Glory, glory: Spurs win

Despite the best efforts of the guys over at Eponymous and Ad Homonym, I've never really followed the Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club. It's not that I like the trendy teams of Man U or Chelsea, but I've just never found myself drawn to follow the Spurs for no real reason that I can put my finger on [a classic case of 'it's not you, it's me'].
However I did enjoy their game today against West Ham. Down 2-0, they rallied to pull even 2-2 in the 2nd half. A stunning West Ham goal by Zamora late in the game seemed to clinch a desperate 3-2 win for West Ham. And then...depending on whom you like, came either tragedy or a legendary comeback. A beautiful free kick goal with time expiring by Berbatov tied the game 3-3 with just 4 minutes left. West Ham, who were dying for a win, pushed too many men forward on a corner to defend a Spurs' counterattack. With seconds remaining Canadian Paul Scalteri easily placed a deflection from the West Ham keeper into an open net from 8 yards out, sealing not only a thrilling 4-3 rally but also West Ham's fate.

This was one of those classic English Premier League games, filled with world-class goals [free kicks by Berbatov and Tevez that literally made it by inches], hard challenges, inspired attacks, and excellent defending. There was even a red card for those who like that aspect of the game. Don't let the unusually-high score fool you; the defenders & keepers in this match were fantastic. The 2 goals off free kicks were unstoppable, and West Ham's 1st goal by Noble was one of the best 1-2 combos you'll see this month. Only the Canadian's winning goal was off of a keeper error. Some of the goals were truly spectacular.

As a background story West Ham was desperate to win this game to move out of the bottom of the standings. One of the unique aspects to the EPL is that at the end of the season the bottom three teams are relegated to the next lowest level of competition, called the Football League Championship. Since there are only 20 teams* in the EPL, the competition to avoid relegation is fierce. As these three teams are relegated down, so are three teams from the Football League Championship promoted to take their place. It's an interesting structure, one that creates unbelievable pressure on players, managers and owners. Unlike in America, the worst teams don't get the #1 pick in the next year's draft to help them out; the worst teams are removed from the competition and need to win there the next year just to get right back where they started. Add into all of this the diminished fan support for a non-EPL team and the superstars who'll quickly depart so they can remain in the EPL [thus saving their endorsement deals and name recognition] and you can see why relegation is often the kiss of death for some organizations.

All in all this was a fun and enjoyable match to watch, not only because of the abundance of goals but the fact that since I'm technically on spring break, I have nothing pressing for tomorrow, thus I could enjoy a rare Sunday off from work. I was just lucky that this game fell at the right time for me to enjoy.

Side note- will this game push me over into the Spurs' Cville cheering section? If they play as well as this game again it'll be hard not to support them....Though I do feel some allegiance to the Americans playing in the EPL and I want to support their teams as well...more on that later.

*Here are the current teams in the EPL: Arsenal | Aston Villa | Blackburn Rovers | Bolton Wanderers | Charlton Athletic | Chelsea | Everton | Fulham | Liverpool | Manchester City | Manchester United | Middlesbrough | Newcastle United | Portsmouth | Reading | Sheffield United | Tottenham Hotspur | Watford | West Ham United | Wigan Athletic