Durban has received 2 brilliant write ups over the last week. An article by Washington Post columnist Steve Goff, entitled “Oh Durban, where have you been my whole World Cup?”,  is an inspiring look at Durban by a foreign journalist. Former London financial times sports editor, David Owen, also adds another perspective to Durban in a piece called “I think I have seen Africa’s first Olympic city.“  These 2 articles add an outsiders perspective to this amazing & versatile city.

The Moses Mabhida stadium could easily be given first prize for the most picturesque stadium of the world cup. The fact that it is less than 200m from the Indian ocean, gives it a sub-tropical holiday feel when looking at it from the overhead helicopter shops. My experience of the stadium has been beyond all my expectations. From my first visit while the stadium was still being built, through to a visit with the family to the top of the arch, right through to my 2 games, I simply cannot fault it on anything. Really.

Durban has been tipped to bid for either the 2020 or 2024 Summer Olympic games. Emperor Sepp has given his blessing, as well as President Jacob Zuma. Durban & KZN are fully capable of hosting the Olympic games. The fact that 80% of the events can be held within a 3km radius from the Moses Mabhida stadium bodes well for the bid. Durban already has everything in place, and after doing a research, I can only see the need to maybe build one or 2 new venues, if that. KZN has hosted numerous sporting events over the last couple of years, with a couple big ones lined up. Pietermarizburg is hosting the World BMX championships in 3 weeks time !! We also host the world biggest ultra marathon, as one of the, if not THE, biggest river canoe race, the Duzi canoe marathon.

I been thinking about this a lot lately after reading some of the articles above, and I honestly think we can do it. Everything is in place, and with a few tweaks at the airport, which is being continuously expanded, Durban has everything in place to bid for the Olympics. After doing a bit of research I put together a list of venues, which can be used in and around Durban & KZN, for the various Olympic sports:

I really hope Durban gets their act together and bids for an Olympic Games. Imagine hosting THE worlds largest sporting event on African soil. Wow, after the feeling of euphoria after the amazing world cup, I can’t imagine how we will feel when the Olympic Flame is put out.

Below is a map with some of the venues showing their proximity:

The next 2 days see a couple of interesting games ahead as the 1st round of games end and teams go into their 2nd round. Bafana Bafana take on Uruguay in an all important clash for both teams, after drawing in the first round of matches against Mexico and France respectively. I honestly think we can pull it off, with the support that we all saw on Friday, and a few extra paarps on the Vuvu, will def help our boys on the way.

The Guys from GreatOdds.com have got all the betting worked out for the next couple of games, so I thought I would take a look at whats happening over the next 2 days to see who the favorites are. There are some really good odds here, and the minimum bet for all the games is only R8, so almost have nothing to lose.

The big one for all of us is our boys, who are stacked at 2/1 which means R100 will get you R300 should we take it. Uruguay on the other hand are at 13/10 meaning you will take home R230 if you place the same bet.A draw will net you R320

All the other games below: – All the bets below are worked out using R100

I think we in for a cracker couple of games over the next couple of days. Let’s see how it all works out :)

So, The first game tomorrow is out beloved boys in yellow,Bafana Bafana. They take on the Mexicans, at 16:30, and the game promises to be a cracker. With 90,000 fans behind them in the stadium and another 40 million behind them out in the streets, I am pretty confident that we have this one in the bag. It is going to be very tight I reckon, but I honestly think that the Mexicans will be pretty overwhelmed by the occasion and the noise from our national instrument, the Vuvzela.

Greatodds.com, by far the best online sports betting site in South Africa, has some fantastic odds for tomorrows games.

In the first game of the day,  South Africa has odds of 7/4 if they win. What this means is, if you put down R100, you could possibly get back R275. Bargain. Mexico is at 6/4, so you would get back R250 if they win. If it is a draw and you put down R100 you could get back R315 at 43/20. I would def put my cash on Bafana for this one.

The 2nd game of the eve is France vs Uraguay. Uruguay are the underdogs for this game with 15/5 odds. R100 will get you R340 if they win. France being the favorites will net you R215 for 100 bux at 23/20. A draw will score you R310 if you part with R100 at 21/10.

To check out all the other games betting odds for the games going forward, check out GreatOdds.com. I will be putting a few of my pennies down on our boys. I will also try and do a couple more of these posts during the big celebration that is going to be the World Cup.

VIVA BAFANA BAFANA !!!!!

Yay!! Google finally flipped the switch this morning and Google Streetview in South Africa is now live. You may remember 2 weeks ago, they switched it on for a few minutes, and I managed to capture a few images using my iPhone.

Now, I’m sure we have all at least tried Streetview before. If you haven’t (where have you been), it is a fantastic service that allows you a 360 degree panormainc view from within Google Maps, of your surroundings. This is really handy if you are traveling, and what to see, what the outside of a building looks like, or for example look at a house you may want to buy etc.

The Google Streetview images are captured using a hi-tech vehicle that drives around with Cameras mounted to the roof, and these are then “stitched” together. Sometimes the cars come across some weird and wonderful stuff, and capture these.

But most of the time, not everyone gets to see these, weird, wonderful & funny scenes, so I have created a site called StreetViewSA, which will allow viewers of Google Streetview to Submit links to these. Once these have been submitted, the will be added to the site for the rest of the world to laugh at :) The idea is loosley based on a website in the UK called StreetviewFun.com

So, head on over to http://www.StreetViewSA.co.za, and if you come across any bizarre incidents on Google Streetview in South Africa, be sure to submit them, and let the rest of the world laugh & learn with you.

The prize included a stay at the new Rosebank Hotel, attend one 2010 FIFA World Cup ™ game and a day trip test driving the Kia Sportage as well as an EA FIFA 2010 game. Last week the winner was annouced as Casey Monteiro (http://www.twitter.com/casey_ek_se)

Well done to Casey. You can follow Casey’s epic adventure by following @KiaMotorsSA on Twitter to see Casey’s updates and to find out about his experience. Also, be sure to join the Facebook fanpage for updates and photos of his Kia Experience.

The app, developed locally, allows visitors to South Africa to upload a diary of their visit to South Africa, which can then be shared with via Facebook and Twitter. The app also includes a couple of cool features such as:

• South African greetings (audio)
• SA urban dictionary (audio)
• SA recipes
• Airport Info
• Useful numbers like embassies, local tourism, transportation etc.

Another really cool feature of the app is the worlds biggest unified welcome with our African Wave Competition. Users can upload pictures of themselves doing a wave, which will then be add to all the others to make a huge African wave.

Allan Kent, Head of AtPlay (Saatchi & Saatchi), the agency behind the app, gave me a bit of info behind the app:

The app is just one small part of an 18 month campaign that Engen are running called African Welcome. As part of that we thought that it would great if we had an application that let people document their travels in South Africa and learn a bit about the country at the same time.

All in all the app is very cool and well rounded and I’m sure will a great hit with some of the visitors to our country over the next 5 weeks.

This means that you can browse around the whole stadium in 360 degrees, and because the quality of the images is so high, you can zoom in on the crowd, and literally see the person face.

Here, try it…(and be prepared to waste your whole day zooming in and out :) )
Be sure to click on the Full screen button in the top right, it makes the whole thing so much better. Well done to Tinus and the boys for this amazing pic. I can’t wait to see them (hopefully) capture some of the World Cup games in the coming weeks.

I been doing a bit of research, and found a couple of the World Cup stars who are also on Twitter. It may be interesting to watch their streams during the tournament to get an insight of what these guys get up to.

Here is a couple of the guys that I found:

Ryan Babel (Netherlands)

Carl Puyol (Spain)

Oguchi Onyewu (USA)

Jozy Altidore (USA)

Stuart Holden (USA)

Landon Donovan (USA)

Maurice Edu (USA)

Ronaldinho (Brazil)

Kaka (Brazil)

Gilberto (Brazil)

Luís Fabiano (Brazil)

Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Mexico)

Iker Casillas (Spain – Captain)

Andrés Iniesta (Spain)

Nicolas Anelka (France)

Giorgio Chiellini (Italy)

Giuseppe Rossi (Italy)

Diego Forlán (Uruguay)

Any I missed ? Be sure to add them in the comments below, and I will add them onto the list.

Google Street view for SA is LIVE.
May 24, 2010 18:59 via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@garymeyerza
Gary Meyer

Google streetview was supposed to launch to the press tommorrow, but the event has been cancelled. If you use Google Maps on your iPhone, you will see it is working:

Here are 2 local streetview images I found:

Gateway Shopping Centre in Durbs

INSIDE Moses Mabhida Stadium !!! Taken with the Google Trike

If you want to test on your iPhone, do the following:

1. Open Maps on the iPhone
2. Switch to Hybrid view
3. Drop a pin
4. On the Left hand side of the pin info bar, is an orange icon, if this icon “lights up” you can click on it, and it will show you the streetview in that area.

This means it shouldn’t be too long before Google officially launch the full product on http://maps.google.com

Update: hmm, seems like someone at Google saw this, and turned it off :( Hopefully should be up soon

The Kia Experience prize is to join 12 other global bloggers from 18 – 21 June 2010, to stay at the new Rosebank Holiday Inn Hotel, attend one 2010 FIFA World Cup ™ match and a day trip test driving the All New Kia Sportage.In addition to this, you can also win a copy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ South Africa PS3 EA Game, as well as a Sony Cybershot Camera.

To enter the competition, all you need to do is click on the banner above, which will take you to the Kia Motors South Africa Facebook Fan Page & the Competition Page www.facebook.com/KiaMotorsSA. Here you need to answer a set of fun questions, as well as write a 150 word “blog post”  on why you should win the prize. The competition runs from the 20th to the 25th May 2010 and that the winner will be announced on the 2nd June. Terms and conditions do apply and are included on the Facebook entry page.

This competition is bought to you by Kia – “Kia Motors The power to surprise”