Ebbsfleet United Football Club Saved From Insolvency By Fans

The British take their soccer very seriously, especially the English. I take English soccer very seriously, too; probably more seriously than I should!

English soccer is made up of many leagues. At the top is the Premier League and the leagues continue down all the way to various regional conferences.

Unlike the socialist nature of American sports, teams in English soccer (well, in soccer leagues throughout the world) must earn their spot in their league.

I have previously written about the promotion - relegation paradigm in this article; but, in a nutshell, it goes like this:

At the end of the season, the Premier League teams in 18th, 19th and 20th places are demoted to the lower Coca-Cola Championship league, and the top three teams from the Championship are promoted to the Premier League. And this continues all the way down the leagues, into the conferences, so that a team that is started by a bunch of amateurs today could make their way through promotion to the top league in the country in a matter of ten years, or so. And, vice-versa! A team that is top of the heap today could tumble down through the leagues until they have no value and no fans.

Leeds United was in the top-flight a few years ago and now, due to mismanagement and a lack of proper funding, fights to stay in League One (which is the third-tier league) and could continue tumbling down and out of existence. See the Leeds history at Wikipedia.

Quite the opposite is happening for Ebbsfleet United, a Conference team who was on the verge of insolvency. The Conference is the fifth-tier of soccer clubs, just shy of being a legitimate League team.

Formerly known as Gravesend and Northfleet, the team's name was changed to take advantage of an economic upswing in the region. Still, the team struggled to make ends meet.

The team was saved from insolvency and dissolution when 20,000 members of soccer website MyFootballClub each put up thirty-five pounds to raise £700,000 (over US $1,400,000) to purchase the team!

That's right. Twenty thousand soccer fans are now the owners of the team. And the best part is that the team will be run very democratically with decisions being made by votes of all members via the website!

Should Ebbsfleet United win promotion this year, they would be promoted to League Two.

Could you imagine Major League Baseball allowing fans to save the Montreal Expos, or the National Football League allowing fans in a city to purchase the team before it was moved to Indianapolis or Phoenix? The billionaires who control American sports are too interested in protecting their guaranteed profits and tax-subsidies than in allowing a truly free marketplace.

This is amazing!

Read this article about it at the BBC site!

The Ebbsfleet United website.


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A Bad Day at Hallmark

This is one of those emails that gets forwarded from a dozen friends. It made me laugh!

Ever wondered what happens when Hallmark writers are having a bad day?

My tire was thumping.
I thought it was flat
When I looked at the tire,
I noticed your cat.
Sorry!

Heard your wife left you,
How upset you must be.
But don't fret about it,
She moved in with me.

Looking back over the years
that we've been together,
I can't help but wonder
"What the hell was I thinking?"

Congratulations on your wedding day!
Too bad no one likes your husband.

How could two people
as beautiful as you
have such an ugly baby?

I've always wanted to have
someone to hold,
someone to love.
After having met you,
I've changed my mind.

I must admit, you brought Religion into my life.
I never believed in Hell until I met you.

As the days go by, I think of how lucky I am
that you're not here to ruin it for me.

Congratulations on your promotion!
Before you go,
would you take this knife out of my back?
You'll probably need it again.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Dad!
(Available in Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia & New Hampshire)

Happy Birthday!
You look great for your age.
Almost Lifelike!

When we were together,
you always said you'd die for me.
Now that we've broken up,
I think it's time you kept your promise.

We have been friends
for a very long time;
let's say we stop?

I'm so miserable without you
it's almost like you're here.

Congratulations on your new bundle of joy.
Did you ever find out who the father was?

Your friends and I wanted to do
something special for your birthday.
So we're having you put to sleep.

So your daughter's a hooker,
and it spoiled your day.
Look at the bright side,
it's really good pay



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Judge Mukasey Is Approved By Senate

The current president of the United States needs a new Attorney General. He put forth the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey, of New York, a jurist who does not think that water-boarding a prisoner is a form of torture.

Water-boarding is an interrogation technique that simulates drowning. It is banned as torture by the Geneva Conventions.

The Geneva Conventions are the rules for treatment of prisoners by which civilized nations abide.

Since the current president of the United States is neither a civilized person nor sees value in civilization, preferring religious doctrine and the ultimate rapture as definitions of a successful species, there is no reason for the United States to pay any attention to the Geneva Conventions (most of which was authored by American jurists).

So, the current president of the United States has found a jurist who backs his plan to torture prisoners.

Not a problem, you say, surely a Democratic Senate will refuse to approve the nomination and the search will continue.

Not so fast, buster!

On Friday, the Democratic-controlled United States Senate, in a vote for the continued torture of detainees, approved the nomination of Mukasey.

The success of the nomination was managed by the cooperation of eleven Democrats, including both Senators from the great state of New York (Clinton and Schumer). Schumer voted "Yea" and Clinton did not vote, but we can assume that as a staunch supporter of the War in Iraq, a supporter of the current president's decisions, and her ongoing silence in the debate about torture, that Senator Clinton would have voted "Yea," had she fulfilled her duties to the citizens of the State of New York.

Democrats Bayh, Carper, Feinstein, Landrieu, Nelson and Schumer, along with former Democrat Lieberman, all voted along Republican lines to support the pro-torture judge. Remember the names when you go to the polls next election.

Democrats Biden, Clinton, Dodd, and Obama failed to cast votes. Looking at the list it is easy to see that they did not vote because they did not want to be seen supporting torture, because I am certain that all four would have voted "Yea." Including the darling of liberals, Obama, who is not the kind of liberal any liberal should really want representing liberals.

It's nice to see the Democrats are taking strong positions against the President's campaign of murderous war and torture. Approving an Attorney General who thinks water-boarding is not torture is hardly an Attorney General that represents the United States Constitution and the once-great American people.

See a summary of the vote here.

New York Times article.

Nice job, Democrats!

Our elected officials continue to fail America, the Constitution, and the basic tenets of civilization.

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Mugshot Oddity

Many people are arrested. Sometimes for bogus reasons, sometimes for marginal reasons, sometimes for good reason. When famous people are arrested, we hear all about it. Senators in toilets, movie stars blowing transvestites, Rolling Stones peeing on a wall, the list goes on. Sometimes there are mugshots, sometimes not. The mugshot usually shows the famous person at their absolute worst: dishevelled or inebriated or wounded or bloated.

On occasion a person looks spectacular in their mugshot.

A case in point.

Thanks to Celia for sending this along.



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No Matter How Bad American Sports Get . . .

Being a sports fan is harder and harder each year. The billionaire owners take steps to destroy the game(s) in their pursuit of a buck, and constantly talk about "integrity" and "commitment" while players whine about their multi-million dollar salaries and complain about working conditions. Neither party assumes any responsibility for nurturing their industries, and they eventually rely on the stupidity of consumers.

All of this is very effective from a profiteering point-of-view, but makes for a miserable entertainment experience.

A fan can always rely on a ticket, a very expensive ticket, guaranteeing one thing: the right to cheer for your team, and boo and verbally harass the opposition.

Well, except in the NBA where Ron Artest and his posse will be in the stands to beat the ever-loving shit out of you when you react to his bad behavior. Oh, and in MLS where Clint Mathis rushed into the stands to confront a member of the supporters club. So, I guess that guarantee is not 100% fool-proof; but I always cheer for my team and boo the other team, even when the other team is a team I kinda like.

When the L.A. Galaxy came to New York to play my New York Red Bulls, I cheered David Beckham when he appeared on the field before the match, then I booed him and called him names during the match, then I gave him and all the players a standing-ovation at the end of the match. It was a perfect night: my team won as I cheered them on, and I booed and verbally harassed the opposition as best I could.

So, in the United States, it seems that the majority of players, coaches, owners and the media still accept the notion that my ticket allows me to be "verbally abusive."

Step forward, now, Sir Alex Ferguson (whom I prefer to call Sir Asshole Fullofshit), manager of Manchester United Football Club, in England (more commonly known on this blog as ManUre).

In an away match against Arsenal, at Emirates Stadium in North London, the home team managed to tie the match at the very end, denying Sir Fullofshit's team a victory. He, of course, blames the officiating, as we all do when games don't go our way.

Then he goes that privileged step further, that step that makes sports so impossible to enjoy, that step where he thinks that his salary is somehow paid by manna that magically appears from heaven. He blames the fans. The people who have bought (in the case of English soccer) very, VERY expensive tickets to sit close enough that the delicate Sir Fullofshit actually hears their remarks:

There is a lack of security. It is absolutely disgraceful the abuse you and your staff take. All sorts of things are being shouted and screamed at you and there is an absolute danger here.

Sir, your sense of danger is rather odd. You are in a public place, on television, surrounded by security in a stadium filthy with closed-circuit security cameras. You are in no danger. In England, a fan cannot even bring a beer to his seat so you can't even get beer poured on you (which, for those of you unfamiliar with American fandom, is a staple of expressing your dissatisfaction at an American sporting event). Sir, these people were yelling at you, not battering you. Sir, you are not in any danger at Emirates Stadium. Sir, it's men like you (well, liars like you) that make sport not very sporting. Did you think your opponent's fans should just sit quietly and demurely so as to not offend your delicate sensibilities?

Men like Ferguson should be removed from the game. They are an embarrassment to athleticism, sport for profit, and plain old fun!

Read more in this BBC article:

Man Utd probing Arsenal 'abuse'

Ferguson said the home crowd had shouted insults

Manchester United are compiling a security dossier after claims that their manager Sir Alex Ferguson was verbally abused by Arsenal fans.

The incident is alleged to have taken place at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday during United's 2-2 draw with the Gunners.

"Our security people are compiling a report on it - the incident was behind us," said Ferguson.

"But I'm sure that Arsenal, with their CCTV cameras, will have picked it up."

Ferguson was unhappy with the refereeing performance of Howard Webb on Saturday, but he said the hostile atmosphere inside the stadium had been a contributing factor.

"It is very difficult for the referee," he said on Saturday.

"On our bench, we were getting terrible abuse from people two or three feet away from us. Read more . . .

So, no matter how bad American sports get, with our corporate-sponsored stadia, bad television contracts, spoiled stars, piss-poor broadcasts, and bad marketing ploys, etc., at least we don't have our athletes and coaches whining that the fans are too mean to them and they fell like they are in danger. Thank goodness!


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