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Sunday, May 29, 2005

Go Dan!

Dan Wheldon has won the Indy 500! It was the best race I've seen all year. At the end there were four drivers who could have taken it and our Dan ended up on top. There was a woman leading the race with 10 laps left which is great. Kudos to Danica Patrick who showed most of the field how to race. The coverage from America was such that you would have thought that Danica had won... that's the Americans for you. You can rely on them to devalue any achievement by a non-American.

Also, I'm waiting to see what sort of coverage his win will get over here. I'll be surprised if anyone will be aware of what he has achieved. The Indy 500 may not be the absolute pinnacle of motorsport but in my opinion, its the best spectacle in motorsport so far this year.

It's a shame I made such a negative post from such a truly positive event so I'll finish with a...

YAAAAY! DAN WON!!!

:: logged by Maff :: 21:46 :: ::

Friday, May 13, 2005

Half Time Monster Trucks

The whole Manchester United, Malcolm Glazer thing is very interesting, especially from my point of view being a Wimbledon fan. This is a pretty good stab at an impartial view of what is occurring.

Unfortunately, football, especially at the top level, is no longer about the love of the game but the love of money! Wimbledon was an extreme case of this and had its league position stolen for a property deal. How extreme, only time will tell. Pete Winkleman wants to make money from a stadium in Milton Keynes in a deal with Asda and he is using the MK Dons simply as a sweetener in the deal. I started typing out a history of the events (AGAIN!) but I will simply direct you here if you want to read about the facts.

My opinion is that Manchester United is too big a club to be properly shafted by this. I honestly can't see them moving to the Lake District as a franchise or anything that drastic. They already make tons of money. What will happen is that ticket prices will rise, merchandise prices will rise, they won't have as much to spend on players and the Manchester United name will be thrown at anything that will make a buck. I have heard rumours that there may be a Manchester United online casino in the pipeline (I read it on the internet so it MUST be true...). There's also nothing stopping him selling off the players, selling Old Trafford and redeveloping the land... The truth is Manchester United sold its soul to money years ago when it was floated on the stock exchange and the inevitability of these events was pretty much assured back then.

There is talk of fans setting up an alternative club. AFC Wimbledon has been referred to repeatedly. 20,000 fans are pretty much assured in such a venture and Ole Gunnar Solskaer would allegedly be the manager. No doubt such and entity would blast through the lower leagues in very little time but in the end, it would be doomed to mediocrity and struggling in the Championship or League one at best and inferior to Manchester City. How many United fans do you think will turn their backs on players such as Rooney, Van Nistelrooy and Keane? United fans ultimately have to choose mediocrity or Glazer... give it a few months and they will choose Glazer.

A bit of perspective is needed. All that's happened is a change of ownership. And be careful what you wish for. I seem to remember not so long ago United fans screaming for McManus and Magnier to sell their shares in Manchester United. Well, they have done. That's one problem solved. One thing is certain, this is not over by a loooooong way.

For the greater good of FOOTBALL and the REAL supporters, I SINCERELY hope it all works out okay. But, I would also like to add that for every TRUE fan of Manchester United, there are 50 ARROGANT TOSSPOT GLORYHUNTERS who will no doubt be supporting Chelsea next season. Manchester United's fortunes are based on them as CONSUMERS and not SUPPORTERS. They are what I DETEST about Manchester United and I would like see it all go to SHIT at Old Trafford to SPITE them. Good Luck...

:: logged by Maff :: 18:05 :: ::

ASTERIX!
That is all...

:: logged by Maff :: 07:19 :: ::

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