Paddle on

Saturday morning. Flowing from tiny back yard river into larger river and likely into bigger river to end up in the Indian ocean and onwards into all oceans of the world. Free flowing and touring the globe.

No restrictions, no obligations nor plans. Just flowing freely. The pace decided by nature. Decided by the mood of the water. But even the pace is of no importance at all. Flowing freely wherever it leads and at whatever speed. Just going. The here and now of strangely no importance. The here and now important to all of us except to him. Freely flowing. Going places.

Ashes to ashes.... to water. Thanks James, flow nicely, freely. For those here and now.... I got that image of Mr JT on a canoe battling the ocean waves. Today the Indian ocean. Tomorrow passing by Japan and being greeted by whales. Then through the icy waters of Canada and down to the warmer Atlantic. Looking at the baking tourists on the beaches of Ibiza. Passing by the fishermen near the west coast of Africa. Around the stormy Cape and through the Madagascar channel. And on and on. Freely. Paddling away.

Go well. Sounds extremely stupid at the same time but what can mortals say to the free flowing ashes?

Samba

Bafana Bafana likes the samba. They keep playing well against local teams in their Brazilian training camp. The samba is giving them the right rhythm.

And/or maybe the female Brazilians coming to watch the African players stimulates Bafana Bafana to higher levels. Or maybe it's just being in the home of the ultimate world champions that brings the best out of our lads. Who knows what the exact ingredients are but it seems, at least sitting the other side of the Atlantic, that it's going well.

Let's hope they don't abandon those tricks and positive attitudes when landing back home. It's still gonna be hard to hit the 2nd round but where there is hope there is.... well... hope.

The Bulls of Soweto

So it seems that the famous Blue Bulls might play one of their big games in Soweto's Orlando Stadium. That's a cracker of note!

It is still a maybe because it depends if they win certain upcoming games. Am clearly not an expert on the rugby calendar. If I am not mistaken it would be an international final or something. But for sure the Pretoria-based Blue Bulls playing a crucial game in Soweto is a hell of a move.

Guess many Blue Bulls fans have already searched for Orlando Stadium on their Garmin or Tom-Tom.

The move down to the south-west edge of Egoli has all to do with the fact that the Bulls can't use their Loftus home for a while soon because of that football circus that is hitting SA in less than 80 days. The Loftus pitch needs to be clear of rugby tackles to get smoothly ready for Ghana vs Serbia on June 13 at 4PM.



And I see in today's newspaper that Kulula airlines has hit back at the FIFA ban of its previous advertisement. It was indeed a bit of shock to see that FIFA went to court to stop Kulula from using what looked like normal world cup references like a vuvuzela or even just 2010. Anyway.... Kulula's creative minds came up with a new full-page ad. Nice little tit for tat.

Pigeon reality TV show

From boxing to pigeon racing! Convicted rapist and puncher-deluxe Mike Tyson has now a pigeon racing reality-TV show in the making for Animal Planet.

I had to read it twice to believe it.

And now an animal welfare group in brooklyn, NY thinks the pigeons are treated badly...., and some illegal gambling could be involved too. They asked the cops to investigate. Tyson seems always to hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. Didn't he bit off a piece of an ear of on of his boxing opponents some years back? Eish! I fear for those pigeons!!!!

Do or die game

It's one of those days. Or more, there have been several of those days in a row.

I call them head rushes, cuz your brain goes from one idea and issue to the next one and the next one and the next one... and all that within seconds. Like a rollercoaster of words. Thousands of sticky notes (in bright yellow) crisscrossing your brain. And all competing for attention and follow up.

Creepy, thorny weeds crawling on the electric fence. And growing extra fast now because of the heavy storm yesterday. Friend moving to NYC in a few days. Good luck to her. Other friend didn't go to St Patrick's Day in Boston this year. A regular habit of him as a guest of the annual Dropkick Murphys gigs there. These Irish-Boston punkrockers have just released a live album commemorating their 2009 St Patrick's Day concerts. If they would have released their 2008 gigs it would have been more memorable for me as I attended those. And I certainly remember how very cold Boston was in March 2008.

And Liverpool through to the next round of the Euro Cup. Next game is against Benfica from Portugal. Anderlecht not through despite a home win against Hamburg. The Germans now playing against another Belgian team in the next phase: Standard de Liege. And the almighty Juventus kicked out by Fullham. And in the Champions League the quarter finals will see Barcelona vs Arsenal. Should be a fast game. And tomorrow Manchester Utd against Liverpool in the English league. Utd can't drop points to stay in the title chase with Chelsea and Arsenal. And Liverpool can't drop points to keep the 4th spot in the league as target, which would mean an invite for next season's champions league in the mail. Sounds like a do or die game. Live on DSTV.

Pump up the volume

Our national football ladies are 56th on the new FIFA world ranking. That’s kind of half way as there are a total of 105 ladies' teams ranked.

Banyana Banyana is higher up than Bafana Bafana. The boys are 81st on the latest FIFA list. But, to be fair, the lads compete against a total male FIFA list of 203 national teams.

The highest ranked African female team comes from Nigeria on 27th spot. USA leads the ladies pack, ahead of Germany, Brazil and Sweden. The ladies are getting ready for their own world cup, next year in Germany.

Meanwhile, back to the lads’ worldcup starting very soon in a stadium near you. And with Africa’s first world cup host comes of course fine tunes and party time. FIFA just announced some of the big names for the opening festivities on June 10 in Soweto’s Orlando Stadium. The so called Kick-Off Celebration Concert will bring Alicia Keys (and I guess her piano too), Angélique Kidjo (Africa’s superstar), Shakira (the Colombian-Lebanese singer with the swinging hips) and Black Eyed Peas (the party shakers of note), amongst others, to our shores (and inland). Also on stage will be SA’s own local-is-lekker acts BLK JKS (kicking ass in the US too!), The Parlotones (those chaps from the KFC commercial), and Vusi Mahlasela (and guaranteed his trumpet too). The gig starts at 8PM and will be shown live across the globe. And now you know it!

Nice.

Achilles

He just slightly turned last Sunday and it was all over. No evil tackle. No sprint. No pushing around awaiting an incoming corner kick. No nothing. Just by himself and one normally looking move and finished. Goodbye kicking that ball in Rustenburg or Soccer City or Greenpoint stadium. Goodbye standing there in the English shirt listening to the national anthem. Goodbye scoring that magic winning goal from a freekick. When dreams come crashing down. Achilles' revenge.

Talking about David Beckam of course. Sad. The tattooed bloke would have been in his 4th world cup - an English record. And at his age there probably wont be another chance. Although Brazil 2014 is obviously an attractive goal to sweat to.

But really bad luck. 100% Bad luck. I ain't a Beckham groupie, and I certainly ain't a Manchester Utd nor a Real Madrid nor an AC Milan supporter. And without any doubt I don't care about his US team - Galaxy or some silly name like that. But he is (was) a very good player. That we can be honest about.

So first reaction was of course that if he can't make the worldcup because of his torn achilles tendon, then his Spice Girl wife Victoria won't come too. That would crash the Rustenburg economy because her credit card mania would be a welcome gift to that place in the shadow of Sun City. I have limited knowledge of Rustenburg so can't say if there is much of the Spice Girl's expensive taste to buy there. If not in Rustenburg then certainly Sandton or the upmarket shops in Cape Town would benefit from the WAG's visit. The Beckhams apparently have already rented a flat in Camps Bay for June/July.

But weren't the Spice Girls planning a reunion gig here in SA during the worldcup? Please save us from that. We gonna miss Beckham's tricks on the pitch, that's already sad enough...

But now the UK tabloid Daily Mail reports that Beckham-on-crutches will anyway come to SA because he is a crucial ambassador (aka sales representative) for England's 2018 world cup bid. So he needs to come to attend cocktail parties and talk to the VIPs and VVIPs and VVVIPs and do some photoshoots with kids here and there. From England's pitch magician to smoozer. So Rustenburg's economy might well get a cash injection. Start testing those VISA card machines!

Oh and then I thought the following. David and Victoria have 3 kids: Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz. Wasn't there a rumour going around in the world of glamour and paparazzi that they named their kids after where they were conceived? Brooklyn in NY and Romeo in lovely Rome. Cruz I don't know, but there is a Santa Cruz in California I think. Victoria is only 35 and thus can handle another toddler. So what about a little Rust or a little Cape? A Cape Tonian can easily become a Toni. Just do it for SA's eternal glory!

The Real crash

It is often said that money can't buy happiness,.... but I'm willing to test that one.

But what is clear and once again proven last night, is that money can't guarantee you victory in football. The superrich Real Madrid bit the dust against much lesser rich and lesser famous Olympique Lyon from neighbouring France in the champions league last night. After a 1-0 defeat in France, the almighty Madrid with all its stars and victorious history thought it could clinch the next round by beating Lyon back home. That simple idea crash landed heavily last night. With 1-1 Lyon goes through and Real can weep and simply wait for the next champions league season. With all their superstars earning more than the GDP of some smaller countries, that was just not enough to make the football difference. Big budgets and big stars clearly don't guarantee anything (besides debt of course).

Well done Lyon!!

Social theatre

Met a friend at Doppio Zero in Joburg’s Greenside yesterday. And i discovered the amazing tale of her WITS studies.

She is studying arts and theatre to help deliver the AIDS message to communities around Africa. How great is that!! She has no arts background but the arts here are a tool to bring about change and awareness in the area of sexual health and behaviour.

Respect!!

And the food at Doppio Zero was good.

Live in hope

No Oscars for anything related to the Rainbow Nation, be it District 9 or Invictus. So I guess all our hopes are on Bafana Bafana now....

Maybe after their Brazilian camp, the boys will come back with that scoring touch. We live in hope (that's all we can do really).

Whole lotta goals

London's Wembley was edgy last night. And it was not cuz JZ was in town. 0-1 For the African Champions Egypt at half-time. But the English Rose fought back, lead by captain Gerrard (Liverpool's rock) and took the friendly game 3-1 at the end.

Whole lotta international friendly games last night across the globe in preperation for the less-than-100-days-away worldcup.

Our own Bafana Bafana,... well,... eish!! 1-1 In Durban against Namibia which is listed 30 places lower than South Africa on the latest FIFA rankings. The neighbours are on the 111th spot, Bafana Bafana is in 81st place.

Some more interesting results. Germany - always candidate to win the worldcup - lost at home 0-1 against Maradona's Argentina. It will boost the wobbly Argentinians. Algeria, who kept Egypt out of South Africa, got trashed at home by Serbia 0-3. I give Serbia a good chance to reach far here in June and July. Ghana crashed 2-1 in and against Bosnia. France got sent packing by Spain 0-2. No hand of Henry here to save face. I keep telling ya..... Spain is on a rollercoaster! Greece, who are in Group B at the world cup (with Argentina, South Korea and Nigeria) lost at home against world cup absentees Senegal. And Drogba's Ivory Coast (Africa's hope) got egg on its face after loosing 0-2 against South Korea. Kick that! Holland vs USA was 2-1 and the Dutch remain on a winning streak. Nigeria trashed DRC 5-2 and Portugal won 1-0 against China. Surprise world cup qualifier Switzerland lost in the Alps against Uruguay 1-3. Uruguay, with France and Mexico, are in South Africa's first round world cup group.

Lost of coaches have lots of work to do. Meanwhile it's tick tock...

Moon ice

It's all happening at the same time. The universe will never be the same again!!

We are less than a 100 days of the first world cup on African soil. And on top of that they found ice on the moon. And where there is ice there is water. And where there is water there is life!! That's it, we humans are not that unique anymore. There is some form of life on the moon, up there in the sky.

Hello moon-creatures! Are you coming to the worldcup or do you get DSTV up there? Are there special ticket prices for out-of-earth visitors? Have the moon-lifeforms seen District 9? Are they District 9??????

Tomorrow wont be what yesterday was. That's a fact. Hello moon!!!

Fiestas across Spain

So in 100 days + 1 month, Brazil has just lost 3-2 to Spain in the 2010 world cup final in a sold out Soccer City. Liverpool ace Torres was the main man with 2 goals. Kaka, Ronaldinho and all the other Brazilian superstars just couldn't stop the Spanish armada.

And the streets of Spain start celebrating. All night long. Summer fiestas across Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Bilbao,...

And that was the world cup 2010. That was....