White Suburban Punk

We were on the receiving end of a crazy week of weather here in New Hampshire, USA last week.  It knocked out power to over half the state and White Suburban Punk just got it back this morning.  There was a foot of heavy, wet snow Tuesday night through Wednesday night, and then heavy rain and high winds Thursday and Thursday night.  Power went out at WSP World Headquarters Thursday night.  Friday was fairly calm, with snow showers.  I was able to drive around and assess damage — pretty severe.  Trees down everywhere, poles snapped, driveways blocked by branches.  The Piscataquog River nearby was in flood stage and it was a pretty impressive, though frightening sight.  The river was super high and flowing fast, with large chunks of ice forming dams.

Friday night we received five more inches of wet, heavy snow and all day Saturday there were heavy snow squalls that would last for 30 minutes at a time.  By Saturday night, it was getting really old.  Losing power doesn’t seem like a very big deal when you think about it, just a minor inconvenience.  But during the winter it sucks.  You’re cold and wet, and nothing dries out.  Even with a generator, you’re still essentially camping in your house.  It gets very boring, too.  Physically exhausted from snow removal, I read a lot, but eventually I get sick of it.  Listen to the radio, put on music.  Drink some wine.  Inevitably, the mind wanders.  Nostalgia, regrets, depressing thoughts.  Wake up cold in the dark, no idea what time it is.  Isolated.  I roll over in bed at 5:00 this morning and thought I saw a light through the woods.  I get up and sure enough, I’m back on the grid.  It was only two and a half days, but it seemed like an eternity.  I’m alive again.  There’s no way I’m going back to sleep.  Up at 5:00, making coffee, trying to get caught up on the world.  Earthquake in Chile.  Badger hoops blows out Indiana (their worst home loss since 1914).  Liverpool comes from behind(!) to beat Unirea and advance in the Europa League (Skrtel injured, Lille is next in Europa League, Blackburn in Premiership today).  Badger hockey sweeps Michigan Tech, holds second place in WCHA, last regular season series is next weekend vs. Minnesota. USA Hockey blew out Finland, will face Canada for Gold today.

There’s more snow coming — today, tomorrow, and Tuesday.  But tomorrow is March.  NCAA Tournament is just around the corner.  Baseball is right after that.  Daylight savings starts in two weeks, spring in three.  We will get by.  Il faut (d’abord) durer.

The US v. Canada game last night was simply awesome, great, great hockey.  And that was the best empty net goal I’ve ever seen.  US will play the winner of Switzerland and Belarus, while Canada has to qualify against Germany and then will have to play Russia.

What a hit Alexander Ovechkin put on Jaromir Jagr, and it set up a goal.

Way to go for New Hampshire’s own Bode Miller.  After all the grief and insults he’s gotten from the media, it’s great that he was able to shut them up.

Well, the massive, huge, colossal game turned out to be a dud, although it wasn’t as bad as whoever wrote it for ESPN and Fox Soccer said it was.  Ryan Babel earned a start in this game, as well as Lucas and Maxi Rodriguez.  Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun, and Alberto Aquilani were on the bench, and Dirk Kuyt was the lone striker, with David Ngog apparently suffering from a sprained ankle.  There were exactly zero shots on goal in the first half by both teams, kind of unreal.  Liverpool had more of the possession, but just weren’t able to complete any passes in the final third.  But it was an especially weak performance by the home team.  I mean, they’re supposed to be playing to win the game, right?  Anyway, Man City was definitely more aggressive in the second half, and Emmanuel Adebayor had the game’s best chance, which was saved nicely by Pepe Reina.  This was after Adebayor knocked the ball down with his hand, however.

Liverpool’s substitutes were the great news from this game.  Benayoun came on for Maxi in his first game back from a broken rib and El Nino, Fernando Torres, came on for Babel at 75 minutes.  It’s been a long, long time.  Reports indicate that Glen Johnson could be back next week, too.  What will Rafa do with a fully healthy side?  He hasn’t had one all year.

Liverpool also got a lot of weak yellow cards in this game, although Javier Mascherano should’ve gotten a second yellow for a kind of vicious tackle late.

Tottenham beat Wigan Sunday, so they took over fourth place.  They’re at 46 points with 27 games played, Man City 46 points with 26 played, Liverpool 45 points with 27 played, and Aston Villa 45 points with 26 played.  So it’s as tight as a dick’s hatband.

The return leg of the Europa League knock out round is Thursday at Romania against Unirea Urziceni.  Apparently their home stadium only holds 7,000 people so I think they’re playing in Bucharest.

Photo from ESPN Soccernet

The Badgers got off to a rip-roaring start, but ended up barely hanging on for the win Sunday at Kohl Center.  Wisconsin was clearly making a concerted effort to get the ball down low early on, either through drives by the guards or passes into the post.  Northwestern also helped out by essentially not playing defense, and the Badgers ended up shooting 15-20 from the floor in the first half (75%), with just three turnovers, and led 43-29.

The second half was a different story, however.  The Badgers seemed to get tentative and Northwestern picked up the defensive intensity, extending their trapping zone defense.  Wisconsin’s offensive rhythm was completely screwed up, they started turning it over and taking bad shots, and got away from going into the paint.  Predictably, Northwestern crawled back into the game, and after Jon Leuer missed three straight free throws late, Northwestern’s leading scorer John Shurna somehow missed a bunny that would have tied the game with :30 seconds left.  With :10 left, Leuer blocked a shot off a drive from Northwestern’s Michael Thompson that iced it.  Leuer finished with 11 points, and 4 rebounds in 22 minutes, so he’s still inching his way back.  This was Northwestern’s last chance to get a signature win, and the Badgers were very, very fortunate to survive.  They’ve got to get better fast.  Three games left — at Indiana Thursday, Iowa at home, and at Illinois.  The Badgers fell to #17 in the AP and #19 in the coaches’ poll.  They’re also #19 in the RPI, and #10 in the Pomeroy Ratings.

The school honored Dick Bennett and the 2000 Final Four team at halftime, and Bennett also had a nice visit with the announcers during the game.  Ten years?  Actually, that sounds about right.  That was a great team, with exactly zero great players.  It was also a helluva way to start out that last decade for this sports fan, who also happens to love the Patriots (3 SB wins), Red Sox (2 WS wins), Celtics (1 championship), Badger hockey (1 national championship), and Liverpool soccer (won Champions League).  Gotta get Badger football back to the Rose Bowl.

BTW, Badger hockey split their final home series of the regular season against St. Cloud State, and those teams remain #3 and #4 in the polls released today.  3 of the top 4 teams are from the WCHA, with Denver back at #1 and Miami #2. Their last two series are at Michigan Tech and at Minnesota.

Underachieving Minnesota picked a helluva time to actually show and play like they care last night, as they beat Wisconsin 68-52 at Williams Arena.  Wisconsin’s hopes for the conference title are dashed.  The good news for the Badgers was that Jon Leuer made his return to the lineup, coming off the bench 2:30 into the game.  The bad news is that there is going to be an adjustment period, both for the player and the team.  Leuer looked extremely rusty last night, both with his shooting touch and on defense.  In fact, the team defense overall was pretty weak, although they definitely didn’t get any help from the officials.  It seemed like the Badgers kept getting called for touch fouls while Minnesota would hack and rake all they wanted without getting a call.  Bo Ryan actually received a technical late in the first half when the foul differential was 10-4.  At halftime, Minnesota led, 35-26, Leuer was 0-6 from the floor and Wisconsin was 3-18 from two.

Still, Wisconsin was able to cut the lead to three in the second half, but then they started missing shots again.  They had good looks, but they just weren’t going in.  One of those nights.  They also gave up a lot of offensive rebounds and got killed on the glass overall.  It was a pretty sloppy game that they deserved to lose.  Leuer finished 2-12 with four points and one rebound in 26 minutes.

Steve Lavin stated at one point that his friends who are scouts consider Leuer a lottery-level talent.  I know he’s good, but I”m not sure he’s that good.  Maybe next year he will really emerge into a force.  It seemed before his injury that he was starting to figure out how good he is.

With Minnesota dribbling the clock out, Gopher guard Lawrence Westbrook inexplicably drove the lane and attempted a dunk with 3 seconds left in the game.  He failed, but was fouled and hit two free throws.  Stay classy, Minnesota.

Liverpool survived against Romanian team Unirea Urziceni in the first leg of the Europa League knock out stages with an acceptable 1-0 win at Anfield.  Unirea played an extremely defensive game, often with all ten players behind the ball, so Liverpool dominated possession and created plenty of chances, but weren’t able to cash in until late in the game when substitute Ryan Babel sent an excellent cross in to substitute Daniel Pacheco, whose header into the middle was finished off by David Ngog with a tap in.  Alberto Aquilani and Albert Riera started for Liverpool, but they were largely ineffective, especially Riera, who I personally dislike as a player more and more.  Babel came in for Riera at 63 minutes and had an immediate effect on the game with his speed.  This is the third impressive performance in a row for Babel so he should now be all the way out of Rafa’s doghouse.  18 year old Pacheco made his third appearance of the season replacing Aquilani.  Liverpool had loads of chances in this game, including a golden one just 25 seconds into the game when Steven Gerrard’s attempt was tipped aside by the keeper.  The Reds had 11 shots to Unirea’s 2 in the first half and also led 10 corners to none.  The pundits are calling this game “another night to forget” for Liverpool, but really what can you do?  The opposition was entirely dedicated to defense and they played it pretty well.  Liverpool created loads of chances, but just weren’t able to cash in until the end, and then they had another couple of chances after that.  I’m not nearly as down on the team as other “experts.”

Sunday’s game at Manchester City is simply huge.  Man City now hold fourth place by one point ahead of Liverpool, and they have one game in hand.  Patrick Viera will not be available for Man City, as he will begin a three match ban for a cheap shot on a Stoke player in their last game.  In addition, The Sun reports that manager Roberto Mancini and striker Craig Bellamy got in a heated argument yesterday about Bellamy’s training  and Mancini told the player to stay away from the team for 3 months.  Mancini denies it today.  It appears that the only coverage of the game in the US will be on one of the Spanish channels.

Photo from ESPN Soccernet

Solid weekend for the Badgers as the basketball team blew out Indiana at the Kohl Center, 83-55, behind a career high 30 points (and 7 three pointers) from Jason Bohannon and the hockey team swept Minnesota State, 4-3 and 8-4.

Indiana was probably in trouble before they even entered the arena, as Bo Ryan was reportedly steamed after the loss to Illinois.  Alando Tucker and Marcus Landry watched from behind the Badger bench as Wisconsin got out to a 8-0 start that grew to 14-2 after 5 minutes.  It was 46-24 at the half.  Not bad for a team that Hubert Davis claims, “can’t score.”  The Badgers built the lead by taking the ball to the hole and pounding it underneath, as well as nailing their jump shots.  Bo clearly got his message across that the team needs to be aggressive offensively and can’t just settle for three pointers all the time.  They had 18 points in the paint in the first half and pretty much just cruised in the second half.

Jon Leuer was on the bench again, and the camera caught him chatting with Tucker and Landry at one point.  The last report I saw is that he has been shooting and is now receiving passes, too.  He reportedly hit a jump hook with his injured hand, so he’s coming along.  The Badgers have five regular season games left: at Minnesota (Thursday), Northwestern, at Indiana, Iowa, and at Illinois.  Those are all winnable games, and they should be favored in all except the Illinois game, but revenge will be a factor in that one.  In fact, Illinois just got blown out at home today by Ohio State.  Wisconsin is currently 9-4 in the conference, one game in the loss column behind Michigan State, Purdue, and Ohio State.  They are 6-3 without Leuer.

I wonder if Leuer will replace Jarmusz in the starting lineup when he comes back.  Since his injury, Jordan Taylor has gotten each start as the third guard, but that has worked so well that I think Bo might stick with it.  He clearly loves Taylor’s game and the sophomore has played great.  Bo is also pretty comfortable with a three guard offense, as he’s used it in the past, too.  I would think that Leuer will start off coming off the bench, but I believe he will replace Jarmusz as a starter when the time comes.

#3 Badger hockey swept Minnesota State at the Kohl Center, too, in a very rough series.  Minnesota State is a very scrappy/dirty team, with lots of hitting after the whistle, and there were loads of penalties in both games.  The Badgers poured 40 shots on goal Friday night and knocked the starting goalie out of the game Saturday.  Both games were televised, Friday’s on the NHL Network and Saturday on Fox Sports Wisconsin.  The last home series of the regular season is next weekend vs. St. Cloud State, who is really good but is coming off a blowout loss to North Dakota. 

Photo from UWBadgers.com

Liverpool was on the wrong end of a 1-0 decision to Arsenal at Emirates Stadium yesterday, although a blatant hand ball late in the game by Cesc Farbregas was ignored by referee Howard Webb.  Rafa Benitez started virtually the same lineup as the previous game against Everton, with the exception of Martin Skrtel replacing Sotiros Kyrgiakos, who began serving his three match ban for a red card.  Alberto Aquilani was not even on the bench, as he is suffering from illness.

The first half was almost boring, with very little flow.  Arsenal had most of the possession, but they weren’t able to generate many chances.  The game was played under frigid conditions in London, and the players almost seemed hampered by the cold.

The game opened up in the second half, with chances both ways in the first ten minutes, although Arsenal soon began gaining the lion’s share of the opportunities.  Jamie Carragher left the game with an apparent groin injury, although Rafa said after the game that it isn’t serious.  He was replaced by Philip Degen, who soon picked up a yellow card on a foul on Andrey Arshavin.  But Arshavin left the game soon after with a hamstring problem, which should have been good news for Liverpool.  That guy is a fantastic player, very creative to get his shot and he’s got a cannon once he takes it.  However, Arsenal scored after 72 minutes on a cross by Tomas Rosicky that was headed in by a completely unmarked Abou Diaby.  Replays showed Degen acting as a spectator on the play.

Ryan Babel made yet another appearance, as he appears to be slowly climbing out of Rafa’s doghouse.  He replaced Lucas after 78 minutes and had Liverpool’s best shot on goal a few minutes later.  He made a great play to get his shot and his blast was barely tipped by the Arsenal keeper off the crossbar.

Deep in injury time, Steven Gerrard was awarded a free kick that he blasted into the wall and clearly struck the upraised arm of Cesc Fabregas.  This was immediately after Fabregas had just received a yellow card for acting like a bitch after the kick had been awarded.  How the referee missed it, I’ll never know.  It was questionable whether Fabregas was in the penalty box when he struck the ball, but at the very least Gerrard should have had another free kick from just outside the box.

Very disappointing ending to the seven match unbeaten streak for Liverpool, but they still have a very tenuous hold on fourth place.  They are on the same points as Manchester City with a one goal lead in goal differential, but Man City has two games in hand.  They are one point ahead of Tottenham with the same amount of games played, and two points up on Aston Villa, who has one game in hand.  Huge game a week from Sunday at Manchester City.  Europa Cup play begins Thursday with the first match against Unirea Urziceni.

Photo from ESPN Soccernet

Just when it seemed like all was right with Wisconsin basketball, they get upset at home by the Illini.  Looking back, however, this was almost inevitable.  Wisconsin had been leading a very charmed life lately, winning a couple of games they didn’t deserve and getting a couple of routs based on lights out shooting.  A dry spell had to come at some point, and it arrived last night.

The Badgers started out great with the offense cruising, and built a ten point lead, but then they started getting a bit lackadaisacal on defense and taking some quick shots.  They also didn’t drive into the lane, and absolutely could not stop Illinois’ high pick and roll all game.  Guard Demetri McCamey finished with 27 for the Illini, including some fairly ridiculous shots.  Illinois hit their last 8 shots of the first half, and the Badgers kept it close in the second, but Illinois pulled away at the end.  Wisconsin got some good looks, but missed 17 of their last 20 shots in the game.  Trevon Hughes finished 4-16, including 0-8 in the second half.  The Badgers had been ranked #13 in the coaches’ poll and #11 in the AP and looked like they could go 2-0 this week and maybe break into the top 10, but it wasn’t meant to be.  They probably needed to be brought back to earth.  They’re still #9 in the RPI, with Indiana at the Kohl Center Saturday.  In fact, the rest of the Big Ten schedule is pretty good, with the toughest game at Minnesota.

Illinois was able to build its resume, and Wisconsin gets another shot at them in Champaign in the last game of the season.  Coupled with Michigan State’s third straight loss last night, Illinois is now tied for first in the conference.

Photo from Scout.com

The 213th Merseyside Derby was played at Anfield Saturday and it was a classic.  Fortunately, it was televised in HD on ESPN2 here in the States, so we got a good look at all the viciousness.  These teams’ stadiums are just 1/2 mile from each other, and 8 of the last 10 meetings between the two have had at least one red card.  Make that 9 of 11 after this game.  Rafa Benitez fielded a fairly defensive minded side, with Maxi Rodriguez and Lucas in and Alberto Aquilani and Albert Riera on the bench.  The game was rough right from the kickoff, as seemingly every 50/50 ball was fought with bloodlust.  This was my first look at Landon Donovan in an Everton jersey, and he played pretty well.  He is definitely good at applying pressure with the ball, but he is also a soft player, especially for the Premiership, and especially for a tilt like this one.  He took some of Everton’s corner kicks, and about 20 minutes in he carried the ball into the Liverpool end and didn’t quite dive, but definitely “went to ground easily,” as the announcers said.  This drew a yellow card on Dirk Kuyt, but that was easily the weakest card in the match.  The game just got more and more brutal as the half wore on.  Everton’s Fellaini kicked the ball off Kuyt’s face with Kuyt on the ground after a whistle, but the ref apparently didn’t see it.  Players from both sides just seemed to get more and more enraged, and at 34 minutes, Kyrgiakos and Fellaini crashed into each other, both with their studs up.  Kyrgiakos received a red card, and Fellaini got nothing, although he did leave the game with an injury.  The announcers were “amazed” both players didn’t see red cards on the play, and the studio commentators at halftime agreed with them.  On another play, Steven Pienaar for Everton looked like he was trying to break Javier Mascherano’s leg and also didn’t see red, although he did get yellow.  With Liverpool down to 10 men, Steven Gerrard knocked a free kick off the crossbar late in the first half for Liverpool’s best chance.

With the score 0-0, the teams started the second half much more in control of their emotions.  Everton started the half well, making undermanned Liverpool chase the ball, but Liverpool began to turn things around.  After David Ngog earned a corner with a strong play on the ball and not diving (which he definitely does sometimes), Dirk Kuyt headed in the corner from Steven Gerrard right in front of American goalkeeper Tim Howard.  Howard and Kuyt were pushing each other before the play, with Howard whining to the ref, and then he was thoroughly embarrassed and weak on the play.

Pepe Reina was great in goal for Liverpool as the second half wore on and Everton pushed forward more and more, and the game started getting rough again.  In injury time, Steven Pienaar was finally shown the exit with his second yellow, although that particular infraction wasn’t nearly as bad as his previous ones.

Overall, it was a great win for Liverpool.  Studio guest Steve Nicol, a former Liverpool great and current New England Revolution coach, said that he hasn’t seen a game like this in 10 years.  It was old school viciousness.  A thoroughly entertaining 1-0 game.  With all the things that have happened to Liverpool this season and all the bad luck, there is no question that the players still play for Rafa and still have tremendous spirit.  They have now conceded only one goal in their last 7 Premiership games, and have at least temporarily reached the coveted top 4 in the league.  They are one point ahead of Tottenham and three points ahead of Manchester City and Aston Villa, although Man City has two games in hand and AV one.  Next up is a huge match with third place Arsenal on Wednesday at Emirates Stadium.

Photo from ESPN Soccernet