Yesterday was one of those real bad sports days where I was concerned in terms of the results.  As I’ve already chronicled, the Devils fell to the Senators.  To add to it, my two favorite college football teams, Penn State and Rutgers, lost by large margins. Today, I’m happy to report, was a much better day.

The daily double started off with a team from London and ended with a team playing in London.  Yes, London…..as in England…..where the royals are…..no, not the Kansas City Royals.  Alright, I’ll get back to the sports.

Those who know me well know that I’m a big fan of European football, known around here as soccer.  I have a favorite club in the domestic league of several countries, most notably in England and Italy.  Thanks to the magic of Fox Soccer Channel, I’ve been able to follow my favorite English side, Arsenal, closely for years.  The North London club plays a beautiful free flowing brand of soccer that is truly a pleasure to watch.  This year, despite having lost the world reknown striker Thierry Henry to Barcelona of the Spanish league, Arsenal have spent much of the early season atop the English Premier League table.    It is fair to say that they have surpassed pretty much all expectations both in the EPL as well as the UEFA Champions League.

Today promised to be the club’s biggest test this season as they took on Liverpool at Anfield.  Liverpool have suffered through what could best be described as an uneven early season, a struggle that was magnified by the lofty preseason expectations for the team.  They would have loved nothing more than to have handed Arsenal their first loss.  Thanks to an early goal on a splendid free kick by Steven Gerrard and an amazing display of thuggery by Jamie Carragher, Liverpool looked to be on their way to doing just that.  Note to Carragher, that was a fine display of rugby out there.  Too bad this wasn’t a rugby match.  I’m assuming the man-of-the-match honor Carragher was accorded was due to his ability to get away with so many uncalled fouls.  At least one of those uncalled fouls should have seen him dismissed from the match with a red card.

The Gunners, however, refused to fall.  They would be rescued with a goal by the sublime Cesc Fabregas in the 80th minute and would escape Anfield with a draw. More importantly, they would pull even on points with Manchester United at the top of the table and be listed in first due to goals scored.  They host Manchester United next week at Emirates Stadium in North London next week.  Assuming the game is televised in the states, it’s safe to assume I will be unavailable during the match.

The second installment of things from England saw the New York Giants take on the Miami Dolphins at the new Wembley Stadium in London in what was ostensibly a Dolphins home game.  While the soaking rain surely reminded the Dolphins of Miami, the cool temperatures and the full stadium likely did no such thing.  After 60 minutes of game time and 3 hours or so of real time, my Giants prevailed by a margin of 13-10 due to a late Dolphins touchdown.

Regardless of how pleased NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he was during the broadcast, there is no way he could truly have been happy with the game that was played.  There was an on-and-off pouring rain that drenched the Wembley pitch and made for miserable conditions highlighted by the utter futility in the passing games of both teams.  The result was a game that more closely mirrored a rugby match more than an American football game.  Had the players removed their pads and the television timeouts been eliminated, I’m sure the London crowd would’ve felt right at home.  In the end, I’m just glad the Giants managed to avoid another trap game and finish the first half of the season 6-2 heading into their bye week and the showdown with Dallas that awaits when they return.

There was an interesting, if coincidental, contrasts in broadcast styles during the Arsenal soccer match and the Giants football game.  For the first time that I can remember while watching Fox Soccer Channel, the match commentator received news from a sideline reporter.  The report was a quick, concise report on the exact injury of a Liverpool player who had just gone off for a substitute.  It is important to note that neither the match commentator, the analyst, nor the sideline reporter were ever actually shown on camera.

Contrast this to the NFL broadcast on Fox where not only are all three constantly on camera, but there’s also a constant running conversation involving all of them.  It’s been said before and it will be said again by others with more eloquence than I can muster, when it comes to commentators and glitzy graphics, less is more.  Is it too much to ask that we be able to enjoy a sporting event without being bombarded by self evident, repetitive commentary as well as graphics that only serve to distract from the field of play?  I have yet to meet the baseball fan who became one because of Tim McCarver’s analysis.  I’ve yet to meet the football fan who listed the yellow first down graphic as the reason why she watches on Sunday.  If the game on the field stinks, you could have a pair of Nobel Laureate sports experts calling the game with cutting edge graphics infinitum and it still won’t save the broadcast.  To suggest otherwise is to insult the collective intelligence of sports fans everywhere.

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