UEFA Champions League, Where No Lead is Safe

The UEFA Champions League is holding the 2nd leg of the quarterfinals of their international tournament today and tomorrow and I must say that while the tournament has already lived up to it's great reputation, what I just witnessed was absolutely fantastic.

The great advantage about major soccer tournaments between club teams, especially in international tournaments like this one, is the variety and beauty of places that a team has to play. You see whenever a tournament final gets through the group stage and is cut down to the final sixteen teams, they are ranked and placed on a bracket where they must play through like any other sports tournament.

The beauty is though that in soccer they play games based on a 2-leg system with teams advancing to the next round on aggregate. In other words the team has to play a home-and-home against their opponent and score more goals across the two games in order to get to the next round.

Bayern's Thiago celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the soccer Champions League quarterfinal second leg match between Bayern Munich and FC Porto at the Allianz Arena in Munich, southern Germany, Tuesday, April 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

That means that even if you squeak by at your home stadium you still have to go on the road and play the team on their home turf and then make sure you keep the lead on aggregate. Thats right everyone, that means that even if you won, you can still lose. And if you lose, you can still win.

Confused yet? Let me give you a real life example to help make things clearer.

Bayern's Robert Lewandowski, center, scores his side's 3rd goal during the soccer Champions League quarterfinal second leg match between Bayern Munich and FC Porto at the Allianz Arena in Munich, southern Germany, Tuesday, April 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Today was the second leg in the series between Porto FC, a team from the Portuguese Primeira Liga, and FC Bayern Munich, a team from the German Bundesliga. In the first leg Porto had held it's own ground and ended up winning the game 3-1 at home. Therefore today during the second leg Bayern Munich would have to not only win on their home field, but win by more than two goals in order to advance.

Let me give you a basic recap of what Bayern ended up doing in today's match.

Bayern ended up winning 6-1 moving on to the semi-finals and it was not even close. And that is the great part about this tournament and others like it. No matter how good you play in one game, it takes consistent excellence to win at this level, and Porto just learned that the hard way. 

We are in for a Wild ride

While our OKC Thunder might have had the most agonizing of victories last night with winning against the Timberwolves but losing the race for the 8th and final playoff spot in the western conference another sport started their race to the championship early.

The NHL playoffs got off to a wild start last night with four games, including a sizzling 2OT game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators that is sure to be a great tone-setter for the rest of the series.

Chicago Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling reaches for the puck in the third period of Game 1 of an NHL Western Conference hockey playoff series against the Nashville Predators Wednesday, April 15, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Speaking of wild games however another is set to happen tonight when the Saint Louis Blues start their 7-game series against the Minnesota Wild... See what I did there?

The St. Louis Blues come into the playoffs in a familiar position as Central Division champs and overall 1-seed in the 16 team NHL playoffs. This however does not guarantee success for a franchise who has had early exits in their last three playoff appearances and has yet to win a Stanley Cup in their 48 year history.

Minnesota Wild's Nino Niederreiter, of Switzerland, tries to reach a loose puck as St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott, right, defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, April 11, 2015, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

The Minnesota Wild have taken their fans on a roller-coaster all the way into the second wildcard spot in the playoffs. Coming all the way from 4th worst in the Western Conference they have ridden hot goal-tending from surprise standout Devan Dubnyk, who has started 39 of the last 40 games, and a stingy defense to get all the way to the postseason.

We'll see tonight whether either team can puncture what has been two of the top defenses in the league and get off to a good start on the race to sixteen wins and the Stanley Cup.

Wildcats vs. Wildmen

Kentucky basketball has taken it's already storied history to new hight this season, running the table and finishing the regular season 31-0, sweeping the SEC Tournament Title, and have now bullied their way past just about anyone and anything in route to the Sweet Sixteen. That's where they meet a West Virginia team however who might just have the best shot at stopping what seems to be a tidal wave.

West Virginia just by the eye test doesn't stand a chance. They take to many ill-advised threes, they commit to manny fouls, and they cannot score nearly enough to keep up with a Wildcats squad that has most likely at least 8-9 future NBA players on their roster. But what they do do well is win ugly, and that is exactly what they will have to do to beat Kentucky.

Bob Huggins and his team have made a living all season eking out close wins by playing hard-nosed defense and whenever their defender does get beat, they foul them, HARD. West Virginia is number one in fouls committed in the NCAA, but there is a method to the madness. When they foul, it's on purpose and so that the offensive player does not get an easy look at the basket. It's a bold strategy, but it's taken the Mountaineers this far, so I doubt they will stop any time soon.

Another, maybe more important stat West Virginia has in their favor is offensive rebounding. Now Kentucky is no slouch in this department either, being in the top 25 in the NCAA this season, but they come nowhere near West Virginia who ranked number one in the nation in this department. Some of that has to do with the Mountaineer's offensive scheme and their love to take three point shots (threes= long rebounds = offensive rebounds) but they do have bigs who are not afraid to get in the paint and box out opponents.

 At left, in a Dec. 30, 2014, file photo, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins calls out instructions to his team during an NCAA college basketball game against Virginia Tech in Morgantown, W.Va. At right, in a March 15, 2015, file photo, Kentucky head coach John Calipari reacts to play against Arkansas during the first half of the NCAA college basketball Southeastern Conference tournament championship game in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/File)

And since we are going so deep into the numbers, here's one that the media keeps on throwing around too, 8-2, as in Bob Huggin's record against John Calipari over his career. Whatever teams are on the court, be it Kentucky vs. West Virginia or Cincinnati vs. Memphis, Huggins seems to always have Calipari's number. Now I don't know if that is enough to overcome the talent gap between these two teams, but I'm sure as heck going to watch to see what happens.

Whichever team you are rooting for, once they get this far in the tournament, you know a team has accomplished something. Tomorrow however, we'll find out whether this Kentucky team has the gumption to really live up to their billing as a team of destiny.
 

Let the Madness Begin

It's that time of year everyone. The time of year where no matter if you have been buried in stats trying to find this year's cinderella since November, or are just now trying to catch some games before you turn in your bracket, everyone starts watching college basketball.

Now anyone who talks knows me knows that I am huge basketball fan, lately though (last four or five years) I have gravitated towards the pro ranks, especially since the advent of the Thunder. Growing up however, I went to more college basketball games than any other sporting event. It became a tradition for me and my dad at a very young age to make
the drive 45 minutes north to Stillwater hours before tip-off just to go to Eskimo Joe's, demolish a plate of cheese-fries and go wait in line for the doors to open to Gallagher-Iba Arena.

My dad, being the tried and true Cowboys fan that he was would make a point of trying to make it to as many games as possible and one of my most vivid memories from early in my childhood came at a Oklahoma State basketball game. I couldn't have been more than maybe ten years old but I still remember my father somehow getting ahold of student general admission tickets for a game against Texas. I was way to young for what my ears heard from the rowdy group of undergrads that night, but that would not be my last taste of what true smack-talk was.

My favorite part of that game came before even the first tip-off. Me and my father had only just gotten to our seats when all the sudden I see students pull out today's edition of the Daily Oklahoman. I had no idea what was happening as they passed them around to everyone in the student section. My dad just told me to take one and play along, saying that it's a game the students do before every game. Then all of the sudden I hear over the loudspeakers "Ladies and gentlemen! now the starting lineups for the visiting Texas Longhorns!" followed by the loudest boo I had ever heard at a young age.

I looked around and all I saw were fans with their faces buried in a newspaper as if they were intently looking all at the same story so I started looking on my page for what was so interesting. Then as soon as I had found something that I thought was the source of all this intention, the announcer says the first Texas player's name and I see all the students raise their heads out of their paper and scream at the top of their lungs, "WHO CARES!".

Needless to say this blatant show of bravado stuck with me at that early age. As soon as it happened I started busting out laughing so hard my dad had to tell me to be quiet. It was probably the hardest I still to this day have ever laughed.

Now I tell this story to explain what is so great about March Madness. During the NCAA tournament everyone in the country gets to relive those days. Everyone from a five-year-old child to a 99 year old war vet gets to feel that feeling of passion and pride that you feel as a fresh-faced college freshman at his first big rivalry game. Every person in the country gets to at the same time be a ten-year old laughing at the absurdity that someone who isn't even competing in the game giving so much effort for their team and the crazed-fanatic painted from head to toe in your teams colors.

It's called March Madness for a reason, and most of the time it isn't even for what's happening on the court. Well I say, let the Madness begin!

For Fans of Grudge Matches

Across the pond this weekend is a grudge match that has been nearly a year in the making happening. On Sunday Liverpool will travel to Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England to play last year's Premier League Champions Manchester City FC.

Manchester City players celebrate with the Cup after a win over West Ham clinched a second Premier League title in three years. Photo: AP

This is a grudge match on many levels, but most of all because last season was Liverpool's to win for a majority of the year. They dominated the competition in most every match behind fantastic attacking play by a group of young strikers and now-departed fan of mastication Luis Suarez. With that group of offensive talent plus a veteran mid-field led by Team Captain Steven Gerrard, Liverpool had what seemed like the perfect combination of youth and experience to finally bring a league title back to Anfield.

Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge, center, scores his side's first goal during the English FA Cup fifth round soccer match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park stadium in London, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

However a series of blunders let the title slip away from Liverpool and Manchester City, who had laid in wait in the second spot, snatched the title away, Sunday has had a red circle around it in almost every Premier League fan's calender.

The team's might not look exactly the same with both teams acquiring new players over the summer and old players leaving either through transfer or by retirement, but expect everyone in the stadium and especially the players to know just how important this game is to both team's seasons.

For the curious but clueless about the Premier League and just what the big deal is about English soccer, this is a game to watch to see what all the true rivalry is about. In a earlier post I suggested you watch Champions League soccer, which is the biggest international tournament in club soccer, but if you want to see real passion and pageantry that rivals what we see on Saturdays in the fall with college football, you should pay attention to the Premier League.

For fans of cold weather and fiery tempers

Every Wednesday since 2012 has come to be known as Wednesday Night Rivalry for a sport that I hold near and dear to my heart, Ice Hockey. Now being from the land of Thunder during the winter, hockey does not frequently grace our airwaves unless you are lucky enough to have expanded channel service on your television sets. That's why the year 2012 is so important to myself and any other hockey fans. Because that is the year that NBC announced a 10 year extension of it's television broadcasting rights with the National Hockey League and the formation of their new sports channel, NBCSN, that will come standard with any sports package for television providers.

With the formation of NBCSN the NHL has at least 90 different nationally-televised games each regular season, with most of them showing on either Mondays, Tuesdays, or my favorite, Rivalry Night.

This Wednesday is no exception with two teams that have a hatred only familiarity can brew taking the ice when the Pittsburg Penguins travel to the nation's capital to take on the Washington D.C. Capitals.

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, left, of Russia, and Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba, right, eye the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015, in Washington. The Capitals won 5-1. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

For those of you that might not know a single thing about hockey, this is a game you would want to watch. This game will give you all the intensity and emotion that makes any hockey game great, not only just rivalries, and also give you nationally-known brand-name players to root for.

That's because every time these two teams meet, two of the most recognizable names in hockey go head-to-head in Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. These players are offensive juggernauts that light up the scoreboard and the crown every single time and always make what is otherwise just a physical slugfest also a offensive shoot-out.

Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby, left and Columbus Blue Jackets' Brandon Dubinsky are seen through the dasher board glass as they exchange blows in a fight in the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015 in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

With no other major sports event happening in Oklahoma, why not sit and try and experience the favorite sport of our North American brothers from above the border. Who knows? You might like what you have to see.

A case for the round football

Schalke's Felix Platte, left, and Real Madrid's Daniel Carvajal go for the ball during the Champions League round of 16 first leg soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Real Madrid in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Here in America, we are currently in the bleak wasteland known as Football's off-season. The Super Bowl has been played and won. Calls have been debated over and over again to the point of pointlessness and it has finally started to set in even for the most hard-core fans that football is done until late summer at the earliest.

However there is a much more recognized version of football still being played right now, with one of the most important sought-after tournaments entering into it's final phase. I'm of course speaking of the world's game, soccer, and of organized football's biggest club event, the UEFA Champions League.

Used with permission from billsportsmaps.com

 The UEFA Champion's League is an event held every year that hosts the best club teams from around the world who play each other throughout the season in order to find one "true champion" of the club soccer world. This event while playing throughout the season so far and already now entering it's sixth round of competition, is only today starting to heat up however.

Starting yesterday, the 16 remaining teams who have survived the World Cup style round-robin that starts the tournament play each other in a two-leg tournament style format. That means that while there is a normal bracket that the last sixteen teams play through, with teams being seeded based off of their performance through the round-robin stage, every team is guaranteed a home game every round of the tournament. Teams starting this round play a home-and-home two game series with the team that scores the most goals over the two games advancing.

I'm not saying that soccer will all of a sudden fill that oblong shaped hole left in your heart after the Super Bowl was finally over, but if you are willing to try and give international soccer a chance, and want to see what the absolute best players in the world, playing on the best teams in the world look like, then give the UEFA Champions League a try. You might like what you find.