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The Final Horne: Excited by last day of Premier League Soccer, no really!

The Final Horne with James D. HorneClarksville, TN – I really can’t tell you much about the history of English Soccer, Spanish Soccer and really for American Soccer for that matter.

I know that internationally we’re OK, but we’re more like a perennial playoff team than a championship contender and that’s OK.

I  know that ManU or Manchester United is considered the most popular soccer team in the world and thus the most hated. But I also know that Real Madrid is pretty god as is FC Barcelona.

Additionally with ManU, they are owned by the Glazer family, the same group that owns my Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are one of the reasons the NFL now plays in London.

I also know about Pele, Maradona, Ronaldo and David Beckham, and that it is fun sometimes to watch games on Spanish-language TV because of the ‘GOOOOAAAAALLLLL’ call by their announcers, but really that’s it.

But I also understand what a great finish is and that’s what the world saw Sunday when long-time doormat Manchester City won the Premier League title in dramatic fashion by getting two goals in stoppage, or injury time, to beat QPR 3-2 and win its first league championship in 44 years.

The win lifted Manchester City past their hated and in-town rival ManU, which would be like the Mets beating the Yankees or the White Sox beating the the Cubbies in the World Series, the Clippers beating the Lakers in the NBA Western Conference Finals or the Islanders beating the Rangers for a Stanley Cup.

Of course it’s the way ManCity won that makes it even more movie worthy, because in the stadium in Sunderland was rival ManU thinking after their 1-0 win over Sunderland that there was no way ManCity would come back from a 2-1 deficit forced on them because of QPR’s goal in the 66th minute.

But then Edin Dzeko surprisingly tied  it in the 90th minute and Sergio Agüero amazingly won it in the 94th minute and history was made.

For us this is equatable to the Miracle on Ice and the U.S. Hockey Team’s win over the USSR or Reggie Miller hitting the three 3-pointers he did in nine seconds against the New York Knicks.

I love sports and if you’re reading this I figure you love sports, too, and this win by ManCity was just another one of those reminders why sports is so much fun.

James D. Horne
James D. Hornehttp://www.clarksvillesportsnetwork.com/
James D. Horne began his writing career at the Carrollton Missouri Democrat in 1995, and was the assistant sports editor/writer for the Hammond Louisiana Daily Star for two years.  In 1998, Horne became the Missouri Basketball beat writer for the Columbia Daily Tribune. He joined The Leaf-Chronicle in Oct. 2003 as the lead prep writer and became the Austin Peay beat writer in March of 2005. During his career he won a state association sports writing award at the Daily Star and two while at the Leaf-Chronicle. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Horne earned his B.A in communications from Central Methodist University in Fayette Missouri.
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