World Cup 2014 - My Highs & Lows

Having taken a sabbatical from all forms of alcohol, the World Cup and the performance of  my declared choice for the championship (Brazil) was a bitter pill to swallow as I am still haunted by the thought that my big side, samba football, home of the great Pele, Socrates, Garincha, Revellino, Careca, Zico, Roberto Carlos and ever present ‘Buff Teet’ Ronaldhino, got a 7-1 whopping from the eventual champions Germany.

That said, I would like to publicly congratulate Germany on a well-played tournament, clearly they thought of everything in capturing their 4^th hold on the trophy but also, they left a fitting legacy behind in Bahia, Brazil. When I say these people thought of everything, I mean they thought of everything. The Germans went to Bahia and built; a Hotel, a Health Centre, a Football Field, a road to the facility and they used only local labor to achieve this.

Not a lot was written in the international press about this back-story but it is too heart warming not to mention. While in Bahia, Brazil, the Germans socialized with the locals by hosting a festival, visited with the locals, which from all accounts suggests are from the lower socio-economic class in Brazil. They even donated an ambulance for the health centre and wore the local team kit for their training sessions. On leaving the World Cup with the most prestigious trophy in world sports, the Germans gifted all that created to the people of Bahia, which is now to be transformed in a school for poor children. This my friends is what true champions are made of. It is also what investment in major sports bring to third world nations like ours from bigger more affluent first world nations.

This noble act though self-serving for the Germans whilst at the tournament, as to be one of my highs of #Brazil2014. Here are the rest of my highs and lows:

Match of the Tournament: Germany 2 Ghana 2. This has to have been the most intense match from start to finish, it had everything in it that a football fan wanted to see in a world cup including, four goals, 31 shots at goal, 16 shots on target, 28 fouls, almost equal possession and10 corners, wow what a match.

Player of the Tournament: Arjen Robben. There wasn’t a player in the tournament that meant more to his team’s success than Robben. His relentless enterprise and industry in attack was refreshing with so many teams electing to play safe first. The eventual winner Lionel Messi was less than inspiring throughout the tournament and many must have wondered why even players like James Rodriquez and Thomas Mueller didn’t figure more in those votes.

 

Goal of the Tournament: James Rodriquez. The goal against Uruguay was simply spectacular and in my view the best in the tournament. Comparable mentions for Robin Van Persie goal against Spain and Tim Cahill – Australia vs. Holland.

Biggest Disappointment: Germany 7 Brazil 1.  I knew after the second goal it was all over because the body language said it all, but never would I have thought a score line like this. I still get depressed thinking about it.

World Eleven: (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Lahm, Vlaar, Hummels, Blind, Mascherano, Kroos; Robben, Neymar, Rodríguez, Messi.

I think this was officially the social media world cup, with hundreds of millions around the globe enjoying the tournament via the large and small screens and live tweeting every match, some of which provided comic relief for otherwise boring football, but more importantly raises the benchmark for what to expect in 2018 (Russia) and beyond. Statistics like 35.6m tweets during the Brazil vs. Germany semi-final match, which was more than the Finals, which had 35.1m tweets. Of note, before this World Cup the most tweeted about event was Superbowl XLVIII with 24.9m tweets.

During the Final between Germany vs. Argentina, twitter recorded its highest tweet per minute when the goal was scored at 618,725 TPM.

Not to be outdone, Facebook hit a billion posts about the world cup in the second round of the competition with 220 million Facebook users involved. According to Facebook data editors, they had never before had an event be it sports or otherwise reaching a billion interactions. By the end of the World Cup in Brazil, Facebook reached 3 billion interactions involving 350m users.

The most popular conversations were around the World Cup Final with 88 million people generating 280 million interactions - making the game the single most talked-about sporting event in Facebook history.

Google was not to be outdone; there were over 2.1 billion World Cup-related searches on Google. The most searched players worldwide during the tournament were Brazil's Neymar Jr at number one, followed by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, then Argentina's Lionel Messi. Neymar Jr was in third place, but after his back was injured and he was ruled out of the rest of the World Cup, there was a spike in searches. His search volume increased 10 times his average on the day of his injury and he has been the most searched player ever since.

It should be interesting to see if there is a role reversal in broadcast rights fees in coming years with Internet or streaming rights becoming more pervasive and costly to the traditional terrestrial and cable rights. Even with that said though, you only have to read this article that appeared in Business Week http://www.businessweek.com/ to understand the reach and demand for this game that most of us call Football and the Americans call Soccer.

Speaking of the Americans, how the game has grown up North!!! Did you not see how many Americans went to Brazil to support the Team USA or did they? Some believed the huge influx of Americans in Brazil were immigrants of Latin and South America who migrated to the US for greener pastures. Whichever it was, it is hard to deny that the game is on strong footing in the US with Major League Soccer games pulling in as a big a crowd as NFL games.

Maybe finally our good friends in the USA will recognize that in order to be a World Champion at anything you have to complete against the rest of the world at something that the rest of the world is equally good at; Basketball, Baseball and NFL Football are great sports but until you have full national teams competing in global championships, it’s just media hype to say a domestic club team is a world champion. Please don’t get me wrong, I love all three sports and follow all three religiously, but nothing compares to the greatest show on earth for that little gold trophy standing 36.8cm high and weighing 6.1kg.

The memories are for us to enjoy and keep the conversations alive until we meet again in Russia 2018.

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One Love as always

You can find me on twitter maninja2 | Facebook Donovan White | Google+ Donovan White

Love, Friendship and a Passion for Running

As a kid growing up I was always fascinated by sports but there was always something about running that I got hooked on to and it has stayed with me always, even though there have been times in my adult life when patience, low pain threshold and just down right lazy have gotten the best of me. In the past nine (9) months or so, I have re-discovered my passion for running, and although it was a real struggle in the early months. Today, I am (67) pounds lighter and running; my passion, my time away from the madness; is back and it feels great.

In this blog, I want to share three (3) things about my fitness journey that you may find useful.

Love

It’s not often you get to share your passion with the one you love and enjoy

doing that passion together, to the extent that you break into laughter or broad smiles just thinking of the next opportunity to do it all over again. If you are as lucky as I have been in the past nine (9) months, you would have found love like I did in Patrice Wilson-McHugh, rediscovered my passion for running and then found out the two are one and the same.

Friendships

Sonic Steppers Running Club is the newest of many recreational running clubs in Jamaica and it’s where I have formed some of the best friendships I have had in years. Simply put, our mission is to provide runners with varying levels of fitness and proficiency, as long as they are committed to achieving a healthy lifestyle while having fun through friendly competition.

Patrice loves running so much she formed Sonic Steppers Running Club just so that our friends could share in our passion to get fit and enjoy an active lifestyle, all while having mad fun while doing it.

Seven (7) running tips for new runners

Get the right running shoes

Wearing the right running shoes is the key to comfort and injury prevention. Visit a running specialty store to get fitted for the right running shoes for your foot type and running style. Also, make sure you don't run in worn-out running shoes – they should be replaced every 300-400 miles

Make sure you warm up and cool down

A good warm-up signals to your body that it will have to start working soon. By slowly raising your heart rate, the warm-up also helps minimize stress on

your heart when you start your run. So you should start your runs with a brisk walk, followed by very easy jogging for a few minutes. The cool down allows your heart rate and blood pressure fall gradually, so it's important that you end your run with a slow 5-minute jog or walk.

Learn the proper upper body form

Improper upper body form can lead to pain in your arms, shoulders, neck, and back. Try to keep your hands at waist level, right about where they might lightly brush your hip. Your arms should be at a 90 degree angle, with your elbows at your sides. Keep your posture straight and erect. Your head should be up, your back straight, and shoulders level.

Don’t worry about pace

As a beginner, most of your runs should be at an easy or "conversational" pace. You should be able to breathe very easily and carry on a conversation. Don't worry about your pace per mile -- if you can pass the "talk test", you're moving at the right speed. Starting out with this type of easy running will help prevent overtraining and overuse injuries.

Try a run/walk approach

Most beginner runners start out using a run/walk technique because they don't have the endurance or fitness to run for extended periods of time. The run/walk method involves running for a short segment and then taking a walk break. As you continue with a run/walk program, the goal is to extend the amount of time you're running and reduce your walking time.

Don’t do too much too soon

New runners sometimes get too enthusiastic and anxious to get started and end up increasing their mileage too quickly -- which can lead to injury. Don't increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% each week. By building up slowly, you can save yourself pain and frustration, and still reach your goals. Use common sense and follow a beginner training schedule determine how much you should be running. If you'd like to do more, you could always supplement your running with cross-training exercises such as swimming or biking.

Breathe in through your nose and mouth

Some new runners assume they should breathe in only through their nose. You actually want to breathe in through your nose and mouth to make sure you're getting enough oxygen to your muscles while running. Taking deep belly breaths can help prevent side stiches, which are a common issue for new runners.

I think Steve Prefontaine put love, passion and running together best when he said, “Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.”

Now you know why I have been so absent from my blogspot but I am back and have lots to share with all of you so keep watching this space, the Renaissance Man coming at you with lots of stuff.

Enjoy your day and one love as always!

You can find me on twitter @maninja2 or Facebook Donovan White

Broadband & Sustainable Development: Why we must Collaborate

Contributed By: Columbus Communications | www.columbus.co

Over the past decade, our region has benefited from a fundamental shift in its technological infrastructure.  This has resulted in a significant increase in the use of new technologies, applications and devices both at work and in homes. The continuing development of broadband and information and communications technologies (ICTs) has created an array of exciting opportunities for governments, businesses, institutions, and individuals. At the most basic level, it has positively transformed our ability to create, communicate and collaborate with anyone from our next-door neighbor to a companion, colleague or customer half a world away.

Even so, there is still much to be done to fully realize the transformative impact that broadband and ICTs can have on our region. Last year, during World Telecommunications Day, we emphasized the need for stakeholders to look at the industry from a more collaborative vantage point. We outlined why the region needs to work as a collective to define and execute a broad, efficient technology strategy that would address and challenge the barriers to sustainable development in the Caribbean and Pan-American region.

A year later, we feel it necessary to reiterate these same sentiments, for there still exists a miscalculated reluctance to embrace and exploit the changing technological landscape, and create an enabling environment in a rapidly evolving broadband era.

As service providers, companies like Columbus realize we are not exempt from this shared responsibility. Acting on that understanding, each day we work to expand and improve the underlying networks that make this technological revolution possible, equipping our region with the foundation necessary to develop its culture and economy. Competition aside, we have taken a bold approach to collaboration and have developed cooperative relationships with competing entities to pool resources, allowing us to expand, innovate, enable and serve in a way that the region has not previously witnessed.

As a demonstration of this spirit of “co-opetition”, this year Columbus embarked on two separate joint expansion ventures; one with Cable and Wireless, as well as a more recent alliance with Ocean Networks – each of which contributes to our significant sub-sea expansion activities in the region.  Each alliance has made the region significantly more attractive for investors and has created opportunities for commercial development.

We believe that these actions represent another critical stage in the ongoing development of regional connectivity - opportunities which are boundless.

Our endeavors, however, are often dependent upon the actions of others. In order for us to truly create the positive changes that the region is demanding, we need to develop our relationships with others in both the public and private sectors; we need to speed up response times from regulatory agencies; we need to lower entry barriers that inhibit involvement in any given country’s ICTs and infrastructure development; and, ultimately, we need to change negative misconceptions of technology’s place in our digital world.

Raising awareness and inciting administrative bodies to drive public investment in broadband would boost confidence in private investors to do the same.  Too often we see investments such as the ones we have made met with mistrust; a reluctance to enable change, and perhaps most significantly, a failure to take advantage of the opportunities that the network provides.

Hand in hand with infrastructure development is the need to enhance the digital competency of the region. Initiatives like TechLink – community technology training initiatives of the BrightPath foundation– exemplify the pressing need for raising technological awareness, and works to ensure that the region produces and directs its own digital content and technologies.

Columbus will continue to support these types of training initiatives as they focus on teaching “digital natives” and “immigrants” alike how to practically apply their digital devices and use them for personal, educational or business-oriented purpose; they are meant to encourage the productive application of broadband and ICTs to create content and therefore manifest their local culture, knowledge and general intellectual property.

Moreover, we continue to extend our support to the development of community access points – also known as Internet exchange points (IXPs) – that likewise advance the production of local content. IXPs are centers of interconnection, where multiple Internet Service Providers (ISPs) come together to exchange customer network traffic. They eliminate the need for foreign IXPs and therefore have a considerable, positive impact on our region’s bandwidth, as well as its associated latency and cost. Aside from these quantifiable advantages, there are the simultaneously tangible and intangible benefits of increased content creation, which is, perhaps, the ultimate object of constructing IXPs; local content fosters communities, increases digital literacy, exposes our region and advances society overall.

To echo the views we shared on this important day last year, we have to recognize that enablement begins with technology adoption by society as a whole. To ensure that our region utilizes broadband and ICTs in a sustainable manner, each one of us – from the service providers to the government officials – has to create an environment in which technology is valued and utilized. Doing so is the only way to effectively progress and secure a better tomorrow for our region.

Follow Columbus Communications on Twitter @ColumbusComm  

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Thank you Columbus for sharing your usual thought provoking OpEds on World Telecommunications and Information Society Day. I invite my readers as always to feel free to share your thoughts as always or post online, we must as a region begin to break the back of this digital divide.

One love, always!

Follow me on twitter @maninja2