Reuters/Andreas Meier

A-F-R-I-C-A

What do you think when you hear AFRICA? Safari animals? Never ending deserts? Poor starving kids? How about 2010 World Cup? FIFA announced that South Africa will host the first ever soccer world cup in the land of Africa. If they have to put world cup in Africa, don't even waste their time voting, South Africa is the only country that is eligible. The most prosperous country in the entire continent. They are the nation in Africa dealing with the least domestic problems. At least I have yet to hear that South African kids are starving. They have the most resources to host something this big. But my argument is IF they have to put it in Africa. My point is they should not. I can see this as the second coming of Athens Olympics. Poor preparation, insufficient funds, and lack of support. I don't want to make world cup a rich men's game. But the continent of Africa has a lot more to deal with than a rich men's world cup. Yes, it will bring money, it will promote the country (maybe the continent of Africa). However, Africa needs to do something other than spending money on building state-of-the-art soccer stadiums. There are a lot of people needing to be fed. South Africa is not a bad country. I like to visit there some day. But I don't agree that the world cup has to rotate among the five big continents. Africa does not deserve to be in the rotation.

Reuters/Mike Finn-Kelcey

INVINCIBLE? POSSIBLE?

How is it possible? There is no way a team can go through the entire Premier League season unbeaten. If somebody told me about this a year ago, I would have said that this guy is a lunatic. Arsenal proved me wrong. I have not been following Premier League for a while. I cannot comment on how hard it was for Arsenal. For all the big bucks the top football clubs are spending nowadays, it has to be easier to achieve an unbeaten season. It is quite clear that there is a big gap between Arsenal (90 pts) and the rest, then the top three and the rest (#2 Chelsea 79 pts, #3 Man Utd 75 pts, #4 Liverpool 60 pts, a big drop). They are spending so much they actually pull themselves away from the rest without even competing on the field.

Extra Point: It is exactly the other way in the Champions League. If somebody told me a Portuguese team and a French team will play for the title, I would say this guy should just go to hell. This, in some way, disproved my point made above. I always consider the English, Italian, Spanish, and the German leagues to be the best four, followed by French, Portuguese, Dutch, and Galatasaray. The survival of these lesser leagues proved that these teams play harder. They want to beat the big clubs more than the big clubs want to beat them. They play with a bigger heart. Also prove that teams with good players who earn big money do not always win. That's why they play. I'm happy to see smaller clubs having success in the European competitions.

Another Extra point: I have just recently bought a VCR, which I wanted to own for quite a while. Now I can record typed delayed Wednesday morning (2am) Premier League games and live Champions League games (Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons while I'm in school).

AP/Eric Gay

Mortal

I have seen the movie Troy over the weekend. Achilles (Brad Pitt) said in the movie, "Gods envy us, because we are mortal...That's why we enjoy happiness." I don't think it applies to the Spurs. I just bring it up because it's a cool line. The Spurs are definitely mortal. I didn't know it, and didn't see it coming. Before the start of this series I said that the Spurs WILL beat the Lakers. Now I'm a moron to have picked the Spurs. The Spurs didn't play that way I have imagined they play. I don't understand why Coach Popovich played Robert Horry for 27 minutes and Horry only had 3 three-point attempts (and missed the all), while shooting three is all Horry can do. If they were not trying to make him shoot three, put someone else on the court. I don't understand why Devin Brown played 24 minutes while Turkoglu was on the bench. The Lakers can be a better team when they all play together and play well. And they did in this series (or precisely games 3 to 6). I picked the Spurs before the beginning of the season. My reason was that the Lakers' old bodies can't hold up for the entire season. Young players Ginobili and Parker, with the addition of Horry and Turkoglu can make the Spurs a contender again. But the Lakers ALL managed to get injured at the right time and get healed at the right time. Further, for some unknown reasons Kobe plays better after spending all day in court in Colorado. Spurs lost, not because they couldn't win a game in LA, but because of Derek Fisher's 0.4 second jerk shot, just like what the entire Lakers team had been able to do in their championship runs (for one, Robert Horry's loose ball lucky three against the Kings two years ago).