While a game with some white dressed tennis hunks can easily put me to sleep, the real action takes place next door. Derby fav is currently Droopys Jet and i will bet a few Euros on him, but my main money will be down for SIDAZ JACK (left). He is the youngest dog in the race and outsider @ odds of 7, but is a son of the legendary Westmead Hawk and trained by master trainer Charlie Lister. If he can put his blistering speed to good use from the inside trap he should have a decent chance to win this.*** WON
I am off to Cuba next weekend and by writing Cuba i mean Havana and not some itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny tourist resort. I want to see it again as long as Fidel Castro presides over proceedings and capitalists can't get a hold of it to turn the city into another Miami Beach. Also the right place to have a drink on my 50th and reminiscent ...
Dawn Approach ( IRE ) is the the hot fav, but at skinny odds remains a risky betting proposition. Being a 3 year old colt the trip of 12 furlongs or 1.5 miles will stretch his stamina to the max, although his sire suggests he will stay. Also the undulating nature of the racecourse could be a problem so I will take him on with RULER OF THE WORLD ( IRE, left ), the only jolly in this 12 runner field, who won over this distance and @ odds of 9 looks a solid each-way bet.*** Won
With BAYERN MUNICH and BORUSSIA DORTMUND two German teams vie for the title. Bayern Munich is certainly the best team in Europe right now having played sparkling football all season long, but they are prone of losing finals, as they did last year on home turf. They are trying to make amendments now and look for redemption, though i believe they enter the game cautiously due to the respect they have for Dortmund's fast style of football and their modest h2h stats. Dortmund themselves have to cope with the absence of Mario Götze, so they will start the game more defensive minded as well. Bayern are clear favs, however i expect the match to be tight throughout. In charge of the game is the Italian Rizzoli, who is not shy of handing out cards and he is also someone Bayern had never any luck with. Bets as follows : Correct halftime score 0:0 @ 3.10 / Dortmund to win after penalties @ 13 / Red card shown @ 3.80 *** 2:1 (0:0) Vaffanculo ! Two clear assaults, but Rizzoli didn't pull a red card.
Remarkable, what some folks do to get ahead of the competition in the world of sports. The capsized beast to the left was built to win the America's Cup. When not upside down it is supposed to plow through the water with 80 km/h. Also it is loaded with state-of-the-art technology and came with a price tag of 10 million $, paid by software giant Oracle's CEO and multi billionaire Larry Ellison. Two days ago a similar constructed boat broke apart and killed a British sailor. Everybody is in shock now and sends out prayers, but of course the show goes on until the next tragedy happens - only for the sake of some polished metal. In Formula 1 Racing a team sponsored by that sticky brew producer Red Bull now exchanges four tires in 2 seconds !! and 18 men are deployed to achieve that. Meanwhile six lads died performing off-the-wall stunts Red Bull wanted to use for marketing purposes. Football is littered with shady characters investing exorbitant sums trying to win titles at any price. Usually you would think people turn away in disgust, but the opposite is right and more and more become crazy about it - the old principle of bread and games works better than ever. Personally i follow football for betting purposes, but vowed a long time ago, that i will never again support it directly with a single cent. I do have a affinity for horse racing though, obviously a multi million Euro business too, but still somewhat steeped in tradition. You cannot tinker around with a thoroughbred race horse, as they do with race cars and you will not find an Irish jockey with a fancy haircut.
Champions - League : Semi final, second leg. Bayern is by far the superior side. They already won the first leg 4:0 and in my humble opinion will not lose this game either as long Barça fields players like Dani Alves, Bartra or Valdez - all average defenders at best. I guess the game will pan out like one of those old Bud Spencer ( left, left) movies.
Some bloke tries to impress him with his far eastern fighting techniques and Bud just slaps him down to the ground. Barça will probably pass the ball around without end, but instead of being impressed Bayern grabs the ball, starts a counterattack and scores. Bets as follows: Correct score 1:1 @ 9 / Thomas Müller first goalscorer @ 9 / Bayern to win with ( -1 ) handicap @ 7.5*** 0:3
I will travel to Cuba in June and had the original plan to revitalize Fidel Castro and bring him over to Germany along with his iron broom to sweep politicians from the CDUSPDFDPGRÜNE block party out of the parliament. With the establishment of the "Alternative für Deutschland" (AfD) party that is not necessary anymore and i can concentrate on drinking rum and smoke cigars. The AfD staunchly opposes the Euro and that is just the right thing to do, because the Euro splits the EU, weakens the stronger countries and prevents a economic resurrection from weaker countries. The Dakota indians already knew it by saying " When you notice you are sitting on a dead horse, get off ". The Eurozone is dead as a dodo, but politicians from the above mentioned block party refuse to acknowledge it and paid last week another 10 bn Euros for Cyprus, a small island known for welcoming dirty money, and Slovenia waiting next in line. And what is that all about ? Here is my theory: Spineless politicians are playing in the hands of the high finance, who are trying to gain control about Europe by degrading Germany and make many other countries dependent from the European Central Bank (EZB). Besides that more and more competences from the national governments are shifted to Brussels, enhancing right wing tendencies. In the USA this scheme already worked very well with the Federal Reserve Bank. The Fed is by no means federal, but privately owned. It's absurd - the U.S. government borrows money from them and then some more to pay interest. The U.S. are in debt of many trillions of $ and in whose satchel belongs that money ? Rothschild's, Morgan's, Warburg's to name a few and to call Barack Obama the world's most powerful person is a joke, these people just push him up front to execute their orders. I am afraid Europe goes the same route and hope the AfD gets in their way. I was determined to skip the elections, but will now cast my ballot for the AfD, period.
Mainstream media just spread the news about an bird flu outbreak in China killing a couple of people. After i recently stumbled upon this video by Jesse Ventura i approach news like that with caution. Jesse has been a former Navy Seal, professional wrestler, governor of Minnesota and is an absolute no-nonsense guy, who conducted an investigation on a clandestine group of powerful people with sinister intentions, called the "Bilderberger". They try to establish a New World Order with a single regime that rules the world, but since there are meanwhile too many human beings inhabiting the planet they need methods to reduce their number. One could be that they stage a pandemic via their controlled media and when panic starts people rush to the medics to receive a flu shot . That is at least, what they believe when in reality they receive something making them unfertile or harm them in another way. Sounds sick ? There are some sick minds among us, damned !
German Bundesleague Matchday 28 : HAMBURGER SV - SC FREIBURG Hamburg lost their last home game against lowly Augsburg and received a 2:9 drubbing against Munich afterwards, but instead of a more intense team drilling the club organized a barbecue to reconcile their fans - oh dear , oh dear ... . I supported Hamburg until around 1984, when i felt i reached an age where it is a bit ridiculous to cheer for overpaid brats running around in short pants. Meanwhile 30 years later they are overpaid and pampered to the max. For example during training camp in Dubai they are lodging in one of the most luxurious hotels or when a player needs someone to walk his dog or wants a new flat screen TV - no problem, the club takes care of it and i would say, that it is no wonder they play like sissies. Freiburg has won their last game against Gladbach and also their last two fixtures in Hamburg. They are a team with mediocre ability, but with a desire to play passionate football and have a great coach in C. Streich. I got Hamburg wrong before and maybe get them wrong again, however facts are facts and they clearly speak for Freiburg, so my hard earned is down for the SC at very decent odds. Freiburg to win @ 3.35 ***0:1. Now over to the sport of kings. On Saturday the greatest event in horse racing takes place, the John Smith's GRAND NATIONAL CHASE(Grade 3) in Aintree.It is a hugely competitive affair wit 40 runners going to post and my two selections against the field are Across The Bay (IRE) @ 34 and Balthazar King (IRE) @ 21(above). Both have won a long distance chase during the current campaign, are sound jumpers, will act on the prevailing ground and that's is all i need to know.*** Both finished unplaced though gave me good runs for my money. You can watch the race here.
In Lima i have been a longtime guest in the above mentioned hotel, but when they rose prices for the fourth consecutive year of around 15 % i about had it and moved to the hotel "Europa", just down the road,where i recorded the video. This place is lesser known to tourists, charges half the price as the "Espana" and represents a lot better value.
Annuschka is my dentist in Cusco. While dentists in Germany sniff at me, because i am not privately insured, she gave my teeth a wonderful TLC treatment for such a modest price, that i was left gobsmacked. It is always a genuine pleasure dealing with people not driven by greed . My days in Peru for this year are over now and what's my conclusion ? I must say i once more had a really good time and what annoyed me most were elderly women, who just cannot wait patiently in line, but need to jump the queue and start nagging. But of course i was just a tourist and for tourists life in Peru is generally plain sailing. On the other side an article in the New York Times i have read on my flight back home confirmed my view, that the outlook could be a bit dim. Peru meanwhile belongs to the emerging markets, where the economy grows at rates of about 6 % p. a.. Big foreign corporate money flows in with the exploitation of raw material meaning more prosperity for the middle- and higher class - housing prices in Lima and Cusco are already skyrocketing. As usual where some become richer others are left behind, living in a destroyed and contaminated environment and are unable to participate at the newly found wealth. Maybe it doesn't take long and we see the resurrection of the "Shining Path" or another terrorist group fighting those injustices... . I once spent three days in an appartment house with oceanview in upscale Lima-Miraflores and it bored the heck out of me. Leaving it i had to pass security. Outside at every corner - security and police cars patroling the streets. Rich people living in constant fear behind high walls, that some pennyless dude could rob them and thus keeping psychiatrists busy. Anytime i prefer sharing a beer with less affluent people in a cantina in Cusco and once they are all torn down to make room for slick appartment buildings i know it is time to pack up and move elsewhere. But so far i still can quote Arnie from one of his shitty movies : " Cusco, i'll be back !".
... i cranked up the distille once more and made some maracuja schnaps. Earlier attempts with exotic fruits were rather disappointing, but this time it turned out just fine. It is triple distilled and and has some rich flavor - very much worth the effort.
No, ... not him but a chap from Argentina. Usually news from the catholic church are about child abuse, however yesterday the new pope was inaugurated after having been elected by 115 old f... . I don´t mean to offend someone, but watching the ceremony ( only a few minutes ) and the surrounding caboodle with thousands of glassy eyed people - spooky stuff, if you ask me. Religion ? Thanks, but no thanks.
