Kobe’s Blog

If there’s anything I’ve learnt in my 27.99 years of living, it’s that there’s never a dull moment. Never. It’s taken me a while to come to terms with that… but knowing that, I believe, makes life much simpler and easier to live.

27 was a good year. Lots of tough decisions. Lots of happy moments…including obtaining keys to my first home. But only a few days ago… a week before saying good bye to 27, there was a fairly unsettling development that some may see as a setback. I guess it is depending on how I decide to proceed. It could also mark the beginning of great opportunities to come.

Tomorrow, I’m going to be ushered into the world of no excuses. A world of men and women… and I have to be ready to play. As my uncle put it earlier this evening, once you get busy working, you lose sight of the days, the weeks, the months and the years. Next thing you know, you’ve lived a chunk of your life.

I am excited about tomorrow as I am about the last hour and a half of 27. I am prepared to meet the challenges and the decisions to be made. I look forward to looking back a year from now and saying… 28 was a good year.

I’ve been one lucky bloke. All things being equal, I’ve had a pretty good deal. It’s time to move to the next level. I’m ready.

About 4 years ago, I wrote a blog entry about how on the morning of my 5th birthday, I discovered I could whistle. I ended that post saying 19 years later, I could still whistle.

Well, 23 years later, I can still whistle. Life is beautiful

During the weeks leading to the May 5 De La Hoya - Mayweather fight, boxing connoseurs predicted that this would be the bout that would win boxing its long lost fans. I grew up in an environment where boxing was a national sport. I watched the likes of Azumah Nelson destroy boxers like Jeff Fenech of Australia. And I always admired Pernell Whitaker. As time went on, I lost interest in the sport particularly because of the disgust with some of the judging. It was not out of disappointment that my favorite boxer did not win a bout. It was rather anger towards what I saw as a direct insult to me by the judges. I have eyes, just like everyone else. To watch some fights which are soo obviously one sided and easy to score and to listen to the judges score in favor of the real loser of the fight makes a mockery of not only us the spectators, but the sport as a whole.

Well that’s how boxing lost its fan base. And if it was banking on perfect judging to bring back the masses, then its work last night was not achieved. No question… Ffloyd Mayweather beat Oscar De La Hoya. Whether you love or hate the pretty boy … whether you love or hate the golden boy… Mayweather won.

How then did Judge Tom Kaczmarek have Oscar De La Hoya winning 115 - 113? Did he watch the same fight I did? Did he watch the same fight millions of us did? If he did… then I’m going back to soccer!