Agassi: The End of an Era

"The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what it is I have found. And over the last 21 years, I have found loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I've found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moments. And I've found generosity. You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you. And I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life."
-- Andre Agassi

23,000 people at Arthur Ashe Stadium - they came from near and far to see his last match - the last of his 21-year career. And they gave him a tribute that lasted four minutes. Eyes filled with tears, Agassi rose from his armchair and moved to the center of the court for a second round of bows and kisses to the four sides of the arena, gingerly bending his bad back.

When asked if he would do it all again, Agassi shook his head no and laughed when someone pressed, "Why not?"
"Because I did it. I did it," Agassi said.
And this: "I'm at peace." (Source)

Technorati: Agassi

Germany vs Argentina ended with a brawl

The intense Germany vs Argentina FIFA World Cup match ended with penalties in which Germany downed Argentina 4-2 to proceed on to the semi-finals. But what followed was a 90 seconds brawl between Argentina and German players, the coaches, the refree and FIFA officials, infront of 72,000 astounished spectators looking on in the stadium and millions more worldwide on television.

In the heat of the moment, the unexpected happens.

The trouble appeared to start when midfielder Tim Borowski gestured towards the Argentina players to "keep quiet" having scored his penalty to make it 4-2 in Germany's favour.

Several of the South American players walked towards him and when Esteban Cambiasso's final Argentina spot-kick was saved by German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, the Argentina defender Fabricio Coloccini approached Germany's Oliver Neuville.

Punches were thrown in a brief melee before it was broken up.

Germany captain Ballack also gave his version:

"The first provocation came from Argentina, they were shouting at our players as they were going to the penalty spot. They shouted something in Spanish and we didn't understand what they were saying. But they were definitely trying to influence our strikers.

After Tim Borowski scored he put his finger to his lips to tell them to shut up. They were a bit mad at that. After that I didn't see much but I saw one or two lying on the ground. I didn't see what happened."

Read more here, here and here.

The brawl ended with Argentina's Leandro Cufre, an unused substitute, shown the red card by the referee after he was seen kicking Germany defender Mertesacker, and Mertesacker was left lying on the grass after being kicked in the groin.

This has go to be one of the most disgraceful moments of the beautiful game. It appeared ironic that while thousands of fans could coexist and stand side by side watching their countries fight for honour and glory, the players themselves betrayed their fans.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter was left to comment, "What I always say is in football you learn to win, but you also have to learn to lose." Sports when played on the international level, is cruel, but it does not mean that we cannot play it professionally. The Germany Argentina match was an intense match pitted against two giants - both deserved to go one to the semi-finals, but of course, there can only be one winner.


Anyway, the world cup does have an effect on Internet traffic:

A graph showing internet traffic decrease in the Netherlands during the 2006 FIFA World Cup game between Netherlands and Serbia & Montenegro on 11 June 2006.

Technorati: worldcup, germany, argentina

FIFA World Cup 2006

Did you know that ...

During World War II, the trophy was held by Italy. Ottorino Barassi, the Italian vice-president of FIFA, also the President of FIGC, hid it from the Germans in a shoe-box under his bed after attracting the interest from Nazism.

There is quite a bit of history to that solid piece of gold... the FIFA World Cup Trophy.

Anyway, some people on the other side of the world (like me), are stuck because the television here (Channel 5, MediaCorp) only show the opening match, two semis and the final match. And since there are people like me who are desperate to watch the game live at home... thanks to technology, there are some solutions!

1. ASCII Live Streaming, via Telnet
on Windows, run 'cmd' and type in "telnet ascii-wm.net 2006"

2. Goto soccernet.espn.go.com and see the flash-based game cast live. (updates only)

3. Use a p2p streaming program like PPLive or PPStream. PPStream is more popular because there is this caifu sports channel, which has good quality streaming (but setting up PPStream is slightly troublesome). Anyway, such p2p streaming programs stream from China's server, so unless you have a really good connection... forget about it. More information on such programs on footballstreaming.info (you have to register an account, login and post 1 message first before you have access to the actual info)

4. Try LiveFooty. (I don't know if this works or not. Try at your own risk!)


Cometh the hour, cometh the man... and cometh the team. (hey... what the origin of that phrase?)
So... July 9... may the best team win!

The World Cup is almost here

The fascination of football has many facets: superb moves, amazing goals, top-class players, exciting tackles and passionate fans. Football rouses emotions worldwide, it brings people of different cultures together and encourages fundamental virtues such as fairness, team spirit and tolerance. And we will be experiencing all this with particular intensity next summer – at the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany.

-- Angela Merkel, German Chancellor

Less than 2 weeks to the FIFA World Cup... here are a few links to check out:
- Offical FIFA World Cup Website
- World Cup Game 2006 (football stock exchange game)
- FIFA Official Website

The Football Globe Germany in Nuremberg, Germany. Originally uploaded by carstenwegst.