On Any Given Sunday

On Any Given Sunday: By Eli Milligan

It is Six AM on a Saturday, my dedication to 98.7 ESPN New York remains unwavering… even with the absence of Mike and Mike in the Morning. Haha, I know I must be some evil creature who climbed from the depths of that awful Patton Oswalt movie Big Fan. Anyway, Bill Daughtry is on, my least member of The Han and Humpty Show, but none the less I listen, and what do you know he surprises me with something worth listening to. Before an almost unbearable commercial break of 1800-Flowers, divorce lawyers, and ED ads, he says he will have a NFL player who will be on the show to discuss his new book called NFL Confidential: True Confessions from the Gutter of Football… Alright Bill… you got my attention… I’ll sit through this commercial break even if it takes thirteen minutes… Yeah that’s a dig at you ESPN. So as I sit on my commute to work, a man with a voice scrambler begins to speak about his book in which he’s described the inner evils of football and the NFL. A guy going buy the name “Johnny Anonymous” who is a current NFL player outing the league on things such as Racism, Homophobia, locker room relations and the life of an NFL backup.

            Of course I couldn’t help but salivate upon purchasing this book on my kindle, and I finished it in two days. Overall the book is a fairly easy read, but it provides with entertainment, humor and something more; it reminds the reader, the casual fan, and even the hardcore football maniac like myself, that these guys are people too. They have feelings, and not only are they working for their dream, but also to feed their families. Furthermore, since the boom of fantasy football, and the ability to watch every football game every Sunday regardless of your geographic location, football is something of a religion to many Americans. However, the downside to this is very quickly we loose sight that these guys are human beings, and there are fans who wish injuries and call for these guys to be fired over a bad game or costly mistake… I mean imagine the general public having a legitimate say in your employment status how absurd does that sound?

            Locker Room

            My favorite aspect of this book that was addressed was easily the racism and homophobia, which is ironic considering how neurotic I am about being PC. However, what was so impressive about this book is that the author was not afraid to address these issues and its something that deserves a lot of credit, because quite honestly it took balls to address such sensitive locker room issues such as these. It all starts with the locker room atmosphere he creates although Johnny is straight he constantly calls his teammates “Baby,” I mean there is no denying the guy is an asshole but he’s a lovable asshole. Through this he addresses the fact that among men the biggest identifier of comfortability among one another, derives in ones ability to make gay jokes around one another as well as shower naked around each other… ironic I know. The point is he makes it known blatantly known that the reason Michael Sam didn’t make it in the league was not due to an inability to play the game, It was due to his sexual orientation, I mean the guy was SEC defensive player of the year. Guys were not comfortable being around someone who could possibly be checking them out while they showered, also the class of cultures you’re talking about guys who are coming from the hood, the deep country, or even very religious backgrounds, do you expect them to be very accepting if they were not exposed to this from a young age? Also I think what was important was that he addressed the racial aspect about the league, guys are segregated generally by position and race… and you commonly hear things from both sides white and black that are quite derogatory. One thing that Johnny did in fact emphasize was racist, sexist, or even homophobic. You could be any of the three as long as you don’t hit women, because once you cross over that threshold, you are lower than dirt.

       DRUGS

            If any real revelation is made from reading this book that could lead to scrutiny against the league, without a doubt it is their drug policy. Players without a history of substance abuse are generally relegated to testing twice a year… once during the winter session, once during the summer session, and during the year ten players from each team are tested on a weekly basis for HGH and Anabolic steroids. OH, so you thought they tested for all drugs during the year? Yeah, me too. Basically, to get caught using illicit drugs you really, really have to try hard. The NFL does not really care if you do drugs… just don’t get caught. A lot of guys struggle with substance abuse, whether it be cocaine, prescription dugs, and yeah the big bad one Alcohol.

            During the book, the author goes into depth about the player’s habits, some stay home, others go out here and there, but some have serious drinking issues like a player named Anton, the starting center who could or could not be eagles center Jason Kelce. Due to the rigorous schedule these players are forced to abide by, a lot of them don’t have time to really enjoy themselves and alcohol as well as poor eating habits can pose to be detrimental to their mental and psyche. Furthermore, the author spoke about popping at times three tramadol or whatever the popular painkiller or muscle relaxer that the team doctor saw fit. He spoke about the excruciating pain each of them endured during games and taking enough medication that would allow him to feel numb in order to play through the pain effectively. Essentially as long as the game isn’t compromised by a drug that could improve performance the league can give a rat’s ass about the health of their employees. This came to be quite a revelation to me.

            Overview

 I recommend this book to anyone who l loves football, whether you are the casual fan, the hardcore fanatic, or just a regular old fantasy football addict read it. You will begin to find yourself in the center of a legitimate moral dilemma about this game, the league, and even the way you conduct yourself on football Sunday. The main issue this book raises is that these guys although polarizing examples of incredible athleticism, they are HUMAN BEINGS. They have feelings, they get hurt, they are worrying about how the hell they are going to feed their family next week just as we are. For the majority of these 2000 league wide players very few of them really have job security, and while you find yourself praying that the opposing linebacker who has harassed your favorite quarterback all game to get injured, this game could very well be his last game in the NFL. This book is very entertaining, as well as insightful, and although there are various rumors floating around about the True Identity of Johnny Anonymous should be the least of your focus because we as fans should do our own due diligence and really attempt to understand what really goes into those four hours of intense hair raising action, because any given Sunday, could be a players last day on the field. The brutal honesty that was included in this book is what I ultimately appreciated, this book is something different and definitely an eye opener to say the least. Do yourself a favor read it.

MUST READ 

Takeaways from the 2015 NFL Season

The 2015 NFL Season: What We Must Take Away and What We Need to Look Ahead To

Another season in America's greatest business on turf is now in the books. Not much has changed......

Well, except everything.

This year has been absolutely iconic. There was a sense of a passing of the torch, there was a seeming shift in power, there was this uncanny thought process behind a new face of the league that dabbed and danced his way to the MVP, but the same figure also slid head first into Super Bowl demise. We still don't know what a catch is, and the once heralded bad boy with Football for a last name is now in big trouble.

Without further delay, here are four things to take away from this NFL season, and four questions i'm looking forward to having answered this offseason and beyond.

Four takeaways from this season 

1. Defense Still Wins Championships

"Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships". While in the past five to ten years this mindset has been challenged by high-tempo offensive playbooks and quarterbacks with cannons attached to their arms, the legendary Bear Bryant quote still to this day is accurate in the National Football League. The Denver Broncos boasted the number one defense in the league this year, and deservedly so grabbed the Lombardi trophy on the backs of Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware and company. If it weren't for Pete Carroll's inexcusable brain fart at the one yard line last season the number one defense would have earned the really big rings three years in a row. It's safe to say for now that in a Quarterback-centered league, the "defense wins championships" mentality is still as strong as ever.

2. Whether you like it or not, Cam Newton is now the best player in the NFL. If you disagree with me, you're either blind, stupid, or biased.

Cam Newton has been a winner everywhere he's been. I can only imagine how fast of a freight train the Florida Gators would have been if he would have gotten his shot for Urban Meyer. That being said, Cam Newton has made a career out of putting a team on his back and running as far as he possibly can with minimal help. If you by any means believe that Newton has a star studded supporting cast on offense you are dead wrong. Newton has subpar talent surrounding him at Wide Receiver and is lucky he has one of the top tight ends in the league in Greg Olsen. The scariest part about this Carolina team is that Newton didn't have his number one target Kelvin Benjamin all season after he went down with an ACL tear in training camp. If the Panthers can add another weapon, to go alongside Benjamin, who we haven't even seen play with Newton since 2014, watch out. This could get very scary for the NFC very quickly. If opposing defensive coordinators weren't already scared they better grab their nightlights pronto, because like Cam Newton said, they will without a doubt be back, and in the future I don't see there being obstacles quite like the the one he faced in the Denver Broncos three days ago.

3. The running game in the NFL was brought back to life (for now) by Todd Gurley

It's no secret that teams with minimal success in the running game can still be successful in this league. It's also no secret that running backs don't last nearly as long as other players, and also don't get drafted nearly as high as other players. Most Rams fans were jumping and screaming in frustration last May when Todd Gurley was taken tenth in the draft. Now, fans are confident that this guy will be the best back in the league for years to come. This kid made an absolute splash in this league in a world full of thirty yard passes and comeback routes. There's no ceiling for this kid and really no other player at his age has the potential he does for years to come. Expect Todd Gurley to be key in the newly relocated Rams plans to take that next step towards the playoffs.

4. The San Fransisco 49ers are run by pirates

Ugh. This is the most painful paragraph i've ever had to write. This is my favorite team, so i'm tuned in pretty well and quite honestly some of the moves that have been made within the organization have made absolutely zero sense. Do you think that it's a coincidence that in the same week Chip Kelly was hired Kaepernick made public he wanted out? NOBODY wants to play for Chip Kelly. Guys lie Stephen A. Smith have cited players going as far as saying playing for Chip Kelly is unbearable. People play for emotionless robots like Bill Belechick because that guy knows how to win, clearly Chip Kelly does not in this league. The hiring of Chip Kelly already didn't make sense in and of it self, but the hiring of Jim O'Neil as the defensive coordinator is way more of a head scratcher. Jim O'Neil is coming off an incredibly unsuccessful tenure as defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, and as a defensive coordinator he has never coached a playoff team. So, the millions of questions are already bottling themselves up in my head, but I know they will fall upon deaf ears. The outlook for my niners next year is something like a 2-14 or 3-13 misery campaign. Sigh. Pray for me.

Four questions for this offseason and next season

1. Will this be the year Tom Brady comes down to earth?

If i'm going to answer my own question with a sense of anti-climactic sensibility, it will probably not happen this season. The once renowned sixth round steal that is one of the greatest gunslingers to ever throw a pigskin still looks like he did when he was 30. The most impressive part about Tom Brady now is his supporting cast is like Cam Newton's. Outside of a top tier tight end he has less than outstanding weapons on the outside. We've seen what Tom has been able to do with superstars at wideout as he's displayed record breaking numbers and near undefeated seasons. However, we all know that Father Time is undefeated, and after the year that Peyton had you have to remember that Manning is only one year older than Tom. You can have the intangibles your whole life, but that arm is going to run out of juice at some point. I'm not saying that this is the year that Brady's arm goes flat, but if I were you I'd start paying very close attention.

2. Will the Titans trade the first pick away?

The Titans have their future star quarterback in place already. Marcus Mariota showed this season that the spot will be his in the Music City for a decade plus if he chooses to make it his home. So the question is this, do they decide to pull the trigger on the top pick and defy the "quality over quantity" mindset? They have a few options. This draft is deep at positions they need such as pass rushers, left tackles, and wide receivers. The Titans also need to realize that they don't need any ONE player, they need MULTIPLE PLAYERS. This team is quite possibly the lowest of the low in the league in terms of overall talent on a 53 man roster, so this could be a huge chance for the Titans to build their roster at multiple places of need and get an ideal package for the often overrated price tag of a first overall pick. If the Titans elect to trade down watch out for teams like Cleveland, Dallas, and San Diego to jump up and take it. If the Titans stupidly elect to keep the top pick, expect Laremy Tunsil to be wearing baby blue next season.

3a. Will the Browns finally solve their Quarterback curse? I know a guy that might be the savior.

I think for the first time in recent memory the Browns finally got it right on the head coach hiring front. Names like Rob Chudzinzki, Pat Shurmur, Mike Pettine and even more names have been laughable hires at best. I don't know whether to blame the fact that the Browns might have the same pirate invasion problem the 49ers have, or if flat out nobody wants that job. That's what makes the Hue Jackson hiring all the more special. The Man got one chance to lead a team when he was hired in Oakland and was inexplicably fired after going .500 with a team that should've probably went 4-12. I'm still scratching my head on that one. Regardless, Hue Jackson is a winner. Not only is he a winner, he has a tremendous track record with quarterbacks. Could this FINALLY be the guy who calls all the right shots to earn playoff reality for the dawg pound? This draft class is considerably weak at QB compared to recent years, however if the Browns draft Carson Wentz I think they'll finally be on there way. Wentz is a virtually unkown prospect from North Dakota State, but the man has the trait Browns fans have been needing in their gunslinger for years. The guy simply just knows how to win. Wentz was the shot-caller for back to back FCS championship teams in 2014 and 2015 and while there will be swirling questions if this cat can compete at the highest level, he has all the attributes, all the flash, and the right track record to possibly be the savior in Cleveland.


3b. What is next for Johnny Manziel?

Now, to Johnny Manziel. Lord knows if this man is going to get another chance to start on an NFL roster it's more than likely going to be his last. The man should have never left Texas A&M with two years to grow. Manziel could have ended up as the greatest college football player of all time had he stayed. That team in College Station has ELITE weapons at wideout right now and Manziel could have had a field day throwing to them. The glitz and glamour of the quarterback lifestyle was just too much for Mr. Moneybags to turn down  and he's paying the price for it now. His Teenager-like errant and repetitive behavior that constantly finds himself in the headlines is a cancer that I guarantee every team in the league does not want whatsoever. Maybe if Jerry Jones is crazy enough to think Greg Hardy would put a lid on his act that he could somehow hypnotize Johnny Manziel into becoming a good little Samaritan in Big D, but the chances of that are slim to none. We'll have to wait and see what's going to happen with this pending case with Manziel's ex-girlfriend and such and such, however for a guy who has rooted for Manziel since the famous botched snap in Tuscoloosa, I hope one team finds it in their hearts to give Johnny one more chance. If Manziel botches this one though, he's done. You can guarantee that.

4. Will we finally figure out what a catch is?

I'm gritting my teeth like an eight year old on vyvanse while typing this sentence. There is absolutely NO reason that fans at home and even commentators of the sport should be saying things like "What even is a catch anymore?" "I don't know if that's a catch or not because he didn't make a football move" etc. IT'S. SIMPLE. Honestly, the rule written down in black and white should say "Hey, if the dude catches the ball and doesn't lose control of it before he hits the ground, it's a catch" IT'S. THAT. SIMPLE. The Jerricho Cotchery "non-catch" in the first quarter on Sunday changed the entire outlook of the entire Super Bowl. If that play is named a catch, it's first down Carolina. It wasn't a catch, and Cam Newton was sacked and the ball was fumbled then bouncing in to the end zone for a Broncos end zone shortly after. That play was without a doubt a catch, but because these guys at NFL headquarters think that we need to make the characteristics of what a catch and what isn't rocket science, they couldn't overturn the call of an incomplete pass. If it's an official stat in the stat sheet, there should be absolutely no debate on what has to happen in order for it to go down as such. Do we ever wonder what a pass attempt is? No. Do we ever wonder what a carry is? No. Do we ever question what a tackle is? No. So why do we need to worry about what is a catch and what isn't. I hope the NFL can suck up their pride and figure this out in owner's meetings in the offseason, cause it's getting a little ridiculous, but who knows.



Follow our writers on twitter at:
@elimilligan
@davidsonbaker_
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The $alary Cap Podcast (Super Bowl Review) 2.8.15

The Beautiful Game: The Growth of Soccer in the U.S.

The growth of popularity in Soccer in the United States: The brief amateur's guide to the beautiful game as told through viewership numbers, comparisons and contrasts between American norms and European norms, and the current state of The 2015-16 Premier League Campaign

Written by Davidson Baker

In a country that continuously clings to it's stubbornness and struggles to swallow it's pride it's rather easy to overlook the things that take a backseat to their more-popular counterparts. It's no secret that soccer is widely regarded as a sport that falls under the "boring" category in america, and it's not hard to figure out why for some, but for the open-minded people like me I scratch my head at that notion. Us americans have time and time again been enamored by the "oooh's" and "ahh's" that come with a twenty five-foot baseline jumper or a sixty three yard touchdown pass, but still to this day we all can overlook a forty yard nutcracker of a volley spiraling from a weak foot into the top shelf.

The common stereotype is that the sport really gets no press in the states unless the World Cup or European Championships are broadcasted on ESPN. In the summer when the MLB is dragging along in the middle of the season, it can be commonly found that every two years when the World Cup and EURO are on ESPN it takes the spotlight away from a month of Major League Baseball's 162 game schedule. Around the timeframes when soccer takes centerstage in this country I often find my friends that are less familiar with the beautiful game constantly asking: "Why are we not as good as other countries?" "Why is the USA not able to compete with the european teams?" "Why is the MLS irrelevant compared to the likes of leagues across the pond?" "How is soccer the most popular sport in the world when America has yet to figure out what it takes to be among the world's best?"

The answer can be complex, but can also be pretty simple.

The United States is one of the richest countries in the world. We can send our kids to a gym to shoot around in an empty gym, or pay for them to suit up in pads and get knocked around in pop warner football, and even shell thousands of dollars towards hockey skates and ice time. In third-world countries, and even in smaller central and latin american countries, kids and parents alike don't have a lot of these privileges and resources most americans do. The beautiful thing about the beautiful game is that all you need is a ball, and a net, thus why most countries in Africa and in less-fortunate parts of Latin America call soccer their sport of choice. 

For example when I was in Europe this summer I never once saw a basketball hoop or a baseball diamond, but I saw dozens of different arrays of places to play soccer. Not by any means am I saying Italy is a third-world country, but rather is it an example of where the country's heart lies on the whole "most popular sport" front. Do you think countries like Brazil, Uruguay, or even Nigeria have basketball hoops and hockey rinks ready to be navigated through a simple question asked to Siri? Absolutely not. Notice a trend in those three countries? They were allin the last Confederations cup, which is basically a teaser for the world cup a year before it takes place. Like I previously stated all you need is two things; 

A ball and a net.

Those two things are easy for kids to acquire and find. Even in countries like Bangladesh, Egypt, Haiti, and so on and so forth who may not be at the top of the FIFA rankings, all have a common theme and that is there's way more places to practice your free kicks than there are to practice your jumpshots. A ball and a net, is all a young dreamer needs to begin sculpting himself into the Messi's and Ronaldo's of the world.

Me personally, once my favorite teams are knocked out of their respective pursuits for hardware, I begin to root for excitement. I crave legendary moments, I live for watching David beat Goliath. I strive to get caught up in the moment that where in ten to fifteen years I can say to my kids that I remember exactly where I was when something that went down in the sports history books took place.

Currently we are sitting in a rather odd season of the worlds most popular soccer league, the Barclays Premier League. This is the world-renowned best league on the globe from top to bottom. It has garnished the top spot in the UEFA coefficients for several years in a row now. The league has a mega-million dollar contract to be broadcasted on the NBC family of networks in the States, and the growth of popularity in viewership and following is growing rapidly before our very eyes, but we'll get to that later.

For those less familiar, let me explain briefly how the Premier League works. There are twenty teams in the league, and there are multiple different races for positions on the table (standings) that take place throughout the year. Where you finish is absolutely critical, and unlike in sports in America performing well can determine your outcome on where you are playing for the next season. For example, if you finish in spots 1-4, you earn a spot in the Champions League, the Super Bowl of club soccer, the mecca of the beautiful game that carries harmonious echoes from the Gods everywhere you turn your head. On the contrary, if you finish in the bottom three of the league, you get sent down to the american equivalent version of the minor leagues (or the English Football League Championship). This process is known as relegation, which yes, also entails that three teams from the league below get brought up to the premier league. The top two teams in the league below get automatic promotion, and teams 3-6 duck it out in a playoff format to see who can grab that final spot. Call me a sports nerd or geek or whatever, but I think that's exciting as hell. The league is always interchanging in terms of who takes their turns trying to knock out the big brothers. Fans of teams in the second-tier always enter the season with the gleaming dream of excitement that their team can gain their way into premier league stardom.

Could you imagine if relegation was in the United States? Could Laker fans even BARE the thought of being sent down to the D-League in a swap with a team of the likes of the Sioux Falls Skyforce? Or if the Philadelphia Phillies had to trade places with the Columbus Clippers? I can not even begin to stress enough how ports in america would be so different if we adopted a system like relegation across the four major platforms. So many teams that have championship aspirations right now such as the Golden State Warriors or Carolina Panthers sure did see struggles once upon a time, and these franchises who are at the top of their respective games now could have been doomed for years and years by drowning into the sub-divisions of conformity in minor league systems, and I mean drowning literally because like often seen in european soccer, once teams are relegated, it isn't a uncommon for teams to take years and even decades to recover from it if they ever do.

Obviously with farm systems in America being a thing and such this dream of relegation isn't a possibility, but it sure would be cool in my opinion. England's version of farm systems is contrary to America's rather than having cities across america boast your farm system, European soccer's farm system consists of youth clubs within their organization. For example, what the Texas Rangers are to the Oklahoma City Redhawks, Manchester United is to their Manchester United U21 club, etc. The growth and development of young talent in soccer across the pond comes not from minor league farm systems, rather through youth teams that sport the same badge and identity as their big brother-counterparts. Because of course the main goal for teams in lower tiers is to climb the ladder, to gain entry to the top flight of english soccer comes with irreplaceable benefits. Not only is it rewarding for the clubs to get a shot to play the best of the best, but what's the real prize here for the teams who gain entry into the top teir?

Teams who gain promotion to the premier league get 130 million pounds in prize money, which is the equivalent to 196 million american dollars.

Dollar dollar bill y'all.

So what's so exciting about soccer now? What is different about the state of the league right now that differs from any other league?

The common knock on soccer is kind of like the common knock on Major League Baseball. There's no common salary cap, if you're rich, you're rich and if you're poor you're poor. This trend is a pattern themed gateway to common knowledge as to why the richest clubs dominate every single year and gives introspect to the reason why the same teams finish in the top four perennially. Every year rich empires of the league like Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Liverpool are being chased by their less fortunate counterparts. This common trend scares away most close-minded fans of american sports away. Unlike in the premier league, drafting systems give teams at the bottom of leagues chance to choose from the best eligble talent. There's no draft in european soccer, and the worst teams in the league are forced to work with the remaining scraps that thy are left with during transfer windows. There's no excitement in that and I get it. Knowing that the same group of clubs will be reloading with the best talent usually spearheads their longated stay at the top, and this be very anti-climactic. Certain sports fans can get weary and old of that idea and I understand this.

Clubs and fans alike in European sports have gotten used to this, thus what makes this season all that more special. In the 2013-2014 club campaign a team basically unheard of named Leicester City (careful how you pronounce it, it's pronounced LESS-Ter) finished at the top of the Championship gaining it's entry to the Premier League. A club anchored by the midfield presence of a guy with the last name of Drinkwater (ha ha ha) was carving it's path to clash with the big boys. 

As August neared the outlook of instant relegation was slapped onto Leicester city harder than the angriest woman scorned. This is primarily because these group of young foxes had never seen the wear and tear of the big leagues. Sure, they went out and got an international icon in Esteban Cambiasso as his storybook of a career was winding down, but how much could that really help these newcomers? 

I did my research and took a swan dive into the archives, and my hands-down favorite quote about the outlook on Leicester's first premier league campaign since 2004 was from a deadspin article in the depths of a hipster blog known as Streamer. The article was written by Greg Howard and was titled "This Isn't Your Clubs Year" and this columnists outlook on the squad while brash and harsh, was simple and to the point. Mr. howard took his stab at the young foxes under his ever so-fitting sub-heading titled "Clubs That Are Shit"

"Leicester City are shit. West Brom are shit. Aston Villa are shit. Crystal Palace are shit. Queens Park Rangers are shit. Burnley are shit. Hull City are shit. Sunderland, similarly, are shit.

This is the bottom third of the table, the worst of the bunch, and they're all bad teams. What makes them interesting is that they're all more or less equally bad, but have taken different routes to get there."

Doomsday was formally handed down by Greg Howard and many more of the so-called "experts" from day one, and this is understandable, because surely enough Howard was almost spot on. The eight clubs he deemed as "shit" was more or less an indirect prediction of who he believed would finish 13-20. Seven of the eight clubs listed finished in the bottom eight, Crystal Palace being the only exception as the Eagles boasted a 10th place campagin.

In 2014-2015 Leicester struggled as expected to keep their head above water most of the season, but gained momentum towards the end of the year finishing 14th and safe from the gloom of relegation. This was a monumental win for the club. You could hear the echoes of prevail and ecstatic exuberance in the abbeys throughout town from miles away. The club was staying up. This was amazing for the community, and I just like most Leicester fans alike never thought it could get better than this. 

Or so it seemed.

Since we're on the topic of harsh predictions from columnists and writers, this will give you a kick. SB Nation's preview of this current season in the league had this to say about Leicester City:

"Leicester have one very simple, and yet very difficult goal: surviving relegation. Anything better than that would be seriously impressive; anything worse would be greeted with a collective shrug of the shoulders.

They're certainly in with a chance of survival, but head into the season as one of the favorites for relegation"

I'm not saying "I told you so" or boasting my crystal ball by any means, because in pre-season I agreed with this. Because who could have imagined what would have happened with these guys? We all thought that they would be scratching and clawing their way to the 12-15 range on the table. 

Boy, were we wrong.

In 2012 the foxes brought in a young cat named Jamie Vardy. Now, I don't have time to get into the background story behind this cat, but if you are unfamiliar about this guy get familiar. If you're one of those people who live for the "Bad-boy from the slums turned superstar" plot lines, you need to look this guy up. He's gone from the scattered rubbish in the eighth tier of english football to the braking Dutchman legend Ruud Van Nistelrooy's record for consectuive games with a goal on the worlds brightest stage. It's incredible what this guy has done for this team this year and I haven't seen anything like it in any sport i've followed in my entire life. The pairing of Vardy and midfielder Riyad Mahrez are respectively 1-2 in the league in goals and assists combined. Vardy has 23, Mahrez has 22. By god, Claudio Rainieri has found it. This tactical mastermind has found the tantalizing concoction guaranteed to make opposing managers more sick than a spiked Long Island Ice Tea at Tubby's Tavern.

And the best part about it all is that NOBODY saw it coming.

Through the heroics of England's favorite bad boy and his Algerian sidekick, these very foxes who were written off to the pits of relegation during pre-season by everybody and their brother found themselves in the top four through the first few games, and everybody in their right mind was thinking "alright, these guys have got to slow down sooner or later". 

But then a few matches turned into several matches, several matches turned into a dozen matches and through this point in the season I was still a non-believer. I didn't think it was possible these lads could keep up, until they were tested by the domestic giants.

Then the results came:

Leicester 2, Chelsea 1
Leicester 0, Man City 0 (take this score line however you want it, Leicester dominated the game)
Leicester 1, Tottenham 0
Leicester 2, Liverpool 0......

and now the underdogs from the land of King Richard III are now through two dozen matches sitting pretty in first place.

I know now that this team's performance is far from a fluke. This season has defied the ultimate stereotype of a top-heavy league and it's all in the numbers. The patterns I previously mentioned of the league being dominated by the wealthy and prosperous has come to a screeching halt, to give you an idea, the last four seasons look a little bit like this:

At the beginning of the month of February, the top of the table was as listed:

2011-2012: Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal
2012-2013: Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea
2013-2014: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool
2014-2015: Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal

We're through February now, and the order is:
Leicester City, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal

And where are the perennial powers of the sport you may ask?

Manchester United is in fifth, and that's generous as a fifth position i've seen in a while, as they have struggled mightily at times this season.

Liverpool is in eighth, and they have a nightmarish combination of the worst injury bug you could imagine combined with a mid-season manager change. 

And let's not forget, Chelsea. The almighty, stacked at every position, seemingly unbeatable, defending champions, who boast the highest payroll in the league, are sitting in fourteenth and were forced to cut ties with "The Chosen One" Jose Mourinho mid-season. This occurrence could very well be even more mind-boggling than the fighting Jamie Vardy's being at the top of the table. 

The league's top payrolls in the respective order are Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal, and these clubs are boasting positions ranging from second to fourteenth, and all four clubs have shown deliberate and unique weaknesses throughout the campaign. In my opinion only one of those clubs has shown me that they have potential to grab the title in May, and that's only if Manchester City can just learn to string together multiple games in a row of complete effort. 

That being said, where does Leicester City fall on the payroll order? 

Seventeenth. The forth lowest payroll in the league.

SEVENTEENTH, out of twenty teams. That's jaw-dropping. In a sport with no salary cap, it would be a tremendous overhaul of victory to finish TENTH let alone be in first through roughy sixty three percent of the season. Drawing the soccer to baseball comparison once agin, this team kind of reminds me of the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. The team with the second lowest payroll in baseball fell a few games short of the Phillies in a wet and controversial World Series.

Now, I know what most of you are thinking. What does ANY of this have to do with the sport growing in America? Well, the excitement busting through the cracks of a young soccer fan is almost too much to handle right now, being that it's such an odd and different year for the league. At this rate it's going down in the history books as one of the most iconic and bizarre seasons in the league's history, and why I've only touched solely on the Prem rather than the glitz and glamour of Messi and Ronaldo in La Liga or any other european league for that matter is because i'm talking about viewership in the states. We can watch english soccer because america has viewership rights. Sure, the champions League Comes on every once in a while, but not  nearly like every weekend when the Premier league is on. Because we have rights to watch the Premier League in America through NBC that is what the world of soccer is feeding us on the most consistent basis. It just quite frankly comes on more often than any other platform of the sport, and if you think people are turning the TV off when it comes on, boy are you wrong.

The Premier league came to NBC in 2013 on a Nine hundred and fifty MILLION dollar mega deal. There were so many risks paying all that dough to broadcast the sport that America has never given a chance. NBC was gambling big time in throwing so much money to the Premier League with absolutely no guarantee that we would embrace it at all. 

Now, the stunt that would make Evil Knievel turn over in his grave that the National Broadcasting Corporation took is starting to look like an absolute bargain. 

The viewer ratings have seen an increase of 150 percent in viewership since it's inaugural launch of the first match between Stoke City and Arsenal in August of 2013. Over two and a half years more than twice as many people are tuning in to take in the beautiful game, and boy, is that beautiful in and of itself.

It would take days to educate the non-soccer fan on why this sport is so great, and why it has it's own uniqueness to it. Things happen in professional soccer on the field and in the front office that wouldn't happen in any other sport. Teams are signing deals with new coaches mid-season and letting the guy currently calling the shots finish it out for style points (i.e Pep Guardiola going to Manchester City). That would NEVER happen in the NFL or NBA. In soccer, teams can have chances to win four different trophies in a season depending on what country they hail from. There are tournaments that go on mid-season in all european leagues. There are continental and even international bouts for prizes that clubs can fight for all while trying to claim domestic glory.  

However, in america, "if you ain't first, you're last" way of looking at things, isn't it? What other way of depicting such a stereotypical point of view for country than a quote from a NASCAR-themed comedy starring Will Ferrell. How American can you get? 

Now, so far i've cited everything on the topic of this sport from viewership ratings, to cinderella stories, to perennial giants succumbing to the lows it never dreamed of hitting before, Are you not entertained?

Sadly, most common american sports fans reading this, will not be entertained, and that's okay. I can't spit facts at you and make you watch soccer. I can't give you details about a cinderella story that will conform you to turn from your bracket bulging ways come March, and I surely can't fully explain the fact that if you dare use the word "soccer" in England you'll get kicked out of an establishment, or if you even THINK about calling american football your version of football to a British guy, that you may honestly get spit on. Most of you won't understand these things. However, just like we as americans have passion for the hardwood and the gridiron, these ol' chaps across the pond love their lads who gracefully prance across the pitch. That's why it's called the beautiful game. It's graceful, it's poetic, it's an art that when performed at the highest level can paint a canvas for millions of people that would cause Monet to turn the other cheek.

All i'm saying is this; Take the MLS as a grain of salt, really. Ten years ago the avid soccer fan would not be able to name a single soul on an MLS roster that wasn't american, and yes players out of their prime from their Eurpoean glory days like Gerrard and Kaka and Pirlo are coming to America now as a consolation to end their careers on a farewell tour. Take it how you want it but at least that's a start we didn't have ten years ago. These slow changes are not going unnoticed. Players like Clint Dempsey are turning down european contracts to help the league grow, all things that didn't use to happen in the once renowned laughing stock that is Major League Soccer.

And for those of you asking if the U.S. can ever get to the pinnacle of a world stage? My answer to you is a resound and powerful yes. Young and polished starlets by the names of Julian Green, Jordan Morris, and DeAndre Yedlin are bringing a gleaming light of hope that in my opinion can outshine the Landon Donovan and DMB era we've come to familiarize ourselves with. The USFF and MLS are pouring more money into young player development than ever before, viewership for the sport are at an all time plateau, and with the 2016 European Championships around the corner ready to take the centerstage this summer on ESPN boasting a brand new 24 team format, the excitement has just begun. Times are slowly but surely changing for the beautiful game in the beautiful country we call home, and we WILL see a dramatic rise in results for our yanks by the time the World Cup kicks off 2018. My excitement for the team we will field is at an all time high going into the next grand stage, and I for one am considerably more confident than the next guy. 

I used to think that we would never win a world cup in my lifetime, but now?

One day my friends....... One day.



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