Frittered

Sheffield United really put a crimp in our morning. An excellent strike from Michael Tonge in the 39th minute finally put the evidence on the scoreboard that the Blades were outplaying West Ham at Bramall Lane. A pair of second-half goals added to the foreboding we all felt in the back room at the Globe. Well, almost all of us felt that: There were a handful of Manchester United fans who were staking out positions to watch the Red Devils' FA Cup semifinal against Watford, which followed the 9 a.m. games. I doubt they cared about a fixture featuring two teams at the bottom of the table.

Even after a three-game win streak, I knew that West Ham had only a small chance of beating the drop. Losing 3-0 to Sheffield United largely kills whatever slim hopes we had. We'll know more tomorrow, after Charlton and Wigan play, but West Ham couldn't afford to come away empty-handed at Bramall Lane today. That win streak was fun while it lasted.

Sheffield United-West Ham was the main game in the back room. It was on the big projector screen and several flatscreens, too. The Marquette Grad and I joined a crowd of six or seven West Ham fans. There was a father and son in West Ham jerseys. The father's had Dr. Martens as the sponsor on the front. I overheard him speaking to the waitress with an English accent. I think there was another father-and-son table immediately to our right. The father asked TMG if he could buy a cigarette from her for a dollar. She let him have one for nothing, as he was wearing West Ham gear. As we were leaving the back room (there was no way we were paying $20 to watch Man U demolish Watford), she left another one on the table for him.

TMG enjoyed the atmosphere, even if she didn't enjoy the 7:25 a.m. wake-up time. It didn't hurt that I made breakfast for us before we left for the Globe. Once there, I had pints of Guinness, she had Bloody Marys. She pointed out something to me: West Ham has not scored a goal in her presence, either the one time we saw them in person (against Watford at Upton Park) or the two matches we have watched on TV (Charlton and Sheffield United). I know what you're thinking. I did make that joke to her after she pointed that out to me. She doesn't appear to be bad luck when we go to White Sox games (although, suspiciously, they lost today, too, and also did not score...).

Anton Ferdinand probably had the toughest day of any Hammer. His foul just outside the box set up Tonge's free-kick strike, and the announcers believed that he should have received his second yellow card for the offense. It wasn't Ferdinand's fault that Jon Stead came free down the right side, of course, but Ferdinand did little to impede Stead's run, either, resulting in the final goal. I've barely ever played the game and have only been watching it closely for a few months, but even I could see that Ferdinand was unsteady the entire game. He looked unsure whenever he needed to clear the ball.

I also thought that Bobby Zamora appeared to be a step slow. I have to imagine that it's because of his knee injury, which has kept him out of training between matches. He did play better in the second half, as the team did as a whole for about 15 minutes. But they missed the best chances that came during that stretch: Lucas Neill on a deft pass from Carlos Tévez (thanks to a great save from Sheffield United keeper Paddy Kenny) and Tévez (who shot high from 12 yards). If one of those chances goes in, perhaps it's an entirely different game. Maybe West Ham used up all their luck in beating Arsenal last week. I know that they have used up all the boost that that surprise win gave to their chances to beat the drop.