Personally I have already had a strange new year. Despite promising myself that I would never, ever, do it…. I actually ended up in Times Square (only because it was unusually warm this year) on a cold winter night to watch a several million multi-colored dollar ball drop (that looked more like a golf-ball) while herded into a no-alcohol roped off area like cats trying to get into a sardine can. (a word of warning to other would be square-goers, get there early… like maybe four-o’clock or mid day if you want a better view, there are bars in the square you can spend a lot of the afternoon in, but make sure you are not in one of the ones that are roped off just outside, festivities usually start at six and a few hours before this they start closing streets off one by one.).
But its also been a strange last few weeks for Sunderland supporters, with a series of unfortunate scorelines determining a chaotic start to the new year and 2005 that have left the lads wobbling like a big Christmas jelly at a time they should be getting ready to clean up their opposition. Certainly if Sunderland want to have a decent go at not being in the playoffs and yet still being promoted in the top two they are going to have to improve on their current run of form, but currently, thanks to an equally strange series of scorelines that have befallen SAFC’s current promotion rivals, Sunderland still have a good chance and it would not pay to start throwing in the towel just yet…. After all, all it would take would be a good run of games and we would be in with a shot at promotion.
League-tables and recent losses aside however, 2005 has also brought with it some good news for Sunderland supporters in the USA and Canada in that Setanta Sports; a company that I have much berated in this column, despite their policy of showing a live championship league match once in a blue moon (which is still better then not having any championship matches), has finally relinquished the idea that *maybe*, just maybe, there is a market for more live television appearances in the league outside of the premiership, and they are soon to start showing a minimum of two live Championship matches now a week. With Sunderland being so near the top of the table we can certainly expect plenty of red and white action in the Big apple in the second half of the study.
This needless to say is going to be very good news, they already show the hated ‘almost live’ games (a bit pointless) and also insist on charging bars extortionate amounts (and not by simply charging them either, they instill their own paid employees to the bars they choose and even then only allow a certain number of bars in a certain radius to have the games, thus making sure they have the monopoly with a maximum attendance and simultaneously do not have to pay more employees to collect their self imposed ‘beer tax’) to premiership and cup matches. However this act is certainly in the right direction and Setanta (who do not charge for the pub channel in which they will show these Championship games) is showing another small shift in the American ‘pay per view’ culture’ towards fan friendly television…. at least till SAFC are in the premiership and we have to pay their extornionate bar entrance fee.
-‘The Yankee Mackem’
If you or anyone you know is going to be around in NYC during this new year and want to talk to the New York Supporters then please send me a Personal Message to ‘The Yankee Mackem’ via the Ready to go Sunderland message board .