9/11 - We will never forget...

And that's the sad reality on the 5th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center.

We will never forget. And if you try to forget then something will always remind you. Either the TV, in class, in books, on movies, in newspapers, everything!

Already people are getting fed up with all this September 11th stuff and the War on Terrorism. Actually, people got tired of it three years ago! Yet, we still have to keep the tradition going.

Even in Canada...

Would the Americans have done the same if this had happened in Canada? I doubt it. *Sigh* The American government doesn't even care about the Canadian government. They only got interested when we sent soldiers to Afghanistan...

Another thing that annoys me about 9/11 tributes is the fact that the Americans never show the ethnic Americans who died. I've never seen a Chinese victim on any of the American channels being remembered! And they would never, ever, never show muslim victims either. If they do or did (in case I missed it) it was/will probably a/be a very short segment that you'll forget like yesterday's sunrise...

Rezwan at 3rd World View remembers some of the victims of 9/11 and unlike all the tributes I've seen on TV, so far, this post shows Americans who are not your usual FOX News kind. Check out Lest We Forget after this though.

Please take a moment of silence to remember all the victims of 9/11 and the heroes that were born on that day. The heroes who risked their lives for the sake of others.

Now take a moment to think about all the people that died in Afghanistan and Iraq because of 9/11. Remember the heroes and victims who died because of Bush.

Now take a moment to think about all the people who are going to die... either of war, famine, or injustice. Think about all those people. That's a lot of people. A lot of people.

Update: What happened to World Trade Center (WTC) Scrap?

Day 11 - A Horrible Day for Fob...

Agh! None of the teams I was supporting today came out well! Of the two games I did watch, one of the teams showed a decent effort while the other just played horribly... Here's what happened at the World Cup today.

Togo : Switzerland - 0:2
Didn't watch this one, but from the stats it looks like Togo didn't do too badly. They played quite well, but didn't finish. The game was definitely very even between the two teams and perhaps Togo's performance might have been even better had they not had all that fiasco going on! The players on the Togo team individually played really well, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of them had some offers. They actually deserve offers. They played well and I'm sad to see them eliminated. Good job to the Swiss though. They did their job and held off Togo well too.

Saudi Arabia : Ukraine - 0:4
Ukraine was certainly shaken after having been run over by the Spanish bulls, but they didn't show any signs of weakness during this match. Even though I was supporting Saudi, Ukraine played very well and was more organized than the Saudis. The Saudis had some chances, but nothing much. Apparently the conditions are not something the Saudis are used to at all, which was very apparent since they slipped like a billion times! Well, I began to get frustrated with the Saudi's performance and actually got very bored, so I started watching the Simpsons even though it was a rerun...

Spain : Tunisia - 3:1
Okay, the Tunisian defense was amazing today! They are definitely the stars of this team. Tunisians led the game with one point for 63 minutes thanks to their seemingly impeccable defense, but unfortunately Raul came and messed it all up with his equalizer at the 71 mark. Of course Raul made a mess, but Torres just totally ruined the party by scoring another goal 5 minutes later. I was definitely angry even though that goal was pretty good.

Torres scored another one when he was fouled in the penalty box. The Tunisian goalkeeper almost stopped it, but somehow it went in. The game was definitely exciting. Actually it wasn't exciting as it was nerve-wracking! However, the Spaniards definitely were in control of the ball with 66% of the possession!

Also, I found the referees to be extremely nice to the Spanish and not so nice to the Tunisians! Some of the yellow cards the Tunisians got just didn't make sense. Did anyone else think the same thing? Arghh! Now Tunisia has to beat the Ukraine in order to make it into the round of 16, which I believe they can do since they did tremendously well against the Spaniards than the Ukrainians! So based on that I'd have to say that the Tunisians will be a formidable opponent in the years to come! I was hoping that they would replace Turkey for me... Maybe they still can.

Day 10
Day 10 games ended quite well for the teams I was supporting, thank God! Yesterday's results are like aspirin after what I witnessed today of my teams. My prediction were pretty good too save one!

Brazil beat Australia (2:0) and S. Korea tied France (1:1) just as I expected. Zidane may have played his last game unless France wins their next game. I thought Croatia would beat Japan, but fortunately they didn't beat them, but Japan didn't win either. Instead they had a scoreless tie.

Predictions for games to come
Tomorrow will begin the start of the last games being played in the group stage. To prevent game fixings and all, FIFA has set the schedules so that the last two games for each group are played simultaneously. Groups A and B will be playing tomorrow. Here's what I think will happen.

• Germany will beat Ecuador (Supporting Ecuador and I don't think Germans will have an easy time!)
• Poland will beat Costa Rica (Supporting Costa Rica)
• England will beat Sweden (Supporting England because of Beckham and TnT!)
• Trinidad & Tobago will beat Paraguay (Supporting TnT)

On another note: Just like to say that this World Cup seems to have some amazing goal keepers! I mean some of the saves that many of the goal keepers have made are amazing! I'm expecting these goal keepers to get amazing offers after the World Cup. I'm also expecting some of the defense players to get offers because I've seen some amazing defending in some of the games that have been played. Tunisia's defense today is an example of that. We should give more spotlight on these guys sometimes than we do on the goal scorers because some of them are truly amazing!

Day 9 - Now this is what football is all about!

There simply aren't enough words to describe the drama that unfolded today in Germany. Day 9 was simply brilliant! Portugal beat Iran 2-0 in a convincing win, but the real drama and excitement began when the Czech Republic went up against Ghana.

Ghana : Czech Republic - 2:0
Two minutes into the game and Ghana's Asamoah Gyan scored a beauty! Whoa, what do we have here? Hmm... Don't get me wrong, I did want Ghana to win, but I didn't think they'd have a chance against them after watching the Czechs hammer the Americans. However, Ghana had the early lead. Most people had the Czechs down as the winners and were sure that experience would prevail over youth. Ghana has the youngest squad in the tournament right now and they proved to be a handful for the older Czech team, hwever.

More trouble came for the Czechs in the 65th minute when Amoah was brought down by Ujfalusi in the penalty area who was then given a red card! The Ghanians failed to capitalize on the penalty kick, however, when Gyan's strike hit the Czech's left-side post...

With a one man advantage, the Ghanians simply poured on the attack against the weaker (yes weaker. They simply couldn't keep up with them. They were much slower and got tired.) Czech side. Offsides saved the Czechs from a humiliating defeat, but the Ghanians managed to get one more goal into the net in the 82nd mark. Muntari's left foot drive form 12 yards sealed the historic victory for Ghana. It was parrrrttaay time in Ghana! And well deserved one too! :D

I have question for you folks. Do you know why one of the players from Ghana waved Israel's flag when they scored? I have no idea why he did that. I really want to know the answer! The curiosity is killing me! Please leave your answer if you know! THANK YOU!

Italy : USA - 1:1
After watching the amazing upset by Ghana, I didn't think that this game would be as interesting especially since the Americans were soo poor in their last game. There might have been only two goals scored during that game folks, but everything else that happened during the game showed why football can be oh so beautiful to watch! There was anger, elbowing, blood, red cards everywhere, and tons of missed opportunities. This was the drama of football that I'd been waiting all week for!

The Americans started off quite well by attacking the Italians early. Landon Donovon was especially dangerous today and gave the Americans some great chances to score. However, it was Italy's Gilardino (22') who scored the first goal with a glanced diving header curled to him by Andrea Pirlo.

Things turned around very quickly in 5 minutes though when Zaccardo accidently sliced the ball into his own net! He was trying to clear the ball, but unfortunately ended up scoring the final goal of the match.

What's so exciting about that you say? Nothing actually. Except that the own goal seemed to put Italy out of form. Italy actually began playing horribly after that. One minute after the own goal, De Rossi decided to elbow Brian McBride in the face and that landed him a red card. McBride ended up with a bloodied face and the Italians were down to ten men. The game was certainly getting interesting now and there was still 60 minutes of football left to play! Right before half-time, there was another red card and now both sides had ten men!

Immediately after the 2nd half began, there was yet another red card! Amazing! This time it was for Pope and boy were the fans getting upset. The whole stadium was incredibly loud and I had put the volume down a number of times.

Things were definitely beginning to look better for the Italians, but in the end the Americans seemed to put more offensive pressure on the Italians with nine men than the Italians did! Seriously folks, there was soo much more that happened then I can describe here.

The game was also a test for the coaches who had to make tactical substitutions. They did well and so did the players who managed end the game with a draw. The Italians are going to face some tough critics though. They not only scored for the Americans, but they also managed to not score with a one-man advantage for 40 minutes! The Americans did well to stay alive.

Can't wait to see Group D play again in their third games, which will decide once and for all who will advance into the next round! Italy is leading Ghana and Czech Republic by one point, and three points from the Americans. Anything goes in the group of death though. Bet carefully folks. ;p

Predictions for tomorrow:

• Brazil over Australia (supporting Brazil)
• Croatia over Japan (Supporting Japan)
• South Korea and France will tie (Supporting Korea to win though. France may play better after their first game disappointment.)

Fob loves the World Cup

Ah yes, it's been four long years, but the time has finally come again for the world's most watched and most favorite sport: Football!

No, not the wussy American football where they don't even use their foot to play (save punting), but the real football. The one that millions love to watch and even more love to play. Football...World Cup... Just hearing those words or even glimpsing at a microsecond footage of past games makes me feel oh so joyous!

I never have one favourite team because in this game, anything, ANYTHING can happen. If you've watched the World Cup set in Korea/Japan, you know exactly what I mean. That tournament had the best of the best come crashing down by teams that had never before played at such an international stage. It was a glorious event for many countries, but also shamefully and painfully disappointing for others. No matter what happened, I always felt deeply for the winning AND losing teams.
For this year's World Cup we have a whole new game, in a whole new place, with many familiar faces and some not so familiar.

My reactions:

• Some teams that I was hoping would make it, but did not include = Turkey, and Senegal.
• Teams that I'm surprised to see are Australia and Toga.
• Groups A, E, G, and H are going to be the most interesting to watch since anything could happen in those groups.
• Saudi Arabia has been able to attend some of the Cups in the past, but they have failed to make a mark at all at the international stage. It's going to be interesting to see whether they can pull out a surprise and advance from their group.

Comments on some of the groups:

• Group G - Oh I'd love to see S. Korea make it once again, but they have some competition from the Swiss and France. France had a humiliating time in the past Cup. It was the first time that a World champ did not advance from the first round so it'll be interesting to see how they'll play this time.
• Group E - As you may have noticed, Italy is ranked 12th whereas USA is 7th and the Czech 's are 2nd. I strongly believe Italy will advance b/c they have a LONG history and they definitely want revenge for what happened last time. I'm sure the Americans will give the Czechs and the Italians a tough time though.
• Group A - Germany is playing at home and we all know that the crowd can be a plus factor. Germany should definitely advance because the other 3 are just wild card teams.

What do you think will happen? Which teams do you think will advance from the group stages?
Vote on the polls on the sidebar and see if others think the same as you!
*Thanks Mash for recommending something like this. /d^_^b\
For all you Canucks: The licensed broadcasters for the World Cup is Rogers Sportsnet and TSN. Click here for the TV schedule.

Victims like these don't deserve our sympathies

The bodies of eight men were found stuffed inside vehicles on April 8, 2006, on a farmer's field in southwestern Ontario. The police ---and everyone else in the media--- are calling it as one of Canada's worst mass murders.

On April 10, the police arrested five individuals who have been charged with first-degree murder. Police are referring to this incident as an 'internal cleansing' of a biker gang.

The victims were part of the outlawed Bandidos biker gang.

Stop.

Until Monday the police did not say anything about the whole tragedy. People were aghast that such a tragedy like this could occur in Canada, CANADA! People were scared and felt sorry for whoever those dead people were... that is until they found out the victims were bikers.
Should people have sympathy for victims who were part of a biker gang? A very good question that George Stroumboulopoulos asked on The Hour.
The viewers who answered the questions either said, "Good riddance! The less people like those roaming around on our streets, the better." or, "Human beings are just that. Everyone should care when someone dies."

Interesting.

Are these gangs any different from the gangs black youths join? When black youths shoot each other in troubled neighbourhoods, how do you react? Are these bikers any different from black youths who shoot each other? Why do we treat these bikers differently from black gang members? Are the bikers less human? Is it because they are white?

It certainly seems that the questions I have will never stop, but issues like these rarely have answers that everyone can agree on. They just have more questions.

The most important question, however, is whether you have any sympathies for these victims. Should one regard this mass killing as a tragedy or not? After all, they are only bikers...