Sunday, November 29, 2009

Santos Guarantied in the Sul-Americana

Sunday November 29 Santos tied against Avai. All they needed was a tie to guarantee a spot in the Sul Americana competition. Avai already with a spot in the Sul Americana had nothing to lose while Santos a lot. But it seemed like they also didnt care so much because at the beggining of the game Santos made many errors. And in only 7 minutes Avai was already winning by two goals. During the first half, with only 15 minutes left for half time Adailton from Santos got a red card. Already two to one for Avai and with one player less on the field it looked like a lost game for Santos. But Santos finally woke up and scored to tie the game with Paulo Henrique scoring a beautiful goal. With this tie Santos is mathematically in the Sul Americana competition.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Good Bye Marat Safin


Former number 1 in the world, tennis player Marat Safin ends his outstanding career. He lost the final in Paris against Juan Martin Del Potro currently number 5 in the world. The russian player was once number 1 in the world and has 15 titles. He made 14 million dollars only for his wins in the court, and even more from his sponsers. The 29 year old tennis player left the court with a great round of applause from the audience. A video with some nice declaration from his fellow tennis players was also put together, including messages from Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray. Safin won 2 grand slams including one U.S open and one Australian Open. He said that the money he made playing tennis created many oppurtunities, and opened many doors. " I am now closing one door and I hope another one opens up". He ended up wishing his adversary, Del Potro, all the best in his career.

Lula Gives His Opinion

The brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva gave an interview to the "La Gazzetta dello Sport" newspaper about the brazilian football team. He said that Ronaldinho Gaucho which is currently playing for Milan could be a lethal weapon Brazil could use in the 2010 world cup. If he works hard and makes a great effort Lula says Dunga, Brazils coach, will have him in his best shape for the world cup. There is also a possibility for Ronaldo who currently plays for Corinthians to called for the team. If so, Lula says he will have to be in perfect physical condition. Lula also said that even though he likes Ronaldo a lot since he plays in Corinthians ,his team, he said they must be equally physically fit to play in the world cup. In Lulas opinion at the moment the best brazilian football player is Kaka from Real Madrid. But the best football player in the world is Lional Messi. He also gave Alexandre Pato some very good complements, and said that he could also be an option for Dunga. The president also complemented Dunga for his dedication at the job saying that he brought back the will for the football players to play in the national team. Lula said that his favorites to win the World Cup besides Brazil are: Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany, and England.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

F-1 Toyota is OUT


The japonese formula 1 racing team is now leaving the championship. After 8 seasons unfortunately the team was able to achieve very little. Only 3 pole positions, 13 podiums, and NO first place victories....in 8 seasons. In all its formula one trajectory the team spent about R$ 11,5 bilhões (£4 bilhões). In this last year the team managed to score only 59,5 points, while Brawn GP scored 172. Toyota ended up in the 7th position out of 10. For each point the team scored they spent R$ 41,3 milhões. Akio Toyoda, Toyota team president, said that it was a very hard decision to make but a necessary one. He says that since last year with the economic crisis it has been difficult to continue in this racing category and now they are abondoning it completely. Akio Toyoda gives his sincere apologies to the fans for not having achieved the goals they had planned. Toyota was the last japonese team to join the others in leaving motor sports categories. Honda has also left Formula 1 and Suzuki and Subaru in Rally championships, all for economic reasons. Formula 1 next year will not have any japonese teams but will have new teams such as Campos Meta where Bruno Senna will be racing. In spite of their abandonement the company is still the leading car manufacturer.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Tomas Bellucci On a Role

The best brazilian tennis player at the moment has reached his first semifinals in a fast court tournament. In the Masters of Stockholm semifinals Bellucci is playing against Rochus the short tennis player with less than 1, 70m. He beat the giant Johansson which was a great server and volley player. But now he will be playing a player that has a completely different style. After Bellucci reached the finals he became the number one news in the Stockholm television. He said that there isnt much time to celebrate, and must already concentrate for the semifinals. He was born in Sao Paulo and is only 21 years old. Ranked number 45 in the ATP world ranking, we can expect great things from this young tennis player. Perhaps not as great as Roger Federer, but for Brasil he is our greated hope in the next few years

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Brazil Grand Prix


Today under heavy rain, brazilian formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello gets the pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday. The championship is coming to an end, and these last few races will be the most competitive ones. Rubens Barrichello has always been a good driver under rain and today he has proved once again that he really is. Interlagos race track has been Barrichellos backyard since he was a child for he grew up right next to it, so he said that this was probably going to be his best race. Todays classificatory laps were interrupted several times by heavy rain but ended up in a positive manner for the brazilian driver. He will be starting in the first position and his fellow team driver Jenson Button will be starting in the 14th position. The situation couldnt be better for Barrichello for he is fiercely competing against Button in the championship. If Barrichello wins this race his chances of winning the championship increase significantly. The race tomorrow promises to be exhilarating and is worth watching. It will begin at 2 pm, if the rain allows.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Aventure Camp


Adventure Camp is an adventure race which involves four different sports. They are: trekking, mountain bike, rapel, and rafting. It's an exilarating experience. To enter you must form teams of four with at least one person of the different sex. There are different categories for different ages. The race is on a Sunday and it happens four times a year, always in different places around São Paulo. Their usually is one race that takes place at the beach. The night before they give you a map for you to plot the checkpoints you must go through. And then Sunday morning the race starts and your by yourself with your team using a compass and the map to guide your way through the forests, rivers and mountains. At some point in the race your team will have to do a rapel and at another point rafting. The night before you usually take your bycicles to a checkpoint so that the next day when you pass there you get them and use them in some legs of the race. The race for my age is around 35 and 45 kilometers total and for the adults its around 50 and 60 kilometers. You start the race at 8 am and usually only arrive between 1 and 4 pm, if you don't get lost. When you arrive your usually covered in mud and exhausted, and many arrive hurt. In the race you also have to take a backpack with food and water for you to eat during the race or else you wont make it. I have participated in this race about 15 times. But have won it only once and got third and second about five times. The prizes are usually pretty good, such as bycicles, tenis shoes and other small prizes. It is hard to describe this race so if you want more information go to its web site here.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

2016-A different Rio de Janeiro

The 2016 Olympic Games will take place in Rio de Janeiro, one of Brazils most beautiful cities. The projects for the Olympic Games are phenomenol. Brazil is planning to spend billions of dollars in the construction of new stadiums for various sports, and other buildings for the press and the entire olympic center. By 2016, if all goes according to plan, Rio de Janeiro will be a new city. Especially Barra da Tijuca a beautiful neighborhood in Rio will grow significantly for it will be the olympic center. In the elections for the location of the games Rio beat Chicago, Madrid, and Tokyo. The Olympic games in Rio will take the country to another level, especially economically. These Olympic games will turn out to be the engine of Brazils economy, and it will do wonders in many aspects. Not to mention that this is the first Olympic Games that will take place in a South American country. Strangely the athletes that are most likely to compete in the 2016 Olympic games arent even known yet. These future athletes are still probably around the ages 15-17. So if I wanted to participate in the Olympic games I can still do it...if a begin training tomorrow. There are 2,400 days until the opening ceremony in the great Maracana football stadium, enough time to train all sports, create new idols, and make the city even more PHENOMENOL.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Federer -The Great

The greatest of the greatest will only come back in the end of October. Roger Federer has informed in his blog that he will not be competing in the Tokyo tournament and the Masters of Xangai, in order for him to rest. He says that he consulted his medics and coaches and decided to make the tough choice of not competing in both tournaments. The number 1 said that he had a rough year and his body needs the time to rest. During the US Open you could already witness some moments in which Federer demonstrated his fatigue, which is extremely hard to happen because of his incomparable physical fitness. I believe we could all agree that after his amazing performance in the US Open(even though Del Potro was better) and making the best shot of his life, Roger deserves some rest. He will always have the next year to win all four Grand Slams.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Formula 1

Recently there has been an impressive breakout in the Formula 1. Nelsinho Piquet a brazilian driver, son of the great Nelson Piquet a three time formula 1 champion, made a statement revealing some dishonest behavior of his team. In the 2008 championship during a race he said that his team(Renault) asked him to crash his car in order to benfit his fellow team driver Fernando Alonso who was fighting for the first place. This is entirely against the rules established by FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (French: International Automobile Foundation). Piquet was also being threatened to be fired from the team so this would help him also in those terms. Now Nelsinho came clean and was fired after all. Renault has a lawsuit on Nelsinho Piquet, and Flavio Briatore the teams ex chefe the one who told Nelsinho to break this rule could be banned from the sport for the rest of his life. Here's Nelsinho Piquets latest statement:


Regarding the current FIA investigation, I confirm that I have co-operated fully and honestly with the sport’s governing body. Because I am telling the truth I have nothing to fear, whether from the ING Renault Team or Mr Briatore and whilst I am well aware of the power and influence of those being investigated, and the vast resources at their disposal, I will not be bullied again into making a decision I regret.

I have every confidence in the FIA investigation and World Motor Sport Council and I will be making no further comment until the conclusion of the hearing of 21 September 2009. www.npiquet.com

In this case it seemed like Nelsinho Piquet was used as a pawn who was sacrificed for the teams benefit. Flavio Briatore states that in his defense he was trying to save the team. Yet this does not justify him asking Piquet to put his own life at risk and of 19 other drivers. In the end the final decision had to be taken by Piquet. Video below:Briatore the Godfather

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Real Madrid Puts Players in A Tight Leash

The spanish football club has layed down some new rules for their players. Real Madrid is one of the top clubs in Spain, it has loads of money and the top players in the world. Perhaps in order to maintain this image the clubs president Florentino Pérez has created the new 8 "commandments" which are:
1. Be close to the fans
2. Show respect to the coach, the board, and to the fans
3. put in lots of effort, sacrifice and dedication
4. be on time for all tasks
5. maintain your health, beware of risky situations
6. have order, cannot go out at night to party
7. take care of your image
8. colaborate with the club and the press

To me the most interesting one is to have order. Having seen some players go out at night and put themsleves in an awkward situation such as Ronaldo and Adriano, Floretino has made this rule to prevent this. Also all these rules benefit the players as well, because they can focus more on their football and become better players.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Brazil vs. Argentina

Brazil vs. Argentina...a classic. This fantastic game will take place September 5th. All brazilians and argentinians wait enthusiastically for THE game. The brazilian team is already in Argentina, training for the game in the Rosario Stadium. Lionel Messi the best player in Argentina and a sure cadidate for the worlds best player, says that they can easily beat Brazil. I find that extremely hard, even though the game is taking place in Argentina. Brazil has a strong and skillfull team, and is feared by all other countries. Robinho one of Brazils forwards says that Argentina will probably play toughly, but hopes to win so that he can make fun of his fellow argentinian companion in Manchester City, Carlos Tevez. There is no doubt that it will be an extraordinary game, and I am sorry for those who will miss it. In my opinion the score will be Brazil 4 Argentina 1. Perhaps not so many gols, but Brazil will win.

U.S Open

The fourth and last Grand Slam of the year has begun. The top players in the world are competing furiously against each other including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, and Murray. All these top players want this title, especially Roger Federer and Nadal who are fighting for the first place in the ATP world rank. Rafael Nadal has already won his first match, as has a brazilian Tomas Bellucci.
The fashion involved in this tournament is simply amazing. The sports designers really put a lot of money into the clothes. Andy Roddicks clothes cost R$ 650, and many headlines in sport websites are about the clothes. It really is incredible how this tournament effects many different areas, such as clothes, magazines, sponsers fighting to appear, even valet companies. The city of New York definitely becomes extra agitated during this Grand Slam.

Friday, August 21, 2009

My Athletic Life

I started football practice this week at school. I had been looking forward to it because it was my first Varsity tryout for football. We have only had two practices so far and my legs are killing me. I didn't practice many sports during these vacations so I'm kind of out of shape still. During these first two practices I played as a wing like I always have. And since our first game is on Tuesday our coach already had to decide who are going to be the starters. Along with four more friends of mine I was chosen to start on Tuesday's game against Saint Pauls. The team still looks a little out of shape but hopefully throughout the season we'll get better for the BIG 8 tournament in November.