davidsmeaton.com

some things are just too funny …

i know it’s been done to death already, but i wanted to talk about sally mclellan. her silver in beijing got the world talking. the 21 year old aussie celebrated like she’d won the gold, surprising the world media and capturing everyone’s attention.

what makes this so awesome is that her attitude really embraces the true spirit of the olymipcs. these days, the olympics is a money machine. the IOC refused to disqualify chinese athletes, anthems were stolen, performers were lip-syncing, journalists were arrested, and referees were kicked in the head … but then, there’s sally, jumping around wildly at the excitement of winning a medal.

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living in korea i can see how obsessed people are about gold medals. to many people, silver and bronze don’t even count. in fact, korean netizens were writing comments online that if the athletes didn’t win gold, they shouldn’t come home.

the beijing olympics was the worst olympics in my lifetime. it’s an embarrasment to the olympic name. however, the olympic spirit is alive … not in the symbols of wealth and profit … but in the hearts of athletes like sally mclellan.

although it’s only the second week, liverpool take top spot after a hard earned 2-1 win over middlesborough. the reds hosted boro in their first home game of the season. the visitors got the upperhand with the first goal, but liverpool came back with a rare carragher goal. in stoppage time, gerrard hammered home the winner, guaranteeing all three points for the anfield club.

there have been a few upsets, tottenham losing to sunderland (ex-red djbrill cisse scoring on his debut) and arsenal losing to fulham. however, chelsea, who will play tonight, could claim top position (on goal difference) if they win their game.

none the less, liverpool are off to a solid start when other teams have stumbled out of the blocks. here’s hoping the wins continue to come our way.

… and congratulations to javier mascherano who claimed a gold medal after argentina won the men’s gold in football.

liverpool’s preseason continues to show promise. after a few disappointing draws, especially against villareal, the reds handed rangers a thumping last night 4-shit. torres opened the scoring and keane looked dangerous around the box but wasn’t lucky enough to find the net. after the break, new youngster ngog, from paris st germaine, opened his scoring account. benayoun also scored and alonso smashed home a late penalty.

liverpool are looking very strong, with torres and keane up front. gerrard and kuyt are in support with benayoun and alonso controling the midfield. barry could still join the squad. babel, mascherano and leto are all away on olympic duties. the anfield team is starting to look very impressive indeed.

the premier league kicks off in two weeks, with liverpool spending big to try and improve their title chances. former tottenham golden boy robbie keane has been lured to anfield to partner torres up front. the gareth barry dramas continue, with liverpool claiming that he will be signed by this weekend, despite aston villa’s denial that the deal is dead.

it’ll be interesting if barry does make the switch. villa are due to play at aston villa in their 3rd game of the season … which i’m sure will result in a torrid reception for barry.

champions league 2nd round teams were drawn today. liverpool have picked up belgian minnows r. standard de liège. obviously the reds fancy themselves making it through to the groups.

and although i detest the olympics, and the money grubbing commercial sell out it has become, i’ll at least watch the aussie soccer team and hope they don’t get their asses kicked too badly.

another reason to hate the olympics:

The relay of the flame from Greece to the site of the modern games had no ancient precedent and was introduced by Carl Diem, with the support of Adolf Hitler, at the controversial Berlin Olympics as a means to promote Nazi ideology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Flame

why did the icc agree to give this country an olympics???

more scary shit coming out of china thanks to a documentary about the effects of the one child policy. apparently it’s illegal to register the birth of a child if the parents are unwed. that means couples who have a baby out of wedlock are forced to bribe an official, pay a massive fine, or sell the child on the black market.

it just gets worse and worse … and there’s nothing being done about it.

the full story is here … people are buying and selling babies to try and get a boy, who would guarantee a better life for the parents … and the demand for babies is so high, that 70 000 children go missing every year, as black market trading steal babies from their homes to meet demand.

in my opinion, china is one of the most evil countries in our time. not only do they harbour militant states like north korea and burma, but they annexed tibet, were responsible for the north/south korea split, and the list of human rights atrocities are endless …

and how do we reward them??? 2008 beijing olympics … what kind of fucked up world is this?