Flavian

Stu

2010-04-04T05:45:00.001-07:00

The Hart Dungeon is perhaps the most famous and legendary training area for wrestlers ever.

Chris Benoit once said "going to the Hart family for training was kind of like, if you're a very religious person, going to the Vatican."

Above is a photo of Stu and Bret Hart training in the legendary basement.

The Dungeon was created in the basement of the Hart mansion, and was devolved shortly after Stu Hart founded Stampede Wrestling in 1948. The nickname "The Dungeon" didn't develop until a later time, however.

Aside from professional wrestlers, The Dungeon was used as training grounds for various different athletes, from Strongmen to Football players.

Many of Hart's sons were trained there and went on to become wrestlers, including the legendary Bret and Owen Hart.

Other wrestlers that trained there include, The British Bulldog, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Mark Henry, Abdullah The Butcher, Roddy Piper, The Honky Tonk Man, Steve Blackman, Monty Brown (The Alpha Male), Junkyard Dog, Lance Storm, Edge, 'Superstar' Billy Graham, Brian Pillman, and Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart.

The list goes on and on, and about half the wrestlers I've named have gone on to become World Champions in one company or another.

In 1990, when Jericho and Storm entered the Dungeon, Stu Hart was no longer taking part in the training of wrestlers; the trainers simply relied on a book of Hart's teachings.

Both reported of having to be taught how to take falls varying from 500-1000 times during some sessions. And Jericho claimed that when he brought this to the attention of Bret Hart, Hart claimed he didn't even know the trainings were still going on.

Jericho later claimed he was upset with the three-month training he and Storm went through, and felt they had been snubbed by the Harts. Claiming that the only Hart they trained with was Keith, and only for the first day.

However, Jericho also noted having trained with Stu Hart later on.

One of the first televised acknowledgements of the nickname 'Dungeon' was by then-WWF commentator Jesse 'The Body' Ventura.

Its first significant exposure was in the documentary Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows, which on a side note also went in depth to the Montreal Screw Job.

In the documentary, The Dungeon is shown on film moderately for one of the first times and shows Stu Hart applying wrestling holds on a pupil in severe pain.

Bret Hart also discusses the brutality his father would inflict on him, and the morbid words Stu uttered as he would torture him.

In some interviews, Bret would also describe the dungeon as having holes in the walls and ceiling from bodies being driven into them. Also saying that practices at times, could be as intense as MMA-style fighting.

In July 1998 during the Fully Loaded PPV, WWE would broadcast a match between Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock in the Dungeon, which Owen won.

On Oct. 18, 2003 Stu Hart died of a stroke, and the remaining Hart brothers were forced to put the mansion up for sale because of various reasons.

In his will, Stu Hart instructed it not to be torn down, and because of its status as a historical site, it cannot.

Stu Hart was finally inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame this year by The Hitman himself, cementing his legacy forever.

The Legacy of the Dungeon lives on today through Tyson Kidd, being the last-ever superstar to be trained in the Dungeon by the Harts.

Natalya, the first ever female to be trained in the Dungeon, and David Hart Smith, son of the legendary British Bulldog.

These three superstars are left to carry on the Hart legacy for the next generation, and only time will tell what success lies for them in the future.

HBK speaks

2010-04-04T05:40:00.001-07:00

For the first time in 12 years, you and Bret Hart met face-to-face on the Jan. 4 edition of Raw. What were you feeling throughout the day leading up to that moment?
Nervous excitement. It was one of those situations in which you’re hoping everything goes well, but acknowledging the possibility that it might not. I saw Bret backstage before the show. We talked briefly, and one of the first things we said to each other was, “How did everything go so wrong?” I was really, truly excited to see and talk with him. And it seemed like, ironically, all we talked about were the times when we did get along. Age, wisdom and time give you the opportunity to focus on the good more than the bad, and I think we were both in that mind-set. It was almost like a homecoming, which meant a lot to both of us. We’d both been carrying around some pretty heavy stuff for a long time, and it was really great to see each other, talk and, finally, put it all behind us.

Was it as surreal for you as it was for the WWE Universe?
It was. I hadn’t communicated with Bret since Montréal, 12 years ago. That was the last time we interacted. I saw him when he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, but only from a distance. I would have loved to talk then, but it wasn’t something he was ready to do at the time.

Is it fair to say that the moment was a milestone in WWE history?
Sometimes, you have to do your best to say, “Oh, this is only entertainment.” But there’s another part of you that knows you’re creating a significant piece of history. WWE means a lot to many people, and the division between Bret and me is a piece of its history. We knew that we were creating closure, not just for us, but for everyone.

If Bret hadn’t accepted the invitation to host Raw, do you think you two ever would have reconciled?
Yes, I believe we would have. Backstage at Raw, we did talk, but we kept it brief. We wanted to preserve the spontaneity and the purity of emotion we were both feeling. I knew that there were plans to get Bret to come back, and I hoped he would. I’m glad we got to do it face-to-face. Texting or talking on the phone doesn’t compare to a face-to-face conversation, especially considering the magnitude of the differences between us.

When you hugged in the ring, you clearly whispered something in Bret’s ear. What did you say?
That’s something I’ll keep between Bret and myself. There are things better left private, and that’s one of them. If Bret feels comfortable explaining what I said, I’m OK with that. But, from my point of view, I just wanted to tell him something from the heart, and that’s what I did.

Still, there must be some animosity left between you and Bret?
Montréal was huge. But it was more monumental to people watching from the outside. It was far more uncomfortable for the viewers than everybody else. Right after it happened, I talked with Davey and Owen. Whenever I see Davey’s wife, Diana, we get along. I’ve always had a good relationship with the Hart family, and I think that’s one thing that threw Bret off. How could I go so quickly from being a nice guy to this petty, bloodthirsty son of a gun? That’s something I struggled with for a long time. I didn’t understand it, so it’s perfectly understandable that Bret didn’t either.

You’re one of the few Superstars from your generation never to set foot in WCW. Was your decision to stick with WWE during The Monday Night War among your greatest contributions to the business?
Yes – maybe not to the business itself, but definitely to this company. I’m very proud of the fact that I stuck around. People can talk about low ratings when I was Champion and stuff like that, but from a company standpoint, my boss can say, “I put you through a lot, but you stuck here. You stuck with me.” I’ve spent more time with Vince McMahon than I have with my own father. Right or wrong, people can make their judgments about him, but there’s a side of him I see that not many people do. And that allows me to be loyal to him.

How difficult was it to resist the temptation of the big WCW money and the imploring of your pals to join them there?
It was very hard. Technically, I was under contract, though, so it would’ve been a huge undertaking. It wouldn’t have been worth it. The one thing that people kept telling me was that I wouldn’t be able to “create” in WCW. I would’ve been handcuffed, and boxed in. In WWE, I was given an unbelievable amount of freedom – probably more than anyone else – to go against the grain, and do things that might’ve been risky. If I had been in WCW, making 10 times more money, but not doing what I wanted in that ring, I would’ve been miserable. To not be able to express my creativity in the ring – that is something I could never put a dollar sign on. A bunch of guys I know went down there. Maybe they had great experiences, maybe they didn’t. But they weren’t nearly as into being creative and expressive in that ring as I was.

Did concerns about your legacy play into your decision at all?
My legacy is my two beautiful children, and that has nothing to do with wrestling. I realize that now, because I’m older. Back in those days, though, there was nothing more important to me than my time in that ring. That was the only place I felt totally free and able to express myself. I was a guy with a lot of stuff on his mind and, when I was in the ring, I could just let everything out. It was the one place I had complete control of my life. I say that, and people think I’m some sort of freak – which, I’ll admit, is a bit true – but, honestly, being in the ring meant everything to me.

What’s the best piece of advice you can give to rising talent?
The risk of failing now is much more prominent. We have so many guys who get lost in the shuffle if they “mess up.” That fear makes everyone much, much more careful. They start walking on eggshells. You can’t do that. You have to go out there, free and easy, knowing that whatever you do is OK. I’ll never say I’m the best at anything – wrestling, talking or whatever – but I will say that I always went out to that ring with zero inhibitions. If I could sum it up in one word for them, it would be “relax.”

As one half of The Rockers, does it bother you that Marty Jannetty has become the “example” for how a Superstar’s career can go wrong?
Yes, it does. I’m not always aware of what’s going on in WWE, so I had no idea that Morrison and Miz had broken up, and were bringing Marty into the situation. I saw Marty, and I was genuinely shocked. Marty was so, so good in the ring, and he’ll never get the proper credit for being the incredible Superstar he was. It hurts me because I’ve no doubt that it probably hurts him. That’s one of the things I don’t like about this business. I realize we live in a big, tough world, but I don’t think it’s necessary to make people distinctly aware of their mistakes. As a person who’s had mercy and compassion extended to him, I cringe a bit when it’s not extended to other people.

Did you voice your disapproval?
No, I didn’t know what was going on until the day Marty was there and he had a match. I don’t really watch SmackDown and I don’t really watch Raw. I haven’t seen a full pay per view in about 10 years. It’s not because of lack of interest, it’s just because I don’t have the time. All of my energy is focused on going out and doing what I do.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the tragic death of the legendary Juventus and Italy libero Gaetano Scirea

2009-09-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

[This week marks the 20th anniversary of the tragic death of the legendary Juventus and Italy libero Gaetano Scirea. Goal.com's Gil Gillespie celebrates the life and achievements of arguably the greatest defender the game has ever seen...Sep 1, 2009 8:00:07 AM]

Even in a land famous for producing the most complete defenders in the history of world football, Gaetano Scirea stands almost alone.

The Juventus and Italy libero is one of only five players who have won every single club trophy dreamt up by FIFA and UEFA, as well as the World Cup.

Usually positioned behind the defence in a sweeper role that has sadly become extinct in the modern age, Scirea was the ultimate reader of the game - Franz Beckenbauer, Daniel Passarella and Franco Baresi are the only other central defenders who even come close in terms of greatness.

Grace, elegance, composure, intelligence, pace, the almost Zen-like Juve man had all of these in spades.

Both on and off the pitch, he was a quiet, thoughtful leader who marshalled the back line for his club and his country with a colossal, yet almost silent, authority throughout a record-breaking career. As a defender, he always relied on subtlety rather than muscle, but he was equally adept at venturing forward and had the passing ability and drive of a pure midfielder, as well as an eye for goal that saw him find the back of the net 24 times during his 377-game club career with the Bianconeri.

It is truly amazing to think that in all that time, Scirea never received a red card, not a bad disciplinary record for someone who operated as the penultimate bolt in the team.

Upon his retirement from the international game in 1986, France Football magazine described him as "better than Pele, [Johan] Cruyff and [Alfredo] Di Stefano".

Gaetano Scirea was born in Cernusco sul Naviglio in the province of Milan on May 25, 1953. After coming through the celebrated youth academy at Atalanta, he made his Serie A debut for the Bergamo club against Cagliari on September 24, 1972. He remained with Atalanta for two seasons, before transferring to Juventus, the club he would stay with until the end of his playing career.

He spent 14 years with La Vecchia Signora, and during that time he scaled the pinnacle of domestic and European glory with Juve, playing alongside the decidedly more rugged, but still unreasonably talented Claudio Gentile.

Scirea was first called up to the Italian national team in 1974 and quickly established himself as one of the first names on Enzo Bearzot’s team-sheet. He remained there for the next decade, keeping a young upstart who went by the name of Franco Baresi out of the team. He eventually went on to compete in no less than three World Cups and one European Championship, but it was as part of Italy’s triumphant 1982 World Cup winning side when Scirea left mere mortals behind and joined the arena of the Gods.

The libero’s unflappable, almost transcendental, performances during the Azzurri’s games against Argentina, Brazil, Poland and West Germany were as vital as Marco Tardelli’s destructive midfield bursts or Paolo Rossi’s sudden outbreak of goalscoring greed.

Dino Zoff may have lifted the trophy, but no-one played a more definitive role than Scirea.

Four years later, Italy travelled to Mexico to defend their title but were knocked out in the second round by Michel Platini’s France. It was to be Scirea’s last tournament, as he drew the curtains on his international career aged 33.

In 1988, following one of the worst seasons in Juventus’ illustrious history, Scirea announced he was hanging up his boots completely after 14 seasons of faithful service with the club.

However, soon afterwards he was appointed assistant coach at Juve, working under his life-long friend Dino Zoff.

Then, in September 1989 he was sent on a scouting mission to watch the clubs’ UEFA Cup opponents, Polish side Gornik Zabrze. Scirea was being driven along the Warsaw-Katowice Superhighway when the Fiat 125 he was travelling in crashed head-on with a fully-laden petrol tanker. The tanker and the car exploded, instantly killing everyone involved. Scirea was just 36-years-old.

Since that terrible day, his name has lived on as a beacon of sportsmanship, and every year Italian journalists vote for the player who they believe has been the ideal role model, both on and off the field of play throughout the season. Last year's Gaetano Scirea Award was given to another Juve legend, Alessandro Del Piero. In 2005, ex-Italy national team coach Enzo Bearzot also proposed the retirement of the No.6 jersey of the national team and Juventus in recognition of the great man and all he achieved.

Not that anyone on the peninsula is about to forget someone of Scirea's stature. 'Il Capitano' will even have a stand at the soon-to-be-rebuilt Stadio delle Alpi named in his honour.

And, 20 years after the premature death of this most cerebral of Calcio’s all-time legends, Juve fans still chant his name and still remember his unforgettable contribution to the legacy of their club and their country.

Quite simply, Scirea redefined what it means to be a defender and what it means to be a sportsman. Without him, the likes of Alessandro Nesta would probably be playing in midfield.

Gil Gillespie, Goal.com

'Crucifix-less' Gennaro Gattuso: I Used To Kick Balls At A Photo Of The Queen With Gazza

2009-05-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

Gattuso and Gazza got up to no good behind the scenes when at Ibrox after the Italian was deprived of his religious neckwear...

01-May-2009 7:56:04 PM

Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso is unlikely to make any friends at Buckingham Palace as the former Glasgow Rangers man reveals his antics alongside Paul Gascoigne at Ibrox.

The Italian international played for the SPL side during the 1997/98 season alongside the former England international. Gattuso admits he used to kick footballs at pictures of the Queen during training sessions.

"Everyone used to tell me to take off my crucifix in the dressing room," he began by saying. (Rangers are a club identified with Scotland's Protestant community, whereas Celtic are viewed as a more Catholic club.)

"So I used to kick balls at the photo of the Queen: my tutor there was Paul Gascoigne," Gattuso told L'Era Glaciale.

That wasn't the only bit of horseplay from Rino, who had a run-in by proxy with a certain Sean Connery, erstwhile James Bond actor and well-known Rangers convert.

"When I decided to leave the club Sean Connery tried to oppose it, but I told him to mind his own bloody business," he was quoted as saying. (Gattuso was quoted as saying that Connery was the 'vice president' at Ibrox. In fact Connery was not on the board.)

After leaving Rangers, the midfield ace joined Salernitana, before moving to Milan in 1999. He is currently recovering from a knee injury.

Salvatore Landolina, Goal.com

English Angle: Darren Fletcher & John O'Shea - The Story Of The Extra Special Squaddies

2009-04-30T05:36:00.000-07:00

The unfancied duo came through again last night, and Goal.com's Mike Maguire explains what makes them different from the average, average player...
30 Apr 2009 11:18:13

When you watch any Manchester United game, big or small, there are certain names you expect to hear spewing forth from the commentators' microphones with predictable regularity and emphasis.

'Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez' becomes a mesmerising chant when the Red Devils are in full flow, and while all three starred throughout the course of Wednesday's Champions League win over Arsenal, it was the far less glamorous pair of Darren Fletcher and John O'Shea who provided the substance behind their more gifted team-mates' style - and, in truth, that is the way it has been for much of the season.

Fletcher, often written off as a sentimental favourite of his fellow Scot, Sir Alex Ferguson, put in a typically dogged shift in midfield alongside the eye-catching Anderson and Michael Carrick to nullify the threat of Cesc Fabregas & co. He's had better showings this season, sure; but this is the sort of display we've come to view as stock from the 25-year-old, which is a testament to his reliability.

Indeed, perhaps the biggest compliment you can pay him is that United have hardly missed the ultra-crocked Owen Hargreaves at all this term, because Fletcher has proven every bit as hard-tackling, committed, energetic, versatile and switched-on as his English-Canadian-German club-mate - and probably a tad tidier on the ball, to boot.

But while Paul Scholes' sidekick worked largely behind-the-scenes against the Gunners, O'Shea strolled unblinkingly into the limelight as he gave his side a precious 1-0 lead heading into the return leg at the Emirates.

That winning goal came just moments after the Irish utility had put in a perfectly measured daisy-cutter from the right flank that Tevez failed to convert from point-blank range (due to some heroic goalkeeping from Manuel Almunia, it must be said). It was just the icing on a cake made up of disciplined defending, neat distribution and very solid decision-making.

Of course, neither of these two would get a sniff if United's injury list read like their goals-against column did from November to March. Hargreaves, Anderson, Carrick and Scholes are all, when fully fit and able, ahead of Fletcher for the midfield roles, whilst the constant knocks and niggles to Gary Neville, Rafael da Silva and the long forgotten Wes Brown have allowed O'Shea a regular run at right-back.

What other team in European football can rely so surely on fourth- or fifth-choice players to step up when it matters? Imagine if Liverpool were forced to play Damien Plessis and Nabil El-Zhar week in, week out, or if Real Madrid needed Javi Garcia to do Lassana Diarra's work for an entire season? One can only shudder at the thought (although I hasten to add that I do rate Plessis quite highly)...

One might criticise the fact that I've picked on youngsters, but that's the thing: the most of the fourth-in-line players at even the biggest clubs are inexperienced up-and-comers. And that makes it even more remarkable that Old Trafford boasts a pair who are nearing their prime years but are quite satisfied to sit on the pine and play understudy.

So what is the secret to garnering such blind loyalty from squad fodder? Perhaps it is down to the fact that both Fletcher and O'Shea came through the youth ranks and thus feel a strong emotion attachment to the only professional club they've ever known. It is not a wholly uncommon situation.

But then you look at a player like Park Ji-sung - who operates under similar circumstances and plays with the same sort of devotion and selflessness despite having earned his stripes a million miles away and come to England via PSV Eindhoven - you can't help but think that there's a Fergie factor lurking in there somewhere.

There is one common trait (aside from their modest abilities) that binds these players: none of them are leaders in any way, shape or form. They are soldiers who do what they are told to a tee, and who have no noticeable ambition to transcend their current station. And that might be the very reason they were chosen by the wily old Knight of the Realm and his scouts.

The fact is, not everybody can be a superstar, especially within a functional football team - Florentino Perez and his Galacticos found that out the hard way. You need players who put themselves about and do a job purely because that is what they've been programmed to do. People say Dirk Kuyt is just that sort for Liverpool, but you have to ask: would he keep his yap shut if Rafa Benitez left him out of the squad for a few weeks?

That's what separates the Fletchers and O'Sheas of this world from the rest of the cut-rate talents on the books of the powerhouse clubs. And, hence, it could also be argued that Sir Alex's loyal lapdogs are just as important as the Rooneys and Ronaldos in keeping Man United a step ahead in the English game.

Mike Maguire, Goal.com

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Ferguson, meanwhile, chose to single out goalscorer O'Shea, whose only other goal this season was in the Carling Cup semi-final against Derby.

"He is a great professional. The boy never complains. He is happy to play anywhere," said the United manager.

"He has not always been a number one choice but he produces 30 performances a season and it is a contribution we are grateful for.

"At the present moment in time, he would be in the team if we got to the final."

The Real Inspiration for The Joker

2009-03-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

Heath Ledger recently won an Oscar for his portrayal of The Joker in "The Dark Knight," but we have yet to find out who is responsible for creating the character to begin with.

Comic book artist Bob Kane, writer Bill Finger and artist Jerry Robinson have all claimed that they are the brains behind the evil villain. But very few dispute that the visual inspiration came from German actor Conrad Veidt's role in the 1928 film "The Man Who Laughs."

In the movie, Gwynplaine (Veidt), whose father offends King James II, is sentenced to have a permanent smile carved on his face. The idea is to condemn Gwynplaine "to laugh forever at his fool of a father."

Based on rumors, Bill Finger (co-creator of Batman) brought a picture to Bob Kane showing Veidt's creepy grin along with a Joker playing card. That meeting is said to be the creation of The Joker. [via LaughingSquid, Cinematical]

Veidt died of a heart attack in 1943 while playing golf in Los Angeles.

- http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=12735

The Stories Behind Hollywood Studio Logos

2008-12-06T19:15:00.000-08:00

(SOMETHING INTERESTING I FOUND)
You see these opening logos every time you go to the movies, but have you ever wondered who is the boy on the moon in the DreamWorks logo? Or which mountain inspired the Paramount logo? Or who was the Columbia Torch Lady? Let's find out:

1. DreamWorks SKG: Boy on the Moon

In 1994, director Steven Spielberg, Disney studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, and record producer David Geffen (yes, they make the initial SKG on the bottom of the logo) got together to found a new studio called DreamWorks.

Spielberg wanted the logo for DreamWorks to be reminiscent of Hollywood's golden age. The logo was to be a computer generated image of a man on the moon, fishing, but Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren of Industrial Light and Magic, who has worked on many of Spielberg's films, suggested that a hand-painted logo might look better. Muren asked his friend, artist Robert Hunt to paint it.

Hunt also sent along an alternative version of the logo, which included a young boy on a crescent moon, fishing. Spielberg liked this version better, and the rest is history. Oh, and that boy? It was Hunt's son, William.

The DreamWorks logo that you see in the movies was made at ILM from paintings by Robert Hunt, in collaboration with Kaleidoscope Films (designers of the original storyboards), Dave Carson (director), and Clint Goldman (producer) at ILM.

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2. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM): Leo The Lion
In 1924, studio publicist Howard Dietz designed the "Leo The Lion" logo for Samuel Goldwyn's Goldwyn Picture Corporation. He based it on the athletic team of his alma mater Columbia University, the Lions. When Goldwyn Pictures merged with Metro Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures, the newly formed MGM retained the logo.

Since then, there have been five lions playing the role of "Leo The Lion". The first was Slats, who graced the openings of MGM's silent films from 1924 to 1928. The next lion, Jackie, was the first MGM lion whose roar was heard by the audience. Though the movies were silent, Jackie's famous growl-roar-growl sequence was played over the phonograph as the logo appeared on screen. He was also the first lion to appear in Technicolor in 1932.

The third lion and probably most famous was Tanner (though at the time Jackie was still used concurrently for MGM's black and white films). After a brief use of an unnamed (and very mane-y) fourth lion, MGM settled on Leo, which the studio has used since 1957.

The company motto "Ars Gratia Artis" means "Art for Art's Sake."

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3. 20th Century Fox: The Searchlight Logo

In 1935, Twentieth Century Pictures and Fox Film Company (back then mainly a theater-chain company) merged to create Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (they later dropped the hyphen).

The original Twentieth Century Pictures logo was created in 1933 by famed landscape artist Emil Kosa, Jr. After the merger, Kosa simply replaced "Pictures, Inc." with "Fox" to make the current logo. Besides this logo, Kosa was also famous for his matte painting of the Statue of Liberty ruin at the end of the Planet of the Apes (1968) movie, and others.

Perhaps just as famous as the logo is the "20th Century Fanfare", composed by Alfred Newman, then musical director for United Artists.

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4. Paramount: The Majestic Mountain

Paramount Pictures Corporation was founded in 1912 as Famous Players Film Company by Adolph Zukor, and the theater moguls the Frohman brothers, Daniel and Charles.

The Paramount "Majestic Mountain" logo was first drawn as a doodle by W.W. Hodkinson during a meeting with Zukor, based on the Ben Lomond Mountain from his childhood in Utah (the live action logo made later is probably Peru's Artesonraju). It is the oldest surviving Hollywood film logo.

The original logo has 24 stars, which symbolized Paramount's then 24 contracted movie stars (it's now 22 stars, though no one could tell me why they reduced the number of stars). The original matte painting has also been replaced with a computer generated mountain and stars.

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5. Warner Bros.: The WB Shield
Warner Bros. (yes, that's legally "Bros." not "Brothers") was founded by four Jewish brothers who emigrated from Poland: Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. Actually, those aren't the names that they were born with. Harry was born "Hirsz," Albert was "Aaron," Sam was "Szmul," and Jack was "Itzhak." Their original surname is also unknown - some people said that it is "Wonsal," "Wonskolaser" or even Eichelbaum, before it was changed to "Warner." (Sources: Doug Sinclair | Tody Nudo's Hollywood Legends)

In the beginning, Warner Bros. had trouble attracting top talents. In 1925, at the urging of Sam, Warner Bros. made the first feature-length "talking pictures" (When he heard of Sam's idea, Harry famously said "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"). That got the ball rolling for the studio and made Warner Bros. famous.

The Warner Bros. logo, the WB Shield, has actually gone many revisions.

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6. Columbia Pictures: The Torch Lady

Columbia Pictures was founded in 1919 by the brothers Harry and Jack Cohn, and Joe Brandt as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales. Many of the studio's early productions were low-budget affairs, so it got nicknamed "Corned Beef and Cabbage." In 1924, the brothers Cohn bought out Brandt and renamed their studio Columbia Pictures Corporation in effort to improve its image.

The studio's logo is Columbia, the female personification of America. It was designed in 1924 and the identity of the "Torch Lady" model was never conclusively determined (though more than a dozen women had claimed to be "it.")

In her 1962 autobiography, Bette Davis claimed that Claudia Dell was the model, whereas in 1987 People Magazine named model and Columbia bit-actress Amelia Batchler as the girl. In 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times named a local woman who worked as an extra at Columbia named Jane Bartholomew as the model. Given how the logo has changed over the years, it may just be that all three were right! (Source)

The current Torch Lady logo was designed in 1993 by Michael J. Deas, who was commissioned by Sony Pictures Entertainment to return the lady to her "classic" look.

Though people thought that actress Annette Bening was the model, it was actually a Louisiana homemaker and muralist named Jenny Joseph that modeled the Torch Lady for Deas. Rather than use her face, however, Deas drew a composite face made from several computer-generated features (Source: Roger Ebert, Photo: Kathy Anderson)

Alex Ferguson: why I don't pray - and other Manchester United secrets

2008-10-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

It is one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest strengths. When the chips are down – and, boy, were they down at 1.34am in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on May 22 – the Manchester United manager retains an almost superhuman ability to project an aura of invincibility.

Just as he had looked unflappable on the touchline at the Nou Camp in Barcelona nine years earlier, when his first Champions League final entered stoppage time with United trailing Bayern Munich 1-0, so Ferguson was a picture of Buddhist calm when John Terry stepped up to take the penalty that, if converted, would have allowed Chelsea to lift the European Cup.

So, was that expression born of the unwavering self-belief that the tables would be turned again? “No, I thought we were done,” Ferguson says, shaking his head as if he still cannot comprehend the situation. “I thought we were done.”

But you looked so defiant, so confident. “I think that’s true,” he says. “But when they took their second-last penalty I clasped my hands and I prayed. He nearly saved it, [Edwin] Van der Sar. But once the ball went in I said to myself, ‘Don’t ever pray again.’

“Because when I was in my first cup final as manager of Aberdeen we were 1-0 up, and Rangers scored two goals in the last two minutes of injury time. . . I had prayed as well, that day, and I thought I would never do it again. They beat us 2-1, even though I had prayed to God.”

Ferguson doesn’t open up to the media much these days. Press briefings are kept to a minimum, journalists are banned with almost comical regularity, one-on-one interviews are as rare as silverware is for Manchester City and just about everyone is left wanting more; which is why it always seems such a treat when the greatest British manager of his generation – possibly ever – lowers his guard long enough to offer an insight into one of sport’s more extraordinary minds.

One of the accusations that has been levelled at the United manager in the past is that he is a bully. So is he? “Absolutely not,” Ferguson says. “I did look up ‘bully’ in the dictionary once. And as I remember, it said a bully is somebody who preys on the weak – where weak is defined as somebody weaker than they [the bully] are.

“If you look at some of the people I have stood up to over the years, as a manager – and I have had dust-ups with all sorts of people in that dressing-room – generally speaking they are much, much bigger than me. There is nothing bullying about that.”

OK, so what, if anything or anybody, scares you? “Er . . . there were one or two footballers who were . . . ” Ferguson pauses. “Fear is a funny thing, isn’t it?” he continues. “I think when you drive, you have a fear. In heavy traffic. When it’s going quickly.”

Brilliant. The image of Ferguson quivering behind the wheel of his Audi A8 as other cars bomb past on the motorway must surely be one of the most unlikely imaginable. That, presumably, must be why he usually employs a chauffeur.

But surely there is somebody who has put the frighteners up you? “Well, the Celtic defender John McNamee, mainly,” Ferguson says. “I phoned him up to tell him I was mentioning him in Managing My Life [his 1999 autobiography], and he was killing himself laughing. He was a daunting figure.”

McNamee’s footballing philosophy was summed up during a visit by Chelsea to St James’ Park in the late1960s. Minutes into the game, Alan Birchenall, the Chelsea midfield player, embarked on a mazy run from the right flank. McNamee, by then a hero at Newcastle United, ordered his full back to swap places and proceeded to belt Birchenall on to the cinder track.

“And if you come back into this half again, son, you’ll get the full treatment,” McNamee bellowed as he leaned over his poor victim. Birchenall spent the rest of the game operating just in front of Chelsea’s back four.

Years later, McNamee claimed that “football has become softer, not tougher”, but whatever the changes that have occurred in the sport, Ferguson has embraced them and moved with the times. How, otherwise, can you explain the 22 major trophies he has won in 22 years at Old Trafford, not to mention the ten he won during his 8½ years at Aberdeen?

Another challenge reared its head in the summer when Luiz Felipe Scolari took over as manager at Chelsea. If some wondered why, after more than 30 years, Ferguson had not got bored of management, the clues were in his reaction to a preseason issue of the Racing Post that trumpeted the Brazilian’s abilities over his own.

“Every analyst in there was tipping Chelsea for the title,” Ferguson recalls. “One guy wrote: ‘The reason is Scolari is in town.’ He said Scolari will not be intimidated by me. He suggested that Wenger, Mourinho and Avram Grant couldn’t ‘handle me’. The paper mentions me as having ‘had a go’ at Chelsea by saying that a team [with players] over 30 can’t win the league, which is absolute rubbish. I never said that. What I did say was that a team over 30 doesn’t improve a lot. But Chelsea, given their performance last season, don’t have to improve a lot to win it.

“Then, the same writer argues that Scolari is a better manager than me. I am not so arrogant as to believe that is impossible. Scolari may be a better manager than I am. But how can a sensible writer say that about a guy who has never managed in England? If you look at Scolari’s CV, he has managed about 17 teams.”

Maybe the desire to be the best has given way, in part, to a wish to be loved, but the Glaswegian shipbuilder’s son in him may never admit it publicly. Ferguson grew up in a tenement in Govan and is from the same west Scotland working-class stock as Matt Busby, Bill Shankly and Jock Stein. So what is it about that part of the world that produces such great managers?

“I think people in the west of Scotland, grow up in a different climate,” Ferguson says. Culturally? “Literally. It’s wet, damp, unforgiving. Have you ever stood on the harbour front in Fraserburgh [Aberdeenshire] on a February morning? Beautiful! Fraserburgh is cold, but it’s dry.

“When I worked as a toolmaker in the middle of winter,” Ferguson, who was a shop steward at the Remington Rand typewriter factory, adds, “I remember touching the steel first thing in the morning. It’s absolutely freezing. You can burn yourself it’s so bloody cold. And yet these people built the best ships in the world. You can overromanticise these things, but they do have a real part to play in forging a person’s character.”

Giving them what? “Determination. Then you think of the miners; men such as Stein and Shankly. I remember Stein saying something I think was fantastic. We were driving to Glasgow during the miners’ strike [in the mid1980s] and they were shipping coal in from Belgium, these scab drivers. Big Jock stopped them. He looked at them, and said: ‘I hope you’re proud of yourselves. You’re doing people out of a living.’ None of them said a word. Then he said to me: ‘This is an absolute bloody disgrace. You go down that pit shaft, a mile underground. You can’t see a thing. The guy next to you, you don’t know who he is. Yet he is the best friend you will ever have.’ ” Ferguson pauses for a moment. “All of these things congeal in your character. And they never leave you.”

Listening to Ferguson talk in this manner, you wonder how he can tolerate the behaviour of some of the modern-day footballers, but perhaps, in one sense, it is because the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Eric Cantona seem so far removed from life on the south banks of the Clyde that the United manager is drawn to them. It also helps to explain why he regrets failing to sign Paolo Di Canio, another foreigner with a petulant streak.

“Di Canio would have been capable of becoming a truly great player at Manchester United,” Ferguson says. “I mean, he was a great player. But when you have a player like Di Canio, who expresses himself as an individual, like [George] Best and Cantona did, and [Ryan] Giggs, [Wayne] Rooney, Ronaldo and [Dimitar] Berbatov do . . . we make heroes quickly here. Di Canio could have been in that category.”

If Ronaldo was a hero in the eyes of United supporters last season, his 42 goals helping the club to a seventeenth league title and third European Cup, he became a villain over the summer with his brazen flirting with Real Madrid. “That saga is over now,” Ferguson says. “It’s finished.” But while he can understand the Portugal forward’s reasons for having his head turned, he can’t resist taking a dig at the Spanish club and Sepp Blatter, who likened the player’s contractual situation at Old Trafford to slavery.

“I think Sepp Blatter is in danger . . . or has reached a point now, where he is being mocked within the game,” Ferguson says of the 72-year-old Fifa president. “Whether he’s getting too old, I don’t know. But things can happen to people in power. Look at some of the despots in Africa.” Surely you are not comparing Blatter to Robert Mugabe? “That would be ridiculous. All I’m saying is that, from a position of great power, he has uttered so many ridiculous statements that he is in danger of seriously damaging his credibility.

“So when he came out with that stuff it created a furore and rightly so, the year after the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery.” But were you not more disappointed by all that vaudeville from Real? “It was different for me because I knew it was coming,” Ferguson says. “So I wasn’t surprised.

“When we sold Gabriel Heinze to Real Madrid [the previous summer], we knew it was going to happen, because Ronaldo was very close to Heinze. I knew what they were doing. I don’t believe they were interested in Heinze – good player though he is. The endgame was to get Ronaldo.

“What made it really obscene was that Madrid, as General Franco’s club, had a history of being able to get whoever and whatever they wanted, before democracy came to Spain.”

If Ronaldo should follow anybody’s example, Ferguson would love it to be Cantona’s. He told the Portuguese as much during their summit meeting in Lisbon in July. Not Cantona’s kung fu kicking, but the connection the flamboyant Frenchman felt with United.

“British fans have a special appreciation for loyalty when it comes from a great foreign player,” Ferguson says.

“That’s the reason Eric Cantona is still so revered here, isn’t it; because he not only understood, but bonded to Manchester. He cherished the club and the company of his teammates.

“If there was ever a player in this world who was made for Manchester United, it was Cantona. I think he had been searching all his life for somebody who looked at him and made him feel that a place was his home. He had travelled around so many countries; there is a wee bit of the gypsy about some people. But when he came here, he knew: this is my place.

“Gary Neville told me, ‘Occasionally we’d have a night out and hide it from you. We’d all say, ‘Don’t tell anybody about where, or at what time, we are meeting.’ ’ Then at training Cantona would say, ‘Right! I’ll see all of you later! This evening! At nine! In such and such a place.’ They were all going, ‘Shut up! The boss is here!’

“The point was that he was excited to have nights out with the boys. Even though he wasn’t a big drinker, Cantona. A beer. A glass of wine. He just loved being part of that culture, which he’d never experienced in France. “[When Cantona shakes your hand and looks you in the eye] . . . it’s daunting. And yet, as different as they are, probably the most underrated virtue Ronaldo has, on the pitch, is his bravery.” Courage? “Absolutely. Courage in football, as in life, comes in many forms. But the courage to continue, no matter how many times he is going to be kicked, identifies Ronaldo. Very few players have that level of courage. Some believe the greatest courage in football is the courage to win the ball.

“The other kind of courage – and it’s a moral courage – is the courage to keep the ball. That’s what Ronaldo has. All the great players had it. Best had it, Charlton had it, Cantona. ‘I’ll take the kick. I’ll take the injury. But I will keep the ball. I’ll beat the bully.’ ”

One of the best was Sir Bobby Charlton, and it is on the subject of the former United captain that the discussion turns back to Moscow and, in turn, Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive. One of the defining moments of the night was the sight of Kenyon, a self-proclaimed lifelong United fan who defected to Chelsea in 2004, slipping a runners-up medal over the jacket of his designer suit while Charlton, when he was offered a winners’ medal, declined to wear it.

“Charlton was saying: look, this is not my night,” Ferguson says. “This is the players’ night. There would have been a lot of understanding if he had worn the medal because, 50 years on from the Busby Babes, he had every right. But he was thinking of the players and the football club. And that is Bobby Charlton.” Was Kenyon’s departure, and the knowledge of the inner workings of United that he took with him to Stamford Bridge, not a hammer blow, though? “No. Definitely not. Peter Kenyon? He wasn’t a loss,” Ferguson says. “The best thing that has happened recently has been [his replacement] David Gill.”

It is Gill who will be charged with the daunting task of finding Ferguson’s successor. Ferguson, who is 67 on December 31, has said that he will have retired as United manager come the end of next season, and while that prospect terrifies him, he is confident the handover will be a smooth one.

“There will be no problem,” he says. “The foundation is here. The morale is here. I am not responsible for everything. It’s a funny thing, though; the older I get, the more frightened I get of retiring. But there will come a time when I clear my desk and someone else will take over.” Quite important, that someone, isn’t it? “It is,” Ferguson says. “I hope and expect that they will be a formidable person. Because this job, believe me, is not easy.” Formidable – like you? “No,” he says. “This job can’t be done the same way twice. Which is a good thing.” Try telling that to United’s supporters.

Robert Chalmers © The Condé Nast Publications Ltd Adapted by James Ducker

Sir Alex said so

2008-10-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

"My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment - my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f***ing perch... and you can print that."
SAF, 2002

How the Batmobile Works

2008-08-10T10:00:00.001-07:00

Whether you have seen the movie "Batman Begins" or not, you have probably seen the Batmobile. It is shaped like a spaceship -- a spaceship that has had tires grafted onto it to make it street legal. The Batmobile used in "Batman Begins" is an icon for the movie and acts like a giant rolling advertisement for the film.
The Batmobile is real. Every single time you see the Batmobile in the movie, you are seeing a real, physical object, not a computer-generated graphic. Whether it is driving on city streets at 100 mph, landing in the Batcave or pulling up to the scene of a crime, what you're looking at is a real car. When the Batmobile flies 30 feet through the waterfall to land in the Batcave, what's landing is a real, 5,000-pound vehicle. The Batmobile is so real that it actually served as the pace car for a major NASCAR race held in June 2005
And yet, the Batmobile is an illusion. Like so many other Hollywood props, the Batmobile that you see in the movie does not exist at all.

How can that be? How can something be so real that it can serve as a pace car but also be so illusory that it doesn't actually exist? In this article, we will talk with Nathan Crowley -- the man who designed the Batmobile and brought it to life in "Batman Begins" -- to find out what's going on.
In the Beginning
Let's start at the beginning and understand the "cinematic origins" of the Batmobile. In other words, let's understand how the car works in the movie
The first thing you have to understand about Batman is that he must have a car. Unlike Superman, who has superhuman powers, Batman is a normal human being who gains all of his advanced capabilities through ingenuity and technology and usually a combination of the two (see How the Batsuit Works). He can't shout "Up, up and away!" and fly through the air. Batman needs wheels to get around.

The second thing to understand is that, in this movie, Gotham City is portrayed as a highly dysfunctional version of New York City on steroids -- there are surprises and obstacles at every turn. So Batman needs a rugged car.

The third thing to understand is that Batman cannot, realistically, construct the car himself. Ordering all the machine tools and parts and assembling them in the basement would give away his secret identity.

So in the script, they create a mothballed military vehicle built by Wayne Enterprises. Batman requisitions this vehicle for his own purposes and paints it black to match his color scheme. The Batmobile also gains some rather remarkable abilities. For example:

It can go very, very fast.
It has a jet engine that allows it to jump/fly through the air much farther than any normal car could.
It has two driving positions -- one for driving and one for jumping/flying.
It has stealth capabilities, and part of the stealth mode is a silent, electric-motor drive.
Getting into and out of the car is "unusual" to say the least. There are no doors -- instead, the car "opens" somewhat like a flower.
Nathan Crowley is the man who had to take that cinematic vision of the car and bring it to life on film. Now, the thing that you have to understand about Nathan is that he is a very physical guy...

Getting Physical
These days, the typical Hollywood way to handle a complex car like the Batmobile is to model it and simulate it with a computer. Even Yoda and Gollum are modeled and simulated on a computer -- a car is a piece of cake compared to Yoda
This isn't how it works if you are Nathan Crowley. With "Batman Begins," Nathan tended to be a staunch realist who wanted an actual, physical manifestation of the car in every frame of the film. Therefore, Nathan started the process of creating the Batmobile by model bashing.

Model bashing is a time-honored technique. You go down to a toy store, hobby shop, R/C specialty shop and the hardware store to buy parts -- lots of parts of every size and shape imaginable. You buy lots of plastic models, toys, R/C car kits, metal tubing, etc. You then cut and shape all of those parts to get the desired look for the car. For example, Nathan found that the nose cone from a plastic P-38 model kit made a perfect shape for the jet engine on the back of the Batmobile. So he cut off the nose cone, hollowed it out, added in other parts to make it look like a jet and glued it onto his model.

Nathan built six models like this, all 1:12 scale, before he got the look and the shapes that he wanted. This process took about four months.

Once he had the scale model, he started on a full-size replica.
Sculpting the Batmobile
The next step was to build a full-size foam model of the car. So the Batmobile crew (including engineers Chris Culvert and Annie Smith, along with about 30 other people) took a gigantic block of Styrofoam and started carving it by hand.
They carved everything, including things like the rubber ties, in the foam. The goal of this process is two-fold:

The first goal is to get all of the proportions right at full-scale. For example, this car is big -- it's 9 feet 4 inches (284 cm) wide. That's 8 inches (20 cm) wider than the typical 18-wheeler you see on the road. Getting the proportions right is important in something that big.

The second goal is to have a full-size model that can be used to make things like the body-panel molds and the frame. The car has 65 separate body panels, and each one had to be manufactured on a custom-made wooden mold. The wooden molds were hand-made from the foam model.
To make the steel frame, the Styrofoam model was cut up to get accurate sizing and panel mounting points for the frame.

This sculpting process lasted about two months.

Now it was time to actually build and test the hardware. The crew built a "test frame" first...

The Batmobile Test Frame
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the Batmobile that you see racing through the streets of Gotham City is a real car. To play its role in the film, this car had some amazing requirements:
The car had to be able to go 100+ mph despite its size and heft.
The car had to be able to accelerate from zero to 60 in 5 seconds.
The car had to be able to turn corners at speed. Lots of Hollywood cars can't turn or can't turn very well. To navigate the streets of Chicago (where the car scenes were filmed) at speed, this car needed to be agile. So it has a complete, real-world steering system.
The car had to be able to jump up to 30 feet and then land completely unscathed.
To create this kind of performance, the team started with a steel "test frame" and put it through its paces. They worked on the engine, tuned the suspension, added special braking and so on.

The braking in particular is interesting. To make the car turn, they put extra brakes on each rear wheel and then mounted big hand levers on either side of the driver. To turn sharply to the left, the driver can brake the left rear wheel separately with the left hand lever. This is very much like the braking system seen on tractors to help them maneuver sharply in the fields.

Once they had the test frame running, it was time for the jump tests. The whole front end collapsed the first time around and had to be completely rebuilt

The Actual Components
When they had the test frame performing the way they wanted, the basic configuration of the car and its drive train were set:
The car uses a 5.7-liter Chevy V-8 engine. This engine has been tuned so that it can provide the power necessary to take a 5,000-pound vehicle from zero to 60 mph (100 kph) in 5 seconds.

The rear axle is a truck axle, with a truck transmission carrying power from the engine to the axle. The truck axle added a lot of weight to the vehicle. They wanted the car to be as light as possible so it would jump better, and this axle was the opposite of "lightweight." That extra weight is one of the things that contributed to the strain on the front end in the first jump tests.

The rear tires are 37-inch-diameter, off-the-shelf, 4x4 mud tires called Super Swampers made by Interco.

The front tires are racing tires made by Hoosier.

The front wheels have independent suspension elements inspired by the long-travel suspensions of Baja racing trucks. When airborne, the front wheels pop out about 30 inches on their suspensions to absorb the shock of a 30-foot fall.
By this time, the design and development process had taken about nine months and consumed several million dollars.
However, the payoff was high, because now the team could begin manufacturing Batmobiles on an assembly line.

The Assembly Line
Besides the test frame, the team manufactured four complete, street-ready race cars. To do that, they built the steel frames and mounted the drive trains on each one. Then the body shop manufactured the 65 carbon-fiber panels for each car.
These "race" versions of the Batmobile are the cars that careened through the streets of Chicago during filming. From the outside, they look like Batmobiles. Inside, however, they look like NASCAR race cars.

According to Nathan, when you get in the car, what you see is the steel frame of the car along with sheetmetal covering some of the surfaces, as in a NASCAR car. The gauges are all exposed. There is a Halon fire-suppression system along with other safety features to protect the drivers.

Visibility is terrible. The driver can see out the front window fine, but there is no side or rear visibility. So the team mounted side and rear video cameras, and the driver uses monitors to see outside.

Because of these extenuating circumstances, the drivers for these Batmobiles trained for six months before they started driving on the streets of Chicago.

So why'd they build four complete Batmobile race cars? There were two reasons. First, the team expected there to be accidents and wanted to have multiple cars in case one or two wrecked. Think about it: These cars have the ability to go 100 mph but have hand levers to help turn corners. They also are called on to jump 30 feet. Accidents seemed likely. The good news is that no accidents actually occurred (if you ignore the incident in which a driver rear-ended one of the Batmobiles as the four cars were moving to a new location). The six months of training and the drivers' skill really paid off.

The other reason is that two of the four cars are special:

One is the flap version. It has all of the hydraulics and flaps to handle the close-up shots where the car is "flying."

The other is the jet version. Nathan didn't want to "add on" the jet flame with a computer -- he wanted a real jet flame. The car has an actual jet engine fueled by six propane tanks located inside the car. The team can mount and dismount the jet as needed for filming.
Each of these four cars cost about $250,000 to build.
These four cars worked great for the street scenes. However, when you watch the movie and Batman gets in and out of the car, you obviously do not see him getting into a vehicle that has a bare frame with a Halon safety system and riveted sheet metal. The interior of the Batmobile is cool. Two other teams made the Batmobile's interior possible...

Inside the Batmobile
One of the most interesting parts of the Batmobile when you watch the movie is the way that Batman gets in and out. It is almost like a flower opening -- the roof unhinges, the windshield slides back and the seats in the car actually rise up. To make all of that origami fold and unfold, a separate team built yet another Batmobile.
This car is the one that Batman "pulls up in." It has several unique features:

It is loaded with hydraulics to make the opening and closing of the cockpit happen in a realistic way.
It has a small electric motor that lets the car drive forward, but there is no massive V-8 engine and no need for the car to drive at a high speed.
The car actually has another driver hidden inside the vehicle -- he makes the car stop and start as needed for each shot.
When you see Batman inside the car, that is yet another piece of the puzzle. The interior of the car is actually a studio set that can't move at all. It is oversized so that cameras can fit inside, and it has all of the features needed to shoot the "interior shots" -- things like the seat that can move forward, the cockpit controls and so on. And finally, there is one other version of the Batmobile -- the miniature version. It is a 6-foot-long (2-meter), 1:5 scale model of the Batmobile, complete with an electric motor drive. When you see the Batmobile flying through the air across ravines or between buildings, it is this scale model that does the flying. (But it's the 5,000-pound, race-car version that flies through the waterfall to land in the Batcave.)

So now you can start to see the complete illusion that makes the amazing car known as "the Batmobile" possible in the film.

Understanding the Illusion
So let's put all of the pieces together to understand the illusion:
When you see the Batmobile careening through city streets, that is one of the four "race" versions of the Batmobile. They have real engines and drive trains, but the interior is a stripped-out permutation of a NASCAR race car
When you see the Batmobile fire its jet engine, that is the special "jet version" of the car. There are six extra propane tanks hidden inside the car to fuel the jet.

When you see the Batmobile flying through the air, that is usually the 1:5 scale miniature version, intercut with shots of the "flap version" of the full-sized car.

When you see Batman get in and out of the car, that is the "opening" version of the Batmobile. It has a more realistic interior and a separate driver hidden inside the vehicle.

When you see Batman inside the cockpit, that is a static set.
So here's an example of what happens when, in the film, Batman drives home to the Batcave after a long day of crime fighting:
The race version drives down the road.

The jet version fires its jet engine.

The miniature version flies across the ravine.

One of the full-sized race versions enters the Batcave, flying through an actual, full-size waterfall. This shot is incredibly complex. They turn on the water for the waterfall. The car drives down a road and shoots off the end of a ramp to get itself airborne. The car travels through the waterfall, where the downdraft and weight of the falling water has to be taken into account to get the angles right. The 5,000-pound car flies 30 feet and lands with an incredible thud on a reinforced-concrete landing pad. Then there is a sand berm to help slow the car down. There is also a huge arresting cable to stop the car in case something goes wrong.

The view switches to the static cockpit set to show Batman's perspective.

The view switches to the "opening version" of the car, which pulls up in the Batcave set, stops and unfolds so Batman can get out.
All of those different, real, physical versions of the car come together in the movie to create the illusion of the Batmobile.
As Nathan points out, understanding this process gives you an appreciation for why a modern film can cost so much to make. The Batmobile itself is eight different versions of the same car, built and managed by several teams containing dozens of people. The "Batmobile" cost many millions of dollars in research, development and fabrication.

McCain, Obama both want to be the Dark Knight

2008-08-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

Sens. McCain and Obama both told Entertainment Weekly that they'd like to be Batman.
(CNN) – They may disagree about a lot of things — but Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama share an affinity for a certain dark superhero.

In an issue of Entertainment Weekly hitting newsstands Friday, both presumptive nominees reveal their pop culture favorites — and it turns out that both men want to be Batman.

“He does justice sometimes against insurmountable odds,” McCain said of the comic book hero. “And he doesn’t make his good works known to a lot of people.”

For his part, Obama told the magazine he would like to be Batman and Spider Man because “they have some inner turmoil.”

“They get knocked around a little bit,” observed Obama.

Issues of age and race — which have hovered over this year’s presidential campaign — also popped up in the discussion of popular culture.

Asked who was his favorite TV or movie president, McCain praised 24’s David Palmer portrayed by actor Dennis Haysbert. “He’s fabulous,” said McCain. “He’s a guy who makes tough decisions, he takes charge, he’s ready to sacrifice his interest on behalf of the interest of the country.”

Reminded that Palmer portrayed the nation’s first African-American president on the television series, the presumptive Republican nominee said “I hope that I and all Americans can be color-blind about any president.”

But McCain also told the magazine that the new Indiana Jones film was the last movie he’d seen. “I enjoyed that so much. The old guys wins,” said McCain, who will be the oldest president to be elected to a first term in the White House if he wins the general election.

What 'Dark Knight' and 'Wall-E' have in common

2008-08-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

At the movies this summer, bleakness is pervasive, whether in what used to pass for comic-book adventure or in family-oriented animation.
By Sheri Linden, Special to The Times
August 10, 2008
IN "THE WAY WE ARE," a concise, razor-sharp book of existential musings, philosopher Allen Wheelis describes the "margin of terror." Just beyond the agreed-upon scheme of things, like the raw desert and wild places at the edge of the paved city, it's the territory where pain and grief and mystery are too much to reconcile. "We look away, pretend it does not exist, is of no importance, a deviation, a neurosis perhaps."

That self-deception, Wheelis contends, is the essence of the social pact, a matter of survival. You don't gaze directly at Medusa -- and, as a rule, you certainly don't do it in summer movies, those mega-escapist mass entertainments. But as a quick scan of current big-screen protagonists attests, mainstream filmmakers are not always playing by that rule anymore; not only are they not looking away from the margin of terror, they're sometimes setting up camp there. Even cartoon characters and those based on comic books are gazing straight into the abyss.

Darkness has rarely been the central subject of large-scale fare -- it might surface as a tone or stance or an intermittent generator of shock. To temper and defuse the horror, filmmakers -- ardently independent ones as well as those working for studios -- often have adopted a twisted, winking jokiness, the punch line à la Quentin Tarantino or the Coens having become all but obligatory. But to varying degrees, 2008's summer tent-pole titles are forgoing irony as they walk quite purposefully into the darker realms of storytelling, and critics are embracing that darkness, whether it's an undercurrent (" Iron Man") or a defining principle (a certain Batman movie).
In the 38 reviews of " The Dark Knight" by Rotten Tomatoes' "top critics," 90% of which are favorable, readers will find 40 references to the film's darkness, most of them admiring. Reviewers speak of the feature's "dark vision" (Christopher Orr, the New Republic) and the way it "turns pulp into dark poetry" (Richard Corliss, Time). In this paper, Kenneth Turan praised the film for its "darker-than-usual themes that have implications for the way we live now." Manohla Dargis of the New York Times observed that "Knight" "goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind," and Newsday critic Rafer Guzman called it "a dark and highly complex drama [with] more brains than any other movie this summer."

If "dark" is the new "smart," what do critics mean when they laud a film for its darkness? A number of things, to be sure, beyond aesthetic gloom to moral complexity and psychological depth; they're welcoming the material's serious exploration of primal impulses and clear-eyed depictions of corruption and amorality.

The oppressive, visceral power of "The Dark Knight" is rooted in such timeless themes but also taps into an urgent, of-the-moment despair that has resonated with critics. "Things are worse than ever," a nameless reporter in the film declares with no small amount of anguish. And the official response he receives -- "The night is darkest just before the dawn" -- echoes with all the hollowness of today's newscast sound bites.

Separating it from past incarnations, Christopher Nolan's Gotham is not a stylized, self-contained universe but a realistic contemporary city. " Hancock" too, a far looser-limbed fantasy than "Dark Knight" but one that shares its focus on vigilantism and the loneliness of the long-distance crusader -- the protector-turned-destroyer -- places its events quite clearly in the real world, a Los Angeles of dive bars, bus-stop benches and traffic-vexed commuters persevering under a pall of crime.

And though it uses humor to offset its fatalistic edge, "Iron Man" roots its comic-book exploits in such real-world matters as war-torn Afghanistan and the unchecked clout of the military-industrial complex. The title character's day job is, like that of Batman alter-ego Bruce Wayne, playboy/industrialist. He uses that all-American combo of fantastic wealth, technology, ingenuity and determination to transform himself into a superhero. But whether the setting is Wayne's penthouse aerie or the antisocial Hancock's hilltop trailer, these superheroes are essentially alone and misunderstood, and these films are more concerned with their isolation than with their dazzling deeds.

The darkness that critics are responding to is as elemental as order versus chaos. The very schematic dualities that drive "The Dark Knight" are themes that have been dramatized in countless cop movies and westerns. But there's something new here too, in the way a pop extravaganza gives audacious form to that indefinable margin of terror. Some deem Nolan's film a suffocating exercise in "Stygian bleakness" (Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal), others find it "ominously labyrinthine and exciting" (Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman), but most reviewers acknowledge its sock-in-the-solar-plexus impact. Whatever its narrative shortcomings, the film sustains a ferocious mood. Mayhem is its animating spirit, and its moments of unspeakable sadism are no less haunting for their avoidance of gore.

Even in animated film

BUT THE season's most unexpected portrait of our most profound fears takes a far subtler approach. With the animated " Wall-E," Andrew Stanton has given us the summer's most heroic and poignant character: a rusty garbage compactor on a post-apocalyptic Earth whose trusty sidekick is a cockroach. Before its action excursions and concessions to sentimentality unfold, this elegant dystopian meditation quite fearlessly plumbs the bottomless well of loneliness and longing.

On his abandoned planet, the title character is an archaeologist of kitsch whose discoveries pulse with soul. "Wall-E" is a work of breathtaking melancholy -- of darkness as much as charm. As David Denby of the New Yorker noted, the film "will never appeal to people who are happy with art only when it has as little bite as possible."

There's a purity to the way Wall-E makes order out of chaos, an idealism that his live-action megaplex brethren can't ultimately embrace, although they start out trying.

When Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, says of his weapon-producing conglomerate, "What we do keeps the world from falling into chaos," director Jon Favreau wants us to squirm. Until they question the wages of war, our comic-book heroes are harder to believe than the villains they oppose.

"I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are," Heath Ledger's anarchic Joker explains, with chilling reason.

His interpretation of the character is dread transmogrified into something unhinged, a life force that thrills at destruction, even its own. This is the free-floating evil we have, collectively, agreed to fortify ourselves against. This is noir taken to a new level. That a summer blockbuster looks head-on into such a toxic world without retreating to the prank bin is worth noting. Ledger's Joker is not without a deliriously mordant wit, but he can't be laughed away. He reminds us at every turn that the world is a corrosive place. In the indelible image of him walking away from Gotham General Hospital, limbs flapping and jerking, a deranged and all-too-real rag doll delighting in the conflagration around him, he's the darkness unleashed, a snake-haired monster, and he won't let us look away.

Linden is a Los Angeles-based film critic, freelance writer and editor

"The Dark Knight" leads box office for third weekend

2008-08-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "The Dark Knight" fended off a strong challenge from the new "Mummy" sequel to lead the North American box office for a third weekend, and is on track to become the second-biggest movie of all time.

The Batman blockbuster earned $43.8 million for the three days beginning Friday, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said on Sunday. Universal's "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" followed with $42.5 million.

The Walt Disney Co. political comedy "Swing Vote" came in at No. 6 with just $6.3 million, the latest disappointment for its star, Kevin Costner, who has not had a $100 million movie since 1992's "The Bodyguard."

The total for "The Dark Knight" rose to $394.9 million. Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, said it expects the film to add at least $100 million, surpassing the $461 million haul of 1977's "Star Wars" and its two reissues, the current No. 2 movie of all time in the United States and Canada. The $601 million record, held by 1997's "Titanic," seems watertight.

"The Dark Knight" will add yet another record to its impressive tally on Monday or Tuesday, when it breaks $400 million, which would be its 18th or 19th day of release. The old record of 43 days is held by 2004's "Shrek 2."

MUMMY BIG OVERSEAS

Pundits had predicted that the "Mummy" movie could open to upwards of $50 million, roughly in between its two predecessors, but the critically mauled Brendan Fraser film was a little bruised by the Batman juggernaut.

It marks the follow-up to 2001's "The Mummy Returns," which opened to $68 million. The franchise relaunched in 1999 with a $43.4 million bow for "The Mummy."

Universal said "The Mummy" was big internationally. The film, co-starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, opened to $59.5 million from 28 territories. Top markets included Russia and South Korea, each with about $13 million. Because the action is set in China, and the Olympic Games kick off in Beijing on Friday, Universal has been cross-promoting the movie with its General Electric Co corporate sibling NBC, which holds the U.S. broadcast rights to the games.

Fraser has had a low profile since appearing as part of the ensemble in the Oscar-winning 2004 movie "Crash." But he now has two movies in the top 5, with Warner Bros.' "Journey to the Center of the Earth" at No. 5 with a four-week total of $73.1 million.

"Swing Vote," in which Costner plays a hard-drinking oaf whose vote will determine the outcome of a U.S. presidential election, was released as a counterprogramming attempt. Disney distribution president Chuck Viane billed it as "a thinking person's movie," but it ended up being one of the worst openings of Costner's career. Reviews were mixed.

Disney's only summer success, the Pixar-produced cartoon "WALL-E" has earned $204.2 million after six weeks, and will pass the $206 million haul of last year's "Ratatouille." But it will end up as only the sixth-biggest of Pixar's nine productions.

Despite the strong performance of "The Dark Knight" and "The Mummy," overall sales fell for the second consecutive weekend, according to tracking firm Media By Numbers. The top 12 films grossed $149 million, down 10 percent from the year-ago period. Year to date, revenues are flat at $5.9 billion, while the number of tickets sold is down almost 3 percent.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

Why did TDK earn big???

2008-07-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

It only took 10 days. Less than two weeks. It remains a stunning accomplishment. It took Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest 16 days to get there. It took the overly hyped third Star Wars prequel Revenge of the Sith 17. Even Spider-Man 3 had to wait 19 days to pull in such scratch. But the superhero phenomenon which is The Dark Knight crossed over the $300 million mark this weekend, cementing the film’s place as 2008’s biggest cinematic story. No one could have predicted such a response, especially for a 150 minute drama that’s more serious than spectacle. Add to that the messageboard concerns over the film’s dark quality and downbeat ending, and the suggestion is that something significant is happening here that just doesn’t occur with your standard popcorn flair.

One thing is clear - Hollywood hacks who think material must be dumbed down and homogenized for audience consumption are probably rethinking said position (and looking for work, hopefully). The Dark Knight is indeed a savvy, smart thriller, built more out of a model similar to the crime epics of Coppola, Mann, and Scorsese than the cut and paste product of your typical comic book adaptation. Co-writer/director Christopher Nolan took some major risks with the material, keeping the danger palpable and the characters complex. As a result, there was a real possibility that this film would not click with crowds. And with the already sizeable returns for other superhero movies this summer (Iron Man and Hancock making the most monetary noise), there was a real risk of something akin to also-ran status

But $300 million big ones speak for themselves, and Knight shows no signs of letting up. It is still a watercolor work, something everyone it talking about in reverent, must-see terms. Granted, the Oscar buzz for the late Heath Ledger may be a bit premature (a nomination is not out of the question, but let’s not hand the statue over to his family just yet), but it is clear that this will be a movie remembered come awards season. But the biggest question, as always, is this - what does this level of success mean for everyone involved? What does earning such a vast sum so quickly signify for the studio? The comic book company? The individuals in front of and behind the camera? For that, we’ll need to do a little above the bottom line analysis. Only then can we see if there’s anything other than triumph for all involved. Let’s begin with:

The Studio - Warner Brothers
After the debacle known as Speed Racer (the audience’s fault, not the film), Warners really needed this sort of monumental result. It helps make that major misstep in marketing seem like nothing more than a business model blip on a high return radar. The studio has been lucky like that as of recent - backing Will Smith’s Christmas hit I Am Legend while taking a drubbing for failures like The Invasion and 10,000 BC. Of course, the real challenge will come when the subject of a third installment is breached. Does the studio rely on Nolan to continue his winning ways, or will they balk and pull a Schumacher out of thin air. Either way, their upcoming releases (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Watchmen) seem to suggest more pluses than movie minuses.

The Source - DC Comics
With Marvel making all the news during Summer’s inaugural months - both good (Iron Man) and not so (The Incredible Hulk) - the comic rival really needed something like this to settle the score. With such underperforming efforts as Constantine and Superman Returns, it was clear that Nolan and his take on the Caped Crusader would make or break the company’s cinematic fortunes. Now, with $300 million and counting, DC has a real reason to smile - and the accolades just keep coming. Last week, the long awaited teaser trailer for Watchmen finally hit the ‘Net, and along with the highly praised Comic-con panel, hinted that 2009 might be equally successful for the catalog - both critically and commercially.

The Writers - Christopher & Jonathan Nolan
If there is any justice in the business of show - and there usually isn’t - Chris and his brother John will become the script doctors du jour of a failing Tinsel Town talent pool. Let’s face it, if Akiva Goldsman can claim an Oscar (and the literary omniscience that seems to accompany it) for his work within the genre, the Nolans should have a rec room full of accolades. The one consistent thing about the product they present is how smart, substantive, and cocksure it really is. When characters speak, they do so in assertions that seem perfect for the situation they are facing. Even better, the dialogue resonates in ways that come back to complement the conservation’s true intent. If Chris decides to drop directing for a while - that is, until the right project comes along - he and Jonathan could clean up in the screenplay polishing department.

The Director - Christopher Nolan
If he didn’t already have carte blanche from the film’s critical reaction, the man behind the Bat’s recent success can surely write his own ticket anywhere in Hollywood now. While there have been hints that he will go back to his inventive indie roots (more Memento than Insomnia, one supposes), it’s clear that Nolan can claim any commercial project he wants. Even better, he’s proven that, within the right framework, audiences will sit through even the most serious, complex entertainment. If he chooses carefully, he can cement his status as one of his generation’s guiding cinematic lights. And of course, there’s always the third installment in the Caped Crusader’s saga to fall back on should he fail. Given his amazing track record so for, that doesn’t seem very likely.

The Actors
Christian Bale
Bale has already proved the impact of a multimillion dollar opening weekend - he was accused of assaulting his mother and sister before the British premiere of The Dark Knight, and even the tabloids have taken his side. Of course, the personal scandal may be nothing more than old school family dissention fueled by sudden financial success, but this is one actor who really doesn’t need the money to make his mark. He’s already keen to revisit the Bruce Wayne saga again (as long as Nolan is behind the lens), and he’s signed on to play another heroic icon - John Connor, the man behind the human rebellion against the machines in the new Terminator film(s). His resume from the past few years is so impressive, that it’s hard to imagine he ever struggled. Hopefully, his success as the Caped Crusader only broadens his potential performance horizons.

Aaron Eckhart
Eckhart has been an indie idol for so long that it’s hard to remember when he was the one getting the push for mainstream leading man status. Remember his turn in the disaster flop The Core? Of his solid work in Erin Brockovich? Returning to smaller projects surely helped his acting cred, but he still needed a breakout part to produce a kind of casting clarity he will surely have now. His amazing working as Harvey “Two Face” Dent delivers that knockout blow. On equal par with the work done by costars Bale and Ledger, Eckhart elevates his spurned and scarred District Attorney into something akin to a Shakespearean tragedy. His arc is so fully formed, and his transformation within it so authentic and real, that when he goes on his last act spree, we sigh at the inevitability of it all - and marvel at how this underrated performer pulls it off.

Heath Ledger
The saddest element of Ledger’s untimely death isn’t the fact that he’s not around now to enjoy the universal praise his eerie work as the Joker is receiving. Nor is it the fact that he won’t be around for the inevitable big money payday once the next installment comes calling. No, what’s most disturbing about Ledger’s passing is that, with this undeniably diabolic characterization, we realize just how much talent we as film fans will be missing out on. No one could have predicted that the sweet, vulnerable man from Brokeback Mountain or The Brothers Grimm had this much menace in him. Even better, his work as the clown prince of chaos leaves a lasting legacy that, in essence, could have tainted the actor forever. If one has to go out - and there is never a rhyme or reason for doing so by your own hand - this unbelievable blaze of glory surely brings things to a clean, karmic conclusion.

The Franchise
This is perhaps the hardest question for the entire post-modern Batman movie. For those who’ve not seen the film, this SPOILER will probably be an unwelcomed bit of advance information, so perhaps you should simply skip this paragraph. Otherwise - having taken the advice of newly appointed Commission Gordon, the Caped Crusader has decided to accept the blame for the many deaths caused by Dent. Instead of a hero, he will become a renegade - or even worse, the stuff of social nightmares. By becoming the bad guy (indirectly, that is), the entire mythos takes a tantalizing turn. Nolan has said that he spent all his creative wealth making this version of the comic book hero, and may not have an answer as to where it goes from here. Between potential villains and likely storylines, there is a lot of uncertainty present, that’s for sure. But where there’s a will - and a big pile of cash - there’s a way. And as they proved this time around, as long as there is true talent involved, anything is possible.

—Bill Gibron

Trust??? Mistrust???

2008-07-21T05:25:00.000-07:00

Okay...after having claimed that Indian Politics is boring and absolute Sh*te, todays events will have me rethink the boring part...it was not since the super tuesday when Obama edged Clinton out that politics has me so excited...the trust vote has kept me away from the movie theatre...witty speeches and wily math...back biting and chaos...whoa...who would have thought these old men had it in them?
Pranab Mukherjee had the best speech of the lot while Mohammed Saleem seemed to be in a poetic mood...
The speaker in my opinion did the right thing for a neutral...but the poor guy has to face the music when it is all over...and his task of controlling the men turned kids now is not one i would envy either...
gotta catch more of it...
later

New number ONE

2008-07-21T05:13:00.000-07:00

ok...usually Godfather or Shawshank Redemption is #1 at imdb.com's top rated movie of all time but hey... surprise!!!

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The Dark Knight (2008)
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Batman director takes Hollywood by storm

2008-07-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

Monday July 21 1:12 AM ET

English filmmaker Christopher Nolan is now the toast of Hollywood, thanks to the record-breaking $155 million opening of "The Dark Knight."

But less than 10 years ago, the Batman director was barely a blip at the box office: His feature debut, a small indie called "Following," earned a grand total of $40,000.

The fractured thriller, about a writer who inexplicably follows strangers, was not the kind of film that gets a director commercial gigs. Like Nolan's 2000 follow-up "Memento," it showed an experiment-minded director intent on playing with timelines and disorienting the viewer.

But since then he's managed not only to land on the studio map but redefine it.

Nolan (together with his brother and frequent writing partner Jonathan) graduated to midrange studio projects like the Alaskan murder mystery "Insomnia," which earned nearly $70 million, and Disney's "The Prestige," which landed $53 million.

Then he resurrected the "Batman" franchise with 2005's "Batman Begins," which earned $205 million. "The Dark Knight" will pass that total by the middle of the week.

What's perhaps most remarkable in the arc of the one-time English lit student is that he has managed to migrate to tentpoles without compromising much of the vision of his early movies.

In fact, judging by the word-of-mouth, "The Dark Knight" succeeded because of, not despite, his authorship. "He's not a product of Hollywood, and I think that makes him a better studio director," says Andrew Kosove of Alcon Entertainment, who produced Nolan's "Insomnia."

Kosove's Alcon partner, Broderick Johnson, adds that beyond the creative vision are a set of skills found only in a handful of directors. "He has the whole movie, every single scene, in his head before he stars shooting. And then coupled with that he's a really good communicator so he can get that vision across to everyone on set."

The producers say that Nolan calibrated every scene in "Insomnia" so precisely that they could find only one deleted scene to include on the DVD.

While Nolan's trajectory may be unlikely, those who've collaborated with him said they're not surprised that he had made such a large leap in so short a time.

Studio veteran Bob Berney, who helped on distribution efforts for "Memento," says that, unlike some indie directors who simply end up directing bigger movies by default when the offers start coming in, Nolan was aiming for tentpoles all along. "He exuded self-assurance and confidence that he'd be where he is today," Berney says. "He wanted to be doing movies like 'Batman."'

The closest analogue to Nolan may be Paul Greengrass, who moved fleetly from edgy political fare like "Bloody Sunday" to the mega-earning Jason Bourne franchise. (Guillermo del Toro, who has enjoyed studio success and solid openings while staying true to his quirky vision is also an exemplar of the Nolan model, though Del Toro's numbers are smaller, and the fanboy world to which he plays has always been a little more willing to reward originality and punish imitators.)

Nolan, who turns 38 next week, is also an anomaly for another reason: He's a director who's beloved by the money people, a function likely not only of his box office but of his reported fiscal discipline. "I told (Nolan), 'I'd do anything with you. I'd do a wedding video with you,"' says Thomas Tull, whose Legendary Pictures banner financed "The Dark Knight."

Wedding videos aside, Nolan, on a press day in the U.K. Sunday when the box office news broke stateside, now faces the tricky question of where he goes from here.

A rep recently alluded to his potentially returning to an indie. The only project he's currently signed on to direct -- beyond the possible next Batman installment -- is Universal's adaptation of the 1960's British secret-agent series "The Prisoner."

Executives say that while a true indie is unlikely, a smaller studio movie isn't, if only because a production of a lesser scale can be a relief after the burdens of a tentpole. Said one executive: "As much fun as it is to do a big movie like 'The Dark Knight,' sometimes you want to do something smaller because it's quicker."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Batman breaks Spider-Man record at box office

2008-07-21T05:08:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 20 11:08 PM ET

KAPOW! The new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" smashed the weekend record set by "Spider-Man 3" last year, selling an estimated $155.3 million worth of tickets during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said on Sunday.

The hotly anticipated film, co-starring late actor Heath Ledger as the anarchic Joker, surpassed the $151.1 million haul for "Spider-Man 3" during its first weekend in May 2007.

Going into the weekend, pundits had forecast an opening in the $100 million range, evidently underestimating the Batmania infecting movie fans across the world.
The Caped Crusader also generated $40 million from 20 foreign markets, highlighted by No. 1 bows in Ledger's native Australia ($13.1 million) and Mexico ($6.6 million), the Time Warner Inc-owned studio said.

With a little help from another new release "Mamma Mia!" which opened at No. 2 with $27.6 million, "The Dark Knight" propelled overall North American ticket sales to a record $253 million, according to tracking firm Media By Numbers. The old mark of $218 million was set two years ago, the company said.

"The Dark Knight" stars Welsh actor Christian Bale as Batman, and was directed by English filmmaker Christopher Nolan. They previously collaborated on "Batman Begins," which earned $48.7 million during its first weekend in 2005, and finished up with $205 million.

"Dark Knight" should hit that level by midweek, Warner Bros. said.

The new film reportedly cost about $180 million to make, thanks in part to the pioneering use of heavy Imax cameras to shoot 30 minutes of the 152-minute film for giant-screen theaters. The filmmakers also blew up bits of Chicago, which doubles for the fictional Gotham City.

HOT FOR HEATH

But it is Ledger's performance as the Joker, a role last taken on by Jack Nicholson for 1989's "Batman," that has generated the most buzz. It was the 28-year-old actor's last completed role before he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in January.

Many pundits have already declared that he is a shoo-in to receive an Oscar nomination for his creepy turn as the bane of Batman's existence.

Tickets for many weekend screenings sold out long ago, and moviegoers -- some dressed as characters from the movie -- had to wait hours in long lines to get inside once the film opened just after midnight on Friday. Some theaters added 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. screenings that day to help meet demand.

A huge portion of the 94 Imax Corp theaters screening "The Dark Knight" are already sold out for the week and next weekend, said Greg Foster, chairman and president of the firm's filmed entertainment division.

The Imax theaters contributed a record $6.2 million to the weekend tally, breaking the old mark of $4.7 million for "Spider-Man 3," he added.

Meanwhile, the $27.6 million for "Mamma Mia!" ranks as the biggest for a musical, said distributor Universal Pictures. The romantic comedy, inspired by the pop tunes of Swedish pop group ABBA, stars Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan, who also try their hand at singing.

The General Electric Co-owned studio said women accounted for three-quarters of the audience, and almost two-thirds of patrons were aged 30 and older.

The film earned $26.8 million from 21 foreign markets, taking its international total to $72.6 million. It logged a second weekend at No. 1 in Sweden, slipped to No. 2 in Australia and Britain, and opened at No. 1 in Germany, the studio said.

(Additional reporting by Maureen Bavdek; Editing by Xavier Briand)

'Dark Knight' breaks US box office records

2008-07-21T05:05:00.001-07:00

The Dark Knight has broken the opening weekend box office record in the US.

The sequel's $155.34 million haul is $4.7 million ahead of the first weekend gross for last summer's Spider-Man 3. The Batman movie had earlier shattered the opening day record, taking in $66.4 million on Friday.

The Dark Knight will likely overtake predecessor Batman Begins's total domestic gross ($205 million) by next weekend.

The top ten also saw new entries from musical Mamma Mia! (number two) and animated comedy Space Chimps (number seven). Last week's chart leader Hellboy II: The Golden Army took a nosedive, experiencing a 70% drop in ticket sales and falling to number five.

The top ten in full:

1. (-) The Dark Knight - $155,340,000
2. (-) Mamma Mia! - $27,605,000
3. (2) Hancock - $14,000,000
4. (3) Journey To The Centre Of The Earth - $11,910,000
5. (1) Hellboy II: The Golden Army - $10,038,000
6. (4)WALL-E - $9,813,000
7. (-) Space Chimps - $7,350,000
8. (5) Wanted - $5,097,000
9. (6) Get Smart - $4,085,000
10. (8) Kung Fu Panda - $1,750,000

Fastest to 100 mil.

2008-07-21T05:02:00.000-07:00

Rank Title Studio Days to
$100m* Total Gross^ Date**

1 The Dark Knight WB 2 $155,340,000 7/18/08
2 Spider-Man 3 Sony 2 $336,530,303 5/04/07
3 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest BV 2 $423,315,812 7/07/06
4 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End BV 3 $309,420,425 5/25/07
5 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Fox 3 $380,270,577 5/19/05
6 Shrek the Third P/DW 3 $322,719,944 5/18/07
7 Spider-Man Sony 3 $403,706,375 5/03/02
8 The Matrix Reloaded WB 3 $281,576,461 5/15/03
9 X-Men: The Last Stand Fox 3 $234,362,462 5/26/06
10 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire WB 3 $290,013,036 11/18/05
11 Iron Man Par. 3 $314,360,000 5/02/08
12 Spider-Man 2 Sony 4 $373,585,825 6/30/04
13 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Par. 4 $312,584,000 5/22/08
14 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix WB 4 $292,004,738 7/11/07
15 Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Fox 4 $302,191,252 5/16/02
16 Transformers P/DW 4 $319,246,193 7/03/07
17 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban WB 4 $249,541,069 6/04/04
18 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King NL 4 $377,027,325 12/17/03
19 Shrek 2 DW 5 $441,226,247 5/19/04
20 The Passion of the Christ NM 5 $370,274,604 2/25/04
21 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Fox 5 $431,088,301 5/19/99
22 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone WB 5 $317,575,550 11/16/01
23 Hancock Sony 5 $191,504,000 7/02/08
24 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers NL 5 $339,789,881 12/18/02
25 War of the Worlds Par. 5 $234,280,354 6/29/05
26 Independence Day Fox 6 $306,169,268 7/03/96
27 Austin Powers in Goldmember NL 6 $213,307,889 7/26/02
28 X2: X-Men United Fox 6 $214,949,694 5/02/03
29 The Lost World: Jurassic Park Uni. 6 $229,086,679 5/23/97
30 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets WB 6 $261,988,482 11/15/02
31 Superman Returns WB 7 $200,081,192 6/28/06
32 I Am Legend WB 7 $256,393,010 12/14/07
33 The Simpsons Movie Fox 7 $183,135,014 7/27/07
34 The Da Vinci Code Sony 7 $217,536,138 5/19/06
35 The Day After Tomorrow Fox 7 $186,740,799 5/28/04
36 Rush Hour 2 NL 7 $226,164,286 8/03/01
37 Bruce Almighty Uni. 7 $242,829,261 5/23/03
38 Finding Nemo BV 8 $339,714,978 5/30/03
39 The Bourne Ultimatum Uni. 8 $227,471,070 8/03/07
40 Meet the Fockers Uni. 8 $279,261,160 12/22/04
41 The Incredibles BV 8 $261,441,092 11/05/04
42 300 WB 8 $210,614,939 3/09/07
43 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring NL 8 $313,364,114 12/19/01
44 Planet of the Apes Fox 8 $180,011,740 7/27/01
45 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Uni. 8 $260,044,825 11/17/00
46 Men in Black Sony 8 $250,690,539 7/02/97
47 Men in Black II Sony 8 $190,418,803 7/03/02
48 Wall-E BV 8 $182,476,000 6/27/08
49 National Treasure: Book of Secrets BV 8 $219,964,115 12/21/07
50 Mission: Impossible II Par. 8 $215,409,889 5/24/00

Some Arithmetic...Box Office Numbers

2008-07-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

ThisWeek LastWeek Title Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #

1 N The Dark Knight WB $155,340,000 - 4,366 - $35,579 $155,340,000 $180 1
2 N Mamma Mia! Uni. $27,605,000 - 2,976 - $9,275 $27,605,000 $52 1
3 2 Hancock Sony $14,000,000 -56.4% 3,776 -189 $3,707 $191,504,000 $150 3
4 3 Journey to the Center of the Earth NL $11,910,000 -43.3% 2,830 +19 $4,208 $43,074,000 $60 2
5 1 Hellboy II: The Golden Army Uni. $10,038,000 -70.9% 3,212 +8 $3,125 $56,447,000 $85 2
6 4 Wall-E BV $9,813,000 -47.8% 3,310 -539 $2,964 $182,476,000 $180 4
7 N Space Chimps Fox $7,350,000 - 2,511 - $2,927 $7,350,000 - 1
8 5 Wanted Uni. $5,097,000 -57.5% 2,433 -724 $2,094 $123,347,000 $75 4
9 6 Get Smart WB $4,085,000 -43.3% 2,135 -951 $1,913 $119,569,000 $80 5
10 8 Kung Fu Panda P/DW $1,750,000 -60.3% 1,505 -1,199 $1,162 $206,506,000 $130 7
11 7 Meet Dave Fox $1,635,000 -68.9% 3,011 - $543 $9,374,000 $60 2
12 11 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Par. $970,000 -57.1% 757 -907 $1,281 $312,584,000 $185 9

The Dark Knight is Numero Uno

2008-07-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

ok...Shawshank Redemption or The Godfather always occupies the top spot on imdb.com's list of best ever movies of all time...
but lookie here...

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The Dark Knight (2008)
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Register or login to rate this title User Rating: 9.7/10 (46,915 votes)
Top 250: #1 more
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yipeeyaykay

IMDB News...

2008-07-21T04:50:00.000-07:00

Movie Reviews: The Dark Knight
17 July 2008 10:31 AM, PDT

With the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight opening in thousands of theaters at midnight tonight or at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, newspapers throughout the country have made room for early reviews. Almost without exception they are raves. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times gives it a rare -- for him -- four stars, writing, that it "is a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy. It creates characters we come to care about. That's because of the performances, because of the direction, because of the writing, and because of the superlative technical quality of the entire production." Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times observes that director Christopher Nolan does not make a big to-do over the film's formidable special effects and action sequences. "This is powerful, propulsive filmmaking in which elements that must have taken an eternity to set up stay on screen no longer than they absolutely need to," he remarks. Claudia Puig in USA Today piles on the superlatives. "The Dark Knight is a more thrilling, intelligent, morally complex and masterfully crafted film than any summer blockbuster in recent years. It's probably the best superhero movie to date," she says. Every critic marvels at the performance of the late Heath Ledger in the role of The Joker. "Ledger is so horrifically riveting you can't take your eyes off of him," comments Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News. Even the Washington Post's Stephen Hunter, who is one of the few critics who has found faults with the film, writes that Ledger's performance is memorable. "It's a subtle, nuanced piece of acting so powerful it banishes all memories of the handsome Aussie behind it," he writes. "Ledger's work is improbably droll, impossibly creepy, meticulously detailed," comments Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune, who also awards the film four stars. And Amy Biancolli concludes in the Houston Chronicle: "Heath Ledger died too young, leaving behind performances as faceted, brilliant and few as a handful of diamonds. His final gem is no less radiant for being pitch black."

'Dark Knight' sets box office record with $66.4M

2008-07-20T04:36:00.000-07:00

(Okay when Batman Begins was out it was all about Star Wars and other drivel that summer and nobody would give BB the recognition it deserved back then. Nolan created something so beautiful and different from Schumacher's nippled version and it had every fan craving a sequel...notice i said fan...cause the US flag colored spiderman did some good by allocating some space on it's bandwagon for fickle fans who like a funny and charming superhero...
So this entry here is for one of them who happens to be a friend of mine and thought that the joker made no sense in the DC Universe...well Nicholson playing that character was fantastic and Ledger...God bless his soul...you got the twerp eating his words...Nolan gets an applause for his work on the whole...when he said a few sequels are as good as the first like Godfather II and Empire strikes back...i'm sure he held back a sly smile...Memento....Prestige...Batman Begins and now this...Good movie makers exist...Bale never needs to convince me anymore since American Psycho....also congratulations to Michael Emerson for the nomination...and look for the guy who plays Agent Mahone in THE DARK KNIGHT)

Saturday July 19 10:35 PM ET

Batman's joust with the Joker has set another box office record. Stoked by fan fever over the manic performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, "The Dark Knight" set a one-day box office record with $66.4 million on opening day, Warner Bros. head of distribution Dan Fellman said Saturday.

The movie's Friday haul surpassed the previous record of $59.8 million set last year by "Spider-Man 3." "The Dark Knight" might break the opening-weekend record of $151.1 million, also held by "Spider-Man 3."

"I think they're in jeopardy," Fellman said of the "Spider-Man 3" records.

"The Dark Knight" began with a record $18.5 million from midnight screenings, topping the previous high of $16.9 million for "Star Wars: Episode III The Revenge of the Sith."

The opening day grosses for "The Dark Knight" far exceeded the full weekend haul of its predecessor, "Batman Begins," which took in $48.7 million in its first three days in 2005.

Reviews were excellent for director Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins," but they were stellar for his "Dark Knight."

"We've really never seen anything like this," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "The death of a fine actor taken in his prime, a legendary performance, and a movie that lives up to all the hype. That all combined to create these record-breaking numbers."

Buzz had been high for the Batman sequel well before Ledger died of an accidental prescription-drug overdose in January. Trailers last fall revealing Ledger's demented Joker, with crooked clown makeup, turned up the heat even more. The critical acclaim over his performance that built from advance screenings left fans in a frenzy.

"It's a combination of things. Certainly, that's a great part of it, but I think this movie's gross was partly because of the reviews it received and the incredible buzz and word of mouth that preceded it with our early screenings," Fellman said. "And the success and quality of the last one, `Batman Begins,' delivered by Chris Nolan just set the tone for the opening of this movie."

"The Dark Knight" reunites Christian Bale as Batman, the vigilante crime-fighter tormented by personal tragedy, and co-stars Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman. Maggie Gyllenhaal also stars.

The film spins an epic crime duel as Ledger's Joker orchestrates a reign of terror on the city of Gotham aimed to spread chaos and break down the restraint that keeps Batman on the right side of the law.

While critics are taking the film seriously enough to suggest Ledger could be in line for an Academy Award nomination, the action-packed movie also delivers as pure summer movie escapism.

"If you're worried about mortgage payments and gas prices, when you're sitting in `The Dark Knight' for two and a half hours, you're not thinking about any of that stuff," Dergarabedian said.

Azzurri Debate: Another Korea 2002 For Italy?

2008-06-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

Italy’s Euro 2008 destiny is out of their own hands mainly due to a set of catastrophic refereeing decisions. Philippe Lambourde asks if we are seeing a repeat of the controversies from the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea…

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Before I start what is sure to be the most heated Euro 2008 debate so far, I would like to clearly point out that I am a Frenchman, and so for quite obvious reasons I am far from being the greatest sympathiser towards the Italian nation.

Despite this it is simply impossible to write a piece on Italy’s Euro 2008 journey so far without coming to the conclusion that they have been crucified by the refereeing officials. Three simply massive decisions have incorrectly gone against the Azzurri during their two games. The first of course was the Ruud Van Nistelrooy opener for Holland on Monday night. Even if you implement the ridiculous new Fifa offside law about players off the pitch still being active, the goal should still have been disallowed. The ruling states that a player has to voluntarily leave the pitch for him to still be active. If you watch the replay you will see that Christian Panucci was bulldozed into touch by Gianluigi Buffon. Is that voluntary or involuntary I ask you?

Onto the Romania game yesterday, and another two huge decisions went against the Italians, the first of which probably cost them the three points. Luca Toni headed home at 0-0 in first half injury time, but was flagged offside, even though replays show that he was two yards behind the last defender. These are not millimetres we are talking about, a mistake such as this is unforgivable, and I don’t blame the cynical Italians who say that it could not have come as a result of human error. If things couldn’t get any worse, with 10 minutes remaining the referee then appallingly awards a penalty against Christian Panucci for a supposed shirt tug on Nicolae Dica. As a furious Luca Toni, who himself was denied a fair few decent penalty shouts, correctly pointed out after the game, “If that was a penalty, then we and every other team should have five per match.”

Buffon’s save from Adrian Mutu’s spot-kick meant that this decision was academic; however it certainly doesn’t prevent many Italians from drawing inevitable links between these Euros and the scandalous 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan.

For those of you who need reminding, Italy were eliminated in the second round in 2002 after probably the worst set of refereeing decisions ever to go against a team during the history of the World Cup. During their final two group games against Croatia and Mexico, Giovanni Trapattoni’s men had four perfectly good goals disallowed, but somehow managed to scrape through to the second round where they met South Korea. Against the hosts, Italy again had a valid goal chalked off, a golden goal from Damiano Tomassi which would have taken them to the next round. Francesco Totti was sent off for diving when replays showed he had lost his footing, while the Koreans were awarded a controversial penalty for a Christian Panucci tugging offence. Sound familiar? Italy eventually lost after Ahn Jung-Hwan’s golden winner, but the match and Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno have gone down in Italian football infamy.

As a side-topic on Moreno, the official would later that year receive a 20 match ban after he played an extra 13 minutes of stoppage time during a match between Deportiva Universita de Quito and Barcelona Sporting Club. During this time Deportiva scored twice to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 victory. After retuning from his suspension, Moreno was suspended again after controversially sending off three players in one match. He retired from officiating shortly after.

Back to the 2002 World Cup itself. The Italian nation cried that there had been a conspiracy against them, and they were soon joined by the Spanish, who in the very next game against Korea had two perfectly good goals disallowed as they were eliminated on penalties.

The conspiracy theory was that 1) there was a plot to throw Italy out of the World Cup, and 2) there was a plot to try and get South Korea as far as possible. The hosts also had some dubious calls go their way in their final group game, which saw Portugal eliminated.

Many people in Italy and Spain refuse to recognise the legality of the 2002 World Cup. Whether this should be viewed as bitterness or due to the fact that the tournament became something of a farce due to the ridiculous amount of ‘errors’, this is up for each individual to decide.

What is clear is that many Italians are starting to draw links between the 2002 World Cup and the 2008 European Championships. While Italy have clearly not played to their potential in Austria and Switzerland, and would surely have lost to Holland anyway regardless of the Van Nistelrooy opener, they would in all probability be sitting on three points had it not been for the dreadful Toni offside decision in the Romania game.

This would mean that they would have their destiny in their own hands for the match against France. It would also mean that Les Bleus would have controlled their future too. As it happens now a Romania win against an already qualified Holland will eliminate both World Cup finalists.

In tournaments it is often one goal that decides games so a bad referee can have a big influence in a team going home. Those of you who point to the slightly fortuitous penalty that Fabio Grosso received against Australia in the last World Cup should rewind the tape of that match 35 minutes and review the ridiculous sending off of Marco Materazzi before declaring, as some have, that “what goes around, comes around.”

Philippe Lambourde

"Inter"national Conspiracy

2008-05-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

This is from Goal.com. Two recorded conversations between Moratti, Mancini and Mourinho

Act 1: Moratti and Mancini

Moratti: Hello Roberto, how are you?

Mancini: I am fine, thank you.

Moratti: How's the family?

Mancini: Good, thanks.

Moratti: Roberto, I have to give you some bad news.

Mancini: I knew it.

Moratti: I have to let you go.

Mancini: No, you want to let me go, it's different.

Moratti: No, don't say these things. You know, the team, I spoke to them and something is not right. So, it's better to change.

Mancini: Don't say this, you already had Mourinho lined up back in January.

Moratti: No, not at all, it's not what you think.

Mancini: Nooo! You have been giving me all sorts of stories and lies for months. I have always behaved in the right way and I have never lied to you. I cannot understand this decision.

Moratti: What are you talking about? Don't be like this, listen to me!

Mancini: Listen to what? You didn't even enjoy this centenary Scudetto.

Moratti: What has that got to do with this? Calm down and lets talk calmly.

Mancini: Seeing that you're letting me go, I can't even be bothered to listen to you anymore.

Moratti: Don't leave it like this, let us at least talk about a good exit payment.

Mancini: I don't want your good exit payment, you have to give me the money for my four years of contract and I won't even take off one Euro. But don't worry, you will be hearing from my lawyers and with this I am off.

__________________

Act 2: Moratti and Mourinho

Moratti: Hello? Jose?

Jose: It is me

Moratti: The job is done. I can now begin to talk seriously with you about coming to manage our marvellous club!

Jose: We will be needing to discuss my special salary, special players and of course my special coat that I will be needing.

Moratti: What?

Jose: Maybe scarf too. I have seen the snow in Milan at times. It is the time of year I grow my hair. Like dog.

Moratti: Jose, what are you talking about?

Jose: Shut up. I am talking. What was I saying?

Moratti: Something about your scarf...

Jose: Yes, of course, where is it?

Moratti: Your scarf? I don't know Jose, I've no idea what you are talking about!

Jose: Are you going to offer me job?

Moratti: Ahh, yes, of course! Inter Milan has just won 3 Scudettos in a row and we are now needing to get a new coach to make final push in Champions League. We think you could be that coach, Jose!

Jose: I could be. Possibly. If you think. I don't say so, you say this. Hmmm.

Moratti: Tha Champions League, Jose. Think of the glory you could achieve! To win it again!

Jose: Would be nice, yes. How much you pay?

Moratti: We think in the region of £8m Euros per year, with an extra £1.5m in bonuses for victories on the league and in europe?

Jose: Is that all? I am earning more with my programme on Setanta Sports. And they provide scarf. And coat. You can match?

Moratti: Of course. A new coat each week!

Jose: I will take. But you have to guarantee we don't play Liverpool. Them? I do not like to play. My old friends at Chelsea may help me though.

Calcio Debate: Azzurri Set For Golden Age?

2008-05-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Last night the Italy Under-21 side won the Toulon Tournament after beating Chile 1-0 in the final. Carlo Garganese believes that a new golden generation of Italian youngsters are coming through…

Having watched every one of the Azzurrini’s games during the 2008 Toulon Tournament in France, I can safely say that the future looks very bright for the senior Italy national team.

Some question marks have been raised about Roberto Donadoni’s 23 men that will travel to Euro 2008. The squad is in fact the oldest of all 16 teams participating, with an average age of 29.57. Eight of the first XI are over the age of 30, including the entire back five, Gianluigi Buffon included. While at Euro 2008, this experience, as it was in Germany at 2006, could be invaluable, it is quite clear that much of this team will have to be broken up and rebuilt come South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014.

Fortunately, the youngsters coming through are possibly the best that Italy have had in years. Pierluigi Casiraghi’s Under-21s were hugely impressive in winning the Toulon Tournament, with most of the squad making a big impact.

Empoli’s Davide Bassi was commanding throughout the festival, and was named goalkeeper of the tournament. Marco Motta and Lorenzo De Silvestri both suggested that they have Azzurri futures ahead of them by impressing in the full back positions, while the likes of Andrea Coda, Lino Marzorati and Salvatore Bocchetti were mean in defence. All in all the Azzurrini conceded just one goal in five games and 450 minutes of football – pretty remarkable stuff.

The strength of depth that the Azzurini had at their disposal was apparent in midfield as Casiraghi rotated in almost every game, with Antonio Nocerino, Daniele Galloppa, Luca Cigarini, Daniele Dessena, Claudio Marchisio, Ignazio Abate, Tiberio Guarente, and Antonio Candreva all impressing at various times. Nocerino, as the captain, showed real leadership qualities throughout, displaying the kind of form that won so many admirers in the first half of the season for Juventus. Parma duo Cigarini and Dessena will surely not stay in Serie B next season, and the latter provided a brilliant pass for Pablo Osvaldo’s winner in the final. Marchisio scored a contender for goal of the tournament with a stunning left foot half volley from 30 yards against Turkey.

Candreva displayed all the confidence in the world by executing a Francesco Totti/ Antonin Panenka-like spoon penalty in the shootout against Japan. Guarente meanwhile hit the post in the final after lobbing the Chilean goalkeeper from the half way line. Finally of course there is winger Abate, co-owned by Milan, and a quite explosive talent, with blistering pace and quick movements. Against Japan, the 21-year-old went on a solo run, beating three men and running the whole length of the field, before firing wide.

And so on to the forward positions. First of all lets remove Graziano Pelle from the equation, who is perhaps the worst player I have ever seen represent Italy at any level of football. Indeed this Under-21 side reminded me of the Brazil 1982 World Cup team, who had a host of legends such as Zico, Falcao and Socrates, but were unfortunately left down by a lumbering frontman called Serginho, who was completely out of his depth.

Pablo Osvaldo had a generally quiet tournament until he exploded into life in the final, scoring the winner in a man-of-the-match performance. The 22-year-old’s bicycle kick on the final day of the season that booked Fiorentina’s place in the Champions League is a sign of his potential. Davide Lanzafame certainly showed that with the right training and guidance he can become a really exciting player in the years to come. The comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo may be a little far fetched, but he certainly shares some of the explosive and exaggerated movements of the Manchester United man.

Finally of course there is Sebastian Giovinco, named player of the tournament after two goals, two assists and a host of brilliant displays. So naturally gifted, Giovinco has the potential to be one of the best players in the world in the years to come, and he is the ‘great hope’ for both club-and country.

Just how bright Italy’s future really is, can be demonstrated fully by the fact that this Azzurrini side that triumphed at Toulon was actually missing more than half of its first team players.

Villarreal’s Giuseppe Rossi and Cagliari’s Robert Acquafresca are the first choice strike force, and will be so at this summer’s Olympics Games. The usual centre back partnership is Domenico Criscito regarded by some as the eventual heir to Fabio Cannavaro, and Napoi’s Fabiano Santacroce, described by many as the next defensive phenomenon and the “new Alessandro Nesta”. Paolo De Ceglie, co-owned by Juventus, often plays at left back, and once again is another explosive prospect who can roar up-and-down the flank.

Then of course in midfield you have Riccardo Montolivo, who will be at the Olympics, having just missed out on a place at Euro 2008. One must also not forget the incredibly gifted Andrea Russotto of Treviso, who even managed to outshine Giovinco in a number of Under-21 games towards the end of 2007. Russotto has been described by some as the “new Roberto Baggio”.

Those who graduated from the Under-21s last season are also showing great promise. Michele Canini of Cagliari had a superb end to Serie A season, while Alessandro Rosina just needs to join a big club before his sky-high potential can be fulfilled. Giorgio Chiellini and Alberto Aquilani have both made it to Euro 2008, and they will surely become Italy regulars in the years to come.

The teenage brigade in Italy are said to be even more talented than those just older than them. Fernando Forestieri, and the “new Pippo Inzaghi” Alberto Paloschi, both 18, are two such examples. Then of course there is the 17-year-old wonderkid Mario Balotelli, who I am absolutely certain is a future superstar, providing he keeps his head screwed on.

While Italian club teams may be struggling in Europe for financial reasons, the same certainly cannot be said about their youth development. The high percentage of homegrown players in Serie A is clearly paying dividends, and the Italy national team could soon be entering into a new golden age.

Manchester United 1999 v 2008

2008-05-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

Manchester United 1999 v 2008

From Times Online

David Beckham or Ronaldo? Rio Ferdinand or Jaap Stam? Ryan Giggs or Ryan Giggs? Manchester United left it late in Barcelona and in Moscow but which team was better? The 1999 Treble winners or the 2008 Double heroes?

1999

Peter Schmeichel 10 out of 10

One of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, the Great Dane kept a clean sheet in 42 per cent of the league games he played for United and his last-minute penalty save from Dennis Bergkamp in the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal was a crucial turning point in the 1999 Treble season.

Gary Neville 8

Reviled by neutrals for his devotion to the Red cause, Citizen Neville was first choice right back for club and country when United won the Treble. Still at United, still standing up for his rights and still rubbing Liverpool supporters up the wrong way.

Ronny Johnsen 6

Ronny who? The Norway centre back and defensive midfield player was unassuming and dependable but injury-prone. Won four league titles in six years at Old Trafford and still going strong at 38 for Valerenga in Norway.

Jaap Stam 8

Spent three seasons at Old Trafford and won three titles, the FA Cup and the European Cup. Still a cult hero even though he left under a cloud after Sir Alex Ferguson read his controversial autobiography and decided that he was past his sell-by date.

Denis Irwin 8

Mr Dependable was solid as a rock in the nineties and he won seven titles in 12 years at Old Trafford. Could play at right back or left back and was dangerous at set pieces.

David Beckham 8

Victoria Beckham was still Victoria Adams when the future England captain lifted three trophies in ten days to prove that he was more than just a pretty face. Telepathic understanding with Gary Neville on the right flank was a key feature of the 1999 side.

Nicky Butt 7

Amazingly named as the best player in the 2002 World Cup finals by Pele, Butt is still going strong at Newcastle United although he is unlikely to be adding to his collection of medals – six Premier League, three FA Cups and a European Cup – any time soon.

Ryan Giggs 8

”Giggs, Giggs will tear you apart again”. The Welsh winger is the only player in the world with a Joy Division-inspired chant but there was nothing depressing about his performances in 1999. He scored a wonder goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal before ruining the moment by taking off his shirt.

Jesper Blomqvist 6

Swedish enigma who spent most of his time in Manchester in the Old Trafford treatment room but played in the epic semi-final second leg victory against Juventus and kept his place in the team for the final against Bayern Munich.

Dwight Yorke 7

Justified his £12.6 million transfer fee from Aston Villa by forming a devastating strike partnership with Andy Cole. Scored 29 times in the Treble season and still going strong - just.

Andy Cole 7

Never made the grade for England but scored 195 times for United in six years, including the vital winning goal in the final league game of the 1998-99 season, against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford. Released by Sunderland two weeks ago.

TOTAL: 83

Subs:

Teddy Sheringham 7

Started his career three years before Wayne Rooney was born, in 1982, and hung up his boots at the end of last season. Scored the dramatic stoppage time equalizer against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final after replacing Blomqvist in the 67th minute.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 8

Baby-faced assassin who scored for fun at Old Trafford and became an instant cult hero by beating Oliver Kahn from close range in the dying seconds after replacing Cole in the 81st minute. Retired last summer after failing to recover from a serious knee injury and will manage the United reserve team next season.

2008

Edwin van der Sar 8

Despite his Moscow heroics, he is not quite in the same class as Schmeichel but has hardly put a foot wrong since arriving at Old Trafford three years ago. Described by Ferguson as the best goalkeeper to play for the club since Schemichel.

Wes Brown 7

Was on the bench at the Nou Camp in 1999 but has been an integral member of the side this season. Finally living up to the promise that prompted Ferguson to mark him out as the most talented defender at the club in 2000.

Rio Ferdinand 8

Making headlines for the right reasons this season and developing into the best defender in the world. Strong, quick and skilful and leading the race to be the next permanent England captain.

Nemanja Vidic 8

Tough Serbian defender who defends his territory like Leonid Brezhnev. Loves tackling and sniffing out danger and doesn’t collapse when he’s slapped.

Patrice Evra 8

Becoming one of the best left backs in the world after a shaky start at Old Trafford. A devastatingly quick and tenacious tackler. Asked team-mates where the nearest church was when he arrived in Manchester in 2006. “I want to thank God for all he has done for me,” he said.

Owen Hargreaves 7

Slow but solid start to Old Trafford career since his £17 million move from Bayern Munich last summer but scored a crucial goal in the 2-1 victory over Arsenal in April and made no mistake from the spot in Moscow.

Paul Scholes 8

Quiet, unassuming and a pass master. Described by Sir Bobby Charlton as his favourite United player of all time. Suspended for the 1999 final.

Michael Carrick 7

The armchair generals were queuing up to have a pop at Fergsuon for paying up to £18.6 million for the Geordie midfield player but who’s laughing now? May be unspectacular but rarely gives the ball away and keeps the United midfield ticking over.

Cristiano Ronaldo 10

The best player in the world.

Wayne Rooney 8

The best English player in the world – on his day.

Carlos Tevez 7

Missed two sitters in Moscow but his first season at Old Trafford has been an unqualified success. Tough, streetwise attacker who is adored at Upton Park, loved at Old Trafford and despised in Fulham Broadway.

TOTAL 86

Subs:

Ryan Giggs 7

Old Trafford legend who broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s United appearance record in Moscow. Struggled to hold down a place in the starting XI this year but scored a crucial goal against Wigan Athletic in the last league match of the season.

Nani 7

Portuguese boy wonder who has nearly as many tricks in his box as Ronaldo. Being groomed by Fergsuon to replace Giggs.

Anderson 7

Destined to replace Scholes in midfield over the next few seasons and made an impact in his first year at Old Trafford by giving as good as he got against Steven Gerrard and Cesc Fabregas

Eight Final thoughts on '08

2008-05-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

By Doug Gratton

1. Fergie goes back to the future

Not sure if it was player power that turned the bulb on, but Sir Alex Ferguson finally seemed to see the light last night. He put Cautious Quieroz’s ‘Coward’s Guide to the Euro-Game’ back in its box and went for Chelsea’s throat from the kick-off. Result: not only are United champions, but looked the part for 45 minutes at least.

2. But he’s still a tactical disaster

True to form, however, he came up with a classic bit of Fergster tinkering. What do you do when you need an outlet up front and a winning goal? You take off the one and only Wayne Rooney – whose leg did not appear to be broken - and bring on the one and only, err, Nani. You still got it, Fergie

3. Did Edwin really win it?

Many in the media inevitably made VDS the hero, apparently we even support ‘Van United’. But if the old beanpole hadn’t saved that penalty, he could have been a villain of the piece. Flapped and slapped, fell over to let Lampard score, two other soft pens went through him. Fergie signed him too late, but that’s no excuse for keeping him too late as well.

4. Why Drogba did it

Was it really such a mystery why the obnoxious Chelsea striker cissy-slapped Vidic? It was surely because our Serb militiaman had slapped Drogba’s ass – figuratively speaking and in strictly football terms of course – through the game.

5. Kick fatalism out of football

Everybody from Fergie down is banging on about how fate made Terry miss that penalty. Presumably if he had scored and they won, it would have been fate or Frank Lampard’s mum that bounced the ball off Rio’s backside for their goal, United did not win because of anniversaries, but because they seized the day.

6. Ronaldo's going – should Giggsy go first?

Let’s face it, Ronaldo to Madrid is a matter of when and how much. Stop worrying and enjoy it while it lasts. Meanwhile, can those who say this team is already better than ‘99 explain why Giggs should still be more or less in it in 2009? Of course it is harder to retire from the champions than from a team heading for relegation, as Charlton did. But what better time for an all-time great to go?

7. Schadenfreude – bloody hell.

Like it or not, the final reminds us that one of the pleasures of football – as opposed to real life - is enjoying the misfortune of others. No doubt John Terry is the upstanding citizen many claim, but I fear the immediate reaction of many of us was that it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.

8. Victory, but no parade?

Well, I suppose it’s better than doing it the other way round like some clubs, but a victory for commonsense it ain’t. The authorities are happy to exploit football for financial or political purposes, but cannot seem to get over their view of fans as the scum of the earth. Or in our case, champion scum of Europe.

Who's hot and who's not in this summer's sales

2008-05-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

From The Times May 26, 2008

Arsenal

Budget £30 million.

Areas of need Could this be the summer when Arsène Wenger realises that he has to get his chequebook out if he wants to keep up with Manchester United and Chelsea? Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb, who is set to leave, need to be replaced and Arsenal would benefit from signing a nononsense defender to add some steel to the side. A replacement for Jens Lehmann, the goalkeeper, is also required.

Targets Samir Nasri, the Marseilles midfield player, is on his way to the Emirates Stadium for £11 million and Jean Makoun, the Lille and Cameroon defensive midfield player, wants to move to London. Sébastian Frey, the Fiorentina goalkeeper, is available, but is valued at £16 million. Mouhamadou Dabo and Blaise Matuidi could also arrive, as well as Mario Gómez, the Stuttgart forward.

Surplus to requirements Gilberto Silva has a year left on his contract but wants to stay. Juventus are interested in Philippe Senderos and Arsenal will laugh all the way to the bank if the Italian club follow up their interest by bidding £5 million.

Aston Villa

Budget £30-£40 million.

Areas of need Right winger, midfield playmaker, cover at left back, goalkeeper.

Targets Michael Lumb (Aarhus), Nicky Shorey (Reading), Ben Foster (Manchester United), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Steve Sidwell (Chelsea), Sergio Asenjo (Real Valladolid), Yoann Pelé (Le Mans), Sebastián Eguren (Villarreal).

Surplus to requirements Olof Mellberg, Scott Carson.

Blackburn Rovers

Budget £10 million.

Areas of need Mark Hughes, the manager, does not require a great deal. However, he would like to add at least one reinforcement in defence, midfield and attack as the club look to build on their seventh-place finish in the Barclays Premier League by qualifying for Europe next term.

Targets Anthony Annan, the IK Start and Ghana midfield player. Meanwhile, Marc Torrejón Moya and Ferrán Corominas Telechea, the Espanyol defender and forward respectively, have both been linked with Rovers and would cost a combined fee of at least £8 million.

Surplus to requirements Maceo Rigters, the Dutch striker who has made only two starts since his £500,000 move from NAC Breda last summer, is available for transfer. Hughes’s main priority is to keep hold of Roque Santa Cruz, the Paraguay striker, and David Bentley, the England international playmaker.

Bolton Wanderers

Budget: £20 million.

Areas of need: Top-quality additions are needed in most positions, with a striker – possibly two – an absolute necessity for Gary Megson, the manager, who will be given most of the £15 million received from the sale of Nicolas Anelka to Chelsea in January and then some to spend to cure the club’s goals shortage.

Targets: Johan Elmander, the Toulouse and Sweden forward, is a principal target, although Megson is interested in any of Bafetimbi Gomis, the St Etienne striker, Simon Vukcevic, of Sporting Lisbon, Marko Pantelic, the Hertha Berlin forward, and Luis Antonio JÍmenez, of Inter Milan. Paul Robinson, the out-of-favour Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper, and midfield players Zoltan Gera, of West Bromwich Albion, and Anthony Annan, of IK Start, are other options.

Surplus to requirements: Iván Campo, Andranik Teymourian and Stelios Giannakopoulos, the midfield players, have all been released. Megson wants to keep Jussi Jaaskelainen, the goalkeeper, Ricardo Gardner, the left back, and El-Hadji Diouf, the forward, but all three could leave the Reebok.

Chelsea

Budget Unlimited.

Areas of need A new manager and an owner who will let the new man get on with it would be a good start. Whoever replaces Avram Grant will probably need to replace Didier Drogba and sign wide players who are more dangerous than Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou.

Targets José Bosingwa has been signed from Porto to solve their right-back problem. At least two more arrivals are expected once a new manager signs on the dotted line. Robinho’s agent claims that Chelsea are willing to pay £28 million for the Real Madrid forward and Dimitar Berbatov is still on the radar.

Surplus to requirements Barcelona are interested in signing Malouda and Shaun Wright-Phillips could be on his way to Newcastle for £8 million. Few tears would be shed in the Chelsea dressing-room if Drogba joined Inter Milan or city rivals AC, while they will be dancing in the streets if someone – anyone – comes in for Andriy Shevchenko.

Everton

Budget £25 million.

Areas of need David Moyes is in the market for a back-up goalkeeper, a destructive and a creative midfield player and would not say no to a high-calibre goalscorer to ease the burden on Nigeria’s Yakubu Ayegbeni, who became the first man since Peter Beardsley in 1992 to score 20 goals in a season last term.

Targets Moyes has checked on Jo, the £18 million-rated CSKA Moscow and Brazil striker, who could be available on a season-long loan, although he may lose out to Manchester City. Dudu, Jo’s teammate at CSKA, Michael Bradley and Modeste M’Bami, the Heerenveen and Marseilles midfield players respectively, and Maik Taylor, the Birmingham City goalkeeper, are under scrutiny. Manuel Fernandes, the midfield player, could have his loan from Valencia extended.

Surplus to requirements Stefan Wessels, the goalkeeper, has been released and Thomas Gravesen and Anthony Gardner have returned to Celtic and Tottenham respectively. Lee Carsley, the midfield player, has joined Birmingham City and Andy van der Meyde finally looks to be on his way.

Fulham

Budget £20million.

Areas of need Paul Stalteri has returned to Tottenham Hotspur, so a right back is required as well as another midfield player and at least one forward. Brian McBride and Diomansy Kamara may be leaving so Roy Hodgson is looking at strikers with Premier League experience.

Targets Bernard Mendy, the former Bolton Wanderers defender, is close to joining on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain. Hodgson could be bringing Louis Saha back to Craven Cottage. The injury-prone Manchester United forward would cost £4million.

Surplus to requirements Eight players, including Carlos Bocanegra and Philippe Christanval, have been released. The futures of Chris Baird, Moritz Volz, Seol Ki Hyeon and Lee Cook remain in doubt.

Hull City

Budget £10-£15 million.

Areas of need Here, there and everywhere, with the shock of promotion yet to fully sink in. On Saturday, before their play-offs final victory, Paul Duffen, the chairman, said: “The next 90 minutes will determine whether I eat or sleep for the next month.” He will not be sleeping much.

Targets Fraizer Campbell, securing second season on loan from Manchester United, Iván Campo (free agent).

Surplus to requirements David Livermore, Michael Bridges.

Liverpool

Budget How much Rafael BenÍtez has to spend will be entirely dependent on who he can offload, with Peter Crouch and Xabi Alonso likely to fetch a combined fee of £30 million. Should Dubai International Capital (DIC) win control, BenÍtez may suddenly find his transfer kitty swells.

Areas of need Back-up goalkeeper, left back, central midfield, and possibly another forward. The manager would dearly love to make two world-class additions of the calibre of Fernando Torres.

Targets Gareth Barry, the England midfield player, although Martin O’Neill, the Aston Villa manager, appears determined to keep his captain. A deal for Andrea Dossena, the Udinese left back, is close to being finalised while Philipp Degen, the Switzerland right back, will join on a free transfer.

Surplus to requirements Where to start? Juventus are interested in Alonso, Crouch is available at the right price, Harry Kewell has been released, while Jermaine Pennant, John Arne Riise, Scott Carson, Steven Finnan and Sebastián Leto could all end up being sold.

Manchester City

Budget £40 million.

Areas of need Clarity over the manager’s position for a start. With an exodus of strikers expected, a high-calibre forward is an absolute necessity. A full back, a winger and another playmaker are wanted too.

Targets City have been working on a list supplied by Sven-Göran Eriksson, so things may well change if the Swede is given his marching orders. But as it stands, Jo, the CSKA Moscow and Brazil striker, who could initially be available on loan, and Andrei Arshavin, the Zenit St Petersburg and Russia playmaker, are two principal targets. Vágner Love and Daniel Carvalho, who also play for CSKA, are alternatives.

Surplus to requirements City want Richard Dunne to stay, but with a number of clubs circling, the captain may well leave. Stephen Ireland and Michael Johnson, the talented young midfield players, are also wanted men. An audacious move from Manchester United for defender Micah Richards cannot be ruled out. More certain are the departures of Rolando Bianchi, Bernardo Corradi, Georgios Samaras, Geovanni, Danny Mills and Sun Jihai.

Manchester United

Budget Whatever Sir Alex Ferguson wants, he will get.

Areas of need A pedigree striker to ease the goalscoring burden on Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tévez and Cristiano Ronaldo and, with doubts over Gary Neville’s future, a high-calibre right back.

Targets Luis Fabiano, the Seville and Brazil striker, is thought to be figuring prominently in Ferguson’s thoughts, although he is also an admirer of Tottenham’s Dimitar Berbatov and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, of Ajax. Daniel Alves, of Seville, Micah Richards, of Manchester City, and Bayern Munich’s Philipp Lahm, are options in the full back position. Aaron Ramsey, the 17-year-old Cardiff City midfield player, is on the radar. United have already signed identical twins Fabio and Rafael Silva, young Brazilian full backs, and have bid for Jeremy Helen, the Rennes left back, and Darnel Situ, the France Under16 captain.

Surplus to requirements: Although Ferguson has said that he doesn’t expect anyone to leave, Gerard Piqué is close to joining Barcelona, while Mikaël Silvestre is expected to sign for Bordeaux. Louis Saha, the injury-prone France striker, is likely to be the most high-profile casualty.

Middlesbrough

Budget At least £10 million on top of what comes into the coffers through sales. A decrease in the wage bill provides scope for free transfers.

Areas of need Midfield. Fabio Rochemback and Gaizka Mendieta have already left Teesside, Gary O’Neil is unsettled and George Boateng is not certain to fulfil the final year of his contract. The club have no plans to replace Mark Schwarzer, the goalkeeper, who has already defected to Fulham.

Targets Southgate is a confirmed admirer of Chelsea’s Steve Sidwell, while James Milner (pictured), of Newcastle United, will be a target if O’Neil moves south. As always during transfer windows, retaining the services of Stewart Downing, the England winger, is among the priorities.

Surplus to requirements Middlesbrough have already been active in this regard, with Rochemback, Mendieta, Schwarzer and Dong Gook Lee all bidding their farewells. Few others will leave, but Southgate must decide whether loan periods will benefit his club’s good youngsters.

Newcastle United

Budget About £20 million, and whatever they can generate from sales.

Areas of need Aside from a new contract for Michael Owen, Kevin Keegan wants two or three players who can “set the place alight”. A left back, a centre half, guile in midfield and possibly another forward. Directors want youngsters with a sell-on value.

Targets They have two lists, remember. On Keegan’s, experience dominates: the likes of Richard Dunne, John Arne Riise and Peter Crouch. On Dennis Wise’s: Bafetimbi Gomis, Amara Diané and many others.

Surplus to requirements Stephen Carr, James Troisi and Peter Ramage have already been released. Most supporters would shed few tears if Alan Smith was sold after a miserable debut season. Shola Ameobi will leave, while Caçapa, Charles N’Zogbia and Gérémi are vulnerable.

Portsmouth

Budget £35 million – the TV money and the profits from the FA Cup run.

Areas of need A target man to supply Jermain Defoe, a more reliable winger than John Utaka (and one who can play on the left) to supply the crosses, and, with Sol Campbell nearing retirement, a central defender with pace.

Targets Peter Crouch, of Liverpool, is already lined up as the forward and John Mensah, the Ghana defender, seems likely to join from Rennes. Nathan Dyer, of Southampton, and Danny Haynes, of Ipswich Town, are also under scrutiny.

Surplus to requirements Sean Davis and Lauren have one year left on their contracts and will be allowed to leave, while the option to make Milan Baros’s loan permanent is unlikely to be taken up.

Stoke City

Budget £15-£20 million.

Areas of need As with any of the top-flight new boys, probably in every position. A goalkeeper is of prime concern, with Carlo Nash returning to Wigan Athletic after a loan period and Russell Hoult being released.

Targets Shola Ameobi, of Newcastle United, Rudolph Austin (Portmore United), Carlo Nash (Wigan Athletic), Márton Fülöp (Sunderland), Marek Cech (FC Porto), Chris Riggott (Middlesbrough).

Surplus to requirements Dominic Matteo (released), Russell Hoult (released), Marlon Broomes (released), Robbie Garrett (released), Jon Parkin, Vincent Péricard.

Sunderland

Budget Roy Keane has demanded £50 million and what the manager wants, the manager tends to get. Or else.

Areas of need Everywhere. Kenwyne Jones needs at least one quality partner in attack, central defence needs bolstering, particularly with Jonny Evans returning to Manchester United, and midfield requires an enforcer. A sharp injection of quality, in other words.

Targets Persuading Sir Alex Ferguson to sell Evans would probably rank as Keane’s priority. After Reading’s relegation, Stephen Hunt again becomes a target, as is Julio Arca. Diego Forlán, Keane’s former teammate, keeps getting mentioned, plus Richard Dunne and Stephen Ireland.

Surplus to requirements A long list, given that Keane has described Jones and Craig Gordon, the goalkeeper, as Sunderland’s only “untouchables”. He wants a leaner, meaner, better squad, so expect the departures to stretch into double figures.

Tottenham Hotspur

Budget £25million (less than the sum expected to be accrued from sales).

Areas of need Juande Ramos has earmarked at least two midfield players, including a holding player, to complement the arrival of Luka Modric. A goalkeeper, a centre back, a winger and a forward.

Targets Richard Dunne, Dean Ashton, Marcelo Moreno, Jean Makoun, David Bentley.

Surplus to requirements Paul Robinson, Pascal Chimbonda, Lee Young Pyo, Ricardo Rocha, Younès Kaboul, Anthony Gardner, Benoît Assou-Ekotto, Teemu Tainio, Hossam Ghaly, Kevin Boateng, Adel Taarabt, Darren Bent.

Seeking a move Dimitar Berbatov.

West Bromwich Albion

Budget £15-£20 million.

Areas of need Much will depend on whether Zoltan Gera, the Hungary midfield player, is lured away by the promise of greater riches elsewhere. A winger is needed, as well as a goalkeeper of repute.

Targets Luke Moore (Aston Villa), Marek Cech (FC Porto), Bonaventure Kalou (free agent), Pat McCourt (Derry City), Radoslaw Majewski (Groclin Dyskobolia), Graham Dorrans (Livingston), Jesper Christiansen (FC Copenhagen).

Surplus to requirements Bostjan Cesar.

Wigan Athletic

Budget At least £20 million.

Areas of need Left back, central defence, midfield and up front. Steve Bruce, the manager, has already begun dispensing with those he does not want and aims to fine tune his squad and make it strong enough to avoid another relegation battle next season.

Targets Bruce will travel to Florida this week in the hope of tying up season-long loan deals for Maynor Figueroa and Hendry Thomas, the Deportivo Olimpia left back and midfield player respectively, both of whom will be in action for Honduras in a friendly against Venezuela in Fort Lauderdale on Friday. Other targets include Amir Zahi, the Egypt striker, Hassan Yebda, the Le Mans midfield player, and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, the AEK Athens defender.

Surplus to requirements Bruce is determined to hang on to the talented Luis Antonio Valencia and Wilson Palacios, who have been inked with moves to Manchester United. Josip Skoko, the Australia midfield player, has left along with Julius Aghahowa, the Nigeria forward, and Salomon Olembé, the defender.

West Ham United

Budget £12 million

Areas of need Alan Curbishley believes that his squad is strong enough if they get better fortune with injuries next season. This summer he is after two full backs, a central defender and a forward, should star striker Dean Ashton leave.

Targets Richard Dunne, Marco Zambelli, Davide Lanzafame, Nicky Shorey, Darren Bent.

Surplus to requirements Danny Gabbidon, John Pantsil, Carlton Cole, James Collins, Nigel Quashie, Calum Davenport, Lee Bowyer, LuÍs Boa Morte, Richard Wright.

Possible departures: Fredrik Ljungberg, Anton Ferdinand, Dean Ashton

This is more for me than anyone else...Just so i know i make good points once in a while

2008-05-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

I Got Printed AGAIN...that makes it just one failed attempt, that was when i really let the newspaper have it for printing the spoilers of the final Potter book on the day it released...

Here Is The Content...

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Back to Section Stories Posted On Friday, May 23, 2008

Mayor’s birthday

This is with reference to the report, ‘Thanks, but it’s not my birthday today’ (MM, May 22). As Mayor Dr Shubha Raul celebrates her birthday on the wrong day, we citizens also pray to the Almighty to give her all good health and courage to stand against all odds and continue doing the good things she is doing for Mumbai such as launching the clean-up campaign. Such erroneous entries made in school admission forms are not very uncommon. It allows early admission to younger children. This also affects people as they have to claim early retirement. Thankfully, the BMC is now keeping track of birth certificates in order to prevent such mistakes affecting our future generations. - M K Gunaseelan

Gruesome details

This is with reference to the story, ‘Missing man found cut into 300 pieces’ (MM, May 22). I genuinely feel that Mumbai Mirror should be ultra cautious with the headlines, as they attract attention instantly and even children get impacted with such headlines. Publishing such a headline which almost gives gruesome and sordid details of the crime can perturb even adults, forget about young impressionable minds. Please refrain from printing such headlines in the future. - Jaishree Premkumar

Please cover football

As football and Manchester United fans, we hope to find broader coverage of the Champions League final. The allocation of four to five pages just for the Indian Premier League at the cost of omission of other sporting events is not appropriate. It annoys us readers who believe that the Champions League final is a much bigger event than the IPL. The sports desk should consider using this as the top story. Also, I would like to reiterate that Mumbai Mirror should avoid the usage of the term Man U for Manchester United and use terms such as Man Utd or United. - Flavian Patrao

Want to be heard? Write in to us at mirrorfeedback@indiatimes.com

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Ji, Hargo and Carrick

2008-05-25T01:32:00.000-07:00

This one is old but a good read just to notice the camaraderie between players:

United's midfield is under the spotlight for its quality and sheer strength in numbers. But although there's stiff competition for places, the camaraderie doesn't suffer, as Inside United's interview with Carrick, Hargreaves and Park shows...

Who is the most difficult player to play against?

MC : Scholesy in training!

OH : Seriously, he’s the best around. But there are different types of players, some where you know you’re going to have to be at the top of your game. Sometimes playing teams at the bottom of the league can be harder because they’re onto you all game, whereas the best teams give you more time on the ball. Some of the most gifted don’t always want to defend - Zidane for instance - but he’s one of the best I’ve ever played against. Good players find space and time when there is none, and no-one’s better at that than Scholesy. The best footballers also slow the game down - even if it’s very hectic - they can put their foot on the ball.

MC : That’s a very important element of our game

You’ve all experienced injuries in the last season or two - it must be frustrating to pick up a knock when you’re trying to cement a place in the team?

MC : Ji’s been out longer than most. [laughs] You answer this one Ji...

JSP: It is very difficult. When you get an injury you work alone in the gym; you don’t see any friends. You have to keep doing the same things but you just have to keep thinking about what it’s like when you get back.

OH : I’m shocking at watching games.

JSP : I feel uncomfortable and wonder why I’m just watching and sitting there.

MC : Me too. It’s so frustrating. It doesn’t matter what injury it is, whether it lasts three weeks or a few months, you know you’re going to be missing out and you’re not with the boys day in, day out. It’s hard to take but it’s part of the game, so you have to find a way of dealing with it.

Are you finding it easier to get involved now you speak the language, Ji? You mentioned in a previous interview that you didn't always understand the jokes in the dressing room, has that changed?

JSP : [laughs] No, not really! I enjoy speaking English and I am getting better but it’s not enough yet.

MC: You’re kidding, aren’t you?

OH: He’s hammering Patrice [Evra] every day!

What would constitute a successful season this year?

OH: To win as much as possible. We would like success in everything and people often say that, but it’s hard to do it all. It’s not that easy to win the Champions League and we have to be on top of our game between now and May to do that.

MC: Getting some more nice easy draws in the FA Cup would help our cause no end!

Courtesy : Red view

United Want MORE

2008-05-25T01:27:00.000-07:00

At around 1.40am Moscow time on Thursday, a very wet and contented Paul Scholes broke away from his jubilant Manchester United team-mates to wander across the Luzhniki Stadium pitch. The 33-year-old had featured prominently in the build-up to the 2008 Champions League final because of his suspension from United's 1999 triumph. But, as he experienced a personal moment of redemption, Scholes was about to demonstrate why, in the post-match press conference, Sir Alex Ferguson would describe him, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville as 'knowing what Manchester United means and how to conduct themselves'.

Scholes humbly took time to shake the hands of the inconsolable Chelsea players, who had just suffered defeat by the dreaded penalty shoot-out, though he did not have much luck with a disconsolate John Terry, whose missed kick cost Chelsea the European Cup. Later, Terry refused to talk to the media, despite being his team's captain, and has since had to defend himself against allegations that he spat at Carlos Tevez.

While Terry's actions detracted from what could have been a noble defeat, Scholes's gave an added sheen to United's victory - before Ferguson gave it a hard edge of reality. 'I don't get carried away,' the manager said. 'Tomorrow morning I will be thinking about next season. It drains away very quickly - that drug, that final moment. I will be thinking about the future and looking into the players' eyes to make sure their hunger is still there.'

This United side of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez was, said Ferguson, 'great, fantastic. My best team ever? Yes.' Almost in the same breath, though, he announced how Scholes and Giggs, those epitomes of what the club is all about, would be 'phased out'.

Why? Because he wants to achieve what no other club have done during the 15 years of the Champions League - retain the trophy.

Ferguson has had this opportunity once, following the 1999 victory against Bayern Munich, and failed. The best any club have managed is winning the Champions League one year and being losing finalists the next: Milan in 1994 and 1995, and Ajax in 1995 and 1996. The last team to hold on to the trophy were Milan in 1990 when a Frank Rijkaard goal defeated Sven-Goran Eriksson's Benfica to win what was still then just the plain old European Cup.

Immediately after the defeat of Chelsea in Moscow, Ferguson's players indicated their determination. 'There's no amount of money that can buy the feeling we have now,' Rio Ferdinand said. 'We want more. We want to go past people who have been here before, we want to win two, three, if we can. That's what drives us on. If you come to Manchester United, with its history, character and tradition - to not feel part of that, or want to be part of that, then it's a bit of disrespect to be honest.'

This will be music to Ferguson's always-open ears, precisely the attitude that should make the central defender Neville's permanent replacement as club captain. Asked if he felt United were now alongside Real Madrid and Milan, clubs with nine and seven European Cups respectively, Ferdinand said: 'Not really. I think you've got to get up to five or six, and that's something we're working towards.'

Michael Carrick agreed. 'I am not satisfied. It might sound greedy, but once you've got a taste for it you want more.

'It makes you understand how the likes of Giggsy and Scholesy want to keep going. We've got the team. We've got the squad. We have shown it once. It would be nice if we can keep it going.'

Complacency is the reason often given for why Ferguson's 1999 team of Giggs, Neville, Jaap Stam and David Beckham tailed off. Ferguson agreed, saying that same year that the Premiership titles won in the two seasons after 1999 'certainly took the edge off our play in Europe'.

There were other factors that hampered United's progress nine years ago. They included an ageing squad that featured Peter Schmeichel and Denis Irwin, and a lack of real depth of quality. After the match at the Luzhniki, these were alluded to by United's players. Giggs was quick to remind younger team-mates, including Carrick and Ronaldo, of what they could still achieve. 'I said to Ronaldo to enjoy it and make sure it's not your last. With his talent, at 22, 23, he should be having more nights like this. Hopefully he will.'

Wayne Rooney, who has now replaced Keane as United's talisman, agreed. 'We can get better. There are a lot of young players still learning the game, the ability and potential is definitely there.'

There was also agreement that Ferguson has a far stronger squad than in 1999. The Scot's other problem nine years ago was failing to strengthen. Of the 1999 starting XI, Schmeichel left immediately and was not properly replaced until Edwin Van der Sar arrived two seasons ago. In central defence, Ferguson fell out with Jaap Stam and only when Nemanja Vidic was bought in 2006 to partner Ferdinand did the club again have a formidable defence, one that conceded a club record low of 22 goals in the Premier League this season.

Now, Ferguson's immediate needs are a right-back to compete with Wes Brown for Neville's place and a striker capable of 20 goals, as Louis Saha seems likely to move this summer.

Despite Ferguson saying Van der Sar has 'more seasons in him', the Dutchman is a year older than Schmeichel was when he walked away. And, with Scholes and Giggs gradually fading from Ferguson's plans as first choices, a midfielder and wide player could also be brought to the club.

Before any fresh recruitment, though, Ferguson's first big task would seem to be convincing Ronaldo to stay. His contradictory utterings regarding his future are more reminiscent of Didier Drogba than Scholes, Giggs, or Neville. 'Manchester is not the best place. But the club is fantastic,' Ronaldo said.

This may be a bargaining ploy to improve a new five-year contract he signed last year. But it will hardly impress Ferguson, Sir Bobby Charlton, who recently criticised the 42-goal, double player of the year for still occasionally diving, or even Ferdinand, who is keen to emphasise the importance of togetherness.

'The manager here and the players who have been here for a long time, and everyone at the training ground they all buy into that, and every new player has to buy into that as well,' said the captain.

If next season's Champions League final in Rome is to be reached team spirit is vital, so Ronaldo cannot become a distraction. Before United's fifth-round FA Cup tie against Portsmouth in March, Ferguson told a friend he had never had a group of players who were so tight. Their reaction since the subsequent 1-0 defeat has proved that.

The credit belongs to the supreme manager of men, Ferguson. As Rooney said: 'He has been fantastic. His desire to win things after all these years is unbelievable. He's been there before and with all the experience he's got you have to listen to him. He enjoys coming in every day and passing his knowledge down to the younger players.'

Now, with a tilt at defending the European Cup on the horizon, Ferguson will begin employing that wisdom, beginning with a strong, hard look in the eyes of his players. Young and old.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer...Memories

2008-05-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

The Norwegian striker went down in United history when he fired homed a last-ditch winner against Bayern Munich in 1999 to secure them their second European Cup victory and complete a miraculous treble.

The 35-year-old is unlikely to forget such an overwhelming career-highlight, especially as so many Mancunians are only too happy to remind him of that night in Barcelona.

He said: “Most of the people I meet mention the night in Barcelona and give me the thumbs up, saying, ‘Thanks for giving me the best night of my life — but please don’t tell my wife!’ That’s the comment they always come up with, ‘It’s even better than my wedding night’.

“And after a while you maybe start believing it. You believe that it was a great, great night for many, many people.

“I didn’t realise it at the time. I just played a game, won a game. You’re just so focused when you’re in the middle of it. So focused on winning that you don’t think about the consequences for so many other people.

“You think about yourself and having won the Champions League and blah, blah, blah. After my years here now I realise how big a moment it was in United’s history.”

Solskjaer was forced into retirement earlier this season after a string of injury problems, but has stayed on at Old Trafford as a coach.

“Looking back to that final in ’99 we have to be honest and say that Bayern Munich were the better team that night and we rode our luck as they hit the crossbar and hit the post. We never had a shot on target for 80 minutes but that’s football for you.”

Solskjaer feared he would not get a run-out at all in ’99, and said: “The manager had a chat with Teddy [Sheringham] to say that he was going to put him on. I was in the background hoping that he’d come over to me, but he didn’t.

“He had a chat with everyone to say they should leave with no regrets. He said, ‘If we walk out of here losing, you have to walk past that cup without touching it. You can’t touch it. That’s the worst feeling you can have in a football game. Just don’t let yourselves down and give 100 per cent’.

“I remember half-time and the second half just waiting for him to give me the nod, because I was just warming up and warming up, just waiting and waiting and trying to catch his eye all the time.

“I became quite good at that after a while. I just tried to make sure I was ready. I was thinking, ‘Why don’t you put me on?’”

Lucky?

Sir Alex Ferguson did notice, it would seem, and his decision to withdraw Jesper Blomqvist and Andy Cole in favour of Sheringham and Solskjaer proved a managerial masterstroke.

Sheringham’s 91st minute strike cancelled out Mario Basler’s early goal for Bayern, before the Baby-Faced Assassin killed the game two minutes later when he poked home a David Beckham cross.

“The ball came off my big toe,” Solskjaer said. “Seriously, I don’t remember what I was thinking.

“I’ve just seen the ball as I was running down and sliding. I’ve always been a methodic trainer. I’ve practised and practised over and over again.

“When I see my goals now that I’ve retired, I see I practised that a lot. But the one that night was just a lucky moment — 99 out of a 100 times that would go into the hands of Oliver Kahn or on to the head of the guy on the line.

“I’ve always got more pleasure out of scoring when I’ve practised something. That’s just the way I’ve always been. It gives me more of a good feeling. But you obviously take anything.

“I can see now I was very focused. I’ve replayed the tape of those 15 minutes once. When I run on to the pitch I’m springy and that’s a sign for me that I’m on good form.”

Big

Solskjaer had already built reputation as something of a super-sub, memorably scoring 4 times against Nottingham Forest after coming on with only 12 minutes remaining.

And the Norwegian sensed he was destined to do something special during the final, even though he spent the majority of the game on the sidelines.

“Because I’d come on and scored at Liverpool and Forest, I had the hope, a premonition, that I was going to score or do something that night,” he said.

“I phoned my best mate, a nurse in Sweden, at two or three o’clock in the afternoon, when Jaap Stam my room-mate was snoring and I couldn’t sleep.

“I told him to watch the full game, something big is going to happen. But he said he wouldn’t see the last half hour as he would be at work.

“I’m very proud of what I achieved. I’ve got the medals but not a good knee. That’s life!”

JOHN TERRY JOKES

2008-05-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

Why can't you get a cup of tea at the Bridge? All the mugs are on the field and all the cups are at Old Trafford.

Missing: 1 x Bottle
Last Seen: 21st May, Moscow
If found please return to: John Terry, Stamford Bridge, London

Heard about the John Terry tyre? Excellent durability but not so good in the wet.

John Terry always listens to the same song before a game - Born Slippy.

What is top of the man utd pop charts? Footloose.

Did you hear about the new 'Chelsea Bra'? Lots of support but no cups.

Frank Lampard and Joe Cole were allegedly spotted out in Red Square last night, having clearly had one or two drinks. They were reportedly singing: "We're forever blowing Doubles."

John Terry is going to start making is own brand of vodka - and like him it's bottled in Russia.

After Ryan Giggs lifted the Champions League cup for a second time he had a peek inside and there was a Chocolate Orange in it. He said - "It's not Terry's, it's mine!"

Samaritans are offering counselling to all Chelsea fans. Call 0800 101010 – that’s 08000 won nothing won nothing won nothing.

And If that line gets too busy there is another number to call: 0800 6-5 6-5 6-5.

Good news and bad news
Good news is Josep Fritzel is suffering the death penalty
bad news is John Terry is taking it

When John Terry's missus is not in the mood, she makes him wear a Chelsea shirt to bed; no chance of him scoring

what is top of the man utd pop charts? Footloose!

I hear they're ploughing up Stamford bridge next year and planting spuds so the players will something to lift at the end of the season.

Flavian's Thoughts About United's Win in Europe

2008-05-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

Having watched the entire Champions League Final for the third time and thought it would be fair to make a few points …
Firstly, MANCHESTER UNITED ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE…WOOOOOOHOOO
The last time this happened (1999) I wasn’t aware of club football as I am now. I distinctly remember the RJ on Radio Oman go absolutely nuts when United came back in added time after Bayern lead by a goal to nil throughout the game, while I waited in the car outside Sultan Shopping (no more in existence) impatiently waiting for him to play music. Back then it was all about National teams. I knew about the existence of clubs but their squads were unknown for me.
Next, it was interesting to note that the media felt for Chelsea for having lost yet another final. The common comment was that there was no shame in losing after a penalty shootout. When Liverpool beat AC Milan in a shootout in Istanbul, nobody made such a comment. Someone see anything wrong there? It is wrong to call a penalty shootout a lottery… I think it is a discipline/skill which teams spend time on during their sessions; at least they should do so before a knockout game. Seriously how many did not think it would come down to penalties. I said so soon after Chelsea qualified for the final. Truth is Manchester United should have finished the game in the first half itself. While Terry’s slip and miss is considered unlucky/bad luck by so many (especially non Manchester United fans), I wonder how many would feel the same way had Chelsea won it and VDS’ slip for the equalizer along with the Ronaldo miss be seen as the reason for the loss. Not many…To be fair Mr. Chelsea deserved it, he should not have been on the field after spitting on Carlos Tevez, who was brilliant in getting the lost ball back by the way. I HAVE AN EXPLINATION AS TO WHY TERRY SLIPPED…TEVEZ SPIT WHERE IT MATTERED…RIGHT AT THE SPOT WHERE TERRY LANDED HIS BOOT. It seems that many see the Drogba dismissal in a similar way as they did with Zidane’s world cup sending off. Many see it as a turning point. I disagree. I think with Zidane there was a sense that had the game gone on into PK then it was always going to be Italy’s World Cup. Then there was the rage at being humiliated by Matrix’s comment. Drogba on the other hand was just stupid…he has gotten away with so many decisions for simulation that he does not know how to behave. He had to be punished. The first two yellow cards to Scholes and Makelele seemed unreasonable but I think it was given out as the ref wanted to show he was Boss. After all the Luis Garcia goal is still fresh in people’s memory. I aways thought that Chelsea would never really fire if Joe Cole was not at his best. He gives their physical game the creativity they need.
Ronaldo was frickin awesome…yes he missed but I do not think United fans will mind it now that the trophy is won. In fact he will be the most relieved that his mates in the team bailed him out. What I mean by ‘Ronaldo was frickin awesome’ is that he made Essien look like a Fiat in front of a Ferrari. Ashley Cole would probably have been more effective. Cole on the other hand was having trouble earlier with Hargreaves. The form (body shape…not rhythm) that he had when he scored from Brown’s cross was majestic. Brown on the other hand can continue in the right back role. Buying big there will shatter all the confidence he has gained this season. Ronaldo’s run up to the penalty was probably what helped Cech. Cech probably studied Ronaldo’s videos to notice how he favors that particular side that he tried to have a go at again. The pause during the run up only helped Cech cover, more ground. The most amusing runs while taking the PKs belonged to Tevez and Anderson.
Rooney was anonymous on the night but that was mainly because the battle raged on in the centre on the pitch. His counterattacks were BRILLIANT though. Have a look at the game at the 34th minute and you will know it is no BS. Tevez could have killed the game then had he used the fed ball from Ronaldo which was a result of the Rooney run. Nobody in Europe can match United when it comes to counterattacks. AC Milan come close when they are in form collectively. That is where united are so dangerous. The exclusion of Park was a shock. I expected Carrick on the bench with Park playing on the wings so United could score first. I made a mention of my team for the finals a few posts earlier and Park was there. Sir Alex knows best but I feel for Park who could not really take part in the trophy presentations. Nice to see Neville come and get Ronaldo up on his feet after VDS made the save off Anelka (who seemed to be detached from the Chelsea team, then again he always seems that way). Scholes also went ahead and tried to encourage the Chelsea players. Over the last season I kept asking myself where was the next strong headed leader for United come from and Rio Ferdinand has answered that question. He did not have the kind of game as he did when they beat Barcelona but he is instrumental and is the voice for the team. Go back to the home game against Arsenal after the Ronaldo equalizer and see how Rio gets his team back on the field immediately instead of celebrating too much sensing that they had time to come get a second and win the game that would eliminate Arsenal from the race and strengthen United’s chances for a title. It played out just like that. Rio played an important part in getting Drogba sent off…and then when Drogba walked towards Vidic you could see Rio come in between them so that a man who was already sent off would not cause further trouble. Small things… but that’s what makes him a great captain. In contrast you can go back to the Nani sending off against the hammers and see Tevez’s reaction then.
Sir Alex will probably go for another ATLEAST one more European Title with the same enthusiasm he showed this season before he calls it a day. This urgency he showed picked up last season and the result was there for all to see. Before that (post 1999) United had really poor campaigns. That is why Sir Alex said that he had to address his weakness in European competition. Anderson and Nani were came good in a high pressure situation and this will really help them in their United careers. VDS, Giggs and Scholes seemed pleased that they had won the competition once more before they ended their careers. Congratulations Giggs…most appearances in a Red Devil Jersey. Evra will be pleased to be part of a winning side this time around having lost with Monaco. Ballack on the other hand will envy Evra, he has lost in the finals with a different club this time. Hargreaves won his second CL final, this time with a different club. Many pundits and commentators predicted that Scholes would not last longer than 55-60 minutes…well he proved them wrong and came off right at the end. He has another season with a hatful of appearances left in him. Without a doubt VDS was the hero on the night…He will go down in United history with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The win has led to something annoying…Glory Hunter activity…Which means more people than before are claiming to be fans with no knowledge about United history. There are so many who address the team as M*n * without knowing what it means. And it is ANNOYING. The few who actually are attracted or who have noticed United after the win are always welcome but Glory hunters can…well cannot really say such stuff…Because at the first sight of any Lows at United they will be gone as quickly as they turned up. Personally most of the glory hunters I knew switched to Chelsea after United did not win the league for 3 years.
Next season if we buy smart we can win more than ever…Not being greedy…just wishful…There is Champions League, Premiership, Carling Cup, FA Cup, Super cup, World club Championships, Community Shield… Till then…UNITED FOREVER

Reds overjoyed at double glory

2008-05-22T17:36:00.001-07:00

(manutd.com)

The Reds were overjoyed after claiming a Champions League final victory over Chelsea in dramatic fashion in Moscow on Wednesday night.

Edwin van der Sar's penalty shoot-out save from Nicolas Anelka handed United only their third ever European Cup and ensured the Reds finished the season as double winners.

Here's what the lads had to say to ManUtd.com afterwards...

Cristiano Ronaldo
We showed this season that we are the best team in Europe and in England and it’s a great feeling. Next season we will try to do the same. I feel very proud. It means everything to me - it is the happiest day of my life.

Nemanja Vidic
The game against Manchester City [which marked the 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash] was very disappointing and we still remember that. But I think we made up for it in Moscow and by winning the league and gave the fans what they wanted.

Edwin van der Sar
Of course, nights like this are what you dream of. It’s been 13 years – a long time – since I last won the competition and it feels fantastic, especially in the way we won it. It was the last penalty – saving it - I don't have any words for it. What can I say? It's great.

Rio Ferdinand
I said before the game that you’re only really considered a great player at this club when you win the Champions League. There have been a lot of top players to play for the club, but to be revered by the fans and everyone associated with United by becoming a European champion sets you apart from others.

Wayne Rooney
I hope we can win it again. Doing it this year has given us a taste for it and we want to do well again next season. We’ve got some great young players in the squad mixed with experience, so hopefully we can do well again.

Michael Carrick
When you take a penalty you’ve got to have the belief in yourself that you’re going to score and obviously hope for the best! You know there is always someone who’s going to have to miss and you pray it’s not you.

Carlos Tevez
It has been a long time since I felt like this - it's a huge emotion in my heart. When I was a child, I never thought I would be now lifting the cup, but dreams usually come true and I am very, very happy."

Edwin van der Sar Interview...

2008-05-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

The man who can look Petr Cech straight in the face and tell him that he came out better in a penalty shootout speaks.

(manutd.com)

Interview: Edwin's Euro joy

Thirteen years after his first Champions League triumph, Edwin van der Sar was United's hero as the Reds claimed European glory against Chelsea...

Edwin, how does it feel to have picked up your second Champions League winners' medal?
Of course, nights like Wednesday's are what you dream of. It’s been 13 years – a long time – since I won it and it feels fantastic, especially in the way we won it. It was the last penalty – saving it - I don't have any words for it. What can I say? It's great.

What was that feeling like when you dived one way and saw John Terry's penalty go wide in the other direction?
I felt very relieved! When he stepped up I knew I had to save it or it would be all over. I went to the right and I was very lucky to see him slip and send the ball wide. Little moments in a game can change things dramatically as you saw tonight – we had the luck.

What went through your mind after you'd saved Anelka's penalty?
You see it coming, you save it and then you get up and you know the game's over. You have two, three or four seconds on your own, arms in the air and everything goes through your mind. You see your team-mates coming and it's just happiness; one of the greatest feelings you can ever have.

How do you stay calm in the pressure cooker that is a penalty shoot-out?
You just do what you can to try and save as many as you can. Of course, there is a lot of tension and pressure on you. The lads expect you to save one or two and you want to do that, both for them and yourself. I lost a shoot-out in 1996 [for Ajax to Juventus] and it’s very hard to take and I was desperate not to experience that again.

A lot was made of the pitch before the game - what did you think of it and did it cause you to slip for Chelsea's goal?
The pitch wasn’t the best to be fair. You could see for their that I slipped and that happened quite a lot during the match. I know Moscow worked very hard for the final and organised everything very well, but next time I think UEFA must choose a stadium where there is a normal pitch.

Does this win make up for losing to Chelsea in last season's FA Cup final?
This is a much bigger occasion. As well as winning it, it means you’ll play in the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo. It opens so many doors for United once again. It’s nine years since the club last won it and 13 since I did, so it’s a great feeling.

Manchester United Goalscorers 2007-2008

2008-05-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

GOALS-

Ronaldo 42
Tevez 19
Rooney 18
Saha 5
Nani 4
Giggs 4
Ferdinand 3
Scholes 2
Carrick 2
Pique 2
Fletcher 2
Hargreaves 2
J S Park 1
Vidic 1
Wes Brown 1

Own goals 2

__________________________
ASSISTS-

Nani 12
Rooney 12
Giggs 11
Ronaldo 8
Tevez 7
Scholes 5
Brown 5
Hargreaves 3
Anderson 3
Carrick 3
Fletcher 2
Evra 2
Park 2
Ferdinand 1
O'Shea 1
Simpson 1
Vidic 1
Van Der Sar 1

INCLUDING THE Man Utd vs Chelsea - UCL final, 21st May 2008

Sir Alex Ferguson: Manchester United manager - socialist emperor who is now king of Europe

2008-05-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

GREAT READ FROM TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

Sir Alex Ferguson is a firebrand anti-hero who wields power with a conscience.

Sir Alex Ferguson is the last emperor of English football; Manchester United his fiefdom. Peel back the layers of modernity at Old Trafford, peer beyond the corporate foreign ownership and you glimpse the days of old football empire, when clubs were run by provincial merchants in charge of a chain of butcher shops and the manager's power was absolute.

Think Arthur Scargill with boots on, a utopian socialist with a bent for the beautiful game. Ferguson is a son of the Glasgow shipyards; his father was a plater's mate, he an apprentice toolmaker. The experience informs him still.

He wields his power with a conscience unless you happen to carry a pen and a press card, the signal for him to morph into Joseph Stalin. In character and type, the reporter is indistinguishable from the owners of the means of production: reviled, untrustworthy and to be opposed.

Ferguson's politics and principles place him at odds with modern mores, which makes his management of the young millionaires of Manchester the real wonder of the modern game.

Ferguson thinks in black and white. The Manchester United player conforms to a template set by Sir Matt Busby in the post-war period and protected fiercely by the Govan shop steward. Skill, heart, loyalty and responsibility are the requirements.

His approach is always avuncular. If he takes a player on that player is a member of the family, his responsibility, right down to the time he goes to bed. Ferguson famously knocked on the door of Ryan Giggs on suspicion that the teenager was taking the George Best route to fame and fortune.

Giggs had a few mates round, including members of the opposite sex. It was an innocent gathering, the prelude to a respectable night out. Lee Sharpe, wedded to the Best template, answered the door. Ferguson clocked a half-naked Giggs, girls and an open can of lager and went ballistic. Giggs was actually ironing a shirt, hence the glimpse of torso. Sharpe and the gang were sent packing while Giggs got the hairdryer treatment in his front room.

Watching the winger eclipse Bobby Charlton's Manchester United appearance record of 759 in Moscow on Wednesday night, slotting away his penalty in that torturous shoot-out, you would have to conclude that Fergie got it right. Sharpe progressed to an indecorous grope with Abi Titmuss on Celebrity Love Island.

Ferguson's early United period was hardly portentous. He walked into a dressing room governed by hard men and drink. Bryan Robson, Paul McGrath and Norman Whiteside, all steeped in United lore and alcohol, were his strike weapons on the pitch and his problem off it. Robson, the talisman, he tolerated. McGrath and Whiteside had to go.

The pattern was set. Ferguson suspended principle for the greater good. Robson was too good to be bad.

As a young centre forward in 1967, Ferguson drew a record fee between Scottish clubs when he was transferred from Dunfermline to Rangers for £65,000. Rangers misinterpreted industry for artistry. Suffice to say he would never have signed himself. Management was always going to be his metier.

His appointment at Old Trafford in 1986 after breaking the Glasgow duopoly of Rangers and Celtic in Scotland with Aberdeen represented a shift in circumstance. The firebrand anti-hero was now at the helm of the world's richest club – the kind of elite institution to which he was by nature opposed. The paradox was buried beneath the weight of ambition.

Like most with a vision, Ferguson is not a reasonable man. David Beckham, the iconic face of English football in the Nineties, was sent packing to Real Madrid with a boot in the forehead. Beckham's crime was to fall in love with a pop star.

The socialist ideal survives in the credo that no player is bigger than the club. Beckham was part of the continuum of expulsions that also included Jaap Stam, Paul Ince, Andrei Kanchelskis and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, brilliant players all sacrificed at the height of their powers for getting on his nerves.

Victoria Beckham took this tendency to another level. Her affectations set Fergie's teeth on edge. There is nothing worse than a builder's daughter from Essex rearranging the furniture in your own house. Beckham was every bit a project of Ferguson's as Giggs.

One decision Ferguson arguably bungled concerned the race horse Rock of Gibraltar. He claimed that he co-owned the horse and in 2003 demanded tens of millions of pounds in stud fees from John Magnier, then United's major shareholder, before accepting a one-off payment of £2.5 million. The alternative was four stud nominations a year for the rest of the horse's life, the value of which is now estimated at £2 million a year. Ferguson would argue that the issue was one of principle not cash and that £2.5 million says he won the argument.

The blow-torch solution to problem-solving is Ferguson's stock in trade. The story is told of a player who sat through one of the manager's rages with a pair of pants on his head. At the height of the tempest, Ferguson had kicked over a laundry basket, sending kit flying. The young lad was too traumatised to move and sat beneath his impromptu crown in silence until the storm passed. When it did Fergie said: "And you can take those ******* pants off your head. What are you playing at, man?"

When asked if he thought Ferguson had any weaknesses, Arsene Wenger, Arsenal's intellectual, replied: "Only one: that he believes he has none."

Ferguson would acknowledge that he showed weakness six years ago when he announced his retirement in advance of the event. Authority drained, the players stopped listening, and the season fizzled out before Christmas.

Recognising his mistake, he executed a rare volte face and is now on a rolling contract. They will have to carry Ferguson out of Old Trafford in a box.

The latter years have been softened by a love of wine, horses and literature. Lenin, Stalin and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe is his current bed-time reading. Where does he get his ideas from?

CL Final Review: Terrible For Terry But United Are Spot On

2008-05-21T20:29:00.001-07:00

Graham Lister reflects on a thoroughly engrossing all-English Champions League final that was an emotional roller-coaster for the protagonists and their followers…

Chelsea skipper John Terry had said before the Champions League final that both sides would go into the game on an equal footing; yet with cruel irony it was Terry who lost his footing at the crucial stage of the penalty shoot-out, giving Manchester United a reprieve that, with Edwin Van der Sar’s fine save from Nicolas Anelka, they took full advantage of to win 6-5 on penalties after a hugely entertaining game had ended 1-1 after extra-time.

It was harsh on the lion-hearted Terry that, after the physically punishing season he’s come through, he should be the one who failed to seize the moment when the Cup was tantalisingly within his grasp – particularly as he had earlier kept his side in it with an instinctive clearance from record-breaking Ryan Giggs that the Chelsea man had no right to reach.

It was all part of the drama of a Champions League final that was a credit to the English style of football and the verve of the Premier League. The contest, over 120 minutes of open play and a marathon 14-kick shoot-out, may not have satisfied picky purists obsessed with technical ability; but it lacked for nothing in excitement and passion and was never less than compelling.

The game was dominated by both sides at different phases, and throughout the second half and extra-time, with Chelsea in the ascendancy after United had controlled the first period with pace and panache, the result remained in doubt.

Detractors of the English game and its growing ability to attract the world’s top players may sneer, but it is a significant fact that no English team was knocked out of this season’s Champions League by a foreign side: Arsenal were beaten by Liverpool, who were beaten by Chelsea, who lost the final to Manchester United on a mesmeric night in Moscow. That is a remarkable testimony to the current vigour of the Premier League’s top teams.

Late on a Wednesday night in the Russian capital, this was the North of England versus the South; Lancashire versus London; the revered Godfather of British managers versus the unloved rookie fighting for respect and the chance to carry on doing his job. In terms of ownership it was an American business family viewed with deep suspicion by most United fans versus a Russian oligarch adored by Chelsea’s followers for elevating their club into the big, big time. On the pitch it was the newly-crowned Premier League champions seeking a coveted Double versus gallant runners-up determined to have the most glittering prize to show for their persistence and resilience in pursuit of silverware.

On The Attack From The Off

United started on the front foot, taking the game to Chelsea with a vibrant attacking swagger for the first 35 minutes. They were playing with confidence and creativity, dynamism and drive, and could and should have been three up by the time Chelsea - ragged and lacking rhythm and cohesion - switched on. In that opening spell United were implementing a tactical plan in which every player seemed to understand and feel comfortable with his role.

They had identified a weakness in the Chelsea side at right-back where midfielder Michael Essien was playing out of position. Ronaldo was deployed wide on the left wing to exploit the Ghanaian’s unease, while in the centre of midfield, Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes were orchestrating the game, denying Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard the time and opportunity to impose themselves on proceedings.

And on 26 minutes, Wes Brown’s superb delivery from the right wing was met by the leaping Cristiano Ronaldo who left Michael Essien grounded as he headed the ball emphatically into the net past a statuesque Cech. It was advantage United, and Cech soon had to make a breathtaking double save from first Carlos Tevez and then, from the rebound, Michael Carrick to keep the Blues within touching distance of the rampant Red Devils.

Tevez then just failed to connect with Wayne Rooney’s superb low right wing cross that was crying out for the merest touch. Chelsea were lucky still to be in it at that point, but they made United rue those missed chances, coming back off the ropes on the stroke of half-time with an equaliser against the balance of play. Essien, having been at fault for the goal, threw caution to the wind and went on a marauding run forward, letting fly with a low drive that deflected first off Nemanja Vidic and then Rio Ferdinand into the path of Frank Lampard, who had sprinted forward in anticipation and coolly beat the wrong-footed Edwin van der Sar to put Chelsea back on terms.

United’s top scorer had done the business for the Red Devils, and Chelsea’s leading marksman duly found the net for the Blues with his 20th goal of the season.

Game On

It was midnight in Moscow, but game very much on at the Luzhniki Stadium in he teeming Russian rain as Chelsea suddenly had the bit between their teeth and now had United distinctly ruffled as they set about their task in the second half with so much more power and purpose than they’d mustered in the first when United were calling the shots.

Carrick had been directing the traffic forward for most of the opening 35 minutes but he was now forced to defend with keen anticipation and alertness. On one occasion, from a free-kick won by Didier Drogba, the former West Ham and Spurs Geordie, running towards his own goal, hooked the ball back out of danger with a sterling defensive volley under pressure. As a counter-point, Joe Cole, who had played well defensively in the first half and covered plenty of ground both with and without the ball, was now getting forward more frequently and asking questions of United’s defence.

Shortly after the hour mark Ferdinand surprisingly succumbed to cramp and thereafter was never as commanding; indeed he was lucky at one point to escape censure when he nearly took Joe Cole’s ear off with a dangerously high tackle.

The extent to which the Blues were now calling the tune was underlined when Drogba, the cup final scoring specialist who had been fairly ineffectual for most of the game, suddenly revealed his threat with a cracking shot that beat Van der Sar but crashed against a post. Avram Grant’s side were showing reserves of character after having been outplayed early on, but neither side could conjure a winner.

Extra-Time Can't Split Them

The two coaches fretted in the rain on the touchline, Ferguson making the first decisive move by sending on Ryan Giggs (for the bloodied Scholes) in a little piece of history: the veteran Welshman was making a club record 759th appearance, eclipsing the mark set by the watching Sir Bobby Charlton. But the game moved inexorably into extra-time and Grant replaced Florent Malouda with Salomon Kalou before another pivotal moment when Lampard swivelled in the area to hammer the ball against the bar. On came Nicolas Anelka for Joe Cole as United underlined their still potent attacking threat when Patrice Evra made a strong surge down the left and cut the ball back intelligently from the by-line to Giggs, who picked his spot and watched in disbelief as Terry got his head to it almost on the line to clear the danger at the expense of a corner. It was inspired, gutsy defending from the Chelsea skipper.

Rooney trudged off unhappily to be replaced by Nani, before a final that ultimately had everything briefly erupted in an angry flash-point. A dispute over a throw-in in neutral territory saw Chelsea players, incensed with Tevez, spark a melee in which Drogba crazily flicked a hand into Vidic’s face and duly received a red card. Whether or not that was the Ivorian’s last meaningful act in a Chelsea shirt remains to be seen, but it certainly did the Blues no favours at a critical phase of the contest.

The Pressure Cooker

With a shoot-out looking inevitable, both managers played their last cards with penalties in mind, Juliano Belletti replacing Claude Makelele and Anderson relieving Brown. The dreaded spot-kick lottery duly arrived. How would these players stand up to the pressure in front of 70,000 inside the stadium and a global TV audience of hundreds of thousands, with the world’s most prestigious club trophy now to be won or lost by someone’s error?

With the first four kicks being converted, in order, by Tevez, Ballack, Carrick and Belletti, it fell to Ronaldo of all people to make the first mistake. He stopped mid-run-up before hitting a weak effort that Cech saved well. Advantage Chelsea, and Lampard, emotionally ravaged after a traumatic couple of weeks, stood up to be counted by converting with typical assurance. Owen Hargreaves, Ashley Cole (just) and Nani (just) put their kicks away, and so it fell to John Terry, Chelsea’s heart-beat, to win the Cup for Chelsea for the first time in their history. With club owner Roman Abramovich going through agonies in the stands and scarcely able to watch, Terry’s standing foot slipped as he struck the ball, and it crashed off the outside of the post. For the third time on the night, the goal frame had saved United. The advantage had swung dramatically back to United. Anderson hammered home with relish, Kalou and Giggs both scored and Anelka stepped up to keep the Blues in the contest. His shot to Van der Sar’s right was pushed out by the flying Dutchman, and United were European champions for the third time in their history.

In 1968 they’d won in extra-time; in 1999 in added time; now in 2008 they’d won 6-5 in a penalty shoot-out after 14 spot-kicks. They’d remained undefeated throughout their Champions League campaign. Van der Sar had rescued Ronaldo from being the fall-guy; that dubious honour went to Terry, who was inconsolable. Although technically Anelka’s was the decisive miss, Terry had been in a position to win it for the Blues, and that knowledge will haunt him as he relives the moment his effort struck the woodwork.

A Tale Of Two Managers

As for his manager, he was compassionate and dignified in defeat, as he has been for most of a very difficult season. I heard some Chelsea fans claim on radio on the morning of the match that Avram Grant had been irrelevant to Chelsea’s season, that the players had known what to do and did it despite rather than because of Grant’s management. That epitomized the unjustly negative perception of the Israeli, who may now find himself shunted upstairs. But it begs the question why those players could not do it – reach the Champions League final that is – even with the supposedly magical management of Mourinho? Jose’s supporters will insist the Special One would not have lost the final; it’s academic now, but at least Grant got them there, unlike his more charismatic predecessor, and he deserves credit for that.

His counterpart, Ferguson, continues to amaze. Defying age with a still-boyish enthusiasm and a desire that burns as brightly as ever, the Scot has just won a glorious Double; his trophy haul just gets bigger and bigger and, with his latest young team, the sky seems to be the limit. How United will ever replace him is a key strategic issue to be grasped and planned for by the club in due course. For now, though, he has just made Manchester United kings of Europe again – and rival managers at home and abroad will already be wondering just how they are going to dethrone them.

Graham Lister

PLAYER RATINGS...CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

2008-05-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

Player Ratings: Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United (6-5 pen.)

Ewan Macdonald rates the individual performances in Wednesday's showpiece Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester United...

MANCHESTER UNITED

Van der Sar - 7.5: Slipshod at times, which can't have inspired the back four, although that was a mutually reciprocal relationship occasionally. All that changed during the shoot-out, where he was an absolute titan: if that could be rated alone, it would be a 9.

Brown - 7: A bit nervy at times in defence to start, but a tremendous influence going forward: his cross for Ronaldo was well-placed, for example. Overall it was a good showing.

Ferdinand - 6.5: A couple of errors that could have proved costly aside, Ferdinand was a positive influence for United. Set-piece defending was strong.

Vidic - 7: A very nervous beginning, but he improved considerably as the game progressed. Began to play with brash confidence towards the 90 minute mark and was integral in keeping Drogba crowded out. Temper ran high at the end.

Evra - 8: Grew into the game well as it progressed. Enabled by Ronaldo to come forward to decent effect. Seldom found wanting in terms of position.

Hargreaves - 7: An energetic start, and one that repaid Fergie's faith in him. Adjusted well to the tactical alterations as the game went on.

Carrick - 5.5: Started well, but practically vanished after the 30-minute mark - something United paid a heavy price for. Lost Frank Lampard for Chelsea's goal, and was overrun for much of the second half. Wasteful with his "killer" passes.

Scholes - 6.5: A cynical challenge on Makelele early in the first half very nearly put paid to his evening as he came off worse - he made up for it by playing Brown through to set up Ronaldo for the first goal. A very experienced showing although he trailed off badly. Probably kept on longer than he should have been.

Ronaldo - 7: An absolutely beautiful header to open the scoring: his positioning and jump were both sublime. Faded as Chelsea changed their shape in the second half. Handed a massive reprieve in that his penalty miss will not haunt him forever, but detractors will have found more to sink their teeth into.

Tevez - 6: Anonymous, except when he hit one shot Cech-wards and slid in to miss another. Credit to him for twice getting into a good position but otherwise he did little. Should have closed the game out really, and could have paid the ultimate price.

Rooney - 6: Quiet overall in the first half, but capable of some magical play nonetheless: his diagonal long ball to Ronaldo was utterly perfect. Looks comfortable at the very highest level - sometimes too comfortable.

Substitutions

Giggs - 6.5: A positive introduction to the game, but not quite able to make the breakthrough.

Nani - 5.5: Capable of the odd run and pass, but for the most part Chelsea had him neutralised effectively.

Anderson - N/A: Not enough time to do anything.

CHELSEA

Cech - 7.5: Helpless at the first goal and a bit tentative thereafter, but showed his worth with that teriffic double-save to prevent United from doubling the score. Had a good shoot-out, despite the outcome.

Essien - 6: He's been impressive at right-back recently, but he was shown to be well and truly out of his element when it mattered. He was skipped past once before Ronaldo rose above him to head the opener. So flat-footed at times. Made up in part with the assist.

Carvalho - 5.5: Prone to going walkabout. Anonymous for vast spells of the game - just when Chelsea needed his calming influence.

John Terry - 7.5: Great in the air as always. Couldn't do it all himself to prevent the first goal. Steady play for the most part. That "save" from Ryan Giggs at the end will be the stuff of legend. His part in the late melee was ill-advised. Desperately unlucky to lose his footing during the spot-kick frenzy.

Ashley Cole - 6.5: Another player who only settled in after the opening thirty-minute onslaught. When he did, though, he did so with the greatest of ease.

Ballack - 6.5: A mixed bag: the occasional fine through ball or piece of buildup play, but found wanting otherwise. Didn't dominate in the way that he should have done, and got far too many of his shots off target.

Makelele - 6: He just had very little to do in the first half . United's style of play saw him bypassed - doubtless their intention - and he doesn't quite have the nous to impose himself otherwise. However, the second half was much more to his liking and he improved.

Lampard - 7.5: Brilliantly positioned to take advantage of the deflections that led towards the goal. His passing was crisp, which was refreshing to watch. Shouldn't have got involved in the "rammy" at the end.

Joe Cole - 5: Almost completely anonymous in the first period. Held his position well, though: he offered little going forward but defensively Grant can have few complaints - if that is what he wanted.

Drogba - 5: Could have done more - even his characteristic strength wasn't enough on the evening for most of the game. Still, he carved out a magnificent chance of his own and hit the woodwork with it. As for the red card, someone once said something about players being headless chicken. Would probably have received at least 7 had he stayed on, and who knows, he might have taken that fifth penalty.

Malouda - 6.5: The occasional great moment on the ball, and some good deliveries. Dropped back well in the second period. Still, he didn't quite have that touch of class.

Substitutes

Kalou - 6: A decent showing, and on the balance of things probably a good substitution for Grant to make.

Anelka - 5: Just what Chelsea needed when he came on in terms of being an imposing presence: sadly he didn't make the most of his chance.

Belletti - N/A: Too late to make an impact. Well-taken penalty, though.

REFEREE

Lubos Michel - 7: Mostly kept the game flowing. Got some corner/throw decisions wrong, but that was largely down to the linesmen. Inconsistency during the melee: booked Tevez for a shove but declined to do the same to Carvalho (who was already on a yellow card.) That said, he and his linesmen were at least quick to react to what was an escalating - and a shameful - situation.

CONGRATULATIONS

2008-05-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

MANCHESTER UNITED ARE KINGS OF EUROPE

2008-05-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Already crowned League Champions a couple of weeks ago, Manchester United marched on to Moscow led by Sir Alex Ferguson to try and achieve a Double by winning the UEFA Champions League. The title is one that United have claimed twice, Once under Sir Alex...before the 21st May encounter with Chelsea
With Ronaldo scoring first, it took a Lampard goal for their opponents Chelsea to push the game into penalties. At one point when Ronaldo missed his try it looked like it was all over but John Terry's attempt failed which led to a sudden death situation...It was all drama and goalkeeper Van Der Saar was the hero for the night after he in 1999 when the victory led to the eternal question...."Where were you when Ole Gunnar scored in injury time?...Where were you when Manchester United scripted the best ever comeback in the history of the game?"
This time the questions would be "Where were you when young Nani and Anderson made their shots count? Where were you when Cristiano Ronaldo scored against Petr Cech? Where were you when Van Der Saar wrote himself a golden page in Uniteds History books? Where were you when Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand lifted that trophy?"
And this time i can say i was there supporting my team...

Probably my second most happiest memory ever...Congratulations to the Red Devils...
Glory Glory Man United...
PS: We never win things the easy way, do we?

Who Would You Select For Italy?

2008-05-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow afternoon Roberto Donadoni will announce his 23-man squad for Euro 2008. Goal.com’s Italy staff selected the players they would choose if they were boss of the Azzurri. And then I put up my preferred squad!!!

Below are the squads favoured by Carlo Garganese, James Gisone, Danilo Pochini, Joel Whitehead, Salvatore Landolina, Max De Luca, and Glen Debattista.

Carlo “Pozzo” Garganese

Goalkeepers: Buffon, Amelia, Toldo
Defence: Panucci, Bonera, Zambrotta, Grosso, Chiellini, Cannavaro, Barzagli, Materazzi
Midfield: Pirlo, Gattuso, Ambrosini, De Rossi, Perrotta, Camoranesi, Rosina
Attack: Toni, Inzaghi, Di Natale, Del Piero, Cassano

James “Valcareggi” Gisone

Goalkeepers: Buffon, Amelia, Cudicini
Defence: Cannavaro, Materazzi, Barzagli, Grosso, Zambrotta, Chiellini, Panucci, Tonetto
Midfield: Pirlo, Gattuso, Ambrosini, De Rossi, Montolivo, Camoranesi, Perrotta
Attack: Toni, Di Natale, Quagliarella, Borriello, Del Piero

Danilo “Bearzot” Pochini

Goalkeepers: Buffon, Amelia, Toldo
Defence: Panucci, Grosso, Cannavaro, Barzagli, Chiellini. Materazzi, Oddo, Zambrotta
Midfield: De Rossi, Gattuso, Camoranesi, Ambrosini, Perrotta, Pirlo
Attack: Di Natale, Toni, Del Piero, Borriello, Quagliarella. Inzaghi

Joel “Vicini” Whitehead

Goalkeepers: Buffon, Amelia, Toldo
Defence: Cannavaro, Barzagli, Bonera, Chiellini, Grosso, Materazzi, Zambrotta, Panucci
Midfield: Pirlo, Ambrosini, Gattuso, De Rossi, Aquilani, Camoranesi, Perrotta
Attack: Toni, Borriello, Del Piero, Di Natale, Inzaghi

Salvatore “Zoff” Landolina

Goalkeepers: Buffon, Amelia, De Sanctis.
Defence: Cannavaro, Chiellini, Zambrotta, Legrottaglie, Panucci, Grosso, Gamberini, Dossena.
Midfield: Pirlo, Ambrosini, Camoranesi, Gattuso, De Rossi, Perrotta, Aquilani
Attack: Borriello, Del Piero, Toni, Di Natale, Cassano.

Max “Trapattoni” De Luca

Goalkeepers: Buffon, Toldo, Storari
Defence: Materazzi, Cannavaro, Barzagli, Zambrotta, Panucci, Gamberini, Grosso
Midfield: Pirlo, Gattuso, Camoranesi, De Rossi, Perrotta, Aquilani, Palladino
Attack: Toni, Quagliarella, Di Natale, Rossi, Borriello, Cassano

Glenn “Lippi” Debattista

Goalkeepers: Buffon, Amelia, Sereni
Defence: Barzagli, Cannavaro, Cassetti, Grosso, Legrottaglie, Materazzi, Oddo, Zambrotta
Midfield: Ambrosini, Aquilani, Camoranesi, De Rossi, Perrotta, Pirlo, Semioli
Attack: Borriello, Del Piero, Di Natale, Inzaghi, Toni

Flavian Patrao
Goalkeepers; Gigi Buffon, Amelia, Toldo
Defence: Cannavaro, Chiellini, Zambrotta, Legrottaglie, Panucci, Grosso, Oddo
Midfield: De Rossi, Gattuso, Pirlo, Aquilani, Camoranesi, Perrotta, Ambrosini
Forwards: Luca Toni, Pippo Inzaghi, Di Natale, Quagliarella, Cassano, Alex Del Piero

What Rooney Thought Of The Man United CL Victory (1999)

2008-05-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

The 22 year old remembers fondly the last time United won the Champions League trophy, an occasion that the Everton fan took advantage of in order to rib his parochial rivals.

"When they won I was really happy, and we were winding the Liverpool fans up,'' Rooney said. "I remember listening to the radio after the game and they were speaking to a lot of fans around Manchester and the atmosphere there sounded brilliant, so hopefully I can be involved in helping that this year.''

Refs Won Scudetto For Inter – De Rossi

2008-05-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

Daniele De Rossi has launched a venomous attack against Scudetto winners Inter, saying that it was the referees who won them the championship. I agree with him completely. The Scudetto win has been shallow....really shallow.
(De Rossi is the future of Italian Football when all the Legends like Del Piero and Toni step down. Look for big clubs to try and lure him away. Having said that i hope he stays. The Euro campaign will have De Rossi be the Star Player...The picture is of the game against Real Madrid...Roma beat them in the second round of the Champions League )
Here is an article

The Nerazzurri clinched their second straight Scudetto this afternoon after they defeated Parma 2-0 at the Stadio Tardini, to finish three points clear of Roma, who drew 1-1 at Catania.

The Serie A season has been littered full of refereeing controversies and mistakes, with many of these seemingly favouring Inter.

Back in February the Gazzetta dello Sport printed a revised table of where teams would be if it hadn’t been for officiating errors, and Inter were found to have obtained eight points more than they should have.

“I may be bitter, but I will not forget that in the two months when Inter had the most difficulties, they won the way everyone saw,” roared De Rossi.

“I did not want to say this before the last game because I didn’t like to further charge up the decisive Sunday, but those are my views on this season.”

Inter midfielder Dejan Stankovic has branded those who are against Inter as haters, although he did compliment Roma for their Serie A campaign.

“I thank Stankovic, but it’s easy to give compliments when you win. It’s more difficult for me to compliment them, especially with the way they won it,” concluded De Rossi in no uncertain terms.

This outburst from De Rossi will undoubtedly spark another war of words between Roma and Inter.

Alessio Alexis

Illegal Parking

2008-05-13T11:27:00.001-07:00

A few days back on my way home i happened to cross this bus that had this sticker on top...Something in the name made me look twice...dunno what is is...do you? Normally i would not fool with this but this bus was parked in an illegal spot about my house. The bus was one of many arranged to drop people back home after a political rally which was aimed at creating unrest in society. Alien concept really...Politics...

Chelsea...This is a SPECIAL Message..Paid for by "The Friends Of Entertaining Football"

2008-05-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

Whoooooooo...Champions For the 10th Time

2008-05-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

Boss wins LMA honour

2008-05-13T11:16:00.001-07:00

Sir Alex Ferguson's tenth title has been recognised by the League Managers' Association, who have voted him Manager of the Year.

The Scot scooped the top award from his peers for the second time at Monday night's ceremony in Nottingham, having previously won it in 1999.

"I'm very proud to receive it," said a beaming Sir Alex.

"It is a tremendous honour that my fellow managers should deem me worthy of this award."

Having cemented United's position at the top of the pile in England, Sir Alex is now confident that his bubbling players can rule Europe by overcoming Chelsea in next week's Champions League final.

"The mood generated by the win puts us in a very confident position," he said.

"I expect my players to have the ability and confidence to play on the biggest stage in the world; of that I have absolutely no doubt."

Sir Alex's Honours List

10 Premier Leagues: 92/93, 93/94, 95/96, 96/97, 98/99, 99/00, 00/01, 02/03, 06/07, 07/08
1 Champions League: 98/99
1 Intercontinental Cup: 98/99
1 Cup Winners' Cup: 90/91
5 FA Cups: 89/90, 93/94, 95/96, 98/99, 03/04
2 League Cups: 91/92, 05/06
7 Community Shields: 90/91, 93/94, 94/95, 96/97, 97/98, 03/04, 07/08

Ronaldo Is Stayin...

2008-05-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

From manutd.com

Cristiano Ronaldo has reiterated his desire to remain at Old Trafford after helping the Reds to title glory for the second year running.

The 23-year-old's sensational form this season, which to date has included a tally of 41 goals, has not gone unnoticed by Europe's top clubs, most notably Real Madrid who have gone public on their desire to sign the winger.

Ronaldo says he is loving life in Manchester and believes Old Trafford is the perfect place at which to further his football education.

"I'm at the right club, playing with the right players and I learn things all the time," he declared in an interview with MUTV.

"That's what great about being at United. I improve all the time and I want to improve every season. I think I'm a better player now than five years ago.

"This season has been a great one for me - I've scored a lot of goals, the team have played very well and we're champions. It's amazing."

Ronaldo set United on their way to sealing their latest Championship crown at Wigan , coolly converting a first half penalty at the JJB Stadium. Ryan Giggs' strike late on ensured the title would remain at Old Trafford after another memorable campaign.

"It's a great feeling to win the league - I don't have the words to describe how it feels to be champions, it's amazing," beamed Ronaldo. "I didn't think it would go to the final day of the season, but to be honest the feeling is better [to win on the last day].

"When the ref blew the final whistle it was brilliant. We've worked hard for nine months and I feel very proud to be champions."

Rio Ferdinand...Anchor to the United Ship

2008-05-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

Part of an interview of Rio Ferdinand

When Fabio Capello handed Rio Ferdinand the temporary England captaincy earlier this year, United fans barely batted an eyelid. After all, the 29-year-old has long been leading by example in the heart of the Reds’ defence.

Composed and classy, Ferdinand is widely regarded as the one of the game’s most consummate defenders. There’s a natural grace and elegance to almost everything he does, although Rio admits he’s also worked mighty hard to iron out his footballing flaws.

Speaking to Inside United as the season reaches its climax, Ferdinand reflects on leadership, learning from mistakes and the loneliness of playing in goal…

The general consensus among fans is that you’ve had your best season in a United shirt this term. Presumably you’re happy with your form?
Well, I always strive for consistency and I think over the last few seasons I’ve managed to be fairly consistent. But at the end of the day it’s about medals and winning things. If I’m performing well and the team is winning then I’m happy. But if we’re not winning then it doesn’t matter how well I’m playing. Maybe in the summer I’ll look back on the season and be able to say: ‘Yeah, I’ve been pleased with my form’. Until then, the focus is all on winning trophies.

On a personal level, is there one performance this season you're particularly proud of?
Probably Roma away. It was a difficult game and a hard place to go. They were the form team in Italy at the time and were playing some very good football, chasing Inter Milan in the league.

They came into the game full of confidence – even minus Francesco Totti – but we managed to come away with a 2-0 advantage. As a team performance, I really sensed a different maturity in the side that night. Over the last few years we might have conceded a goal or two in that sort of situation, but we held on for an important clean sheet. On a personal note, and a collective note, that was probably my favourite performance of the season.

Playing at the back is high-pressure stuff: one mistake can prove catastrophic. How do you go about maintaining a consistently high level of concentration?
When I was younger I had a lot of difficulty concentrating for the full 90 minutes. I only started playing centre half at a relatively late age – before that I was always in the midfield – and the concentration levels and what you concentrate on are different. Nowadays, I talk to myself and remind myself of what needs doing. It’s the little things that matter, things like making sure you win your first header, and then the one after that, and looking over your shoulders constantly so you know where everyone is. It’s taken me many years to really master it and feel confident of maintaining my concentration for a full match.

How else have you improved over the years?
I’ve learned you have to make mistakes in order to become a better player. At West Ham, Harry Redknapp always told me that in order to take big steps forward I’d have to make some mistakes. I’ve definitely made mistakes in my career and I’ll probably make a few more, but the secret is being big enough to learn from those mistakes.
I used to come out of the defence at West Ham and lose the ball and it would cost us a goal. Another manager may have dropped me but Harry kept faith in me and kept picking me. He’d say: ‘Listen, choose the right time to do that’. Moving to Leeds was probably the first real time in my career where I became a defender rather than a ball-playing footballer. Playing there was a massive learning curve. The pressure at that club, at that time, was massive. Leeds were in the Champions League and we were fighting to win the Premier League, too. That environment demands you don’t make mistakes.

Is fear of making mistakes a good motivator? The last thing you want to do is get caught out in front of 76,000 people…
It’s not actually about the crowd. It’s your own pride that hurts. You don’t want to be responsible for your team losing, regardless of how many people are watching. I could be playing Sunday football in a park and I would hate to walk off that pitch knowing I contributed to my team’s downfall. There’s no worse feeling than coming off and thinking: ‘Oh God, I can’t believe I did that’.

When Tomasz Kuszczak was sent off against Portsmouth in the FA Cup you went in goal. What are your memories of that day?
I find it a bit embarrassing, to be honest! I’m quite critical when it comes to goalkeepers. I’m always thinking: ‘Oh he should have saved that!’ or ‘How did he let that one in?’. I think Edwin rolls his eyes at me sometimes, thinking ‘What do you know about goalkeeping?’. And he’s right, of course! I found out myself what it was like against Portsmouth.

I’m still annoyed that I went with the wrong hand for the penalty. I think I might have got there had I stretched with my left hand but my instinct was to go with my right. I don’t think they’ll be using that dive as an example on goalkeeper coaching DVDs!

Wayne Rooney had a quick word to you before the penalty. What did he say?
He just told me to pick a side and go for it. He told me not to wait and see which way the kick was going. It was good advice and I got lucky because I went the right way, but to no avail. There was nothing about his run-up or in his eyes that suggested he’d go to my left. I just figured I’d dive that way and if I save it then well done, if not then nobody’s expecting me to save it.

Did you enjoy your time in goal?
I wouldn’t be a goalkeeper. No chance. It’s the loneliest position on the pitch when your team’s attacking the other end. It’s really, really lonely. You’re there by yourself with all that grass around you and no other players. There’s just a crowd behind you and an empty net. It was a little eerie actually.

You’ve been handed the captaincy this season on a few occasions. Does that change the way you prepare for a game?
No. If you change what you do just because you become captain then you won’t get the best out of yourself. The way you prepare for a game shouldn’t be dictated by whether or not you have an extra piece of cloth on your arm. You just go out and do what you normally do. That’s what’s won you the captaincy in the first place, so why change it?

The games come thick and fast at this stage of the season. Are you tired?
No, I don’t feel tired at all. I’ve had a couple of knocks and bruises but it’s nothing that’s going to keep me out. When this stage of the season rolls around you have to go the extra mile if you want to pick up the trophies.

Last season you suffered an injury that saw you miss out on the Champions League semi-final. Were you a little worried that history was repeating itself when you limped off against Middlesbrough?
I was a little. When I went off I was thinking: ‘What’s going on? This can’t be happening!” That injury healed a little and then I went and played against Roma and I ended up needing stitches in my other foot! I had to have injections to play against Arsenal but at this stage of the season you’d almost play on one leg if it means getting a trophy. You’ve worked so hard all season and there’s no way you’d give in easily. Now’s the time to roll your sleeves up and become a man.

No More Squeaky Bum...

2008-05-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

After a dramatic final day of the 2007/08 season, ManUtd.com put forward ten reasons why United are ten-time Premier League champions…Here they are

Home Rule: Sir Alex Ferguson's wish in recent seasons was to re-establish Old Trafford as a fortress. Safe to say, it's mission accomplished. Aside from the opening day bore draw against Reading and February's defeat to Manchester City, United have beaten all comers to M16, winning 17 out of 19 home matches.

Leaving It Late: Opposing teams expect to be on the rack in the closing stages, and stats show United are deadliest in the final 15 minutes of games. Most tellingly in this season were dramatic strikes from Carlos Tevez - a tap-in at Tottenham and a priceless header at Blackburn.

That Boy Ronaldo: While the Ronny is ever-eager to point out that it’s not a one-man show, United fans have been privileged to watch a genius at work. Almost always at his unplayable best, Ronaldo has plundered goal after goal, overtaking records in the same way he plays - left, right and centre.

Defence: For all the plaudits lavished upon the Reds’ star-studded attack, the platform for success has been built on a miserly defensive record. Despite being without skipper Gary Neville all season, United’s backline registered 20 domestic clean sheets - the finest defensive record in the Premier League.

Big Game Hunters: Until April's defeat at Chelsea, United's record against the other members of the 'Big Four' - Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool - was virtually unblemished. Ever able to raise themselves for the big games, United beat Liverpool twice, took four points off Arsenal and beat Chelsea at Old Trafford, taking 13 points from a possible 18.

New Boys: The near-instant assimilation of summer arrivals Anderson, Nani, Owen Hargreaves and Carlos Tevez has been key to United’s title triumph. The young Portuguese-based duo proved themselves as players for now, not just the future, while the more experienced Hargreaves and Tevez were integral to United’s late-season surge.

Squad Depth: Last season’s bid for a second Treble was left in tatters by injuries. Eager to avoid a repeat, Sir Alex made new signings and brought back a host of youngsters to bolster his squad. The move worked wonders, with every squad member contributing when injuries have hit – remember Ben Foster’s heroics at Pride Park?

Experience: For all United's free-spirited youthfulness, the calmness of some sage old heads has been crucial. Off the field, Sir Alex and his coaching staff have been there, done it enough times to keep everybody grounded, while experienced players like Ferdinand, van der Sar, Scholes and Giggs brought vital know-how at fraught times.

Bouncing Back: The mark of champions is to respond positively to setbacks - exactly what United did all season. Every time questions were posed by a domestic defeat – Manchester City (twice), Bolton, West Ham, Chelsea – the Reds responded with a victory.

Attack, Attack, Attack: Much was made of the contrast in the title chasers’ styles. Pragmatic, robotic Chelsea doing battle with swashbuckling, easy-on-the-eye United for the grand prize. In the end, goal difference was the difference between the two, proving that merging substance and style is a winning combination.

Manchester United Are League Champions

2008-05-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

As i type this there is minute left on the clock and the whistle. United have to equal or Better Chelsea's result.... Hang On

Whistle...thats it....2-0...we win....United Are Champions Of the League Once More..back to Back

Calcio Debate: Reason For EPL Success? - Money

2008-05-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

(from goal.com)

It is often said that "money equals power, and when you have the power you have the success."

Such a statement can be applied to anything in life but when you put it in football terms, it could not be more true. A colleague of mine recently wrote a piece on the wealth of Serie A footballers, highlighting the massive gap between the high earners at top clubs and those on a lesser income with the average Italian side. Football is, of course, a world game and taking a look further away from Italy, the same argument can be used to show the dominance of English teams in the Champions League compared to that of their continental neighbours.

Chelsea and Manchester United will dispute the final in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on May 21, and it's little surprise then that seven of the 12 most paid players in the world play for either side.

Here's the list: Wages Per Week

1 Kaka / AC Milan / £143,438
2 Ronaldinho / FC Barcelona / £135,788
3 Frank Lampard / Chelsea FC / £130,050
4 John Terry / Chelsea / FC £130,050
5 Fernando Torres / Liverpool FC / £126,225
6 Andriy Shevchenko / Chelsea / £124,313
7 Michael Ballack / Chelsea / £124,313
8 Cristiano Ronaldo / Manchester United FC / £122,400
9 Thierry Henry / FC Barcelona / £122,400
10 Steven Gerrard / Liverpool / £122,400
11 Didier Drogba / Chelsea FC / £117,619
12 Wayne Rooney / Manchester United FC / £116,663

These figures show that Manchester United are pacing themselves beautifully with Chelsea when it comes to players wages, and when you look at them in the Premier League standings, as well as the UCL, you can instantly see the correlation that money equals success.

Lets take a look back at the semi-finals of this year's Champions League, and aside from Kaka (the only Serie A player in the world's top 20 highest earning players), all the best paid footballers in the list belong to one of the four clubs who played in those games.

As a side-point, when you consider that Darren Bent, the 19th highest paid player in the world, earns more money than any player in Serie A, with the exception of Kaka, the picture couldn't be any clearer (Sol Campbell is 16th by the way).

Roman Abrahamovic paid some £300m for his talented squad of high earners but the money was a good investment as Chelsea have reached the Champions League final for the first time in their history. Before the Russian Oligarch came to West London to stamp his authority and wave his money clenching fists, it's fair to say that Chelsea were never going to really make a serious assault on Europe's premier club competition.

But it's not just about the players though, take a look at the richest club lists and once again there is a similar pattern.

Manchester United are the richest club in the world and as of April 30th 2008, the Red Devils were valued at £1.8 billion, closely followed by Real Madrid, Arsenal, Liverpool and Bayern Munich. Again, four of the top five richest clubs are from the Premier League, which again in theory could explain the English dominance on the continental stage.

It's a shame then that the England national side is not a club, if they were they would probably be in the Euros.

Italy's Champions League hopefuls failed this year, and it could be argued that it was down to a lack of finances compared to their English counterparts. Milan are the sixth richest club with Roma and Inter both 11th and 14th respectively, all three clubs failed miserably against English opposition both on the pitch and in the high earning, high rolling stakes.

So what has football come to?

There seems to be a very bleak picture for the club game as a whole. The teams are literally buying trophies rather than playing for them. It's all money, money, money. Football in England has lost the values of sport but it has gained values on the business front with TV rights, bumper sponsorship deals and match day revenues ensuring that shareholders and fans of the bigger sides are kept happy whilst the supporters of the lesser clubs have to face the stark reality that unless billionaire foreign owners come along and invest, their clubs will just never be able to compete with the big boys.

It's this kind of money equals success trend which is wiping away the true values of the game in England and slowly it's having an impact on the continent. The top 20 richest clubs are all from England, Spain, Italy and Germany, with only Olympique Lyonnais representing France.

How about the rest of the continent? Let's not forget, football is a world game and everyone should be entitled to fight for major honours such as the Champions League. What ever happened to Red Star Belgrade and Steaua Bucharest who were once upon a time European Champions?

There was once a level playing field where we would often see a real challenge from a less affluent side. But with the gulf in wealth between top clubs and the rest always increasing, it's fair to say that we will never see a challenge from teams who cannot compete financially with Premiership sides such as Manchester United and Chelsea.

Salvatore Landolina

Calcio Debate: Vieri – The Biggest ‘Has-Been’ In Serie A?

2008-05-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

Carlo Garganese is a writer on goal.com who mainly writes about Italian Football and since i find myself wanting to read it and share it i'll be putting up bits here...

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Calcio Debate: Vieri – The Biggest ‘Has-Been’ In Serie A?

What is a has-been? Well I personally like to describe it as a player who was once one of the top players in his league, continent or even in the world, but whose levels have unfortunately now dropped to the point of no return.

Many stars choose to bow out while they are at the top of their game, sparing the public the embarrassment of seeing them in their declining years. Two examples perhaps are Michel Platini and Eric Cantona.

Others, however, continue to soldier on, like an ageing boxer who loses to opponents he would have knocked out in round one back in his prime.

I begin my assessment of Vieri with a simple question: Why did Italy win the World Cup in 2006?

Was it due to the brilliance at the back of Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon? Was it the tenacity of Gennaro Gattuso and the invention of Andrea Pirlo in midfield? Or was it the tactical genius of Marcello Lippi and the unity of the squad?

The answer is none of these.

The real person who won Italy the trophy was Christian Vieri, who got himself injured weeks before the tournament, thus missing out on a place in the squad.

Okay I admit I am taking this joke too far, but would Italy have triumphed if they had been forced to turn to this bumbling roll of clumsiness as a substitute? Just remember how Lippi’s replacements proved decisive in the games against the Czech Republic, Australia and Germany.

Vieri has probably been a ‘has-been’ for at least four years now, dating back to Euro 2004, when he was the biggest reason for Italy’s exit, along with another ‘has-been’ Giovanni Trapattoni, and a purely coincidental 2-2 draw between Nordic neighbours Denmark and Sweden in the final game of Group C.

I have never in my life heard a person’s name cursed by so many of my friends than that of Vieri’s during those weeks in June in 2004. The cricket-mad striker headed so many chances over the bar during the Azzurri’s three games that you would have bet your life he would have been able to nod Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s back-heeled effort off the line during the match with Sweden. Unfortunately he mistimed his jump, and Ibra’s equaliser in the 1-1 draw ultimately sent Italy out.

Prior to 2004, Vieri was one of the best forwards in the world, and for a while was arguably the best target man striker in the world. He scored nine goals in the two World Cups of 1998 and 2002, and at the time of Euro 2004 had a brilliant international scoring record of 22 goals in 43 games.

Vieri was quite simply a beast of a striker. He had all the attributes that a defender fears – pace, strength, heading ability, striker intelligence, and an absolutely lethal left foot.

He is one of the few Italian players in the history of the game to have succeeded in Spain, scoring 24 goals in as many games for Atletico Madrid in La Liga in 1997/98 to win the Pichichi, while his scoring record for nearly all of his pre-2004 teams was quite superb, Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio and of course Inter all included. The transfer fees he commanded moving from club to club requires a calculator to add up, and at the time of his £32m switch from Lazio to Inter in 1999, he was the world’s most expensive player.

These days are long gone though, as anyone who saw Fiorentina’s exit to Rangers last week will tell you. The 34-year-old missed a host of fantastic chances to take his team to Manchester but squandered them all, before going on to miss the most decisive penalty in the ensuing shootout.

It is surely time for Vieri to hang up his boots and let us remember him for the great player he was during his prime.

Carlo Garganese

WWE for Kids...What could go wrong there???

2008-05-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

WWE has now decided to attract kids with a WWE Kids magazine...mixed reactions there...I do not see parents buy it for their kids...But had it been out there when i was a kid i would have probably picked one up...Here is a sample page...Enlarge it...read and smile...the man is The Great Khali...an Indian WWE wrestler...who i still thnk was better in The Longest Yard movie...Cause he can't wrestle...

Football Quotes And Bloopers...

2008-05-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

John Dykes, on Football Focus : "This would be a wonderful question on a football quiz, Name the Manchester City manager who did the double on Manchester United and got sacked at the end of the same season ? "

A commentator on MUTV : "He should be yellow carded for being Jens Lehmann" (during the penalty incident vs Man Utd!!)

It was a fair decision, the penalty, even though it was debatable whether it was inside or outside the box
Bobby Charlton

Believe it or not, goals can change a game
Mike Channon

And now we have the formalities over, we'll have the National Anthems
Brian Moore

We have been saying this, both pre-season and before the season started
Len Ashurst

Ian Rush, deadly ten times out of ten, but that wasn't one of them
Peter Jones

Torres on Rafa : "He has great powers of seduction, and he makes crazy demands on us."

"Didier Drogba has the lowest pain threshold in the northern hemisphere."
ITV commentator Clive Tyldesley..during Liverpool Vs Chelsea UCL.

“We murdered them 0-0.”
-Bill Shankly

"It must be necessary for a player to bring a gun and shoot one of our men in the box for us to get a penalty." carlos queiroz

"That's what children do - throw food. That's not fighting. We were real men. We'd have chinned them."
-Best gives his verdict on the infamous Battle of the Buffet between Manchester United and Arsenal.

"He was able to use either foot - sometimes he seemed to have six."
-Sir Matt Busby on Best.

"PAUL SCHOLES is the hardest kicker of the football...When he kicks the ball in training ,the boys have to run about 500 yards to get the ball back."
-BRYAN ROBSON

When joe cole tries to take a lofted ball on the volley and stretches his leg to full length....the commentator: "i think he should start watching a little more martial arts movies and probably then he'll get it right..."

I think I've found you a genius.
-The telegram sent to Manchester United by talent scout Bob Bishop, who discovered a 15-year-old Best playing for Cregagh Boys' Club.

"The closest I got to him was when we shook hands at the end of the game."
-Northampton player Roy Fairfax, who had been marking Best when he scored six goals in an 8-2 FA Cup win for Man Utd in 1970.

Shebby singh on football focus..."the only reason barcelona signed gabriel milito was because GERARD PIQUE made him look like a good center back at real zaragoza"

The commentator saying during united-roma 2nd leg when ronaldo was warming up.
"Sir Alex ferguson has ronaldo warming up but its only for scaring roma that look we can bring him on, or may be he is scaring his own team that they should start playing or else...."

"I've told the players we need to win so that I can have the cash to buy some new ones."
-Chris Turner, Peterborough manager, before League Cup Quarter Final, 1992.

"It's now 1-1, an exact reversal of the score on Saturday."
-Radio 5 Live

"Football today, it's like a game of chess. It's all about money."
-Newcastle United Fan

"And I honestly believe we can go all the way to Wembley unless somebody knocks us out."
-Dave Bassett

"Newcastle, of course, unbeaten in their last five wins."
-Brian Moore

"If I walked on water, my accusers would say it is because I can't swim."
-Berti Vogts, German coach

"The score is Sunderland nil, Leicester nil, the temperature is nil (32 degrees) and the entertainment value is nil"
-Sunderland v Leicester, Radio 5 Live

"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is someone like Norman Einstein."
-Bill Shankly - Ex. Liverpool manager.

"We can't win at home, we can't win away. As general manager, I just can't figure out where else to play."
Jock Brown - Celtic General Manager.

"I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel."
-Stuart Pearce

"What I said to them at half time would be unprintable on the radio."
-Gerry Francis

Romario:- I Had Sex On A Plane, I'm Better Than Pele

this what ferdinand said when asked about the toughest tackler on the training ground "Wayne, Vida and Scholesy. There are some big tackles that go in. Maybe they don’t like their team-mates."

Shebby Singh before the Arsenal Reading game : "Its good that Adebayor is kicking balls into an empty net because that brings the confidence back."

"I was saying the other day, how often the most vulnerable area for goalies is between their legs" Andy Gray, Sky Sports

"Merseyside derbies usually last 90 minutes and I'm sure today's won't be any different" Trevor Brooking

"What I said to them at half time would be unprintable on the radio" Gerry Francis

"If there weren't such a thing as football, we'd all be frustrated footballers" Mick Lyons

I can't really remember the name of the clubs we went to.
Duncan Ferguson - Everton striker reply to a inquiry about whether he had visited the Parthenon during a club trip to Greece.

'When a player gets to 30, so does his body.' - Glen Hoddle

'I was a young lad when I was growing up.' - David O'Leary

'Home advantage gives you an advantage.' - Bobby Robson

'It's the only way we can lose, irrespective of the result.'
- Graham Taylor

"Alex Ferguson is the best manager I've ever had at this level. Well, he's the only manager I've actually had at this level. But he's the best manager I've ever had." -David beckham

Milanista Flamini

2008-05-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

When it comes to football i have and will always support Manchester United and the Azzuris...Because i love the defensive and stratergical italian game, i also by default support Juventus, AC Milan and Roma (No Inter Milan for me...They have just one Italian Regular in the 'Italian league'...Kinda like Arsenal in the EPL, they are not a good team either...just a collection of individuals and a few traitors like Ibra...)in the same way that i support United...Del Piero, Totti and Gattuso will always feature in my Dream Squad...
So when Flamini moves to Milan on a friggin Free transfer and Arsene Wenger calls him greedy i will be the first to thrash Wenger...Especially when Flamini who is now a Milanista is set to be the "padawan" to Gattuso...
Is it a crime to leave a team which shows no ambition to spend big to win silverware, every player wants a winners medal and Wenger should know there are no medals for "beautiful" football. Wenger cannot claim to play the most beautiful football either...That title belongs to AS Roma.
Wenger had everything going for him this season but his own decisions were his undoing.
He has always been a bad loser (blaming pitches and the F.A.)
His choice for team captain was ridiculous and his treatment of Jens Lehmann and Gilberto ruined the team spirit which was already hit by the injury to Eduardo.
He has failed to give importance to keeping Flamini and Hleb who were both looking for greener pastures and has already paid the price for the former and the latter looks set to go too. Instead of raising the weekly wages for Flamini , Wenger now has to go look for a new player and spend on a transfer and fees. He must control the Hleb situation instead of crying about it like an adamant kid and going to FIFA to complain.

Here is an interesting take on the whole thing that Goal.com has offered...But before that ...Paul Gascoigne hope you get things back on track...Here goes

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Flamini: A Second Rate Player?

Only three years ago, as Arsenal prepared to move to The Emirates the following summer, the headlines were dominated by the fact that Thierry Henry was moving into the final 24 months of his contract.

Attempts to get him to sign on sold newspapers throughout the season, and it was public knowledge that he would be on his way to Barcelona if he did not.

He did eventually commit in an emotional moment after the Champions League final – a decision he was to reverse the following summer – but the astute Wenger had taken no chances as far as the club's future was concerned.

The key point is that he understood the importance of the moment – they needed their skipper and star player as they moved to a big stadium and into a new era. He broke the trend, and Arsenal's wage policy, to hand the Frenchman a mammoth five year deal, one which put him at par with Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack as far as the rich list went. Smart move.

As Henry was signing, a certain Mathieu Flamini was moving into his final 24 months. Did anyone even care?

What You Did Last Summer

Fast forward to last summer, when Flamini was moving into the final 12 months of his contract. He was, once again, conveniently ignored. What was 'the professor' doing? He was getting Cesc Fabregas – who had light years to run on his deal – to sign a massive extension through to 2014.

So, before one demands loyalty from Flamini, one has to ask whether Arsenal were loyal to him. If that was business, so is this. The only reason he was not offered a new deal was because Wenger thought he was expendable at that point. He might as well have been shown the proverbial finger.

Put yourself in Flamini's shoes for a moment. Would you grudge him for feeling treated like a second rate player? You move into the final year of your contract and watch as a teammate signs on for seven seasons. The person who has to answer for this is Wenger. The Arsenal manager knew full well what he was doing, and it is he who must carry the can, not Flamini.

Personally, I strongly believe that the hugely improved midfielder should still have stayed at the club. He will never mean to Milan what he could have to Arsenal, just like Henry will never mean to Barcelona what he could have had he retired at the Emirates. But that is a moot point.

What About Last Month?

Let us move on, assuming Wenger took a calculated business decision, and assuming he thought he could get Flamini to sign on. Let us now look dispassionately at what has happened over the last month. Let's talk business.

Within six months, the midfielder's stock had risen, and with that the interest of other clubs – particularly as he was available on a free. That was the risk Wenger had taken.

Flamini's agents advised him to hold out for a meaty offer. Wenger was to refuse, and made it very public that he would not be blackmailed into breaking his wage policy – the very policy he had broken to keep Thierry Henry at the club.

Another finger, only this time, the player decided to respond in kind. Within six hours of Arsenal's final game, he was in Milan, and another 18 hours later, he had completed a medical and signed on for four seasons at around 4 million euros per year (equivalent to around ₤60K per week). Supposedly, Arsenal would not go beyond ₤50K.

I would rate Flamini at around ₤10-12 million today, even if I was to be conservative. Now, Wenger will go into the market, and probably spend at least ₤8 million as he looks to shore up his midfield again. Flamini, in that sense, would have been a free-transfer, so that eight million could easily be amortised into an extra two million over four seasons.

Even from a purely business perspective, it makes no sense to let him go and then spend more money on a replacement. If Henry earned in excess of ₤100K, surely Flamini could have been offered more than ₤50K as a player effectively signed for free. There have been some great French mathematicians in the past. Arsene clearly doesn't tow that line.

What Message Does This Send?

And the most concerning bit is yet to come. In doing all this, Arsene has broken up a midfield partnership that was perfect for the way he likes to play his football. We have seen some absolutely amazing stuff from Arsenal this season, and a lot has to do with how Flamini has combined with Fabregas. Arsene must now strive to recreate that from scratch, with a player who may or may not suit Cesc's style.

What is more, by losing a key player, he has sent a very dangerous message to the rest of his team. With a new deal for Flamini wrapped up, today, he would have been thinking of consolidating for an even stronger assault on Manchester United. Every Arsenal fan would have been thumping his chest proudly.

Instead, he has told Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb that he is unwilling or unable to do what it takes to keep this team together. Nice way that to demand trust.

The likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter and Milan interested in one or more of those players, who will surely have been disillusioned somewhat by the developments. Reports this morning already claim that Fabregas is unsettled after Flamini's departure. Real Madrid circle over him, while Inter refuse to give up on Hleb. The chest thumping fan has been replaced by a worried one!

'Hey gaffer, if you care so much about building a team, why did you not keep Flamini?' That could so easily be the refrain, one that Wenger might struggle to respond to as mega offers start coming in. There will be teams willing to offer Adebayor and Hleb ₤80K per week, and Madrid and Barcelona would probably hand Fabregas a bumper ₤120K. Worrying times at The Emirates, and of their own doing.

Be it lopsided priorities last summer, poor mathematics last month, or simply a sloppy estimation of the damage this exit could cost, there is only one person who must answer for this. So, before Arsenal fans abuse Flamini, they must ask their professor how he managed to land the club just where they were two years ago.

To conclude, what would have been a summer of strengthening for Wenger now threatens to turn into three months spent desperately trying to hold on to his key players. This desperation was already evident in some of his comments about Adebayor on Monday, as well as his anger towards Ramon Calderon.

Talk about swinging the axe onto your own foot! Sorry Arsene, but you have got this one completely wrong.
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Interview with Scholes

2008-05-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

The man is Manchester United all the way...Call him Ginger Ninja or Ginger Legend or whatever you want...You always know what to expect from him...Excellent accurate passes and ugly tackles...His goal against Barcelona sent United to the CL Finals in Moscow...
Here is an Interview

Are you pleased with your own form this season?
[Shrugs] …It's been all right. I know I can play better. I'd like to be scoring a few more goals and making a few more as well. Hopefully in the important last few months of the season I can contribute a bit more.

You never seem to build up your own performances...
Well, I just think I've played better in the past. I think I'm capable of getting to that level again and I believe I can still do better than I have done this season.

As you've got older, has your training regime changed?
Football has moved on, but I don't think training has changed much. The diet side of it is still pretty much the same. The way we train, with Valter di Salvo (fitness coach), has changed a little bit. There are more days in the gym. I still love going outside and playing football, that's what I love doing. My approach to training has always been the same. You have to put every effort into it to get the benefit in games. I like to think I'm still doing that.

Do you still enjoy training?
Oh yeah, I love training every day. Training outside that is, I don't really enjoy the gym side of it. But that’s something that you have to do and you just get on with it. But, yeah, I love going out and playing football.

Do you work a lot on the individual elements of your game, like shooting?
I try to work on everything, shooting especially. I probably work on that more than anything else. I don't really try different ways of striking the ball or things like that, I just practice shooting the way I've always done. But I try to improve all aspects of my game. If you don't do that then you don't get anything out of training.

Your volley against Villa, voted Goal of the Month for December, was similar to the one at Bradford in 2000. Does the team practice goals like that in training?
It's not something we've worked on too much, you just know that corners are very often cleared to the edge of the box. It's a position I enjoy taking up because you're always hoping the ball will come out to you so you get a shot on goal. Wayne is the same as well, he loves shooting, so he's normally there queuing up to have a go, too. Both of us are hoping the ball comes to one of us, if we've not already scored from a header because Rio and Vidic are so dangerous at set-pieces.

With such a ferocious shot, why don't you take more free kicks?
I'm not a great free-kick taker. In fact, I'm rubbish! I prefer a bit of movement on the ball or striking it on the volley. We've got some good free-kick takers, like Ronaldo and Ryan [Giggs], who are a lot better than I am. I don't think there are many better strikers of the ball from dead-ball situations than those two, so I'm best letting them get on with it.

Players generally have to adapt their game as they get older, how has your game changed?
I haven't knowingly changed my game. I probably don't get forward as much as I used to. When you go forward it's a long way back, so I probably try and stay where I am a bit more! Maybe I've calmed down a bit in going forward, but I still try to keep all the elements of my game, passing the ball and trying to make and score goals. That's always what I've tried to do.

If you could improve one aspect of your game, what would it be?
Defending. Shocking defending. My tackling isn't the best [smiles].

Wall.E

2008-05-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

I have and will always love animated movies...the good ones anyway...I was not excited by the Ant bully and Bee movie but Ratatouille and Finding Nemo always have me smiling like a bum who is high on crack...Monsters Inc is my all time fav and so you probably would realise that Pixar is my favourite Animation Studio...C'mon Stanton, Ranft...all legends...
So like always I was tracking down their latest offering...Wall.E (it could be Wall-E)
From what I hear there are no voice overs...the so called voices for the robot characters will be created by recording sounds of machines and making them sound like words...The movie deals with a robot (Wall.E) that has been left back on Earth to clean the mess that the humans have left behind...
This is something I found on Yahoo's guide to summer movies which also gives the reader random trivia...

"Think the movie's shots of a trashed Earth are pure science fiction? Maybe not. Imagine filling an entire football field six feet deep in trash. Okay, now, fill 81,999 more. Sound hard? The United States does it every year. That's just 4% of the world's population. Better get to work, WALL-E."

I'll leave you with your thoughts now...

2008-05-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Manchester United can almost feel their 10th league title after their brave performance against the party spoilers we know as West Ham United...
Ronaldo was well positioned for both goals...yeah the finish on the second was not fantastic but look at Drogba's goals in the last few seasons...they were still worse and nobody crucifies that guy...
Hargo was the man for me...He brings that unique class to the squad that was missing last season. Nani was stupid for his red. Only Wigan and Chelsea left to beat to make the double happen. Just hope Wazza makes it to Moscow...
I have to accept the fact that Scholes will make it to starting 11 at Moscow and so here is the squad i'm looking for with that in mind.

_____Edwin van der Sar_____

Wes Brown_____Rio Ferdinand_____N.Vidic_____P.Evra

C.Ronaldo_____Hargreaves_____Scholes_____Park/Anderson

_____Tevez_____
______Rooney_____

Go Red Devils

AC Milan beat Inter Milan

2008-05-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

For those who began taking shots at Milan for the way they have played this season and for their ageing squad...Here is a lesson from the red and blacks themselves...
2-1 at the final whistle with Kaka and Pippo doing the damage..Kaka seems to have found his groove and Pippo...well he did not have to find anything...poor fella just does not get to play as much due to injury...
Gattuso was fantastic with his tackles and I hope for Milan's sake he stays with them till the end of fhis career...
After Fiorentina's 2-1 defeat at Cagliari, Milan moved up to fourth and now have Champions League qualification within their own hands.
Sadly Juventus lost their game.
It is not over in the Serie A with Roma so close to the stuttering Inter.
Inter have all the best individuals in their squad but thats all they are...individuals..foreign individuals at that
P.S : Nesta is the King Of the Penalty Box

Asterix...and Obelix...By Flavix

2008-05-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

I love Asterix… I really do…well actually I love Obelix…Simply because he is my comic twin…He is all about food, fights, friends and is in denial about something he is rather touchy about…..and yeah he has a dog that he loves more than anything else…
As a kid i was a little jealous that my dad had a Gaul name..."Felix"...I liked them Gauls so very much...I also suggested the name Dogmatix when my family was trying to come up with a name for our dog...

I really wanted to read Asterix and the falling sky despite the fact that the ruddy critics frowned upon it…
I got my chance this weekend…and I am glad I do not really care about critics because it was fun…the book really was…It had all the usual fare that we love so much and it also had this ‘hidden message” thing going on…let me blow my trumpet and say I cracked every anagram but one…so Wiki helped there…I mean How am I to know who created Beyblade and Yu-Gi-Oh and such crap…which I really hate by the way…
Uderzo really must love is work and those who are (to him) pioneers in it because it shows…he risked the popularity of his own work just to proclaim his passion and love for all the elements and people involved in Comics and Animation.
Oh and if anyone gets his hands or her ands or its paws on the complete guide to Asterix….there is a copy of fan mail from Emma Thompson as a kid…Real sweet
To conclude…Three cheers to the creators of Asterix…and the Translators too…

Kaka...Gentleman Footballer

2008-05-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

Kaka is a gem of a person...He has made it to the TIME 100 most influential list and is the only footballer on it...here is an article on him...Want to know why he points to the skies after every goal...read on...

SAO PAULO, Brazil - He is arguably the best football player in the world, his brother plays in the Serie B and is as religious as he is, his father is still friends with his son's old teammates and his mother makes exceedingly good cakes.
Those are just some of the things that help explain the phenomenon that is Kaka.

I watched Kaka come through the ranks at Sao Paulo. I watched him establish himself with Milan and Brazil. And I've watched him grow, both physically and mentally, to become one of the best in the world today.

During that time I've spoken to his friends, his family, his teammates and his coaches and no one has a bad word to say about the Milan midfielder.

Sometimes people don't want to criticise other players because they are afraid to stick their necks out or because they don't want to sound nasty. But the people who speak about Kaka do so with a real earnestness. Everyone seems to think the world of him.

That includes the youngsters who were with him when they came through the ranks at Sao Paulo. Kaka was different from most of the youngsters trying to make it into Sao Paulo's professional ranks. Many, if not most, were poor, dark skinned, came from broken families and lived far from the club's training ground in the impoverished suburbs of South America's biggest city.

Kaka was white, well off, had a stable family life and lived in the same Morumbi district where the club has its home. And as such he and his family were adopted as surrogates for many of Kaka's less fortunate teammates.

'Their family helped people who didn't have the money or time to go home,' Juan Maldonado Jaimes, one of Kaka's former colleagues, told me a while back. 'They took them to their house, to help them pass time. We'd play video games, play football, eat. Some players went there even when Kaka wasn't there. It was quite a close relationship between the players and the family. They are lovely people. His mother would make sweets or bake cakes.'

That stable family life is evident in the comportment of Kaka's father and brother Digao, who plays for Rimini in Italy's Serie B. They both look like Kaka, especially Digao, who is tall, pale and has the same toothy smile. (Digao is currently training at Sao Paulo while recovering from a ligament injury.)

Most noticeably, however, they are both impeccably mannered. As the saying in Brazil goes, the son of a fish is a fish. It means like father like son and Kaka is indeed like his father.

Engineer Bosco Izecson brought up his son to be a good Christian who values honesty and hard work. Although much attention is paid to the fact that Kaka is one of Brazil's few middle class footballers - and Kaka freely admits he does not fit the established stereotype - his father played down the wealth disparities and said he has tried to instill universal values in his son.

'What is important is their honesty and their character,' he said in discussing his outlook on life. 'Everyone wants to get on and better themselves. We lived our lives that way and Kaka has too. People helped us and we try and help people.'

That is not to say that Kaka has not had his problems to overcome. He suffered from a bone deficiency as a child that made him small for his age. He was two years behind his peers in terms of development and it was only his skill on the ball and his quick thinking that enabled him to play competitively with boys his own age.

'I saw him play as a kid and he was so small and thin but I could tell he had talent so I picked him out to play,' his former coach Milton Cruz told me. 'But he wasn't strong enough at first, the ball was bigger than his legs! One time he wanted to take a penalty and I wondered if he would have the strength to kick it all the way to the goal! He caught my attention, though, and he has shot up since then.'

Once he did cement his place in the Sao Paulo junior side he suffered another potentially crippling setback that helped shape who he is today. At age 18, Kaka jumped into a swimming pool while on holiday and fractured his spine. He didn't know how bad the damage was at the time. A local doctor told him he would be OK and he was back playing football three days later.

Kaka told his coaches about the incident but assured them he was fine and it was only after a couple of days training they realised all was not well. They could see he was holding back and sent him for more detailed tests. They showed he had fractured his spine. Every move he took during those days since the accident - including heading the ball - could have rendered him tetraplegic. And yet he survived.
Kaka puts that down to his religious beliefs - he is an Evangelical Protestant in a country that is overwhelmingly Catholic - and friends and family say his quick recovery from the accident helped him affirm his faith in God. It is not for nothing he celebrates every goal by pointing to the sky and thanking the Lord.

However, Kaka and his family are well-balanced enough to know that life is a lottery. Players need talent but the ones that do well in life, not just on the field, usually know they are very lucky to be doing what they do - and to be paid huge sums for doing so.

Scottish football writer Hugh McIlvanney once wrote that Jock Stein was a living negation of all those arrogant young men who persuaded themselves 'their largely fortuitous ability to kick a football or volley a tennis ball or belt out a pop song or tell a few jokes more acceptably than the next man is actually evidence of his own splendid mastery of his fate.'

I thought of McIlvanney's quote last week when talking to people who know Kaka. It seemed particularly apt bearing in mind the words of Milton Cruz, his former trainer.

'He's centred,' Cruz said of his best-known pupil. 'He doesn't think he's better than other people, he doesn't think he's special. He's humble and polite.He simply has a broader vision of the world. Kaka is the young man any father would love to have as a son.'

2008-05-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

The 1994 world cup was the first I remember...I will never forget how Baggio single handedly took Italy to the final...Here is an article I found on the winners of that year's competition

The 1994 team brought Brazil their first World Cup success in twenty-four years and compared to the terrible Sebastião Lazaroni coached side that went out in the second round of Italia 90', Carlos Alberto Parreira's team were brimming with attacking intent, although in general terms they were concerned more with defensive duties first, and attack second.

Romário was undoubtedly the star of the show, scoring five goals on the route to the final with Italy – a match that pitted him up against Roberto Baggio, the other top performer in the tournament. The final was a generally uneventful affair, with Brazil eventually taking the win on penalties after the match had ended goalless after one hundred and twenty minutes of play.

Goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel had a reputation for penalty saves coming into the tournament after his performances in the 1988 Olympics, and he duly delivered by saving Daniele Massaro's effort during the shootout victory. He has been involved with agent work in Brazil since retiring from the game, a profession also taken up on a sporadic basis by Romario's attacking partner in crime Bebeto, although he has hinted at taking up a coaching position in the next few years.

Jorginho, who is probably best remembered for his maundering runs forward from right-back throughout the competition, is now Dunga's number two in the Brazilian national team. As a player, Dunga was always noted more for his hard-work and physical attributes than his technical ability and seems to be instilling similar values into the current generation of Brazilian stars, with his team bearing a none-too-subtle resemblance to the 1994 side.

Mauro Silva sat alongside Dunga in central midfield, offering the technical attributes that his accomplice lacked, and after many successful years as a player in Spain with Deportivo La Coruña, is now involved in media work back in Brazil.

A veteran of the 1986 and 1990 tournaments, Branco came into the starting line-up after Leonardo had been sent off for a vicious elbow on USA midfielder Tab Ramos during their second round clash. Many will recall Branco for his spectacular free-kick that won Brazil the quarter final match against Holland, although Middlesborough fans are sure to recollect him turning up in England carrying a few extra pounds in 1996.

He spent a brief period as general manager of Brazil's youth teams, but is currently director of football at Fluminense, a club that has cruised through the group stages of this year's Copa Libertadores (South America's Champions League) with what looks like being the best record of any team in the competition.

Offensive midfielder Mazinho held a similar role at Greek side Aris Thessaloniki last season, but has now left that position to concentrate his efforts on the football careers of his three sons, with Thiago and Rafael – his eldest two – currently on the books of Catalan giants Barcelona. He also runs a football academy in Vigo in the North West corner of Spain, having spent four years at Celta towards the end of his playing days.

The central defensive partnership of Aldair and Marcio Santos played a key role in Brazil's success, but not much has been seen of either in recent years. Aldair made a brief comeback in S.S Murata's unsuccessful attempts to make it through the qualifying rounds of the Champions League in 2007, while Marcio Santos' dreams of wooing Sharon Stone never quite came to fruition.

Attacking midfielder Zinho was the only player from the starting line-up in the final that never made the move to Europe during his career. He ended his playing days in the United States at Miami FC and having announced his retirement, has recently taken over as head coach, with a record of one draw and one defeat from his first two games in charge.

Although all of the players that started the final have since hung up their boots, a few of those who were part of the 1994 squad are still playing on. Cafu continues to play for AC Milan at the age of 37, while Ronaldo could resume his career at the Italian giants assuming he makes a successful recovery from injury. At the age of 39, Viola is also still plying his trade at Duque de Caxias, a small side from Rio that recently finished second bottom in their group in the Rio State Championship.

Substitute goalkeeper Zetti is currently the coach of Juventude in the Brazilian Second Division, while defender Ricardo Rocha tried his hand at coaching to little success with Santa Cruz and has since disappeared off the public radar.

Leonardo did some media work for the BBC during the last World Cup and also has a semi-official role as a scout/agent for AC Milan in Brazil. His involvement was seen as one of the key reasons why Alexandre Pato elected to join Milan rather than any of the other European clubs that were vying for his signature. In addition, Leonardo runs the non-profit organisation Fundação Gol de Letra with another 1994 squad member Rai.

Muller was once half an hour away from signing for Everton, but is now a full-time Pastor, while not much has been heard of the likes of Ronaldao, Paulo Sergio and Rinaldi Gilmar since they brought their playing careers to an end.

It is hard to predict what Romário's future will hold now that he has hung up his boots for good, although if one was to guess then media work would seem to be the likely destination for him, with a job in coaching looking improbable due to his well known dislike of training. Whatever he decides to do, there is certainly a wealth of experience in various professions throughout the ranks of the 1994 side, so he should not be short in advice when deciding his next move.

Oman 2-0 Singapore: Two goals in two minutes

2008-01-28T04:50:00.000-08:00

I'm a little lazy today...actually a lil blue which is why i'm just copying down this news which helped cheer me up...

Oman 2-0 Singapore: Two goals in two minutes

MUSCAT (Paul Goodwin, FAS) - In the space of two minutes, Singapore found themselves two goals down to Oman in Sunday night’s friendly international in Muscat and never managed to claw back the deficit.

After the sound 2-0 win over Kuwait three days earlier the 2-0 loss has given Lions’ coach Radojko Avramovic and his team plenty to think about before they meet Jordan on Thursday in a third friendly and Saudi Arabia in a World Cup qualifier on 6 February in Riyadh.

Singapore appeared to be doing most of the attacking for the first seven minutes but a run through the heart of the Lions’ defence by Emad Alhosni turned the game on its head.

Alhosni capitalised on some hesitation from Singapore defender Baihakki Khaizan before slamming a shot past the helpless Lionel Lewis.

Two minutes later the same player proved too slippery once more, this time on the right and Baihakki brought him down clumsily inside the penalty area.

Qatari referee Abdul Rahman Abood awarded the penalty instantly.

Hussain Mudhafar planted his shot firmly past the keeper for a 2-0 lead inside nine minutes.

After these early setbacks Singapore did well to play their way back into the match but the goals would not come.

Khairul Amri was unfortunate not to earn a penalty in the second half, when sent tumbling inside the area, but the referee waved play on, much to the disgust of the Lions’ players.

Amri had run onto a smart through pass from captain Indra Sahdan and seemed certain to score until brought down.

Amri also had a powerful shot saved brilliantly by the Omani keeper and then had a goal disallowed for offside, a decision that stunned the Lions’ team.

After the game an angry Avramovic slammed the referee and his young defender, in equal measure.

“This Oman team has been together now for six or seven years,” he said.

“They all play in Qatar and the referee is from there too. There was nothing wrong with Amri’s goal and it was not offside,” he declared.

“Also that was a clear-cut penalty we were denied tonight.”

It was perhaps significant that the Omani crowd hailed the referee after the game, cheering him off the field.

Leaving aside the doubts on some of his decisions, Singapore met a very tricky opponent on Sunday night.

Oman was a very lively presence on the field and demonstrated a good understanding as a unit with some quality passing movements.

The Singapore team fought hard after the early setback and could easily have overcome the deficit with more leeway from the referee.

But Oman’s Alhosni was on fire and so was the rest of their team.

Captain Mohd Rabea, solid at the back, showed he was no slouch when overtaking the speedy Khairul Amri to dispossess the Singapore striker who had made a strong counter attacking move late in the game.

Avramovic was very displeased with the way his team defended early on.

“We had Juma’at Jantan and Ismail Yunos coming on and they did well enough. Maybe we will give these youngsters a chance in the next games too.

“Baihakki was at fault for both goals and I demand better,” said the coach.

Having roasted his player Avramovic said the Oman team was at least restricted to only two goals this time.

“Last time we were here we lost 7-0 so I should be happy it was only 2-0 this time,” he quipped.

“We should have known this would happen here (with a referee from a neighbouring country),” he reflected.

“When we go to Saudi Arabia I will be hoping for a referee from Japan, Korea or Australia.

“We will have a much better chance if that happens.”

It was obviously a far better outcome for Oman’s new coach, Julio Cesar Ribas, in his first match with his new team after joining them only earlier this month.

Singapore: Lionel Lewis, Faizal Hamid (Noh Rahman 58), Precious Emuejeraye, Baihakki Khaizan (Ismail Yunos 72), Daniel Bennett (Shahril Ishak 84), Ridhuan Mohamed, Shi Jiayi, Mustafic Fahrudin (Juma’at Jantan 81), Khairul Amri, Indra Sahdan (C) (Agu Casmir 63), Aleksandar Duric

Subs not used: Hassan Sunny, Sevki Sha’ban, Fazrul Nawaz, Isa Halim, Hariss Harun

Oman: Bader Juma, Mohd Alshayba, Mohd Rabea (C), Khalifa Ayel, Hussain Mudhafar, Fawzi Basheer, Ahmed Kanu, Ahmed Hodeed, Bader Al Maymani (Hashim Saleh 69), Emad Alhosni, Hani Althabit

Referee: Abdul Rahman Abood (Qatar)

Assistants: Salim Al Batashi (Oman) and Ali Hamdan (Oman)

Fourth Official: Abdullah Alharasi (Oman)

Cautions: Mustafic Fahrudin 31, Shi Jiayi 90

Merry Xmas

2007-12-25T00:09:00.001-08:00

My favourite day of the year is here...Boy i'm so happy and excited.
Merry Christmas to all.

Baby Jesus is born...*does a dance*

Told You So...

2007-12-16T19:56:00.001-08:00

I Love Italian Football...I really do...And i could not be happier...Italians are world champions...An italian club is European and World Club champion...Interestingly, Milan,Juventus,Roma and Inter all Won a trophy last season...

Told You So...

2007-12-16T10:26:00.001-08:00

Manchester United proved why they are champions...Amazing game by Anderson and Hargreaves...Champions League Contenders...hell yeah...As for Liverpool...They need to Quit Underachieving...

Global Warming...Whats that?

2007-12-16T01:35:00.001-08:00

This is really funny...Yesterday evening most people of mumbai were urged to switch of their power driven equipments for an hour with regard to global warming. Most people misunderstood the concept and thought the government was going to cut power for an hour. My shopkeeper tells me he sold all his candles like hot cakes. A few offered to return them when they realised it was a voluntary thing.ha

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen...And Ladies too...

2007-12-01T02:18:00.000-08:00

We are in the last few weeks leading up to Christmas...It's advent...It's gettin colder and colder (So cold that i'm using mittens...) and that special feeling you get around this season is growing in me...Carols will be sung...The nativity enactments will be looked at fondly...Trees will be lit...Christmas specials of all shows will be shown during the season...The Crib will be decorated...And like Bart Simpson (who is voiced by Nancy Cartwright...share my birthday with her...Which is why i like her still more) says... "Aren't we forgetting the true meaning of this day,the birth of Santa..."
Yeah Santas will make an appearance...As a kid i always wanted to grow up and be the next Santa or atleast work for him...I never thought of any other career. I really entertained that idea till class 2 when my teacher took great pride in educating us on why Santa only visits Christian kids...
"He does not exist..." she said.
"No...He is real...He gave me Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Toys last christmas..." said I.
"When you go to sleep your mummy and daddy put the presents there...They buy them" she said.
Till this day when someone uses the phrase "he looked like someone told him santa does not exist", my mind goes back to that awful day in school when i learnt the truth.
Having realised the truth i also saw a small loophole in the entire situation...I would continue to get presents as long as my parents do not know that i know the truth...And to make sure i get the right presents i would be more vocal on what i expect from Santa so "Santa Dad" would get them...
A funny thing happened during these "Taking advantage of the Loophole" years of mine... During my winter vacations i had a lot of friends over and we were playing on my Sega Mega console (we were Mortal Kombat crazy). My mom was in the room too...She was icing the cookies...
One of my friends was getting on my nerves...He always had tall tales to tell...That day's tale involved him waking up at night and spotting Jolly old Saint Nick and speakin to Santa and giving Santa things to eat...My mom was amused as she listened to all of this
I had to put this guy in his place and so i told him that all he claimed was not possible and told him to stop with the tales... My mom looked on as this happened... She wanted to see what i had to say...The boy continued with his story...I cut him off again...I told him it was not possible...After all i knew he did not exist...And i was just about to tell him so...But i realised that putting that reason forward would mean no presents from "santa" as christmas was around the corner...And i wanted a few popular cartridges for the Sega...So i came up with a stupid "He does not know where you live" line. That wonderful line made sure i had new cartridges for xmas...Where would xmas be without the greed of children...
So when did mom and dad know that i knew...Well it was christmas and santa had lived up to his promise and all was going well. I had been out playing with friends and we needed a new ball and so we were really shabby when we played...So we sent the least shabbiest guy into the nearby supermarket / toy store and in the meanwhile the rest of us stood outside... thats when i noticed my dad's name on a list displayed outside. The listed names were winner of some draw they had and the winners could shop for the equal amount as that mentioned on the bill against which the draw coupon was filled... So all of my friends and me rushed home and told my dad he was too busy with guests and so he just told me to check if the bill was in his wallet...It was... after all he had just shopped the previous day...I looked at the items purchased and dad had purchased items that matched exactly with what Santa bought us...My dad realised this only once it was too late...He grinned...He knew that i knew and i knew that he knew that i knew (phew)...Poor guy should have known i had known for years... He gave the voucher to up kids to buy what we wanted...It was like a consolation prize of a different sort...Anyway we did what we do best as kids...We bought lots of candy and a few water guns...All this was years and years ago...Nearly a decade back...
Today when i see kids not believing in Santa it saddens me...The joys of writing to santa and awaiting christmas morning knowing that someone so popular visited your home while you were asleep is something every kid should go through...To date i'm a big Santa Claus fan...Someday i'll work with Mick Foley who is a Santa fan too and try to get Santa back to the kids so that they know the truth later than sooner...I've never put down an opportunity to play Santa for kids...It really is a beautiful experience...Especially when the still innocent kids think you are santa...Of course there are older kids who try to show how smart they are and try to ruin everyone's christmas like the Grinch (i loved the movie...What idiot would not love a movie on christmas...Oooh And the cartoon was fantastic too) at these parties by screaming out "Santa's not real" and pulling your beard but then that is where Santa's huge body comes to the rescue...These kids should get lumps of coal...Right up their...You know...(Instead of stockings)

Till i post next time..."and to all a good night..."

Annoying slang and language

2007-12-01T02:12:00.000-08:00

Its really painful and annoying to witness the slow death of language...
Certain words come in and find special relevance in our daily usage...Most of these words are phased out as quickly as they are phased in...But some of them linger...And they get annoying when the usage is simply out of context...
The words 'Rockstar', 'Rocking' and 'Rocks' are probably the most annoying of the lot...The last time i looked these words were associated with a performer whose preferred genre was Rock music...I say preferred because lots of them deviate once in a while...Their main genre remains Rock music anyway...
Now why are there people called rockstars and what do you associate with rockstars...Well the main criteria is that rock music is their genre...More often than not they are wasted/high during their best years (I'm lookin at you Keith Richards...)...They have a huge female following...You know what i mean...There are tours and lots of live acts that people go nuts attending...You also think of tattoos and booze when you think of rockstars...Of course the skilled use bass guitars and drums which are the dominant instruments at their concerts distinguish them from the others...There are more things but i think i've painted a 'high resolution' picture here of who a rockstar is...
Now here is how this word is killing our language...Here is an example
If i go and read any youth magazine...And God forbid there is a movie review or a Game review...And if they were to ask the readers to send in opinions...Every second reader review would have one of these three words in their review..."The movie rocked" or "Russel Crowe is a rockstar" (well he actually is...As is Chris Jericho...)
i was watching a tv interview and they went on to introduce Baichung Bhutiya as a rockstar...Spot the mistake...Yeah...Baichung is a football player...I don't think he can even hold a guitar right...Let alone play "enter sandman" on it...You cannot introduce every Indian actor as a rockstar...For the same reason...These people make movies and so the term you would be lookin for is moviestar...Which is not saying much about your movies if these are the kind of people you call stars...
Next word on my hate list is "Bum"...This one hasn't really caught on and is popular in just one particular region...Sadly i make frequent visits to that region...This damn word is more annoying than rocking and rockstar put together...And the accent which accompanies the word just wants you to kick the person using the word on his or her...Well...Bum.
What the hell does "Whazza Bum?" even mean...sounds more like someone is checking for Hemorrhoids rather than greeting you...
Oh i've already leaked the next annoying word...When the word "Whazza(p)" became popular i just bore the torture that it caused waitin for it to go out of style...Sadly it remained in style and while doing so it also had offsprings which means...There were other equally annoying words that came up which were derived from this big daddy.
I'm done complaining for now but i'll be putting up another list of words sometime...

Croatian WMD...Beware Europe...

2007-11-25T04:44:00.000-08:00

We won't be seeing Rooney and pals at the Euro08 competition after what happened last week and it is really a pity...
While most were quick to point to McClaren as the weakest link...A few found another reason why the Croatians could beat England...Apparently the British Singer who sang the Croatian anthem before kickoff mispronounced a word that gave the anthem a hilarious twist which calmed the players.
The singer, Tony Henry should have sang "mila kuda si planina" which means "you know my dear how we love your mountains".
Instead he sang "mila kura si planina" which means "my dear,my p***s is a mountain"
Croatian players like Luka Modric and Manchester City's Vedran Corluka started looking at each other and grinning when they realised what had happened. Croatian fans believe this helped the players
relax and want Tony to be an official team mascot.

Go for it Tony... It'll be GRRRRREAT

Random Opinions...

2007-11-24T07:43:00.000-08:00

Nivea's latest ad campaign has me impressed...Most ads i find on tv are so bad that many times i'm startled when i see the product being endorsed at the end of the silliness they come up with.
Cellular phone advertisements in particular are getting more abstract with the release of every new model...And abstract in this case is not good... I would love to see the CEO of Sony or Nokia dance to the music played by their cell phones at their business parties... Some would defend the ads saying that i need to use my imagination and creativity...But the point here is that you want to attract the potential buyer with the reasons he needs the product... Not confuse him... There have been many times when i've been at the mall counter and i've heard customers reject a cell phone and pick up another because the sound isn't what they were led to believe... Oh i'm not just after Cellular phone ads... Holiday package ads and ads for vehicles and Deo/Perfumes are as miserable... Nivea's ad was both simple and to the point...No noisy jingle accompanying it...Instead they chose a pleasant track from Asher Lane...
No celebrities were used...It just showed that people from all walks of life can use their product in different ways... Welcome change...

Corporates and Oil

2007-08-03T13:20:00.001-07:00

China is flooded.
UK is flooded.
Bangladesh,Nepal and India are flooded after heavy UNPREDICTABLE rains.UN calls it the worst flood in living memory.
There were cyclones hitting regions of the middle east which is unheard of.
Are these the first among the serious global influences of global warming?

Most of you who have tried following the entire "effects of global warming" story so far would know that the "rise in temperatures causing rise in water levels due to melting ice" is just one of the impacts of global warming.
The other impacts include really really heavy rains followed by flooding in regions that get moderate to heavy rainfall and drought in regions of low rainfall or areas that are traditionally dry.
What global warming will do is take conditions to extreme ends.Summers will be hotter as many Americans will tell you from their experience this summer...And winters will be colder than before.Don't be surprised to hear the media say "temperatures are at an all time high/low" every year because it is getting more intense with time.Climatic conditions will get difficult to predict.Elevated temperatures will cause forest fires...Most of you might have noticed the increase in the rate of forest fires.The ferocity of tropical cyclones and hurricanes will increase due to global warming.
Recently Russia has stumbled upon oil in the arctic and it is under the sea.Russia claims it to be theirs and other countries want it too...The quantity there is huge...But extraction is costly.Strangely that does not seem to bother most meaning they are ready to spend that much to extract the oil.This development is disappointing and discouraging to those who are concerned with global warming and the environment.I personally would prefer the same financial resources being pumped into the development of technology to use non polluting energy resources.There is not only risk of more oil burning causing more global warming in the future but there is also risk of damage to the ecosystem in that region.
I was reading material on ExxonMobil (currently number two on the fortune 500 list,former number one) recently.I was hit by lots of strange facts and data.Exxon and Mobil became a huge market force after they merged in the rather recent past strangely they both are descendants of John Rockefeller's Standard Oil company which began in 1870.ExxonMobil has been been involved in one of the largest oil spills of all time in 1989.They reportedly fund Skeptics who ridicule global warming and discourage use of bio diesel and other non polluting sources of energy.The union of concerned scientists report that they've funneled around $16,000,000 between 1998 to 2005 to a network of 43 advocacy organisations that seek to confuse the public on global warning science.The Republicans and ExxonMobil have also been linked to the youtube video lampooning Al Gore called Al Gore's Penguin army.ExxonMobil is number 6 on the Toxic 100 list of corporate air polluters in the United States.

They've also bribed government heads for part in their nation's oil fields...This has been depicted in the George Clooney movie called Syriana.Once again urging people who bothered reading this far to do your bit...Good Luck

Foxy's world

2007-08-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

Miss my dog (Foxy) the most of all things that i left in oman.He did the silliest and most funny things.We used to have trouble with the people delivering gas...What i mean is that they would never find the right home and would ultimately deliver days too late.All that changed with Foxy's arrival.The thing about my dog was that the smell of gas and the noise that the metal clanging created would get him furious.It would be so bad that we had to shut him in a room before the Omanis who were delivering gas showed up.I call them "Gasmen" - The nemesis of our crazed hero...Foxy (Le Chien)
So what happened on these adventures...After the first few encounters since my dog arrived,the people delivering the gas...All of them...They knew that there was this one home where the dog was just a wooden door away from their bottoms...Good thing they did not see how Foxy had clawed the door that kept them apart to splinters...Or how the little dynamite just magnified in size because his fur stood like pins in a pincushion when he went wild...
This notorious dog of mine made life simpler...He solved the small issue of gas delivery which annoyed us since around 15 years before his arrival.
Whenever we call up and order a new cylinder now...We just vaguely describe the location of the building before the guy on the other end says..."inteh fi kutta ghar?" in his twist of arabic and hindi...Which roughly translated means "are you in the house with the dog?"
Our neighbors who called up for gas since then were met with the same question when they described the location of the building...And they now just call up and say "Bait Kalab" or "Kutta Ghar" and they benefit from my dog's battles with them Gasmen...
If you were wondering...He did manage to get the door open once when the people were installing the cylinder...And he dug his teeth into one of the men's sports wear.
Those of you who own dogs or owned dogs at some point of time in the past...I recommend the song 'Death of a Martian' by Red Hot Chili Peppers...The song is about the passing away of the bass guitarist...Flea's dog.Its amazing how you understand all on Anthony's usually vague lyrics.

Dumbledore's Army

2007-07-28T06:20:00.000-07:00

Its been a week since the book of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows was released...Still can't believe its over...Thought about touching on the highlights of the book for me...
The first highlight of the book was Severus Snape's part in everything that has ever happened in all the books...At the point of his death he asks Harry to look at him and he looks into Harry's eyes before he passes on.His death was not one where you feel sadness for him.Even Peter Pettigrew's death was something that had more sadness attached to it at the instant he died.Snape's death hits you when Harry watches his memories.That is when you realise why looking into Harry's eyes when he died was really beautiful way for him to go...He died looking into Lily's eyes.You feel for Snape...In life and death he was working to give the people,who hated him,a chance.It is really sad to imagine living a life where you walk upon a thin line between death and life just to help the people who hate you...Another thing that Rowling did with Snape which was beautiful was giving him the Patronus of a Doe.One of the two most beautifully written parts in the book was at the end when Harry tells his son (Albus Severus Potter) that he was named after two headmasters of Hogwarts.One of whom was a Slytherin and was the bravest man Harry had known.It was a wonderful tribute to Snape.
The other beautifully written part involved Dobby...
He was always a funny and goofy creature who undoubtedly should be the mascot for the Harry Potter fan club in the previous books...but all that changes when he comes to the aid of Harry,Ron and Hermione and dies in the attempt of rescuing them.After succeeding to help rescue Harry he is wounded and just before he passes he is with the one person he admires and loves the most...His last words was Harry's name.This was followed by the other most beautifully written part of the book...Where Harry digs a grave for Dobby himself and puts him to rest there.
Another well written part was when Harry and the other two visit Luna's bedroom and see the huge drawing of the faces of Harry,Ron,Hermione,Ginny and Neville with the golden chains that read "friends"
Dumbledore,Luna,Hagrid,Lupin,Mr.Weasley,Fred Weasley,Sirius and (now) Snape are my favourite characters.Strangely five of the eight characters i've mentioned were bumped off.
Rowling did add it was either Lupin or Mr.Weasley so maybe it would be 5/8 even if Lupin stayed.
Rufus Scrimgeour's death is a noble one too.
Dumbledore is now still more popular with me after the bit about Ariana...He makes mistakes like everyone else but like Snape he has spent the rest of his life trying to work at clearing his mind (by doing the right thing) after believing he is responsible for a loved one's death.He is as cool as Gandalf.Both of them had always had an overview of the entire situation.I've already pointed out the similarities in a previous post.
Kreacher's face turn was really pleasant and made him really lovable...
I still wish Fred Weasley hadn't died...He was the funnier one and one can't imagine one Weasley twin being without another.They were whole when together.They cared for one another more than for anybody else...This is illustrated when George gets his ear blasted off his head.Or even when Fred dies in the end it is George who holds Fred.
Mad Eye Moody and Hedwig's death were harsh...
Perhaps the most harsh deaths were Remus Lupin and Tonks...With Ted Lupin just a year old...It was like Harry and Neville's parents' deaths.It was wonderful that Harry was chosen Godfather to Ted.
The most exciting bit in the book was the appearance of Dobby to save Harry till...Aberforth came in...Ironically his patronus is a goat...

In an interview following the release of the book,Joanne Rowling mentioned that her original epilogue had the names of every child born to the weasley family clan in the past 19 years.
Victoire who Teddy Lupin was snogging is Bill and Fleur's eldest.
Harry and Ron work at the Auror department at the ministry of magic.Harry is the department head.Harry and Ron utterly revolutionized the Auror department.They are now experts.Hermione is "pretty high up" in the Department of magical law enforcement,despite laughing at the idea of becoming a lawyer in "deathly hallows".Her brainpower and her knowledge of how the dark arts operate really give her a sound grounding" Rowling said.
Harry,Ron and Hermione don't join the same ministry of magic they had been at odds with for years,they revolutionize it and the the ministry evolves into a "really good place to be."
Luna continues to march to the beat of her own drum.She is travelling the world looking for various mad creatures.She is a naturalist,whatever the wizarding equivalent of that is.
Luna comes to see the truth about her father , eventually acknowledging there are some creatures that don't exist.But she's so open-minded and just an incredible person that she will be uncovering things that no one's seen before.
As for Mr and Mrs Longbottom...The damage is done and there is no chance they left St Mungo's hospital.19 years after the battle of Hogwarts there is a new headmaster and its not Professor McGonagall who was "really getting on a bit"
The jinx on the DADA post is now broken and there is a new professor for it too.Harry pops in to give the students the odd talk on DADA every now and then.Whether Harry and friends return to complete their 7th year she doesn't say.

EXTRA-
The little child who was crying when Harry is at King Cross with Dumbledore was The bit of Voldemort that was trapped in Harry.
If you watch the credits of the movie of Prisoner Of Azkaban...When the names roll out on the Marauder's map , if you look into the map you see many places mentioned like the owlery...One places that is really funny...Is the "Book of Monsters repair shop"

-Mischief Managed...

Flavian's Pensieve...

2007-07-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

*Thank You Rowling*

From buying the last book of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows in the store to this point when i'm collecting my thoughts after reading the book so i can come back to it again , there was a lot going on in my mind about the book . Probably the first thing running through my head around the time of the release was reluctance to finish reading the book...Because sadly there would be no more to come.I've always been a little soft when it comes to things ending...Then again on 23rd July at around 7 am after staying awake all night i finished the book...Keeping in mind i picked the last copy at a bookstore around 6 pm on July 21st (the day of release) and had muggle errands and tasks that took time , I was quick to finish the book... It was necessary to overcome my reluctance , realising that lots of sources were killing the joy of reading by letting out huge parts of the plot . Infact the reason i was late in buying the book was some concerns over money since there was some delay in transfer of the galleons and knuts . When i realised that many were letting out the secrets (being bad secret keepers) of the book , i got back to my mom in Oman and let her know it couldn't wait (i had not expressed any desire to buy the book before this because the money delay was unexpected and since i thought the money was coming...There could always be adjustments made to fit the book in).What followed next was amazing...My Dad calls me up and tells me how i could collect the money and so within an hour i had the money...So thanks mom and dad for putting up with my demands which always seem to come out of nowhere .
Mom's always felt that i have a new obsession every few months but this love for the Potter books was different and she realised that...It was going strong for nearly a decade . In fact she knew about Dumbledore as the principal and asked me if his death in book 6 was the reason why i was slightly gloomy back when that book came out...That to me is something...It shows how widespread the books are and how well known the characters are , since even my mom knows about Dumbledore.
I think i had picked book 6 on the same day of release too.
The experience of reading the book back then was the best yet (i'm just talking about the surroundings while reading the books here...Not my choice of books)...It was more magical .The reason for that was that though it was not the first time i was buying the book on the same day of release , it was the first time i had done so in Oman . I was in Oman for vacations and I remember my dad offering to buy the book when he got back from work and so my parents and me made our way to Lulu hypermarket in Al Ghubrah and picked up the Half Blood Prince from Turtles (which is such a cool name for a bookstore). While my parents proceeded to shop for other stuff i happily made my way to the hypermarket's parking lot . I settled down in the backseat of the car and turned the light on...I began reading...The cool and silence of the parking lot complemented the tone of the early chapters of the book...It is still my favourito memory that involves reading . An oddity of mine is that i don't let anyone touch my newly purchased books especially the Potter books and if they must , they must wash their hands well so that their fingers do not leave destructive oils on the pages . Another thing is that i love the smell of newly printed pages of these Potter books...It was really funny and coincidental that i made this observation about myself and then while reading the sixth book i found out Hermione shares a similar love for the smell of fresh parchment which she realised when she was around a cauldron of Amortentia...Thats love potion.
A lot of theories out there with the last book's plot turned out to be true...R.A.B was Regulus Black,the locket of slytherin was in the house of Black while Sirius was alive and Harry had joint them,Malfoy and Snape turned out to be good...One was transformed the other was always good,Neville became teacher at Hogwarts...And most important was the Snape and Lily bit...That along with Dumbledore's talk with Harry and the pages involving Dobby and Kreacher were the beautiful parts of the book for me...Of course the end with Harry,Ron,Hermione and Ginny was as beautiful.
Having read David Colbert's book where he mentions how Rowling's favourite author was C.S Lewis i thought it was really interesting to see the parallels not between Lewis's books but with Tolkien...
David Colbert would be proud...
Just like Gandalf of The Lord Of The Rings (LOTR) , Dumbledore too realised that with power or authority he might have become as bad as the Dark Lord...Or atleast power would corrupt him.
Again like LOTR the Dark Lord has a part of him in an inanimate object...Sauron had the ring and Voldemort was all over the place with Horcruxes
Again just like the Horcruxes when the ring was in some danger it would try to rate itself.Both worked to corrupt the person bearing it.Both needed to be destroyed to destroy the owner.
Both horcruxes and the ring in LOTR needed special conditions under which they could be destroyed.
Both Gandalf and Dumbledore held extra special magical or powerful devices.The former had a ring while the latter had the Elder Wand.

This Blog might have a sequel to it but for now...
Book seven was fabulous...Everybody was there to kick Voldemort butt.
The presence of Aberforth was a great addition...He was one of the best characters...

Its was with a tinge of sadness that i read the last new pages...Wish it wasn't over...

Where is it all heading...

2007-07-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

There is no definite way to begin this...With so many facts and Bits to put in.Before Bush (not America) attacked Iraq post 9/11 , there was no Al-Qaida there.Now they are showing signs of life all over Iraq.Bill Maher in an interview recently said "Bush is the kind of person who throws manure on you and then protects you from the flies".That is exactly what his administration has done with Iraq.He also mentioned that the war in Iraq costs America $ 2,000,000,000 a week...Thats is TWO BILLION DOLLARS.There is growing talk of withdrawal of troops from Iraq but doing so will just cause chaos.The mess is bigger than that of Vietnam.A withdrawal will trigger a domino effect which will result in people accepting the eccentric ideas of Laden and company.Bush's own eccentric plans have cost more than the tax payer's dollar bills.A lot of Iraqi people who welcomed the fall of saddam are now keeping out of view.Iraqis on the whole are rapidly growing more hostile to the USA led forces.And so those who once supported them are not safe anymore...The same applies for minority religious sects and groups.Many followers of the ancient and culturally rich Sabaean religious order have fled the country following attacks on them.Lots of Iraqis are leaving their country to live as refugees in horrid conditions that involve hunger,unemployment,discrimination and other hardships...But they are unwilling to return to their homeland because death is almost certain there with only the question of ' when ?' arising ...Iraqis are refusing to do interviews with journalists fearing attacks.
Something amazing to point out is that even though it is the American involvement that has forced most Iraqis to move...The Americans have done almost nothing to help out these refugees.The number of legal Iraqi refugees in America pale in comparison (500 to 700) to those is Syria and Jordan who share a major part of the 3.5 million refugees.Syria alone has about 1.4 million ( information from cnn special : untold stories - state of despair ).And the patience of the people these countries has been decreasing.The Refugees have come to these countries but a few terrorists made their way too and introduced terrorism and violence in these foster nations.It is understandably very risky for America to harbour Iraqi refugees because of terrorists who can get through...One would expect some help in the situation in Syria and Jordan...But America is not helping these foster countries to put up with refugees.It is inevitable that clashes will arise between the refugees and those who live around them...And in time it will demand attention from the media due to the escalating severity.
Keep in mind that all this would never happen...There would be none of this refugee trouble or AQ presence in Iraq if Bush was not allowed to act according to his whims and feelings under the suspected WMD pretext...This is the same man who kept hinting at Roast Pig while talking to the German Chancellor about Politics
Not being able to stop Bush and Blair(they are actually distant relatives...) from attacking Iraq was the biggest failure of the UNO.
Outsourcing under the Bush administration has long been criticised by Americans...but the worst form of outsourcing came when Bush outsourced the capture of Osama Bin Laden to Pervez Musharaff (who still sits on the fence when it comes to stopping terror)...
Most wars and conflicts in the world history are due to religion.
The two biggest wars (The world wars) were fought due to political reasons
One trouble with all what is going on is that it is a blend of both which makes it that much worse.
The point of all that was put down here till now was to create a little awareness and lots of thoughts to ponder about.