What a weekend!

After a week at MWeb'07, and a Friday afternoon and Saturday morning correcting exams at the University of Oviedo, one expects to have a one-day-and-a-half peaceful weekend.

But no. I had to watch Xerez-Sporting (0-2... hourrah!), the Grand Prix of Belgium at Spa Francorchamps (where F. Alonso stole another point of difference to Lewis Hamilton and is only 2 points behind) and the final of the EuroBasket (Spain lost the match against Russia in the last seconds).

I hope I can sleep properly, as tomorrow I have to head for a MyMobileWeb meeting in Boecillo (Valladolid). Too much adrenaline for a proper sleep :-)

The magic is back!

Today, we could see Fernando Alonso driving as only an angel or a demon can do in the middle of the rain. Incredible how he managed to beat Massa and incredible how he got mad at Fernando because the latter told the former about his dangerous manoeuvres. Filipe deeply scratched Fernando's car while being overtaken, and he almost did the same a couple of laps before.

For the non-believers, are you sure Fernando was starting to get nervous or are the rest of the pilots already nervous?

Thanks for such a wonderful race, Fernando... and thanks to Thor for bringing the storm in time :-)

Red and white pride

I did not have time to post about this when I read about it some days ago. The Centre for Sociological Research (Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas -CIS-) revealed the preferences for us Spaniards in what regards to football teams. The news are not that 33.7% prefers Real Madrid or that 25.7% loves FC Barcelona. The fact is that my beloved Real Sporting de Gijón is the 15th in the list. The Spanish League (1st Division) is played by 20 teams and although we have been in 2nd division for almost 10 years, we are still in the heart of people. It seems that we are more loved and/or respected than 5 teams in 1st Division and more than any other team in Second Division.

Well, although the CIS is one of the most respected organizations in Spain in statistical studies, I do not believe very much in this kind of works anyway. And less if I do not know the procedure followed in the study. Statistics is a dangerous friend open to different interpretations and all the details of a statistical work must be known before you state something about it.

Anyway, I loved reading this. Oh, and by the way, I think that the real winner was Racing de Santander. This team was the 3rd one in the rank right after Madrid and Barcelona, with an 8%.

Finally, as I previously said, these works are easily open to different interpretations. I included Celta de Vigo and Real Sociedad, being above Sporting in the rank, among 1st Division teams. They both will play in 2nd Div. next season. On the other hand, Real Valladolid, Almería and Real Murcia (the three best teams in 2nd Div, playing next season in 1st Div) are in worse positions than Sporting.

I hope someday soon I'll be able to stop resigning myself with subjective opinions like these (no matter if the CIS claims this is science) and find my team in the "Liga de las Estrellas" at last.

Real Sporting made it...

We won 2-0 against Salamanca. A decade ago 1st division match taking place in 2nd division. The danger of going down to 2nd B Division is gone. It is a pity that we were among the three chosen teams to go up to 1st Division in the middle of the season and then finish it saving our butts 4 weeks before the end of season. If we manage to keep the same team, we'll have a lot to tell next year. This is the problem of having the 2nd youngest team (after Real Madrid Castilla).

I mean... keep the same young boys and super veteran Edwin Congo. What a great striker!

It could have been worse...

Real Sporting won 1-0 although the referee did his best to make it as hard as possible for us. Two defenders went to have his refreshing shower before the final whistle, Edwin Congo fell in the rival area but the only one who did not see it should have been punished with a penalty shot was the referee... but in the minute 85, Edwin scored the goal that brings our aim of staying in 2nd Division a little bit closer.

The second miracle of the weekend was not possible. After Sporting-Numancia, Gijon Baloncesto played the match of its history. I entered the arena late, waiting for a pal who gets always late to his appointment. 2nd quarter has started and... 9-34 in the scoreboard!!!! Our guys got 6 points close to Gandía and shot a 3-point bomb which did not enter the rim in the 3rd quarter. Gandía increased its advantage but Gijón Baloncesto managed to launch another 3-pointer in order to be 3 points below. And no luck again. In the end they lost by 15 and will have to play in LEB-2 with big chances for them to disappear. I hope they will be born again from the ashes and that we all shiver and shake with good basketball in our Palacio de los Deportes.

Ah, and Fernando Alonso risked a lot in the first curve of the race, Massa touched him (wasn't it a bit illegal as Fernando's car was some inches ahead?) and he got out of the asphalt. He got back into the path in 4th place and only an electric problem in Raikkonen's car let him finish 3rd. A lot yet to say in this F1 Championship as the season has just begun. By the way, these seemed to be the big names in this season, and Hamilton is already the leader making no noise.

Dramatic weekend for Asturian sports fans

Tomorrow is an important day for Asturian  sports fanatics. Besides the F1 race in which Fernando Alonso will take part (happenning in the catalonian circuit of Montmeló), two teams will have to fight for their future.

Real Sporting is my football team. We were 18 years in a row in Spanish 1st Division, fought for a championship against Real Madrid and lost two Cups in a row against Real Madrid and Barça. Now we have been in 2nd Division for 9 years :-( and, although this season seemed very promising in its first half, the fact is that we are only 1 point above the positions leading to 2nd Division B (the weird name for our 3rd division, making Third Division be really the 4th one... nice, isn't it?). Tomorrow we are playing against Numancia and we really need the victory.

Half an hour after Sporting-Numancia, Gijón Baloncesto (my basketball team) play the last game of the play-out leading to LEB-2. In Spain, we have the ACB, then the LEB and right below there is the LEB-2. We were in the ACB in the 90s and have historically been one of the teams to beat in LEB, but the fact is that history is history and tomorrow we are playing the game of our lifes.

I will attend both games and report... If I live to tell.

I hope Fernando won't finish me next Sunday :-) Win easy, please!

2nd asturian F1 World Championship

Fernando Alonso did it again. Congratulations to him and to Renault Team for 2nd pilot and constructor championships in a row.

Magic Alonso

Fernando Alonso is the current Formula One world champion. In the last championship (2005) he put an end to the reign of Michael Schumacher (seven times F1 Champion). This year he managed to set a new record of points between the rest of pilots and himself but three victories in a row by Schumacher and a worse behaviour of his car and his team (Renault) made a difference of only 11 points. Last weekend, in Hungary, everything seemed lost when he was punished with 2 seconds of penalty in the final qualifying rounds. Luckily (for Alonso), Schumacher made his mistake too and was punished the same way. Alonso started from position 15 and Schumi from position 11. Alonso reached 1st position but a mistake of one of the mechanics when he changed wheels made him retire. It was Schumi's chance but he had to stop when there were only 3 laps left for him and he was in second place (I guess it was due to tires completely without grip). How is it possible that a pilot reaches 1st place after starting from 15th position and in a race in which rain was one of the guest stars? See it here (thanks to YouTube for hosting the video):



Last seconds show how Alonso passes Schumacher.