My Favourite Things of 2008, Part II

Chris has already shared his favorite things of 2008 in Part I, so now it’s my turn. There may be a little overlap, but my list is already better because I’ve spelled the second word of the title the way nature intended. Just saying.

Anyway, here’s what I enjoyed most in the year two thousand and eight:

Game 39
Not the idea itself. That was pure evil. And when Richard Scudamore first proposed a 39th Premier League game played overseas, I genuinely feared it was the end for football as we know it.

But my faith in humanity was restored by everyone’s reaction. The proposed “markets” mostly rejected the idea and the majority of football fans made it clear that Game 39 was a terrible idea.

The rejection if Game 39 was football finally putting its foot down (Richard Scudamore’s head) and saying “here’s the line, don’t cross it mister.”

A New England
Not the Billy Bragg song (though that’s pretty damn good, if you’ve never heard it) but rather the fact that England have finally been reborn as a proper football team. For the last few years they’ve looked more like a collection of big names gathered together for maximum PR, with the team was picked accordingly. They got what they deserved with failure to qualify for Euro 2008 under Steve McClaren, but then bounced back with a team picked on form not fame under Fabio Capello.

Football has a way of presenting perfect opportunities for redemption, and the return to Croatia this year (where McClaren’s England failed so badly) was exactly that. Credit to Fabio “balls of steel” Capello for starting a teenage Theo Walcott, and we all know what happened next.

Fiery Madness
How many manager’s would be brave enough to write and record a fan anthem for the team’s trip to Euro 2008? Just one, that’s how many. And his name was Slaven Bilic. As our Croatia blogger Mario said: “Ha! My coach is way cooler then yours.”

Spain Winning Euro 2008
It genuinely changed the way we all look at international competitions. Instead of Spain being the eternal nearly men, they’re now genuine contenders for big tournaments. And the #1 team in the world according to FIFA. Even better, they won Euro 2008 playing some really really good football.

Africa Cup of Nations 2008
We covered this pretty extensively on World Cup Blog, and got to say I enjoyed it a lot more than Euro 2008. Maybe the quality of football wasn’t quite as good, but from a very selfish perspective I loved reading and writing about footballers who don’t usually hit the headlines. Happy days.

Football On The Internet
Couldn’t agree more with what Chris said about highlight providers like 101GG, TVGolo etc. So won’t try and add anything to that.

But I’m also a big fan of streaming sites like MyP2p2.eu who present a menu of all available football streams. The legality might be questionable, but how can you not love having so much football at your fingertips?

Speaking of which…

Champions League Simulcasts
Available via said legally questionable source, one German TV channel and one Italian TV channel have solved the problem of the Champions League (eight games happening at once) by just hoppinng around the stadiums every time there’s a goal. Great viewing.

Transfer Deadline Day
You always want something unexpected to happen on transfer deadline day. This year definitely didn’t disappoint with Man City beating Chelsea to Robinho’s signature. Not sure if it’s a good thing for the long-term future of football (it’s probably not) but it was pretty exciting at the time.

Football Manager 2009
First of all, let’s get the shameless plug to FM Offside out of the way. There, done it.

I’d given up on Football Manager, mostly because it took up too much time. But the 3-D match-engine which I’d dreamed of as a small boy, but never thought possible – meant I had to pick up the new copy. Cue hours of enjoyment managing a fake football team and getting confused about what’s real and what’s not.

Fighting Talk
There’s a million football/sports podcasts out there. But this one’s still the best, especially when Leyton Orient fan Bob Mills starts talking about “proper football”.

Diego Maradona being appointed Argentina boss
It made no sense, and it could very well all end in tears. But what a story.

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Category: World Football