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Nothing like a little mid-week action to brighten the daily grind…plenty of football going on as well, so worth a quick take...
Tuesday night saw a full slate of Championship fixtures and an opportunity for the Tractorboys to build on their win at Plymouth as we welcomed Charlton and former Town hero, Matt Holland. Looked like we had this one in the bag, but that would mean two consecutive wins for the first time this year. Could it be??? No, Pablo Counago wasted a penalty and despite 20 attempts on goal, Ipswich were once again held to a disappointing draw, with the teams sharing the spoils, 1-1. Call-out to Own Garvan for knocking in his 3rd goal in the last 2 games. Other than that, yet another truly disappointing display that sees us slip further from the promotion race. Big Fat Jim (don’t know why they call him that as he’s not really fat, or big, for that matter, but we’ll figure it out another day) Magilton reckoned we created enough chances to win 3 games, and the players are trying hard, and he's really disappointed….err this is getting really old Jim. Put together a streak and lets get moving – 4 wins in 14 games keeps the Blue Tractor firmly stuck in mid-table mediocre mud, heading nowhere….again. Sort it out Jim, pick a team, and get them to play. If you can’t do it, raise your hand and move on.
Got to mention the north London derby between the purveyors of the beautiful game, Arsenal, and the current butt of all football jokes, their hated rivals Tottenham and their new manager Harry Redknapp. So it was Arsene against ‘Arry, and although Spurs took an unlikely early lead, once the Gooners got up 3-1 in the second half, who saw a 4-4 draw coming?!! Too early to tell what effect Harry will have on the men in white, but regardless, ‘Arry or not, this team won’t be in the bottom 3 come judgement time. Keep it in perspective though, they aren’t anywhere near the top 4 either. Elsewhere, Hull finally succumbed to a squad from London, with Chelsea having their way 3-0 at the KC – despite their great start, midfield maestro, Geovanni is getting a bit carried away by proclaiming, "Scolari is a top coach and I do not doubt he will be a success at Chelsea, but I feel sorry for him because we are going to beat his team.” Right you are then.
Nothing else out of the ordinary, Man U, as expected, handed Zola’s Hammers their 4th straight defeat (was Curbs really that bad? And did you fix that kit yet?), Liverpool won on a late penalty…again to stay at the top. Villa continued to confirm their status as a potential top four or five team with a good win over Blackburn.
On the US side of the house the longest 3 innings in baseball history finally ended with the Philadelphia Phillies defeating the amazing Rays 4-3, in a 50 hour game 5 of the World Series and taking the title 4 games to 1. Congratulations to both teams, the Rays for getting there and firmly shoving the Red Sox and Yankess into also-ran nobody's this year, when nobody, including this author gave them a chance. And to the Phillies on your first championship in any sport in 25 years. Now do me a favour and invite all your mates on the Eagles football team over for a right good piss-up before they head to Seattle to kick the crap out of my Seahawks this weekend. 'Till then...Cheers all.
By now it should be clear that I am a dedicated fan of football from both sides of the pond. As mentioned earlier, I was raised in England in the southeast and spent much of my childhood growing up in and around Ipswich, and later in a smaller town, Bishop’s Stortford which is about 30 miles or so northeast of London. Having moved to the US in 1990, I have lived in a few states including Oregon, Utah, Arizona, and now Washington.
With football embedded in my DNA my first trip to Portman Road at the age of 4 began my lifelong devotion to Ipswich Town Football Club. I’m not sure what I did in a previous life to deserve that, but I suppose it could be worse. By the the age of 9 I was a fully enlisted “Junior Blue” and received a signed picture (well one of several hundred thousand cheap copies probably) of Ipswich legend, Paul Mariner shortly after our FA Cup triumph over Arsenal in 1978. I don’t recall what happened to the cheap merchandise that came with being a Junior Blue but I remember each week believing my letter from the club must be on its way telling me I’d been selected to lead the team out at the next home game. 35 years later, the letter still hasn’t shown up and I’m not sure they would let an almost 40 something bloke lead the Tractorboys into battle – they’d have to get me out the bar first and it might be a bit embarrassing to have to set me pint down before leading the boys to battle. Still it might provide a bit more entertainment than some of the recent offerings from Portman Road!
So, moving on with blue blood running through the veins, I ended up in Oregon desperately seeking some sports, football of any kind from some source, I didn’t care…desperate times...call for...Anyway it was early September of ’88 or ’89. A strange game was starting on the TV – they called it “football” and it was Monday night, so apparently this was a big event. Anyway, I settled in to watch a load of big blokes in some kind of body armor run into each other, fall down, and chuck a rugby ball around for 3 hours or so….I was hooked! The game was a divisional match between the NY Giants and Washington Redskins – I have no idea who won or who was playing on each team but I had discovered some strange hybrid kind of football that wasn’t really football but very addictive. Oregon was the location. Many (but not all) die-hard fans of the English game are chosen by geography – it’s not a choice, it’s a dedication, a lifelong duty to the cause. Closest team to Oregon…Seattle – they play in blue…..done deal.
The Trans-Atlantic football combination for me was complete and it’s been a Tractor driving, 12th Man fanatic rollercoaster for 20 years now. With probably a million or so Brits living in the US there must be someone representing just about every possible UK-US football pairing that is just as nuts as me. I was good friends with a few English lads in Tucson, Arizona and in our small circle we boasted Ipswich–Seattle, Ipswich-Arizona, Everton-Dallas, and Manchester United-Arizona affiliations. One thing we all had in common though was the Three Lions, and England matches often culminated in all-day drinking affairs beginning with the 10 am (Arizona time) kick-off through to the midnight darts tournament, where we were all so pissed no-one could even keep score, let alone hit the board!!
Fun days, and Cheers to Luke, Mark, and Richard that made up that circle. We had some laughs and I hope you’re all doing well. It was bloody amazing to run into a fellow Tractorboy in the desert but after leaving Arizona, I’m pretty sure I left Luke as the sole keeper of the key to the blue tractor in Tucson.I’d love to hear some stories from people with similar backgrounds and read about some of the highs and lows that come with supporting football teams on both shores of the big blue pond. I’ll visit this again sometime when this blog thing has had a chance to take-off. Until then, if you want to share your stories on this topic you know what to do below….Cheers!!
As I develop this site we’ll take a minute to look back over the previous weekend and get some regular themes established.
A royal blue weekend double for me as the Tractorboys got a rare win, romping past Plymouth 3-1, thanks to an Owen Garvan brace and a first in 11 games for Kevin Lisbie. This was followed by an even more improbable ‘Hawks road win against the reeling 49ers who introduced their new interim Head Coach, linebacker legend, Mike Singletary, after the sudden firing of Mike Nolan.
A big fan thumbs up to Singletary though for kicking one of his own players out of the game! Not sure I’ve ever seen that before but after Vernon Davis was flagged for a personal foul for smacking ‘Hawks Free Safety, Brian Russell after a reasonable gain and costing his team 15 vital yards, Singletary gave him a right good rollicking. This was followed by swift sending to the showers…not only that, but as the sulking player headed off for the early bath, his coach calls him back to get his helmet and then tells him to piss off...wow! That’s a Golden Tractor Key award nominee right there (when we get it started).
It’s been a tough season for both my football teams, so this weekend, was indeed, a rare event. Though it was great to see both my blue flags flying, I think it’s going to be a rough year for me on both sides of the football pond.
Weekend Tractor-Hawk Grade: B+ (not an A because the ‘Hawks were actually out-gained though we won by 3TDs and David Norris got sent off in injury time for kicking the ball away – cue the referee’s a total wanker)
Other notes:
The NFL took its show to the “Home of Football” as the New Orleans Saints upended the San Diego Chargers in a 37-32 shootout in front of over 83,000 at the most expensive stadium in the world, Wembley. Can only imagine the “what the bloody ‘ell is he doing then?” when the Saints punter ran the ball back through his own end-zone for an intentional safety in attempt to run off the clock. “Own touchdown?….how much it that worth then?”
Hull City remain in the top 3 in the Premier League after a comprehensive 3-0 win over West Brom, and I was thoroughly impressed getting to watch the game as the Saturday early match on Fox Soccer Channel (our big-screen football feed for English fans living in the US). I will say the result was a bit harsh on the Brom but HCFC have already earned themselves a future article on this site.
Liverpool ended Chelsea’s 86 game unbeaten run at home. The men in red move to first place in the EPL for the first time in like 30 years with a 1-0 win at the Bridge over Big Phil and his lads. Enjoy it while it lasts, Scousers. By the way are you still protesting your US bankroll??
The Phillies take command of the World Series. Most focus is still on the upstart Tampa Bay Rays, who like the previously mentioned Hull City of the EPL, are more than worthy of a full post at another date. Shout-out though to Seattle favorite Jamie Moyer on his performance for Philadelphia Sat. night – at 44, he is giving all us middle-aged over-the-hill beer-guzzling-fried-egg-sandwich-eating blokes some hope.
College football – we’ll need to get this going a bit as it is not one of my hot topics but I pay attention. Pretty much all the top teams won, so we’re still on course for about 8 teams qualifying for the championship but with no tournament at the end noone knows, and for right now, who gives a toss – come on, let Boise State back in, it’s worth it just to see that frickin blue field….no upsets of note, though a worthy mention to the AZ Wildcats for playing a close game against USC, eventually succumbing 10-17. Having lived in Tucson for 12 years or so, you’ll notice a Wildcat reference every once in a while.
And how was your sporting weekend?
Cheers!!
Writing an introduction, in my opinion, is the hardest task of any type of written work. So I’m glad it’s done (see the Pre-Game). Before I dive into my specific teams and the reasoning, or lack thereof, for the blog title and the teams I follow, just a bit of background is in order.
Throughout this blog you will often find me switching between sports on both side of the Atlantic, and for example, examining the ins and outs of two very different types of football. In addition, you may notice frequent transitions between English and American-English commentaries. Raised in England since birth but moving to the US in 1990 is the simple explanation. I’m fanatic about football, and whether you crave the NFL or the EPL, you’re going to find something here for you. After 18 years in the US utilizing both an English and American style of conversation is inevitable, and it most definitely will show throughout my articles. If you get confused have another beer, and read on anyway. Keep in mind not all this stuff is confined to football. We’ll cover just about anything and everything in the sporting world.
So, Blue Hawks and Tractors? Simple, it relates to the Seattle Seahawks and Ipswich Town Football Club. Quite a unique combination and we’ll cover the history at some point, but in short I have followed the Town my entire life; the ‘Hawks my entire US sporting life. Now we need to throw in England as well, but I thought that “Blue Hawks, Three Lions, and a Tractor” might be getting just a little wordy…then again, it’s kinda got a ring to it, and they have all won crap in recent history. That’s not quite true, the ‘Hawks have 4 consecutive division titles, which is about to end, but in terms of championships, I come up with the goose egg, nil, zilch…or FA in some circles.
Now, with the teams identified, the title explained, and the commentary style accounted for, we can get going. Do not think that this blog will focus only on the 3 aforementioned teams. Yes, they are my passion in the sporting world, but there is a ton of material to cover and I’ll be discussing many teams from across many sports and making many observations about our sporting universe. I will throw in some status and updates on my teams, if for nothing else, so you can share or relate to my rollercoaster ride of near-glory and frequent misery.
Cheers!!
For my first entry into the world of blogs I’ll take a little time to provide an introduction and give an outline of what Blue Hawks and Tractors just might be all about and how it may develop as we explore the world of, primarily team sports from the view of the dedicated, passionate, and committed (or should be committed on any given Sunday), sports freak. On occasion, I may deviate and delve into some other subjects, but for the most part they will be few and far between and will usually connect to the world of sport in some way or another.
Well, that’s the plan so far but this is just the beginning. In fact, originally I titled this post as the kick-off, but it is more like the pre-game warm-up – the kick-around. The part of the match when you’re heading back from one last run of relief while traversing the steps to your seat, balancing at least 2 beers or as many as they’ll sell you at your given stadium, so as to miss as little game time as possible.
The commentary is going to be in form of sports talk as the way sports fans talk about sports. True fans that is, fans that can talk endlessly about teams, players, coaches, refs, playoffs, their own teams, teams they hate, and fans that have a never-ending supply of hope and optimism regardless of just how bad the product on the field might be at any given time. If you’re looking for expert opinion from a panel of ex-players that get paid bloody millions to state the freakin obvious week-in and week-out, you’re in the wrong place. But any given NFL or English Premier League pre-game show should have exactly what you seek.
There will be some rants – no doubt, I mean ranting is THE most revered pastime of any fan, whether you admit it or not, you know it’s true. So I’ll rant on occasion (alright a lot), but I’ll also find plenty of time to talk about the good stuff too and why the hell we spend so much time with all this anyway.
Like any blog it will take a few entries to get the momentum going, a few articles to develop the attitude, a bit of time to get some attention. But I’m going to have some fun and a few laughs and I hope a few others can join in too. Whether you get a laugh out of an entry or disagree with every word I say, that’s just fine. You’ll be reading this because we have something in common and if we can stir some debate, heated or otherwise, then we’re doing something right. The more comments the better. Eventually, I hope to engage a readership and draw and build on various experiences and interact as much as possible. All reasonable comments will be published, or conversely, stupid shit will be deleted.
There will a few quick posts in succession to get this thing moving and establish some regularly themed articles. For now, the pre-game is winding down, so take your preciously guarded beers back to your seat and get ready for the team to take the field.
Cheers!!
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