The answer lies, in the heart of battle...
Well, happy new year ladies & gentlemen but I'm now doing my 1st blog of 2022 starting with the cricket (Remember everything is about the cricket during the summer while rugby is not so much except in the northern hemisphere now that the rugby season is already over meaning that the cricket season has taken over this summer) that Australia (Coached by former test player Justin 'Alfie/JL' Langer while Alex 'Cez' Carey made his test debut in the 1st Ashes test followed by South African born player now playing for Australia (Along with Marnus 'Marn/Marney' Labuschagne (There has been a bit of South African flair throughout the Australian, English & New Zealand cricket squads) but England has Dawid Malan is the only South African born test player playing for England (The other was Jason 'Jas/J Roy' Roy who plays limited overs cricket for England & they used to have the late Anthony William 'Tony/Griegy' Greig (Who was an excellent commentator when his playing days are done & is one of my favourite cricket commentators along with the late Richard 'Richie' Benaud & William Morris 'Bill' Lawry), Allan 'Lamby' Lamb, Kevin 'KP' Pietersen, Andrew Strauss, Michael Lumb, Jonathan Trott & Craig Kieswetter but New Zealand has Devon Conway (Whose nickname is Dev which is a homage to the great Indian all-rounder of Kapil Dev), Glenn 'GP' Phillips & Neil 'Wags/Waggy' Wagner & used to have Grant 'The Hairy Javelin' Elliott, Colin 'Col Munners' Munro, Kruger van Wyk & recently retired Black Cap Bradley-John 'BJ' Watling (There was once an All Black originally from South Africa named Greg Rawlinson but don't forget that there was Durban born Andrew 'Mehrts' Mehrtens as well but the All Blacks has always had a pacific island flair ranging from the 3 pacific island nations of Fiji, Samoa & Tonga (Perfect examples like Va'aiga 'Inga The Winger' Tuigamala & of course the late Jonah Lomu as Pops told me today) while Usman 'Ussie' Khawaja is an Australian of Pakistani origin then Ish Sodhi who is originally from India who plays for New Zealand & Ben Stokes who is originally a Kiwi, now playing for England compared to Jofra Archer who is an Englishman now after being originally from Barbados which is part of the West Indies & of course Imad Wasim is a Pakistani born in Wales which is part of England), Michael Neser in the 2nd Ashes test) led by their new test skipper Pat Cummins who took over from Tim Paine got off to a flyer to go 1 - 0 up in the 1st Ashes test against England at the Gabba in Brisbane (Which will host the summer Olympic Games in 2032 (32 years after the last time Australia had hosted the summer Olympics where Sydney hosted it in 2000 & it takes place 4 years after the American city of Los Angeles, California in 2028) by 9 wickets (Travis 'Trav Heady' Head was the standout performer in that game when he top scored 152 in the 1st innings but the test match will always be remembered as Australian opening bowler Mitchell Starc (AKA 'Mitch Starcy' who is the husband of Alyssa Healy (Niece of famous Australian cricketer & commentator Ian (Known as Heals (He shares the same nickname as his niece Alyssa (Who I label her as 'The other Heals' compared to New Zealand golfer Ryan Fox whose nickname is Foxy (Or more like 'The other Foxy') similar to his dad who was once a former All Black, Grant & another female Aussie cricket of Ellyse Villani who shares the same nickname of Junior as former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh (Twin brother of Steve & uncle of Austin (A former under 19 cricketer for Australia similar to South African Thando Ntini (Son of a famous cricketer from South Africa, Makhaya) & former NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt Jr (Son of the late Dale Earnhardt) & is one of the commentators of the recently released Cricket 22 game along with Michael 'Mike Athers' Atherton, David 'Lord' Gower, Melanie 'Mel' Jones & Alison 'Ali' Mitchell) & one of the big three of Australian women's cricket such as Meghann Moira 'Meg' Lanning (Who is the skipper) & Ellyse Alexandra Perry) but there is a family affair in the Australian women's cricket team aside from Alyssa Healy such as Ellyse Perry (A female cricketer who used to be a football/soccer player) who is the partner of Wallaby rugby player Matt To'omua & there's a young White Fern named Amelia Kerr (One of the big 3 of the White Ferns compared to the Aussie big 3 of Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning & Perry along with captain Suzie Bates & WBBL winning player for the Perth Scorchers, Sophie Devine) who has a young partner who plays rugby union for both Wellington & the Hurricanes named Ruben Love) bowled English opening batter Rory Burns on the very 1st ball of the test match then Pat Cummins picking up 5 wickets on his captaincy debut (The 1st since Anil Kumble (Who is one of 3 cricketers to claim all 10 wickets in an innings during the test along with the late Englishman Jim Laker & Mumbai born Black Cap of Ajaz 'Jazzy' Patel (Who took 14 wickets of the match & was one shy of the all time New Zealand record set by Sir Richard 'Paddles' Hadlee (Son of the late Walter & brother of Dayle) did against Australia in Brisbane in 1985 when he picked up 15 wickets in a entire test match) most recently) of India while Courtney Walsh was the last pace bowler to take a 5 wicket haul as captain before Cummins) but there has been an update as the Aussies (Who were without Cummins who had tested positive for COVID-19 allowing vice captain Steve Smith to be at the helm again for Australia (His 1st since 2018 in which he was involved in sandpapergate along with David Warner & Cameron Bancroft as I mentioned before in my previous blogs) who were once again dominant against the English to lead 2 - 0 in the Ashes series after an epic, action packed day-night test (Known as the pink ball or rose test) at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide (Marnus Labuschagne top scored 103 in the 1st innings while in the 2nd innings that Jhye Richardson had picked up his 1st ever 5 wicket haul in test cricket but Labuschagne had been awarded as the standout performer of the 2nd Ashes test) but there is also been an update in the Boxing Day test as Australia have successfully defended the Ashes test series against England (The Australians are now 3 - 0 up in the series after the Boxing Day test & the ongoing story behind the success of Australian cricket in the Ashes continues (They have held the urn since they won it in 2018 in the 5th & final test in Sydney before retaining it in 2019 (A year after the ball tampering scandal involving the Aussie cricket team in South Africa which shocked the cricketing world) despite the last Ashes test series ended in a draw & it has been a roller coaster year for Australian cricket after they struggled last summer as they lost to India in the Border-Gavaskar trophy (Known as the AB-Sunny trophy) test series with Justin Langer's job as head coach of Australia was on the line before this summer but 1st, they had a magnificent but drastic turnaround as they triumphed in the T20 World Cup when they beat their Trans-Tasman rivals, the Black Caps of New Zealand in the final in Dubai in the UAE & now they complete a successful defence of the Ashes after victory against England in the Boxing Day test as well as the 3rd Ashes test (The Aussies were successful in the 1st 2 tests against the English in both Brisbane & Adelaide before Melbourne) to clinch it with both tests to spare (The remaining games are now in Sydney & Hobart (Originally Perth but had to be replaced by Hobart as a result of COVID-19 omicron in the Western Australia area) as the urn remains in Aussie hands after winning by an innings & 14 runs (Scott 'Scotty' Boland made his test debut as the 2nd male indigenous player for Australia after Jason 'Dizzy' Gillespie & was the standout player of the Boxing Day test for his 6 wickets for 7 runs in the 2nd innings but the match had been overshadowed by a positive corona virus test by one of the family members & support staff of the England cricket team yesterday (Although all players from both camps returned a negative result last night but day 2 had been delayed as a result) on Pat Cummins return to the side in his 2nd game as captain of Australia in the test format therefore capping off a year in style (And I will add updates on the next 2 remaining Ashes cricket tests if I want to but I saw a Facebook comment about me watching the Boxing Day test on TV which is 'C'mon Aussie C'mon' but I was like 'What! I never back Australia' but honestly I back England in the Ashes because of my family roots since I support both countries in cricket such as New Zealand & whoever was playing against Australia).
And in motorsport news such as one of Scott Dixon's Chip Ganassi Racing teammates of Alex Palou (A young 23 year old from Spain (A former Super Formula driver) known as the Sant Antoni de Vilamajor kid or the kid from Sant Antoni de Vilamajor who is Indy Car's equivalent of twice Formula 1 world champion of Fernando Alonso (Oveido in Spain is his birthplace compared to Lewis Hamilton's birthplace which is in Stevenage in the UK while Heppenheim in Germany is Sebastian Vettel's birthplace & Max Verstappen's birthplace is in Hasselt in Belgium but competes under the Dutch flag (Along with Michael Schumacher's son Mick who was born in Switzerland but is competing under a German licence (And unlike our very own UFC MMA fighter Israel Adesanya is Kiwi but is fighting out of Nigeria) Who is Palou's idol when he went on to win back to back Formula 1 World Championships in both 2005 & 2006 as well as the Spain's one & only F1 world champion & Carlos Sainz Jr (Son of twice World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz) but unlike in America where they had the 1st African American president of Barack Obama (He's of Kenyan descent but his birthplace was Honolulu, Hawaii who took over from George W Bush (Bill Clinton's predecessor as well as the son of the late George H W Bush & former governor of the state of Texas) & they nearly had its 1st female president should Hillary Clinton (Who missed out to Donald Trump before Trump was defeated in 2020 (1st since George H W Bush in 1992 as he lost to Bill Clinton in the US general election) in the hands of the current US president Joe Biden (The former vice president) be elected as president of the United States in 2016) has become the 1st Spanish driver in history to win the Indy Car series title (Although the rookie of the year award went to our very own 3 time Supercars champion (From 2018 until 2020) from New Zealand of Scott 'Scotty/Scotty Mac' McLaughlin (And it's not only the success of New Zealand motorsport this year as Shane 'SVG' Van Gisbergen (Who is a Kiwi of Dutch origin but his Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate as well as 7 time Supercars champion & 4 time Bathurst 1000 winner Jamie 'JDub' Whincup who had bid an emotional farewell to the sport when he competed his final full time Supercars Championship race at the mountain compared to the late Peter 'Brocky/Peter Perfect/King of the Mountain' Brock way back in 1997) is now a 2 time Supercars champion (He 1st won the Supercars championship title in 2016 & now this year to go with his Bathurst victory in 2020 with Australian Garth 'GT' Tander (A 4 time winner of the event (It was in 2000 with Jason 'Bargs' Bargwanna, 2009 with Will Davison, 2011 with Nick Percat & 2020 with van Gisbergen) but unable to follow it up last year as Chaz 'Chazzie' Mostert is now a twice Bathurst 1000 winner (He 1st did it in 2014 with Paul 'The Dude' Morris a year before he had a serious crash in which he was sidelined due to injury during qualifying & now he's done it with Lee 'Leethal' Holdsworth (Who will return to full time racing this year teaming up with 2017 Bathurst 1000 winning driver David 'Davey Dave' Reynolds) after successfully winning the annual Bathurst 1000 touring car race last month in a Holden which was considered the quickest car to triumph at the great race when he & Holdsworth started on the pole after dominating in the top 10 shootout) who came in 2nd behind fellow countryman of Dixon at the 1st race of the double-header at Texas Motor Speedway but beat the likes of 2 fellow rookies such as ex-F1 driver of France named Romain Grosjean & former 7 time NASCAR Cup Series champion (Along with 'King' Richard Petty & the late 'Intimidator' of Dale Earnhardt Sr) who is coincidentally one of Dixon's teammates of Jimmie Johnson) signalling Indycar's next-gen takeover followed by Max Verstappen (Son of Jos (Who used to be an F1 driver as well as he represented his country in the now defunct A1GP series) who made his debut in a Toro Rosso (Now AlphaTauri (The constructor that both Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Who was the surprise winner in Italy in 2020 after Hamilton got pinged for pitting when the safety car came out & the pit window was closed) & Japan's Yuki Tsunoda races for) in 2015 in which he was the youngest F1 starter at 17 at the Australian Grand Prix as well as becoming the 1st F1 driver born in the 1990's to win the world championship & is the 4th youngest F1 world champion ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi but behind Alonso (Sebastian Vettel currently holds the all time record as the youngest F1 World champion (Hamilton is 2nd on the all time list behind Vettel & ahead of Alonso) of Red Bull Racing (His 1st win in F1 came in 2016 in Spain in which he drafted in as replacement for Russian driver Daniil Kvyat (Who returned to Toro Rosso after being fired from Red Bull at his home race in Russia for causing a collision on 4 time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel (Who raced for Ferrari at the time before moving to Aston Martin (Formerly Racing Point which was the surprise winner along with AlphaTauri (And last year it went to both Alpine (In which Frenchman Esteban Ocon won in Hungary) & McLaren (In which Australian Daniel 'Danny Ricc/The Honey Badger' Ricciardo won in Italy) at the Sakhir Grand Prix in 2020 (Hamilton was sidelined due to COVID-19 with George Russell of Williams (Who will now be at Mercedes this year with Hamilton as a replacement for the Alfa Romeo bound Bottas), drafting in as replacement) with Sergio Perez at the wheel (Now Perez (Who is now Verstappen's teammate) is with Red Bull that he races now) last year) & he has been with the constructor since) who is now the 1st Dutch driver in history to win the Formula 1 World Championship (I still don't follow F1 that much because of the halo except when playing the F1 games on the PS4) after winning the season finale which was a title decider in Abu Dhabi where he overtook the 7 time Formula 1 World Champion of Lewis Hamilton (He 1st did it in 2008 with McLaren then moved to Mercedes in 2013 a year before winning back to back F1 titles 2014 to 2015 then losing the title to his ex-Mercedes teammate & rival of Nico Rosberg in 2016 before he dominated from 2017 until 2020 (In which he equaled the all time record set by Germany's Michael Schumacher) until Max Verstappen ended Lewis Hamilton's 4 year reign as Formula 1 world champion with the 2021 F1 season similar to 2005 (Schumacher's only win in 2005 was in America that I remember watching the race in the morning before going to secondary school during my Ruapehu College days when only 6 cars fitted with Bridgestone tires took part in the race similar to a Gran Turismo Playstation game in which 6 cars took to the track after all cars fitted with Michelin tires opted to pull out after one of the Toyota cars crashed during a practice session (Although the race fans attending the Grand Prix were jeering by giving them raspberries & they weren't happy about it when the F1 constructors fitted with Michelin tyres elected not to take part in the race) when Hamilton was a bit like Michael Schumacher as the master while Verstappen played the role of Fernando Alonso when Alonso ended the 5 year dominance of Schumacher (Even though the talented Schumacher racing family (Which consists of Michael, Michael's brother Ralf as well as Michael's son & Ralf's nephew Mick & Ralf's son, Michael's nephew & Mick's cousin David (Who was named after the famous British/Scottish racer of David Coulthard (A relative of Supercars championship racer Fabian from New Zealand who is the second cousin of David) name is often compared to both the Andretti's (Which consists of Mario (1969 Indy 500 winner (That was the only triumph by the Andretti family at Indianapolis so far in 1969) & 1978 Formula 1 world champion (The last American F1 world champion (Compared to the late Gilles's son, Jacques Villeneuve was the last non-European F1 world champion before since 1998 that F1 has been dominated by European drivers (Mika Hakkinen (One of 3 Finns along with Nico's Finnish father Keke Rosberg & Raikkonen) won back to back titles in 1998 & 1999 followed by Michael Schumacher (One of 3 Germans to win the world championship along with Vettel & Nico Rosberg (A Finnish-German) & the most successful German F1 driver) in 2000 to 2004 then Fernando Alonso (The only Spaniard to win an F1 title) did it like Hakkinen in 2005 & 2006 before Kimi Raikkonen (Who was recently retired from Formula 1) took over in 2007 followed by Lewis Hamilton (The most successful F1 driver from Britain) in 2008 then Jenson Button in 2009 before Sebastian Vettel (The 2nd most successful F1 driver from Germany behind Schumacher & ahead of Nico Rosberg) took over to win 4 F1 world championships in a row from 2010 to 2013 then Hamilton again in 2014 & 2015 followed by Nico Rosberg (The most recent German F1 world champion as well as the 2nd son of a F1 world champion to win the title (The 1st was Damon Hill (Son of the late twice F1 world champion Graham) in 1996) in 2016 before Hamilton took over from 2017 until 2020 & now Max Verstappen most recently last year), Mario's son Michael (1991 CART champion), Mario's grandson & Michael Andretti's son Marco as well as Mario's now late twin brother Aldo & a few relatives such as the late John (Who passed away in 2020 due to a terminal illness who is the nephew of Mario), Jeff (Brother of Michael as well as another one of Mario's sons, uncle of Marco & cousin of the late John) & Jarrett (The late John's son) & the McRae's (Which consists of Jimmy, Jimmy's late son Colin (The 1995 World Rally champion (1st British driver & only Scottish driver to win the WRC crown followed by the late Richard Burns who is the only World Rally Champion from England & the most recent British driver to win the World Rally Championship in 2001) who tragically passed away in a chopper crash way back in September 2007 (2 years after Richard Burns passed away) & another one of Jimmy's sons & the late Colin's brother Alister) back in 2005) then missing out last year in which he lost the F1 crown to the new king in F1 of Verstappen (If Hamilton had won his record breaking 8th F1 world title, he would've solidified as the sport's GOAT (And what went wrong for Hamilton to lose both the race & the title? Well, to start with, he got overtaken by his main title rival on the very last lap of the championship which proved to be the game changer/turning point & cost him a big chance in a title deciding race billed as winner takes all in terms of the decision in which he lodged a complaint to the Australian race director Michael Masi in which Hamilton embroiled in a feud with Masi whether Verstappen had gained an unfair advantage after the safety car period had been expired (And it looks like Mercedes are in fact slower under the new cost saving measures compared to Red Bull which had the quicker car but however, Mercedes had managed to win the constructors title despite missing out on a driver’s championship (And it was the 1st time had been happened since 2008 when Ferrari had won the constructors championship, but Lewis Hamilton (Who was racing with McLaren at the time) eventually won the title when he overtook German Timo Glock in the Toyota during the last lap in Brazil to finish 5th which was won by a Brazilian of Felipe Massa (Who missed out on the title & was one of the greatest drivers in F1 history to have never won a world championship (Unlike French born Brazilian driver (Who was a Indycar rookie of the year award winner in 1995 as well as a dual CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) champion in 2000 & 2001 & winner of the 2003 Indy 500), Gil de Ferran, who was one of the 50 greatest drivers to have never raced in Formula 1 along with the late Canadian racer of Greg Moore (Who was due to drive for Penske in the 2000 Champ Car season with Gil de Ferran (Who left Walker Racing after the 1999 season) as his team-mate (It was Helio Castroneves who took over Moore's seat for the 2000 season after Moore got tragically killed during a CART race at the California Speedway), but that never happened due to the tragic accident that Moore had on the very last race of the 1999 Champ Car season (Unfortunately for Moore, he tragically passed away as a result of serious injuries he suffered in a crash) in the Ferrari but however, Max Verstappen's form has led many to mark him out as the future successor to Lewis Hamilton as the sport's number one driver (Compared to Alonso as Schumacher's successor), & has set up an explosion of Formula One interest in the Netherlands) during the final lap of the title deciding race (Verstappen did a Alex Zanardi (Who lost both legs in a crash during a Champ Car race in Germany in 2001) moment from 1996 in which he overtook Bryan Herta (Who is the father of current Indy car driver Colton (Who was one of the championship contenders during the 2021 Indy car season along with Mexican Patricio 'Pato' O'Ward & of course Palou who eventually became the new Indy Car series champion sponsored by NTT in the end but if Michael Andretti had taken over Alfa Romeo, Colton Herta would've got that race seat to team up with Valtteri Bottas but now Zhou Guanyu (Who will partner Bottas (Who raced for Williams from his debut in 2013 until 2016 in which he replaced the retiring world champion Nico Rosberg to join Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton's teammate from 2017 until last year & is now found himself racing at Alfa Romeo from this year as a replacement for the recently retired F1 driver, the 2007 world champion, Kimi 'The Iceman' Raikkonen (They'll be 4 world champions lining up in the F1 grid for 2022 (3 former (Such as Alonso, Hamilton & Vettel) & 1 current (Now Max Verstappen) & is China's 1st ever Formula 1 driver) has now taken over that race seat after the takeover deal had eventually been cancelled) on the infamous corkscrew turn on the last lap of an Indy Car race at Laguna Seca in which Zanardi won & took his rookie of the year honors (One of his teammates at the time of Jimmy Vasser had been crowned the new Indycar champion in 1996 beating the likes of other championship contenders such as Michael Andretti (Who had a disappointing result during the race) & Al 'Al Junior/Little Al' Unser Junior (The son of the now late Al Unser & missed out on a win in Road America in 1996 after his car's engine completely blew on the final lap of the race handing victory to Michael Andretti) to seal the title (Both Max Verstappen & Hamilton were tied on equal points going into Abu Dhabi but Verstappen has had the advantage with the most victories during the season at 9 (Now 10 since he won both the race & the world championship last year in which the 2021 F1 World Championship season was considered to be the best F1 season ever of all time) compared to Hamilton's 8) & has become the most successful racing car driver from Holland since Arie Luyendyk won the Indy 500 (Which was won by Brazil's Helio Castroneves last year who is now the most successful Indy 500 winner in which he won the event 4 times (The most by a foreign driver) along with the 3 Americans of A.J. Foyt (1961, 1964, 1967 & 1977), the now late Al 'Big Al' Unser (1970-71, 1978 & 1987) who recently passed away & of course, Rick Mears (1979, 1984, 1988 & 1991) in 2001 - 02 then 2009 & now last year) twice in 1990 & 1997 but will be able to run car number 1 next year as he follows in Sebastian Vettel's footsteps in 2014 (Unlike Lewis Hamilton (Who is a influential, iconic global figure in sport along with Tom Brady (An American football/gridiron player from America who is a 7 time Super Bowl champion (6 with the New England Patriots & once with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), LeBron James (A Basketball player also from the US who is a 4 time NBA champion (Twice with the Miami Heat & Once with both the Cleveland Cavaliers & the Los Angeles Lakers) & Virat Kohli (A cricketer from India who is a 50 over Cricket World Cup winning player for India in 2011) kept his car number for his world championship winning triumphs along with Valentino Rossi (The great Moto GP rider from Italy), Marc Marquez (The most excellent Moto GP rider from Spain), van Gisbergen, McLaughlin & Ott Tanak (The Estonian rally superstar) but I wonder the headlines would probably say after Verstappen's triumph in Abu Dhabi: VERSTAPPEN DETHRONES HAMILTON AS NEW F1 WORLD CHAMPION or more like SUPER MAX IS THE NEW F1 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. And I mean what a disappointing way for one of the sports all time greats of Lewis Hamilton who came agonizingly close & had fallen short of winning a record 8th F1 crown like this, what a race for our viewers right around the world.
And in COVID-19 related news such as the Australian state of Western Australia have already declared a state of emergency (There has been a setback as the 5th & final Ashes test will be played at Blundstone Arena (Bellerive Oval) in Hobart instead of the new Perth Stadium in Perth due to the shutdown that they have declared (They will have to spend a fortnight in MIQ (Managed isolation quarantine) upon arrival during the state of emergency) but the Premier League football in England could be suspended in wake of the Tottenham Hotspurs players testing positive as well as the Real Madrid (Who are league leaders in La Liga) players due to the omicron variant has reached across both the UK & Ireland already (And some players from the NBA, NFL & NHL have failed a COVID-19 test but the NHL (Who suspended its season until January 10th in Canada but they should split into 2 regional competitions such as one for the American teams dubbed as NHL USA & the other for the Canadian teams known as NHL Canada & the fans would've been happy if the competition is split into 2 so that the teams have less travel around the American-Canadian border unlike in both Super Rugby Aotearoa & Super Rugby AU competitions (I was having a discussion with Pops today on Christmas day about it) won't send its front line players/big guns for their country to the Winter Olympics in Beijing without paying a financial penalty (The players would have to spend a total of 5 weeks in MIQ on arrival as a result) after a passenger arrived from either Denmark, Germany or South Africa picked up the omicron variant (And there was a person arrived from Australia to New Zealand also contracted the virus which is less serious than the Delta strain but we are now on orange (Which is alert level 2 & a half under the new COVID-19 framework which was introduced from the 3rd of December) as well as the borders have opened up between the Northland, North Harbour, Auckland & Counties Manukau areas & the rest of the country since the 15th of December) but I heard it from today's newspaper that there's 11,000 confirmed cases in New South Wales in Australia (There was a person possibly arriving from Western Australia (Which is still under state of emergency shutdown as of today) picking up the omicron variant) compared to the 5 million in the American state of California (Our figures here are low compared to both NSW & California), it seems that more people are getting infected from a serious disease such as COVID-19 which still haunts us forever especially around the world during our difficult, harsh, tough times.
And in news related to the rock music industry such as the Foo Fighters have now been inducted into the rock & roll hall of fame joining the likes of Pearl Jam, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica (Who I was a huge fan of that band back in 2007), Aerosmith, AC DC (I was also a huge fan of that band along with Metallica in 2007 but now I'm just an average Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Incubus & A Perfect Circle fan compared to Leon Benbaruk (Who I am meeting tomorrow (Pops is taking me there along with Carole) along with his Swedish Kiwi partner Michelle Johansson (Who I call her Chelle or MJ now as her 2 new nicknames compared to Jennifer Morgan who is now JMorgs & my second cousin Ben's partner Sanne (Once known as Robina before legitimately changing her name) who is now known as Sann (Formerly Robbo) & CJ (Carole's American friend known as Ceej) always being a Pink Floyd fan (And he supports Liverpool FC compared to my best friend who I haven't seen since 2017 of Sophia Ong (Mother of her son Shaia now as well as the sister to Amelia (Younger sister) & Jason (Brother) & she's the eldest daughter in her family to her parents Alex (Father) & Evelyn (Mother) who is a huge Manchester United fan (And her favourite rock bands are 3 Doors Down, Korn, Linkin Park (Used to be back in her UCOL days) & Nickelback (One of my favourite Canadian rock bands) & me being both a Chelsea FC (My favourite English football club) & FC Barcelona fan (My favourite football club) but never owned both a Filter & Shihad album (Which the 4 albums (Both from Filter & Shihad respectively but come in second hand) are on their way as one of my Christmas presents that I requested to Aunty Tania via email), the Rolling Stones, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana (That's Grohl's old band during his days as a drummer before the band had been dissolved in wake of the tragic passing of their lead singer & primary guitarist, the late Kurt Cobain (Who had once been together with Hole front woman Courtney Love & has a daughter named Frances Bean (Compared to Paris Jackson who is the daughter of the late Michael Jackson who passed away in 2009) way back in 1994), Green Day, U2, Queen & Guns N Roses (Well, to name a few but GNR is my mum's favourite rock band) although the lead singer of the band, Dave Grohl (Who recently released an autobiography called Dave Grohl The Storyteller: Tales of Life & Music (That Carole's son Andy has now got but Ben's favourite Foo Fighters song is Stranger Things Have Happened compared to Everlong which is my favourite song from the Foos). But this autobiography is about from taking grunge into the mainstream with Nirvana to helming the Foo Fighters and growing into a beloved elder statesman of alternative rock (And this one is about Grohl as he is a rock legend reflecting on his career because of that book is an extremely well-written love story to music) is now a double inductee (1st with his former band Nirvana as the drummer & now most recently with the Foos as the front man & one of the guitarists) but now I have 15 rock albums in my room including 3 from Shihad (Which is by far my favourite Kiwi rock band of all time & my 6th favourite ahead of Filter but behind A Perfect Circle) which I've got now, 2 from the Red Hot Chili Peppers followed by the Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Incubus & Filter & only 1 from both A Perfect Circle & Dire Straits (In which I liked the album so much because I was so impressed & I asked Pops I did not know he had a Dire Straits album (Even though Dad (Who used to be a FC Barcelona supporter like me but changed allegiances to Paris St Germain (PSG) because of the star Argentinian footballer Lionel 'Leo' Messi (A Copa America winning player for Argentina most recently last year who used to be a Barcelona player until his move to PSG (Which features the likes of Neymar (Messi's teammate during his FC Barcelona days & Olympic gold medalist for Brazil in Rio in 2016), Kylian Mbappe (A World Cup winning player for France most recently in 2018 who played against Messi at the last Football World Cup in Russia when the French played against the Argentinians in the round of 16), Sergio Ramos (Ex Real Madrid player & Football World Cup winner in 2010 for Spain) & Gianluigi 'The other Gigi' Donnarumma (Former AC Milan player & a European Football Championship winning player for Italy most recently in 2020 (The tournament was held last year instead because of the COVID-19 pandemic that they had in 2020) currently playing that club now) was a huge fan of Dire Straits back in the 80s & he was hooked into Mexican food so much during his days in America in 1982-83 with Pops (Who had a Fulbright when he went to America with his family), Aunty Tania & the late Nan (Well, I'm always both an Indian & Italian food lover compared to Dad who loves Mexican food a lot) but I used to like both Andrea Bocelli & Cafe de Paris & I thought I was going to listen Edith Piaf, Lou Bega, the O Brother Where Art Thou movie soundtrack, Roger Miller & the Topp Twins but I've decided not to now as a result because I prefer rock music (And I'll listen to Dire Straits if England win either the Football, Cricket or Rugby World Cups but if New Zealand win either the Cricket or Rugby World Cup, I'll be listening to Shihad but listening to these rock tunes remind me of a rave party in Namibia where they play rock instead of house or techno music).
And so many sporting events to look forward to this year apart from the corona virus such as the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the People's Republic of China (The last time Beijing hosted the Olympics was in 2008 during the summer Olympics) followed by the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England (Originally going to be held in Durban, South Africa but it has been moved to Birmingham in England) then the Rugby League World Cup in England (It was due to be held last year but it changed it to this year because of the troubles caused by the pandemic but the most successful rugby league playing nation of the Kangaroos of Australia have been the current holders since they successfully retained the RLWC when they won the last edition in 2017 against England in the final at Lang Park in Brisbane), the T20 World Cup in Australia (Where the Aussies will have a chance to defend it on home soil a year out until the next 50 over Cricket World Cup in India (England are the current holders going into the tournament in 2023 (Same year that the Rugby World Cup will take place in France (South Africa (Who are one of the All Blacks main challengers (It's up to 5 compared to 3 (Australia, Ireland & South Africa) before the last Rugby World Cup in 2019 (Same year that both Springbok Rugby World Cup winners in 1995 of James Small & Chester Williams who sadly passed away (They joined 2 other players such as the late Ruben Kruger who passed away in 2010 after a lengthy battle with a terminal illness then the late Joost van der Westhuizen in 2017 from MND & the coach of South Africa in 1995, Kitch Christie in 1998 due to a terminal illness just like Kruger but Christie was even a cancer sufferer since he 1st diagnosed it in 1979 until his passing 19 years later) of the 2023 tournament along with Argentina, Australia (The Wallabies), hosts France & of course Ireland (And I hardly mentioned England in terms of the test matches outside of the Rugby World Cup (They last beat us outside of the World Cup in 2012 but the last time New Zealand played England outside of the RWC, it was in 2018 in which we won the test (Including the English thought that they scored the match winning try but the try had been disallowed by the TMO as a result of Courtney Lawes in which he was adjudged to be in an offside position by charging down the kick from New Zealand therefore costing England a chance of sealing a win (And they had to wait a year before they rolled over the All Blacks in the semifinal of the last Rugby World Cup in 2019 (And I remember that I had to stop watching after the 39th minute when the AB's were trailing & after the AB's had famously been defeated (1st time at a Rugby World Cup since 2007 against France in the quarterfinal stages of the tournament), I wouldn't watch the final but if the AB's had won, I would watch the final) but they could be main challengers since they beat us in the infamous semi in 2019 compared to the Springboks main challengers of the 2023 Rugby World Cup are in fact the Wallabies of Australia, England & the AB's of New Zealand) go into the tournament as defending world champions & tournament favourites since they're currently ranked the best rugby playing nation in the world during recent times after previously winning their 3rd Rugby World Cup title in 2019 (Their 1st came in 1995 followed by 2007 & most recently in 2019 as I mentioned before) after winning the last 50 over Cricket World Cup in 2019) after dominating in the final against the Black Caps of New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai in the UAE last year (And the only time Australia lost a 2021 T20 World Cup match, it was against England (Who lost to both South Africa in the group game & New Zealand (The nation that Australia beat in the final along with Pakistan (Who the Australians defeated in the semi) in the opening group game) in the semi final) in the group game (Unlike the Springboks at the most recent RWC in 2019 where the only time that they lost a match during the tournament before going on to become world champions after prevailing against the English in the final was against New Zealand (Who England beat in that infamous semi) in an opening pool match) & of course the most important which is the Football World Cup in Qatar (With the current holders of the Football World Cup, France (Twice world champions in 1998 (It was against the Brazilians in the final on home turf at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis in which they thrashed them by 3 goals) & most recently in 2018 when they famously beat Croatia by both goals in the final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia) looking to become the 1st football playing nation since Brazil (The 5 time world champions who haven't triumphed since 2002 after previously winning it in 1958 as well as 1962 in which the last time that they famously retained the Football World Cup then 1970, 1994 & of course 2002 (Their most recent triumph) & is the only football playing nation to have appeared in every tournament since its beginning in 1930 (Both the 1942 & 1946 tournaments were eventually cancelled due to the war) in 1962 to successfully defend the Football World Cup title & have secured qualification at the next Football World Cup along with Euro 92 champions Denmark (Who lost to England in the semi final of Euro 2020 under controversial circumstances at Wembley Stadium (Venue for much of Euro 2020) in London), Euro 2020 runners up & 1966 winners England, 2010 winners & 3 time European football champions (1964, 2008 & 2012 along with 4 time world champions Germany (1954, 1974, 1990 & 2014) who won it on 3 occasions in 1972, 1980 & 1996) Spain & Switzerland (Who have never missed a Football World Cup since 2002) but the defending 2 time European champions (1968 & 2020 (It was played last year due to COVID-19 that had happened in 2020) & 4 time World Cup winners Italy (Who have done it in 1934, 1938, 1982 & most recently in 2006) will have another chance of making it to Qatar via the UEFA qualification playoff after missing out on top of the Football World Cup European qualifying group because it went to the Swiss who topped the group to secure qualification (And unlike in 2017 that the Italians failed to make it to Russia allowing Sweden (Who beat the Italians in the 1st leg before the 2nd leg ended in a draw) to qualify for the most recent Football World Cup in 2018, 3 years before Italy had a tremendous turnaround to claim the Euros as they defeated England (Who scored 1st in the 1st half then the Italians responded with an equalizer in the 2nd half, therefore the match was virtually decided by a penalty shootout) on penalties in the final at Wembley Stadium in London) but the defending European champions of Italy are in danger of failing to qualify again as well as not making it to Qatar in 2022 because they have been shunted on the same side of the UEFA qualification playoff draw as Portugal (Who want to extend/keep that run/streak going because the last time the Portuguese failed to qualify, it was in 1998 but have appeared at the Football World Cup since 2002 (Including in 2013 that Portugal nearly failed to qualify as they beat the Swedish to avoid missing out on qualification as they made it to Brazil in 2014) & they would have to retain Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo (Who would have his last chance of Football World Cup glory along with Argentina's Lionel Messi if Portugal make it to Qatar) as their best player the Italians not hoping for as part of Italy's worst case scenario strategy) but this is like the AB's who are in the same pool as the host nation France (First time since 2011) in Pool A who are due to meet in the opening match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup with the winner of Pool A will face Ireland (Who'll face the All Blacks again just like in 1995 & 2019 if they lose to South Africa in Pool B but have never been beaten New Zealand before at the Rugby World Cup & the Irish have never made it through to both the semifinals & the final & are looking to end that quarterfinal curse) in the quarterfinals but if the All Blacks (Who'll put their unbeaten streak in the pool games on the line in which they face the French in the 2023 RWC opener as well as New Zealand's 1st meeting with France at a RWC since the 2015 Rugby World Cup quarterfinals in which the AB's ran riot & were overwhelmingly dominant but the All Blacks have never lost a quarterfinal game since 2007 against France (In which was one of the AB's worst results at a RWC & the last time they lost until 2019 in which England ended New Zealand's hopes of winning a hat-trick of Rugby World Cups in our dreaded semifinal game as I mentioned before in my previous blogs) & the last time France had beaten the AB's at a Rugby World Cup (Their 1st win for the French against New Zealand came in 1999 in the semifinal where they came back strong after the late Jonah Lomu crossed over for his double but France enabled/launched beast mode when they were trailing in which they punished the All Blacks by utilizing a bit of French flair in the 2nd half to make the final) lose to the French, they'll face the current Rugby World Cup holders the Springboks (Who has never been beaten at a RWC match since against New Zealand in a pool game in 2019 (The last time South Africa had beaten their great rivals the AB's at a Rugby World Cup, it was in 1999 in the 3rd/4th place playoff) & are undefeated in every Rugby World Cup final that the South Africans (Who ended the utter dominance of the AB's (The English beat them in that infamous semifinal) in 2019 to win their 3rd Rugby World Cup title (Only once in RWC history that a rugby playing nation has successfully won back to back & that honor went to New Zealand who had won in 2011 before defending it in 2015) & are looking to win a 4th Rugby World Cup to become the most successful rugby playing nation at the RWC as well as the 2nd Rugby playing nation after the All Blacks (Who are also looking to become the most successful rugby playing nation in Rugby World Cup history) to defend the RWC) in the final against England in Yokohama, Japan) have played (They also never conceded a try as well & scored the 1st 2 tries of the Rugby World Cup final most recently in 2019 against England with Makazole Mapimpi (Who stepped up to the occasion as the 1st choice left winger after Aphiwe Dyantyi had served a ban as a result of doping) followed by Cheslin Kolbe (The fast agile, right winger who was there to show the world) in the other quarterfinal.
And finally 2021 was another year to forget with the pandemic still going (+ There had been a takeover by the Taliban in Afghanistan forcing people to flee the country as refugees) & it has been a magnificent but wonderful sporting year such as Emirates Team New Zealand retaining sailing's holy grail in our 2nd successful defence which is the oldest trophy in international sport, the America's Cup (Which last year (2021) is by far, my standout America's Cup moment because it was better than in 1995 (In which was one of Pops standout America's Cup moments because it was the moment that the voice of yachting of Peter 'PJ' Montgomery famously said before Team New Zealand crossed the line to win race 5 in the best of 9 races of the 29th America's Cup in San Diego, California in America "The America's Cup, is now, New Zealand's cup!"), 2000 (In which was our 1st successful defence) & 2017) against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Who are twice winners of the America's Cup challenger selection series (It was known as the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2000 before it was renamed the Prada Cup earlier last year but it was the 4th straight America's Cup that Jimmy Spithill (Who is now the skipper of the American Sail GP team competing in Sail GP (Which is the breakaway America's Cup series) had been involved in (He was part when Oracle Team USA when they triumphed in both 2010 & 2013 (Including the miracle of San Francisco in which I mentioned in my previous blogs) America's Cups before being on the losing side in both 2017 in Bermuda with Oracle Team USA & last year in 2021 with Luna Rossa & the 3rd consecutive America's Cup that Emirates Team New Zealand had been in the America's Cup match (We missed out in 2013 in San Francisco before succeeding in both 2017 in Bermuda against Oracle & 2021 in Auckland against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli & was the 2nd straight America's Cup that Team New Zealand skipper Peter Burling had been involved in (He was the helmsman serving under skipper Glenn Ashby in 2017) of Italy at the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland then the Black Caps winning the historic 1st ever World Test Championship against India in the final at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton in England followed by Italy winning Euro 2020 after beating England on penalties in the final at Wembley Stadium in London before the summer Olympic Games was held in Tokyo, Japan where New Zealand won 7 gold medals (The most that NZ had won a number of gold medals during modern times but just one shy of the all time record set by 8 in Los Angeles in 1984 as I also mentioned before in my previous blogs) as well as 6 silvers & 6 bronzes (The most successful number of medals that New Zealand won in the modern era) before the Australia cricket team completed the rare double by winning both the T20 World Cup (Their 1st T20 World Cup title to add to their 5 50 over Cricket World Cup triumphs in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 & most recently in 2015 (The other cricket playing nations that have won the T20 World Cup are India, Pakistan, England, the West Indies (The most successful cricket playing nation in the T20 World Cup) twice & Sri Lanka) against the Black Caps in the final (Although the stand out player went to Mitch 'The Bison' Marsh who did a James 'Jimmy' Faulkner at the 2015 50 over Cricket World Cup final) at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai & successfully defended the Ashes (They have been current holders since they won the last Ashes held in Australia in 2018 before this year which was 4 - 0 (There was a drawn test in Melbourne in 2017 where English player at the time, Alastair Cook who posted a double ton of 244 not out when he carried the bat as England saved themselves from certain defeat) before the last Ashes series held in England in 2019 was drawn at 2 - 2 but Australia clinched it with a win in the 4th test in Manchester) against England by clinching it in the 3rd test which is the Boxing Day test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (Known as the MCG or the G) in Melbourne with 2 test matches to spare.
So that is my 453rd blog of the year 2022 (MMXXII) & my 1st of this year, stay safe & one love (And until next time it's bye from us).
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