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Saturated Fat got Bum Rap
Pretty interesting research is starting to emerge about Fats and their effect of our bodies. The below study, a meta-analaysis published this month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, makes us further question where our medical advisors get their facts?
- Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease
WHAT THE BLAZES….?
Saturated fat doesn’t cause heart disease? If we can’t believe our doctors, who can we trust?What an exciting decade we live in. Let’s keep challenging and have faith in our bodies and our heritage.
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EPL Midweek Fixtures (I)
Sunderland vs Bolton
Sunderland are having a midfield crisis with three of the middle four likely to miss the match added to which they are without a win in fourteen matches. Things seem likely to go from bad to worse. Having said that Bolton are hardly on fire, they may have won last Saturdays match but it was their 1st in 11 games. This bottom end scrap could easily go to either team.Portsmouth vs Birmingham
This match may look more than a little familiar to anybody who saw the FA cup game on Saturday, Birmingham are looking to start an unchanged side from the sides last meeting. Portsmouth may have won the FA cup clash between the two teams however it seems more than likely that the winners will be Birmingham this time round, whilst Pompey have enjoyed a good run of cup form the side have been nothing short of abysmal in their premiership matches. This could be a very interesting match and it wouldn’t be prudent to expect a repeat. -
Chauvinism Still Prevails
It’s amazing that someone like John Morrison still exists, let alone that he is still deemed relevant enough to weigh in on a prime time news programme. Morrison was invited to comment on the fact that Australian cricketer Michael Clarke has left the tour to be with fiance Lara Bingle because an ex-boyfirend (AFL footballer Brendan Fevola) published nude photos of her. Now, obviously she was distressed and humiliated by this fact, and surely it would be reasonable for her future husband to be there to offer his support and comfort? Not according the John Morrison, a former cricket commentator in New Zealand.
In an interview on TV One’s Close Up, Morrison said it was “celebrity drivel”, “pathetic” and that given Bingle’s career as a model, “not that unique” that nude photos of her were taken. Basically, she was asking for it. What a pig. All Morrison cared about was that the cricket team lost one player because he wanted to be with his loved one at a difficult time. Simply because Bingle is a model does not mean that men can can unsolicited photos of her against her will and then distribute them to the world. It shows a complete lack of respect for women and their rights. As Bingle said:
“Women should not have to accept that sort of behaviour just because a boyfriend or partner wants to impress their friends. It is demeaning and disrespectful of us.”
I think it’s unfair to blame it on the couple’s “celebrity mentality”; perhaps they actually love each other? Just because they happen to be famous doesn’t mean they can’t act like a normal; couple in love would in trying times. And his suggestion that a game of cricket should come before a loved one is ridiculous, and frankly with chauvinistic. The male domain of sport is clearly far more important to Mr Morrison. His complete disregard for the violating effect and impact on Lara Bingle is disgusting, and his demeaning attitude towards her relationship with Clarke is typical of an old-fashioned chauvinist. He believes she is bringing him down and holding him back, with no thought for the fact that it may be an equal partnership of love and respect. Shame on you, John Morrison.
Here’s a link to the story on the Close Up website.
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Welcome Back, Golden Balls
Seven years since he left Manchester United, the club’s most famous number seven returns to Old Trafford. David Beckham will deservedly be given a rapturous reception for his service to a club that he could have stayed for life had he not married a Spice Girl.
“Golden Balls” and his AC Milan side enter the second leg with renewed hope in overcoming their one-goal deficit as Wayne Rooney struggles to be fit in time for the Wednesday evening kick-off.
His enthusiasm at playing every match has thrown United’s game plan into disarray. It has also made Sir Alex Ferguson look quite silly since he chose not to start Rooney in the League Cup final in order to keep him fresh for this important period.
He instead went on to play in England’s meaningless friendly against Egypt, a match in which the only thing we learnt was that Peter Crouch frightens African defenders. Losing him at this stage of the season is such a big blow and United fans can only hope that he returns a smarter player who exhibits better judgement in his future playing commitments.
Dimitar Berbatov is likely to continue spearheading United’s attack, a role he fulfilled admirably against Wolves over the weekend. He will be supported by Park Ji-Sung and either Nani or Antonio Valencia on the flanks.
The Rossoneri backline had a torrid time dealing with the Ecuadorian winger’s pace and delivery into the box when he came on in the second half of the first leg. He could be the ace up Ferguson’s sleeve should things not be going in United’s favour.
With Michael Carrick’s suspension, Darron Gibson is likely to step into the midfield trio alongside Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher. He will probably be given the thankless task of sticking to Andrea Pirlo like glue and preventing the Italian playmaker from running proceedings in the middle of the park.
Central midfield will be the key battleground for ninety minutes. The less time that Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf are given on the ball, the fewer opportunities are created for Ronaldinho and Pato up front.
Beckham himself has been somewhat restricted as he occupies a deeper position in the middle these days. He has had limited opportunities going forward and playing his trademark pin-point crosses.
United needs to press the midfield and keep space at a premium. By staying patient and keeping men behind the ball, they can then break away using Nani or Valencia’s blistering speed.
Milan know that they must score at least twice to have any chance of progressing. That’s not an impossible task for a side that is bristling with quality and knows exactly what it takes to win the UEFA Champions League.
They will be boosted by United’s defensive injury crisis, which continues to grow like Jack Neo’s mistress list. The latest addition being Wes Brown, who is likely to be out for six weeks with a suspected metatarsal fracture. I wonder if Fabio Capello will close “one eye”, just like Jack Neo’s wife, and still include him in England’s World Cup squad.
All this means that either Rafael da Silva or Gary Neville will occupy the right-back slot. One cannot defend and the other is too old to overlap so you can expect Ronaldinho to be spending most of his time down that flank.
A lot has been said about Milan’s aging players but their experience on the big stage rivals that of any team in world football. They have knocked out the Red Devils in this competition a few years ago, although there’s a small difference this time with the absence of a certain Kaka.
United are still the favourites to go through with their away goals advantage. Playing a European tie in Old Trafford’s unrivalled evening atmosphere, I see Ferguson’s men edging the Italians by a 2-1 scoreline.
No doubt all the attention on the night will be on Beckham, who was a fantastic servant to the club and deserves to give the United faithful one last glimpse of football’s sweetest right foot in action.
So Paul Scholes knows what to do – make a clumsy challenge just outside the box in front of the Stretford End.
Free-kick. Up steps Beckham. He scores but United goes through. All is well in the world – unless you’re Jack Neo.
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Randel El Back In Pittsburgh
Just days after being released by the Washington Redskins, Wide Receiver Antwaan Randel El is back with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Randel El and the Steelers are said to have agreed to a 3-year deal. He joined the Washington Redskins after winning Super Bowl XL with the Steelers.
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
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Fantasy Football or Fantasy Baseball
Which is better fantasy football or fantasy baseball? Surely one must say fantasy baseball, after all baseball is a numbers game and our “national pastime,” but really does that make it a better fantasy sport. Please excuse my personal biases against baseball, but I cannot describe how little I like the sport. I only watch games to hang out with my friends, but would never give a moment of my day to sit down and watch a game on the TV. On the other hand football has always been and will always be exciting to watch. It makes each and every person more and more excited as the week goes on as they prepare for some Sunday football.
This leads to my point, baseball is boring and in terms of fantasy a player must watch their team every single day to the point that it seems completely mind dulling and monotonous. Where is the excitement if making a game plan for the upcoming game when the next series of games is the next day.
On the other hand, fantasy football is 16 weeks full of excitement and strategy. I can spend my week enjoying the process of determining my lineup for the next week’s games and smack talking my neighbor about the 37 point loss they suffered to my arsenal. Also, each game carries far more importance in fantasy than in fantasy football. The stakes are higher and a player’s performance is that much more important. Any player (excluding the pitcher) has a chance to do well around 3-5 per week in fantasy baseball, which means that a poor performance can be redeemed later in the week. On the flip side, a superb performance by a player can be completely negated by a bad game a day later, or by another player’s 3-game hot streak during the week. In fantasy football, a player has one game to perform well or the team suffers. There are no re-does or make-ups as in fantasy baseball, only single chances to lead your team to victory.
My final point is this. While I would like this decision to be solely based on my opinion, this little stat proves my point entirely. Pulled from an article in the NY Times, it is estimated that about 17 million players enjoy fantasy football to the lonely 3 million who play fantasy baseball.
Enough said. GO FANTASY FOOTBALL!
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Amateur Fight Announced this Friday
Since Jamie’s fight got cancelled this past weekend, his coach and promoter has set up a fight for him for this coming Friday (March 12th) in Edmonton. This is an Amateur fight, so we will still have to wait for his professional debut, but his coach decided it was best for Jamie to get in the ring, even if it is an amateur fight, rather than wait another more or so until he could get his pro debut.
This of course is allowed because Jamie hasn’t yet had his first pro fight, and until he gets paid to fight (professionally) then he is still eligible to fight amateur.
Fridays fight will be in Edmonton, and it is a great opportunity for Jamie, as it is a Pro/Am card that will be televised (stay tuned for information on what channel and time it will be aired). As it stands now, only the Pro fights will be televised, but they are hoping that highlights of the best Amateur fights will also get aired. There will also be a bunch of promoters at the fight card, so Jamie will have a great opportunity to put on a good fight in front of these people, and his coach will have a great opportunity to network and hopefully set up a new fight for Jamie in the coming months.
Keep checking back, I will update later this week as to the fight venue and times, and about the television information.
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Who the Heck is Joshua Clottey?
If you’re not a big boxing fan, it’s a valid question. In a division full of star power names, Clottey is an unknown to casual sports fans. This is a shame because he’s at the same level of talent as Mosley, Cotto, and Mayweather.
On a good night, Joshua Clottey can beat anybody at 147. He really is that good.
Clottey brings the total package to the table. He’s got speed, power, movement, a chin, and a turtle shell style defense. He also looks like Mr. Universe in the ring and always seems like the biggest welterweight out there.
Clottey comes from Ghana and trained in the same camp as Ike Quartey. Just like Pacquaio, he had a tough as nails upbringing where boxing was more of a necessity than a sport. He turned pro in his hometown of Accra, just a couple weeks after his 18th birthday. He would fight the majority of his first 14 fights in Accra and eventually won the Ghanian Junior Welterweight Title.
He would soon become an attraction in the UK and fought six times in London, including a DQ loss to Carlos Baldomir at age 22. You remember Baldomir right? The Argentinian that Floyd Mayweather treated like a punching bag for 12 rounds? Yeah, he was pretty good and beat a very young Clottey. Of course, Clottey was disqualified after being ahead on the scorecards.
Four years later, Clottey fought for the first time in America (a sixth round KO over Jeffrey Hill). He hasn’ fought outside the United States ever since. He was walking through opponents left and right on small cards and big undercards while building his resume for a title shot.
At age 29 with a 30-1 record, Joshua Clottey got his first world title shot at 147 against the most feared fighter in boxing: Antonio Margarito. This was back when Floyd Mayweather turned down an eight figure deal because he refused to fight Margarito. It was before we found out he was a cheater, we just thought he was a bad man.
Clottey wasn’t as scared as Mayweather and took the fight to Margarito. He was giving Margarito a boxing lesson and was running away with the first half of the fight. Then came the hand problems and Clottey was forced to fight with one hand. Margarito came on strong down the stretch and stole the decision. Margarito maybe (big maybe) won enough rounds, but 116-112 seemed a bit much. Eugene Grant’s 118-109 scorecard was just plain stupid though.
Either way, Clottey had fallen apart in his biggest fight to date. Still, people noticed how close the fight was and it was only a matter of time before he got another shot. He would win four straight fights (one against the legend Diego Corrales) before getting another world title shot against Zab Judah.
We knew Clottey had a strong chance to beat Judah, but nobody realized the beating he would lay upon him. Judah got his ass handed to him that night as Clottey won the title with a ninth rould technical decision. Clottey also established himself as an HBO staple that night, which we all know is more important than titles.
Unfortunately, he put himself in a bad spot. It was clear to all that he was on the same level as Cotto and Mosley but he didn’t have the elite star power they had. It seemed like nobody would fight Clottey, until Miguel Cotto stepped up to the plate. Not a shock to anyone who follows Cotto, he doesn’t avoid anyone.
Clottey/Cotto was a solid fight. Cotto was dominant early and put Clottey on his ass in the opening round. Clottey kept fighting strong and eventually opened a bad cut over Cotto’s eye. Cotto started retreating towards the middle rounds when Clottey started to attack that eye.
It looked as if Clottey was going to pull off the upset and launch himself into stardom, but what happened a the end of the fight is still up for debate. Some say that Cotto showed how good he is and starting picking Clottey apart while moving backwards (I tend to agree with this). Others say Clottey was on the cusp of his biggest win but didn’t have the heart to take it. Regardless, Clottey lost the split decision. He hasn’t fought since.
So Clottey tries to get a fight with Shane Mosley but it falls apart. He signs a deal to fight tough Carlos Quintana, but the card falls apart. Clottey is sitting in Ghana, stuck without a fight.
Than the phone rang. The promoter on the other end asked him if he was ready for his biggest pay-day ever. So he signed on to face Manny Pacquiao.
And that’s where we are now. Clottey has been in camp down here in Hollywood, Fla. preparing for the night of his life. Win or lose, this will be the defining moment of his boxing career. Does he have what it takes? Of course. He’s good enough to beat anyone in the world.
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Fabregas out with hamstring
That’s how we feel, too.
Looks like Arsenal will be without captain, Cesc Fabregas for the tie against Porto, Tuesday night. In their 3-1 defeat of Sunderland over the weekend, Fabregas seemed to have hurt his hamstring again leaving him out of play for the time being.
It’s a tough break considering we are down on goals 2-1 but getting the away goal in Porta could prove to be a positive as all we need to win is by a 1-0 margin. It shouldn’t be a problem as the last time Porto visited Emirates Stadium, they were trounced 4-0. Looking for a repeat, tune in tomorrow 19:30 local time to find out.
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Unirea Urziceni – Steaua 2-2 (vezi golurile)
Derbiul etapei s-a terminat nedecis. A fost un meci interesant, cu un debut fulminant si cu un gol in prelungiri. In minutul 8 scorul era deja 1-1. Au inscris Frunza, pentru Unirea si Ovidiu Petre, pentru Steaua. Unirea a preluat conducerea in minutul 72, prin Onofras si se parea ca va castiga meciul, dar in minutul 92 Kapetanos a egalat pentru Steaua. Cu acest rezultat lupta pentru titlu ramane foarte interesanta. Puteti vedea cele 4 goluri in urmatorul rezumat: