Smack Zone — Smack Talk

[caption id="attachment_1018" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Like it or not, now that NBC has extended its deal with the Premier League another six seasons, English soccer is here to stay. Illustration: Steve Hill[/caption] You need to pick a team from the English Premier League. Pick a team and love it. Hate it, too, sometimes, because that’s the nature of the sport they call football. But pick a team and support it, because as much as you love your current U.S. teams – and love to hate your rivals – you haven’t experienced true sports passion until you’ve channeled your attention toward the English game. A few things you ought to know: The top tier of English soccer is, as mentioned, the Premier League. There are 20 teams, and they play each other twice (home and away) during the 38-game, nine-month season. While the top tier of English football has been contested since the First Division was founded in 1888, the formation of the Premier League in 1992 moved the culture away from the rampant hooliganism that marred the sport in the 1970s and ‘80s and toward a more corporate image, bolstered by big TV contracts. In the U.S., NBC just negotiated a six-year extension of its deal to broadcast every game of the Premier League season on its cable and broadcast properties. The English game is here to stay. Oh, a couple more things. There is no post-season. When the regular season ends, the champion is crowned. Also, there are two domestic tournaments that teams from every English soccer division compete for each year – the League Cup and the Football Association (FA) Cup. In addition, the top five or six teams in the Premier League compete in ongoing, season-long tournaments with teams from other European leagues – the Champions League and the Europa League. The league takes a few weekends off during the season for “international breaks,” during which the players who are good enough compete for their national teams in friendly matches or qualifiers for competitions such as the European Football Championship (the Euro Cup). Also, there's this: The three Premier League teams that finish in 18^th-20^th place are relegated to the second division (called the Championship) for the ensuing season. They are replaced in the Premier League by the two teams that finish at the top of the Championship, along with a third team that wins a playoff among the third-sixth-place teams. This is known as promotion, and it means the teams enjoy a SUPER HUGE payday (as much as 60 million pounds) and get to play with the big boys for at least one year. Got all that? Good. Because now it gets a bit more complex. How, exactly, does an American go about picking an English team to support? Well, start by acknowledging that it might be more fun to simply choose one of the two MEGA teams from Spain – Barcelona or Real Madrid – and enjoy their respective romps through that country’s relatively weak La Liga schedule. If you love winning, if nothing else really matters to you, if you gravitate toward high-salaried superstars who are guaranteed to post video-game-like performances match after match after match, by all means follow Real Madrid or Barcelona. Cristiano Ronaldo. Lionel Messi. Either one could be considered the Michael Jordan of soccer. Or maybe one is Jordan, the other LeBron James. Whatever. They’re great, they win all the things, and (yawn) … sorry, got a little bored, there. But … If you want passion – true passion – the kind of passion that forces you to wake up at 6:30 on a Saturday or Sunday morning for a pregame show … go for the English game. You won’t be sorry. Do yourself a favor this weekend. Find a local pub/sports bar that shows Premier League games on the telly in the morning. Do a Google search for your city and, say, Liverpool or Arsenal fan club. That should help you find the places you’re looking for. Set your alarm Saturday morning and head down to the pub to catch the 7:45 a.m. ET Chelsea-Arsenal London Derby (local rivalry games are called “derbies,” which is pronounced “darbies”). Yes, it’s early. But listen – defending champion Chelsea is mired in an early-season funk that has them flirting with the relegation zone, and London derbies are always a fantastic spectacle. It’s a good introduction to the league, if you have not already been caught by its history, passion and – yes – the beauty of it. So, back to the question at hand. What team is right for you? We’re not going to try to re-invent the wheel here. We’ll come right and tell you that Tottenham Hotspur is the official team of the Smack Zone, and that our bitter rival is Arsenal. It’s like Red Sox-Yankees on steroids, that rivalry. We love it. Furthermore: Come on you Spurs! We still miss this guy, Gareth Bale, who took his talents south to Real Madrid for a record transfer fee of $134 million in 2013: [caption id="attachment_1019" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Gareth Freaking Bale. He's taken his talents to Real Madrid, but they still miss him at Tottenham.[/caption] (We've been ordered to insert a disclaimer here: No one else at Smack Apparel gives a crap  about Tottenham Hotspur! – Smack Apparel Management) OK, then. Moving on ... So, here’s the thing. A lot of publications already provided handy, dandy guides on how to pick your Premier League team. We’ve decided to help you out by listing a few of the most useful, starting with the recent Buzzfeed quiz: What Premier League Club Are You? Here’s one that helps you pick a team based on your favorite rapper: Choosing a Premier League Club Based on Your Favorite Rapper. Here’s one from USA Today that provides oddly relevant non-sequiturs for evidence: Your Guide to Picking a Favorite Premier League Team. And here are three more that take a bit more measured approach to helping you with the selection process: How to Pick a Premier League Team and Not Look Like a Fool. (From Slant.) A VICE Sports GUide to How to Pick an English Premier League team. The New Fan's 2015-16 Guide to Picking a New Premier League Club. (From NBC.) And here’s a video of a cat that got loose on the pitch during a Liverpool-Tottenham match a few years ago: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keOEmSCiPI8]

[caption id="attachment_1013" align="alignright" width="204"] Today marks the 54th anniversary of the Minnesota Vikings' first game. Happy birthday, Vikings. Maybe one day you'll clutch the Lombardi Trophy. Until then, there's always beer.[/caption] By Bob D'Angelo, Smack Zone Contributor What will a Minnesota Vikings fan do after his team wins the Super Bowl? He’ll turn off his PlayStation 4. That joke might seem harsh, but a Vikings’ Super Bowl victory still remains elusive. Despite 27 playoff appearances, 18 division titles, nine conference final appearances, four conference titles, an NFL title and four Super Bowl appearances, the Vikings’ trophy case still lacks a Vince Lombardi Trophy. Even though they have won plenty of games, have scores of memorable moments and are well represented in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Vikings have shown a penchant for weird safeties, bizarre finishes and heartbreaking losses, too. But oh, what a debut. On September 17, 1961, rookie quarterback Fran Tarkenton came off the bench, threw four touchdowns and ran for another as the Vikings stunned the Chicago Bears 37-13. A rookie throwing four touchdowns in his team’s opening game wouldn’t happen again until last Sunday, when Tennessee’s Marcus Mariota threw four — in the first half! — against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tarkenton’s performance might have been 1961’s highlight. First-year coach Norm Van Brocklin lamented that he had “36 stiffs,” a blunt yet astute observation that was borne out by a 3-11 record. ‘The Most Interesting Thing’ Even great players blundered. Future Hall of Famer Jim Marshall scooped up a Billy Kilmer fumble in an October 24, 1964, game against the 49ers and ran 66 yards — the wrong way. Marshall reached the end zone and tossed the ball, giving the 49ers a safety. Van Brocklin reportedly told the embarrassed Marshall that he “did the most interesting thing in this game today.” Marshall redeemed himself later. His sack caused a fumble that teammate Carl Eller returned for a touchdown, giving Minnesota a 27-22 victory. That helped Minnesota to its first winning season, an 8-5-1 mark. Speaking of safeties, the Vikings allowed the first one in Super Bowl history. In Super Bowl IX, Dave Osborn fumbled and Tarkenton covered the ball in the end zone, with Pittsburgh’s Dwight White getting credit for the tackle.  That gave the Steelers a 2-0 lead, and they would win the game 16-6. On November 5, 1989, the Vikings beat the Los Angeles Rams 23-21 at the Metrodome. Minnesota got seven field goals from Rich Karlis and won in overtime when Mike Merriweather blocked a Rams' punt that went out of the end zone for a safety. ‘A Terrible Waste’ [caption id="attachment_1014" align="alignleft" width="265"] They haven't won a Super Bowl, but the Vikings don't lack for rivals.[/caption] The Vikings were on the wrong end of the most famous Hail Mary pass in NFL history. On December 28, 1975, in a first-round playoff game at Metropolitan Stadium, Minnesota led Dallas 14-10 with 32 seconds left and the Cowboys at midfield. Roger Staubach underthrew a pass to Drew Pearson, who pushed off Vikings safety Nate Wright, caught the ball on his hip and scored with 24 seconds to play. No flag was thrown. The best throw — and most unfortunate one — came moments later, when a fan hurled a full bottle of Jack Daniel’s and hit field judge Armen Terzian, the official who was closest to the controversial play, in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. A shameful act — and a terrible waste of good liquor. More tragically for Tarkenton, his father, Rev. Dallas M. Tarkenton Sr., suffered a heart attack during the third quarter while watching the game on television at his Savannah, Georgia, home. The elder Tarkenton lost consciousness and died that day. Not everything has been dark for the Vikings. Tarkenton, the league MVP during that ill-fated 1975 season, became the first Minnesota player elected to the Hall of Fame, getting the call in 1986. He retired as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yardage (47,003), completions (3,686) and touchdown passes (342). ‘Purple People Eaters’ The Vikings had one of the top defenses in the NFL during the late 1960s and 1970s — the “Purple People Eaters.” Marshall, Eller, Alan Page and Gary Larson helped the Vikings reach three Super Bowls in four seasons. Marshall, Eller and Page all were inducted into the Hall of Fame.  In 1971, Page became the first defensive player to be named the league’s MVP. On Thanksgiving Day in 1969 against Detroit at Tiger Stadium, Marshall and Page used deft teamwork for a defensive touchdown. Page tipped a Greg Landry pass that Marshall intercepted. As Marshall was being tackled, he lateraled to Page, who completed the return for a touchdown, giving Minnesota a 24-0 lead; the Vikings won, 27-0. [caption id="attachment_1015" align="alignright" width="165"] The Vikings don't always win the Super Bowl, but ... wait. The Vikings NEVER win the Super Bowl. Stay hungry, my friends.[/caption] To prove that wasn’t a fluke, Marshall showcased his lateraling skills in 1970 against the Kansas City Chiefs. It was a Super Bowl IV rematch — the heavily favored Vikings were shocked by the Chiefs in the final NFL-AFL Super Bowl several months earlier — Marshall recovered a fumble, then lateraled to Roy Winston, who completed the 36-yard touchdown play. That gave the Vikings a 10-0 lead, and Minnesota won, 27-10. The Vikings even have their own version of a Hail Mary pass — the “Miracle at the Met.” On December 14, 1980, the Vikings trailed the Cleveland Browns by a point with 14 seconds left. Tommy Kramer got the Vikings to the Cleveland 46 thanks to a hook-and-lateral play. Kramer then tossed a desperation pass as time expired. Three Browns leaped for the ball, but tipped it to Vikings receiver Ahmad Rashad, who caught the pass and backpedaled across the goal line for the game-winning score in a 28-23 victory that clinched an NFC Central title for Minnesota. ‘Oh-and-Four’ The Vikings have a Hall of Fame coach, Bud Grant, who led the team to four Super Bowl appearances. That first Super Bowl loss was considered an upset, but the Vikings were underdogs when they lost Super Bowl VIII (to Miami), IX (to Pittsburgh) and XI (t0 Oakland). Center Mick Tinglehoff became the latest Viking inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he was enshrined in August. He joins Tarkenton, Page, Grant, Marshall, Eller, Paul Krause, former GM Jim Finks, Ron Yary, Randall McDaniel, John Randle, Chris Doleman and Cris Carter. Running back Adrian Peterson had a monumental season in 2012, rushing for 2,097 yards — the second best rushing season in NFL history behind Eric Dickerson’s 2,105 yards in 1984. In 2009, longtime Vikings nemesis Brett Favre joined Minnesota and threw for 4,202 yards and 33 touchdowns. For added measure, he beat his former team — the Green Bay Packers — twice that year, including a four-touchdown masterpiece at Lambeau Field. ‘An Amazing Dream’ Still, Vikings fans dwell on the what-could-have been scenarios. The 1998 squad went 15-1 during the regular season (losing only to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), crushed Arizona in the divisional round but lost 30-27 in overtime to Atlanta in the NFC Championship Game. Gary Anderson missed his first field goal attempt of the season, a 38-yarder, late in the fourth quarter. The Falcons tied the game in the final minute and won with 11:52 left in OT Morten Anderson’s 38-yard field goal. The 2009 team also lost an NFC title game in overtime, falling 31-28 to New Orleans at the Superdome despite three touchdowns by Adrian Peterson. Favre’s interception late in the fourth quarter helped send the game to overtime. Not a laughing matter, but Vikings jokes still flourish. What did the Vikings fan say after his team won the Super Bowl? “Why did you wake me up? I was having an amazing dream!”

Welcome to the Smack Apparel weekly football picks contest, where t-shirts and bragging rights are on the line every week. To play, click this link: Smack Apparel Picks Contest. Once there, register at the top-right of the page. Next, pick your winners for every game and enter a score for the tie-breaker. Each weekly winner will receive three Smack Apparel t-shirts, and the runner-up will receive one t-shirt. Share this post on Facebook and Twitter and tag your friends. Don’t forget to remind them who’s the king of picking games with your best smack talk! To help you out, here are a few random thoughts on this week’s slate.

COLLEGE GAMES

Florida State at Boston College – Welcome to the ultimate Tea Party event. Northwestern at Duke – May the highest composite IQ win. Virginia Tech at Purdue – What’s a Boilermaker without a splash of Wild Turkey? Georgia Tech at Notre Dame – This week’s lock: A team with gold helmets will win this game. Nebraska at Miami – Hello, 2015? 1995 called. It wants its national championship game back. Auburn at LSU – So many Tigers. Rawr. South Carolina at Georgia – After last week’s shocker against Kentucky, the Ole Ball Coach needs to bounce back against his Ole Rival. Texas Tech at Arkansas – The Razorbacks have allowed one TD pass in two games. Tech’s Pat Mahomes might double that … in the first quarter. Florida at Kentucky – A chance for one of these teams to stake an early claim as an SEC East contender. California at Texas – The Horns could use a “get-better” game to right their season. This ain’t that. Rutgers at Penn State – The battle for the bottom of the Big Ten East. Pittsburgh at Iowa – Coming off a rivalry win against Iowa State, favored Hawkeyes could be ready for letdown. Stanford at USC – The last 19 times Stanford entered this game unranked, it went 1-17-1. Stanford is unranked this week. Do the math. Ole Miss at Alabama – The touchdown-underdog Rebs could win, but it would make some major history: Ole Miss is 1-27 all-time in Tuscaloosa, and the Tide has never lost consecutive games to the Rebs. BYU at UCLA – Hint for UCLA: If BYU QB Tanner Mangum drops back for a Hail Mary pass, pray.

NFL GAMES

Patriots at Bills – Rex the Wonder Coach and his upstart Bills try to announce their presence with authority against the Very Shady Brady Bunch. Seahawks at Packers – We’ll defer to Marshawn Lynch’s mom, Delisa, for commentary on this one. Actual, news-making, direct quote from her Facebook page after Seattle’s loss to St. Louis: "Too the smart azz media who wrote that's why marshawn didn't get the ball in the superbowl ,how many times did russell get sacked yesterday. Dont worry i will wait on the answer plus it was totally different at the superbowl the line was better than yesterday no blocking and to the offense caller who should have been fired yes i said it Fired !!! He is the worst play-caller ever the only reason he called that dumb azz play yesterday is to be able to justify the 1 yard that wasn't called in the superbowl ,but most fans already figured this out .were still on a mission but i know the Seahawks staff loves that play caller more than a win ,go figure ‪#‎nfldontpayme# I love this team and will stand up to anybody who tries to destroy it boom!!!!" We could not have said it better ourselves. Lions at Vikings – It won’t matter how well QB Teddy Bridgewater or RB Adrian Peterson play for Minnesota if the Vikes’ D doesn’t do much better against Detroit rookie RB Ameer Abdullah than it did against San Fran’s Carlos Hyde (168 yards on 26 carries). Texans at Panthers – Houston’s DL/LB J.J. Watt could very well be the best fantasy play of the week from this game. Cowboys at Eagles – Eagles RB DeMarco Murray had nine yards on eight carries against the Falcons in Week 1. Very, very, very safe to say he’ll perform better than that this week against the team that was too cheap to pay him after he set a Cowboys record for rushing yards in a season.

Today, we begin a recurring Smack Zone series, How to Win an Argument with a ______ Fan. Our goal with these quick-and-dirty lists is to provide support material for the next time you find yourself in a sports bar smack down and need to put a particularly obnoxious fan in his or her place. (Or, if you happen to love the team in question, feel free to use this material to prepare your rebuttal. You're welcome.) We can think of no better place to start than the Bronx, home of the 27-time World Series champions (and 13-time World Series losers). Without further ado, here are 11 unassailable, 100-percent factual and historically accurate points that will help you win an argument with a New York Yankees fan:

1. Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling might be lovely people, but in the booth they are just the worst. It’s hard to tell if Yankees fans actually like the Yankees broadcasters, or if they merely tolerate them. Either way, here is audible proof that there’s just nothing worse in baseball.

Start with Sterling: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxtgPjgZwPw] And this gem from Waldman: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV3NhT0oXzY] Owowowow. My ears. 2. Sure, they’ve won 27 World Series. But they’ve also LOST 13 of them. Granted, that means they have won the American League title 40 times, but what good are those other 13 if they couldn’t finish the job? 3. They were on the wrong end of the most significant post-season hit in baseball history, Bill Mazeroski’s Game 7-winning home run for the Pirates in the 1960 World Series. What’s worse is the Yankees actually led the series, 2-0, before losing three in a row. Then they won Game 6 12-0 and had all the momentum in the world before Maz put them out of their misery in the ninth inning of Game 7. 4. They lost the 1995 ALDS to the Mariners after leading 2-0. What made this particularly brutal was that it was the only time during Don Mattingly’s long Yankees career that they made the playoffs. It was the last, fading echo of the Lost Decade of the 1980s. 5. Speaking of the 1980s … they mostly sucked. Sure, Mattingly and Dave Winfield were OK. But you talk about all that “great” Yankees history, you get stuck when you reach Donny Baseball’s decade. That famous sign outside the Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa? The one that shows all 27 championship years stacked together? There is a glaring absence – the entire decade of the ‘80s. 6. Long-time owner George Steinbrenner was convicted of making illegal donations to the campaign to re-elect Richard Nixon president in 1972. He never went to prison, but it took a presidential pardon in 1989 to clear his record. 7. Steinbrenner vs. Billy Martin vs. Reggie Jackson was the greatest and most ridiculous three-way feud in the history of the game. The 1977-78 seasons earned the team the nickname the Bronx Zoo, even though they won back-to-back World Series titles. One big reason it was a zoo was the three biggest ego-maniacs in the game consistently made it all about themselves, often to the detriment of the team. It made for great theater, though. 8. Steinbrenner’s feud with Dave Winfield was even uglier in the mid-to-late 1980s. Steinbrenner was banned for life by Commissioner Fay Vincent for consorting with gambler Howie Spira, who was meant to dig up dirt on Winfield’s charitable foundation. It was all ridiculous, an exercise in egotism, and emblematic of everything wrong with the organization that eventually would earn the title the “Evil Empire” from Red Sox executive Larry Lucchino. 9. Even after one of the most successful eras of the team’s history, they couldn’t get an exit right. Both Don Zimmer, beloved bench coach, and Joe Torre, eventually a Hall of Fame manager, were essentially pushed out because of conflict with Yankees management (read: Steinbrenner). While Torre kissed and made up (sort of), Zimmer never really reconciled. 10. It all comes down to money. The Yankees have it and just don’t care if they waste it. Seriously. A 10-year, $275-million deal for Alex Rodriguez was obscene enough. But consider that the Yankees spent $179.1 million on five pitchers – Ed Whitson, Jose Contreras, Carl Pavano, Kei Igawa and A.J. Burnett – and received a total of 75 pitching victories for their money. It’s even worse when you realize that 34 of those victories came from the right arm of Burnett, so the other four bums combined for 41 wins. Pathetic. 11. Really, though, the one disgrace that should shut up any Yankees fan (but probably won’t) is this: two thousand four. As in, the year 2004. As in, the year they no longer could use the chant “1918” with any conviction. The year they led the Red Sox in the ALCS, 3-0, then became the first team in major-league history to blow a three-game lead in a seven-game series. It all fell apart in Game 4, when Mariano Rivera could not hold the lead against Kevin Millar, Dave Roberts, Bill Mueller, David Ortiz and Co. The Bloody Sock. Who’s Your Daddy? Johnny Damon. The Idiots. All of that … [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnqbf2Vpv0] Case closed. Next week’s argument: the New England Patriots.

OK, it was ugly. Uglier than pre-boiled crab meat. Uglier than school cafeteria lunch smeared on the walls after a food fight. Uglier than a lot of things associated with Jameis Winston. Bucs fans could not have imagined anything this ugly, this soon: Titans 42, Tampa Bay 14. And it wasn’t even THAT close. It actually was uglier than the average four-TD blowout. What we need is perspective. So, here’s a related, ugly little statistic to keep in mind after Famous Jameis’ less-than-stellar debut as quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 2-10. That was the combined record in debut NFL starts for the past 12 QBs selected with the No. 1 overall pick. These guys, like Winston, all lost their first NFL starts as rookies:

• Andrew Luck, Colts
• Cam Newton, Panthers
• Sam Bradford, Rams
• Matthew Stafford, Lions
• JaMarcus Russell, Raiders
• Alex Smith, 49ers
• Eli Manning, Giants
• Carson Palmer, Bengals
• Tim Couch, Browns
• Peyton Manning, Colts

Among the quarterbacks selected with the No. 1 overall pick since 1998, only David Carr (Texans) and Michael Vick (Falcons) celebrated victory in their first NFL starts. Carr’s team finished 4-12 that year, and Vick was 4-for-12 passing in his first Atlanta start. What can we read into Marcus Mariota’s brilliance (158.3 passer rating) for Tennessee and Winston’s ugly incompetence Sunday at Raymond James Stadium? Not much, frankly. One horrible day does not a bust make. Similarly, one fantastic day does not mean Mariota is destined for the Hall of Fame. Still, if you’re a Bucs fan today, the question naturally becomes: What if? And that’s legit. It’s perfectly reasonable to wonder if the result would have been reversed if Mariota wore pewter, red and white on Sunday instead of Titans red, white and blue. It’s a question we won’t be able to answer for months or even years. Yet, today, it is telling that Bucs fans can ask that question without an ounce of hesitation. It’s OK to ask the question in the wake of that kind of embarrassment on the football field. Now, how will Winston answer? That’s what we’ll be watching in the weeks ahead. Gator on Gator [caption width="300" id="attachment_980" align="aligncenter"] Image: SB Nation[/caption]Jarrad Davis made perhaps the most important tackle of the day for the University of Florida Saturday in its 31-24 victory against East Carolina. What made it newsworthy was that the Gators defender didn’t tackle a Pirate – he tackled teammate Alex McAlister after McAlister recovered a fumble and headed needlessly to the end zone. Ah, nice job, Jarrad. Heads up play. A far, far better instance of Gator on Gator than this infamous moment from 2013 against Georgia Southern: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05h49R4QX9U] Super Dumb The Giants had it locked up Sunday night against Cowboys. It could have been a game that threw Dallas into disarray already – a tough opening week loss, compounded by losing star WR Dez Bryant to a broken foot for at least five weeks. Instead, the Giants inexplicably gave the Cowboys a last gasp by passing, rather than running, when the game clock was winding down. Think the New York media was pissed about it? Check out this game story from the Daily News: Questionable Call Costs Giants. Coach Tom Coughlin took the blame, as he should have. It’s a comfort, actually, to know that multiple-Super Bowl winners like Coughlin and Eli Manning can suffer this kind of serious brain cramp. It puts our own fallibility into perspective. We’re sure Giants fans can appreciate that big-picture outlook. Right? Yeah. Sure they can. Chelsea's Not-So-Special One  During the 2014-15 Premier League season, Chelsea was as dominant as a club could be. It won the league by a whopping eight points (87 points to 79 for second place Manchester City), it won the League Cup domestic tournament, and it lost three games in league play ALL SEASON. With the “Special One,” Jose Mourinho, back in the manager’s chair, a long stretch of prominence among Europe’s soccer elite seemed inevitable. Nope. After a 3-1 loss to Everton Saturday, Chelsea finds itself in 17^th place out of 20 teams. It was Mourinho’s third league loss in five games already. So far this season, Mourinho has complained about his own team physician taking too long to treat an injured player during a game and has cursed out Everton manager Roberto Martinez when Martinez had the audacity to speak first to members of the media after Saturday’s game. This is glorious for Chelsea haters all over England and the world. Watching the Special One implode is an unusual experience, and the schadenfreude is thick in the air in London these days. Want an American equivalent? It would be like if defending national champion Ohio State had lost a squeaker at Virginia Tech, then got blown out at home against Hawaii this season. Chelsea’s struggles are a wonderful life lesson. Take nothing for granted, even if you have a Russian billionaire bankrolling your season. Oh, and it gets no easier for Mourinho’s lads this week. After a Champions League match against Maccabi Tel-Aviv Wednesday, they face title contenders Arsenal Saturday in what will surely be a scintillating London derby match. Brace yourself. The Special One is slipping. Uncle The biggest winners of the football weekend were, without a doubt, the competing one-week fantasy sports services Draft Kings and Fan Duel. We sincerely hope you didn’t give in to temptation and play the latest drinking game – slam your beer/beverage of choice throughout the duration of every Draft Kings or Fan Duel commercial. If you did, we don’t envy you the headache you woke up with this morning. Remember: Friends don’t let friends play drinking games tied to the hundreds and hundreds of Fan Duel and Draft Kings ads.