Doping: Vampires in Austria

There is an interesting article on an American blog about a scandal in Austria which still is pretty much in darkness. A blood bank was discovered in Austria were numerous athletes from all kinds of sports are supposed to have been customers over a number of years. This caused a huge uproar in the German public especially because of the confessions of some high profile cyclists before last year’s Tour de France.

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Premier League: It’s all about buying and selling

With news like this it’s no wonder that some parts of the fan beses in English football turn their backs on the clubs they love. Apparently American Liverpool FC owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr have recieved an offer of around £500million by an Arab investment group. And they bought the club just a year ago. We all know it costs a lot of money to run a football team and we all know that you need a huge stadium to generate at least some money.

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Bundesliga: New Coach for Hamburger SV

Current third place Hamburger SV have to look for a new coach for the next season since their current trainer Huub Stevens will go back to Holland because of health problems of his wife. A step he took before when he was coaching 2nd division 1.FC Cologne, he left there after leading the club back to the first division. Now I was surfing along some German sports sites and one suggested that former Dutch and AC Milan striker Marco Van Basten might be in for the job. Now that’s a huge surprise since a name like Van Basten is always connected to the big clubs in Europe and that’s a category HSV definetely doesn’t fit into. On the other hand this might make sense.

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NFL: AFC Championship Game – New England vs San Diego

As the football season in the States draws to a close I can’t deny that I get interested in who will make it to the Super Bowl this year. But this curiousity quickly fades away when the games start and the whole game freezes in tactics. Compared to a dynamic sport like Rugby – which might be the only sport which could be compared to American Football which in Germany is labelled as “Pitch Chess” – what is shown ion the screen is just plainly boring. A move, 30-45 sec break, another move, another break, you get the picture.

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Africa Cup Of Nations 2008: Opening match Ghana vs Guinea

I have been following the African Cup Of Nations for quite some time now. This has come because of extended coverage on German television, all thanks to Eurosport who are covering the tournament very well over the past few years. My first experience with African football was on another channel though. It must have been in 1992 or 1993 when Ghana was playing the final against the Ivory Coast. Not really a thrilling match concerning the way both teams played, but the excitement kept on rising with each minute until they had to go into a penalty shoot out. It took all 11 players of each team to get a decision and in the end the Ivory Coast defeated Ghana 13-12 or something along those lines.
This was the time when players from Ghana were very popular in the German Bundesliga. My favourite player at that time was Anthony Baffoe who once played for Fortuna Cologne and then moved on to play for Fortuna Düsseldorf and other teams in other countries.

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Pond Hockey in the big leagues

So I was watching this Winter Classic thing the NHL has set up his year as their big new year’s spectacle. And I have to admit that this was rather funny. Open air ice hockey in a huge football stadium in Buffalo where the local Sabres took on the Penguins from Pittsburgh. I have to admit that I don’t follow the action in the NHL very closely and I also don’t keep track with what’s happening in the German Hockey League (DEL), although I frequently take a look at how our local Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks) are doing. I even went to see a couple of games at our local arena which was quite exciting. I always liked watching hockey, especially when they were showing international games on TV. The olympics are something I always look forward to. I’ll never forget the final of the 2002 Olympics when Canada beat the USA.

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