Hi all, this was on the Supersport website this morning and written by Peter Davies!!! Needed to share this!

Dear World Cup visitors,

Now that you are safely in our country you are no doubt happily realising you are not in a war zone. This may be in stark contrast to what you have been bracing yourself for should you have listened to Uli Hoeness or are an avid reader of English tabloids, which as we all know are only good for wrapping fish ‘n chips and advancing the careers of large-chested teens on page three.

As you emerge blinking from your luxury hotel room into our big blue winter skies, you will surely realise you are far more likely to be killed by kindness than by a stray bullet. Remember that most of the media reports you have read, which have informed your views on South Africa, will have been penned by your colleagues. And you know what journos are like, what with their earnest two thousand word opuses on the op-ed pages designed to fix this country’s ills in a heartbeat. Based on exhaustive research over a three-day visit.

Funnily enough, we are well aware of the challenges we face as a nation and you will find that 95% of the population is singing from the same song-sheet in order to ensure we can live up to our own exacting expectations.We are also here to look after you and show you a good time. Prepare to have your preconceived notions well and truly shattered.For instance, you will find precious few rhinos loitering on street corners, we don’t know a guy in Cairo named Dave just because we live in Johannesburg, and our stadiums are magnificent, world-class works of art.Which is obviously news to the Sky TV sports anchor who this week remarked that Soccer City looked ‘ a bit of a mess’. She didn’t realize the gaps in the calabash exterior are to allow in natural light and for illumination at night, and not the result of vandalism or negligence.The fact that England, the nation which safely delivered Wembley Stadium two years past its due date, is prepared to offer us South Africans advice on stadium-readiness should not be surprising.

The steadiest stream of World Cup misinformation has emanated from our mates the Brits over the past couple of years.If it’s not man-eating snakes lurking in Rooney’s closet at the team’s (allegedly half-built) Royal Bafokeng training base, then it’s machete-wielding gangs roaming the suburbs in search of tattooed, overweight Dagenham dole-queuers to ransack and leave gurgling on the pavement.In fact what you are entering is the world’s most fascinating country, in my opinion. I’m pretty sure you will find that it functions far more smoothly, is heaps more friendly and offers plenty more diversions than you could possibly have imagined.In addition to which, the population actually acts like human beings, and not like they are being controlled by sinister forces from above which turns them into bureaucratically-manipulated robots.Plus we have world’s most beautiful women. The best weather. Eight channels of SuperSport. Food and wine from the gods themselves. Wildlife galore. (Love the Dutch team’s bus slogan: “Don’t fear the Big 5; fear the Orange 11”).

Having said all that, Jo’burg is undoubtedly one of the world’s most dangerous cities. Just ask those Taiwanese tourists who got out of their hire car to take close-up snaps of tawny beasts at the Lion Park a few years back. Actually, ask what’s left of them. And did you know the chances of being felled by cardiac arrest from devouring a mountain of meat at one of our world class restaurants has been statistically proven to be 33.3% higher in Jozi than in any other major urban centre not built upon a significant waterway? It’s true. I swear. I read it in a British tabloid.

Having recently spent two years comfortably cocooned in small town America, I’m only too aware of how little much of the outside world knows about this country. The American channel I used to work for has a massive battalion of employees descending on World Cup country. It has also apparently issued a recommendation to its staff to stay in their hotels when not working.Given that said corporation is headquartered in a small town which many say is “best viewed through the rear-view mirror”, I find the recommendation, if it’s true, to be utterly astounding. In fact I don’t believe it is true. Contrary to the global stereotype, the best Americans are some of the sharpest people in the world. The fact they have bought most tickets in this World Cup proves the point.

Of course I have only lived in Johannesburg, city of terror and dread, virtually all my life, so don’t have the in-depth knowledge of say, an English broadsheet journalist who has been in the country for the weekend, but nevertheless I will share some of my observations gleaned over the years.Any foreign tourist or media representative who is worried about his safety in South Africa should have a word with the Lions rugby fans from last year, or the Barmy Army cricket supporters (lilywhite hecklers by day, slurring, lager-fuelled lobsters by night). They managed just fine, just like the hundreds of thousands of fans who have streamed into the country over the past fifteen years for various World Cups, Super 14 matches, TriNations tests and other international events.

Negligible crime incidents involving said fans over said period of time.Trivia question: which country has hosted the most global sporting events over the past decade and a half? You don’t need me to answer that, do you?

In addition. Don’t fret when you see a gaggle of freelance salesmen converge on your car at the traffic lights (or robots as we like to call them) festooned with products. You are not about to be hijacked. Here in Mzansi (nickname for SA) we do a lot of our purchasing at robots. Here you can stock up on flags, coat hangers, batteries, roses for the wife you forgot to kiss goodbye this morning and a whole host of useful merchandise.Similarly, that guy who runs up as you park the rental car outside the pub intends no malice. He’s your car guard. Give him a buck or two and your vehicle will be safe while you refuel for hours on our cheap, splendid beer. Unless someone breaks into it, of course.

We drive on the left in this country. Exercise caution when crossing the road at a jog-trot with 15 kilograms of camera gear on your back. Exercise common sense full stop. Nothing more. Nothing less. If you want to leave wads of cash in your hotel room like our Colombian friends, don’t be surprised if it grows wings.Bottomline. Get out there and breathe in great lusty lungfuls of this amazing nation. Tuck into our world-class food and wines. Disprove the adage that white men can’t dance at our throbbing, vibrant night-clubs. Learn to say hello in all eleven official languages. Watch at least one game in a township. You will not be robbed and shot. You will be welcomed like a lost family member and looked after as if you are royalty. Ask those Bulls rugby fans who journeyed to Soweto recently.With a dollop of the right attitude, this country will change your life.

It’s Africa’s time. Vacate your hotel room. Join the party.Waka waka eh eh.

Awesome advert/mini story from Nike with some of the top footballers from around the world! A lot must have gone into this production as it tries to provide some possible insight into what could be going on in the footballers minds during a game.

Write The Future from Nalden on Vimeo.

Think Rooney’s possible bleak future is the best!

And still footballers get paid ridiculous amounts of money to perform, wonder if they go to the same school as WWF wrestlers go to?

Thanks to Jason Bagley and Obox for pointing this clip out!

Besides Usain Bolt’s storming run last night to smash his previous 200m record of 19.30, Usain Bolt quickly became a trending topic on Twitter and snapped up thousands and thousands of views on YouTube.

If you missed the race last night, watch it below – simply amazing, looks like kids trying to race an adult!

Ok, we all by now know that I am a fan of Lance Armstrong (did you see how he managed to get back to the lead group yesterday, awesome!)

Anyway came across this video of him giving the smack down to a cheeky reporter, take a look!

The reporter is Paul Kimmage from the Sunday Times in the UK, dude you really suck for what you wrote about Lance!

Talk about taking things to the ultimate social integration… Lance Armstrong and the LIVESTRONG team are on the ball and hats off to them. Apologies for soo many posts on the guy, really look up to the guy and what he’s done and what he’s doing for cancer sufferers around the world!

Watch the video and see what you can do via Twitter to get your personal message written onto the roads in France to inspire Lance to push harder and achieve his goals and hopefully encourage you to push HARDER to reach your goals! I know I need to do a lot more exercise to curb the rising weight plus launch my new sites I’m working on!

You can send a message to the @chalkbot Twitter account or go to their website here.

While I was studying and rowing at Rhodes University we really didn’t have too many good feelings for the UCT Rowing Club who were our arch rivals back then… what made it worse was that they were in Cape Town and they would pick up all the castings for rowing adverts.

The advert below paid for the guys rent for the whole year and they don’t even really feature in the advert… and this was back in 2003 or something. I went to UCT in 2004 so just missed it.

Wow, what a race… from the start of the race I really thought Cambridge had the better rhythm and desire to win the race as even though Oxford had the first corner they managed to remain level and even pull ahead coming into their big corner.

Cambridge managed to pull ahead here by a length and really looked good but then Oxford counter-attacked and took the rating up to 40, I couldn’t believe they took it up so high and Cambridge didn’t respond. Don’t know if their cox didn’t pick it up or if they couldn’t, heard on the TV that she asked for one more pip but that was only picking it up from 34 to 35 while Oxford was rating at 40 strokes per minute.

Oxford easily took a length lead then and going into the final corner through Barnes Bridge had the advantage. When you go up on a crew in a Boatrace you can just sit there and push away from the crew, suddenly you don’t feel so tired and you just love every second of it. Oxford did that and looked so relaxed then with their stroke and Number 7 giving them an awesome rate.

Think they ended up winning by 6lengths, that is heart breaking for Cambridge but Oxford had one guy in their crew at 6ft 8 and the other at 6ft 9 – that is just crazy! All I need to do now is grow a bit…

For those of you who don’t know and most of you should know about it, its the biggest amateur sport and draws millions and millions of viewers – its the rowing race on the river Thames in London stretching just over 6.5km. It draws some elite oarsman to race against each other who start training on the 1st September for the one race.

A friend of mine, Sam Pearson, was in the Goldie Crew in 2006. This Goldie crew is Cambridge’s 2nd eight that races against Oxford’s 2nd VIII just before the main race. Just to make this crew is no small matter.

Currently a friend of mine from Rhodes, Andrew Craig, who won the Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University has been in the Oxford squad for this years race. Unfortunately he didn’t make the B crew (Isis) due to injury and joining the squad late but he has been there back up and here is an email I just received from him:

Three days to go and you can all imagine that the pressure is mounting. Last week there was an injury in the Isis boat, so I spent the whole week filling in in the two seat. It was excellent experience and we were able to make some good progress, and clock some fast times, in spite of having to reshuffle the order a bit. Justin is now fit and ready to go, and from here on in we are all holding thumbs that everyone stays healthy until the race.

There has often been a informal spare pairs race, which, when it takes place, sees crews race from the Mile Post to the start a few days before the main event. Because I had been in the eight the whole of last week, our coach decided that we shouldn’t race this year, as he felt that having not spent enough time in the boat, it made no sense to go out and hack around in a unprepared combination. A little disappointing not to race, but at the same time, it probably wouldn’t have been that much fun anyway.

For some reason, people involved in the Boat Race have an absolute fascination with the weights of the crews. Even in 1829 they had the vision to work out the average weight (in stone and pounds, naturally), so that 180 years later some statistician could get busy and throw all sorts of numbers at people who follow the race. I think the figures say that roughly two-thirds of all the races have been won by the heavier crew.

This year’s weigh-in saw Oxford break the record for the heaviest crew ever, lining up with an average of 99.7kg a man. Cambridge tipped the scales at 96.1kg a man, which is the heaviest Light Blue crew in history. The lightest men in each crew make a bit of a mockery of the weigh-in hype. Colin Smith, at 87kg for Oxford, is an Olympic silver medallist, while Rob Weitemeyer, the bow of the Cambridge eight, just 79kg, won a bronze medal at World Champs in the M4- for Canada in 2005. So there you go, the number crunchers are happy that they have some new figures to play with, but at the end of the day it will all depend on who makes their boat go faster (as is always the case in rowing).

Conditions on the river have been pretty appalling most of this week, with some seriously rough water being served up. All of the crews have pumps fitted to their boats in case of bad conditions. The worst of the water usually comes just after Hammersmith Bridge. Predictions so far are for sunshine on Sunday, with some light wind, so I wouldn’t take the bookies’ long odds on a sinking.

Dan Topolski (the coach in 1987, the year of True Blue) is still involved with the Oxford squad. His official role is coxing coach, and so he is down on the Thames whenever we come to London to help the coxes learn as much as possible about the river. They are looking to take the shortest line around the bends, but also to stay in the stream as much as possible. I’ll be surprised if the commentators don’t mention the “second lamppost from the left” that is the supposed best line under Hammersmith Bridge.

The basic recipe for the race is that the crew on Middlesex (on your right if you were umpiring the race) has the first bend in their favour. The Surrey crew then gets a long bend that begins before Hammersmith Bridge and carries on to around Chiswick Steps. After that the advantage swings back to the crew on the Middlesex station.

http://www.theboatrace.org/article/image/243/full.jpg

The last two races have been won by crews on Middlesex, by managing to keep in contact until the end of the Surrey bend and then moving away. Even though last year Oxford won by more than six lengths, they were still half a length down after more than ten minutes of racing.

This year’s race will be umpired by Boris Rankov. He won six consecutive races for Oxford from 1978-83. He also rowed in one losing and one winning Isis crew. His eight appearances led to the so-called “Rankov rule”, that no oarsman shall row more than four races as an undergrad, and four as a post grad. People say that he has forgotten more about the Boat Race than most people will ever know.

http://www.theboatrace.org/article/introduction/featurejanuary07/umpiring

Last weekend our squad went to Henley to support the women, lightweight men and lightweight women in their fixtures against Cambridge. Here the crews race the Henley regatta course in reverse, a shorter race, but still the focus of their year’s training. Oxford won both the women and lightweight women’s races, but lost the lightweight men’s event; the first time since 2001.

The broadcast in SA is on Supersport 1 from 6-7:30pm (delayed for some reason).

Cheers,

Andrew

Here is a video clip of last years race:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WpPmA5uTL4&hl=en&fs=1]

Good luck to the guys racing, I’m not quite sure who I support anymore – used to support Oxford but then Sam rowed for Cambridge so met quite a few of the guys there and supported them and now Andrew is at Oxford… think I’ll support Cambridge as Oxford won last year!

About 20min I got a message via Twitter than Lance has fallen during the Castilla and Leon race in Spain and has been taken to hospital.

Its possible he has a broken elbow…

Sad news, hope it doesn’t effect his come back too much!