...and It's On

Just wanted to take a moment and acknowledge the fact that, with the start of the new Barclay's Premier League season, I've about spent 8 straight hours watching a white spherical thing get kicked around and I still have a couple more to go (hours and drinks, if I must).

10:00 AM: Liverpool v. Sunderland
Draw. 2 goals scored. I was re-calibrating my eyes to EPL pace the whole game. After brushing aside the tears of joy, double rainbows and Irish Coffee I think I witnessed Liverpool coming out of the gates guns ah blazing but Sunderland hanging in there. The consensus here at Helltown is that Liverpool will finish in the top 4. In the first 45 they showed that ability.

12:30 PM: Newcastle v. Arsenal
Draw. No goals scored. Barton goes all mental? Newcastle fans booo him. Arsenal looked very average in this game. Very. The league needs players like Barton. England needs a player like Barton. What does that country think soccer is anyway? Cricket? I heard those guys got number 1 in the world playing that sport today. You want gentlemen, watch Cricket. You want the opposite? watch soccer. I'm a dumb American and know this. Seriously. Newcastle locals boooing Barton? Where is a mirror.

2:uh something PM: Norwich v. Wigan
I liked this game. A lot. 1-1 Draw. Blood. Guts. Hard fought. Norwich Canaries pull out a point when I think they could have gotten 3. This was "English Football" as I've come to know it after doing some Football League watching over the past couple years. Hard tackling, opportunity driven, Route 1 soccer. Going to be fun to watch Norwich this year. Stoke game is going to be a big brother / little brother fist fight.

In other PL news, I heard Bolton beat up on QPR today, biggest time. Nice work!

EPL Stuff, Pitch Sizes

Searching around for stuff on the EPL today and found the "official" handbook on English teams. I found the management structure of each team interesting. Some teams are run like a typical company. By that I mean chief executive officers and, well, structure. Others are still run like a 1900 sports team. I am a bit conflicted on which I prefer. On one hand I like the idea of sportsmen running teams yet the other hand is telling me that any successful business endeavor isn't rocket science. Structure works. Teams that have it are doing well.

Among that and other things I went through every. single. team in England looking for pitch sizes. Why? the United game on today was a blowout, but I couldn't completely look away. So how did I spent my time? Well, looking up each and every single stadium in England. Yep, that's right.

Not all pitch sizes are listed and not all are accurate. I know pitch size can change season to season and can change depending on what you are looking at. The "official" handbook of the EPL didn't match anything, which I found interesting. Anyway, it's like baseball in a way. Only the grounds keeper on match day knows for sure.

I looked up 137 stadiums in England spanning about 7 leagues (sigh). Below are the top 5 with pitches larger then the normal.

Area:Team:Stadium:Yards
9690:AFC Bournemouth:Dean Court:114x85
9516:Chester:Exacta Stadium:122x78
9204:Dorchester Town:Avenue Stadium:118x78
9184:Ipswich Town:Portman Road:112x82
8970:Nottingham Forest:City Ground:115x78