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After X Amount Of Days I Got Back On The Bike!
I wrote an article yesterday about sorting out priorities, you can click here to read it if you haven’t already but please come back and finish off this 
article. You can kind of say the two are linked because when I got out of bed this morning (around 5:30 AM), I had just finished reading the Bible, which I aim to do every day before I start my day. I headed over to my laptop and was thinking about the blog post I was going to write today (This is another thing I am trying to sort out because for the second year running, I am failing to complete a post a day – How hard can it really be?).
Anyway I started thinking about new priorities (which are really old) that I wanted to reinstate. Now I started thinking about my first online callings. One was my blog and I am taking more time with it and giving it more of my attention, regardless of whatever other things I am trying to do. The point is, I definitely have the time, It just comes down to my priorities. As I sat down, another one immediately can into my mind…”Get back on the bike.” Like that it was back and it is something I am looking to start doing seriously again. As I write these very words, another thing shot to the front of my memory which is language practice. I did think of typing tomorrow I will start again but there is no time like the present, I will get back into the swing of things today and perhaps write a blog post about it in the future. This blog post today isn’t about business but I find it hard to walk over this point without using the words “passive income.” What I am actually doing here is taking actions and by me doing these things, more things are coming back to me without little or no work. All I am doing currently is writing today’s blog post but I already have two potential articles now for tomorrow and the day after (getting back on the bike again day#1 & back to Greek day #1). Guess what? This seems like a good stream of investment because I have now thought (while typing) of a daily review/oversight of my day of biking and my day of Greek. That is how easy action multiplies! If I did this every day, I would have a full year’s worth of content for my blog and would complete my task of posting every day.
Like I said, this post isn’t about business but you can see how the principle of business are transferable. Staying with this theme just slightly, I was lying in bed around 3/4 AM thinking about how great & timeless Jesus was. I’m a firm believer in the fact all plans including business, life, wealth etc are found in the Bible. I was thinking about Business and how important marketing/exposure is, it really is the most important (Yes more important than the good product). I started thinking about how Jesus had such a big impact. Firstly, you should know I do believe Jesus had the best product on the market but this isn’t enough. If people don’t even accept free products today, this alone shows you product is not enough. Jesus didn’t say – “I have the best product on the market, everyone will come to me.” He actually did the opposite! He travelled around Israel teaching freely about his product and showing people real life examples of the product. Tried and Tested. Just to relate it to business I used the word product. I know some people may find offence in that but even if it was a product, it’s free anyway. Moving on, he not only travelled himself, he sent people out before him and with him. Ladies and gentlemen – please tell me what one of the biggest marketing strategies out there today is? Affiliate marketing! I’m merely using this to prove my previous point that these strategies are nested in the Bible one way or another.
It’s funny how my article post about getting back on the bike has turned into various other things but there you have it. Nearly 1000 words in less than thirty minutes all original. Since I completely sabotaged this article (unintentionally in many ways), I can do nothing else but tell you to look out for my upcoming article about getting back on the bike day #1 (now written) which will talk more about my bike experience and the struggles that came along.
Riding my bike is not in the top two things on my list so I was not riding before writing.
Feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think and you can always share this post for free if you feel it was inspiring or helpful.
Thanks.
Israel.
John Terry, the FA and racism
It’s been a few days since the FA’s appeal period for John terry expired. I guess now is the time a real analysis can be given over what has actually happened as a whole. It was a long year coming and perhaps way to long for everyone involved. First and foremost, lets differentiate between the court case and the FA query. The court is a very different atmosphere where justice is missed on many occasions. This isn’t to say that the court made the wrong decision however money often prevails in court.
Many were watching the video on YouTube moments after the game and were making their judgements. It seemed pretty clear what John Terry said and of course Terry couldn’t really deny what he said. Terry’s defence had some clear flaws in it regardless. I’m not going to go into this too deeply but Terry claims he was asking Ferdinand a question, the video doesn’t back his claims. Ferdinand is not looking at him which shows that the likelihood of a conversation being shared is rare. We also saw John Obi Mikel in view who turns and clearly hears something in my opinion. If we take the distance and the facial expressions Mikel expresses we can seriously believe he heard what was said and chose to plead the fifth.
Instead of moving on with the issue and dealing with it swiftly, a year expired and much fuel has been added to the fire. Now lets observe the punishment. A few hundred thousand and a four match ban. I say few with no undervalue of the money, in respect to Mr Terry, the money is futile. What the FA are saying is racism, is one more game severe than a serious tackle . The FA effectively took away John Terry’s pocket-money for a week and gave him a red card. This is all in isolation, not taking Mr Suarez into consideration. For a millionaire, a few hundred thousand really means little financially. Racism is a serious issue. In the workplace this could see an employee sacked. John Terry is still Chelsea captain, which should have been taken the moment he chose not to appeal his punishment. It was in my opinion very cowardly for John Terry to first through his management company claim disappointment for the FA not ruling similar to the courts. John Terry should rest in the fact that the courts didn’t find him guilty so he can have some sort of defence to cling to.
Most people who saw what most did. cannot really defend him even though many can come and provide character witness for him. This was on thing I found annoying. The many people claiming John Terry wasn’t racist or they have known him for so long. In these cases that is very unimportant. Whether someone has never made statements before, that doesn’t mean they can’t do it.
Secondly it was also cowardly for John Terry to remove himself from the England team, claiming his position became untenable. I don’t really know what he was playing at. He played while the case was going through court, while the allegations were in waiting to be tried and right on the eve of his FA hearing, he says he can no longer hold the position. A cowardly way for Terry to act.
In closing with so much going on in the eye of racism, the punishments must be more severe. We should be looking for double-digit bans not single a amount of games. This kind of behaviour is serious and serious punishments must be dealt.
Who Wins The Chip?
As Training camp gets ever so close, meaning the season can’t be far away, the anticipation of the next finals winner is top of any debate. Many basketball players are taking to radio or TV to stake their claim however who will reign supreme? In most scenarios you look for the title holders to be the main contender, is this the case here? Does the fact last year in the NBA was a lockout season make a difference? Is that why we saw two youthful, energetic teams, beat two older teams to get their? Should we pay much attention to this fact or were they just far better? This upcoming season is what will paint the picture for many pundits out their.
Miami are champions so they deserve first mention. A healthy D Wade and Bosh means the big three should be firing on all cylinders. Another year under Mario Chalmers belt means more experience and more confidence. Again the 4/5 spot is where Miami are vulnerable but they had enough to get the chip this year. What about the new additions? R Lewis effectively looked like a well overpaid player the last few seasons, is Miami the place to resurge his career? Ray Allen swapped the bench in Boston for the bench in Miami, best move of his career? Time will definitely tell. With Miami’s additions, you can only say they have improved as a team. The common factor with any LBJ team is it all falls on him to deliver. If Lebron is not firing, the Heat are not the team we saw last finals.
What now for the runners-up last year? We have seen a steady improvement from the Thunder, reaching the conference finals, the finals and now what comes next? In some senses its boom or bust. The Thunder only have so much more space to manoeuvre on the upside before anything they do is called a declining year. Surge Ibaka signed and sealed, the nucleus of the team seems to be set for the future but what about the Beard? Coming off a poor showing in the finals by his standings and a poor Olympics (which can be explained due to chemistry and playing time) what is next for Harden. With the new agreement, Harden may be destined for a new jersey.
The Lakers have revamped a somewhat strong roster now and look like a refreshed beast. Stronger line-ups and bench means the Lakers will no doubt be contenders this year. Boston were one game away from the Finals and you can expect them again to push Miami. Jason Terry and two good prospects from the draft will only strengthen a great coach and players. San Antonio are San Antonio, it is clear what we expect from them now. Good regular seasons and unpredictable playoff performances.
Any smart analyser of Basketball can’t really make a real substantial claim for any other team to win the chip so who will it be. Is the title staying in the East or is the Title going back home to the West?
Time will tell.
Doping in the sport’s world
Doping in sports is ever-present, which is a fact. I found myself reading several articles recently about doping in athletics and many of them were about Usain Bolt. Perhaps due to the fact he just finished doing something never done before. This article is not here to call Usain Bolt a cheater nor any other athletes who have not been judged as cheaters. I have no proof he or any athlete is taking PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) so don’t read this article thinking that. I’ve read convincing articles stating he is and convincing articles saying he isn’t…likewise with radio shows. The key word is convincing. This doesn’t mean fact. Until we have facts that’s all it will ever be. 
It is interesting because I don’t believe I ever felt about Bolt and cheating until I read these articles recently. Why can’t someone run that fast and have time to celebrate at the end? Bolt brought something new to the table which was never really seen before on that kind of level. In my generation at least – making real introductions is accredited to Bolt. I’ve heard the comments of both Bolt and Lewis, in their on-going spat of words and both say vital things. Someone who is a specialist in the world of athletics may look at some of the questions I made above and say I am foolish as Carl Lewis stated. I can accept his statements…why? He has lived it, he has been around it. I’ve heard people say you cannot cut so much time off your run in one year, others say you can in certain circumstances. The point is Usain Bolt has never tested positive for tests. I say this not ignorantly, knowing of others who never tested positive but were juicing. What I say is this, they had their day.
I watched Marion Jones speak in interviews months ago, before I even thought about this stuff and say she was clean. Later on to say she had let down so many people. God has his own way of showing the world things. Whether Bolt is clean or not, it will come out eventually.
Hearing all this stuff recently about how Blake (Usain’s partner) tested positive a few years back is also convincing but not concrete for Bolt. All that means is Blake tested positive nothing else. It did make me think however about sports as a whole. Basketball, the NFL, MLB, Football, Track and Field, the lot. Occasionally in some of these sports people are said to be doing something wrong, however not as much as athletics. What is it about athletics that makes it so dope crazy? Should the question be why are other sports not dope crazy? Is it neither, are other sports better at covering it up or are they more stringent? Whatever the answer be to these questions, we know it is there.
Bike riding has seen an influx in recent years but something like tennis rarely has these issues. Why is it like that?
I don’t claim to know much about these testing systems, I’m a man with a computer, a blog and an opinion.
What’s your opinion?
This one decision shouldn’t prohibit your whole career
Yesterday saw the Olympic ban on British athletes overturned. As most thing in sport, there are split opinions on the decision. It was said that a lifetime ban was too long of a ban in simple terms, meaning athletes would now only be banned for two years. One thing which has been annoying me about all the media coverage is this constant reference to the “cheat”. I don’t really know how the drug thing works in athletics, if my thinking is right, you take drugs to enhance ability and then when you stop taking the drug, it stops. Due to the comments it seems as if once you take these enhancers it can’t be overturned. The debate is, why should cheaters be allowed to compete? I’m a reformist and believe in reform. People can change their ways and lead a different life, why can’t drug cheats? The constant plague of they are still cheaters is unnecessary, if they don’t take drugs for performance now they are not cheaters are they? They have been subjected to the past tense and are no longer cheaters but people who cheated. There’s a very big difference between those two tenses, one is present and one is past. What if someone constantly highlighted you cheated in a test to get a job, although now you take the test and still pass? You wouldn’t want them to hold it to you because people make mistakes in life.
I believe in punishment for change and I believe punishment is a deterrent, however a lifetime ban is a bit steep in my opinion. That being said, the new two year ban is a bit short in my opinion too. Perhaps a four year ban, or a ban that ensures you miss the subsequent Olympics. I find a real big problem in people casting judgement who do not experience the pressures of the situation. For example, most judges sending people to prison haven’t experienced the lifestyle. Most politicians haven’t experienced the lifestyle of the majority of people in their respective constituents. Most of this people in authoritative bodies have not experienced the same scenario or are just too far away due to time.
We all deserve more than one chance, God showed/shows us this regularly.
Israel Ikhinmwin's Site 