FA Cup weekend!

Newcastle were on the telly here, showing live on Fox Soccer Channel.  With the five hour time difference, kick off was 12.15.

But for me, the day started much earlier.

Around 3am the dog did her usual 'I want to go outside' noises of wagging her tail against the bed and growling.  Back to bed and my alarm went off just after 6.

The first match I watched was online.  I've paid a subscription to Foxsoccer.tv, and at 7am I watched the first half of the Chelsea vs QPR match.

No dog for company, she had done the sensible thing by taking over my warm spot in the bed.  Breakfast was a cup of tea, and a bowl of cereal.

Second match today, on the television was Liverpool vs Manchester.  Followed by Derby vs Stoke.  All games were with English commentators.

I won't write my thoughts about Newcastle's game, but it was great to see live.


Sunday I watched the Arsenal vs Aston Villa game, and this time the house was full of people!  Vicky's Sister Liz, her partner, and the 4 children came over to watch the game.  They brought food too, and we played the board game 'Game of Life' afterwards.  I hadn't played this since I was little.  This was Vickys board game and it was Disney's 'Haunted Mansion' version.


Deadline Day

Every year, it's the same, sky sports news gets everyone sucked into being glued to the tv to be scared / excited about selling or signing players.  Last year was hell when the on/off shananigans about Andy Carroll resulted in him moving west to Liverpool.

The channel goes over the top, and even I know the presenters are pretending to read texts on their mobiles about signings.  But we all watch it.  Well, I do.

This year, I thought I could avoid it, but Fox Soccer Channel here in America showed it from half seven in the morning till 8pm at night.  They took a break half way through to show the Everton vs Manchester City game.


Later today is the Newcastle vs Blackburn game.  This isn't being shown on the telly, but on ESPN3.com, and is only available to me through the cable company we have our tv with.

Should I be thanking Warren Barton?

I have kept track of how I've viewed each Newcastle game this season, either online or the television.

I consider myself very lucky.  Out of the eight games so far this season, I have seen four live.  Three of the four missed, I was at work at the time.  The text commentry on the BBC site, Twitter, and texts from my Dad have allowed me to follow the missing ones.  The one remaining, the Blackburn game, was only shown online, I could have watched it, but our internet was down for a few days.  Thankfully restored!

The next three games, Wolves, Spurs and Wigan are all on normal telly (Fox Soccer Channel).

Warren Barton helps host a show on the channel before and after the games.  Maybe he is a good influence in the studio?  Last year, most Newcastle games were on Fox Soccer Plus,  a channel we do not have on our cable.

Manchester and Arsenal are not always chosen as the Saturday 3pm live game, which surprises me!

All of this wonderful football comes with a price. The first two home games, against Arsenal and Fulham were really hard to watch, especially at the start when the camera's were in the crowd.  I was thinking I should be there!