Back on the radar... And here we go again!!!

Well, I'm well and good... Probably 10kg more heavier after feasting without a break during the festive break. Phew! And I complained about my dad's purchase of last minute ayam kampung, which turned out to be tougher than an old cow's meat!!

Anyway, the Raya break was to spend time with those friends from childhood, which I usually neglect during normal days. And of course, as was the case since our days as kids, there was hours of talk about sports. A bunch of us still talk about the fate of the football team we worshipped during our school-going years - Selangor. Yea, yea, I know everybody is into just EPL and nothing else these days. Nobody even gives a wink to our local football anymore, more so because it has been screwed beyond recognition.

But hey, when we were little kids, saving up our pocket money (or begging our parents for extras) to take the bus all the way to the Klang Bus Stand in KL and the adventurous trek through the dark alleys and the discovery of shortcuts to and from Stadium Merdeka, were the highlights of our weeks. Plus the joy of watching guys like the late Mokhtar Dahari, R. Arumugam, Khan Hung Meng, Santokh Singh, and later the likes of Zainal Abidin Hassan, Dollah Salleh, Zainal Nordin (captain marvel to us), K. Gunalan, that high-scoring leftback with a thunderous drive A. Jayakanthan (we knew him for the threatening overlapping runs even before the likes of Roberto Carlos came into the picture), ... I can go on and on and on...

Not anymore... But not because we've lost our love for it. It is because we dream of bigger things, which our 31-time Malaysia Cup winners, we don't think, are capable of anymore. Like winning the AFC Champions League?

Well, I made my own findings on Malaysian football during my time as a so called football writer, which kind of angered a few people. I won't go on because I don't want to rattle any egos by writing about football since it isn't my beat anymore. I'll just do a posting on my view as a football fan shortly, maybe.... For the moment, we'll get back to matters closer to my heart at this present time.... Like cycling...

Then, after quite a clean Olympics then shit began to hit the fan again in cycling as Stefan Schumacher banged home the final nail in the Gerolsteiner team's coffin when he tested positive for blood doping before and during the Tour de France... Yup, here we go again...again and again... As was reported here.

That comes after the Tour organisers ASO, called for a second string of dope tests for Cera, the third generation EPO that got Ricardo Ricco and Leo Piepoli busted while on a dominant show during the Tour, that had me so pissed, I stopped following the race...

Just as a show of support for the fight against doping, I did get my simple project as the South East Asian delegate of the International Association of Cycling Journalists (AIJC) started this year.

I got the organisers of the Jelajah Malaysia to carry a public service message at the start and finish lines of all stages of the race this year. It read "Say no to doping. Keep Asian Cycling Clean." It wasn't much but I don't think any race in Europe or anywhere else in the world have carried any message like that. At least it was an effort to inform cyclists that we know of the threat of cheating and we don't want it to creep into Asia. We'll carry on doing it, although we do know that the cheats have a head start and everybody else in trailing well behind.

Anyway, to those who are still enjoying yhe break, Selamat Hari Raya again... Preparing myself to get back to the mad world.