TNN 85

Hello folks…an’ welcome again to we broadcast from de land of T&T…(deep voice)…This Is TNN…… Sweet, sweet, Trinidad.. how ah love dis country bad…. ah doh want to leave it atall…. ever since  ah small….. (background music..Funny)

Jumpstation: Off and stallin'; Brain down de drain; A political football; Next in line.

As if the Ato an’ de house issue wasn’t enough, anodder unnecessary “war of words” has broken out… dis time wit’ we 1976 100M gold medallist, Hasely Crawford an’ some odder parties.  

Now feelin’ rather embarassed (an’ rightly so!) we belatedly decide to give Crawfie ah house an’ t’ing for he achievements (ah l’il politicking throw in de brew too…..!).  Dey give de man ah house but tell him he have to pay up de mortgages which turn out to be too high for de job de fella had… so de man had was to move out (alyuh, ah shame!).  So now dey give him ah nex’ house, but ah doh t’ink he have to pay anyt’ing, BUT de place needed some renovations, so de man dip in he pocket an’ pay for some work on de house.  De business community did promise him ah couple hundred thousand (dey pay up) an’ de government say dey go give him ah nex’ $150,000.  

Well de sports mimnister say he get more dan dat, Crawfie say he eh get ah red cent!  De Minister say dey spend over $¾ M on de house.

Now Crawfie didn’t say de Minister lie, eh…. he jus’ call de man statements “unfortunate”.  He coulda be ah diplomat, boy!  De architect say dey use substandard materials to repair de house, an' is not what he tell dem to use.  NIPDEC (who was in charge of the works, but since bus’ it) say de architect lyin’ an’ he should know how de money spen’ an’ why de house eh finish yet….  De architect say he eh deal wit’ no money.. an’ dat NIPDEC an’ truth is complete strangers (I diplomatic too, yuh  know!). 

Dis country now getting’ ah board in place to decide appropriate means for recognisin’ (I prefer dat term rather dan “rewarding”) achievements of athletes.  Before, nothing was in place, an it is fittin’ dat we do so, because not all we athletes, while dey might be successful, makin’ big money.  It depend on de sport an’ yuh contacts basically.  

Further, yuh cyah live off yuh skills like de fellas does do in dem odder countries… nobody in Trinidad givin’ anybody $20 or $30 M in endorsement fees.  

So no problem if yuh want to show yuh appreciation… in some cases we went overboard, in some underboard (heh! Heh! Heh!).  So stop all de comparison an’ finger pointin’ about who get what.  

But unless we work out ah system, we go always be in dis mess an’ my Lord! Once politicians get involved, yuh goose cook and curry!  Sports and politics doh mix….ever!  

So if dey would jus’ get de Ministry of Sports/Social Affairs to convene an INDEPENDENT committee to recommend to government procedures and such for we sportsmen, ah t’ink we could see we way outta dis mess…

Dey suppose to have some kinda committee but whether it functioning, me eh know…….. well it certainly didn’t help de Ato and know de Crawfie situation….. Of course we look forward to de day when we could jus’ give we athletes some medals or plaque or somet’ing an’ de fellas go be able to make dey way wit’ finance an’ dat kinda t’ing. But  until den dey need we to gih dem ah l’il help-out, if yuh know wat ah mean….!

Well over the last two weeks, we have seen the situation where 400 nurses are packing up dey jhagi-bundle an’ headin’ off to distant  lands.. an’ some 400 teachers also showed up to get recruited to go to New Yark (ah have de accent dong col’, eh?!) an’ teach de “kids”.  

Now I eh too fraid for de nurses since we known throughout de worl’ for we nurses (England, Saudi Arabia, anyway dey sen’ we, we scorin’!) an’ dey does get good treatment.  I kinda feel some ah dem teachers might fin’ deyself facin’ some high school wey de SWAT team does have to ask permission to come in de neighbourhood!  Ah hope not, but ah feel dat grasss lookin’ ah little tooooo green… careful it eh have more “manure” under it, eh…..

Those dat remain either waitin’ on retiremnet or eh have enough experience to make it out dey……But apparently some people doh see it so… including de Health Minister, de Prime Minister of de head of the South Chamber of  Commerce.  

De story is it go free up de market for de young graduates who comin’ into de job market (we assume dat dey are stayin’ an’ not lookin’ to bus’ it at de earliest opportunity… such confidence… misplaced if yuh ask me),  yuh assume dat it have people left who dey could learn from (de same set who leavin’) an’ yuh assumin’ dat people would delight in de fact dat when yuh in casualty yuh hearin’ somebody askin’  “Wey to give she de injection…? Yuh sure dis is de right bottle?” followed by “Me eh know, but we go fin’ out!”  or have novices teachin’ dey children…. 

One would note dat said fellows never go to our well staffed and efficient hospitals an’ all dey children in private schools… so you could eat de bread de Devil knead as far as dey concern!  

In addition…de stupidity of it all.. why are we trainin’ people for other people to use?! An’ de PM come up wit’ ah classic statement  dat retirees comin’ back, so we have competent people comin’ back to help we (do you know why dey have retired..?  because dey have already given their best an’ comin’ here to put up dey foot an’ relax… not work like ah beast of burden for you! Any job dey takin’ is part time… an’ ah hope yuh could afford dem, because dey wasn’t workin’ for TT dollars wey dey was!).  

An’ some people see dis as a positive development….. always the problem…. de people wit’ small brains who yuh would be glad to see go, never want to leave de place…!

A POLITICAL FOOTBALL

Well, las’ Wedneday we draw 1-1 wit’ Mexico at home, so dat means we at de bottom of de table at de end of 3 games.  We could still qualify for de Worl’ Cup, but we have to win every single home game from now on an’ get some points away… an’ hope a couple of de odder teams falter.  

What a spectacle, I tell you.. only 10,000 people max. showed up for de game (de Oval could hold 24,000) and a few thousand got complimentary or were members of Queen’s Park, so did not have to pay.  A really sparse crowd compared to former years when people jam up like sardine to see we boys play.  

So of course de obvious question was…. why when we need to get home support, nobody eh comin’ out, but in odder countries, if yuh faint in de crowd, yuh eh have room to fall down?  

Some people say is de price of de tickets, $100, $200 an’ $300.. doh play yuh takin’ yuh family to de game! But to me is obvious… football has become politicised.. simple.. when yuh have ah party supporter in charge of football in de country, boastin’ how much time, effort an’ money of he own he put in,  an’ de PM an’ cohorts makin’ dey presence seen at every match, an’ boastin’ how much dey suuportin’ de game etc..… man begin to feel like is campaign time all over again… yuh lose yuh taste for de game.. so now people eh too interested if de team win or lose.. to say nothin’ of de ole mas in de camp..

We bring in ah foreign coach an’ is like de team get worse, but dey eh want to fire him… dey bring in we boy Corneal as technical director, two weeks later dey fire him, because he tell dem de coach eh ready… 

De same party financier hire de coach, he is special advisor (read “in charge”) of the T&T football association an’ is de FIFA big boy here (remember dat de FIFA and the local body suppose to be independent, but de same man runnin’ t’ings…. himself is independent of himself…. he must be schizophrenic!) , so anything to do wit’ football he dey…. so wat yuh expect to happen? 

Den doh talk about de advertisin’… de jingle is some kinda American rock song melody, dey have girls in short pants and petit tops runnin’ about de place sayin’ dey cheerleadin’.. nothin’ remotely resemblin’ anyt’ing Caribbean, so ah cyah even identify wit’ de build up to de game!

NEXT IN LINE...

Oh-me-gosh!  Not more elections again…..  Yeah, turns out dat party elections for various posts are now in de air.   De rulin’ party have dey own in early June a’ de Opposition in July or somet’ing so… one big yawn.. ah go have to deal wit’ de rulin’ party first, since de PNM eh hit de headlines yet. 

Hear nah, not one man challenge Bas for leadership position… dey fraid he like pitbull….  Every man-jack when yuh interview dem sayin’ de same t’ing   “I support fully de political leader, an’ I have no aspirations of becomin’ Prime Minister”.  

So why run for Deputy leader, since in de event of de demise of de PM, you most likely go be nex’ in line?!  Who dem tryin’ to fool… dat is like beatin’ book day an’ night, but insistin’ dat yuh doh intend to take exams.. or buyin’ new formal clothes but insistin’ dat yuh stayin’ home….! 

But de reason is, if anybody, ANYBODY, seem to watch dat leader post coki-eye, dey dogs dead! Dey getting’ cut off at de knees! So is bes’ to say yuh support de fella t’rough t’ick an’ thin… better known as CYA (Cover Yuh Ass) syndrome!  

Man, if yuh hear dem butter up BAS..  One say dey eh have 1/10^th  of de leadership skills he have, another say he is de best leader for de party, anodder one express unbounded admiration for de man and his vision… look, we real lucky to have ah man like dat, yuh know… alyuh mus’ really appreciate him more (ah talkin’ to mehself…!).

Ah mean, oh gorm, de man is human, same way de fella have strong points, he have weak points… so what if somebody challenge him for leadership..   Give de US full points for dat..  it always have ‘bout 3 candidates runnin’ each election for leadership.. is ah healthy sign, not reason for worry or to assume dat somebody lookin’ to stab yuh in yuh back…. leh we be ah little mature, nah man…. 

Maddening on de odder side keepin’ quiet..  ah hope he know he have he share to get from de Cobra…. an’ soon!

Dat’s all for dis week folks… remember any queries, questions, comments, hail outs, etc… jus’ write to we anchorman Cobra at ttcobra1@hotmail.com an’ we go get back to yuh… Take care, alyuh, ah gone…. Peace…..Rum and coca-cola…goin’ dong Point Cumana….….(background music)