a nightmare for the old gold.

And it was all the sweeter for being so unexpected.

Context

Albion at the start of the new millennium were emerging from the most traumatic decade in their history, with humiliation on the pitch, and stagnation off it.

Wolves, in contrast, had enjoyed tens of millions of investment from chairman and 'golden tit' Sir Jack Hayward, who rebuilt both ground and team – though fell short of elevating them to the Premier League.

The seed of Albion's recovery was planted on Christmas Eve 1999, when Sheffield businessman Paul Thompson took over as chairman.

One of his earliest decisions was to sack Brian Little as manager, with the team sliding towards relegation in March 2000, and appoint Gary Megson.

The carrot-topped Yorkshireman was known for his pragmatic style of football, which contrasted with the cavalier approach Albion fans preferred.

But these were desperate times – so prized ideals went out the window.

Megson brought in four signings on deadline day – and Albion survived by beating champions Charlton in the final match of the campaign.

In 2000/01, things improved considerably, with a switch to 3-5-2 resulting in a surprise play-off place.

But few Albion fans expected the team to push for the automatic spots during the following campaign.

Megson's men
Megson had built a team largely in his own image – short on flair maybe, but never on commitment. Most had tasted better days with other clubs, before being released – and you could sense a point being proved in every tackle.

Captain and midfielder Derek McInnes, once of Rangers and then Toulouse, exemplified the Megson spirit best and proved a born leader – as he is showing currently as St Johnstone manager. Andy Johnson's top flight experience with Nottingham Forest and youth team product Adam Chambers helped the engine room tick over.

At the back, ex-Derby and Pompey stopper Russell Hoult was beginning to hit the form that saw him on the fringe of the England squad a year later. He was protected by craggy centre halves Larus Sigurdsson, Phil Gilchrist, and Darren Moore – a lynchpin of Bradford's happy promotion season three years earlier.

The wing backs were Neil Clement, blessed with a left peg so sweet his free kicks appeared guided by a third force that season, and on the right, Slovakian Igor Balis, whose moment in the sun would arrive late on in the campaign.

The attack looked blunt, after local hero Lee Hughes defected to Coventry for £5,000,001 during the summer (the £1 relating to a contract clause), and Jason Roberts injured his metatarsal, restricting his appearances that season to just 12.

So the line was led by the more workmanlike Scott Dobie, signed from Carlisle for £150,000, and Danny Dichio, £1.25m from Sunderland – supported by club legend Bob Taylor, now 34 years old.

It was not a team full of goals, but concerned more with keeping them out – often a 5-3-2 rather than the 3-5-2 on the teamsheet. Some 19 games would be won 1-0 during 2001/02.

Cincy Jungle: Football Movie Tournament Week Two Recap

nice football tournament

As you know, we've started a football movie tournament in hopes that we can come up with the greatest football movie ever filmed. In week one, The Blind Side took down Air Bud: Golden Receiver, Brian's Song beat Necessary Roughness, Remember The Titans destroyed Little Giants and Rudy beat out Semi-Tough. All of those movies will move on to the second round.

This week we had another great set of first-round match ups, including a couple upsets. The Waterboy took down the favored Jerry Maguire, Friday Night Lights beat Leatherheads, my personal favorite, The Program narrowly beat out We Are Marshall (by 2 votes), Varsity Blues beat The Longest Yard (the1974 version... another upset) and The Replacements took down The Express.

Next week we'll finish our first round of the tournament before moving into the next round. Monday's match up will be between No. 10 Invincible VS No. 15 The Longest Yard (2005 version). Tuesday's match up is between No. 11 Radio and No. 14 Any Given Sunday. And finally, Wednesday's match up will put No. 12 North Dallas Forty and No. 13 Gridiron Gang in the ring together. Then on Thursday we'll start the second round of the tournament.

Make sure you vote every night so your movie has a chance at being the greatest football movie ever (unless your favorite football movie was Air Bud: Golden Receiver... that one's been eliminated already).

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Jungmann throws second straight shutout

BRaVo..

Whether at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin or 3,750 miles away in Hawaii, Texas right-hander Taylor Jungmann remains at home on a pitching mound.
Jungmann pitched his second straight complete-game shutout to open the college baseball season, as the Longhorns balnked host Hawaii 2-0 early this morning. He allowed just four hits while striking out nine. After retiring the first eight batters he faced, Jungmann later set down 10 batters in a row from the fifth inning to the eighth inning.
On Feb. 18 in a season-opening victory over visiting Maryland, Jungmann allowed five hits and struck out nine to lead Texas to an 8-0 shutout.
Against Hawaii, Texas (4-2) took a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Paul Montalbano reached on an infield single and moved to second on an error. He eventually scored on Mark Payton’s single to right field.
The Longhorns added another run in the sixth inning. Brandon Loy bounced a ground-rule double over the left-field wall before scoring on Erich Weiss’ RBI single.
Texas and Hawaii will resume their three-game series at 7 p.m. today.

2011 NFL Scouting Combine: Day 1 Non-Football Observations

Darron Cummings - APMore photos »
That's Collin in the first row. Try to pick out which one. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Collin did a great job today giving an overview of all the football-related news that happened today, but I wanted to give you some insight about some of the other stuff that happens:

For those of you that have been in the Bakers & Daniels Club inside Lucas Oil Stadium, everything was set up in there. On both ends were just rows and rows of tables for media members to sit, and in the middle of the room were three podiums for interviews, each with chairs in front of them.
Collin beat me down there today, and picked a fantastic place to sit. About ten minutes after I arrived, in walked Don Banks of Sports Illustrated, and sat down right next to me. Then, the person across from me (which I'll get to in a minute) starts talking to Chris Mortensen, then John Clayton, and I think nothing of it. Just a coincidence he knew those two guys.
About 10 minutes later, Banks starts talking about his interviews for NFL Network for their Top 10 series, and he asks the guy across from me when he's going. At this point, I realize the guy across from me is not just a "Comcast Media Member", which is all his name tag said. I start searching around, and find out it's Tom Curran of NBC Sports and Comcast Sports Net New England. Really nice guy, even though he writes about the Patriots.


Rex Ryan drew the biggest crowd, and was surprised at how relatively small the crowd was for Jason Garrett. Each coach talked about 15 minutes, then took questions for another 15 outside in the concourse, where they were sucked in my Sirius NFL Radio.
Speaking of Sirius NFL Radio, Adam Schein acts as enthusiastic as he sounds on the radio. He was making a point to Rich Gannon at one point, waving his arms all over the place. It was funny to watch, and something you don't get to see with radio personalities.
It was a wide range of clothing, from people in suits, to sport coats and jeans, to hooded sweatshirts.
They ran out of chips not once, but twice, along with all the caffeinated sodas. That's probably my own fault that I didn't go early enough.
The story of Danny Watkins from Baylor is really cool, and I'll leave for a full story.
I forgot to bring my camera with me, but will take pictures tomorrow of the surroundings

The Wire

Othes sport

LAS VEGAS -- Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam (Pacman) Jones was sentenced on Thursday to probation and 200 hours of community service under a plea deal for his role in a 2007 strip club melee in Las Vegas.
Clark County courts spokeswoman Mary Ann Price said Jones received a suspended sentence and was also ordered to receive anger management counselling. The sentence requires Jones to undergo random drug testing.
Jones told the Las Vegas Sun after the sentencing that he's glad to finally have the case behind him and has been praying for the victims of the shooting.
"This has been a long, long haul and has affected a lot of families," Jones told the newspaper. "It has affected me personally."
JUPITER, Fla. -- St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright will require Tommy John surgery to repair his elbow and he will miss the entire 2011 season, the club confirmed Thursday morning.
General manager John Mozeliak made the announcement at about 10 a.m. St. Louis time after a discussion with the pitcher and the team physician. All parties had been waiting on the results of a second opinion requested Wednesday evening from Dr. Lewis Yocum in the Los Angeles area.
A former member of the Manitoba Moose who turned to coaching has been banished from the Central Hockey League for the rest of the season after throwing his clothes -- almost all of them -- onto the ice in protest.
Greg Pankiewicz, a native of Drayton Valley, Alta., now an assistant coach with the Colorado Eagles, received a 14-game suspension for tossing his tie, jacket, shirt and apparently his shoes onto the ice during a game last weekend.
While his team was leading the Mississippi River Kings, Pankiewicz objected to the tactics of a linesman during an on-ice melee.
He was also fined by the league, as was his team.
Pankiewicz played for the Moose from 1996 until 1998.

Stanford football: Report from the first spring practice

technic football style..

The core of what you’re about to read was written Monday night, following practice, and appeared in Tuesday’s Merc. I’ve added a few thoughts that didn’t appear in the original.

We’ll start with the main item, followed by some notes …

*** The first Stanford football practice under David Shaw looked a lot like the Stanford football practices under Jim Harbaugh, right down to the head coach’s father roaming the field.

“It felt normal,’’ said Shaw, the former Stanford player and assistant who was named head coach Jan. 13.

“I know the guys. I know the university. I understand the team. I know where we can improve and where we are strong.’’

Shaw led the Cardinal through a 2.5-hour workout Monday afternoon – the first of 15 spring practices that culminate April 9 with the Cardinal and White scrimmage in San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium.


Stanford mixed position drills with some light scrimmaging, which provided an early look — emphasis on early – at the revamped offensive line:

Right tackle Tyler Mabry, right guard David DeCastro, center Khalil Wilkes, left guard Kevin Danser and left tackle Jonathan Martin.

(DeCastro and Martin are the unit’s only returning starters and the only players assured of starting the season opener, injuries not withstanding.)

“They got in and out of their drills, they got a lot done and had a lot of disciple,’’ said Shaw’s father, Willie, the former Stanford and Oakland Raiders assistant who filled the father-watching-practice role previously held by Jack Harbaugh.

“You can tell coach Shaw is trying to put his own stamp on things,’’ defensive back Michael Thomas said.

“It was at a high tempo, and he was really coaching us. But it didn’t feel like it dragged on for three hours. He made his points and got in and out quickly.’’

Shaw’s main point: “It was a good practice, but I told the guys we weren’t out here to be good.’’

*** Tailback Jeremy Stewart has been granted a medical redshirt and will be available for the 2011 season.

Stewart, who rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown in the Orange Bowl, played in just four games in 2009, allowing him to qualify for a fifth season.

Add Stewart to a unit that includes 1,100-yard rusher Stepfan Taylor, powerful junior Tyler Gaffney and promising sophomore Anthony Wilkerson, and the Cardinal is deep at tailback — so deep, in fact, that Usua Amanam will get a look at other positions, including cornerback.

*** Several players did not practice, including Gaffney, who was with the baseball team.

Receiver Chris Owusu and safety Delano Howell are recovering from undosclosed injuries and did not participate — Howell did some conditioning drills, Owusu was nowhere to be seen.

Shaw said, in both cases, that Stanford wanted to be cautious … that neither player had anything to prove and there’s no reason to jeopardize their availability in the fall by rushing them back for the spring.

(It’s probably safe to assume that Owusu had offseason knee surgery. I say that because 1) Shaw acknowledged that Owusu had surgery, although he wouldn’t get specific, and 2) Owusu had a knee injury last season.)

*** Tight end Levine Toilolo didn’t practice, which is no surprise considering the seriousness of the knee injury he suffered last season.

I asked Shaw if Toilolo would take part in any contact drills this spring. “Maybe at some point, but we’re going to be cautious,” he said.

*** Shaw said former cornerback Corey Gatewood will play receiver exclusively next fall.

Given that Stanford lost Ryan Whalen and Doug Baldwin .. and that Owusu appears injury prone … and that Drew Terrell and Jamal-Rashad Patterson haven’t produced … Stanford could use whatever contributions Gatewood provides.

*** Quarterback Andrew Luck was not available for comment. He’s scheduled to sit down with local media on Friday.

uefa

chelsea excellent's

Anelka rewarded Chelsea's dominance with the opening goal

By Mandeep Sanghera

Chelsea eased the pressure on manager Carlo Ancelotti as they cruised to a win over Copenhagen in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie.
Nicolas Anelka seized on a misplaced pass from ex-Blues winger Jesper Gronkjaer to fire the visitors ahead.
The Premier League club added to their lead when Frank Lampard's reverse pass found Anelka and he drove in a second.
Ancelotti's men were dominant but £50m striker Fernando Torres could not register his first goal for the club.
It was all too easy for Chelsea as the lacklustre Danish champions looked every bit like a team that had not played a competitive game since 7 December because of their league's winter break.
With the visitors desperate to keep alive their Champions League hopes after being knocked out of the FA Cup last Saturday and their chances of defending their Premier League crown seemingly over, Copenhagen had a chance to add to Chelsea's misery.

Torres had his chances but a first Chelsea goal eluded him
Instead, a timid home side stood off their opponents and the Blues were too good not to take advantage and earn a commanding lead for the return leg at Stamford Bridge on 16 March.
Ancelotti paired Anelka with Torres in attack as Didier Drogba dropped to the bench and the duo, helped by some poor defending, responded with a performance of hunger and desire, which was also epitomised by their team-mates.
Anelka grabbed the glory with the goals but, if the finishing prowess of Torres had been as clinical as his partner's, the Spaniard would have scored his first goal for Chelsea since his January move from Liverpool.
However, while Anelka ruthlessly punished Gronkjaer by powering in a shot from just inside the edge of the area to put the Blues in front after 17 minutes, Torres failed to round off some of his pace and movement with a goal.
The Spanish forward's first real chance came when an off-target Ramires shot left him with a sight of goal but his first touch let him down and allowed Copenhagen keeper Johan Wiland to fend away the danger.
Torres jinked his way into a promising opening as he produced the type of play which unnerves defenders, but his poked shot was again saved by Wiland.
A lunging Mathias Jorgensen tackle was next to foil Torres as Chelsea dominated proceedings but failed to add to their lead.
Copenhagen appeared to be fearful of the Blues and this was apparent when Anelka was allowed the time and space to turn and shoot at goal with his effort going high.
Visiting keeper Petr Cech was belatedly called into action when he had a Martin Vingaard long-range shot to save after the break.
The Danes had drawn against Barcelona at the Parken Stadium in the group stages earlier this season but could not rediscover the same sort of form as they looked a yard off the pace.
And Chelsea wrapped things up when Anelka again showed Torres how to finish with a first-time shot from Lampard's exquisite pass.
After a faltering season, it was a welcome win for Ancelotti's side and a surprisingly comfortable one given the fact Copenhagen had never before suffered defeat at home in the Champions League.

Maradona Is Captivated By The Beauty Of Larissa Riquelme

news update...


HUMOR — Diego Armando Maradona has declared that he is in love with the South American beauty Larissa Riquelme, who was known for her promise to run nude through Asunción, Paraguay if they had won the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The purpose of this is to invite Riquelme to participate in the Argentine version of "Dancing With The Stars".

According to what transpired, Maradona asked his friend Marcelo Tinelli, the host of the TV Show, to get Riquelme included in the program.

Maradona's assistant, Gabriel Bueno, also took care of all the necessary elements so that his boss's dream can be a reality.

The possibility of Riquelme participating in "Dancing With The Stars" in Argentina is a big question mark. My question is whether Maradona will be her dancing partner if she is does decide to take part.

Is this pure coincidence since Maradona along with Argentine Actress Luciana Salazar promised to do the same thing as Riquelme should Argentina win?

The only difference was that Riquelme went ahead and posed nude even though Paraguay lost while Maradona (thank your lucky stars) did not do that.

lionel messi

famous player for barcelona team

Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi[3] (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾes ˈmesi]; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer who currently plays for FC Barcelona and the Argentina national team as a forward or winger. He also holds Spanish citizenship, which makes him eligible as a EU player. Considered one of the best football players of his generation[4][5][6] and frequently cited as the world's best contemporary player,[7] Messi received several Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21 and won both by the age of 22.[7][8][9][10] He also won the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or at the age of 23.[11] His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi his "successor".[12][13]
Messi began playing football at a young age and his potential was quickly identified by Barcelona. He left Rosario-based Newell's Old Boys's youth team in 2000 and moved with his family to Europe, as Barcelona offered treatment for his growth hormone deficiency. Making his debut in the 2004–05 season, he broke his team record for the youngest footballer to score a league goal. Major honours soon followed as Barcelona won La Liga in Messi's debut season, and won a double of the league and Champions League in 2006. His breakthrough season was in the 2006–07 season; he became a first team regular, scoring a hat-trick in El Clásico and finishing with 14 goals in 26 league games. Messi then had the most successful season of his playing career, the 2008–09 season, in which he scored 38 goals to play an integral part in a treble-winning campaign. This record breaking season was then eclipsed in the following 2009–10 campaign, where Messi scored 47 goals in all competitions, equalling Ronaldo's record total for Barcelona.
Messi was the top scorer of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship with six goals, including two in the final game. Shortly thereafter, he became an established member of Argentina's senior international team. In 2006, he became the youngest Argentine to play in the FIFA World Cup and he won a runners-up medal at the Copa América tournament the following year. In 2008, in Beijing, he won his first international honour, an Olympic gold medal, with the Argentina Olympic football team.