EL BARRIO, EL FALLS – Good Morning! I had a long weekend with work and starting potty training my 2.5 year old. Some times he made it to the bowl, other times he didn’t. It is gonna be a long next few months. From that wonderful news, lets dig into today’s poop: EPL Super Sunday, NY Rangers Win Game 3 and NFL Diversity Hiring Summit.
EPL Super Sunday
I know the majority of you hate soccer. So first, EPL stands for English Premier League – the top league in England. However, the EPL Super Sunday is something that American leagues can learn from. First of all, all the 10 games kickoff at the same time so no one can know what the other guy is doing. What was on the line? Glad you asked. There was a battle for first between two teams. The teams ranked 4-7 were battling it out for the weird European playoff tournament that happens next season, concurrently with the domestic season… There are tournaments like the NCAA and NIT in which where you finish determines which one you go into… In European soccer, you have promotion-relegation so the 3 teams in the bottom 18-20 will get dropped to the division below, which is like dropping from major league to minor league.
In yesterday’s matches the 18th place was still up for debate. With that background, you are watching the game on multiple split screens and on the phone. I can’t cover all the madness but know that 1st place Manchester City was down 1-0 at the half and 2-0 with 30 minutes to go before they scored 3 goals in 5 minutes to take the lead and win the league. Second place Liverpool was tied 1-1 at half and went up 3-1 but it wasn’t enough. 4th place Tottenham held on to 4th by beating up on already-relegated Norwich… 5th place Arsenal, who had hoped to get to 4th and make the top European competition, beat up on 16th place Everton, who in just their last game just managed to secure avoiding relegation. The fans rushed the field after the game winning goal… 6th place Manchester United lost their game and should have lost their chance to go to the secondary European tournament but 7th place West Ham also lost, so both teams stayed where they were… Down on the bottom, 17th place Leeds United were in a battle with 18th Burnley to avoid being relegated. Burnley went down 2-0 before crawling back to 2-1, while Leeds went from 1-0 up to 1-1 before they scored late to go up 2-1 and secure life in the Premiership. As long as this paragraph is, imagine it all happening at the same time in a 2-hour span.
NY Rangers Win Game 3
The Comeback Kids, aka the NY Rangers, did it again… The Rangers played well in Game 1 and lost on a fluke goal in overtime. In Game 2, they lost in regulation, but it was another close one. The Blueshirts’ defense had been good but the attack had struggled. Coach Gerard Galliant tried borke up the Kid Line of Alex Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko flanking Filip Chytil. They did it for a period and it got good result for Chytil but the rest of his linemates didn’t click on the new line. The team basically leaned on Igor Shesterkin to hold down the fort, as the defense was a little ropey, but the attack did a lot better. It was a familiar type of game from the regular season, as Shesterkin stood on his head and the offense did a good enough job to get three goals (the last was an empty-netter). Its not a great formula but it has been proven effective and it was once again on Sunday.
NFL Diversity Hiring Summit
The NFL has decided to make up for not hiring black coaches by holding a summit. It is supposed to have organizations send their best young minority coaches and admin personal. The organizations also send their supposed higher-ups. The goal is that since so many of the hirings are based on gut feelings, maybe it’s best to get these groups in the room for workshops, etc. The black coaches attending are still upset at the lack of representation and think this is a weak response by the NFL, but they also understand that this summit still provides an opportunity – and you that have to take every opportunity. Even if it is a half-chance, if it gives you a chance at your dream.
Thanks for reading, feel free to comment below. Come back tomorrow for our Ben Whitney, who watched the Ranger game live, so probably has lost his voice.
