Weekend Rewind

Been a little behind on the blog in the past week with a busy time at the office as well as a couple of other projects that I am currently working. But time to get the Tractor in gear and take a look back at a busy weekend. Not a bad past few days on the sporting front. Plenty of action on both sides of the pond, unless you happened to be watching the Premier League games on Fox Soccer Channel stateside, but that aside the rewind this week will try to touch most of the highlights.

Starting with the teams of the TractorHawk faithful (ie me):

A little extra rewind is in order this week as before the domestic matches there was an appointment on the International friendly calendar as Fab took the Lions off for a nice little kick-around in Berlin with Germany. I don’t care if it was a friendly we beat Germany. John Terry knocked in the winner atoning for an earlier howler that had allowed German striker Patrick Helmes to cancel out Matthew Upson’s opener for Fab’s lads. I didn’t realize that Germany have never defeated England in Berlin in 7 games played there between the nations. Very surprising, considering they have beaten us everywhere else. England close out their 2008 calendar with a 2-1 win over an arch rival and with optimism looking forward into 2009. Was it just a few months ago that this same team were fumbling around under the guidance (or lack thereof) of Steve McFool?

ITFC returned to Portman Road, where their home form has been as consistently inconsistent as their away form. Last season’s Premier whipping boys, Derby County were the visitors this week. After a slow start adjusting to life back at the lower level, Derby have been improving recently, climbing the table in the process. By all accounts a good performance from the men in blue this week as the Tractorboys ran out 2-0 winners behind goals from Pablo Counago and Jon Walters. That should be enough to see them both on the bench for the next match. Town back up to 8th, sort of knocking on the play-off door. Next up is a mid-week trip to second placed Birmingham who, along with their midland mates Wolves, look a good bet for automatic promotion. Jim is relishing the challenge….not so sure the same can be said for most Town fans.


So two for two on the football front. Then Sunday came…again. The hallowed Jim Zorn returns with the Washington Redskins, leading his team back into his old stomping ground in the Pacific Northwest. Flag goes up, 12th Man jersey goes on, ‘Hawks play close game, ‘Hawks lose fourth in a row when Matt H. throws the exact same bloody pass to the exact same spot that he threw at the exact same time in the previous week against Arizona, which also cost us a chance to win it at the death. And, of course the exact same thing happened – interception, game over. Flag comes down…shirt goes off…you get the picture. The ‘Hawks have a short week before they head off to Dallas for most likely a Thanksgiving Day stuffing. I’m not sure I can bear to watch but I probably will.

Weekend TractorHawk Grade: B

England beat Germany, Town won, and at least the Seahawks game was close. With nothing left at stake for the 'Hawks, expectations have to be set realistically. So a solid B is appropriate this week.


Tractor Driver of the Week:

Each week I select a sporting nominee to receive the prestigious keys to the Blue Tractor. This week we're going back in time to call out former Ipswich and England stalwart centre back Terry Butcher. Why Butcher? As the latest patron saint of Scotland, Maradona returned to the scene, Tel-Boy had no intention of being caught up in the politically correct hoopla and media frenzy sourronding the return of the little twat, and made the point that he still bore the grudge from '86. I'm not sure if Butcher did shake hands at the end of the game but good on you mate for not bowing to the little prick. So while Diego may have had reporters eating out of his cheating hands once again, Terry stood firm by his own beliefs and those still shared by many England fans. As for Maradona, his latest trip to the limelight is over...we'll see you in 2010 sunshine.

Note-a-balls:

I made a reference to the sleepers from the Fox Soccer Channel this weekend. An early morning start had us US viewers tuning into a dreadful affair at the Bridge as Newcastle paid a visit. The FSC resident “expert” for the season, Warren Barton described this as a magnificent performance from the Geordies. Eh??? Chelsea had 33 attempts at goal...Newcastle 2. Magnificent – are you sure your’e not setting the bar just a little bit low for your ex-mates, Warren? Any point in the capitol city is a great result for Newcastle but lets leave it at that.

With the Chelse faltering, Man U had a chance to make up some ground. So cue the next FSC offering from Villa park. Better game but same result. So the day starts with 3 hours of footie on the box and not a single bloody goal. Elsewhere Liverpool drew at home to Fulham, thus ending my 5 week run of successful banker bets on the EPL prediction league, I Know the Score. The “Big Four” shutout was complete when the Gallasless Arse capitulated in the Sky Blue side of Manchester 3-0, with Robinho notching a sublime goal.

FSC did offer a tape delayed match later in the afternoon so they at least had a chance at some redemption. But it was from the Brittania as Stoke edged West Brom 1-0 in a game labeled as “absolute dross” by Bags manager, Tony Mowbray, so nevermind. On Sunday, West Ham won for the first time in 8 as they defeated Sunderland 1-0 at the Stadium of Light. Not much to be said for this game either. Sunderland were poor with Cisse guilty of a few glaring misses as well as a well dodgy haricut which is now dyed bright red. And will someone please buy West Ham a new kit so they can get rid of those ridiculous patches on the front of their shirts.

So none of the teams in the top 10 of the Premier League were able to register a victory and there was a goal drought. Maybe it was jut one of those weekends crunched in between International friendlies and upcoming European action. End result is that the league is tighter still after 14 rounds.


On the US Front there were no problems with scoring in the NFL as points were aplenty in the league this week. 8 teams managed to score at least 35 with the Buffalo Bills leading the way as they dropped 54 on a hapless Kansas City. New Orleans followed in a close second on the Monday Night spectacle as they romped past Green Bay 51-29. There are no remaining unbeaten teams in the league this year as the Tennessee Titans fell to the Brett Favre led NY Jets at home, 13-34. The Titans may not have the swagger of the 2007 Patriots, and thankfully not the attitude, but with a record of 10-1 they are still in a great position to secure the top spot in the AFC. Good luck to them and their coach as they look to bounce back on Thursday at winless Detroit.

It’s interesting to note that two of the top quarterbacks in the league this year are ageless veterans Brett Favre of the Jets and Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals. As they approach the big Four-Oh, neither one is showing signs of slowing down and they have their clubs poised for a serious run at the playoffs. Warner is aided by having the best receiving corps in football with his standout WRs Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin but it would not surprise me to see Favre and Warner mentioned at voting time for MVP. There, that ought to jinx both of them.

Onto college, dear oh dear. We really are going to have to take some time and get that essay published about this variation of gridiron football. Where to begin? I suppose at the top as Texas Tech, the number 2 ranked team, visited Oklahoma in a highly touted and way over-hyped Saturday night match. As we are told each week this game will have “profound implications….blah blah blah” – Oklahoma won 65-21 and it wasn’t even that close. So Tech fall down the rankings to around seventh or something, and won’t play in the championship match. Alabama didn’t play so they retain the top spot. The Texas Longhorns move to number 2 and OK are now ranked 3 in the BCS. What does all that mean? Who knows really.


As I look at the standings there are currently 4 unbeaten squads: Alabama, Utah, Boise State, and Ball State. Seems like a simple equation. If it stays the same 4 unbeaten teams in a semi-final and onto the Championship. But no, of course that cannot happen because those ‘other’ teams don’t play as hard a schedule and there are no divisions in the college sport that are based on competitiveness. So a whole load of people vote, then 6 super computers that would make a NASA scientist green determine some kind of average, then we mix it all together in some secret code that the CIA couldn’t crack, and we end up determining who will eventually play for the title. Can anyone think of an easier method?

And something else, we need more blue fields in football...

On a side note, locally, in the Pacific Northwest two of the worst college teams in the country squared off in Pullman, Wa. I believe that UW and WSU are ranked somewhere in the bottom 120 or so, if it goes that far. The Cougars won and retained the Apple Cup.

Hope your sporting week was a dandy one…..Cheers!