Friday, 1 January 2010

How crooked feet can make for an epic end of year story






BY GEORGE KAGAME


I was thinking of an epic write up to end 2009 and start 2010 with some sort of unique foresight but before I could think of anything to write I checked this paper’s hypothesis of the past as well as outlook for the new year. I started terribly in the exercise by reading first, Betumire Pan’s “Let’s Explode the Myth of ‘Baringa’!”

While giving a concise explanation of Baringa, a Kinyarwanda verb for a certain type of shadow dance, the writer almost captures the meaning of a related word (Mbariga) in my first language.
Mbariga in this case means a person’s feet face sideways instead of facing in the direction straight of the body. When such a person walks the strides resemble a flat ground broom, the feet are like wings! In fact there was legend in my neighbourhood that people with Mbariga never walked, they were always flying. They were also said to face difficulty in walking and keeping in straight lines. As such when an individual lost direction or knocked something to the floor while walking about, a person with Mbariga would be blamed or they would be reprimanded with the statement; “Stop walking as if you have Mbariga.”

Baringa and Mbariga aside, Betumire does a wonderful job by starting his ‘explosion’ with the idea that most people in the media predictably, are currently giving their treatise of the past decade, and as such there is no need for all of us to take more ink and pages of the paper talking about last or new year. His cynicism ensured that my own take on the end of the year was thrown to the dustbin of the computer. 

The computer itself is what I had come to consider as the centre of my “end of year analysis” as it is the single most important idea and object that defined the decade. Yes, the good old computer brought me the third street Nigerian movies, the internet, mobile phone, DVD, reality television and most importantly UTAKE.

Had it not been for Betumire's note I was going to fill this space with more mambo jumbo of facebook, google, Obama, Tiger Woods, Lewis Hamilton  and all newsy crap, but no, Mbariga is important and it also needs some coverage. This is because the ailment is not given serious thought by officials in planning sectors. But problem is that Mbariga is not so controversial and while one is writing about such topics as Mbariga, it is generally advised that they listen to such songs as:”These are the times” by Billy Joel. Because frankly, what is so inspiring to write about Mbariga?


Mbariga is a minor natural physical disorder at the lower end of the human body and happens when the feet face a parallel direction to that of the body which they carry. It can be corrected with gradual practice such that the feet face straight ahead of the body, just like a poor alinement of the teeth can be made good by the devices placed in the mouth whose name I don’t know. But because the feet are hidden away in closed shoes or in dirt, their problems are not taken with the aura of other ailments on other part parts of the body. And as if speaking for the less fortunate parts of the body,Tanzanian hip hop artist Professor J raps in his song Nazeeka; " "Ukitaki ku'juwa muhimu wa matako jaribu kukaa'ria kichwa." Loosely translated If you want to know the importance of a bum try sitting on your head.


 I 'suffered' from the Mbariga disorder myself exactly 10 years ago and can witness recovery from the thing. The cure of Mbariga, if there’s anything like that is walking. Walk, walk, walk and just like the way the actor of Forrest Gump runs in the movie, walk with out end until the feet start to face straight like other normal feet.
So with this ailment I spent many days and sometimes nights walking. I would walk to events, to class, to town, to the market and sometimes to community ceremonies. Other times I invited myself to all the ceremonies that happened to be in the chosen line of walking on any given day and time.

One time, like so many in my neighbourhood I was in a national stadium where some important people had organized a prayer crusade to usher in a new millennium. The world was reportedly ending at some second of that night and the Son of God was returning. And even if the important people never publicly mentioned it, the prayer crusade was organized such that if Jesus was coming back to mother earth that night, he would find ‘us.’ (US being me, the crowd of the neighbourhood plus the important people in prayer.) Does the guy have to come in the night by the way?
There had been concerns about a millennium bug that was eating into all kinds of machinery and computer chips and at some second some of these collapsed, but we the humans made it through.

So as Billy Joel sings in his melody:“This is the time to remember/'Cause it will not last forever,/These are the days to hold on to /'Cause we wont although we'll want to./This is the time/The time is gonna change./ You've given me the best of you/ And now I need the rest of you.”

Tuesday, 29 December 2009

The colour of grief

During the month of April in Rwanda it is common to see a purple cloth wrapped on people's left arms, in their necks, and pockets. purple is the colour of death in Rwanda, IN some cases as is often during the month of April, a white cloth cris crossed by purple on many caskets containing the remains of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

But it is not just colours, I once stayed with a people who took the howling of dogs/wolves meant some disaster, in most cases death. "Emisege," they were called, although as we were later to learn the term also meant another term. I was left thinking about disaster recently.

The other day I wore a pair of black jeans and a black shirt. When I was masquerading around the is just walking about in the corridors aimlessly,
Then in my housemate opened the door to her room and saw me passingby. She was surprised and utterly shocked. "Oh my God," she reacted in horror. I was confused in the moment as to what had shocked her and quickly realized it was my attire and the prominence of black.


I was thinking today as I listened to Prof J's song "Nazeeka" where he says "if you want to know the importance of the bum try sitting on your head."

"Ukitaki ku'juwa muhima wa matako jaribu kukaa'ria kichwa."

I don't know why this song, a Tanzanian urban hip hop thing that is completely unrelated reminds that while people are still struggling to find the colour of love, we were quick to know the colour of death.

Friday, 25 December 2009

Pub talk: The Citi, the Commonwealth, and the good times





BY GEORGE KAGAME

Majukumu: Just the other week the famous Performance Contracts were undergoing their annual assessment in the parliament under the watchful eyes of the leaders, snoops, elders and well wishers. All these stake-holders were keenly following mayors and district officials present their performances for 2009 and setting the next step in the march to Vision Venti Venti.

Performance Contracts were following shortly after or is it before, the Itorero ceremonies. Among other things, the national Itorero or Itorero ryi'Gihugu is a national dance troupe, sort of a Champions' League of dance and drama, but with a more modern catch than just your theatre! By the way, do you go to the theatre? Do you have a theatre in your town? Do you know any local playwrights or 'plays'?, I don't mean just the Uranana. What is your idea of leisure beyond Primus and the cow dances?

So I was talking about the performance contracts event held recently in the Citi, percentages were read out, visions were set, questions were asked, answers were given and I can imagine it was a good time in many hometowns for Citimen . God times facebook reminds me!


Mambo'yetu: You see the pride in my hometown pub talk was  in watching one of us, speaking on national television with The Leader, who was seen to be  following with serious interest and even asking questions. Who are we to have a local boy speaking on television with such an audience. So the neighbourhood was in high spirits going into the christmas period. Welcome to the 2009 PLAN of our home towns.
We have heard unfortunately that one of us, a KalinaIngufu is on the run. Uhm, one wonders, this boy? we saw him a few days ago, he is/was the pride of the pub.

Is he not the one whose name means "a small man with power," now he even just went epic, this power thing I tell you!! He was about to be promoted and transferred to the party city of Africa, but as an appetizer, he was sent to a 15 day vacation to think about his next career step which was a perched office in the Lap Green conglomerate In the party city.
Well, while the 'little man with power' was preoccupied with evenings at FatBoys, Bubbles O'Leary and Just Kicking, Nakulabye, Bbunga and Kabbalaga, he decides to step down on the Cape, see whats up there. Then, don't say it. Whisper instead, INterpol is looking for him. Shyhhhh!!!!!!!
This boy, I think he was a bright spot in the vision at some point? Who is Eric Kariningufu?


Bwana'Mkubwa: Yes, earlier in their cycle of growth, the Citimen were dismissed by many not least their neighbours, they were called  baFella, war mongers, a bunch of thugs meant to destroy or create an empire. Yes, they were said to be creating an empire;  a "hegemony" as one mogul called it.

Eh, those people, remind them that now the Citimen are engaged in Keeping Peace in other places. Have you not heard? recently we have lost our sons killed by ambush attacks in Darfur. Have you met Darfur in the news?
It is a strange place up north and our fellow Citimen are very popular there. They walk around with guns and big bags on there backs. They are not back packers>

And remember just yesterday the Citimen were seen as a bunch of "dominators." Those neighbours, we laugh at them, they only tried to understand us in one scope, that  of two kinds of people who lived close to each other but never shared peace or love.
Yes, the empire was a big idea at sometime and at one point was called a " dynasty."  Woe to those people.

Our two sided street on the only road passing through Citi was lined with such avenues such as war, hatred, genocide and genocide ideology. But thanks to the new vision brought in by the new brand of Citimen to whom as a foresight, Kariningufu, like other alleged bad apples belongs.

The new crop of Citimen decided that the Citi brand had to change, if Citimen cannot get along properly, the new people said, they would open up Citi, let it be explored by other people, much more different, the Citiz would then learn how to make better of the relations between themselves on the single road running through our beloved Oh Citi. The avenues on our road had to change to cooperation, peace, stability, peace, cleanliness, peace, order and if one knows the Citi well enough, good food.

Citimen have now invited other people on our single street Citi. Our stretch now springs from Kampala, Dar Salaam and Mombassa, it is called the EAC. Oh yes, we are now open for business in Paris and Kinshasa. The Commonwealth is an added advantage of course. Oh yes, I am reminded that Rose Kabuye is currently charming up the streets in Citi, and we are open in Berlin too! We have some criticism too, but that is for days yonder.


Yes, there's a problem with being a new kid on the block, at some point the other members of the East African Community complained that Citimen were rushing them about reforms and targets. Citimen knew too well that the only people they had to impress were the good old Donors.

That is why at the time the EAC was reluctant we approached African Peer Review Mechanism, (APRM) and signed on, at that point the EAC had to play catch up with us. I tell you, we even managed to convince the World Bank. Look at the World Bank 2009 Doing Business Index.

Alright, we'll see you in 2010...


Tuesday, 22 December 2009

From SA’s dance melodies to Nigeria’s movies, Africa’s scene

Sunday, 6th September 2009
E-mail article Print article



Wole Soyinka

BY GEORGE KAGAME

Much of Africa’s entertainment industry in the 1990s was very much an offshoot of events and issues in South Africa, and how musicians developed a talent for telling their stories of the brutal apartheid experiences, in groovy songs that were favourite disco and dance tunes at the time.

Yvonne Chaka Chaka with songs as Stimela and Thank you Mr. DJ was the queen of Africa, Brenda Fasie, the pop princess and Lucky Dube, was a sweet melody to lovers in disco halls.

Dube’s music was not even known as reggae at that time, it was slows. The likes of Pat Shange and Chiko Chimora were the party blues, complimented by a variety of Congolese stalwarts like Tshala Muana, Arlus Mabele, the incredible Madilu System and Kanda Bongoman. (Where did he go?)

The songs and videos of continental music told of misery under dictatorships or absolute poverty, yet in the disco halls and party homes the music was a soundtrack for passionate dancing and joy.

Africans of this time danced with a certain zeal, that even one big DR Congolese star General Defao made himself a name primarily on dancing moves that resembled the gorilla walk.

The mid 1990s Congo or Zaire was still under the tutelage of the Kuku Wa’Zabanga al Mubutu Tse Koko. His people having given up hope of getting rid of him-he was considered a god after all-had invested all their energies in sweet Lingala tunes.

Their music with that of the South Africans was the soundtrack of the new Africa.

This was no ordinary time in Africa, Tanzania was breaking free of communism; Uganda was coming out of various episodes of war, South Africa was closing in on apartheid while Rwanda was going to war and later genocide. Robert Mugabe was still undergoing political adolescence.

Algeria was still fighting the famous Ninjas. But the music on the continent then was superb. Every event of name in any urban and rural part of Africa had to have some music from Lucky Dube, Chaka Chaka and Brend Fasie, Pepe Kale, Judi Boucher and UB40 to be worth a memory.

African music at that time indeed told of the continent’s quest from ‘Kumbaya’ and the famed idea that Africans were able to turn misery into celebration and so could only be good at dancing.

Considering that the South Africans at that time knew very little of the ‘other’ Africa, it is difficult to fathom how they created music that enthralled the whole continent. But South Africans love their dancing with passion, they supported their musicians and the musicians in turn told the story of the people.

The biggest music stars of the time in the country were equally as popular as such figures like Nelson Mandela and Chris Hani.

Sometimes their music was about working conditions in mines or farms, saving only for food and Umuqomboti. Yet most of these songs told the stories of the other Africa that they never knew.

The ‘other’ Africans loved this music; many ‘cool’ guys of the time had to have a Chaka Chaka or Dube cassette tape
And when Chaka released her I Cry song, about the struggle of a woman, married to an unreasonable jealous African ‘big man’ that had for long treated her to domestic violence, the government considered Africans not intelligent enough to know about gender equality, so the song was banned from television and promotion.

Like other artists her music was strictly for black people, it was not supposed to be promoted or marketed to other races.

The song was banned from SABC, the government not being happy after interpreting itself as the unreasonable jealous man in the song!

And then South Africa got rid of apartheid in 1994. The music changed as well. Where we had the Chaka Chaka’s now, arose; Mafikizolo, Black Smith Mambazo et al.

The rhythm changed to more energetic and powerful dancing, they had already figured out the computer sound. Africa was now in touching distance of the ICT ladder.

With the breakthrough of television in Africa in the late1990s, (during this time, the importation of television sets was banned in Tanzania, only Julius Nyerere imported and watched TV and sometimes he watched CNN and the next day when he addressed crowds he appeared as a philosopher or prophet. He knew his subjects would not figure out where he got his information.)

South Africa again led the television revolution in television, in many African programmes; Mnet presented an African vision and image of the continent that CNN, BBC and the movies never showed.

The corporate and ‘civilized’ Africa! They capped it all by the introduction of Saturday soccer pubs. Programmes such as Egoli, Generation and Isidingo not only told a story of diversity, they also depicted the corporate and ‘normal’ African, discussing business, talking law and even falling in love- without the use of force or witchcraft.

The story of Africa as told by South Africans was a happy and refreshing one indeed. The script changed when Africans started buying DVD players and abandoned regular television.

The Nigerians noted this. Having produced such giants of story telling as Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe, the Obas invented the famous “KiNigeria” movies.

Their entry reduced the love and vigour of dance on the continent, African continental stars also perished in their place we are now watching Nigerian gold diggers, African big men, Pentecostal prayers and Cinderella stories to get status.

We need a new era, idea or zeal with which to invoke this continental spirit again.

It remains to be seen who is going to lead us from this stage to the internet era as events in South Africa, DRC and Nigeria have not been forward steps.

Ends

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

Rambo Ronaldo

His story is that of any prodigy, it is perhaps telling that his f chierival to the throne of world soccer today is Lionel Messi.  Christian Ronaldo is so amazing that he is a threat to Lionel Messi to world domination in soccer today.

Yet even when is so brilliantly talented Messi looks like the 20 years he is, he has an innocent frown, a guy just minding his business in the street, on the other hand Ronaldo is so good enough that he has been renamed Rambo.

Rambo is the American movie star Sylvester Stallone whose action films about the Vietnam war and the heroics of American troops, he had extremely built well muscles, was handsome and strong, yet Rambo also loved life. His movies had women, beautiful women and sex, machine guns, kicks and blows. Rambo represented America and Hollywood to the world. 
Rambo was fit and had appeal, guns, women and cars, most young guys at the time secretly imagine themselves as Rambo, he was America at the time in short.

The first movie I watched was a Rambo action film, I walked the whole of 20 miles to watch in 1993, I was thirteen and my 15 year old brother Tony had a word of a visiting cinema from a bigger city called Mityana. We walked from Kyiterede after Kyakatebbe to Kakungubbe near Myanzi.

Okay this is not my story, but I read about the new 'Rambo' as Christiano Ronaldo is currently reffered to by newspapers in Europe. When I saw the Real Madrid star scoring for Real Madrid against Olympique Marseile in the Champions' League i thought about coincidences.

Having grown in the era where David Beckham shifted football from sports pages to fashion, humanitarian and educational pages in newspapers and magazines, Ronaldo horned his skills studying one of the greatest sportsmen in his generation. He improved is talent and appeal, Ronaldo inspired Manchester Untied to one Champions' League victory and another final, he also was the star of the technology inspired games on Playstation.
 Ronaldo's fitness was supreme, then he transfered to Real Madrid in 2009, where his goal celebration has coined Rambo..

Saturday, 12 December 2009

Alliance of housegirls and the Citi's homage to butlers



GEORGE KAGAME
Last week's 'alliance of the maid' reminded me of the one time I had a 'house boy' myself. I'll indulge you, it is Sunday after-all.
Two years after my graduation with a degree in journalism I was in the employ of a daily newspaper in the Citi, 2007 to be exact. Having been appointed as a staff writer of a first street daily newspaper in the Citi, I moved 'up' a suburb, a bigger house and even a busier schedule. 'As such' I could not cook my own food nor wash my own clothes leave alone clean after my self. I acquired the services of a 'mU'boyi.'
I met Olivier after a frantic search of two weeks. We agreed I was supposed to pay him the equivalent of 20 USD per month on top of full board living. He would basically clean after and cook for me in exchange. The first night Olivier spent at my house he locked me out and I spent the night on a verandah. When he woke the next day, he said in his defense; "Bosi it has been a longtime since I had a good sleep."
 As a student I had been a senior editor of a campus newspaper and during that time I met so many people that have turned out bosses today. I have met bosses myself, in fact I made a career out of meeting bosses every other day. Olivier apologized and convinced me not to fire him, a few weeks later he simply picked 100 dollars from my drawer and disappeared. I was left laughing at myself and the folly of development.
Yet last week when I introduced the encounter with the maid of a prospective old Italian landlady and her cheating ways, I remembered the moments when I have met with the equivalent of mU'boyis in my life. At the time of writing, many households in the Citi have the services of mUboyis, the same can be said of many cosmopolitans neighbouring the Citi.
As a teenager I had met an old lady in her 50s, she had left her own family 150 miles away in another region, she was the first 'housegirl' I met and many came and went in all places I have lived. I also remembered the times when I have discussed with a house girl, as I did with the one who works for the Italian landlord and thought the next revolution would come from her kind, the alliance of housegirls.
Upon acquiring a job many of the people in the Citi had a predictable scale of preferences top of which was to have a house, a car, a butler, a wife/husband and other items. The people involved in the descriptions of butlers at a time ensured they were youthful boys and girls, every successful person (elite or illiterate) in the Citi employed a butler. Sometimes three generations in one family had a butler, parents, children and their grand children.
Today In my home town, entire legends, songs, poems, and plays are dedicated to house girls. As a result the 'butlers' are important enough to be a regular point of reference in the media there. As a young journalist I was just beginning to climb the Citi's hierarchy of needs. Many more before and after me had these butlers who cleaned after them and cooked for them in exchange for meagre salaries. As such whenever there were serious crimes in a family a house-girl was normally an important and prominent witness.
 The best movie in The Citi was made by a man who had worked in the services of a butler! History was very cruel to the butlers. After all, were they also not present during colonial times? It was said that the people who served the colonialists at their dining tables are the ones to whom independence of the Citi was bequeathed in the 60s. Housegirls/boys are very important in the Citi, the most successful Citimen/women were said to be working in western countries, in the services of butlers. They were given a vernacular name which translated to 'sweepers' in English.
Now the Citi had been reported to be in a cosy affair with Dubai, woe to both. The Arabs were said to have a budget of 230 million US dollars to invest in the godsend industry of butlers in the Citi. As it turned out the Arabs were selling feathers of white ants. In a dramatic turn of events Dubai pulled out of the investment which had ensured an entire neighbourhood had been hustled out of their homes in the suburb that was meant to host the butlers' cathedral.
The Arabs in Dubai were a good inspiration to the Citimen. Having formed their country 38 years earlier today, Dubai was promoted as a planning country and their speciality was in the services of butlers., they also had very many 'Sweepers.'


Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Samuel Eto'o Interview 2010


World Soccer'sDan Brennancaught up with Inter Milan and Cameroon starSamuel Eto'oon the eve of the African Cup of Nations. The prolific striker discussed his exit at Barcelona, his new role with Inter and Cameroon's chances to reclaim African glory.
World Soccer:After having so much success at Barcelona, were you surprised the club let you join Inter Milan?
Eto'o:That's a question that I can't answer myself. The coach [Pep Guardiola] has to do that. I heard and read what he said about there not being a "feeling" with me -- and I keep asking myself what "feeling" means when you've always given everything on the pitch, always delivered and helped win every possible title. But I have to look forward. I'm at a great club and I think this season we will have a very good campaign.
World Soccer:After being used to playing such attacking football at Barça, is it hard adapting to a team where you have onlyDiego MilitoandWesleySneijderhelping you in attack?
Eto'o:I hope this will be corrected as we go along, because otherwise we will not go far.
World Soccer:What do you think ofJosé Mourinho? He wasn't very complimentary about you and your Barça team in his autobiography...
Eto'o:That was at the time when Barcelona faced Chelsea and I had just a general impression. But now I can see him daily in training, I think that he is doing a good job and things are looking good.
World Soccer:You moved to Inter last summer as part payment forZlatanIbrahimovic's transfer to Barça. What do you think about him?
Eto'o:A great player. There is no problem with him and surely he will adapt to the tactical scheme that they have at Barcelona, although we are different in our approach to the game. I hope it works out for him.
World Soccer:Do you still feel positive towards Barça despite the circumstances of your exit?
Eto'o:Of course. I still have the club and the fans in my heart.
World Soccer:Do you miss La Liga?
Eto'o:A little, yes. It was a large chunk of my life. I spent 13 years in Spain and when you spend that amount of time somewhere it has a deep influence on you. But now I'm facing a new challenge. I have to adapt and try to succeed.
World Soccer:Speaking of success, you've enjoyed a bit of that over the years, haven't you?
Eto'o:I've managed a few things, yes, and it's always a pleasure, but to keep winning you have to regard whatever you have already won as history. You must always start from scratch, find the strength to win again.
World Soccer:Is Inter bigger than Barcelona?
Eto'o:They are different. Inter shares the football limelight in Milan while, with respect to Espanyol, Barcelona represents the city, and that's why they say it's "more than a club."
World Soccer:Are you a problem player?
Eto'o:No. People can say that if they want, but I don't accept it. I work hard at my job. Like everyone, I've had controversial moments in the past, but those are already forgotten.
World Soccer:Which specific moment would you consider to have been the most significant for you while in Spain?
Eto'o:Perhaps it was havingLuis Aragonésas my coach. He is like a father to me. I worked with him at Mallorca. I arrived [at Mallorca] on a low, because Real Madrid always sent me out on loan, and whenever the season ended, I'd return to Madrid without a clear idea about my future. So I stayed at Mallorca and Aragonés really shook me up. He talked to me a lot, he advised me and I stayed there for four seasons until I ended up at Barcelona. That's why I was so happy when he won the European Championship with the Spain national side, because I respect him so much as a coach and as a man.
World Soccer:Many say that you have a complex with Real Madrid because, though you played for its second-division reserve team, Castilla, in 1995-96, you never established yourself.
Eto'o:It's not like that. Over time, I became closer to Barcelona than Real Madrid, but I had very good friends amonglosBlancos, people who I have fond memories of. Perhaps it's just that my character is very expressive and when I win, there is an outpouring of emotion.
World Soccer:What was your lowest point in Spain?
Eto'o:Without doubt, it was when I was on loan from Real Madrid at Espanyol in 1999. The coach,Miguel Brindisi, never played me and I felt depressed there and couldn't wait to return to Madrid.
World Soccer:Do you have an idol in football?
Eto'o:Sure,Roger Milla, who was everything for Cameroon. I was lucky enough to have seen him play a great match when I was only 6. At the end of the match, Milla threw his shirt to the fans and I was very lucky to catch it. Ever since then, I was fascinated by football. At the age of 12, I was already playing with people aged 20 without many problems.
World Soccer:How did you first move to Europe?
Eto'o:I was 15 when I made my debut for the national team. Then I found out that the game was being watched byPirri[a Real Madrid legend in the 1960s and early 1970s] and he was the one who took me toFabio Capello, who was the coach at Real Madrid. They loaned me straight to Leganés. I actually arrived in Madrid in February 1997 when I was 16. That early experience helped me to grow and become strong inside.
World Soccer:Do you still regard yourself as "running as a black man but living as a white man?"
Eto'o:That phrase has been discussed a lot, but I think it is not always understood what I meant by it. What I meant is that you have to sacrifice to live well. I like some luxuries, such as cars, but because I pay for them with what I earn, there's no debate. And while I do like to enjoy the good things in life, I also have a charity to help children in Cameroon and I feel good doing this. I feel like I am giving back everything that football gave me. I feel privileged to be able to do what I enjoy doing and that I also get paid to do it. That gives me great pleasure.
World Soccer:Do you think that this World Cup, the first to be played in Africa, may finally be won by an African team?
Eto'o:That's my dream, but we know how difficult it is. Cameroon, fortunately, has enjoyed some success over the years and I am already lucky enough to have an Olympic gold medal, from Sydney 2000, when we beat Spain in the final. Who is to say that we can't do the same again in South Africa?


Read more:http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/world_soccer/01/06/samuel.etoo/index.html#ixzz0btwLa4Mr
Get a free NFL Team Jacket and Tee withSI Subscription