Back before the Bundesliga hibernation began, Jermaine Jones landed in hot water for his
hunt-and-stamp on the injured toe of Gladbach's superstar. Rather shameful really, and since then,
their fates have diverged.
Marco Reus got his big money move to Borussia Dortmund yesterday, while Jones netted a two month
suspension for a litany of offenses, prime among them his complete disrespect for the art of
subtlety.
Before i get into the main story of this post, focus must be drawn to the most unexpected result
of the weekend. Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich suffered a shock 1-0 home loss to second place
Borussia Dortmund yesterday.
The loss means that Bayern's 2 closest challengers for the Bundesliga crown Borussia Dortmund
and Borussia Mochengladbach remain only 2 points behind them in the title chase.
Manuel Neuer is one of the best keepers in the world, and young at that. As a team in need of a
keeper, Bayern were all too keen to close off their needs between the sticks for many, many years.
Manuel, despite growing up in diapers provided by Bayern's hated rivals, Schalke, was keen to stay
in Germany, so he crossed the divide.
I've spent the last decade holding to the dogma that choke holds and headbutts from Gennaro
Gattuso are signs of endearment. Somewhere, Marcello Lippi is nodding.
Whatever the case, Joe Jordan comes off as something of a hero after their skirmish last night.
Not for standing in the face of a snarling dog, but for taking the lickin' and not launching a
backflip into triple lutz on his way to the patented stop, drop and roll that most footballers
employ when scraped with a nail.
