The FA Cup is So Over

The FA Cup has ruined my weekend. Rather than have a full slate of Premiership matches that mean something we are stuck with Saturday fixtures of Birmingham v. Bolton and Manchester United v. Arsenal.

Sunday's lineup has the raging fixtures of Stoke City v. West Ham United and Manchester City v. Reading.

Go Reading go! The magic of the Cup! Feel it...

Feel it suck the life out of me. So, I'm actually going to watch the West Ham match because Avram Grant needs all the support he can get and I'm pulling for them to fight off relegation and for Grant to get another Premier League club to a final. Plus, Scott Parker is my Player of the Year and is having a special season that is worth tuning in for alone.

Think about that for a moment: I'm going to watch the FA Cup this weekend - the most famous cup competition in the world - because I've become an Avram Grant Super Fan. I don't care about Arsenal's quest to bomb out of another competition and I don't care about watching Manchester United anymore than I absolutely have to.

As a quick aside, does anyone want to have a competition where we predict whether total attendance for the US Open Cup will equal or exceed the attendance at this weekend's English League One fixture between Yeovil Town v. Walsall? Consider that for a second and get back to me. I'm talking every match during the US Open Cup.

I'm not suggesting to do away completely with the FA Cup. That would be ridiculous as I know every major football league in the world has a cup competition in conjunction with it's league competition. What I would suggest is to contest these fixtures during the week and only play the final on a weekend. Maybe even the semi-finals if the FA are worried about viewing or attendance being down at Wembley.

But the ebb and flow of the Premier League reaches a climax at this point in the season. The matches really matter now.

For one thing, I doubt whether Arsenal or United even care if they get knocked out at this point with injuries piling up and bigger prizes to worry about. But there are places in Europe being contested and the relegation fight is fantastic once again. And rather than carry the momentum that football fans got midweek during the Champions League we're given a kick in the nuts with ho-hum FA Cup ties. Not much fun if you ask me.

Let me put it this way: The only thing less enticing than watching the FA Cup on a weekend would be watching a full slate of Serie A matches. Watching Stoke is probably more gripping than watching a Milan Derby.

Throw some love Avram Grant's way this weekend. The man deserves credit for what he has done with Chelsea, Portsmouth and now West Ham. He'll never get that credit of course but he would have been a better appointment at the start of the season than Roy Hodgson was - I will tell you that much!

Wait, I think VoF just endorsed the West Ham manager and midfielder as the best of the year at their respective jobs. Please return for our next post!