EPL Notes; Stoke Early Goal!

I'm writing as the game goes on which has become customary for me because FSC is not in HD where I am. If I watch from an angle sitting at my computer I can pretend it is. Watching it straight on is migraine inducing. I actually talked with a Time Warner rep about it on the phone (lack of HD for FSC not the migraine). She said she has no clue and she didn't even know about the TW iPhone app till the day it came out. So, if you are one of those trying to get info on when you are getting a specific channel? Don't waste your time.

Chelsea puring on the pressure against Stoke now.

In other news I found the Holy Grail Excel file for EA's FIFA 11. It has all 14,463 players and all info on each player (stats from start of the season). That's correct; fourteen thousand players and all traits, nationalities and ratings. Turns out that each player has 53 unique traits. I'm using it to create more depth to the career mode I'm deep into. Talk about a huge file and, needless to say, has a ton of fascinating info for me to dig into.

Ever wonder what percentage of players in the EPL are English born? 38% Lower then I expected. Add in the players from the British Isles and you get 52%. I checked out the Bundesliga for comparison; surprisingly almost exactly the same percentage of native born; 51.7%.

The EPL has players from 66 different countries across the globe. Bundesliga? 62. Remarkably similar.

And Chelsea levels. Booooo.

EPL has 10 US players, Bundesliga; 6.

The way I look at the similar nature between the two leagues comes in two forms:

1. Happened naturally.
2. Planned occurrence.

I can't think of what else it could be. Another surprising data point is that there are no, none, nil, zilch, English born players in the Bundesliga and Germans only have four in the EPL.

My own team in the fake world of FIFA 11 is mostly made up of foreign born players. I have added 3 from the US. Hesmer, Agudelo and a guy named Seb Harris who was part of the Cobblers when I started.