Football: Malaysia is the best team in Asean region

What started as a little nudge against the mighty Thai, followed by a sturdy win over host Laos, resulted in a gigantic victory against the Vietnam in the final.

Coming into the final after loosing 1-3 to Vietnam in the group match, our boys putting everything on the line.

First half was a stalemate. Second half was fiery, with end to end action all the way.

The national team stuck to their aim to prove to Vietnam that the group win was a flash in the pan.

Why we won the final:

1. Ball marking, the whole 90+ minutes. Fitness level is at an acceptable standard
2. Great goalie in Shabinee. 2-3 match winning saves
3. Great full back. Sabri Abu and gang
4. Great midfield. 98% of clearance from our defense will be pick up by the midfield, holding the ball then making the pass for counter attack. Basic football played to perfection!
5. Great strikers. Intelligent play. Hold back, pass ball, strike.
6. Great coach. Rajagobal again pull off a strategic move when he made a change midway in 2nd half. Putting another midfield to pile on the pressure on Vietnam goal. Immediate impact followed by a goal 15 mins later! Brilliant.

Congratulation to the national team. We salute you!

Mat Khir , We did it!

New Year Hijrh 1431

Work your brain!

Brain if not worked or exercised, will get fat and lazy

So exercise your brain.

How?

- Take a different route to work once a week. (from Butterworth, go to Sungai Petani first then turn back to go to your office in Bayan Baru)

- Read from the bottom up. (yes, u won't get the story, but that is not the point, or is it?)

- Learn a new word / month. (to excrete is to...)

- Learn a new language, one word / month. (pohdahhh is ..)

- Watch History channel instead of Sport channel.(post depression era adult entertainment history)

- Sleep early

Football: Malaysian fascination with foreign football

It's no secret that Malaysian loves foreign football, especially English football.

It goes back to when the English brought football to Malaya before the second world war.

The fascination became stronger in the 60's till the late 80's.

English team such as Liverpool and Manchester United became local favorite.

But while we enjoy watching foreign football on the telly, we still frequent local stadium and district matches. Most of us actually played football on real pitch and enjoy being outdoor.

Things changed in the 90's when more and more foreign football flood Malaysian TV. When cable (or rather satellite) TV hit our shores, all hell broke loose. Not only foreign premier football get live telecast, even sub standard league or matches (what kind of looser would watch an English second division team) are shown over and over again. TV pundits (mostly ex english club players making good money in this region) talk about pre game prediction and post game result over and over again. It is simply over kill.

Local newspaper gives foreign scene a full treatment , with average of 2-3 pages coverage. Local football are reserve for occasional half a page story.

Why the zero interest in local football? The answer is easy - local football lacks the quality and excitement of its European peers. I do agree to a certain level, but local football is not that bad. If you watch it on telly, obviously the camera and technique of coverage doesnt reflect the true nature of the game. Our stadium lighting is poor and local telly use old and static camera recording from a far. Audience feels detached from the action on the pitch. Go watch the game live and you will feel the excitement. Have a weekend sport night with family and friend. You will enjoy it. Get up from the couch and stay away from kedai mamak/pub. If you are a true football fan, go to your local stadium.

Why the over the top fascination with English football? The answer is easy - gambling. The support the media gives to english football is because of the demand. The demand is fueled by gambling - legal and illegal. In Malaysia, it all illegal.

Other countries, i.e. Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam don't have the problem that we have in Malaysia. It could be that they don't have cable TV that feed them sub standard foreign game to waste time on. Or it could be that they are true football fan that just get pumped watching local team live. They share the same spirit as English and other European fan.

It is so irritating to see locals being over zealous about 'their team' when they themselves have never actually watch 'their team' plays on a real pitch. There some locals who have actually stayed in UK and support the local team while there. I have no issue with this group of people. And more than often , they support smaller teams like Coventry (i.e Adi), Portsmouth (i.e. Man) and Aston Villa.

I support Liverpool as I grew up with the Daglishs, Rushs, Barnes, Sounesses and Grobblears. But I still support my favorite local teams - Penang, Kedah and of course the national squad. Make no mistake on which way my support will sway if these locals team are up against Liverpool.

Enough ranting - just go the local stadium and have fun. Skip the teh tarik session, enjoy family and friend outing at local stadium. Not only football, other sporting event is worth the visit. You will love it!

Football: Malaysia is in the SEA game final

Malaysia beat host Laos 3-1 to book a berth in the SEA game final.

Malaysia controlled the first half. A scissor kick at the edge of the box by Badrol Bakhtiar put our boys ahead, silencing the home crowd. It was a gem of a goal.

Leading 1-0 into the second half, Laos pounced back with a well taken goal from outside of the box. Laos took control of the midfield and started to marshal their attack with ease.

Rajagopal then made the decisive tactical move by pulling out a striker and putting in a midfielder. Malaysia then look to counter on t he fast break. A clever chip by Gunalan hit the bar and Badrol was there to claim his second goal.

Laos resistance diminished and our boys put the final nail in the coffin with well taken 3rd goal. Dribbling the ball at the goal line, before laying it up for an easy deflection to the back of the net.

Waiting in the final is Vietnam whom beat Malaysia 3-1 in group A match. I am not going to comment or predict about the final just yet. Let's just enjoy the win for now.

p/s: I was really surprise to see how matured Laos conduct themselves on the pitch. No talking back to referee and just carrying on playing. Very rugby like. No EPL's nonsense. Our boys should learn from them.

Camera: Pentax K-X

Pentax is not a familiar brand within the Malaysia's camera fraternity. On contrary it's highly popular in US, Europe, Japan and Taiwan.

Myth around clunkiness, expensive proprietaries lenses and plain lousiness are abound. Mostly stoke up by the purist in the Canon&Nikon camps.

I will let the Pentax K-X (scarlet red body- ouchhh) make you decide otherwise.

The Pentax K-x is an entry-class DSLR camera come with 12.4MP uper-high-sensitivity and high-speed continuous shooting. IT comes Live View function, high quality movie recording, high quality DSLR photographic for all users.Another features ISO up to 12800 and 720/24p for video recording. The feature beat the other entry level DSLR by a long shot.

Priced around RM2400 with standard 18-55mm standard kit lense.

Movie: Year One

I watched Year One the other day.

Starring Jack Black and Micheal Cera , it's a parody of biblical history , taking you from cavemen to Adam, Ibrahim up till Moses.

It was not too obvious so you need to read between the line to get the connection.

There are bits and pieces of hilarious moment but I was expecting more.

Golf: Tiger is taking a sabbatical

Tiger will stop competing(read: working) to focus on saving his marriage.

This indicate that while he is playing competitive golf he is not focusing on his marriage.(make sense?)

The man obviously can afford not to pick the club again for the rest of his life and still maintain 1 wife with 11 mistresses.

I wish the best for Tiger. While he is away, I predict that 2010 will be the year for Phil Mickelson to take over as world 1 for the first half of the year. Then it will a toss between Harrington,Perry, Vijay (he should have overcome his multiple injury of 09) and I hope Weir will also be a factor.

The young ones will not be consistent enough to challenge for top spot but I hope they prove me wrong.

Football: Malaysia whacked Thai to enter semi-final

Yes! That lil' nudge I was blogging about the other day. Well it happened.

It was against all odds that Malaysia pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Thais in their final Group A match in Vientiane yesterday.

When all seems buried, Nasriq Baharom equalized in the 80th minute. That kick start Malaysia onslaught on Thai's goal and deep in stoppage time, Ahmad Fakri Saarani (pix) scored the winning goal.

Malaysia will take on Laos in the semi and another nudge is needed. I predict a Malaysia - Vietnam final.

GO MALAYSIA!

Golf: Golden Bear and the Tiger at different juncture in life

Jack Nicklaus will celebrates his 70th birthday next January. He is still the king of the hill, with 18 majors under his belt. While he reflect on his life, the man poised to surpass him is embroil in a personal scandal that rocks the sporting world.

I have long predicted (ahem!) that Tiger will never win a major again after his famous battle royal with Rocco Mediate. Mostly due to his knee injury and the ops that followed. I believe the scandal has tarnish Tiger's aura and persona will further dampen his strive for the magic 18 major. The very thing that he pride is now seen as a facade. Don't get me wrong, one weakness or make it 9 weaknesses (as of today's count) doesn't make him a monster but it does make him a man, like the rest of us.

My prediction, golf wise: Tiger will never beat Jack's major record. Yes, he'll win a few more but it's down hill from here on.

The world of SLR; big sensor, large ISO, long/hard lenses.

Yoda wrote, upon my request for the great one to dispel the technical mumbo jumbo and myth of the micro four third (woooo, takut..) camera.

In true Yoda's fashion, he did more than dispel- he 'bongkar', 'terjah' and 'korek' the big sensor, large ISO and long&hard lenses.

Form factor wise, micro-4-3rd is the way forward.

Pocket wise, its ridiculous.

I leave you with the Panasonic GF1...the big round lense is calling out your name

Vietnam 3- Malaysia kalah

Just a lil' nudge against the mighty Thai then Msia will go through...

Malaysia Boleh...

Who let the tiger out...who let the tiger out

If i am tiger, the solution is easy:

I am a billionaire, I win golf tournaments when I want too and I have a Swedish lingerie model for a wife - so what do i do next? I will take a second wife of course.

I go back Thailand, see my mommy dearest and ask her to find me a thai super model that can cook nasi goreng daging merah.

The only problem with Tiger, unlike me , is that he is not a Moslem male. So he cannot legally take a second wife.

So what does Tiger do? He goes off and have affair with waiters, event managers and the likes.

I am getting old...

I get my English soccer dose is from Big League Soccer on telly and The Star

I still harbor strong feeling about K. Daglish, Ian Rush, R.Fowler, Barnes, Thompson, C. Johnston returning to Liverpool and take their rightful place as the Gods of the Kop

And I know Penang will play premier league football next season and will feature John Hunter, Razak M and Azman Adnan up front(yeah ..we play 4-3-3)

And the worst, I still love to go see live local football at the stadium.

I still listen to chris cornell and his Soundgarden's mates

My rap mp3 collection consist of Tupac , Dr Dre's Chronic and Ezy E NWA

My latest DVD (thank you Intan!) is Jimi Hendrix live at Monterey.

I get goose bump listening to Jamal's Dendang Perantau

I still keeps Alleycats and Rusty Blade tapes

I still remember when a new nissan sedan cost Rm16k, 2grands more than the proton saga

My Motor GP heros are Eddie Lawson, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Garner , Wayne Rainey and Mike Doohan.

My f1 heros are Nigel Mansell, Eddie Ervine, Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill

I love re runs of The Jeffersons and Different Strokes

My tamil movie heros are Vijayakanth and KamalHassan

I love the movie Pemburu and any other movie that has either Ahmad Yatim or Rahim Razali in it.

In my book, Samuel L Jackson is still the baddest mf to grace the silver screen

The baddest kid on TV is Eric Theodore Cartman and he is not fat, he is big boned!

Why my brudder Lean (Lee Ann) deserves better?

1. Hell is 2 hot for him. He likes it cold(like teluk air tawar bay area)
2. Hell is 2 crowded for him. He likes it calm (like putra height)
3. Hell is 2 loud for him. He likes it quiet (like putra height)
4. Hell doesn't give him much scenic view for his D70. He likes the open sky. (like teluk air tawar bay area)
5. So God, please put my brudder Lean (Lee Ann) in heaven after he dies. Even though he is a pork eating, swear spitting, idol worshipping cina, but he deserves better.

Permaipura Sub 90 Attempt

Haizal and Rizal at it again , at Permaipura

This is for our golfing journal

A reminder that we are yet to crack sub 90 at Permaipura.

Be Scared, Be very scared ...of the free swing on the T box

Penang Golf Resort, east course was the place, right before Raya Qurban.

A long awaited duel after 1 year hiatus.

Lean (Le-Ann , as in Lee Ann Rhymes) is the man who got me hook on the game.

For the record, we first started playing together almost 10 years ago.

To my brudder Lean (Le-Ann , as in Lee Ann Rhymes), thanks for Nike shoe, the dunlop irons, the callaway bag , the countless imitation driver we collected from Shanghai over the years and most importantly the friendship.

Kelab Rahman Putra

Weekend outing with the CIMB boys. Kelab Rahman Putra is an old club with scenic view.

Located in Sg Buluh, it offer 36 holes challenge , boasting the lake and hill course.

Even the hill course is dotted with lakes, drain and pond so they is no escaping from the water hazard

You know the year is coming to an end when...

1. Americans celebrates Thanks Giving and wants to whole world to understand and know about it..."so how did your Thankgiving dinner went?....ahh..ahh, we dont celebrate thank giving coz we didn't shoot our natives and then invite them for dinner"
2. Govt bodies start flush out non critical and highly non essential projects to clean up their coffers..."we want to clean up our network infra, i mean clean up in the real sense of the word and we want u, Mr IT Co. to do it for us"
3. Morning traffics is lame
4. Malaysian go to their Big Sale to buy stuff they don't need.."yeah, i'll take 8 of those neck rest"
5. IT folks start to give excuses of why they cannot execute projects..."its a critical period without key resources available and we just want to keep the biz running without taking any risk"
6. It is December!