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Good morning, Fear the Wall. I hope you enjoyed your Christmas, whether or not you actually celebrated it. I got to spend a day with my close family and friends, which was all I really wanted, so I’m happy with how my Christmas went (although I did get clobbered by my brother in FIFA, but that’s another story).
Time to Learn Something
That’s right, today is Boxing Day, a holiday mostly celebrated in the United Kingdom and other parts of the Commonwealth like Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Boxing day falls on the first weekday after Christmas. While exactly ‘how’ it emerged is somewhat up to debate, the consensus seems to be that it started when, during 18th and 19th century, members of the British aristocracy would give gifts to their servants and local tradesmen after Christmas. While it officially became a holiday in 1871, there are historical records of its celebration going back to (at least) the 17th century.
From my research, it appears that modern boxing day is similar to Black Friday in the United States. It’s the day after a major holiday, and many stores have lucrative sales on offer. According to this video, though, British shoppers don’t seem to be as fervent as America’s the notorious Black Friday shoppers:
Finally, Boxing Day is probably most well-known in the United States for being an extra day to watch the Premier League. There are several interesting match ups today: I’ll be keeping my eye on Liverpool-Newcastle. I think Rafa’s boys could take points from Jurgen Klopp’s, which would make the title race in England a real nail-biter.
Whoscored.com’s Best Bundesliga XI
Let’s get back to the Bundesliga. Whoscored.com published their ‘best starting XI’ from the first half of the Bundesliga.
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This starting XI is based off of Whoscored’s rating system, which I think is a bit flawed. In my opinion, there’s no way that Axel Witsel shouldn’t make a Bundesliga best XI. I also would have included Robert Lewandowski over Joelinton. Other than that, I don’t have any major complaints.
Daily Buzz
How was your Christmas? Did you get everything/anything you wanted?