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6 posts tagged FA Cup
Football Violence, the FA Cup, and the Race for the Champions League
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.”
Apparently, England’s antiquated past is the new present here in the U.S. The weekend offered a welcome return of everyone’s favorite aristocratic family, the Crawleys, of PBS’s Downton Abbey. We laughed, we cried, we gasped at the audacity of Sir Anthony’s bold sexual advances upon Lady Edith’s virtue. Elsewhere on the dial, the FA Cup made its network broadcast debut in suitably dramatic fashion, proving there’s still life in the old dog yet. Needless to say, both developments brought much joy to the Men in Blazers in this week’s pod, as Michael Davies and Roger Bennett borrow George Michael’s Sports Machine, traveling across the English countryside to recap these far-flung matches featuring the likes of Mansfield Town and Cheltenham. Get ready for a geography lesson, America.
It was simply not meant to be. Andy Carroll picked the worst time imaginable to step out of his fat suit and “pony-tail” home the winner against doomed Everton. Instead of an All-Men in Blazers dream FA Cup Final featuring Chelsea and America’s team, Liverpool will play Roberto Di Matteo’s side on Cinco De Mayo. On the bright side, John Terry and Luis Suarez will finally have found a soulmate eager to shake the others hand before kickoff. 
