The Great Arms Race

Tracking the player movements in the NBA is really quite an interesting exercise. Unlike European football, most of the good and great players are known, even those who have never played in the NBA.

It's a little like building a jigsaw puzzle - except that you don't know what the final puzzle looks like or even what shape it is, and you don't have all the pieces that fit, and you can go out and buy more pieces.

All in all, it makes it easier for discussions and speculation as it's very rare for a good player not to have his strengths and weaknesses and temperament and motivation and what not recorded and analysed by the teams. Very unlike football where Sir Alex can go out and buy an Obertan and have most United fans going "Who ?"

That simply doesn't happen in the NBA where most of the leading contenders have made significant additions to their players' rosters as they bid to win the 2010 NBA title. In many cases you can ask "Have they become better ? Or worse ?", and the answer wouldn't be clear. Suffice to say that many teams have taken the leap in a bid to win an NBA title. And sparked a rash of discussions at water coolers in the USA as a result.

And what of the Celtics' response ? Well ...

The NBA's leading team in getting Technicals (basketball's version of football's yellow card) last season just went out and signed the NBA's leading player in getting Technicals for multiple seasons. No issues with his personality meshing with the team then. He'll fit right in.

Having said that, Rasheed's skills and defence and length will add a totally new dimension to this Celtics team. Nobody's ever disputed his playing ability, just his temperament. The Celtics are just hoping that between the Big 3 and Rasheed's desire to win another NBA title, that his temperament holds up.

There are still a lot of holes in the roster that need to be filled with quality players but that's been the situation for Danny Ainge the past 2 years. At least, the biggest pieces for a title run have been assembled and are healthy.

It looks like another fun season ahead.

The footballer formerly known as the Boy Wonder

This is an image that I'd never thought I would see.

Firstly, when Owen was in his pomp in his early years, there was no way Liverpool were going to sell him to their bitter rivals United. Secondly, when he left Real Madrid, his contributions were so sporadic and his injuries so numerous, there was no way to justify the sort of high wages he was getting.

Well, it's apparent that Sir Alex thought differently.

Just 4 days ago, I was saying to a few friends that if Michael Owen was serious about resurrecting his football career, he should do what Louis Saha did and accept a pay-as-you-play contract. None of the big clubs were going to look at him if his wage demands were high due to his injury record and recent form.

Quite frankly, I thought that Owen's problems stemmed as much from a lack of motivation as anything else. Heck, I even compared Owen to Rooney who would play football for free.

Talk about the Red Devil.

For the first time in many years an ex-Real Madrid player is joining United, albeit via a 4 year hiatus in Newcastle. In the meantime, United have sold Beckham, Heinze, Van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo to Madrid. Talk of United as a feeder club for Real Madrid is not exactly exaggerated.

Anyway, I agree with the reasoning behind this signing.

Owen isn't the player he used to be but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's not good enough. If fit and motivated, I think that he would definitely be much better than he's been the past 4 years. And it's not like he's expected to be in the first eleven.

And since there was no transfer fee, the pay-as-you-play deal makes this a low-risk bet with a potentially big payoff.

4 days ago when I made my observations about Owen, I thought that there was a slight possibility that Owen would do a pay-as-you-play deal for the sake of his career. I just never thought that it would be for Manchester United.

Time flies when you have headphones on and can't hear the world pass by ....

It's amazing how things have changed.

30 years ago, the Sony Walkman introduced a totally novel, brand new concept to the world i.e. that you could listen to your choice of music wherever you went. The Walkman was portable and you wouldn't be bothering anybody else as they couldn't hear the music through the headphones that you were wearing.

Nowadays, the iPod is the instrument of choice but the main concept remains the same i.e. that you could listen to your choice of music wherever you go. Just that the iPod plays mp3s, has thousands more songs, has a shuffle feature, and a play list feature and will even feed you a banana if you get hungry while in the bathroom.

But it's this comment that caught my eye ..

13-year-old web reviewer Scott Campbell, marking the 30th anniversary of the Walkman by using one for a week :

"My dad had told me it was big, but I hadn't realised he meant that big. It was the size of a small book... It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape... I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down 'rewind' and releasing it randomly... Did my dad...really ever think this was a credible piece of technology?"

Spirit

One of the things I like best about the internet is the capability to search for actual footage of a historical or inspiring event. Stuff like Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, or Winston Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches" speech, or locally the BERSIH rally, or this one that my pastor picked out for Father's Day.

3 years old !

my Diplomat chess set made a reappearance as I read on some chess set that 3 years is the minimum age for learning chess - first time Catriona's ever seen a chess set

Today is my little girl’s 3^rd birthday and to commemorate the occasion, I’ll reveal the rationale of her name.

Her full name is Catriona Chong Xin Yun and we’ve often been asked what (especially) Catriona means. It’s a pretty rare first name for a girl and I must admit that until Michelle found it, I’d never heard of it before. And even though we’ve been asked many times, we’ve never fully explained to anyone how her name was put together.

Well, it’s time to let the Cat out of the bag.

Catriona is of Scottish, Irish and Gaelic origin and is the Anglicised form of the Gaelic names Catrĩona and Caitrĩona, which are forms of Katherine. It means “Pure”.

Chong is her surname.

Xin Yun is the Chinese name and it means “Happy Melody”. Her mother coined it but was thinking about changing it when another name was suggested. I was glad when Catriona’s godmother shot that suggestion down in her typical style. So the godmother gets part of the credit for naming Xin Yun.

Put together, her name reads as “Pure Happy Melody”.

I was very happy with that name and so far, it describes her perfectly. Happy is her default demeanour and Melody is when I hear that little voice singing in the background, as she often does.

But the main reason for Catriona is that she was named for :

3岁定终身

今天是韵韵的3岁生日，不过昨天还因为肠胃感染去看了两次医生。昨晚发烧到39度，今早就还好。

今年应该是她比较了解“生日”的意义的时候。之前都有去了2个小朋友的生日会。所以，那天问她要什么蛋糕的时候，她就已经很开心的开始要求，要冰淇淋，乳酪，燕菜蛋糕。今天早上就改变主意要草莓蛋糕。
这是那天在教堂的生日礼拜拍的一些照片。超好笑的，她吹蜡烛可是小心奕奕，要吹两次才能吹灭。

古人说，三岁定终身。如果真是这洋，其实也没有什么好挑剔的。算起来，她已经是个非常乖巧的小孩，偶尔也会发些小脾气可是无伤大雅。今晚再买个蛋糕给她，让她高兴一下。

The Playlist

There are times when we hear a little voice singing along and then there are times when we hear that same voice say "I want this song" or "I want such and such a song". By and large we accede to that request.

I don't know if it's just a child's natural inclination or whatever, but music certainly plays a large part in Catriona's life. The one thing that's noticeable is that she tends to like songs that have strong melodies.

Her current favourites :

* Damien Rice's The Blower's Daughter

* Frente's Bizarre Love Triangle (obscure enough not to be on YouTube)

* Carrie Underwood's Jesus Take The Wheel

* Adam Lambert's Mad World

* The Frames' Falling Slowly

* The Czars' Lullaby 6000

* Fall Out Boy's What A Catch, Donnie

* John Legend's Everybody Knows

In a way, I'm glad that we're not subjected to repeated listenings of the Barney tune or any other cartoon character. On the other hand, I wonder why we're not subjected to repeated listenings of the Barney tune or any other cartoon character. Maybe it's because we don't subscribe to Astro's cartoon channel.

That structure she's building is actually a microphone stand

Two for the price of one

I chanced across this article entitled "Why Lee Kuan Yew asked to meet Rosmah" in The Malaysian Insider here. Curious about why Singapore's elder statesman wished to see our Prime Minister's wife, I read the article and here's the clue :

MM Lee said he called on Rosmah because he had been told that she and her husband worked as a team and it was necessary for him to understand both members of the team.

I don't know about you but I feel a little apprehensive that our PM's wife is considered so important that she would warrant a personal visit from Lee Kuan Yew. And no, other than apprehension, I don't know what to make of it.

Going ... Going ..... Gone.

Well, it's finally happened. The transfer that I've been waiting for is finally confirmed. The saga that has transcended seasons is now brought to an end and Ronaldo can finally leave to fulfill his dream of playing for Real Madrid. 

Even though he's been at Man Utd for 6 seasons, he's really only played well for 3 of them - 2 very good seasons and 1 superlative one. The first 3 seasons were spent in developing his skills, vision and getting rid of his selfishness. But it was well worth the time. 

And nobody is suggesting that Real underpaid when the price tag is that hefty. In fact, criticism at Real was aimed not at the price tag but on the fact that they can even spend that amount of money in the current economic situation and AFTER buying Kaka for GBP 59 million. AND with Spain's unemployment rate hovering around 18%. Expect a bail out from the Spanish government AGAIN to save Real from their massive debt.

Two observations :

1. In comparison, Kaka's GBP 59 million deal can practically be termed as a discounted purchase. Funny to think of Kaka as a bargain buy; and

2. 

Newcastle United fans : Read 'em and weep !

But seriously, SAF bought Ronaldo in 2003 for GBP 12 million and is now selling him for GBP 80 million. Can't complain about the ROI on Ronaldo but he will not be held in the same high esteem as the likes of Robson, Keane or Schmeichel; let alone the likes of Charlton, Best and Law.

And definitely he won't be held in the same affection as King Eric.

Having said that, Ronaldo did leave his mark on United and skill-wise he would have borne comparison with Best.

So, thanks for the memories, Ronaldo !

It was good while it lasted.

Day Out

Since her mama was working today, Catriona and I took the opportunity to go out for a bit. As she was going to spend most of the day with only me, it was pretty much bonding time. This time we went to Sunway Pyramid where our main priorities were lunch and MPH.

lunch for Catriona was a slice of bread, mushroom soup and coke

the mushroom soup must have been good

The lunch ended with a balloon which, when it burst, became a flag over which she repeatedly called out "Malaysia!"

A Point To Ponder

I saw this interview with one of malaysia's foremost human rights lawyers, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar on www.thenutgraph.com and thought that it was an interesting read. You can read it here.

He has some very insightful view points which are worth thinking about but I'll just pick on one of the minor points which relate to the recurring controvesy about overseas scholarships from the Public Service Department (PSD). The dude's an Asean scholar and he describes his experience thus :

When I was in Singapore, I had a chance to speak with the other Asean scholars — there were about 100 of us. And these were the top one percent of the students in the country, from various backgrounds. And when I asked them why they were there, the answer was uniform: "We couldn't get scholarships to study overseas, and the Singapore government offered us a place."

Of this number, I think one or two were eventually offered Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships and came back to Malaysia. But most of the rest stayed on in Singapore after completing their studies, and some eventually gave up their citizenships. I don't blame them — they went on to do something with their lives, with really great jobs. So the Asean scholarship was a lifeline for them and that, for me, was an eye-opener, you know. It was a real awakening.

While we in Malaysia are debating about the contribution that the 'other races' have made to nation building, our neighbour down South have simply creamed off the best of our talent to build their nation.

Sad but true.

Stupid and short-sighted but true.

Press 4

"When you get into the lift, you press 4 so that you can go home. 

When you press 2, you don't know where you're going. 

When you press 3, you don't know where you're going. 

When you press 5, you don't know where you're going. 

You press 4 so that you know where you're going."

An innocent enough remark, don't you think ? That's what we say to Catriona so that she only presses the correct button in the lift.

Well, my little girl is turning 3 this month and has responded to previous queries of "How old are you ?" with the reply "2 years old". 

But a couple of weeks ago, the reply became "4 years old'. 

Mystified, we asked her "Why are you 4 years old ?" and her reply .......

"3 years old I don't know where I'm going. 4 years old I know where I'm going."

That's a child's logic for you. And I can't deny that it sound logical.