Sports & technology.

29.7.2009.

When the US multiple Olympic Champion swimmer lost a race recently in a world meet won by someone considered his inferior, the blame was quickly put on his swimming suit. When world-class tennis professinals talk of the modern game, the racquets and shoes are found guilty of the changing types of play. When pro golfers hit the now 1.64" multi-layered ball (it used to be 1.62, and zero-layered) a mile from the tee and spin it high and recoiled from 15 meters from the pin, it's the trampoline effect of the club-face and the shape of the grooves that are the culprits. And so it goes. Well, bad luck, you old crows ! It's technology !

I always maintain that, as I struggle with whatever remains of my 23-year old golf addiction, if you can't buy skill, you might as well buy the technology. So, in my bag you'll find 5 woods, 2 utility woods, 3 irons, 3 wedges and a "Yess" mallet putter, all together the maximun 14 allowed. What's remarkable is that "traditionally" I should carry only 4 woods instead of 7, 7 irons instead of 3, 2 wedges instead of 3, and of course the putter. What's the deal ? In golf terms, my iron shots are now 3 clubs shorter than 10 years ago, and only my high-tech driver can help me carry my drive to 200 meters. 

So all these new-fangled utility clubs are helping me hit the ball higher and straighter. If I want to keep the game competitive, I should forget about changing my driver (how much further do I want to hit it ?) and concentrate on making my fairway shots easier and straighter to hit. Malaysian sportsmen ( embracing sportswomen - you've to be politically correct, nowadays, but don't take "embrace" literally), should give serious attention to technology, just to keep up. I would put sports science into the bag. Just watch how international sportsmen ( embracing sportswomen ) think through their competition, showing mental strength and focus. Misbun lost to Lim Swee King in Stadium Negara (with home advantage, before the days of  illegal Indonesian workers flooding the country)when he was leading 14 - 1 in the ancient scoring system where only the server score a point. That's the mental part of all world-class sports.

Of course, controlling the sports regulatory body is also technology. Since the Europeans control IBF, they've made sure now the scoring system doesn't favour the smaller, defter Asians. Of course they are very clever and say it's to make the game more attractive. 

Training is also technology. To become world class, Malaysian sportsmen ( embracing sportswomen ) have ample examples in just the South-Koreans. They "learned" badminton and field hockey from Malaysia, and we used to give tough fights to them in football (that's soccer to you Americanised kids). Not any more. South-Korea is miles ahead of Malaysia in all the sports that Malaysia used to lead them, and out of sight in the remaining others. In the LPGA, all the recent youthful winners have been South Koreans, and one of the under-20 world top male golfers is also South-Korean. 

You might say it's all in the genes because many top golfers who call themselves Americans are also, male and female, South Korean-Americans. But that's groundless, and it's not the point. Studies would show that it's the training, including early exposure to professional help and tons pf match-play experience.

My nephew is technically already a good golfer, a 19-year old boy who is probably already the best player in the local club. Without proper advice (his father's greed isn't one) last month he turned professional. If you play with him, and talk to him, as I've done, you'll know he's not ready. What will now happen is, without sufficient foundation, without sufficient winning experience at the amateur level, he'll lose confidence and eventually falter and disappear into the 18th hole sunset.

Like all Malaysian sportsmen (embracing sportswomen) available technology is not accessed, and they will all founder and fail unnecessarily. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MUBARAK & Veteran UMNO at the state level.

20.7.2009.

Considering that the first local elections were 58 years ago, and UMNO is 63 years old, the ages of MUBARAK and Veteran UMNO as ngo's are surprisingly youthful. MUBARAK is less than 8 years old, and Veteran UMNO even younger. To-day both organizations are stronger at the Federal level than the state level. It seems that only the incumbent Federal UMNO Ministers recognize the importance of these ngo's politically to the BN's and UMNO's cause. Only Federal financial contributions allow these ngo's to function at all.

MUBARAK Negeri Sembilan has less than 30 active members, and Veteran UMNO Negeri Sembilan has even less. Commesurate with this status, the State UMNO Leadership gives scant recognition and even less financial assistance to both. True, in what little speeches are thrown at their scanty congregations attended by State leaders they have praised these organization more than enough. In reality the effective support has been relatively puny, and few and far between.

The last State Annual Meetings for both examplified the poverty of members and numbers of these two organization. To add insult to injury, at MUBARAK's last AGM, on spotting some money that has been stingily spent to leave the account soluble, the MB even commented " since MUBARAK N.S. has some funds, I'm not giving anything this year". 

Federal UMNO leaders have echoed MUBARAK's and UMNO Veteran's calls for recognition and support for their loyalty and service to Party and country. This support seems natural and sounds good to the ordinary BN and UMNO members nation-wide. What else can be said, anyway. But real support in the form of physical recognition such as money, office accomodation, ceremonial invitation, honour awards, and even free parking as in Melaka, at state level, is patchy and irregular. Nothing can be done without funding and the members, by defination, cannot support themselves.

In the case of Veteran UMNO perhaps UMNO is scared of the potential numbers. But in the case of MUBARAK, how many of them are there if still alive and kicking ?. In the last Veteran UMNO Committee meeting it was suggested that it starts making some noise in the media. Perhaps then the incumbent UMNO leaders will give it some attention. If this happens, then it's the same Malaysian malaise - if the noise you make can cause problems for incumbent party leaders, then they'll try to pacify you. There's no genuine interest in giving real support to real causes. Malaysia bolih ? Mana bolih ! 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unlucky 13th, a serious motorcycle accident.

18.7.2009.

Monday 13th. was unlucky for me, not that I'm superstitious. Early in the morning I had my quarterly medical check-up at the Government clinic in Paroi. This, I thought, was the one day every three months that I have to put aside my morning constitutional for my date with the Family Specialist. The aging machine needs regular monitoring now - it's more than six decades old ! It took all of two hours, but I get to see a Specialist and a supply of some Class A medicinals all for free, one of the perks of a government pensioner. At this age, in this age, old age can be expensive, you know. Thank God for the pension scheme.

Then we picked up the wife at 12 for lunch at "Kak Long" of "Metropole" fame (old Serembanians know what I'm talking about). Last week Bang Pie & Kak Ani came and we brought them there, too, at the MPS stalls in Ampangan. After that I changed transport to my speedy kapcai, the Yamaha LC 135. It's the fastest of the kapcais. It's very convenient for the short hops to town for a quick trip to the banks and such- no traffic jams, no parking woes. I wanted to make quick work of the trip to town for renewing the insurance and road tax for the 1994 Volvo GL(A). Normally the trip itself would be about 10 minutes only ! Now, this is my 4th. kapcai, in slow succession, from 1965, with first one, a Honda 90 I bought when I entered the U. at Pantai Valley. In between I had acquired two superbikes, in early 1991, a Kawasaki Vulcan 750 cc Cruiser, and a Honda CBR F2 600 cc Sportsbike. I hold a full "B" licence, which means no limit on the size of the motorcycle engine. The fastest I'd been on the CBR 600 was 260 kph, on the Tg. Malim highway.

Up to the 12th of July, 2009, I've had a grand total of one accident on all of these machines. That was in 1966 at Jalan Maktab, with my cousin Kamil,recently deceased, who was in the army stationed at Padang Tembak at that time, riding pillion. It was entirely that car's fault, then, and I remember every detail to this day.

This 1 pm 13th July accident I have no memory of until to-day. I remember riding on on to the main Kuala Pilah-Seremban road as I exited from the Plaza Ampangan shop-houses. I remember approaching that multiple-cross roads to Jelebu, Sikamat and town-centre, with the multi-faceted traffic-lights. This was lunch-hour traffic. The next thing I knew was regaining my consciousness, stripped of my pants, shoes, crash-helmet, and back-pack, with a very big headache, in a hospital bed at the Seremban Tuanku Jaafar Hospital, with several people with their hands all over me, cleaning my wounds, taking blood sample, giving an injection, and further undressing me. I remember to say weakly to no one in particular to call my wife. After a few times one of the people attending  me finally responded and asked for the number and name to call. Fortunately I somehow still remember the house phone number. He or she came back shortly saying my wife had been located. 

When I gained full alertness later I looked for my injuries and found the treated wounds on the top of both hands, both wrists, both knees, the right ankle, my right jaw and my right shoulder. I learned that I had been x-rayed all-over- all four limbs, head and chest. The good news was nothing was broken except the wounds mentioned. They gave me a couple of large pills after I complained of the headache. A gentleman on the right side of my bed railings introduced himself as the driver of the car that I apparently had crashed into. He wasn't sure, except for the sound and the jarring he felt at the back of his car. He said I was avoiding a 6-wheeled truck that had jumped the traffic light. I cannot recall his face now, but remember thanking him, because he said he's the one who took me to the GH, and had a friend take my kapcai to his quarters - this chap is a police personnel. I believe that if I was not immediately taken from the scene of the accident, in my unconscious state, I would have been exposed to the real possibility of being run over by the heavy lunch hour traffic. This is known to have happened. This chap also made sure my wallet, my cards-holder and my Rolex wristwatch were safe with ma at the ward. I had all my credit cards and about RM 1,200 cash with me. The watch is a 1990 gift worth RM 5,000.

When I asked No.2 Son the next day  to collect the kapcai, I gave him some money to buy a suitable present for the policeman. No. 3 Son also offered, I learned later, to pay for whatever repairs the guy would have to do to his damaged car. All my four children, including my youngest daughter, who is attending a two-week orientation course at the Institut Latihan Kehakiman & Perundangan in Bangi on her appointment to the Attorney General's Chambers in Putrajaya, came, soon after their mother arrived. I was still in a state of daze at that time, but remember the third son and the daughter being emotional. I can't remember what were exactly said, but it was to the effect that I shouldn't ride any more. I suppose that is the natural thing to say. I didn't say anything. I was only consoled that all five loved ones were around me, hugging me, talking to me, concerned, and me with my giant headche.

I asked the attending doctor the next day to allow me to go home, since, except for the drip stuck to my right hand the entire time in the ward, I was not invalid with any serious bodily injury. For the whole time, all of ten hours, I think, no food was given except for some water for the pills for my headache. I thought they said they wanted to observe for internal injury. In fact the next morning I was wheeled to the dental department because they suspected I had a pencil-lined fracture on my facial bone. Because of the swelling on the right side of my face, they gave me an appointment to check me again on the 22nd. 

I went back to the ward, was given lunch that I barely touched, and waited for the discharge papers. I only have praise for the speedy and professional way medical treatment was given to me. I don't have too much experience in emergency hospital treatments, personal or otherwise, but this is one experience that I can appreciate, though didn't anticipate. Waiting for the release papers, I thought, was spoiling my otherwise appreciative mood, because it really took a very long time. So I said to myself, it's their medical work, not their paper work that I should appreciate. When, at last, after I had asked my children to find out what was holding them up, the several pieces of notes were given to me, together with a small supply of solutions and medicines, then I realized how worthwhile the wait was. There in that bundle were discharge notes, follow up notes, the medicines, and even notes for health insurance purposes. I felt a bit embarasssed for my impatience, shown earlier, when I should have been, well,  patient. Thank you Ward 3 B, Tuanku Jaafar Hospital ,Seremban, and Dr. Ng Keat Keng and all his staff. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recuperating ..... will write on motorcycle accident on 13 July, 1 pm.

The niceties of the golf game.

12.7.2009.

Golf is one of the oldest recorded games in the world. Available reference to it goes unbroken in Scotland for 500 years, thus the credit to it as the originator, though other references to a golf-like game in other countries including China have emerged from time to time, but with uncertain proof. The point is, this is an ancient sporting past-time that has over its long history accumulated all kinds of rules & etiquette, both fair and downright silly. But one determining facet of it is the imposition of the self-discipline. Totally opposite to football (the international kind, not the American one) where today the refree has to really watch out for plenty of deliberate fouls like tripping opponents or even the equally plentiful balatant dives, the gentleman (and gentlewoman) golfer penalises himself even for such a ridiculous thing as the ball moving ever so slightly after he has addressed it but before making his strike, in which case only two people know about it - himself and God. This is not even to mention having the ball landing in a bad lie, such as a divot hole or behind some impediments.

The other thing is the "honour" in golf, when the winner of the previous hole is accorded precedence over the others in the flight in teeing off, or where the golfer with the lowest handicap is similiarly treated. Again in the course of play, the golfer who is "away" or farthest from the hole, including upon reaching the putting green, is preferred to play first. As it is, golf is a time-consuming game, a full 18-hole walking round taking up at least 4.5 hours, and that provided you don't spend too much time looking for your balls in the rough etc. 

So built into the etiquette is the term "playing through" - allowing the following flight behind yours to overtake you if they are on a faster clip. Again, in "friendly" game a two-foot putt is normally conceded in the interest of speeding up play. In truth golf recognizes the need to adjust to the speed of play for the whole course in a truly considerate rule imposed on golfers where the enforcement is really basically voluntary.

A true-blue golfer is also a history buff, as far as the the venerable game is concerned. He can give a brief recitation of the high points of the game, especially the modern records made by the greatest known players dead or alive. With the advent of technology, especially with the demise of the wooden clubs, he will also regale with the finer points of the hybrid clubs and the various loft and shaft types, and the multi-layered, multi-coated balls. Otherwise that so-called golfer is not a true golfer. 

Then there's the matter of dress. Some people take their class right to the course. The real golfer is different. There has to be some kind of colour-coordination, right down to the caps and shoes. The rule also says no jeans and all tuck-in. So the sight of the pork-sellers lunging at their balls in long shorts and untucked tee-shirts seen in some private clubs are a real pain to the eyes and give the game a bad name. The ladies are to be highly commended here. They often make sure even their socks are colour-coordinated. As a bonus, if you pass by one before the start of a game, you can't avoid the whiff of fragarance liberally applied. I say before the game because after 5 hours in the Malaysian sun nothing worldly can disguise the female b.o. 

So, it pains me, a serious golfer, when the niceties of the ancient game is not displayed. When the odd cheating (you can't avoid base human character flaws) is added, it makes me want to cry. 

.......................................................................................................