Boro and Toon sink as Tigers and Sunderland Survive.

Middlesbrough and Newcastle have been relegated from the Barclays Premier league while Hull and Sunderland survived in the Top flight for atleast one more season.

Both the Magpies and Boro will join the already relegated West brom in the Championship next year.

Boro needed a clear victory to secure another season in the topflight.However,they failed and were beaten away at Upton park by a Westham team that has much changed since the appointement of Gianfranko Zola.The hosts put there noses infront after 33 minutes when Carlton Cole side footed the ball past Brad Jones but the visitors levelled back in the second through Garry O'neil (50')to give themselves a glare hope of wining the match and remaining in the league as their fellow relagation strugglers were all losing.However,this wasn't to be the case just after eight minutes the hosts were ahead again this time through Stanislas thus deminishing the hopes of many travelling Boro fans who hoped atleast for another more season.
There was not more after as the Boro camp lost their hope and it meant that their fate was sealed,thus ending their 11years as a topflight team with one league cup win and a Uefa-cup final appearance.The focus will now be on the manager,Gareth Southgate,as whether he will remain to coach the team and whether some of the senior boro players as will remain at the club or they have to be sold.

On the other hand,another long topfight team,Newcastle were sent back into the championship as they lost to Aston villa at Villapark.The Magpies needed nothing less than a win against Martin O'neils men and hoped that Hull lose to Man United,to ensure that they maintain their status in the league.The magpies started well and were up to battle for it however they were dealt a big blow just six minutes before the break when Damien Duff deflected the ball into his own net.The goal completely changed the match and the mood of the fans who were celebrating the fact that Man United have taken the lead at Hull.The misery was complete for the Toon when in the final minutes David Edgar was sent off .With Newcastle unable to find an equalizer at Villa park it meant that Hull stays in the topflight for another campaign.

The tigers though not directly in the drop zone were just a point above the Magpies and needed just a draw to ensure survival.As expected Sir Alex fielded a much weakend United side considering their next match,the Champions league final. The Home side started well and crowd was firmly behind them but on the hour mark a fantastic 35 yard strike from young mildfielder Darron Gibson put the tigers behind and left left deeply tight however as the match went on news were coming in that both the Magpies and Boro were loosing and the tigers were atleast happy and match ended 1-0.
At the end of the match the tigers manager Phil Brown whose side started so well their first season in the topflight described the survival as "the biggest thing i've ever done in my footballing career".Brown grabbed a microphone and told the crowd "this is the best trip i have ever been on" before telling skyports that "we fully deserved".

Meanwhile,Sunderland the only other side in danger zone, survived though they lost 3-2 at home to Chelsea.Nicolas Anelka gave the visitors the lead two minutes after the break before Kieran Richardson levelled back for the hosts.But Salomon Kalou gave the visitors the lead again in the 74th minute before Ashley Cole wrapped up the win in the final 9 minutes of the game.However,Kenwyne Jones netted in the final injury time for the black cats.

Finally,on the other matches of the day,Arsenal crasheh Stoke city by 4-1 at the Emirates,Everton defeated Fulham by 2-0 ,Blackburn versus West brom finished 0-0 at Ewood Park,Liverpool defeated Spurs by 3-1 to claim a second spot thus denying Spurs a place in the newly created Europa cup,Mancity defeated Bolton 1-0 while Wigan defeated Portsmouth 1-0 at home thus ending their three successive defeats .

That ended Super Sunday and the Season 2008/2009 of the Barcklays Premier league.See you next season for a very interesting and beautiful football!

Valentine Day, the truth behind the day!

To many this post might sound unrealistic but its good to sometimes express even the most unrealistic views.

Valentine Day or rather known as Saint Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world.The holiday named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. This is the day they became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

In the West, the day serves as the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery.But the day is not only limited to the west where christianity is followed but rather even by the christian influenced cultures do honour it.

Personally, am not against the celebrating of the day,but the most interesting thing about the day is that some value it and honour it too much during their life and through out their relationship

And here now comes my big question about the day,do we have to only show and express the extent of our love to our partner only on the 45th day of the 365 days of the year?Why can't we be giving our appriciation to our partner on daily basis and expressing our love on every occassion?

Many will oppose the above point and argue that isn't as the way i view the day,but am sure in the currrent generation in the society this is what the day stands for.

On the other hand, some view the day as not useful and i partially agree with them,to those who feel so their main arguement point will be: 'This was just a day when two particular persons fell in love for the first time and expressed their love for each other,so what has it to do with me and my partner particularly when we have been together long before even the day(feb.14).'
Well,that can be a good point but as everyone does celebrate the day i guess we have to just do it for formality reasons but keeping in mind that the day is nothing more than the usual days that passby daily.

So whether you agree with me or disagree please let me hear your views and what the day means to you as a person and what it means to your lover?

Super Sunday.

In the big game of the day,Liverpool defeated the Blues at Stamford Bridge to end their 86-games unbeaten home league record .

Xabi Alonso scored,(10minutes) ,the only goal of the game to help the Reds to a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge when his shot deflected off into the net.

The reds became the first team to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the league since Arsenal's 2-1 success in February 2004 to go clear at the top.

The win puts Liverpool three points clear at the top of the table and Benitez could not hide his satisfaction after guiding his team to their best-ever start in the Premier League.At the end of the match Banitez said ,"To win here and stay top of the table unbeaten is a massive message for the other teams,".

In the other matches of the day, Arsenal left it late to come up with a away victory from Upton Park. Emmanuel Adebayor came off the bench to inspire Arsenal to a 2-0 victory over West Ham. The Togo international created the breakthrough after 75 minutes when his cross-shot was deflected into the net by West Ham full-back Julien Faubert.

As the Hammers pushed for an injury time equaliser, Adebayor finished off an incisive counter-attack by rounding Robert Green to rifle home the second. West Ham finished the game with 10 men after Carlton Cole was sent off in injury time for a foul on Alexander Song.

Else where, British record signing Robinho completed his first Manchester City hat-trick to take sorry Stoke apart 3-0 at Eastlands. The £32.5million Brazilian opened his account just after 14 minutes, then added another from Daniel Sturridge's excellent pass just after the re-start. But the brazilian saved the best until last, finishing off a flowing four-pass move 17 minutes from the end with a clinical finish past Thomas Sorensen.

Astonvilla, crashed Wigan 4-0 at the JJB stadium.Goals from Gareth Barry(contravertionl penalty),Gabriel Agbonlahor,John Carew and substitute Steve Sidwel earned Villa the three point in a delightful manner while still continuing their fine form.

Tottenham,with a new manager Harry Redknapp took less than 24 hours after Redknapp's appointment to deliver what Spurs supporters had wanted all season - a victory to kick-start their Premier League campaign. Roman Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent (penalty) grabbed the goals to sink Bolton 2-0 at White Hart Lane but all eyes were on Redknapp after his appointment to succeed Juande Ramos as Spurs boss. The spurs are still bottom of the table but they made up ground on the other strugglers with a first league win of the season at the ninth attempt. Bolton had Gavin McCann sent off in the second half after he was booked for the second time in the game.

Portsmouth began life after Redknapp with a frustrating 1-1 draw with Fulham on super Sunday evening's final game. Peter Crouch opened the scoring just after the hour-mark, firing home after unselfish play by strike partner Jermain Defoe. But the Cottagers never gave up hope until the last minute and they netted an equaliser three minutes from time when Clint Dempsey converted low past David James.

IS AGE AN ISSUE IN THE 2008 AMERICAN ELECTIONS?

Is senator McCain too old to be president?

Many democrats think and even claim that the 71- year-old senator from Arizona is too old to lead America.They claim that he is "confused" and has "lost his bearings" or is "out of touch."

The McCain campaign are convinced that Democrats are using those terms to exploit concerns that the presumptive Republican nominee is too old to effectively serve as president.But given the fact that if elected he will the oldest man to be elected as a president in the US, the senator on his part tends to answer questions about his age by saying "its not important".

The age issue first found its way into the campaign trail back in May when senator Barack Obama argued in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer that McCain had "lost his bearings" while pursuing the Republican nomination.

The McCain campaign immediately responded by claiming that Obama's use of that phrase was "a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain's age as an issue."

Last wenesday ,the issue reemerged when McCain appeared on NBC's "Today" Show and argued, as he has before, that "it's not important" when troops return from Iraq as long as casualties are held to a minimum.

Quickly responding to McCain's words,senator John Kerry, an Obama supporter said senator McCain is "unbelievably out of touch" and that it "is really becoming more crystal clear that John McCain simply doesn't understand the conflict. He confuses who Iran is training, he confuses what the makeup of al Qaeda is, and he confuses the history of what has happened between Sunni and Shia."

Susan Rice, one of Obama 's top foreign policy advisers, said that McCain had demonstrated a "pattern of confusing the basic facts and reality that pertain to Iraq."
When asked if he was trying to highlight the age issue through his choice of words,senotor John Kerry said it was "unfair" and "ridiculous" to make such an assertion. While,Rice said she was simply highlighting the fact that, in her opinion, McCain has his facts wrong.

For its part, the McCain camp says Obama is the one who is confused.

But whether or not the Democrats are playing word games, it is abundantly clear that, for many voters, McCain's age is a real concern.

Nearly one-third of respondents in most recent national polls say that McCain's age could impede his ability to effectively govern the nation.

The importance of the age question may be magnified this time around because it threatens to sap McCain's support with one of his most critical constituencies: older Americans.

Recent polls show that voters of age 65 and older currently support senator McCain over senator Obama by 8points margin(51%-43%). Unfortunately for McCain, however, older voters also tend to worry more about the age issue than other voters.However,for younger voters age is an abstraction.

But given the fact that Older Americans are a group that, percentagewise, almost always turns out to vote more heavily than the electorate as a whole. McCain will need them firmly in his way on Election Day.

Furthermore,Adding to McCain's age problem is the fact that, due to his war-related injuries, he walks with a stiff gait. Fairly or unfairly, he doesn't always give the appearance of energy and vigor that voters tend to seek in a president.

However,It remains to be seen whether McCain's age will prove to be an insurmountable obstacle for voters come on November. The senator's defenders can certainly point to strong historical precedents of older leaders who served effectively in the past.

Fulham Escape,while Birmingham and Reading Sink.

Fulhams survived a relegation to maintain their premier league status on goal difference.

Roy Hodgson's side beat the FA cup finalist Portsmouth 1-0 at Fratton Park. Midfielder Murphy noded in a Jimmy Bullard free-kick of a largely dismal game at Fratton Park which left Harry Redknapp side with their fourth consecutive defeat before next week's Wembley final against Cardiff.

Fulham were able to then able to celebrate a remarkable escape having almost given up a month ago when they lost to fellow strugglers Sunderland. However since then they have won against Mancity,Birmingham,and now at Portsmouth to ensure a survival.

Reading finished their campaign with a 4-0 win over Derby at Pride Park but it was not quite enough as they were relegated to the Championship.

Goals from James Harper,Dave Kitson, Kevin Doyle and Leroy Lita for the Royals couldnot gurantee their survival.

Birmingham were also relegated despite a 4-1 home win over Blackburn. David Murphy's 31st-minute strike from 30 yards out gave Birmingham the lead. However Morten Gamst Pedersen equalised three minutes after the break before Cameron Jerome (73, 89) and an injury-time header from Fabrice Muamba gave the Blues the lead.

Champions.

Manchester United have been crowned as the primierleague champions for the second year in a row.
United beat Steve Bruce side ,Wigan,at the JJB stadium 2-0 inorder to retain the Title for another season.

United were under pressure from chelsea who were level terms in points as United though the United had more goals to their advantage.

Wigan,started the afternoon brightly by showing signs of blocking United to the title path but they couldn't hold on.

United break the deadlock on the 33rd minute when Emmerson boyce brought down Wayne Rooney in the box.Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to convert the spot kick and calmly footed the ball past the keeper who dived in a wrong way.

But after the break ,Wigan looked to be tough and tested Edwin Vander sar on many occassions. However as Wigan were pushing hard for an equaliser,Ryan Giggs, on as a substitute to equal Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearances for United, added a second in the 80th minute although the result mattered little after Chelsea drew 1-1 with Bolton at Stamford Bridge.

Andriy Shevchenko scrambled the ball home in the 62nd minute to give the Blues the lead but Matt Taylor equalised on the 92nd minute to leave them two points behind United.

Over?

The democratic nomination is still not over until "the lady in the pantsuit says" according to abc news report.

What Will West Virginia's primary mean?

West Virginians will head to the polls Tuesday for the state's Democratic primary between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But what will the vote there really mean after new delegate totals show Obama with a sizable lead?

Some say it could send a sobering message to Obama's Democratic supporters.

West Virginia is expected to go for Clinton big time -- and the polls show it.

Clinton has a 43-point advantage over Obama, 66 percent to 23 percent, according to a survey from the American Research Group released Friday.

The poll was conducted after Tuesday's primary results and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

This state is really Hillary Clinton's wheelhouse. It's an older population, socially conservative, blue-collar workers," said Kennie Bass, a political reporter for WCHS in West Virginia. Watch more on the West Virginia primary ».

Senator Obama acknowledges that West Virginians favor Clinton. She is going to do very well in West Virginia and Kentucky. She will win those states, in all likelihood, by significant margins," Obama said this week.

According to CNN's latest estimate, Obama has 1,860 total delegates to Clinton's 1,696.

A big Clinton win will send a powerful message that there are a lot of Democrats not ready to get on the Obama bandwagon.

There was just an AP article posted that found how Sen. Obama's support among hardworking Americans, white Americans is weakening again, and how the whites in both states that have not completed college were supporting me," Clinton said in a USA Today interview May 7.

For the last two-thirds of the 20th century,West Virginia was a solidly Democratic state, and it still is in state politics. West Virginia had not voted for a non-incumbent Republican for president since Herbert Hoover. It even voted for Michael Dukakis in 1988.

Then came 2000, when George W. Bush surprised everyone by winning West Virginia. How did he do it? With social issues, such as abortion, gays and -- most important -- guns, in a state where more than 70 percent of the voters have a gun in their households.

What you get in West Virginia is not so much Reagan Democrats as Bush Democrats. Perharps,Republicans believe that they know how to beat Obama there.

They would likely paint him, if he's the nominee, as a far-left liberal who is pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-civil union. That will not play well in West Virginia. Social issues register very high on the meter here," analyst say.

But, Democrats can fight back by running hard on the Bush economy. But they could be in for a surprise.

Rush Limbaugh urges vote for Obama!

Rush Limbaugh, has publicly urged Republicans to vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton to keep the divisive Democratic nomination fight alive, but the talk radio host said Wednesday he really wants Sen. Barack Obama to be the party's nominee.

I now believe he would be the weakest of the Democrat nominees," Limbaugh, among the most powerful voices in conservative radio, said on his program. "I now urge the Democrat superdelegates to make your mind up and publicly go for Obama."

Barack Obama has shown he cannot get the votes Democrats need to win -- blue-collar, working-class people," Limbaugh said. "He can get effete snobs, he can get wealthy academics, he can get the young, and he can get the black vote, but Democrats do not win with that."

But Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist and Obama supporter, disagreed, saying the Democratic Party has "the best coalition to go out and talk to people across racial lines, which are the unions."

If Obama wins the nomination, he said, support from unions should help him gain support among blue-collar workers when "they don't have to choose between two Democrats."For now among the Democratic candidates, Clinton has had the advantage with working-class and middle-income voters, though Obama has increased his support in that demographic, according to exit polls.

In the March 4 Ohio primary, Clinton won voters who made under $50,000 by 14 points. In the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, that advantage was down to 8 points. And in the Indiana primary, exit polls showed the two candidates evenly split among those voters.

For months, Limbaugh urged his listeners in states with open primaries to cross party lines and support Clinton in an effort he has dubbed "Operation Chaos."

The conservative talk show host has said the Republican Party will benefit from a protracted Democratic race that grows more bruising by the week.

It remains unclear how much influence Limbaugh has actually wielded. The Obama campaign estimates 7 percent of Clinton's vote in Indiana could be attributed to crossover Republicans.

According to Indiana exit polls, Clinton did win the Republican vote by 8 percentage points, but those voters made up only 10 percent of the electorate. Watch an analysis of Tuesday's primaries ».

Sen. John Kerry -- an Obama supporter -- credited Clinton's win entirely to Limbaugh."Rush Limbaugh was tampering with the primary," he said on a conference call with reporters. "If it was not for Republicans taking Democratic ballots, [Obama] would have won."

But many politcal analysts disagree,because there was slightly measurable Rush Limbaugh effect, but it is not the reason she won Indiana," they say. "She dominated the Democratic vote, and two-thirds of the voters were Democratic."

Self-identified Republicans voting in previous Democratic primaries have been more evenly split between Clinton and Obama.

In Ohio, the GOP vote broke evenly, with Clinton and Obama winning 49 percent each. And in Texas, Obama won the Republican vote by 7 points.

On his show Wednesday, Limbaugh declared "Operation Chaos" a success.

"We have done our part to expose Obama through our support of 'Operation Chaos,' effectively using the Clinton campaign as our foil, and Obama and the Democrat Party are the weaker for it," he said. "Every objective has been met and surpassed."

But has Limbaugh successfully advantaged the Republicans heading into November?Many analyst say yes .

Obama's Super Surge

Senator Barack Obama for the first time since Supertuesday is ahead of senator Clinton in the Superdelages count according to abc's delegate score card.
The senator from Illnois has picked up seven superdelegates today -- his biggest one-day haul since the battle for superdelegates intensified in the nomination race.

It may not have been the immediate flood that pundits, politicos and partisans were expecting after the results were in from Tuesday's primaries in Indiana and North Carolina but now it looks like the pace of superdelegates swinging to Barack Obama is quickening and he's building a lead over Hillary Clinton.

Since Tuesday's results, Obama has picked up 13 new superdelegates. Clinton has netted one -- she was endorsed by Reps. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., Chris Carney, D-Pa., and Ciro Rodriguez, D-Texas, but she lost two superdelegates who switched to Obama. Obama now has a lead of 169 total delegates.

Senator Obama addressed his surge in superdelegates today on the campaign trail:

"I'm gratified that we've got some superdelegates that are coming our way. And I think we've got a strong case to make that I will be a nominee that can pull the party together and take on John McCain in the fall. Our focus has always been on the pledged delegates and just getting the American people to vote for us and we think that ultimately that should be the strongest measure of whose the nominee, but if superdelegates also feel that we're going to be a strong candidate then I'm very pleased with that."

But as he looks to be likely the Democrat nominee senator Obama still didn't rule out senator Clinton as he said today that he and Clinton are "still in the middle of the race," although it did not seem like that in his remarks at a campaign event in Beaverton, OR.

ABC News' reports,that while Obama launched a "point by point breakdown" of his differences with John McCain on the economy, health care and gas prices, one name was notably not part of his prepared remarks – Hillary Clinton.

The report notes that this is another signal that Obama is "quickly shifting gears toward his general election strategy."

"Senator McCain is running for President to double down on George Bush's failed policies. I am running to change them, and that will be the fundamental difference in this election when I am the Democratic nominee for President," Obama said at a campaign event in Beaverton, Oregon.

But as Senator Obama looks ahead to the general election senator Clinton was still campaining in WestVerginia even though pressure is still on her to concede a defeat .