English Premiership; Sat., Feb. 20, 2010

Upton Park, East London West Ham Utd. 3 Hull City 0

Our second win in a row, something that has not happened all season, and, also, now, five “unanswered” goals for the Hammers. It must be said that Hull were woeful, but West Ham soaked up any pressure and were one-nil up within three minutes, courtesy of Valon Behrami, who scored his first Premiership goal; he almost got a second but was denied by a quite brilliant save. The other key player was Julian Faubert, who curled a 45-year pass around the Hull defense for Carlton Cole to slot home and then scored an injury-time goal of his own—also his first—to finish off completely the opposition. On Tuesday (which might be yesterday, depending on when the Flyers weekly newsletter goes out), we play Manchester United in Manchester—a game that will not be so easy, although United’s defense is pressently showing that it is human. And in other sporting news, Great Britain actually won a gold medal in Vancouver, in skeleton, a sport that I am only just aware of, but, hey, gold is gold.! The sport resembles sliding down a slope on a tea tray, head first—the British actually practice with a plate of biscuits and a pot of tea on the tray, just so that things do not look too odd.. The victor, Amy Williams, does not even have a snow slope to train on, in a country where the highest hill is little taller than Pat Duffy, but rather a plastic one, so extra kudos to her.