Laureus World Sports Awards

The Oscars of the sporting world will be presented in St Petersburg today. Here are a list of the nominations courtesy of the official website, with my personal picks in bold type where I know of the nominees. Where I felt like it I have added some comments, which will be in italics.

The full list of nominees for the 2008 Laureus World Sports Awards is:

Laureus World Sportsman of the Year

Roger Federer (Switzerland, Tennis), Tyson Gay (US, Athletics), Kaka (Brazil, Football), Michael Phelps (US, Swimming), Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Motor Racing), Tiger Woods (US, Golf) – When it comes down to dominance of their particular sport, it’s Tiger v Roger. Roger won 3 of the 4 tennis majors vs Tiger’s 1 of 4, so Roger deserves to win.

Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year

Justine Henin (Belgium, Tennis), Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia, Athletics), Carolina Kluft (Sweden, Athletics), Libby Lenton (Australia, Swimming), Marta (Brazil, Football), Lorena Ochoa (Mexico, Golf) – it could go to any of them particularly Lenton or Henin. There is some slight national bias, but Lenton’s 5 golds at the World Champs plus her non-ratified world record for the 100m free back that up.

Laureus World Team of the Year

AC Milan (Italy, Football), Australia Men’s Cricket Team, Ferrari (Italy, Motor Racing), Germany Women’s Football Team, Iraq Football Team, South African Rugby Team – Iraq’s presence here is warranted with an amazing Asian Cup victory, but the Australian cricket team whitewashed England in the Ashes, then blitzed the World Cup in the West Indies. Despite the blip of the Commonwealth Bank series and Chappell-Hadlee trophy losses, they deserve global recognition in my opinion.

Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year

Alberto Contador (Spain, Cycling), Novak Djokovic (Serbia, Tennis), Tyson Gay (US, Athletics), Lewis Hamilton (UK, Motor Racing), Oscar Pistorius (S.Africa, Athletics), Casey Stoner (Australia, Motor Cycling) – Stoner was astonishing in MotoGP. To do what he did in 07 so emphatically, especially with the level of talent alongside him on the grid, puts him as my pick. Should have been nominated for Sportsman of the year.

Laureus World Comeback of the Year

Gt.Britain Rugby League Team (UK), Christine Ohuruogu (UK, Athletics), Paula Radcliffe (UK, Athletics), Jana Rawlinson (Australia, Athletics), Steve Stricker (US, Golf), Jonny Wilkinson (UK, Rugby Union) – Any female athlete coming back from giving birth to excel at a World Championships and win gold in her event deserves plenty of recognition.

Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability

Daniel Dias (Brazil, Swimming), Darren Kenny (UK, Cycling), Sarah Storey (UK, Cycling), Michael Teuber (Germany, Cycling), Esther Vergeer (Netherlands, Wheelchair Tennis)

Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year

Daniel Dhers (Venezuela, BMX), Mick Fanning (Australia, Surfing), Stephanie Gilmore (Australia, Surfing), Aaron Hadlow (UK, Kiteboarding), Ryan Sheckler (US, Skateboarding), Shaun White (US, Snowboarding/Skateboarding),

Congratulations in advance to the winners.

9%

That’s the percentage of people polled by Newspoll who picked the slightly embattled Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson as their preferred PM, down from 11% in the previous Newspoll. The sentiment surrounding the apology last week may have in part contributed to this decline (I’m not sure when the poll was conducted exactly, but it could easily have been over the weekend), but all in all worrying news for the Coalition.

Right now I am willing to say that I would not be at all surprised if Nelson didn’t see out the year and still hold his position. With the overwhelming sea of dissatisfaction at his response to Kevin Rudd’s apology from various angles, these are testing months ahead as he reacts to these numbers.

We have underestimated the cognitive recall capacity of goldfish

…according to young Rory Stokes, News Limited reports. It’s a shame though that all that some commenters could do is effectively rubbish the experiment that the youth had done because it had already been disproven on the popular TV show Mythbusters.

I think that what’s important in the story is not the simple fact that Rory ended up proving (even if it had already been done before), but the means by which he came to his conclusions. Plus, there’s the fact that there is a teenager interested in science and not just relying on information presented to him. He shows how a little bit of thought and innovation can prove the facts that many people may be too ignorant or apathetic to investigate for themselves.

Genesis 12-50

A blog entry by Craig has got me thinking about the riches contained within this part of Genesis.

A couple of years ago there was a sermon series at Toms looking at Genesis 1-11, which naturally focused on Creation, the fall, the genealogy from Adam to Noah, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the genealogy from Noah to Abram. I never thought much of the fact that we didn’t go past Genesis 12 (a key chapter when it comes to understanding Biblical Theology) at the time, but since at church we’ve split series dealing with the entire books of Romans and Revelation over several years, perhaps Genesis 12-50 could be treated by our leadership team in a similar manner (probably over a term as opposed to smaller chunks drawn out over 3 or 4 years).

My slightly abridged reasoning for this (since I have limited time right now) is that the stories of the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are key foundation blocks in the salvation story that ties the Bible together as a whole. God establishes his plan to reconcile people to himself through key promises made to Abraham, and his faithfulness in many situations (such as the promise of a baby to Abraham and Sarah, even though Sarah is barren) is shown consistently. It paints the picture of the birth of God’s chosen people through a man of faith who showed obedience and mostly unwavering faith in situations where any other person may have dismissed these promises as a pipe dream. It has many important events that lead, at the end of the book, to the descendants of Abraham settling in Egypt, where they would be soon held in bondage by the Egyptians. This sets the scene for what we see in Exodus.

Furthermore, the Bible study group that I am a part of is looking at the life of Abraham with the guidance of the very helpful Lifeguide bible study book about him. This has helped in part to fuel my agreement on the exposition of these vital chapters in our church meetings.

The concept of biblical theology is one that all Christians in my opinion need to have a good understanding of, not merely to enhance their Bible knowledge, but to recognise that their salvation is not just the death of their Saviour, but was the culmination of many promises made by God, which were fulfilled in Christ. Genesis 12-50 is a pivotal part of the story that we can all do well to be reminded of, be it in our private Bible study, or formal gatherings of believers.