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by Philipina A. Marcelo
While I believe, with unshakable conviction, in the awesomeness of the "fairer gender" (yaay, sisters!), I have no qualms about admitting that there really is such thing as "awesome men", too. :)
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An intellectual man, and a man of vision
Earlier this evening, BBC News surprised me once again. The network gave me another one of those "whoa!" moments. Stephen Sackur is achoring "GMT" on BBC... again! Really? Really! :) I caught him last week doing the same thing as I collapsed on my bed to decompress from a long day at work. Of course, right away, I got absorbed in the fantastic way he was manning the GMT helm, with most of their interviewees being subjected to tough questioning - in HARDtalk fashion - uncharacteristic of a "regular" news segment. :) The shaky stock market everywhere in the world was the center of discussion that time, and he tackled the issue with his usual "in command" intellectual stance. He then went on to lead a "short-selling for the dummies" dicussion/micro-lecture with the indomitable Aaron Heslehurst, using an apple. Happily, this dummy got it! =)
Here's an old clip... one of those instances when Sackur showed why he could be worthy of admiration:
"My job is to absolutely, rigorously challenge and test assumptions on all sides... to try to dig deep and get to, if there is such a thing, the truth of all these contentious issues."
If half of the journalists in the world (and especially here in the Philippines) were as intellectually endowed and as responsible as Sackur rather than as news sensationalism-driven and rating-conscious as most these days, then people in the world would be more well-informed and in a less-confused and confusing chaos. Yes, I certainly believe that Stephen Sackur is worthy of admiration! And I am definitely a big fan... and a very proud one, too. :)
Speaking of BBC, they will air their feature on the great Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, in Manila this weekend. Mr. Gorbachev's face was the inspiring image in my head everytime I sang along Sting's brilliant and valiant "Russians" - one of my favorite songs - on the radio in my teenage days in the '80s:
"We share the same biology regardless of ideology... there's no such thing as a winnable war, it's a lie we don't believe anymore."
The BBC's "Mikhail Gorbachev: The great dissident" promises to be an interesting feature... and quite nostalgic, too, for young people from the '80s who had witnessed the end of the "Cold War" and the fall of the Berlin Wall, thanks to Gorbachev's vision, wisdom and goodwill - embodied in "Perestroika". I can't wait!
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Sportsmen
Tennis. I know I have been posting more on football lately... but, no, I haven't forgotten tennis - that's not possible! First of all, I have been having a very limited "hobby time"... my schedule in my "day job" these days is a complete monstrosity, and it eats tennis blogging time like a, uhm, terrible monster. :( But, while I'm still smarting from the
Roger Federer getting back to (winning) form.QF exit of Roger Federer in the 2011 Wimbledon, I have been paying attention to the goings on here and there. Actually, I was finding things a bit weird last week, with World #2, Rafael Nadal, getting ousted from the Rogers Cup in Montreal in the second round of the tournament! And then, the following day, Roger Federer crashed in the third round - a repeat of his 2011 Wimbledon QF exit in the hands of Frenchman, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, after cruising into the third round. And the Wimbledon hurt was renewed - for me! ;)
Tsonga went on to beat the Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro, to reach the semi-final against Novak Djokovic, only to retire in the
Novak Djokovic, with his 5th ATP title for the season.second set. That set up a final between the World #1, Djokovic, and the American, Mardy Fish, who put aside the "other Swiss", Stanislas Wawrinka, in their three-set semi-final match. Of course, The Djoker went on to win the title... okay, I concede, nothing "weird" about that one! :) Seriously, the guy is simply unstoppable! As for Andy Murray... uhm, sorry, he vanished in the draw before I could pay him any attention. Nah, nothing weird about that either! ;)
The men are currently competing again over at Cincinnati for the last tournament before the last Grand Slam of the Season - the US Open - next week. Although work is threatening to crush me flat in the coming weeks (so, what's new, right? *sigh*), I'll try to make time to post some on US Open. Good luck to me! :)
Football. In the football front, Chelsea's hotshot new boss, Andre Villas-Boas, flopped in his debut as The Blues helmsman. The always surprising Stoke City sneaked a goal through Chelsea's defense, which The Blues didn't have an answer for in their season opening match... not that they had time to answer anyway. The pretty-boy Portuguese tactician
Sergio Agüero, Manchester City's new lethal weapon.will have a chance to right his slip-up as The Blues face West Brom tomorrow at Stamford Bridge.
Over in Manchester, many are awed by the newly acquired Machester City striker, the Argentine, Sergio "Kun" Agüero - formerly from Atletico Madrid - fresh from a fine showing at the Copa America last summer. Needless to say, after seeing his spectacular two-goal showing, debuting as a substitute in the second-half of Machester City's clash with the EPL "new boys", Swansea City, I share most pundits' opinion: Roberto Mancini is in serious business this season! However, I'm not sure if I could say the same thing about the embattled Arsenal FC boss, Arsene Wenger, these days. Oh, dear....
Speaking of Wenger and his sorrows, stories about how former Gunner captain and now Barça's new "precious one", Cesc Fàbregas (yes, he who launched Barça's bench to
Cesc Fàbregas (second from left),
a silverware in just three days.touchline "war" with Real Madrid), won his first silverware in six years - only three days after his unveiling at Barça - still proliferate in the internet. He played a part in the crucial Lionel Messi goal that secured the win for the Catalans in the Spanish Supercopa, too. The "brutal welcome" of Cesc to Spanish Liga of Real Madrid's Marcelo via a horrifically dangerous tackle, which sparked the latest El Clásico brawl, is still one of the most talked about incidents in the football world as well. The wonderful thing about Cesc is that he is not making a mountain out of it, regardless of it not being a molehill either... with José Mourinho and his destroyers' latest despicable antics going from ugly to really, really cheap!
Speaking of "wonderful conduct", Barça's boss, Pep Guardiola is doing a good job avoiding a "word war" with the deranged Madrid boss,
Guardiola and Mourinho, a contrast
in personality and winning style.Mourinho. He sticks to the issue of football on the pitch, and Barça's goal of retaining their hard-won glory in the previous season through commitment to honest playing of the beautiful game. He is not washing Barça's hands in the unfortunate brawl towards the end of the Supercopa final last Wednesday, however, and issued a warning that if both teams did not make real efforts to stick to football on and off the pitch, the bitterness and hot tempers on the pitch might boil over off the pitch, too... and not among the players either. That is actually a worth-heeding warning as Barça's and Madrid's most passionate fans exchange bitter words following the brawls that have become a usual spectacle in El Clásico.
Whether Pep's call for calm would be heeded by the two sides remains to be seen. In the mean time, many football fans are excited by how Real Madrid seemed to be getting closer to matching Barça's prowess on the pitch, as shown by the 5-4 score in the Supercopa. That was a BIG improvement from the 5-0 brutal thrashing they endured in the hands of Barça last November 2010. Whether Los Blancos would be able to sustain their momentum, despite their mentally and emotionallly out-of-control Portuguese boss, will be known when the new season opens. However, the Spanish La Liga's opening is postponed due to the players strike and the negotiation deadlock between the Professional Football League, LFP, and the players union. So, we wait.
Yep, it's been a "man's world" the past few days. Nope, not complaining! ;)
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Photos: Photos were grabbed from the Zimbio website - thanks.
Videos: Thanks, YouTube for the videos.
