I need cheers to awake me from this Winter slumber

The time change and early onset of darkness always gets me down for a few weeks. Add in three goals in six minutes by Everton after some beautiful football by West Ham only adds to it. I sat at the Cock n' Bull waiting on the match to start while fans of some other two teams were packed in watching their tine little match. Who is this Arsenal and Manchester United these people speak of anyway?

The pub was open at 7:30 a.m. for the early match and I headed down to get a good breakfast and watch with Buddy Tim. The Arsenal fans left happy and I have to say I felt a little better with them winning rather than Man U. I am an underdog supporter and while it is hard to consider either of those teams an underdog, Arsenal did have fewer fans in the building during the match. Most of the crowd of 45 or so left during the first half of the West Ham match and I was left alone with the bartendress and manager by the time the Hammers scored. I was on the edge of my seat for the next twenty minutes trying to will the clock to move faster. Alas, I am no Hiro and Everton scored and scored and scored again. I tabbed out after the second goal as the staff was looking to close up as soon as the match was over so they could get to the South Carolina game, but they assured me they had no problem with me sitting there until the end. After the third goal, the manager slid a Guinness in front of me and said, "This one's on me." Mighty nice for a Newcastle fan.

As for Portsmouth, there was no coverage of it anywhere in my neck of the woods. I did catch the highlights on the wrap-up show and it looked to be typically full of missed opportunities. Does a clean sheet rate as a win right now? A point is a point is a point I guess.

I don't recall any particularly pithy comments from the Everton match, but the announcers were a bit harsh about Green. There was something along the lines of "And he thinks he should be the goalie for England." It reminded me of Jerry's comment to George, "And you want to be my latex salesman?"

It appears this week's match will be on Fox which means I'll have no problem watching. Maybe the two other West Ham fans and I will get together and watch.