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It is the middle of May of 1987 and the J2 class of St Peters Primary School are heading north on the M6 motorway back to Preston. The kids on the bus had spent the day having a school trip visiting some local landmark, the kind of day the children looked forward to for months, an escape away from the classroom setting. At the back of the bus the boys, aged 8 and 9, are getting rowdier but none of the discussions centre around the museum they found themselves at earlier. Instead, the topic of conversation is the upcoming FA Cup Final at Wembley. It is the biggest football match of the season and even the pale, skinny kid with glasses has an opinion on it. Tottenham Hotspur are the favourites and no one on this bus is giving their opponents, Coventry City, a chance. Well, no one except me. I think they will win. I am laughed at almost as much as when my dad took me to get my hair cut two years earlier and it was the shortest cut in the school. It took a while for the hair to grow back and the laughing to stop but this time the laughing wouldnt last nearly as long. In less than two days, every one of those boys would be in front of the television on Saturday afternoon watching the great Wembley Stadium set the stage for another team to climb the stairs and lift the famous cup. The year before, the boys had all watched Ian Rush and Liverpool beat Everton in a wonderfully entertaining final. It was a game that would stay with them forever, whether you supported either of the team teams or not. Tottenham versus Coventry turned out to be even better. Spurs led 1-0 and 2-1 but were pegged back twice, sending the game into extra time before the underdogs scored the fifth and final goal, that deflected off Spurs defender Gary Mabbutt and into his own net. The Sky Blues had won the FA Cup and I had won a tremendous amount of respect. There were no cell phones or email. Yet, everyone had watched it and in Monday morning assembly youd have thought I was playing for Coventry that day. Perhaps, I thought, I have a brain for this game. Twelve and a half years later I am on a bus again. This time I am heading south on the M6 motorway. It is November 1999. I am a journalist travelling with tiny football club Bamber Bridge, an amateur club that has reached the second round of the FA Cup for the first time ever. Brig, as they are affectionately known by the 500 or so fans who watch them each week, had started their FA Cup run months earlier and had found their way past the pre rounds, through the first round proper (as it is known) and into the second round, where they have been drawn at Cambridge United, members of the fourth tier of English professional leagues. Bamber Bridge might have been playing FA Cup games since September but the big teams, from Englands top two divisions, wouldnt enter the competition for one more round. Win this game and tiny Bamber Bridge are in the last 64 with the giants of English football. The players bus, where I sit alone close to the front, is full of spirit and the senior players come up one-by-one to tell a story of inspiration. Brigs star striker includes me in his speal, but it is far from positive. Turns out the part-time footballer, full-time postman wasnt too happy with the message I had delivered to my readers about his poor form earlier this season. Now the team was headed to the lofty heights of Abbey Stadium he had chosen his moment to pick on the young writer. The four hour journey turns out to be more entertaining than the match, endless amounts of buses cross paths at junctions and traffic lights, some full of fans, others full of players, all headed in one direction - towards FA Cup glory. Later that day Bamber Bridge lose 1-0 to a penalty that should never have been awarded. The full-time postman misses a sitter. I deliver that message to my readers. Brig havent come close to the second round proper since. Cambridge draw Crystal Palace in the plum third round draw and beat them, marching all the way to the last 16 where their dream would die against Bolton. They have never been near that round since and are no longer good enough to be in the top four leagues of professional football. At least both teams have their FA Cup memories. And that is where the FA Cup is most fondly thought of. Stuck in the minds of people like a special vault, sending them back to a time less complicated, the FA Cup has become a modern day victim battered aside by the influx of the Premier League, satellite television and the breathtaking growth of the European Cup, now named after champions that doesnt feature just champions. Of course, it still delivers special moments each year and it currently resides in Wigan, of all places, after the relegated Premier League side stunned Manchester City last May in the final. I am sure some nine-year-old boy somewhere picked Wigan to win that day and got laughed at. What I am not so sure about, however, is that those who laughed at him watched the game. The streets of England on FA Cup final day used to be full of women shopping. Men and boys were in front of the television. These days the game comes as an inconvenience to some, no longer always placed at the end of the football season when the league campaigns are finished. The fact that it is the traditional closer to this season again is romantic but it has been moved once and will be moved again. It is a competition badly in need of being loved again yet it continues to be cast aside for the bigger, flashier Premier League encounters. The draw for the last 64 used to be another special moment, circled on the calendar for all football fans. When giants could be given minnows or even fellow giants. Yet, this season the draw for the third round of the FA Cup took place when Arsenal were playing Everton in a highly entertaining Premier League match at the Emirates. The eyes of the football world were placed on that game and not even a draw that pitted Arsenal and Tottenham together could overtake Evertons comeback to the main story in newspapers and websites the next day. It was a fitting moment. The FA Cup isnt in the shadows of the league, it is hiding around the corner trembling at the very site of it. And yet when it gets its moment in the sun it has sadly become an awkward distraction from the weekly rolling circus known worldwide as the Barclays Premier League. This season the FA Cups rounds 3 through 5 has been set aside dates on the weekends of January 4-5, January 25-26 and February 18-19. Three weekends that have been kept free completely by the Premier League. Three weekends out of the first seven weeks of 2014 that no Premier League matches will be watched by the billions who tune in worldwide. Not exactly ideal. Three weekends that will see crowds down everywhere as football fans, forced to pay extra money on top of their season ticket price, decide against going to watch FA Cup matches. Last January, eventual winners Wigan Athletic drew 1-1 at home to Bournemouth in round three and just over 8,000 fans showed up to watch the game. An-all Premier League third round game between QPR and West Brom was watched by 8,984 people. Less and less people are caring every year and if it continues along this path it wont be long before it becomes similar to its far poorer off cousin, the league cup, who, despite its name changes for sponsors, remains the same; a competition for the reserves until the real later stages. The FA Cup badly needs an identity change before it is too late. Next week the Premier League embarks on its busiest period. Teams play four games between December 21 and January 1. While leagues in Germany, Spain and Italy take a short winter break, the Premier League marches on, asking their teams to play a moronic schedule that suits nobody. Squads are tested to needless limits with some teams having to play four high intense Premier League games in nine days. A winter break at this time in England should not be implemented, despite statements by Arsene Wenger and others suggesting otherwise. Playing games over the Christmas period is a tradition English football should keep, a tradition that looks after fans actually in the stadiums (a rarity in an era dominated by television revenue) and able to go to games on special days like Boxing Day and New Years Day. No one, however, can argue that the current crowded fixture list is good for the game. Thats why a solution to fix the FA Cup, and save the stress on the Premier League teams, should be implemented. In the four upcoming windows of matches - Dec 21-22, Dec 26, Dec 28-29, Jan 1 - the FA Cup should play rounds 3, 4, 5 and 6. By the end of January 1 they should have their semifinalists. No replays, all games end that day. The draw should be made up so the teams know in advance who they will be playing. Think March Madness style for NCAA Basketball in the United States. A 64 team bracket draw is made and if you win on the first weekend, you instantly know who you will face in the next round and so on and so forth. It is a system that can benefit all. If Wenger and his colleagues want to give key players a winter break, go ahead. More teams will get a break by the very fact that only eight teams, from the original 64, will play four matches during that time. The police will know the schedule and can plan ahead of time (a necessary when planning games) for when a certain team may be at home that day. Crowds will be bigger for FA Cup matches because football fans in England love to go to games at this time of year. Some fans will not get to see their teams play on Boxing Day or New Years Day, if they have been knocked out, but those days will still feature games involving teams from the two lower divisions of English football, who didnt make the 64, if you are craving a game to watch. The Football Association are constantly thinking of ideas to get Premier League fans to spend money to watch their local, smaller clubs and this is another way of achieving that. The Premier League can go back to playing regularly throughout January and February on the weekends it should and would also avoid a conflict later in round six when all Premier League teams are slated to play on the same weekend as the last eight in the FA Cup (March 8-9 this year). That causes the teams fixture congestion down the stretch, something else this plan avoids, sending the last four all the way through to the semi-finals, which can be played in their usual spot of mid-April. Above all, this plan would bring the FA Cup back from the dead. Playing so many games around the country over such a short amount of time will keep everyones focus on the knock-out competition. Many people are in a great mood at this festive season and what better way to reward them than with a festival of FA Cup football, held over a span lasting less than two weeks. It suits the FA, the Premier League and the players. And, of course, nine-year-old experts. Peyton Manning Youth Jersey . Miralem Pjanic dribbled through the defence to score an extraordinary goal in the 43rd minute at the Stadio Olimpico and Gervinho added another from a rebound in the 65th for Romas ninth straight victory — ending Milans five-match winning streak. Joe Flacco Womens Jersey . Marcus Olsson, 23, joins Blackburn on a free transfer from Swedens Halmstads. He made 139 appearances and scored 17 goals in his four years with the club. He earned his first caps for Sweden this month, featuring against Bahrain and Qatar. http://www.broncosrookiestore.com/Broncos-John-Elway-Jersey/ . The Blue Jackets play Thursday night at New Jersey in their first game after the NHLs Olympic hiatus. A native of Trencin, Slovakia, Gaborik has represented his country at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics but was unable to play in Sochi because of his injury. Royce Freeman Broncos Jersey . Jonathan Crompton led the team to a 40-9 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Crompton threw three touchdown passes - two to Duron Carter and one to Brandon London - and Sean Whyte connected on four field goals to power the Alouettes to the win. Courtland Sutton Broncos Jersey . The football club recently announced an increase in season ticket prices in five of the seven categories at Investors Group Field for 2014. While most increases are in the two to three per cent range, the clubs most affordable season tickets will jump from $199 to $250 — a 26 per cent leap.There has to be an immense level of comfort in a first-place team losing eight of 11 and its division lead dwindling by only one half of a game. That was the case for the Toronto Raptors earlier this month while the Brooklyn Nets missed their chance to make things interesting in the Atlantic Division. As the Nets continue their slide, the Raptors visit Barclays Center tonight seeking a fifth straight win to further pad their sizable advantage in the standings. You can watch the game live on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5 and TSN GO at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt, or listen live on TSN Radio 1050 Toronto. The Raptors (31-15) entered their poor stretch with a 9 1/2-game lead over second-place Brooklyn (18-27) on Dec. 29. After a Jan. 21 loss at Memphis completed the 3-8 slump, their lead had been trimmed to nine with the Nets going 4-8 in that span. Brooklyn, which will remain without Deron Williams against Toronto, has since lost three straight and seen the deficit balloon to 12 1/2. A return to offensive normalcy has spearheaded Torontos recovery. The Eastern Conferences top scoring team (106.0 points per game) had been limited to 98.7 on the slide, but has averaged 107.0 since. Wednesdays 119-102 home win over Sacramento marked the Raptors best total in a victory since winning 123-104 at Utah on Dec. 3. Against the Kings, 65 of those points came in the second half. We played like a winning team in the second half, a team thats on a mission, coach Dwane Casey said. Their 17 3-pointers were their most since making a franchise-record 21 on March 13, 2005, and their 50.0 percent effort turned the page on a seven-game stretch in which they shot 26.3 percent from beyond the arc. Guard Greivis Vasquez had 18 points and hit 4 of 5 from long range, while reserve guard Lou Williams sccored a game-high 27.dddddddddddd We want to continue this winning streak and then continue to get better, Vasquez said. A loss to the Nets, who have dropped six straight at home to match their longest skid in Brooklyn, would curb any progress. The franchise hasnt lost seven straight at home since Feb. 3-22, 2012. The Nets 2-11 overall stretch has included just 90.7 points per game while shooting 42.9 percent, including 26.7 from 3-point range. Wednesdays 113-102 loss in Atlanta completed a 1-3 road trip that wasnt quite as embarrassing as the previous two games. Altogether on the losing streak, theyve been at a 114.7-86.3 scoring disadvantage while allowing the Los Angeles Clippers, Jazz and Hawks to shoot 52.9 percent. With Joe Johnson and Jarrett Jack revived, Nets coach Lionel Hollins viewed the loss to the top team in the East as more of a positive for his teams direction. Johnson, who was held to 15 points over the previous two games while playing under 29 minutes in each due to knee tendinitis, had a team-high 26 points, and Jack had 14 points and a career-high 13 assists against one turnover. The snowstorm, and the (postponement of Mondays home game against Portland), we got three days off, Hollins told the teams official website. We got some pep in our step. Joes tendinitis was able to cool down a little bit. Jarrett was able to sit for a couple of days so we came out with a lot more pep. Williams (rib) has returned to practice but will miss his 11th straight game, according to the teams official Twitter feed. The Raptors opened the season series with a 105-89 home win Dec. 17 for their third win in four games against the Nets. Torontos Kyle Lowry had 20 points and is averaging 24.0 while shooting 53.2 percent in the last three meetings. ' ' '