The occasion: Jordan’s hope Nadine Dawani plays her first match in Beijing

The time: 5:45 am Amman Time

The chances: If Nadine beats the British player in the first round she advances to face the Chinese – the group’s favourite.
But she will still have a very good chance to compete for the bronze, even if she loses to the Chinese.

The opponent: Britain’s Sarah Stevenson – European Champion in 2005 and 2006
17th place in Athens 2004 (Nadine finished 5th in the same weight class in Athens)

5:35 Am alarm goes off – tough choice between patriotism and sloth

5:45 Navigate through handball, men’s diving, table tennis to finally find the match.

1:23 to go – first round (1-1)
After half a minute of bouncing around the players score simultaneous points 1-1 on turning kicks.
0:20 to go – first round (2-1) Stevenson
With both players spending the period bouncing around and trying to get a feel for the opponent, Stevenson scores a point by landing a kick as the round winds down.

First time out – A group of twenty Chinese people is shown waving little Jordanian flags. Good to see the Jordanian teams coming to Beijing prepared with all the essentials for a successful Olympic participation.

0:18 to go – second round (2-2)
At the end of another bouncing-only round Nadine scores on a push kick to tie the match. Followed by some shoving at the end of the round.

Second time out – The same group of Chinese people is still waving the flag, but we now we can see that they are led by two-time Olympian Zeina Shabaan who looks like she is enjoying her three-week vacation in Beijing.

1:24 to go – third round (3-2) Stevenson
After the referee urges the players to fight for the seventh time in the last two rounds, Stevenson scores on another turning kick.
1:00 to go -
The Moroccan commentator is getting nervous. “Nadine has to win”
0:30 to go -
With time winding down and Nadine continuing with her passive-defensive approach, I am starting to wonder if Taekwondo matches are played out of four rounds and not three
0:15 to go -
The Olympic dream is almost over and Nadine is still bouncing around without any serious attempts to score a tying point.
0:10 to go -
Nadine throws a few kicks, engages with the Brit, tries to push her out of bounds to force her into a penalty.
End of match
Stevenson 3 : Dawani 2

The Moroccan commentator seems confused why wouldn’t Nadine actually fight.
The Lebanese commentator believes she did fine because at least she was competitive.

And that sums up Jordan’s Olympic participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Objective for 2012: Make the second round in at least one sport.

This reminds me of Sharpie-abuse in Saudi Arabia:

Olympic logo police workers are tasked with vigilantly going around all facilities and putting masking tape over the logos for any product where the company is not an official sponsor.

Talk about taking it too far.

[link]

Colour Lovers has a great article on the design of the modern Olympics since they started.

It’s amazing that the Olympics moved from this:

( 1896 Athens, Greece)

to this:

(1928 Amsterdan, Netherlands)

to this:

(1968, Mexico City, Mexico)

to this:

(2012, London, UK)

I’ve always been amused by the decades that passed. The 60′s and the 70′s seem amazing to me. Woodstock, flower-power, Abba, Palestinian nationalism away from religion, and of course, the awesome fashion.

Then I came upon this website that shows you what you might have looked like in a mug shot from the past… and perhaps I was better off not being born in those decades :)

As for Moose, whose vintage shots I added out of curiosity with how guys would have looked like in those decades, could also be seen. I would say he fits other decades better than I do.

1950′s

The years of Sputnik, the United Arab Republic, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan. Yes, I suppose on such a politically charged decade, I’d probably look so well-kept and peaceful, while Moose would have looked so serious. 

1960′s

The people were jamming to the Beatles, Walt Dinsey’s Mary Poppins has its world premiere, Martin Luther King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and Roald Dahl writes Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Vietnamese war is also reaching its peak, and man walked on the moon.
Apparently, they were also very bad years for us. I can’t believe how horrible we look.

1970′s

The Arab-Zionist war of 1973, the Lebanese Civil War, the green revolution started gaining ground, Stephen Hawking developed his theories of black holes, people became less religious, and people were listening to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and the Ramones. Star Wars, The Godgather, and Grease were released.
Okay, so kill me, but I love 70′s hair. For both males and females.

1980′s

Islamic fundamentalism began gaining ground in our side of the world, Space Invaders became popular, personal computers were getting more important, and The Karate Kid became a blockbuster. AC/DC released the second highest selling ablum world wide, Chernobyl came to be, and John Lenon was shot.

The 80′s were bad. Bad. Bad.

1990′s

The first decade that I remember in its entirety. The Gulf War, the internet, the break-up of the USSR, Dolly-the-sheep, and the Millenium bug. These photographs remind me of Full House and Boy Meets World.
Well, and boybands.

Compare Musa’s boyband looks to an actual picture taken in the early 90′s of his class:

And finally, the year 2000. Compare to an actual picture of me taken in the year 2000.

How would you look like in those decades? Try it out here [via Kottke].

This blog has been needing CPR as I’m usually both blank and bored these days, so Moose has offered to help me with that. Just a heads up in case you see posts on topics that I don’t know nothing about.

Now that we share everything, I have acquired equal shares in this space which was actually the plan all along.

(Evil laughter)

So expect a lot less artsy-fartsy pictures, and expect a lot more basketball, and of course, more nonsense…and rants.

The picture below is of al-Ahli basketball Club celebrating a title sometime in the early 1990s:

(click to enlarge image)

After finishing in second place for 15 straight years between 1975 and 1990, al-Ahli started winning titles in 1991 when Nasser Bushnaq joined them.
Bushnaq who was playing in Kuwait, returned to Jordan in the wake of Iraq’s reacquisition of its 19th district. Ahli basketball no longer exists, since the club canceled the game after realizing they won’t be able to compete in the corporate-dominated league.

Appearing in the picture (left to write):

Top Row
Samir Morqoss
Coach Sasha (Russian coach)
Adnan Naghaway (Club president)
Yanal alKhass
Nasser Bushnaq
Kamal Hilo

Middle raw:
Youssef Zaghlool

Sitting:
Marwan Ma’tooq
Mitthat Nabulsi (taxi driver)
Zeid alKhass
Ramez Hammodeh
Mohammad Shamali

Now if anyone can name the last two players (right next to the flag)or identify anyone else appearing in this photo, they will be the winners of the first Moose Nest tri-weekly award.

Published by the Moose