Doom but no Gloom...

After a reading a rather depressing article written about the downsides of being a top level football player, I was rather shaken. With the exception of being a cereal taster, does being a footballer not sound like the best job in the world? You get to play a game you love hours on end and get paid for it. Well as if it had an agenda to ruin everyones dream of playing the game they love for money, the article suggested that there is a much darker side of football hidden away from the public which effects certain players profoundly; in this case Sebastian Deisler. It explained that players like Deisler, who was a fantastic prospect who carried the weight of expectations of the entire nation of Germany across his young shoulders, are very susceptible to cracking under the immense pressure if they are not mentally capable of blocking out the comments/critiques and views of others. Understandably Deisler cracked under the gargantuan weight of such immense scrutiny, and his story serves as a reminder that the life of a professional footballer is not always one giant party...

Or is it?

It's too bad he didn't play for Chelsea, because these videos will likely convince you that although there are a few sad cases of break downs such as Geislers, but for the most part being a footballer is exactly what the job title would have you think: you play a game you love for a few hours during training, and then crack jokes for the rest of the day. Enjoy.

Football Viewing for the New Season

As competitive club football resumes around Europe, I am relishing the prospect of once again watching the best leagues in the world. There is little more enjoyable than spending my weekends watching football, and so as to share my pleasure with everyone, I have decided to provide you all with a little guide on how best to watch the beautiful game this season.

As always, there will be several changes in networks this season, the most notable of which is that the UEFA Champions League will air on Fox Soccer Channel this season. Fortunately for all of us, this means the end of listening to ESPN's Tommy Smyth, the little Irish leprechaun who partnered Derek Rae for Champions League games and frequently managed to make a mockery of himself simply by speaking. For those of you who will desperately miss him, or for those of you who wish to question once again how a man of Tommy Smyth's intelligence could possibly ever end up commentating games in front of millions of people, please find the full Tommy Smyth catalogue on the Youtube.

Anyways, back to Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) and its new coverage. When I first heard the news, my only worry was that FSC does not have high definition. No worry, by the time the Round of 16 begins in February 2010, FSC will be available in High-Def. Equally great is the news that FSC has promised us "European-based commentators" for Champions League games, plus pregame and highlight shows hosted by our beloved Max Bretos, Warren Barton and Bobby McMahon. All in all, I am excited for the FSC coverage because unlike ESPN's coverage it will be angled more towards real soccer fans and less towards ignorant American masses.

The other major news is that ESPN has acquired the rights to a handful of Premier League games this year. In truth this just means more games for us here in the States, because the ESPN games do not cut into the FSC games. A quick wrap up of the major domestic leagues:

Serie A: FSC
La Liga: Gol TV
Premier League: FSC and ESPN
Bundesliga: Gol TV

If you ever get tired of watching actual games this season, there is still plenty more to look out for. Former US MNT player Eric Wynalda has replaced Steven Cohen on FSC's monday night event Fox Football Fone-in. I watched his debut performance last night and can tell you that he definitely knows what he is talking about in US Soccer, but his actual knowledge of football outside of the US remains to be seen. Of course, FSC will continue its trademark show, Fox Soccer Report, in its usual nightly slot.

Finally, I have stumbled across a fantastic new tool on the internet for every football fan. Finding highlights of games that perhaps you missed, or maybe games that did not air in the states has always been a challenge. Footytube.com has solved this problem with its new Footytube 2.0. The site is a customizable catalogue with highlights from pretty much every top level game around the world. It basically crawls the net for highlights and often has them up in hours and sometimes even minutes after a game has been played. The quality is usually very watchable it also has nice little featurs like Goals of the Week and Games of the Week.

I hope everyone enjoys the new season as much as I will, whatever team you support (Jon). Happy Watching.