It was match day 38, the last match day of the Barclays Premier League 2011/2012 season. Almost every match was important that day because so many things were still undecided before that day. Which teams will be relegated, which teams will be playing in European competitions next season, whether Liverpool will finish below Everton and most importantly, the league champions itself.
The 2 Manchester clubs, United and City, were at the top of the table. Both were on same points before their final matches but Man City were above Man United on goal difference (number of goals scored minus the number of goals conceded). So, there was everything to play for for both teams on the final match day.
Man City had a comparatively easier match as they faced relegation-threatened Queens Park Rangers. Man United on the other hand had a slightly difficult team to play against-Sunderland. Honestly, both the opponents can be considered tough as QPR were really going to fight to stay in the Premier League and Sunderland's manager, Martin O'Neil isn't the kind of person who gives up games easily.
Like every other football fan should, I was all ready for the big match day. I really wanted to watch Big Momma 2 which was being aired on HBO at 10 but then decided to wait for it to be aired another time as the timing clashed with the football matches. For the record, all the matches were played at the same time on the final day (as it has been for the past few years) to avoid foul play by teams.
And the match kicked off. I was watching the Man United match although I knew that the result of the Man City match was the one that would determine the premier league champions. If Man City won the match, they would surely win the title as they had a superior goal difference of 64 over Man United's 56. So basically, we (Man United fans) were hoping for a slip up in the match at the Etihad stadium (Man City's stadium).
Man United were the first one of the two to score. A cross came in from Phil Jones from the left and Wayne Rooney headed the ball into the back of the net. The Sunderland defender who should have cleared the ball away made the wrong move to stop the ball and Rooney took advantage. At that point, Man United fans were still feeling that their hopes were alive as Man City had yet to score.
Then, a few minutes later, the Man United fans became quiet in the Stadium of Light (Sunderland's stadium) as Paulo Zabaleta struck one for Man City (this is how effective technology is in communication). It was good teamwork by Man City's players. The shot was a little lucky to go in as the QPR goalkeeper had deflected the ball a little. And half-time ended with both the Manchester clubs leading 1-0 in their respective matches.
Second half was when the real drama started. Around the 60-something minute mark, the corner where the Man United fans were seated in the Stadium of Light erupted as Djibril Cisse scored the equaliser for QPR against Man City. A few minutes later, we were jumping with joy as QPR scored another goal through a header. All of this was happening despite QPR being reduced to 10 man after Joey Barton (QPR) was sent off.
The 70th minute passed. The 80th minute passed. The 85th minute passed. I couldn't believe that this was happening. Man United, despite all odds stacked against them, were in the run to lift their 20th Premier League title.
It was insane to watch. The pressure of waiting for the clock to tick by was just immense. I couldn't sit while watching. I was punching my own hands and walking around as if in anticipation to the biggest upset in Premier League history if the score was to remain the same.
The 90th minute mark arrived. 3 extra minutes were added for the Man United match and 5 extra minutes were added for the Man City match. We were so so close to clinching our 20th league title which was thought almost impossible prior to this match because nobody predicted that Man City would slip up against a struggling QPR side.
Then in the 91st minute, Man City,s Edin Dzeko scored an equaliser at the Etihad. Man United were still in the running to lift the title as they had more points than Man City at that moment. It was pretty worrying for me as there was still 2 minutes left to play in the Man United match and a slip up by Man United would mean that all their efforts would go to waste.
Man United's match ended with 1-0 as the scoreline in Man United's favour. Our match was over and we just had to wait for the final result from the Etihad. We were actually half celebrating as there were only 2 minutes remaining in the Man City match. But, no one at that time would have ever predicted what would happen next.
Disaster struck. As the Man United match was over, I switched to the channel where the Man City match was aired. Mario Ballotelli had the ball with him at the edge of the penalty box. He slipped a little but managed to pass the ball to Sergio Aguero who was free on his right. And Aguero completed to unthinkable by dribbling past a QPR defender and shot the ball into the QPR net.
I sunk down on the sofa. I told myself, "Oh my God, this can't be happening". I couldn't believe it. It was heartbreak for all Man United fans and players. One moment we were jumping with joy, another staring at one of the most astonishing finishes in the history of the Barclays Premier League.
Man City were totally delighted. Aguero running off while taking off his shirt after scoring the winning goal just proved how important the goal was. Man City fans were crying in joy as they themselves couldn't believe what had happened.
Man City finished as champions. QPR were not relegated as Bolton drew 2-2 against Stoke City and remained in the bottom 3. Liverpool, for all their relief as Man United's title tally remained 19 (Liverpool have 18) had to face the embarrassment of finishing below Everton and in the process accumulated their all time lowest points in a single season.
Everything changed in a matter of minutes. From joy to despair for some and vice versa for many others. And this is the kind of uncertainty that time and time again makes me believe that football is indeed the best game to watch in the world......
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Do We Really Need This?
It's a taboo subject here in Malaysia, or at least that's what they say. I call it an epidemic, something that has been affecting many. And just like an epidemic, they try to hide it from the public so that they are not condemned, criticized or isolated.
Racism was something that was hotly debated among football fans world wide at the beginning of the year after Luis Suarez, a Liverpool player, threw racist accusations at Patrice Evra (Manchester United) and John Terry (Chelsea) at Anton Ferdinand (Queens Park Rangers). Due to their unruly behaviour, they had to pay a heavy price.
Suarez was banned for 8 matches and Terry was stripped of his England captaincy. The English Football Association had to scrap off the pre-kickoff handshake due to them when their teams met. And the worst part was that the fans of Liverpool and Chelsea actually tried to defend their players in the racism row.
If England is too far for an example, Malaysia itself will be a perfect place to start. One of the most astonishing things about racism in Malaysia is that people do it but pretend like it's so damn fine to do it. I've already come across many, many stories and here are a few of them.
One of my friends who was out of job went to a bookstore nearby to ask if there was a job vacancy. The person in charge there said that there was a job vacancy there but it was only preserved for one race. I used to hate that bookshop since last time because many employees there couldn't speak proper basic English. When my friend told me about that experience, the only thing that came to my mind was "what the f*** is wrong with people these days?"
Here's another interesting story. There was this market near my friend's house where some old lady sells some food stuff. One day, while we were sitting in the school canteen during a break, my friend advised us to never buy anything from that woman because she charged almost double the real price for people who bought things from her stall but was from a different race than her. My friend knew that because he spoke the language the woman spoke.
And the government have their own sense of racism. They call it protecting the rights of the original inhabitants in this country at the cost of public university places and job opportunities to thousands. Just look at America. They are miles ahead in front of us because everyone with an American passport gets equal rights and there's no quota for natives or Latinos or french with an American passport.
The roots of this epidemic , sadly, stems from our very homes. It might not be the case in every one's house but I'm sure it is in most. It happens in my home as well. I just hate it when sometimes, my parents criticize people because they are of a certain race.
I, for some reason, have never been influenced by what my parents have said about race and religion. I seriously don't know why but I have been quite neutral from race and religion. I'll be honest with you, I'm not a religiously strong person and I ain't planning to change that.
The reason is I believe in God and I respect other people. In my point of view, that's what religion really is about (no offence to you). Instead of looking at it in a negative way, I perceive it as something positive as my non-affinity to religion or race has made me breach so many different boundaries and made me to see the world in a different way.
Your parents might have forbade you from mixing with other races. A a skeptic of my blog post, you could say that your parents might have behaved in that way because they might have been worried about us being with the wrong group.
They might say bad things about others and try to make themselves right. Influence is indeed a worrying factor and your parents might be right in that sense. But, one thing that always, trust me, always, skips our mind is that we, as people, can make choices.
And the choices we make today is something that will shape our future. There's no point blaming a race because of what some people in that particular race did. In a family of thieves, there might be a young son of a thief lord who doesn't steal but he is judged based on his family.
Do not think that you should do good so that your family has a good name. Think about changing your attitude on viewing a certain person based on who he isn't but what his surrounding is. It really does a lot of injustice when you discriminate innocent people because of what people around them have done.
Stop for a moment and ask yourself, "If a person does not choose the race he is to be born into, is it right for you judge him on his race or ethnicity?" Maybe, it's time for us to start respecting each other as a human beings first......
Racism was something that was hotly debated among football fans world wide at the beginning of the year after Luis Suarez, a Liverpool player, threw racist accusations at Patrice Evra (Manchester United) and John Terry (Chelsea) at Anton Ferdinand (Queens Park Rangers). Due to their unruly behaviour, they had to pay a heavy price.
Suarez was banned for 8 matches and Terry was stripped of his England captaincy. The English Football Association had to scrap off the pre-kickoff handshake due to them when their teams met. And the worst part was that the fans of Liverpool and Chelsea actually tried to defend their players in the racism row.
If England is too far for an example, Malaysia itself will be a perfect place to start. One of the most astonishing things about racism in Malaysia is that people do it but pretend like it's so damn fine to do it. I've already come across many, many stories and here are a few of them.
One of my friends who was out of job went to a bookstore nearby to ask if there was a job vacancy. The person in charge there said that there was a job vacancy there but it was only preserved for one race. I used to hate that bookshop since last time because many employees there couldn't speak proper basic English. When my friend told me about that experience, the only thing that came to my mind was "what the f*** is wrong with people these days?"
Here's another interesting story. There was this market near my friend's house where some old lady sells some food stuff. One day, while we were sitting in the school canteen during a break, my friend advised us to never buy anything from that woman because she charged almost double the real price for people who bought things from her stall but was from a different race than her. My friend knew that because he spoke the language the woman spoke.
And the government have their own sense of racism. They call it protecting the rights of the original inhabitants in this country at the cost of public university places and job opportunities to thousands. Just look at America. They are miles ahead in front of us because everyone with an American passport gets equal rights and there's no quota for natives or Latinos or french with an American passport.
The roots of this epidemic , sadly, stems from our very homes. It might not be the case in every one's house but I'm sure it is in most. It happens in my home as well. I just hate it when sometimes, my parents criticize people because they are of a certain race.
I, for some reason, have never been influenced by what my parents have said about race and religion. I seriously don't know why but I have been quite neutral from race and religion. I'll be honest with you, I'm not a religiously strong person and I ain't planning to change that.
The reason is I believe in God and I respect other people. In my point of view, that's what religion really is about (no offence to you). Instead of looking at it in a negative way, I perceive it as something positive as my non-affinity to religion or race has made me breach so many different boundaries and made me to see the world in a different way.
Your parents might have forbade you from mixing with other races. A a skeptic of my blog post, you could say that your parents might have behaved in that way because they might have been worried about us being with the wrong group.
They might say bad things about others and try to make themselves right. Influence is indeed a worrying factor and your parents might be right in that sense. But, one thing that always, trust me, always, skips our mind is that we, as people, can make choices.
And the choices we make today is something that will shape our future. There's no point blaming a race because of what some people in that particular race did. In a family of thieves, there might be a young son of a thief lord who doesn't steal but he is judged based on his family.
Do not think that you should do good so that your family has a good name. Think about changing your attitude on viewing a certain person based on who he isn't but what his surrounding is. It really does a lot of injustice when you discriminate innocent people because of what people around them have done.
Stop for a moment and ask yourself, "If a person does not choose the race he is to be born into, is it right for you judge him on his race or ethnicity?" Maybe, it's time for us to start respecting each other as a human beings first......
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Once In A Lifetime
It was just noisy. There was no one on stage but the microphone was still there. It was like the microphone was calling me to hold it and speak. I shut myself from the world and was reluctant to get up. Moments later, I slowly opened my eyes and looked right into my handphone. Oh damn, I was late!
It was supposed to be a big day. My school was having a function to celebrate the students who had scored straight As in last year's SPM and STPM examination. I had asked my sister to wake me up at 5 o'clock in the morning but she didn't.
I've always had this problem of waking up from sleep in the morning. Even when a few years ago when we felt the tremors of an earthquake happening in Indonesia at home, I was sleeping soundly until my mum woke me up. Don.t ask me why but I just can't hear the alarm (most of the times) when I'm asleep. And my reliance on others doesn't pay much dividends either.
Everything was in a rush that morning. I skipped a few exercises in the morning. I had to gush in my breakfast because I need to eat a lot in the morning so that I won't feel hungry easily. And that wasn't even the worst part of that morning.
The previous afternoon, as I was watching Naruto Shippuden episodes, I received a call from my school. I didn't recognize the voice but the person just asked me if I wanted to give a speech during the function the next day. I thought it would be ok to just go up there and speak. How wrong I was!
I always have a problem with self confidence when I have to speak to a big group of people. I stutter and sometimes sweat and have jelly legs. About 2 years ago, I knew that this had to stop and I decided to boost my self confidence. Ever since then, I've been trying to take up challenging confidence boosting tasks to complete. I knew that this speech would just be the right tonic to further increase my confidence.
I did feel the pressure though. I purposely refused to prepare a script because it would've been too troublesome to write it down and memorise and then talk while trying to look at the paper and the crowd at the same time. I just decided to speak out my mind.
With one mind on my speech, I was drove a little too fast to school. My mum took the car back home as she had to go to work after that. As I laid my feet right outside my school, I decided to forget everything I was preparing (like I always do before exams) and enjoy the moment with my friends.
It was so good to be seeing old faces again. Some have changed but many were pretty much the same. Some were surprised to see me as I had changed my hairstyle to suit my longer hair. I received lots of good reviews about my longer hair but I'm sure many were startled when they saw me at first because I've never kept my hair long before.
About half an hour after after the supposed starting time (haizz.....Malaysian just love to maintain their insanely bad timing), we were asked to take our places in the hall. Just out of curiosity, I asked the teacher in charge about when I was supposed to give my speech. And she gave me quite a shocking answer.
My speech was going to be the first thing on the agenda after we sang the school song. My pre-speech blues were creeping up on me again. But, thanks to one of my friends who kept on giving me the encouragement I needed, I managed to remain calm as the moment just kept inching closer.
And then as it was supposed to happen, I was called up to give my speech on my secret to success in the SPM examination. To put it exactly, I just said what came to my mind that time. I did prepare of course but I wasn't thinking about the order or anything like that. I just said what I wanted to say (the typical me).
I told them about how important it was to set a goal in life. Then I gave a few tips about how they can work towards their dreams and added a few study tips afterwards. I also touched about the common misconceptions among students these days.
Maybe the teachers didn't know about it when they decided to ask me to give a speech but I've got a very unorthodox, out of the world, style of studying. I went to school to have fun and listen during lessons, had lots of fun doing stupid stuff in school, only studied at home and that too after finishing every ounce of energy while training and never bothered burying my head in books right before the exams. I used to think that some people might have been happy if I had done badly in exams because I just did the things I love while they researched the entire book. But......too bad for them. :P
Once I was done with the speech, I was relieved and happy. As I took my seat again, one of the teachers in front of me told me that I spoke like a motivational speaker. I received lots of good reviews from my friends. One of my friends whom I considered the best one could ever be on stage told me that my speech was really good and admitted he wouldn't have been able to do the same thing.
After my speech, there was another speech, this time by an ex-student who was representing the STPM top scorers. Then, there was the prize giving ceremony as the top scorers were given plaques and certificates and the ones with the straight A+ were given an additional RM100. The last part of the function was the photo session.
As my friends and I were making our way to the canteen to fill out hungry tummies, one of my friends said this "Dei, damn chun lah." ('dei' is like the casual 'bro' in Tamil, 'chun' is awesome in I-don't-know-what language, and 'lah is just a Malaysian slang which means nothing). And then I replied "What is chun?". And then he told me something that took me back through years and years of joy, laughter and tears.
He said " Damn chun lah seeing you in Standard 4 (the year I met him, my first ever friend in my new school) and now up that stage". I can't put the tone or the feelings he put in that sentence in this blog post but what he said was just nostalgic because he was the one who had been with me through all these years. And the words he said really made me realize that I had grown up a long long way from that little boy who used to read Harry Potter books to the matured (ok, maybe half-matured) teenager I am now.
Although I thought my speech was quite ok, I didn't want to type it back in my blog because I considered it a once in a lifetime speech. It was a once in a lifetime speech for me to tell my school friends how I did it in examinations and a once in a lifetime speech that my friends will hear from me about the kind of person that I was. Honestly, I'm just happy I left high school with a bang and gave the students there something to ponder upon for a long long time........
It was supposed to be a big day. My school was having a function to celebrate the students who had scored straight As in last year's SPM and STPM examination. I had asked my sister to wake me up at 5 o'clock in the morning but she didn't.
I've always had this problem of waking up from sleep in the morning. Even when a few years ago when we felt the tremors of an earthquake happening in Indonesia at home, I was sleeping soundly until my mum woke me up. Don.t ask me why but I just can't hear the alarm (most of the times) when I'm asleep. And my reliance on others doesn't pay much dividends either.
Everything was in a rush that morning. I skipped a few exercises in the morning. I had to gush in my breakfast because I need to eat a lot in the morning so that I won't feel hungry easily. And that wasn't even the worst part of that morning.
The previous afternoon, as I was watching Naruto Shippuden episodes, I received a call from my school. I didn't recognize the voice but the person just asked me if I wanted to give a speech during the function the next day. I thought it would be ok to just go up there and speak. How wrong I was!
I always have a problem with self confidence when I have to speak to a big group of people. I stutter and sometimes sweat and have jelly legs. About 2 years ago, I knew that this had to stop and I decided to boost my self confidence. Ever since then, I've been trying to take up challenging confidence boosting tasks to complete. I knew that this speech would just be the right tonic to further increase my confidence.
I did feel the pressure though. I purposely refused to prepare a script because it would've been too troublesome to write it down and memorise and then talk while trying to look at the paper and the crowd at the same time. I just decided to speak out my mind.
With one mind on my speech, I was drove a little too fast to school. My mum took the car back home as she had to go to work after that. As I laid my feet right outside my school, I decided to forget everything I was preparing (like I always do before exams) and enjoy the moment with my friends.
It was so good to be seeing old faces again. Some have changed but many were pretty much the same. Some were surprised to see me as I had changed my hairstyle to suit my longer hair. I received lots of good reviews about my longer hair but I'm sure many were startled when they saw me at first because I've never kept my hair long before.
About half an hour after after the supposed starting time (haizz.....Malaysian just love to maintain their insanely bad timing), we were asked to take our places in the hall. Just out of curiosity, I asked the teacher in charge about when I was supposed to give my speech. And she gave me quite a shocking answer.
My speech was going to be the first thing on the agenda after we sang the school song. My pre-speech blues were creeping up on me again. But, thanks to one of my friends who kept on giving me the encouragement I needed, I managed to remain calm as the moment just kept inching closer.
And then as it was supposed to happen, I was called up to give my speech on my secret to success in the SPM examination. To put it exactly, I just said what came to my mind that time. I did prepare of course but I wasn't thinking about the order or anything like that. I just said what I wanted to say (the typical me).
I told them about how important it was to set a goal in life. Then I gave a few tips about how they can work towards their dreams and added a few study tips afterwards. I also touched about the common misconceptions among students these days.
Maybe the teachers didn't know about it when they decided to ask me to give a speech but I've got a very unorthodox, out of the world, style of studying. I went to school to have fun and listen during lessons, had lots of fun doing stupid stuff in school, only studied at home and that too after finishing every ounce of energy while training and never bothered burying my head in books right before the exams. I used to think that some people might have been happy if I had done badly in exams because I just did the things I love while they researched the entire book. But......too bad for them. :P
Once I was done with the speech, I was relieved and happy. As I took my seat again, one of the teachers in front of me told me that I spoke like a motivational speaker. I received lots of good reviews from my friends. One of my friends whom I considered the best one could ever be on stage told me that my speech was really good and admitted he wouldn't have been able to do the same thing.
After my speech, there was another speech, this time by an ex-student who was representing the STPM top scorers. Then, there was the prize giving ceremony as the top scorers were given plaques and certificates and the ones with the straight A+ were given an additional RM100. The last part of the function was the photo session.
As my friends and I were making our way to the canteen to fill out hungry tummies, one of my friends said this "Dei, damn chun lah." ('dei' is like the casual 'bro' in Tamil, 'chun' is awesome in I-don't-know-what language, and 'lah is just a Malaysian slang which means nothing). And then I replied "What is chun?". And then he told me something that took me back through years and years of joy, laughter and tears.
He said " Damn chun lah seeing you in Standard 4 (the year I met him, my first ever friend in my new school) and now up that stage". I can't put the tone or the feelings he put in that sentence in this blog post but what he said was just nostalgic because he was the one who had been with me through all these years. And the words he said really made me realize that I had grown up a long long way from that little boy who used to read Harry Potter books to the matured (ok, maybe half-matured) teenager I am now.
Although I thought my speech was quite ok, I didn't want to type it back in my blog because I considered it a once in a lifetime speech. It was a once in a lifetime speech for me to tell my school friends how I did it in examinations and a once in a lifetime speech that my friends will hear from me about the kind of person that I was. Honestly, I'm just happy I left high school with a bang and gave the students there something to ponder upon for a long long time........
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)