Szumi

I can't agree more about how great tonight's episode was, and how the season continues to be a home run. However, we're right back to where we were last year. The ratings for the show continue to decline, as the past two weeks have only pulled in a 1.9 each. If it's another rating like that for tonight's episode, then the show is in REAL danger of being cancelled. It's not fair at all, as Chuck is clearly a phenomenal show, but goes up against some harsh competition in House, HIMYM, and now Dancing With the Stars (I'm not sure if it's staying on Mondays, just that it did last week). Add on the fact that Chuck hasn't had a show alongside it that pulled in decent ratings since its first season (you know, back when Heroes WASN'T shit), it's been all by itself in terms of trying to actually get solid ratings. For shame.

Oh yes, this was definitely a good performance from Liverpool. Dominated pretty much the whole match, great runs forward, nice trickery with some of their passing, loads of chances, etc. Lots of wasted chances too, but the fact that they were at least making them is refreshing to see. It was nice to see Gerrard have a solid match in the midfield. Usually when he's had to drop back, he's been non-existent. Today, he still made good runs forward without having to always be the center piece of Liverpool's attack. If I had to point out one weak spot of today's match, it would have to be Babel's inability to pass a ball in the final third. That's not to say he doesn't pass, he does. However, he is just awful at it. Quite a few times he had guys open for an easy strike, and his lay-off was atrocious. Most notably his lay-off for Gerrard, and his square pass for Kuyt that he ended up flopping over the goal. On the ball for Gerrard, 'Pool got lucky that Gerrard was fouled because the pass was so poor that he was never going to be able to collect it and shoot.

Torres, you are a fucking beast. That goal was simply incredible. At least 85% luck, probably more like 95%, but sheeze, what a goal.

So how long until Zola gets sacked now? Knowing Sullivan, I'd say only an hour, but it is probably happening tonight. I just can't see how Zola gets to keep his job, especially with Sullivan in charge.

Yeah, apparently so did West Ham.

I am officially disgusted to be a West Ham fan right now. The total lack of motivation of this squad is fucking awful, and they deserve to be relegated. You know how important the match is for survival, and the whole squad, sans Scott Parker, play like absolute shit. Ridiculous.

Clint Dempsey, you are one beautiful man you This has been absolutely classic. I'd love to see Zamora cap it all off with another goal.

Yeah...

Nothing like a big "Fuck you, 'Arry" performance from Pav by scoring two goals off the bench. I've always been fond of Pav, and really wanted to see him leave Spurs in the transfer window. Would've loved to see him at West Ham, but that's just my love of all things West Ham and Pav. Think he would've done well at Birmingham for sure. The poor guy really does deserve more chances, as he's been productive when he plays, grabbing the two goals here and the second goal when Spurs played Leeds the first time. All in all, a good weekend in the Premier League for me. The second half of the Everton/Man U match was phenomenal, and whenever I can see Howard and Donovan play, I'm up for it. West Ham winning and getting further away from the relegation zone makes me happy as can be, and while the Liverpool match today was dire, it couldn't bring me down from yesterday's matches. Liverpool have Torres and Benayoun starting to come back, so hopefully the club will find some form in the final stretch of the season.

Oh thank you West Ham. Can't see how they would lose this 2-0 lead to Birmingham, and 3 points heading into the relegation-battle match between Hull is a huge momentum boost. Now that Cole's starting to get healthy, I'm more upbeat about the club's chances of staying up. It's not McCarthy, Mido, or Ilan that will score goals for West Ham, but Cole.

One huge thing that had me marking out: And moving on:

So tonight was the season finale...

I just bought FM, so am a complete and total novice to the game. Is there a file editor to the game so I can create players, fix stats/injuries on players, etc. I started a game with West Ham, and saw with the latest patch, the injuries some of the guys have (Valon Behrami being out for 7 months) is completely off.

The only reason I would take the band of Terry is if Fabio knew that the majority of the team couldn't trust/respect Terry, and wanted him stripped of it. Doing it so close to the Cup will have an affect on the team, I'd certainly imagine. Yeah, so Terry had an affair with a teammate's (and friend's) wife, but meh, it happens. Sure, John Terry the person fucked up, but c'mon, this is football we're talking about here. Half of the players are well overpaid diva's with a load of character flaws. It comes with the game, for the most part. Now of course, not all footballers have clear flaws off-the-field, but a very significant percentage does. As for the captaincy, I'm not sure who really could step up and do it. I wouldn't want Rio or Gerrard captaining England. Gerrard's been awful pretty much all season, and I don't really think he's a good captain. Yes, he can score clutch goals, but I feel like when the flow of the match isn't running through him, he just stops caring. So many times I have seen 'Pool play, and when Gerrard's not playing the center role of the attack, he stops trying. As for Rio, like has been mentioned before, has had his own off-the-field shit, but to me, again, not important. Rio's been injured for most of the season, and really, just hasn't played well a lot of the times anyways. Quite a few of his club matches he was poor, and he's been dreadful in the England matches he has played in lately. Not exactly the confidence I want from a captain. In terms of talent, Rooney is the captain. Does he have the leadership capabilites? That remains to be proven. I think as someone who can lead the squad, it's Lampard or Beckham... but, of course, we don't know if either one of them - especially Beckham, obviously - will have a guaranteed starting spot.

And the yelling's going to just get louder, seeing as City's up 2-1. It's funny that I find myself cheering for Oil City F.C. over Man U, seeing as City has just bought player after player, while Man U has footballers that I support like Rooney, Giggs, and Fletcher. Sir Alex will do that to me, I suppose.

You be a cynic, and I'll be happy. Big draw for West Ham on the road, and out of the bottom three again. Now hopefully the takeover will get finished up in the next couple of days to help us bring in a player or two to make sure we're not relegated. With how badly the squad gets raped by injuries, we need all the depth we can get.

Yeah, definitely not the worst Liverpool team ever, it's just a squad that has been raped by injuries, and more importantly, a lack of motivation. While Torres, Gerrard, Aquilani, Benayoun, and Riera have struggled off and on with injuries, there was also losing Agger coming into the season, and now Johnson later. However, even when fit, Gerrard's been rather dismal, and now that Aquilani is starting to play more and regain his form, he's yet to impress. Carragher, as everyone probably knows, has been atrocious for the most part, and Skrtel has been pretty inconsistent too. Only Reina and Lucas have played well this season throughout. And it's very possible Torres leaves in the summer, but that could be a blessing in disguise for Liverpool. He's a world class striker, but one who's always battling injuries. Liverpool direly needs someone who can stay fit.

And the ratings are in: 2.6 rating with adults 18-49 and 7.322 million altogether. Drop off from Sunday, obviously, but not by much. That's very good for Chuck, and amazing by NBC's standards, seeing as I think Heroes was like a 2.1 and only 4 million or some viewers.

It should be a surprise to no one, but Mark McGwire has admitted to using steroids on and off for a decade, including the 1998 season when he broke the single season home run record. Story

Yeah, those ratings are HUGE for Chuck and NBC as a whole, seeinb as NBC does such shit with scripted shows. As for the shows themselves... And on the ratings, while they're great ratings, it's a different night and time. Sunday usually gets better ratings than Monday night's, I would think. Tonight is the really important night, from a ratings standpoint. It's back at its regular time slot, and we have to see how many people tune back in. I'm a realist, so I do see a ratings drop, although hopefully not too much.

I just want Leno off of the 10PM slot. That stupid ass decision almost got a good show like Chuck cancelled . Now, I personally don't watch any of the late night stuff (I usually watch The Daily Show and Colbert Report before heading to bed), but from the small stuff I have seen, Conan is definitely a lot better than Leno, Fallon, and Letterman. Fallon especilly sucks, and Leno's just stale.

Yeah, really. Lucas has been the most consistent player in the central midfield for Liverpool this season. Mascherano was downright awful at the start of the season, and it was Lucas who was doing all of the work there. When Gerrard was back in a deeper central mid role, again, Lucas carried him. Gerrard's probably been the worst performing midfielder for Pool this season, although he's really more of a center forward at this point than anything. I'd want Lucas on my team, if I was in charge of Pool. He's no Xabi Alonso, but he's someone who tackles well (and not just recklessly, which Masch does too much), and hustles his ass off. The sale of Dossena is great, just because it gets that piece of shit off the squad. Voronin can gladly go next, along with Babel. Like it was said earlier, N'Gog provides a better attacking threat off the bench, and even if the wings get raped by injuries, a player like Fabio Aurelio just steps in to play there until everyone's properly fit. I'll take a slightly out of position Aurelio over a fully fit Babel on the left wing. Now me, I don't know why, but I've always wanted Daniele De Rossi to be the anchor of Liverpool's midfield. Now, I of course no it will never happen, and all of that, but just always saw him as being someone who could do well there. Foolish, obviously. Got one favorite taken care off, now the other one. I'm incredibly afraid that West Ham's going to sell of Matthew Upson or Scott Parker this month. Those two, more so than Green or Cole, are two players West Ham need right now. Green's play hasn't been as good as it has in the past two seasons, although, to be fair, that will happen when you're getting onslaughted because of a poor back line. Upson's been out for a while, but with him back in the squad, the back line is much better. He holds the back four together, so losing him just kills us. Scott Parker's been incredible this season, and has really kept the team together while Upson was out. He can do anything in the midfield. He's done his part as the holding midfielder, and when Radoslav Kovac plays that role instead, he's been great running around and causing havoc. He's done a lot for transitioning the Hammers up field, so again, if he goes, West Ham's relegation bound for sure.

So I was looking through the channels to see what all was on, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the original series, is on ABC right now. Apparently they're re-broadcasting the series, I'm assuming every Saturday from 12-1. First episode is on right now... wow I feel like a kid again.

Yeah, that was ridiculous. Although, it never should've mattered seeing as Upson had all fucking ball on the play. Horrid, rubbish call.

If West Ham holds on and win this match, I will gladly streak in the snow in celebration. Now, I have little hope of my boys actually winning the match, I'll still hold on to that little bit of hope. Even a point is huge here, but shit, a win is just amazing on so many levels.