Why being an Arsenal fan is like being in a bad relationship

The classic relationship trap -- you get together with a jerk, everything is okay at first, then he starts to treat you not-so-well, but every once in a while you are REALLY happy, so you stay, hoping for more of those increasingly-rare moments. And this, in fact, is my relationship with Arsenal. The first flush of love: we win against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Yay! We draw against Chelsea. Okay, not bad. We play a beautiful game against Reading. Signs that things may not be going so well: we struggle against Watford, but still win. Loss to Sheffield. But then things get better and I have reason to believe: amazing win against Manchester United, at home. Thump Liverpool twice, in a week. Crush Charlton. Then the co-dependency/downward slide begins: Watford. Wigan. Champions League. Carling Cup. FA Cup. And now Everton.

And, just like in a bad relationship, I can't figure out what's wrong! Yes, we're missing Henry and van Persie. And Adebayor. However, our midfield is strong, with Hleb and Rosicky and the always-pretty-amazing Cesc. Gallas is back at defense. Gilberto is always solid, as is Toure. So, Arsenal, what's up? Am I not pretty enough? Would losing ten pounds fix the problem? Should I be more like your ex-girlfriend? WHAT? Just tell me and I'll do it. But stop breaking my heart. I can't take it anymore. (Not that there's anything you can do to make me leave. That's the sad part. Sigh.)

Mourinho Silent - Thank You!

Jose Mourinho is keeping his mouth shut. Chelsea has just brought themselves within five points of Man United and we are hearing nothing out of the mouth of Mourinho.

Mourinho is unhappy about the media and the stories about him planning to leave Chelsea at the end of the season. So for now he has decided to keep his trap shut and not say anything to them.

I'm glad to see him finally shut up. Chelsea is still in contention of winning the Champions League and the FA Cup. They already won the Carling Cup and are currently only five points behind Man United. At this point he's better off not saying a thing until he can prove that all the money spent on his team may finally pay off. I personally want to see them fall from all competitions and not take the EPL title this year. As much as I hate Man United, I would rather see them take the title over Chelsea.

So Jose - keep that mouth shut and let's see what you can do with your team.

Review: Tom Waits - Orphans

Just adding a little flavor into our Footy thread and doing a review of a recently purchased cd. Tom Waits put out Orphans as a three cd set with three different styles giving each disc the titles of Brawlers, Bawlwers and Bastards. Each disc certainly has a little bit of the typical Tom Waits style.

"Brawlers" is chock full of raucous blues and full-throated juke-joint stomp, "Bawlers" contains Celtic and country ballads, waltzes, lullabies, piano, and classic Waits songs, while "Bastards" is filled with experimental music, stories, and jokes. This was taken from the description of the cd and fits it correctly.

The first cd is typical rough sounding bluesy Waits with the rough edge and his groggy voice pulling through the songs. If you are a fan of past Tom Waits music, you will certainly enjoy this one.

The second cd gets more into the Ballads and more of a Heart of Saturday Night feel in some songs and others are fairly nice piano classics, quite a mix on this one.

The third cd certainly is the experimental one and has quite a mix of different styles. There's some voice clips and stories and different.

I really like this cd set as it really has a little bit of everything in it from the many albums that Waits has put out over the years. He's quite a talent in what he does. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's a Waits fan. Those who don't much about him, if yo like blues, ragtime, rough scruffy voices, jazz and expermental rock this ones for you as well.

Aston Villa 0 - 1 Arsenal

I know the picture is old, but just wanted to grab one of Cesc who had a fantastic match against Aston Villa.

Diaby, whose only other goal for the Gunners was against Villa at Highbury last season, inadvertently deflected a mishit shot from Julio Baptista past Thomas Sorensen after 10 minutes.

Arsenal playing with several key players out were able to hold off Villa at Villa Park. That's not an easy task to do since Martin O'Neil has taken over managing Villa, they have grown stronger.

In the past two weeks Arsenal were knocked out of the Carling Cup Final by Chelsea, Lost in the fifth round of the FA Cup to Blackburn and were eliminated from the Champions League by PSV. So it was a nice victory to help boost the teams confidence, moving them into 3rd place two pointts ahead of Liverpool. This is the highest Arsenal have been in the standings this season. Let's hope they can hold on to that position and keep a spot in next seasons Champions League.

Well done Gunners. Cesc played his heart out and to me deserves the Man of the Match award for keeping control of the midfield.

Arsene Say Sign Big Or Not At All

Wenger maintains he is unlikely to make many waves this summer - and only if the right player comes along.

He said: "Maybe one or two maximum - and only super, super class because we have what is needed. "If someone is available I would always try to improve my team - but the basis is inside the club."

It still remains to be seen if we will keep The Beast Baptista or end up sending him back to Real Madrid and bringing Reyes, who doesn't want to set foot on English soil, back to the team.

Hopefully we keep The Beast and see how he progresses over another year with his two Brazilian counterparts, Gilberto and Denilson.

Lehmann is out of contract in the summer, and as yet there has been no formal agreement with the Germany international - who turns 38 in November - over a new deal, with the two sides said to be at loggerheads over the length of the terms. But Wenger said: "I expect him to be here. We have not gone into deeper discussions yet." As all playber Lehman's age, the club will likely try to get him to sign terms for only one year and then assess at the end of that year if he should be signed on again.

So we may not do anything unless something big comes along this summer. Since we have now lost revenue of the FA Cup and Champions League, we probably will have a little less to spend as continuing on in both of those tournements brings in millions from TV revenues as well as gate receipts. So we will just have t see.

I honestly think that we have a relatively strong team if we could keep them all from getting red cards and injured, we would have a top class side out there. We have Henry and vanPersie as well as Adebayor up front. Cesc, Gilberto Hleb, Rosicky, Denilson and Baptista in the middle along with Senderos, Gallas, Toure, Lauren, Eboue and Clichy in the back. We just need some strong replacements for injury time. I say bring back Lurch from Spain - "He's Bald, He's Shit, He plays when no ones fit, He's Pascal Cygan!" :)

Arsenal v Aston Villa Today

Going into tonights match against Aston Villa at Villa Park, Arsenal are without half their team and will have a tough time against Martin O'Neils Villians.

Those injuries and absences are still apparent tonight. Thierry Henry (shoulder/groin) is out for the season and Robin van Persie (foot) is still some way from fitness. Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue, Emmanuel Adebayor and Gael Clichy are all suspended but Mathieu Flamini, Justin Hoyte and Tomas Rosicky return.

So it looks like we will be sending out a young team again, but this might also give a couple of these players a chance to shine. The Beast will need to really pick up the pace tonight and play like he has in the Carling Cup matches scoring 6 goals in 2 matches.

I would guess we will start with Flamini on left back and Gallas and Senderos in the middle, not sure but probably Hoyte on the right. So now we will be looking to Cesc and Gilberto to take command of the middle along with Rosicky and Hleb on the wings and maybe The Beast (Baptista) and Denilson up top. You could probably switch Denilson and Rosicky around, but that might be out best shot to come out with a victory tonight.

Mackey Wins Back to Back Iditarods

I Know that this isn't soccer related, but wanted to add for my love of dogs. Lance Mackey won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, becoming the first musher to win major long-distance North American sled dog races back-to-back.

Mackey crossed under the famed burled arch in downtown Nome early Tuesday evening, completing the 1,100-mile Iditarod in just over nine days.

"Dreams do come true, Mama, they do" Mackey said after the race, fighting back tears. "It's our lifestyle, it's what we breathe, eat and sleep," he said of the Mackey family's love of mushing. "It's what we do."

Mackey, 36, joins his father, Dick, and brother, Rick, as Iditarod champions. Both won the race wearing bib No. 13 and each the sixth time they ran the Iditarod. Lance Mackey camped out for days at the Iditarod headquarters last June to be the first person to sign up for this year's race in order to select the No. 13 bib.

As many animal rights people feel that this is cruel to put these dogs through a race like this, these dogs are bread for this. they were used to haul cargo in the old days and now it's a sport, but those dogs would rather be out on the trail than sitting in a backyard of a Southern California house like my little ones.

I just had to add this story since my good old Arsenal have been knocked out of the Champions League, FA Cup and lost in the finals of the Carling Cup. Now Henry is out for the rest of the season and we need to fight for a top 4 positiopn to qualify for next years Champlions League.

Now back to Footy stories.