Courtesy GFOP Eric Soderstrom, to aid Michael’s quest to one day be able to compress a golf ball Gareth Bale style. #8forLampard
Old-school fan violence reared its ugly head this weekend, from the hallowed terraces of Wembley to the streets of Newcastle upon Tyne. Even hardened criminals from the depths of Her Majesty’s Prison Service were in disbelief over the audacity of one horse-punching Magpie supporter.
Somewhere amid this nonsense, football was played, and in this week’s suboptimal podcast the Men in Blazers consider it all — from the Chelsea–Man City FA Cup semifinal to Everton’s continued late-season form, courtesy of a win against relegation-threatened QPR that sent Harry Redknapp into his ritual comical rage. Now, with just a month left in this Premier League season, Michael and Roger handicap the race for Arsene Wenger’s coveted “fourth-place trophy.”
The creativity of our GFOPs continues to astound. From the hundreds of entries we received for the Great Becker, Man Hair Swap, we’ve undertaken the impossible task of selecting our 10 favorites. But in the end there can be only one winner. And while we received dozens of Downton Abbey / Kyle Beckerman mashups, GFOP Chris Campbell’s Mista Ca’Son is a treasure to behold. The discerning eye will even notice the blazer patch. We’re indebted to Real Salt Lake for providing the signed prizes - a ping pong paddle, comb, and RSL jersey.
- 2nd Runner Up - Tony Meolaman: Joel Erkkinen
- 1st Runner Up - Winston Beckerman: Andrew Waldrip
- Grand Prize - Mista Ca’Son: Chris Campbell
From GFOP @phirrup via 101 Great Goals: The front cover of Frank Lampard’s new children book, “Frankie’s Magic Football.”
Subbuteo launches limited edition Hazard figure.
Via GFOP @black_bile
GFOP Michael Tobin sent us this tragic Christmas story. Pray for him…
I began following the Premier League last year and finally declared my loyalty to Everton early this season. To consecrate this union of fan and club I suggested to my fiancee that a Leighton Baines Everton jersey would be an excellent gift idea this holiday season. To assist her in this endeavor, I forwarded along a link to a perfectly “legitimate” Chinese website providing such wares. I believe the Chinese to be hard-working, industrious people with a keen eye for quality and detail at a reasonable price, but mainly I am just cheap. To my delight she ordered me a jersey, which arrived a few days after the holiday. I tore the package open with unabashed giddiness, but my mood would soon be downgraded to perplexed repulsion when I laid my eyes upon the contents. My Chinese friends had manufactured what can only be described as a heinous and revolting spawn resulting from an unholy mating of both of your EPL allegiances.
Terry wrote: “I save all my captain’s armbands from every game I play in. This is a small collection.”
Over in England, Surprise Scoreline has wrestled all headlines away from lesser, more predictable characters. In yet another wild weekend in the Premier League, Rafa Benitez’s Chelsea fell yet again, Manchester City relinquished points to United, and Tottenham continued their crawl up the table to claim fourth. Michael Davies and Roger Bennett review all the significant developments from England in this week’s Men in Blazers podcast, though it’s the announcement of the royal baby that heightens the drama.
Stateside, a Brit has dominated the week’s headlines as well. Sure, L.A. Galaxy beat the Houston Dynamo 3-1 in a well-deserved team effort, but it was David Beckham spraying passes across the park, being ridiculously good-looking, and generally building the almighty brand that drew the most attention. We at Men in Blazers would like to wish Becks godspeed on the next stage of his journey and thank him for all he’s done for the development of soccer and men’s tighty-whities here in the U.S.
Send your telegrams via raven to the Crap Part of SoHo, reach us @MeninBlazers or drop an email at meninblazers@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the pod in iTunes or via our RSS feed.
Winter has arrived in England. Everywhere there was football it seemed to be lashing down rain, and perhaps nowhere was the gloom more apparent than in the stands. Chelsea supporters at Stamford Bridge were stirred from silence to proclaim their disapproval of new interim manager Rafa Benitez, while over at White Hart Lane the visiting West Ham supporters’ anti-Semitic chants overshadowed Clint Dempsey’s return to form. Football, bloody hell indeed.
In this week’s Men in Blazers podcast, Michael Davies and Roger Bennett review a soaking-wet Premier League weekend — the good, bad, and the plain old unclassifiable. We mean you, Kolo Touré, who apparently enjoyed a two-year affair while passing himself off as a used-car salesman named Francois.
After what has felt like an eternity, the boys are back, blazer-to-blazer, to recap another strange week in the English Premier League. It seems taking the lead early has become entirely blasé, as both Manchester clubs relied yet again on reluctant supersubs to earn the full three points. And while most of the soccer world has focused this week on the Chelsea-Liverpool draw and the loneliest goal celebration of all time, in this week’s pod, Michael Davies and Roger Bennett also consider the staying power of the other Merseyside representative, Everton, who’s sitting comfortably in fourth place.
However, the real reason why anyone indulges in the suboptimal pod to begin with is for the telegrams. This week, the Blazered Ones field an unkindness of restless ravens. Among the topics covered: soccer’s advertising clout, the history of “caps,” supporter-on-supporter relations, and much more.
Send your telegrams via raven to the Crap Part of SoHo, reach us @MeninBlazers or drop an email at meninblazers@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the pod in iTunes or via our RSS feed.
