Saddle them Spurs and let us giddy-up to the Asian cup on the back of a Liverpudlian

Lots of things ot talk about today so lets start:

1. The NBA Champs

My team won the NBA title again - The San Antonio Spurs. Actually, I do not really have a team. I like certain players and support their team. To date I ave only really supported two NBA teams -Chicago Bulls and the SAS. the former because of Michael Jordan and the latter because of Mr Tim Duncan.

Since TD joined the Spurs 10 years ago, they have won 4 titles. He has been the opne consistent and the team now contains a certain Mr Eva Longoria (Tony Parker) a point guard of French decent who is super quick and the Aregentina's Basketball Maradona - Manu Ginobili.

People say they are boring and have no charisma. but they win without the fanfare and overhyped players that are a stable of nearly all that is America. They just play good defence and play as a team. I love t watch them.

I am sure when TD leaves, I will still have a soft spot for the Spurs but will focus on the next great player. I am looking at Greg oden, a college student who should get drafted shortly by either the Portland Trailblazers or Seatle Supersonics.


2. Asian Cup

In a few days times, Australia will make its debut in the Asia Cup - just think Euro Championships but a little more East. This years tourney is being jointly held by Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

I was hoping that Australia would get grouped with Malaysia so I could come over to watch their matches. Who wouldn't with the likes of Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell, lucash Neill, Breet Emerton, Mark Breciano, Vince Grella and Tim Cahill avaliable.

Alas, we are grouped with Thailand and i can not witness the demolition job on Malaysia. Still, we play singapore this Saturday night so that can do!

I expect Australia shoudl make the semi's at least - i am not wanting to sound arrogant but given the team we have we should be best in Asia.


3. Transfers of the Liverpool nature

Been quiet on the Liverpool front and it is downright depressing. Where once the names of Florent Malouda, Simao, David Villa, Carlos Tevez, Samuel Eto' were being bandied around as possible LFC players,things went quiet.

Now there is talk that Fernando Torres wants to join us from Atletico Mardid for something like 25m plus. Included in the deal could be either/or/and Luis Garcia or Djibril Cisse. Now that is a fairly hefty sum to pay and I hope and pray he is not a huge mistake like the other Fernando - Morientes.

I prefer we get Carlos Tevez, he has already adapted to the EPL and has shown how good he is. Torres will take half a season to acclimitise and we can't wait for that. Carlos has shown how good he is. I can dream can't I

I await an announcement on the Torres saga possible inthe next few days.

Still this only solves one issue for the club as we still need a couple of wingers. Some years ago we were hot for Simao and David Villa. I reckon Villa would be an awesome buy as he would destroy the Premiership. but his fee has gone up which inhindsight shows what a stuff up we made by not signing him a few eyars ago for 12m his club wanted.

However, in Rafa I trust and I hope the American owners will live up to the hype and open the bank to get us some quality swo we can challenge for the title.

MIKA: Life in Cartoon Motion

When I first tuned into the song "Grace Kelly" on the radio, I hooked on to the melodic tune and as I heard the chorus I was amazed at the vocal range of this musician. I tried to sing the song and it is very hard to do what this man does.

Another example of in studio magic or a musician to take note off?

Well a few days ago, he popped up on a Australian TV show and performed live and it was then that I decided to acquire his album and was very extremely happy with this compilation

Mika, is a British lad of Lebanese decent has released a debut album with captures carious genres of music - jazz, soul and pop. The pace of the songs range from the love ballad (Any other world) to the toe taping.

This fella is quite a talented lad

Amongst the songs I enjoyed were "Lollipop", "Happy Ending", "Love Today" which reminds me of the why I love the Disco age, "My Interpretation" and "Billy Brown" which had an interesting twist at the end and provides a window into Mika.

This album is undeniable a pop album and worth a listen if you enjoy music which is not entirely mainstream and a vocalist who likes to show off his amazing range. He could be this generations Freddy Mercury!

On my scale where 10 equates to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and 1 is pure crap:

I give it 9.5/10

When being a man is not really being a man?

It seems that the lines between man and women, between gay and straight are intertwining more often these days. A news term entered the fray some few eyars ago, the word “Metrosexual”. To most this phenomenon was made famous by one Mr David Beckham - he of the famous right foot who could bend it.

Seems he also bent a few other things.

Now Dev Vagel, here, is not anti-metrosexual or anti-gay or homophobic. Matter of fact, I would find it very cool to have a gay friend. I am not worried if someone is gay and all I care about is that person is a good human being.

I am also realistic enough to know that anyone gay would not an inkling of wanting to seduce or sleep with me. But really I just take people as who they are and if they a bastard then it does not matter if you straight or not – I probably dowan fren you!

This morning on the way to work we were listening to the radio and they were discussing the habits of some metrosexuals. I think its fine for a man to look after himself. To go for a facial (I do it), to go for waxing (I don’t do it), massages (too expensive here to do), pedicure, manicure, haircuts (I definitely do not do that anymore) etc.

Anyway, this girl was discussing her boyfriend and mentioned him visiting the hair salon every Friday, getting waxed every 2 weeks (back, legs and even that area down there), going for facials, spending time on the weekend looking for curtains and furniture.

Now that is all fine because we all should live in a nice place with some colour coordination but my concern with him was he is becoming less of a man. Less of a protector and more vain.

Maybe it is because I grew in Australia where we celebrate manliness, where we like to act as a bloke that I find this kind of behaviour head shakling.

But before we all overreact and call me anti-something let me say that I do undergo a facial once in a while and have been doing so for over 10 years. I also like to coordinate furniture and clothes (although I do a bad job of this) and I tried to make myself look good.

So I understand this metrosexual thing is all about.

But I still try to retain my manhood, I try not show that I am a man and if my woman is in trouble she knows that I can take care of her. Plus I am not trying to be as pretty as or prettier than her.

When I play a sport I am not worried about my hair or how shinny my head is. I am not worried about how I look afte3r the game (I have seen a few people change out of their sports gear into jeans and nice clothes and then drown themselves with cologne).

Maybe it is a generational thing and I missed out on a few things?

Ultimately it comes down to vanity of the man. When is looking after yourself too much???

I am not talking about a man needing to go out there and start a fight or down the pub and swig a bottle of scotch or arm wrestle to prove his manliness. I just thing as men there are certain things we need to maintain.

Having a nice haircut and the softest of hands are not essential.

Akopolis Now

I was sad, I was angry (particularly at the ref) and I was depressed but the boys did extremely well in making their second Champions league final in 3 years. After receiving all those sms’s and emails from well wishing and mannered Manchester United fans, I decided to take this attitude:

You win some and you lose some.

Luck plays a part in any sporting match, for any team. Look at what happened in the final of 2005 and then again in FA Cup final of 2006. Unfortunately, the luck was with Milan yesterday, they got that deflection for the goal. I can not be upset or hate the Rossonerri for beating us, they are a quality side and deserved to win. They scored and we did not.

It came as a surprise that Liverpool came out as the more attacking team. My only question for the lineup was why pick Bolo Zenden and Pennant if there is no Peter Crouch? I mean the game plan was to attack from the flanks but we needed a target man there and while I love Dirk Kuyt he is not 6 foot 7inches now!

I though Javier Mascherano was awesome and he kept Kaka in check, this guy could definitely be my new hero. This was backed by the fact that Kaka did not influence any major attack until he passed the ball for Inzaghi (when Mascherano was warming the sidelines).

As for the referring, what I hate most in a game is an inconsistent referee. If a ref is bad, then please be bad for both sides. I hate the ref who makes a call on a foul but when something similar happens just waves play on. Players, fans and coaches hate that as the players do not know how to adapt to the game. This fellow was an embarrassment for UEFA and let us hope they do not appoint such a waste for their showcase event. I mention the fact that there should have been another 45 seconds of play and that Liverpool should of scored. But that is a dream.

But now I look to the future. I think the loss will light a fire in the belly of guys like Stevvie, Carra, Risse, Javier, Rafa etc. Hopefully they put in a hard pre season so they start the next EPL season on the front foot by grabbing some wins.

Face facts, is Liverpool supporters want the EPL title – this is our holy grail now!

2007 Australian Sikh Games

It has been a while innit????

So what has been happening with you?

For me there been a few things goings and comings, here and there.

A few weeks Melbourne played host to the Sikh Games. Bascially it is a weekend of sports, drinking, rousing, womanising and all sorts of stuff. But basically the games are that, games played by the Sikhs from all over Australia and internationally like Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Malaysia.



Personally, I was involved with coaching the Victoria Sikh Association football teams - the senior mens and under 17's. In a nut shell, the seniors, won 1 and lost 2 matches, although the match against Singapore was tinged with controversy for me as they scored an offisde goal and should have had a player sent off for hitting another player.

Melbourne's most wanted!! (by the authorities)

The under 17's ran around and did ok but sadly could not win either of their two matches, but they played well and were unlucky.

Anyway here are some more "action" shots from the games. (Can you see that Melbourne has a drought and was a bit dusty)

I also had my cousin and good friends down from Perth partaking in the hockey tournament. They did well but got knocked out in the semi final against Sydney. Unfortunately the organisers teally kocked up things here. the draw for the finals was amazingly confusing and pretty poorly thought too.

I could see they had thoughts of giving teams a few matches so they found the tournament worth partaking in, but it was ridiculous.

Basically, if a team was eliminated they would get not one but sometimes 3 chances to play again to make the seni finals. RIDICULOUS!!! It was so bad that Perth beat a team 3-0 then played them later that day and beat them 4-0 to make the semi finals.

So when they came to the semi finals, they had played 3 matches that day (and had an hours rest before this match) against a teamthat played once that day and had nearly 7 hours between matches.

CRAZY!!!

But enough of that. It was great fun to see the guys and share quite a few beers and chats. Also caught up with a lot of people from Perth I had not seen in a few years and the most crazy thing was seeing some of the people I knew as little kids then all grown up - man i feel old now!!

Metria was also kind enough to let me run amuck with the friends and that is why I love this girl!!

Next up: Our trip to the Sunshine Coast.

Where was the wall?

T'was a game where one team looked like the far superior team. Yet when it came to the part that mattered, we failed.

It is downright depressing to be killed at the death of the match..again. This time , by all people - John O'Shea. Yes there is only one O'Shea as Keropok says, and I am thankful because let us face it, he is pretty average and he only looks good because of the quality around him.

But therein, lies the major issue here. MU are a fairly decent team on their way to their next title.

Championship teams win these type of matches. They did it against Fulham the week before and they did it again.

We, the Liverpool, did not convert our chances. We did not the ball in the back of the net, where it counts. We did sweet F.A. where it mattered in the end. Sadly, MU did so. Kudos to the and this is why they have one hand on the trophy. Basically the championship is theirs to lose.

I just hope the fans can handle the win with some sort of "class" but I fear they will end up moreso like the last 3 letters of that word.

There was a suspect offside call on Bellamy when he scored but it may have been right (it hit Sissoko's head on the way to him so it depends on where he was at that time).

Lets hope we fair better against Barcelona on Wednesday morning.

YNWA

Part 1: On the Outside
Name : Def Daddy Dev
Date of Birth : 29 January
Current Status : Alive
Eye Colour : Hazel
Hair Colour : HAHAHAHA
Righty or Lefty : right now it is hanging to the left
Zodiac Sign : Aquarius

Part 2: On the Inside
Your Heritage : Indian
Your Fear : Spiders and heights
Your Weakness: Sangeeta, Jordan and kryptonite
Your Perfect Pizza : Mexican with jalepeno peppers and anchovies

Part 3: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
Your thoughts first waking up : Should I call work and tell them I am sick today?
Your bedtime : after 11pm, though I also feel sleepy at 3pm monday to Friday.
Your most missed memory : Beaches of Perth and the AWESOMES!

Part 4: Your Pick
Pepsi or Coke : Pepsi Max
cDees or Burger King : HJ"s baby!
Single or Group Dates : Single
Adidas or Nike : Adidas
Lipton Tea or Nestea : Green tea..HAH!
Chocolate or Vanilla : Chocolate
Cappucino or Coffee : Gloria Jeans Mocha Caramalatte

Part 5: Do You...
Smoke : No
Curse : F@#$ yes!

Part 6: In the Past Month
Drank alcohol : Yes
Gone to the mall : Of course!
Been on stage : No
Eaten sushi : Yes
Dyed your hair : hahahahahaha

Part 7: Have You Ever?
Played a stripping game : I plead the fifth
Changed who you were to fit in : Yes

Part 8 : Marrriage
Age you're hoping to be married : already inthat blissful world right now..now i have to make tea for my wife

Part 9: In A Guy ....i am a guy so i make this for girls
Best Eye colour : who cares as long as she has large breats
Hair colour : as long as there is no hair on the breast
Short or long hair : Brazilian!!

Part 10: What Were You Doing?
1 minute ago : Joining everyone else to answer..this quiz...(stupid questionreally!)
1 hour ago : Must have been working
41/2 hours ago : Sleeping
1 month ago : Planning football training and the upcoming season
1 year ago : Planning my first anniversary

Part 11: Finish The Sentence
I love : doing nothing and watching sport and my wife (I laike very much)
I feel : Excited about the upcoming weekend
I hate : Fake people and cruel people
I hide : my excitement and dissapointments amongst most people. It is all about remaing calm in a storm
I miss : My family and the awesomes back in Perth.
I need : To really lose a few kilograms and get fit.


Ok I hereby tag anyone of the 4 people who read this blog to fill out this questionnaire and let me know their responses.