Sports Desk- American Comes Through for Fulham

Even though there are seven American players in the English Premiere League and American teams have generally played competitively in World Cup play, the term American soccer star may still seem like a bit of an oxy moron in Europe.

But, today one American soccer star Clint Dempsey (pictured here) scored the lone goal in the late stages of the match to ensure a huge 1-0 upset for Fulham over visting Liverpool; Dempsey's goal came in the 84th minute of play as Liverpool was down a player due to a red card. The match was televised in America in the late afternoon (New York time) on ESPN-2.

On Saturday, ESPN-2 also televised Chelsea's 3-0 drubbing of New Castle. The game was much more competitive than the final score indicates. Didier Drogba, the sensational Ivory Coast national, hit an amazing header to give Chelsea the 1-0 lead in the 38th minute. His countrymen and Chelsea teammate Solomon Kalou scored in the 89th minute followed shortly thereafter by an extra-time goal from Daniel Sturridge.

Chelsea will play Spanish power Valencia in the UEFA Champions League tomorrow.

Tottenham continued their hot streak with their own 3-0 win over Bolton. Goals came from the young Welsh emerging superstar Gareth Bale. English players Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe added one goal each.

Tottenham feautres American goalie icon Brad Friedel, who is still playing at age
40. He has also played for Galatasaray (Turkey), the Columbus Crew (MLS) and Liverpool, among many other teams. The last part of his long career has been in the English Premiere League.

As for Bolton, the team features the EPL's only active Turkish player Tuncay Sanli, formerly of Fenerbahce, Galatasaray's main rival, and American player Stuart Holderly, formerly of the Houston Dynamo (MLS), so we wish them well.

In a low-scoring affair, Phil Jones, a 19-year-old English player, scored the lone goal in Manchester United's vital 1-0 win over Aston Villa.

Arsenal, a team that plays Greek powerhouse Olympiacos in the UEFA Champions League tomorrow, had no challenge from the struggling Wigan squad as they decimated them
4-0. Arsenal's goals came from Spanish national Mikhel Arteta, German player Thomas Vermoelen, Ivory Coast national Yao Gervinho and the Dutch superstar Robin van Persie, who has been scoring many goals all season in both domestic and UEFA play.

With a 5-1 win over Norwich, Manchester City remained on top of the English Premiere League standings, which currently stand this way:

1. Manchester City 38

2. Manchester United 22

3. Tottenham 31

4. Chelsea 28

5. Arsenal 26

Here is a complete list of the scores from domestic play in England:

Chelsea 3 New Castle 0

Tottenham 3 Bolton 0

Arsenal 4 Wigan 0

Stoke City 1 Everton 0

Wolverton 2 Sunderland 1

Manchester United 1 Aston Villa 0

Queen Park 1 West Brom. 1, tie

Machster City 5 Norwich 1

Blackburn 4 Swansea 2

Fulham 1 Liverpool 0

CLARIFCATION: Though we had the correct title for German filmmaker Werner Herzog's documentary in our entry last Tuesday, which is called "Death Row" in Europe, the title here in America, where the film about American death row inmates is called "Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life." It is now playing at theatres in major American cities.

Quote of the Day/Week- Werner Herzog

Today, we quip one of our favorite German film directors Werner Herzog as we conclude a month-long series-within-a-series dedicated to quotes from famous Germans.

While researching this, we found out that Herzog is the first film director to make a film on every continent, including Antartica!

The 69-year-old director has just completed work on a documentary called "Death Row" about death row inmates in America. The subject should be a unique one from Herzog's vantage point as many Europeans find the fact that America executes inmates extremely unsettling, while more than 50 percent of Americans seem to support capital punishment in spite of conclusive proof of wrongful executions.

(Full disclosure: I am highly opposed to capital punishment, and I am a long-time supporter of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty).

We get today's quote from the Les Blank documentary "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe," which was made in 1980 and originated from a bet that Herzog made with a then-unknown documentary filmmaker named Errol Morris, who has since become an Academy-Award winner. Morris's latest documentary "Tabloid" was an art-house hit earlier this year:

"If you want to do a film, then steal a camera, steal raw stock, sneak into a lab and just do it."


SIDEBAR ONE: We found out yesterday that actress Anne Hathaway, whom I have admired since she made the 2005 independent film "Havoc" and has since made box office successes, such as "The Devil Wears Prada," is getting engaged. We should wish the actress, who turned 29 earlier in the month well, but frankly we are as jealous as Daffy Duck! Assuredly, anyone wanting more info on Hathaway's personal life can watch "TMZ" as we are moving on to other things.

SIDEBAR TWO: This might seem like a headline from the fake news publication "The Onion," but it is in fact an actual headline from the current issue of "Seattle Weekly:" "The gay softball team that wasn't gay enough has reached a settlement."

Indeed, in 2008, the San Francisco-based gay softball team D2, which finished second at the Gay Softball World Series in Seattle, was disqualified because they allegedly had two or three bisexual or heterosexual players. We first heard about this from the same publication, and blogged about it last year (search our 'gay politics' tag to learn more).

Apparently, the matter went to court, and it has reached a binding resolution. We can imagine that this story may actually be a topic of discussion for both gay rights activist/sex advice columnist Dan Savage and a right-wing talking head,like Rush Limbaugh, who may use this as an example of extreme political correctness (but, I guess rebel-flag waving Confederate apologists in 2011 is ok?!),.......only in America!

Quote of the Week- Wim Wenders

Today's quote of the day is from the great German film director Wim Wenders, who like his contemporary Werner Herzog has directed both features and documentaries. Wenders, who is known for his film like "American Friend" (1977) with the late Dennis Hopper (pictured here), "Paris, Texas" (1984) and "Wings of Desire" (1987), currently has a 3-D documentary on modern dance called "Pina" showing in various parts of the world.

Here is his quote: "Film is a very, very powerful medium. It can either confirm the idea that things are wonderful the way they are, or it can reinforce the conception that things can be changed."

Special Quote of the Day- George Bernard Shaw

We continue our quotes from famous people from Ireland with a quip from author/playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) who penned "Pygmalion" which became the basis for the Broadway musical and film "My Fair Lady."

While we our quoting famous people from Ireland, we are listening to Mardi Gras music, including a great tune from Tom Waits, to commemorate today's festivities in New Orleans from WXDU (88.7 FM-Durham, NC), which is the student-run radio station from Duke University, from the net.

Washboard Dave is the DJ at the moment, and according to the station's web site DJ Andy B., who has a program from 10:00 p.m-midnight on Thursdays is the DJ of the Month. Of course, this has nothing to do with Ireland!

Here is our quote from Shaw:

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."

I wonder what he would make of blogging? Perhaps, it would have prevented him from writing "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1893), another one of his classic plays.

SIDEBAR: At 9:05 p.m., my friend Les Blank's landmark documentary film about a film "Burden of Dream" airs on Flix, a subsidiary of Showtime. You will either come away sincerely admiring filmmaker Werner Herzog or questioning his sanity for shooting a full-scale epic in the Amazon River jungles of Peru.

SIDEBAR 2: Have a morbid side that wonders just when and how someone like acting legend Erroll Flynn died? (I actually never got around to looking that up, but there are better things to do in life and for that matter- even online). Well, you can check out (deadoraliveinfo.com) where I learned that I have now outlived another icon stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce who died around the time when I was born by 75 days.