NHL Playoffs are coming up and my Rangers are In!

Ok Hockey is a great sport.. Under appreciated in the USA, in Canada it is religion. My team the New York Rangers tonight clinched a spot in the NHL Playoffs. In terms of sporting events the NHL Playoffs could be the most intense, most passionate and hardest to win event out there. There is nothing like a Game 7 double OT game for your heart, after watching one of those in 1994 the famous NY Rangers vs NY Devils you don't want to ever see another one. In fact one of my greatest moments in a bar ever, was in Chicago at Stanley's bar where after a hockey game most of the Chicago Blackhawks team came in, hockey players are down to earth and fun to drink with. On this particular blackhawks team was Valeri Zelepukin who with 7.7 seconds left in said 1994 game 7 scored a goal that took the game to overtime. All NY Rangers fans at that moment hearts sank only to come back to life after Stephane Matteau scored in the 2nd overtime.

This year the Rangers have been slightly struggling going int the end of the season, but tonight's 3-0 win over the rival and hated NY Islanders cliched us a playoff spot. Hopefully our trio of old forwards in Jagr, Shannahan and Straka can give us the best of them over the 2 month Playoffs.

There are still some spots to be decided in the playoffs, and while Sydney Crosby will be there, one player I would love to see on a night-in night out basis would be Alexander Ovechkin. This year he has set the all-time record for goals by a LW with 65 and counting. The Capitals have an uphill battle to make the Playoffs with their last game of the season this weekend, they need a win and Carolina Hurricanes to lose one of their games. If you have not seen Alex Ovechkin and his highlight reel goals, check out this great compilation below.

USA punches a ticket for Beijing Olympics

Last week the USA finished in 2nd place in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament. It was enough to have them be one of the 16 teams to make it to the Beijing Summer Olympics later in 2008. While in the sense of the world the Olympics are not a big deal for soccer, here in the USA we get so hyped up over the Olympics in all aspects a good showing here for the US Men and it would do alot for the game overall. The tournament is scheduled to run August 6th to August 23rd, so they are actually going to be games before the official opening of the games on August 8th. If all goes well with me I hope to be making my first visit to China to goto the games. Since a little kid I've watched the Olympics and loved it and going to a games in progress would be awesome, we'll see how those plans progress as right now airfare is freaking CRAZY to china.

The Qualifying tournament was a total bore, which shocked me. With so many of the USA players being young I thought it was a good look at the future, but in reality the most exciting moment of the whole 5 games was the semi-clothed Streaker who ran out on the field during the USA vs Honduras games, bless you Tiffany Nicole May as you allowed the major media to pick up that the USA was even playing a game, cause looking at the attendance at the games in Tampa you would think no one cared.

The other teams joining the USA at the games will be China, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Honduras, Brazil, Argentina, New Zealand, Netherlands, Serbia, Belgium, Italy. The teams will be made up of Under 23 players, with 3 any age players allowed. Brazil is taking this tournament seriously as for their over 23 players folks like Kaka are talked about going to it. The USA has some great under 23 players in Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Eddie Johnson. These games are actually not going to be played just in Beijing but over China in Shanghai and other cities, so scheduling will be tough having to move around.

The one thing I do hope that happens to the USA is that they get their shit together, no need going over there and playing like 11 guys who just met each other in the parking lot.

Get Well soon Eduardo

This past weekend one of the most promising young talented soccer players went down with a horrible injury. I was watching the game live on the Internet so the quality was not that good, plus the injury was so horrible they choose not to show it on replay. Eduardo da Silva was born in Brazil but somehow has Croatian citizenship. It guess its a case of carpetbagging where in Brazil he had 280 million other people to compete with to get on the national soccer team, but Croatia with only 4.4 million people it would be easier to make the national side. Regardless of what country he plays for, the kid at 25 is a supreme talent. This year at Aresnal he was finally coming into his own and has scored some amazing goals. Check out this one below, chest to head to back of the net. Wait till the 28th second for the best up close replay.

Anyway this past Saturday in a game against Birmingham City early in the game in the 3rd minute, Birmingham defender Martin Taylor was going to get smoked so he went in 2 feet studs up and broke Eduardo's leg.. not just your run of the mill broken leg, but a compound fracture and dislocated ankle. There was initial worry that he would lose his foot as the blood circulation was cut off, but thanks to great sports doctors they were able to stablize him before transport to the hospital. I finally saw the full injury last night watching Fox Football Phone-in and its hard to watch. This picture alone at the top of the page is bad..

Eduardo was going to be the star of the Croatian national team at the upcoming 2008 European Championships, but sadly now he will be out for at least 9 months possible more. And with soccer players making their living with their legs and feet there is worry this could be a career threating injury. So lets hope for a good recovery and the chance to see Eduardo work his magic on the pitch again in the future.

Welcome to Freedom Kosovo!!!

Welcome to Freedom Kosovo. Only 2 days into your freedom and those Serbs are acting up again and torching villages and U.N checkpoints, oh how things have not changed even when they are suppose to have changed. For those who are not in the know about things, the area of the former Yugoslavia Kosovo which is made up 90% of Muslim Albanians, and a few violent Serbs. Its been a long dispute since the end of the Balkan war and breakup of Yugoslavia and Kosovo was governed by the UN for a while.

On my 2006 trip I never went to Kosovo and in fact never thought of even going there. I went to 4 other former Yugoslavia countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia/Herzgovinia).. I met a few other backpackers who went to Albanian and one even who wanted to head for Kosovo. I must say I was totally ignorant about the political and religious issues that surrounded the breakup in the Balkans, and still would not consider myself an expert by any means. Yet I had a sense of the tensions and where america stood in that region.

On my worst ever 12hr train ride from Sofia, Bulgaria to Belgrade,Serbia a ride that was suppose to take gosh like 7hrs. I was in a 6 person cabin with 2 cool girls from Spain and a few people from "the area", as I cant understand spoken or written Serbian I had no idea where they were going. All I remember is in the middle of the night at one of the checkpoints when I handed over my American passport, the man in the group of "others" saw the Eagle on the front of the passport and for the next 10 minutes I assume cursed me out in Serbian, the only thing I understood was Bah American Bill Clinton.. Now I thought Bill Clinton was universally loved, but I've since learned in this current election cycle has a bad temper and not quite the way with words, heck as dirty he has played I'm not liking him anymore.

Anyway during the war in 1999, the USA planes bombed Belgrade on a nightly basis, the buildings still have the scars from 500lbs dropped from F-117A Stealth Fighters.

The Serbs were seen by the Western countries as the enemies as Slobodan Milosevic(you might have heard from him) was doing genocide and killing as many Albanians as he could get his hands on. Anyway some of the crimes committed against the people in Bosnia specifically in Sarajevo were what he was on trial for crimes against humanity for when his heart stopped.

My time in Belgrade was amazing yet. I was there for 4 days, 4 of the hottest days of my trip with temps easily approaching 95 degrees in the middle of the day. The people were incredibly friendly, I went to one of the best museums during my trip the Nicolas Tesla Museum, Tesla being the father of modern electricity. Also some wicked party nights on the Barges.

Along with lazy days spent at the fake lake drinking Jelen Pivo(deer beer) and reading the Day of the Jackel.



So overall I was happy being in Serbia. When I left for Bosnia, people were like WHY are you going to Bosnia, so there is still some hatred/dislike between the countries, something I would learn later while in Croatia and the family of a Bosnian young women would disown her as her boyfriend was Croatian.

Anyway what is going on today in Kosovo is no different than years ago, the small but yet powerful/violent Serb minority refuses to recognize Kosovo, yet the USA, Europe, and the UN have recognized its status as a sovereign country, so what do the Serbs do, yep what they do best resort to Violence and burn shit down. This situation could easily escalate to all out war in the Balkans and as the Nicolas Cage character said in the movie Lord of War something to the like of "I’ll reroute the shipment to the Balkans. When they say they’re gonna have a war, they keep their word.” Anyway i hope before shit gets out of hand we can re-draw the borders, find a way to placate the Serbs, or something.. this world already has one Palestine-Israel situation we dont need another.

As for visiting Kosovo, sure next time i'm in the area why not. I mean a city that already has a street named after a living American President is impressive (Boul. Bill Clinton), usually here in the USA we have to wait till they are dead to name anything after them. I've been told Americans are well loved in both Albanian and Kosovo, this image from the night of freedom celebrations should suffice.. Now i just hope they can brew their own beer.. I dont think this will be a problem as Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Serbia all managed to do so just swell..

This man will win the Daytona 500

Ok so i'm not Nostradamus with predictions of sports events, not even close. I have quit gambling on sports for this reason and this reason alone, you might think you know it all, but as it said "this is why they play the games" Anyway I'm a NASCAR fan, despite only have followed it for gosh the 7 years since Dale Earnhardt Sr, died at the 2001 Daytona 500 on the last lap, last turn. What a tragedy in terms of sports events, but thankfully in 1998, he won the race after his 19th try. Before that 2001 race my only thoughts of car racing were the Indy 500. This past year while up in Montreal during the Grand Prix, i learned about Formula 1 racing and followed the sport picking up what I could while following Lewis Hamilton and is quest to be the only rookie, only black dude to ever win the Championship in his first year.

Well this year Its all about Dale Jr, he has already won the Daytona 500 back in 2004, but since then has been mired in what one could call a slump. Last year after running a crappy season with the team that his evil step-mother Teresa owns after it was inherited from Dale Sr, they could not reach a new contract so he left the team. He went over to Hendricks motorsports, the team with the 2-time reigning champion Jimmy Johnson, and the most decorated current driver Jeff Gordon (who along with driving fast cars has a taste for fast hot women!). The team is stacked, and while the concept of a team is over-rated in NASCAR, they have the best staff, best facilities, best engineers etc. Basically they are the Yankees of car racing, and while the Yankees have not had the best success in the past 7 years throwing out the highest payroll team i think for the race tomorrow it will work out.

So far this week, Dale Jr has won his qualifying race, and the Budweiser shoot-out, and today running in a car that he owns, finished a close 3rd place in the 300 mile race at Daytona. I think it all sets up for him to win the big Daytona 500 on Sunday. I'll be watching at 3:30pm EST on FOX, i hope you do also. As someone who used to drive a car on a daily basis, but now currently hates the concept of driving (just move to NYC and deal with parking, buses, potholes, car insurance, traffic, etc and you might feel the same).. so yeah I dont like driving, but the thought of bump drafting at 195MPH on the back straightaway of Daytona is like a rush of blood to the head. So i'll be watching, drinking my Bud 40oz in honor of Dale Jr's last sponsor team and hoping no one gets hurt but in the end we have a finish like 2007. Where Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin by the length of a hood (.02 seconds or 8 feet at the speed they were moving) to win the race, while Clint Boyer finished literally on his head, upside down at 150mph.


Or better yet the 1979 race. This was the first 500 mile race to be broadcast on US TV from start to finish LIVE, and it was worth it. If you don't know the history of NASCAR the 1979 race was won by Richard Petty after the 2 leaders Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed into each other 3 times on the final turn and spun out, letting "The King" Richard Petty come back from over a half lap down to win the race. Oh it was not even over, a donnybrook insued on the infield grass between Yarbourough and the whole Allison family (ok well only really brothers Donnie and Bobby vs Yarbourough).. anyway a great finish spend the 2 minutes of your life below watching the video. Enjoy

Dig a shallow grave and bury the Grammy's

Well one of my passions is enjoying music, and preferably live music at that. I've been a fan of the Grammy Awards for a mightily long time, i remember as a kid with my father being a member of NARAS(National Academy of Recording Arts and Science.. the folks who give the grammys out), I would get to vote on the awards with him. But after last's night show I'm convinced its done and run its course after 50 years. The TV ratings were some of the lowest in history with a bit over 17.5 million viewers. This is pretty sad figuring that American Idol gets like 30 million average viewers. So what its saying is people would rather watch and vote for the next big upcoming star than watch current established stars. The shows has gone without a host for the last 2 years, but still it runs LONG. This year it was scheduled to run 3:30Hrs and ran about 5-10 minutes over, no reason the show should be well over 3 Hours long. But most importantly to me why the show sucked was the level of performances.

In the shallow grave that I'm digging I want to bury the following artists. You can call me a hater, a cynic, or whatever but I just feel these folks dont have much talent plain and simple. Lets start at the beginning

Alicia Keys - Sorry hon, you are going into the shallow grave. While you have sold millions of albums, won tons of grammy's and are beloved by everyone I DONT LOVE YOU. I think you are a very pretty girl, but a talentless hack. I'm not saying I can sing or play piano, but neither can you. You so called classical piano training is nothing more than banging on the keyboard. Your singing is nothing more than Shouting. And you have a habit of ruining songs when you sing with greats. Look at your performances of my boy Prince's "How Come You Don't Call me Anymore" sad.. Your utter low was singing "Black Magic Woman" with Carlos Santana this past year at the Fashion Rocks show. and this last night's duet with Frank Sinatra, well a dude who has been dead for longer than she has been releasing albums.

Kayne West - You go in the shallow grave also, this is a horrible thing to say about you considering you just suffered the sad death of your mother. But having to watch you "perform" for some 7 minutes last night was the last straw. Between you pissy bitch fits when you dont win awards, here last night they gave you 4 awards now go away FOREVER. Take your lit up sunglasses, and never never despite how much you miss you miss your mom try to sing a song for her/about her/to her again, you sounded like a cow going to the slaughterhouse.

Fergie & John Legend - Fergie you have a slamming body, if someone would to put a paper bag on your head, I would do naughty things to you. But your voice it leaves much to be desired, as least its not as bad as your face which looks like its a tranny who used to work in the meatpacking district. John Legend, where can I begin, well other than the fact I don't "understand" you or your talent lets see.. you were born with the last name Stephens who the fuck told you that you are/will/ever be a Legend, you are not, so please go away NOW!!!!

Will I Am - what to say about you, other than you are now offically more annoying than Sean P "Puffy" Diddy Daddy Combs, and that is a hard task to do. You can't rap, you can't dance you can't do anything, so please join your fellow Black Eyed Pea in the grave...

The only good performances from this year's awards were from people over 60 years of age.

We had Tina Turner (age 68) looking and sounding like a vision out of the 60s.. that 1960s that is.

Aretha Franklin (age 65) proves she can sing anything, from a few years ago when she stepped in for Pavarotti and sang a wicked "Nessum Dorma" that made me cry. Well we know you are the queen of Soul, but you wouldnt be out of place in a Gospel Church.. honey i'm waiting on you to do a country album, you can do it!!!

To keep in the tradition of older is better we had Herbie Hancock(age 67) on a Gershwin Tribute that showed folks like Alicia Keys if you want to be called a piano player what you must do. Herbie baby who does your hair?? can I get their number, cause that was a nice full head of hair you have on your head. Its sad that after you won the biggest prize of the night and I was talking a friend who shall remain unnamed thought you played the Axel F theme song from Beverly Hills Cop, that sent my blood pressure up as we all know you played in Miles Davis's 2nd great Quintet, if you havent heard please go and pick up "My Funny Valentine (1964 Lincoln Center)" could be the greatest live album ever..

Last but not least of the senior set we had John Fogerty (age 62), writer of some of the greatest songs in history including the "Proud Mary" that Tina and Beyonce tore up. He got up there with some septuagenarian's in the form of Jerry Lee Lewis (age 72), and Little Richard (age 75), who added a little, just a litle to his great 2 songs performances. Ahh what folks would pay for a true Creedence Clearwater Revival reunion tour, hell if Led Zeppelin can do it, so can you guys.

Just as an example the performers (young) at the 2007 Grammys included the following, Dixie Chicks, Justin Timberlake, Wyclef Jean/Shakira, Mary J Blige, Chris Brown, Christina Aguilera, James Blunt.. that is more talent times 20, than the hacks they brought out this year.. The only talent in this years youth was Rhianna, Carrie Underwood, and Amy Winehouse.

Brush up your music history with some Miles!!

Sports Orgy upcoming

Right now since Sunday its been a sports orgy in my world. Yeah other types of orgys would be better but i'm happy with the sports.. Still high of the Giants Superbowl win, i picked up a copy of Sports Illustrated this week while that cover is great, the 2 page photo of Plexico catching the TD pass that won the game is one of the best sports photos ever, seriously... all the players watching and waiting to see if this is the piviotal moment that they battled and gave their blood, sweat and eventually tears over the last 59:25 for is captured in all its glory...

Anyway, why is it a sports Orgy, well today in less than 50 minutes is the start of England vs Switzerland, the best part about it is that since its a "friendly" and England isnt qualifying or playing for shit the game is on regular cable on FSC(that would be Fox Soccer Channel for those at home keep score). Its rare to see an England game that they dont charge $24.95 for on PPV but since they suck, this game is free. Its worth a watch to see what difference if any the new coach Fabio Capello can make..

More importantly for me, and a reason to get dressed up is later tonight at 9pm EST the USA vs Mexico game, again technically a friendly, there is nothing friendly about these 2 teams when they meet. The game will be played in Houston so of the 71,500 or so seating capacity of Reliant Stadium probably 65,000 will be Mexicans. Still I predict the USA to triumph. Still the USA will win, as the USA is 8-0-1 on home soil against our southern neighbors. Probably like a 2-1 game. It will be great to see Jozy Altidore in a real game, along with a newly matured Freddy Adu.. this could be the future at work folks..

Then after the hangover, early on Thursday is the semi-finals for the African Nations Cup. The noon (in NYC) early game is home team Ghana vs Cameroon. Cameroon has not looked impressive so far, giving up a late goal to Tunisia but then eventually beating them, but any team with Samuel Eto'o has to be feared. Ghana will have the crowd and this dude named Michael Essien could be the best player going right now. The later game 3:30 (again NYC time) is Ivory Coast vs Egypt, this will be a quality game, Ivory Coast team is LOADED with talent, but Egypt are the defending champs. I will probably be watching the late game at a West African restaurant as the internet is not always as reliable and i would hate to miss some of this action.

Enjoy the games!!

The best Superbowl ever!!!

Still recovering from the Superbowl hangover but going to try to sum up an amazing game, amazing night and good time for NY all around. The classic NYC ticker-tape Parade is Tuesday and its something that no other city can pull off, sorry Boston but those stupid Duck Boats are just that, STUPID.

Full disclosure I am a NY Jets fan. I love Gang Green, but for this one day I was a Big Blue supporter. I can easily justify this without being called a fair weather fan for the simple reason of there is not rivalry between the NY Teams. They play each other in the regular season once every 4-5 years. The fans simply don't have ill will for each other. Yet Boston, that city and everything about it folks in NYC hate. The only true rivalry between NYC teams is in hockey, as the Rangers and Islanders really really dont like each other and the Rangers and Devils while not as storied have played some amazing tight games.

I went to a bar with about 7-8 friends, many of whom are die-hard Giants fans, season ticket holders and overall fanatics. The hardest sporting event I ever witnessed on TV that almost gave me a massive heart attack was Game 7 of the 1994 NHL Eastern Conference Finals Rangers vs Devils. To sum up that game Brian Leetch scored an amazing spin-o-rama goal to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Mike Richter stopped everything in sight until with 7.7 seconds left Valeri Zelepukin scored to take it to overtime. Overtime in the NHL is sudden death, so any goal and the series was over, for 2 full 15 minute overtimes my heart rate would race whenever the Devils had the puck. Thankfully Stephane Matteau scored that fluke goal in the 2nd overtime and the Rangers were going to the Stanley Cup.

For this Superbowl game I was worried some of my friends would have the same heart atack. On onto my analysis of what happened in the game.

First off, dont discount the Injury to Tom Brady's foot/ankle/whatever. It was obvious that his mobility was limited, this guy never gets sacked, even when his offensive line breaks down(which doesnt happen often) during the regular season he would have the mobility to evade the pass rushers. Not this time.. For a man used to having a 120lb supermodel on top of him, instead numerous times he had 600lbs of black men on top of him. The same injury issue with Plaxico Burress was true, for a guy who caught everything thrown to him in the Green Bay game in stupid cold weather, he was a non-issue for most of the game, but came up big with 35 seconds left in the game.

Eli Manning while not having a great game, he basically did what he needed when it was needed which is in the 4th quarter. The first TD gave the giants a much needed and deserved lead, the 2nd TD gave them the much deserved win. The fact the Giants had no running game at all, meant it was really all on Eli's shoulders, while I'm not ready to send him to the hall of fame just yet.

Ok enough analysis of the game, as you will read better account from professionals, lets talk about the drinking that I did.. My plan was for 1 pint (Blue Moon) a quarter, so a total of 4 beers, I felt that amount would allow me to think clearly, remember the highlights of the game and not be hung over on Monday. Well I think I had 5 beers instead of 4. After the game the posse traveled uptown to a bar called Scruffy Duffy's that is closing in a few days. It had the feeling of a bar that was closing as the beer selection was limited but they still charged $5 for a freaking Bud Bottle, screw that. Next stop the legendary Yogi's...

Yogi's on 76th and broadway in NYC is one of the best Dive bars in the city. Cheap prices, friendly and beautiful bartenders and country music on the jukebox.. Bad things are smelly bathrooms, but those are tolerable if you are drunk enough. I also liked the $3.25 bottles of Bud, vs the $5 at Scruffys.


Here are the celebratory blue shots for the Giants fans, not sure what was in them, but at this point the night was so good it did not really matter.


Next stop on the celebration tour on the UWS was Bourbon Street, we were shocked that many of the bars on the Upper West Side closed or were empty, thankfully some folks with spirit were at Bourbon Street. The Bartenders were in Giants mood, and dressed perfectly in their Eli Manning and Plexico Burress jerseys. Not sure of their names, it was 3am at this point and not all my functions were functioning properly.



The tickertape parade is tommorrow. hopefully I will have some good stories or pictures to share.

The best 0-0 draw i've ever seen..

In soccer they say a 0-0 draw is like kissing your sister, well this afternoon's game in the 2008 African Cup of Nations between Mali and Nigeria was the best 0-0 game ever. I had to watch it over the internet using P2P software, but despite a few break ups the quality was just fine. I do think I will be going to Little West Africa for the Ivory Coast vs Mali game on Tuesday January 29th.

Tournament favorites and heavyweights Nigeria are now out of the tournament after losing to the Ivory Coast (ok i know the official name of the country is Cote D'Ivorie) and now drawing again Mali, the Super Eagles of Nigeria only have 1 point and i think have no chance of making it to the final knockout round.

Mali might be one of the poorest countries in the world with a GDP per person ranking 166 out of 179, but I give it up to their soccer players for playing with heart and passion. The same passion can be heard in their music, check out any CDs from Malian artists.

They do have what I think is the best soccer jersey in the world, I want one of those as seen up top for sure.

While I thought i was going to root for Senegal in this tournament as its a country I have visited, now I think my spoiler team is going to be Mali. Lets go Eagles!! If you are not watching this years African Cup of Nations you are missing out on some of the best soccer in the world right now. Forget the boring FA Cup, or the Premiership as heck without the African players in England now, the game is boring.. fire up your Sopcast and tune into the African Cup of Nations!!

Weekend at Bernies Part III

You simply can't make this shit up. Folks if this is not the sign the USA is already in a recession I dont know what other than the 4 horsemen riding through the street will tell ya tough times are ahead..

From the NY Daily News yall Let the man Rest in Peace

So for $355 bucks, folks are now arrested and in jail for who knows what crime. And folks are renting places for $1700 in Hells Kitchen for a tiny space, oh no thank you.

Well I guess since the Screen Writers are still on strike, someone needed to come up with new ideas for Sitcoms..


and the NY Times link All the News that is Fit to Print

But on the real, I would rather talk about sports, soccer, drinking, and hot Czech vs Brazilian supermodels right now I dont have much in that aspect. We are all up into elections, recession, housing crash.. I know that the lil bit of money I have in the stock markets is FAR FAR away from the Financials. They are about to take some massive writedowns in the 4th Quarter 2007 earnings. Like over 10 Billion each for Merrill Lynch and Citibank.. If you bought a house anywhere outside of Manhattan in 2007 its going to probably take you 2-3 years just to get back above-water. Real estate is fucked in most of the country, and then in NYC-Manhattan its the opposite shoeboxes with showers in the kitchen cost $500,000 bucks, hell you can't even get a non-jumbo mortgage for that price..

So as one investment bank said in their 2008 outlook, "There will be blood" (in the streets).. Keep your money closer to your mattress than to Wall Street..

Ahhhh now just looking forward to see if Beckham will get his 100th appearance in an England uniform for the upcoming Feb 6th game vs Swizterland.. but more importantly anyone have picks for the Africa Cup of Nations starting on Jan 20th.. I don't know enough about the other teams, other than I'll root for the Ivory Coast, as i love me some Didier Drogba and got plenty of Ivorians living up by me in Harlem...

2007 Tale of 2 Countries: England vs Brazil

Everyone wraps up 2007 in a different way, so i thought I would add my 2 cents to the mix. In 2007 2 countries England and Brazil had totally different years on and off the sports fields. They played each other once on June 1st at the newly opened Wembley stadium, the game was a 1-1 draw, but Brazil scored their goal in the 90th minute in Injury time, snatching what was surely going to be a rousing England victory in their first game at the National stadium.. The rest of the year went decidely in Brazil favor.. Lets start with the England shortcomings, hang on the list is long!!!

England had a horrible year in 2007 plain and simple. Ricky Hatton the only decent fighter of recent memory from England was undefeated going into a match with Floyd Mayweather Jr in Las Vegas, due to the cheap British pound, they flocked to Las Vegas to support their man in droves. As usual they drank the town dry and made buffons of themselves booing the USA national anthem before the fight. Well after Hatton was knocked on HIS ASS not once but twice in the 10th round, they went out to drink some more, probably try to screw some whores and left the USA with their tails firmly planted between their legs..

Lewis Hamilton was a rookie smash sensation on the Formula 1 racing scence for 2007. Never had a rookie won the Season championship for most of the season Hamilton was winning and beating his teammnate and rival defending 2-time World champion Fernando Alonso. Well during the last 3 races of the season Hamilton basically choked, with his first non-finishing performance, and then an 8th place in the last race to lose the title by 1 point. I must say I knew nothing about Formula 1 before my trip to Montreal during the Grand Prix, but I will do my best to stay in tune with it from the start of next year to see if Hamilton can win the championship and the riches and bitches that will go with it!

A sport I know NOTHING about, the Rugby World Cup was this summer. England which won it won the whole tournament in 2003 were underdogs in 2007, but made it to the finals where they lost to South Africa by a score of 15-6, knowing nothing about Rugby, i'm not sure if this is a close game or an ass-kicking, whatever the case England lost..

I've written about England crashing out of the Euro2008 in the qualifying phase, so not much more to say, other than England is not as good as the players or the fans think, they are like the Chicago Cubs, but not as loveable.

Liverpool, 5 times champions of europe lost in the Champions League final to AC Milan. While Liverpool has many foreign players, they are still an English team

In other news, Queen Elizabeth II became the oldest ever serving monarch at a whopping 81 years old, now in power for 55 years her son Prince Charles is wondering if he will ever be King, I think this year he is going to invite his mom Skydiving for her birthday!

The most talented soul singer to come from England in years, Amy Winehouse while this was her breakout year it was not her first album or first year. Yet she became an international star singing about how she won't goto Rehab, well after seeing her walking in the streets like this i think she needs to take her ass to Rehab, let see how she does on the Grammy Awards coming up in a month.

Ok the good coming out of England, well I have to say they have a bumper crop of large boobied glamour models, girls i dig like Keeley Hazell, Michelle Marsh, Lucy Pinder, Danielle Lloud, feast your eyes on them.

Ok now Brazil had a totally awesome year in sports, finance, and naturally supermodels. Lets start out with Brazilian IndyCar driver and 2 time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves winning Dancing with the Stars. Go go Helio and enjoy that young 19 year old partner of yours

Soccer the national passion of Brazil also had a bumper year, they won the 2007 Copa America, the semi annual competition of all the national teams in South America, beating their rivals Argentina in the Finals 3-0. Also the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, yeah I bet you didnt know they had such a beast, but it was held in Rio and Brazil beat Mexico in the finals for another title. Along with winning the right to host the 2014 World Cup, and starting out their 2010 qualifying campaign with 8 points from 4 games, not the best start but easily in 3rd place with still 14 games left to play over the next 2 years.

Kaka (known to his mother as Ricardo dos Santos Leile) won the FIFA World Player of the Year award, along with a champions league crown playing for AC Milan. While many feel he was not the best player in the world, he won, so whatever the powers that be feel he was.

Outside of the sporting arena, Brazil had a great year in the financial markets. The Brazil Bovespa stock exchange was up huge, while its hard for americans to buy stock in Brazil companies not listed on the US Exchanges thanks to ETFs, the ETF that tracks the Brazil market symbol "EWZ" had a banner year up some 76% over 2007. Starting at 46.85 per share it ended the year at 81.00 per share. Check out the graph and wish you had invested at the beginning of the year.

Also Petrobras the national oil company announced the discovery of the Tupi oil field, with an estimated 8 billion barrels of oil, it would be the 2nd largest oil find in the last 17 years. When it is finally pumping oil in 2014 or so, those 8 billion barrels when extracted could be worth over a trillion dollars on the open market. But dont get any idea of invading Brazil, as the USA in a single years uses almost 8 billion barrels of oil, so this would just be a tiny drop in the bucket.

The Brazil currency the Real had one of the best years against the dollar advancing some 17% year to date, while this is great for the country, it makes going to Brazil and enjoying those awesome caipirinha, the national drink of Brazil.. I mean what other country has a designated National Drink??

Brazil also kept their bumper crop of super hot supermodels taking over the Victoria's Secrets catalog and runaway show, gotta give props to Adriana Lima, Alessandro Ambrossio, Isabeli Fontant, Izabel Goulart and all the other hotties. Enjoy

All in all it was a good year for many people, I hope everyone out there reading has a safe and good New Years eve and may 2008 be better for you than 2007.

England demands that Yugoslavia reunite as a country...

Ok its taken me a few days to get all my thoughts together on the disaster in London Wembley Stadium from last Wednesday. I will say i'm sure all bars in the country did a bang up business and no one went to work on Thursday. Basically you can blame the problems on England's national team on many things, but i see as it comes down to the fact nations of the former Yugoslavia beat the snot out of England and caused the loss.


The game itself was a great game, my P2P connection did not kick in well enough to watch till about the 18th minute, by the time that England was already down by 2 goals. While I thought all hope was lost, the half-time substitution of Mr. Golden Balls himself David Beckham can be thought of as saving things. A few points first... What the HELL was the deal with the condition of the field/pitch? for a 1.6 BILLION dollar newly opened stadium the grass looked wrecked, spotty and the cold rain made it play like ice. They love to claim that Wembley is the largest stadium with all the seats covered, ok so great the fans stay dry and the pitch turns into an ice rink. While the first goal was a total disgrace of a goal that Carson gave up, it skipped like a hockey puck at an NHL game. The NFL game was over 3 weeks ago, plenty of time to replace the sod. Next up what is the use of having a lone striker in Crouch if you dont have anyone to deliver the ball to him, it was only when Beckham in the 2nd half could feed him good crosses. Regardless England lost, they are out of Euro 2008, and suspect for World Cup 2010 qualification. Now onto the reasons the breakup of Yugoslavia has been horrible for England.

In 1991 when Yugoslavia broke up as a country and started upon a path towards a genocidal war complete with good old fashion ethnic cleansing it broke into what is now 6 or possible 7 countries(If Kosovo get full independence).

We have Slovenia which feels more like its neighbor Italy than communist eastern bloc russia, I had a blast in Slovenia i recommend anyone to visit there, and if you wanna party check out the nightclub Global and the cute dancing Slovenian girls.

Ok back to thinking after that needless whail tail shot.

Next up we have Serbia which boasts a quality team that qualified for the 2006 World Cup and are no slouch themselves as they did not make Euro2008 but were in a group with Portugal, Poland and Finland all who finished with over 24 pts. As a city the capital Belgrade is a great party city with their barges, but i must say the sight of bombed out buildings that were bombed by the good ole US of A that are still standing years later felt sort of post-apocalyptic movie set.

Bosnia and Herzegovinia is another of the former countries and its capital of Sarajevo is one of the most historic in the 20th century, being the city that Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was shot and killed leading to World War I, and the start of a century of war and death. Most people of my age remember it as the host of the 1984 Winter Olympics featuring american Bill Johnson winning the gold medal in the downhill, a virtual unknown at the time he jumped onto the world scene, take a lesson from him Mr. Bode Miller. Sadly Johnson as i recently saw him on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel has gone thru a whole lot of hell in his life since 1984, sort of like Sarajevo. Sarajevo is a lovely city located in the valley with outdoor cafes on almost every street with great views

It was also the scene of some of the worst crimes during the Balkan war. It has recovered and is totally peaceful now, but yet every mention of the country in the news media seems it has to have the adjective "war torn" before mentioning the name. It has totally since recovered and the women of the town are some of the best dressers i saw in all of eastern europe. Great beer and pizza also, worth a visit but a mid-table soccer team.

Montenegro just became a sovereign country in 2006 and is technically the newest country in the world, in fact which i saw recently on final jeopardy and I knew the answer, yeah sitting at home doesn't win ya anything so big deal. I have no visited, but have talked to people that the beaches on the Adriatic sea are not as crowded as neighboring Croatia, and that the city Bar is up and coming and shit just from the name only sounds like a town I need to visit. People have described it as the next big thing for beach town, so get in there now and buy up as much real estate as you can. As for a football team they have just begun competing in UEFA, so not sure how well they will fare.

Now comes the countries that caused England to stay home Croatia and Macedonia. In 4 games against these teams England managed to earn 4 of a possible 12 points. The worst game had to be the 0-0 draw vs Macedonia at HOME at Old Trafford. In the span of 5 days in October of 2006, this draw and a loss at Croatia and at this point England should have fired Steve McClaren. The next game was not till March 2007, giving them 5 months to get their shit in shape, but nope.

I went to Croatia and while it was one of the countries I was most looking forward to, I must say I was disappointed. I should have managed to travel the extra miles and gone to Split or Dubrovnik. If you are looking for the fun summertime party, DO NOT HEAD to Pula. I arrived in August and it was full on family vacation season, cars from every country in Europe were in parking lots all over town. The Hostel had an amazing location on the water outside of town, but there were no bars really in easy access for nighttime drinking, thankfully the hostel served big liter bottles of beer . The water was the clearest water i've ever seen, but it was one of the rocky european beaches that I dread. Pula the city was great with its ancient roman ruins.


As for a football team Croatia is a top class European side. Their 3rd place finish in the 1998 World Cup surprised everyone, and they qualified for both the 2002 and 2006 world cups. They are in the same group as England again for the 2010 World Cup qualifying and you have to expect them to be the favorite top seed. A second place finish from England in the group would get them into a playoff. Expect great games between England and Croatia for the 2010 qualifying campaign.

FYR Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) is a country that I did not visit and don't know much about the cities. Its landlocked so no beach action, its capital is Skopje, a city that strangely enough I know in my head as my father has played a song called "Nights of Skopje" before. Possibly on a future trip to Greece or Albania I will stop by this country but as of now I dont know enough to talk about it.

So there ya have it, a breakdown of the 6 former Yugoslav countries and my thoughts. They have defeated all the hopes and dreams of England, looking back this might finally get them a good manager and no longer give spots in the starting 11 to old guys who don't deserve it.. can you hear me John Terry, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard???? Next summer the Euro2008 will still be well watched, great games and a blast of a time, even without 50,000 drunken Island people invading the European Continent..

Today is the day for England...

England.. all of England will be glued to the TV in about 3 hours to watch the England vs Croatia soccer match. It costs $24.95 on PPV here in the states, and while I would like to see the outcome, no way i'm paying that so i'm hoping that my chinese P2P bootleg TV hookup works.. BUt one question, Shawn Wright-Phillips??? WHY... you gotta play beckham, he might be old and have lost a step, but he manages to find a way to represent his country at those clutch moments, think Injury time vs Greece..

As for what I expect, I expect England to win somehow, they managed to find a way to pull out a win in there last minute situations, from the Beckham goal vs Greece in 2002, to the win vs Poland in 2006 to make the world cup, they find a way to pull the rabbit out of the hat...

Rooney wont be playing, so you wont have to see this picture... wow the possibilities for the caption for this could be so so many things...

Plus England has to win, so we can have 50,000+ drunken English invade continental europe this summer during the Euro2008.... The other game i'll be watching

Blame it all on Gisele Bundchen!!!!!

The stock market had another bad day today, oil pushed to close to $100 a barrel, Gold closer to $100 and the US dollar continued to sink.. reason why, supermodel Gisele Bundchen and her big mouth..

Seems like Gisele or her agent came out and said she did not want to be paid in US Dollars but in Euros instead. With her currently making some $33 million bucks a year, the 9.1% drop the dollar has against the Euro so far this year, would be oh just under $3 million lost, might be pocket change to the top earning supermodel of the world, but to you and me that could be our lifetime wages! Hell i'm sure Linda Evangelista who claimed to not to wake up for less than $10,000(how bout $10k in loonies you canadian hottie would that get you up?) is wishing she was born about 15 years later, as $10,000 heck I don't even think today's supermodels would bend over to pick that up on the ground, that is one time when if i was walking behind her I wouldn't mind of her not bending over for me!

Well this story made all the news, on every station from some folks calling her unpatriotic(uhh folks she is BRAZILIAN, she just earns her money and fucks her honey in the USA), to a savvy business woman.. naturally all stories got a chance to show her in her bikini, in her victoria's secret, and hey i'll do the same with a pic of her at the beach.. Just for full disclosure, Gisele is not my favorite supermodel(goes to hockey loving Karolina Kurkova), heck she is not even my favorite Brazilian supermodel, with Alessandra Ambrosio getting that nod.

Yet with that news breaking and the constant talk of how the US dollar has sunken, and boy has it ever sunken. Today we get Gold on a mad rush to $1000, probably wont even stop at $900 an ounce, Oil on its way to $100, and the US dollar setting all time lows against the Euro, Canadian Dollar and other currencies. Oh yeah and the stock market had another %2.6 percent tanking on all major averages. For anyone who travels the pain is HARSH on the currency front. Back in 2006, it was costing me about $1.27 to buy a Euro, today its $1.47 or about 15% worse. Who knows what it will be in 2008 when I get back to Europe.

So if today is the beginning of the end with major banks declaring huge losses, GM posting a ridiculous $39 BILLION dollar quarterly write-down, China saying it will think about holding so much of its foreign current reserves in dollars and move to Euros and other more "stable" currencies, we can think of the day the sky fell, as the day Gisele opened her mouth. She just stick to walking around in her thong, and making ungodly sums of money.

2014 FIFA World Cup.. the winner is Brazil!!!

While it should come as no suprise to anyone today it was made offical that Brazil will host the 2014 FIFA World Cup. I say no suprise as FIFA had a stupid rotation system to ensure that each continent got a chance to host it. So we went from Asia, to Europe, next up Africa and then South America. Yet for the South American bids, no country other than Colombia even put together a real bid, and they dropped out back in April, so it was just a matter of pulling the one name out of the hat that was in the hat. Yet it was made official today.
Now i'm extremely excited for this on many reason. First Brazil is near or at the top of my list of countries to visit. I know I will get there way before 2014, and realistically if things go well, by 2014 I hope to have a vacation home in Brazil, and be speaking Portuguese. Yep its that special of a country, between their smarts to get Energy independent back during the 1970s oil shock, to the bevy of just insanely beautiful super models, to its Football/Soccer tradition, this is a country on that on the upswing. In fact I think i'm going to buy some shares of ticker EWZ, the iShares NYSE ADR that tracks the performance of the Brazil stock market, heck by 2014 at the current kick ass rate of return, a small $1000 investment might pay for your whole World Cup trip.
While the 2010 South Africa World Cup is seemingly right around the corner, heck many nations have started their qualifying campaigns already, I'm just not as excited about that world cup. The 22hr flight from USA is a killer, plus their issues with crime, lack of infrastructure, etc still have me believe that the World Cup will be pulled from there in a few years. While i've recently read that stadium construction is going well, with the poverty and issues that Africa faces, one must honestly think could that money be better spent for clean drinking water, AIDS programs/prevention/drugs, hospitals, education, transportation etc. Yet the USA squad for 2010 is something you can start to take shape in your head now, with players like Altidore, Adu, Feilhaber, Bradley, Howard all having shines recently and only getting better in the next 3 years.
Brazil while the country is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, will also have to do some work. The fact that it is the 5th largest country in the world in area and population, transportation is going to be an issue. Brazil never developed a rail system, and the road system is shoddy at best. The country surely will use this chance at the world cup to start to work on these systems. With a booming growth in exports, they can use better roads and rails, way before and after any soccer games are played. Right now the best means of transportation thru the country is by planes, and with 2 large catastrophic plane crashes in the last few years, even this system is not up to standards.
The distances between potential host cities is LARGE as you can see in this map I made with cities in consideration marked. FIFA will narrow these 18 cities, down to between 8 or 10, but still some trips might be over 1,200 miles between cities and currently taking buses might take up to 2 days for some of these trips. Yet with a soccer-mad nation, and recent success in hosting the Pan American Games, and always in the running for a summer Olympics, I know Brazil can do it!!!

View Larger Map

If Anyone is still out there.. yeah i know it sux...

If there is anyone still out there reading this blog, yeah i know it has sucked of late. simple reason, no travel this year.. I've been to Montreal twice, and while I have enjoyed some fine Canadian Beers, long with others from around the world, montreal is no Slovakia(where a pint of great beer could be had for about 75 cents) in terms of beer prices. Its not uncommon to spend $7 CAD on a draft beer at any bar, with the current exchange rate the lowest in 30 years, as it now takes about $1.02 US to get a Canadian Dollar... so all the things that have been cheap in the past in montreal, from lap dances to beer are now insanely expensive.. Yet the city itself is affordable to live in, with rents way way below $800 a month...
Anyway, so yeah until I can get to travel more, this will probably be a slowly updating blog.. I do drink plenty of beer while at home in NYC, but I want to write about the same places, same drinks, same folks that make up weeks in NYC..
Yet travel will be coming soon.. Summer 2008 plans are being made for a whirlwind trip starting in Europe hitting some of my favorite countries, and possibly a few new ones.. with stops in the middle east, asia and untimely ending up in China for the Olympics.. that trip should provide many many drinking possibilities...
My current issue before the trip, is with the qualification for the Euro 2008 soccer championships nearing a close, is who to root for to make it, and who to support. The games are being held the month of June in Austria and Switzerland, and with all big soccer tournaments should be a blast. So far the teams that are in are Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, and Romania.. Yet some big name powerhouse teams are on the bubble. England has to win vs Croatia later in November and get help from Russia and Israel. While i would not root for England, if they dont make it, its going to be a rather big story in europe and england.. also the federation is going to miss out on an expected 100 million POUNDS in revenue they would get from the TV, Radio, etc rights. A fun team to support would be Scotland, as they are having a good run of luck, but losing in Tbilisi, Georgia last week was a tough blow and now have to face Italy in Glasgow, but also will need help to get in... Norway would be a nice choice to make it, they have a tough game vs Turkey, and I could root for Norway fairly easily... anyway once the 16 teams are in, a decision will have to be made on who to support...
Alright.. just wanted to write something, so people would know i'm still alive and around...

The Road to the Century Club(100 Countries)

The United Nations lists 192 Member Countries, FIFA the world football federation lists 208 countries. If you average it out you get 200 countries, so by visiting to 100 of them, you can say that you have seen half of the world. FIFA has more countries listed as they break up the United Kingdom to its 4 home nations(England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland). Also FIFA recognizes places that while many would say are sovereign nations, under the U.N are considered as commonwealths or other properties, places such as Puerto Rico, East Timor, Macau, Guam, U.S Virgin Islands, Taiwan can all attempt to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, but are not fully sovereign nations. The Traveler’s Century club lists a ridiculous 315 Countries, but many of these are just Islands in the middle of nowhere, yet with their very generous definition of a country they have many members who have been to all 315 countries.. I’m just trying to get to my first 100, after that I’ll worry about the next 100.

Ok so I am going to go with the FIFA list, as well since Soccer/Football is the world’s most popular sport and I’ve seen it played basically everywhere from a beach on Goree Island off the coast of Dakar, Senegal to huge packed stadiums in Germany. Also the FIFA list is grouped beautifully by region, so lets have a crack at where I’ve been, where I want to go and when I think I’m going to get there!! In Alphabetical Order, here we go.Coutries already visited will appear in Italics.

It will take a while to go thru all 208 countries, so some patience please, but unlike the Brackets(which will be revisited sometime soon), this is going to get done at a decent pace. Why? Well cause all summer being stuck in NYC, I’ve been thinking a lot about travel and this is a good way to get my thoughts out..

Today’s Segment is the formally known as the FIFA West Asia Region, or basically to most folks these make up the Middle East Countries.

Bahrain – Ok this small island nation is right off the coast of Saudi Arabia. You might have heard its name in the news cause after Michael Jackson was found not guilty by the state of California but told “Don’t let us catch you in bed with little boys anymore” he escaped off to Bahrain, where he could probably do whatever he wanted with no worries. Bahrain is listed by Lonely Planet as one of the best introductions to the middle east, as its liberal, modern but yet retains its arab heritage. They host the F1 Grand Prix race in early April, and after my recent experience having fun in Montreal at the Grand Prix up there, this would be a great time and reason to Visit Bahrain. With plenty of flights into the airport from all over the region, and currently building a bride all the way to Qatar, that at 28 miles long it will be the longest fixed link in the world. This is a possible destination for me in 2008 if I manage to do a round the world trip. Plus one of the few middle east countries to allow anyone to drink a beer!!!

Iraq - Ok this has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. Its possible one day this country will be split into 3 countries, Kurds, Sunni, Shia regions. At that point there might be some peace and quiet. Yet there is NO chance I will be visiting Iraq anytime soon. Plus you can’t get a beer there legally as it’s a dry country!!

Jordan – Recently in the news as Petra was named one of the 7 New Wonders of the world. Most of us just know it as a scene from the Indian Jones and the Last Crusade move. Known as a very safe middle east country as all the US News bureaus use Amman as a base and launching point to get back and forth to the USA. Royal Jordanian airlines has joined OneWorld, the alliance that American Airlines is part of. Plus an amazing roman amphitheatre in Amman that looks stunning and still hosts concerts and other events. There is a very good chance in 2008 if I stop in the middle east that I’ll get to Jordan.

Kuwait – This is the poor little country that got invaded in 1990 by big bad Saddam Hussein and started the USA into the mid east hell we are currently stuck in. This is a popular country for US workers as contractors in construction, oil service and other industries. While I have no plans to get here, again it’s a dry country, I did meet a cool American working there on a break when I was in Estonia. While he was making good money and staying at the Four Seasons, the fact there was no drinking and no sex to be had was driving him crazy. Sorry Kuwait for those reasons I think I’m going to pass on ya!

Lebanon – Beruit, Beruit!! From talking to fellow backpackers I’ve been told this is the most happening, party spot in the middle east short of Tel Aviv. Even in summer of 2006 when the war started, at night folks when out in their finest clothes and partied up, I like that spirit. Between the beautiful coast, the stunning women, and good nightlife party scene I will definitely be in Lebanon hopefully sometime in 2008!!!!

Oman – This middle east country looked great on the various episodes of the Amazing Race that its been featured on. Yet it’s a little off the beaten path when you see where it is on the map. Yet Muscat the capital is suppose to be a tourist hub, the the coast has some beautiful beaches on the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman. A little out of the way, so no plans to get there soon, but not ruling it out by any means.

Palestine – FIFA calls this a country with a team that competes(and loses) in Asian soccer events. I think of this as a pawn in the middle east peace process. I enjoy having 2 arms, and 2 legs, so no plans to risk them by visiting Palestine.

Qatar – Doha is the capital, and has gotten recent attention as host of the successful Asian Games and a potential candidate city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. While drinking is mostly banned for local, expats and foreigners are allowed to drink here. While it would probably be more fun to have a Heineken in the Netherlands, or a Corona on a Mexican Beach, its still a beer, and would have to do since there is no local Qatar made beer. If the Bridge from Bahrain is ever completed I would love to ride across that bridge and say yep I was on the longest fixed link in the world. Plus the airport in Doha is a major hub for the middle east, so yeah there is a good chance Qatar will be on my list in 2008. If I knew much about natural gas, there is always a chance of getting a job here. But I think the burning hot summers, and lack of local beer would steer me away from here.

Saudi Arabia – Suppose to be the USA friend and ally in the middle east, I think they still have a very repressive society. Plus no drinking. Sorry not going to support a country that was home to 15 of the 19 hijackers from the 9/11 attack. No plans.

Syria – The USA does not even want to talk to Syria in terms of peace talks as G. W Bush feels they are EVIL doers. I’m not so sure how safe it is here, so going to have to pass on this country.

United Arab Emirates – Dubai! Dubai!! While Dubai is only one of the 7 Emirates that make up the UAE it gets all the love. This is a definitely stop, I’ve never been skiing in my life and there is a good chance the first time I ski it will be indoors in Dubai, while its 122 degree outside. While everyone else goes to Aspen to ski, hell I’m going to Dubai.. Definite stop on the 2008 world tour!!

Yemen – From what I hear still dangerous as a terror hot spot. Yet going to any Bodega in NYC and you feel like you have visited Yemen already. With no plans to join Al-Qaeda anytime soon and it being off the beaten path on the map, I have no ploans to get there righ tnow. Yet I will give Yemen its props for being the link between people migrating from Africa 50,000 years ago went to the Middle East and Asia.

So at the end of today's list we listed 12 countries, with 5 of them hopeful for 2008, so far off to a good start. Thats all for today folks, next up the East Asia Zone.