If you’re talking about international soccer in the truly international sense, the sport’s capital could probably be said to reside on a lush, extravagantly wealthy and previously unmapped island located somewhere between Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro, with a private landing strip reserved for Lionel Messi whenever he cares to visit. But with all due respect and apologies to Spain’s top-heavy and talent-rich La Liga a case could be made that England’s Premier League is, for lack of a less redundant phrasing, the sport’s premier league, at least in terms of global following, as well as the top-tier players employed there and their top-tier paychecks. So it could be argued that the city that rules the EPL rules global soccer. And while Sunday was just one day, it was a day that also seemed to signal, strongly, that the seat of power in Premier League soccer had moved a couple hundred miles to the north.
“Manchester became the capital of English football, with [Manchester] City crushing Tottenham 5-1 at White Hart Lane and then United winning 8-2 to condemn Arsenal to their biggest loss since 1927,” the Independent’s Tim Rich writes. “By the end, both Manchester clubs were leading the Premier League with a combined goal difference of +19 after three matches, while only a last-minute goal for Stoke at West Bromwich Albion prevented Arsenal from joining Tottenham in the relegation zone.”
It’s cold comfort to some shivering fans, but not all of this can be attributed to the ineptitude of Tottenham and Arsenal. The EPL’s twin Mancunian powerhouses have looked brilliant so far, and this year’s model at United is looking like a team that could both make history and hurt some feelings. Even in context, Manchester United’s victory was remarkable. “Arsenal might be a shadow of its former self. … But this was still an eye-opening, rollicking and monumental signal of intent for the campaign,” Yahoo’s Martin Rogers writes. “It does seem right now as if there are two outstanding teams in the EPL – and they are situated just down the road from each other.” ESPN’s Mark Payne was more succinct in regards to United’s showing. “This is officially the match where it became impossible to remain calm about what United can achieve this season,” he wrote.
Which is all very nice for Manchester United, of course. It doesn’t make things any easier for the team on the short side of that lopsided result, even if the spectacular loss in question – it was the first time in a century that Arsenal had allowed eight goals – came as a result of being outclassed by a spectacular team. In the end, Arsenal deserved its loss as much as United deserved its win. “In the hard-nosed world of American gridiron, they call what Manchester United did to Arsenal running up the score,” The Independent’s James Lawton writes. ” Unfortunately, yesterday, United were not given a whole lot of alternatives.”
After losing stars Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in the transfer market and enduring a raft of suspensions and injuries to critical players, Arsenal was clearly a team in transition. But a loss like this was painful enough to cast into doubt whether legendary Gunners coach Wenger could survive. “Wenger is a strong character – no one who survives at the helm of a Premier League side for a decade and a half could be anything else,” the Guardian’s Richard Williams writes. “But in the wake of this defeat, you had to wonder whether he will be able to summon the resilience needed to overcome such a catastrophe. … When his side were invincible, Wenger was quite properly given the credit for his genius. Now failure must be laid at his door.”
* * *
For most sports fans, the names of the world’s fastest people are kicking around somewhere in the great, echoing space we reserve for recollection of stats and names and best-fill-in-the-blank-I-ever-saw moments. And then the Olympics come around, and we put faces to names like Asafa Powell and Lolo Jones. Usain Bolt, though, is different. He’s different because it’s difficult to think of a way in which his name could be more memorable, but also because the way in which the Jamaican sprinter has dominated and redefined the 100-meter distance is the sort of thing you just don’t forget. Bolt almost offhandedly smashed a world record in the 100 at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and continued at that pace for another year – until he abruptly seemed to lose his stride somewhat, due to injuries and things harder to identify.
“Who knows why Bolt hasn’t been like an Xbox monster for the last two years?” Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden writes. “If Bolt loses, he’s a two-year wonder, Flo-Jo doubled until further notice. If he wins, it’s one more step toward a long, dominant career, uninterrupted by failure when it counts most.”
At the world championships on Sunday, Bolt managed to do neither. A false start disqualified him from the 100-meter finals as part of the sport’s new, tougher rules.
“For Bolt, becoming a legend means consistent domination, meant defending his titles from Beijing and Berlin,” Christopher Clarey wrote in the New York Times. “As his sport debates anew the merits of the draconian false-start rule that came into force in 2010, Bolt will now have to settle for trying to defend his 200 title.” Between that and righting the ship after this peculiar period of drift, it looks like a challenge even for the world’s most memorable sprinter.
* * *
Right up until it didn’t, Javaris Crittenton’s career trajectory looked for all the world like that of a player destined for great things. A star prep point guard at Southwest Atlanta Christian high school, Crittenton carried a stellar reputation and a fine GPA into Georgia Tech, where he excelled on and off the floor during his sole season with the Yellow Jackets. He slid somewhat in the 2007 NBA draft, but he was still the 19th overall pick after just one year in college.
While he bounced around some after that, Crittenton could have had a solid career before his involvement in the ultra-stupid gun-related prank that nearly ruined Gilbert Arenas’s career sent him into a tailspin. Last weekend, things appeared to hit bottom when news broke that Crittenton was wanted for murder in his hometown, where police allege he killed a 23-year-old woman – an innocent bystander, as if that matters at all – in a drive-by shooting. (Crittenton’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, declined comment on the allegations.)
To call Crittenton’s descent puzzling and saddening doesn’t seem quite sufficient to the bleak, strange facts of the case. “There’s not a clear plot from there to here, even if you fill it in with injuries and one very public mistake turning a NBA backup role into a for-hire D-League career,” SB Nation’s Jason Kirk writes. “All we’re left to piece together is the story of a young man who quietly worked his [butt] off until he reached the highest point of his profession, then lost his mind as his career fell apart.”
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