Norwegian Wood

shoot, i thought it starts tomorrow, on Halloween.

there are some points worth to notice as the nba starts:

1. is kobe transfer really gonna happen?

2. is KG + Pierce + R. Allen good enough to win the east? at least they give me some good games to watch in the east.

3. how’s Nash’s fourth year in Phoenix? coach said: we need run more. you must be kidding, coach.

4. how’s mavericks bouncing back from last year’s humiliating exit?

5. can spurs repeat?

6. can rockets finally pass through the first round of playoff? i really pity the team who has back-to-back road games in texas.

7. and finally, how good will the raptors team be? i don’t have high expectation. just getting into the playoffs so i can have another chance to go to the playoff games.

Jaap Stam, who joined united in 98-99 season and won united the treble the same year, retired today. united bought him from PSV Eindhoven for £10.6m, which made him the then most expensive Dutch football player in history and the most expensive defender in history.

the selling of Stam can rank in the top three of the mistakes that Sir Alex Ferguson had made. i remember the reason was Stam wrote an autobiography and said something Sir Alex didn’t like, but that shouldn’t be the excuse to sell one of the best defenders in the world. united has to pay a mountain of money to get Rio Ferdinand to replace Stam later.

Stam was sold to Lazio for £18m during 01-02 season. actually, the money Lazio paid was just from united ’s wallet. Sir Alex bought Juan Veron for £28.1m from Lazio. another mistake. Veron never turned out to be for united what he was for Argentina, and he was later sold to chelsea for only £15m.

apparently, seven years ago in north american, playstation 2 started its magical journey of dominating the video game world. since then, more than 120 million hardware units and more than a billion units of software for PlayStation 2 have been shipped worldwide, making it the best-selling gaming platform ever released. well, it is a long way for ps3 to catch up with.

i bought mine right after i arrived here. i think it was from futureshop, and the price was 299.99 canadian. now there is the slim version which is about half the size and also half the price (139.99 canadian). my first game was xenosaga episode 1. after that, i spent quite a lot of money on that big black box.

here is the list of best-selling titles:

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (13 million)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (12 million)
Grand Theft Auto III (11 million)
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (11 million)
Gran Turismo 4 (8.79 million)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (7 million)
Kingdom Hearts (5.6 million)
Final Fantasy X (5 million)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (3.7 million)
Final Fantasy XII (3.68 million)

i didn’t expect the gta will occupy the top three, and i think gran turismo is a car-racing game. i have the copies of the last five games.

连续四场进球4个, 上一次曼联出现这样的情况还是100年前…

hargreaves回到首发阵容, 搭档anderson. 在左中场, 爵爷选择了轮休giggs, nani首发, 右边还是c罗. 后场唯一变化是o’shea依然顶替evra出现在左后卫的位置上. 可能evra的伤还是没有完全好, 休息一下准备下周对arsenal. 这可能是曼联防线的缺点之一, 这场球米堡的进球和上场基辅的第一个球都是从o’shea那侧传出来的. 前场依然是rooney加tevez.

比赛开始不到10分钟就有了两个进球. 3分钟时nani在前场距离球门很远的地方, 一个大脚就抡了, 球飞过守门员, 下坠直奔球门死角, 绝对世界波. 接着防守有点失误, 被对发进了个头球, ferdinand和vidic都有点漏人了. 接着比赛有点僵持, 直到对发downing在后场失误传到了rooney脚下, 凭现在rooney的状态, 这样的礼物是绝对不会错过的, 小趟了一步然后射入球门.

下半场曼联依然控制局面, 轮到tevez发威了. 第三个球是前场的一个完美配合, anderson一个挑传给禁区前沿左侧的tevez, tevez不等球落地直接摆给了冲入禁区中间的rooney, 同时tevez自己绕过从右侧进入禁区. rooney背身将球控制住, 两人防守, 就在rooney接球前, 眼角瞟到tevez的跑位, 转身面对球门, 同时脚后跟横传, tevez恰好杀到, 冷静的将球送入球门右侧死角. perfect! 接着爵爷几个战术换人, fletcher替下hargreaves, pique替下ferdinand, giggs替下几场都没休息的anderson. 最后tevez接rooney的传球梅开二度. 最近四场比赛, rooney和tevez联手贡献了8个进球, 加上c罗的4个, ferdinand2个, giggs和nani各一个.

其他比赛, chelsea主场6-0横扫今年的黑马曼城. 明天arsenal将客场挑战liverpool.

update: arsenal 1-1 liverpool. fabregas今年状态好得不得了, 扳平比分, 还有一脚门柱.

2007-10-27 Saturday

United 4, Middlesbrough 1

Manchester United: Van der Sar; Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand (Pique, 73), O’Shea; Ronaldo, Hargreaves (Fletcher, 66), Anderson (Giggs, 78), Nani; Tevez, Rooney.
Scorers: Nani (3), Rooney (33), Tevez (55, 85)

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer; Young, Woodgate, Wheater, Taylor; O’Neil, Cattermole (Boateng, 90), Rochemback, Downing; Tuncay (Lee, 80), Aliadiere (Hutchinson, 55).
Scorer: Aliadiere (6)

united official
epsn soccernet

不爽, 今天路考竟然没过. 自己和教练都挺有信心的, 结果还是不尽如人意.

主要的错误是当时考官叫我边线停车,  uphill parking, 然后启动. 当时我身后有车, 我应该让其他车过了之后再打信号灯, 结果对方车停了下来, 我当时有点发愣没走, 考官提醒了我一下我才赶快走了. 这里算了一个大错. 另外还有过路口的时候观察不够, 看来还不能就自己转眼珠子, 还必须摆脖子. 不爽, 下次可能得约到两周后了…

apple’s new update for his mac os x operating system is coming tomorrow. here are some reviews about the new system:

- apple.com/macosx
- Mossberg at WSJ
- Pogue at NY Times
- Ed Baig at USA Today

看了转播, 曼联赢得很轻松. 爵爷的等待很有道理, 现在进攻顺畅后, rooney, tevez和c罗的三人组真没法挡. 连着三场都进了4球. 赛季开始之前很多人都说rooney和tevez风格太类似, 没法搭配, 现在看来很离谱. 两人一个托后, 一个突前, 后卫太为难了. 盯人的话离球门太远, 占位的话两人都能是能突能传的主. 再加上c罗轮番换位, 今天n次看到c罗挺到了中锋的位置, 弥补了rooney和tevez身高没抢点的不足.

第一个球ferdinand的头球, 现在ferdinand颇有98年法国队后防的味道了, 能攻善守, 连着两场进球. 第二个球brown传过来, rooney射空门, 上轮对villa也有一个类似的球, 一方面rooney的门前嗅觉颇有提高, 二来前锋的走位飘忽搞得后卫很容易就漏了人. 基辅扳回的那球, 后卫漏人了, vidic受伤复出, 可能体能没达到比赛状态. 接着c罗的头球, 基辅的防守太大意了, c罗球门正前方竟然没人盯. giggs先是一个人球分过, 然后起球, 跟实况里一摸一样, 有人顶上就能进球. 下半场vidic禁区内有个犯规, 裁判没吹, 接着吹了对手禁区内手球, c罗梅开二度. 后来虽然基辅又扳回一球, 但基本无关大局了, 爵爷还派上了Kuszczak, 估计是让其感受一下欧冠的气氛, 为van der sar接班.

比赛前坏消息频传, scholes训练时膝盖受伤, 还不知道是否严重, 中场真就没人了, 爵爷的计划是anderson搭配o’shea. 然后比赛热身evra小腿拉伤, 保险起见爵爷又把o’shea拉回来打左后卫, fletcher首发打中场. 有个o’shea这种中后场万金油还真是好用啊. 希望hargreaves的伤快点好啊, 争取能打arsenal.

小组另一场罗马2:1战胜里斯本竞技, 积6分列小组第二. 曼联可能还需要一场胜利才能确保出线, 千万别象去年那样, 三连胜后连输两场, 靠小组最后一场的胜利才勉强晋级. 其他比赛, arsenal火力十足, 打了对手一个7:0.

2007-10-23 Tuesday

United 4, Kiev 2

United: van der Sar (Kuszczak 80); Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, O’Shea; Ronaldo, Anderson, Fletcher, Giggs (Simpson 80); Tevez (Nani 73), Rooney
Scorers: Ferdinand (10), Rooney (18), Ronaldo (41, pen 68)

Dynamo Kiev: Shovkovskiy; Ghioane (Belkevich, 46), Gavrancic, Yussuf, Diakhate; Gusev, Correa (Rotan 83), Nesmachniy; Bangoura, Rincon, Shatskikh (Milevskiy, 46)
Scorers: Rincon (33), Bangoura (78)

united official
espn soccernet

上周的国家队比赛有喜有忧. 英格兰在一场必须取胜的客场比赛中以1-2被俄罗斯逆转. rooney为英格兰首开记录, 然后在下半场禁区边缘犯规, 送给对手扳平的点球. 现在英格兰命运已经不掌握在自己手中, 积23分, 还剩一场比赛客场对小组第一克罗地亚. 克罗地亚26分和俄罗斯21分但都少赛一场. 英格兰如果出线除了需要客场战胜克罗地亚, 还需要俄罗斯丢分. 葡萄牙连续取得两场客场关键胜利, c罗在第二场对卡萨克斯坦的比赛中还攻入一球. 法国一个6-0, 一个2-0取胜, 最后一场取胜乌克兰就能出线. evra在6-0的比赛中打满全场.

伤病方面, vidic头部还是有点迷迷糊糊, 下周的冠军杯都不一定能上. 所以后卫线上是ferdinand搭档brown, pique继续首发右后卫, neville还在养伤. 左边evra. 中场后腰hargreaves和carrick都在休养, anderson首发联合scholes, 左边giggs, 右边nani, c罗轮休. 中场四个人都是攻击手, 打顺了会很可怕. 前锋依旧rooney加tevez, 两人配合日渐成熟, saha的膝盖, 还是不提了. van der saar复出守门.

比赛开局不利, villa先进一场, 打破了曼联最近n场不失球的记录. 但曼联在进攻上比起赛季初已经不可同日而语, rooney梅开二度反超比分, nani和tevez助攻. 上半场结束前ferdinand还攻入一球, 我笑啊, 能帮我在fantasy上加分不少, 后卫进球好像是8分啊…

下半场仍然是曼联控制局面, villa两人被红牌罚下, 包括第二张是给了守门员, 可惜rooney的点球被扑出, 错过了完成帽子戏法的机会. 最后giggs锦上添花, 最后比分4-1.

从目前的情况来看, 前锋线rooney和tevez的搭配很是流畅, 两人都是喜欢传球并能一脚出球, 加上中场anderson和scholes, c罗上了的话, 曼联前面三个人就很难防了. 后防上pique发挥中规中矩, 总算看到点青训队出来的结果了. 下周二远征基辅, 如果能够取胜就是3连胜, 出线基本就没有问题了.

2007-10-20 Saturday

United 4, Aston Villa 1

Manchester United: Van der Sar; Pique, Brown, Ferdinand, Evra; Nani, Anderson, Scholes (O’Shea, 77), Giggs (Ronaldo, 77); Tevez (Fletcher, 73), Rooney.
Scorers: Rooney (36, 44, pen miss 69), Ferdinand (45), Giggs (75)

Aston Villa: Carson (sent off, 66, Taylor on); Bouma, Mellberg, Laursen, Knight, Gardner (Osbourne, 54); Barry, Reo-Coker (sent off, 60), Young, Agbonlahor, Moore (Maloney, 54).
Scorer: Agbonlahor (13)

united official
espn soccernet

有些时候湖人老板实在让人想不通.

诚然一切都从kobe四个半月前发飙引起. 看着2004年分道扬镳的奥尼尔, 在职业生涯下坡路上仍然能帮助热队取得历史上第一个总冠军, 而自己在个人能力的加速道上, 却连续两年季后赛第一轮被太阳送回家. 在连续两年用一个81分和62分回答了谁是当今nba的最佳球员的问题后, 却一年比一年离冠军戒指更远. 在个人能力上, 相信没人能够质疑kobe的得分能力, 而作为一个球队, 湖人却实在拿不出手. 所以kobe发了一次飙, 提出让湖人交易他. 当时我看到这个消息, 心想这顶多是kobe为了让球队买一点能帮助自己的球员, 给front office施加一点压力. 果然没多久, kobe就公开否认了自己的转会要求, 一切都显得风平浪静, 新的赛季转眼也就要开始了.

而就在这周, 湖人老板buss在接受采访的时候表示:

At any time, I think you have to do that with anybody. It’s just part of the game … You can’t keep too many loyalties. You’ve got to look at it as a business. He looks at it the same way I look at it.

我实在是难以用言语来形容我看了这段话的感受. 还是让我们看看其他人的反应吧.

O’Neal: “I guess it’s business before loyalty. But, wow. He said that?” O’Neal said Thursday in Miami after learning Buss told reporters he would trade Bryant under the right circumstances.

Jackson: “My message to Kobe was that if you could play with your heart in this game, on this team, you’ll be fine. If you can’t, if you have divided loyalties, then you can’t do it.”

Kobe: “It’s our understanding not to bring up the situation and not talk about it. We just wanted to keep things quiet and go about our business. It kind of caught me off guard a little bit.”

如果kobe今年真的转会了, 我佩服湖人老板buss五体投地. 在不到五年的时间内, 他送走了两位能排进nba历史前十的球员.

update: a great article in a very different perspective.

连着七场1:0之后(对切尔西那场第二个点球太牵强可以不算), 曼联总算在wigan身上找回了点进攻感觉. 值得一提的是下半场的四个进球是在局面很不利的情况下取得的. 替补出场的anderson, gibson加上首发右后卫的pique都有不错的表现. 虽然在上周carling杯上一帮小将加替补输给了英甲的球队, 但曼联的替补本质上还是不差的. 我觉得那次输球主要是爵爷全上的替补, 没有些主力压阵, 他们一帮年轻人还是不稳的. 但在有c罗, rooney, giggs等人带队, 小将们的战斗力还是不差. 如果爵爷能够在赛季初给这些人多一点机会, 等到赛季末至少在替补上有人可用.

伤病堆成了山. hargreaves在上周参加训练后旧伤复发, 没有办法只有注射, 缺席3-4周. brown在上周联赛中受的伤还没好. 罗马赛后carrick检查发现右手臂骨折, 缺席6周. 这样防守中场就没人可用了. 我很赞成james ryddle在manchester united blog上的看法, 应该给anderson机会. 但爵爷还是选择了稳妥的方案, o’shea打防守中场, 年轻后卫pique首发右后卫, 另外giggs顶替nani在左边, 赛后看休息一场对giggs的状态恢复很有帮助. saha在比赛热身时觉得膝盖有问题, 临时退出, 还不知道情况如何. rooney和tevez再次首发锋线. 上半场没多久vidic头被撞了一下, 有点轻微的脑震荡, 赛后还需要做点检查. anderson替补打中场, o’shea拉回来打中卫. 没过十分钟o’shea也伤了, 爵爷只好换上gibson打右后卫, ferninand的搭档第二次换人, pique回到他的本行打中卫. 好在下周是国家队比赛周, 给了众多伤病一个恢复的机会, 估计两周后hargreaves, brown, fletcher, neville等人都应该恢复了.

2007-10-06 Saturday
@Old Traffold

United 4, Wigan 0

Manchester United: Kuszczak; Pique, Ferdinand, Vidic (Anderson, 21), Evra; Ronaldo, Scholes, O’Shea (Simpson, 28), Giggs; Rooney, Tevez (Nani, 80)
Scorers: Tevez (54), Ronaldo (59, 76), Rooney (82)

Wigan Athletic: Kirkland; Melchiot (Hall, 51), Boyce, Bramble, Kilbane; Skoko, Brown, Koumas, Scharner, Olembe (Valencia, 66), Bent.

united official
epsn soccernet