After last weeks disappointing start to the 2018 campaign, the Revs answered today with a 2-1 win in the home opener. Some fun facts for you on a Saturday: coming into this game, the Revs had won 8 straight games at home and had not lost a home opener since 2006, when Diego Fagundez was 11 years old, still a few years from his first team debut.
The lineup situation was going to be an interesting one given the fact both starting center backs in Toni Delamea and Claude Dielna were out due to red cards in week one. This forced regular right back Andrew Farrell to the middle alongside Jalil Anibaba, and provided rookie Brandon Bye the opportunity to start his first MLS game. Aside from the backline shakeup, the only other change was Kelyn Rowe getting the start on the right side of the midfield with Teal Bunbury shifting up top and Juan Agudelo starting on the bench.
Before we look at the game, recently retired Charlie Davies decided to take in todays contest from The Fort.
Newly retired, Charlie Davies takes in today's match with New England fans. He's obvioiusly enjoying the chants of "Charlie Davies". pic.twitter.com/xnt0eQTXle
A good finish, low with power through the traffic, from Diego, but this is all Cristian Penilla. I'll get to him more later, but what a run form him to set this up. Uses his speed to get the ball forward into space and get the Colorado defense back on their heels a bit, than cuts inside on a dime and draws a second defender before laying it off for Diego to put home. Even better is how Penilla didn't just sit back after he makes the pass, he continues to move forward and onside, before breaking towards the goal after the shot for a possible rebound.
Next was Colorado answering via a nice header from the youngster Jackson.
You have to give credit where its due. That was a great run to get in behind by Jackson and a beauty of a ball in. Not to mention the fearlessness of a kid making his MLS debut to put his neck out there to get apiece of the ball and put it in the back of the net.
And finally...
Chris Tierney wins it for New England with a deflected free kick at the death! 2-1 in for New England! pic.twitter.com/aRWU3AoQ5G
Old Man Tierney, on for an injured Gabriel Somi, shows that his left foot can still be amongst the most deadly in the league. After Wilfried Zahibo is fouled not he edge of the box, its Tierney stepping up and putting a shot on target with good pace and accuracy that gets deflected by the wall and goes right past Tim Howard. Such an exciting finish, as the last real kick of the game ends up being the winner. And Friedel had a great reaction to boot.
Some other game notes:
- Early on the Revs established really nice ball movement, keeping the Rapids defenders moving in the hopes that a miscommunication could break them wide open like an axe going through a log. This along with the aggressive pressing style Brad has implemented should lead to a nu,ver of good chances a game as they force turnovers in the attacking half and keep possession of the ball through quick passes.
-Cristian Penilla is going to be so fun to watch. We only got a limited view last week, but he really showed out today. Aside from setting up the Fagundez goal, he had a few nice runs, had a beauty of a ball to Rowe as he switched the field of play and started to display his attacking creativity along with his blazing speed. I guarantee he has at least one goal this season that leaves our jaws on the floor. The biggest concern, as Paul Marniner on the broadcast also pointed out, is that he needs to make sure he mixes it up a bit on the attack. He's very good at the "run fast at a defender and then cut in onto my right" play, but if he doesn't mix it up defenders will easily be able to clue in on him and play him accordingly.
-I thought Zahibo looked good as well today. He was breaking up attacks in the midfield and winning balls to start counters. He also didn't almost get a red card, which is actually good.
-Diego apparently has chemistry with everyone on this team, because he was linking with Rowe, Penilla, Nemeth and Agudelo.
-As mentioned above, Gabriel Somi was injured today.
#NERevs go to the bench early as Chris Tierney replaces Gabriel Somi after this collision with the Rapids' Jack McBean. pic.twitter.com/qPL3ERXHh6
I mean, McBean hits Somi with his shoulder and then follows through, and he only got a yellow card. If that was a Rev they'd be tried in a court of law and then publicly executed. Some looked legitimately knocked out for a second. Word is he's groggy right now, so a good bet he has a concussion and will miss some time.
-I am ready for the Teal Bunbury experiment to end. He's a fine depth piece, but he should not be starting. I don't know what happened that has caused Brad to entrust the attack to him instead of Juan or Nemeth, but it needs to change.
-The Matt Turner Era has arrived. I am ALL IN on the kid. A few nice saves and he was aggressive on the goal he allowed, just a little slow to react. I think with experience he's able to punch that ball out of harms way.
Calm, cool, collected on the corner and strong hands to prevent a rebound. And then that PK save. Watching that was mostly sexual for me.
Man of the Match
If he had kept a clean sheet, it would have been hard for this not to be Matt Turner, but Diego was so instrumental in the attack today. He opened the scoring, was involved with everyone, and showed off some of his flashy moves. Also, with the players choosing their own goal songs he has chosen this very song to play overtime he plays at Gillette Stadium.
Next up is NYCFC at home on March 24. Looking to make it 10 in a row in the friendly confines.
THE REVS DO NOT LOSE AT FORTRESS FOXBORO, THAT MUCH IS CERTAIN MAX KELLERMAN!
The 4th of March, 2017 (El cuatro de Marzo, for my Spanish speakers out there, yes I am cultured). My second day in Barcelona visiting my friend Nick for spring break. It started innocently enough. I think we went and checked out a few sites, maybe took a stroll on La Rambla or something. I honestly do not remember what we did during the day. All I know for certain is we got back to his apartment around 5 PM Barcelona time. Two of his roommates, we'll call them Alec and Jameson because those are their names, told us they were going to the FC Barcelona game that night. Saturday night futbol, what a great time to be had! Nick and I took a look-see on the ol' Internet to see if any tickets remained for this matchup with Celta Vigo. And what do you know, there were some still for sale! Now Nick was wanting to stay in for the night and study for exams the next week like a huge wet blanket, but after some good, old-fashioned peer pressure from myself and the five others in the room, we went ahead and smashed that buy button. I was already excited about seeing a real life Demi God play live in Lionel Messi. And then I saw that gate number I would go through in order to access my seats.
Nice.
So we wait around, play some FIFA and before you know it, its just after 7 and we're heading out to make the trek to Camp Nou. A long Metro ride and some walking later, and we get there. It truly is a breath-taking experience. The four of us head into the marvelous team store they have and bought some swag. Talkin' nice new jerseys for the boys: Neymar for me and Nick (LOL nice call noobs, he left for PSG after that season) and Luis Suarez for Jameson. The other guys had different seats than us, so we agreed to meet up at the beer tent near the shop after the match.
Nick and I make our way to the seats. Midfield and in the actual last row of the entire stadium. But my God was it a gorgeous view:
Buddy,,, I was hitting that button with a ferocity.
It was a wonderful game. Messi scored twice, Neymar scored, Barcelona won 5-0, I got to chirp my beloved Arsenal:
After meeting up with the other two and having a beer, we made our way home. It was probably 11 PM at that point, and we started talking about the plans for the rest of the night.
You see, Barcelona is a weird spot. Whereas places like Boston and London shut down pretty early compared to other places, nightlife in Barcelona doesn't start until like midnight. So we got home around 1130 and put own some nicer clothes, because we were heading to Otto Zutz, a nightclub.
Now, anyone who knows me in the slightest could probably tell you I am 100% NOT a nightclub guy. I'm large, I'm awkward, I generally despise people, especially people who like to frequent clubs. I think that you pay an exorbitant amount of money for a mediocre time at best. Overpriced drinks, people who think they're better than they are, music that is too loud to be good, things of that nature. The temerity, the unmitigated gall, the lack of couth, Max Kellerman.
None of these things are conducive to being in a club. I mean, look at that picture. All packed in like sardines. You think I was able to maneuver comfortably in there? No. Not my bag.
Despite this, I'm operating under a "When In Rome" mindset. The guys are gonna take me to the club and have a swell time. We pregame and then get to the club around 1 AM. Myself, Alec and Jameson take one cab and Nick and his girlfriend take another. At this point I would like to point out that I had only met those two Friday afternoon. I had gone for a beer with Alec and Nick Friday night at a place frequented by Americans called The George Payne, in which an aggressively drunk girl fell asleep on me. I'm talking slurring her words to the point it sounded like Dothraki, couldnt stay still and her eyes were rolling back in her head like she's the goddamn Undertaker.
Not great! So as she's sleeping/possibly deceased on my shoulder, her friend comes to try and drag her away, but 'Taker comes back and just stares at me, saying "What?" a lot, at which point I try and have an intelligent conversation with her about the geopolitical ramifications of Catalonia seceding from Spain. I won't say she was anti-independence for the Catalan people but her silence on the subject was worrisome to say the least. Her friend tried to get her again but then a guy came over out of nowhere and started making out with her, and so the dead girl stayed on my shoulder for a few more minutes.
Anyway, I hadn't known those guys for very long and had only really had beers with Alec and spent no time with Jameson aside form a little bit of FIFA at the apartment. Our cab gets to Otto first and we finally get to the front of the line. A 10 Euro cover and a free drink, not too bad (it could have been very bad but like I said before, not a club person so I have zero reference as to what cover should be). Well, we get in there and Nick texts us to say his girlfriend isn't feeling too well and that they ended up going home. So now I'm in a club with two guys I don't really know and I'm thinking that I can't leave now. My Spanish isn't great and I don't really want to try and traverse home by myself. Not to mention I have no key to the apartment. So I stayed.
We grabbed our free gin and tonics and headed upstairs, because apparently downstairs is where you get all your personal items stolen right off your body. Like a newborn cub that cannot protect itself from the elements, except in this case the elements were 42-year-old Spanish men rolling on molly and hitting on girls who were for sure like 18 or 19 at most. We proceeded to spend the next few hours taking too many tequila shots (I have sworn off tequila after this and another instance I may get into later) and trying our hands at trying to romantically attract Spanish women with our poor Spanish and body language. My game in Spanish is almost as bad as my game in English. At least in Spanish I had to just be direct and get to the point, meaning rejection came a lot faster than normal. "Quiere bailar conmigo?" "Le gusta a mi?" "Quiere besa a mi?" (Notice I used the formal tu form, or 'ustedes', because I did not know these various ladies as if they were my friends.) Needless to say, it did not work. It didn't help I am, again, large and awkward and was struggling making it to and from the bar and around the establishment. Alec had the best Spanish of the group and even he was striking out. Jameson was drunk. He was very drunk.
Finally, a lot of money down and without having a single female express any interest in any of us whatsoever, we exited. It was probably between 3 and 4 AM at this point. We're very drunk, and Jameson had pregamed harder than any of us so he was absolutely hammered. We were waiting for a cab outside the entrance and security says we have to move around the building. So we walk over and a few people follow us. We chat them up and the leader of that pack says he's from Amsterdam. A real nice lad. He pulls out a carton of cigarettes, and Alec and Jameson ask if they can get some Drunk Hoons. I do not partake because I enjoy my cancer to come in other forms, thank you. Meanwhile, one of his companions, a woman, pulls out a tin and pops something green in her mouth. She offers some to us, to which we all wonder out loud, "What in the good fuck is she trying to give us?" We're asking her where she's from to try and get a little English or something out of her. But she's not saying anything, just holding the tin out. We all look at each other and then take a piece (I don't know how to describe them, almost like a fruit gusher shape I guess?). Theres hesitation, and then I drunkenly throw caution to the wind and throw that sucker into my face hole. Alec and Jameson immediately order me to tell them what effects it takes on me over the next few minutes, and they pocket theirs.
Here's the thing, I said I was bad at Spanish, but I do know it to some extent. The lady was saying "Azucar" a lot. Sugar. That was just a breath mint with sugar in it, I was sure of it. I was hoping it was some wild edible from Amsterdam and I was about to blast off for one of Saturns various rings. While I was disappointed, I was also relieved it was not some sort of cyanide capsule or horse tranquilizer. They taste a little funny though, no biggie in my state at the time though. Ab out an hour and a half later when they kicked in I realized that they were in fact edibles because I caught myself just staring at a street sign for a good 15 minutes and thought I was melting through Earth's crust. The sign was in Catalan too, not even Spanish which I would have had a shot at understanding.
So, those people leave and while we wait for a cab to come by, Alec has finished his cig and has taken Jamesons. Now, Jameson has said he will not be able to finish his, but lo and behold after about 30 seconds he wants it back. They start fighting over it, shoving each other as people will. I'm Snapchatting this because I am an asshole and also trying to grab Jameson before he gets hurt as the smaller human in this situation. We start drifting, and before I know it we're in a parking garage exit. This one to be exact.
See that gate thats open on the right side? We hit that and knocked it off. And see that little booth on the right? There was a security guard sitting there. We stop dead in our tracks and Alec picks up the broken gate. The guard starts to move, so Alec drops the gate and yells, "RUN!"
Pal, I've never ran so fast in my life. We BOOKED it. Jameson being drunk as a skunk got caught, the security guard absolutely laid him out from behind like he was Brian Dawkins.
Me and Alec make it a few blocks down and are sucking in wind. My lungs were really mad at me, that much is certain. And then it dawns on us: "Where's Jameson?" Well shit buddy, he got caught, now I remember seeing him get mollywhopped. We start to walk back to find him and he's with the security guard and two policemen, who showed up with a quickness. A great first step most likely, could probably take Paul George off the dribble and finish at the rim. Alec tells me, "You can stay back if you want, you didn't actually go through the gate." To which I thought, "Yeah, I'll take you up on that and not go towards La Policia." I thought it might take 15 minutes to sort things out. Well 15 minutes turned into an hour. I finally decided to come out from behind the car I was hiding behind because I thought I was James Bond and walk up to the crime scene. The security guard tells the police I'm the other one, and Alec tells them I did nothing, I was just there. A good guy move if there ever was one.
The police don't care and are telling us we either come back at 9 AM to pay for the damages, roughly 200 Euro, or we go to jail. Now I've always wanted to be on Locked Up Abroad, ever since I was a small boy. Perhaps for drug smuggling, maybe arson, who knows. You see, Future's self titled album had just come out a month prior, and on it there is a song called "Scrape" which, after one spin, will make you want to go commit a litany of felonies.
So I was in the criminal mood as a result and ready to do hard time in a Spanish prison, just for sure not breaking a parking garage gate. That shits weak, I would have been mince meat in the slammer with that story. So I am all for paying the fine. Jameson meanwhile is drunkenly telling us we can grab his ID off the officers clipboard and make a break for it. Luckily, Alec speaks very good Spanish despite our night so far and the cops speak no English. Alec does a good job talking to the police while Jameson is saying nonsense that would get us in a lot of trouble with cops who could understand him. We elect to come back later and pay.
Getting in the cab we're all sort of just speechless at what had transpired. It's now 530 AM and we're finally home. And there's a girl at the building entrance. She says her friends from UT-Austin are living "somewhere in here". So we let her in and she joins us in the elevator. She gets off a floor before us and as we are opening the door to our place we can hear her knocking on doors below us. We head in and recap the night to two of the other guys. After about five minutes theres a knock on the door. I go to open it and its the girl. With the door an inch open she walks in like she owns the place and says she can't find her friends room. "I just woke up a random family," she says. She needs to charge her phone so she can call her friend and find the room number. So theres a random girl just chilling with us and we tell her about our night to. She found the general story interesting, us not so much. At least I have checked off an item on my bucket list: Get turned down by two or more women representing different nationalities in the same night.
She finally leaves and its time to turn in for the night. It's also 7 AM and the sun is coming out. I think I slept until 130 PM before I was awoken by Nick entering the room. Oh yeah, I slept in Nicks bed all week because he didn't use it once while abroad since he slept at his girlfriends apartment down the street. Feels like an important piece of info.
So to recap a little: I was drunkenly out for an absurd amount of time (like how do they just do 12-7 AM club nights/mornings every weekend? Europeans are a different species, man), ingested an unknown substance that ended up being sugar but only enough to cover 99% of the taste of marijuana that made up the majority of this thing digesting in my stomach, almost got arrested in a foreign country while living in a different foreign country at 4 AM and finally closed it all out hanging out with a random girl in my friends apartment until 7 AM. Perhaps even crazier than any of this is telling my mother what had happened a week later when she visited me in London. I left out a few details at that time, though.
A night I will never forget, and a beautiful place to boot. Barcelona became one of my favorite places on Earth that week. I also formed a bond with Alec and Jameson through that outing. We will forever be connected by that instance.
As the lauded poet-laureate Ed Sheeran once said, "Siempre vida Barcelona."
PS-Even more upsetting that anything that happened that night is that I left my towel in Nicks closet and he refused to bring it back to the States for me. On Hanukkah no less! Some friend he is!
PPS-The other time that factored into me swearing off tequila was when I was presuming at this girls apartment in London and she asked if I wanted a shot, to which I said yes. She tells me they're out of shot glasses and grabs a solo cup. And thence just starts pouring tequila in. And pouring. And pouring. It looked like the Alec Baldwin gif but in real life.
She hands me the cup that is now roughly 65% tequila. My eyes just sort of turned into saucers, I mean was I really supposed to drink that straight? And then she said, "Are you gonna drink that or be a pussy?" It was at that moment I had been challenged and had to respond. So I could either put the cup down and walk out and never be seen again, or I could take that Mexican liquor straight to the face. And so I had a lot, I mean A LOT, of tequila in one sitting and decided right there I was never touching the stuff again. Fuck tequila, shits gross. Give me a nice, locally brewed IPA over the Devils Toxin any day.
Remember when I said that the renewed confidence in this team may be baseless? Well, they did wonders for that statement tonight in Philly.
The excitement was high for this match, the first of the Brad Friedel Era. Big Baller Brad rolled out an interesting 4-2-3-1 lineup for Game #1. Cody Cropper stayed in Boston with an illness, but according to the Revs broadcast, it wouldn't have mattered if he was healthy because Matt Turner would have gotten the start tonight no matter what. Kelyn Rowe and Krizstian Nemeth both started on the bench as the attack was spearheaded by Juan Agudelo with Diego Fagundez underneath him at the CAM spot. Flanking him were Cristian Penilla and Teal Bunbury, who was solid in preseason. Scott Caldwell and Wilfried Zahibo paired in the deep midfield, while the backline consisted of what will likely be the Revs #1 option all season (just not for next game, we'll get there buddy,,,). Andrew Farrell, Antonio Delamea, Claude Dielna and Gabriel Somi. As we expected it was Dielna with the captains armband.
Early on things were very even. Penilla showed his speed and started a breakout that ended with Juan getting a close shot saved and then Diego having his effort deflected as well. Teal Bunbury had a good chance on a corner that he mishit with the left foot and Diego made a run through the middle that would have been a 1 v 1 with Andre Blake, but Juan couldn't find the space for a pass. Juan had a breakaway attempt that was snuffed out with a great solo tackle. It is far too early to be worried about finishing though.
Toni brings down CJ Sapong on a clear goal chance and gets shown red. So before we even get to halftime of Game #1, we're down to 10 men and will be without last seasons MVP for the home opener next week. This forced Brad into a move, in which he took off Penilla for Jalil Anibaba in order to keep four at the back. Right before half it was Union young boy Anthony Fontana, just 18 years old, opened the scoring.
Burke puts Gabriel Somi in a blender before the ball finds Sapong for a tap in.
It very much should have been a more lopsided score than 2-0. After going down to 10 men the Revs were outclassed. They didn't quit, but that will only take you so far.
Oh, but not to be forgotten, Captain Claude gets two yellows and is sent off, meaning we will miss our two starting center backs next week. Just absurd, you cannot write this stuff.
I don't even know what to say about this. This is the captain of New England taking an absolutely pointless second yellow in a match that was already decided leaving New England without 2 center backs for next week's fixture. Absurd decision. pic.twitter.com/K1mwwliX6T
And thus endeth a painful start to this campaign. Flashes of promise and the goals will surely come, but this was one to forget. A few more observations:
-Gabriel Somi will be an exciting adventure this season. He's very attack-minded and has pace (the combo of him and Penilla on the left will be really cool to watch form a pure speed standpoint), but more than once he was playing aggressive and gave up a ton of space behind him that Philly worked into. Teams like Toronto or Atlanta will exploit the hell out of that. Still, the way Somi bombs forward will create a ton of offense and be fun to watch at least.
-The defense has apparently adapted the patented Foxboro Bend Don't Break defensive philosophy. Philly was getting a lot of deep runs that were snuffed out in and near the 18.
-David Accam is actually good. His holdup play was giving the Revs fits and his combo of speed and skill had Andrew Farrell spinning like a top. He burned him at one point and it wasn't even close.
-CJ Sapong should have had 4 goals, he missed three really, really easy ones.
-At one point Fabinho looks like he took a shot to the dick and Paul Mariner proceeded to laugh and then say, "I shouldn't laugh."
-Diego, Dielna, Zahibo and Juan went with the bleached hair and I am all in on that.
-I thought Brandon Bye was pretty good in his debut. He had one nice play that ended up in him playing Bunbury through, but the vet rolled it wide.
-I thought the pressing and pressure were really good, especially at full strength. Friedel has placed an emphasis on fitness and this seems to be a major part of that. The Revs are gonna press and press and press some more. That being said, they also had a lot of giveaways that needed pressing in order to slow the counter attack.
-Claude Dielna is a bit of a hot head. On a yellow already he continued to attempt risky shoves and holds.
Dielna who is already on a yellow card with his side already being a man down has apparently lost his mind. Lucky to get away with a warning. pic.twitter.com/f0zKvePMF8
He also started shoving a bit after that when the ref was giving a warning, so he's lucky he didn't get a second yellow for that.
Man of the Match
I thought Matt Turner looked great in his regular season debut. There really wasn't much he could have done on the two goals and made a number of nice saves. He made them look easy as well. If he can emerge as a true potential #1 and we have a sort of 3-way keeper battle I think things will get a lot better. Theres a lot of potential between Turner and Cropper as two young guns with a quick fuse, I was uptight, wanna let loose-sorry about that. And those two pushing each other will make the team better.
1:30 against Colorado at Fortress Foxboro next week. Let's get on the board fellas.
Shhhhhh buddy, its about that time. The renewed hope, a fresh sense of direction and restored confidence that may be baseless. The Revs are back in action this weekend at Philly to kick off the 2018 MLS season.
The Brad Friedel Era is ready to officially begin after an interesting off season and preseason. His side went 2-3-1 in the preseason, with that one loss coming in the first game against Malmo FF. We've seen a glimpse of what to expect this season, but nothing is set in stone in terms of roster, depth chart or formation.
So lets look at a few things ahead of Saturdays matchup.
The Lineup (Likely Starters in Bold)
GK (3): Cody Cropper, Brad Knighton, Matt Turner
This position remains unchanged from last season. Cropper stays the likely starter with Knighton as a very good backup, and Matt Turner at 23 does another season as the younger project.
Defenders (9): Gabriel Somi, Antonio Delamea, Claude Dielna, Andrew Farrell, Chris Tierney, Mark Segbers, Brandon Bye, Jalil Anibaba, Nicolas Samayoa
The biggest storyline out of this group is probably newcomer Gabriel Somi taking the starting left back spot from Revs legend Chris Tierney. CT is 32 and has seen his play decline rather rapidly. I could see Friedel using him as a left side center back in a 3 or 5 man backline though. Dielna and Delamea showed promise at the tail end of last season, so a full preseason to build chemistry and get Dielna fully in the program should pay huge dividends. Brandon Bye also impressed a number of people in preseason. Bye and Somi can also play in the midfield, while Segbers and Tierney are listed as also being midfielders.
Midfielders (8): Kelyn Rowe, Diego Fagundez, Cristian Penilla, Wilfried Zahibo, Scott Caldwell, Lee Nguyen, Isaac Angking, Zach Heriveaux
The Nguyen situation is one we will get to in a bit. Rowe and Fagundez looked real good in preseason and will be deployed in their natural midfield positions under Firedel (no more Left Back Kelyn!!!!). Penilla has blazing speed that will come in handy on the outside. Zahibo has shown he is a solid option at CDM but has a knack for playing a little reckless at times. Honestly, we don't know if he will be used with Caldwell in a two-CDM system or what. Time will tell.
Forwards (5): Juan Agudelo, Krisztian Nemeth, Brian Wright, Femi Hollinger-Janzen, Teal Bunbury
Agudelo is ready for a huge season in my opinion. He's gotten USMNT call-ups very recently that show he's in good form and as the likely #1 target now that Kei Kamara is gone he should see plenty of action. I'm intrigued by what Nemeth will do as a sort of 2nd Striker or what his role will be. Wright and Femi are the young projects while Teal is your veteran experience.
The Captain Situation
We saw a very weird situation with he captains armband last season. It started with Lee, we saw Tierney wear it at times, but it never felt like there was any actual captain. We haven't had that feeling really since Jose Goncalves left. Friedel said at the start of preseason he had a captain in mind but wouldn't reveal it until the start of the regular season, but with Claude Dielna wearing the armband in every preseason match, I think we have a good idea as to who will don it on gamedays this season.
What's Up With Lee Nguyen?
I have previously written about the Lee Nguyen Saga, but he basically has demanded a trade and no-showed most of preseason. The front office has denied his trade request as Friedel wants to use him as an important piece this season while also giving off a vibe that the inmates will not run the asylum under his watch. Lee has a contract and the Revs are going to make him see it out until it expires or a favorable trade comes along. Lee did report to camp in Florida for the last two or so weeks, but was kept in what was essentially solitary confinement, working solo with trainers to get his fitness back up after his lengthy holdout. This is why I do not have him pegged as a starter; he won't be one, at least not to start, given his delay. I still think he is one of the best attacking midfielders in the league and the US player pool. He has vision, good touch, and finishing ability. He may never again replicate his MVP Finalist season of 2014, but he's still pretty damn good in "down years". Being able to use Nguyen, Penilla, Rowe and Fagundez in the midfield all at once will give opposing teams fits. It would mean one of Agudelo or Nemeth starts on the bench and that either Zahibo or Caldwell is alone at CDM, but that is a ton of attacking firepower for other defenses to worry about.
Lee was spotted in an Instagram story playing cornhole (I think) with Juan, so I'm hoping the fact he's good friends with guys like Juan and his fishing buddy Diego, along with the managerial change and a likely promise to be a center piece of the attack is enough to get him back at the negotiating table to sort things out with the Revs.
More Signings To Come
From Brad Freiedel: The #NERevs are "very close" on one signing, "close" on another.
Friedel added it's a matter of negotiation now, wouldn't disclose positions or further details. #MLS
Big Baller Brad saying two signings are close, with 21 year old Luis Caicedo and 26 year old Didier Moreno the rumored targets. Both are DM's, so going back to Lee, they are not his replacements. Obviously you'd probably want to have the younger guy if you can only have one, but I'm also not going to pretend I watch enough, or any, Colombian soccer to give an actual opinion on the guy. It's just good to see Brad getting after it with these signings.
What To Expect
It'd be foolish to expect Brad to win the Cup in his first professional coaching season with this revamped of a roster. But they have a contender over at 1 Patriot Place. This team should reach the playoffs and probably even make it past the first round. I don't think its unreasonable to look for 15 or 16 wins and north of 50 points after the 13-win, 45-point season in 2017.
I was very, very skeptical of the Friedel hiring when it first happened, but he's put the right foot forward at every turn thus far and has instilled a new confidence in the fanbase. It obviously means nothing if the results do not follow, but as of now, things are looking up for once.
So that's it. This Saturday it all begins. Only two things to take care of now.
1) I need to pick a victory song for this season. Past songs have been "Thughearted" and "Old Thing Back". I'll spend most of Friday contemplating the various possibilities in a meditative state.
2) I need a new GIF to replace Kei twerking and then getting booked for twerking. Thats an all-time GIF that I hat has to be retired.
We've all heard by this point the infamous Gisele Bundchen (paraphrasing) "My husband cannot throw the ball and catch it" sound bite from Pats-Giants II. My thoughts regarding that have not changed: not great to say it out loud but that was a supportive spouse caught up in the heat of the moment and emotion of the game.
We're really gonna get mad about that? Really? Well, fine. That means I can be irate on the web.
Everyone needs to chill. The Fuck. Out. A mother tells her crying kids, in her second language, something to get them to calm down for like five minutes. And people are upset about it. People tell kids shit all the time to get some peace and quiet for just a few moments. I guarantee that when those kids talked to their dad, he told them that the better team won.
My biggest gripes come down to two groups.
First, all the fucking holier-than-thou people in the cesspool known as Twitter replies. "Why didn't she just tell two young, crying kids that sometimes the team you want to win just doesn't have it, meh meh meh, this is actually poor sportsmanship". To which many people answered, "Well, those crying kids might not, at the time, really understand whats being said like an adult would." And I shit you not, one woman in particular in those replies decided to say, "Well, mine did."
OH GO FUCK YOURSELF. LITERALLY GO FUCK YOUR OWN FACE. Look! We got a perfect parent with perfect kids over here! I bet she has numerous bumper stickers on her stupid fucking mini van declaring her children are all on the middle school honor roll. How nice for you that your kids are in such a right state of mind to understand all sorts of concepts, probably because their parents will never be on the kind of stage that the Brady children saw their dad on. Fucking loser. I am a god damn pro when it comes to lying to kids to get them to calm down. I've had 20 10-year-olds all pissy and just told them a lie to get them to shut up for 10 minutes. It's just something that happens.
And then she had the audacity to be correcting other people on twitter in regards to their parenting. I'm not a father. I don't actually know how it feels to be a parent. But if that was me getting lectured by some self-righteous douchebag about parenting because of something Gisele Bundchen said to calm her kids down, I'd very much want to punch that person square in the throat.
And now we move onto Trey Wingo. HARDOOOOOOOO. What a dickhead response. He really took this one to heart. Who hurt you, Trey? We get it man, the Eagles played a better game. Again, Gisele is trying to calm down crying kids. You don't need to take everything so literally. This was not Tom Brady saying it to the media after the game. Chill out.
Trey has a son. I bet he told his son all about Santa Claus. I bet that self righteous mother also told her kids about Santa (I'm assuming their religions, no offense but also all the offense). So to get your kids to behave you told them if they do not act accordingly then a big fat guy won't break into their house to leave gifts? So these people all lied to their kids in order to calm them down? Instead of just explaining to them that they need to behave just so they aren't assholes in general? They did this in order to potentially calm down crying children? Well then by their logic they are bad parents and not teaching the children the right things.
So you know what? Don't chill out. Rather, kindly lick a subway pole you uncouth swine.
That was crushing, no other way to say it. Not on the level of 18-1, but crushing nonetheless. A lot of questions coming out of this one, mainly surrounding Malcolm Butler being benched and Eric Rowe not being told about it until right before kickoff. Now there's also talk that Gronk could be retiring.
It's tough to say but its the truth.
The window is finally closing. The dynasty is on its last legs.
It's obviously very early and a lot could happen between know and Opening Weekend in 7 months, but the Patriots need to go into a a true "win-now" mode. You have to push all your chips into the middle and get #6 next year. Tom Brady will be 41. Bill Belichick will be 66. We're losing two coordinators. Gronk apparently may retire. Who knows if Edelman will be back to what he was before his injury.
You have to win next year because after that, nothing would be certain. The rest of the NFL is catching up. Get this final ring with the Brady-Belichick duo and then let go. They could not make the playoffs for another 5-10 years but if they have #6 its fine. Do what you have to do to win it all next season.
You still have young talent in Brandin Cooks, Trey Flowers, Malcolm Brown, Derek Rivers, etc. to help with a rebuild. But the window is not as open as we once thought. It's finally starting to shut. Cherish it and hope the right moves are made to get one final win in the big one before we close out this amazing chapter in sports history.
Last night was WWE's annual Royal Rumble event. For the un-initiated, the main attraction of the show is the Royal Rumble match, where 30 wrestlers enter one-by-one every minute and a half and eliminate each other by throwing their opponents over the top rope and having both of their feet hit the floor. The last wrestler in the ring wins and gets to challenge for the title of their choosing at WrestleMania in late-March/early-April.
A little background on myself, I was a HUGE wrestling fan in the mid-2000's, probably starting in 2005. Me and my friends bought the SummerSlam PPV in 2006, we would do backyard matches after school on this little piece of grass on the playground that had a wooden fence that looked like ring ropes, me and my friend were a tag team and since I was so much bigger than him we were Batista and Rey Mysterio. I never missed an episode of Friday Night SmackDown (wasn't allowed to watch Monday Night Raw since it was 9 PM on a school night). It was quite a time in the life of your boy. This is all around 3rd or 4th grade. But as will happen, I stopped watching wrestling regularly a few years later, probably 6th grade and the summer going into 7th. I would still check in occasionally since I Liked WWE on Facebook, so when something big happened I'd watch recaps and read about it. Some things that really stand out are CM Punks "Pipe Bomb" and Brock Lesnar returning. Other than that, I never really paid attention.
But two years ago I decided to watch WrestleMania while I was studying for finals. I watched the promo videos for all the matches that WWE put out (I'd seriously recommend checking those out at least for the major PPVs because whether you like wrestling or not, there's no denying that WWE's video production team has some serious skills, arguably the best in any field). My plan was to just sort of have it on as background noise and look up whenever I heard the crowd starting to get louder. I ended up basically tossing all my study materials aside and watching everything on the screen intently. Zack Ryder getting his moment and shockingly winning the Intercontinental Title in a ladder match, Charlotte winning the Women's Title in a Triple Threat over Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, Shane McMahon's INSANE jump off the top of Hell in a Cell that led to his loss to The Undertaker, it was a great re-introduction for me.
Now, I didn't really start watching again after that, but I was paying closer attention to the results and storylines in the recaps. I also wasn't able to watch WrestleMania 33 last year because I was in London at the time and it was on far too late and I had an early class. But when I got back to the US, I started on a wrestling kick. I'd tune into Raw and Smackdown every so often, listen to podcasts, read rumors, browse the subreddit r/SquaredCircle and all that. But I also started paying attention to non-WWE wrestling. I learned about this faction in New Japan Pro Wrestling called "Bullet Club" and was instantly hooked. I don't need to go through the complete history of Bullet Club because you have Google, but they're extremely cool and its easy to see why I, like many others, were instantly drawn to them. I found Tetsuya Naito and Los Ingobernables de Japon, Kazuchika Okada, obviously Bullet Club and all their talent. There was Ring of Honor and PWG in the States. There was so much more out there than just WWE. Some of my favorites right now aren't WWE products, and maybe my favorite guy out there currently is Bullet Club's Villain Marty Scurll.
All this leads me to last night and the Royal Rumble. The two main matches were the men's and women's Rumbles, the latter off which was the first in history. So given my rekindled love for pro-wrestling, I want to run down my top 5 moments from each.
Women's Match 5. Michelle McCool and Torrie Wilson Return
Two staples of any wrestling fans lives in the early to mid 2000's. Michelle McCool was really around for the wrong generation, she'd kill it if she was in her prime right now with the number of good workers in the company. And Torrie... well, Torrie is Torrie. Both lookers that bring me back to days where my mom would walk in on me watching wrestling as a boy and be horrified by the "Divas" division.
4. Trish Stratus and Mickie James Showdown
Two more staples of the earlier days of women's wrestling, Mickie James returned last year to a full-time schedule while Trish came back for last nights Rumble. These two had one of the best rivalries back in the day and the big pop from the crowd when they faced off showed that people didn't forget. They're two more who look just as good as they did in their heydays.
3. Ember Moon
The NXT Women's Champion showed up still heavily bandaged after the beating she took from the debuting Shayna Baszler at Saturday nights NXT Takeover: Philly. Ember Moon versus Asuka was a great rivalry in NXT and EMber's performances in those matches not only made herself look strong, but made Asuka and her undefeated streak look even stronger. Ember even hit a one-armed Eclipse, her finishing move, in the Rumble. It's one of the best looking moves in wrestling overall in my opinion, like a Stone Cold Stunner on steroids.
2. Asuka Wins
Asuka has no losses in her combined NXT and WWE career, and the Royal Rumble was no exception. I really liked the way she won because of how real it seemed. My favorite Rumble elimination ever was when Rey Mysterio grabbed the rope as Randy Orton went to throw him over for the win, and when Orton took a step back to get a running start, Rey flipped over and threw him out of the ring with a head scissors. Great visually, but not the most realistic scenario. With Asuka, she got knocked down on the apron, saw an opening and delivered a simple kick to knock Nikki Bella off. She was then joined int he ring by Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss and Smackdown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, which I seemingly was leading to Asuka declaring which title she would challenge for as was done with the men's winner (more on that later). But, I got worked when this happened... 1. Ronda Rousey Debuts
A lot of people speculated that Ronda would be entrant #30, but when that spot went to Trish I think everyone sort of resigned to thinking the debut was being pushed to a later day. But then Joan Jett's voice started up and the crowd went wild. It took a few seconds for cameras to cut to the entrance, where, in Hot Rod Roddy Piper font, the words "Ronda Rousey" were displayed. Rousey came out and made her way out to the ring, facing off with the three other women, offering a handshake to Asuka (who hilariously gave Rousey a high five instead) and pointing to the WrestleMania sign. She made her way to Stephanie McMahon at the commentary table and shook her hand before the show went off the air. Just an incredible debut for one of the biggest rumored debutants in recent history. I highly doubted she'd end up in NXT anyway, but this just confirms that Vinny Mac is strapping a rocket to her back. There's also speculation that she didn't appear backstage until something like 10 seconds before she was supposed to go on, and that no one in the company not named Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Shane McMahon, Triple H or Kevin Dunn (WWE's head producer) knew about it, so the reactions from the three women in the ring were genuine.
Men's Match 5. Annual Kofi Kingston Spot
(If the clip doesn't go right to the moment, skip to 2:27)
Kofi Kingston, despite never winning git, has become Mr. Royal Rumble for all of his unique saves over the years. It's become one of the more anticipated moments of the event to see what they'll come up with. This year it was landing on New Day stable-mate Xavier Woods and using a plate of pancakes before being launched back into the fray. Here's a lot at some of his others:
I really hope he wins in the next few years and wins the WWE or Universal Title at Mania, the guy deserves it.
4. Andrade Cien Almas
"El Idolo" Andrade "Cien" Almas had a hell of a weekend. He retained the NXT Championship against Johnny Gargano Saturday night at Takeover in what may end up as the best WWE match of 2018 at the least (and possibly the best match of the year already) and then debuted at #7 in the Royal Rumble 24 hours later. He competed for just over 30 minutes against Gargano and just under 30 minutes in the Rumble. A super strong weekend for Almas, who has made a believer out of me the past few months. He's looking like the next big Hispanic superstar, but the last great one entered at #27...
3. Rey Misterio
12 years after winning the match, Rey Mysterio was back after some time off and looked as good as he ever has. He was trimmed down and moving really well. It brought me back to my youth and I honestly didn't see it coming. Whether he continues on with WWE now, either as a competitor or as a GM for the Cruiserweights, remains to be seen but if nothing else comes of it, this surprise entry was enough for me. 2. Nakamura Wins
Not only did Shinsuke Nakamura win the Royal Rumble, he eliminated both John Cena and Roman Reigns to do so. The final minutes between him and Reigns especially swerved me. I taught Reigns was winning for sure, so while Nakamura was grabbing him and throwing him over the top rope, I was in shocked silence. I did not see this result coming at all. And even better, afterwards he was interviewed in the ring and asked if he would challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Title, or AJ Styles for the WWE Title. And much to the delight of all fans out there, Nakamura said, "A... J... STYLES." They have history dating back to NJPW, so this match at WrestleMania should deliver times 10.
Remember all that time ago when I said Marty Scurll is my current favorite wrestler in the business? Well, I lied. He's tied for that title. With this man... 1. ADAM COLE BAY BAY
Speaking of things I didn't expect, WOW. Adam Cole had gone through a hellacious Extreme Rules match with Aleister Black (another guy I love and recommend checking out) at Takeover the night before (hence the taped ribs) but I guess after Ember Moon came out bandaged up I should have seen it form a mile away. Cole is from Lancaster, PA which is a pretty quick ride from Philly and he got the corresponding pop from the crowd. I wish Michael Cole (no relation) let the entrance breathe though so you could really hear the audience. Adam Cole is very much over with WWE fans. Any time he says "Adam Cole Bay Bay", he gets a huge response from the fans...
It's honestly my favorite thing in wrestling right now. I will always go nuts for a good "ADAM COLE BAY BAY". I first found out about Cole through his work with Bullet Club from May 2016 to May 2017 and went back to his catalog from ROH and PWG. The dude oozes charisma and plays the role of a sleazy heel so, so good. The dude is gonna be a star and is still only 28, meaning he really hasn't fully hit his peak as a wrestler yet. I see him challenging for the NXT Title WrestleMania weekend and maybe SummerSlam weekend if the Mania plan doesn't happen. He's money on the mic and in the ring.
So there you have it, some of my favorite moments from the Royal Rumble. I might do these for the Big 4 shows (Rumble, Mania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series), but we'll see.
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