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“For those that didn’t get the memo, my name is Jay-Z and I’m pretty fucking awesome”

Jay absolutely tore Glastonbury down on Saturday night. Looks like the crowd enjoyed it too.

Here’s the full performance for those that ain’t seen it…

Unstoppable.

This song was out ATLEAST a month ago. In fact, the album was out in January, but it’s been getting a lot of exposure on the radio for a while now.

The video has JUST been released.

Better late than never I guess?

Awesome tune.

Well it’s over now. Women can rejoice as the daily games of International football fall away for another couple of years, while men will sit back and talk about a first major competition for quite some time that didn’t feature England and whether it was ‘any good’?

For me, it was not only good, it was great.

I’ve mentioned a few times what a difference it makes to have a tournament where every single moment isn’t made comparable to England. However, Spain’s triumph has been credited to the mastery of Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas. When, in actual fact, David Villa was the better of the two strikers (Fernando spent most of the tournament rolling around on the floor) and Xavi/Iniesta were far more effective for the Spaniards than British-based Fabregas - who was merely a well used substitute, just as Guiza and Corluza(sp?) were. Focus on Germany was more to do with Ballack and his terrible track record in finals competition. With every team in the competition it seemed all the punditry focused on the British based compenents (Kazim-Richards for Turkey, Modric for Tottenham, Tuncay for Turkey and so on and so forth).

But I guess you can’t get away from that kind of ‘lets make it all British’ kind of press for a whole month, can you?

Personally, I’ve just enjoyed seeing 16 teams play some pretty entertaining stuff, without ever having to worry about motivating myself for the England games. It’s been a pretty relaxing experience just enjoying the spectacle. Not feeling completely involved.

Spain deserved to win it, as far as I’m concerned. Germany kind of stumbled through the whole competition and looked uninspired in pretty much every game they played in. For all their individual talents, they didn’t look settled as a team, and I think that only two players that will come out of this tournament with any grace are Podolski and Schweinsteiger who put in excellent performances pretty much every time they turned out.

Spain, however, looked settled and comfortable as a team. They had a strike partnership that fully understood how to play together. They had a well organised defensive set up, and they had a midfield that had caution, composure, intelligence and patience. In every single game the Spanish midfield set the tempo. That notion couldn’t be more fitting than when they came up against Russia, who were being lauded as potential winners after eliminating the Dutch. What Spain did, that Holland couldn’t, was to address the threat of Arshavin (he was nowhere to be seen in that game) whilst still being a danger going forward. Xavi, Iniesta, Silva and Senna may not look like that most exhilerating line up on paper but in Xavi/Iniesta you have two incredibly clever players that are creative, but wary of doing the wrong thing. Attributes that lead to few wasted crosses/passes and an insistence on keeping possession until the killer pass or move comes along.

Whilst the Dutch played a lot of attractive football, and were a lot of people’s favourites to progress to the final (they were mine too!) they simply didn’t have a side or a squad as complete as Spain’s. What they produced on the attacking side of things was masterful, but the defensive co-ordination and organisation wasn’t quite capable of dealing with players like Arshavin. In the modern day game, the notion of you can score three and we’ll score four doesn’t quite work against the more organised units of international football. But it sure was enjoyable to watch.

A Spain-Holland game would surely have been a spectacle - it wouldn’t have been the final but it would have felt like one - because unlike the Germans, Holland would have gone at Spain with everything, which would have led to a much more open game than what we saw last night. Oh well, we can only dream.

A mate of mine declared that this tournament had been ‘boring’ and nothing compared to the Euro’s of 96. Bull shit, as far as I’m concerned. Euro ‘08 gave us the Turkish come back kings - a final couple of minutes against Croatia that will go down as absolute classics, just as their comeback against the Czechs will. You had a Dutch masterclass against the aging French and Italians. You had Russian underdogs doing extremely well against whoever they faced, inspired by the genius of Guus Hiddink. The Portuguese, of course, putting in a lot of attractive performances that were good for the neutral. You had Romania and the Croatians impressing a lot of people. And the refs were pretty good too!

The final may have been a bit of an anti-climax, but these days with so much at stake they often are. You can hardly say that Euro 2008 has been boring though, it’s been fantastic - it’s just a shame that it’s over.

Now lets have some transfers please!

Yesterday I found out my final marks for my three-year degree at Sunderland Uni.

And the news was all good. I bagged myself ‘First Class Honours’ (the highest mark attainable, which around 12% of graduates across the country receive) and, to my surprise, my dissertation was awarded 90% (which is 20% higher than the boundary). To say that I’m proud or chuffed is a bit of an understatement really.

I’ve been waiting for these marks to arrive for some time, and I’ve had countless e-mails knocked back saying they’ll be ready ’soon’, but I had no idea they would arrive through post. I’ve been without my phone (broken) for the past week, so when all my friends received their results through the post on Saturday morning I was frantically ringing my house back in York to have my mum check the mail. Except she wasn’t in. She wasn’t in all day! It wasn’t until 7pm that night whilst at work that I managed to get in touch with her, borrowing someone else’s phone and sat in a room full of furniture with a pen and paper at the ready. It was a pretty weird way to receive grades that you’ve been seeking for the majority of your adult life. My mum read out dozens of numbers and grades before eventually setting her eyes on the bottom of the letter to tell me that I had got ‘first class honours’. I don’t think she’d ever heard me swear as much in 21 years as she did in the following 21 seconds, but I’m sure she understands I meant well.

Whilst I’m not entirely surprised that I got a first, because my grades this year have been so much better than my first two years, I wasn’t expecting it. I had told myself at the start of the year that I wanted a 2:1 minimum (given that I had averaged those marks in my first and second years), but even then a 2:1 is a fairly standard mark. Not to discredit anyone who has received that this year, but contrary to 12% of people across the country who receive first class honours, almost 75% of UK graduates receive second class honours. The difference between the two boundaries is a big one, whilst the boundaries are fairly tight, and whilst a degree is a degree I wouldn’t want potential employers to look at me as ‘just another one of the 75%’ getting second class honours.

Forgive me if that sounds pretentious.

While getting the first is a massive achievement, and I’ve had so many people give me a big pat on the back, I know that in media that I’m still very far from where I need to be and that all the hard work still lies ahead. Unfortunately in media nothing falls at your feet, unlike some courses where you can guarantee yourself a job almost straight after university the sad reality is that nobody is waiting at the finish line for you. But, to be quite frank, where’s the fun in that?

I will revel in my degree joy for the next week or two, and then it’s time to make some things happen. I’m going to have to get more aggressive with applying for jobs, put myself about for some voluntary work experience and I’ve already got some ideas for independent projects which I’m sure I’ll write about on here when they become more than just pipe dreams. For now though, I will kick back and enjoy the fact that Sunderland Uni consider me to be ‘first class’.

Hope everyone else got the grades they wanted!

Just come across this video, from new rapper NY Oil.

It’s one of the only music videos to ever be banned from Youtube. This is the animated version. If anybody has the link to the original, throw it my way.

Pretty good song and concept. This, for me, is proper hip hop music - not the Lil Wayne/50 Cent shit. And this is the kind of stuff that I’m hoping for on the new Nas album.

I’ve known for a while that the NBA was coming to Europe in its off-season.

In October, the New Jersey Nets are facing up to the Miami Heat in a game at the O2 Arena.

After last night’s draft, with the Heat acquiring number two pick Michael Beasley, I had a look at how much tickets to this event would cost. Bare in mind that this is only a pre-season game with no baring on the league standings at all. With that being said, the stars of the show like Dwayne Wade and Vince Carter will probably see minimal minutes in a bid to use them in games that actually matter.

Tickets to this showpiece cost anywhere between £30 in the very worst seats to £250 courtside.

£30 isn’t so bad, but when there is an “additional note” that says “seats located on Level 4 (Upper Tier, Upper Bowl) are not recommended for those who have a fear of heights” I’m thinking fuck that. Probably won’t be able to see the ball from those dizzying heights.

Lower tier seats ranged from £70-90 - but if I’m picking up two tickets that’s a massive hole in my pocket. Especially for a pre-season game.

Atleast the NFL, which is visiting Wembley again later this year, deploys an exhibition game which has an actual knock-on effect on the league. I’m gutted I didn’t go down and catch the Giants v the Dolphins last year, and I don’t know enough about the Colts and whoever else is playing at Wembley this year. Certainly not enough to shell out near £100 for those tickets too.

To put this in perspective, you can pick up a New York Knicks season ticket for as little as $250. And that’s 44 home games. For just over £120. So, I could pick up two Knicks season tickets, albeit not the greatest seats, in Madison Square Garden for as much as a single courtside seat at the O2 Arena (infact probably not even courtside because courtside will probably be sold off privately to sports stars/celebrities).

Doing the maths, that’s like £3 a game in the Garden.

Jesus.

Even in football, a ticket at Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal can cost well over £50 - whereas I think the cheapest season ticket available at Inter Milan last time I checked (so a standard just as good) was less than £90. Why is everything so fucking expensive in England?

I guess it goes without saying that I won’t be attending the Nets/Heat game in October. Which is a shame, but fuck it, I’ll catch some NBA games when I can eventually afford to get out to the States.

New film from Guy Ritchie.

Looks aaaaaaaace.

Supposedly out October 31st.

Why cant Stephen Hawkings dance?

He’s white.

Baddum-tsssssssssssssssssssssssssh!!

I’ve tried to brush off all this talk of Ronaldo leaving for Real Madrid, as I bury my head in the sand, but everybody’s talking about it so here goes…

United fans are being awfully fickle on this subject. “Ronaldo’s a traiter”. He’s this, he’s that.

Ronaldo is one thing - a player who wants to play for his dream club.

United fans should accept that outside of England not everybody wants to play for Manchester United. While we continue to proclaim that the English league is the best in the world, outside of this tiny island there is a whole world that enjoys the majestic play of Real Madrid/Barcelona or the less action-packed play of AC Milan/Inter/Juventus. Not everybody is besotted with the action packed, hustle and bustle, very English style of the Premier League.

Ronaldo grew up in Portugal playing continental football, watching continental football, and dreaming of playing the same way as Luis Figo. Not David Beckham. Not Andrei Kanchelskis. Not Eric Cantona. He’s always dreamt of playing silky football in the Santiago Bernabeu, rather than getting kicked to pieces at Bolton and Wigan.

United fans are overlooking the fact that we do this every year when we sign players. When we wanted Hargreaves, he demanded a transfer from Bayern Munich as it was a dream for him to play for England’s biggest team. Same goes for Rooney. And Rio Ferdinand. And Michael Carrick. And Alan Smith.

How can we turn around now and say that Ronaldo is a traitor for chasing his dreams when the bulk of our squad is made up of players who’ve turned their backs on the clubs that established them?

We can’t.

If he goes, he goes. If the price is right and his heart isn’t in it, then let him leave I guess.

I understand why Ronaldo would want to leave. I wish all this was happening behind closed doors, and I hope he stays, but I suppose that it is inevitable that he will leave - whether it is this year, next year or on a bosman in a few years time.

The money that they’re talking about for Ronaldo is monumental. 50 million, 60 million, 70 million - enough to get us Benzema, or Berbatov, or any striker we need as well as a winger to fill Ronaldo’s boots. I’ve also heard Sergio Ramos and Sneijder or Robinho, which I can’t see being true as Real make far too much money through the merchandise of Ramos (one of Spain’s biggest young stars) and Robinho (one of Brazil’s biggest stars, and a rising figure in Nike’s sponsorship deals).

Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be enough to replace Ronaldo and then some. Ronaldo will not eclipse the season he has just had, and I think that the biggest teams in Europe are wise to how he plays (which is why he ‘never performs in the big games’) so I don’t think United will fall apart without him.

This debate could go on for hours really, and I could talk on both sides of it all day long. At the end of the day this Ronaldo-to-Real saga has been going on since before the World Cup of 2006, and he didn’t go then so he might not now.

However it does seem inevitable that one day Ronaldo will fulfill his ambition of playing in all white in the Santiago Bernabeu, and thinking unselfishly, if its his childhood dream then who can blame him for wanting to leave?

Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
To live

They got little hands
And little eyes
And they walk around
Tellin’ great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet

Well, I don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
Round here

Short People are just the same
As you and I
(A Fool Such As I)
All men are brothers
Until the day they die
(It’s A Wonderful World)

Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
To love

They got little baby legs
And they stand so low
You got to pick ‘em up
Just to say hello
They got little cars
That go beep, beep, beep
They got little voices
Goin’ peep, peep, peep
They got grubby little fingers
And dirty little minds
They’re gonna get you every time
Well, I don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
‘Round here