Archive for June, 2006
Two whole days without World Cup football was bad enough. But two days without any meaningful sport is just terrible. Wimbledon looks bogus and the ODI between England and Sri Lanka was a foregone conclusion. I nearly watched golf and even contemplated a spot of baseball. Argh. Thank goodness for Discovery Channel. (Did you know all these years I have been confusing Nefertari and Nefertiti – in short I did not realise that they were two different people. It always used to bug me because how the hell did the principle wife of Akhenaten and mother-in-law of the Tutankhamun become the principal wife of Ramesses the Great? Duh, because they were two different people duh! I can not believe I have been living in ignorance all these years).
Anyway here are random thoughts on the World Cup.
Well done Ghana, but (there always is a “but” isn’t there) who the hell decided to play a high line of defence against the Brazilians? If a fat Ronaldo can break your off side trap it was time for plan B.
Somebody anybody please beat the Italians. These thugs can not be allowed to win. Beating Ghana dubiously, punching the lights out of the Americans and diving to win against the Australians, this team needs to go!
One Croatian guy was booked three times in one match but are referees allowed to book Brazilians? If they are, did they the referee in the Ghana – Brazil game get the memo?
It really irritates me when players celebrate after winning a penalty. You still have to take the penalty and score mate. Celebrate after you score the penalty not before.
It really really really irritates me when players look away or can not look when one of their team mates is going to take a crucial penalty. How chicken is that? How weak is that? Stand there and watch, watch as he walks up, watch as he places the ball down, watch as he takes his run up and watch as he scores or misses. I don’t care if you are the goalkeeper at the other end of the pitch. Watch. The one person who should be feeling nervous and pressure is the penalty taker. Not you, you no-watching weakling. I think I get this from playing rugby and leading a rugby team. In a rugby huddle before a game when the whole team clasps shoulders in a tight circle we were taught to look each other in the eye. Look every single member of your team in the eye. In turn. You look at you team mates in the eye one by one and you communicate that we are in this together, I will not let you down and you better not let me down, but either way win or lose we are in this together all the way. You never see rugby players turning away at a crucial conversion or penalty kick. Maybe football players need to start staring at each other stone face right in the eye before their matches.
I miss the Cameroon girls.
The goalkeepers were right this World Cup football flies around like a volleyball.
It is brilliant to see the German public display their pride in their flag and celebrating their country.
My nightmare has become reality. We have a quarter final line up of 6 UEFA teams plus Argentina and Brazil. The rest of the world need not apply.
Spain are muppets. They drop the over rated Raul and they play the best football of the tournament. They restore Raul to the starting line and they crash out. Muppets. How the hell do you replace an Anfield legend with Raul. Muppets.
Just how good or bad is England. It is driving me nuts. They play badly and win. Does that make them good or bad? At least Big Phil will make sure they get a proper test.
Now that Ronaldo has his record will the rest of the Brazilian team still be happy with him keeping his starting spot on the team?
And so on and so forth …
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Friday, June 30th, 2006 at 2:41 PM
Here is the rough draft of the first part of the Mentalacrobatics plan on how to save Kenyan football because Kenyan football needs all the help it can get. If any bigwigs at FIFA are reading this and are interested in seeing this plan implemented I am available for hire for around USD 2 Million. A big shout to the fans at Kenyan Soccer now that is what I call dedication.
Here is the blueprint to save Kenyan football:
Step 1 – Acknowledge that we are crap
We have to accept that as Kenyans we are crap at football. To be honest we have to go deeper than that. We have to accept that we suck at football. This is vital. If we do not accept this we will never move forward.
For too long we have been masters at deluding ourselves. Every Kenyan football fan has a story about, “someone they knew in school” or “a jamaa in the esto” who was or had the potential to be a world class footballer, “if only the system had helped that guy out” we lament, “he would be running things huko Liverpool or Arsenal”.
The thing is this. Every football fan in every country in the world has a story like this. Everybody knows a childhood friend who could have been better than Pele. But guess what, they are not better than Pele. Most are not even close. We can not blame mismanagement and the system for all the problems Kenyan football faces. Countries that are at war, civil war, facing famine, drought, and hurricanes routinely make it to the World Cup, Kenyan can hardly make it to the African Cup of Nations. Even in the East and Central African Championship, a tournament we should dominate if political and economic stability was the key, we still suck.
Once we accept we suck we are empowered to start dealing with the problem at the root.
Step 2 – Restructure the top tier of Kenyan football, the Premier league.
Kenya is a nation of football fans. We are a nation of armchair pundits and experts. We watch and listen to any football on TV or radio and not just the big European leagues but any football. Last Christmas I remember people huddled around radios listening to the commentary from the final of the East and Central African Championship being played between Rwanda and Ethiopia at Stade Amahoro in Kigali. (A tournament Kenya was disqualified from for failure to pay fees to CECAFA.) Kenyans watch and listen to all football. But ask about the Kenyan premier league and you get blank stares most of the time. Not because they are not interested but because the league is a shambles.
As a fan of the mighty AFC Leopards I should be gloating at the problems our bitter traditional rivals Gor Mahia are going through. Gor Mahia, secondly only to the mighty AFC in the history of Kenyan football, can not even field a team and are about to be thrown out of the league. How ridiculous is that. We need to restructure the whole Kenyan Premier league and this is how:
a.) Learn from the European football leagues by disconnecting the national governing body KFF from the Premier League. Separate the two organisations. KFF should be in charge of the big picture and national administration that is football from the grass roots, schools to the national team. A separate body should be in charge of the Premier League.
b.) This separate body should be a registered company. That means it will have to publish public accounts and will be open to independent scrutiny. We have to be able to follow the money.
c.) Learn from the American Football, the NFL (yes I am serious). The NFL is one of the most profitable, well supported, well run sports organisations in the world. The foundation of this success is a golden rule which is understood by all the teams in the league: On the pitch they are competitors, off the pitch they are business partners.
Apply this rule to Kenya. There is no point, AFC, Gor, Tusker or any other team running off to negotiate independent shirt and kit sponsorship. If you were in charge of sponsorship at a big organisation which proposal would you look at seriously, to be the shirt sponsor of one team in the league or alternatively to be the shirt sponsor of all the teams in the league? There would be the same number of replica kits for each and every team available to fans at selected sports shops each of the same make and quality. This partnership between teams would extend to everything off pitch, training facilities, gyms, health insurance etc. our teams do not have the muscle to negotiate separately.
d.) Reintroduce regionalism. At independence the government ruled that tribal organisations should be banned. This extended to sports teams as well as political organisations. While I am not advocating for the return of tribe based teams I do think we need regional franchises. A maximum of three teams per city. So maybe three in Nairobi, three in Mombasa and one in every other town that wants one to a maximum of 15 teams. Each region will have a team. Those teams will benefit from an automatic fan base (remember all those armchair pundits I mentioned above? They would give an arm to have a proper local team to support).
e.) Remove the politicians and wannabe politicians from football. Easier said than done and this goes against the trend in the rest of Africa. Usually in Africa the more the political elite are involved in football, the more successful the team. (I read an good blog post on this recently but can not find the link. if you know about it please let me know.) In Kenyan sports the opposite is true. Cricket, rugby and athletics do not interest the political elite and they are thriving. Football is used as a stepping stone to a political career in Kenya and someone how we have to get that to stop.
Next part will feature grass root initiatives and the national team
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Thursday, June 29th, 2006 at 6:04 PM
Bankelele writes:
In a full page paid advertisement in the Sunday Standard, Minister for State in the Office of the President (in charge of provincial administration and internal security) John Michuki appealed to the media to tone down their arrogant, sensational reporting of this government and the country.
Michuki went on to list who he considers the main perpetrators of this kind of reporting and including on his list were “internet blogger forums” which he claims are “increasingly being abused - some of them are full of content that is unmistakably hate oriented.”
Michuki’s enlightened attitude towards the press, press freedom and freedom of expression is well known. The rattlesnake of Kenyan politics may be preparing to strike again.
Aside from blogging I am a (largely silent) member on various Kenyan online groups. Since the referendum on the constitution in November last year there has been an explosion of political activity in these groups. Every other day one person or another is declaring their intention to launch a political party, to run for parliament and some even mention standing for the presidency. While many of these prospective candidates are no hopers you do get the impression that some are serious contenders, at least for parliamentary seats. In fact many of them are ex MPs, political exiles etc. It is this group of people, those actively seeking to stand against the government in next years election, who I think Michuki is targeting when he mentions “internet blogging forums”. After all the so called “gutter press” in Kenya is full of articles that are much more derogatory and insulting than anything I have ever read online in a forum or on a blog.
But understandably even if we feel that bloggers are not going to be targeted in any clamp down that may or may not occur we should still be concerned. In the past few weeks Mentalacrobatics has enjoyed some long visits from interesting Kenyan IP addresses. As much as I rate myself as a superior sports pundit I do not think they were readling my opinion on the Africa teams at the Fifa World Cup. As the saying goes, let us hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
Luckily for us a lot of the work in this area has all ready been done. If you are concerned about blogging safely there are two resources I would recommend to you. First is a article called, “How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)” written by The Electronic Frontier Foundation. I would recommend this article as your first port of call on this issue. It examines the central issues and provides some solid advice. If you run your own blog or are more technically inclined Ethan Zuckerman’s follow up article, “A technical guide to anonymous blogging” is very useful and informative. Both articles are not very long. It would be wise to have a quick read.
Happy safe blogging.
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Thursday, June 29th, 2006 at 1:58 PM
Tomorrow Ghana “The Brazil of Africa” takes on Brazil “The Brazil of Brazil” in what promises to be a fascinating match.
For Ghana, the Omens are good.
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This Ghanaian team has beaten this Brazilian team before, in semi finals of the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. That Brazillian squad was made up of players like Kaka, Maicon, Adriano, Luisao, Leo, Julio Baptista, Ricardo Oliveira all of whom are in Brazil’s squad for the match tomorrow.
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Everyone who has followed Ghana over the years agrees on one thing. Ghana play big matches. In simple terms this mean they can beat Brazil tomorrow and then lose to Kenya two days later. That has been their undoing in the past and has made me pull my hair out many times. Look at this year. In the African Cup of Nations they were beaten by Nigeria and Zimbabwe and then a few months later they spank the Czech Republic and USA in the World Cup.
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An unknown star always emerges in the Ghanaian camp. During the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship the stars of the Ghanaian team were Boateng and Pimpong. A quiet midfielder player called Essien hardly caught anyone’s eye. Now Essien is one of the world’s top midfielders. Look for another unknown name to rise tomorrow.
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Population Africa: 840,000,000
Population brazil: 186,405,000
Tomorrow Brazil are not only playing a country they are playing a continent. The BBC reporter in Mombasa was lost for words when he tried to explain the reaction in Mombasa to Ghana’s victory over the Czech Republic. Accra and Mombasa. Two ports on opposite sides of a continent united as one. Those 650 million extra African voices have to count for something!
Go the Black Stars!
For a quick look at the history of the black Stars check out Jamie Jackson’s informative article in The Observer.
technorati tags: World Cup
del.icio.us tags: World Cup
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Monday, June 26th, 2006 at 11:30 PM
Nice one Tunisia, Nice one Togo. Stronger and better for the experience. Till next time.
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Friday, June 23rd, 2006 at 10:52 PM
Two guys called Sam Baron and Raph von Blumenthal have released one of the funniest amateur music videos of all time. It is a celebration of Britain against the USA and it is called “We Drink Tea”. You can check it out on google video here. It is hilarious.
I don’t know what is funnier
- The video itself
- The fact that some people will not get the joke and think that everyone in England runs around like these two nutters swearing and drinking tea.
- That any song that rhymes has a few swear words and a drum beat is automatically labelled “Gangsta Rap” by the British press.
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Friday, June 23rd, 2006 at 5:47 PM
Best World Cup joke so far:
Have there been any sightings of Ronaldo since Brazil’s victory over Japan last night? I am a little concerned that the Japanese may have spotted him in the bath afterwards and got the harpoon out.
Mark Judd in The Guardian Fiver
If you don’t get it, you sad sad person, this will help.
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Friday, June 23rd, 2006 at 5:01 PM
Just two days after banging on about cool things I want to get, I got a pleasant surprise in the post.
Thanks “C”! This is brilliant. Hmmm now I need to find something to cook.
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Friday, June 23rd, 2006 at 3:10 AM
Elijah Zarwan writing on Global Voices informs us that the Award-winning Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Seif al-Islam Abd al-Fattah whose arrest by the Egyptian forces I blogged about over a month ago, has been freed. Ethan informs that there are indications that the 26 remaining Kefaya prisoners may also be released soon. Alaa’s wife, Manal, thinks he will be back home by late Thursday at the latest. Excellent news indeed or as they are saying on some Egyptian blogs, MABROUK YA SHABAB! MABROUK YA TENNIN YA BAMBY! (Congratulations, guys! Congratulations, you pink dragon!)
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Friday, June 23rd, 2006 at 2:58 AM
Thank you Ghana x2 … Bring on those shady Brazilians!
technorati tags: World Cup
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Thursday, June 22nd, 2006 at 5:01 PM
This list just keeps growing and growing. Today’s additions to the list of things I do not really need but should have by now and therefore need to get:
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Thursday, June 22nd, 2006 at 10:46 AM
Thank you Angola. Thank you Ivory Coast. Thank you Trinidad and Tobago.
Three World Cup debutants who played football in the true spirit of the game.
I enjoyed watching Ivory Coast come from 2-0 down after 20 minutes to register their first ever victory in the World Cup. Here is a team which was drawn in the hardest group in the tournament, which had to play its two hardest games first, lost both, yet at the end they were still smiling and smiling as a team. It was brilliant watching the players who were on the bench celebrating together with the players on the pitch. I like it when senior players are secure enough to celebrate their junior colleagues. That is team spirit. Till next time.
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Thursday, June 22nd, 2006 at 9:49 AM
It was bound to happen. A day after posting my list of cool things I want to get I see stuff that is even cooler. For example check out this USB bear. You have a cute teddy bear that makes you go, “awwwwwwww” but to use it you have to behead it. Hehehe! The second picture is just too deadly. You can see kids getting traumatised all over the land!
Add it to the list!
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Wednesday, June 21st, 2006 at 12:44 PM
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
‘Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!’
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought–
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
‘And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
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Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 at 11:40 PM
Looking around me I have decided that I do not have enough cool stuff. I have some really cool stuff but not enough. As we are told to be proactive I have drawn up a list of things I should acquire. I can then reflect on this list next year and see how well I have done! Hehe!
Things I do not really need but should have by now and therefore need to get:
- A harmonica
- A pair of binoculars
- A hammock
A “Kiss the chef” apron - Thanks C!- A yo-yo
- A Rubik’s Cube
- A baseball bat, a baseball, and two mitts
- A chainsaw
- An official Swiss army knife
That will do for now. Although I suspect this list will grow and grow.
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Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 at 7:41 AM
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