The Barrister

There's little else in my sports life that is more exciting than Cup football. At least until the Sabres break it through the first round of the playoffs and the Bills are playing in late January again. Until then, this more than suffices.

This morning, in the midst of a terrible Liverpool league season that may very well see them finish in the bottom half of the table, the Reds gave me and the rest of the fan base another miracle. Staring down the barrel of a 0-1 deficit following the boneheaded gaffe of Jaime Carragher, and with 3rd string keeper Brad Jones in net, I can't say I had much hope. Sure, the team showed some fight earlier this week with a comeback win with that same backup keeper and a late header, but surely this would be different. Surely the team wouldn't be able to make it back to another Cup final in a season riddled with so much dysfunction, both on and off the pitch.

But then, in the midst of all of this griping and considering going back to bed with my beloved lady on an early Saturday morning... a gift.

Distin was all class after the match about this epic and terrible mistake. While it looked as though the Reds would surely equalize at some point, after this moment, the air seemed to have been sucked out of Everton and it was only a matter of time for the eventual winner, caught here by a fan who proceeded to go absolutely ape shit.

I've been a big critic of Andy Carroll this year. He has not played up to his potential and has been an overpaid disappointment of Ville Leino proportions (actually, arguably worse). But, moments like this may forgive all in the end. Maybe.

Tomorrow's match between Spurs and Chelsea will decide who Liverpool face in the final, and I can't say I'm really all that happy about the prospect of playing either side. While the Carling Cup finals birth meant that LFC was assured of playing a second-tier squad (albeit one that LFC still had to come back against), the FA Cup is a bigger prize and two of the bigger Premier League dogs will stand in the way of the £1,800,000.  Both of these squads are playing absurdly well this year (especially since AVB's departure from Chelsea last month), and the Reds will have to step their game up once again - or at least hope for another defender to gift them a goal again - if they look to get the Cup Double for the year. 

However it pans out, though, this morning was something special to enjoy and relish as a Liverpool fan. May 5th can't come soon enough.