Fantasy Premier League

A Change of Pace

Tue Jun 30 02:26AM

I have to admit that there hasn't been a ton to blog about in the last few weeks.  I'm usually about as big a fan of transfer gossip as you'll find out there but I have to say that this summer has been incredibly dull thus far.  I am fully aware that your average gossip column is full of statements that would be flattered to be called half-truth.  Given that the lack of credibility in these stories/claims/blurbs means that the entire world of creativity is open to the writers, I'm shocked at the lack of inventiveness on display.  It's almost as if the writing equivalent of Big Sam Allardyce is manning the keyboard and just churning out a steady stream of the "hits" - what "hits" you ask?

Number 1 with a bullet has to be "Carlito to Citeh (and Eto'o too)"

This is followed by Karim/Aguero to ManYoo, Valencia to ManYoo (but no one seems to care except the bean counters at Wigan), Zlatan to Chelsea, K2 to Milan, and the occasional Masch/Alonso to Real/Barca or Mikey Owen to some lower level club that everyone believes is beneath him but really isn't if you're watching his productivity instead of his legend.

Since they're making it all up anyway, can we at least get more creative? 

Could we throw in more "shock" bids from a mid-tier team (other than Citeh) to tempt a fringe player from one of the big clubs? No one after Bendtner with the offer of more playing time? No one making a run at Ryan Babel to see if steady playing time helps him release the "next TH14" that Wenger was rumored for a couple of years to think was in there somewhere? 

There hasn't even been a run of rumors of people coming after the bit parts that will undoubtedly left on the bench once Citeh complete their high-priced make-over.  No new home for Bellamy to raise hell in? No team in need of a winger who might want to go after MPet?

No takers (other than the rather un-creative rumor of Sunderland) for the Spurs cast-offs? 

So, what's a disgruntled Fantasy Football Manager (and blogger) to do while he's waiting around for more interesting news?  [Me, I'm blogging my fingers off at the summer home - http://fantasyepl.blogspot.com/ -Jeremy]  The answer for me in July is going to be a week long celebration of the Beautiful Game in New York City (and you though that we Americans didn't care about such things - wrong you are).  A friend of mine is one of the organizers of the "Kicking and Screening" Film Festival in Manhattan.  If you're in the States vacationing or you happen to live close enough to attend, I encourage you to do it.  You can check out the details here and here is a quick overview of the events:

• Tues, July 14 - "Les Yeux Dans Les Bleus" (the story of the French national team at the 1998 World Cup) @ Opia
• Weds, July 15 - "Once in a Lifetime" (the story of the NY Cosmos) @ Tribeca Grand Hotel
• Thur, July 16 - "Beckham in America" panel discussion followed by a viewing party for the Red Bulls-Galaxy game (FREE) @ Slainte
• Fri, July 17 - "FC Barcelona Confidential" (an insider's look at the internal politics of the famous club) @ Spanish Benevolent Society
• Sat, July 18 - "In the Hands of the Gods" (the story of five freestyle jugglers who work their way from London to Argentina hoping to meet Diego Maradona) @ Central Bar

A bunch of fun events and a good tour of different places to go out in the NYC.  

If you can't attend, I at least encourage you to take a look at the site and find a way to encourage the continued building of culture and community around the game here in the States.  We aren't going to beat Spain and take a 2-0 first half lead on Brazil every time out so every great experience related to the game that we can create is a positive one.

Here's hoping that we can move quickly from this to some transfer news of substance and then, on to pre-season training and soon enough the Prem will be back upon us. 

Good times.

Cheers - Neal 

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