Americanized Exceptions to Football I Can Live With

Angelina-Jen: A Derby for the Ages

I'm staunchly opposed to the Americanization of football. I don't want overtime, shootouts, substitutions on the fly, bigger goals or shorter fields. I don't want instant replay, playoffs or field turf.

There's a  lot of don'ts and won'ts in there. There are also exceptions to every rule. Two things American sports do well are create events and honor their best.

I want a Winter Classic-style football event. And I want a world football hall of fame.

The Hall of Fame is easy. Unlike the shit show that is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there are clear guidelines a football hall could follow. Such as: Be out of the game five years before you're eligible; you're eligible for only 10 years (if you're not a Hall of Famer in year 1, chances are, you're not one 10 years later); Weighted voting on by journalists and players; and (gulp) FIFA runs it--boy am I asking for a corruption disaster there, aren't I? But if there's one thing they can get right, it's this.

Today's generations, unless they're brow-beaten by overbearing dads, uncles and grandpas, don't know who DiStefano or Eusebio was. Pele? Yeah, he played for the Cosmos! Eusebio? He was in the hospital last week. Second best player to Pele during his time? Really? Hmm?

A Hall of Fame, a museum where careers, players and the game is honored is long overdue for the world's most popular game. It's a destination stop for families on vacation. It's a place players can shoot for once they're done with the game. "I may not win a Champions League or World Cup, but I can still be immortal in the Hall of Fame."

To be done right, it has to be hard to get in. Only the elite get in. I don't want to see Joe Cole's name on the ballot, nor do I want to see John Harkes' even though he's somehow in the US Hall--another story for another day.

The Hall of Fame is easy. The Winter Classic is difficult. The NHL puts two teams on an outdoor rink built inside a football or baseball stadium. It's played on New Year's Day--or thereabouts--and it's a great event. The players love it, the fans love it, the NHL loves it.

For football--I don't want a gimmick. The game still has to count. It has to be played on a regulation field and count in the table. I don't want it indoors, on fake grass, or on ice skates for that matter. But there has to be something big, something that counts, something that would be a legitimate event.

My best effort is a derby day in the same stadium. London is easy: Arsenal-Tottenham; Chelsea-Fulham; West Ham-Millwall. All three games at Wembley; all of them count. In Lisbon, it's Belenenses-Setubal, Sporting-Benfica. In Madrid, it's Real Madrid-Atletico, Getafe-Rayo Vallecano--and so forth.

Imagine the hype of putting all these games in the same park on the same day! Rotate the stadia year after year, charge a lot of money, put it all on TV, whatever it takes. Make it a worldwide derby day where every country's greatest derbies are contested simultaneously.

It's a win all around if you ask me. But this isn't a dictatorship. If you have better ideas, send them along and I'll post them all.

Portugal Hosts Several Football Derbies

Someone has to explain how schedules are conceived in some countries. Not long ago, we had Grand Slam Sunday in England when United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal played each other on the same day.

Granted it's on a lesser scale, but Sunday in Portugal, you have the same type of scenario.

Sporting hosts Benfica--which for my money is a top 3 derby in European football--while Porto and Boavista tangle in a city of Porto showdown and Guimaraes and Braga tangle in another traditional northern Portgual war.

Huh? What gives?

Sure the schedule is random; just like the Euro and World Cup draws (not everyone wink at once).

No wonder smaller countries like Portugal and Holland and mired in domestic mediocrity when so many matches of great interest are contested on the same day.

Clearly, the Sporting-Benfica game is the most intriguing. Sporting hosts and must win to keep its slimming hopes for a Champions League spot alive; the title has long slipped away with Sporting 17 points back. Benfica, meanwhile, is 12 back of Porto in second place, five ahead of Sporting, and four on top of third place Guimaraes. A Benfica win closes the gap on Porto should the Dragoes slip, and essentially locks up second place and a spot in the Champions League group stage.

Porto, meanwhile, are runaway leaders and a win over Boavista and the inevitable tie in Lisbon pretty much locks up another championship for the former Mourinho Men.

Lots of intrigue and a spotlight on Portugal for one day--too bad it's one day only. Someone explain this logic to me, please!

Preview: Barcelona-Real Madrid--Will There Be Another Messi-style Breakout?

Hype kills. Just ask most of the Super Bowls and World Series'.

The same goes for football derbies. How often does Man. U.-Liverpool, Roma-Lazio, Inter-A.C., Boca-River or Sporting-Benfica live up to its billing. Not often, but when they do, that's what keeps us coming back.

Case in point: nine short months ago, Barcelona and Real Madrid clashed in what was arguably the game of the year. It was a 3-3 tie but no matter; it was legendary. And it was essentially the worldwide coming out party for Lionel Messi. The Argentine scored three times, each goal more flamboyant and elegant than the previous. This was tying with style and probably established La Liga as the best league in the world, top to bottom. And great players emerge in great games.



Like any other league, La Liga is top heavy, but nonetheless, a multitude of talent is attracted to Spain, and on Sunday, the world will be watching for a replay of the Barca-Real rivalry. Unfortunately, Messi is injured and will miss this game and be out for up to six weeks. Odds are, Sunday will not match the intensity and emotion of that day at Nou Camp, but here's hoping it gets close. Football--sports--is about the big teams, the big games and big performances.

Will there be another break-out performance? If there is, football derbies may just be winning the war against hype.