Bad Opening for EB, and Other Mournful Musings

Last Friday night: Sayreville 28, East Brunswick 7, in rain that alternated between drizzle, steady and downpour. Lousy way to kick off the season.

Maybe I should chalk it up to playing the Number 2-ranked team in the County, on the road, in lousy weather. Yeah, that thought will comfort us on the long ride home from losing to North Bergen next Friday night, then losing to South Brunswick 2 weeks later, then losing the home opener against Piss-cataway after that. Coach Marcus Borden and the Big Green could start out 0-4, with no chance at the Playoffs.

The Yankees took 2 of 3 from Tampa Bay over the weekend, and it didn't matter at all.

Tampa and Boston? Do either one of them want to win that Division? Do either of them deserve to?

The Mets now lead the NL East by 1 game... Has any team ever blown leads of at least 3 1/2 games in September in back-to-back seasons? The Curse of Kevin Mitchell lives.

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football last night: Great game, lousy ending. Dallas still sucks, and Jessica Simpson is still a moron.

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So here's how my Premiership picks for last weekend turned out:

Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United. Win. For all humanity.

Manchester City 1-3 Chelsea: Loss. Is this the beginning of the end for the great Man City experiment, or is Chelski just really good this season?

Newcastle 1-2 Hull: Win, but one I'm not happy about. The Toon Army is furious at management for what's going on up there.

Blackburn 0-4 Arsenal: Win. A hat trick by the Togolese striker, Emmanuel Adebayor.

Portsmouth 2-1 Middlesbrough: Win.

West Bromwich 3-2 West Ham: Win.

Fulham 2-1 Bolton: Win.

Wigan 1-1 Sunderland: Tie, so a Loss for me.

Stoke City 2-3 Everton: Loss. First real sign of life for the blue team in Liverpool this season.

Tottenham 1-2 Aston Villa: Win. 1 point for 20th place, and it's awfully quiet at The Lane.

For the week: 7-3. Getting the hang of it? For the season: 21-18.

Chelsea and Liverpool are tied for first with 10 points each. Arsenal right behind them with 9. Hull City surprising with 7. Manchester City, Fulham, West Ham, Middlesbrough, Portsmouth and Everton all have 6. Of these, all but Fulham (the one team to beat Arsenal so far) have played 4 games, Fulham 3. Man U has 4 points, but has only played 3 games: The Newcastle tie and the Liverpool loss may both come back to haunt them.

Tottenham stands to get relegated (the Gooners rejoice, though they'll miss the annual two wins), while Newcastle and Sunderland, who hate each other's guts as much as any two teams in the British Isles, may have to beat each other to avoid relegation.

Today, the UEFA Champions League has two England vs. France matchups: Chelsea hosts Bordeaux, while Liverpool visits Marseille Olympique. So I'll be rooting for Liverpool and Bordeaux.

Tomorrow, Man U hosts Villareal of Spain, Glasgow Celtic hosts Aalborg BK of Denmark, and Arsenal visits Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine.

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Days until East Brunswick plays again: 3.

Days until Rutgers plays again: 4.

Days until the last regular-season game at Yankee Stadium: 5.

Days until the Yankees' season ends: 12. (There will be no miracle.)

Days until the Devils drop the puck: 25.