Lowe’s sinks to an all-time low by pandering to bigotry and hatred

By Calvin Palmer

I will no longer be shopping at Lowe’s, the DIY chain. I strongly urge all people with a compassionate and tolerant nature to do likewise, although I know that plea is likely to fall on a great many deaf ears in Florida.

Lowe’s recently took an egregious decision to withdraw its advertising from TLC’s reality TV show, All-American Muslim, which depicts the daily lives of five Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan, all because a bigoted born-again christian claims the show masks the real intent of Muslims to takeover America.

David Caton, the 55-year-old sole employee of a fundamentalist group called the Florida Family Association organized the protest against the All-American Muslim show. So, effectively, one religious wacko has influenced the actions of a national corporation.

How low could Lowe’s have sunk?

The company obviously did not research into the background of Caton or his group and therefore left itself open to accusations that it favors religious and racial intolerance.

Lowe’s defended itself, lamely in my opinion, by saying “All-American Muslim had become a “lightning rod for people to voice complaints from a variety of perspectives — political, social and otherwise”.

Caton, an accountant turned rock-club owner, the author of a book about his addiction to pornography – I guess that really does make him what the British would call “a wanker” in every sense – shrugs off claims that Florida Family Association is a fringe hate group but rather aims to “defend traditional American biblical values”.

What are traditional American biblical values – hatred, vengeance, intolerance, hypocrisy?

It never fails to amaze me how these christian fundamentalists* can quote the Old Testament chapter and verse but pay scant regard to the teachings of the New Testament upon which the religion of Christianity is founded. Love, compassion, kindness and tolerance are an anathema to these people.

Just how different in his thinking is David Caton from Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian who killed 85 people, many of them youngsters at a camp retreat, in bombing and shooting attacks this summer? Breivik, 32, claimed he carried out the attacks as part of a “war” to prevent an “Islam takeover” of the West.

Caton claims the TLC show is not an accurate portrayal of American Muslims because it doesn’t disclose that “99.9 percent of Muslims agree with the principles of Sharia law,” the restrictive religious code that Caton and others warn leads to the spread of Islamic extremism.

“This has all to do with the way this program was constructed to deliberately present Muslims in America as one flavor,” he told The Associated Press. “It would be similar to The Learning Channel doing a report on ‘snakes are good family pets’ without reporting that there are four in Florida that are venomous. ….For TLC to choose to profile five people as an aberration of the Islamic faith is propaganda.”

And Lowe’s gave this man the oxygen of publicity. It almost beggars belief in a supposed civilized nation.

As long as the Catons of this world are allowed to hold sway on American life, the country can never claim to be civilized. It may hopefully achieve that status one day through programs such as All-American Muslim and when the latent racism that lurks beneath the façade of respectability in The South is banished once and for all.

As a company, Lowe’s should be thoroughly ashamed of itself. Never mind the mealy-mouthed platitudes designed to keep the tea party idiots and rednecks happy in their ignorance. If the company wants to win back fair-minded and decent customers, it could make a start by firing those people responsible for deciding to pull the TV adverts.

Until that happens, Lowe’s might just as well incorporate a burning cross in the company’s logo.

Based on reports by The New York Times and CBS News.

If you feel strongly about the action taken by Lowe’s, visit http://www.myfellowamerican.us/ and make your feelings known.

* The thoughts and actions of these people are such that they are unworthy of the usual journalistic protocol of Christians.

A voice of reason falls silent with the death of Christopher Hitchens

By Calvin Palmer

Writer and journalist Christopher Hitchens died yesterday after his battle with oesophageal cancer. He was 62.

He was an inveterate smoker and drinker and no doubt the health fascists will claim he got what he deserved, a typical riposte from such intellectual pygmies.

Hitchens was a Brit who made it in America, which shows what a difference real talent makes. I would gladly settle for one tenth of Hitchens’ talent.

It was during BBC America’s election night coverage of the 2008 US presidential election that he won a place in my heart and mind when he described Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as “an insult to democracy”. As so often throughout his life, Hitchens was bang on the money.

I hope his spectre will continue to haunt similar presidential candidates who hold a Disney-like view on life and are driven by a god that Hitchens refused to acknowledge. In his book God is Not Great, published in 2007, Hitchens argued that religion is “violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry”.

May the ghost of Hitchens ensure that the likes of Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and other tea party idiots never gain centre stage in US politics. Like Palin, they too are an insult to democracy.

Hitchens was criticized in some quarters for not remaining loyal to his early left-wing beliefs but surely it is the mark of an independent mind to attack both Left and Right when they are wrong, praise them when they get it right and not be beholden to either of them. Any free-thinking mind cannot to be tied down by isms in any way shape or form.

In his later years his maxim became “it is an absolute certainty that there are no certainties”, save the one that befalls everyone from CEOs of massive corporations to homeless people wandering city streets — death.

If there is such a thing as the after life, I would like to think that when Hitchens crossed over to the other side, he was greeted with a gin and tonic, offered a cigarette and then held forth in his inimitable and forthright style.

Hitchens lived life to the full and richly filled the lives of others.

Del Rio and Steve Bruce must wish they had the luck of Stoke City’s Tony Pulis

By Calvin Palmer

It has been quite a week on the sporting front both sides of the Atlantic.

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver finally grew some balls and fired coach Jack Del Rio after Sunday’s humiliating and inept performance against the Houston Texans.

When the TV commentator, usually so forgiving like all TV commentators are, expressed surprise that a three-man Texans rush could get past the five-man Jaguars offensive line to sack rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert, it was pretty obvious we were witnessing something verging on the pathetic.

I doubt Gabbert will shed many tears over Del Rio’s departure. There is now every chance that his talent will one day flower rather than be crushed into obscurity.

It will be interesting to see if the players start playing to their full potential with interim coach Mel Tucker in charge on Monday night. Whether the game suffers a TV blackout hangs in the balance.

I wonder if tight-end Mercedes Lewis, for older English readers Marina Lewis would be a more appropriate name, will actually start catching the ball and help take the pressure off Gabbert. Lewis was a Pro Bowl tight-end last season. This season he has looked more like toilet bowl material. Still, he got a nice fat contract during the close season and has repaid the franchise in pretty much the same way former quarterback David Garrard did after he received his improved contract.

Weaver did not stop at firing coach Del Rio. He also announced he was selling the franchise to Illinois businessman Shahid Khan who nearly bought the St Louis Rams in 2010.

Quite what the First Baptist Church bigots and Jacksonville’s white supremacists will make of Shahid Khan owning the city’s NFL franchise is anyone’s guess. I can envisage a burning cross on the halfway line at EverBank Stadium.

Already, racist comments have appeared along with the view that an American sport should be owned by Americans; so much for Shahid Khan’s U.S. citizenship. Those comments only serve to show the racist underbelly that sadly still exists in Jacksonville and northeast Florida.

It is probably just as well that the Jaguars did not draft Tim Tebow, given the turn of events this week. Tebow would probably have spent all his time trying to convert Khan rather than converting drives into touchdowns.

Across the Atlantic, second tier Crystal Palace took on Premier League Manchester United and succeeded in knocking them out of the Carling Cup and at Old Trafford. A friend from my university days who is a staunch Palace supporter will be delighted.

Stoke City also secured their place in the last 32 teams of the Europa League on Thursday with a lacklustre performance at home to Dynamo Kiev. Kiev should have had the game sewn up at half-time but squandered two chances that would have put the game beyond Stoke’s reach.

It took a pinpoint cross from winger Jermaine Pennant and a powerful header from Kenwyne Jones to give Stoke a goal they never really looked like scoring throughout the entire game. Stoke’s performance was not much different than that of the Jaguars against the Texans. Del Rio must wish that he had the luck of Stoke City coach Tony Pulis.

The same goes for Sunderland coach Steve Bruce who was sacked on the same day Del Rio was fired.

Writing in The Guardian, Louise Taylor stated:

“Arguably one of the principal reasons Bruce is no longer in charge at the Stadium of Light concerns his apparent inability to tweak formations or tactics during matches. Whenever a rival manager re-configured his system mid-game, Bruce invariably failed to come up with a countermeasure.

“In recent months Alan Pardew, Mark Hughes, Roy Hodgson and, most recently, Roberto Martínez have all seemingly out-thought him as Sunderland dropped points against supposedly weaker sides they really should have beaten.”

Tony Pulis has similarly been out-thought by managers of clubs Stoke were expected to beat and yet he remains in charge with his square pegs in round holes team selections that sees Stoke taking the field in most games without recognized full-backs, a geriatric midfield player and no creativity whatsoever, hence the lack of goal chances let alone goals.

The one bright spot in Thursday’s game against Dynamo Kiev was the performance of Wilson Palacios, playing his first full game since his summer transfer from Tottenham Hotspur. I stand to be corrected but as far as I could see, I don’t think one pass from Palacios went astray and they were all played to a teammate’s feet.

If that basic footballing skill could be passed on to the rest of the team, my fears regarding Stoke City’s future in the Premier League would evaporate.

Tomorrow, Stoke take on Everton at Goodison Park and I am sure it will see another poor away performance that ends in defeat. I hope I am wrong.

Time for the euro to meet the same fate as the Bismarck

By Calvin Palmer

I didn’t fancy watching the Tom Brady show on Monday Night Football last night. I said to my wife that it would probably end with a 45-6 victory for the New England Patriots against the Kansas City Chiefs. My prediction was pretty good, the Patriots won 35-3.

The Turner Classic Movie Channel was showing a 1950s movie with an instantly forgettable title. Five seconds were enough to know that it wasn’t my cup of tea.

I ended up shoving Sink The Bismarck! into the DVD player.

Kenneth More gives an impeccable performance of how the British used to conduct themselves. When news of the sinking of the German pocket battleship came through to the Admiralty ops room, there were no whoops and hollers. A pat on the back was sufficient reward for a job well done.

In a rare moment of emotion, when More’s character learned that his son, a gunner on a Fairey Swordfish aeroplane, had been rescued after being reported missing in action, there were no gushing hugs or Disney-type sentimentality. More’s character shed a few momentary tears. He then got back to the business in hand.

When the film ended, it struck me that the rallying cry these days should be “Sink the euro!”

I have no argument with a European common market that allows the free movement of goods and people between member states but the alarm bells began to ring for me when a single currency was first mooted. Thanks goodness the British had the good sense not to join.

It now appears, through the ongoing euro crisis — a situation that was blatantly obvious right from the beginning – the goal is the creation of a German-dominated United States of Europe, in effect a Fourth Reich, however benign it may turn out to be.

I have nothing against the Germans. I like them. Berlin is my favourite city in the world. But I would object to German politicians and bureaucrats having the final say on what is in the best interests of the United Kingdom.

Such a situation seems a likely outcome with the Chamberlain-like appeasers at the helm of British politics at the moment. And should this European superstate come about, it would be an insult to not only the sacrifice made by the crew of HMS Hood but also all British and Commonwealth servicemen who lost their lives to liberate Europe from German occupation. It would also make a mockery of Britain’s finest hour.

If we are so enamoured with German dominance of Europe, we should have appointed Lord Halifax as Prime Minister in 1940 instead of Winston Churchill. Halifax was keen to sue for peace with Hitler, although it is doubtful that a peace treaty would have been honoured for very long.

I realize the dire impact that would occur on the global economy with the implosion of the euro but maybe it is better to take the stiff medicine now and make a fresh start.

It is pretty clear that the world needs a major rethink on how economies are run. The fall of the euro could well herald a new age where the global economy is run for the benefit of the many and not just the privileged few.

And if it is deemed that the euro cannot and must not fail, how long can Britain continue be a part of the EU but remain outside of the euro? Even now civil servants in Whitehall are probably busy working on a way to sell the end of the pound to the British people.

It will be a dark day in British history if Britain relinquishes its currency. So I say again, “Sink the euro!”

Time to set off on another sortie in the old Fairey Swordfish.

“Chocks away, Ginger!”

Pulis faces the biggest challenge of career to halt Stoke’s relegation form

By Calvin Palmer

Is Stoke City a team in crisis? Recent results in the Premier League would suggest it is. On Saturday, Stoke lost at home to QPR to make it four straight defeats in which 14 goals have been conceded and only four goals scored. That is relegation form and the manner of Stoke’s performances has relegation writtne .

Manager, and I use the term loosely, Tony Pulis prides himself in the fact that he has never been relegated during his managerial career. Shots of him during the TV broadcast on Saturday showed him like a deer caught in a car’s headlights.

Pulis is probably facing the greatest challenge of his career at Stoke City because on Saturday’s showing, his side will be lucky to win another game all season.

The strong defence – a hallmark of Stoke City since they won promotion to the Premier League — is now leaking goals at an alarming rate.

In his after match comments, Pulis told the BBC, “The disappointment is that we are conceding goals, and soft goals. We are going to have to get back to basics.”

What Pulis failed to mention is the present Stoke team is woeful going forward and has not an ounce of creativity in the central midfield. Stoke rely on wingers Etherington and Pennant for the creative spark and teams are simply double marking these two players every time they get the ball. The net result is that Stoke create little in the way of chances from open play.

The main goal threat still comes from set-pieces. Rory Delap’s long throw-ins have now become ineffective and literally a waste of time. Why is Delap, a 35-year-old journeyman, continually picked ahead of younger players?

Pulis does not do younger players. You have to be at least 27 to hold down a regular place in a Tony Pulis side. The likes of Ryan Shotton, Diego Arismendi and Florent Cuvelier will likely have to go elsewhere to command a regular first-team place.

At the close of the transfer window, football writers were talking of Stoke City possibly knocking on the door of the top six in the Premier League following the £17 million spent on former England international Peter Crouch and Wilson Palacios. At the time, I wondered what hallucinogenic drugs these writers were on. To anyone who knows the first thing about football, Stoke City are not a good side. Their results often flatter to deceive. On a great many occasions against better sides, they are plain lucky.

Three months on and Wilson Palacios has yet to play a full game, which begs the question as to why Pulis paid out £7 million for him. Is Palacios carrying a long-term serious injury or is it just Pulis’s notorious xenophobia kicking in again?

After watching the QPR game, I caught the last 40 minutes of Swansea versus Manchester United. I was impressed at the way Swansea moved the ball around, retaining possession that enabled them to mount pressure on the United goal.

Stoke players almost to a man are incapable of passing a ball and you will rarely see players creating neat triangles of passes to progress upfield. As for a 30 yard pass to a player’s feet, it is the stuff of fantasy as far as Stoke are concerned. You will see a hoof upfield covering some 30 or 40 yards, but nine times out of 10 the opposition emerges with the ball.

Does Pulis not see any of these basic footballing shortcomings?

Of course his acolytes on The Oatcake message board will point out that for all of Swansea’s slick passing, they ended up losing 1-0 to United, while Stoke secured a 1-1 draw. They will conveniently forget that Stoke lost 2-0 against Swansea in another inept away performance.

The Pulis admirers will also point to Stoke’s success in the Europa League but Pulis will be the first to admit that the Europa League competition is merely a sideshow. Stoke’s continued presence in the Premier League is paramount. I will wager Birmingham City’s fans would willing swap their club’s involvement in Europe for being back in the Premier League.

Pulis has got his work cut out to get Stoke back on a winning streak. His back to basics call will probably result in the negative binary football and a series of uninspiring 0-0 draws, 1-0 wins and the occasional 0-1 defeats.

The next fixture sees Stoke take on struggling Blackburn Rovers. I fully expect Rovers to come away with a 1-0 victory, assuming Stoke’s defence returns to normal. If not, I can quite easily envisage another three-goal defeat, unless Blackburn really are as bad as their results suggest.

To my mind, relegation can only be averted with new faces being brought in during the January transfer window. But after the £20 million spending spree in August, Stoke City chairman Peter Coates has already said a similar level of spending will not occur in January. That is worrying because the present playing staff is simply not good enough to dig Stoke out of the present hole.

Coates must also be concerned that he is getting little in the way of return for his summer largesse. In his shoes, I would question giving Pulis another significant sum of money to spend.

As the footballing adage goes, you are only as good as your next game. Against Blackburn, Stoke will have to show something special, otherwise it is going to be a long season that may well see Pulis’s non-relegation record come to an end.

Glazers suffer pain of defeat twice over while soccer fans rejoice at United result

By Calvin Palmer

It was a bad sporting weekend for the Glazer family. First, Manchester United were humbled to a 6-1 defeat by neighbours Manchester City. A few hours later, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were beaten by the Chicago Bears at Wembley Stadium in London.

For all their wealth, the Glazers were reduced to being losers by the performances of their sporting enterprises. The pain of defeat will no doubt be soothed away by the money the family has earned in the time it has taken to write these two sentences. Malcolm Glazer’s fortune is estimated at $2,600 million.

For many Premier League fans a huge amount of satisfaction was derived by United’s humiliating defeat at the hands of City. Even more pleasing was the manner of the defeat. Gutless, spineless, abject are just a few of the adjectives that fit the performance exhibited by the smug prima donnas wearing red shirts.

Did they honestly believe that all they had to do was to turn up at Old Trafford to beat Manchester City? How about tackling to win the ball or at least closing players down? A little bit of commitment and passion would not have come amiss.

Were Manchester City unplayable? No. They simply played as a highly-talented team, working hard for each other. They had Manchester United in their back pocket from the start. City scored at will in the last three minutes, ramping up the scoreline from a respectable 3-1 defeat to the embarrassing 6-1 final outcome.

I watched the game last night, courtesy of a replay by ESPN. On Sunday I was otherwise engaged watching Stoke City capitulate to Arsenal or should I say capitulate to Robin Van Persie. Up to his introduction as a second-half substitute, Stoke looked good for a draw and with a more adventurous approach might even have secured a win. But Stoke City, thanks to their ultra-conservative and tactically clueless manager Tony Pulis, don’t do away wins.

Prior to the Manchester derby, I watched the Jacksonville Jaguars defeat the Baltimore Ravens 12-7 with a gutsy performance. What the Jaguars lack in offense, they more than made up for with defence. Even the normal waste of space Rashean Mathis stepped up to the mark and played his best game in three seasons, completely snuffing out the Ravens wide receivers and even making a couple of tackles. I know, it is hard to believe.

I number myself among the critics of Mathis but I will hold my hands up and give the man credit for his performance last night. I hope he plays with the same enthusiasm and determination on Sunday against the Houston Texans.

There are strong parallels between the Jaguars and Stoke City. Both are unfashionable sides with limited talent and resources. Both have coaches who seem to inhabit a different planet, or rather view a game in totally different light to that of the fans. Both teams put the emphasis on a strong defence and play a kind of football that the purists label as ugly. Just as Stoke City find it hard to score goals in the Premier League, the Jaguars also find it hard to score touchdowns.

The troubling aspect for me is why I find myself supporting teams like Stoke City and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The answer is simply location and a loyalty to location. I was born in Stoke-on-Trent. I live in Jacksonville.

AP reports of IndyCar driver Wheldon’s death omit his nationality

By Calvin Palmer

When a man who is proud of his nationality, and most men are, dies in a foreign country one would think it incumbent upon that country’s media to acknowledge his nationality. Not only is giving someone’s nationality part of good reporting and journalistic standards but, in the case of someone who has died, it is also a mark of respect.

Many newspapers in the United States carried the story of the death of British driver Dan Wheldon at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. As is newspaper practice, they made use of wire reports by the Associated Press, which failed to make any mention of Wheldon’s British nationality.

While it is true that Wheldon became a sporting hero in the United States and was largely unknown in his home country, he was fiercely proud of his nationality.

When he won the Indy 500 in 2005, a feat he repeated last year, he took to the winner’s rostrum with the Union Jack draped across his shoulders.

Dan Wheldon after winning the Indy 500 in 2005. Picture courtesy of The Daily Telegraph.

So shame on the Associated Press reporters John Marshall and Ken Ritter who omitted Wheldon’s nationality from their reports of this tragic event.

The British, especially the English, are often accused by Americans of being arrogant. The accusation is often leveled at me, even by family members. I usually counter with the Cecil Rhodes quote: “To be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life.” Needless to say this response only further antagonizes Americans but isn’t that what being English is all about?

And Americans cannot claim to be so virtuous. Is not their indifference to, and ignorance of, anyone or anything outside the United States just another form of arrogance?

At least the British can cite several centuries of being in the ascendancy instead of a mere 70 years.

Willing ‘gels’ keep Brodie in his prime

By Calvin Palmer

Masterpiece Mystery, on the PBS channel, presented the first episode of Case Histories last night. For me, this series is something of an unknown quantity. Its pedigree does not go back to when I lived in the UK; friends in the UK have not made mention of it; and the star, Jason Isaacs, does not readily spring to mind.

A Google search revealed that I have seen Isaacs before and in England; he had a role in an episode of Inspector Morse in 1992. I have also seen him in A State Within, which aired in 2006. He also played Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.

I am usually good at remembering people’s faces, Isaacs would seem to be the exception.

Playing a bluff Yorkshire man – all Yorkshire men seem to be bluff although I suppose Alan Bennett is one obvious exception – and ex-policeman turned private investigator Jackson Brodie, I kind of warmed to Isaacs’s character and interpretation.

At first, I thought the series was set in Yorkshire but it soon became apparent the location is Edinburgh. Watching Case Histories you would be forgiven for thinking that the Scots have all left Scotland’s capital. I think out of a dozen or so characters, only three spoke with a Scottish accent.

Google further revealed that Case Histories is based on the novel of the same name by Kate Atkinson, where the action is set in Cambridge. I guess the choice of Cambridge for a TV series was considered to be too similar a setting to Inspector Morse and the later Inspector Lewis TV series.

The plot of Case Histories has sufficient twists and turns to keep the mind engaged. The only downside was the salacious interludes, such as the woman who has sex with Brodie in order for him to take her case; another of his clients had the hots for him from the get-go and ended up in bed with him in the closing scene; and then the sister of the aforementioned client confesses to having fabricated a significant other and we get to see her beginning foreplay with a recently acquired lesbian partner. I guess the sex romps and lesbianism help with the viewing ratings but clearly any female nudity in these scenes is strictly frowned upon.

Women and gay male viewers get to see Isaacs topless and sporting his collection of macho tattoos but male viewers are denied similar views of Brodie’s sexual conquests. Whatever happened to equal opportunity?

A series of flashbacks underpinned the main plot, where a young Brodie witnesses his sister’s body being dragged from a river. We later saw Brodie lay some flowers at her grave. She was 16 when she died. Whether her death was the result of an accident, suicide or murder will no doubt be revealed as the series unfolds.

Brodie is also facing issues with his ex-wife who plans to deny him access to his daughter, Marlee, by taking up a temporary post in New Zealand. Marlee is played in a natural and realistic way by Millie Innes. Unlike child actors in American TV series, where one’s initial reaction is simply to throttle them and put an end to their obnoxiousness, Innes gives an endearing portrayal.

From last night’s episode, viewers gain the impression that Brodie left the police force under something of a cloud. He had achieved the rank of inspector and mention was made of his exposure of wrongdoing by police colleagues. No doubt this theme will be expanded upon in later episodes.

Case Histories is eminently watchable and gives me my Sunday night English drama fix. You have to live in a foreign country to realize just how comforting it is to hear one’s native language being spoken in familiar accents. And besides, I get to see glimpses of dear old Blighty, as well as the eccentricities of the English. Little things, such as someone spreading Marmite on their breakfast toast, mean an awful lot to me. I still do the same even living in America.

Why use five words when 16 will do?

By Calvin Palmer

At EverBank Field on Sunday I was seated next to a New Orleans Saints fan. To be sociable, I struck up a conversation.

“Did you go to the Super Bowl game?” I asked, referring to the Super Bowl 2010 when the Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 to lift the Vince Lombardi trophy.

“My career was at the stage where I could not spend $1,800 on a football game,” he replied.

Okay. Good answer, I suppose. But what was wrong with keeping it simple and saying, ” I could not afford it.”

As was expected, the Jacksonville Jaguars lost 23-10, although rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert showed one or two nice touches and did throw a touchdown pass.

Pre-game provided me with a few photographic opportunities for the Ricoh GRD III.

EverBank Field stadium, Jacksonville, Florida. ©Calvin Palmer 2011. All Rights Reserved.

EverBank Field stadium, Jacksonville, Florida. ©Calvin Palmer 2011. All Rights Reserved.

EverBank Field stadium, Jacksonville, Florida. ©Calvin Palmer 2011. All Rights Reserved.

EverBank Field stadium, Jacksonville, Florida. ©Calvin Palmer 2011. All Rights Reserved.

The  game had resumed by the time I returned from my half-time cigarettes in the designated smoking area. I asked the Saints fan if I had missed anything.

“Only six Hooters girls streaking across the field,” he replied.

Who says Americans do not have a sense of humour?

Given that is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States, it would have been an appropriate gesture.

The NFL is doing its bit. Players are carrying pink towels, wearing pink boots and pink mouth guards. Perhaps they could persuade all the cheerleaders to dance topless. It would not only boost attendances for October’s scheduled games but also increase TV viewing figures.

Ah, I was forgetting. The USA is the land of the “wardrobe malfunction”; a country where the sight of a bare breast is considered more egregious than the sale of handguns to the general public.

Only in America!

Stoke City’s display against Man United overshadows moments of good fortune

By Calvin Palmer

Good fortune smiled on Stoke City in the opening and closing minutes of Saturday’s game against Manchester United at the Britannia Stadium.

When United striker Hernández in the third minute seized on a deflected ball, which played him onside, Jonathan Woodgate’s last ditch tackle immediately had me thinking a penalty would be awarded and the Stoke defender dismissed.

The action replay showed that Woodgate did in fact play the ball but I doubt whether referee Peter Walton knew that. Walton decided not to award a penalty and I think every Stoke fan watching gave a huge sigh of relief.

In the second of four minutes added on at the end, Ryan Giggs found himself in space at the back post and I expected to see Stoke’s net bulge. Nine times out of 10, it would have done but on this occasion Giggs steered the ball wide and the score remained at 1-1.

In between, those two incidents there was nothing remotely fortunate about Stoke’s performance against United who came into the game boasting a 100 per cent record from five games, with 21 goals scored and only four conceded.

United’s class did look as if it might bring its just desserts in the 27th minute when Nani rifled in a superb shot after a dazzling run.

The lead could have been shortlived. Sixty seconds later Stoke’s full-back Andy Wilkinson surged into the United penalty area and unleashed a ferocious drive that looked destined for the top corner of United’s goal.

Goalkeeper David De Gea had other ideas and brilliantly tipped the shot away for a corner.  De Gea produced a second world-class save seven minutes later to deny Jonathan Walters. The Stoke striker’s low drive was heading for the far corner.

In the second half, Stoke pressed for the equalizer and it came on 52 minutes when Peter Crouch got in between Rio Ferdinand and Phil Jones to head home a pinpoint corner kick taken by Matthew Etherington. De Gea on this occasion was rooted to his line and could only watch as the ball flew into the net.

Crouch could have had a second goal when he toe-poked a shot that De Gea knew little about, as he turned his head away. Fortunately, the ball hit De Gea’s elbow and went for a corner.

It was easy to see why Dimitar Berbatov is out of favour with Sir Alex Ferguson. Called into to start for the first time this season in place of the injured Wayne Rooney, Berbatov was largely anonymous. He only caught the eye once with a preposterous dive in the Stoke penalty area.

Berbatov was challenged but took another step before falling to the ground as if shot. He can count himself lucky not have been booked by referee Walton for diving.

The reaction of United fans to the loss of the club’s 100 per cent record have been mildly amusing and just go to show how so many people only see half of what is going on at a football game. Many United fan’s claim a penalty should have been awarded when Evra’s shot cannoned into Ryan Shawcross’s arm.

TV pundit Craig Burley was incensed no penalty kick was given, arguing that it had to be a penalty because Shawcross, like any sensible person when a ball is driven at a ferocious pace, turned away from the ball. So if Shawcross had not turned, presumable Burley would have been all right with referee Walton’s decision?

The replay did show the ball hitting Shawcross’s arm but it was ball to hand rather than intentional and that, dear Craig, is why the referee did not award a penalty.

After the match, Sir Alex Ferguson said a draw was a fair result. I wouldn’t argue with that assessment. He also made no comment on the incident that brought on Burley’s fit of celtic histrionics.

Stoke City really are a Jekyll-and-Hyde side. Eight days ago, they gave an abysmal performance against a struggling Sunderland and lost 4-0. On Saturday, they came so close to beating one of the top three sides in Europe.

Stoke travel to Swansea City on Sunday. If there is any logic in football, and we all know there isn’t, they should easily beat the newly promoted side. But away from home Stoke struggle to replicate their sterling performances at fortress Britannia. Part of the reason is that manager Tony Pulis approaches away games with a view to not losing rather than setting out to win the game right from the start.

It is for that reason many Stoke fans look askance at recent suggestions by football writers that Stoke City could be pushing for a top six place this season in the Premier League. It would be nice to think that they could but Stoke are Stoke and Pulis is Pulis.

On the back of the magnificent performance against United, I would dearly love to think things could change but I won’t be holding my breath on that one. It will not surprise me in the least if Stoke grind out a 1-0 defeat against Swansea.