Everton, the Medium Sized Club

[EFC NY]

Had the A's stayed in Philly, true. Actually, perfect - even though they haven't historically won as much as Everton or the Detroit Tigers. However, they've moved that franchise (watches nik wince) all over the lot. If they hadn't run out of territory, they'd have found someplace west of Oakland to drag them. Philly, Kansas City, Oakland. Go west, old franchise.

The Tigers have a history to the beginning of the league, the glory of the Ty Cobb years (analogous in sports terms to Dixie Dean with one exception - Dean was pretty much a prince of a guy while Ty was a terrible man but a sublime baseballer on the level of the great Dixie as a footballer - unquestionably the best of his era), many World Series titles, a long history in Briggs Field/Tiger Stadium, the closest analogy to Goodison that I can find, and the respect of most baseball fans for being a great original club. A proper club in every sense of the term, as understood on both sides of the big ditch, and a integral part of baseball this year as well, as their presence at the top of the Central division will attest.

The A's have won more than twice as many WS as the Tigers, and have won more than any other team except the Yankees and the Cardinals. The A's are the perfect baseball analogy to Everton except for their current lousy fan support. The Tigers have the 6th largest payroll (out of 30 teams) and as such, are a rich club currently. They have signed some mega free agents lately, the equivalent of which Everton can only dream of at the moment.

The Reds would be a better analogy than the Tigers, btw.

 

[mezzrow]

The A's have won more than twice as many WS as the Tigers, and have won more than any other team except the Yankees and the Cardinals. The A's are the perfect baseball analogy to Everton except for their current lousy fan support. The Tigers have the 6th largest payroll (out of 30 teams) and as such, are a rich club currently. They have signed some mega free agents lately, the equivalent of which Everton can only dream of at the moment.

The Reds would be a better analogy than the Tigers, btw.

You have a good point about those Reds. Since I hate the Reds, I can't see it - Cub fan blindness at work, here. You are, of course, correct about the # of WS titles as well. Add to that, I have always said that Rooney is some some of bizarre reincarnation of the not yet dead spirit of Pete Rose. They play the game the same way, and at heart, they're the same guy.

Good post.

 

[phxtoffee]

Okay so we play on Sundays for American TV and they dictate our fixture lists.

Is this true? EPL matches don't draw massive numbers over here (although growing by the year). ESPN shows a match most weeks, usually the early Saturday game (at the godforsaken start time of 4:45 a.m. here in the Pacific Time Zone) and Fox Soccer shows usually 3-4 matches per weekend.

But does US TV have a real influence on scheduling and fixture lists? Serie A and La Liga sold their American rights this offseason to a station that no one gets, but English football is MUCH more popular overall.

 

[Ihaters]

Is this true? EPL matches don't draw massive numbers over here (although growing by the year). ESPN shows a match most weeks, usually the early Saturday game (at the godforsaken start time of 4:45 a.m. here in the Pacific Time Zone) and Fox Soccer shows usually 3-4 matches per weekend.

But does US TV have a real influence on scheduling and fixture lists? Serie A and La Liga sold their American rights this offseason to a station that no one gets, but English football is MUCH more popular overall.

Yep, because we can now only watch the games on American TV they dictate the fixture list so if sky want us to play on a Monday we will play then, its good for us because its extra money but at the end of the day yeah they pretty much run the major soccerball league over here these days.
Arsene's not a fan

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-but-calls-for-fair-play-in-rescheduling.html

 

[sotnas]

I really don't give a damn about what they write about this club.

It's only been 6 matches to have any sort of conclusions about our chances in the PL. We're second, for now, and we may have the best set of players since the 80's.

Those guys can write all the good stuff but they can write the opposite in no time.

About the medium size cr@p... I don't give a fck. We're Everton no matter what and I don't feel less connected to the club wether we are a big club or a medium sized one.

 

[No8Bally]

Big guns live on ESPN

ESPN has unveiled the Barclays Premier League fixtures that it will broadcast exclusively live in December, with Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool all featuring.

That ****e station still refers to Liver "we should have had six penalties" pool as one of the "Big Guns" - I'd ignore that steaming pile

 

[Jeff Jones]

I've gotten used to Americanisms when it comes to soccerball but there is one tiny one that still drives me cracked and its 'offsides'. Why pluralize it? 'yea, he was a mile offsides... aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh. Dunno why it drives me cracked.
As for the Grantland article, funny and informative but to refer to Everton as a medium sized club is lazy and insulting.

FGS, we're often referred to as a small club. Usually by people who actually intend to be offensive.

A couple of points, most countries call there own code football. Australian Rules. Gridiron - sorry about that to our American friends, but It's the only word I have without calling it football. Rugby League and Rugby Union people call their game football.
In fact, the word soccer was derived to distinguish it from Rugby (union) in the 19th century. You already knew that, I know.

I hate the word, but I live in the Aussie Rules heartland, am a passionate Carlton supporter, and it does get difficult when we have to make it clear who or what we're talking about when we say 'football'. There's no point in arguing about it, but when the
subject comes up I simply point out that when you look at the way each code is played, there's no doubt at all which is more worthy of the name 'Football.

Oh, I'm pretty sure the author of that article wasn't suggesting that Portsmouth is a club with similar status to Everton. He just picked them because they've won a trophy recently and it suited him to use them to make a point.

 

[Sheepshagger]

Got thru about the first line of that. Yawn, heard it all before.
We are where we are at the moment and anyone not happy should go give themselves a shak.
We are a massive club that's being run within our means. Anyone that thinks dif should have a look at what just happened to rangers up here in Scotland.