Missing the EPL

God, I can't believe I'm saying this.. but I miss the EPL.

F'in Mets

I can't believe I can be that disgusted 10,000 miles away.  As the insufferable Dottie Pepper would say, a 'bunch of choking dogs!'  

Dong Nai Noodles

After an average round at the Dong Nai Golf Resort - a bit distant from Saigon and the course had too many unnecessary white stakes along the edges of the fairway - I had this bowl of beef noodles in the clubhouse.

A lot of golf places sell you instant noodles, so this hearty fare was well appreciated by my tummy. I was glad another session of après round goat hot pot was voted down.

Song Be Golf Course

Went to Song Be GC, which is just about an hour and change from D1, at least if you have a 630am tee time.

First time there for me and I managed to shoot a Vietnam PB. The course is pretty solid and it has probably the nicest clubhouse in the south.

This picture is the walk off 18 into the clubhouse.

Olympics are Over

Was in the States to catch the end of the Olympics coverage - but in this day and age of the internet, tape-delayed coverage is pretty anti-climatic.  I probably watched more golf coverage than the Olympics here, but I did manage to catch some of the Brazil bronze-medal soccer match.  Man, I've been in Asia too long.  

None of the (two) Vietnamese-Americans picked up a medal, but a friendly neighbor to the north, a Chinese-Vietnamese-Canadian won a gold, in women's wrestling, winning the first medal at the Beijing 2008 Games for Canada (after a weeklong shutout).  The Canadians have an indifferent Olympics history, the only country earning the distinction of *not* having won a gold medal when hosting the Summer and Winter Olympics.  Maybe they spend all that sporting money on their better health care.    

Beijing Opening Ceremonies

So I'm living in the future.. 'cause I just saw athletes' procession at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.  I'm watching it on Vietnamese TV because CCTV is not covering it for some reason.  

It's funny not watching it on NBC.  You don't get Bob Costas (or whomever is doing it this year) prattling on about the countries, pulling out random facts to beat you over the head with the fact that they are smarter than you (when in truth it's all about the research interns).  The local coverage for the most part is just comprised of announcing the country and the number of Olympic participants from said country.  

Some delegations are crazy small.. like two people worth.  Most of these countries coincidentally also served as set pieces for Survivor.  I think China had 600+ Olympians.  

The Vietnamese broadcaster didn't really say much about any of the countries until it got to the former Soviet Bloc - he was talking about Sergey Bubka when Ukraine was announced.  I guess all the communist countries know each other.   

A few interesting things from this 2008 Long March:

• Taiwan used it's IOC flag, not it's country flag
• Taiwan and Hong Kong got similar, hearty receptions from the crowd
• Russia's reception was close to Taiwan and HK's
• the USA got a nice crowd react, a bit less than Russia
• may be my American sensibilities, but Iraq also got a nice applause
• Sweden's outfits paid homage to the Beijing games in that the women were in Qipaos (cheongsam) and were carrying folding paper fans
• Yao Ming is freaking tall; he waved that flag like some sort of robot

The locals also did a live translation of the Chinese opening games speech into Vietnamese.  Dang, that female translator is good!

Nearing the Olympics

It's a few days until the opening ceremony for the Beijing Games; I'm looking forward to it because I'm a bit tired watching all these X-Games reruns on the ESPN they show over here.  There is also a lot of EPL preseason and even wheelchair basketball on TV the last few days - who knew that wheelchair basketball was a big thing in South Africa?  It's a bit amazing that Murderball was such a hit a few years back in the US, yet, for all the ESPN channels, you will never, ever catch wheelchair basketball on TV in the States.  I think there was about four hours of coverage of some wheelchair league over the past couple of days on SuperSport, the Pan-African sports channel.

The good thing about being on this side of the world is that I'll be saved from the syrupy NBC coverage of the Games, and the 12 hour tape delay.  I'm sure I'll catch a lot of coverage on CCTV.  I wonder if CCTV, China's State Owned television, will be blacked out in the US due to NBC's broadcasting rights.  

Finally, for Vietnam's side, the local press seems to intimate that the team may be competitive in sports such as judo and weighlifting, particularly the women's side.  Dunno how accurate that is.  

Perhaps the Vietnamese diaspora will bring home a medal or two.  From this joke post on Deadspin, I discovered that Team USA has two members of Vietnamese descent, Amy Tran (field hockey) and Howard Bach (badminton).  Go Team!    

Golf in Danang

Sunrise over the bay in Danang.

Huda on the beach.  

Playing the new Montgomerie Links.  

It's a nice course in great condition (because it's new and all), but it's hardly a "links" course.  A bit disappointing if you're pulled into going due to the way it's being advertised.  

Golf Ball Meets Thigh

Went golfing recently - too bad my playing partners hit me instead of
the flag.

It's not the same as breaking an ankle or an ACL playing basketball,
but that's why I gave up that for the country club sports.

Soccer and Beihai

So a good friend (or two) of mine has moved to the region - they've landed in Beihai, China, which is only a stone's throw away from Hanoi.  Check out the southern China seaside action here.  

These past few days I've been trying to get to bed early so that I could wake up to watch Tiger and his wounded knee at the U.S. Open.  After 4 rounds, with some amazing shots, he's managed to eek into a playoff tomorrow.  So that basically means an early night and a getting-to-the-office late for me in the next 24hrs.  I'm watching golf on TV.. yeah, I'm officially old.

In addition to the US Open, I've been catching Euro 2008.  There was a great game this morning between the Czech Republic and Turkey.  I caught it late, so I saw the big comeback and a red card on the Turkey keeper with minutes left in injury time - exciting, crazy stuff.  I'm sports deprived enough to start getting into soccer now, but watching soccer here is a whole different experience than in the US, mainly because the skill level high is so uniformly high that the action is relatively interesting.  The top-flight, tournaments - AFC Cup, Euro, UEFA Champions League - are really enjoyable for a soccer newb.

Some English Premier League matches are also world class, but as an outsider, sometimes the EPL is frustrating to watch because the teams sit out top players all the time.  This is due, in part, because the EPL season coincides with the FA Cup tournament and the Champions League tournament.  It's like watching the Lakers sit Kobe for a game against the Timberwolves so he can have energy for the Celtics matchup.  Quite an annoyance as a spectator.  

Finally, speaking of the Lakers-Celtics show, I caught a snippet on ESPN about how Doc River got turned onto the word "unbuntu" while reading about the Rev. Desmond Tutu and that it has become a mantra for the Celtics during these playoffs.  Now all the geeks in the world, like Orangwutang and SaigonNezumi have something in common with the (eventual) 2008 NBA Champs.  Maybe the Lakers should retaliate by yelling "Vista!"

No Madness in March

So I've written before about the lack of recognizable US sports on the
tube around here in Vietnam. A second March has me revisiting the topic.

I missed yet again all those 'one shining moments' but I guess it's
not the most important thing to miss about the States, and I am not
exactly tolerable when I'm watching a marathon sports session.

Again, as previously noted, one can get live boxing fights that would
be ppv in the US - saw Mayweather dissect Hatton and will be getting
up early to see a 43 year old Bernard Hopkins box tomorrow.

However, most concerning is that my mainstream sports withdrawal has
caused me to watch soccer and cricket! I freakin' know what the heck
an "over" and a "lbw" is (hint: Twenty20 is at least tolerable).

And with help from a dash of insomnia, I watched most of the first
half of the final leg in the Arsenal - Liverpool triology. That foul
in the box was bogus (on replay obviously)!

Soccer would be more enjoyable if the players didn't wuss out on fouls
and complain about playing three 'fixtures' in a ten day period. Half
the time during a match they are jogging around - I want to see how
they would handle an NBA sked.

Turning Vietnamese

A Brazilian keeper is renouncing his citizenship to apply for a Vietnamese passport, in order to play on the national team. First the WTO, then the Security Council, now Brazilians want to be Vietnamese. These are interesting times..

Here's an F430 on the streets of HCMC. Dang. This was taken by the blogger 'lilmissmeg' at LiveJournal, the now Russian internet company. Found her blog through SaigonNezumi, who commented on some less than savory things she's written about the local populace. I'm more interested in the car than the commentary. So, if you own this thing, give me a lift going 3 kph, will ya?

Chi Linh Star - Golf Tournament

So this past weekend I played in a golf tournament at Chi Linh Star Golf Course, reputedly the toughest course in Vietnam. The tournament was organized by Vietnam Golf Magazine - one of two (that I know of) golf publications in Vietnam. For a country of a few thousand golfers (reportedly 4k local golfers), there is sure a lot of resources catering to this demographic.

Played with some friends that I met on cyberspace, and all in all we all had a good time. Played horribly for many reasons but mainly it was the Indian, not the arrow(s).

Chi Linh itself was a real nice course; not as nice as Tam Dao (which is shiny and new and gets less play), but nearly so. The course didn't seem too difficult - they had smaller greens, a few with multiple tiers, and the superintendent kept the greens firm and no overly receptive to average shots. The design is ok in my book.

The best thing about Chi Linh however is the drive there. It is a similar distance from Hanoi's CBD as the other course, but the drive was on the best highway I've been on in Vietnam. Divided, two lanes, with a shoulder and a medium amount of traffic. And unlike a lot of large roads around here, this highway did not cross into a hamlet every 5km, forcing the traffic to slow and account for four-way intersections. What a revelation, and what a comfortable 1.5 hour drive.

AFC Cup Action - Update

(from gettyimages.com)

So last evening, instead of heading out for a poker game (darn, ex-urban living!), we stayed in and watched the AFC Cup final between Saudi Arabia and Iraq instead. Watched the second half and was entertained, even though I'm a soccer noob.

One of the interesting things about the game was that the Iraqi players all had on new uniforms. So they all spruced up for the final, which they won in exciting fashion. The new threads were sorely needed because at least up to and including the quarterfinals against Vietnam, the Iraq team were wearing mismatched uniforms. Their starting players clearly had on at least two different sets of uni's, which were differentiated by the font used for the numbers and level of sun bleaching the Iraq flag patch endured. It would have been that much cooler if they won the Cup in those quarterfinal uni's.

Away From Play

Ahh.. couldn't make the VN-JPN game because I had to catch a flight to Saigon for work. Good thing too, I guess, 'cause the tickets were [in my Austin Powers voice] TWO MILLION VND. Each. Hot dman.

Unfortunately, they got clobbered. But Hanoi and Saigon was out partying because UAE took down Qatar which puts Vietnam in the final eight. They are playing Iraq tonight in Thailand.

Iraq v. Vietnam. As an American, that's a bit eerie. Perhaps in 35 years, Iraq will be one of the AFC Cup hosts.

AFC Cup Action

Ok, not so much Asia Football Cup (AFC) action as is post-AFC action. This is what the streets of Hanoi looked like after Vietnam, one of the 2007 AFC host countries, surprisingly took down the UAE 2-nil in an opening round game.



This intersection is close to Hoan Kiem lake - there was much more traffic circling the lake, but my phonecam wasn't ready for that action.

We're not soccer fans at all, but I think we'll try to make one of the next two opening round games (versus Qatar and then Japan). Tickets were 40, 60 or 100k but at this point they'll need to be scalped. Lowest prices are about 120k right now, more when it gets closer to game time (at My Dinh Stadium, out in the Western 'burbs from the city).

Vietnam's top rapper, a 16-year old teen girl going by the stage name Kim, recorded a song for Nike (for free! c'mon, embrace the market economy already) to mark the AFC. I would embed it, but dunno how. You can find it at Nike's site, Choi Het Minh, which roughly translated means "play with all your might." She's more bubble-gum rap, and sorta average at that, but she earns an "A" for enthusiasm and marketing.

HmL, don't ya wish ya were here?

This Is Vietnam

"This Is Vietnam" - a very common refrain amongst the long time expats who are trying to make a buck here. Usually used in relation to venting about why some needed licensure is taking so g-damn long.

Of course there are other things that make you go wow, TIV and mean it positively.

This past Sunday morning, I was like a giddy ten year old waiting for the morning cartoons as I realized that the De La Hoya - Mayweather fight was going to be shown on TV. Live. For free!

Sweetness, and a good fight, though the non-HBO announcers were DLH partisans and scored it as a draw or a DLH win on points.

When one is stuck watching World Cup cricket, men's field hockey (!), non-EPL soccer, 9-ball tourneys, professional ping pong, a documentary on the mechanics of the best badminton smash in the world, and Asian Tour golf (which, actually, isn't bad), a free broadcast of the best boxing PPV in the past decade was much appreciated. So much so that I didn't even have to break out the beer to enjoy myself.

Now, where's my stogie?!

Super Vina Bowl

I watched the Bears-Colts game this morning via a NFL network feed on ESPN-HK. There are few cultural touchstones like the Superbowl, but I was watching it more for the game and not the hype enveloping the event.

This weekend, in my discovery treks across this city, I went looking for a sports bar to watch the game in. Nothing like some brews at 6am. The restaurant near the US Embassy did not seem to recognize that there was a game this morning.

The employees at an ex-pat sports bar didn't know what I meant by either Superbowl or 'bong da my' (American Football, as opposed to, you know, the Mia Hamm type of footballing ;). The ex-pat community that bar catered to were of the Asian variety, and not the North American variety, so that may excuse it a bit.

Overall, the game was pretty good, though it did not seem like a Super Bowl; no build up throughout the day, not to mention the past week; no expensive attempts at creative commercials, just endless English Premiership adverts; no saccharine summaries by Jim Nantz when things were said and done (announcers were Sterling Sharpe, who did a good job, even if he thought that the Bears were "on the edge of a cliff" for half the game, and some other NFL network dude who's better than Nantz).

All in all, it was a good way to kick off a Monday morning. Now I gotta figure out if March Madness will be on the tube here. No soccer for me (unless it's the WC).

Best. Game. Ever.

2007 Fiesta Bowl: Boise State - Oklahoma. Too bad I didn't catch it live on the tube, but I gather this is how I'll experience American sports for the next two years.



The Superbowl is on Feb. 4, 2007. I wonder if there will be local broadcasts of it; if not, I'll resort to solutions like SOPcast and this Streaming NFL Games guide.

Let's Go..

(a building in the NYC area recently painted, courtesy of Merry Swankster)

Mets! One thing I'll probably miss is catching live sporting events on the t.v. Although I guess I can find it on YouTube or Mojiti or something. Still, memorex ain't like the real thing. Maybe I'll get into snooker on StarTV, though I doubt it.