A Song

I only realised there was a nice theme song for the Olympics after stumbling into it this afternoon...I don't think it's the official one but hey it's great music!

Well there are a lot of artistes I don't know in there...anyone care to give me some info?

Phe-nomena-lps

Wow, you've got to hand it to Michael Phelps! A record 8 gold medals in the Olympics - the first ever person to do so - and a few World records under his belt too...I had my doubts but he did it. Just sheer hard work and perseverance; with a little bit of luck and help too. Well that is what the Olympics are all about.

And talking about the Olympics, I guess all Malaysians will be glued to the TV tonight, when we have a chance at our nation's first ever Olympic gold medal. Yup, Lee Chong Wei is up against his nemesis Lin Dan in the men's badminton finals. While the whole country prays for his success, it is yet again sheer hard work and perseverance that brought him to the cusp of Olympic gold. If he does win it, let us hope that it will not get to his head...and perhaps as a just reward, a Datukship may be in order too?

And yes the English Premiership 2008/2009 has kicked off last night!! Oh another lacklustre display from Liverpool - but the brilliance of Fernando Torres made sure the three points. Talent he has in hatfuls, but yet again what is talent without hard work and determination? Let's hope of better things to come...

Still Shocked

It's been nearly a week...and the Pro Bowl's tomorrow - but I'm still stunned and shocked at the Patriots' failure to complete the perfect season last Sunday!! I guess the defeat was beyond comprehension for most, myself included, whom expected them to romp home easily. But the Giants had other ideas. And just as the Patriots did in 2001 onto the Rams, they had it done unto them last week in Arizona.

All credit to the Giants defense: they were fantastic, hassling Tom Brady and his offensive line all the way, never letting him the time and space to pass the ball around. Their offense did what they could, but they still found themselves behind at halftime. The Patriots defense played better than they did when the two met in Week 17; man, with the defense playing that well - how could the Patriots lose?

The warning signs were there when they couldn't convert a turnover, and gave up some good field positions. But giving up a field goal attempt and going for it at 4th-and-13 when the offense is not firing on all cylinders? Bill Belichick must have taken one too much of a gamble. The weather was great and if successful, would have put the Patriots 10-3 up. Even when Manning drove his team to a 10-7 lead in the 4th quarter hopes were high that the Patriots offense would wake up and move into gear.

And that they did with a Randy Moss reception for a touchdown with about 3 minutes to go to give the Patriots a 14-10 lead. I guess the Patriot defense cracked at the critical juncture - allowing a 40-yard reception deep into Patriots territory, and of all match-ups, allowing Plaxico Burress a one-on-one mismatch in the end zone against Elis Hobbs with its resulting touchdown. There was just 45 seconds left in the quarter for Brady to move his team into field-goal territory; yet again the offensive line gave way. It was too little, too late. There rest they say is history...

I guess the Patriots will never relive this glory year, when they fell short at the final hurdle - it was their year to write themselves in the history books. Alas it was not to be. They have to rebuild their vaunted but aging offensive and defensive teams. Then who knows...maybe in a few years perhaps the stars would align themselves again - maybe it won't be the Patriots, but for another NFL team, to write themselves into the history books!

Predictability 3

Well, as expected the Patriots made it into the Superbowl - huffing and puffing but in nonetheless. Surprisingly thanks to their running game as Tom Brady had a bit of an off day. Goes to show that the Pats have the versatility needed to cap the perfect unbeaten season. Their opponents? Surprise, surprise: the New York Giants. Another Manning stands in the way of the Pats - but I have a feeling that the Pats will romp home in two weeks time! Can't wait for it...

As usual, there is some corruption and mismanagement to be had in the civil service; this time at the Tourism Ministry. In short, two blokes awarded a contract for making a tourism video to a non-existent Korean company (whose owners are kam cheng with the two jokers), and the Ministry tried to keep a lid on things by doing their own internal investigation. Unfortunately the ACA got wind of it, and now the issue is out in the open. And following the PM's cue, the Minister involved says "I tak tahu'...so the Malay saying 'bapa borek anak rintik' rings true in the government...

Speaking of the Minister, the key phrase for the week is 'Saya dah lupa'...uttered repeatedly during the RCI into the Lingam-gate scandal! I wish these people would lupa to suck the people's money at every turn!

Of course! VK Lingam denies that the man implicated in the video is not him - he looks and sounds like him, but it's not him! Must be a body double...reminds me of a CSI: Miami episode! Well you don't expect him to go down without a fight, now do you? Anyway the show goes on...

Speaking of shows, read this: Drama Minggu Ini ala MIC. I just wonder how declaring Thaipusam a public holiday in KL and Putrajaya would appease the Indians...how would indians in other states feel - marginalised? Ha ha...

Predictability

PM: Confidence perks up bourse

See? What did I tell you? Well at least this time around he didn't encourage anyone to jump in and swim with the sharks!

On another note, the New England Patriots did enough to advance to the AFC Conference game after beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-20; as usual Tom Brady and the Patriots offense were almost flawless, while their aging defence did enough to stop the Jaguar's running game. Then again, I felt that Jacksonville tried to throw the football more than they should - after all their running game was their strength. There was just one interception the whole game: on the Jags in the fourth quarter, which effectively ended the game. So now the Patriots would have to wait to see who their opponents would be: defending champs Indianapolis Colts, or wanna-be champs San Diego Chargers...

History

Just finished watching the much-awaited Patriots-Giants match. I think this is the first time ASTRO has shown a Patriots match the whole season, but I guess this is the best time to show it. After all it was to be a historic day for the Patriots. So the game lived up to the hype, with the Patriots breaking the four records they were after:

1. First undefeated team in the NFL regular season, 16-0, since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
2. Most number of touchdown passes in the regular season: QB Tom Brady with 50
3. Most number of touchdown receptions in the regular season: RB Randy Moss with 22
4. Most number of points by a team in a single season: 589

Well, the Pats didn't have it all their way. I must say they were not that impressive - pressured all the way by the Giants. But a few minutes in the last quarter changed the whole complexion, when Brady hit Moss with a 65-yard touchdown reception; followed by an interception by Elis Hobbs and culminating in a Lawrence Marouney touchdown which effectively ended the game.

Now that this pressure is off their backs, they'll be odds-on favourites to reach the Conference finals, where their expected opponents are none other than last year Superbowl champs, Indianapolis Colts. That would be a cracker.

What SEA Games?

It used to be just a few short years ago when the SEA Games would be a biennial event to look forward to. If not for the newspapers, one would be forgiven for missing the whole event. How lowly has this regional sports event fallen, to not warrant even live coverage on free-to-air TV?? And of course don't even mention ASTRO-lah...

I guess the dismal performance of our contingent so far has little to do with it...there's just no money in it!! After all, everything is about money these days.


And as usual, our footballers were sent packing early - or would they be around a bit longer for some sightseeing?

Down and Out

So much for being given a lifeline last weekend...might as well Russia had won their game and sent England out there and then. But the Englishmen and England fans were given false hopes that they would do the necessary at home to secure the one point needed for them to qualify...

But alas it was not to be!! And again it was goalkeeping errors that led to England's exit from Euro 2008; not to say that they played well anyway - perhaps they were in the mistaken impression that Croatia would not put up a stiff fight, having already secured their place in the Finals.



Goes to show that although the Premier League is one of the hottest shows in football, there are actually not many good English players, and as a result their national team suffers.

So nasi sudah jadi bubur. Will McClaren get the sack? Probably, and again goes the hunt for the new England manager...

Square Off!

I know a lot of Malaysians do not appreciate American Football...sure glad that ESPN here shows them weekly (but bad, bad choice of matches though...) for those odd ones out there, like me!

Here's highlights of the most hyped-up game of the regular season - New England Patriots vs. Indianapolis Colts. Both were unbeaten coming into the match: Patriots pretty much whipping everybody back into last season with their performances thus far, and Colts is about the only team able to stop the Patriots in their tracks, but can they?

Watch and see...

More exciting...

You know badminton nowadays is more exciting under the new points system. I was watching Lee Chong Wei win the Japan Final Open a few hours ago, and I must say it really brings the sport to life. The matches end quicker; there is less reliance on fitness and stamina but more on skill and guile of the players, and concentration is very important. Gone are the days where you can outlast your opponent in marathon games or afford to lose serves instead of points. I think it is a change for the better.

Coming back to the game, Chong Wei should have won easily in the second after leading 15-9; instead he let Taufik back into the match. Deja vu again in the decider after leading 20-14, he allowed Taufik to creep back to 20-19 before winning on a Taufik net return. I must say although Chong Wei played well, he was lucky not to have lost the match.

A good game nonetheless.

Rob-bed!

I guess this must be the buzz word of the day on Merseyside!!! Shocker of a decision by referee Rob Styles denied Liverpool a deserved victory over Chelsea...I dare anyone to defend the penalty decision. Certainly a game of that magnitude, which hitherto was dominated by Liverpool, should not have deserved such poor refereeing! And to top that off, he nearly gave a double yellow-card to Essien, which led to some amount of confusion towards the end of the second-half. In all fairness Liverpool should have finished Chelsea off with a host of chances in the second half, but alas it was a victory not to be.

But we take heart from Liverpool's performance - perhaps a sign of better things to come? Keeping my fingers crossed!

Win One, Lose One

So this is the morning after...a mixture of elation and dejection. Two finals - evenly spread results.

UEFA Champions League Finals: AC Milan vs. Liverpool
Alas it was not to be: a repeat of the result two years ago. Milan nicked it this time with a 2-1 win. Most expected it to be quite one-sided and it was, but unexpectedly it was Liverpool who was doing most of the footballing last night in Athens. Yeah, Rafa got his midfield and defence spot on - Kaka and co. was neutralised for most of the match, and I actually can't recall a single clear cut chance for Milan in either half apart from both goals. On the other hand Liverpool came out firing, and could have been 2-0 up inside the first twenty minutes. They created the chances throughout the match, but could not find the finishing touch. Even as Kuyt scored the goal near end of normal time, the spirit of 2005 was very much alive; the referee put paid to that by playing only 2 1/2 minutes of the allotted 3 minutes of stoppage time. Admittedly I don't think it would have made much of a difference, but at least there could still be one last chance. Inzaghi was the difference, taking Milan's little chances where Liverpool failed miserably: the first was a chance deflection of a freekick; the second more sublime, with Kaka's throughpass beating Liverpool's offside trap for the first and last time. But all credit to Ancelotti and Milan. For Liverpool, while we mourn today, the team can only get better next season. Rafa and our new American owners will see to that.

American Idol 2006/2007 Finals: Blake Lewis vs. Jordin Sparks
This is hot off the TV set! Jordin beats Blake after 74 million votes America-wide. I think that the beat-boxing wore thin after a while, and America came to their senses after their blooper last week. The judges all called in her favour and this time they were not disappointed. The singer won; after all this is a singing competition, though Blake gets top marks for his performances. And the finals show looked so different now; a bit dreary and protracted for my liking, but they have to do something to fill the two hours... They had a tribute to Sanjaya too! (love him or hate him, he was one of the reasons to remember this season) They should continue with the Golden Awards gimmick - it's good publicity, celebrating the good as well as the awful - thanks William Hung! For me, I will be following the top three's music career closely now - to see whose is most successful.

Till next season, adieu!

Tale of Two Finals

The big day: 23 May 2007. Two finals I closely watch will play itself out today, and there'll be only one winner in each.

UEFA Champions League Finals: AC Milan vs. Liverpool
OK i'm a Liverpool fan at heart, and I really want them to win the championship for the sixth time. But wait: in their way is AC Milan, the very team that swept away Manchester United two weeks ago. The very team that Liverpool so miraculously came back from to edge in extra-time two years ago. Let's face it, on paper, AC Milan has the better team in terms of style and players. But finals are a funny thing, and Milan experienced it two years ago. Rafa has almost always got it right in European competitions, and I'm sure he has a game plan to shackle Milan's star players as well as a way to prise the Milan defence and hopefully nick a win. It'll be sweet.

American Idol Finals: Blake Lewis vs. Jordin Sparks
Let's face it: the winner was voted out last week. So this is like an anti-climax. Sure there were a lot of cheering fans at the Kodak centre last night, but the judges couldn't hide their disappointment. I sure was not impressed by Blake, again with his beat-boxing: to me it was just getting stale. Jordin was consistent with her singing, but not fantastic. Well, it's a voting competition: it's just difficult to judge the winner, especially after last week's shocker. But I'm rooting for Jordin - she's a better singer than Blake, although I admit Blake is the better performer.

We'll know the winners in a few hours. I need to get some sleep, and get prepared. It's gonna be a busy day ahead...

Premiership 2006/2007 Roundup

So it's finally over! After nine months of pure anticipation, excitement, grief and sorrow, not to mention the many sleepless nights we bid adieu to this season's English Premiership. Although there is still the FA Cup Final to play for next week, and Champions League Finals the following Wednesday, the season is effectively over for us soccer fan-atics... We can now go into our annual three-month hibernation awaiting the start of the new season in August. Sigh...

So this season we crown another champion in four years: Manchester United. Undoubtedly the most consistent and imaginative team this year, thanks to the prodigious Cristiano Ronaldo, they pipped defending champions Chelsea to the finishing line, with Liverpool (sob!) and Arsenal a distant third. At the bottom of the table, Watford, Charlton and (surprise surprise) Sheffield United were relegated, with West Ham performing the great escape. So here's the table summary:

Champions 2006/2007: Manchester United
Runners-up: Chelsea
Third place: Liverpool
Fourth place: Arsenal
UEFA Cup places: Tottenham, Everton, Bolton
Relegated: Sheffield United, Charlton, Watford
Promoted: Sunderland, Birmingham, ??

Here I celebrate what I believe are the finest and the worst of the lot in this season's Premiership. Well, my opinions may differ from football pundits all over the world, but everyone's entitled to their opinions right?

Team of the Season
Obviously Manchester United. Though I'm not a Red Devil fan, one must give credit to the way they have played all season - to eke out undeserving 1-0 wins, drawing matches when the chips are down, and winning with large margins where it suited their attacking flair. You can hardly find a match where they did not find the back of the net. It's an all-round team, strength being in midfield and attack - thanks to Carrick, Ronaldo and Rooney, though they probably need better strikers; their defence is still a suspect, but if they still manage to score more than they concede, they would still end up winning matches!

Best Team of the Season (outside the top four)
Would you believe it: Reading! Just in the Premiership for one season, and it's making waves with their exciting play. And coming from a team without the millions to spend unlike their counterparts. Fast attacking football and a solid midfield and defence; it's a shame that they just missed out on a UEFA Cup place. Let's hope they don't turn out to be a one season wonder like Wigan last season...

Flop Team of the Season
Ooh, this is a difficult one...but I choose Newcastle with Charlton coming in a close second. The Geordies, with a passionate fan base and skillful yet underperforming players - oh, what a sad combination. Poor Michael Owen...if you just had stayed at Anfield! And a mid-table finish is unjustified for a team of your stature...poor Roeder, you have to take the blame. Maybe big Sam is the man to relive the glory days of yore...if they choose him.

Player of the Season
Well there's no doubt about it: Ronaldo is definitely player of the season. Despite his reputation for simulation, he is definitely a skillful player with vast potential, and he would be well advised to stay in the Premiership rather than plying his trade in the continent, until he is the wiser. He probably won United the title this year single-handedly...

Goalkeeper of the Season
Robert Green. Mainly because of the performances he put in to help in West Ham's great escape. You can't forget the saves he made in the game against Arsenal. And there is still the England jersey up for grabs with Paul Robinson in poor form...

Defender of the Season
Jamie Carragher. Not because I'm a Liverpool fan. His performances speak for himself. Always decisive in his tackling and no-nonsense defending, he and his partner (mainly Daniel Agger this season) has made the Liverpool defence almost inpenetrable. And I still wonder how he is missed by the England coaches again and again. I rate him much better than Rio Ferdinand, and on par with John Terry...

Midfielder of the Season
Oh this is a difficult one. I guess there is no one outstanding midfielder out there, but I have to appalaud the performance of Cesc Fabregas; young as he is, he is a dominant playmaker, slick passer of the ball and gets into positions where he can and does score goals. And he can only get better. Eat your heart out Frank Lampard...

Striker of the Season
Without doubt top scorer of the season: Didier Drogba. He came into his own this season, despite Chelsea's failings as he tried vainly to defend their title. He is strong, fast and with his deadly feet, he can score from anywhere - his 32 goals this season attest to that. If only he has a reliable strike partner...

Flop player of the Season
It's a toss up: Andrei Shevchenko or Michael Ballack. I think I'll choose both. No matter what their reputations are, it proves that you can't buy instant success. But both of them are in their first season, and hopefully once Chelsea cleared up whatever problems they have in the background they would start to perform. But until then, the jury is still out...

Manager of the Season
Well it's easy to vote Sir Alex Ferguson but to me, it's West Ham's Alan Curbishley - mainly for instilling the belief of West Ham players and supporters, from a sure-to-be-relegated team in January when he took over, to a team which beat the champions to ensure survival in the Premiership. He may have inherited a team in turmoil, but things could only look up from here on.

My Premiership Team of the Season
GK: Robert Green
Defender: Jamie Carragher, John Terry, Gary Neville, Ashley Cole
Midfielders: Cesc Fabregas, Paul Scholes, Mikel Arteta, Cristiano Ronaldo
Strikers: Didier Drogba, Dimitar Berbatov
Subs: David James, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Ricardo Carvalho, Carlos Tevez

So that's it for this season folks...till August, bye!

Milan masters!

So it's final! A repeat of the May 2005. Milan vs. Liverpool. Frankly a lot of observers rate this final as the least probable of the various possibilities. But you can't dismiss the underdogs. Trailing by that late Rooney winner from the Theatre of Dreams, the dreams turned into a nightmare right from the word go. Kaka and co. were superb, slicing through the MU defence, apparently strengthened by Vidic's return (but to me the makeshift defence played a bit better the week before), with apparent ease. Took them only 11 minutes to find the goal, and United was disunited. Another goal in each half finished them off.

It's just that MU played so badly that they hardly had a look at goal - only one shot in the whole match that Dida saved easily. Nothing worked for them. Not even Ronaldo's sidesteps. Milan just revved up the engine and stepped up the gears and MU was left way behind. The Milan midfield was superb - Gattuso in my mind is the linchpin; Pirlo and Seedorf played very well too. Credit must be given where it is due - Sir Alex at least paid tribute to the Milan winners.

So now Rafa has three weeks to figure out the antidote to Milan's early fire. The 3-0 experience of two years ago clearly shows what Milan could do off the blocks. But I'm sure Rafa will find a way.

Athens Ho!!

We did it again!! Overturning a 1-0 deficit from the first leg, our Anfield heroes made it a night to remember with a spectacular display of football to book our place in the Champions' League finals.

Chelsea were the odds-on favourites but at Anfield anything could happen. The defence marshalled superbly by Carragher and Agger thwarted any form of Chelsea aggression - leaving them with only one chance from Drogba which Reina easily saved. Joe Cole, so often the nemesis of Liverpool, hardly had a look at goal; Lampard was his usual unremarkable self.

Liverpool needed to score and Agger scored a striker's goal in the 22nd minute. There was a time where Chelsea threatened towards the end of the first half, but came to nought. In the second half, Liverpool had all the attacking play and chances - two saves from Cech and a Kuyt attempt ricocheting off the crossbar; clearly Liverpool were the better team but still no goals.

Went on to extra time with little difference as we were the hungrier of the two teams - a harshly disallowed goal from Kuyt and a last gasp save at the death from Cech ensured a nailbiting penalty decider: in the end Reina made two great penalty saves while we scored all four!! Appropriately my man-of-the-match Kuyt scored the winning penalty (that guy deserved it, he worked his socks off!!)

As usual the 'Special One' was all sour grapes as he claimed the better team on the night lost - come on, even the blind could see who the better team was; Rafa rightly praised our 'special ones' for our victory - the fans who waved, shouted and sang the team to victory!

So who are we going to meet in Athens? For now we don't care...because we can beat the best - bring it on!! But I have a sneaky feeling that we will have a repeat of the 2005 finals come end of this month...

Football: Malaysia 0 Hong Kong 1

Cough...cough...it's not a typo!! Yes believe it!

How low can we go? Who knows? Malaysia Boleh!!??

Winners!

All-England Champs

So, after a 25-year wait, we finally win something at the All-England championships! Hurrah for Koo and Tan!!

From a scratch pair to world beaters and now world champions, all in a matter of six months - wow!

But they have shown the grit and determination to persevere, beating the top seeds on the way to the title.

Personally I didn't think they would win, even after their win over the Danish pair in the semis. I thought their Chinese opponenents were too strong. Well, I am surprised! They covered the court well and complemented each other; they were especially good at the net. If any, my only grouse is that they can't smash - but then all great Malaysian badminton pairs can't anyway.

This is just the beginning of their journey. Lets hope they make it all the way - perhaps dawn of a new era in Malaysian badminton...

Malaysia boleh!! For good reasons this time around....

Red Storm Rising?

Well here goes the football season. By that I mean the English Premiership season 2006-2007!

The Community Shield match started off this season's proceedings: the game between the Reds and the Blues were up to expectation. As expected Liverpool won the match 2-1, with Crouch and Riise scoring the goals. Rafa tried some new players in new positions while resting the old; Chelsea came with their strongest squad. Yet that was not enough. Sissoko was a rock in midfield, while the Carragher-Agger pairing akward as it was, held firm against Schevchenko and Drogba; Zenden, Riise and Gonzales terrorised the Chelsea defence; Crouch and Garcia could do no wrong. But it was 1-1 only at halftime. Rafa injected some urgency into the Reds attack bringing on Gerrard, Alonso and Bellamy into the attack: this paid off with Bellamy producing the cross of the match for Crouch's winning goal. Chelsea were in tears...but in all fairness Mourinho was outsmarted by Rafa, and his team outplayed by resurgent Liverpool.

So what will we expect of Liverpool this season? More of the same I hope. Consistency is the key. Sisoko should hold the fort ala Hamann; Alonso, Gerrard, Gonzales, Pennant and Zenden rotating in midfield; but the attack pair of Crouch-Bellamy should provide the punch lacking last season. Defence? Carragher and Hyppia would be the rock they were the last two seasons, and with Paletta, Agger in the wings, Liverpool finally has the depth they lacked so much.
Liverpool would be the team to watch.

Next week, Sheffield United. We wait for the storm to come ashore...