(Get) A Sporting Life

It looked dicey for about 15 minutes, but Notts County was able to secure a 1-1 draw against Oldham.  It turned out Tranmere wound up losing 2-1, so it didn't matter too much. Though there was a moment in the second half when Tranmere was up, Crewe was up, and Notts was down. At that point I needed a sedative. All's well that end's well. So they say.

So, it has all come down to this in League One. Notts County need one point, one measly little point, to assure survival. (OK, OK, technically  they could be caught. But Tranmere would have to win thier game by 14 goals. I'll take my chances.) The games that matter: Oldham v. Notts County Crewe v. Preston Tranmere v. Bradford Crewe and Tranmere are both at home, and Notts is one the road. That's bad. Notts has the far superior goal differential. That's good. In the early minutes Crewe and Tranmere have gotten early leads. That's bad. In the early minutes Notts and Oldham are still tied. That's good. It's gonna be a long 90 minutes or so.

Uh oh.  This ain't good : Magpies chairman Ray Trew has said the budget will be cut by 30% next season, but Kiwomya was not fazed by that. "I have no problem with that," Kiwomya said. "The budget is what it is It makes a little bit difficult but I still think I can make us competitive in this league. My glass is always half full." Well, it isn't exactly "League 2 here we come" time, but I think we can forget about a Championship challenge anytime soon. Damn.

If the first couple months are any indication Notts County may very well be on their way to the Championship next year. Given the sheer number of changes the team underwent this summer (which, to be fair, seems to be par for the course at this level) I had my doubts as to the ability of the squad to gel early on. However, gel they have and the results are following. Optimism: Its what's for dinner.

Here's hoping this is the start of someting good: Carlisle 0 - 3 Notts County Notts County got their season off to a terrific start with a comfortable win at Carlisle. The hosts started in lackadaisical fashion and fell behind when Jeff Hughes struck from close range. Francois Zoko headed past his own keeper to double the Magpies' advantage before Lee Hughes capitalised on poor defending to make it 3-0 at half-time. County had been pretty active this summer, so I had some optimism going into this season. Of course, last year the Magpies started brightly as well, so I won't be getting ahead of myself.

Last day of the season finds Notts County fending off relegation by the skin of its teeth. After 59 minutes Notts is level with top of the table Brighton 1-1 thanks to a vital own goal. Elsewhere Notts needs Dang & Red or Walsall to drop points. Dag & Red are down 0-1 to Peterborough, and Walsall is down 1-2 to Southampton. That would be enough to stay up. I'll be biting nails for the next 30 minutes.

The string of away fixtures is beginning to catch up with Notts County as they dropped a 2-nil decision to Orient yesterday. Luckily for Notts, lots of other teams dropped points as well. As of right now the magic number of points needed by Notts County to avoid relegation is: 30 (down 2!) The teams most in danger of making the drop are: Plymouth Bristol Rovers Walsall Swindon

...one of those shitty shitty days that makes you question why anyone would ever want to have a rooting interest in sports. It's only 1:24PM and already: Notts County has lost 2-0 to Leyton Orient. The Blues are down 3-0 to the Islanders, and look somnambulant. Missouri lost (again) to Kansas. SLU is down seven to Xavier halfway thru the first half. (Prelude to an ass kicking?) Hell, even the West Coast Eagle got beat down by Collingwood. Oh well...

Notts County drew 1-1 at Brentford today, which isn't a terrible result particularly when you learn the Pies had not one, but two players sent off during the match AND gave up a penalty in injury time which Brentford missed. Not ideal, but I'll take it. The results from today lead us to... As of right now the magic number of points needed by Notts County to avoid relegation is: 32 (down 3!) The teams most in danger of making the drop are: Plymouth Bristol Rovers Walsall Swindon

As of right now the magic number of points needed by Notts County to avoid relegation is: 35 The teams most in danger of making the drop are: Plymouth Walsall Swindon Bristol Rovers The Magpies could still have something to say about the promotion races if they can win their games in hand.

I suppose I should just be thankful this is a game I get to see. It isn't too often any League One side finds itself on American television. That it is a match the Pies have almost no chance of winning should probably be beside the point. Not that that will be a comfort if City thumps them well and good. Still, the game is 43 minutes old and Notts is playing great. They are down 1 nil, but it could easily be 1-1 (Notts hit the post early on, and they just had a glorious chance in the 44th minute as I type this.) Gow, in particular, looks great. Keep it up you Pies! UPDATE: After 62 minutes: Man City 2 - 0 Notts County Notts is still playing pretty well, but set pieces have killed them. I'm just hoping they can find the back of the net at least once. UPDATE: The bottom has fallen out. Man City 5 - 0 Notts County Its too bad, the score line in no way reflects the actual game. It really flatters Man City.

Well, not everything is lost : Notts County eased any relegation fears with a comfortable win over Colchester. The U's David Mooney went close early on as his 25-yard chip beat Magpies goalkeeper Stuart Nelson, only to clip the post and bounce wide. Notts then wrested control of the game and went ahead when Alan Gow set free Craig Westcarr, who poked the ball past Mark Cousins and tapped home. It was 2-0 soon afterwards when Nathan Clarke deflected Connor Clifford's corner into his own net. It wasn't that there was a credible relegation fear really, but there were a couple poor performances of late. The Pies may be only 4 points above the drop zone, but because of all the crappy weather this winter they have four games in hand on both Swindon and Walsall. Notts have only one game in hand on Dag & Red, but they are 7 points back. As for Bristol Rovers, the less said the better. Next up is the FA Cup replay at Manchester City. That could get ugly, but the payday should b...

When it comes to the sporting world no one has ever confused me for an optimist. Where some see the glass half full, I see dangerous glass shards which will be used to rip out the eyes of the high scoring winger carrying my favorite team. So, as you can imagine, my choosing to write a sports blog is more like therapy than anything else. It gives me a chance to vent, or hyperventilate, depending on my mood of course. However, every so often one or more of the teams I follow begins to put things together. Right now I have the good fortune to have two teams doing that, which is sort of difficult for a curmudgeon. The Blues have won five in a row, and have generally played real well since their defensive corps all got healthy. Obviously, Roman Polak is a huge part of the Blues success. The Blues are 9-2-2 this season when Polak is in the lineup. When you compare that to the record when the Blues' seventh defenseman (Tyson Strachan) plays (9-8-2) the difference is remarkable. With Polak...

And I don't mean the usual winter weather we experience here in Wisconsin (state motto "We do nothing but drink beer and eat cheese and brats because its winter six months of the year you jackwagon"). No, its the weather in England that is annoying the hell out of me, especially since the UK can be absolutely crippled by 4 inches of snow. Well, they have had much more than 4 inches lately, the result of which is a slew of cancelled fixtures. My Notts County has played only once in nearly three weeks. Even the EPL, with its fancier turf managing systems, was decimated this weekend with only two matches being played one of which will not be the Chelsea v. Man U. game today. It has gotten so bad I may be forced to desperate measures. Yes, that is right. Watching the NFL. Luckily I have beer, cheese and brats.

A busy week means I'm a little late with this, but Notts County won the League Two Championship on Tuesday with a 5-0 thumping of lowly Darlington. Today they thumped almost as lowly Cheltenham 5-0. That is the way to say adieu to League Two.

Notts going up : Notts County secured promotion to League One after a six-year absence with a comfortable win over Morecambe. The League Two leaders underlined their title credentials with three goals in the opening 20 minutes. Lee Hughes guided home Craig Westcarr's cross, Ricky Ravenhill netted with a superb 20-yard effort and Hughes then converted Ben Davies' free-kick. Graham Parker once sang the definition of the "lunatic fringe" was to be relegated to the third division. What does it mean when you are promoted to the third division? On the table Notts is top by one point with five to play, plus they have a game in hand. Got to keep winning to take the league championship. We might as well as we are here already.

Holy jumpin ! County goes up by one point with 6 fixtures to go. They also have a game in hand. Promotion to League One is all but assured.

Notts County have won four in a row under new manager Steve Cotterill. This puts the Magpies in a fantastic position to win automatic promotion to League One next season. League Two Standings: Team P GD PTS 1 Rochdale 34 39 69 2 Bournemouth 35 8 63 3 Bury 35 5 61 4 Notts County 32 41 60 5 Chesterfield 35 8 60 6 Rotherham 33 8 56 7 Shrewsbury 35 7 55 8 Northampton 35 7 52 9 Aldershot 34 7 51 10 Dag & Red 34 4 51 11 Port Vale 35 6 49 12 Burton Albion 34 2 49 13 Morecambe 34 5 48 14 Accrington 32 -2 47 15 Crewe 35 0 46 16 Bradford 34 -6 43 17 Barnet 34 -9 38 18 Hereford 34 -15 38 19 Torquay 35 -3 36 20 Macclesfield 34 -9 36 21 Lincoln City 34 -20 35 22 Cheltenham 34 -16 31 23 Grimsby 35 -23 27 24 Darlington 32 -44 16 So, at this moment they are sitting one point out with three games in hand. It's an enviable position, to be sure, but it is hard to get too excited when it seems likely Notts will not be allowed to keep its core players for next season . So, the jump up will, in all ...

The Magpies are having a tough go of it today. I have to imagine the spirit in the club is low, given all of the off-the-field trials. Fulham up 2 at the half. UPDATED: Fulham 4 - 0 Notts County Valiant run ending in naught. Maybe like the entire existence of the club?

Notts County plays Fulham tomorrow in the 5th round of the FA Cup tomorrow, and I expect them to get absolutely drilled. Notts had been having their finest season in a decade, but the wheels have fallen off the club. Old investors turned out to be con-artists who have, basically, bankrupted the club; ol' Sven hung around as long as he could, but that only turned out to be six months; new owner seems committed to keeping the club out of administration (which is good), but seems to envision them as a permanent 3 or 4 division side (which is totally fucking unacceptable.) It's one thing to support a side that is down of their luck, but which had a history of some success and the prospect of getting back to successful ways one day. It's another thing to be supporting the equivalent of Dag & Red. I mean, if I was living in Nottingham supporting the local side even though they always offer an inferior product would be fine. But, I don't live in Nottingham. I live in the ...