FOOTBALL: MOURINHO GOING TO INTER?

I heard he will sign Frank Lampard and Deco while Luis Figo will be given a one-year extension to his contract.

So is it true that 'The Special One' will be going to Inter?

On another matter, enough of linking Cristino Ronaldo to Real Madrid. We hear the news everyday. I'm sick of it. There are far more better and cheaper choices out there.

FOOTBALL: NIKE'S NEW AD

You got to love the new Nike advertisement titled 'Take It To The Next Level'. There are many prominent figures in the football world featured in the video. It is a super long advertisement indeed!

THE GREAT SINGAPORE SALES 2008

Starts today till 20 July 2008! Shop till you drop!

My main target for this sales period is the Nikon digital SLR and its accessories.

GSS2008

FOOTBALL: MANCHESTER UNITED WON IT!

However, I heard Chelsea were the better side of the night and plagued by extreme bad luck. Well, that's football for you. It can be very unfair at times.

Congratulations Man Utd for winning the double!

FOOTBALL: UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

Manchester United VS. Chelsea
Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia

Top scorers:
Cristino Ronaldo 7 goals
Didier Drogba 6 goals

Many players who can decide the match for their clubs. For Manchester United, it is definitely C.Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs, Scholes, Nani and Tevez. For Chelsea, it will be Drogba, Lampard, J.Cole, Essien, Anelka and Ballack. I think these six players from each team will be the deciding factors for the outcome of the match.

May the best team wins! I hope there will not be a boring match like last year's FA Cup final. I expect a very tight match but still, hopefully it will be exciting. A win for Manchester United will give them a Double celebration for an already great season, especially for C.Ronaldo. A win for Chelsea could confirm Grant's job at the helm and full happiness for their Russian billionaire at his hometown.

BAD FAMILY

불량가족 / Bul Ryang Ga Jok



Seriously, as you all know, I am not a big fan of Korean dramas. They used to be extremely long, sad and tragic. These days however, you do have dramas with average endings at 16-17 episodes. It is not too long so I thought I can watch a few of them. Therefore, I decided to try Bad Family.

It is surely the most funniest Korean drama I ever watched. I am still halfway to the end but the storyline is extremely unique. Watch it if you love comedy and you will not regret it. It has a lot of touching scenes too so do get ready to cry if you can't stand it. Basically to give you a very short summary of the storyline, a young girl was involved in a tragic traffic accident with the whole familly and she was the only survivor. She lost her memory. The doctor recommended one way to help her regain her memory is to create a fake family with identical number of people for her - which is 7. A gangster, who will be her uncle, is given the task to assemble this 'bad' family.

After this drama, your favourite quote when wanting to threaten people is:

"Do you want to smell dirt, you thug?!"

Forcing yourself to dig a deep hole as your grave is also one way to punish you.

After watching this drama, I become a big fan of Nam Sang Mi / 남상미. She looks so much like Rosamund Kwan / 關之琳. Her official website is namsangmi.com.







Those who can't find the drama anywhere can use streaming sites like YouTube and Crunchyroll if you are desperate enough. Hihi! Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE

Watch it or you regret your entire lives, you martial arts fans! :)

The coolest female martial artist film created yet. I got the movie but yet to watch. Hiroshi Abe is in this movie too. I wonder how the Japanese act in this Thai film. JeeJa Yanin, the lead actress of her first ever debut film, will be the lady to watch!

Move over Michelle Yeoh and Uma Thurman, this lady can kick more asses than all the asses combined you both could kick!









Chocolate (Official Site)

Chocolate (IMDb)

FOOTBALLL: DIFFERENT MILANS' FATES

Inter Milan clinched their Serie A title while derby rivals AC Milan will not even play in the Champions League next season. Ibrahimovic came up when Inter needed goals the most and scored twice for them. I don't think they will want to sell him. Roma failed to win the final match while Inter Milan win by 2-0. AC Milan won their last league match but so too Fiorentina, making it impossible to overtake them in the league table.

This outcome will create tonnes of questions for the next season, especially for AC Milan. Will their top players consider leaving without the prestige of playing in the Champions League? What will happen? We shall all wait eagerly for the outcome. It is interesting to hear Kaka saying that they need 20 great players to challenge for top honours next season. One player rumoured to be tranfered in is Nice's goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris.

"If we want to hit the centre, we need a group of 20 great players,” the Brazilian told the Gazzetta dello Sport.

“This year we only had 15 and this was not enough for both Serie A and the Champions League."

“It has not worked out for many players this year, perhaps they did not know how to handle the pressure of having to prove everything in such a short time.”

In the La Liga, Real Madrid finally played the final match against Levante after earlier reports of the players of Levante wishing not to play because the club has not paid their wages for a long time. It is worth to mention that Iker Casillas managed to let past 32 goals out of 36 matches to win the Zamora Trophy. I also hope the club stop chasing Cristino Ronaldo as I don't see anything great about him anyway despite a tremendous incredible season he had. Atletico Madrid lost the final match and that means Barcelona managed to finish third.

FOOTBALL: WHAT'S LEFT OF THIS SEASON?

I am still shocked by Zenit St Petersburg's win over Rangers in the UEFA Cup final. It was really unexpected but people said they deserved the title for their great run in the competition. There are probably just 3 more exciting things to decide before the season concludes.


English FA Cup final

Portsmouth VS. Cardiff

This is probably the most cheapest valued players assembled for the FA Cup final for a very, very long time! Still, we have some big names of yesterday like David James, Sol Campbell, Nwankwo Kanu, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Robbie Fowler.

The Italian league is the last among the biggest in Europe yet to have a conclusion. There is just one more match to go and everything will be settled this weekend. Will Inter or Roma win it? If Roma win it, will Mancini leave? Will Milan qualify for next season's Champions League? If they don't, what will happen to the club (coach and Kaka)? Will Maldini finally retire? Many questions to be answered.

1. Inter Milan 82 points
2. Roma 81 points
3. Juventus 71 points
4. Fiorentina 63 points
5. AC Milan 61 points
6. Sampdoria 59 points
7. Udinese 57 points

Champions League: 1st and 2nd
Champions League qualifying: 3rd and 4th
UEFA Cup: 5th and 6th

Sampdoria Vs. Juventus
Parma VS. Inter Milan
Catania Calcio VS. Roma
AC Milan VS. Udinese
Torino VS. Fiorentina

May 21st's Champions League final will be the final conclusion of the 2007/2008 season. Who shall win it?

Manchester United Vs. Chelsea

After that, all focus will be on Euro 2008!

FOOTBALL: POLL CREATED

Guys, I am adding this poll feature on the right bar. Trying to test out the feature on football first.

I'll start with 5 questions:
1. Barcelona's season
2. Mourinho's fate
3. Deco's fate
4. Big spenders for next season
5. Euro 2008 potential winners

Only one question will appear at a time. You can refresh the page for a new one.

FOOTBALL: THE RICHEST CLUBS IN THE WORLD

I was reading the Forbes magazine today (19th May 2008 edition) and found an article titled "Gunning for It All" at page 61. It is talking about the football business and Arsenal are chosen as the focus. The reason being Arsenal are the last of the Big Four who are not bought by foreigners yet. It touches on the difficulties the club endured for the construction of the new stadium and the aftermath of how it becomes among the giants in football world today. It also talks about the challenges ahead they will face with many potential vultures circling the club with great interest to buy at will!

Therefore, I will be sending Teg and Donny Ginola information of the article since they are their fans. Interestingly, the first page of the article has a photo of Mathieu Flamini. Here is the summary table of the current ranking of the richest clubs in the world.

Soccer Team Valuations

Revenues and operating income are for the 2006-07 season, converted into U.S. dollars based on June 30, 2007 exchange rates.
¹Value of team based on current stadium deals (unless new stadium is pending) without deduction for debt (other than stadium debt).
²Includes stadium debt.
³Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
Sources: Deloitte & Touche; company documents; Forbes.

Rank	Team	Current Value 1 ($mil)	Debt/Value(%) 2	Operating Income 3($mil)
1	Manchester United	1,800	60	111
2	Real Madrid	1,285	27	112
3	Arsenal	1,200	43	77
4	Liverpool	1,050	65	60
5	Bayern Munich	917	0	72
6	AC Milan	798	0	54
7	Barcelona	784	7	92
8	Chelsea	764	0	-5
9	Juventus	510	5	35
10	Schalke 04	470	48	36
11	AS Roma	434	12	48
12	Tottenham Hotspur	414	15	64
13	Olympique Lyonnais	408	7	15
14	Inter Milan	403	0	21
15	Borussia Dortmund	323	57	31
16	Newcastle United	300	43	12
17	Hamburg SV	293	0	41
18	Werder Bremen	262	0	11
19	Valencia	254	159	-49
20	Celtic	227	11	48
21	Everton	197	30	-1
22	West Ham United	195	23	-22
23	Manchester City	191	63	27
24	Aston Villa	190	12	-40
25	Olympique Marseille	187	0	13

BIG MAC™ CHANT!



BURGER SMELLING EXPERT

This guy's blindfolded meditation routine during lunch break was interrupted by the smell of the Big Mac™!

Credits:
Lead Actor: DieHardX
Supporting Actors: Chip & Dale
Camera Lady: LaLa

Big Mac™ Chant Contest

How It Works
Just take a video of yourself doing the Big Mac™ Chant and you just could be the winner of RM10,000!

Once you video-ed yourself doing the Big Mac™ Chant, upload it unto http://www.youtube.com/ and email the URL and your contact number to our friendly contest master at BigMacChant@nuffnang.com.

Title your email Big Mac™ Chant! Once our hardworking moderators look through your entry and verify that it does not contain any thing rude/ wrong (you have to get the chant right), we will link it up here and you will be in the running for yes, the BIG prize of RM10,000!

Contest is valid only until May 28 2008.

FOOTBALL: CONGRATULATIONS MANCHESTER UNITED!

Ryan Giggs grabbed the headlines for making his 758th appearance, equalling Bobby Charlton's record! He scored one of the goals to win the match against Wigan. Chelsea were held 1-1 at home by Bolton Wanderers. Cristino Ronaldo scored the penalty and they do deserve the title for his remarkable performance this season. He is the top scorer of the league with 30 goals!

Congratulations to Manchester United for winning their 10th title in 16 years! Now, let's see if they can win the double in the Champions League final against Chelsea.

FOOTBALL: THIS IS IT FOLKS!

Will Manchester United or Chelsea be crowned champions? We will find out!

FOOTBALL: HOME GROWN PLAYER RULE

Soccernet
Updated: May 8, 2008

EU assembly rejects Blatter's quota plans

BRUSSELS, May 8 (Reuters) - The European Parliament dealt another blow to FIFA president Sepp Blatter's controversial plans to curb the number of foreigners at soccer clubs by voting against the proposals on Thursday.

EU lawmakers rejected Blatter's '6+5 rule', allowing no more than five foreign players to start a match, by 518 votes to 49 but most backed the 'home-grown player rule' of European soccer's governing body UEFA.

'The parliament calls on the member states and sports associations not to introduce new rules that create direct discrimination based on nationality, such as FIFA's 6+5,' the resolution said.

'It calls on the Commission to recognise the legality of measures favouring the promotion of players who have come through training schemes, such as a minimum number of locally-trained players, irrespective of their nationality.'

FIFA opposes the UEFA rule, which sets a quota of locally-trained players at clubs but without any discrimination on nationality, arguing it encourages recruitment at a young age.

UEFA says Blatter's proposal is unworkable in the EU because it contravenes the bloc's laws on the free movement of workers and could lead to costly legal challenges - a view echoed by the EU assembly.

'Unfortunately the 6+5 rule is not compatible with the free movement of persons in the EU. The European Treaty is very clear on this point: discrimination on the basis of nationality is not allowed and this also counts for football,' Belgian MEP Ivo Belet, author of the parliament's report on the future of professional football, told the assembly.

'We therefore ask FIFA to join forces with the European Parliament and the European Commission and fully back the 'home-grown' rule.'

MEPs also slammed Blatter's idea of reaching a 'gentlemen's agreement' with the individual associations at FIFA's congress later this month, saying he risked a repetition of the 1995 'Bosman Ruling' by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

The ruling by Europe's top court, named after Belgian player Jean-Marc Bosman, gave all sports professionals within the 27-member bloc the freedom to change clubs.

'We ask Mr Blatter not to take us back to Bosman. We cannot go back to the pre-Bosman era. A professional footballer is a worker and should be treated like any other worker,' Greek MEP Mnolis Mavromatis, who wrote Thursday's resolution, said.

Dutch MEP Toine Manders said: 'In the jungle of sport we need clear legal guidelines. If you ask if these gentleman's agreements will hold, you are very wrong.'

'We are talking about big business, powerful clubs who will go to court if necessary. Mr Blatter will only open up another pandora's box like Bosman.'

The Commission is expected to come forward later this year with a proposal on locally-trained players in all sports, which will require the backing of both the EU assembly and the 27 sports ministers.

To change FIFA's rules, Blatter needs 75 percent support at the congress in Sydney on May 29 where each of FIFA's 208 member associations who are eligible to vote have one vote each and UEFA as an organisation has none.

FOOTBALL: RM 4-1 BARCA FC

It will take another century before I can actually believe such a "WHITE WASH" will ever happen again. As I said earlier, given the circumstances of the league outcome, the suspensions and injuries involved, this is not a shocking result actually.

Now, Real Madrid should wisely consider choosing only players they need to reinforce to the team and try to push the English dominance of Europe. It is time for the European giants to wake up from their sleep and come back to dominate where they belong! This team is built from two seasons. Capello brought the faith, belief, self-confidence, fighting spirit and teamwork back as well as healed the souls of the players. Schuster carried it forward now and I hope they are ready to once again assault Europe come next season. I may not be a Schuster fan but I do believe in stability. Give this man at least one more season, unlike Capello.

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THE 10TH FOR FAR TOO DAMN LONG, MAN! GIMME THE 10TH ALREADY! I WANT TO BUY THE JERSEY WITH THE 10TH BADGE ON IT!

Hope El Estadio Santiago Bernabeu heard my rant!

FOOTBALL: LOWEST PROFILE EL CLASICO EVER?

This is probably the least promoted El Clásico for a long time. Normally, it will take a week of publicity to make known to the football world of this clash. This particular clash will be the least promoted because everything had already been decided for the league.

The clash becomes even less meaningful now that many top players will not participate in it because of suspensions and injuries. Eto'o, Deco, Milito, Cannavaro, Heinze and Metzelder are the confirmed players surely to miss it. Other possible absentees include Touré Yaya, Andrés Iniesta, Rafael Márquez, Xavi, van Nistelrooy and maybe Ronaldinho.

Still, the hope is to have a great match to enjoy. The clashes are mostly not shy on goals so we wish for another high scoring match! May the best club wins!

FOOTBALL: EPL FINAL SHOWDOWN

Manchester United: 37 matches, 78 goals scored, 22 goals conceded, 56 goals difference, 84 points
Chelsea: 37 matches, 64 goals scored, 25 goals conceded, 39 goals difference, 84 points

For the last match of the season, Manchester United are playing 13th place Wigan away. Chelsea will be playing 16th place Bolton at home. Between them, Man Utd have 12 goals more than Chelsea. That means Chelsea need to score 12 goals on top of getting more than what Man. Utd. will score in the last match in case Man. Utd. win the last match in order to win the league. Sounds complicated? Well, it means Chelsea have a more difficult task to win the league.

Flamini's move to Milan surprises me. I thought Wenger is building a squad full of loyal subjects. This only proves that it doesn't mean that they will stay in Arsenal forever just because of Wenger. I think if I am one of the youths who were in the squad, I would question how much longer I need to wait for a title to come. Can my loyalty pay off with titles? There is no guarantee for titles and no guarantee that some of the talented players may leave because of the lost of patience. I am getting paid less but not winning anything either. I heard of Hleb and Fabregas transfer rumours too.

Ronaldo may leave Milan. His involvement with the transvestite just made me laugh non-stop.

"I did not at any moment know they were transvestites."

Great excuse. I saw the news and no way you cannot tell the difference. Unless.....

“As for what happened, I did not have any sexual dealings with those people, I must stress that I am not gay."

“When I told my girlfriend, she started to shout, scream and swear at me, I think she’ll find it hard to forgive me.”

What about Ronaldinho? Milan said the transfer fees is too much to ask for. Will he stay put in Barcelona? Will Rijkaard go instead? There are rumours of Pep Guardiola to succeed him.

FOOTBALL: REAL AND BAYERN ARE CHAMPIONS!

31st and 21st league title in the bag for Real Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively. Madrid won it in the very last minute after seeing Villarreal beating Getafe 2-0 much earlier. Cannavaro was sent off early in the second half and their midfielder Punal scored from the penalty spot with 8 minutes to go. Robben equalised with 3 minutes to go and later Higuain scored with a minute left to win the match dramatically. In other clashes in the La Liga, Barcelona beat a weak Valencia 6-0 and Sevilla beat Valladolid 2-0.

Real Madrid will be playing Barcelona next and pride could be still at stake for a very competitive match. This El Clásico encounter will be the least competitive ever for a long time. Both of the clubs have pretty much nothing left to play for this season. For Barcelona perhaps they still want to chase Villarreal to finish 2nd so they don't have to play for the Champions League qualifying for next season. There are 3 matches left and Real Madrid are having 10 points lead over Villarreal at the top. Villarreal have 4 points lead over Barcelona. Atletico Madrid are chasing from behind Barcelona with 6 points difference.

In the Serie A, the Milan derby ended with a 2-1 for Milan against Inter. Fiorentina lost away to Cagliari, Roma beat Sampdoria 3-0 away and Juventus lost 0-1 to Siena away. The results mean Milan are now at 4th place with 1 point lead against Fiorentina. Inter are just 3 points leading the table over Roma. There are 2 more matches to play and the title can be decided until the last day.

HAPPY LABOUR DAY!

This is my first ever labour day 'celebration'. I really need this rest. Ah, so nice feeling to have a break! Overloaded with work lately.

On another note, Manchester United will meet Chelsea in the final! This will be Chelsea's chance to create history in their 'real' hometown in Moscow. Chelski to win in Moscow! What an incredible coincidence. Nobody give them a chance from the semifinal stage and now, here they are!

This could be a season of a double for Manchester United or Chelsea. Let's just see whether it will happen. Interesting twist to the final stretch of the season!