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The Reggae Boyz play two friendlies at the start of the Jamaican school year. The first game is against Costa Rica at the National Stadium (Jamaica) and the second is at Lockhart Stadium (Fort Lauderdale, Florida).

On Sunday September 5, just before returning to school, students and teachers hope to be wowed by the Boyz when they match up against CONCACAF rivals Costa Rica.

Tuesday evening, September 7, the Boyz face Peru.  This is the first time I can recall Jamaica playing soccer against the South Americans at any level.  It should be an interesting match.  There are a number of Peruvians living in South Florida who will support their team but I expect a more overwhelming support from the Jamaican supporters living in the tri-county areas of Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, Florida.

Go out and support the Boyz.

The “Jamaican Machine”, Usain “Lightning” Bolt now has a book out titled “Usain Bolt: 9.58″ in which he reveals serious plans to play for Manchester United Football Club (FC) in England.  He calls Man U, his “favorite team”. Bolt also loves playing cricket and has made that quite clear.

So does bolt plan to ditch his spikes for cleats? He is very serious in his love, perhaps the very reason he expects to retire from track in a few years.

Another option:  He could become the Worlds first 3-sport international star: running track, playing soccer for Manchester United, and playing cricket for the West Indies.  That’s an idea.

The reality

If Bolt is signed by Manchester United (or any other professional soccer team for that matter), it’s a public relations move only as we don’t expect Bolt to play any serious soccer at that level overnight.

What say you, Caribbean people?

In a “shock around the world”, seemingly unbeatable, Jamaican double-world record holder Usain Bolt, was beaten in the Diamond League 100M race in Sweden by Tyson Gay who ran 9.83 to Bolt’s “human-like” 9.97.

Bolt was gracious in defeat and, perhaps, will wake up now.

We all know that Wade, Bosh, and James have teamed up to form, what  C. Sharpe calls, “The SuperHeat“.  Rumors are that the beautiful actress, Gabrielle Union, is behind the breakup of Wade’s marriage and is his current “main squeeze”.   I don’t have substantiated evidence for either, though she has been seen hanging around him.  I certainly don’t like to see any marriage broken, but it’s very common these days.  Anyway… 

Actress Gabrielle Union

Could this be a reason for those 3 super-stars teaming up in Miami, instead of in Chicago, or Cleveland or New York?  I mean, those Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland, and New York players hang out with nice looking girls, don’t they?

Do you think Bosh and James came to Miami because of the possibility Gabrielle could hook them up with friends that look like her or, impossible as it may seem, better?

Would you leave Toronto where you could make a killing if you re-sign or do a sign-and-trade, take less money, to hang out with a guy who hangs out with a girl like Gabrielle?

C.Sharpe said, and I agree, “if her inner beauty matches her outer beauty, she might be the most beautiful woman in Hollywood.” I don’t believe she has done any plastic surgery as of yet and that’s a definite plus.

Join us in congratulating the Guyanese team.  Against all odds, they are the new regional Twenty-20 champions and get to compete in that T-20 tournament where a lot of money are up for grabs, particularly to the top 3 finishers.  You may recall that T&T, defending regional champions, finished second and their players were “paid”.

Heroics by who?  Heroics by Jonathan Foo.  Foo is perhaps the man of the tournament with his unbeaten knocks.  This time, he was 42 unbeaten.  With 3 balls left, Guyana needed 3 to win with Searles bowling for Barbados.  Foo took a single, a decision questioned and perhaps criticized by the commentators.  But it turned out to be a good decision because, on the penultimate delivery, tailender Devendra Bishoo hit the 2 runs required to cement the win.

Congratulations to the NEW regional champs, Guyana, overcoming powerhouses like T&T and Barbados.  In the 3rd-place match, T&T proved that their original win over Jamaica was no fluke and brushed them aside easily in a rain-shortened match.  T&T won by 10 wickets.

So, it’s Guyana, Barbados, T&T… first, second, third respectively.  There is no consolation prize.  It’s winner takes all… the trip to the tournament where Guyana will compete against some very strong T-20 world sides.  Let’s cheer on our Guyanese friends.

Oh, and don’t be surprised to see the next West Indies T20 side include Jonathan Foo (GUY), Darren Bravo (T&T), and Krishmar Santokie (JAM).  They did well this tournament.

The cricket site crickinfo.com is famous for picking all time teams by country / region.  Recently they picked an all-time West Indies XI from an allotted 6.  With the state of our current regional cricket and board, this is exciting.  It gives us something to smile about, because some of us are students of the game and watch tapes/DVDs, listen to audio of past great West Indians… and there were many of them.

The Cricinfo Team

The Yowlink  Admin Team

Select Your Team

The deal is, you are allowed  allowed to pick as follows:

One Exception

With last Cup winner, Italy, not in contention and powerhouses France bowing out in embarassing fashion, the 2010 World Cup, the nominees were:

1. Argentina
2. Brasil (Brazil)
3. Deutchland (Germany)
4. Ghana
5. España (Spain)
6. Paraguay
7. The Netherlands (Holland)
8. Uruguay

Spain vs Netherlands

But, in the end it came down to Spain and The Netherlands.  Except for the polls on Yowlink, everyone had Spain as huge favorites to take the Cup once Germany and Brazil were eliminated.

… And the 2010 FIFA World Cup goes to… (drum rolls please)… Read the rest of this entry →

All right Miami!!!  It is official.  The final piece of the puzzle, the icing on the cake, the cherry on the sundae has been made.  Your basketball team is officially the Super HEAT of South Beach, Miami… at least on paper.  That is because the 3 top picks of the 1993 draft will sign with the Miami Heat. 

Lebron James made it official at about 9:25 PM on Thursday July 8, after Bosh and Wade had committed a day earlier.

W: Dwyane Wade

Wade, nicknamed Flash or otherwise known as D-Wade, agreed to re-sign with the Heat… terms estimated at 6 years $125 million US dollars.  The 28 year old Wade was the #5 pick of the 1993 draft and has carried the Heat to a championship in 2006, when he was 24 years old.

B: Chris Bosh

Bosh, nicknamed CB4, agreed he cannot win a championship by himself and agreed to come to Miami, estimated at 5 years $96 million.  The #4 pick of the 2003 draft, Bosh ended up in Toronto with the Raptors and didn’t taste as much success as his other two brethren but decided to roll with his boys into South Beach to enjoy the wild ride.

J: Lebron James

And now, a few minutes ago, Lebron James has agreed to come to “South Beach and join Bosh and Wade.”

Everyone knows King James or LBJ.  He was the #1 pick of the 2003 draft straight out of high school.  The man was more matured than the typical 18 year old.  Over the years, he’s had lots of individual success and accolades but fewer team successes than he would like… like an NBA championship or 2 or … 6, for example.  Only time will tell if his last-minute 1-hour announcment (obviously orchestrated by ESPN) on Thursday will manifest itself into the type of success he is looking for.  As the 25 year old James said, “I just want to win.” 

Conclusions?

This is the making of a 3-man super team, just better than the Celtics when they signed Garnett, Pierce, and Allen together.

So, after this, thr Heat should have 4 men under contract (the fourth being Chalmers) because Beasley is probably included in a trade to Toronto for Bosh.  They still have to sign their 3 draft picks bringing it up to 7 players.  So they will still need at least another 5 players for minimum to just above-minimum contracts. Anyone of you Yawdies with any game who are willing to go to Heat camp and play for a small $250K or so?

Let’s see how this plays out and if it translates into sold-out arena, playoffs, and championships in Miami.

Will this combo work?

The semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup is set.  In are European powerhouses Spain and Germany, The Netherlands, and the lone South American team, Uruguay.  Uruguay, if you reacall, got to this stage by defeating South Korea on penalty kicks in the round of 16 and then doing the same to Ghana in the round of 8.

The matchups

Tuesday July 5, 2010 —  The Netherlands vs Uruguay

Wednesday, July 6, 2010 — Germany vs Spain Read the rest of this entry →

Diego Maradona : The Hand Of God

In the 1986 World Cup match between England and Argentina, Diego Maradona tipped the ball over the goalie’s head into the net with his hand, and it was given a goal.  It was thereafter named the “Hand of God” goal after Maradona himself so named it.

Bob Green: The Hand of Clod 

When England tied with the USA (June 2010 World Cup group stage match) because of the goalie, Bob Green, allowing a very very very weak ball to pass him and score, the British papers labeled him “The Hand Of Clod”.  He was replaced for subsequent matches.

Keep your head up young man.  Don’t let this be the end of your international showing as a goalie.

Luis Suarez:  The Hero with the Volleyball Hands wins it for Uruguay

With the second of 2 overtime periods expiring, Ghana’s kick allowed 3 shots at goal.  Two were taken off the line, the last of which was a deliberate volleyball two-hand block by Luis Suarez standing on the goal line.  This was the best play of the match because, thought he got a red card and was sent off, time had expired.  If he didn’t swat it, Ghana wins 2-1.  However, it took his chances on the resulting penalty kick which hit the top of the bar and went out.

Asamoah Gyan:  The Goat or From Hero to Zero

Asamoah Gyan of Ghana missed the penalty with the game out of time to send the game against Uruguay into penalty kicks which they lost 4-2.    The hero of the US vs Ghana game a few days earlier, Gyan played well against Uruguay only to miss the penalty with time running out after the Uruguay player played volleyball to swat the ball off the line. 
The Ghanans bombarded the Uruguay defense with three shots in rapid succession, one punched away by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, another bouncing off a defender, and the last one hit away purposely by Luis Suarez standing on the goal line.

Keep your head up young man.  You have a very bright future.

In other News

Brazil loses 2-1 to The Netherlands (Holland).  Leading 1-0, most people expected the usual Brazil win.  But an “own goal” with the keeper error leveled things.  Next was a brilliant goal off a corner kick where the first Netherlands player headed it backwards to his man whose header found the back of the net.

Great games, whether they went my way or not.