Transfer Window: Losers

Well, part I (winners) is right below here, but I'd thought I'd throw the unfortunate half of the pile here. So without further ado, here are the transfer window losers of the period.

Fernando Torres

Arguments can be made over whether or not Chelsea are winners in this transfer window. Some would say they wildly overpaid, but if Abramovich doesn't care, why should we? Fair play isn't in effect yet and if he doesn't mind spending those prices, power to him. After all, you're only ripped off if you feel ripped off. I really think the real loser here is Torres. Granted, he just pocketed a cool 5mil pounds (players get about 10% of the fee) and is on a contract worth a total of 35mil pounds now, but still he threw so much away. Don't get me wrong, if Hodgson had stayed or if things looked just as dire as before, no one would hold ANYTHING against him in the summer. Look at Xabi Alonso. He had a falling out with Benitez, put in a great year and is still loved by Liverpool fans. Xabi could go into any bar in Merseyside (any red one anyways) and not pay for a pint all night. The way Torres did it, really the timing of it, shattered any love that he had built up at Anfield. And to top it off, he went to the Anti-Liverpool in Chelsea. Not to get too much on my high horse, but he went to a plastic club that is all about mercenaries and money. He will have to be the Torres of old, and a little more, for a few years for him to get anywhere close the same legend status he had at Liverpool. Another five years at Anfield and Fernando would have been the most popular boys name for Scousers. By putting in his request with 3 days left in the window, right as Liverpool finally seemed to be on the up (and had already bought Suarez by the way) was just a shady way to do it. If he had gone off in the summer before, no one would be this raw. He does get the money though, and credit to him there.

I will make a point about Chelsea as a whole though. David Luiz is a very good signing as he is an excellent defender and Torres is a great signing as he is a great striker. But sometimes, one really has to look at the team and see where they fit. David Luiz and John Terry are both significantly more effective when deployed on the left side of the center midfield pairing, and Terry's World Cup struggles have been partially attributed to him being deployed on the right half. One would hope this is circumventable but nothing is guaranteed, and we will see if they can work this out.

Torres presents another issue. Torres is an out-and-out center forward. He doesn't cross or go wide, and he doesn't drop back. He is a center forward and a damn good one. You know who else that describes? Didier Drogba. Both are absolutely terrific center forwards, and in full fitness and form, the two best in the world in my opinion (maybe Eto'o has a case as well). However, neither of them are particularly prone to going wide and crossing, and I am skeptical on how they will combine. Similarly, what to do with Anelka? He is a little more versatile, but he can't play both flanks and he's not a midfielder. He played well in the CAM type role at Sunderland but was badly exposed against Liverpool. And obviously Kalou is done as any significant role player unless something drastic changes. So while both players are great, who knows if the signings will really work out? I'm skeptical.

However, at least EPL fans can now have their very own Sideshow Bob just like the NBA with Anderson Varejao!

From the International Sideshow Bob Championships

Spain (and particularly Malaga)
Well, first off, the big 2, per usual, are exempt from this rule. Barca didn't lose anyone and got the highly coveted Affelay. And Real Madrid got Adebayor for free. So, as in all things, Barca and Real Madrid do brilliantly and life sucks for everyone else. Malaga, the biggest spenders, are still dead last and are still four points from safety. Everyone else spent...nothing. Seriously. Nothing. All these teams are broke as hell and none have anything available to spend. The league might have the best soccer in the world, but they definitely have the worst soccer financing.

Newcastle United

Poor Newcastle. Simply put, they are the victims of corporate raiders. The money from Andy Carroll will not be put into Newcastle's squad, it will go into Mike Ashley's bank account. I don't have anything to really say here. It just seems that anything goes well for Newcastle, Mike Ashley feels an undying need to shit on it. I just feel bad for the poor old Geordies that's all.

The Death of a Fan: The Ballad of Steve Slaton

One thing needs to be known at the beginning of this post. I'm a huge sports fan. Huge. I check major sports websites multiple times per day. I read virtually every relevant story produced by major newsoutlets on sports I follow. I will watch SportsCenter and sit through commentary on basically any sport. I'll even watch an entire episode of Around the Horn. Point is, I love sports. I don't know why, and honestly, I'd probably be a much better educated and skillful person if I rededicated that time to more useful pursuits, but it's unavoidable. I'm hard-wired.

Which brings me to the limitations of space and time. There are only 24 hours in a day, and really, only so much time I can devote to following sports. My sports-following section of my brain may be enlarged and overactive, however, it is not omnipotent, and I really can only follow so many sports at once. This explains why I have zero interest in hockey. I can appreciate a great play and will always watch the highlights on SportsCenter, but I can't name too many players other than Crosby and Ovechkin. Even with my Bruins in first place of the Eastern Conference, I really could not be bothered. Other qualifiers for this category of complete disinterest include NASCAR, Cricket and Timber Sports.

I then have my category of "Lazy Day" sports. In essence, I don't know anything about these sports other than the names of their major personalities and events, and will really only end up watching them if I'm casually flipping channels and stumble upon it. Sports here include Formula One Racing, Rugby and Women's Beach Volleyball.

Golf and Tennis get their own category. I really enjoy both sports, and follow all the majors (and in golf's case, other tournaments with big-name headliners), but I really wouldn't qualify as an intense fan. I'd say a casual observer.

Now we are onto the big area: Sports I Actually Follow. This group has had a long history of promotion and relegation. From the age of 3, my parents have pushed both basketball and soccer on me (depending on the parent). As the son of an Irish immigrant, I followed the English Premier League just as much as I followed the NBA, and I lived in Roy Keane jersey growing up (on the days I wasn't wearing my Scholes and Schmichael gear). However, I didn't live in a particularly ethnic area, and by that I mean, no one knew anything about soccer. You can only be the lonely schoolboy watching soccer for so long, and my focus shifted towards the genuinely American sports of football and baseball. I became a rapid fan of the Patriots and Red Sox, and went through a hiatus of soccer fandom from about the ages of 10 until 17. The World Cup was back on, and Poeltl and I started our new favorite game of watching YouTube soccer clips for hours on end. I dived in headfirst, becoming absorbed with all things soccer, and seeing an entirely new generation of teams and players than the ones I had left years before.

This post is not about me rediscovering soccer fandom however. You guys are obviously aware of this given how I spend my freetime writing long-winded entries like this one. The impetus for this post actually comes from a barber shop of all places. Yesterday afternoon, I decided to trim the mop that had sprung from my head, and went to an old-style barber shop in town. It's the kind of place with a straigh-razor shave and stench of barbicide that blasts you the moment you walk in the door. While you're waiting to get your cut, they have a stack of Sports Illustrated for you to thumb through. Pleasantly surprised that the issue I picked up was actually the current issue (not some ancient issue with a cover story "Manning or Rivers: Who Should Go First?") and thumbed through their NFL preview (or I guess, training camp review). Disinterestedly going through page after page, I read some things of interest and skip the ones that don't, just like everyone else. I finally discover, after ten grueling minutes, I'm done. I had read maybe a page and a half of actual information, and had just flipped through the entire magazine. I read a preview of USA-Mexico, and then an editorial about how we unfairly demonized Bonds, considering how it appears everyone was doping.

I went through the magazine again, and stopped for a moment on an interview with Steve Slaton. I've heard the name before, and was aware that he had a great rookie year for the Texans last season. I didn't know much else about him because, well, he plays for the Texans. The interview was a light human-interest type story with a slight fantasy bent, the type of stuff I used to lap up in earlier years. Perhaps my lost hours playing Madden contributed, but there was a time when I could name most starters on most NFL teams. And, without a doubt, name every player of decent ability on every team. So here I was, facing my own new-found ignorance on a pocket of American football, and I flipped the page. I had stopped caring.

To be honest, I can't name a single draft pick by my beloved New England Patriots. During our senior year of high school, I remember watching the whole first day of the draft at Colin's house, sleeping over and then watching the whole SECOND day of draft coverage. Very few players of worth are ever draft in those 5 rounds, and even if they are, you won't know for a few years. Maybe it's because Super Bowl XLII absolutely ripped every Patriots Fan's soul out, which is, without a doubt, the most horrific sporting memory of my lifetime (football is more my cup of tea than baseball, so it beats out the Boone home run). But, it isn't just football. Baseball is fading further into the rear view mirror. I can't tell you how many games are between us and the Yankees in a moment's notice, and I can't remember the last time I watched a baseball game on my own. I still love both sports-I'm going to a Red Sox game next week-but I can't seem to follow them with the same fervor as in years past. Football (the European kind) has taken over, and the only sport inpenetrable to its influence is my other true love, basketball. I can't chalk up my decaying fandom to newfound maturity, as I'm still procrastinating with sports as much as ever (needless to say, I'm writing this at my internship). I just never anticipated one sports fandom cannibalizing almost all others.

Basketball season is over, so I don't watch ESPN. As in, ever. Maybe there will be a soccer match on, and there's my exception. I would watch the same SportsCenter three times in a day and not be fazed; now I can't sit through 10 minutes. This post is in no way meant to be melancholy, merely observatory. After all, if it made me sad, I could very easily start following both sports again. But, chances are, I won't. I'll still watch Patriots games when they are on, I'll watch the SuperBowl and probably most of the playoffs. I'll watch most of the Red Sox playoff games, if they make it that far. I'm not abandoning them. But, if we lose, if things don't go our way, something tells me my normal pattern of destroying inanimate objects and absolute rage will probably not follow. There will be pangs of disappoint, but they'll be as fleeting as hopes for Newcastle's promotion. I'll just flip the channel over to some rerun of CSI: Miami and enjoy the slick, campy and absolutely ridiculous carnage (probably the greatest bad show to ever air). But now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go see if there's any transfer news.