www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

Liverpool FC was once in the lower division and Leeds United, a mighty force under Don Revie is now languishing in a lower division. Singapore squash was once number six in the world and in waterpolo, we have won every gold medal at the SEA Games. Why the contrasting fortunes? What about Singapore soccer? Whereto from here? There was a time where a local game between two top league teams that can bring in a crowd of 20,000 and regularly at Kallang, we have crowds of 50-60,000 packing the stadiums for a Malaysia Cup match. Why? There were rivalry, stars and legends, there was success, therefore there was huge interest and there was euphoria. Young people started picking up the sports as they wanted to play soccer like Quah Kim Song and Mohamed Noh or play squash like Zainal Abideen. Squash courts were opening up everywhere from Kampong Java to Kallang and they were always packed. In soccer, we had the golden and crazy years when the late and legendary Uncle Choo Seng Quee broug...

I was more of a badminton player than a squash player and never a tennis player. I could play a mean game of badminton heavily influenced during the time of legends like Rudy Hartono and Svend Pri. Squash was like unheard of until a friend who plays it quite frequently at Poly introduced it. I found that I love the game. It is pulsating and physically intimidating to say the least. I particularly love hitting on the side wall with gusto and feeling and seeing the ball ricochets away like a pinball can be quite fun. This shot is called a "Boast".  The only thing I dislike is that in a non air-conditioned squash court, the heat is too intense within the court. I found myself asking why it is called Squash and not Squeezed as you get squeezed within the confines of the walls. Squeezed oranges become orange squash and at the end of an hour or two after playing several sets with different opponents, you do really feel like a squeezed orange but it was good even if you look ...

It gets cold when it is raining cats and dogs these days some of the time. In the very old days, the English countryside have people living in farms where houses have thatched roofs piled with straws but no wooden support underneath it and small animals like rats, cats and dogs would live there to keep warm and during torrential downpour, it can get slippery and you will find animals falling down from the roofs hence raining cats and dogs. It's raining cats and dogs on Tiger Woods of late, even woolly mammoths judging by the revelations. Poor Tiger. Tiger Tiger crashed his SUV and lo and behold all kinds of rumours abound. The price of fame. I do not mind coming back from the Land of Oz with a cool US$3 million in the pocket to get my SUV dented a bit though. Ah, the paparazzi spin mill profiting at the expense of others again. Here's a guy who could drive (with his golf clubs) and how many of you out there could not drive straight with a golf club in your hands but ...