Bird’s-Eye: Has Tikunista! ever run a section on pro-sports, apart from Eyecandy? Well, blazing new ground here, we lead with a six page NewYork Times piece on Alexander Ovechkin, star hockey player. BONUS: six videos of class plays by him. We follow with a John Pilger attack on how money is destroying our enjoyment of sports, and end with a youtube video of the world championship in the weirdest sport ever: alternating rounds of chess and boxing. It really takes you back to Monty Python.
* Alexander Ovechkin, the Mad Russian NYTimes.com
Already Ovechkin is the most fascinating hockey player in the world. He has a chance to one day be reckoned one of the very best ever — if his passionate, reckless style of play doesn’t cause him to maim himself in the meantime. Ovechkin, who plays left wing for the Washington Capitals, is 6-foot-2, 233 pounds. He has a massive brow, high cheekbones, a nose broken so often it bends permanently to the left, wide-set eyes (one closer to his nose than the other) and a goofy, gap-toothed smile. He sometimes resembles a genial caveman.
Bonus: 8 videos, 4 goals (Watch number 2!)
* Why Sharks Should Not Own Sport John Pilger Znet
As Tiger Woods returns to golf, not all his affairs are salacious headlines. In Dubai, the Tiger Woods Golf Course in Dubai is costing $100 million to build. Dubai relies on cheap third world labor, as do certain consumer brands that have helped make Woods a billionaire. Nike workers in Thailand wrote to Woods, expressing their “utmost respect for your skill and perseverance as an athlete” but pointing out that they would need to work 72,000 years “to receive what you will earn from [your Nike] contract”. The American sports writer, Dave Zirin, is one of the few to break media silence on the corporate distortion and corruption of sport. His forthcoming book Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love (Scribner) blows a long whistle on what money power has done to the people’s pleasure, its heroes like Woods and the communities it once served.
