Since we have time to kill before training camp, I get to follow a few other things.  We all know about how good the local baseball teams are doing.  My Mets are walking away with the NL East.  The Yankees are taking care of the East on the AL side.  And the Ducks won the first half of the Atlantic League.  So all of baseball for a New Yorker/Long Islander is just fine.

However, a few years ago, on a trip to see my friends in England, I got my first taste of the premiership.  The top league in English Soccer is the best in the world.  The top players and the toughtest competition in the game play all over the British Isles, in search of one of the most coveted trophies in the world of soccer.

On a cold day in February of 2004, I took a two hour drive with my friend Peter, and his two sons, from Doncaster to Liverpool.  Everton, the other team in the city, has been in the premiership for over a century.  The stadium, Goodison Park, has been around for nearly 100 years, seats 40,000 crazy screaming fans.  The game I witnessed was a FA (football association) CUP draw between Everton and Manchester United, the New York Yankees of Soccer.

The game saw the return to Liverpool for Wayne Rooney.  The 20 year old phenom, was signed to the Everton Academy at the age of 11, I believe.  He grew up through their schools, and made the first team at 17.  He was the youngest scorer in the history of the team.  After two years with Everton, he signed a long term deal for over 30 million pounds (about $55 million) with Manchester United.  This would be similar to a player with the Red Sox, signing with the Yankees.  As soon as Rooney stepped onto the pitch at Goodison Park, nearly 40,000 in unison were calling Mr Rooney, a fat $%&#$ing bastard!

Have a good game, Wayne!

He really didn’t.  However, his teammates did the job, and scored a 2-0 victory, thus moving on in the tournament and knocking Everton out.  This FA Cup is basically a tournament for every soccer club in the UK, unfortunately, out of hundreds of clubs, both professional, and pub leagues, one winner gets to hoist the cup.

This season, Everton has started quite well.  Especially on Saturday.  In a match against Tottenham Hotspur, midfielder Kevin Kilbane got his second Yellow card for a serious foul within the first 30 minutes of the match.  In soccer, when you get two yellow cards in a match, it is determined to be called a red card, and you are thus removed from the match.  In the case of Kilbane, Everton’s manpower have been reduced from 11 to 10.

In this scenario, especially when a team is on the road, this is an extreme disadvantage. However, starting the second half, Everton was in TOP FORM.  An own goal, gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.  Then twelve minutes later, an excellent pass from Phillip Neville to a sliding Andy Johnson put the ball past the keeper to secure a 2-0 victory at White Hart Lane. 

Right now - only three games into the season, the Toffees of Everton are in second place in the premiership, with only the undefeated Manchester United ahead of them with a perfect three wins in three tries.

If you see me on a weekend, another indicator to know if I am in a good mood, is to find out if Everton won over the weekend.  If they did, I will be happy.  Just like the Islanders affecting my moods they do too.

C’mon you EVERTON… Go TOFFEES!  Andy Johnson, you da man!

Gary