Yeah after years if waking up early in the morning to support MAN UTD in their quest for the champions league, the dream has finally come!
United need only to win their last three games to keep the premiership and win the 3rd European cup.
Moscow, May 21 !!
Believe !
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Crucial weeks for MU
After watching Manchester United lost to Chelsea for a late penalty I was down in shock.
Suddenly there was this new NIKE add showing Cristiano Ronaldo practicing his free kicks, then Kobe Bryant shooting, then Maria Sharapova, then Roger Federer, then Liu Xiang and then Manny Pacquiao.
Wow ! Manny has reached this stage. But it left me wondering why Nike Athlete Tiger Woods was not in the add?
Anyways back to United they still lead the premiership by a superior goal difference, will they blink? The champions league clash this week with Barca will decide the season. Will they win the premiership and the champions league? or will United fans sulk with no silver wear this season?
The next few weeks will be crucial.
Suddenly there was this new NIKE add showing Cristiano Ronaldo practicing his free kicks, then Kobe Bryant shooting, then Maria Sharapova, then Roger Federer, then Liu Xiang and then Manny Pacquiao.
Wow ! Manny has reached this stage. But it left me wondering why Nike Athlete Tiger Woods was not in the add?
Anyways back to United they still lead the premiership by a superior goal difference, will they blink? The champions league clash this week with Barca will decide the season. Will they win the premiership and the champions league? or will United fans sulk with no silver wear this season?
The next few weeks will be crucial.
Spanish GP vs Sepang
You can see the big difference in Formula One fans during the Spanish grand prix compared say to Bahrain or Sepang.
Barcelona was packed during the qualifying, grand stands and hills side included.Compared that to Sepang during qualifying where a few souls were at the hillside and some lucky company sponsored people at the main grand stand. The fans at Barcelona maybe 90% Fernando Alonso fans but are pure F1 fans. They came with flags, shirts, and caps. You can hear the whole circuit in unison when Fernando took provisional pole before being passed by Kimi by less than 0.01 sec. But yes, Alonso was low on fuel that have him blinked first during the race.
Race day, 132,000 pure Formula 1 fans showed up at Catalunya. During my last race in Sepang race day was a bit packed. The race was attended by thousands of students who came by school bus. I asked one student why did they attend the race and he told me its part of their project at his schools robotics club. He paid RM 65 for the event which included transport by bus to and from the circuit. That was way too cheap to watch a race. During the race most of the students spent their time in shaded parts of the hill and did not have any interest in watching the race in full. Next the day Sepang announced that they broke the race attendance this year, 125,000 attended the race.
Get my point ?
Back in Spain, it was another pole to podium finish.
Ferrari one two !
Barcelona was packed during the qualifying, grand stands and hills side included.Compared that to Sepang during qualifying where a few souls were at the hillside and some lucky company sponsored people at the main grand stand. The fans at Barcelona maybe 90% Fernando Alonso fans but are pure F1 fans. They came with flags, shirts, and caps. You can hear the whole circuit in unison when Fernando took provisional pole before being passed by Kimi by less than 0.01 sec. But yes, Alonso was low on fuel that have him blinked first during the race.
Race day, 132,000 pure Formula 1 fans showed up at Catalunya. During my last race in Sepang race day was a bit packed. The race was attended by thousands of students who came by school bus. I asked one student why did they attend the race and he told me its part of their project at his schools robotics club. He paid RM 65 for the event which included transport by bus to and from the circuit. That was way too cheap to watch a race. During the race most of the students spent their time in shaded parts of the hill and did not have any interest in watching the race in full. Next the day Sepang announced that they broke the race attendance this year, 125,000 attended the race.
Get my point ?
Back in Spain, it was another pole to podium finish.
Ferrari one two !
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
NBA 2008 Playoffs Prediction
Below is my prediction for the NBA playoffs 1st round.
I am predicting a Lakers vs Celtics Final, a retro match up, an all time rivalry.
EAST
Celtics vs Hawks > Celtics
Pistons vs 76ers > Pistons
Magic vs Raptors > Magic
Cavs vs Wizards > Wizards
West
Lakers vs Nuggets > Lakers
Hornets vs Mavs > Hornets
Suns vs Spurs > Suns
Rockets vs Jazz > Jazz
My only un calculated prediction is the Suns vs Spurs match up. Im going for the Suns despite Parkers game and the Spurs early lead.
Check me put later how I fared !
I am predicting a Lakers vs Celtics Final, a retro match up, an all time rivalry.
EAST
Celtics vs Hawks > Celtics
Pistons vs 76ers > Pistons
Magic vs Raptors > Magic
Cavs vs Wizards > Wizards
West
Lakers vs Nuggets > Lakers
Hornets vs Mavs > Hornets
Suns vs Spurs > Suns
Rockets vs Jazz > Jazz
My only un calculated prediction is the Suns vs Spurs match up. Im going for the Suns despite Parkers game and the Spurs early lead.
Check me put later how I fared !
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Full Sepang Grand Prix Report
This is my 8th time I will be watching the Malaysian grand prix at Sepang, but I was still as excited as the first time. This year it was held just after a week's race in Australia. So there was no post GP break that usually cools down your emotion for two weeks.
Ticket Disaster
My running around town for tickets was a disaster started by calling the Sepang GP hot line.
I called them inquiring where can I get tickets in the Petaling Jaya area and they told me I can go to Axcess Tickets at 1 Utama. I went there after work and to my dismay Axcees Tickets don't sell any MGP tickets anymore. So I called the hot line again and told them why did they direct me to an outlet that does not sell tickets anymore. Then they advised me to buy at Jusco Sunway Pyramid and I drove to the opposite side of PJ in bad traffic and strong rain. Again at Jusco, they also stopped selling MGP tickets. I again called the hot line with misinformed customer service people and after a shouting match with them, they asked to check at Parksons Sunway.
Finally they have tickets but with a hitch. They don't sell 3 day parking pass at the location of my purchased tickets. They were only selling parking pass about 5 kilometers away from my circuit seat. So the next day I went all the way to KL Sentral to buy the parking pass.
The customer service people at Sepang are not properly trained. A hot line is created to save customers time and money. The Sepang CS were merely looking at the SIC website and they do not have access to a system which tells them where outlets have sold out etc.
This was not my 1st GP, I usually buy my tickets at KL Sentral where everything can be arranged, even for transport to the circuit itself.I thought I will save some time and buy the tickets nearby.
Food
The 1st time a watched the Malaysian GP, I followed the rules and did not bring any drinks and food since it was prohibited in the circuit. I as I lined for 30 minutes for lunch, I was shocked that the food was finished. We ended up drinking Coke and beer till 7PM. So for the next grand prix's I stock up my cooler with drinks and food.
This year the food quality has deteriorated. Everything you bought was five Ringit. A Coke , a 250 ml water, Chips, a pack of noodles was RM 5. This is just to much specially for the bus loads of public school studetns who watched the race ( this makes up the bulk of spectators every year and helped break the 125,000 record attendance this year). A Coke will cost less in a five star hotel lobby cafe, it will only cost you RM.90 cents at Tesco.
Saturday Qualifying
The drive to Sepang was a breeze.There was a thunderstorm in PJ and I was thinking this will be my first qualifying in rain. Despite many returns to Sepang I missed my parking exit which meant a few kilometers drive down the road. As I parked and opened the door I could hear the first cars out. There is nothing like hearing F1 cars live ! bar none ! I think fans who come to the circuit and use earplugs at the race are crazy, why don't they just go home watch it on TV. As usual qualifying crowd's are lean. The weather was outcast but dry.
Ferrari one two
Sunday Race Day
Traffic started building up after the Mosque during race day, from here it took us about one hour to my designated parking. This is a three lane highway and will take five minutes to drive during normal days. However fun starts during this stage because you can see fans in their team outfits and flags and the friendly jeering starts ! We missed the drivers parade despite heeding to circuit early.
The temperature was more than 40 degress C , it was another hot race, a signature they have adopted to the Malaysian GP, ("world's hottest race")
At 2:25 PM the Safety car came out, this car have more fans than the Super Aguri.
Everybody wants a photo of the Safety car. !
F1 being a precision sports, does not wait for VIP's and stuff. It promptly started at 2:30 with the pit lane open. This is the time all the cars make reconnaissance laps, head back to the pits and to the starting grid. If you watch this on TV, this are your 1st glimpse of the car's while the commentators are discussing some stuff brought to you by Petronas or Johny Walker.
For fifteen minutes, its a pure rush.
Race starts at 3:00 PM local time (Almost all F1 races stars at 3pm). It was a good start with all the cars packed till turn six. Massa P1 and Kimi less than a second behind. It was a formation race till the pits stops, or was it? after watching the replay on Star Sports there were lots of drama at the 1st corner, at turn five and Hamilton having some pit stop problems.
During mid part of the race, I went to get a five Ringit Coke and was surprised to see Massa was not trailing Kimi. Where was he ? Pits? I took a walk further my position and saw the 2nd Ferrari in the gravel. I knew it , how many times did to see Massa do such thinngs? Last 2004 at Sepang, Massa went to grass just in front of me in a Sauber.
After 56 grueling laps under a hot sun , Kimi wins it, a good sign for the year.
See you in Singapore !
Ticket Disaster
My running around town for tickets was a disaster started by calling the Sepang GP hot line.
I called them inquiring where can I get tickets in the Petaling Jaya area and they told me I can go to Axcess Tickets at 1 Utama. I went there after work and to my dismay Axcees Tickets don't sell any MGP tickets anymore. So I called the hot line again and told them why did they direct me to an outlet that does not sell tickets anymore. Then they advised me to buy at Jusco Sunway Pyramid and I drove to the opposite side of PJ in bad traffic and strong rain. Again at Jusco, they also stopped selling MGP tickets. I again called the hot line with misinformed customer service people and after a shouting match with them, they asked to check at Parksons Sunway.
Finally they have tickets but with a hitch. They don't sell 3 day parking pass at the location of my purchased tickets. They were only selling parking pass about 5 kilometers away from my circuit seat. So the next day I went all the way to KL Sentral to buy the parking pass.
The customer service people at Sepang are not properly trained. A hot line is created to save customers time and money. The Sepang CS were merely looking at the SIC website and they do not have access to a system which tells them where outlets have sold out etc.
This was not my 1st GP, I usually buy my tickets at KL Sentral where everything can be arranged, even for transport to the circuit itself.I thought I will save some time and buy the tickets nearby.
Food
The 1st time a watched the Malaysian GP, I followed the rules and did not bring any drinks and food since it was prohibited in the circuit. I as I lined for 30 minutes for lunch, I was shocked that the food was finished. We ended up drinking Coke and beer till 7PM. So for the next grand prix's I stock up my cooler with drinks and food.
This year the food quality has deteriorated. Everything you bought was five Ringit. A Coke , a 250 ml water, Chips, a pack of noodles was RM 5. This is just to much specially for the bus loads of public school studetns who watched the race ( this makes up the bulk of spectators every year and helped break the 125,000 record attendance this year). A Coke will cost less in a five star hotel lobby cafe, it will only cost you RM.90 cents at Tesco.
Saturday Qualifying
The drive to Sepang was a breeze.There was a thunderstorm in PJ and I was thinking this will be my first qualifying in rain. Despite many returns to Sepang I missed my parking exit which meant a few kilometers drive down the road. As I parked and opened the door I could hear the first cars out. There is nothing like hearing F1 cars live ! bar none ! I think fans who come to the circuit and use earplugs at the race are crazy, why don't they just go home watch it on TV. As usual qualifying crowd's are lean. The weather was outcast but dry.
Ferrari one two
Sunday Race Day
Traffic started building up after the Mosque during race day, from here it took us about one hour to my designated parking. This is a three lane highway and will take five minutes to drive during normal days. However fun starts during this stage because you can see fans in their team outfits and flags and the friendly jeering starts ! We missed the drivers parade despite heeding to circuit early.
The temperature was more than 40 degress C , it was another hot race, a signature they have adopted to the Malaysian GP, ("world's hottest race")
At 2:25 PM the Safety car came out, this car have more fans than the Super Aguri.
Everybody wants a photo of the Safety car. !
F1 being a precision sports, does not wait for VIP's and stuff. It promptly started at 2:30 with the pit lane open. This is the time all the cars make reconnaissance laps, head back to the pits and to the starting grid. If you watch this on TV, this are your 1st glimpse of the car's while the commentators are discussing some stuff brought to you by Petronas or Johny Walker.
For fifteen minutes, its a pure rush.
Race starts at 3:00 PM local time (Almost all F1 races stars at 3pm). It was a good start with all the cars packed till turn six. Massa P1 and Kimi less than a second behind. It was a formation race till the pits stops, or was it? after watching the replay on Star Sports there were lots of drama at the 1st corner, at turn five and Hamilton having some pit stop problems.
During mid part of the race, I went to get a five Ringit Coke and was surprised to see Massa was not trailing Kimi. Where was he ? Pits? I took a walk further my position and saw the 2nd Ferrari in the gravel. I knew it , how many times did to see Massa do such thinngs? Last 2004 at Sepang, Massa went to grass just in front of me in a Sauber.
After 56 grueling laps under a hot sun , Kimi wins it, a good sign for the year.
See you in Singapore !
Monday, April 7, 2008
Early days for Ferrari, the sun set's for MU
Early days for Ferrari. A good result in Bahrain, the 1st Ferrari one two for the season. Kimi leads and the team is a point behind in the constructors. A good sign but its still early. Hamilton was cursed from practice to the 1st lap or was he is finally committing mistakes?
My full report and photos on the Sepang GP in a few days,
I'm still recovering from my sunburns.
With a few games left in the premiership, MU all of sudden blink last night to draw.
:<
My full report and photos on the Sepang GP in a few days,
I'm still recovering from my sunburns.
With a few games left in the premiership, MU all of sudden blink last night to draw.
:<
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