http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h4LTRbr2zs

For more crazy football adventures with Adam C and JD, visit the Castrol Football Crazy FB page. Remember to like Advertlet’s FB page too!

This is the official teaser video of the Castrol Football Crazy futsal session with Advertlet bloggers. Enjoy!

Don’t forget to catch Castrol Football Crazy on February 3rd and 10th to watch all the ball-kicking fun we had with Adam C and JD! Castrol Football Crazy airs every Thursday at 8pm (HKT) only on ESPN, Channel 812. Also, go and Like the official CFC FB page! Also don’t forget to check out official pics from Advertlets FB page.

Last Saturday was filled with full-blown testosterone, ball-kicking action as about 15 Advertlets bloggers joined Castrol and ESPN at Sports Barn, USJ for the Castrol Football Crazy futsal session.  The event was hosted by the dynamic and whacky duo of Adam C and JD, who also got into the thick of the action later.

Castrol Football Crazy is a light-hearted TV show hosted by Adam C and JD, which covers football, albeit with a zany, eccentric twist. For the uninitiated, Adam C is a well-known TV host and DJ, who gained popularity from hosting the 8TV Quickie show, and now hosting the Hitz.fm’s Top 40 Countdown. JD, on the other hand, you may know from his glory days as producer and co-host of Red FM’s “Breakfast Show with JD and Dilly.”

The event kicked off with players drawing lots to split into respective teams – 3 in total. I was drawn together with some awesome people – Bryan, Melvin, Mike and my hot friend Brigette.

The Teams

There was also a trivia session for a chance to win some prizes.

It was obvious nobody was interested in football, only things that happen off pitch!

But seriously though, this was a mere teaser for the action to come. I was pretty sure everybody was eager to get down and dirty to kick some balls! I knew I couldn’t wait!

JD got us working up a sweat in his hilarious, pelvic-thrusting warm up exercises.

Oh, did I mention that the Castrol chicks were hot? Well, they were!

Sizzling!

Not to be undone, we also had hot non-Castrol chicks too!

Seriously hot, and the three on the left aren't bad either.

The action was certainly fast and furious. There were also yellow and red cards awarded to players, and for all the wrong reasons! One was for calling the referee ‘kayu’, and one was for failing to score an easy goal. Hilarious! Other notables was when Michelle was kicked in the face by a shot, Dan Khoo was kicked in the nuts by me! Sorry, bro!

In between, there was a juggling competition which was fun. I can’t juggle for shits, but gave it a shot anyways. Surprisingly I topped with a count of 14! A demo by a Sports Planet staff blew everyone away with a count of over 120! We were impressed!

The finals of the futsal round-robin proper was keenly contested. Adam C and JD played in opposing teams. The bet was that the loser would need to clean and clear the winner’s bench! After the finals, a penalty shootout challenge commenced where Adam C and JD took turns to save penalties from 5 spot kickers. After a keen competition, Adam C emerged victorious with 4 saves.

All in all I had plenty of fun, and I believe everyone had a good sweat and laugh too! I have to say thank you to Castrol, ESPN and Advertlets for a great time. Also to the cool dudes – Adam C and JD for being such crazy, entertaining sports!

Check out some of the pics I managed to take in between matches.

[Show as slideshow]

123►

Wanna know who won? Catch Castrol Football Crazy on February 3rd and 10th to watch all the ball-kicking fun we had with Adam C and JD!

Castrol Football Crazy airs every Thursday at 8pm (HKT) only on ESPN, Channel 812. Also, go and Like the official CFC FB page!

Check out coverage from other Advertlet bloggers too:

• MynJayz.com
• AzrinArizz.com
• Feeqsays.com
• JonYKT.com
• William Leong Photoblog
• Josh Lim

Also don’t forget to check out official pics from Advertlets FB page.

The day saw exciting and competitive game play and the 24 teams battled with heart, sweat (and some blood) and plenty of soul.

Unfortunately for the defending champions GanForHire Allstars, we lost in the very tough Group stage with one win, one draw and one loss. The tournament saw some upsets, with last year’s runners-up TBWA and superstar team O&M failing to advance beyond the quarterfinals. If it was any consolation, the very, very yummilicious Hot Chilis cheerleading team from O&M won the Best Cheerleading Team award.

Big kudos to Corbis for a fantastic event and congrats to the winners! Our promise… we’ll be back stronger, better next year.

Catch pics and more on Facebook!

I will be playing for defending champs GanForHire AllStars again this year, for honours and for the super prizes (up to RM7,000 in Adidas vouchers!). There are 24 teams this year, divided into 4 per group. We’ve been drawn with Ignite, Grey Group FC and Young Rascals (Y&R). Teams to watch are definitely last year’s runners-up TBWA, O&M and DraftFCB. The competition is set to be fast and furious, so if you’re not up to anything this Saturday, pop by and catch the action! Bring lots of pom-poms and come support GanForHire!

Event details:
Date: Saturday, June 14, 2008
Time: 9:00am – 3:00pm
Location: Sports Planet, Subang Grand
Street: Lot 604, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Taman Perindustrian Subang

What started as routine futsal practice with the full GanForHire All-Stars futsal team, fizzled out to a disappointing, painful, premature exit with torn bits in my left knee. The Corbis cup defending champions’s top striker limped out just after 20 minutes into the game.

It happened as I was taking a shot at goal. As I proceeded to unleash a left foot shot, the opponent’s defender approached in a semi-sliding position from the left. Our shins met with force as I struck the ball. My left knee must have buckled from the force from the outside because the pain was instant, although it did not feel overly serious at that point.

I sat out the entire game with my swollen knee. Walking was excruciating, especially when it involved changing directions, or twisting.

I consulted a sports doctor in Subang Jaya the next morning. After some questions about how it happened, he proceeded to run some physical exercises to diagnose the injury. It was obvious that something was torn, the question was – how serious was it? The injured bit was the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL), the largest ligament on the inner part of the knee.

Sourced from About.com:

The medial collateral ligament spans the distance from the end of the femur (thigh bone) to the top of the tibia (shin bone) and is on the inside of the knee joint. The medial collateral ligament resists widening of the inside of the joint, or prevents “opening-up” of the knee.

MCL is usually injured when the outside of the knee joint is struck. This action causes the outside of the knee to buckle, and the inside to widen. When the medial collateral ligament is stretched too far, it is susceptible to tearing and injury. This is the injury seen by the action of “clipping” in a football game.

The doc was concerned if the meniscus (cartillage) was injured as well. A damaged meniscus would mean internal bleeding and fluid in the knee. An x-ray exam was done, then an ultrasound performed after. The x-ray showed no bone damage or fractures, so that was good.

The ultrasound confirmed partial ligament tears which also included my hamstring. Through the digitised images, doc showed me comparisons of my normal right knee against the injured left. It was swollen twice its size. He showed me the tears in my MCL. Thankfully, my meniscus was intact. No damage whatsoever.

In conclusion, I will be out for 6 weeks at least. No moving about for the first week. I have to wear a spleen, and move about in crutches. Totally uncool. And to think that it was just a ‘minor knock’ initially.

I was given a 30-minute physiotheraphy session with ultrasound, vibration and ice pack treatment. Souvenirs to bring home included anti-inflammatory steroids and cream which was pretty much the only thing I could take, taking into consideration my aspirin allergy. Many painkillers include aspirin, and the doc did not want to risk me have a reaction.

The only good thing to come out of this – a 1-week MC! I’ve never had a 1-week MC before. Hah. Not that I can go anywhere. I’d be bored to death mostly, being immobile and all. Driving isn’t much of a problem, but getting in and out of the car is. My semi-bucket Recaros don’t help matters much either.

See you online, a lot, I guess?

The feeling is almost indescribable. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little. It’s a feeling that borders on ecstatic. And triumph, exhaustion, relief all rolled into one. It’s a wonderful feeling. We went in as the GanForHire Allstars, and promised to give us our best shot and have fun. And best we did give, and had lots of fun too in the process!

The Corbis Inter-Agency Futsal Tournament saw 16 teams divided into 4 groups for round-robin preliminary match-ups.

We went up against Lotus Design in our first group match. Although we started tentatively, Kelvin our team captain, quickly opened the scoresheet in the first half. I went on the score two goals. Final score after the full 10-minutes, 3-0.

We met the tougher BBDO in our next match. We kept a clean sheet, much attributed to our solid defence and our agile keeper – Shahnaz. Kelvin scored first, before I added two more, which included a sneaky backheader. Khoo and Ijam made it a well-deserved 5-0 win, one which pretty much secured our berth in the quarterfinals.

We had an even tougher match after. I felt pretty worn by this time, could barely catch my breath, despite the 20 minutes breaks in between. My left ankle was incredibly sore and swollen, and my right also complained. The competition was clearly taking it’s toll on both my ankles and had to give it rub downs with Deep Heat in between games.

Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) were up next. Both teams were tight and we did not have many scoring chances. However, Ijam hit a scorcher from the center to seal the game with the only goal, in the second half. We were through – tired and in pain as we were. We topped our group with an impressive 9 goals, the highest number of goals in group stages.

TBWA, in Group A, was impressive from the start, they even had their very own hot cheerleading team! Talk about team spirit! They topped their group with 2 wins and a draw.

Already exceeding all expectations, we were committed to fight to the finish. Peter Gan, owner of GanForHire was there along with other GFH supporters – my bro Vince, Rachel & Sze Mei to cheer us on. After the lunch break, we met Carrot Films in the quarterfinals. We were, admittedly, lethargic in the match, although we played a slower, passing game. We pretty much controlled the match with more passing than usual, and emerged winners with a 3-0 score. I added another goal to my tally with yet another backheader (I’m getting good at this! Heh!). Khoo and Ijam had a goal each. We were through to the semis! Awesome!

CRM (People N Rich) gave us a tough match, and although they weren’t that individually skilled, they closed us down pretty well. There were several missed chances, and plenty of agro, physical action. It was quite tense, in fact. Shahnaz made some splendid saves to maintain his cleansheet record, but I doubt we were ever really threatened. I broke away from a pass from Ijam to score the solitary goal which was at quite an acute angle – my shot beat the goalie, hit the top right bar and right, before entering the goal! The finals, yipppeee!!!!

TBWA was, no doubt, our toughest opponents. Teamwork was tight and topscorer Sakhti was always threatening and dangerous. Our defence remained rock solid though and I missed several chances. I actually had very little space to move, being tightly marked constantly. Both team parried blows although we had more scoring chances. Had a few on target headers which the goalie saved. It was 0-0 at fulltime, our first draw, and a scoreless one that!

So the title was to be decided by a penalty shootout. How we hated the shootouts, but I guess it was a better than extra time. Reason being most players were exhausted, and a few including team captain Kelvin was suffering cramps. The shootout was nailbiting to say the least. Tension was high. The crowd cheered all of us on. It was an amazing atmosphere. Felt almost like the World Cup Finals. Heh.

Kelvin opened the scores for us with an effortless spotkick. 1-0 to GFH. Shahnaz, our keeper, was in splendid form, saving the first from TBWA. I was up next. Lined up the shot, gave it a solid slap as usual, beat the goalie… but…oh no, hits the top left corner post and bounces out! I can’t believe I missed it! My first ever penalty missed. I sunk in disbelief. TBWA converted the next two, while Khoo and Ijam also added to the scoresheet. Shahnaz was the last kicker, converting would mean victory.

He lines up… and fires a shot. Straight to the keeper! Oh no. Both teams were tied in sudden death. Tension grew higher a couple of notches. Kelvin was up again as kicker. He converted flawlessly! Spirits were high again. All we needed was for superkeeper Shahnaz to make one of his saves. Topscorer Sakhti was up next. Shahnaz was untested. Sakthi completely misses the goal, and falls to the ground in pain, suffering cramps to his thigh. We were through! We were champions! Our supporters who cheered from the sidelines were jubilant! We won, we won! What a dream!

It was certainly a keenly-contested match, and unfortunately only one team could come out as winners. Kudos to TBWA for a splendid performance. It was an experience to savour, and horribly taxing for 33-year old me. My ankles just gave way after. Imagine this – I haven’t played competitive football since secondary school where we lost in the finals of the inter-school tournament. That was 16 years ago!

I’m gonna have to suffer with the pain for the next couple of weeks but I think it was worth it. No more futsal for a while to nurse the ankle injuries. It’s still amazing that we went all the way through from the prelims with plenty of goals and a cleansheet all the way to the finals. To come off with a win is just a dream. We were rewarded with goodies from Corbis, and also RM2.5K Adidas vouchers. Victory is sweet!

A big hand to Corbis (Alison, Daniel, En, and the Corbis team, you know who you are!) for a splendid job. Thanks for organising this! See you next year!

Read Adoi’s take on the event.

More pictures courtesy of Alison Tham of Corbis.

• Corbis Futsal Part 1
• Corbis Futsal Part 2
• Corbis Futsal Part 3
• Corbis Futsal Part 4

I can’t believe it! I’m pissing my pants in excitement. The Corbis Inter-Agency Futsal Tournament is just 15 hours away. Venue: Sportsbarn, PJ. We’ve (I’m representing GanForHire AllStar) been drawn in the same round-robin group as BBDO, O&M and Lotus. No slouches where futsal is concerned, so we’re in for a tough, tough time. But who cares eh? We’re gonna have fun and give it our best shot! Golden Boot here we come!

Whoooppeee!

Round Robin Team Draw

Group A
A1 JWT (JWT)
A2 TBWA \ UNITED (TBWA)
A3 BLUE STAR (EURO RSCG)
A4 IGNITE (IGNITE)

Group B
B1 KAKI AYAM FC (180 DEGREE STRATEGIC COMM)
B2 CARROT FILMS (CARROT FILMS)
B3 PUBLICIS FC (PUBLICIS)
B4 BRAZIL BRAZIL DENMARK OSAKA (BBDO)

Group C
C1 BRUNEI BRUNEI DURIAN ORANGE (BBDO)
C2 OGILVY BLACKS (OGILVY & MATHER)
C3 GANFORHIRE ALLSTAR (GANFORHIRE)
C4 LOTUS FC (LOTUS DESIGN)

Group D
D1 LBFC (LEO BURNETT)
D2 CRN (PEOPLE ‘N RICH)
D3 PNR (PEOPLE ‘N RICH)
D4 OGILVY REDS (OGILVY & MATHER)

When? Saturday, 8th Sept 2007. 10am to 5pm.
Venue: The Sports Barn, PJ

(Pitch fees: RM50 per futsal team. Closing date for entries: 1st Sept 2007)

There are over RM5,000 worth of prizes to be won! Categories include Champions, Runner Up, Best Dressed Team, Best Cheerleading Team and the Golden Boot!

Hurry!, Get your application form from your Corbis Account Manager or call
+603-6209 5000 now! Only 24 futsal teams will be chosen. So first come first served!

I was lifted out of the pitch by my cousin Ivan (who complained I was heavy!) and Hon, my colleague.

The ankle swelled more as I rested. ‘Iced’ it down with a sufficiently chilled can of 100 Plus and some Deep Heat muscle pain relief spray I got hold of. Felt much relief after.

Pain when I got out of bed the next day was a big ‘Owwwwww’, for lack of better word. Stiff as hell, I limped to the loo. I took a day’s off to get my ankle checked out. Paid a visit to my favourite traditional physio in Paramount Garden in the morning. He looked at my ankle then at me and said “Futsal?”. Heh. He knew. “Everyday, I get people coming in here with injury from futsal.”

Crack. A very audible crackling from my ankle quickly translated to a very audible “OWWWWWWW!” from me as the physio popped my ankle back into place. He placed pressure on the painful bits and I could have cried. Painful.

Had him look at my right ankle which was painful due to stress. He laughed. “Both ankles! Hah, young man!”

I limped out of the clinic, both ankles bandaged. Got some stares too.

My ankles were in pain, but I think the thought of missing the R3 Time Attack Challenge 2dot6 2006 over the weekend in Danga Bay, Johor was even more painful. Points scored from the 1st edition R3TAC 1dot 6 in Shah Alam last month put me in a good 4th place in the championships. Partner and fellow TTR team-mate Stanley lies in 5th. I had to pull out, in disappointment, leaving Stan with my car flying the TTR flag.

Sad, but such is life eh?