Strange Times at Celtic Park

Celtic Park has played host to its share of big European nights under the floodlights, but none perhaps, was more memorable than the night of November 7, 2012.  Nearing the end of the group stage phase of the tournament, Celtic couldn’t afford to lose at home.  But, they had a huge problem… The undisputed-heavyweight-champions-of-the-world FC Barcelona were in town.  What’s more, the night happened to coincide with the club’s 125^th anniversary.  The stage was set for a wild night in Glasgow. 

Only 21 minutes went before Celtic’s big Kenyan center back, Victor Wanyama delivered a dream start to the match.  Connecting with a Charlie Mulgrew corner, Wanyama snuck the ball inside the far post.  The crowd erupted in a flurry of green and white as Depeche Mode’s “I Just Can’t Get Enough” exploded out of the loudspeakers. 

From then on, Celtic sat back and tried to defend against the brilliant, menacing, undying onslaught of Lionel Messi and Barcelona. Messi darted, dipped, dived, and danced his way toward goal time and time again. Each time, however the Celtic D and stellar goalkeeper Fraser Forster were up to the task. Still, Barcelona looked like they could score at any given time.

18-year old forward and fan favorite Tony Watt entered the game as a substitute at the 72-minute mark.  Eleven minutes later, Lionel Messi lined up a free-kick from about 25 yards off the goal line. Well within striking distance. 

All of Celtic Park held their breath as Messi moved towards the ball. A sense of dread was felt all over the crowd.  He curled the bar in towards the near post, right into the outstretched hands of a grateful Forster. The goalkeeper gathered the ball, took his time, and then booted it downfield with an unassuming dropkick. But Barcelona midfielder, 5-time UEFA Team of the Year honoree Xavi misplayed the ball.  It went careening past him, and fell perfectly for young Tony Watt who was now free and clear behind Barca’s back line.  The teenager took a touch into the box, looked up, picked his target and fired the ball low towards the far post, past flailing goalkeeper Victor Valdez. The ball was in the net; the place went nuts.  Rod Stewart sat in the stands, crying like a baby.  

The occasion tipped off months of celebration and anticipation for Celtic’s first trip to the Champions League knockout stages four years. 

 

Rod Stewart cried in the stands at Celtics 2-1 upset over Barcelona

 Feeling invincible, Celtic roared into the round-of-16 match against Italian powerhouses Juventus.  Sadly, the Celt’s luck had run out.  Juventus marched into Celtic Park on February 12, 2013 and blew out their hosts 3-0, going so far as to score a goal in the 3^rd minute of play. 

 

Despite their amazing display against Barcelona, it was clear from the Juve loss that Celtic was not on the same level as their continental counterparts. 

Celtic haven’t been particularly relevant in the Champions League since they won the tournament for the first and only time in 1967.  The fact of the matter is, their domestic league is extremely weak and they can’t compete with the major clubs in Europe.  Celtic supporters, however, were always content with international irrelevance, as long as they stayed competitive with unfathomably bitter cross-town rivals Rangers FC. I don’t want to delve too deeply into the fierce sectarian history between the two clubs, but note that Protestants founded Rangers FC in the 1870’s and Celtic was founded by, well, an Irish Catholic monk.  The age-old British dispute between Catholics and Protestants, republicans vs. loyalists, etc. has spilled over into the Celtic-Rangers Rivalry. 

It’s hard for an outsider to comprehend how totally dominant Celtic and Rangers are in Scottish soccer.  No team has won the Scottish League, other than the two Glasgow rivals, since 1985.  Rangers have 54 titles in all, Celtic have won 43, the next club has four.  The Old Firm, as Celtic and Rangers defined Scottish soccer.  They existed for over 100 years in an unyielding state of mutual hatred.  But, in February 2012, a year before Celtic’s loss to Juventus, Rangers FC were put into administration by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.  The club announced that it was deeply in debt, estimated to be between 50 and 100 million pounds.  They were liquidated. All of their player’s contracts were voided and the team was banished to the third tier of the Scottish soccer pyramid.  This leaves Celtic free have their way with the Scottish Premier League, for the foreseeable future. There just is no competition.

What is Superman without Lex Luthor?

Celtic find themselves too big for their own league, and too small to compete with the other teams in Europe.  FIFA has flat out rejected the idea of Celtic moving into the much higher quality English Premier League.  It is a strange, uncertain time for the Celts. 

Bernie Miklasz Knows His Stuff

 Bernie Miklasz homepage

I like to think that since St. Louis is situated almost dead center in the middle of our country that we get the best of everything.  While this assertion is generally patently false, I do truly believe that St. Louis is home to one of the best sports writers in the country. 

 One of Bernie Miklasz’s greatest strengths is his self awareness. He understands that he writes for a relatively small paper in a relatively small city.  He gets his readers.  He has no delusions about a national readership, or much outside interest in the goings on in the city of St. Louis.  In a sports market dominated by baseball even during the offseason, Bernie manages to keep us entertained and up to speed on all manner of sporting news.  While I personally think that he’s at his best when writing about baseball, Bernie has the knowledge and ability to go 800 words on any sporting topic.  He can write a column chock full of stats, or can hit you with a narrative piece that tugs at your heartstrings.  His strengths truly lie in his ability to combine the two.

A self-professed sabremetrician, Miklasz never bogs down his pieces with too much raw data. His ability to combine stats and storyline make for an impressive article on a daily basis. 

Bernie doesn’t generally mince words.  This, plus a ton of talent, makes him the perfect columnist for St. Louis. In a city and fan base that is heralded for its courtesy and respect towards others, Bernie’s straightforward approach is perfect. He possesses the knowledge and whit to put together pieces as opposite as an examination of the Blues’ midseason struggles to a touching tribute to his old pal, the late great Rick Majerus.  Miklasz employs logic and historical context (he’s been writing in St. Louis since 1985) to craft stories that one can’t help but agree with, and to those who find themselves in disagreement with Mr. Miklasz: I’d advise you to make sure you know exactly what you are talking about before you start talking. If not, Bernie will tear you apart. 

Bernie, like any decent journalist/urbanite knows there will always be plenty of boneheads around.  In the blandness and blistering heat that a St. Louis summer can often offer, Miklasz does not hesitate to take on, say the seemingly endless legion of fans that think releasing Matt Holliday and Sam Bradford would somehow help their respective franchises. 

Unlike some media personalities, however, Bernie won’t simply tell you that you’re a moron. He’ll provide you with an eloquent, easy to understand, multi-layered explanation as to why you’re a moron. 

To some, it may seem inappropriate for a big shot to respond to dissention in such a way, but to St. Louis, Bernie is just a member of the community. He is extremely accessible to fans, often engaging in banter via twitter and formerly on the air at ESPN Radio. 

It is this sense of community inhabitation that endears a figure like Bernie to the people of St. Louis. He is one of our own.  He is here to report on the sports world, both local and in a broader sense, but he does so as a concerned citizen. It is clear through his writing that he cares about the Cardinals, the Rams, the Blues, SLU, Mizzou, etc. He knows and understands the cares, concerns and ravings of St. Louis fans.  When he praises the Cardinals, for instance, he does so as an appreciative spectator, and when he criticizes the club, he does so respectfully, matter-of-factly and with genuine concern for the team and fans. 

Bernie certainly isn’t the best-known or widest-read sportswriter in America.  His face doesn’t grace the pages of nationally distributed papers, or magazines. You won’t find him on Around the Horn. He’s not here to cause controversy or garner attention for himself. He writes with dignity, experience, logic, and a healthy sense of humor.  Bernie’s style is perfect for the people of St. Louis: earnest and genuine, with a healthy dose of stubbornness and, admittedly, more than a bit of insularity.

Analysis of Bernie Miklasz’s “Cards show how to react to adversity,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, printed 4/11/13

Bernie's column

MLB Video: 4/9/13 Reds @ Cardinals

MLB Video: 4/10/13 Reds @ Cardinals

After having to swallow the bitter disappointment of handing the home opener to arch-nemeses the Cincinnati Reds, the Cardinals bounced back to shut down their division rivals and take the series 2-1, writes Bernie Miklasz.

Once again, Bernie melds feature with character study as he couples the story of the Cardinals’ second and third home games of the 2013 season with the tale of a group of players who knew they needed to bounce back quickly.

Miklasz’s attitude is one of relief and delight, as the club needed to find their feet and get the division battle going.  Their utter implosion during the ninth inning of the home opener could have proved a fatal blow to any team’s early season aspirations. “’It’s a great point about resiliency,’ [Manager Mike] Matheny said. ‘I’ve seen some teams have a couple of tough losses, and not really know how to bounce back from those. And just kind of wondering if this is going to be a long run of some things not going our way,’” Miklasz quotes Matheny. 

Said Bernie in his own words, “In a spectacular do-over, the Cardinals reopened the home portion of their schedule by putting a bigger bash on the visiting Cincinnati Reds.”

Much of the piece is devoted to reporting the happenings of the two games in a matter of fact manner, as in: “Over the final 11 innings that captured this series for the Cardinals, their hitters went 23 for 53 (.434) with five homers, seven doubles and 15 runs.”

Bernie’s article does, however, underscore the immense importance of this turnaround, especially with Jason Motte’s injury still looming large and division opponents the Milwaukee Brewers coming to town tomorrow.  After Monday’s opening day meltdown, it felt as though storm clouds hung over the ballpark.  With baseball being the cherished institution that it is in St. Louis, Cardinals fans were left nauseous, wondering what this season might have in store. Could this be the beginning of the end for the Card’s perennial success?

I agree with Bernie head-to-toe about this opening series against the Reds.  The Cardinals could not afford to take an early deficit in the division standings.  I wish, however, that Miklasz had hammered in a little harder just how big these two wins were for the team, namely the pitching staff (in establishing momentum moving forward), the fans, and in some odd sense, the Cincinnati Reds.  We need to constantly remind them that we are the team to beat in the division, indeed in the National League, even when the wins/loss column seem to indicate otherwise. 

Bernie put it best at the end of his piece, “After a glum Monday, it was important for the Cardinals to respond like a team that plans to grapple the Reds for the NL Central... By rearranging Cincinnati’s ERA and decorating the place with five homers over the past two days, the 2013 Cardinals finally settled in at home. Game on. It feels like the baseball season now.”

Analysis of Bernie Miklasz’s “Hard ninth a cause for concern”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, printed 4/9/13

Bernie's column

MLB Video: 4/8/13: Reds @ Cardinals

Ah, yes, bullpen woes—the bane of every Cardinals fan’s existence.  In his follow-up to the Cardinals’ disastrous final inning of the home opener, Bernie takes on closer Jason Motte’s indefinite absence from the ‘pen (due to an injury to this elbow on his throwing arm) and the ability of the Card’s relievers. 

In this feature story, Bernie meshes together the issue of Motte’s elbow ailment and his colleague’s ability to close out games without him with elements of a character study of the Redbird’s bullpen, namely traditional set-up man Mitchell Boggs and flame-throwing youngster, Trevor Rosenthal.

Bernie is of the opinion that without quality relief pitching, and the ability to shut the door on tight games in the eighth and ninth innings, the Cardinals could be in for a long, fruitless season.  That’s why he gets paid the big bucks, folks: to inform us that it is not in the best interests of a baseball team to blow games!  Luckily, however, for those of us who have at least a rudimentary understanding of the game of baseball, Miklasz is able to expand and offer insight on this notion of doom hanging over the relief staff. 

The eighth inning of the Cardinals’ home opener rolled around with the good guys leading 4-3.  The Redbirds’ 22-year-old right-hander Rosenthal came in and conceded the tying run to the Cincinnati Reds.  Later on, in the top of the ninth inning, with the score still tied at 4-4, veteran righty Boggs got his chance on the mound. 

“Trevor Rosenthal, Mitchell Boggs and Marc Rzepczysnki deemed it necessary to combine for 77 pitches to get six outs,” writes Miklasz. “[Boggs went] one third of an inning, two hits, two unintentional walks, six earned runs.”

Bernie points out that this is not an isolated incident so far in this young baseball season.  “Last Wednesday at Arizona, the Cardinals squandered four leads, the last three by the bullpen, in a deflating 16-inning loss,” recalls the columnist.

This should be a startling statistic to any Cardinals fan, especially since, as Bernie reminds us, this isn’t the NL Central of old, where the Card’s were often able to sit like Zeus atop Mount Olympus. The club has a true adversary to contend with now in Dusty Baker’s Reds.

It is difficult to argue with Bernie on this subject in the face of indisputable facts and stats regarding the bullpen’s performance so far this season.  No one knows when, or even if, Jason Motte will be available to pitch this season.  Bernie asserts that Boggs in underachieving and has got to do better. I agree completely.  There is no reason that he shouldn’t be able to pitch a scoreless inning or two late in games. He has been doing it for years.  I also agree with Bernie’s point concerning Rosenthal.  “Rosenthal has electric stuff  _ a closer's arsenal  _ but he's still learning his way through late-inning situations. I'm not alarmed, at all, by his missteps,” says Miklasz. In a time of great change for the Cardinals, the NL Central and in deed, the whole National League, the St. Louis bullpen absolutely needs to step up and get the job done, if the club wants to continue their exemplary streak as the class of the NL.

Analysis of Bernie Miklasz’s “A holiday for ‘Best Fans in Baseball”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, printed 4/8/13

Bernie's column

MLB Video: 2013 Opening Day at Busch Stadium, St. Louis

In his piece leading Cardinal Nation right in to the home opener, St. Louis’ lead sports writer, Bernie Miklasz masterfully reaffirms to the baseball-loving world, just why it is that St. Louis is home to the best fans in the game.

Bernie deftly opens a window into the hearts and minds of Cardinal fans and once he has you gawking, the writer allows the reader to peer out through the other side of this window at the momentous occasion that the Redbird faithful are treated to once a year.  This mix of character study and color truly highlights the spectacle that is opening day in St. Louis.

St. Louisans love to tell the world that we are the “best fans in baseball.” And, by God, it’s the truth.   As with any great empire, however, there will always be dissenters—take for instance those childish Reds fans whose substance-less, banal rebuttals line the comments section on STLToday.com.  Enter now, Bernie Miklasz.  He’s got the experience, provides the stats, and compiles the expert testimony to prove it.

The statistics speak for themselves. “Residing in the nation’s 19th-largest metropolitan area — population 2.8 million — the Cardinals are one of only two MLB franchises to draw at least 3 million fans at home in 14 of the last 15 seasons. The Yankees are the other team, and they play in a city of 19 million people… Since their first full season (1967) at the old Busch Stadium, the Cardinals have surpassed the National League’s average home attendance 40 times in 46 seasons. They’ve topped the NL average in 30 of the last 31 seasons,” writes Miklasz.

If the sheer numbers aren’t proof enough, Bernie hammers home his point with great success by deferring to the judgment of Randy Johnson, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, and Tom Gordon, who spent 21 seasons on a Major League mound.  “’No one can compare to Cardinals fans. Don’t even think of anywhere else,’” said Gordon (quoted by Miklasz), who played for eight clubs, but never the Cardinals.

It’s hard to argue with Bernie in this case.  Having attended hundreds of Cardinals games, in three different decades, I can say that he’s right on the mark about the atmosphere, standard of decency, respect for the game and opposing players, and fans’ level of engagement at Busch Stadium.  In all honesty, I think the most controversial act I’ve ever seen a Cardinals fan commit at the ballpark was eight or nine years ago when a female admirer jumped the wall and sprinted into centerfield to hand deliver to Jim Edmonds what I can only assume was a profession of her true love—a deep, undying, Budweiser-smelling love that every member of Cardinal Nation has for all who wear the birds on the bat.