Peter

The nice thing about NBC's deal is that it makes much easier to follow any club in the EPL. All of the games are on TV on one of the various NBC channels, one of the DTV extra channels, or on the internet. Fortunately, for me, the Arsenal games all have been on TV. I DVR them and either watch them live or later. They also have replays on the NBC sports app. With family and life, it is difficult to watch all of the games (Bills, Sabres, Arsenal, and everything else) these days.

I agree that - they do play an entertaining, positive style. Dennis Bergkamp is the one that initially drew me to Arsenal. Of course, I also really like Cesc and Thierry Henry. Now, I am a very big fan of Giroud, Wilshere, Santi, Arteta, Ozil, Ramsey, and Podolski (and pretty much everyone else). Arsenal also has a young midfielder name Gedion Zelalem, who is a phenom who ultimately may play for the US National team if he does not decide to play for Germany. The kid has vision similar to what Cesc had at that age. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soccer-insider/wp/2013/08/12/could-arsenals-teenage-phenom-play-for-u-s/ I used to like RVP, but he is dead to me now given what he did to Arsenal last year to engineer his departure after Arsenal and Arsene had been so loyal to him after all of his injuries and his arrest a few years back. It would have been one thing if he had gone overseas or had gone home (as Cesc did), but to engineer the transfer to Man U is another. I have to admit that it would make me very happy if Arsenal won the EPL while he and Man U did not qualify for Champions League.

You are welcome. He needed a change.

If you are still looking for a club to support, I officially invite you to support Arsenal. It is a great club with a long history. Arsene Wenger is a class act. The supporters are fantastic. There is a lot of very good, young talent. We have qualified for Champions League for the past several years. The club built its own stadium, which caused it to be conservative with spending for the past few years. The club does not spend money like drunken sailors as do some of the clubs in Europe. It tries to do it the right way by both developing young players and adding pieces such as Ozil more recently. We have had our bumps in the road -- this part reminds me of being a Buffalo sports fan -- but the future looks bright. You mentioned Man U. I used to like them (together with Arsenal) because of a friend of mine and also Eric Cantona and later Ruud van Nistelrooy. I decided that following Man U was too much like being a Dallas Cowboys fan. For the past several years, my one and only team has been Arsenal. You will never be embarrassed being an Arsenal fan. One story about Arsenal that illustrates the class of the club is when Arsenal offered and did replay a match that it had won, but did so under circumstances that the club did not think were just. When was the last time you heard of a professional team doing anything like this. In any event, you can read a story at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/ars-ne-wenger-offers-fa-cup-rematch The pertinent description of what happened is below: "The FA Cup often throws up weird and wonderful situations but in 1999 Highbury witnessed one of the strangest episodes in the competition's history. Arsenal were drawn at home against Sheffield United in the Fifth Round and beat the Yorkshire team 2-1 thanks to goals from Patrick Vieira and Marc Overmars. However, the winning goal caused plenty of controversy. The ball had been kicked into touch by a United player so one of his team-mates could receive treatment. But when Kanu received possession from the resulting throw, he broke away down the right and squared for Overmars to score. The Blades were outraged and pointed the finger at Kanu but the Nigerian had simply misunderstood the situation, unaware that a United player had needed treatment. Nonetheless, the dispute was not going to be settled easily. Arsène Wenger stepped in and, recognising the unique situation Arsenal found themselves in, he offered United manager Steve Bruce a chance to replay the match at Highbury. Wenger's gracious offer was accepted and, with the FA's consent, the rematch took place 10 days later. Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp put Arsenal in charge and, although the Blades grabbed a late consolation, they suffered another 2-1 defeat."

I tried to upload some videos of two of the chants, but apparently the files are too big. In any event, it was a spectacular atmosphere. It would be fun if the Bills fans did something similar. A few months back, I decided to pay to become what they refer to as a "Red Member." It costs 15 pounds a year as I recall. It allows me to purchase tickets 30 days before a match. They hold back a certain number of tickets for Red Members. My ticket ended up costing me 33 pounds. Once the game sells out, Red Members can also buy tickets on the Arsenal Ticket Exchange from season ticket holders who want to sell their tickets. Those go for whatever the market will bear. When I arrived at Heathrow on Saturday morning, I was greeted by a stern immigration official. He asked me what I was doing in the UK. I held up my Arsenal hat. He immediately had a smile on his face and told me that he did not need to ask me any more questions. The rest of the conversation consisted of him giving me tips etc. regarding going to the game and what to do. After I checked in my hotel near Paddington, I took the Bakerloo line to Piccadilly Circus to catch the Piccadilly line to the Arsenal station. I ran into this Indian guy who had an Arsenal scarf on and asked him for directions. Once he found out I was an Arsenal fan and had just flown in from Miami for my first game, he invited me to tag along. We got on the correct train to get to the stadium and the car was filled with Arsenal fans. Both in the train and walking through the neighborhood from the tube station to the stadium, everyone was singing Arsenal songs. To get into the stadium, all I needed was my Arsenal Red Member card rather than an actual ticket. They have card readers around the stadium. Once my card was read, I was on my way. My seat was in the upper deck, but the view was great. One thing that was particular interesting given some of the discussions on this board about fan conduct is that I did not see one single incident of bad fan conduct or any fights. It was quite a contrast -- as well as a bit surprising given some of the things you hear. They do not allow any drinking in the stands although you can drink in the concourse. They also keep away fans separated from the home fans. All in all, it was a great family atmosphere. Throughout the game, the fans sang songs and different chants. You could really feel the energy. Arsenal won the game 4-1. If you have not had a chance to see it, I would recommend watching the first goal. It was scored by Jack Wilshere, but the great thing about it was the back and forth between him and Olivier Giroud. Arsene Wenger said that it was the best goal that he has seen at the Emirates and one of the best team goals since he has been at Arsenal. After the game, I walked around the stadium and went to the "Armoury" -- one of the Arsenal team stores -- and spent too much money. There were fans at the stadium from all over the world. It was great how people from different cultures, countries, religions etc. are all brought together because of Arsenal. When I was walking around the stadium, I met a couple from Chicago who were doing the exact same thing I was doing -- they took a special trip to London just to see Arsenal. The whole thing was a lot of fun. My wife (who I mentioned is Dutch), kids, and I are going to the Netherlands for Christmas. On the way, we are going to spend a few days in London. At that time, Arsenal plays Chelsea. I am going to try to get tickets for that match although I imagine that it will be more difficult and pricey than the Norwich match that I went to.

My radar, waze, and trapster (all mentioned above are all good). Some of the others I also like iAnnotate (allows you to work with pdfs), Noteshelf (writing app), imdb, HBO Go, Directv app, fandango (buy movie tickets remotely), Netflix, AA.com, NFL Game Rewind, NBC Live Extra, Zenbe Lists (just what it sounds like), Four Four Two Stats Zone (soccer stats app), my various sports related apps and team apps, and the social apps such as facebook, twitter, and instagram. Another app I like is my Wells Fargo app because it allows me to make deposits without going to the bank (up to a certain amount). I presume most banks have something similar.

I became a big soccer fan in the mid 1990's. Long story short, my wife is Dutch. As a result, I started following the Dutch National team. At the time, they had Dennis Bergkamp who was a fantastic and creative player -- even to me and my then untrained eye. Because Bergkamp played for Arsenal (a London team in the English Premier League), I became a fan of Arsenal and am a huge fan today. This past weekend, I flew to London and went to my first game. The atmosphere is incredible. I had a fantastic time. I dare say that most everyone who is not a soccer fan would leave a game like the one I saw a fan if for no other reason than the amazing atmosphere. I have all kinds of stories about my experience this past weekend, but one of the great things about Arsenal (and other big clubs) is that it brings together people from countries, cultures, religions etc. from all over the world.

Wow.

I like Buddy. It is a shame we did not hire him as the GM years ago. I wish him well. When we have sustained success, he will be one of the reasons for it.

How the hell is Mario a snob?!? When asked about his individual accomplishments after this game (and others), he always makes it a point to say that it was a team effort and not just him.

Agreed.

He appears to be on Denver's roster according to Wiki.

No. How many times is someone going to post that we should trade CJ?

Unless we are going to get the same kind of value that we would get in the off season when we have the option of tagging him again, I would rather not trade him now for the sake of trading him.

Oh, brother.

Does anyone know what amount of money kept us from keeping Rinehart? I understand not wanting to spend as much money on Levitre as he got from the Titans given the position. Yet, I cannot imagine that the Chargers broke the bank on a one year deal for him.

I had the exact same reaction when I went there 12 years ago. I loved it. The people are great. If there ever were another country I would consider moving to, Australia would be one of the very few. I cannot say enough about the country.

Love it. Thanks for posting.

Thanks. That was great. It is impossible not to like EJ.

FWIW, EJ has the 9th best QB rating and the 13th best QBR. Not too shabby for a rookie (especially after just two games and missing a good bit of training camp and coming off a knew injury).

Sully, objective? Nope. Sully, knowledgeable? Not really. Has Sully had an agenda against Mario? Clearly (unless you have not been paying attention by reading his articles, listening to him on the radio, or reading his twitter feed).

The guy fell in love with someone and you are holding that against him. I remember when I saw her on his initial visit, I thought he must really love this woman because she was not exactly a trophy wife. He even brought her to Buffalo to make sure she would like living in Buffalo (or wherever else he signed). Rather than hold it against him, I actually admire the guy. She clearly turned out different from what he had expected, but let he who has not made a mistake with choosing a girlfriend etc. cast the first stone.

The reason why it was ok was because it was practically snark free. When I read it, I had to double and triple check to make sure that he actually wrote it.

P.S. FWIW, I heard on WGR this morning that Steve Smith actually was at a charity event in Buffalo on Saturday night. It seems like he is a pretty decent guy to be at a charity event in an opposition city the night before a game.

That white guy was Bruce DeHaven (I think).