United lose at the hands of a traitor...

Alright, so all of you know my undying passion for the Red Devils. And if you didn't and you're reading this, and you know me, you're bloody clueless (You like that Brit word right, I know you do...). All of that aside, I just wanted to reassert the fact that any and all posts from here on out about Manchester United will be completely and apologetically biased towards the red half of Manchester. I say the red half, because the mighty Reds share the city with another club (Most non-soccer enthusiasts would not know this fact). Manchester City, aside from Liverpool, are Manchester United's greatest rivals. If you are looking for a comparison to an American rivalry, try White Sox/Cubs or Mets/Yankees or any two teams in the same sport sharing a city. In actuality, the majority of Mancunians are 'Citizens', or City fans. However, City has always played second fiddle to United, but the 'gap in the bridge' is being mended.

Over the Summer of 2008, Manchester City was bought buy Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (bit of a mouthful, his name, isn't it). Sheikh Mansour is a member of the Ruling Family of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. To put it in layman's terms, HE HAS A S#@! TON OF CASH!!! In fact, the famous Sheikh has spent over £500 Million in wages and transfer fees, money given in exchange for players (like a trade for cash), alone, bringing in the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal, Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, and Robinho from Real Madrid. Long story short, Manchester City has become the New York Yankees of the Premier League, doing their best to buy trophies and their way into the Champions League.

One of their most famous coups was the signing of Manchester United fan favorite, striker Carlos Tevez over last summer. Tevez was upset with United boss Sir Alex Ferguson over playing time. In fact, we all were. Tevez was an amazing player for us. In just under 100 games for the club, he bagged 34 goals. Tevez had a knack for getting stuck-in to challenges, an could stand his ground against anyone, which says a lot as he is only 5'8". And still today, nobody really knows what went wrong, and why he was not given more playing time or offered a new contract. Most say it was the large transfer fee that was going to an agent, not another team. Tevez was on loan to Manchester United through a company run by his agent Kia Joorabchian, called Media Sports Investmant, not from another team. His rights as a player were protected and handled by Joorabchian, and talks between Joorabchian and SAF over Tevez's two years with United were never good. As last season came to a close, and no deal with United had yet surfaced, rumors of Chelsea, Liverpool and Real Madrid began roaring in. Tevez quickly turned down any thought of joining Liverpool, as he did not want to disrespect any of the United faithful (see Johnny Damon going from the Red Sox to the Yankees). Unfortunately, he chose the second worse option.

Fast forward to yesterday, where United and City played the first leg of the home and home semi-final of the English League Cup. Known now as the Carling Cup, (because every stinking thing in sports has to have a sponsor) the ELC is played only by professional teams, unlike the famous F.A. Cup, which includes every level of semi-professional and professional teams in England. These 'Cup' competitions are played aside from normal Premier League play. The semi final in this competition is two-legged, meaning two games, home and away for each side, where aggregate scoring applies.

Now then, I told you ALL of that to rant about this. My boys lost to those money grubbing, player stealing City idiots yesterday 2-1, and I'm miffed. Now I'm not upset about the game. We had plenty of chances to score an equalizer, and all we need to do is win 1-0 at home, next week, to advance to the final and defend the first of the titles we won last year. I'm even saying that after the fact that both City goals were gifts from the referee's (Don't want to believe me, watch the video below. The corner call that set up Tevez's goal was total rubbish). What I am ranting over today is that Carlos Tevez was the scorer of both City goals.

As a United fan, I knew revenge would ultimately come in the form of goals, and that Tevez would get a laugh in at us. He deserves it. He is a great player and our front office brass, David Gill and the Glazers's, should not have let him go the way they did. I never thought of Carlitos as a vengeful man, though. He turned down Liverpool, and he didn't celebrate his assist in the derby game (derby=rivalry) at Old Trafford earlier this year. Surely he still has repesct for our club right?

Guess not.

After scoring his second goal in the 65th minute of Tuesday night's match, my opinion, along with the opinions of all the United fans, were changed. A man we once adored, and still respected, despite his new team, called us out.





This is Tevez in front of our bench celebrating his goal, after running half way across the field just to do so. He had done this once before, last season, just after contract talks stalled. He was given an immediate response as a wave of United players on the bench got up to have a shout at him. Seen below is our captain, Gary Neville, inconspicuously showing Tevez the finger.



Now, I am in no way condoning what Nev's did in response, but c'mon Carlos, you are better than that. We all know you are. The United fans cheered for you earlier in the year when you played at Old Trafford. I'm disappointed that you could be so petty. The public know that United didn't offer you the contract because of money, but I am just wondering if it was really because of antics like this. I can now honestly call you a traitor, especially after your attempts to show that you were trying not to be one. Way to contradict yourself, Carlitos. You cannot throw fuel on the fire and expect not to get burned. I hope that the fans 'boo' him next week. Even more so, I hope that my Red Devils can reverse that scoreline and come out on top.

That's my rant for this week. Next week, you will get to see my Super Bowl pick.

Thanks for reading...

'Skipping' to See Skip and Turtles on Fenceposts...

On Friday, I had my first chance of the new year to attend a school sporting event. There were no jerseys or pads or referees there, but the same atmosphere and out right insanity you have come to expect from our student body at USF was. I actually had to 'skip' class to be there. Skip Holtz, former front man of the back-to-back Conference USA champion East Carolina Pirates, and son of Notre Dame legend, Lou Holtz, was being introduced as our new head football coach. I couldn't miss this. We have only ever had one football coach, so to see the first ever 'new' coach be introduced, it should be something else, right?

The band played. Rocky danced. The Beef Studs were all painted up. It was just like being at a football game except on a Friday at lunchtime. We were thrilled, as students, to have an new coach. I was thrilled just to know the whole Leavitt controversy was coming to an end. I also think Skip was thrilled too. You could see it on the man's face as he took the stage, that he was absolutely jovial. Grinning from ear to ear. I felt that way too. I had the comfort of knowing my school, eager as it is to rise to national prominence academically as well as athletically, made the right choice.

I felt we needed to bring in a coach with a different attitude. We have a program here that is frustrated, looking to attain a Big East title, something that has alluded us at the ends of the last three seasons. Attitude was also important to factor into the search because we were coming away from the Joel Miller/Jim Leavitt fiasco. We needed someone who wasn't standoff-ish, wasn't arrogant, but still had the same hunger and drive that we all loved in Leavitt. Holtz is that man. And to boot, Holtz has the resume of a winner. He learned the trade as a graduate assistant with Bobby Bowden at Florida State. He then went on to assist his father as Offensive Coordinator at both Notre Dame and South Carolina, and won a combined 3 Conference Championships (Atlantic 10/Big East and C-USA) as a head coach at both UConn and ECU.

After the introduction and pleasantries with the crowd of near 2000, his opening quote was "It's like the old saying: If you see a turtle on top of a fence post, it didn't get there alone". "Wow man, did he just say that?" is all I could muster between the laughs. I then realized that that's exactly what I was thinking about with attitude change.

As the speech wore on, Holtz talked about the entire community banding together in order to reach higher goals, like continuing the growing traditions, graduating more players, and helping students become better people then they were the day they started at South Florida. He said that we will not be winning championships just because Skip Holtz came to Tampa.

"We will have the same goals now, as we will in 3, 4, and 5 years down the road...When the seniors who came here 4 and 5 years ago, they didn't say they wanted to be average. They wanted to be apart of something special. They wanted to be apart of something great...We came to the University of South Florida to championships, and we want to win a National Championship in Tampa."

Cheers and applauding ensued as the 'press conference' came to an end. The whole event felt more like a pep rally than anything. The crowd dissipated and the media then clambered to speak to Coach in a little more personal setting, right behind the stage where he was just introduced. Security urged everyone to leave, however, a handful of students remained behind for the possible chance to meet our school's new 'football god'. I was one of them. He took over an hour with the press before needing to exit for a scheduled coaches or team meeting. I can't really remember which it was. I was too busy realizing that if he came by to see us, I could totally use that as a chance to ask him some questions for the blog. I mean, he did say during the speech that "the student body is the heartbeat of any college atmosphere", so it would be impolite if he didn't stop by right?

That's precisely what he did, and I bet you all can guess what I did.

Me: "Hey Coach (shakes hand). My name is Rob Boelke and I am studying to become a sports journalist. Was wondering if I could ask you a question for my blog?"
Coach Holtz: "Hi there. Nice to meet you. Of course you can."
Me: "This, your hiring, is a big opportunity for us here at USF, as well as it is for you. The competition level is going up for all of us. As was mentioned, we are playing Florida next year, along with Miami over the next few, but I have to ask you, will there be a family feud when we go to South Bend in 2011?"
Coach Holtz: (Laughing) "No, there shouldn't be. It will be a great honor to go back to Notre Dame, just as it will be to play a lot of these major non-conference games coming up."
Student next to me: (Sarcastically) "Like when we play Stony Brook?"
Coach Holtz: (Again laughing) "Especially that one, that's the first one."

Too cool, just too cool.

I was quoted in the Saturday Sports page of the Tampa Tribune, in an article by Scott Carter, in regards to the hiring. To see the article, check the link below.

Holtz wins over crowd as USF Bulls usher in new football era - Scott Carter

There is also a vid on Youtube of the event, where you can see me in the crowd.

Click Here - Youtube

Leavitt Fired. What's the real reason?.....

Today has been a crazy day for USF students. Classes begin again on Monday, and many were greeted back to Tampa with an extremely unusual chill in the air,the promise of a new year, and the end of an era. Coach Jim Leavitt, proprietor and mother of USF Football was terminated with cause for grabbing Joel Miller by the neck, and slapping him twice during a tirade at halftime of the Homecoming game vs. Louisville on November 21st. Along with allegations of a cover-up that did not achieve, Leavitt was already under fire from students given the recent inability to get the team 'over the hump' during the second halves of the past three seasons. Leavitt is now the third head football coach at a major university to lose his job over mistreatment of players, joining Mike Leach (formerly of Texas Tech) and Mark Mangino (formerly of Kansas) in the last 2 months.

This is a lot to take in for us students who actively participate in USF athletic events. We have never known another coach. So there are several things I feel, as students, we should look at going forward. Number 1, Leavitt was a great coach. He was one of the many reasons USF is what it is today. Leavitt built a nationally recognized and ranked advertisement for our school. Registration has never been higher, and, as shallow as it sounds, it is kind of because the team was doing so well. The school became more than just another college, a third or forth option on most people's lists for universities in Florida. People want to come here now, while traditions are beginning, instead of participating at schools where everything has been done before.

Number 2, What he did was wrong, and, as students, we should feel betrayed. According to several credible eyewitnesses, Leavitt did indeed strike Joel Miller. That is inappropriate enough as it is. What really upsets me is that he, like Leach and Mangino, tried his best to cover the incident up. During the University's investigation, performed by Human Resources Associate Vice President, Sandy Lovins and Bill McGillis, Executive Associate Athletic Director, it was shown that Leavitt was inconsistent with his story on several occasions when speaking with the two investigators, and in public statements thereafter, as well as being in complete contradiction with several other players' testimonies. In layman's terms, he tried and failed to cover his tracks. These actions are a far cry from the virtues he openly and publicly described himself as possessing.

Number 3, Where do we go from here? We want to win. We want to win now. How, given the smallest recruiting budget in the Bowl Subdivision, are we supposed to attract a big name coach to replace Leavitt? ESPN has reported a number possible candidates, including Tommy Tuberville, former Head Coach at Auburn. Whatever happens, it needs to happen fast. The recruiting process needed to begin, essentially, today.