You know the saying “When in Rome, do what the Romans do“, well the office guys and gals are all talking / thinking / breathing College Basketball as there is some big tournament starting today. There are 64 teams and they all play each other over the course of 3 weeks. It’s a knockout championship and there can only be one winner. Typically there is some form of a rivalry going on in the office in the form of a fantasy basketball competition via the CBS Sports Website. $20 to enter, 26 players in the office and $400 prize money.

When there is money to be won, those who know me, know I will enter regardless of actually knowing the sport in question. Basketball is one such sport. I have never followed it, but a chance to win $400 is worth following it for the time that I am here.

So they got this thing called a bracket on the CBS Sports website, which is a grid of all the teams, who they are playing, and it shows the winners and losers, and ultimately who will play each other in the final and it all works on points I think.

I had the computer pick my fantasy winners and losers and I changed a few of the winners to make it more personal. I looked at the names of the teams and decided who would win or lose by their names. Very scientific as you can see.

They started playing at 12pm today and after the first round of games, guess who is tied in 1st place (out of 26 fantasy basketball fanatics – ha ha ha)?

Schumacher ‘out of his mind’ and ‘no hope’ of F1 title

Those words coming from Eddie Jordan on a recent interview when asked what he thought about Michael Schumacher return to F1?

Let’s leave it at that and comment again when Schumacher wins a race or beats the 100 race win mark or god forbid, wins another world championship.

I bet you Eddie “idiot” Jordan will backtrack soon or later.

The Northern Cape and specifically the small town of Kakamas have won an appeal to have one of the preliminary world cup matches played at their grounds. After visiting the pitch, the FIFA officials deliberated for a few hours and eventually agreed that one match would be played at the rural grounds.

The brand new dust bowl outside the small town of Kakamas.

The local council and tribesmen had to prove to the FIFA officials that the pitch was playable on, and that there was enough room for spectators. The pitch is surrounded by a natural bank or bowl (hillside) giving all the potential spectators a wonderful view of the field and players. The pitch has recently been brushed of all rocks and pebbles, so should not trouble the players who are wearing body armour. The local council have promised to rid the area of snakes, scorpions and spiders.

Security fences surround the pitch and bricks mark the centre of the field.

Security of the players has always been the number one concern, but the tribesmen were quick to point out that the ground was surrounded by a fence, which would keep out the troublemakers. (foxes, small rabbits, wild animals etc).

Brand new pitch,  soccer nets and raised spectator seating can be seen in the background.

Mr Ibullsh Itunot, the sports minister for Kakamas said,

We are delighted to be having one of the football world cup games held at our ground.  We have not been told who will be playing here, but the local township are extremely excited at the prospect of having at least one international team playing on our famous “dust bowl” ground. All the big cities in South Africa are spending millions of rands building wonderful stadiums and we are proud to be apart of that world cup fever. We are a small community and this sort of worldwide visibility will put us on the map of the world. Obviously we can’t offer players and spectators the grandeurs that Cape Town, Durban or Johannesburg are offering, but I am sure player/spectator will experience Africa at it’s best.

Looking at the 2010 world cup calendar, it will be the only open air game where the pitch is totally void of any solid structure (concrete walls, stands, seating etc) and it will be the only green stadium. The openness of the pitch will come as a big relief to both players and spectators as temperatures at the ground often reach 35 degrees Celsius or above.

More wild animal will be needed to light up the pitch.

There was a suggestion to play the game at night, but the local tribesman are worried they will not be able to safely manage the players and / or spectators in the dark with only a few choice animals offering the needed light for the game.

If the many rumours, news articles and image coverage are true, then we are definitely ending 2009 on a high and will start 2010 with a 41 year old, seven times world champion! Yay!!!!

I don’t want to jinx it, but there is a lot of news today on Michael Schumacher and his return to F1 next year driving in the same car that brought good fortune and luck to Jenson Button. Even Jenson Button is getting in on the action by saying “Schumacher will be putting his reputation on line“. Totally nonsense of course for Button to think that. He is just scared like the rest of the drivers.

Michael Schumacher has spent the last 3 years watching Hamilton, Alonso, Massa, Vettel, Webber, Button, Barichello, Kimi race so he knows what they are about? He knows that Massa and Barichello are still number 2 drivers, he has seen that Alonso is still hungry for another championship in a Ferrari. He knows Vettel is a future champion and he knows Hamilton is a cheat and can be beaten.

It will be one hell of a year in 2010 if seven times world champion teams up with Brawn for the 3rd time and shows the youngsters once again who the real champ is?

Come on Mercedes / Brawn, Schumacher – tell us it’s true!!!!

Related News Headlines:

• Schumacher will be putting his reputation on line, warns Button
• Michael Schumacher set to return to F1 in 2010 – Yahoo
• Michael Schumacher ‘ready to sign’ for Mercedes for 2010 Formula One season – The Telegraph
• Schumacher to sign with Mercedes – The Associated Press
• Schumacher Close to Deal With Mercedes – New York Times
• Schumacher ‘not over the hill’ – Damon Hill
• £7million… and it’s all for Schu – The Sun
• Schumacher back in F1 – NZ Herald News

If you asked me what I did on Saturday and Sunday all I could tell you is one thing only – I watched the F1 Brazil Qualifying on Saturday that lasted two and three quarter hours because of the rain and I watched Jenson Button battling his way through the traffic and ultimately winning the Formula 1 world championship for 2009. It was a fantastic drive from Jenson and I am sure he made up his mind on Saturday that this would be the race that he gave it his best shot to take the title. By far the best race he has driven in for ages if not ever. I think he said something similar.

Yes, he won six races in the early parts of the year, but then he was driving a superior car at the time. He looked a worried man in the last few races with Barrichello and Vettel hot on his tail, but he definitely put an end to their challenge in the race yesterday. He drove with courage, skill and determination and for me is a worth champion along with all the other greats.

Isn’t the photo above an awesome sight to see. Taken by Darren Heath and published on the BBC F1 website.

Well done to Brawn GP as well. They have done a fantastic job to beat the likes of Mclaren and Ferrari, who have been in the business for years.

I do feel sorry for Barrichello, but what a good sport he has been? Right to the bitter end, the poor man had the worst luck one could have in a race, but even at the end of the race he showed true sportsmanship by congratulating Button. He looked quite cheerful in the post interviews.

A big THANK YOU to James Barrett for the free tickets to Brands Hatch today. In a way it was the perfect end to a wonderful birthday weekend.

We got to see some incredible birds (the feathered kind) and of course the skimpy clad ones simply known as “Pit Babes”.

There was plenty of bumber to bumber action and close racing on this very special track.

The highlight of the day was definitely the British Touring Car Championships where Jason Plato managed to win all three races, something that has only been achieved once before,

but it wasn’t enough to stop Colin Turkington from winning his first BTCC.

Note: The above photo and the Leyland Paints Pit babes were not photographed by Lookatbowen.com and are sourced from btccpages.com

The three hereos of the last game performed well again today. Shah 98, Collingwood 82 and Morgan 67 showed the Proteas just how to play the beautiful game!

Not even the South Africa skipper Smith on 141 could save the Proteas from defeat.

Damn that bet on England winning the ICC Champions Trophy is looking good!

Wow! did you watch the cricket match between England and Sri Lanka on Sky Sports HD? A total different team that has been losing to Australia recently. What is going on?

There were terrific odds on England winning because everyone thought they would lose and even the online betting headlines had the wrong idea.

Heroes of England: Morgan not out on 62, Collingwood 46, Shah on 44.

I can’t wait for the match between England and South Africa.

Sorry guys, I lost the car in Turn 17,” says Romain Grosjean. Yes, we saw that. Disbelieving looks in the Renault paddock that scream “seriously, that corner??

Roman Grosjean crashed his renault in the exact spot Nelson Piquet Jnr crashed last year.

I guess he wanted to show Renault that he could crash there without instruction from the team.  That section of the wall must have a renault magnet inside it attracting their cars.

TWO OUT ALREADY, perhaps the Aussies just don’t know how to play these pitches.