The Best

There's a popular saying in the Bemba language: "Inshimbi ni nshimbi".

It defies adequate translation into English -- it literally means "metal is metal".

Its intended meaning, though, is that, sometimes, one must simply acknowledge the undeniable facts. Metal is metal, and nothing else.

It's painful to say this as an Arsenal fan, but not as an all-round football fan: it is an undeniable fact that Sir Alex Ferguson, who today stepped down as Manager of Manchester United, is quite simply the best football manager who has ever lived. His record at Manchester United alone speaks for itself: one Club World Cup title; two European Champions League titles; thirteen English Premier League titles; five English FA Cup titles. Not to mention many other less well known trophies. Indeed, Sir Alex Ferguson's greatness transcends even football itself. Judged on the basis of delivery of consistent results over time using finite resources, Sir Alex Ferguson is undoubtedly one of the greatest managers, of any kind, who has ever lived. Inshimbi ni nshimbi, Metal is metal.

Prayers for Arsenal

Like any self-respecting -- and these days, it has to be said, long-suffering -- Arsenal fan, I've read (and re-read) Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby's funny and beautiful homage to football and Arsenal Football Club. Indeed, I own a copy, which I happen to be looking at right now. It's one of my most prized possessions. How could it not be? The first line alone is priceless: "I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it." (He was 11 at the time.) Fever Pitch was published exactly 20 years ago (in 1992) and was this year elevated to the rarefied ranks of the Penguin Modern Classics. Hmph. Took them long enough. Mr. Hornby recently revisited his old hunting ground in Pray: Notes on the 2011/2012 Football Season, a much shorter work (50 pages, as opposed to 239). He's lost none of his touch: "Arsenal's catastrophe at Old Trafford [an 8-2 drubbing at the hands of our arch-rivals, Manchester United], however, the worst defeat of my lifetime -- the worst defeat in the lifetimes of any Arsenal fan under the age of 115 -- could only partly be explained by money..."

Ba Captain

Ba Captain ("Ba" with a soft B is the Bemba honorific) aka Christopher Katongo, captain of Zambia's national football team, was voted the 2012 BBC African Footballer of the Year this week.

Rafa's analysis

Rafa Benitez analyses the final of the 2012 African Cup of Nations.

Happy Endings

This past weekend I took my son, the aspiring filmmaker, to see Martin Scorcese's Hugo. He loved it. And so did I. It's a wonderful (literally wonder-full), tender and lovingly made story. And an homage to early filmmakers and filmmaking. Scorcese's best in my opinion. It's certainly a radical departure from his normal work which, as we all know, never gets rated PG (like Hugo). The entire cast is superb. (Well, almost the entire cast. Sorry Sacha.) The performances of Sir Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield and Michael Stuhlbarg are especially good, excellent even. At one point, Georges Méliès, Ben Kingsley's character, expresses his deep disaffection with the way his life has turned out: "My life has taught me one lesson: Happy endings only happen in the movies." Without giving away too much, the whole story is about how Monsieur Méliès is cured of this cynical view of life through the efforts of the eponymous Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) and Prof. Rene Tabard (Michael Stuhlbarg).

I remembered this later on in the weekend when I watched a second happy ending: