Every Sunday for five months of the year the NFL dominates the American sporting calendar. Pre-game shows hit the air waves early Sunday morning followed by live games on the national TV networks at 1.00pm, 4.00pm and the evening game usually shows up around 8.30. However, on Sunday October 3rd, the sporting action was shared with three other sports; well that was the case in my household.
Despite the appalling weather on day 1 of the Ryder Cup the conclusion on Monday provided dramatic theater. This was the first time in its 83 year history that the Ryder Cup was extended into Monday to play the singles matches. Graeme McDowell won the cup by claiming a victory in the last singles match over a blubbering Hunter Mahan and Europe won by the slenderest of margins 141/2-131/2. Nevertheless the cup was really won on Sunday. Following another rain delay in the morning all 24 players entered the arena to participate in the remaining two foursomes, and 4 four balls.
The match score overnight was 4-2 in favor of USA, but Europe led in all six matches to be played on Sunday albeit by narrow margins. It was almost asking the impossible for Europe to accomplish six victories against seasoned US PGA campaigners but they almost pulled it off by winning 51/2 points from the possible 6. Lee Westwood and Luke Donald set the tone by demolishing the previously unbeaten pairing of Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker 6&5.
Europe were gathering momentum aided and abetted by Captain Colin Montgomerie looking for intents and purposes like a constipated bulldog driven around the course by the token Welshman in team Montgomerie, Rhys Davies. At the end of Sunday’s competition the match score was now 91/2-61/2 in favor of Europe. Traditionally the Americans are stronger in singles as it proved once again. But they couldn’t quite pull off another “Brookline” comeback; failing tantalizingly close by one point.
The TV controls were overheating from the constant channel changes as I switched back and fore to Arsenal v Chelsea in between greens and tees. This was a clash of two London rivals who have finished in the top four of the Premiership for a quite a number of seasons. As usual, the match was played at turbo speed and nail biting intensity. Chelsea always looked capable of scoring with Arsenal’s defense looking as shaky as ever. Arsenal’s back five – Fabianski, Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy- sound like members of the United Nations Security Council. Didier Drogba, Chelsea’s enigmatic striker from the Ivory Coast breached their security and scored his 13th goal in 13 games against Arsenal to lead his team to a well earned victory.
Arsenal play some pretty football spraying the ball about with great lucidity, but they have not beaten Chelsea or Man Utd in the premiership for the last four seasons. Put simply, their rivals have developed a strategy whereby they allow Arsenal their share of possession, suck them into their half and then strike with pace and power on the counter-attack. There is no doubt that Arsenal are close to making a major breakthrough but, unless they quickly become more streetwise, failure when it matters most threatens to become an insurmountable habit.
No sooner had Eduardo Molinari sunk a putt on the 18th green to earn a valuable and significan ½ point for Europe, I was turning over to Fox to witness the kick-off in the Falcons v 49ers match up.
The talking heads on the local sports stations had been warning the Falcons to be wary of the 49ers coming out fast and furious to prove to observers they didn’t deserve a 0-3 record. The Falcons failed to heed the warning and by the end of the first quarter they were trailing by two touch downs, 0-14.In contrast the Falcons looked flat and listless; possibly suffering a reaction from their hard fought victory in New Orleans the previous Sunday. Tantamount to a baby taking its first steps, Ryan tentatively led his offense back into contention with a touch down and field goal to trail at the half 10-14.
To my mind, he overdoes the throws to Tony Gonzalez while neglecting Roddy White, supposedly the number one receiver. A second field goal by Matt Bryant in the 3rd quarter separated the two teams by one point going into the final quarter. Thanks to a fumble by a San Francisco receiver, Ryan was afforded the opportunity to drive his offense down the field to give his goal kicker the chance the win the game. Bryant duly delivered his 3rd field goal of the game to win it for the Falcons 16-14 with two seconds remaining. They claim that the good teams sometimes have to win ugly and this was certainly not one of Ryan’s better days.
In between shouting and screaming at Ryan and the Falcons, I was tuning in to watch the Braves stumble into the playoffs. They had to win the 162nd and final game of the season and the Padres lose to the Giants if they were to avoid a one game playoff and take their place in post season as the Wild Card. Their opponents, Philadelphia were assured of the Division title and appeared disinterested in proceedings.
By the end of the 5th innings, the Braves were coasting with a commanding 8-2 lead, only to see it ebb away by the top of the 8th. The Braves’ veteran closer Billy Wagner entered the arena in the top of the 9th with his team’s lead cut to 8-7. He manfully struck out the last three batters and the Braves crawled over the finishing line. Several hours later, news came through confirming that the Padres had lost and the wild card was ours. Bring on the Giants people.
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