Sunday, October 29, 2006

Olympics Commercialism

Heard of the recent decision by the IOC to hold the finals of the swimming and gymnastic events of the Beijing Olympics in the morning? It's due to pressure from US broadcasters as morning finals in Beijing will coincide with prime viewing time at night in the US, so the events can be shown live on prime time for the US.

News Article

What a crock of bullshit.

I'm surprised that the IOC bowed to the pressure. This completely goes against the ethics of sports and what sports stands for and the IOC, one of the most important sporting bodies in the world, should know better.

Commercialism is all good and well, but it shouldn't impact the way sports are played or ran. Displaying the names of sponsors on the jersey of a team or on billboards surrounding the arena is one thing, changing the schedule and thus creating situations that may affect the performance of the athletes is another thing.

Sure, fans are an important part of sports, but I believe the people playing the sports should have greater priority. They are after all, the people creating the action and being involved in it.

Even so, why we catering to the whims and demands of the US viewers? How about those in the host nation itself, and those in the Asia Pacific region? Do we not deserve to watch the events at night, the prime viewing time? Yeah...it's because the US broadcasters have paid big bucks for the television rights, but money should never have been an issue in the first place.

What a load of crap.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Primary 6 Essay

Heard that this was written by a Primary Six student (12 years old). For those that don't understand Malay, I'll provide you with a rough translation.




"My family"

Everyone in this world has a family. 'Keluarga' is 'family' in the language of the white man. A family has a father, mother, older brother, older sister, younger brother and sister, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, aunty and etc etc.

First of all I would like to say is that everyone in this world has a peaceful family and do not war but there are also those that are not peaceful because they war.

I would like to tell you about my family. I have a mother and a father but my mother says she slept with three men before in a hotel room and with that it is confirmed that I am a bastard child because my blood is different from my father who is in this house. My father does not care when my mother goes out with other men. My mother on the other hand, does not worry if my father does not come home even if it's for almost a month.

My older sister and brother are not schooling anymore because they stopped. My sister is pretty with a resemblance to Marilyn Monroe who is dead. She died because she got hit by my grandfather's motocar that has a 500cc engine.

My older brother is handsome or kacak (handsome) like Amitabh Bachan or Sunjay Dutt, sometimes his face changes like AaCapan when he wakes up from sleep. When he finishes bathing, his face is like his own face. Those are the qualities of my brother.

Next I would like to tell you about my younger siblings. Even though I don't have younger siblings but I lied to you by telling you I have younger siblings.

That is the story of my happy family when it actually isn't. With that, please be informed.

Sincerely :-
Bob

Saturday, October 21, 2006

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