Delicious Lisbon Derby Day

By: Greg | September 28th, 2007

klxfl Well boom-chicka-boom, if it isn’t time for the two small clubs from Lisbon to go head-to-head in their first derby of the year. The first version will take place at the Da Looze tomorrow. It’s only the 6th week of the season but this game looms rather large beyond the fact that it’s a derby. Porto have taken maximum points thus far and if either of these clubs is to make a serious attempt at slaying the big, bad, blue dragon, somebody’s gotta take 3 points here. Both Benfica and Sporting have looked relatively underwhelming thus far in all competitions this season. I sincerely hope these teams don’t put together a lullaby on grass and dirt Saturday afternoon but that’s what just might happen. Both are off long ties that took place just this Wednesday and could treat us to a cagey, boring affair.

However, I’m an optimist and look at the bright side of things. Therefore, I’m hoping for a 3-2 Sporting win, chock full o’ goals and other small tidbits of orgasm-inducing football. Enough talk of football’s ability to arouse me in unnatural ways… In this jornada’s version of FixtureFacts (2.6), you’ll find the name of the club president (this way, you can write him and start up that pen pal relationship you’ve been dying for since you stopped having pen pals back in the 4th grade). I’m off to find some bamboo skewers for my eyes and a nail gun to pierce my ear drums since Meredith Grey is going to be invadnig my 50″ 1080p HDTV for me to toss an hour of my life away each week again this season. My wife better have some sort of spectacular dinner prepared for me to make me forget I have to watch this crap. I mean if she doesn’t have anything ready to eat, then why in the hell did I chain her to the fridge this morning?

-=Jornada 6=- All times given are in SOT (Special One Time) as Mourinho is the center of the known universe.

Saturday, September 29th @ 7:15 PM -*Lisbon Derby*- Benfica (Luís Filipe Ferreira Vieira) v. Sporting (Filipe Soares Franco)

Saturday, September 29th @ 9:15 PM -*Porto Derby*- Porto (the “more than famous” Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa) v. Boavista (João Loureiro)

Sunday, September 30th @ 4:00 PM — Nacional (Rui Alves) v. Naval (Aprígio de Jesus Ferreira Santos)

Sunday, September 30th @ 4:00 PM — E.d.Amadora (António Oliveira) v. Marítimo (José Carlos Rodrigues Pereira)

Sunday, September 30th @ 4:00 PM — V.Setúbal (Carlos Manuel “Tony” Almeida Costa) v. U.d.Leiria (João Alberto Amado Bartolomeu)

Sunday, September 30th @ 6:00 PM — Belenenses (Armando José Cabral Ferreira) v. Paços de Ferreira (Fernando Sequeira)

Sunday, September 30th @ 9:15 PM — V.Guimarães (Emílio Macedo da Silva) v. Braga (António Salvador da Costa Rodrigues)

Monday, October 1st @ 7:45 PM — Académica (José Eduardo da Cruz Simões) v. Leixões (Carlos Oliveira)

**Completely off topic observational rant alert** *WOOP WOOP* – Apparently whomever produced this year’s MTV Video Music Awards (better known as the flaming train wreck aboard the Titanic) was summarily fired and found a new job producing MLS games. I watched a good chunk (aka whatever part didn’t interfere with Grey’s Anatomy) of the match last night and was appalled at how much the game felt like Vince McMahon’s failed experiment with the XFL. What’s with the asinine camera angles and quad-split screen views? This poor, gimmicky camera work is particularly annoying when there’s buildup around the top of the penalty area. I can’t see ANYTHING! The whole thing with the crappy camera work felt like they were trying to make up for a boring product on the field. Also, do away with the on-field interviews with NASCAR drivers. What marketing genius thought that the audiences/demographics for the MLS and NASCAR actually intersect anywhere on a Venn Diagram?

The XFL tried gimmicks and crazy camera angles to make up for what they knew was a sub par on field product. If the MLS and ESPN don’t want to go down that awful road, and in order to further the work of football/soccer missionaries in America, they ought to start presenting the product as if it’s at least in the same universe as its superior cousins across the pond and down the Rio Grande.