Saddam Executed

Finally, the curtains are down. Former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein was executed on Saturday. Saddam Hussein, the powerful dictator who ruled Iraq for 25 years and was driven from power by a U.S.-led war that left Iraq in shambles, was taken to the gallows and hanged, Iraqi state-run television reported.

The timing and the haste in which the decision was taken to execute Saddam has drawn a lot of criticism from several quarters. The world leaders expressed their grave concern over the execution and feared that it would lead to further violence in Iraq, which is already witnessing a civil-war like situation. The sectarian conflict is all set to aggravate further, which is not in the best interest of Iraqi people. The life of American citizens in danger in elsewhere in the world, as they fear for a heavy backlash. However, Bush hardly bothers. He and his big Dad will celebrate the New Year with Champagne and Cake, whereas the innocent Iraqis will live in fear and suspicion.

Carnival of Sports #2

Welcome to the second edition of the "Carnival of Sports". This week, I have received some great entries. Before taking you through the posts, I request all my fellow bloggers to provide a link to this carnival in their blogs. Otherwise, it will be difficult to make the "Carnival of Sports" popular on the web. If I don't get a link back, I may be forced to dump your posts from the future editions. I am sorry if I sound a bit harsh. But this is a compulsion of blog business. And, I hope you will understand it. Now let's go through the posts that deserve to be here.

Howard Whitting presents "Golf Holidays to Get Away From It All" at Golfing holidays. Golf fans have finally something to read.

Andrew Sasinowski presents "APBA Opens With a Bang!!! (Unless You're in the Frontier Division...)" at American Professional Baseball Association. This is all about American baseball.

Aaress presents "A Look Back at the Best of the 2006 Tennis Season" at On the Baseline Tennis News. If you are a lawn tennis fan, these interesting tennis facts and figures of 2006 will definitely delight you.

Alan presents "Football Boot History" at Football Boots. He provided useful information on the history of football boots.

Sokari Ekine presents "Goodbye to the Arsenal" at Black Looks. The post says that Arsenal’s top brass, David Dein and Keith Edelman signed a £350,000 deal with Israel’s tourist board to advertise tourism on billboards in the new Ashburton Grove Stadium.

Alvaro presents "IntelliGym for basketball: ESPN video with the Memphis Tigers" at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution. Alvaro's words: Amazing video on state-of-the-art brain training for basketball players. Check it out!

Starling David Hunter presents "One Big Sand Trap" at The Business of America is Business. Finally, Tiger Woods has found a place to start earning his stripes in the golf course development business. Guess the place!!! It's Dubai.

David Hinchliffe presents Clubs to join Twenty/20 revolution at Play Better Cricket - harrowdrive.com. I am really excited to see a post on cricket this time. It talks about the new revolutionary format of cricket, "Twenty 20".

Laura Young presents "Powerful Story of Survival: Thirty-one Years and Still Standing" at Dragon Slayer's Guide to Life. Meet Michael Schwass, injured in a playoff series that led his team to the Illinois State Championship. Befriended by Chicago Blackhawks great, Keith Magnuson, Michael went on to become the first quadriplegic to walk again without the aid of braces. He just passed the 31st year of his injury and is still standing!

Jacqueline Lloyd presents "Reflections on the Second Ashes Test" at Hot Exercise. Another cricket post on the second Ashes test between Australia and England. Now the third Ashes test is over and Australia has taken an unbeatable lead of 3-0 in the series.

Leon Gettler presents FIFA's dodgy ethics slated posted at Sox First. The bad governance of football's governing body, FIFA, has resulted in such scandals as match fixing and funds that go missing. Now a US District Judge has slated FIFA. Meanwhile, a FIFA vice president has been let off with a slap across the wrists when he profiteered by selling World Cup tickets.

Ted Reimers presents College Sports - Campus Grotto - Tim Tebow: The future of Florida Gator Football posted at CampusGrotto. Ted says, "In light of the upcoming college football national title between Ohio State and Florida, we take an in depth look at quarterback Tim Tebow, the future of Florida football".

Amanda Benedict presents Improving Downhill Riding Skills posted at San Diego Cycling.

Kevin presents The Perfect Olympic Taekwondo School posted at Planet Dojang. This is a great informative post on Karate and Taekwondo schools.

Jeremy presents Why Mark Webber Thinks He Can Win in '07 posted at The Mark Webber Blog. Formula One driver Mark Webber thinks he can win in 2007, read on to find out why.

Gustafsson presents The 10 Worst Hockey Injuries of All Time posted at On Frozen Blog. Great post on hockey injuries.

Gustafsson presents The OFB All-Time Five posted at On Frozen Blog. I have included two posts of Gustafsson because both are interesting and useful for us.

Larryb presents What To Know About Golf Lessons by Lanny Hintz posted at Swing Away. Important things to remember when selecting a golf coach!

Elissa presents Top 20 Hottest NFL Athletes posted at I LOVE ATHLETES. Elissa's blog is for women who enjoy sports. She started her blog recently but has promised to cover all areas of sports and athletes.

D.A.N. presents Sporting Event Violence posted at Sights & Sounds from the Fifth Column - Music, Art, Articles & More.

Lilsurfergirl presents Super Bowl Matchup - Baltimore vs. Dallas posted at lilsurfergirl.

Toby Boyce presents Speaking on The Rock -- Slippery Rock in Frontier League posted at Most Valuable Network - Independent Thinking - An Independent League column. This is an interview with the Slippery Rock GM about their entry into the Frontier League.

Caroline Latham presents Two Feet of Free Therapy posted at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution.

My Universe Ring presents Greis takes victory posted at My Sport Universe.

With this, the second edition of the "Carnival of Sports" is concluded. In our future editions, I expect to see quality rather than quantity. Needless to say, I expect everyone whose posts have been included in this carnival to give back a link to the carnival post.

Hockey: National Game or National Shame?

We could not have expected more than what Indian hockey is bringing to the country at present, "humiliation and shame". The unceremonious exit from the medal race in the Asiad Games, first time in 48 years and a 11th place finish at the World Cup clearly shows where Indian hockey is heading?

Remember the golden era when India won six consecutive gold medals fro 1928 to 1956 in Olympics Games? Now the team surrendered tamely before China, a country who is still struggling to make its presence felt in the global arena.

There is little doubt that today Indian hockey is in doldrums. However, the dictator is hardly bothered. As long as KPS Gill continues to be at the helm of Indian hockey, I fear that situation is not going to improve for the Indian hockey. It is an irony to see that when team is suffering humiliating defeats one after another, senior, experienced players are forced to sit at home, thanks to the autocratic functioning of our hockey bosses.

Will the good sense prevail at last? Will we be able to see the golden era of Indian hockey again? A lot of questions that are yet to be answered. The only solution, which may the first step in the revival of Indian hockey is the dissolution of the incumbent federation and motivating our players with a clear goal in mind. Otherwise, next Asiad will witness India losing to countries like Oman, Hong Kong and Bangladesh who are still playing sort of schoolboy hockey.

Burning Train or Burning India?

The desecration of the statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Messiah of the downtrodden (Dalits), triggered an unprecedented outrage in India. Dalits went on a rampage in many states, particularly in Maharashtra, state of the commercial capital of India, Mumbai. Violent protests brought the normal life in several parts of the country to a standstill.

Public properties worth millions of rupees were destroyed. Ironically, the police and the state administrators remained mute spectators because of the compulsion of vote bank politics. When the Deccan Queen train was gutted, there was hardly any security arrangements to counter the mob.

Worst, when police arrested the culprit who damaged the statue, it was discovered that the youth himself belonged to the Dalit community. However, people are not willing to believe that the actually culprit was arrested. There are several broken links and contradictory statements made by the police officials, which make us to believe that there is something they want to hide.

The conspiracy angle cannot be ruled out keeping in mind the upcoming polls in the politically important state, Uttar Pradesh where the incident actually took place. Some sources also pointed out towards the underworld's role in the violence that occurred in Maharashtra. Whatever may be the truth, it seems that the democratic system of the country is always taken for granted by a fistful people who have the patronage of their political bosses.