While noting the clever pun in my title, I have to come realize that I hate the summer "offseason" in football.  In fact, hate doesn't even begin to describe it.  I absolutely, positively abhor it.  I detest it with every ounce of my being.  Its unique brand of mindless nonsense and inconsequential drivel weighs heavy on the very fibre of life itself on this Earth.

Ok, maybe that's a little too dramatic.  Almost as if I were writing about a transfer rumor.

In all seriousness, I got so very tired of all the summer speculation, fabrications & lies that I had to take a break.  Cold turkey.  There was no other way.  It's not that I wasn't interested in finding out who our next manager or next big signing was going to be...it's just that I couldn't care enough to wade through page after page of pointless guessing.  

I'm not even talking about what was posted here at WaGNH - I, actually, very much admire and respect Graham & Stephen for having the dedication and the sanity to filter out most of the noise.  But everywhere else I looked, it was just a jumble of worthless bullshit.  In missing over 150 posts on this blog, I "saved" myself from over 10 times that at any other site.

Of course, as much as I tried to go cold turkey, it was pretty much an impossible task.  I even spent the last month travelling in the US (Hawaii, California) & Europe (Hungary, Austria, Slovakia), yet football was all around.  If it wasn't the Women's World Cup, or the Copa America, or the Gold Cup, or the U-20/19/18/11/6/(-4) World Cup, it was Joe Schmoe's Preseason Friendly Tournament, or My Left Nut's Exhibition for the Benefit of my Right.  It seemed like there was a match on TV every single day and then that doesn't even include the Internet with all its wonderful resources.

In short, my cold turkey was more like lukewarm...but in the end it did its job and gave me a much needed break.  And just like the players, I'm now revitalized and ready to go for the new season.

Let's just hope I don't misfire this post into a 0-0 draw.  Oh well, I guess it's too late for that.

Speaking of which...of course the media has been quick to paint us negatively already, but I'm nowhere near discouraged by the result.  If we play like we did in the 2nd half, we'll be mounting a very serious title challenge.  Above all, I loved the passion and effort (and skill, in general) from Torres, Ramires, Alex, and even Bosingwa...and of course AVB.  Carlo was nice and all, but I like the fact that AVB actually shows his emotional involvement.

On the other hand, Malouda was beyond poor, Kalou wasteful and worthless after the first 10 minutes, and Lampard played like he was 63.  Anelka was anonymous besides his wonderful chip and Drogba seemed uninterested.  I would've liked to see Benayoun on earlier and not for Torres.  But hey, we deserved that win and were unfortunate not to get it (in no small thanks to the level of whistle-swallowing exhibited by the ref - not seen since the days of Ovrebo).

I'm hoping for a quick recovery for Danny Sturridge - we could've used him yesterday.  And I hope we do manage to bring this Modric saga to a satisfactory conclusion.

I'm very much excited by our capture of Lukaku and by our overall policy of buying youth (hellooo Oriol!).

In short, COME ON YOU BLUES!!!