I'm stuck and will be cancelling. My situation is that it indeed does require that which I don't have: Since I use Macs and Microsoft no longer upgrades Explorer for Macs, I can see the page but can't access any of the video content. I guess I could spend a few thousand and buy one one the new Macs that can run both the Mac OS and Windows...but I think not yet. Oh well

Here's the story...basically what speeeeeedie said...just more detail and some quotes.

Dillo, these photos are beautiful. You have an amazing eye for pattern, color, light and balance. Just supurb. A modern day photographic Hokusai. And special for me, since I'll be making my first visit to Blackburn this August. cheers, and dom arigato, Dillo-san.

Also not worth another thread, and certainly not related to those FA charges, but Ryan has been named by the fans to DC United's all-decade team: From The Washington Post: "Eight players from the club's all-decade team, as well as former coach Bruce Arena, will be honored before tonight's match. Current players Olsen, Jaime Moreno, Christian Gomez and Nick Rimando will be joined by Marco Etcheverry, Raul Diaz Arce, Jeff Agoos and John Harkes. Ryan Nelsen, Carlos Llamosa and Eddie Pope are unable to attend." Ryan won't be there, but I shall, wearing my Blackburn Nelsen shirt. It will be a good day. Rovers on television here at noon, and then the DC United match in the evening, preceeded by the the honors for Nelsen and the others.

OK mates, a slightly off topic question, but I need help. My wife and I are going to make our England pilgrimage in August, and I MUST make it to Ewood. So, what are your best guesses about the date of the home opener? I realize that 'guess' is the operating word here, but any insight would be much appreciated. cheers, all, and a great win today. In case you're wondering, those are my two teams below...Rovers and D.C. United (Ryan's old club)

Yeah...some guy named Arena... Just joking, just joking. Impressive win today from all accounts. Too bad for me that Blackburn are shown so seldom on US TV.

Is Jemal still at PNE or has he returned home? Sky, in its piece today about Cercle being after Jemal, still lists him as being at Preston. Never mind...I answered my own question by going to the official site and seeing Johnson is back with the reserves. So much for Sky's journalistic research. I suppose the rest of the story is crap also

S'truth. Italy can be had. The problem is that the number two coming out of that group plays the likely winner of Brazil's group. So we had better take the group. There's just no way. hpwever, to sneak into the higher levels of the Cup. Gotta take 'em all on and win. Even the Germans admit we should have been the winners against them last go-round. So play them early or play them later...they've all got to be played. My other national team is, of course, England (Lancashire ancestors).

I like Savage a lot, particularly his take-no-prisoners approach to football...which made his play-acting all the worse. One of the things I dislike about southern-variety footy (not South of England, but Mexico, Central and South America) is the theatrics played upon the slightest challenge. I just can't stand it. When it happens here a collective "get up" shout followed by boos comes from the stands I think it's something that we USA types share with English fans. To see Savage have a go at it was disgusting. And since I was watching it on Fox Soccer Channel, I was treated to replays and several camera angles. At least he stayed on his feet. Maybe the pitch was too cold. I haven't read the criticism, but criticism is well due.

Maybe it has to do with price. It looked to me that there were plenty of empty seats on the second deck of the East side. I could only watch the first half, but Rovers looked quite impressive. Good ball control, crisp passes to feet, and very dangerous going down the right. Other than the goals (isn't this to often the case in this funny old game), we looked to be the better side. I would, however, have liked to have entertaining football coupled with a win. That would have been the best entertainment of all. And I agree with those who are taking on Savage for the play acting. It's the kind of crap that turns me off to Mexican League football, and certainly doesn't go over very well here in the States. Other than that, however I do like Savage's play. He plays the destroyer roll very, very well. And did anyone note on that picture of Blackburn players confronting the fan that it looks as if Nelsen is restraining Savage's advance? One more bit of destroying deflected? But the play acting shouldn't be Rovers' brand of football. What is Savage up to...trying to stain our reputation as 'bully boys'?

Sorry to get a bit off topic, but I didn't want to start a new thread just to have this question answered. My wife and I are planning our England trip for next year. Her work schedule means that we have to leave sometime just after the start of next season. I MUST have my pilgrimage to Ewood...with her in tow. She's a great football fan, just doesn't understand my interest in Blackburn (she doesn't have Lancashire ancestors... hers are from the Isle of Man and the larger island to the West) So here's my question. Since this season started with an away match, does history show that next season will start with a home match? I'm going to base our travel plans on your responses...realizing that you can't guarantee what the FA decides to do. thanks...

And my 29 Nelsen jersey will be out of date...sigh. It has been a smash hit as I've worn it to DC United matches. Everyone wants to know where I got it...except for one poor soul who wanted to know what club's colors it was and was Ryan Nelsen an American? Guess he figured a Yank would only wear another Yank's name on his back. I won't get away with the wrong number on the back...too many DC United fans are paying attention to Ryan's success at Blackburn. Those I care about will know.

Oh, I don't know. It's much more pleasant watching women protecting their breasts in a wall than men grabbing their crotches And I am so sorry to hear that those damned plastic horns have made their way to England. They are here in the US and the constant, mindless droneing that has nothing to do with what is happening on the pitch drives me to wanting to do un-natural things with the horn to the person using it.

... She seems quite pleased with herself as well (2nd picture) - maybe it's worth a "conversion" or something. 321078[/snapback] 'pleased' would be an understatement. Her penalty just won her team the Women's World Cup in front of 99,000 spectators (Rose Bowl, California). Being a Yank, with a daughter who played through college on a scholarship, I've learned to enjoy the women's game. It doesn't compare to the men's...quite different. Both my wife and daughter prefer the men (no sly comments here, please) for the speed of play, and my sons won't watch the women at all...well, maybe my oldest who is marrying one of my daughter's college team-mates. But I don't have the negative reaction that many on this thread (and many on this side of the pond also have). Suffice to say, to each his own. And I've appreciated the self-assurance and confidence that the game has given my daughter (and the $75 per hour she earns coaching) Should the US women ever come to England to play, you'll see that this isn't always the case...or, just watch the German women.

I want PNE to make it. Two reasons. The first is that one of my great-grandmothers is from Preston...so there are family ties. Second, being a proper Yank, I like Eddie Lewis, and I'd like to see him in the Premiership.

To be fair to Glazer, he's been very successful with American football teams (I'm sure our American chums can fill us in here). However, as I understand it, he's achieved his success at the expense of the fans by hiking up ticket prices and basically selling the soul of the club / team. As Man U doesn't have a soul anyway though I'm not sure what he'll do at United. ...in 1997, he decided that his team's uniforms were too "girly" so he ditched the orange and red pirate, and adopted darker red, metallic "pewter", and black as the new colors, and changed the logo into a skull and pirate flag... most people agree that the new uniforms are much more professional... however, it may be a bad omen for man u fans, since glazer was so quick to discard tradition... Which might mean that, abandoning all tradition, he might build one of these over Old Trafford to match the one at the Buccaneers' stadium... And, yes, they really do fire cannon when the Bucs score...

Well, I missed the first half (my body seemed to think sleep was more important than waking for a 7:30 start here on the East coast of the US), but a couple of observations from the second. We shouldn't play with one up top. Dickov can't do it by himself and doesn't have the numbers coming up fast enough in support when he gets the ball. Further, there were a few times where we have a frontrunner with the ball on the flank and no one coming up fast enough to cross to. No one making a timely center and far post run. Very frustrating.

I think standing is essential for great match atmosphere. What it does is to concentrate the least self-restrained, rabid supporters in one spot, thus letting them really get into it and to easily coordinate chants and songs. All attending benefit from that. It also pulls them away from other parts of the crowd, so those who want a more restrained experience (kids and all) can more likely get that. We have two designated standing areas for DC United, coordinated between supporters groups and the club. These groups even sell the tickets for their sections. It results in almost Euro-like fan experience, which is often difficult to come by over here. I choose to sit on the opposite side, known to the standees as the quiet side. If they couldn't stand, they'd be more subdued and probably dispersed amongst the crowd...less effect, less fun for all. As to the safety/risk argument, I fail to see the danger. I think it's been well said earlier in the thread...you can't get crowd surge when each row of standees is separated by a row of seat backs. At national team matches, whole sections are designated as standing, filled by a supporters group, Sams Army. I've stood with the Army twice. It was a great experience and taught me to really appreciate half time And I've never had anyone surge into me from behind, nor have I surged forward...can't be done. At the DC United league semi last season, the whole 24,000 fans were standing from about half-way through the second half, through a 1/2 hour of overtime and on through penalties to decide the match. You can imagine the atmosphere (my legs ached for the next two days)...no injuries. I have never had such a great sports experience. Standing was a major part of that. How can anyone sit for something like that? I think the injury risk claim is just bogus. The only problem I've experienced is when some clown decides to try to stand the whole match in the middle of a seating section. That's where the club has to get insistent about plunking butts back down in seats. But it's easier to do that if one can point to a standing section where that behavior is expected and suggest buying a ticket for that area at the next match. Good luck with the fight.

There's another problem in the US (at least with onionbag)...there aren't any red letters and numbers over here. So if you want a truely authentic shirt you can't have one. Just like Henry Ford said, you can have any color you want as long as it's black.

Agreed that we get a bit defensive. It's probably because we've been too long in the struggle in our own country to bring acceptance of the game. We've supported the growth of youth leagues, our own professional leagues, and have pushed the acknowledgement of soccer's existence by our sports media. Additionally, we've also learned to defend against European expats and our own countrymen who look down on MLS while comparing it to the European leagues. None of us would claim that we're at par with the Premiership or Serie A (some might amend that to say not on par with the top half of the tables). But there is this learned reaction that comes from having been in this battle for the sport for so long. Think what it would be like to live in a country where football was seen as a minor sport, not a natural sport for citizens to be playing. It's even been called 'unAmerican' in the media. That's what the fight has been about. We are, by the way, winning In the meantime, we can also love our Premiership team. Go Rovers!!

What about Russell Crowe? Anyway two thumbs up for Nelsen.. Really happy to see Rovers stronger at the back... now for a striker Although this is drifting off topic, any news on the Canadian, De Rosario's, trial?

Well, I guess we didn't really get it going...but the first mention on the transfer thread was mine on November 18th: "Has a Kiwi, Ryan Nelsen, come up as a possibile signing? We know he's leaving MLS champion DC United for England and that two Premiership sides are in the hunt. He is recognized as the best central defender in the league, is a New Zealand international, and has leadership (he was DC United's captain) skills." This was followed quickly by rebelzero's "Washington Post reported today that Nelsen is on his way to England, currently in negotiations with 5 sides, 2 of which are in the Premiership. No worries about a work permit - he captain of the New Zealand national team and has plenty of caps. Quite simply, when on the pitch (had a groin injury sustained while on WC Qualifying duty), the best defender in the American MLS this year. Composed, strong in the air, good at organizing, and has the pace to compete in England. And when I spoke to him Tuesday after DC United won this year's Championship and suggested he stop by Ewood on his negotiations, he simply smiled." If more suggestions about available DC United players are required, I'm sure rebelzero and I stand ready

Plus, we must all remember that he also has experience in raising up cups.. ..may he have the same experience at Blackburn. And note the captain's arm band...

Yes, but the Empire was well represented: South Africa, USA, Australia and New Zealand. So as long as Rovers take the pitch the sun will continue to never set...