Everton vs. Cardiff City: In the Mouth of Madness

I started this blog with a single question in mind.  "Can an average American sports fan learn to like professional soccer?"  It only took me a few months to answer that question and the answer is a resounding "yes."  

Even asking this question must seem ridiculous elsewhere in the world, but let me share some stats with you that might help explain the situation.  Recently Harris conducted its 30th annual sports popularity survey and for the 30th year in a row professional football is America's favorite sport.

Here is the full breakdown of the 2014 "Most Favorite Sports of Americans" according to the survey:

• 35% Pro football
• 14% Baseball
• 11% College football
• 7% Auto racing
• 6% Men's pro basketball
• 5% Hockey
• 3% Men's college basketball
• 2% Men's golf
• 2% Men's soccer
• 2% Swimming
• 2% Boxing
• 2% Men's tennis
• 1% Bowling
• 1% Horse racing
• 1% Track & field
• 1% Women's tennis
• 1% Women's college basketball
• < 0.5% Women's soccer
• < 0.5% Women's pro basketball
• < 0.5% Women's golf
• 3% Not sure

Note that Men's soccer (including all foreign and domestic professional leagues) is in a five-way tie for eighth most popular sport in America.  So I probably wasn't alone, coming into this season, in having never watched a minute of professional soccer.  Hopefully, the popularity will increase with NBC's commitment to broadcasting Premier League in the US, and with the increasing quality of our domestic league.

Why do I bring this up now?  Well if you'll draw your attention to the sport that is a meager one percentage point higher in popularity than Men's soccer you will find Men's college basketball.  

Mid-March is the peak of popularity for this sport and America is now in the grips of what we call "March Madness".  Hopefully I'm not patronizing my readership, as best I can tell from this 2013 Guardian article US college basketball has only a modest (but growing) popularity in Europe.

"The Tournament" is a three-week, single elimination competition between the top sixty eight college basketball teams in our country.  One in ten Americans will fill out at least one tournament bracket.  $2.5 billion US dollars will be wagered.  As a single event, this level of gambling is second only to the Super Bowl at $8 billion USD (all stats courtesy of NBC news article).  

If you've never seen The Tournament before, I believe that it will be broadcast in Europe via ESPN America.  Games start on Thursday and if you're shopping for a team, I highly recommend that of my alma mater - the Villanova University Wildcats.

Mid-March in England (and South Wales) has its own form of madness.  Just like in US college basketball, the 2013/14 Premier League season is in its final act.  The clubs have between eight and eleven matches left to play.  Depending upon where you sit in the ranking table, the goal for the remainder of this season is very different.

• The top four clubs are in a tight race for the Premier League title
• The top five clubs (plus potentially three others) are hoping for a spot in future European competitions
• The bottom three clubs are doing whatever they can to avoid relegation

Coming into this week, Cardiff City were in 18th place and there was light at the end of the tunnel.  So did this week's match against the Toffees of Everton help or hurt the Bluebirds' chances of survival?

Everton 2 - Cardiff City 1

• Deulofeu (EVE) 59'
• Torres Ruiz (CAR) 68'
• Coleman (EVE) 93'

This was a heartbreaking match result.  Going into the half with the score still 0-0, you could clearly see the confidence on the faces of the Cardiff City players.  Even when down 1-0, after a goal buy Everton's Gerard Deulofeu, the Bluebirds stayed strong.

When Cardiff City's recent acquisition Juan "Cala" Torres Ruiz evened the score I felt like maybe all of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's rotations and training had finally paid dividends.

With less than one minute left in the match, it really looked like the Bluebirds were about to pull off a second unexpected draw against the Toffees.  And then Everton's Seamus Coleman yanked the rug out.

   

(Image Credit:  Getty Images)

As much as one can be...I can't say "pleased"...content with a loss, I am content with this loss.  Everton had 68% of the possession and double the attempts on goal.  And yet Cardiff City were in this match for 92 minutes.  And more impressively, the Bluebirds fought back from a 1-0 deficit which would normally have left them deflated.

Every week I could just copy and paste phrases like, "David Marshall is Cardiff City's most elite player" or "without David Marshall Cardiff City would have spent the entire season in 20th place."  But in this match more than any other, the man truly deserves kudos.

I'm not joking when I say that this match score could have easily been 6-1 in Everton's favor.  So let's take what solace we can from this match and move onward and upward.

With this loss, the Bluebirds are in 19th place with 6 wins, 7 draws, and 17 losses.  The table below captures the full Premier League standings as of 03/20/14.  The table columns are:  Current Position (POS), Last Position (LP), Club Name (CLUB), Matches Played (P), Wins (W), Draws (D), Losses (L), Goals Fielded (GF), Goals Allowed (GA), Goal Differential (GD), and Rankings Points (PTS).

I mentioned in last week's post that Cardiff City needed help from friends in low places.  Well they didn't get any.  Fulham beat Newcastle, Crystal Palace drew against Sunderland, and Swansea City lost to West Bromwich Albion.  Sigh.

So where do we stand in the relegation battle?  The following clubs cannot be relegated:  

• Chelsea
• Liverpool
• Arsenal
• Manchester City

Next week, these are the results we need to help excavate us from our hole:

• Manchester City to beat Fulham
• Norwich and Liverpool to beat Sunderland (they play twice this week)
• Newcastle to beat Crystal Palace

If those outcomes take place, a win against Liverpool this week would move the Bluebirds back into 18th place.

Ok, it's time to "Meet a US Bluebird"!

Meet Paul Noble (@pgnoble, 03/14/14)

Where do you live and where are you from originally?:  I live in the Washington DC suburbs now.  Been here for nearly 12 years.  Originally from Newport which is about 10 miles from Cardiff.

How long have you been following the Bluebirds and how did you become a fan?:  21-22 Years.  First job out of school, I started working with a few City diehards and went to Ninian Park with them.  I caught the bug straight away.  It was a relatively successful season but it wasn't the football that gripped me.  It was the atmosphere at the games.  Ninian Park could be incredibly hostile and menacing back then and I loved it.

What is your most favorite Cardiff City memory and why?:  There have been plenty of highs and lows.  Beating Man City and Leeds in the FA Cups when I was back there.  Beating QPR and Leicester in the playoffs since I have been here.  Reaching 2 Cup finals recently has been great but ultimately disappointing.  Beating Swansea is always enjoyable too.

Who is your most favorite current Cardiff City player?:  Currently it would be either Kevin McNaughton or Peter Whittingham.  Both have been great servants to the club and fans favourites.  I'd consider letting McNaughton shag my wife, but after much deliberation would say no! [Author's note:  Paul is the fifth Bluebirds fan I've heard openly admit they have a man-crush on McNaughton.  I've added a picture below, you be the judge]

Kevin McNaughton - Silver Fox (Image Credit:  WalesOnline)

What makes Cardiff City important to you?:  Blue.  It's not the same since the emperor's new (red) clothes.  Vincent Tan is responsible for splitting the fan base and causing some painful divisions.  Some folks would take the Red as long as we are competing at the higher levels.  Most I suspect though would prefer Blue no matter what league we played in.

What is your favorite US sport and team?  Do you follow any MLS clubs?:  I suppose US Football.  I'm not passionate about US sports, but like to see the local DC teams do well as it lifts the place.  May go to my first DC United game this season as I have been promising a friend that I will check them out for the last few seasons.

Do you think Premier League is growing in popularity in the US?  What can NBC or the League itself do to grow its popularity in the US?:  Without a doubt.  In my local bar alone I notice that people are taking more notice and I can only see it growing further.  Folks who would only be interested in talking about The Yankees or Red Sox ask me how Cardiff are doing and some have started to watch Premier League games regularly.  I suppose more US Players in the league would boost it's popularity even further.

Thanks for the interview, Paul!  

I won't lie, I've made a concerted effort to not talk about the rebranding on this blog.  And yet, it is one of the defining storylines of the season and recent events warrant dusting the topic off.

In a recent BBC Sport interview, Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan claimed that the color change from blue to red was supported by 90% of fans and only a vocal minority opposed it.  Tan went on to suggest that opponents of the rebrand owe him an apology.  

In contrast to Tan's opinions on fan support of the rebrand, there is the recent survey conducted by the Cardiff City Supporters Trust (of which I am a member).  You can find the full survey question and result list here.  The tagline of note from the trust has been that "85.21% (847) of supporters who responded to the annual fans’ survey said the Trust should continue to campaign against the rebrand.  Just 2.41% (24) of all those polled supported the rebrand."  For completeness, 12.37% (123) disagreed with the rebrand but reluctantly supported it.

So who is correct?  Do 90% support the rebrand or do 85.21% oppose it?

Well unfortunately I think that Tan and the Trust are not comparing apples to apples.  The difference lies in their definition of "support".

Tan sees that on match day 25,000 people are sitting in the home fan seats.  He estimates maybe 10% of them are wearing blue.  Sure there are people who gave up their season tickets, but those seats got filled by someone else.  Therefore, Tan concludes that the remaining 90% support the rebrand.

The Trust on the other hand asked questionees what stance they wanted the Trust to take.  Here, "oppose the rebrand" means "what should the Trust do with its own time and resources."  A vote to "support the rebrand" means the Trust should spend its time and resources elsewhere.

This difference in definition is important.  What people do with their own money and resources speaks louder than what those same people want someone else to do with their money and resources.  I am NOT saying that Tan is right and that the majority support the rebrand.  But I am saying that as long as fans continue to attend the matches, Tan will continue to perceive that as implicit support for the rebrand.

The Trust could have received a 100% response of "Continue to oppose the rebrand" and as long as the stadium is filled, Tan would continue to say to the Trust respondents, "you are the 'vocal minority'".

I never followed the Bluebirds while they wore blue so it is awkward for me to burn an effigy of Tan.  I do respect the history though.

I suspect the majority of fans if asked would say, "I oppose the rebrand, but I will give you my money, sit my ass in this stadium, and begrudgingly watch them play in red until we get a new owner who will listen to us."  

I really hate this topic, it is the pimple on an otherwise perfect ass of a season.  I am however glad that Paul brought it up and I agree with him that most supporters would prefer blue no matter what league Cardiff City played.

In other news, last week I achieved my admittedly underwhelming goal of breaking into the top third of all Fantasy Premier League competitors.  But glory is fleeting and after only one week I'm back among the huddled masses.  This performance stung particularly bad because last week I managed my second best performance of the year with only eight active players.  This week I had my absolute worst performance of the year with a full roster.  Go figure.  

• Rank (Last Week):  893,668
• Rank (This Week):  1,011,416
• Total Players:  3,196,738

Well that's it for this week, readers.  Cardiff City's next Premier League match is on March 22nd at home against Liverpool.

Thank you as always for reading.  You can follow me on Twitter @dragon_bluebird.  And feel free to leave some comments on my posts via Blogger or Twitter.  Would love to hear your thoughts on the season so far and I'm always open to suggestions for features or topics you'd like to see on this blog.