Match fixing

Match fixing is rife in world sport today but nowhere near as bad as it is in Soccer (Football). Why is it so bad in soccer?

The majority of the money comes from Indian bookmakers. Players who are caught match fixing are banned for life from ever being involved in soccer. Juventus was stripped of two titles because of their part in the first match fixing scandal to come out of Italy. Antonio Conte the coach of Juventus was banned for 10 months for his knowledge of what happened at Siena when he was head coach. He wasn't directly involved in the match fixing but had knowledge of it and thats why he only got 10 months.

Fenerbahce of the Turkish Super Lig was booted out of the champions league last year because they were embroiled in a match fixing scandal. In Australia up to 10 players and coaches from victorian premier league team Southern Stars are facing life bans and Queensland club Albany Creek Excelsior are also embroiled in it.

So why feel the need to ruin your life and sometimes a really great paying career to make a little cash on the side. Players need to understand that that they will be caught.

South African cricket star and pin up boy Hansie Cronje was banned for life in 2000 for match fixing and died in a plane crash in 2001.

The penalties imposed on known match fixing is very good but for some reason it isnt stopping. Players know they will get caught eventually, so why do they continue to do it? Fans are getting sick and tired of all the scandals going on in world sport. We put our hard earned money into these sports and the players and teams can't even give us the decency of not being involved in scandals. As of yet we haven't had a major scandal in the English Premier League except for the Ryan Giggs and John Terry affair scandals. Lets hope the bookmakers involved in fixing matches get what they deserve and that match fixing won't get into the English game

Why Hollywood, why?

I recently watched the 2004 movie Friday Night Lights starring Billy Bob Thornton and Lucas Black and Directed by Peter Berg.

Friday Night Lights is the "True" stort about the Permian High School Football Team nicknamed the Panthers. The story in itself was thrilling with the Panthers losing in the last game of the 1988 season to force a three way tie for first place but what I don't like about Hollywood is all the changes they make.

Firstly in the movie Permian never played Odessa High but they always play each other and when the three way tie occured the teams that actually made it were Permian, Midland Lee and Midland High but in the movie Midland High was replaced by Abilene Cooper. Permian's first opponent in the playoffs in the movie was Dallas Jesuit but in actual fact it was Amarillo Tascosa.

In the movie Permian is sgown to lose in the State Championship Final to Dallas Carter High School 34-28 when it was the State Semi Final they lost to Dallas Carter and it was 14-9. The true story of the 1988 Permian Panthers is a good story of courage and team work but I don't understand why Peter Berg had to change facts when he could have made it true. This story is reminiscent of another very good and very inspiring story featured in the Disney film Remember The Titans.

Click here for the link to the wikipedia page

this is interesting

this is interesting. definitely a good read

Grand Theft Auto V

So as we all know Grand Theft Auto V is out and aren't we all excited as was proven by sales. In just 24 hours Grand Theft Auto V made $800 million for Rockstar.

Grand Theft Auto has become the staple for open world games. As we all know it is well deserving of the R18+ rating it has received by the Australian Classification Board but is it worth the hype.

GTA V was initially scheduled to be released in December 2011 and the June 2012 and was finally released just this week to obviously a very anxious market.

Why is the Grand Theft Auto series so popular? I believe that the series is so popular because a lot of people have a side that only comes out when they are stressed. A side that would kill someone or commit a serious crime. The nature of the GTA series and the crime involved in the game allows us to kill people and commit crimes to relieve stress but in a virtual world. It allows us to escape the real world and enter the virtual world where we can kill people, steal cars, do drugs, have sex with hookers and more but it also test your morals where you can play as a good guy and only hurt people for missions and not for fun. You can choose to help a girl who is being attacked in a dark laneway.

So we have waited about a year and a half for this game so everyone enjoy the wonder that is Grand Theft Auto V

Napoli v Borussia Dortmund 19/9/13

In the UEFA Champions League game from the morning of 19/9/2013 between SSC Napoli and Borussia Dortmund it was a heated affair at the Stadio San Paolo in Naples

The game started out very stop start and then Napoli scored from a header by Gonzalo Higuain as Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp was sent off for abusing the fourth official. That wasn't the end of there worries. Mats Hummels was replaced by Emerick-Pierre Aubameyang as he had a hamstring complaint In the 44th minute Roman Weidenfeller got a straight red card for a Handball outside the box. Jakub Blakcyzkowski was then replaced by substitute goalkeeper Australian Mitch Langerak to make his UEFA Champions League debut.

The second half started off better for Dortmund with only 10 men. Napoli held most of the possession. In the 67th minute Lorenzo Insigne scored a brilliant free kick as it hit the underside of the bar as Napoli took a 2-0 lead. In trying to stop the free kick Mitch Langerak hit the goalpost. Napoli continued to have the majority of possession. Lorenzo Insigne was replaced by Dries Mertens and in the 77th minute goalscorer Gonzalo Higuain was replaced by Goran Pandev as Borussia Dortmund started to look likely to score. Mitch Langerak was called on to make a save in the 82nd minute as the young Australian proved he has what it takes to be a top goalkeeper at Dortmund. In the 84th minute with Dortmund winning a free kick Marco Reus who had taken the previous three really poor free kicks Nuri Sahin steps up to take it narrowly missing. In the 87th minute Napoli's Juan Zuniga put the ball past his own goalkeeper Pepe Reina as Dortmund managed to claw a goal back. In the 88th minute Dortmund won a free kick with Marco Reus calling on Pepe Reina to make a wonderful save. The game finished 2-1 to Napoli.

The game was full of excitement and wonderful skills as Napoli showed that they can go far in this seasons Champions League and Dortmund have to improve. The sending off of Roman Weidenfeller was a huge turning point but Mitchell Langerak stood up proudly and only conceeded from the free kick. Great game by Napoli at home.

Drugs in sport

Why are there so many drugs in sport? Why do people feel the need to cheat?

Sport has become a money making powerhouse with sponsors, betting agencies,  billionaire owners taking over clubs. The need to succeed and the pressure put on players is phenomenal.

The supporters of a team don't want to see their team lose and if your team is losing week in and week out then the pressure mounts and then the team doctors give performance enhancing drugs or players take performance enhancing drugs to improve. Lance Armstrong was one of the world's greatest cyclists and to stay at the top he thought it would be wise to take drugs. He had everything, he had money, fame, sponsors, 7 tour de france titles and now he has nothing, his sponsors want nothing to do with him.

The money that betting agencies bring in every year is upwards of $500 million every year and with top players getting paid upwards of £250, 000 every week these numbers are astronomical. With the amount of money involved in sport comes the need to succeed, But at what cost?

Is it worth being sacked by your club? Is it worth having sponsors and team mates hating you? With the money involved and the pressures involved in professional sport, there will always be performance enhancing drugs. The Essendon Football Club was in the AFL Finals Series that was until ASADA delivered the judgement for Essendon's drug program. Essendon were fined and had to miss out on finals.

Anyone caught by drug tests faces a minimum of two years out of the sport. Is it worth it? Athletes today feel the need to cheat to be better than their opponents but athletes have to be role models for children too. Children look up to their favourite sporting heroes and absolutely idolise and adore them. Athletes need to know that it isn't just about winning or losing or about money or pride but what sort of example are they setting.

The penalties for drug takers needs to be harsher.  If you are caught the minimum should be five years but that's just my opinion. I would love to hear some feedback. Thanks for reading

What was moyes thinking

In the recent UEFA Champions League match between Manchester United and Bayer Leverkusen won by Manchester United 4-2, David Moyes played Shinji Kagawa out in the wingers role. Shinji would have been better utilised in the central attacking role just behind the striker. My team would have been a 4-4-1-1 to best utilise his abilities. My goalkeeper would have been David De Gea, Right Back would be Rafael, My two Centre Backs would have been Nemanja Vidic and Phil Jones and my Left Back would have been Patrice Evra. My midfield would look like this, Right Midfielder would be Antonio Valencia, my two Centre Midfielders would have been Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini and my Lfet Midfielder would have been Ashley Young/Ryan Giggs. I would have probably went for Giggs because of his age and experience. Then play Shinji Kagawa as the Central Attacking Midfielder with either Wayne Rooney or Robin van Persie up front. In the UEFA Champions League I would probably start Wayne Rooney upfront. Chris Smalling was a horrible choice at Centre Back because his decision making is horrible. Yes he is still fairly young but he doesn't have what it takes to be a Manchester United player.

I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts on this. Let me know what you think. My kik is stgidragons