English Premiere League Scoreboard: Arsenal Beats Everton 2-2

Greetings to those of you in Scotland and Slovenia, especially since many people in those countries are watching the UEFA match between Celtic United and Maribor!

In the English Premiere League (EPL), Montenegro international player Stevan Jovetic (pictured top scored two goals to secure defending champ Manchester City's 3-1 win over Liverpool yesterday.

Over the week, French star Olivier Giroud who plays for Arsenal slipped the ball between past American star goal-keeper Tim Howard who plays for Everton for a come from behind 2-2 tie, which felt like a win for Arsenal as the road side was down 2-0 at half-time.

Arsenal will now host Istanbul powerhouse Besiktash, which is the favorite team of our friend Ahmet Bob Turgut. The two teams played to a highly exciting 0-0 tie in Turkey (it was perhaps the best 0-0 game we've watched in years).


It was also a good weekend for Belgian national Nacer Chadli (pictured center) who scored two goals for the London squad Tottenham Hot Spurs in their 4-0 thumping of cross-town Queens Park Rangers (QPR).

Finally, Nathan Dyer (pictured with soccer ball, bottom) scored the lone goal in the 21st minute to propel Swansea, the only EPL team that is currently based in Wales, to a 1-0 win over the recently promoted Brunley.

Here are the rest of the EPL scores:

1) Manchester City 3 Liverpool 1

2) Everton 2 Arsenal 2, tie

3) Tottenham Hot Spurs 4 QPR 0

4) Swansea 1 Burnley 0

5) Sunderland 1 Manchester United 1, tie

6) Chelsea 2 Leicester 0

7) Crystal Palace 1 West Ham 3

8) Hull City 1 Stoke City 1, tie

9) Southhampton 0 West Brom 0, tie

10) Aston Villa 0 Newcastle United 0, tie

http://www.premiereleague.com

http://www.flashscore.com

 http://www.nbcsports.com/soccer

http://www.foxsports.com/soccer

Futbol Notebook: Europa, Europa

It may seem hard to believe for people in Antwerp, Belgium, or Zagreb, Croatia, but soccer is gradually becoming more popular here in the United States. In fact, futbol has entered our pop culture as the late Naser Hejazi, the goalie for the 1978 Iranian World Cup team which played in Argentina, was mentioned in the last episode of "Homeland."

Since 24 games were played in the Europa League yesterday, we don't have much time for detail or analysis. But, we caught the tail-end of the Swansea-Kuban game. The English Premiere League team Swansea was winning 1-0 until the team's German goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel (pictured here) collided with a player for the Russian team Kuban in the (ouch!) 92nd minute of play. As a result, French national Djibril Cisse kicked in the penalty and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Here are some partial scores from Europe League play:

Lyon (France) 1 Rijeka (Croatia) 0

Swansea (England) 1 Kuban (Russia) 1 (tie)

Anzhi (Russia) 1 Tromso (Norway) 0

Waregem (Belgium) 1 Maribor (Slovenia) 3

Shanktar Karagandy (Kazakhstan) 2 AZ Alkmaar (Neth.) 1 (tie)

Apollon Limassol (Cyprus) 0 Lazio (Italy) 0 (tie)

For more results, check out our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time":

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Things We Learned on Bing Today- Sports Edition

Today was an interesting day in English soccer as Arsenal got the coveted fourth place finish thanks to a 1-0 win over Newcastle; their crosstown rival Tottenham also won their match with Sunderland by the same 1-0 score but Arsenal had the advantage going into league play today.

So, this got Javier the Intern* thinking about a good post idea for today, and that is: "What sports can we learn on Bing today?"

Here is what we found out:

1) Thomas Vermaelen, 27, of Belgium, (pictured) is the current captain for Arsenal, though the English club's star player is arguably English national Theo Walcott. Thomas wears #5 and he previously played for Dutch powerhouse Ajax Amsterdam.

2) Siem de Jong, 24, of the Netherlands/Holland is the current captain of Ajax Amsterdam, a team that just won its 32nd domestic league title. Siem wears #10.

3) Ken Dryden, 65, of Canada, is the NHL goalie who has won the most Stanley Cup titles. Dryden achieved his with the great Montreal Canadiens teams of the 1970's as he won cups in 1971, 1973, 1976-79. Dryden was also a member of the Liberal Part in the Canadian Parliament.

4) Grant Hill, 40, an alumnus of Duke University who plays for the Phoenix Suns is the oldest active current player in the NBA though his team did not qualify for the quarterfinals.

5) Mallory Hagan, 24, is the current Miss America. She represented New York state. Yeah, we know beauty pageants may not qualify as a sport, but hey we need the hits!


http://www.premiereleague.com

http://www.nhl.com

http://www.nba.com

http:/www.rnw.nl

http://www.missamerica.org

http://www.bing.com

Top Ten Things To Do List- Take Down the Garbage

We had a much grander idea, but we have time constraints. Here is our Top Ten Things To Do List for this particular week:


1. Recycle

2. Work-out on a bicylce

3. Take down the garbage

4. call dentist

5. Look at Sunday "Washington Post" (they have a series called Date Lab, which is why we have a photo of a cute annoying young couple)

6. Look at computers

7. Read "The Chosen"

8. Look into going to Asheville, NC

9. Look into going to Iceland

10. Possibly watch the Chelsea-Tottenham Hotspurs English soccer game today

Kudos to UNC on ACC Men's Lacrosse Title

The University of North Carolina (UNC) won its first ACC men's lacrosse title since 1996 when the Tar Heels held their home turf in a 16-13 win over the University of Virginia.

According to goheels.com, the game was played in front of 4,001 fans in Chapel Hill, NC, and both the 'Heels and the Cavaliers had to deal with the proverbial elements of mother nature as the game was played in the rain.

For the 'Heels, Davey Emala and Chad Tutton scored seven goals each. Their teammate Marcus Helman (pictured center, we believe) was named as the outstanding ACC Tournament Player.  To play UVa, the 'Heels first had to defeat their arch rivals Duke; Virginia had to upset Maryland.

For the Cavs, Matt White scored seven goals.

'Teels goalie Kieran Burke had 17 saves.

The 'Heels trailed 5-3 after the first quarter, but they took a 10-7 lead by half-time.

UNC now goes to 12-3 and looks forward to the NCAA tournament, but due to their disappointing finish the Cavs at 7-8 are not going to the tournament, a rarity for the school in Charlottesville, Va., for the sport.

SIDEBAR ONE: We saw that Link-TV, a non-profit progressive television outlet in America thanked Rick in Floyd, Va., for his support; we want to thank Rick too.....for no particular reason.

SIDEBAR TWO: Today's sponsors are Doomsday Dating, which we heard about from a female stand-up comedian from Winston-Salem, NC; she insisted she wasn't kidding about the existence of this Davidian singles group, and yes they do really exist!

SIDEBAR THREE: Since we completely neglected the Yale Bulldogs for the team's first ever men's hockey title as captain Andrew Miller lead his team in a 4-0 upset win over their cross-town New Haven, Conn., rival the Quinnipiac Bobcats....yes, we think that must be the NCAA's most difficult to spell school as well...at the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, but we are pointing it out now.

SIDEBAR FOUR: Tomorrow, we kick off Soccer Week (pardon the pun), and as a teaser, we will issue a SPOILER ALERT to the six people in America who were taping the English Premiere League game between two lower-ranking teams Aston Villa and Sunderland (perhaps Rick from Floyd, Va., was one of them). Aston Villa really kicked butt by a 6-1 score today.

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.dailytarheel.com

http://www.doomsdaydating.com

http://www.linktv.org

http://www.yalebulldogs.com

http://www.visitfloyd.org

http://www.visitchapelhill.org

English Premiere League Soccer Tables_ Manchester United Reigns Supreme

It was a very good week for Dutch national Robin van Persie  (pictured top) who scored a hat trick in Manchester United's 3-0 win over Aston Villa, which secured MU with the English Premiere League titles as they have 84 points with just a few games remaining.

Cross-town rivals Manchester City are a distant second with 68 points. They had a dismal weekend as they lost 3-1 to Tottenham Hotspur, which is in fifth place with 61 points. American Clint Dempsey (pictured bottom) previously with Fulham and the New England Revolution in the MLS, scored a goal for the victors in the 76th minute of play.

Brothers Ryan Bennett and Elliot Bennett helped secure a win for Norwich in the team's 2-1 win over last place Reading, while German national Per Mertesacker helped Arsenal, sitting in third place with 63 points, to a 1-0 win over Fulham.

And, Luis Suarez, the star striker from Uruguay who made a dubious handball that lifted his national team to victory over Ghana in the last World Cup, scored an impressive literal last minute goal in the 97th minute to help his Liverpool squad (pictured center) tie Chelsea, in fourth place with 62 points, 2-2. This does remind one of the title of an American documentary film "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29."

Here is the complete table for weekend play; Chelsea is in action tomorrow for a UEFA match with Benefica of Portugal:

1. Stoke 2 QPR 0

2. Sunderland 1 Everton 0

3. Swansea 0 Southhampton 0, tie

4. West Brom 1 New Castle 1, tie

5. West Ham U 2 Wigan Athletic 0

6. Arsenal 1 Fulham 0

7. Norwich 2 Reading 1

8. Tottenham Hotspur 3 Manchester City 1

9. Liverpool 2 Chelsea 2,, tie

10. Manchester United 3 Aston Villa 0

http://www.premiereleague.com

Things To Do List: All That Jazz

Here is our latest installment of the semi-weekly Things To Do List, which seems popular, or at least in Latvia and Slovakia (yes, for some reason we are popular in these places), and frankly is a lot easier to do than what we are planning which hope to get to between now and doomsday whenever that may be (perhaps our 'good friend' the fringe pastor the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va., can give us a clue!)

1. Eat a gyro

2. Write a letter to "The Daily Tar Heel"

3. Listen to jazz on NPR

4. Recycle

5. Laundry

6. Get the Sunday "Washington Post"

7. Take a pilates class

8. Watch English soccer game you taped today

9. Write a poem

10. Watch "The Antiques Roadshow" on PBS

http://www.visitmartinsville.com

http://www.thedailytarheel.com

http://www.bennygoodman.com

http://www.antiquegrandfatherclocks.com

Weekend Tweets Log_ Happy 52nd Birthday, Scott Baio

We are posting some tweets that we saw on Twitter between 1:30-2:30 p.m. east coast time today. First let's us explain the above images: 1) We thought we'd go with an image of two "Happy Days" characters Joanie and Chachi to go along with a tweet from the PBS' documentary series and because Scott Baio is turning 52 today; 2) We are going with one of the two Ernest Hemingway books I've read (and, I have a degree in English) in honor of the National Book Festival, happening this weekend in Washington, DC,; 3) an image of two British kids enjoying a game of soccer. We are being a bit ironic here as Liverpool faces Manchester United tomorrow, and we expect to be a rowdy crowd. In fact, according to the BBC, security measures have been upgraded for the game.

Here are the tweets:

1) @frontlinepbs ("Frontline"): "A HS dropout will end up costing taxpayers an average of $292K over a lifetime."

2) @TheWriterMag ("The Writer Magazine"): "#TheNatBookFest is a powerful and inspiring mix of genders, genres, generations and cultures. One nation under books!"

3) @libraryofcongress (Library of Congress): "More than 500 @JWLWDC volunteers @NatBookFest! Thanks to this good and loyal group and happy 100th anniversary!"

4) @liverpool (Liverpool FC): "Liverpool v. Man Utd. Predictions please......?"

5) @CoryBooker (Newark, NJ's mayor Cory Booker, who spoke at the Democratic Convention):  "We just landed in Tampa. The Garden State meets the Sunshine State, a great combination!"

6) @MayorMarkK (Chapel Hill, NC's mayor Mark Kleinschmidt who attended the Democratic Convention): "let's be responsible out there @ChapelHillPD #ChapelHillPD will step up enforcement of alcohol laws for UNC v. ECU football on Sat." (At last check, UNC was winning the game 7-3).

7) @Gamecocksonline (South Carolina Gamecocks Athletics): "Fans cheer as palyers at Williams Brice Stadium. Go #Gamecocks." (At last report, the 'cocks were tied 0-0 in their home football game against Missouri."

As it turns out, Scott Baio is associated with many terms in the Urban Dictionary. They are a bit too explicit for National Public Radio, so if interested, we suggest you go to this link: http://www.urbandictionary.com

Other Links:

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

http://www.nationalbook.org

http://www.premiereleague.com

http://www.sitcomsonline.com

http://www.happydaysfans.com

http://www.pbs.org

Olympic Chat on Twitter- Losing in Soccer the Hard Way

We learned many things tonight on Twitter between the hours of 19:00-20:00 (New York time), some of which actually spoiled tonight's NBC coverage of the 2012 London Olympics tonight (we are the last people in the world to see the games here on the east coast, except for those who reside in Hawaii which is six hours behind the east coast).

We also encountered a fervent Greek nationalist who was boasting of how Greece has proven its vast athletic superiority over the whole world with two bronze medals, including one from Ilias Iliadis in men's judo (90-kg); this would have been fine with us except the flag-waving fanatic had to mention that it was two more than Turkey had won (no medals so far for my father's country).

Then, this person had to add that Turkey lost to the United States, my native country by a 89-58 margin in women's basketball. Turkey did prevail handily over China by an 82-55 margin in the team's next game, and Greece lost to Team America in the exact same sport by a 89-58 margin in Riga, Latvia, on July 3, 2009.

Of course, we have nothing against Greeks or Greek-Americans in general, but there are jingoists who unfortunately soil the Olympic spirit.

As for the tweets we read tonight, some interesting things were discussed; here are six of them:

1) @TheSun_Football: "BREAKING NEWS: Great Britain lose to South Korea 5-4 on penalties at Olympic football quarter-final stage (The image above is of English soccer legend Frank Lampard, but it is not from today's game)."

2) @Current:  "Sex, training and winning the gold: @jonnymoseley reflects of the life of an Olympian (this is actually in reference to Jonny Moseley, an American skier who fared well at the 1996 Nagano Winter Olympics)

3) @Olympic: "Total Gold Count: USA with 26, China with 25, GBR with 14."

4) @SpencerGeorgeM: "Just got really emotional watching the recap of how Jessica Ennis won the Gold. Huge congratulations to her. Once again proud to be British." (Ennis is pictured in the center).

5) Chet_Cannon: "You deserve a tardy slip @joejones. Wow @Aly_Raisman and the women gymnasts are incredible....GO USA!" (Aly Raisman is part of the Fab Five gold-medal winning USA women's gymnastics team; she is pictured below).

6) @HuffPostComedy: "If you're competing in the #Olympics you probably have no life."


http://www.jessicaennis.net

http://www.usagym.org/

http://www.haaretz.com

http://www.olympicair.com

http://www.turkishairlines.com

In the News_ American Postage Stamps Increase

On Monday, here in the United States, standard stamps for letters and bills will increase from 44 cents to 45 cents, though most stamps are now 'Forever Stamps," meaning they can be used even if stamp rates increase.

This image above is of the 1997 Marilyn Monroe stamp, which was part of the Legends of Hollywood stamp series.

SIDEBAR: Kudos to soccer star Clint Dempsey for being the first American to score three goals in the English Premiere League. His team Fulham defeated New Castle 5-2 yesterday.

In Turkish soccer, Istanbul powerhouse team Besiktas beat Antalyaspor 2-1 thanks to two goals from Portuguese nationals: Hugo Almeida (63rd min) and Manuel Fernandes (89th min).

Our favorite team in the Turkish league, Bursaspor fell to Sivasspor 2-1, but Argentinian star Pablo Battalla did kick one for the Crocodiles. Interestingly enough, the game-winning goal for Sivasspor, a team from eastern Turkey, came from Azerbaijani national Cihan Ozkara, who I mistook for a Turkish player (names are similar in both countries).

Things We Learned on Google Today- Olympiacos Has Won 38 Greek Soccer Titles

Today's soccer team of the week on this blog is Olympiacos (or Olympiakos), a Greek soccer powerhouse based in the port city of Piraeus, near Athens.

The image above is sort of a joke as Priest Christos, who is really a Greek Orthodox priest, is a fan for one of Olympiacos' main rivals, PAOK FC (Thessaloniki) and apparently the priest's devoution to soccer madness has caused him legal problems.

Ironically, the colors of PAOK FC are identical to those worn by the Turkish team Besiktas (Istanbul), and I suppose this is a good time to mention that I am a Turkish-American, though I prefer Galatasaray over Besiktas.

Of course, what this means to those of you born after 1974 when Turkey and Greece went to war over Cyprus, is that I will really have to spell all these long and difficult Greek names correctly!

Olympiacos is also in the UEFA Champions League, and they are in Group F, a group of death, featuring such traditional Euro powers as Arsenal (England), Dortmund (Germany) and Marseille (France). Their next game is against Arsenal on Dec. 11. The English premiere league power has several international greats, including Robin van Persie from the Netherlands and Andrei Arshavin from Russia.

But, the Greek team has its own impressive roster, with the likes of Ioannis Fetfatzidis (whew, hope I spelled his name right!) who has been called 'the Greek Messi' in reference to Argentinian soccer superstar Lionel Messi. The Greek Messi scored the lone goal in the team's 1-0 win over Marseilles on Nov. 23.

Domestically, things are looking better for the team with 38 Greek titles, as they bounced back from a 2-0 loss to astera Tripoli with a 6-0 drubbing of Doxa Dramas. We believe the team is slated to play rival Panaitokolis (Athens) over the weekend. The third major rival for Olympiacos is AEK Athens.

Hooliganism is a problem in Greek soccer, as is the case in England and Turkey as well, as figths between fans of rival clubs have become violent and even deadly in some instances.

The captain of the current squad is Vasilis Toosidis and the co-captain is Avroam Papadopoulos (whew, again!). But, the team has a highly diverse international roster inclusing Swedish soccer star Olef Mellberg and French player Francois Modesto.

In addition, Olympiacos features five Spanish nationals, two Algerian players and two Serbian futbolers.

The team is currently in third place in both the domestic league and the UEFA Champions League.

The two teams on top of the Greek Premiere League are as of right now first-place Panathinaikos and second-place AEK Athens.

SIDEBAR: Interestingly enough as we were putting this piece together, we heard through a Terry Gross interview with Jeffrey Rosen from "The New Republic" yesterday on NPR's "Fresh Air," that in 2007, Youtube was blocked in Turkey. I was always aware of what happened, but I didn't realize the infamous Youtube videos which hurled insults at Mustafa Kemal Ataturk were, at least in part, posted by Greek soccer militants.

This incident put Nicole Wong of Google, which owns Youtube, in a very awkward disposition. As it is, Youtube was banned in Turkey as a result of the videos. We are not sure if the ban is still in place or not.

Sports Desk- Women's NCAA Volleyball Tourney Begins

The Liberty University Flames will have its hands full as the team from Lynchburg, Va., heads up to University Park, Pa., to face four-time defending NCAA champion Penn State on the Nittany Lions' home floor in the women's volleyball match-up on Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. For the team, one of the players to watch will be Micha Hancock, the Big 10 Freshman of the Year.

The seedings were announced on Sunday; Liberty is the only Virginia team which made the field of 64. But, the ACC was represented well as four teams made the field, including the Duke BlueDevils, a team that will face the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on Dec. 1st at 7:00 p.m. The game could be the most anticipated one of the first round.

The BlueDevils' team features Ali McCurdy, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and her high school teamate from Tampa, Kellie Catanach as well as blocker Chritiana Gray. While the 'Vols have SEC Player of the Year Kelsey Robinson on their team roster.

Other games of interest in the first round include the University of Arizona's game with Michigan State. The Wildcats have libero Emily Helm and Czech hitter Marketa Hanzlova on its roster.

Both the PAC-12 and the Big 10 got many teams in the tournament. Arizona joins UCLA, Stanford, Oregon and California in the field. While the Big 10 has a staggering eight teams, including two top seeds in Illinois and Nebraska.

Among those teams will be the University of Michigan; they play Baylor in Palo Alto, Calif., on Dec. 2 at 4:30 p.m. (eastern time). The Wolverines feature outstanding players in Claire McElheny and Lexi Erwin (we believe she is the player featured in the above image). While the Bears' team includes stand-out Briana Tolbert, a senior from Houston.

Another potentially competitive first-round game appears to be the University of Florida's match with the University of Missouri in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (at Northern Iowa University). One of the Gators' top players Chloe Mann is actually from Gainesville, where the school is located.

Many games are expected to be televised on ESPNU.

SIDEBAR: Since we presume folks in England are mad about soccer, and the United Kingdom is one country where we get many hits, I thought would give a brief run-down of weekend soccer scores from the English Premiere League. The Tottenham Spurs continue to be on a roll as they beat West Bromwich 3-1.

Here is a partial list of the weekend games with their final scores; Manchester City remains five points ahead of cross-town rival Manchester United in the league standings:

Liverpool 1 Manchester City 1
Stoke City 3 Blackburn 1
Chelsea 3 Wolverhampton 0
Manchester United 1 Newcastle 1
Arsenal 1 Fulham 1

Quote of the Week- Brian Orser

Today, we continue to quote famous Canadians we quip men's figure skater Brian Orser, who turns 50 on Dec. 18. Orser won silver medals at both the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo (which was in Yugoslavia at the time, now it's the capital of Bosnia) and the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, in front of Orser's home fans.

Orser lost his quest for gold to American ice skater Brian Boitano, in what became known as "The Battle of the Brians."

Today, Orser is known for coaching young figure skaters. Among his proteges is Yuna Kim (or Kim yu-Na), 21, a South Korean women's figure skater who won gold at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Here is Orser's quote:

"It's not who does the most tricks, but the total package."

SIDEBAR: Tonight, my alma mater Radford University faces the University of Kentucky, a team ranked second in the nation, in NCAA men's basketball. The game will be in Lexington, Ky. I wish the Highlanders well as they face the Wildcats. Assuredly, if the team wins I may have a chance of a date with Vendela.

SIDEBAR 2: As of late, I have become very interested in European soccer, especially regarding English teams. Today, in UEFA action, Arsenal beat German team Dortmund 2-0 on two goals from their star Robin Van Persie.

But, Chelsea did not fare well against another German team Bayer Leverkusen by a 2-1 margin. Chelsea star and Ivory Coast national Didier Drogba scored the first goal of the away match in the 48th minute of play. However, Eren Derdiyok, a Swiss national of Kurdish descent who also has Turkish citizenship, scored the equalizer for the home squad in the 73rd minute. And, then German national team star Manuel Friedrich scored the game winner for Bayer in extra time. Thus, Chelsea fell 2-1.

In other games, Bracelona beat AC Milan 3-2, and the Czech team Viktoria Pizen scored a 1-0 victory over BATE Borisev, a team from Belarus.

Quote of the Day- Boris Becker

Today, we continue our quotes from famous Germans with a quip from the tennis great Boris Becker, who won Wimbledon when he was just 17. Today, Becker turns 44, and here is his quote:

"Does anyone ask their parents how they are conceived?"

SIDBAR: I want to congratulate my good friend Chris Tilley, who is highly regarded as a local playwright in Greensboro, NC, for the second anniversary of his blog:
my-naked-blogspot.com

SIDEBAR 2: Since we discussed English soccer yesterday, I thought I would relay from scores from today's UEFA Cup games played across Europe. It was not a particularly good day for English teams as Manchester United tied the Portuguese team Benefica 2-2 and their cross-town rival Manchester City, a team that currently leads the English Premiere League, feel to Italian power Napoli 2-1.

But, arguably the most misreable soccer player in Europe is Vasili Berezutzky who headed a ball into his own net, paving the way for the French team Lille's 2-0 win over CSKA Moscow. For the French club team, Senegal national Moussa Sow scored the other goal.

Meanwhile, Ajax Amsterdam and Lyon played to a 0-0 tie.

Sports Desk- English Soccer Winners

Interesting week for English soccer as many rivals met each other. Yesterday, English soccer star Glen Johnson (pictured here) kicked in the game-winng goal for Liverpool against his former team Chelsea, giving his new team a 2-1 win. Argentinian Maxi Rodriguez scored for Liverpool earlier in the 33rd minute. And, Englishman Daniel Sturridge scored the lone goal for Chelsea in the 55th minute.

I was able to watch that game on American television yesterday, but I overslept Arsenal's 2-1 win over Norwich City, which aired at 7:30 a.m. here in les etats unis SAturday morning. Dutch star Robin ven Persie game through for Arsenal with goals in the 27th and 59th minute. Welsh player Steve Morison scored for Norwich in the 16th minute.

League leader Manchester City also won on Saturday by pummeling Newcastle 3-1. The goals for Manchester City came from Italian Mario Balotelli (41st minute); English player M. Richards (44th minute) and Argentinian Kun Aguero (72nd minute). English player Dan Gosling scored the lone goal late in the game for Newcastle.

And, today, Tottenham climbed to a third place tie with Newcastle after the team's 2-0 win over Aston Villa. Both goals for Tottenham came from Togo national player Emmanuel Adebayor.

Manchester United is second behind Manchester City in the English League thanks to the team's 1-0 win over Swansea on Saturday.

Here are the complete results of weekend play:

Fulham 0 Sunderland 0

Manchester City 3 Newcastle 1

Tottenham 2 Aston Villa 0

Queens Park 3 Stoke City 2

Everton 2 Wolverton 1

Manchester United 1 Swansea 0

Liverpool 2 Chelsea 1

Arsenal 2 Norwich City 1

Blackburn 3 Wigan Athletic 1

W. Bromal 2 Bolton 1

SIDEBAR: I read a funny tweet from Turkish soccer authority Ahmet Bob Turgut, who lives here in America. The tweet was in Turkish, but it simply asked "Is Anyone in Turkey watching the MLS Cup?"

For those who missed it, irregardless if you are in Boston or Istanbul, was:
L.A. Galaxy 1 Houston 0. The lone goal for the Galaxy was scored by American soccer star Landon Donovan in the 72nd minute.

Sports Desk_ More Info on Tennis and Futbol

While the ceremonies at Ground Zero, The Pentagon, and Pennsylvania were making headlines this weekend, there were also lots of things going on in the sports world.
Alas, due to space constriants, we can only talk about tennis and soccer.

Let's begin with the U.S. Open women's tennis final where Samantha Stosur, 27, from Gold Coast, Australia, (pictured above) became the first Aussie woman to win the tournament since 1973: 6-2; 6-3.

In the process, she was able to win over favorite and crowd favorite Serena Williams, 29, who has 27 grand slam titles, including doubles, to her credit.

In the quarterfinals, Williams had defeated one of my favorite players, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (I love people with long, difficult surnames since I have one myself). But, the 20-year-old should be moving up from her current number 16 ranking after her stellar play in New York.

In the soccer universe, we start in Italy where Juventus beat Parma 4-1 at home in a game that was mentioned a few entries ago. Two of the four Juventus goals game from Italian stars Simon Pepe and Claudio Marchisio.

In England, in a game that was nationally televised in America, Chelsea beat Sunderland 2-1 with goals from John Terry and Daniel Sturridge.

I was under the impression that play in the Turkish Premiere League would be delayed due to a match-fixing scandal, but the league started action over the weekend. Yesterday, my favorite Turkish team (well along with GalataSaray) Bursaspor won a home game over Kayserispor 3-0, in Bursa, with goals from Turkish star Ozan Ipek as well as Gokcek Vederson (who is half-Turkish and half-Brazilian!) and Argentine Pablo Battalla.

Here in the United States, in MLS play, D.C. United traveled from the nation's capital to Los Angeles over the weekend where they beat Chivas USA 3-0. All three goals were scored by Charlie Davies (pictured here).

Now, back to the regular news....

Things We Learned on Google Today- Bayern Munich Has Won Four UEFA Titles

This is the seventh entry in our series of looks at professional soccer teams. So far, we have looked at teams from two continents: Europe and North America.

Today, we turn our attention to the German Bundesliga where Bayern Munich has reigned supreme over the decades. The two has four UEFA titles, including three in row from 1974-76, and another title in 2001. The team was runner-up in 2010.

In addition, Bayern has won 22 German titles, and 15 domestic cups.

Yesterday, Bayern beat their long-time rival Kaiserslautern 3-0, a week after they destroyed Hamburg SV 5-0. Yesterday's game started at 9:30 a.m. yesterday, east coast American time.

We are featuring an image of Mehmet Scholl, who was a star player for the team in the 2000s, and he was among the first players of Turkish heritage (Germany has the largest Turkish population outside Turkey) to become a soccer superstar in the Bundesliga.

The team's most legendary player is Franz Beckenbauer who played during the '70s and helped Germany dominate world soccer internationally (well, there was also Brazil which featured some guy named Pele) during his career.

Bayern's current roster includes German players Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez as well as Dutch star Franck Ribery, who once played for Turkish soccer power GalataSaray (a team we featured earlier in the series).

SIDEBAR: Yesterday, in the English Premiere League, Didier Drogba of Chelsea, one of the star player in the league, suffered a 30-minute concusion in the 71st minute of play in Chelsea's 3-1 win over Norwich City.

SIDEBAR TWO: Our congratulations go out to American tennis player John Isner, of Greensboro, NC. The 'local boy' won the Winston-Salem Open over Julien Benneateau of France in a match that somehow did not get rained out due to Hurricane Irene, which battered the North Carolina coast yesterday.

Things We Learned on Google Today-Scottish Futbol

We were actually considering an entry for an Italian team, such as Juventus or
AC Milan, until the BBC, which we were listening to, ran this excellent retrospective story on the 1983 Abderdeen team from the Scottish Premiere League that beat Real Madrid 2-1 to win the European Cup that year.

We noticed that it has actually been a while since Aberdeen, our team of the week, had even won the Scottish league. Despite being a dynasty in the early 1980s, the team has not won the league since 1985.

So, we asked Google, who scored the most goals for Aberdeen on that 1985 team. The answer is Frank MacDougall (pictured here, not the guy playing the bagpipes), now age 53. MacDougall became the fourth Aberdeen player to score a hat trick against their rival Celtic. He joined George Hamilton (yes, in America, we think of the actor of the same name who played Dracula in "Love Bites," which came out in 1979), Billy Williamson and Eric Black.

MacDougall now owns the Criterion Bar, a pub in Aberdeen, where one may well find the Scottish beer BrewDog (pictured here).

Alas, times have been hard for Aberdeen as they lost to Celtic 9-0 last year. It was their worst loss ever to their arch rival.

SIDEBAR: She's back! No, I am not refering to ring-wing nut job Michele Bachmann who has horrified all of us politically sane people in America by winning the coveted Ames Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa, today. But, rather, we are talking about Susan Burns from Alexandria, Va., who according to "City Paper" (Washington, DC) has once again struck the National Gallery.

In April, Burns attacked a Paul Gaugin painting at the art museum, claiming it was obscene. And, amazingly enough, she got back to the National Gallery and grabbed both sides of French master Henri Matisse's "The Plume Hat," valued at $2.5 million. "City Paper" stated that Burns slammed the painting against the wall three times.

All of this reminds us that the vintage horror film "The Exorcist" (1973) about a possesed 12-year-old girl played by Linda Blair was indeed filmed in our nation's capital.

Things We Learned on Google Today-Galatasaray Founded in 1905

I wasn't sure if the year was 1905 or 1907, but Google told me that the famed Turkish soccer powerhouse club Galatasaray (they play in Istanbul) was founded in (what year was it again) 1905.

While researching this piece, I found out some other interesting things about the team I root for in Turkish soccer, along with Bursaspor in Bursa, Turkey.

Apparently, the current GS captain Arda Turan, 24, is on his way to play for Chelsea in the English Premiere League in exchange for the Ivory Coast legend Didier Drogba, who captained his country's national team at the 2010 World Cup. This was reported in the English newspaper "The Daily Mail," though Turan is still listed as a member of GS on his Wikipedia page.

This would be quiet ironic for two reasons. The first is that there was an ugly incident involving soccer fans from another English team Leeds when they played in Istanbul in 2000. An argument broke out between fans for both teams and two Leeds fans were murdered. The fact that Turkish authorities were not able to convict anyone until just last year was actually given as a reason why Turkey shouldn't join the European Union, which ironically many Greek citizens now want out of. (Irony is perhaps my favorite word in the English language, so perhaps I allowed to overuse it!).

The other surprising item I came across is that former GS captain and legendary soccer player Hakan Sukur (b. 1971) who scored a record 228 goals in Turkish Premiere League is now a member of the Turkish Parliament in Ankara. Alas, he represents President Abdullah Gul's and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's conservative AK Party. I would have actually preferred to see him play for Fenerbahce (the main GS rival).

Things We Learned on Google Today- Ryan Giggs is Simply the Best

We are continuing with yet another entry in our Things We Learned on Google Today series even though we have not posted any entries in the series since back on May 5!

Today, we learned that Manchester United fans chose Welsh soccer player Ryan Giggs, 37, as the best player in the team's history over the likes of Eric Cantona, George Best and David Beckham, who along with Brazilian legend Pele is one of three futbol players that Americans have heard of. (Actually, we aren't sure who that third person might be).

Giggs, who is still active with Manchester United though he retired from international play in 2007 (he was captain of the Welsh national team; yes we know Wales is not a country too but one day when we figure out why the United Kingdom has four separate national soccer teams, we will let you know), is the most decorated player in English soccer history as he has won 12 English Premiere League medals. Astonishingly, Giggs scored 17 goals in the 1993-94 season for MU.

In England, the personal life of this superstar is apparently quite scandolous, but we are too busy to find out the sordid details.

SIDEBAR: It appears that one of the few places to get away from the here in les etats unis is Fargo, North Dakota, a city that the Coen Brothers made famous with the film "Fargo" even though they are from Minnesota. According to wunderground.com, it was a mere 64 degrees in North Dakota's largest city today.

This seems exceptionally cool given that in our corner of the globe, it was 94 degrees in both Raleigh, NC, and Lynchburg, Va, and a staggering 97 degreees in Washington, DC. Hopefully, House Speaker Cong. John Boehner (R-Ohio) was not hanging out by the Washington Monument and working on his tan.

(For those of you from England, here in les etats unis, those of us who are Democrats love making fun of Republicans!).