he scoooooores!!

ahh, finally something that should help the cold bleak winter pass by more easily.. i got Digital Cable with all it's 300 channels to go with the kick-ass, self-built and hopefully-working home theater you see here..

and of course, the one package i had to get was the NHL Center Ice, so that i can watch yet another league-dominating and ice-sweeping season for my beloved Buffalo Sabres..

there are still sixty-odd games left, and then the inevitable playoffs too.. there's a certain joy in laying back blazed on the comfy couch, floating in my cloud and watching the Sabres whiz up and down the ice kickin' ass.

oh yeah, this is how i chill out on weekends :-)

go long, go long!

yes, it's that time of the year again when Fall starts to tinge the leaves, and there's a nip in the air.. and the sounds of crowds roaring fill living rooms throughout the nation on sunday afternoons. yes, the NFL is back, and football season is upon us yet again. for the next seventeen weeks, i shall not be available from noon onwards on sundays, as the gridiron and the grill fires up, the beer and icecream cools down..all in the pursuit of the ultimate goal - the SuperBowl!

so it's time to brush up on your lingo - 'no-huddle offense', 'shotgun', 'blitz' and the like, and also check out who went where and is playing for whom now.. drop a few bucks into your office pool, you never know when you could get lucky as well!

from the heart of New England, the home of the old enemy, as always yours truly will be right behind his boys from Buffalo, even though we aren't expected to be contenders this year either.. the blue and red will always run in my veins

am figuring to make some dough on the side too this time, lets see if all those hours poring over football trivia and watching games pays off.. the office pool should be pretty huge, nearly 80 guys are going to be in every week, a hefty payout if i pick the games correctly every week. if things go well, i'll drop some cash with a couple of bookies as well.. who said passion can't bring home the bacon! so switch on the tv, sit back in your favorite armchair, pop open a cold beer, roll out the wings and pizza, and say with me.. let's go Buffalo!

however it comes

Shakira made a surprise visit for the closing ceremony, and her 'honest hips' didn't lie.. the fact was that the Final was going to be won by the team that played smartest, and not necessarily best. once again, the Italians played the 'catenaccio' to perfection, withdrawing and letting the French do all the running and expend their energy, and hitting back on the counter-attack.

it wasn't a great Final, one of the worse ones over the years actually. that was no surprise, especially with the way the game started! normalcy was restored after 20 minutes with the score 1-1, and the tactical battle ensued. a moment of madness by French star Zidane led to his forever staining the legacy of his great career. a penalty shootout was the only logical solution to the stalemate, where the Italians exorcised their penalty kick demons by scoring five out of five, and hey.. "we are the champions, we are the champions, of the world!"

and so a World Cup tainted by cheating, diving and other untoward actions came to a close. for one month, the soccer world had come to a standstill for this, as had the lives of millions of people. back to real life now i guess, with the consolation that Italy won at least - forza Italia!

feast your eyes

football is not called the beautiful game for nothing, and the World Cup is held in summer just for that reason! enjoy this selection of pics from the football fest

forza italia!

'realization of a dream'

that one line sums up the Italian march to the World Cup Final. if you watched the semi-final against Germany then you can have valid claims to have been part of one of the greatest displays of 'catenaccio' soccer, a term patented by the Italians, meaning 'door-bolt'.. signifying the system where you score once and then 'shut up shop' using hard-working defense. all offensive attempts after that are concentrated on the counter-attack.

Italy beat Germany 2-0 mere minutes ago.. striking twice late late in extra time after keeping the home team at bay for 118 minutes until then! as you can expect, i was sitting glued to the tv, in my #7 Italian blue jersey, biting off my fingernails until the last few frenetic minutes sent me and Italia supporters all over the world into raptures.

now a little more about the blue jersey.. #7 is the number worn by a certain player known as Alessandro Del Piero, who is my God and Almighty as far as all things soccer go. i even wrote this farewell tribute to him two years ago, little did i know that he would come back to the greatest stage of soccer for one last time

arrivederci

my friends, it is with a very heavy heart i sit here to write this.. only the cruellest juxtaposition of the stars would serve to eliminate Italy, yet the trajectories did cross, and the azzurri are out of Euro 2004.. with it bringing to a certain end the international careers of three great Italian forwards.. Christian Vieri, Pippo Inzaghi and, and.. and Alessandro Del Piero.. who at 29 has had his legs fail him yet again on the international stage.. 24 goals and 66 caps say nothing about his amazing talent, leadership and gift of reading the game.

i have followed Alex since '93.. when he first stepped into Roberto Baggio's shoes.. and immediately became Juventus' wonderkid.. and testament to his faith and belief in the bianconeri, the man dubbed as 'il pinturicchio' has never played for any other club at the highest level. i have been with him through all his highs and lows.. five Serie A titles, four Champions League finals (3 consecutive), 1 Inter - Continental club cup win, 3 Copa Italia finals.. and the big championships.. Euro '96 when he was in the squad that got eliminated by Czech Rep. drawing 3-3 with Russia, World Cup '98 when Cesare Maldini's indecision over Del Piero and Baggio led to France shutting them out on penalties, Euro 2000 when Del Piero was heavily blamed for not scoring in the final and France pulling back to beat them on golden goal, World Cup 2002 when trap could not decide whether to play with Totti and/or Del Piero, and now Euro 2004 where Trap is playing him on the left tip of his arrowhead formation.. it has been a very frustrating international career for Alex.. plus the numerous niggling injuries he has picked up in the Serie A, truly the toughest defensive league in the world. one hopes he still has it in him to play World Cup 2006, but he remains one of the greatest players to have never won an international crown.. grazie Alessandro, buona fortuna for the future, and arrivederci for now. maybe it's time for me to hang up my Italia no. 7 jersey..

i am so glad he made me pull out my jersey from the depths of the closet once again, and show it off with pride as he ran onto a clever backheel and curled the ball exquisitely around the German goalie to score yet one more goal, and seal the deal 2-0 with the last kick of the game. so i leave you with some images from that goal, Alex curving the ball in, and takes off in celebration..

yeah baby!!

anticipation

some people are willing to sit back and let the good things come to them

and then there are others who will step forward to grab the chance with both hands

like the Wizard of Odd, i didn't sit back and wait