(Bola Sepak) Perihal Tiga Generasi Peminat Bola Sepak

10.17 p.m. 14.12.2009

Alhamdulillah. Ketika entri ini ditulis, Malaysia baru sahaja layak beraksi di Final bola sepak Sukan SEA, beating the home team, Laos with 3 goals to 1. For the first time in 8 years, Malaysia has the chance to fight for the football gold. Kali terakhir was back in 2001, ketika KL menjadi tuan rumah sukan serantau ni. I was cautious at first tetapi apabila melihat kesungguhan pemain-pemain kebangsaan, aku rasa agak optimis yang Malaysia mampu mengakhiri kemarau 20 tahun tanpa emas dari sukan bola sepak.

But that wasn’t my main point of this entry. What I would like to share adalah semangat passionate terhadap bola sepak yang tersemat dalam keluarga aku. The best part about the match that I mentioned earlier was I watched it alongside my grandfather. He is a huge football fan. Tak kiralah kalau dapat tengok bola sepak peringkat manapun, from peringkat antara kampung, sampailah ke BPL, he would follow the match with huge interest, walaupun he is well into his 80’s now. Tadi pun, aku alongside atuk was in full support of the national team. The weird thing is that the last time this happened was back in 2001, during the same leg of the competition featuring Malaysia. Guess that things can happen twice in a lifetime after all.

Bila bercerita tentang pasukan kegemaran, selain Malaysia, atuk aku gemar melihat pasukan Arsenal. This is because they always pass the ball around, something that my grandfather said to be the most essential and the right way to play football. Hurts me a bit, considering the fact that I’m a Red Devil at heart. Mujurla di kampung ada Astro, so tetiap hujung minggu memang atuk aku layan bola BPL, if berkesempatan.

My dad also likes football, although not as passionate as my grandfather. My dad minat bola on an average level only. But still he watches football with me sometimes, if only the match itself is entertaining. Pak Long aku agak passionate tentang bola. Zaman dia dulu boleh dikatakan he was one of the most fierced player in the Muar district. Sayangnya, he chose to be a police instead of being a football player. Pasukan kegemarannya is Chelsea and favorite striker is of course, Didier Drogba.

Di kalangan generasi aku pula, nearly all of my male cousins are into football. And the range of football team yang disokong varies dari Johor FC sampaila ke Barcelona. Memang kalau ada big game masa berkmpul ramai-ramai di kampung, semua will be glued to the TV set watching the game. Joy of victory, pain of defeat, all kinds of emotion will be experienced once you watch a football match at the Basiron household alongside the Basiron clan.

Penat pula tangan ni menaip. Until next time.

Au Revoir.

(Gustimania) The Smackdown Road Continues…

10.02 a.m 5.12.2009

Now we move on to the last, but not the least of the shows in WWE, Smackdown.

Smackdown was the first wrestling show that I truly follow since my childhood and made me open my eyes about the world of wrestling and how exciting it was and still is. I can’t believe that this year marks the 10th year running of the show. This year, by far this show is the best of the three that WWE have. Great wrestling matches, combined by intense rivalries and also interesting clash of persona had truly shape it as the best wrestling show not just in the WWE, but perhaps all of the wrestling world today. However, heading towards the New Year I have several doubts about the ability of this show to maintain its performance.

Let’s face it, the loss of Jeff Hardy, Edge earlier this year and the Undertaker holding on to the World Heavyweight Championship title had truly hurt the main event scene of Smackdown really badly. Jeff Hardy left a big hole to fill in the babyface department and apart from Rey Mysterio, there are no other guys that can carry that true blue babyface role effectively among the main event players. I think that the Undertaker is on borrowed time. His mobility in the ring is severely lacking after his latest return from injury and he needs multiple men type of matches to hide this weakness. It is interesting to see how he fares against Batista in the upcoming TLC PPV. Fingers-crossed, it will be a good match considering how good they really were when they were feuding back in 2007. Also, the fear of the same wrestler locking it up week aftere week could lead to the main event scene to be stagnant.

The midcards of Smackdown have been solid throughout this year. But, again the same problem as the main eventers; things are getting stagnant yet again. Also, the young and new superstars do not have the full support from the WWE Creative. The proof of this statement can be seen at the switch of team members of Smackdown prior to the Bragging Rights PPV. Out of all of them, I can only see John Morisson as the next breakout guy from Smackdown next year. In my book, he is one of my top three superstars of the year. He consistently delivered in the ring, having great feuds with a lot of superstars in Smackdown, and has the total package to make that step up. I also predict that he will make a big impact earlier next year because he is ready to do that. Drew McIntyre reminds me a lot of a young Triple H back in the day. No wonder he is highly regarded by Mr Mcmahon, Shawn Michaels and Triple H himself. He needs at least one more year of experience and great consistence showing to really become a force to be wrecking with in the future. To make things interesting on Smackdown, they need to inject new ideas to the mix. Maybe face or heel turn among the superstars could make the midcards look better heading towards the New Year.

The Women’s Division of Smackdown, though have more in terms of physical appearance, they do lacking in terms of in-ring performances. Sure, Michelle McCool is a deserved WWE Women’s champion, but she needs better competition. Perhaps having the Glamazon, Beth Pheonix in the title mix could make it very interesting. I wish that they can bring back Maria as soon as possible so that I can finally see my two favorite Divas right now, Maryse and Maria. Though I still consider Trish as the greatest Diva that WWE ever had.

All in all, the WWE need to freshen up Smackdown right now because it is in a slump. Again, as I said before, they need to inject something to kick start the show again. Edge returning could help but that is still far away from materializing. Elevating guys like R-Truth or Matt Hardy to the main event status could help also. Quick shout outs to the best commentary team right now, Todd Grisham and Matt Striker. I wish that they would be the one calling the Royal Rumble next year because that would be great, unlike that buffoon on Raw.

Well, that is all I can say about the WWE right now. In the next installment, I will discuss an in-depth look about my favorite 60 minutes of sport entertainment, the Royal Rumble of this past decade as we head towards the 2010 Royal Rumble.

Au Revoir..

(Gustimania) The ECW Road Continues…

9.49 a.m 2.12.2009

ECW

Let’s move on to discuss about the state of a wrestling show that always fill up the wrestling fans’ appettite avery Tuesday night, ECW. Ever since the WWE draft earlier this year, we have seen several new faces that have truly shine towards the end of this year and no mistake about it, could ptentially move on to the bigger shows next year. Two in particular the Japanese superstar Yoshi Tatsu and of course the guy with the Power of Woo Woo Woo, Zack Ryder.

It has been a long time since we have a Japanese superstar. In the past we have seen the lights of Kai En Tai, Kenzo Suzuki (remember him?), and Tajiri were among them. This year saw the emergence of Yoshi Tatsu, with his simple persona and also full of determination in the ring, he has won several matches against the best of ECW superstars such as Shelton Benjamin, William Regal and others. He even came close to win the ECW championship from Christian. He does have the potential, but I have my doubts about his ability to step up because of his lack if mic skills and inability to vary his style in the ring. Maybe with a mouthpiece, or a manager in his corner to speak on his behalf, he might possess that tool to move further up the order in the WWE. Where is unaki when we need him?

Then comes Zack Ryder, in my view the most improved superstar this year. From being one of Edge’s lackey, with his quirky gimmick and athletism in the ring, he heads towards next year looking up, rather than looking down. Honestly, we need more of this kind of persona in the ring today, with weird but acceptable personality paired up with good in-ring works. He also came close to taste the ECW championship at one time against Christian. I love his entrance theme song. Perhaps the best in all of the WWE. Believe me, he might get a run at the ECW title early next year before moving on.

The Abraham Washington show has grown up in me and I am startng to love it. It brings fresh air to an ordinary wrestling show that is ECW. Abraham Washington reminds me a lot of Chris Tucker. A great talker, he manages to bring a lot of heat from the crowd. With the addition of the hilarious Tony Atlas to the show, every week it becomes one of the better segments in WWE today. I just hope, if he is capable though, that Abraham Washington does his talking in the ring sooner rather than later so that his persona does not become lame.

The main event scene in ECW has been revolving around one man and one man only, Christian. The departure of superstars such as Mark Henry and Jack Swagger during the WWE draft have left huge gap in the main event scene of that show. Sure, we have the lights of Regal, Finlay and Tommy Dreamer (where is he by the way?) but the title is still in the hands of Christian. I don’t know why but perhaps it maybe that the WWE creative trying to stall Christian’s progress and wait until the return of the Rated R Superstar. Yes you heard me right. The reunion of Edge and Christian maybe in the works. That will be as big, if not bigger that the reun ion of the Hardys a while back. The upcoming WWE TLC sees the return of the ECW championship match after being left out for four straight PPVs. The ladder match for the ECW title between Shelton Benjamin and Christian will steal the show given the huge experience that Christian has in terms of ladder matches and also the great athletism of Shelton Benjamin when it comes to this type of match.

Tifanny, as the General Manager of ECW has done a pretty good job as the autoritative figure of the show. All in all, ECW maybe look as the weakest show of all the WWE, but one cannot hide the fact that it has been the platform for a lot of superstars in the past. Just look at the amount of talent that originated in ECW that participated in the elimination matches at Survivor Series. Hopefully next year the planned brand revamping of the show will be scrap up because I like the way it is now.

Next we will see through the state of Smackdown, the best show of this calendar year but by the looks of it, may start the next year on a very bad state indeed.

Au Revoir.

(Gustimania) The RAW Road Continues…

6.03 p.m 1.12.2009

After a long time layoff due to foreseen circumstances, finally I’m back to give my two cents about the world of wrestling and its current state, especially in the WWE. Even though I haven’t spent that much time watching wrestling as I did before I went to pursue my studies further, I still follow the current situation that is happening thanks to constant access to websites such as Wrestleview.com and Nodq.com. My how the landscape of the WWE world (I will not use the term ‘WWE Universe’, sounds too cheesy and weird for me) changes rapidly this year. Now, let’s start our journey in looking through the annals of the flagship brand of the WWE, RAW.

RAW

The aftermath of Survivor Series saw the emergence of two particular superstars who became the survivors in their elimination matches respectively, Kofi Kingston and the Celtic Warrior, Sheamus. Kofi Kingston is still in a brewing feud with Randy Orton, which is for me the breakthrough feud that he needs to be a main event player in the WWE. Out goes the Jamaican happy-go-lucky persona and in comes the determined, fired-up attitude of a Ghanaian. Attitude that is needed if one wants to be on top. Hopefully that this feud will continue at least until the Royal Rumble, whereby I predict that he will win it to further establish his main event status.

On the other hand, we have Sheamus. His mini-Lesnar push at RAW has rewarded him with a WWE title shot against John Cena at WWE TLC pay-per-view. I was impressed with this guy from his earlier exploits in ECW whereby he was feuding with Goldust. However, I do have several doubts about his ability to really become the main event player. Does he have the needed move set to really perform in the ring? And does he have the sustain substance to keep him in the upper echelons of the WWE? These questions will hopefully be answered when he lock horns with Cena.

Let’s face it. D-X is on its last feet. Unless the Unified Tag Team Championship changes hand at the upcoming PPV, I just can’t see this tag team exploits of Shawn Michaels and Triple H last beyond the end of this year. It has run out of steam and I hope that this D-X thing will come to and end, paving the way for a Shawn Michaels-Triple H confrontation at Wrestlemania, the match that supposed to be held at WM20, only for Chris Benoit to ruin it.

In terms of the midcarders, aside from The Miz, whom I predict, will have at least a shot at the World titles in the near future after such a stellar year, it has been a solid, if not spectacular showing by them in the second half of this year. Some of them may not be as fully prepared to be the next main eventer, but with hard work and better booking by the WWE creative team, some of these guys could be next in line to have a World title shot by next year.

Maryse is back. This return is perhaps the best thing that could happen to the Women’s division at RAW. Let’s face it. This division has gone to a downward spiral ever since Maryse got injured at the start of the summer. Her presence will bring back the much needed drama and competitive quality in the Diva’s title picture. She is my new favorite Diva after the loss of such great Divas like Trish and Lita.

From the looks of thing, RAW finally gets its act together toward the end of this year and heading towards the New Year looking a lot stronger than Smackdown, as a result of the emergence of new superstars to the main event scene and solid storylines. All of that aside, I still pray that they would fire Michael Cole right away because he has been damn awful these days. Even Mcmahon and Jesse Ventura, as guest commentators a while ago, performed miles better than Cole and Jerry Lawler.

There’s my two cents on the current state of RAW. Other shows will be featured in the coming entries.

Au Revoir.