The Patriotic Thread

[Gavur]

First off, smile a bit xxxxx cat There's a chance you might be overreacting a bit don't you think?

Second, I don't believe I've seen a single message in the AG News forum that didn't have (however indirect it may be) a connection to the Armenian Genocide. No educated individual could possibly assert that Armenian artists struggle now in 2006 as much as they would if the Armenian Genocide had never taken place. As a result of that event, we were robbed of 90% of our homeland, tens of millions of Armenians who were killed or never born into our nation in the last 90+ years, and countless resources. Every single Armenian (no matter blood %) is a victim of this event, whether or not they recognize it. Silva is no different.

You were blatantly wrong to assume that this is an "she is Armenian so all Armenians everywhere must vote for her regardless of whether they have heard a word of her singing, been able to compare her to the other acts, or have ever listened to the BBC" situation. If you bother to take a look at the site, it allows you to listen to the words of her song, as well as everyone elses and then cast a vote for your favorite.

As Mr. Mkrtchyan so correctly put, it is our "chance", our opportunity if you will, to help. If you don't like her music, and don't care to support her out of national solidarity, that's your perogative. However, we did our part to make sure you knew the opportunity was there to help - and as you can see it worked, even if you chose not to take that opportunity.

Hovig yeghpayr

I believe cat has a point this belongs in the Patriotic thread

http://www.armeniangenocide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=847&highlight=patriotic

[Hovik]

Hovig yeghpayr

I believe cat has a point this belongs in the Patriotic thread
http://www.armeniangenocide.com/foru...ight=patriotic

Gavur jan,

Actually cat's point was how dare we have this information on our website at all, not just this thread/forum. However your point is a good one, I will move it now, thanks...

[Gavur]

Armenian Singer To Leave For Great Britain

ARMENIAN SINGER TO LEAVE FOR GREAT BRITAIN TO TAKE PART IN BBC CONTEST'S FINAL

LONDON, NOVEMBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. 17-year-old Armenian singer Silva Hakobian has passed to the final of BBC's The Next Big Thing future stars' contest and with another six singers will have an opportunity to leave for the United Kingdom next week to perform in BBC's well-known Maida Vale studio. First the best 20 out of 1100 records were selected at the contest held since September this year. According to radio Liberty, the best six performers were to be selected through Internet voting on November 28, but the criteria of presented records were so high that the jury chose seven of them, including 17-year-old Armenian singer with her song "I like." The song's author is Silva's sister Mane and the song was recorded by Silva's brother Edgar. "The participants' quality was a surprise for people, but not for us, as from the moment of the idea's emergence we believed in its realization," contest producer Simon Pits said. Maida Vale stage will start on December 6 and the contest commission will announce the winner on December 9. The winner will be chosen by musical experts group including Katy Danis who has worked with Madonna and William Orbit who has written Kyle Minogue's song Can't Get You out of My Head.

http://www.nt.am/eng/news/30.11.2006/Diaspora/d1.html

[Gavur]

Singer Silva wins Next Big Thing

The 17-year-old was chosen ahead of six other acts from around the world at the final, held in the BBC's Maida Vale studios in London.

The judges praised I Like, which was composed by the singer's sister Mane, as "fresh and new" and described her performance as "second to none."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6216088.stm

[Joseph]

Arthur Abraham Voted Boxer Of The Year In Germany
Yerevan, December 22, Armenpress: IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (he was born and grew up in Yerevan) has been voted Germany's boxer of the year while coach Ulli Wegner finished first in the coaching race to cap a successful year for Sauerland Event.

BoxSport magazine had conducted the annual poll among its readers and also consulted a prominent jury.

"King Arthur" gained international fame by beating top-ranked Colombian Edison Miranda despite fighting with a broken jaw for the last eight rounds.

"I feel flattered and proud," Abraham said of his top-place finish.

"There are a lot of big names in the jury and it is also great to have the fans behind me. I will do all I can to defend the title next year."

Meanwhile, Ulli Wegner topped the coaching division for the fourth straight year. He guided Abraham to three successful title defenses.

[Joseph]

Armenian Film About Karabakh in First Three Places in Film Festival in Holland
12.12.2006 14:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian director Vardan Ovanissyan’s film "A story of people war and peace" shoot in Karabakh with the assistance of BBC, entered the first three places of IDFA documentary film festival in Amsterdam. Only 300 films of about 3000 were allowed to pass the final stage, Vardan Ovanissyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. “It is a very prestigious and important documentary film festival, and the fact that Armenian film ‘A story of people war and peace’ entered the first three places, points a lot of things. During the display of the film the Azeri Diaspora in Holland tried to organize protests, Azeri Ambassador in BENELUX countries sent a note of protest to the organizers of the festival, but they could not do anything,” said Vardan Ovanissyan.

In her part, Inge Drost, the Press Officer of Federation of Armenian Organizations of Netherlands (FAON) told a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent, that the Dutch Azeris in their actions and statements are supported by Turkey. “They think that the world must do what they want, though in reality everything is not the way as they think,” underlined Drost.

[Joseph]

Coach Ara Parseghian

NBCSports.com, MN
Dec 31 2006


What if Ara Parseghian had kept coaching?

By John Walters
NBCSports.com
The only thing gaudy about Penn State is its head coach's victory
total.

Joe Paterno, now in his 41st season as the head coach in Happy
Valley, has a career record of 355-117-3. Paterno's 355 victories
rank second in Division I history to Bobby Bowden of Florida State,
who has 359 (Paterno, by the way, is 7-1 versus the Dean of
Dadgummit, including last January's triple-overtime win in the Orange
Bowl).

Paterno celebrated his 80th birthday on the final day of autumn
(December 21). And suddenly, for the first time since Amos Alonzo
Stagg roamed the sidelines at the College of the Pacific during World
War II, the term "octogenarian football coach" will be in vogue.


Malcolm Emmons/US PRESSWIRE
Ara Parseghian coached the Fighting Irish to two national
championships in just 11 seasons.Paterno's legendary longevity got us
to wondering. There's a legendary football coach living in South
Bend. Like JoePa, this coach is enshrined in the College Football
Hall of Fame. Like JoePa, this coach still has a full head of hair,
and he began coaching at the college level in 1950. And, like the
Nittany Lions' full-maned master, he is an octogenarian.

So we asked Ara Parseghian, "How many victories might you have if
you'd never retired?"

"Well, first that's a purely hypothetical question," replied
Parseghian, who is 83 and has lost nothing off his fastball. "And
second, I did not retire.

"I resigned the responsibility of coaching football at Notre Dame.
But, to answer your question, I don't think I could have survived (he
means that in the literal sense) as long as Joe did. I would have
been gone a long time ago."

Parseghian resigned the responsibility, as he puts it, a long, long
time ago. He was just 52 years old when he left Notre Dame after the
1974 season.

He had spent 11 years in South Bend and guided the Fighting Irish to
a pair of national championships. However, he had been a head coach
nearly half his life by that point. In 24 seasons as a head coach,
first at Miami of Ohio, then at Northwestern and finally at Notre
Dame, Parseghian had compiled a record of 170-58-4.

At the same point in his life, Joe Paterno had been a head coach at
Penn State for 14 seasons. His record then, following the 1979
season, was 131-29-1. That mark was undeniably impressive -- already
Paterno had put together three undefeated seasons as well as a trio
of 11-1 campaigns (like the one he had last year).

No doubt Joe Paterno is one of the greatest coaches who ever lived --
and outlived most all of his peers. But what if that one peer who is
still among us, Parseghian, had remained in coaching? After all, at
the same age (52) AraPa was already up on JoePa by 39 wins -- at
least a four-season advantage.

I did the math so you don't have to. Assume that Parseghian, whose
career winning percentage at Notre Dame was .836, had won only 75
percent of his games afterward.

Assume that Parseghian had remained at Notre Dame as the head coach
for the next 367 games, up to and including last Saturday's win at
Georgia Tech.

Assuming all that, Parseghian would have 445 victories. His win total
would dwarf those of Paterno (355) and Bowden (366).

(Of course, there are other assumptions we could make had Parseghian
never left: Rudy would have gotten into a game a lot sooner; so would
have Joe Montana; the term "Oust Faust" would never have come into
vogue; the average sports fan would know a helluva lot more about
Armenia. But I digress.)

"I never thought about 400 wins," says Parseghian, who really only
spent one season as an assistant coach at Miami, and then succeeded
Woody Hayes when he departed to take the Ohio State job. "You sort of
move in the time frame that you're in. You're not thinking of the
future, not thinking about statistics. All you're thinking about is
winning the next game."

The pressure-cooker that is Notre Dame was also an undeniable factor
in Parseghian's decision to get out of football when he did. "You
look at some of the more successful Notre Dame coaches besides
Rockne," says Parseghian.

"Frank Leahy, Lou Holtz and myself. All of them left after 11
seasons.

You think there might be something to that?"

Parseghian, who ran every day at lunchtime during his coaching days,
was always vigorous. He'd been at Notre Dame about five seasons when
Francis Powers, an Irish alumnus who was a writer for Collier's,
approached him at a golf outing. "So," asked Powers, "has it gotten
to you yet?"

"At the time," says Parseghian, "I didn't know what he was talking
about. I was fine. But after five more years, I knew. This job ages
you."

Sometimes it ages you all in one afternoon. Parseghian recalls his
final regular-season game as the Irish head coach, at the Los Angeles
Coliseum against Southern Cal. Notre Dame had erupted for a 24-0 lead
late in the first half when it came time to punt the ball. "I
instructed my kicker to kick away from their returner, Anthony
Davis," Parseghian says. "If he was on the right side of the field,
kick it left. If he was on the left, kick it right. He kicked it
right to him."

Davis returned that punt for a touchdown and, as you probably know,
the Trojans scored the next 55 points.

"There are so many facets to the game you cannot control," says
Parseghian.

"You can't control the officials. You can't control the weather, nor
the turnovers, nor ..."

Anthony Davis?

"We led in that damn game 24-0, for goodness sake," Parseghian barks.
"Yes, it's frustrating."

Listening to him, you ascertain how coaching can age you. Then again,
Parseghian sounds as if he's ready to coach 'em up this Saturday.

All of which, by the way, makes Paterno's (and Bowden's) perseverance
so incredible. Parseghian, in fact, has written him letters
congratulating Paterno on his longevity. "It's one thing to say you
could have coached such and such years and won so many games," says
Parseghian. "But Joe's done it.

That's what matters."

http://www.nbcsports.com/cfb/78529/detail.html

[Joseph]

Canadian Billionaire Jack Khachkar
Buys Olympique Marseille Soccer Club
Eurosport, France
PARIS - Canadian billionaire Jack Kachkar is buying Olympique Marseille
owner Robert Louis Dreyfus' share of the club. The final details are being
cleared up but the deal should be completed within the next few days,
Kachkar's representatives told eurosport.com.
Kachkar is a Syrian-born Canadian of Armenian ancestry and runs Inyx Ltd, a
pharmaceuticals company.
The new OM supremo is contractually obliged to keep Chairman Pape Diouf and
director of sports Jose Anigo until the end of the season.
"Jack Kachkar confirms he made an offer to Robert Louis Dreyfus, accompanied
by the requisite guarantees, for the acquisition of his majority
shareholding of Olympique Marseille," a spokesman told us today.
"Mr. Kachkar's offer will be revealed to the Marseille board in the next few
days for a consultation. The operation must be concluded during February."
Kachkar has been linked with a move for the sleeping giants since the start
of the season, with Sven-Goran Eriksson reportedly primed to take the
coaching reins on confirmation.
"I have wanted to invest myself personally in a big football club for a long
time," Jack Kachkar declared.
"I am passionate about football and I have been a Marseille fan for a while
now. I appreciate its history and the support of the fans for their team.
"Being the major shareholder of this historic club is an honor for me. This
is why I have the intention to involve myself personally within the club in
the long-term.
"Together we will make Olympique de Marseille a big club again."

[Steph]

3 goals in 5 appearances

Andranik Teymourian will be joining Bolton on Trial




"TEHRAN: Rising Iranian star Andranik Teymourian will be joining English Premier League club Bolton Wanderers on trial, announced his club Abo Moslem on Tuesday. The talented 23-year-old midfielder received a slew of offers after his impressive performance for Team Melli in the World Cup.

We received offers from several clubs in Qatar, Turkey, Bundesliga and Bolton, a club spokesman told www.the-afc.com. But we decided in favour of Bolton as they gave the highest offer.

We also prefer to see him play with a European club.

If Teymourian, who is of Armenian descent, gets the vote from Bolton coach Sam Allardyce he could find himself stepping into the Asian shoes of Japanese Hidetoshi Nakata, who announced his retirement from professional football on Tuesday.

The only hitch, if any, is that Teymourian has appeared just eight times for Iran so far and FA regulations state that a player is eligible to join an EPL club only if he has appeared at least 70 per cent in two years for the national team. But a way out is to lodge an appeal with the appeals committee. Bolton finished eighth in the standings last season."

Andranik did join Bolton Wanderers of the English Premiership in August 2006. Whilst yet to make a premiership start for the Trotters he has scored 3 goals in Cup competitions and looks set for a fine future in Greater Manchester.

[Joseph]

Andranik did join Bolton Wanderers of the English Premiership in August 2006. Whilst yet to make a premiership start for the Trotters he has scored 3 goals in Cup competitions and looks set for a fine future in Greater Manchester.

Excellent. I hope his play continues to improve and he makes a name for himself.

Who do you support in the Premiership?