Ahhh for those who thought we've gotten too quiet....well you ain't seen nothing yet !( OK am bad at plagiarism as you can see...). Well it's been a quiet week for me but I couldn't help be set on some thinking by various sporting events;
1. As if by coincident, SportsKenya had carried an article about doping and it's sudden resurgence in sport only for it to get another kick from a sports legend (don't stone me yet...she is on the wrong side of the divide right now ! And I ain't crucified her yet) to come out and say she's sorry for what she did 7 or so years ago. OK for starters, I feel nothing for her. She ought to have known the consequences of her actions so shedding tears in front of the cameras, she ain't seen nothing yet.
Let me jog her memory to 1987 to one Ben Johnson who was caught twice using banned substances he was decimated by the heaps of bad press. Now here in this time and age, someone decides first to lie to a court, then go around and say no she's sorry. Then admits guilt in an offence she'd been trying to cover up...oh she will be so buried by the sports organisations and Press alike.
2. Being an election year in Kenya, we're bound to have enough drama on all fronts as people get promised and others promise paradise unlimited. I had said it here earlier,sports is a unifying factor all the reason why people like Hitler tried to swing it their way and even popular dictators like Mussolini and Idi Amin of Uganda managed to get their countrymen to perform well in major sporting events under the rules. But it goes beyond that, for sports to have a lasting impression, it must go beyond the rhetoric, populist statements and such nonsense. So when one former Kenyan national team player and a host of former footballers decided to endorse some presidential candidate for reasons stated as improving the game and some immaterial reasons, I was left bemused by the whole episode. For the uninformed, even Pres. Bush can't touch the US' equivalent of the KFF ! FIFA has consolidated its power so much that football federations across the world operate like fiefdoms for the officials involved. In as much as you'd want to dissolve and endorse your own officials, FIFA has the last say on the going-ons of football in a country. And anyway, most of those goons who call themselves Kenyan football officials have made quick retreats and gone into politics as some familiar 'euphoria' grips the nation. Ask Najib Balala, Ochillo Ayacko and now Maina Kamanda what they haven't tried !
3. Watching the Rugby World Cup as it reaches the penultimate stages of the semi-finals, I was shocked to some extent to watch the top seeds being bundled out. It was like child's play watching the New Zealanders fumble with the ball against the French and the Australians lacking that crunch play that is always characteristic of the Southern hemisphere nations as they got 'kicked' by their nemesis Johnny Wilkinson. As a friend of friend of mine would say, we haven't barked the tree yet so don't salivate about the timber yet. New Zealand keep its trend of being the top seeds on paper and going into the World Cup and again being bundled out so unceremoniously. Well now let's wait and see what the remaining powers in the semis will do. I surely hope that this won't be a boring Final like in the last 3 World Cups, but again who am I humouring ?
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