Sports

Life is a game of football

Ahmad Tousi, PhD, Head Coach of Cal State Stanislaus Warriors writes: No sport has experienced such a tremendous growth in popularity in the U.S. in the past few years as soccer. Soccer is now played everywhere around the globe. This book has been written to present the experience of a man over the years. The knowledge gained has been and will continue to be tested as new ideas emerge and changes occur. Nader is the maker of his own fortune. Soccer is an intriguing game. There is nothing like an exciting run, a great feint, an accurate pass, a good shot, a brilliant save or a dazzling goal... The goal of this book is to provide you with verbal and visual imagery to recall and adopt. I strongly believe that the author has scored on all accounts.>>>

Decline of Iranian Football

Our football has been in decline in the past thirty years, especially in the past year both at club levels and at the national level. There are a few good players, but they cannot make a huge difference. Clubs should be privatized and managed professionally. Iranian players formerly had a physical advantage over other Asian players but this advantage no longer exists. Many Asian players are stronger and more physically fit in comparison to our players. At the same time, our individual player’s talent is not as good as before and while the Asian players have improved in this area as well>>>

تجربه‌ی آشنا

معده‌ی خاصی برای هضم بسیاری از مسائلی که در حول و حوش فدراسیون فوتبال ایران رخ می‌دهند، می‌خواهد. کار هر کسی نیست. به ویژه کسی که در ایران پرورش نیافته‌باشد و یا مدت زیادی را خارج از ایران زندگی کرده‌باشد. چنین کسی از یک سادگی‌ خاصی بهره‌مند است که در ایران ترجمان تحقیرآمیز بسیاری دارد. زندگی شفاف سادگی یگانه‌ای به آدم‌ها می‌دهد. و زندگی‌های پیچیده بی‌تردید انسان‌هائی به جامعه تحمیل می‌کنند که در برابر پویائی‌ آن جامعه نقش ترمز و یا بدتر پس‌رونده دارند. انسان‌های پیچیده جامعه را دچار عذاب می‌کنند و جامعه به نوبه‌ی خود انسان‌ها را در خودبیگانگی از اصل نیک‌سرشتانه‌ی خود می‌بلعد. افشین قطبی به عنوان یک مربی‌ با دانش و با منش و رفتار نیک وقتی تصمیم گرفت به ایران برود و به میهنش خدمت کند، تمامی آنهائی را که با ساختار مدیریت مکان‌های دولتی در ایران آشنائی داشتند، بسیار نگران حال و روز خود نمود.>>>

Keeping balance

Truthfully, wrestling is not one of my favorite sports, it is a little messy for my taste, and the idea of two semi-naked, sweaty men twisting around each other never appealed to me. To make it worse, I should admit that my technical knowledge of this sport does not go further than some generalities. However, I know its cultural value, its place in Iranian culture, and its relevance to Iranian life. But while reviewing Marcello Di Cintio Poets and Pahlevans, I learned a lot more about this sport, its technique as well as its social and cultural value. The author, a young Canadian poet and a semi-professional wrestler, makes two tripsto Iran to record various local techniques of wrestling. In this quest, he stumbles over a poet’s grave next to almost every wrestling pit, in remote villages of Iran, which functions as a shrine>>>

Who Killed the Sport of Wrestling?

You might've seen or heard of Ara Abrahamian, the Armenian born Swedish wrestler who dropped his bronze medal on the mat to protest judging at Olympics wrestling. Most people in the media blamed him for poor sportsmanship. IOC officials took away his medal. What you may not know is that, without a doubt, Abrahamian lost his chance at gold only because of bad calls. Noone disputes that. He had also previously lost the world championship because of bad calls. Can you see why an athlete may feel it is worthless to train and try in this sport? If you watched ANY of the wrestling matches at the Olympics this year, you saw a strange sport that nobody understands>>>

I am a Spartan and Proud, Mostly!

I came to the Netherlands with my wife, Kirsten, in 2000. Even before I came here, I was looking forward to going to football matches and watching a lot of football. Here in Rotterdam where I have settled, there are three professional football teams that play in the Dutch first division (Eredivisie). The most well-known of these is Feyenoord which is one of the three top clubs along with Ajax of Amsterdam and PSV from Eindhoven. Then there is Sparta and Excelsior. Since I have been here, I have on many occasions seen all three Rotterdam teams play in their home stadiums. I have also had season cards and followed closely Sparta for three years and Excelsior for a year>>>

Violent past AND peaceful present

In the Mojahedin's case, its designation should not be based on the group's political stance or worries about U.S.-Iranian relations, nor should it be a reward for its reports on Iran's nuclear activities. Over the past three years, the State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism have cited no alleged MEK terrorist activity since 2001, yet have increased allegations pertaining the group's non-terrorist activities. The 2007 edition of the Reports, due out by the end of April 2008, is bound to continue this trend. These allegations... are not related to the legal criteria for terrorist designation and are probably meant to discredit the MEK.>>>

Glitters of empire

On October 26th, 1967 Mohamed Reza Shah Pahlavi was to Crown himself and his wife Empress Farah (Diba) as respectively the Shah and Shahbanou of Iran. It was also the very first time in 2500 years that a Persian Queen was to be crowned and certainly a unique event to this day in any Muslim country. And for that purpose, it was necessary to order a new crown. The honor fell on the famous Parisian jewellers Van Cleef & Arpels, who created the most awesome crown, along with new parures to be worn by the sisters of the Shah at the Coronation >>>

Lion Heartz

As a young child, I grew up as a Persian Sufi Dervish and understood what being one was all about. As a young boy, I would get into countless confrontations over the color of my skin, friend, ego and who we thought was the toughest. My father would always see me come home with a black eye and a bruised body. He decided I should learn some self-defense, in order to defend myself and learn self control. My father who was a brown belt, and had three years in the Persian Royal Air Force, and was advanced in Persian Martial arts called: “Varzesheh Pahlevooni”>>>

طرفدارانِ دوآتشه

آخرین تکواندوکار تیم ایران هم از مسابقه حذف شد. با دلسردی مشغول جمع کردن وساﺋلم از زیر صندلی بودم که فریاد "ایران، ایران" واضحتر از همهمه های گنگ حاکم بر سالن به گوشم رسید. این تشویق نابهنگام و غیرمترقبه گویا خیلی از ایرانیهای دیگر حاضر در سالن مسابقه را نیز متعجب کرده بود. همه نگاهها به گروهی از طرفداران که مشغول نواختن طبل و سرودن شعار بودند دوخته شده بود. >>>

My favorite sport

I have to say that football (or soccer, as it is called here) was definitely my favorite team sports. I played the game, along with my classmates, during most of our school years. I would not be exaggerating if I said that we played over 250 days a year! I have many good memories of playing; not only with my classmates, but also joining an impromptu game with people I would meet during my travels around the country. For instance, playing with locals on Kish Island, our in an Air Force base in Ahvaz, or some village kids in Kalardasht. The best memories are from the practice sessions we used to have in Sa’ad Abbad with members of the Iranian National Team!>>>