October 24, 2004: The Battle of the Buffet

October 24, 2004: The Boston Red Sox take a 2-games-to-0 lead in the World Series with a 6-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Park. Curt Schilling, again wearing the Bloody Sock, gets the win. Orlando Cabrera‚ Mark Bellhorn‚ and Jason Varitek each drive in a pair of runs.

But, as disgusting as the Red Sox cheating their way to another win was, that wasn't the most disgusting sporting event that happened on this day. Not by a long shot.

Arsenal Football Club, of North London, had gone 49 straight Premier League games without a loss, a record streak for top-flight English "football" dating back to the founding of The Football League in 1888. Arsenal F.C. hadn't lost since Yorkshire team Leeds United beat them on May 7, 2003 -- 536 days. That included the entire 2003-04 season, making Arsenal the only "Invincibles" of the modern era.

Making it 50 straight games without a loss would have been great semantically, but more important was who they were playing in Game 50: They went into Old Trafford, home of the other dominant team of the era, Manchester United. Either Arsenal or Man U had won the last 9 League titles, and 13 of the last 16.

The game was scoreless going into the 72nd minute (out of 90, so, 80 percent done), mainly because

United's players, particularly the Neville brothers -- right back Gary and midfielder Phil, not the singing Neville brothers of New Orleans -- were kicking Gunners forward José Antonio Reyes into oblivion, rendering him too timid to shoot. He was, literally, intimidated.

In addition, United's Dutch striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy -- nicknamed Van Horseface due to an uncanny facial resemblance to Seattle Slew -- had a challenge on Arsenal defender Ashley Cole that was clearly worthy of a straight red card. So the Red Devils should have been down to no more than 10 men, possibly as few as 8.

But the referee for this game was Mike Riley, and he hates Arsenal. He gave only 2 cards to United throughout the match, a yellow each to the Neville brothers. Indeed, van Nistelrooy was retroactively given the punishment he would have gotten if, in fact, he had received a straight red during the game: 3 domestic games. (2 yellows, which equal 1 red, would have been a mere 1-game suspension.)

In that 72nd minute, United's young striker, Wayne Rooney, on his 19th birthday, executed a blatant dive in the 18-yard box, going down without being touched, in an attempt to be awarded a penalty kick. Instead of properly giving him a straight red card and sending him off, Riley called a foul on Arsenal defender Sol Campbell, who never even touched Rooney. It was a completely bogus call, and Riley awarded a penalty, which van Nistelrooy converted. Rooney added another goal that he didn't deserve to even be on the pitch for, in the 90th minute, and United had unfairly won, 2-0.

In contrast to the 2 yellow cards on United, Riley had actually given Arsenal 3 yellow cards -- and the alleged penalty foul by Campbell wasn't one of them.

The fireworks for this most dubious of games in the long and fractious history of Arsenal-Manchester United matches were hardly over at the final whistle. Despite being teammates on the national side, Campbell refused to shake Rooney's hand, a deserved mark of disrespect. Entering the tunnel to head to the locker rooms, United manager Alex Ferguson was hit in the face by a slice of pizza from the postgame spread in Arsenal's locker room.

The game became known as "The Battle of the Buffet" -- a 1990 match between the teams, featuring a fight, had already been given the name "The Battle of Old Trafford" -- and, as it turned out, the Arsenal player who threw the slice was 17-year-old Spanish midfield wizard Cesc Fàbregas. As it also turned out, this, not anything he did on the field from 2003 to 2011, was the best thing Fàbregas did in an Arsenal uniform.

In 2009, Mike Riley was appointed the general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the governing body for English soccer referees. Arsenal have not won the Premier League since 2004. That is not a coincidence, although Riley's influence over such corrupt referees as Mike Dean, Howard Webb, Phil Dowd, Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver is just one reason. (UPDATE: He stepped down in 2023.)

*

October 24, 2004 was a Sunday. The NBA season didn't start for another 9 days. The NHL players were locked out by the team owners, and, eventually, the entire 2004-05 season was canceled. These NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants lost to the Detroit Lions, 28-13 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets lost to their arch-rivals, the New England Patriots, 13-7 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Buffalo Bills, 20-6 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Carolina Panthers, 17-6 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Chicago Bears, 19-7 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the St. Louis Rams, 31-14 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Cleveland Browns, 34-31 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field). Jeff Garcia sent the game to overtime with a 4-yard quarterback draw for the Browns, but David Akers kicked a 50-yard field goal with 5:02 left in overtime to win it for the Eagles.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Indianapolis Colts, 27-24 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Josh Scobee kicked a 53-yard field goal with 38 seconds left to win it.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 41-20 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Tennessee Titans, 20-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Atlanta Falcons, 56-10 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Yes, you read that right: Fifty-six to ten.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Seattle Seahawks, 25-17 at Sun Devil Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Oakland Raiders, 31-26 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum).

* The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Denver Broncos, 23-10 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* And the Houston Texans, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the San Francisco 49ers and the Washington Redskins had a bye week.

August 15, 2011: The Summer of Arsenal's Discontent

Cesc Fàbregas, 2005

August 15, 2011: The great plan that Arsène Wenger, manager of Arsenal Football Club, began 6 years earlier comes crashing down. And the worst Summer of his tenure with the North London soccer team would get even worse.

Francesc Fàbregas Soler was born on May 4, 1987 in Arenys de Mar, Catalonia, Spain. "Cesc" was the midfielder that his hometown club, F.C. Barcelona, didn't want, and Wenger bought him dirt cheap. He built his team around Cesc, dismantling the 2004 "Invincible" team in the process. He built a team of very young players, with the idea of "If you are good enough, you are old enough." He took this young team from the old stadium, Highbury, built in 1913, and moved it into the new Emirates Stadium in 2006.

This transition from veterans to youth, and in particular building around Cesc, was the biggest mistake of Wenger's career. To borrow words Wenger likes to use, Cesc had "the quality" to be one of the greatest players in soccer, but he did not have "the mental strength."

Although he put on some spectacular moves and scored some great goals -- such as an absolute stunner against arch-rival Tottenham on Halloween 2009, just 45 seconds after a Robin van Persie goal -- he got hurt frequently, probably costing Arsenal the 2007 and 2011 League Cup Finals.

He and van Persie helped Arsenal win the FA Cup as reserves in their 1st full season, 2004-05, and they reached the 2006 Champions League Final, but losing to Barcelona. But, between the two of them, they won nothing more for Arsenal: They finished 2nd in the League in 2008, and reached the Semifinals of both the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League in 2009, but got no closer to significant honors.

Barça, always media-savvy, had articles and columns printed suggesting that Cesc was merely on loan to Arsenal, was homesick there, and that it was his destiny to return to his hometown, to his original club -- which had gotten rid of him without realizing what he could be, much as Feyenoord of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, had done with van Persie.

Cesc was a member of the Spain team that won Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup, and Euro 2012. But at the celebration for the 2010 World Cup in Madrid, the Spain team's Captain, Carles Puyol, also Barcelona's Captain, put a Barcelona jersey on Cesc, over his Spain jersey. And another of Spain's Barça players, Andres Iniesta, called him "The future of Spain, the future of Barcelona" at that ceremony -- in Madrid, where Barça are despised.

And he let them, even though his contract with Arsenal ran 2 more years. In a 2011 Champions League match, he passed not to an Arsenal teammate, but to a Barcelona player, setting up their winning goal.

It was not his last piece of treachery, not his last gift to his once-and-future teammates. Accusations of secret meetings between Cesc and Barça, a.k.a. "tapping-up," abounded. At the dawn of the 2011-12 season, he went on strike, pretending to be injured until he got sold back to Barça. He turned up at a tennis tournament in Spain, appearing not to be injured. For this poisoning the atmosphere at the club, I called him "Cesc Mustardgas."

On July 4, left back Gaël Clichy was sold to Manchester City for £7 million. He was supposed to be the successor to Ashley Cole, after "Cashley" had whined his way across town to free-spending West London team Chelsea.

On July 31, hosting the Emirates Cup tournament, Arsenal lost 19-year-old rising star Jack Wilshere for the season with a broken ankle. He was never the same player. And an own goal in the 84th minute forged a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls, featuring former Arsenal star Thierry Henry. Since club rules mandate at least 10 seasons' service, and Henry had only played 8 seasons for Arsenal, this would be the closest thing to a testimonial that they could give him.

On August 15, Arsenal bowed to the seemingly inevitable. After getting Fàbregas from Barcelona for free 8 years earlier, he was sold to them for £35 million.

More was to come. The next day, popular but inconsistent right back/winger Emmanuel Eboué was sold to Galatasaray of Istanbul, Turkey for £4 million. On August 24, Samir Nasri, a French winger who seemed to play well with Fàbregas, but listlessly without him, was sold to Manchester City for £25 million. Arsenal now had an extra £71 million, but were missing 4 key players, 5 if you count the occasionally effective Eboué.

Arsenal's start to the season couldn't have been much worse. They opened the Premier League season with a 0-0 draw away to Newcastle United. Liverpool came into the Emirates, and beat them, 2-0. And then, on August 28, Arsenal went to Old Trafford to play Manchester United, who were coming off a season where they won the Premier League and reached the Champions League Final. United were at full strength.

Arsenal were not. Fàbregas, Nasri and Clichy had been sold; while goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, usual starting right back Bacary Sagna and centreback Thomas Vermaelen were injured. With 6 players who should have started either sold or injured, Arsenal fell behind 2-0 in the 1st half-hour, allowed 3 goals in a 6-minute stretch in the 2nd half, had emergency right back Carl Jenkinson sent off with a 2nd yellow card in the 77th minute, and lost, 8-2, their goals coming from Theo Walcott and van Persie. The jokes immediately followed: "I'd 8-2 be an Arsenal fan now."

Wenger had brought in reinforcements. The aforementioned Jenkinson had been brought in from Southeast London team Charlton Athletic for £1 million, and turned out to be a good backup. Winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was bought from South Coast team Southampton for £12 million, and he became a good backup. Striker Joel Campbell came from Costa Rica for £1 million.

Left wing Gervinho, of the African nation of the Ivory Coast, came from French team Lille for £10 million. Quickly, to the tune of "Volaré," Arsenal fans began comparing him to Fernando Torres, who had been sold by Liverpool to Cheslea for £50 million: "Gervinho, whoa! Gervinho, whoa! He scores more than Torres! For 40 million less!" But his defining feature was his rather large cranium: "Gervinho, whoa! Gervinho, whoa! His forehead is immense! He'll rip up your defense!"

But after a good start, he "lost his shooting boots." He had this nasty habit of getting within shooting range, or within passing range of a teammate in shooting range, and then hesitating, and then making a bad pass. It got to the point where someone watching a game with me for the first time would think his full name was "Gervinho What the Hell!" I wanted him to succeed at Arsenal, but he just didn't. After 2 poor seasons, Arsenal sold him at a loss to Italian team AS Roma. He did help his country win the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

On August 31, the final day of the transfer window, Wenger brought in 4 players, in what was largely seen as a "panic buy." Midfielder Mikel Arteta was signed from Everton for £10 million, affecting the club in ways that couldn't yet be guessed. Israeli midfielder Yossi Benayoun was brought in on loan for the season from Chelsea. These acquisitions would shore up the losses of Fàbregas and Nasri.

Needing size in central defense, the 6-foot-6 Per Mertesacker was signed from German team Werder Bremen for £8 million, and "the Big Fucking German" proved very popular among Arsenal fans. Left back André Santos was brought in from Istanbul team Fenerbahçe for £6 million. He would not prove to be popular.

So, 4 players out, 7 players in, and Wenger made a profit of £23 million. Given that the debt for the new stadium had not yet been paid off, this was clever management. But would there be the necessary results on the pitch?

After a week off for an international break, or an "interlull," as Arseblog author Andrew Mangan called it, Arsenal beat Swansea City at home, 1-0. But they lost 4-3 away to Blackburn Rovers. They beat Bolton Wanderers at home, 3-0, then lost away to arch-rival Tottenham, 2-1. Played 7, won 2, drawn 1, lost 4. As late as the last day of the next interlull, October 15, they had won just 7 out of a possible 21 points. They were in 15th place out of 20. The season was 1/6th over, and they were in danger of being relegated.

But they only lost 1 of their next 12 League games, including winning their next 5. A 3-game losing streak in January was followed by a 7-game winning streak. That put them back into a chance for the PL's CL places. A run of a loss and 3 draws put that back in jeopardy, but a hard-fought win away to West Bromwich Albion on the final day preserved a 3rd-place finish and a place in the 2012-13 Champions League.

Back to August 2011: Once the sale of Fàbregas to Barcelona happened, his injury was magically cured. He reported to the Catalan club, and played in their next La Liga game. With them, he won Spain's Copa del Rey in 2012 and La Liga in 2013.

But by 2014, having got what they wanted from him, Barça had frozen him out. Many Arsenal fans begged Wenger to take him back. He refused: Loyalty matters, and Cesc had stabbed him in the back. So Cesc went for the money, signing with Chelsea. He won 2 Premier League titles in 3 years with the corrupt Stamford Bridge club.

More than Ashley Cole, Aliaksandr Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie and Alexis Sánchez, Cesc Fàbregas is the great unfaithful servant of Arsenal's history.

*

August 15, 2011 was a Monday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. A.J. Burnett was the winning pitcher. Derek Jeter went 3-for-4 with a stolen base and 3 RBIs. Alex Rodriguez did not play.

* The New York Mets beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at Petco Park in San Diego. The winning run was scored in the top of the 10th: Scott Hairston grounded to short, and the fielder's choice allowed Jason Pridie to score.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-4 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-6 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-0 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. Randy Wolf pitched 8 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, and John Axford finished the 7-hit shutout.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Florida Marlins, 7-4 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-4 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum).

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

* And the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Washington Nationals were not scheduled.

March 8, 2011: Robbery at the Camp Nou

March 8, 2011: If the disgrace in Newcastle 31 days earlier wasn’t bad enough, Arsenal are robbed by the officials again, this time at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, in a UEFA Champions League Round of 16 match. FC Barcelona were hosting North London team Arsenal, and Arsenal were leading from the 1st Leg, 2-1.

Arsenal, as is usually the case at this point in the season, were staggered with injuries: Centreback Thomas Vermaelen was replaced by Johan Djourou, midfielder Aaron Ramsey was replaced by the useless Abou Diaby, and, after only 19 minutes, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny got hurt, and had to be replaced by Manuel Almunia, by this point known to Arsenal fans as "The Clown."

Barca, meanwhile, were missing defenders Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué, but had the usual offensive suspects all available: Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, David Villa and Sergio Busquets.

In spite of this, the Gunners held Barça off until injury time of the first half, when Arsenal Captain Cesc Fàbregas sent a what-the-hell backheel pass toward Jack Wilshere, but it ended up at Iniesta, who passed to Messi, who put the ball in the net.

Fàbregas, a Barcelona native who'd been purchased by Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger from Barça's youth system, had been "tapped up" by various Barça players and officials, and it seemed only a matter of time before he "went home." Lots of Arsenal fans -- myself included -- considered The Backheel to be his "Manchurian Candidate" moment.

But that wasn't the biggest problem -- far from it.  Not one, not two, but three times, a Barça player grabbed an Arsenal player by the throat: Eric Abidal on Robin van Persie, Dani Alves on Samir Nasri, and Victor Valdés on Nasri.  And there is photographic evidence that referee Massimo Busacca saw at least two of these despicable Catalan actions.

Did he issue straight red cards to the offending players? Did he issue yellow cards as a caution? Did he so much as say, "You can't do that, do it again and you're out of here?" As they say in English soccer circles, Did he fuck! 

There was a player sent off by Busacca. It was van Persie. Early in the game, the Dutch striker committed a stupid foul on Alves, and rightly got a yellow card. In the 56th minute, just after a messed-up attempt to clear a corner resulted in an own goal by Busquets, making the aggregate score 3-2 in Arsenal's favor, Busacca blew his whistle, because he judged the ball to be out of play.

RVP did not hear the whistle, and kicked the ball right afterward. Busacca gave him a second yellow card for this, and that's equal to a red card. Arsenal would have to play the last 34 minutes (plus stoppage time) of their biggest game of the season thus far not just as 10 vs. 11 (or 10 vs. 12, considering Busacca), but without their best offensive player.

Interviewed by Sky Sports after the match, van Persie said, "How can I hear a whistle with 90,000 people jumping up? How to God can I hear that? The referee has been a joke all evening, I don’t know why he is even here. These people are unbelievable."

In the 69th, Xavi scored to make it 3-3 overall, and in the 71st, Barça were (rightly, I'm afraid) awarded a penalty, and Messi hammered it past the hapless Almunia to make it 4-3. But in the 87th, Wilshere sent a pass to substitute forward Nicklas Bendtner that Bendtner could well have put in the net, tying the two-legged tie 4-4 and giving it to Arsenal, 2-1 on away goals. But he muffed his chance, and Barça went through -- and went on to win the tournament.

That bogus sendoff changed history, at least in the short term. Had Arsenal been allowed to keep 11 men on the pitch, even if Barça scored the 3rd and 4th goal, it might have been RVP who got the late chance, and buried it, and Arsenal would have gone through, and, with the Final in London at Wembley Stadium, might have won the whole damn thing -- even if it was Manchester United they would have had to face in the Final.

And then van Persie likely would have stayed more than just the one more season, and Nasri wouldn't have left, either. Granted, Fàbregas still would have gone, but at least he would have stayed long enough to lift the European Cup as Captain of Arsenal. And Arsenal, not Chelsea a year later, would have been the first London team to win the European Cup.

But UEFA wanted Barça -- known to its critics as "UEFAlona" -- to win, and so Arsenal got screwed.

UPDATE: In 2024, Dani Alves, one of the Barcelona throat-grabbers from this game, was convicted of rape in Spain, and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.

*

March 8, 2011 was a Tuesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. American-style football was out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Washington Wizards, 95-76 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 101-87 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Miami Heat, 105-96 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami. Dwyane Wade led all scorers on the day with 38 points.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 95-85 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Indiana Pacers, 110-100 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets, 113-110 at the US Airways Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

And there were 9 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum. Blake Comeau scored the winning goal with 58 seconds left in overtime.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Ottawa Senators, 2-1 at the Prudential Center.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-1 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 at the Bank Atlantic Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1 at the Consol Energy Center (now the PPG Paints Arena) in Pittsburgh.

* And the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-3 at the Jobing.com (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Dan Hamhuis scored the winning goal with 2:47 left in overtime.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Nashville Predators, 3-2 at the HP Pavilion at San Jose (now the SAP Center). Patrick Marleau scored the winning goal with 1:26 left in overtime.