Racism in Football/ Sepp Blatter at it again

Put a bet on yourself did you you cocky sod?

To put the racism in football issue into perspective, the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) were fined 65k for their fans racially abusing 'Super Mario' Balotelli and apparently throwing a banana on to the pitch.

Nicklas Bendtner on the other hand flashed his Paddy Power boxer shorts and gets fined 80k and banned for one game...Pathetic

Now another issue this raises however is what is fining the football association of a country in trouble for racism really going to achieve? They can't really stop fans behaving like that...unless they maybe introduce a section to their ticket ordering systems, something like this:

Are you a Racist - YES/NO

If you said YES - Jog on, otherwise enter your card details to continue.

A simple solution perhaps?

Making a light-hearted dig at Sol Campbell's comment - thanks to the Mirror for the image

I think there was a lot of media hysteria built up about racism in the Ukraine however, the Sol Campell - coming home in a box comment appearing to be somewhat drastic, and used to humorous effect by the English fans recently (right)

It is amusing in a sense then that it seems to be other nations getting in trouble over racism and not the host nations. I too must confess to shitting myself after watching the Panorama documentary show images of an Indian group getting beaten senseless by fans  of the same team!

To be honest racism is to deeply engrained into the mindset of many countries, to an extent even in England, that it is an impossible task to tackle it in a simple 'football game'. However at the same time I believe football being such a world sport has the power to influence people and should try to set an example, Sepp Blatter declaring there is no racism in football is simply the wrong way to go about it!

Speaking of the BLAT, I notice he has once again chirped up about goaline technology which he is suddenly now in favor of. Hmm interesting that as soon as England benefit, at the expense of a host nation at the Euros, he is straight on it - 2 years ago in South Africa a certain England goal wasn't even worth considering. I'm only surprised they have not retrospectively declared it a goal and said England would have lost and are therefore out of the tournament!

Erm, so what's that guy standing near the goal getting paid for?

I find the man amusing, no sooner does an English team FINALLY beat a German team on penalties and Sepp come's out with, "penalties are cruel, blah blah blah..." Your telling me Mr Blatter, I've been an England fan my whole life and had to put up with that shit for 28 years!!

To be honest I agree with both his points but it seems more than just a coincidence that he voices an opinion shortly after England or an English team benefit.

Goal line technology is worthy of a long article that I may consider doing at some point, unfortunately as most people who stumble across my blog will know, it might be a long time coming!

Saints Row the third

I've tried to refrain from cursing in the vain hope that one day a prospective employer may stumble across my words of wisdom and think, wow this is the guy we need (fat chance) well anyway that refrain has come to an end for reviewing Saints Row as after playing the game you just can't help but think What The Fuck!?!

I have played both of the previous games and enjoyed them for what they are, a light hearted over the top GTA for people that think GTA is too stuck up its own arse, well in this third incarnation of Saints Row thinks just got a whole more fucking crazy.

Just hangin out with my homies

I think the developers just got to the stage where, after sticking to GTA's style for the most part they just thought, you know what Fuck It! this is our game and we'll do what we want. Gratuitously Big tits or willies? check, 12 inch purple dildo's? why not? The scene out of the A team involving a tank? How about we turn it into a full on battle scene.

The game is quite simply bonkers.

You all know the premise by now so there is not really that much to say about that other than sandbox game, free roaming world, crazy side missions including escort, insurance fraud etc etc been there done that got the t-shirt.

I must say that although it certainly won't win awards for originality I enjoyed almost every minute of playing the game.

However where I feel the game does fall flat from time to time, in particular the parts of the game involving freefall from planes, buildings or any other highup places (more frustrating than enjoyable) I must say that the game does have generally have more hits than failures.

What I will say is that I played through the game in probably less than a week so despite all the extra things to do, the main story is quickly despatched with, and to be honest not all that great. I didn't really care who I was blowing the shit out of and who my allies were (although Hulk Hogan showing up as a luchalibre is always going to be cool) In fact where I always felt the story was pushing the game along somehow in previous Saints Row games, the story this time is simply just about setting up another epic fight/battle scene.

Just your average trip down the road to pick up some milk

Not that that is a big issue, as I'm pretty sure most people picking up Saints Row are going to be expecting a plot more like Crank than The Godfather and they would be pretty pleased with the outcome. It's definitely more popcorn, brain at the door, than Oscar worthy.

In regards to the game itself I also think that by including tanks, combat helicopters and other military spec weaponry the game is made a lot easier, as you can simply jump in a tank and go nuts to complete a lot of missions. Other missions were I was supposed to be guarding/escorting homies only ended up in failure due to my carpet bombing the area around them with missiles (and the vehicle they were in unfortunately)  as opposed to the enemy actually posing a threat. Now of course no one is saying you have to use this weaponry that is at your disposal but hey why give it me if that's the case?

On the whole I found Saints Row a good bit of fun from beginning to end and worthy of any other 18 gamers time, if only because it wants you to, you know, actually enjoy the game and have fun, something many games nowadays seem to forget somewhere along the way.

So I give Saints Row an emphatic 8 inch dildo out of 10

Andy Caroll finding form!?!?

A hard target to hit for some

Sorry Sky for stealing your headline but I could not help but laugh at this bold title.

Yes, the striker with an impressive goal scoring record of about 3 goals in a year, believes he is just now finding form.

Forgive me if I don't choke on my proverbial pint at such a hilarious statement, next Torres will be claiming he is well on the way to taking this year's golden boot award.

Now I don't want to be overly critical, all strikers are prone to goal droughts, Adebayor recently, Wayne Rooney, quite often truth be told but this strikes me as a little outlandish.

But....

The tools that Carroll has so far been unable to hit the target (above right) with hell I've even made it bigger for him

Any striker that cost 30 plus million to bring in and brings a goal to pound ratio of something like 8 million (I'm being kind I know) which yes, in truth, dwarfs Torre's 13 million per goal turn around, is definitely not 'in form'.

I find myself having to leap to the defence of Berbatov again by using him as a comparison with Carroll. Look how this guy does when given a chance. Same expensive marquee signing, different club. Berba was top scorer last year despite not even getting a look in for a good quarter of the season, if he didn't score he was getting a fair few assists despite, many would say, looking like he was ready for his next cigarette break.

Not that Carroll looks like putting much effort in on the pitch either.

The trouble is that once again we have an English talent totally blown out of proportion to his genuine ability, let's face it there is a reason why big English signings are so rare abroad, we aren't that good people!

We were led to believe Newcastle would be in turmoil after selling Carroll, erm Demba Ba anyone? Signed for free, ironically because he had a gammy knee and West Ham didn't know whether he would stay fit, better that than a 35 million ponytail that looks more appropriate on the back of the target he and his banjo have had such difficulty in hitting.

Newcastle are now putting up a fight with Carroll's new team for potentially a Champions League place, that is despite the lose of their supposed key man. A battle I must say I am relishing so far.

However lets go back to the English players before turning into a Newcastle love in.

If you look at someone such as Valencia, an expensive acquisition at 16 odd million it is true, but despite taking into account his consistency and the fact I and many others feel he is Uniteds MVP this season, he is still hardly given the praise he deserves.

Now, if he were British, we would all be creaming our pants and saying how awesome he is and touting 100 million transfers to Barca (Bale I'm looking at you)

In fact the only decent English talent that could realistically stand up to the European challenge, and perhaps get himself into a world xi in a few years is Joe Hart, it seems almost ironic that when we finally get a decent keeper between the sticks, the outfield players are all failing to inspire.

So anyway Andy Carroll, if he is finding anything at the moment, it is probably some of the loose change from his extortionate salary down the side of the bench as Craig Bellamy (Liverpool's signing of the season for me) a free loan from Man City, shows him how to do the talking on the pitch.

Back again, making a comeback like Paul Scholes

I think this is about the third of fourth time I've pulled this blog out of retirement, like an ex wwf wrestler that simply can't get away from the ring (or more likely the tv time and money that comes with it) so that makes it fitting for me to simply say, "finally the boonster has come.....home....again....yes really....yes you're right I probably will post about 3 blog updates before retiring again.....but hey isn't that better than nothing?"

I must admit that I did not expect, somewhat naively you will all say, to still be looking for employment some 5 months after graduating, but that is the case. So before I get any further ring rust I've decided to put my new gained talents into practise by writing on topics that catch my eye, reviewing old books, tv shows or films I've read/watched and generally just venting my opinion out onto the world.

Lets see how it lasts this time