I wonder if someone with time on their hands could get on top of for us how business in general fluctuates from Monday to Tuesday, and I guess the rest of the week for that matter — the Thursday/Friday relationship has always held some interesting chemistry as well. Anyway, just got rolled up in some things yesterday, televised White Coast Conference basketball notwithstanding as usual, and didn’t get a chance to get some of the things off my chest from the weekend.

Being on today’s show certainly helped, but a quick word on reaction to that Hyundai A-League Grand Final. Anything that exists under the sun with the ability to perform a task not registered TBE (to-be-expected) has been compared to the New York Giants over the past three weeks, but I guess the analogy wasn’t tired enough by last weekend for me to correlate the way those Newcastle Jets slowly suffocated Central Coast into submission to the fashion in which the Giants dispatched of the Patriots.

That was the vibe I was feeling after seeing the Jets not so much completely startle heavily favored Central Coast in the first half, but apply just enough pressure to irk the Mariners’ confidence while not enticing them too much out of their somewhat complacent state. And they (Newcastle) unleashed the big bopper just in time to relight a visibly fading fire that helped hold off panicked Central Coast in the frantic final minutes.

What really stood out, as is becoming the case with all these professional-level playoff and elimination-style tournaments playing out the way they have, was the virtue for organizations like the A-League of putting it all out onto a crescendo when it comes to deciding the title. With all this jazz about the 39th match in England, the notion of a postseason in the Premiership, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 is pretty much hopeless, and I for one don’t think that is the proper route for how such leagues of prestige should finalize matters. But Europe’s fringe leagues –the Eredivisie, the Portugese Liga, the Scottish Premier League, for example — could only stand to benefit from the knockout-type championship format used by MLS and the A-League.

Let’s face it, attention outside Europe and even inside in many respects is so heavily centralized in the ‘fab five’ leagues just mentioned. Hell, speaking of White Coast Conference basketball, look at how many lower profile college hoops leagues have become formidable players on the major scene because of their post-regular season, pre-NCAA Tournament events. The concept might actually arouse more those sleepy early stages of Champions League if invoked.