A day or two ago, reader Andrew asked what was going on with Atletico Madrid’s crest (a bear and a strawberry tree? Say what?) and Anthony Al over on the Atletico blog kindly responded with a full post explaining el Oso y el Madroo. Reader Ursus checked in with some ursine links of his own [...]

The draw for the Copa del Rey round of 16 occurred today and Barcelona drew Atltico Madrid, with Barcelona as home team. That means the January 7 game will be played at the Vicente Calderon and the January 14 return leg will be played at the Camp Nou.
While these games seem far off, they’re not. [...]

Sorry kids, but you can take all of the 6-1 Atletico and 5-0 Basels and whatnot, put them all in a big ol’ pot, and they don’t equal today’s dismantling of a quality side.
All season long, despite all the signs of effort, quality and aggression, people have been saying “So and so wasn’t a [...]

So it’s here. December. One word, one serious f-ing month. Technically the first game of this stretch doesn’t take place during December, but whatever. Sure, there’s Christmas and New Year’s and all that crap coming up, but what could be better than Sevilla-Valencia-Real Madrid-Villarreal? That’s like 4 Christmas presents in a row.
So the first one, [...]

Team victory. People can talk all they want about Messi being the difference today, but as I see it, Messi was a symptom. Yes, his run on the first goal to Henry was excellent, but Henry did a lot of the work there, and that run could well have been made by Iniesta, or even [...]

It’s the Champions League again, this time on Matchday 5 against Sporting CP. I get out of work early, so I’ll be planted on the couch for this one (being shown live on ESPN Deportes), beginning the long journey from skinny to fat that transpires every Thanksgiving season.
I’m going to go straight into our squad [...]

I just got my copy of College Basketball Prospectus, meaning that during the evenings I’m glued to both the TV and the page as I try to digest how well my Kansas Jayhawks are going to do this year. The news is somewhat grim from a KU perspective, but we’re going to rock (chalk) the [...]

“Okay. You hook over the middle. You, run down to the red car while he blocks for you. I’ll fake the kick then pass. Ready….break!”
Wow. Don’t know about you all, but I haven’t worried more about a match in a very long time. There was so much at stake, and on a weekend in which [...]

It’s a return to the oldest club in Spain, to the roots of Spanish football, I suppose, and a return to the Nuevo Colombino. Now that we’re through with Benidorm, it’s all downhill from here, right? After all, Benidorm was a Champions League team and we were able to squeak through against them…
Mlaga got the [...]

Barca midfielder Xavi Hernandez is yet to sign a new deal and with Premiership teams keenly following the player it raises the question of how important he is to the team. Although he is likely to agree a new contract and is just holding out for better…(read more)