I find it a lot harder to create a blog these days compared with my previous experience, but I am determined to try to post wherever I can and also make what I post as interesting as possible to keep you all reading.
This Week's Headlines
Super Bowl Fever
Being a big sports fan, it's hard to ignore the huge sporting event that took place last week. I use the term 'event' in this case rather than game, as I feel that the Super Bowl is bigger, for sure, than just the game itself. In the UK, the Packers - Steelers game was being previewed from 10:30GMT about an hour before the kick-off, and I'm pretty sure that in the US it was on much longer before that (and certainly went on much after I had gone to bed.)
Because of the time difference I would say that I probably watched the first quarter before the realization of my 7am wake-up call the next day kicked in, but I have since seen highlights, as well as reading and listening to plenty about the game.
I must confess that in terms of sports, particularly American one, I put Ice Hockey, Basketball and probably the MLS ahead of the NFL, but unlike many people who watched the game on Sunday/Monday, I do spend time watching games during the regular season. I'm not a fanatical fan, but I do follow the New England Patriots, I have to admit that such a persuasion did mean that in terms of a winner either Green Bay or Pittsburgh would have gone down well with me.
Wake me up in the Autumn when Brett Farve makes yet another comeback, and the Detroit Lions still aren't very good.
England Win in Denmark
Usually I tend to avoid international friendlies like the plague, as I tend to find them completely uninteresting and a very poor reflection of the England side that might line-up for the next qualifier. I was however pleasantly surprised to discover that the friendly in Copenhagen on Wednesday was not a complete waste of time, and even more shockingly, England put in an excellent performance.
Not that I would be one to get too carried away with beating Denmark, a team I haven't thought were much good since the Laudrup brothers retired, but it was nice to see a few deserving players put in performances.
Darren Bent got his goal, a reward for basic futility at international level, mostly due to being played out of position, but when you score so many goals in the Premiership, you deserve a chance to be the number on striker for your country, right?
Also Ashley Young who I thought did a good job in the second half, he offers a hell of a lot more than someone like Shaun Wright-Phillips who has been living off his performances three years ago.
Much of the talk surrounded Jack Wilkshire playing in the holding role, but I am going to give some credit to Scott Parker for his second half performance and suggest that it should be him, not Wilkshire, who the big deal should be made out of. For Arsenal, Wilkshire doesn't play deep, and it's not a position which suits him naturally, as it showed when he was being outplayed by Eriksson in the first half.
Playing further forward in the position of Lampard or even Gerrard is a more preferred role for the teenager and the England captain for the night should be wary that the Arsenal man is likely to replace him in the lead-up to the next World Cup as England's next manager shapes his team around youth.
Egypt Riots
Back in the real world, news filtered through today that President Mubarak of Egypt resigned today after two weeks of rioting over his reign as the country's leader. Thirty years of control came to an end this afternoon and obviously the likes of David Cameron and Barrack Obama urged the country to 'get back to it's democratically established values' after the recent troubles.
I'm not an expert on politics and I don't pretend to be, but I do find it slightly disturbing that in the 21st century that the elected leader of a country can basically be overthrown. I guess this situation shows the power of the people, just as it has done in Ireland recently where the Prime Minister resigned after the public saw huge flaws in the way that the country's financial crisis was handled.
I've always thought of Egypt as a land of holidays, pyramids and the Nile, but this reminds us that people in such countries who have fought for so long against oppressive regimes are perhaps not at liberty to express their opinions in the same way that were are in this country. Such a situation would clearly not be allowed to take place in England, or any European country for that matter and whilst I understand the views of the people of Egypt, it shows that no matter how stable a country can be from the outside, inner struggles can spill over into hostility when it comes to issues such as politics or religion in any country on our planet.
North Korean's Starving
A story which is perhaps closer to my heart because of recent 'experiences' with South Korea, is an issue that may have disappeared in today's news because of the focus of attention on Egypt. Scouring the BBC News pages I noticed a story which stated that North Korea had issued a statement to its embassies worldwide to appeal for aid to feed its population.
Due to several instances of threatened violence in the past, North Korea only really has major allegiances with China, and some smaller ones with South East Asian states such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Recent failed talks with the US and Russian delegates has probably caused this more recent issue for the country with the poorest record of human rights in the world.
It is believed that over 50% of the population of 24 million live under the poverty line, with at least 10% of those also believed to be homeless. For a country with North Korea's standing in the world, it is quite frightening how this is allowed to go on. With it's basic 'iron wall' and a refusal of foreign delegates being allowed to investigate the situation, it is believed that many thousands of North Korean people are at risk of starvation. Something which is once again pretty scary in the 21st century.
There is a clear stalemate between the western world and North Korea, and it is pretty clear that their cousins over the pacific will not offer them aid until the threat of nuclear missiles is averted. China is usually the country that has to come to the recuse of the Koreans as they do not want a serious situation escalating into a crisis on their doorstep.
Podcasting
Having only accepted arrival of my dictaphone on Thursday I haven't had the opportunity to put a podcast up for this week yet. Hopefully through next week I will have some time to get to grips with the technology and show off my broadcasting skills. I am looking forward to the opportunity of trying something different and hopefully impressing with my audio skills.
I'm still working on a format for the podcast and hopefully it won't just be a case of me venting my ranting skills at different things throughout the show!
That's about all I have for this week's blog I think, hopefully it's been a good start and once I actually start to do something with myself then I will be able to offer more insight into the wonderful world.
In the words of Warner Brothers..... 'That's all folks'
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