The Red Devils

There are two small stories about the red devils that I would love to share:

1. Attack is the best way of defense:

I don’t really remember exactly how I fell in love the Red Devils. But like other youngsters, I & my bro were fascinated & attracted to Manchester United during one of their peak periods in the late 90’s. Together with the facts that English football was very popular in Vietnam back then and  they got some of the most talented & handsome guys like Ryan Giggs and David Beckham in their team,  United attracted us by  the way they played their football, extremely beautiful & sexy. Attack, Attack & Attack. It seemed like everytime they played, not matter where they did or who their opponents were, we would always get something interesting to watch. There were some amazing & thrilling moments that I still remember till now like the dramatic late 2-extra-minutes comeback to champion over Bayer Munich or the heavenly 5-3 comeback over Tottenham after being led 0-3.

I can’t forget a famous speech of one of their legends – Ryan Giggs, which summarized all their philosophy, before a returned away match versus the giant Real Madrid that basically says “Although we’ve got the advantage, we’re gonna still attack because we know attack is the best way of defense“. Oh what a thought! The saying still impresses me untill now.

…

Their philosophy is now changed. They are now willing to play passively & unbeautifully as long as they get results. Because of 3 points, they are willing to play down times. They hardly dare to play their traditional 4-4-2 formation in Champion League away matches. I know there are always ups & downs. Now they’re no longer the one and only one English giant. The emergences of Chelsea and recently Man City, who are all backed by their mega wealthy owners from Russia &the Middle East respectively, have threatened their opportunities much more than ever before. Heavily in debt, they now couldn’t afford to buy the top and most expensive players. Some of their best players even left them for bigger challenges. Although Sir Alex Ferguson has been working miracle in order to lengthen their glory days while they’re deeply in crisis; although, in fact, they went to the 3 over 4 Champion Leaguge finals before the disappointed elimination in the Group Stage this year, they’ve got to change and rejuvenate themselves faster and more thoroughly so as to prove again their manager’s famous saying: “Form is temporary, Class is permanent!”

2. Thrilling

First of all, with my favorite team losing the champion with 30 seconds remaining, I have to say, f*ck you, Manchester City! But… what a game!

1-0 City led at the very first minutes, a little wonder. But whoever could imagine that QPR could equalise, keep the score and even lead 1-2 until the last couple of minutes?

It was the minutes of excitement and fascination – yah, City, who are you? You’re nothing but an inexperience competitor.

But then something happened. An equalized goal at 90′ – no problem, when the ball was kicked off again, it would be gone already. But no.. a stupid kick-off between two QPR players… the last attack.. Oh… GOAL! Miracle really occured!

Watching their fans and players celebrating, I feel really touched. It reminds me of the reasons why I love football in general and United in particular. 90+ minutes of ups and down, of happiness and sadness. All of them mixed together created a very-hard-to-describe feeling. Although I still shake my head in disbelief, I have to admit that was what football is all about and it was indeed one of the best moments I have ever seen. If the 2-extra-minute winning back the champion of United created history, this 4-extra-minute coming back from hell of City deserves the same praise!

After an excellent fight to equalise the 8 points difference, there is really no better way to win the titlte. What a match! What a season! Manchester City, you totally deserved it. Congratulation!

Damn, People Still Think A Day’s Got “24 hours”!

A day’s got 24 hours. There are no doubts about that. But how many hours do we really have for ourselves? The answer is (un)suprisingly not many. To illustrate the point, let’s analyze a normal day of an average person:

An average adult sleeps 7 to 11 hours per night – let’s count it 8 hours.

The same person has 3 meals a day with several snacks in between, which takes up approximately 3 hours.

What’s more, they generally spends at least 30 minutes or so on the toilet per day.

Most of all, they devote 8 hours a day to their works, together with about 30-minute travelling times.

All right, let’s do a simple calculation. We have, people spend, all in all, around 20 hours a day just for their necessary and [working] activities. In this case, I am already generous in calculating the occupied time. In many cases, people spend more than 8 hours just lying on their beds, which I also do sometimes. The travelling and personal hygiene times may likewise take more times than those stated. At the end of the day, they have only got twenty FOUR hours to do what they like in a normal (working) day! So, what do people actually do daily?

Waking up after a long sleep, many people do think that a new fresh day has just started and unconsciously ignore the fact they have just lost nearly 1/3 of their day’s time. After doing some personal sutff, they then go to work and only return home after 8-hour working when the dusk is falling.

So, unless we can spend all the meals at our working tables, unless we can reduce the time spent on the toilet to zero, unless we can sleep 5 hours a day – which, if possible, are not good for us in the long term at all, and unless we work for ourselves – our interests, we spend 20 hours per day for something that’s totally out of our businesses. What we have left for ourselves are just… four – 4 hours only! What can we do with these limited 4 hours? Not so much. And for those whose 4-hour lasts from 7 to 11 or 8 – 12 pm, it’s even worse! I usually call that period as “dead hours” – the hours that cannot be well spent. Which and how many classes, restaurants and malls are open till that time to serve you? Obviously, apart from work, we still have at least our family, love and probably kids to worry about. So, the big question is can we cut down those 20 so-called ‘neccessary hours’? Luckily, the answer is “Yes, of course!” With a good time management, we can reduce those “neccessary hours” to minimum. Ultimately, if we can utilise 8-hour working to do what we want to do, we will save a lot of time for ourselves.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” – Steve Jobs

In short, I don’t mean to worry you, but life is short and time is limited, so spend it wisely!