Mubarak Still Alive...

Well Mubarak is stronger than I anticipated. He still hasn't resigned!

There's still a lot of protests. The Egyptian army has come into Cairo but has done nothing. But I have a sneaking suspicion that Mubarak is just waiting for more protestors to come and use the army to kill more of them.

The Arab World Crisis

Alright I think everyone has heard the news. You know, the crises in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen and all the other Arab World countries. The Tunisian President Zine Bel Ali has already resigned and a new government has been formed. And in Egypt after only 5 days of protest President Mubarak has already appointed a new vice-president and prime minister.

I think that if President Mubarak resigns, instability will consume the Middle East. Egypt has been a moderating effect on other, less stable Middle Eastern countries like Lebanon and Iraq, and both the United States and the EU consider Egypt to be a vital ally. If Egypt tumbles, who knows? Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran could all be drawn into war. Israel is actually much like North Korea on the other side of Asia. If North Korea attacks its southern neighbor, most of Eastern Asia will be drawn into war. Just like Israel's conquests of Syria's Golan Heights and Egypt's Giza Strip.

The Arab World is in a transition period. In the Middle Ages they were the cutting-edge in medicine and science. But now we see terrorism, suicide bombers and war all associated with the Muslim religion. I highly doubt that Islamic culture is like this. I might be mistaken, but doesn't the Koran (the Muslim holy book, for those noobs that don't know) value peace over war? There is fear in their eyes. Fear of Western influences. Fear of the Jews in Israel. Fear that their way of life will be crushed.

Now that I mention it, the West. Egypt's crisis isn't very good for the West. What if Mubarak is overthrown, and some pro-terrorist Taliban takes his place? Egypt could become a second Iraq and Afghanistan. They do share some similarities: Iraq and Afghanistan were once stable, prosperous countries. But then the stern dictatorships of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban take over, and both countries have been plunged into chaos. Egypt could add oil to an already blazing Middle Eastern fire.

Injuries >=(

Alright I am pissed >=(.

I am right in a crunch match for my league in Hattrick this Saturday and now 3 of my BEST players are injured. 2 defenders and 1 forward. And that hurts since I have a profound lack of both.

Luckily, one defender, Garry Poitiers (rated Solid in Defending) recovered today. But the other two are still in the hospital. The other defender, Henrik Stenwald, is one of my best wingbacks (passable in both Defending and Winger) and the forward, Etienne Laviolette is a great multiskilled player (solid Playmaking and Set Pieces, passable Scoring, Defending and Passing) with a Technical specialty to boot.

So I am left with playing Kevin Meyers and Jonathan Coe (both rated inadequate in Defending; Coe has inadequate Winger and Meyers has passable). Yeah not the best defenders in the world. To cap it all off, my goalkeeper Andrea Giaccardi is in weak form and only has inadequate Keeping anyways.

In attack, I play Paul Moore, who also has passable Scoring but is desperately needed to boost my midfield rating. Levent Avunc, originally on the wing, is now suddenly an inner midfielder with inadequate stamina, so I have to sub him off after the second half. On the wing is Amichai Shinfeld, who up until last week was playing for my youth team and only has inadequate Winger.

So I have basically given up for this season. If I lose this game, both Zeal FC (the team I'm facing) will be 6 points above me and the leaders Space Invaders will be 9, unless in the unlikely event that he loses to The Connecticut Elephants whose manager has only joined in December. Even then, the next few games will be against bots and then I'll be facing Space Invaders, who I doubt I can beat.

BLACKPOOL

Hey fellow Premier League watchers! Heard the latest news?

I'm not writing about Darren Bent's 18 million euro transfer (he can go rot in a hole for all I care). I'm not writing about Liverpool's recent resurgence under Kenny Dalglish. I am talking about Blackpool

In this season Blackpool have been quite simply stunning. An opening 4-0 win over Wigan. A miraculous 2-1 win over Liverpool. 8th in the table. And to think they were in League One just a few years ago!

But now they've been fined.

In a 2-3 loss to Aston Villa early in the season, Blackpool manager Ian Holloway, who had led the Tangerines from their League One days, made 10 changes to a side that had tied 2-2 with Everton the previous week. Apparently this is a Premier League offense and Blackpool has been fined 25000 English pounds.

My first reaction was...What the ****?

Why the hell would radically changing a side be noteworthy of a fine?

Alright maybe Blackpool were bribed to lose the match, but they only lost 2-3 to a good side! Why would Aston Villa even waste money to bribe them in the first place?

To make matters even more stupidly ridiculous, Ian Holloway has stated he would quit if charges are fined against the team. Um...overreaction-much? Just because your team got fined 25 grand (which isn't really a big sum in a league where players' salaries average around fifty grand a week) doesn't mean that you should quit and waste all the effort you did over the past few years. It's just like Fergie spazzing at refs when they make a bad offside call or something (but Fergie spazzes are fun =P). Mr. Holloway should NOT let all the crap the FA throws at him get into his head. In fact, he should ignore it and focus more on why his team have now lost 3 games in a row after that marvelous win at Liverpool.

Basically, behind all that charisma, Ian Holloway is still a person and Blackpool are just still a team. =)

Chelsea's Unfortunate Revival

Oh noes! Chelsea just regained their form! =S

For those noobs who don't know, Chelsea FC is a soccer club in London, England and great rivals to my fave team Manchester United in the English Premier League. They had a great start to the 2010-11 season, winning 8 out of their first 10 games and scoring 25 out of a possible 30 points. Man Utd, meanwhile, had rather absymal performances like tying 2-2 with 16th place Fulham and a 3-3 tie with Everton, who were 15th at the time.

But suddenly Chelsea collapsed. Maybe it was a 0-2 loss at Liverpool that screwed them up, because after that the Blues only got 1 win in their next 7 matches. Man Utd, despite tying a lot more matches (around 8), crucially never lost and soon cemented their place at the top of the table.

Sadly, Chelsea seemed to have rebounded after a 7-0 demolition of Championship side Ipswich Town and now, after beating Bolton Wanderers 4-0, looked to have regained their form.

But Manchester United will beat them!