Kenny is gone we all saw it coming and now the summer of our discontent begins. God I might have to stay away from Twitter for a while. It is amazing how angry the King Kenny Cavaliers are. As a Liverpool Round head I cannot say I am sad Kenny is gone. I think he was pretty awful since January. I do believe the game has passed him by. Things like not starting Andy Carroll in the FA cup final was the final nail in his coffin for me.

So all I ask is we try and stay above the fray here at AA I know there are Kenny supporters and Kenny opponents here at AA. Lets all try to get alone this summer and look forward to next season and moving back up the League standing.

So do we bring back Rafa do we hire Martinez or someone else. it is going to be a long summer.

YNWA

I must have missed this yesterday watching the game live, but while re watching the game last night I noticed that after Suarez scores the "GOAL OF THE YEAR' and is doing his post hat trick goal celebration there was a pretty big guy in jeans and a jacket on the pitch smiling and shaking hands with him. WTF was that a one man pitch invasion? It seems like he was a Liverpool fan and was all smiles but once again WTF how did he get all the way on the pitch where was the Carrow Road security people. In this day and age when two guys are going to Her Majesties Prison for 5 years each for planning to blowing their teams coach up. How do you let any civilian near Suarez a person who is a tad bit polarizing to those not smart enough to be Liverpool fans.

I would not be mad if this was a full blown pitch invasion when 7000 -15000 people decided they want to stand on the grass there is little any security force can do to stop them. But for fucks sake this was one man and it was not near the seats even that would be easier to accept you see that when players do the football version of the Lambeau leap and a fan jumps the wall to hug them this guy was on the pitch by a couple of meters and no one was tackling him.

My fear here is instead of celebrating a hat trick we could have been wringing our hands over if Luis would survive his stab wounds. Ask Monica Seles it only takes one nut job to really make your winning or losing a game seem pretty petty. LFC and the FA should be asking Norwich how that dude got on the pitch.

Just to make sure I just rewound the DVR dude is a big land bald wearing jeans and a white and black glove jacket he is fucking hugging Luis on the pitch and there is no security near them. Even if he was a sideline guest I do not think you are allowed to do stuff like this. It is sad that we live in a world where we have to always assume the worst but damn this is sports and we know how irrational sports make people. Plus the fact this is a road game also is why it bothers me if this was Anfield I would have been less upset because those are our people etc. Anyone else bothered by this

Video of our one man invader lol listen to the kind caring Norwich fans in the video lol

Video

As a newer fan to football the one thing that drives me nuts is how in Tournaments like UEFA or the FA they give more weight to "Away" goals and what kind of football it leads to.

What Chelsea did to the "beautiful" game yesterday at Camp Nou was a crime against nature. Once they got their away goal they parked every bus in London in front of their goal and stop playing football and went into the football version of the four corners "offense" It was painful to watch to be honest who other than fans of the Plastics could have enjoyed what was happening on the pitch yesterday?

Because away goals count basically as 2 goals when it comes to the aggregate once the Chelsea got their lighting strike goal they did not have to try to score anymore and this allowed them to plant that ugly 9 man wall in front of their keeper. It is stupid they are just trying to avoid these series coming down to PK's but it leads to ugly ugly football

A goal should be worth a goal no matter where you scored it that would force team like Chelsea to actually play football not do their imitation of the Great Wall of China. I think it is games like this that drive a lot of casual Americans from football they tune into a hyped game like yesterdays semi and instead of seeing the beautiful flowing game they see Barca trying to wrestle a Tar Baby and my guess is they say this is boring and change the channel

I would much rather have the series decided by PK's or a golden goal sudden death system over the current system.

Once again I will have to show my football ignorance if Kenny has to be "kicked upstairs" after this season why is the front runner in a lot of LFC fans minds Rafa Benitez?(who I just discovered I share a birthday with April 16th but I digress) I know he was a very successful former LFC manager but correct me if I am wrong but wasn't Kenny also a very successful former LFC manager? How is that working out for us by the way?

Liverpool seems to be a bit like the Yankees used to be when they kept bringing back Billy Martin every time the wheels seemed to be falling off.

My American football background tells me you do not have to hire a "Known" coach to win I have never heard of Mike McCarthy before Green Bay hired him same for Mike Homlgren. You are telling me that going back to Rafa is the only answer I do not buy it. It strikes me as a team nation LFC fans tend to live in the past being a Packer fan I understand that lived that for 25 years before they got good again. But with all the leagues out there their has to be a younger up and coming coach who could step in who is more in touch with the current state of the game and its players to take over for Kenny. I am just too new to the game to know who some of these possible candidates might be.

Hell maybe Kenny with one or two more pieces is the right guy if we could finish this team would be lethal they are solid on Defense rarely giving up more than 2 goals in a game. But this is where I go all wind sock on Kenny his line up decisions and his misguided loyalties to guys like Charlie Hollywood tell me he is not at this time and place in the Liverpool timeline the right guy to get us back into the top 4 and having us challenging for the league title.

I personally think Bobbie Valentine is the only reason FSG has not already let Kenny go Yes I know we still have FA but I follow a baseball team that fired its manager 9 days before they played in the playoffs so I know even limited success will not always save you. Wow way off topic now, but I do that.

So tell me if Kenny goes, does not matter if he is pushed or he jumps who would you want to replace him and why remember you have to talk slowly and explain why because I am not very bright about football ok :)

Final though is anyone else as grateful for the end of the season as I am?

I was watching the Twitter Pogrom/Purge yesterday where Kenny True Believers were casting out from Liverpool FC Nation anyone who was not ready to have blind absolute faith in Kenny. I fear this is only going to get worse before it gets better.

At this moment we sit in 7th place but 4 whole points separate us from 14 place with West Brom sitting there at 34 points. Yes we have a game in hand for one more day till the Darby. But we could easily slide to mid or lower half of the table if they keep this run of poor form going.

You look at March and April and you think no fucking way we finish mid or bottom half look at who we play. I have to say hold on, this version of LFC has played terrible against most "lesser" squads(and I use that term very loosely) but this team looks uninterested in any game that is not for a cup. Here is my question.

What if they do slide into Mid or Bottom half of the table is the FA cup enough to the Kenny is King crowd? I am so new to LFC that I do not have the history with the first Kenny era that I can give the blind faith a lot of the fans have. My fear is what happens if the wheels come off and Kenny's place on the throne has to be questioned. As a Green Bay Packers fan I lived though the whole Favre debacle I still point and laugh at the fools who own a #4 Jet or Vikings jersey but I digress. What I am saying I have seen what a fan civil war looks like and it was ugly to say the least. Do you think FSG is like me new enough that if needed they could send Kenny off with some lovely parting gifts? Or would they listen to the howls of the mob and keep down the path we seem to be going down. How bad does it get before the Mob would be willing to part ways with Kenny?

To be honest I would not even write this on a blog that was based in the UK for the tarring and feathering I would receive. But I hope I can bring this up here being we are more North American based. That does not mean I do not expect a few shut the fuck up newbie comments but I will survive.

I know I am not the only one who is not in love with Kenny but I would love to hear from both sides what does Kenny have to do to keep going and for how long. Or what is the threshold for letting him go.

Last night Robby Fowler tweeted asking that question. His reasoning was that Cardiff though they play in an English league is a Welsh FA team so they are not eligible for Europa. He said back in the day that is what he had been told.

Is he correct are we in Europa league win or lose or is he mistaken? I am still holding out for a top 4 finish so I still hope we make Champions league but either one will do.

Can anyone shed some light on this thanks

Help me out here if you call someone a kind of mean name you get an 8 game suspension but if you kick someone in the head on purpose you will most likely get a 4 game suspension. I am sorry just opened up the Telegraph to see that our favorite nut job Mario Balotelli is looking at a 4 game ban for kicking Scott Parker in the head.

The is like some sort of Mad Hatters Tea Party Suarez gets 8 game for saying Negro but you can kick someone in the face and get half that ban. That is preposterous, are the length of the bans written down somewhere or is this some sort of arbitrary pluck them out of thin air deal?

As a new football fan I just get more and more confused when it comes to the FA and discipline I am not going to complain about MLB or the NFL anymore.

It is driving me batty how all the English Press wants to talk about is how some asshole made an ass out of himself and hurt the club by saying something racial to Oldham's Tom Adeyemi. This did not happen on the pitch it did not involve any Liverpool PLAYERS.

Is this what we are going to have to deal with all year. I will go back to the Everton game things were being thrown at our players but that is not news but some asshole calls someone a name and it is banner headlines "Liverpool caught in new racism row" For Fucks Sake lets not mention that the Reds won the game 5-1 that is not important.

I have never been to Anfield but my guess is it is like most of the UK cameras everywhere you go back look at the film figure out who the asshole was and do what needs to be done. I am new to the whole English Press vendetta thing so I might be over reacting but is it too much to ask for a little even handedness moving forward. My bet is the EP will report with glee the abuse Suarez is going to get when we go to Old Trafford.

Plus every visiting player to Anfield who is a person of color now knows if you piss a fit on the pitch it will make national news. Right or wrong in a league where taking a dive is an art this will be used against us too.

I am almost to the point where I am just going to stop reading the press and stick to LFC friendly sites like AA and the team web page. Yes I know that sounds so tribal but at some point you just have to turn your back on all the haters and just move forward.

Thanks for letting me rant

As I sit here watching Utd lose their second game in a row 3-0 to the Magpies(even having their pet ref Howard Webb on the pitch could not save them) that is two games in a row and they get City on Friday. they have not won since Suarez started serving his suspensions(I know Friday was for the Bird is the Word against Fulham but indulge me) My guess is they will go 0-3 after the FA game against City. Who knows we might look back on this whole period of time with a smile when it is all set and done.

(This is all tongue in cheek just trying to lighten the mood)

YNWA

I just saw this over at the Official Club site, damn this news just keeps getting worse and worse. As NC Nole said in a comment we are at risk of losing our number one striker for 6-9 games(That is this combined with what ever he gets for the Evra racial thing). Why does it feel like this season is on the verge of spinning out of control. Luis has to get his temper under control he is only hurting himself and the club and we know what the English Press can do to you if they decided they want to fuck you up. Trying to keep my hopes up but it would be nice to have a laugher of a game so we could actually enjoy football for a week

This story that says Houston might be going to the AL West got me thinking about that.  Since we are the only team to switch leagues(at least I believe we are the only team that has switched leagues) 

I personally would think the Brewers would be the natural choice to go back to the AL if the only division with an opening was not the AL West.  Since we started out as an AL team.  I wonder how much juggling it would take to move a Central team to the West and put the Brewers back in the AL Central.   I personally would not want to go back to the AL I have grown very comfortable in the NL.  I believe it is a better, more purer brand of baseball with out the DH. But it seems to me that we could handle another switch better than a fan base that has never done it.

Any Thought and will you miss playing Houston I know I wont I really hate their band box of a park and the yearly shots of that flag pole that SEXSON hit

I have decicded even with Marcum pitching I will watch every pitch tonight no matter what happens.  If this is going to be the last game of the Brewers season I am going to be there for it

Win or lose it has been a great year to be a Brewers fan and I enjoyed interacting with 98% of my fellow BCBers

So once more my band of brothers into the breach 

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I would love to find out if it was a local company that allowed those 4 Cards fans to get their seats in the first row to the 3rd base side of home plate.

Seriously if it was a company there is a boycott I could get behind those 4 red shirts in a sea of blue sucked.  I understand they are their tickets and they can do what they want with them with in reason.  But come on to allowed 4 members of the Uptight Citizens Brigade into the front row is just wrong ;)

The offense seems to have died off you cannot win scoring 2-3 runs a game and making stupid mistakes

I am trying to not open the window yet but ledge is calling me I can hear it.  I guess it is a conditions response since this franchise seems to find a way to make every thing difficult.  Come to think of it wasn't it a 4 game series with the Phillies that sent the 08 team into a tailspin they barely recovered from?  Lets hope history does not repeat itself I am having real trouble seeing this team beating anyone in the playoffs playing like they have played lately.  When is the last time they blew someone besides Houston out?  Last week they have looked like the Brewers of the first half not like that insane team of August.  Come on RRR earn that Manager of the Year award

I thought it was so cool that the Yankee fan who caught the 3000 hit home run ball from Derrick Jeter did not try to hold it hostage or sell it he. He just wanted to give it back to Jeter.  I think it is also very cool how the even though he did not ask Jeter and the Yankees showered him with swag.  Shows that you can do the right thing and still get rewarded. Can you imagine if this was Milwaukee and that Douche bag HY had caught the ball his lawyers would still be in negotiations with Jeter and the Yankees 

Kid does the right thing

Hello my name is Chris and I also became a Red fan this season

I currently live in Wisconsin but will be moving to Arkansas at the end of July.  How does a Badger become a Red it is simple I met a bunch of Mad Englishmen on Xbox live(I tend to play during the day) most of them live in Sheffield or Liverpool so you know how it is your mates follow Liverpool so follow Liverpool.  Thanks to the FSC and ESPN I was able to see almost every game this year and also a number Europa games. This is my first year of following the Beautiful game I have never played it in real life.  But thanks to Fifa11 I actually have a pretty good understanding of the game now.

Watching the Reds rebound under King Kenny was one of the best times I have had as a sports fan and this is coming from a Packer fan who has seen two Super Bowl wins in his lifetime. 

One of the coolest things I have had happen in my short time as a Red fan was I was wearing my Liverpool ball cap in the Orlando airport and all of a sudden up walks a guy wearing the White Away kit we look at each other and stuck out our hands shook and traded "You Never Walk Alone"  as our wives looked on like we were nuts.  That moment I understood what YNWA really meant

Looking forward to August and the new season

WSB Chris

I know not everyone here is a Badger fan but the shots of the stunned Target field crowd in the top of the 9th inning really reminded me of this great moment in Wisconsin Sports History

Blocked punt in Metro dome

I watched the replay on Minnesota feed they really turned down the crowd noise in the 9th, almost like they were trying to not acknowledge all the Brewers fans who made the trip to root on the Crew.

I will admit way back in the late 80's and early 90's I supported both teams.

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I was sitting at the game Sunday taking in Miller Park and was looking at the retired numbers.  First kind of sad that two out of six of the retired "numbers" are non Brewers players Jackie Robinson and Uke and the Hammer was way past his prime when he was a Brewer.  But I digress. 

I was trying to think who would be the next Brewer to have his number retired?  I cannot really think of one who would be worthy of having a number retired maybe Jenkins?  Maybe Hoffman just because he finished a stellar career here.

The Brewers where so bad for so long not a lot of shinning stars to consider for a honor of this level.

So any other ideas who might be the next Brewers to get his number retired?

I of course want the Crew to go in there and sweep the Reds.  But there is always a but, by doing that the Brewers might be helping out the Cards and their Uptight Citizens Brigade fan base.  Since it is pretty likely that the Brewers have no chance to win the Division I fall back on the "Anyone but the Cards and Cubs" golden rule.  So lets hope that while the Crew is sweeping the Reds the Astros are sweeping the Cards.  It would slow down the Brewers run to lock up 3rd place but I can live with that.  But would not hurt the Reds that much their MN would still be able to go down.

So lets go beat the Reds than they can get back to their winning ways.  Guess I was not as conflicted as I thought ;)

I got this link to today's Fox MLB Coverage from Bizarro BCB.  Take a look and maybe one of you bright guys or gals can explain something to me.

Why does Seattle area get the Texas Baltimore game(green) when everyone else in the West is getting Twins Angels.  Is it because Texas and Seattle are in the West?  but Angels are in the West too.

Why are those two little blobs of red in a sea of blue(Red is the Cubs vs Atlanta) and why is the Tip of the UP getting the Red Game and rest of UP is getting the Blue game?

If anyone can explain the reason they set stuff up like this it would be greatly appreciated

It leads me to believe that Doug Melvin will still be calling the shots in the off season,  why else would you let him sign guys to extensions unless you plan on him being around for a while.  If you were going to change GM's you could hold off on this deal and let the new guy do it in the off season if he still wanted to do it.

So if we do trade Prince in the off season it will be Doug getting suckered

Sigh

I was reading how the big three in Miami all agreed to take less money and not max out so they could play together and try to win a ring.(personally I don't think it will work) 

I was wondering if this could happen in baseball?   I do not see it happening in baseball.  In the past the Union has frowned on players who were willing to not max out.  Remember the Union position when we thought we had a shot at CC.  I think the Union would wail like a mashed cat if a couple of huge Free Agents tried to pull a deal like this.

Second question I am guessing Scott Boras does not do NBA guys?  The mind set seems different in the NBA you see guys willing to take less for a chance at a ring.  Can you ever see a Major Free Agent MLB player taking less for the chance at a ring? I just do not see the Union letting them get away with it.

The MLB mindset seems to be get the Max at all costs(not saying that is wrong capitalism is what it is) I guess in the end I am just marveling at the fact the NBA guys walked away from a fair amount of money and their Union never said a word.

Or as it was put last time rooting against the Cubs but it still feels wrong to have to hope good things happen to the Soxs even if it hurts the Cubs

I will be so glad when Inter-league play is over I for one could live without having to play the Twinkies twice very year last series sweep not withstanding sorry about ranting about this but you must have at least 75 words before you can publish a fan post ;)

With Doug Davis heading to the Sounds to do a couple of rehab starts the question has to be asked.  Who loses their spot in the starting rotation when DD gets back. 

If Bush bombs last night it would be an easy choice but as we all know he did not.  Manny has looked good in his last two starts. 

Personally based on the way DD has pitched before he got sick I would rather put him in the pen but we know that is not going to happen.

So who do you pick to go to the pen and when DD comes back who do we have to send down?