Game Day! Woo!

This is a big day.  My favorite team plays a team I seriously dislike. Unfortunately, this is where the Ails come in for "Football and Ail."  I'm a Notre Dame fan and today we play the Golden Eagles of Boston College, who always seem to beat us when we are on top of our game. Even though I wouldn't call this season a success so far, I'm still not looking forward to this match.  Of all the fan bases that I've met, BC wins for rudest, and that includes Michigan fans throwing eggs at my friends when they were visiting Ann Arbor and Tennessee fans who basically blind you with their colors.

EPL notes:

Manchester United's dressing room was flooded before their visit to Sunderland. It delayed the game by 20 minutes and won Sunderland my respect for their dirty tactics. Rooney isn't playing (not that he contributes that much when he does), which means Man United gets to start a lot of people that no one has on their fantasy team (30-year-old Michael Owen is only owned by 1.5% of all teams).

Blackpool is the blue-collared Cinderella story of the season, and this Cinderella has a potty-mouth. Blackpool is unique in many ways; they are the only team owned by a convicted rapist. This is their first season in the Premier League and everyone expects them to be relegated right back down to the second tier at the end of the season. Regardless of expectations, the Tangerines seem to be holding their own and make a decent underdog to root for against Liverpool.

I've been taking a shine to Manchester City this season (drinking game to come tomorrow). This weekend they play my roommate's team Newcastle United, who probably don't stand a chance. City is coming off a 1-0 win over Chelsea who had looked unstoppable so far this season.

Speaking of Chelsea, the game of the week is theirs against Arsenal. It airs at 11 am here and probably not on any channel that I have access to. Thankfully my favorite pub has a Sunday brunch...

This week's fantasy team:

I'm playing against the commissioner of my league who had the highest score last week. We have similar teams, he has more Arsenal players where I have as many Man City guys as I am allowed. I started the season with an all-Brazilian team with Irish subs, but as you can see, I made a few changes to losing the league. 

Go Irish. Beat Eagles.


Update: My roommate and I now have a beer riding on the Man City–Newcastle game. Let's go Citizens!