FOOTBALL – part 2 The Best Players of all time

Hi this part will be more seriouse. I want to introduce three best players of all time which had the privilege to play on the biggest football fields of the world. Of course there was a lot of good players but this three are by me the best.


On the 3rd place is Zinedine Zidane. He was playing in football representation of France with which he got the titles of World Champions and Europe Champions (1998, 2000). He had grate overview of field. He saw literally every thing that happened on the field. Plus unexceptional technique which "Zizou" had and we have one of the world best players. Unfortunately last game in his career wasn't worthy the title one of world best players becouse in World Cup finals in Germany he with his head hit Italian player Marco Materazzi geting red card becouse of that.










2nd place belong's to Pele the legendary Brazilian player. While he was 17 he played his first game in representation of Brazil and thanks to his play in 1985 Brazil got the title of World Cup Champions. He was very good at dribbling and scoring goals was quite easy thanks to that in 91 games of Brazilian representation he scored 77 goals.





The 1st place goes unconditionally to the irreplaceable and one of a kind Diego Armando Maradona. He was remarkable player. His amazing game with England in quater finals of World Cup in 1986 was something marvellous. First he scored not so nice goal (becouse by hand) but later he scored beautiful goal passing around 6 rivals which let Argentina advance to finals and winning World Cup.



If you are interested in Football or any other sport I encourage you to make your own Best players list with short justification why and if not then to watching movies and puting this players in order which you thing is best.

The Tunisians

Mr President

Since we arrived to the airport in Monastir, his thoughtful smile was accompanying us during whole journey. He was everywhere. It was time of approaching election. All the billboards were showing the only proper choice: Ben Ali. Of course, he won. As always since 1987 :-)

He became a president after coup d'état, after inter alia 4 years political practice as ambassador of Poland.

Although Tunisian Republic is a democratic country only on paper, many citizens truly support their president. They live in strange tourism-friendly mix of socialism and capitalism, rather poor but relatively safe.

Women and vogue

Surprise, surprise! No yashmaghs, no even mandatory higabs. Previous (and the first) president, Habib Bourguiba married to French and educated in Europe, laicised the country and forbade many of traditional Muslim habits. Girls can freely go everywhere without man’s company. Here you can see an official spot about Tunisian women:

Please compare this spot to any article or video about women's right in Poland and to the picture on the left :-)

We have seen women having bath in the sea few times - they were always completely dressed and accompanied by their men.

In big towns girls wear trendy clothes and are very stylish. They can’t show their shoulders nor knees, so they wear fit jeans under short skirts or tunics and if they have dresses with straps, they have tight t-shirts beneath. They differ from often not very young Europeans showing their bodies without care of aesthetic. It doesn’t mean that you can’t meet traditional outfit in Tunisia. Older women, especially in smaller cities on the south wear kind of long dresses which cover almost whole silhouette. These dresses are usually made of one color shiny fabric and higabs are matching or they are made of the same cloth. We saw few very old ladies trying to hide their faces somehow (sometimes they kept cloth with their teeth!) as yashmags are officially forbidden.

Berbers

They are indigenous nomadic or semi-nomadic people of Tunisia (and other countries of Northern Africa), which is hard to believe – they look so European! They survived numerous conquests of this part of continent and absorbed elements of successive cultures and religions, but they preserved their individuality. On the contrary to Arabs, Berbers’ tribes in Tunisia are matriarchal. They live in inaccessible deserted places. Their traditional houses (not many are left, but some still function) are hollowed out in sandstone and decorated with symbols which should deter evil forces. Hagib Bourgiba offered them modern new houses, as he couldn’t stand that some Tunisians still live in the caves;-) It raised Berbers’ aggression, but after many years of consequent politics most of the old houses play role of the allotment gardens.

These are just my short notes about some chosen threads, so feel free to ask if there’s anything that may be interesting for you. Perhaps you have comparison with other Muslim countries and you could share your insights. I’m waiting impatiently for your comments :-)

FOOTBALL – part 1 Funny Football

Football is this kind of sport that I love to watch and play. Football bring's in me great positive emotions and a lot of happiness. Playing let me forget about every day problems or worries, every thing becomes less important and the only things that are left are ball and two goals. That's why I want to do a presentation about football.

At the begining the first part was suppose to be about the history of football but who would like to read about it. That's why I decided that this part will be about the funny moments in football. It's obvious that instead of reading a whole page about that 2000 years ago in chinese, japanese, greece and roman's culture there were games involving scoring a goal either by kicking or throwing a ball and that later on came associations like PZPN it's better to laugh a little while watching some youtube's movies.




But coming back to subject of Polish football we really have a funny football. Why? Polish football representation in eleminations to World Cup in RPA is on 5th position in group being better only then amature representation of San Marino which played 10 games has 0 points, 1 goal scored and 47 goals lost. There isn't even one Polish club that plays in Chempions League or European League which is another failure of our football. Our Orange Ekstraklasa is one of the weakest leagues in Europe. But we shouldn't be suprise becouse the only thing we hear all the time is corruptions and sold games but the only thing left is to cry or laugh.



Why do you think that polish football team has so many problems while in other sports polish team's have better achievements like men's and women's volleyball team's and men's handball team??

Tunisia: stereotype and prejudice

Tunisia is a very popular direction to go nowadays. It’s cheap, hot, safe and there is plenty offers available. However, when we were planning our holiday this year we didn’t consider this country seriously. Why? We wanted to see some interesting places, feel its atmosphere and have something more to remember than just lying on the beach. It definitely didn’t correspond with common image of Tunisia

When we asked our friend, who has been to Tunisia four times already, what he was doing there, he said he was spending time in his hotel using all its facilities. Another colleague said: ‘Tunisia? Oh, it’s like going to swimming pool for whole week.’ It turned out that beach and swimming pool are the biggest adventures of many people visiting this country. No, that wasn’t something that could encourage us to go there :-)

Actually, I couldn’t believe that there is nothing to see in country inhabited by Phoenicians, occupied by Romans and finally invaded by Arabs. I made some research on the internet and found few places which seemed to be worth of visiting. Our journey showed that in fact there is plenty of them, but most of people just don’t even try to check it.

What else may discourage travelers? Arabic countries are known for low standards of hygiene. As we are not very rich people, we decided to risk and choose 2 stars hotel. Therefore I was prepared to find lizards in the bathroom, ants on the floor and learned how to not let cockroaches get into my bad. Fortunately, we had no insects in our room. Nevertheless, there is some true in bad fame of Maghreb countries – beach is clean only if it belongs to hotel and streets are simply cluttered in many places. Though, Tunisia is getting cleaner and cleaner every year thanks to government’s efforts: there are educating campaigns and awards for clean cities or districts. This terrible statue on the left is an example of this kind of award. Now try to imagine it in antique part of town ;-)

There is one more reason that might scare tourist away. Europeans as well as Americans don’t trust Muslims. Arabs are associated with 11.09 and kidnapping. Perhaps that keeps some people closed in their hotels. In fact, level of crime in countries of Northern Africa is relatively low. The natives are terrified by police known for its efficiency and cruelty. If you have any problems, “police” is usually a magic word to calm down your native opponent. In Tunisia tourists (as clients) are always right.

Below more friendly face of Tunisian police:

If you have ever been to Tunisia, I’m looking forward to read about your impressions. Otherwise – do you have similar image of this country as I did before? What’s your idea of perfect holiday?

Extra points

Recommend a film/book/play/show you have seen/read recently. Give a link to it.
Even if you have seen something and you have not too good opinion of it, present it here please:)

By the way, there is a very interesting presentation on blog2:)

alleycat, messenger race -- part 3 (Critical Mass)

As you probably noticed I'm a bicycle freak.
Today I would like present to you a project (event) which is for all cyclists. It is possible that some of you already heard about it.

It is Critical Mass!

Critical Mass is a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in over 300 cities around the world.While the ride was originally founded in 1992 in San Francisco with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to cyclists, the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible to assign it any one specific goal. In fact, the purpose of Critical Mass is not formalized beyond the direct action of meeting at a set location and time and traveling as a group through city or town streets on bikes.


Critical Mass rides vary greatly in many respects, including frequency and number of participants. For example, many small cities have monthly Critical Mass rides with fewer than twenty riders which offer safety in numbers to cyclists in those locales, while on the opposite extreme, in what have been the largest events using the name Critical Mass, cyclists in Budapest, Hungary hold only two rides each year on April 22 (Earth Day) and September 22 (International Car Free Day). The 'Budapest style' attracts tens of thousands of riders. The April 20, 2008 Budapest ride participation was estimated at 80,000 riders.


Critical Mass rides have generated considerable controversy and public opposition.Critics claim that Critical Mass is a deliberate attempt to obstruct traffic and disrupt normal city functions, asserting that individuals taking part refuse to obey traffic laws. Altercations with police and motorists have occurred. Although uncommon, protesters are sometimes present at Critical Mass events to oppose the group's methods.



In Warsaw, the first Mass was held probably 8 May 1998 and since then took place from time to time.
Until memorable June 2002, when the mass appeared more cyclists than usual. Police launched a poorly organized campaign catching cyclists. Through this event a Critical Mass began to speak in the media. Since that time the mass takes place regularly and always gathers a number of cyclists.



Video of Critical Mass in 2002:





Since July 2004 has been a new habit of organizing the Night Critical Mass that perfectly combine the advantages of the ordinary masses and riding a bicycle at night - now meet on the second Saturday of each month.

alleycat, messenger race -- part 2 (bikes)

In a previous post I wrote about alleycat, rules and history.
Now I would like to talk about bikes that are involved in racing.

There are so many types of bikes as there are participants. Every ride on what they like and what is comfortable to them. But most popular are fixed-gear bikes.

A fixed-gear bicycle (or fixed wheel bicycle) is a bicycle that has no freewheel, meaning it cannot coast — the pedals are always in motion when the bicycle is moving.



Fixed-gear bikes are especially popular among bicycle couriers. Why is this so?

Fixed-gear bike is considerably lighter than a multi-speed bike of comparable quality. This bike is as simple as possible. This is actually the frame and two wheels. Fixed-gear bike is less unreliable than normal bicycle. Low weight and reliability are the most important aspects of the bicycle for bicycle couriers.

It takes a bit of practice to become comfortable on a fixed gear. Most cyclists, trying it for the first time, will automatically try to coast once the bike gets up to a certain speed. The bike will not allow this, and it is disconcerting. It takes a couple of weeks of regular riding to unlearn the impulse to coast, and become at ease on a fixed gear.
It is worth going through this learning experience, however, because once you do so, you will discover a new joy in cycling. When you ride a fixed gear, you feel a closer communion with your bike and with the road. There is a purity and simplicity to the fixed-gear bicycle that can be quite seductive. Somehow, once you get past the unfamiliarity, it is just more fun than riding a bike with gears and a freewheel!

No brakes, No problem !

Some fixed-gear riders think brakes are not strictly necessary, and brakeless fixed riding has an almost cult status in some places, based on the perception by some riders of the experience of riding in a state of intense concentration or 'flow' where brakes are thought not to be needed.

In poland cycling without brakes is illegal. The bicycle must have one efficient brake.

Fixed-gear bikes subculture.

On Fixed-gear bikes do not ride only messengers. There are many enthusiasts who are not messengers. Some people were fascinated by pure form this type of bike or try to do tricks. People belonging to the subculture of fixed-gear have a unique style of dress, referring to the costumes bicycle couriers.






Movie showing the tricks of fixed-gear bike:



If anyone wants to try his luck on the fixed-gear bike, or fix your own bike, I am happy to help. :)