Football by avinashkunnath

People ring in the New Year in a variety of ways.  The Scots have Hogmanay, where neighbors pay “first-footing ” visits to one another to express New Year’s wishes. The Greeks celebrate the Festival of St. Basil on New Years day and bake silver or gold coins inside the traditional Vassilopitta, or St. Basil Cake.

Latin American countries have a host of fabulous traditions like eating 12 grapes at the 12 strokes of midnight, burning an effigy that represents the past year, and walking around with a full suitcase to hope for safe travels during the new year.

In the United States, no sooner has the ball dropped in Times Square, than football fans kick off their New Year tradition – watching football.

There are over 30 college football bowl games this year. Many of the more colorfully sponsored games like the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and the S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl have already taken place. But thanks to the NCAA who thought up the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS, the college football season stretches until January 7. So don’t over do it on New Year’s Eve. If you’re a football fan, it’s going to be a long week.

iCurrent Channels:

• College Football
• BCS Rankings
• BCS Championship

2010 by kimubert

Lists are really in right now. They run the gamut from the best books and music to the best animal stories or the top 10 James Cameron moments. But many lists are not only looking back on 2009, they are also looking back on the entire past decade.

Instead of looking back, we thought we’d  take a look forward to 2010 and some of the things we’ll be following on iCurrent:

Winter Olympics – In February Vancouver will host the Winter Olympics. The big questions are whether Bode will melt down, whether the home team get the gold in Hockey, and will Curling become more popular than American Idol.

FIFA World Cup – In June all eyes turn to South Africa for the World Cup. Soccer is the world’s most popular game and this years final will bring together the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney, and Kaka to battle it out for the right to lift the trophy.

Midterm Elections – There is already plenty in the news about the 2010 midterm elections. The entire House of Representatives and 1/3 of the U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs. Many view the election as a referendum on President Obama’s first two years in office and if history is a guide, the Democrats are going to have a tough time.

iCurrent Channels:

• Winter Olympics
• FIFA World Cup
• Midterm Elections
• Trendwatching

Wind Power

The world is gathered in Denmark hoping to hash out an agreement that will stem the tide against global warming and reign in the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. While the developed countries who pollute the most and have the most money, are critical to finding a compromise, it’s the developing nations that are most immediately vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as sea level rise and drought.

Buoyed by PR events — like the Maldives staging an underwater cabinet meeting or the Nepalese cabinet holding their cabinet meeting at the base of Mt. Everest – to show the vulnerability of their countries to the effects of global warming. Coalitions of smaller countries are flexing their muscles in Copenhagen. Since it is the big polluters that got them into this mess, they’re asking them for help in the form of money. The smaller nations even threatened to walk out of the talks if their concerns are not heard.

The UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer, hopes the industrialized world will cough up at least $30 billion over the next few years. To date, the European Union has pledged about $10 billion and the United States is offering $1.2 billion in financing of special projects in addition to implementing a cap and trade system to limit emissions from American industries.

iCurrent Channels:

• Climate Change
• Global Warming
• Cap and Trade

photo: South African flags by mikearthur

The qualifying process for the 2010 World Cup began in August 2007 with 203 countries. It included a fair share of controversy, including threatened expulsions, ethnic violence, and the infamous hand of Thierry Henry. Last month the field was winnowed down to 32 countries, setting the stage for the final draw to determine which teams will be playing one another in South Africa next year.

The final draw is filled with pageantry and fraught with drama. Earlier in the week FIFA – the governing body for international football – kicked off the draw process by selecting the top eight seeds for the tournament. The top seeds and the remainder of the teams were then placed into four pots from which the final groups will be selected. The seed process caused lots of consternation and it’s certain that the final draw will spark months of analysis about which team will make it out of the group of death.

FIFA estimates that nearly 200 million people will watch the draw. This is an astonishing number, but it pales in comparison to how many people will watch the World Cup. In 2006, close to 300 million people watched the final game and that number is sure to increase next year. You might think it’s too early to plan your summer vacation, but be sure that wherever you are, you’re close to a TV between June 11 and July 11.

iCurrent Channels:

• World Cup 2010

• South Africa