#Telstra on the other hand sell you a SIM that can only be activated by calling from a Telstra service? Hmmm isnt that why I bought the SIM? 3 weeks ago
Amazing how difficult it can be to simply unlock your mobile handset with #Vodafone providing an online service that can't find a real IMEI! 3 weeks ago
The post is a bit belated but it could not be overlooked and not mentioned.
For the first time ever all 5 Greek Superleague teams in the UEFA Cup won their game in the same round. Followers of other leagues can snub at this effort but for the small nation of Greece it marks a great day in our footballing history. It’s a feat that the followers of the Greek league were hoping would occur after our Euro 2004 triumph.
The most notable of the Greek victories were for Larisa who defeated Blackburn 2-0 at home and Panionios defeating Sochaux 0-2 away!!!
The other results were AEK’s 3-0 defeat over Salzburg, Aris 1-0 against Zaragoza and Panathinaikos 2-1 against Artmedia.
We now need to wait to see whether Greek football has finally woken from its slumber and decided to join the ways of the European footballing nations to produce great results at all levels, club and nation.
Or was it just one good day. One that will be looked back to in years to come and we will say … it was indeed a good day for Greek football …
I can’t remember the last time Olympiakos won a game in the Champions League and the streak continues.
Olympiakos opening Champions League game this season was at Karaiskaki Stadium against Lazio. Due to crowd behaviour problems last season, no fans were present at this important game for Olympiakos.
Olympiakos has a new look side and it’s the first post-Rivaldo season. Unfortunately due to the devastating fires in Greece, the start to the Greek Superleague has been slow and so all Greek teams have had very little match practice and so match fitness is minimal.
Still Olympiakos managed to take the lead through the new signing Galetti. Unfortunately as fate has it lately, Olympiakos was unable to hold on for the lead and conceded the equaliser.
With Real Madrid and Werder Bremen in their group as well, every home game win is mandatory for Olympiakos if they truly want to get through to the next round for Champions League.
A journalism student at the University of Florida had begun asking John Kerry a few questions. He did seem a bit excited while he was putting forward his questions and a bit over the top. I think the sight of the University of Florida police enclosing on him had something to do with his questioning style.
You may have seen other youtube footage or news footage of the student being “tazed” but I liked this one as it has a bit of commentary from the MSNBC journos.
Click here for the youtube video
There are questions that need to be asked …
Was all that force necessary? Could he have finished his questions and sat down with no commotion? Did he break any laws or really cause any public offence?
If he was allowed to finish his question and sit down, the Kerry gathering may not have even made the news.
Could it have been a publicity stunt???
In any case we are always told about the virtues of democracy and the need to spread it to the rest of the world. I was sure that one of the key elements of democracy is freedom of speech. The capability to get on your soap-box and tell the world what your thoughts are … especially in a democratic country.
World Champions and favorites Spain lost in the final of the EuroBasket 07 going down to Russia 60-59 in front of a home crowd. Spain defeated Greece in the semi-final to earn the spot in the final and Russia had defeated Lithuania.
Unfortunately for Greece, we lost to Lithuania in the bronze medal match 78-69 and ended up in 4th spot and de-throned as Europe’s basketball champions. The loss also means that we missed out on an auto-entry spot to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Greece will participate in a pre-Olympics tournament that will hopefully give them a chance to participate in the Olympics.
As at 11:30am (AEST) ert.gr reported that 91.73% of the votes had been counted for the Greek elections that took place on Sunday 16th.
The results put the Nea Dimokratia party back in power with enough seats to have a majority government. Kostas Karamanlis graciously accepted the victory and has a clear mandate to continue the work that ND have undertaken since the previous election victory in 2004.
PASOK lost ground in the results and the leadership of Giorgos Papandreou will need to be tested this week by the party. Papandreou conceded defeat and will also be putting his leadership to the test with his party’s members. It is planned to have the vote of confidence this week so that the party can get straight to rebuilding itself.
It should be pointed out that both major parties lost seats in the elections – ND have lost 12 seats and PASOK 14 seats. The biggest winners from these elections have been the minor parties with the Greek Communist Party KKE who have gained 9 seats; the left-wing SY.RI.ZA who gained 7 seats; and LA.OS who now have 10 seats and were not previously represented in parliament. Note that SY.RI.ZA was previously known as Synaspismos but is still led by Alekos Alavanos.
Below is a summary of the results I compiled showing the change of seats at these elections
Usually we focus on what’s happening in Athens but of course we are all aware that Thessaloniki has a just as great music scene. Some may argue that it’s actually superior to Athens.
Well the International Expo is on right now in Thessaloniki and it’s a busy time in the northern capital. Many clubs have started their autumn programme earlier to take advantage of the “tourists” and visitors and they will continue on until the official winter programmes kick-off.
So here is what’s on right now in Thessaloniki!
Πολιτεία
The explosive Nikos Makropoulos is the headline act at Politeia. This would be a great show as in my opinion Makropoulos is one of the best singers on the scene at the moment.
Boom
Peggy Zina has migrated north for the autumn season together with Hristos Dantis who would be considered the main act alongside her at Boom. They are joined by Alekos Zazopoulos and the new pin-up star for the young girls Kostas Martakis.
Studio Πολιτεία
Yiannis Ploutarhos has also made the move up north for autumn and Tamta is appearing with him.
Odeon
Notis Sfakianakis has a new show on at the Odeon – still a class act going by his latest live release.
Μαμούνια
Valantis apparently still reigns at Mamounia and he is accompanied with Thodori Ferri and Eva Heropoulou.
Ρόδον Live
Hriston Menidiati and Hristina Koletsa are appearing at Rodon Live.
AEK lost 1-4 in Athens against Sevilla and so will not be appearing in this year’s Champions League. Sevilla has taken the last spot in the Champions League and will be in the same group with Arsenal, Steau Bucharest and Slavia Prague.
AEK will now be competing in the UEFA Cup and will meet Salzburg in their first game.
I wonder how Rivaldo will be feeling now after leaving Olympiakos and a chance to play Champions League to join AEK Athens.
The 13th Athens International Film Festival is on from September 19th through to the 30th September. The official website is still lacking information but I am sure that more will be forthcoming soon.
There is one more spot available in this season’s Champions League for either AEK Athens or Sevilla.
Sevilla are ahead in the tie with a 2-0 victory at home in the first leg. The second leg was scheduled for last week with the remaining qualifiers but the game was postponed due to a player’s death from Sevillas.
It must be noted that AEK Athens had already asked for the game to be postponed due to the fires in Greece but UEFA had denied their appeal. As it turned out, the tragedy for Sevilla postponed the match.
For our Australian viewers the game will be played live on ESPN at 4:30am (AEST). For the rest of our viewers I can confirm that the game will be played at 21:45 Athens local time. In Greece the game will be shown live on MEGA CHANNEL.
Anyone who wants to listen to the game on the internet because you may not have access to these channels, you can tune in via the internet from the sport-fm.gr website - that’s a Greek language broadcast. For other languages visit uefa.com for a live stream.
The first major derby of the Greek Superleague has come and gone with a draw between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos at Leoforos in Athens.
Both teams seemed like they weren’t ready for a big game and looked like they needed a better warm. It was always going to be an issue having such a major game in the first round. Although both teams had played a number of friendlies prior to the start of the season, it’s not the same as having played a few games with championship points at stake.
Personally I believe that we have been denied a better contest between 2 of the most competitive teams of the Superleague with the derby being scheduled in the first round. There should be some form of seeding mechanism that would ensure that teams such as Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, AEK, PAOK and maybe Xanthi do not meet in the first 3 rounds. It would give these teams a chance to get into some rhythm and form before playing against each other.
In any case Olympiakos had more clear chances to score but failed to make the best of their chances. Panathinaikos made a stronger assault in the second half but they didn’t manage to capitalise either.
More analysis is available on sportnet.gr and 3 short video highlights are also available on sport.gr
