Big dilemma for Liverpool over whether to let Suarez go to Arsenal.

Arsenal offer £40m. Liverpool say it's too low (probably true) but do they really want to keep a player who doesn't want to be there? Contracts, ah? You have to laugh.

Arsenal would be smart to let Suarez go. The guy is trouble, keeping him will only cost them in the long run. The guy is uber-talented, true, but he is a loose canon, and can't play the beautiful game in a beautiful way, he got to get Mike Tyson on dudez..

they'd be paying for only 1/2 season so liverpool should shut up, right?

keep us posted w/ teh gossip

For all his personality flaws he's still for me one of the most attractive players to watch. He ticks about every box on my list of things to like about a player - except the ones about not eating opponents or calling them niggers or diving. I suppose Wenger believes he'll be the one to straighten him out so we only see the good side (or more realistically minimise the bad one).

El Symbols' point about his ban is true but it's 10 games in a 38 game season, plus all cup fixtures. At most he'll be out for a couple of months. Plenty of players are out longer with things like hamstring injuries and still remain viable in the market, even with the likelihood of an injury recurring. And rightly or wrongly, a manager will always feel more in control of a player with a discipline issue than one who's injury prone. With Suarez it seems to come down more to if a club worries about how he might affect their image, but I suspect the board, manager and most Arsenal fans are only ultimately interested in winning, and if Suarez helps them do that he'll be popular. Rival fans will hate anyway; it's what they do.

Either way, the tour bus image probably needs redesigning. I'm sure Gerrard's livid.

what he said in spanish is not "nigger." he said "black" but it's not an offensive word. it's even a common and harmless nickname.

EVEN THOUGH HE WAS BEING AN ASSHOLE.

but anyway, see here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/negrito59

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/negro-martinez/26/679/a67

https://es-la.facebook.com/negro.jimenez.5

can you see a british or american person nicknaming themselves "nigger"? "hey, wassup nigger jones" NO.

BUT HE WAS BEING AN ASSHOLE.

also, biting is not cool after age 5.

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anyway, that aside, i didn't know there were so many fucking matches. bundesliga has 26 dates i think, german cup has less but it's less important (mostly for the glory).

i think he'd be a great addition to arsenal which to my eyes just needs a good finisher. plus wenger is a brainy fucker so he might have him psychoanalyzed. ha!

Yeah. You're right. That was the defence he made and I even think he got Diego Forlan to speak up for him on it (and the usual 'black friends' used to testify that he's not a racist) but the devil's in the context. According to the FA enquiry,

'when Evra asked Suarez why he had been kicked, the striker replied in Spanish: "Porque tu eres negro" -- "because you are black."

Evra said he would punch Suarez if he repeated the comment. Suarez replied: "No hablo con los negros" -- "I don't speak to blacks." '

I honestly don't think he is racist, at least any more than any other player. He'll just go to any lengths to try and get an advantage over a player. He probably wanted Evra to punch him, so he'd get sent off. I'm convinced he just didn't realise the extent to which using race as an insult is so taboo here.

And yeah, the schedule in England is absurd, so in terms of his ban's impact on a season, it's significant but not massively so, at least so long as it doesn't keep happening - which is obviously the real issue facing either Rodgers, Wenger or whoever else gets him.


Ha, Wenger as le professeur. But as perverse as it may sound, given all the goals he scores, I'm not convinced he's that great a finisher. He's incredibly inconsistent in front of goal. He's a far better provider, I think. His dribbling and physical strength are his real assets.

my read on the facts is the same-- he was trying to piss him off so evra would snap (sun tzu's advice) but he didn't call him an untermensch. he just inserts his mouth in the competition in characteristic rascally fashion. in the liverpool documentary you can hear him calling his wife a thief ("ladrona") while they play monopoly with friends--it was rude and uncalled for, and it cracked me up.

anyway. i almost like arsenal. if suarez moves i might start liking them for real.

Yeah, as I've maintained all along, Suarez is one of those cunts I just can't not like.

For a while Wenger made Arsenal an easy team for neutrals to like, with their progressive, attractive football, but I do think you'd find them more frustrating than anything else now. See I'm convinced that, given that you appear to have that rare gene that enables you to like Bayern, you'll find yourself naturally gravitating towards Man U as only a Bayern fan could. ;) Nobody likes to admit things like that to themselves but I do think there's a certain inevitability to it. If someone could be profiled for the team they support, you'd be a cast iron Red. (Plus they've still got the little pea).

ha ha ha. asshole! i fell upon bayern by accident, i wasn't fishing for big teams, it's what i could watch for free, i liked their international composition, i love ribery, and the year i acquired the taste they fell to dortmund twice plus they lost the final in allianz arena. only this year they have won everything-- total surprise for me.

and for real, there is nothing about man u i like. i haven't been able to latch onto any english team because i've seen no... "magic" in them. cant really define what i mean. it's an aesthetic thing i guess-- style+effectiveness--"ahhh!" moments--i don't know. i have no tribal bond with europe and i watch for pleasure, and for this reason i love dortmund only second to bayern-- they play a wonderful game and klopp is awesome. but the english teams? i was looking for a bright spark last year, something cool/different/surprising, but it was a bad year and they all bored me. i'd love to start liking an english team cuz that's easy for meto watch, but no, i had to like the weird fucking germans who are nearly impossible to get on tv.

alright, friday night, must flee.

Suarez has talent, but so do dozens of other motherfuckers, shit, hundreds maybe. Personality is everything in sports. Kareem Abdul Jabar is one of the greatest basketball players of all time, perhaps thee greatest, and indeed, even one of the most accomplished athletes of any sport, of all time. However, the guy is more or less a curmudgeon, and has been chased out of the Lakers locker room, coaching staff, and front office have to result to reality shows with Louie Anderson. Sighs. Even Michael Jordan is such a competitive prick that he really isn't the best role model for people, whether in sports or real life. It is what it is, and these are two of the best to ever touch basketball, but they are no Magic Johnson personality wise. That, and Suarez is not only a poor sport, but a cheat. Handballing in major tournaments is cheating, let alone to do it multiple times in your career. BITING opposing players is about as cheap shot as you can get, really, let alone do it twice in his career, even biting and hand-balling in a single match! Sad really, for a guy with that much talent to result to such terrible tactics. THAT is why talent or not, the guy is no good, and many teams would be better off to cut their losses..

I know it's not glory hunting with you, or any kind of tribalism. Mark my words though, all the signs are there. You just don't realise it yet. Trifling matters like aesthetics won't come into it. You'll be sleeping under a Man U bedspread eventually. Stop fighting it. Embrace it. Let it flow. We'll all love hating you for it.

Come on. If Suarez really was no better than 'dozens ... hundreds maybe' other players, then why is Arsenal so keen to get him and Liverpool so keen to keep him? Whatever you may think about his lack of sportsmanship and his dubious personality, in his position he's probably among the 10 very best players in the world right now. We talk about world class players. Suarez is world class IMO.

I think you read too much into the whole footballer-as-role-model thing. Some great players can be great role models (Messi?) others perhaps not so much (Maradona?) but a player's reputation will always be based on talent rather than personality - unless personality starts to impact negatively on their talent, obviously.

I don't know how things work in the US (land of the Tiger Woods trial by television) but in the case of football/soccer, so long as a player's talent is considered exceptional (and Suarez really is an exceptional player) and for as long as they're able to perform at that level, there'll always be top teams willing to turn a blind eye to everything else that comes with them. If personality really is 'everything' (and I don't really think you actually believe that) or even the most important thing, then how come players like Pepe, etc, still earn absolute fortunes at top clubs? And even putting football aside, two words: Michael. Schumacher.

I think your argument is sound from a moral standpoint but, rightly or wrongly, sport and morality have always been uncomfortable bedfellows at best.

True. I exaggerate a bit, but its not just about reputation, again, Suarez is not just dirty, but a cheat. That is not just a role-model issue. For example, in the NBA, players who get too many technical fouls which lead to game ejections and suspensions, become a serious liability. Even the, no all the more, the top-10 players simply DO NOT take such risks as getting ejected or suspended. FURTHER, being a top-10 player means point blank, CHEATING IS BENEATH YOUR CALIBER OF TALENT. Considering Suarez is that good, its all the worse that he results to so many cheap shops like taunting or worse biting, and worse still, outright cheating with the hand-balls, in tournaments no less? Meh.

I agree. That's about personality affecting performance in terms of bans, and that is a problem for a player like Suarez but, honestly, if a 'top 10 player' is above cheating, we'd have to say a player responsible for this should never be considered a top 10 player, even though, in the same game, we see him do this. How we choose to judge a player like Maradona could depend on which goal we want to remember him by, but wouldn't it be fairer to acknowledge that both ultimately define him and that without one maybe he would've never scored the other? I don't like cheating any more than anyone else but I do understand that for some players it's an integral part of their sporting personality and that without that need to win at all costs, they may have never even tried to do the truly great things that they did.

Unfortunately what you say is true. There is no purity in sports, and in all actuality aside from people who play in amateur leagues for the challenge of sport, its just entertainment. However, since it is entertainment, like television we are allowed to chose our heroes and our villains.


and can a motherfucker get some rep for this or what? sports trash talk to this degree of sophistication and originality shouldn't go unnoticed.

I've been getting the same Must Spread message when trying to rep you since I don't know when.

Pretty excited about the prospect of Vydra, Kalou and Sinclair all signing for albion in the next couple of weeks. We should have a pretty strong strike force for next season then if all go through.

Good news for Laker fans, Steve Nash seems healthy enough to have a for fun try-out for Inter Milan for this upcoming Guiness thing where LA Galaxy is going to get creamed..







Klinsmann suspended for the Gold Cup Final, simply for stepping up and shouting (ok, he also threw a ball) when the refs blatantly ignored a dirty play by Honduras against Beasley, and it was like the upteenth time Honduras had played dirty against Beasley that night. There was that hard elbow to the face against Holden. And of course bad tackles and spikes up all night by Honduras, shit was dirty. That Klinsmann was pissed is understandable, and while we need his crucial readjustments at the half (we've come out swinging 2nd half of the past 7 of 9 wins) and all the more is keen substitutions, I think that he got so worked up will actually inspire the team to compete. Shouldn't have been ejected. Shouldn't have been suspended. USA will beat Panama to avenge his honor ;)

Anelka in on loan too. There's always doubts with him but if he does click it could be a really strong season for you.

dortmund out the gates looking strong! neuer wouldn't have let that go by...

Dortmund do look v good.

And you're right about Bayern's keeper. He looks shocking! (which I write seconds before he pulls off a great save. haha)

Sure El Symbols will be relieved to see Lahm back in defence though.

in all fairness, ribery and neuer were out. guardiola lost his first game as barca manager and went on to rule football for the next few years.

although i would be lying if i wasn't quite pleased with the outcome.

What do you think of Steve Nash situation for Lakers? Me? If he is healthy enough to play 75 games and average the 18ppg/7apg he had last season that gives Lakers a chance to continue their play-off streak. The situation remains, who is the back up??

what? what's going on? please tell. i'm living in the boonies!


not relieved in teh least. i thought it was a nice experiment.

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fine. i'll google.

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oh man. 4-1-4-1?

HEYNCKES, COME BACK.

no, i don't know yet. goddamn fucking dish network!

i'm very disoriented, right now.

PEP, DON'T FUCK IT UP!

My mum phoned at half time so missed the second half goalfest but, based on the first, it does seem like Pep wants to go with 4-1-4-1 - although as Madcap says, there's still too many key players out for us to be able to really judge anything.

Saying that, and basing things only the 1st half, I was disappointed with Thiago. There were definitely moments when he seemed to slow them down; falling back on trademark Barca-style lateral passes when a simpler through ball to a Bayern attacker seemed on. But they're still in that experimental phase and will be I imagine for much of this season.

could you please tell me in what channel you saw this?

shitty internet stream. but it did the trick

http://firstrowus.eu/

yeah, thats the thing, if he's healthy enough. lakers have no plan b. they are relying on some old ass dudes. the future is bleak.

I disagree. They're the Lakers. A lot of hater folks are wishful thinking the Lakers into obscurity, but no, duh, they're the Lakers! They have plenty of money to spend, there will be plenty of players who want to come. This roster is eldery, but the Knicks got pretty far on an as old, as so-so talented group, so I dare say Lakers will get 6-7 seed which will make them all the more attractive come 2014-2015..

Well I just meant this season is looking bleak. But yeah, not thread to talk about this.:)

Spurs have apparently turned down a record £86m bid from Real for Gareth Bale. I can understand Spurs wanting to keep him but Bale wants to go and was supposedly assured by Daniel Levy that he'd be released if a 'mindblowing' offer was made. Can't see how a world record offer isn't 'mindblowing'.

Looks like another Suarez situation, only this time with even more money at stake.

Also makes you wonder, if Bale's worth £86m, what price Messi?

How belong before we see a billion pound player?

fuuuck. i used wiziwig for a while but this summer im on a satellite internet connecton. go ahead, laugh.


depends on inflation!

anyway, speaking of billion dollars/pound/euros/whatevr, i was investigating cable packages last night. PAIN IN THE ASS.

directtv has goltv (select bundesliga matches) with their "latino" packages but nearly doubles in price after a year, and requires a 2 year contract-- thing is, wtf will happpen with goltv nobody knows (here today gone tomorrow maybe).

dish network has a german package (yay bundesliga) for $30 on top of whatever you have ($40-100+), but they carry no goltv anywhere and i still have to talk to their goons about contracts and such (fucker. fuckers. fuckers.)

highly annoying all around.

anyway. BILLIONS. this is how they get them.

Even given its relative unpopularity in the US, the sheer size of population means I'm surprised it's not more accessible there. I'm sure there's an untapped market there. Even we're getting NASCAR now in the UK (thank God)

bundesliga fans in 'merica are peeved. you can get almost any premiere league or FA cup match but jerry is hard to find.

what i'd like is something with goltv that could be upgraded to german channels if/when goltv dies. but no, of course, that they don't have.

alright, i should quit whining.

/whining.

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audi cup starts in 3 days! (audi wants to buy 10% of bayern btw)

You not watching USA v Panama in a few minutes?

uffff...i have to clean my office.

okay maybe.

thanks?? (i hope this is not a waste of my afternoon lolol)

cleaning your office would be more fun than watching this game so far...

Yeah. The USA seem demoralized by Klinsmann suspension. Plus Panama is playing dirty as fuck, no whistles going USA way, in fact the opposite, these zebras seem to be giving Panama every chance to win. Thankfully they're not capitalizing on those opportunities and its still 0-0 with a chance for us to come out in the second half. Where did they find these refs, the leftovers from the NFL lock-out last year??

I watched and fell asleep a little, but now I'm trapped in dullsville (ie, gotta see the rest)