On the Ball with Mark Wheat: Best Premier League Season Ever?
by Mark Wheat
May 12, 2014
On the Ball with Mark Wheat is a Monday feature on The Current that celebrates the connections between music and soccer, with an eye to the past weekend's results. Listen Monday at 7 p.m. as Mark plays the music selection of the week.
Feeling more than a little sad today because the Barclays English Premier League season 2013-14 — perhaps the best in its history — is over.
It had everything: drama, controversy and … GOALS!! That last one is important; as a long-time fan of the league, I wanted it to shine under the spotlight of NBC's increased coverage here in the USA, and it had to have a lot of goals to finally put to bed that old American complaint that the sport was boring because too many games ended with one or two goals.
For the first time ever, two teams — Liverpool and Man City — scored more than 100 goals this season. City were justifiably worthy champions, being the highest scoring AND having the second-best defense. All the players and the manager and the commentators in interviews after the last game against West Ham talked of more wins in the future from this club that has now established itself, having won twice in the last three years. The ease of their win meant that Liverpool's slight chance was gone, but Liverpool have come an awful long way since finishing 7th last year.
It was still the closest-fought contest ever seen, too, with Chelsea especially and Arsenal earlier in the year making it seem more like at least a four-horse race for longer than ever. Congrats to Everton for putting pressure on the old guard at the top, and along with Spurs denying Manchester United European football next year. The demise of my beloved Red Devils is still the biggest story of this amazing season, which someone should write a book about. After comfortably winning the title last year, Man Utd slumped to 7th and ignominiously finished the season looking rather like a small non-league side, having their aging hero Ryan Giggs as player manager. The summer will be very interesting for them.
As if those surprises at the top of the table weren't enough, mid-table teams — especially Southampton and Crystal Palace — impressed and had significant parts to play in the title race, and Sunderland made a heroic escape, only the second team to ever avoid relegation after being bottom of the table at Xmas. Yes, I did predict that they would fall along with Aston Villa who also survived, and Cardiff who didn't. But it was a gloriously difficult relegation battle to assess; at least 7 teams still being very much involved until the last week. What more could you want?!
Seriously, I'd love to get your feedback and final thoughts as we bid farewell to this blog today. We created it to comment on the Premier League specifically, not soccer as a whole. We'll assess whether to resume next season and we will do a special blog for the World Cup that starts June 12. We're planning to be involved at events around those games with The Nomad World Pub on the West Bank. Thanks to them and all the other venues across town that have screened the BPL this year, helping build the local following of the beautiful game! Brit's is the place to be tonight if you want to keep up with our own rampaging, undefeated Minnesota United. Their away game at the revitalized New York Cosmos will be screened tonight staring at 6.30.
And if you want to keep up with Minnesota United and MLS, check out the long-established local voice of soccer podcast, Du Nord, hosted by Wes and Bruce.
To get ready for Brazil, read a wonderful piece in the NYT Sunday about how the love of footie was fostered in a writer who has done as much as anyone to help build the game's reputation here, George Vecsey. He documents the 1982 World Cup, which is the one that I was so disappointed with because of all the diving and negativity of play, that I gave up following soccer for ten years! It had the opposite effect on him, thank goodness. And England named their squad today, laden of course with BPL players, one from Scotland's Celtic and one from MLS's Toronto team! Anyone you think he left out?
England squad:
Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster (Celtic), Ben Foster (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Hart (Manchester City).
Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Southampton), Chris Smalling (Manchester United).
Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Everton), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Southampton), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal).
Attackers: Rickie Lambert (Southampton), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United).
Standby: John Ruddy (Norwich City), Jon Flanagan (Liverpool), John Stones (Everton), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Tom Cleverley (Manchester United), Andy Carroll (West Ham United), Jermain Defoe (Toronto FC).
Getting to our music selection, it was great to spot Noel Gallagher of Oasis on the pitch celebrating with the City players, even cadging the captain's arm band, while hanging with Johhny Marr of Smiths fame! But the final musical accompaniment of the blog has to go to City's anthem, "Blue Moon". I might play Sinatra's fabulous version of it on air, but I thought you might like a link to a fan-built Top Ten soccer songs video, which has it placed at #1. Some we've already covered, but a few I was unfamiliar with and wished I never heard!
Thanks for reading, and we'll be back when the World Cup kicks off in June.