The story goes that some years ago a Minister played with 5 million dollars people’s money on the stock exchange. When the stock crashed, we were left with a $5m hole in the Central Bank. This gambling allegedly took place in the dead of night, where no one could see. So, people only heard of it after the cow was long out of the barn.
People wondered, if the horses had come up roses, who would have taken the windfall? It’s kind of tricky. If regular folk knew naught about it, maybe the winnings could have been skimmed. There was no maybe about who took it on the chin.
The UDPeez, they are the bold type. They gamble in the broad day. The UDPeez gambled that that we could go to a court made up of men and women entirely divorced from our local fray, and prove that a foreign investor had invested here with unclean hands. The very “fresh” Reporter said: “There is a principle in law that says that a person or entity should not profit from an illegal act, and a government guarantee for a private project is regarded by many as grossly illegal. But this was not something that the CCJ considered as important or relevant.”
After that quote, allow me to take a breath here … whew … hoo … I bet you needed one too. Yes.
Now, if the Bar Association had voted on the “litigation risk” of the case we are making here, do you think they would have given it a 50% chance of succeeding? Remember that this group is guilty of the woeful math, so we must play it on the high side. If we non-lawyers said not more than 10%, we would be accused of playing after the dice done roll.
At the end of the day/night cycle, there is a difference that is very clear between these two. One, our reports say, played in the dark of night, illegally, and lost the good people of this country $5million.The other played in the bright of day, legally, and lost the good people of this country, 50.
It is actually worse than this, you know. We could discuss other gambling schemes these political luminaries played in. But why put further damper on our Krismos.
What El Tri needs for Krismos
El Tri’s (Mexico) draw for the group stage at next year’s World Cup in Russia, in June, could hardly have been worse. They have to go through Germany, Sweden, and South Korea, to make it to the round of sixteen. There are only two spaces for each group, and Germany, the present world champion, is a shoo-in for one slot. South Korea is ever improving, but Sweden is the one that is expected to be El Tri’s greatest challenge.
There are people in this world who don’t give a whit about being the baddest dog – just “being” there is victory enough for them. These are lovable losers. Bully for them. What would the world be without people who really don’t care if they come up bridesmaid, or dead last, for that matter? The fight to be top dog can be plenty fierce. For this group the only thing that trumps the love of winning is the terrible fear of losing.
El Tri is not in there for being there. El Tri wants to win, and they are hungry about it. The highest they’ve gone is the quarterfinals, in 1970 and 1986. Mexico’s best chance came in 2002, at the World Cup held in South Korea and Japan. At that Cup, after blowing through the group stage with two wins and a draw (against Italy), they dropped out in the round of 16 after an extremely disappointing loss to their boring arch rival, the USA.
Mexico won’t win the World Cup next year. It would be great if they did. Mexico won’t win the big one because their players aren’t big enough. Of the major sports, the world’s greatest game, football (soccer), is the one that is least impacted by height and weight (power). However, those factors cannot be ignored. There are some positions that are best filled by taller, physically stronger players.
Mexico has a great ground game, brilliant short passing. But they need to improve in the air, and they need to improve their power game. Jared Borgetti was great in the air, and Cuauhtemoc Blanco was a genius, but the power and high speed game was missing. Carlos Vela, Chicharrito Hernandez, Giovani dos Santos, though not as talented as the generation before, they are great – but without the complement of a big striker, they can’t go very far.
Mexico will have a dynamite matchup when it faces South Korea. Their struggles begin when they face the physically bigger Germany, and Sweden. The Germans and the Swedes average a little over six feet in height, while the Mexican players average a little over five feet nine inches. That doesn’t seem so great, but consider that the taller players are also carrying greater weight. At the wing positions, speed is king; in the center of the field, control is king; in the central positions in defense and up front, height and weight are critical.
You get my drift; you know what I’m wishing for our brothers and sisters just north of us, for di Krismos. Yap, I’m wishing that they get a powerful striker, to complement their splendid ground game. It would please Belizeans who trace their roots back to the Bayman’s clan, no end, if that striker is a real Negro.
Mexico has its share of people and players with the blood of the children of Africa who came over in the dark passage, in their veins. It is my observation that when the blood of the Black African and the blood of the Native American meet, the phenotype produced is more Indian than African. Apart from dos Santos, there are other Mexican players in their World Cup squad that have some African lineage. But a real Negro in the squad would make us love them even more. And, they could use one.
If Belize had a “Big Fred” Martinez, a Serapio “Big Mole” Alvarez, or an Ervin “Stud” Hendricks, playing right now, we could gift one of them to Mexico. We don’t have such a player going for us right now, so we can’t help that way.
El Tri could try to naturalize the USA’s Josey Altidore. That young man is wasted playing for the world’s most unexciting football team. What a relief that they didn’t make it to the World Cup next year. All they do is try and drag people down to their miserable, boring level. It is just impossible that football players can be so stiff, so robotic. It is just impossible that a nation with over 300 million people can’t find one person who can dribble. It must be that all their dancers go into theatre, to ek up themselves.
On the practical, El Tri must plan for the next World Cup. Sometimes you have to stretch the field. Sometimes you must power your way through. Mexico must send its scouts into towns in Guerrero and Oaxaca; they must find a boy, a Negro with some strong muscles and big speed, and total passion for the game. When they find him they must take him to camp and train him, so he can make a perfect complement to their brilliant short passing game.
Mexico is the only real hope for the Americas north of Colombia. They don’t consider it a victory to make the Big Dance, they want to hoist the Jules Rimet Cup. Those ones farther north have the bomb and all the money in the world, but they’re no football town and it shows up in the way they play the game. El Tri is the one that carries the hopes of our region.
Hmm, this world being so tochiz these days, I must say this. I hope that the mighty El Tri doesn’t find my Krismos wish for them, offensive. Really, it just might be the only way to get by the Germanys and the Brazils in this world.
Practical law breaking
I saw a policeman (won’t tell you where), I saw a police officer climb on to a motorbike, ride one block up stop (east on a one-way street that is for west-going traffic), and then go about his business. Two things I will say a favor de our terrible lawbreaker – one, the coast was completely clear, nary a vehicle or motorbike or bicyclist or pedestrian in his illegal path, and two, if he hadn’t gone rogue he would have had to travel eight blocks to reach where he did in two.
Guess what, I’m not going to recommend a traffic ticket for this guy. What I’m going to do is ask the authorities to pass a new traffic law for Belize, called “practical breaking of traffic laws.” You are allowed to ride up stop, as long as you do not cause a delay in traffic, or cause an accident. If you cause a traffic delay, or an accident, you get a real stiff penalty. If it’s no bother to anyone, you are as free as a bird. If you are a bumbler type, go the long route.
Now, having dropped a carrot for the motorcyclists and bicyclists, I think I am allowed to ask for a big stick to be applied to any motorcyclist who overtakes from the passenger’s side of a vehicle.