And just when you thought football had become dull and boring, too obsessed with the pursuit of a new global market to still be the national game of the people.... and then Barnsley knock Liverpool out of the FA Cup!
So while the Big Four swagger around crowing about their monopoly of domestic honours and the riches of the Champions League, while the Premier League fumbles around looking for ways to play domestic matches in Singapore or Miami, little old Barnsley have proven there is still some magic left in the FA Cup and some romanticism left in football.
Of course, it's a shame neither Newcastle or Sunderland have any interest in the competition because the way the draw has opened up means there is a decent chance of reaching the final. Middlesbrough, if they beat Sheffield United in a replay at the Riverside next week, will get another Championship side, Cardiff City, in the quarter-final.
I just wish Cheslea and Manchester United had been paired together in Monday's draw, but if Barnsley can go to Anfield and win, why not Stamford Bridge?
A squad worth more than £100m pounds and the fact lightening doesn't normally strike twice almost certainly means their cup run will end at the quarter-final stage, but they won't care. For those who were at Anfield last weekend, the memories will make the next 10 years of watching unglamorous football in the Championship worth while.
For the rest of us, well me at least, it also restored my faith in the world's most famous cup competition and with Arsenal and Liverpool both already out, I think the rest of football should hope that Chelsea and Manchester United meet in the semis and somebody, anyone, even Middlesbrough, lift the trophy at Wembley in May.
Okay, I might have pushed it a little too far with most of you by mentioning the smoggies as potential winners, but hopefully you catch my drift.
I was talking to Jim Montgomery, the former Sunderland goalkeeper who was part of the Black Cats side which beat the overwhelming favourites Leeds United in the 1973 final. I have to admit, I wasn't even born then, but during our conversation last week he argued the FA Cup - and maybe football generally - needed something like that to happen again.
And he's right, it needs a Portsmouth or a Sheffield United, a West Brom, a whoever, to pull of an upset and give football back its ability to shock and surprise us.
Either that, or we can just sit back and watch the same old teams winning the same old competitions over and over again, while simultaneously seeing the same four clubs qualify for the Champions League year and after to access its riches so they can poach all the best players from their rivals across Europe and beyond.
That might be fun for the armchair fan in Macclesfield or Melbourne, Harwich or Hong Kong, it might be the sort of football a Johnny come lately show pony like Chelsea fan Tim Lovejoy loves.
But I'd like to have some excitement back, I'd like to be able to believe that, in football, anything can happen. That Leyton Orient can be promoted to the Premier League and that a North-East team other than Boro can win a trophy again!
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