Blogs & Ecology

Egyptian blogger Mostafa Hussein visits Cape Town, South Africa, and pens this eye-opening article on Muslims and race.

Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has been chosen as the International Athletic Foundation's ‘Athlete of the Year'; regional bloggers congratulate him.

Nzhinga has been trying to persuade her young son that he should study and not rely on becoming a famous soccer star; after all, he might get injured and not be able to play. But her son has a solution. Jihad: “I know what I'll do! My wife will have a job.” Me: “What? What kind of man just lets his wife pay everything?” Jihad: “Well she was there when I made the money, she should help me out now that I can't play soccer.“

On Nov. 15, Slovak prime minister Robert Fico and his Hungarian counterpart, Ferenc Gyurcsány, met in the border town of Komárno, Slovakia, in an attempt to ease nationalist tensions that have escalated due to Nov. 1 football game violence in Dunajská Streda, Slovakia.

Eva S. Balogh of Hungarian Spectrum has been blogging a lot recently about the Slovak-Hungarian relations, and here are some of the highlights.

Yuko Shimonakamura at Yuko no Jinsei to Tigers [勇皇の人生とタイガース] comments with enthusiasm [jp] on the birth of a new baseball heroine, Eri Yoshida, the 16 y.o. high school student who will likely debut as a pitcher in the Kansai Independent League (関西独立リーグ) starting next spring and will play together with her male colleagues. Like many other bloggers [jp], Shimonakamura-san is forward to admiring the feats of the “new Yuki Mizuhara”, whose specialties include the “knuckleball” and the “underhand pitch”.

Anguillian Don Mitchell takes a trip to his Alma Mater at Mount St. Benedict in Trinidad.

“Couch career? Don't count on me, I would rather career as a blogger”, said Brazilian football player Romário. Cocada Boa [pt] announces that he has just launched his blog and speculates on the 10 reasons for the star to start to have done so.

Roy Rojas of The News Star [es] to support the Costa Ricans who will be competing in the Central American and Caribbean Special Olympics.

Egyptian Blogger Zeinobia mentions that Egypt will host the under 20 World Cup championship from the 25th of September to 16th of October 2009, following an announcement made by FIFA.

A fan of the Paraguayan football club Sportivo Luqueño recently died at the hands of rival fans. Mabel Rehnfeldt of El Dedo en la Llaga [es] is placing the blame on the clubs' management for looking the other way when dealing with supporter groups.

Photo by JMRobledo and used under a Creative Commons license

The Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia writes about the most famous Slovaks.

Palestinians made their own football history, being the only team - in the words of one blogger - with a stadium but no country.

Palestinian Haitham Sabbah is bubbling with excitement and pride as he types:

At last, Palestinians now have a new way to express their national pride - through soccer.

Delving into history, Sabbah explains:

Many bloggers were shocked last week to learn that a young Moroccan man had been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for what seemed like such a minor “crime.” The young man, a Barça (FC Barcelona, a soccer team) fan, allegedly wrote “God, Nation, Barça” on the blackboard at his school. Morocco's motto is “God, Nation, King.”

Although FC Barcelona has already announced [es] they will support the young man and take whatever action is possible, precious little is known about his case.

Laila Lalami offers up information:

Football governing body, FIFA has suspended Kuwait from all international matches and activities because of the government interference in the affairs of the football federation, reports Mark, from Kuwait.