On the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare's Passing

                    Here's a modification of one of his better known sonnets;  documenting the current plight of one's favorite soccer team:

Ode to Norwich City

Shall I relegate thee on a Summer's day?

Thou art so pointless and so desperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And Premier time hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of City fans,

And oft now is their bright complexion dimmed,

As every loss from win sometime declines,

By chance, with City's downward plunge untrimmed:

But thy eternal yo-yo shall not fade,

Nor gain possession of that ball thou ow'st,

Nor Ipswich brag thou wander'st in their shade,

Tho’ thy eternal shots shall hit the post,

 So long as fans can breathe, or fans can see,

 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Palermo's Rapid Fire Prez!

Palermo FC are in Serie A, the top Italian league. Their president, Maurizio Zamparini, is a calm and patient role model. He likes to give a coach time to develop his squad, instill his playing style in the team and slowly gel together.

Their coach at the beginning of this season was Beppe Iachini, but, unfortunately,  Zamp felt he had to quickly fire him, and replaced him by Davide Ballardini, but he also had to be  axed, then Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who was sadly laid off, then Fabio Viviani, who was, er,  sacked quicker than you can say Bettino Craxi, then Giovanni Bosi again, who got his pink slip post haste, too, then Giovanni Tedesco, who had to be, regrettably, also relieved of his duties, then Beppe Iachini, who also had to be, er, released, then Walter Novellino, who was thrown out of the pram a couple of days ago.

Nine coaching changes in the season, one every 4 games.

Davide Ballardini is now back for the Juventus game tomorrow.

According to Novellino "Juve don't give anything to anyone. The team is lacking organization. They're a little bit afraid".

You don't say!

At least they don't have to face the perplexed Sicilian tifosi.
Novellino says "Maybe they can find some calm by playing away from home."

Am I missing something?

Am I missing something?

Several recent articles have been decrying the pay gap between the US Men's and Women's Soccer Teams, noting that in 2015 the women were paid less than the men even though they won  the World Cup.

Now, soccer players are paid pure and simply according to how much revenue they bring in. The fact is that, averaged over the year, far more people watch the men's game.  Therefore, the male professional game in the USA is alive and well, whereas nobody wants to watch the women outside of the World Cup. As for the World Cup itself, the 2014 men's winners (Germany) took 6.6% o the revenue whereas the 2015 women's winners (the USA) took home 11%. Hopefully the situation for women professionals will change, and the women's game will improve, attracting more spectators. But, until then....

Where's the discrimination? Am I missing something?