Big Finish

Let's take a moment to generously welcome Michael Owen, Sunderland (we see you, Keano), and Birmingham City back to the Premiership. Generally speaking, we here on 116th Street are big fans of promotion/ relegation, but with that being said, there is no way I'm getting up in time to watch Wolverhampton vs. West Brom at 7:15 AM on Sunday. Nevertheless, there is so much drama taking place this weekend that it puts a nice cap on a generally lackluster season.

Clint Dempsey is now a goal hero for Fulham, and Rafa Benitez has his third-place spot on the line. He may not care at all, considering that winning the Champions League this year is more important than playing for position in next season's tournament, but with Arsenal bearing down on the Reds, you have to wonder what kind of lineup he's going to field against an already relegated Charlton side. It will be interesting to see how hard Charlton plays on Sunday, particularly in light of a Portsmouth-Arsenal match in which the Gunners should be throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Pompey.
Any Wolves fans out there? I like their logo, and generally like to see teams get into the Prem who haven't been there in a while. Nevertheless, I'm hitting the snooze button on the Championship until the final. After all, with such a tight race (not to mention later games) in La Liga, I can only devote my time to so many races! Seriously, does anybody want to win that league? Saturday brings us Real Madrid vs. Espanyol, as well as Sevilla playing Recreativo Huelva, with Barcelona matching up against Real Betis on Sunday. You never know which team is going to fold from week to week in Spain, so this ought to be fun. I say the Madridistas take the title, but then again, I've never been any good at predictions. So this is it, last weekend of the Premiership, last truly exciting weekend before the Champions League final. What am I going to do with myself when the season is over?