The Glory and Agony of Victory

A few victories in the past few days that saddened me:

• Kelly Poon beating Chew Sin Huey in the Project Superstar female finals. I acknowledge that Kelly is a decent singer and has the package of a Mandopop star - ie, sweet, pretty and youthful. But good heavens, Sin Huey sang circles around her during their final show-down. HUGE circles, maybe even intergalactic orbit in circumference. And yes, I know that Sin Huey does not have the look and styling figured out, but she sang so much better that I thought those other considerations were completely moot. Kelly's English song was such a bad miscalculation for her voice - like Sly singing Music of the Night in last year's Singapore Idol Final 3 show - and her performance of it was a disaster.
• Kelvin Tan beating Junyang in the male finals. Oh well, it's not like I did not expect it. I did think that maybe Junyang had a chance because he had a sizeable advantage over Kelvin in the judges' scores. I thought both were rather poor, but they were obviously ill (and if it wasn't obvious, the numerous mentions of their illness by the judges and contestants themselves certainly kept us constantly reminded!). It was a disappointing final overall, but I thought that Junyang edged it in terms of vocals, and trumped Kelvin by the wirth of a continent (Asia) in terms of performance. Kelvin's insecure technique drives me crazy. He has a good sense of phrasing but his unsupported high notes just ruin the effect of his melodic lines. And don't even get me started on how his blindness was being brought up time and again - Qian Yifeng was practically a charity show host at times, and the judges themselves could not leave the topic alone.
• Chelsea beating Arsenal last night in the first battle of the Premiership giants. Not that I am an Arsenal supporter, but outside of Aston Villa and Liverpool, my football-supporting principle is simple: support any team that Chelsea play against. Apart from my dislike of Mourinho, which I think I have mentioned more than once, I dislike what they have done to the economics and politics of soccer. The entire Essiaen mutiny affair has its roots in Chelsea's disruption of the normal workings of market forces. Fine, they can afford it and it is their money to spend as they wish; but there is such a thing as responsible spending. My quibbles with Chelsea aside, last night's result was due to a fluke goal. A draw would have been a much fairer result. Horribly for non-supporters, Chelsea are enjoying the luck of a championship-winning team; that last minute winner against Wigan last week, and a fluke goal against Arsenal. And the quality of the match was also a bit of a let-down. I couldn't help but feel that neither team was performing anywhere near its peak. Not that the winners would care. Chelsea will take the 3 points, however uninspiringly they were won.

And to be more positive, a few victories that pleased me:

• Kimmi Raikonnen winning the Turkish Grand Prix. It was done in some style too. Too bad Montoya had to suffer a hiccup just two laps from the end, allowing Alonso to take 2nd place points. I don't think Raikonnen can close the gap to Alonso now. Even if he wins every race in the remainder of the season, Renault is too consistent for Alonso to not score championship points in these races.
• Taufik Hidayat winning the World Badminton Championship. The boy is so talented, and yet until today, not a winner of any of the badminton annual "grand slams" (All-England, World Cup, Grand-Prix finals, World Championship). I haven't seen this yet, but he apparently quite handily disposed of World no. 1 Lin Dan. Although it is great when people win with guts and determination, sometimes it is nice to see the talented ones win. I reckon that's why people support Brazil at the soccer World Cup and why even Americans cheered for Roger Federer when he beat Andy Roddick at Wimbledon. If we take out the beauty in spectator sports, who would ever watch anymore? Taufik Hidayat has the knack of making badminton look not only exciting but also elegant. It is a gift that not always brings titles and we should celebrate when it does.