English Opinion

When I was at university studying for my degree, I was lucky enough to have a compulsory year at a college in America. I spent it at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I was there from 2001 to 2002 and an awful lot happened that year both personally and in terms of the news (9/11). However, it was the most poignant year of my entire education. That is largely because I finally found out what it is like to have a loyalty and affinity to an educational institution. I hated high school with a passion. The two universities I have attended in the UK for my undergrad and postgrad studies were excellent and really gave me every opportunity to make something of myself, which I like to feel I have. However, the only educational institutin I feel loyal to was ironically the one I spent the least time at.

UNC will always have my loyalty and a special place in my heart… and I’m not entirely sure why! Unless you actually go to an American college or university I am not sure you can ever understand it. There is a different atmosphere and a different kind of spirit at UNC-CH to any I have ever experienced before or since. I may be English but Carolina Blue will always be a huge part of who I am and what I have done.

This is why I am still awake at 5.11am . I stayed up all night to watch the NCAA basketball final tonight and am pleased to announce that…

University of North Carolina beats Michigan State, 89-72!

Carolina absolutely dominated and were easily the best team in the entire tournament. They deserved to win. I’m just disappointed that I’m not with my UNC buddies in a bar somewhere watching it with them. I miss them so much. It may only have been a year but it formed much of who I am and I’ll always be Carolina blue through and through.

TARRRRRRRRRR!!! HEEEELLLLLLLLLLSSSSSSSSSS!!!

I’ve said before that I’m a huge fan of football (the “soccer” kind mainly) and am a lifelong fan of Aston Villa. I’ve seen some amazing days in the Premier League but I have to say that my jaw has been on the floor twice today. I found out this morning that Tony Adams, manager of Portsmouth, was sacked last night and just 30 minutes ago I found out that Luiz Felipe Scolari, manager of Chelsea, was sacked this afternoon! I’m shockd by both decisions to tell you the truth, but for different reasons.

Tony Adams had only been in charge of Portsmouth for 22 games over 15 weeks following the desertion of Harry Redknapp to Spurs. Having played Portsmouth since (Villa, not me!) and watched them on TV numerous times, I thought they were playing well. Although the points have hardly been forthcoming with Pompey only winning 2 out of the 15 league games they played under Tony Adams, I thought that the players were more to blame than Adams himself. The tactics were solid in theory but the players often made silly mistakes that cost their team points. And of course then there were some of Harry’s men that just didn’t want to play for Adams. We’re told that wasn’t the case but you can see it in their body language. All told, although Portsmouth are only a point off the relegation zone as the Premier League stands at the moment, I feel really sorry for Tony Adams. I like him and wish him luck. After all, if a club won’t back you with money to bring in players and will sack you because they don’t think they’ll be able to sell the club with you on board then they aren’t worth the stress and hassle. Good luck Tony!

And now on to Scolari!

Chelsea drew with Hull at the weekend and went 4th in the league as Villa (woo hoo!) overtook them after winning at Blackburn. The supporters have been going mad over Scolari for some time now and booed the team off at the weekend. Chelsea started off the season well but have slipped in recent weeks, drawing and losing key games without actually looking like a credible threat in front of goal. There have been rumours of player rifts, most notably with Didier Drogba, and no end of crazy interviews that have suggested he lost the plot. However, I have to say I was shocked because I, like many other supporters, thought he’d go at the end of the season rather than right about now. As it stands though Luiz Felipe Scolari is now without a job and Chelsea are looking for a manager! There are two names on the shortlist as it stands - Guus Hiddink is one of them and the other one made me laugh out loud - Avram Grant!!! If Grant goes back to Chelsea after being sacked last season then he needs his head read! Sorry Chelsea fans, nothing against you but I can’t believe he’d want to return after the way he was treated last year! Jose Mourinho has ruled himself out of the post though so no welcome return.

On another note, why couldn’t Scolari resign after Chelsea played Villa in 2 weeks time?!!!

I have to admit that I was a big fan of Michael Phelps when he became the most successful Olympian of all time in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He was simple awesome in the pool and easily outclassed everyone else swimming against him. However, the Olympics were otherwise blighted by accusations of cheating that were levelled at other athletes that had failed drug tests. There were quite a few of them all told, which forced the Olympic Committee into passing strict guidelines that all athletes had to follow for London 2012, including 4 year bans for those failing drug tests and being proven to have taken drugs in the meantime. Unfortunately, it is these guidelines that may well mean that Michael Phelps will not be in London in 2012.

I opened a newspaper up this morning to see a picture of Phelps that had been taken at the University of South Carolina in November. He had been at a campus party, which was fair enough in itself but the bong he was using was not. The picture proves that Phelps was using cannabis. Although this is not a performance enhancing drug it could mean an end to his London 2012 Olympics because he has been proven to have used drugs and furthermore would incur a 4 year ban if the Olympics Committee actually chooses to enforce its own drugs policy. If it does not enforce it and give Phelps the ban then it will look like the entire policy is an absolute joke and will not encourage other athletes to be drugs free.

In truth, I can’t believe that Michael Phelps, the world’s greatest Olympian, would be so stupid. Although I understand how old Phelps is and that he wants to have fun, this may be the one mistake that costs him everything he has worked so hard for. That would be a shame but he should not get away with it just because he is Michael Phelps. Any other athlete would most likely get a ban for drugs use so I don’t see why he should be any different. His people obviously didn’t think so either when they tried to bribe the newspaper not to print the photo! 

New broke today that Manchester City had made a bid to bring AC Milan star Kaka to the Premiership. That in itself is a little ambitious given the fact that Manchester City are just 2 points off the relegation zone at the moment, but it is the proposed fee that has made eyes water everywhere - £90 million… for one player! Furthermore, if Kaka does agree to sign for Manchester City it is thought he would get a massive £500,000 A WEEK. It makes the minimum wage look like a penny in your hand! It has been reported that Kaka will refuse the move because he wants to stay at AC Milan, meaning that he obviously cares about the level of his career and the game more than money, but football has well and truly gone mad!

Kaka is a fantastic player and Manchester City are the richst club in the Premiership but when you look at the economic conditions around at the minute it is no wonder that the story has made huge headlines. The credit crunch is sending families under. They are losing their jobs, losing their homes and losing the will to live in some cases… and yet a football club can offer £90 million for one player? Something really is wrong with that picture. I’m a huge football fan and wouldn’t know what to do on Saturdays if I couldn’t go to Villa Park every time Villa play, but I really don’t agree with the wages players receive and the silly money that is paid for them in the first place. They kick a ball for a living. They don’t save lives or revolutionize the world. They are not superior beings that deserve to live in the lap of luxury. OK, so they have short careers and need to make their money whilst they can but what happened to playing for the lovve of the game and earning a decent living (and not an extortionate one) doing it.

As I said, I am a massive football fan and worship at the alter of Martin O Neill, but the economic situation at the moment should put this all in perspective. Maybe they could put the £90 million towards helping Mancunians by creating jobs instead? I doubt it but it would be nice! Kaka can wait but many families will not.

It isn’t very often that the main headlines on the evening news features  story about football in its top three list but that is exactly wht happened today. As a season ticket holder at Aston Villa, I looked on in relish as Liverpool manager Raphael Benitez held a press conference and proceeded to highlight facts that every football fan, bar those that support Manchester United, had been wanting to point out for years - that Alex Ferguson and his Manchester United side get preferential treatment from the Football Association and every single referee out there!

I really enjoyed the press conference and found a new respect for Rafa Benitez as a result of it. I cannot stand the whingers over at Manchester United and have discussed the “one rule for Man Utd, one rule for everyone else” mentality that everyone at the FA seems to have adopted some time ago and waited with baited breath for someone that had the balls to say it out loud… and finally someone has!

Rafa Benitez basically pointed out that Ferguson and Manchester United have received preferential treatment for years. They are the only ones that get away with flaunting the RESPECT campaign by criticising referees publically every chance they get. They get better fixtures than anyone else that may challenge them for the title. They also get reduced punishments for infractions. Benitez did not give his opinions on the topic but simply stuck to the facts, and all of them were facts. Surprisingly enough, Manchester United declined to comment on the press conference, but then they would not do so given the fact that everything Rafa said was accurate!

Since the press conference, Man Utd fans have been voicing their opinions on Sky Sports news, stating that Benitez was losing the plot and was worried about United. The rest of us reacted in much the same way - good on him because it’s about time that someone said something. Manchester United are hated up and down the UK not because of their success but because of the fact that they break rules week in and week out that other managers and players get punished for. Well things have to change because th FA may find a revolt on their hands if they don’t now given the support that fans everywhere will give Benitez over Ferguson. Especially now it’s out in the open!

I hope the FA do address it and provide a fairer football experience for all of us that work hard and spend money on tickets week in week out now because Manchester United has gotten away with too much for too long. Ferguson cannot complain about the way he and his players are treated at all and I hope now they get to learn exactly how the rest of the Premiership and fans feel every time they get away with a disgusting tackle, petulant behaviour, penalties that are not actually fouls and the constant moaning. I really hope that they finally learn what it is like to be equal!

Go Rafa!

 Every Brit that watched the Beijing Olympics in 2008 was bursting with pride. We won so many events and brought home so many medals, bronze, silver and gold, that everyone felt an insane sense of disbelief. Nobody even expected to perform well let alone get as many medals as we did! As a result, it was only right that an Olympian won the BBC’s Sports Personality Of The Year Award.

That Olympian was Chris Hoy, a triple gold medal winner in Beijing. In effect, Chris Hoy was the star of the amazing cycling team, although all members deserve a mention because they absolutely dominated the track and won the Team Of The Year at the awards ceremony tonight. With only one member of the team going home without a medal, I think it’s fair to say that everybody else struggled to get noticed there, including the French team that promised to thrash the British boys and girls. Never was a whole team made to eat its words in such a comprehensive way!

Chris Hoy beat F1 champion Lewis Hamilton into second place and double gold medallist swimmer Rebecca Adlington into third. Both Hamilton and Adlington deserved to be standing there but Chris Hoy undoubtedly deserved to win after all his hard work over the yeas. Lewis Hamilton and Rebecca Adlington are young enough to win the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year in the future but Hoy, who is in his thirties now, many not get the chance again.

Well done Chris, you deserve it!