How Many Stadiums??

How many total stadiums have been used in the Premier League Era?

How close can you get

Good Luck

UWS

A Big Night of Pre-Season Football

It's two matches being played simultaneously as it's the MLS  All Stars vs the Spuds and Manchester United vs PSG being played at Soldier Field in Chicago. The All Stars vs the Spuds is on FS 1 while FOX , showing why they are third rate have chosen to show UFC wrestling instead of United VS PSG , so we will need to watch that one on a link or on tape delay. A must see.

"It's better to burn out, than fade awaaaayy......"

For those interested in rock and pseudo-social science, here's an interesting table on the causes of death of musicians, broken down by genre. Prepare to have almost every stereotype you ever had about musicians confirmed in spades (my only surprise is that metal topped punk for suicides). I guess having a bleak outlook concerning fantasy worlds and the return of ancient deities is worse for one's state of mental health than simply sporting a nihilistic and anarchic view of the actual reality we inhabit.

The link to the table's source article - which also links to an earlier article containing the research methodology (i.e., where the info on deaths was obtained) - is below:

https://theconversation.com/music-to-die-for-how-genre-affects-popular-musicians-life-expectancy-36660

There are some real methodological problems, such as what constitutes a genre, to this research (I put one in the comments), but there is some fun stuff here, so I applaud the effort.

US vs. Jamaica Live!

Clint Dempsey and co. meet up with the Reggae Boyz tonight in the semi-final of the Gold Cup in Atlanta. Okay, maybe not the biggest match of the year, but it's July 22nd - what do you lot want? I'll be watching and I hope that you'll join me from 6pm onward. Cheers!

Follow the Summer Premiership Transfers

Believe it or not we're less than three weeks away from the beginning of the Premiership season and the transfers are coming fast and furious now. Will United buy any strikers? Will Chelski buy anyone? Will Citeh buy everyone? Those questions and others will be answered in the next weeks.

Here are the most notable transfer to date:

Arsenal - Petr Cech (£10 million from Chelski)

Crystal Palace - Yohan Cabaye (£10 million from Newcastle)

Liverpool - Nathan Clyne (£12.5 million from Soton)

Man Citeh - Raheem Sterling (£44 million from Liverpool)

Man Utd - Memphis Depay (£33 million from PSV); Matteo Darmian (£12.5 million from Torino; Bastian Schweinsteiger (£14.5 from Bayern; Morgan Schneiderlin (£25 million from Soton)

You can follow all of the action at the Football 365 site here: http://www.football365.com/f365-features/9888971/Transfers365

Piss-taking at Sepp's expense

Watching this video, I'm struck with the thought that the only reason Herr Blatter didn't hit the deck with gusto and start stuffing banknotes into his pockets is that his G-string was already stuffed to bursting point with dodgy CAF-cash.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful

Obviously, I am grateful to the kid since he allowed the Germans to hoist the Cup, but Mario Goetze just seems like the pretty boy par-excellence.

Rumors are that Juve may be interested in him (a Baggio/Del Piero type?). If Bayern gets Vidal in exchange for him, I think it is a good bargain, even if the Chilean may be over the hill in terms of injury, pace, and stamina.

Quiz: Heavy Metal Lyric or Bible Verse?

Alright, Spinal Tap aficionados - here is the quiz for you. It's trickier than you might think - I got 13/16 right, but it took some thinking, I'll tell you. Give it a go and let me know how you do. Cut and paste the following into your browser to start the quiz:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/heavy-metal-lyric-or-bible-verse#.kya6qG9aE

British People and Sunny Weather

Thanks to UWS for finding this gem of a YouTube video series featuring one young Brit's take on sunny, summer weather. I've been meaning to post it but have been otherwise occupied. Back to normal LOB service in a week or so. Enjoy!

"All Songs Considered" Reconsiders the 90s

If that mood in the air smells a bit like Teen Spirit, that's only because the NPR "All Songs Considered" podcast has devoted its weekly episode to an appraisal of all things 90s music. Recall the glory days of grunge and gangsta rap by downloading the pod from iTunes, NPR and the usual outlets. Enjoy!

US v. Japan Women's World Cup Final Live!

It all comes down to this, lads. Last time around, Japan pipped the US to the post with a penalty shoot-out win. But the US side have already overcome a lot this time around. It hasn't always been the most fluent display, but they've got bags of grit, like a well-school Tony Pulis team.

Join me from 7pm EST on Fox (or Telemundo, if you want to practice your Spanish) for all the fun.

Only 99 years in the making!!!!

My Chilean grandmother (I was born there, too) turned 100 this year. She had gone her entire life (and the life of the COPA AMERICA tournament) without seeing Chile hoist the cup. For a country that has always cracked or lost its nerve when the pressure was on, winning in PKs is an unexpected vindication.

There was some home-cooking involved in getting this far, but even if I were a neutral, it's nice to see a team employ an attacking philosophy and be rewarded for it. The starting lineup had only 3 in the back, none of whom are actually defenders at club level, with an average height of 5'7" (incidentally, my height as well, proving I am a true Chilean).

Argentina had a chance or two to put the match away, but they underwhelmed in the final, not adjusting well to Chile's relentless pressing and struggling to do much with the space and opportunity that Chile was ceding by focusing so heavily on Messi.

So, join me in saluting Chile. Just don't give Vidal the keys to your Ferrari (see below).

Happy 4th of July from Big Red to the LOB!

Our favorite soccer broadcaster - Alexi Lalas - wants to wish all of you in LOB-land a very happy 4th of July!

The Cottage is a particularly happy place this weekend as I've finally gotten my precious laptop back from the shop after a two week hiatus. With all of this wedding nonsense and then technical problems, I've been neglecting the LOB - and missing it.

I'll be around for the US v. Japan World Cup Final tomorrow afternoon, if you care to join me here. Alexi will be looking for you! ;-)