Author: Lois Whitson

Can Qatar host a successful World Cup in 2022? That’s probably a moot question in terms of the Asian Cup, since so much of the country resembles an open construction site.

Eleven years is a long time between tournaments, and no doubt the army of construction workers who clog the footpaths and carparks of this tiny Togel Online desert nation will work overtime to transform Qatar from its present dusty state into a shining beacon of the Gulf.

For now, though, Asian Cup fans are left to struggle with a more pressing logistical problem – the traffic.

Doha: City of Traffic

The US government once suggested driving in Doha is akin to risking life and limb, which is why it makes more sense to employ the services of one of the city’s daring band of taxi drivers.

He’ll almost always hail from India – or Nepal, or Sri Lanka or a similar neighbouring state – and most crucially, he’ll treat other road users and pedestrians with the contempt they deserve when time is of the essence.

And time is always of the essence in Doha – in peak hour, at any rate – when you’re stranded on Al Waab Street behind miles of stationary traffic. Fortunately the problem is solved by simply driving along the dusty shoulder, as pedestrians scurry and law-abiding citizens curse the temerity of your admittedly deranged cabbie.

So, can Qatar successfully host the World Cup? We’ll see. But they’ll need to build some more roads first. And they’ll need to increase their insurance premiums.

Oh, and one more thing. They’ll need import some more cabbies; ones with bravado and courage and a complete lack of respect for the road rules.

Kenny jumps back into the fire

What a difference a minute makes.

Anfield hero Kenny Dalglish, returning as Liverpool’s manager after a decade’s sabbatical, was an unexpected picture of sunny composure before kick-off against Manchester United today, relaxed and joking about his upcoming assault on Mount Everest.

Was this smiling Scot the same Dalglish whose tense and dour façade confronted the cameras the last time he was in charge at Anfield? The same manager would often slip into thick Glaswegian to deliberately confuse the pesky interviewers, until the unresolved pain of Hillsborough meant he could bottle his inner turmoil up no longer.

His resignation in 1991 following a grueling 4-4 derby draw, came as a real shock. We know top managers are under permanent pressure, particularly when relegation fears place them under what they themselves call ‘deathwatch’, but they do not tend to walk out citing stress when their teams are riding high.

King Kenny had unfinished business with the Reds, and mentally as well as physically had never left Liverpool, but it took 90 seconds, not minutes today in Manchester, to remind him that football folk are crazy. A controversial penalty, courtesy of a Dimitar Berbatov fall to earth, pushed …

NBC’s prime time Saturday poker show, Face The Ace, had only 1.46 viewers in its second showing.  Things could have been worse as the program apparently didn’t lose many viewers (debuting with 1.59 million).  As it turns out, Face The Ace is not being broadcast in all markets.  Salt Lake City residents are being deprived of the show, which may not be such a bad thing based on the critical panning.

KSL Channel 5, the local television station owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, won’t air the prime-time poker game show Face the Ace, saying the subject of gambling does not meet “community standards.”

“The whole idea of gambling is an issue for us, and so we have chosen to pre-empt it,” said KSL general manager Greg James. “We talked about it [with KSL’s programming director and the station’s senior managers], and we didn’t feel it matched up with community standards.”

KSL pre-empts other poker shows appearing on the Peacock network, including its late night installment of Poker After Dark.

NBC, however, Togel Online calls Face the Ace a “game show,” and says it arguably doesn’t involve gambling because contestants play without the risk of losing their own money.

Gambling is banned in Utah as is any state lottery.

The Salt Lake City NBC affiliate is not alone in its stance.  Both the Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Houston, Texas NBC affiliates refuse to air Face The Ace because of policies banning gambling.

Media and Racism Watchdogs Must Stop Racist Witch-Hunt!

“If the media and oversensitive racism watchdogs continue this witch-hunt for racists, they are doing more to slow relations between races than to improve them.”

So writes Ricky Bauer of Gambling Review, one of many online gambling and poker information websites commenting on this week’s controversy suggesting that poker pro Daniel Negreanu might be a “racist”.

The uproar began after Thomas Somach, a special contributor to the Gambling911.com website and the proprietor of PokerHelper.com, authored an article asking whether “Negreanu was a racist” following one of his weekly blog entries.

“Negreanu made some outrageous comments about the sensitive subject of race, comments that would have created a firestorm if Negreanu had any relevance outside the poker world but which have been generally ignored because he is, after all, just a poker player,” Somach wrote.

Bauer had this to offer up in defense of Negreanu:

“All the man did was ask a question about a double standard that exists. Having grown up a product of both races, I am continually upset and offended by the oversensitivity in our culture towards racism and the abuse of the term. It is a sensitive topic, which is why the media jumps all over it for sure, but labeling people racist all willy-nilly does more harm than good. For starters, whoever is labeled the racist is usually damaged severely. Their family and professional lives are often …